Chapter 65: Making Plans
1st July 1995, Sayre Manor
(Jasmine POV)
I returned to my mansion, feeling accomplished. I had given the magical world a chance, should they take it or not will be up to them. The magical world was a bigoted, racist, and intolerable place. It’s a shame, really, they had so much potential in the past. Wizards and witches are naturally lazy, depending on magic for everything even the most mundane tasks. It’s no wonder they look down on the non-magical population; they have no clue how to possibly live without it.
That kind of resentment started appearing in the first generation after the establishment of the statute of secrecy a few centuries ago, and the limiting of relationships with the non-magical population. At the time, the average adult magical could take on thousands of muggles on their own, the technology then being a mere shadow of what it is today. That arrogance carried on from father to son, from mother to daughter.
Wizards and witches are also relatively long lived, with a lifespan dependent on their magical strength. The average magical lives at least for a century and the exceptionally powerful ones can live past two centuries. If they’re not repulsed by muggles, wizards tend to adventure in the muggle world during their childhood but ignore it when they’re adults. Today, the average wizard thinks that muggles have the same technology they had a century ago, which makes them dismissive of them.
With the exponential progress of the scientific fields, wizards are very unprepared to confront muggles, the way Voldemort wanted. With the dark lord’s plan to break the statute, every magical being and creature, not just wizards and witches, would be hunted to extinction by muggles, after experimenting on them. One only needs to look at how they would inevitably treat mutants when they discover their existence. The military and spy agencies that do know of them tend to hunt them down and experiment with them.
To make sure that the wizarding world survives, Tom Riddle had to die. But should Tom Riddle die as he is meant to, it would be at Nathan Potter’s hand, but it would be Dumbledore who would be victorious. And with Dumbledore victorious, he would unite the magical world and would officially ban most magical fields. The would be no more magical research and slowly the number of spells will dwindle, wizards would not use their magic as much as they do, meaning they would be getting weaker, even more so than they already are. A normal wizard before the statute was as strong as Dumbledore. They would be less skilled than him, of course, but in term of power, they would be similar. If things continued the way Dumbledore wanted, wizards would be barely able to use an unlocking charm in two centuries. So, Dumbledore had to go.
Killing Tom Riddle would be easy; he had tied his followers to him with the dark mark so it would be easy to manipulate the mark to kill every follower he had. I hope he enjoys limbo. Making Horcruxes, what was he thinking? But Dumbledore is more than just a man; he’s an idea, a messiah. If I just killed the man, it would just make him a martyr, and another will use his ideology to gain power; it wouldn’t change anything in the long run. I had to discredit him, make the people not believe in him. I initially planned on just anonymously publishing a book on his crimes, to discredit him and finally fake him killing himself. I had everything planned out; I had the evidence when I read his mind during my life as Margaret Sayre in Grindelwald’s war. But when I saw what he put Hogwarts through, how he had imprisoned her inside her own body, I wanted him to suffer. And while him killing Fawkes was a surprise and would add more to my workload, I am glad that the man is suffering in Limbo.
With both extremes of the magical world gone, it made a big impact on the magical world and with no one to impose their ideas, people would be able to think for themselves and chose how to continue forward. That freedom of choice is what I have them. If they choose to squander it, that would be their choice as well and they would deserve whatever consequences of their actions they reveal. Not that I’m expecting much, wizards and witches tend to follow the most powerful for some reason.
“So, you’re finally back, are you?” a voice greets me when I enter my mansion. I really missed her when I went to Hogwarts.
“Yeah,” I respond, “my work in Britain is done.”
“You mean like destroying the two most popular political stances in the magical world without even fighting them directly.” She chuckled.
“Maybe. Although, I did kill Dumbledore and did distract Riddle by destroying his soul shards so that Nathan Potter could kill him.” I mused out loud.
“You didn’t directly kill Riddle and we both know that Dumbledore’s life was forfeit the moment he killed that phoenix. I still can’t believe he did that. What an idiot.” She responded.
I sigh, “tell me about it, with the phoenix force avatar this young, this imbalance will be a bitch to correct. And it had to be this phoenix; No one wants a phoenix force avatar consumed by darkness. I’ll have to keep a close eye on the girl.”
She smirked at me, “it’s your fault. You could have killed the man, but you had to scare him to death. What did you expect when you took away his magic? A man like Dumbledore worships magic. If it’s gone, it had to lash out.”
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I answer, “Yes, I know that now but there was something odd about it. There was no warning, like it was coming out of nowhere. I should have felt it coming or seen a vision of it. I knew that he would get his magic somehow and it would cost him something important, but I didn’t foresee this. Something made sure I couldn’t see this. Something wants to manipulate the phoenix avatar for some reason, something powerful and probably with cosmic origins. It has me worried.”
She held my hand to comfort me, “You’ll deal with it. You always have.”
We stayed in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other’s presence. It’s nice to finally relax after almost a year apart.
“So, how did you like Britain?” She asks me.
“I didn’t, not really. Weather was awful, and I forgot how dense the magical population actually was.” I answer.
She sighs, “I still don’t get why you didn’t do things from the background. You could have resisted your summoning with barely a thought. You could have delt with Dumbledore and Riddle without directly involving yourself.”
I say, “Discrediting Dumbledore would have been difficult without being presently there.”
She scoffs, “Don’t lie to me, love. I know for a fact you could have easily done it from here. So, why did you go to Britain.”
I stayed silent for almost a minute before answering quietly, “I wanted to meet them. Time is very relative for us immortals. I wanted to know what could have been before it was too late.”
“Was it worth it?”
“Yeah,” I smile, “Not James and Lily, to be fair. Just Nathan and Rose.”
She frowns, “really? Even the boy?”
I just shrug to her question, “He’s naïve but at his age, he has a right to be naïve. He has potential though.”
“And the girl?” she questions
“She would make a good successor…” I smile.
“Really, her?” she exclaims.
“You should have seen her. She has a control over magic that I haven’t seen since Myrddin. She learned how to create hard light constructs in a couple of months.”
“So, she’s talented, I’ll give you that. But being Queen of Avalon is a huge responsibility. Are you sure she’s up for it?” She asks.
“I have faith and me leaving her is a test of sorts. I needed to stop holding her hand. In a couple of decades or so, we’ll see if I am right or wrong.”
“But do you need to plan for a successor?” she asks me pleadingly.
“I don’t know if I will survive the coming crisis. I cannot have clear visions of it, there are too many permutations. I couldn’t even see it using the time stone when I asked Nimue to borrow it. Avalon has to be protected; Avalon needs a Queen. Don’t worry, I’m only preparing for the worst. There’s no proof that I will perish in the crisis either.” I calmly answer her.
“But why don’t you ask for help?” She cries at me.
“There is no one that can help. I will do my best to even the odds. To make sure reality doesn’t implode.”
“Then why don’t you go to Strange? You always said he had an immense potential as a sorcerer.” she begs.
I answer her, “I will, at the correct time. Without his responsibilities as the sorcerer supreme he is not experienced enough to deal with this rationally. Telling him now could lead to many disasters I do not want to deal with. In his wish to save the world, he could very well cause its doom.”
“Is there anything that you can do?” she asks me.
“I am doing what can be done. Even if I die, I have lived a full life. I have known love and felt despair. If I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing. If it is the time for me to die, then it simply is. I am not thrilled by the idea but there is no need to fear death.”
“So, what now?”
“I need influence for my plan to work. I need people to listen to my opinions, to make sure the world is ready for that is to come. I will start a company, a media company.” I respond.
“What do you hope to achieve with a media company?”
I smirk at her, “Never underestimate the power of the media and it’s not just a normal media company. It’ll be a titan among all titans. It will be a news company, but it’ll publish books, produce movies and tv shows, create video games. If I want to steer the world toward an idea, it’ll be easy to subtly put it in a book or a movie. Whoever controls the media controls the masses and I will need control over the masses to continue.”
“Will you need help with that?”
“No, I don’t need help from your little club.” I chuckle at the affronted look she gives me.
“A little club? We pretty much are in control of the entire world…” she exclaimed, and I burst into laughter. She’s so easy to rile up.
She smirks at me, “You know what that means?”
I furrow my eyebrows, “What?”
“You’re going to need a new persona.”
I groan; she can be such a child sometimes. “I already have a persona as Morgan Evanshade. I’ll use it to start the company.”
Her face fell and I genuinely felt bad, “Although, with Jasmine Evanshade being dead. I do need another identity so that I wouldn’t be accosted by crazy fans and journalists all the time.” Plus Alfred, the AI I made before I time travelled, will handle managing the company properly.
She immediately brightens up. Honestly, it’s adorable, “Are we going with the M motif?” she asks.
“The M motif?” I ask.
“You know, the names starting with M. Morgan, Morrigan, Margaret. When we met, you were even called Medusa. I still can’t believe people thought your hair was made of snakes.” She laughs.
I protest, “I turned my hair into snakes once. It was already cut up, I just transfigured it. I’m never using that trick again. Once was enough. But I’m partial to Jasmine, to be honest. I didn’t get to use it for a long time. And I was thinking of staying a Sayre, in case MACUSA tries to confiscate my stuff. Plus, if I need influence in the magical world, my name will be enough.”
“So, Jasmine Sayre. I like it!” she cries out.
I sigh, she’ll never grow up. My musing was interrupted by a squeaky voice, “Mistress!” it exclaimed. A house elf ran past towards me and hugged my legs.
“Hello, Tilly.” The elf was very confused when I summoned her after my younger self travelled to the past. It took her a while to adjust and while it took some time, she did.
“Do you need anything, Mistress? I’ll be making dinner; do you want anything in particular?”
“No, Tilly, just do your best and I’m sure it’ll be delicious as always.” She beams at me and pops to the kitchen.
I watch the only other woman in the mansion smirking at me and say, “I don’t care what you say, that elf is weird.”
I just chuckle in answer.
“So, what are you planning to do with your new persona?” she asks me.
I smirk and answer, “I’ll be going to Bayville.”