บท 42: Dumbledore's Offer
I would like to thank my beta, AvidReader2425, for his help in this chapter.
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4th March 1995, Hogwarts
(Dumbledore POV)
Albus Dumbledore was in a conundrum. Something that even his beloved lemon drops couldn't relax for him, and it had to do with one annoying pest called Jasmine Potter. He didn't care what name the brat called herself, Evanshade, Potter she could even call herself Hagrid for all her cared, but she would always be called a pain in the backside by him in his head.
How was he to know that the night he summoned her would be one of the biggest mistakes he made in years. The plan had been simple, summon the brat from wherever she was to get the Potters firmly back to his side and teach the poor girl some magic and slowly manipulate her to get more control over Nathan. The boy had a destiny, and it was imperative for his plans for him to fulfill that destiny.
The girl he was supposed to summon should have been a meek little thing, desperate for love and approval after what happened with her former guardians. It wasn't his plan for the girl's life to be this miserable, he just wanted to separate her and Nathan because of the potential they could have had together would have been too high and could pose a threat to his plans for the magical world. The magical transfer from the twin bond could have made Nathan surpass him in term of magical power, something he couldn't allow.
He planned to lure the girl with knowledge, become her teacher and subtly manipulate her into influencing the boy who lived to his ideals. Instead, he got a magical prodigy that had no reason to form any attachment here in Britain. She even got adopted by a Sayre of all things. He never got along with that family, and he had met the current matriarch when Gellert was active there during the war.
She was the most terrifying person he had ever met, and she knew things about him, things he never told anyone, and he had suddenly figured out that she had breached his mind without him knowing. It was the most powerless he had felt in a long time. He was a master of the mind arts at the time and the woman had entered it like his defenses were nothing. He felt small, weak, and defenseless. He had never been more afraid in his life.
He had realized then that the woman now knew everything about him, from his relationship with Gellert to what happened to his sister. When he tried to obliviate the woman he was disarmed before he could even cast anything. She called him a kin slayer, threw him and his wand out of her mansion and told him to not expect any kind of support from anyone in the colonies. And she was correct, from that moment, not a single wizard of witch in the colonies was involved in the war, on either his or Gellert's side. Even after the war, where he became the hero of the wizarding world, not a single wizard or witch from the colonies was willing to hear him out.
He had to admire her influence, no matter how much he wanted to kill her, it was impressive. He still wasn't able to move against her with her having so much blackmail material on him. He had tried to send spies against her but that obviously didn't work out; he had almost no influence in her home country. Even if he did, the Sayre family is untouchable there. They're descendant from a Gaunt woman that escaped her family and moved to the colonies, meaning they were also descendants of Slytherin. Perhaps he could use that against them and put a target on their back when Tom returns; get him to kill them for him. He filed that thought for later. Anyway, the woman had helped found Ilvermorny sometime in the seventeenth century. They were the only descendants of the founders remaining and they were basically royalty in the colonies.
With what was happening in Britain, he forgot about the Sayre family, and it was something he regretted. The hag must have told her adopted granddaughter about him, the brat had even hinted at his knowledge the night she was summoned. He had wanted to obliviate her on the spot, but he couldn't do it in front of James and Lily. From that moment, she was never alone with him, whenever they interacted with one another, she always had witnesses present. And when she was alone, she disappeared from the castle entirely, he couldn't even locate her with his wards, he was supposed to be almost omniscient in the castle, and that bothered him, a lot. He might have lied to the girl about the magical binding contract to make her stay in the tournament, but he almost regretted it now.
During the first task, any hope of her being a talentless witch was extinguished, she showed that she truly was a prodigy that deserved to have graduated school at fourteen. Her mysterious use of runes was something he had never heard of before, something he had wanted to interrogate her about during the Yule ball, that she sadly chose to skip.
The girl spent most of her time with her sister Rose and taught her magic. He tried to spy on those lessons, but young Jasmine must have put some impressive privacy wards to stop eavesdroppers. After she had reconnected with Nathan, she started to help him a bit as well which was something that worried him immensely. Thankfully, he was too proud to ask her for too much help, so whatever she had taught him was dwarfed by what Dumbledore taught the boy. The boy truly was an investment that was paying off. He had almost the same potential as himself and for the first few years, he was able to subtly steer the boy towards the light, the good path, his path. After all, all he wanted was peace. But for peace to exist there must be war first, the war to end all wars, the war between Light and Darkness.
Nathan was a great investment on his part and was unwittingly his spy on his troublesome sister. He even told him about the mysterious spell his sister used during the second task. It was a spell that combined charms and divination, a rare combination and a very inspired one. One of her creations, and if she could have created this spell, then what else could she have made. He really had to bring her to his side.
He planted the seed of mistrust in young Nathan's mind to limit his sister's influence over him and it was showing. Whenever he was teaching the boy, he always seemed to twitch whenever anyone mentioned his sister. He was one step away from truly disliking her or even hating her. The girl was definitely not helping with her being the sole focus of Nathan's entire family, his parents doing everything to try to get any form of relationship other than indifference with her, and Rose who worshipped the ground her elder sister walked on. The boy was undeniably jealous, something he could certainly use.
Speaking of the girl, he had called her to his office. This was it, her final chance. She had been an unknown for months, an unpredictable variable to his plans and he was going to either have her join him or she would suffer from a tragic accident before her influence over the Potter family grows even further. Truth be told, if the girl was an adult, he wouldn't even have given her a chance, but he always had a soft spot for children. He was a merciful man after all.
Dumbledore hears a knock on his door, and he waves his wand getting the door to open.
"Hello, Headmaster Dumbledore," the brat says politely, "you asked for me?"
"Ah, yes. Ms. Evanshade. How was your stay in Hogwarts so far?" Dumbledore asks.
"It was very pleasant, thank you. It truly is a magical place," the girl responds with a small smile.
"Any chance you could continue your studies here?"
"I'm sorry but no. I already finished my education. Me staying here would be a waste of time."
"What about your family?" Dumbledore questions, "are you getting along with them?"
"That's extremely private. My relationship with the Potters in none of your concern."
"Sorry, my girl, I just wanted to make sure everything is alright. You see, the Potters are close personal friends of mine."
"It still is an inappropriate question to ask anybody."
"I apologize for that. Now to why I called you this fine morning. I was very impressed with your performance in the last two tasks in the tournament. Your mix of divination and charms was inspired, and your use of runes was one of a kind. Any chance you could even give me a hint about how you did it?"
"I'm sorry but no, I added it to my family magic, I will not share it."
A shame, really. He would take it from her one way or another; he was no stranger into stealing magical family secrets. Especially, during his youth when he would take a look at the libraries of his allies and steal some tomes from his enemies. Now, he mostly just used legilimency on his students that are in prominent families. It was astounding how many family secrets these children knew. Everyone always underestimates the children.
"As is your right." Dumbledore answers.
He continued, "Ah yes, where was I? Oh, I was talking about how much I was impressed with your performance. It would be a shame for such a talent to go to waste. Now since you finished your education, you are entitled to an apprenticeship. And since you seem to like it here, I would like for you to become my apprentice. It would allow you more time to reconnect with your family."
Of course, he was planning to apprentice her using the old ways, where both parties had to sign a magical contract. Unknown to most, it wasn't just an obligation of the master to pass on his knowledge to his apprentice, but it was a mutual sharing of knowledge. This meant that he would be able to get all of her secrets, including her personal magic, but most importantly information about the Sayre family. Maybe the girl could be his key for his plans to extend to an entirely new continent.
The girl stayed silent for almost a minute, "I'm sorry but I will have to decline. I have to go back home after the tournament. My family there needs me. I already had plans before coming here. I'm really going to miss the castle though."
"It's truly a shame then." Before Jasmine could do anything, she was suddenly bound to her chair unable to move. It was a special chair Dumbledore enchanted himself and he had used to restrain many people before. He didn't want to do it but he had to obliviate the girl of all his secrets that her family told her about.
"I'm sorry, my dear. I truly am. You have knowledge that I cannot allow you to spread. It's a shame you refused my offer. I guess I'll have to do it the hard way."
Dumbledore pointed the elder wand at the girl and cast "Obliviate!"
Suddenly a lot of things happened at once. The spell came out of the wand and hit the girl but suddenly a blast of magic came out of the girl knocking his chair back making him accidentally drop his wand in the process. The blast also affected the girl were she too fell down on her back, the chair's enchantments were broken.
How peculiar, accidental magic at this age. Dumbledore is now very disappointed that the girl refused his offer. She would have been a good subordinate, now that Severus was brain dead. He still had no idea how the girl did that to him.
Dumbledore and Jasmine got up disoriented by the blast.
"What happened, headmaster?" the girl asks, confused. Good, the memory charm must have worked. Well, it was cast with the elder wand so that was expected.
"Nothing, my dear. It seems we were the victims of a certain prank. I wonder how the Weasley twins were able to break into my office." He said with a jovial tone.
"Sure, weird. Is that your wand down there, Headmaster?" She bent down and picked up his wand and gave it back to him.
"Ah, yes. Thank you miss Evanshade. I have to say, it's a shame you didn't accept my offer."
"Again sir, I have prior commitments. Will that be all, headmaster."
"Yes, my girl that will be all."
The girl got up and walked out of his office. He never noticed the subtle smile on her face, nor will he truly notice what she did for days. Because that was the beginning of the end for him, and he had just lost his strongest weapon. Albus Dumbledore lost the allegiance of the elder wand.
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