Disclaimer: Not mine.

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The next day was no better, with a second article detailing how Hogwarts had played host to a troll on Halloween which had nearly resulted in a first-year student getting bludgeoned to death by the creature. As much as it pained her to admit it, Skeeter's flair for the dramatic was definitely working and the Headmaster was coming under fire from all angles.

Dumbledore had long since locked himself in his office, probably because the numerous howlers being directed to him from angry parents and government officials alike were the height of embarrassment. He probably thought that if people didn't see them, they'd forget all about the articles. This may have actually worked if Skeeter hadn't then gone on to publish her actual sources detailing the falling education standards of Hogwarts and the employment rates of certain careers.

She was enjoying a rise in readership unlike anything she'd ever seen before and she'd started to understand the benefits of writing the honest truth, especially if it was scandalous truth. There was nothing anyone could do, as Dumbledore had already tried to get the paper to stop slandering him until it was blatantly pointed out that there was no reference to him personally, but rather Hogwarts as an institution.

The owner of the paper had stood in Diagon Alley and asked Dumbledore very loudly if he was trying to cover up the truth. Needless to say the man backed off quickly and had sequestered himself in his office to try and hold on to his positions by calling in every favour he had. Things were not going well for the old man; his competence was being called into question by the ICW, and Minister Fudge had suddenly grown a backbone and was siding against him – thank you, Amelia Bones.

That was not the worst of it however, as not a few days after the first article a team of Aurors stormed the castle and arrested Snape for his inappropriate behaviour against the students. Worst was the reported Legilimency probes, and accusations of allowing students to sabotage others with dangerous and potentially fatal results.

Rose had been getting evidence from some of the students for over a month now, and some of the of-age pupils had even provided memories for evidence which had been sent to Amelia. They both knew that it wasn't fair, but some of those students were from wealthy pure-blood families who could demand a trial for his actions against their Heirs. She herself gave evidence, but Amelia assured her that all of the students' names would be kept anonymous.

This was an opportunity that Amelia wasn't going to miss. She'd wanted to question him for years but with Dumbledore's word on his side she hadn't been able to do anything. Now she had the Potions Master in a holding cell while his body was flushed of potions and spells, and when it came to the trial Dumbledore couldn't be involved as the Chief Warlock because of a conflict of interest due to recent events.

Apparently when she'd questioned Snape, he'd just sneered at her and spat nasty vitriol about the students being too stupid to understand his subject and how it was their fault if they failed. Considering she had one memory where he actually gave extra ingredients to one of the Slytherins to throw in another cauldron she highly doubted that.

Amelia just left the pathetic man to his own company and went to arrange a trial; he would finally have to face the consequences of his actions. The quicker she could convict him, the better.

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A couple of weeks of Snape-free school was rather invigorating, Rose thought. Slytherin House, at least the nastier ones, were pissed off that they could no longer get away with some of the crap they pulled, as Professor Sinistra as their temporary Head was as strict with them as she was with the other Houses.

Potions was taught by whatever teacher was available for now, but the students were assured that another well-renowned Potioneer was going to be teaching soon and not to worry. She wondered if that meant Slughorn, and if so, how the hell did anyone manage to bring him back?

She walked up Ravenclaw Tower slowly, thinking about how if everything went to plan Voldemort would be dead in about a month. It was late November now, and the only two Horcruxes remaining were the ring and the diary. She knew that Sharpfang would be taking care of the ring soon and the diary would also be destroyed shortly.

Rose got to her room and put away her notes from the study group before spelling her bed curtains shut and going into the trunk apartment. She saw some new letters to respond to in a pile on the table, including one from Sharpfang. She broke the seal and opened it up.

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Dear Lady Rose Potter-Peverell,

I am writing to inform you that the item known as the Philosopher's Stone has been returned to Nicolas Flamel and his wife, both of whom have offered their greatest thanks to you despite their anger at the situation in general. I would expect some correspondence from them in the future.

I also wish to inform you that myself and a team of Curse-Breakers are departing to cleanse the ring Horcrux tomorrow, after which the ring will be returned to you as per our agreement.

As you have mentioned before, the diary will also be dealt with shortly, which leaves us with the wraith in your possessed professor. The day before you depart on the Hogwarts Express for Christmas, I will be sending you a portkey which you can attach to your professor and he will be deposited in a ritual chamber for immediate exorcism.

May your gold grow and your enemies weep with fear.

Manager Sharpfang

Gringotts Bank

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With her plans in the works and those of the goblins, two more Horcruxes would be destroyed by the start of December and things could get back to normal. Or at least what constituted 'normal' in the life of Rose Potter. Merlin only knew why the standards of sanity in her life were so lax.

She sighed and put away the letter before turning to the pile of other letters in front of her with a wince.

"Why the bloody hell am I still getting fan mail from my classmates?"

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By the last week of November Rose was rather irritable. It was wet and cold, the teachers were handing out ridiculous amounts of homework, and she was getting more and more stressed about Voldemort as the days went by. She made sure not to let anyone know she was twitchy, though. Merlin only knew what sort of half-baked plan Voldy would come up with if he thought his plans to get the stone were going wrong. She was almost morbidly curious about what he'd say if he knew that the stone was already gone.

She walked out of her Potions class with Professor Sinistra trying to think of a plan for sending Quirrellmort to Gringotts. Getting him there sounded complicated and dangerous, but she had a feeling that a simple plan would be the best solution. There was no point in trying to come up with something convoluted and flashy when an easier plan would be more reliable.

Reaching up briefly she felt for the ring on a chain around her neck. The newly-cleansed Gaunt ring was a soothing presence that she constantly felt the need to touch. Having the Resurrection Stone embedded in it probably didn't help.

Perhaps it was her status as Lady Peverell now, but the Hallow felt nothing like it had before. It wasn't eerie, it didn't call to her, and it didn't strike fear in her when she thought about its capabilities. To her it felt warm, its magic exuding a soft aura that called to her Family magic offering comfort. She often felt it resonating with her Peverell House ring, almost as if it was reassuring her that it was hers and hers alone.

Despite knowing what it could do she felt no need to call upon the dead, even with the opportunity to see her parents once more. She knew deep down that the dead were meant to stay dead. Death is not something that can be controlled on a whim, it is something that merely exists. Even working with the Veil she'd always been careful to be respectful, especially as she had a theory that the archway and the stone were connected somehow.

Walking along the hallways she passed a group of older Slytherins who were whispering furiously to each other. She had a feeling that it was because of the morning paper proclaiming Severus Snape guilty of child endangerment and illegal use of spells against underage children, amongst other convictions. Amelia told her that he'd actually given up a whole lot of information which the Aurors were slowly using to build up a case against the Death Eaters who'd escaped prosecution after the war. (Said Aurors were thoroughly enjoying their anonymous donation, even if Amelia had face-palmed in private.)

Amelia was a woman who'd seen a lot in her career chasing evil wizards, but even she was thoroughly disgusted at what she'd learnt from Snape's questioning. Rose thought that with his status as one of the inner circle he probably knew a lot about Death Eater 'activities' which was probably why Amelia was so disturbed.

With irrefutable evidence that Snape was being sentenced to Azkaban the snakes were obviously worried about being protected. The nicer ones like her friends were worried about the unfair prejudice against their House, but the nastier ones had realised their bullying wouldn't be condoned anymore.

All the fervour was certainly beneficial for Rose, though. The next day was an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors so Lucius Malfoy would be out of the manor, and Sirius had offered to help her plans by having a Black family meetup with Andromeda and Narcissa, in private at least. (Rose had a feeling that her dad and Andi got on better with Narcissa than they'd admit, especially as they seemed very keen to reconnect with their cousin-slash-sister.)

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The following day saw Rose in the Chamber of Secrets awaiting her faithful house-elf. Having a house-elf from the future was inordinately useful, not just for their bond but also for Dobby's knowledge of current events. He knew things that happened with the pure-bloods around this time, he knew people to avoid, but best of all he knew the layout of certain buildings.

One of these buildings was Malfoy Manor.

She may have been there before, but being kidnapped and tortured didn't exactly give her the the opportunity to explore the building. She hated the place and didn't understand how Draco could stand to live there in the future, even with all of the renovations that he'd done.

Grimmauld Place may have reminded her of Sirius and made her cry a bit, but she hadn't seen anyone locked there and tortured. It wasn't the happiest place, but she could remember sitting with Sirius as he told stories about his childhood, laughing about annoying his mother and lamenting over his brother.

She smiled as she thought about how she didn't have to rely on memories of Sirius anymore, or Remus. Her once father figures were now her actual fathers, legal adoption or not, and she had a family that actually loved her. The biggest wish she'd had as an abused orphan at the Dursleys had finally come true.

Rose was startled out her thoughts by Dobby popping in with a small brown box.

"Any problems Dobby? Did anyone see you?"

The elf shook his emphatically, ears flapping about. "No problems, Miss Rosey. Nobody saw Dobby working."

"Great job Dobby! You can go back to work now."

Dobby beamed at her a little maniacally before popping away.

She opened the box and peered inside, gaze falling on the teenage diary of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. She thought that Lucius Malfoy really needed to reconsider the actual strength of house-elves and how easy it was to steal from him.

Before Rose had originally met Dobby at the age of twelve, he'd been working for the Malfoy family for just over twenty years. He knew the ins and outs of the manor and the secrets they wouldn't want anyone to know of. He also knew all about the wards covering the property which did nothing to stop him getting in. The hidden room under the drawing room floor however was closed even to elves unless they'd been shown how to get in. In his past life, Dobby had been.

Rose could have gotten the diary before now, but she'd wanted to wait until she knew a specific time that Malfoy was out in case Dobby got in trouble. There was no way that she'd put him in that sort of danger, especially with how vividly she remembered the time he'd nearly died from Bellatrix's knife. He'd been stabbed and it'd been touch and go for a while, but he'd just barely pulled through. Even though he'd reassured her plenty of times she still felt guilty about that day, and she'd made sure he was always safe from then on.

So Dobby had once more come to her rescue and popped over to Malfoy Manor, stole the diary and replaced it with a fake. Looking down at the diary she couldn't help but feel pity for the younger Tom, as this diary was the physical manifestation of the very moment he fucked up everything for good.

Before this he could have turned his life around, but this … thing, was a one-way ticket to insanity and a ruined chance for a good life that he could never take back. She wondered if he'd known what was happening when he did it, or if his mind had fractured instantaneously without notice.

She banished the thought, realising that there was no point in feeling sorry when she couldn't save him. Though it could be construed that killing him was putting him out of his misery, she supposed.

Rose picked up a small box and opened it carefully to see the case of vials inside that she'd received from Gringotts, pulling out one of the vials and looking at the clear liquid inside. Basilisk venom.

She didn't even pick the diary up before she tipped the vial into the box, watching as the venom sizzled and burned through the leather and pages. The diary spurted and bled ink, and it emitted a high-pitched scream which seemed distant but echoed around the chamber at the same time. A black haze rose out of the diary before screaming even louder, then dissipating into nothing.

As of right now all the Horcruxes were gone.

As of now, Voldemort could die.

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Before anyone accuses me of bashing Snape let me just say this: as much as I enjoy the fandom version of him being a snarky and sarcastic good guy, in canon he is literally an arsehole. He is verbally and emotionally abusive towards a young orphan, and doesn't even respect him enough to judge him on his own actions, let alone the blatant discrimination towards the different Houses.

Favorite Avenger?? I love Thor and Loki. I mean they are so fucking hot...

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