At the moment when Lord Voldemort's broken body collided with the ground, finally having the end that everyone had prayed for a long time - too long in fact -, Amalthea Potter felt nothing but immense sorrow. Sorrow for all the lost lives for that man, if he could be considered a man after all the atrocities he committed. Sorrow for her, sorrow for her family and friends, acquaintances, and all those who in one way or another suffered at the hand of the Dark Lord. Maybe even sorrow for him. Voldemort never found the peace and love that everyone deserved at least once in their lives, and for that... everyone had to suffer with him.

"It's done..."  Whispered the voices of all the dead, causing a shiver that started at the back of her neck and that went down her spine. The voice of her parents, Sirius, Remus, and Fred were among them. Amalthea knew since the Elder Wand flew into her hand, between the two powerful spells she and Voldemort had cast in the final act, what she had become...

Mistress of Death. Thea was now the Mistress of Death... She! She who just wanted a life of peace and normality.

The silence that followed Voldemort's fall did not last long - or perhaps it did, at least for her it seemed to last an eternity. All of her was numb, her body frozen and her mind empty. Screams of joy, crying, groans of relief, hugs, and kisses have been around her since the Dark Lord was defeated. Amalthea had no one to hug.

Well, she did. She had Neville, Luna, and Hagrid. Hermione was still there, and so was Ron and the rest of the Weasleys - except Fred... Fred who would never smile again when they both kissed passionately, Fred who would never whisper her name like a prayer as if he couldn't believe she was real and that she was his. She could never hug and kiss him again. She could never love him in this life. He was there, but at the same time, he wasn't. Not as she wished he were.

Amalthea's body was numb, sore, exhausted. She couldn't muster the strength to celebrate together with everyone else. How could she? As much as everyone tried, they would never understand.

"It's okay, go if you want to go." Fred's voice was as warm and loving as it had always been when addressed to her. She could feel the soft, icy touch of his caress on her face, she could see the ghostly sad smile he gave her when she tried hard not to cry.

Taking a last look at Voldemort's corpse, still unable to believe that it was finally over, Thea turned on her heels and with a soft pop! she disappeared, her friends' screams and laughter still ringing in her ears.

The first thing she did when she reached Grimmauld Place was to call for Kreacher, the grumbling old house-elf who seemed overjoyed to find his lady alive and well. A wide smile was on his wrinkled skin when he realized that he had not lost another master. The copy of Slytherin's locket that he wore around his neck swung when he was quick to offer Thea a hot bath.

The beautiful young woman didn't take long to enter the hot, fragrant water of the black marble bathtub and let herself relax for a few minutes.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and her breathing was racing, even though she tried to control herself. Finally, when she was sure that no one would bother her, she released the sobs that wanted to plague her body. Hot tears flowed down her face, her eyes becoming swollen and reddened but not less beautiful...

She screamed. She shouted loudly and without fear. She shouted and called out to her mother, her father, Sirius and Remus. She screamed for Fred, the man she loved. The man she knew she could never forget.

Only her mother appeared at that moment - perhaps she appeared alone because even though the others were dead they didn't want to invade her privacy. Her mother's figure had sat on the edge of the bathtub, humming softly as she ran her fingers through her daughter's black hair.

Lily was beautiful, even in her death. Tall and sculptural, with fire-red hair and bright green eyes. Amalthea had spent years hearing over and over again that she had her mother's green eyes, but not fail to notice that everyone had been wrong. Lily's eyes were jade green, while Amalthea's were a different shade of emerald, never seen before... Almost like the color of the Death Curse. Maybe it was meant like that. After all, she was now the Mistress of Death.

"What am I going to do now?" She asked, interrupting Lily Potter's angelic voice singing over swallows and a bright sun.

"Whatever you wish, my love," Lily said, watching her daughter play with the water that was crystal clear before. The blood and dirt disappeared from the young Potter's body when she rubbed her skin so many times until it turned red. But not all the water in the world and perfumed oils could make her feel less dirty, less broken.

"You and I know what you want, Amalthea. It's finally over. Voldemort is defeated, he will not be able to harm anyone again."

Thea thought again of what everyone considered a monster but who had once been a handsome, intelligent, and captivating young man. She knew that she could have become like Tom Riddle... She realized that when she wrote in his diary in the second year and he became her confidant. They had so much in common, yet they were so different. At that time she hadn't realized who he was, she found it wonderful to have someone to talk to, to have someone who listened and understood what it was like to be an orphan, without feeling the love of their parents and being alone in the world just like her. The moment she stabbed the diary with the basilisk prey and saw the ink gush like blood on a wound, amid the screams of pain, Tom Riddle had smiled. He knew that she had to do it.

He knew that she had to defeat that monster he had become. Amalthea hoped that he had found peace.

She finished her bath without further ado, the water disappearing from the bathtub at the same moment she got up, wetting the floor on her way to dry herself and get dressed.

James Potter, Sirius, Remus, and Fred joined the two when they were already in the bedroom. The spirits waited on the big bed while she combed her long and wavy black hair, that seemed to run in the Potter family.

"Nobody will judge you if you want to go, pup." Sirius' voice had been heard while the others waved.

Thea looked up from her reflection in the mirror, her skin so pale showing evidence of crying and the few freckles she had, and she smiled sadly. "They would never let me go even if I wanted to. They think I have a duty to them as their savior, as if I hadn't already done that."

"Voldemort is dead." Said Fred.

"There will always be others like him. New Dark Lords will always appear."

"You owe them nothing, my daughter. You are free to do whatever you want. Your mother and I always wanted you to be happy, do what you think will make you happy!" James Potter exclaimed, looking lovingly at his daughter.

"Since they created that prophecy, I have never really been free or happy..." Thea sat across from her father and took his hands gently. The touch of a ghost was strange, it was there and it wasn't. It was real and at the same time, it was not. Father and daughter were so alike, be it appearance or personality. "I know that Dumbledore put me with the Dursleys just to play my savior a few years later, when it was time for me to go to Hogwarts. He used me as his puppet in his war and games. Everything for the greater good..."

"Screw the greater good." Snarled Fred, looking at his beautiful lover, the woman he continued to love even though they were separated by the world of the dead and the world of the living. "You have already had to give up too many things just for the greater good."

Remus smiled at the green-eyed girl. "Amalthea, no one would blame you for leaving. We cannot imagine what it is like to be in your position, knowing that so many have their eyes on you... waiting for your next step, waiting to see the seventeen-year-old girl whom they put the weight of the world on her shoulders, smile and thank the gratitude comments they think is enough. We just want you to know that we will always be with you..."

"...here!"  Whispered her godfather, looking with such love and pride in his eyes as he pointed to her chest, to the exact place where her heart was beating strongly.

The urge to cry had come again, but Thea had managed to suppress it. She looked at the five figures in anguish and said: "I never want to feel so worthless again, I never want to feel my life and decisions to be decided by others. I don't want to see everyone deciding my destiny for me."

"Your destiny is what you choose for yourself, my love."

"I don't want to be a pawn again! I am more than tha ... " Her voice became a mere whisper. "I deserve more than that."

Lily Potter smiled fondly and fiercely, in the eyes of a mother who protects her children from all the dangers in the world.

"Don't be a pawn, Amalthea. Be a player."