I agree with your assessment of how powerful Perenelle/Flamel (side note: need a good portmanteau a la Quirrellmort) should be, having been able to outwit Baba Yaga in her sixth year and then having six hundred years of excellent leverage to accumulate lore and also maybe play with what the stone can do.
That objection notwithstanding, the most plausible non-Voldemort killer would be Bellatrix, using her superpower of very strict obedience to orders like “Just use AK and do not hesitate for any reason”.
The odds of that being true are steadily falling, if only because there aren’t many chapters left in which to have that revelation, and it’s hard to see how it would improve the plot at this point.
I agree with your assessment of how powerful Perenelle/Flamel (side note: need a good portmanteau a la Quirrellmort) should be, having been able to outwit Baba Yaga in her sixth year and then having six hundred years of excellent leverage to accumulate lore and also maybe play with what the stone can do.
That objection notwithstanding, the most plausible non-Voldemort killer would be Bellatrix, using her superpower of very strict obedience to orders like “Just use AK and do not hesitate for any reason”.
Flamelle.
I’m going with this.
It’s not Perenelle, it’s still Baba Yaga, who killed a sixth-year dark witch, stole her identity, and faked her own death.
The odds of that being true are steadily falling, if only because there aren’t many chapters left in which to have that revelation, and it’s hard to see how it would improve the plot at this point.
On the contrary, tthe odds are increasing, since we’re running out of opportunity for this deduction from the text to be contradicted. (^_^)
Perenelle’s surname is also Flamel. (You could use a portmanteau for Perenelle/Nicolas.)
Nicolelle?