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Chapter Text

At eight years old, Morgana Lillian Potter was reasonably intelligent.

She managed to get good grades on her report cards, cards that were switched with fakes when Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon asked for them. She usually knew the names of her classmates within the first weeks of class, which was more than Dudley could say for almost the entire year. She also knew that books about anything were strictly out of bounds to her, which happened to be the knowledge she absolutely hated.

Ana loved to read more than anything in the world. She would read text books, biographies, fictional books, and even historical novels. It didn't matter what it said, just as long as there were words, Ana read it.

At the library, every librarian knew her name just as she knew theirs. Ms. Kennedy, the head librarian, always warned the new volunteers about her. "See that girl?" She would say, "That girl has been there every weekday. She comes straight after school, and leaves almost two hours later. No matter what, you help that girl; and if someone comes in looking for her, you send them away saying you haven't seen her." The volunteers would look confused, but one look at the fat boy that would ask about her and all of them understood. If the skinny girl and this boy were cousins, something was wrong in that household.

Ana never got to read at home though. At home was a place of working. Working in the yard. Working in the kitchen. Working in the living room for Aunt Petunia's parties. Yet when Ana found the dusty books with unmarked bindings in Dudley's room, she forgot temporarily. Ana was so wrapped up in the book that she failed to hear the front door opening or her cousin stomping up the stairs until it was too late.

"Mum! Mum, Morgana's got something! Mum, come quick!" Dudley yelled, in an instant his mother was at the door, sneering at her niece.

"What do you think your doing?" Aunt Petunia screeched, storming over to her and yanking the book away. "Stealing from my duddikins, are you?" She demanded. She grabbed her niece's hair and dragged her downstairs to the cupboard. Ana was flung inside and looked fearfully at her aunt. "You stupid girl! Just wait until you uncle gets home, be sure that he will hear of this!" The door was flung shut and Ana winced, her soft candyfloss-coloured hair stuck in the door. It was yanked open and Aunt Petunia kicked her further into the small space. "Keep that devil hair hidden!"

-----

"Blimey, are you really?" Ana looked in disgust at the boy across from her in the compartment. Ronald if she had heard correct, not that the boy had bothered introducing himself to her. "Do you have the, you know, the scar?" Ana nodded slightly, lifting up her hair to show it. He gaped at her. "Blimey."

"Would you excuse me?" Ana blurted. "I need to go to the bathroom." She got up before he could answer and walked out, shutting the door behind her and repressing a sigh of relief. She walked to the back, giving a smile to a boy and girl looking for a toad and ducked into a seemingly empty compartment. She sat down and looked out the window for a few minutes before she heard a slight sob from the corner.

Ana stood cautiously, making her way over to the side. She was surprised to see a girl curled up on the edge of a seat, her legs pulled to her chest and face buried in her knees.

"Um, are you alright?" She asked, instantly feeling stupid. No, it was quite obvious that she was not alright.

The girl lifted her head, the hood sliding back to reveal dark, loose curls. "I'm," She sniffed. "Um, sorry. Yes, I'm alright. I'm Miss Lavender Brown." She girl hesitated before holding out a hand and attempting to dry her eyes with the other.

"Miss Morgana Potter, but you can just call me Ana. Morgana is too much of a mouth full." She said, smiling. Lavender looked shocked before smiling brightly.

"Would you like to sit with me? We have a full compartment to ourselves." Lavender offered. Ana smiled and nodded.

-----

Ana squeezed her eyes shut as the old, ratty hat was placed on her head, resting atop her curls. "Hmm...difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you? Definitely your mothers daughter. Quite the thirst for knowledge." Ana had to bite her lip to stop herself from screeching, she hadn't realized it would actually talk.

"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin." Ana whispered, she couldn't understand her own aversion to the house of snakes, but everytime she thought of going anywhere other than Gryffindor she felt nauseous.

The hat started to talk again. "Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know. It's all here in your head. And Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness! There's no doubt about that! No?... Well, if you're sure...better be...GRYFFINDOR!"

-----

Ana smiled gratefully as Lavender helped her onto the train while Neville put their trunks away. It was the beginning of second year and the Dursleys had decided to make their parting gift particularly unforgettable. Once on the train, Ana looked at her friends, at the end of their first year she, Lavender and Neville had saved the sorcerers stone. Ron Weasley had come along as well but had passed out at the sight of Fluffy, so had had to be dragged out of the room. He had woken up later in time to tell everyone a false set events, making him look like a bigger fool when the three didn't know what he was talking about.

Ana was interrupted from her thoughts as a head popped around the door. "May me and my friend sit in here? No one else will let us sit with them." The girl was smiling but her smile drooped at the end of the sentence. Ana took a closer look at them. One had fiery red hair, inquisitive brown eyes and a splatter of orange freckles across her face. The other girl had long, almost whimsical, platinum coloured hair and the brightest blue eyes that Ana had ever seen. "I'm Ginny and this is Luna." The redhead offered with a dimpled smile.

-----

"Hey Ana, wait up!" Fred Weasley shouted as he skidded to a stop in the entrance hall, next to a rather dusty looking suit of armor. "Yes?" Ana asked, her brow scrunched in confusion. Though she had tried many times to get his attention, Fred Weasley could rarely be detached from his twin.

He was handsome, though, and she was trying to figure out a way for him to ask her to the ball. Any suggestions had to be done without Ginny involved, though, since she tended to squeal and make grossed out faces every time something romantic was brought up. Honestly, it wasn't as if they hadn't already told her about the birds and the bees. Ana mentally made a face. Lavender was grossly vivid in the telling of that topic. All Aunt Petunia had done was throw a cheap romance novel at her and tell her not to get pregnant or they would kick her out.

Ana suddenly realized that she had tuned out what he was saying and mentally shook her head to get the cobwebs out. She blinked tuned back in.

"So, I...I was wondering if you wanna go to the ball with me?" He asked, stuttering slightly. Ana blinked in shock for a minute before nodding hurriedly. Then she realized what she was doing and tuned it down to a single nod. She was too busy internally dancing and squealing, already thinking on a dress to wear to notice the slightly glazed over look in his eyes.

"I'd love to." Ana answered before walking into the Great Hall to look for Lavender, a beaming smile on her face. Spotting her, she quickly walked over and scooted between Ginny and Neville. "Guess what just happened?" They blinked at her. "Oh, for God's sakes. You two are absolutely no help at all. Really Ginny, we need to work on this sometime. You are squeal-stunted. Lavender, guess what happened?" Lavender looked up from her Divination textbook and raised an eyebrow.

"Is it what I think it is?" She asked. Ana nodded excitedly.

Lavender's squeal was loud enough to have the Great Hall quiet and all turn to look at them. Ana flushed and slid down her seat slightly. The other girl was oblivious.

----

Ana was terrified. She dodged through gravestones as Voldemort fired curse after curse at her. Ana's hair flew behind her like pink fire as she quickly ducked out-of-the-way of a well-aimed Bombarda. She couldn't get the image of Pettigrew's stumped arm out of her head. He had destroyed himself just for a man that looked almost identical to a snake with limbs.

Ana risked a look back and almost stopped as pain erupted in her scar. She hunched over, trying to escape it. Voldemort was staring after her in disgust and no small amount of shock. His scaly face was marred by a scowl, his crimson eyes glowing in a promise of revenge.

Ana braced herself for a minute, then leaped towards the cup. She grabbed hold of Cedric's hand and prayed the portkey went both ways. She almost sighed in relief at the familiar feeling of a hook pulling her naval.

----

Ana grabbed her coffee cup as she followed Sirius into what looked like a potions lab. It was Christmas and she had spent it surrounded by her best friends. Only Neville couldn't make it as his grandmother had taken him to visit relatives in Peru. The only downside to her Christmas was that Ginny was only allowed to come with the rest of her family. She didn't' mind Bill, Ginny and the twins but Ron, his mother and Percy Weasley were easily the bane of her daily existence. Molly Weasley would spend hours on end criticising her hair and then like a flipped switch would suddenly start spewing out useless facts about Ron.

She didn't seem to realize that ever since first year, the two hadn't been friends. It had been rough even then.

Sirius locked the door behind him, his dark black waves of hair moving as he turned around. He walked over to a desk and picked up a pastel coloured leaflet, he tossed it over and whispered "Think about it."

Ana looked at the cover. In big block letters it read : THE INS AND OUTS OF BLOOD ADOPTION. Ana grinned and felt her heart soar, she would have a real parent.

-----

Ana scrunched her eyes together as images flew in front of her eyes. The first time her uncle hit her. ..Aunt Marge laughing as she hugged the tree branch, scrambling to get away from Ripper... Her aunt locking her in the cupboard for screaming at a nightmare...Her aunt trying to bleach her hair and leaving angry red marks dotted on her forehead... Voldmort flinging curses at her in the graveyard... At that Ana did the only thing she could think of and mentally screamed until Snape flinched back and lowered his wand. He gave her a deepened look of disgust, raising his arm at her once again.

"Well Potter-" He sneered her name "It's certainly better than before, though I doubt the dark lord would be deterred by a little girls . Legilimens." Snape shouted.

------

Morgana Lillian Potter-Black bit her lip in pain, she refused to make a noise. She could feel Bellatrix shift against her, felt the knife drag lower down her arm. Leaf green-flecked brown eyes flickered open to glare at the curly-haired woman in disgust.

"Nothing but a filthy blood-traitor... Mother was a mudblood... Master will be pleased... Bitch will die!" Bellatrix muttered manically as she started to carve words into Ana's arm before stopping as she realised she wouldn't get a reaction. She pouted and dug the knife deeper and carved the words quicker. At still no reaction she tossed Ana aside and turned to her pale nephew.

"FINE! Draco get the Lovegood girl...She looks oh so pretty." Bellatrix grinned madly, not hearing the distinct crack of apparation.

-----

Ana screamed as she watched Fred fall, his eyes lifeless and glassy. She clenched her jaw and ran after Bellatrix, she would lead Ana to Voldemort and would hopefully die on the way. Ana stopped short at that, she had never wished anyone dead before. Too long she was stood there as Bellatrix skipped off towards the forest.

Ana didn't have long to wallow in grief before she caught the end of Voldemorts speech. "You have one hour to deliver Morgana Potter to me!" Obviously didn't hear about the name change Ana laughed bitterly as she set out on the long trek towards the forest, and her death...

-----

Ana was exhausted. It had been three weeks since Voldemorts defeat and she had been called to Gringotts to discuss her vaults and any contracts made. She looked around as she waited for Griphook to find the contracts and search for any faulty transactions in the vaults as was protocol when an heir claimed the titleship as head of house.

"Well Miss Potter-Black, it seems you have several outstanding contracts with the matriarch of the Weasley family along with many transactions to the prewitt vault, also owned by Mrs Molly Weasley." Griphook sighed out in a raspy voice, the only sign of his past injuries.

"I never agreed to that and I've never seen any contracts." Ana exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock as her hair grew darker to a hot pink, she had never like Molly Weasley, the woman had always seemed too clingy to Ana and always wanted to mother her. Her mother had died for her, she wasn't getting replaced by another. Now it seems she had another good reason. "Well the contracts are null and void anyway as they were never signed by the Potter head of house, which is now you, and any transactions can easily be reversed." Griphook said, looking gleeful at the chance to knock Molly Weasley down a peg or two.

"Do it." Was all Ana said before apparating back to Ottery St Catchpole, where they were recuperating at Luna's house.

---------

"Let's go to China first, they have the most amazing silk." Lavender suggested happily from her corner of the library. She looked up from a travel book and waved it in the air. "It would be fun!"

Ana shrugged, she didn't particularly mind where they went as long as it wasn't in England. She looked over to Ginny the last companion to the travelling trio. "Sure why not." Ginny yawned as she dozed in an armchair near the fireplace.

"Kretcher!" The old house elf appeared in front of Ana, ready to take orders. "Get me a map of China, would you?" The map appeared on the wall and Ana picked up a dart. She threw it, grabbing a green marker and going to the map to mark where the dart landed. "Ooh, Mount Song, China."

Chapter Text

"We need to go to India." Lavender announced.

Ginny and Ana exchanged looks from their seats and Ana put her book down. Mechanics would have to wait for a few minutes.

"Why do we need to go to India?" Ana asked. Lavender shrugged.

"I have no idea, but we need to go. It's really important for us to go. Preferably if we could go soon, but I am willing to wait a few hours if need be. We just have to go there as fast as possible." Lavender said. She was almost vibrating with energy and her fingers twitched restlessly on her knee. "It's really important."

"I'm getting that." Ginny said dryly. Lavender didn't even roll her eyes and Ana raised an eyebrow. This must actually be serious this time. "How about you tell us where India came into play? We just left Beijing for Spain. I thought we were going to learn Spanish and insult foreigners. I even learned how to say 'the stupid American thinks he's one of us' in Spanish. Why did I do that if we are about to leave?"

"Gin, love, you do know that they would have been able to spot that you weren't Spanish, don't you?" Ana asked cautiously. There was always a chance that no, she hadn't known that. Ginny just stuck out her tongue though and Ana sighed in relief. Sometimes she wondered if they should have stuck around long enough to have graduated.

"Change of plans. We can come back." Lavender said. She grabbed the emergency laptop and turned it on. Ana was momentarily speechless.

Even though they had a computer that was useable, it was agreed upon that unless the world was going to end otherwise, it would not be used. Granted, only Ana really knew how to use it so it was more of a gesture than actual agreement, but it was still said. For Lavender, a witch that had grown up almost completely in the magical world (and without a father whose love of muggle things rivaled his love of his family) to use a computer, the situation was special indeed.

"Can't we go tomorrow? That way we could get some shopping in?" Ginny almost begged. Lavender gave her a look and she was silenced. A minute later she bit her lip and seemed to understand. "Lavender, is this about a vision? Like, a fully fledged one or something?" Lavender paused and her fingers started twitching again.

"I'm not full-blooded Seer, so I don't get full visions." She snapped.

"You avoided the question." Ginny snapped back. Ana sent her a look and she sighed. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Lavender looked up at them. "It's just, we have to go. I woke up with this feeling and I can't shake it. It's like something is pulling me to leave. India has the next stop for us. Something is hiding there that will be the first piece to a puzzle."

Ana sighed. "We just finished a puzzle, do we really have to start a new one already?" She got a nod in response and nodded. "Okay then, book us a flight for this afternoon. Don't bother with a hotel, there's a old place that one of the Unnamed Black used to live in. We'll come back to Spain eventually." She stood picked up her book to start packing.

She had recently discovered a natural affinity with technology that had left the three witches pleasantly surprised. Normally technology would malfunction or catch fire when mixed with magic, but for some reason Ana was able to weave the two together easily with mostly positive results. While the other two had no interest in what Ginny called, "complicated rune-squiggles on metal contraptions", they had all decided to get some sort of degree for themselves.

Lavender was studying everything on public speaking and debate. Especially after her scare with Fenrir Greyback in the Battle of Hogwarts, she wanted equal rights for all creatures. She had already written a book on werewolf rights dedicated to the Lupin and Tonks family, and was moving on to vampires. Lavender would go to town on the pretext of reading fortunes (which she never did unless confronted to, she found it incredibly demeaning) and end up listening to political debates.

Ginny had taken the academic route, becoming a potion mistress. Well, becoming an almost potions mistress. She had recently found out how much paperwork was involved and regularly quit once a day. Then she would remember Potions class and Snape saying that they would never amount to much and she would pick it up again. It helped that the thought of being a medi-witch was in the long term goal. On nights where one or more of the girls got nightmares and woke the others up so to not have to stay awake alone, Ginny would look over the medi-witch materials and sometimes would be quizzed on notes.

-------

The plane ride was unpleasantly bumpy.

The plane was small, and it was just the three witches, a worried looking man, and two men that kept talking to each other in another language. Within the first few minutes Ginny had fallen asleep and was snoring loudly from Ana's shoulder. Ana was rereading Ancient Runes textbooks, charmed to look like a mystery novel. Lavender kept glancing anxiously out the window, then back quickly when all she saw were storm clouds.

"I hate flying." She muttered. Ana lifted her head and grinned at her.

"You were the one insistent that this plane would be fine. We were willing to wait until tomorrow to get the actual plane to fly us. Don't start complaining now." She said. Lavender rolled her eyes and smacked Ginny's shoulder. The snoring stopped for a minute before resuming even louder.

Lavender groaned and leaned her head back against the side of the ship. "When we land, we are searching for a way to get her to stop, I swear. She is so obnoxiously loud. Ron used to be like that too, didn't he?" Ana shrugged, she had only had the displeasure of being near Ron when he was sleeping a few times. "It must be a Weasley thing."

"Fred didn't snore." Ana commented, going back to her book. Lavender stared for a moment at her. This was one of the first times that she had mentioned her ex-boyfriend without looking sad. Lavender reached into her bag and dug out Sun Tzu's Art of War. She opened where the bookmark was and stared at the pages.

She couldn't focus on the words, instead all her attention was on trying to keep magic in her. For some reason, it was trying to stretch to the other side of the plane. He seemed to hate flying as much as she did, and was twitching his leg nervously. Lavender turned away from the rest of the passengers and grabbed a vial of pepper-up potion and drowned it. She glanced at the vials left in her purse.

Only two left. Maybe she could get Ginny to brew some more for her. Lavender had some of the muggle chocolate filled caramel left over that she could bribe her with. Ginny was worse than Remus Lupin was when he was alive. Addicted to chocolate, the lot of them. Lavender ran a hand through her hair, still restless. She pulled her magic back in, but glanced to look at the man.

He was cute, a little scruffy though. Older, brown hair, and brown eyes. She normally wouldn't have looked twice at the man, but obviously her magic had a different idea. He had the beginning stubble of a beard, but it was not enough to be obvious. Ana elbowed the other girl and she realized that she was staring.

"When do we get off this plane?" Lavender groaned, already exhausted.

"Seeing as we have been in the air for twenty minutes, I think it may be a bit longer." Ana said, not looking up from her book.

Chapter Text

Ana pulled her glamoured blonde hair into a sloppy bun and joined the watch of the conveyor belt. A few minutes ticked by with no luggage before the suitcases started appearing.

Ginny saw her luggage first, hauling in off the belt before struggling with it. Ana rolled her eyes and sent a murmured, wand less spell to make it less heavy. Ginny sent her a grateful look and set it down. She headed out to hail a cab. Ana was left with Lavender and inwardly groaned.

She loved Lavender, she really did. Merlin knows it had to be slightly mutual for the other witch to have stayed with the accident prone Girl Who Lived. Yet when Lavender got antsy due to a vision she was unbearable.

Lavender would start calm, usually completely still after the violence of her half-visions. Then she would start perfecting. It might start with her correcting something that someone else said, casually throwing in the correct answer. That wasn't so bad. Slowly it would get worse, reorganizing a purse, or at Hogwarts she remodeled the dorm room (much to Granger's displeasure as she didn't understand that Seers were real). It might stop at that if it was a small vision, but often it got worse. Lavender would get make-overs, trying to redo any imperfections that she saw and her mind supplying an endless amount. Only once had it progressed past this, most of the time someone snapping her out of it before that point. The one time no one saw it until it was too late, Lavender got compulsive. If she wanted something, she bought it. She had almost hit bottom before Neville had been able to find her, and after that it was made sure that there was always someone that checked up on her if no one was with her.

Ana was pulled out of her thoughts by a familiar fabric. She let out a cry of victory and leaped forward to grab the duffle bag. She slipped the strap over her shoulder and looked back around for Lavender. The other girl was standing by the edge, away from others and stretching her neck to see. Ana frowned slightly and walked over to her.

As she arrived, Lavender fell forward slightly as a man walked by. Ana recognized him as one of the passengers on the small plane over. "Sorry, miss." He muttered. Ana started as Lavender stared at him before blushing slightly and nodding.

"No problem." She murmured quietly. The man had already walked away, and it reminded Ana of the way that Remus had walked. It was as if he was afraid that walking to confidently would break his calm and release a monster that he was terrified of. Lavender had leaned almost as if unconsciously toward his direction as he walked away. Ana grabbed her arm in concern. Lavender looked at her, lost. "What did Fleur call it? Like a welcoming, soft rain."

"Lavender, are you alright?" Ana asked. The other girl nodded quickly and took a deep breath.

"Sorry. I was just in another place for a second. Have you seen the case?" She asked. Ana nodded her head slowly. Lavender had lost the slightly glazed look in her eyes that went with visions and feelings until they had been filled. Ana turned to look at the stranger, but he was gone.

"Yeah, Ginny got it. I have your bandana, though, if you want it." She offered the fabric up, but Lavender just shook her head.

"No, thanks." Lavender chirped, suddenly smiling wide and almost skipping to where Ginny stood. Ana stared after her. The bandana usually was never refused- it acted as an anchor to help her stay in the present after visions and was always a comfort.

"This is a house belonging to the Ancient and Noble House of Black?" Ginny asked. The three witches stared at the building around them.

It was a wooden circle, the outside plain and small while the inside was very large. A lower floor had a single room with a stove, fridge, table, and a few chairs. A step higher and there was a another curtain hiding two beds built into the wall. An easel was standing in front of rows and rows of books. The wall closest to the door was painted black with words painted on top in white. Most of it wasn't English, but from they could read it was all pro-muggle. A picture frame rested on one table, and Ana blinked back tears when she saw it was a photograph of her and a group of friends.

She had sent that picture to him in her fourth year as a "Ah! I made it past the first task, go me!" present. Fred had taken it right before he asked her to the ball even. Neville was spraying her with a water spell and Lavender was hiding behind her. Ginny was laughing at her and Luna was looking in the air around her for nargles. Ana smiled sadly at it, that had been a whole life time ago.

"I think Sirius might have made some changes when he lived here for a month." Ana said, shrugging.

Lavender snorted. "Make that a lot of changes. Somehow I don't think that crabby old Lady Black would have approved of writing on the walls, much less painting pro-muggle campaign slogans on them, but maybe that's just me." Ana shrugged again. "There's an orphanage around here, isn't there?"

"Yep." Ana said. "The town just down the road has one. Mind you it's very small so it's not given much attention out of the town, but it is there. I may volunteer there sometimes. Something just tells me that I may have to wait on mechanics and magic around here. I may just be stereotyping the village, though. Who knows, maybe they have a horde of motorcycles hiding in the trees?" She flopped down on the couch and sighed comfortably. "This is actually very nice."

Ginny flung herself on the bottom of the couch and nodded. "Oh, it is nice. It feels almost like leather. This I would expect from the Ancient and Noble House of Black, especially one run by Sirius Black at one point. For a alleged mass-murderer, he had very nice taste in furniture. Side note, have either of you heard from the other pure-bloods we know and love recently?"

"Luna is searching for another picture of the Crumpled Hornsack after the first got destroyed in the war. She can't send mail for a while. I think she was trying to drag Draco and Neville along with her, but I'm not sure if they went." Lavender offered. She sat on the couch, picking up Ana's feet and putting them in her lap. "You have bony ankles by the way."

Ana ignored her in favor of burrowing her bony ankles further into her lap.

"What was that on the plane?" Ana asked suddenly, sitting up slightly to look at Lavender. The other girl blinked in confusion and shrugged slowly.

"I'm not actually sure. My magic seemed to almost latch onto that guy. It was really weird. Then, when I bumped into him, it was as if my magic wanted to go with him. It's kind of creepy now that I think about it." Lavender shuddered.

Ana frowned and stared at the ceiling. It was charmed to look like the sky and the stars blinked back at them. "Be careful, Lav. That could be dangerous if someone finds out that's an enemy. Remember, a new puzzle is being solved."

Chapter Text

He laughed. His wand didn't waver as the light sped towards her, illuminating the small classroom with the haunting red.

She fell to the ground when it hit her, convulsing in pain and trying to get away. It felt as if her blood was replaced with lava and hot iron rods were being pressed into her body from every side. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, momentarily screaming as her head smacked against the stone floor. Suddenly the pain stopped and she turned to her side, gasping and heaving for air in her lungs. She blinked up at where the boy had stood only to stop.

Where the boy had stood dressed all in black despite a white mask, a small first year boy stood in Hufflepuff yellow. He stared, horrified at the boy who was crumpled on the floor with blood pooling around his head. A chuck of wall fell out of the younger boys grasp and the clatter sounded too loud in the temporary silence.

She crawled up the wall, standing for a moment to regain feeling in her legs. Once her legs returned, she stumbled over to the boy and grasped his chin, forcing him to look away. "Come on, early man." She whispered. "Come on." She pulled him along the once familiar halls that now had sections blocked off by fallen stone. Vaguely she made a note to tell Luna that she now understood the title, as she had forgotten to mention it last she saw her. They reached the Great Hall and she brought him over to a group of people healing each other.

"Help him." She said, nudging him forward. A boy came and caught him, pulling him to a seat and having him sit down. "Watch him." At this the older boy looked taken aback, turning and glancing between the two with slightly narrowed eyes.

"He is one of them?" He asked quietly. She shook her head no.

"First time." She said back, briefly wondering why anything over a hushed tone was too loud all of a sudden. The older boy nodded and turned gently to the first year. She turned to leave but the early man stopped her.

"He killed her, you know." He said. She nodded gently.

"You don't have to justify it to me, early man. You don't have to justify it at all. You survived, that's all anyone asks for anymore." She told him. He nodded dazed and went back to staring blankly in front of him. "You survived." She whispered, more to herself now. She looked at the door of the hall and suddenly knew what was going to happen. "Please let them survive."

"This sucks." Ginny stated, nursing her cup of tea and staring at the writing on the wall of the house. "I'm bored."

Like always, when one witch had a nightmare, the other two would wake up, and this time they had woken up when it was still the night. Hours had passed and it had become four in the morning. It would never be mentioned which of them had had the nightmare, and they would never talk about what the nightmare was about unless the girl who had woken up panicked brought it up first.

"We could study your flashcards." Ana offered, pouring herself another cup. While Ana was always awake and refreshed in the early morning, she preferred the early morning to be a tad later. "The potions recipes and everything."

"We could go for a run." Lavender suggested. "We could go to the orphanage and surprise them with breakfast again." They had been living in India for only a day before they had gone to the orphanage and all of the orphans had managed to touch the girls in some way. It was always exciting to surprise them or celebrate a birthday that normally would have gone unnoticed. As much as the owner cared for the children, there was no money to spend on celebrations until the witches.

Ginny nodded, putting her cup down. "That sounds more fun. Oh, we would have to make more than usual. That doctor is coming in today from the village. I really want to talk to him, apparently he is amazing at healing."

"That's good. He is a doctor." Ana said dryly. She went to her suit case and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "I think I may take some of the girls and go into town today. A wizarding trading post is there and I would love to buy some new supplies. You two need anything?" They both shook their heads but Ginny paused and nodded.

She grabbed a list from a pocket in her bag and handed it over. "It's just some ingredients, nothing fancy. Lavender ran through all the pepper-up potions on the last flight and I can't restock yet. Plus, there's this new potion that's like Wolfsbane but is supposed to taste better. I'm trying to see if I could combine that recipe and one that makes the transformations less painful. If I can then those that don't embrace the wolf can be so much better." Ginny sighed wistfully and Ana and Lavender exchanged looks of amusement.

"Aanya!" Ana called, teasingly. She chased after the young girl, scooping her up and swinging her around when she caught her. "Aanya, where were you going?" The young girl pointed excitedly to a booth with animals.

"Look at them, Ms. Ana! Can I get a tiger?" Aanya asked excitedly. Ana laughed and shook her head no. Aanya pouted but soon forgot about it as they walked closer to the booth. The woman behind the counter smiled at them.

A magical familiar stall. Ana had put off getting a pet since Hedwig but she knew most of the wizarding world would consider it distasteful for their savior not to have a familiar. Ana looked around at the many owls, toads and the odd jewel-encrusted tortoise but not many cats. She cast one last look around and immediately fell in love. In a small wicker cage sat a fluffy ginger cat, though it looked part kneazel. It's face was slightly squashed in and it's legs were very bandy, Ana thought it was beautiful.

"You don't want that one dear, rips your skin off if you even breath near it" The old lady said, pointing a crooked finger at the cat. Ana ignored the woman and crouched down next to the cage, she put her hand against the bars and let out an inaudible sigh of relief when the cat leaned into her palm and mewled. Aanya stared at her in awe, and gripped the fabric of Ana's robe.

"Well dear...You can just go on and keep him, no one else will ever take him. His name is Crookshanks by the way." The lady shrugged. When Ana offered payment she shook her head. "No, none necessary."

Ana grinned in thanks and grabbed both the cage and Aanya's hand and pulled her from the market. "Let's go meet your brother and head home, okay?" Aanya nodded and pulled her hand from Ana's, darting into the crowd and reappearing with another child. The boy stopped when he saw Crookshanks before talking to Aanya excitedly. Ana smiled at the two of them and they started walking back to the orphanage.

When the small building came into sight, the two children ran to the doors, greeting a man at the door before rushing by. The man looked faintly amused and smiled when he saw her.

"Hello." She called, he nodded back. She suddenly recognized him as the stranger on the plane that Lavender was attracted to. He was slightly handsome she decided.

He nodded to the orphanage. "Are you with the other two English girls here?"

Ana raised an eyebrow. "Are there really that many English people that visit this orphanage?" Ana asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. "Fair enough. My name's Bruce."

Ana appraised him. "No last name, huh? You'll fit right in I think." He gave her a confused look, but Ana had already seen the glances between him and Lavender. "I'm Ana." Bruce nodded and held the door open for her to enter. "Thank you, such a gentleman."

"It's a talent." He said. She smiled and nodded. Lavender came around the corner of a room and called to them.

"Bruce! Ana! Oh, Ana, I heard that someone has a new kitty." Lavender called. Ana nodded and held up the cage with Crookshanks in it. Lavender visibly melted. "That is adorable. What is his name? Or is she a girl?" Ana raised one finger. "A boy, oh, you are so amazing. Why are you in a cage? Ana, why is he in a cage? No one deserves to be in a cage. Bruce, tell her that he shouldn't be in cage." Bruce looked at her in bemusement.

"Lavender, it was how I got him, I was going to get him out as soon as possible, I just thought that the walk on the way back was not the best time." Ana told her. Lavender blushed and shrugged.

"Just making sure."

"Hey, do you," Bruce turned to ask Lavender a question and Ana snuck away to let them talk to each other alone.

Chapter Text

Ana had seen many weird things in her lifetime. She had mostly gotten used to something strange happening around her as a normal, but when she came home to a green giant passed out where a row of trees used to be in her front yard, she did pause.

Ana then snapped out of it and walked calmly into the house to find her two roommates having tea.

"I do hope you saved me some." Ana commented. Lavender pointed to stove and Ana poured herself a cup from the kettle and sat down beside the other two. "So, what happened outside?" She asked.

"What outside?" Lavender asked, avoiding eye contact. Ginny snorted and was elbowed by the brunet. Ginny glared back.

"Oh, I don't know. How about you just tell me all that happened outside while I was gone and I'll fill in what I was asking at the end. Who knows, maybe it might include the changes in the front yard at some point." Ana said dryly. Lavender shrugged and took another sip of tea.

Then she placed the cup on the table and leaned back in the chair. "I was talking to Bruce." Ana nodded, and Ginny would have made a joke but she thought better of it. Best not with the other two staring the other down. Bruce and Lavender had been dating for almost three months and it seemed that all they did was talk to each other. "We were just walking outside, enjoying the air and that riot. Then he seemed to get nervous. He was stuttering and he told me that he had something really important to tell me. I told him that he could tell me anything. So he started talking, and I have no idea what he was going to say- or rather how he was going to phrase it since I figured out what he was going to say, thank you.- because his eyes turned green and then he grew, got muscular, and turned bright green. Honestly, he looked like a flustered piece of broccoli. I handled the situation-."

"She gaped at him and yelled for me." Ginny blurted. Ana hid a smirk and Lavender glared at them both.

"Well excuse me! My boyfriend just turned into broccoli!" She defended herself. She pouted when neither girl looked sympathetic at her.

"Sassy broccoli." Ginny clarified. "He looked really confused and took down a few trees in frustration. He stopped when I sent a stunner. It didn't last long though. A few seconds and he was back, roaring for a minute before he saw Lavender and the power of love calmed him down. He tried to pick her up, but I sent a stronger stunner and he just kind of fell down instead."

"He wasn't going to hurt me!" Lavender interjected. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Love, at the time I didn't even know it was Bruce. All I knew was I was inside and then there was a green hulking figure outside, tearing up trees and trying to pick you up."

"And he just randomly turned?" Ana interrupted before the two could got rolling, skeptically. Lavender didn't make eye contact again. "Lavender."

"I may have been telling him some stuff about the war. Maybe. I really can't remember." She said. Ana resisted the urge to hit her head on the table.

"What might you have said?"

"I may have been mentioning the time that we got sent to Malfoy Manor. To be fair, though, he did ask about my scar and I told him that he didn't want to know. Plus, how was I supposed to know that this would happen? I thought I might just get him a tad sad or something, not angry enough to rip out trees with his bare hands!" She defended. Ana gave into the urge.

"Does he know?" She asked, staring closely at the table. There was a small no. Ana lifted her head and stared at the girl for a long time. "You want to tell him, don't you?" She finally asked quietly. Lavender nodded once, slowly. Ana nodded. "I thought so. Are you still going to?" Another slow nod. "Okay." Ana was aware of both girls staring at her in disbelief but she looked to the door. Bruce had just arrived and was standing awkwardly.

"Hi, sorry about your lawn." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. Ana shrugged. He looked to Lavender. "Can we talk?" Lavender nodded.

"I think that's a good idea."

Ana sat on the newly made window bench, staring out at the trees.

Lavender had come back in excited, saying that he took it well and that the revealed secrets wouldn't change anything. Ana leaned her head against the wall and sighed. She would never admit it, but she was secretly jealous of the two. Love without secrets sounded so unrealistic, but they had almost managed to achieve it. When she was dating Fred she had been convinced that it was true love that was the stuff out of fairytales, such a naïve thought given what was revealed.

Ana closed her eyes and she was back in the court room, Molly Weasley sitting in the center oblivious to the looks of disgust being sent her way. Reporters were writing like crazy, and the jury was whispering in disbelief. Ana was at the center of it, Ginny on her right and Lavender on her left. Neville and Luna had managed to get seats behind them, and Neville whispered something that sounded encouraging but Ana only dimly heard.

"Molly Muriel Weasley nee Prewitt, did knowingly do the following: theft and manipulation of Miss Morgana Lillian Potter-Black, heir to the most ancient house of Potter and the most ancient and most noble house of Black... You did knowingly cast several Imperious and persuasion curses on Messrs. Fredrick George Weasley and George Fredrick Weasley. You did knowingly attempt an all-encompassing marriage contract between Miss Potter-Black and Fredrick Weasley."

Ana opened her eyes and blinked back tears. She shook her head slightly and breathed in.

This wasn't about her. It was about Lavender and Bruce, and Ana would not ruin this time for them. Lavender knew what she was getting herself into, and if Ana checked the eyes of both of them for a little while, so what? She was just being polite.

Chapter Text

Ginny stared.

She inwardly felt torn between slapping Lavender, congratulating Lavender, warning Bruce not to hurt her (again), and hugging Ana. Needless to say, she was torn in so many directions. She settled on hugging the happy couple.

"That's wonderful." Ginny told them. Lavender and Bruce were oblivious to the tension and beamed. They glanced at each other for a moment and she pulled Ana close. "This is not about you." Ginny whispered sternly. The other girl nodded into her shoulder slightly.

"Let me see the ring." Ana said, finally speaking. Lavender quickly thrust her hand forward and wiggled a small band at them. "That's so pretty. When are you thinking about the date?"

"When we settle down, but it won't be for a bit. We're leaving in a few days to another town." Lavender said. Ginny winced as Ana's hand tightened around hers. "Merlin, this is just so exciting! He asked me a few days ago at the orphanage, had Aratia bring me a map and he was waiting with the ring at the 'X'. It was so romantic." She beamed again and leaned over to kiss Bruce on the cheek. "Oh, I almost forgot! I won't be able to go with you guys, but you need to go to America, it's important. We'll meet you there in a few years, and you guys will have been found, whatever that means." She suddenly leaned forward and grabbed the hands of the girls. "The puzzle is changing, but it soon will be solved."

They smiled sadly back at her and nodded. "Take care of her." Ana said. Bruce nodded.

"I will."

"Don't led your sassy side come out too far, too much." Ginny warned.

"I won't."

"Always remember where you came from." Ana.

"We will."

"Always remember who you came from." Ginny.

"We will."

"And congratulations."

Ana and Ginny walked out of the train station, walking into the cab hailed for them. "Central Park, please." Ana requested. The cabbie nodded and pulled away from the curb.

Ana leaned back to see Ginny looking at her with an eyebrow raised. "The house is hidden in a tree. Apparently, when the American colonies were founded, the Lord Black of the time was close to the king. He gave Lord Black a lot of property, which Lord Black hid all of within a tree. The tree couldn't be cut down, so the city built a park around it. Plus, the American Ministry thought that it would be a good treaty for the sprites to have a place to play." Ginny nodded, turning to look at the buildings towering over the cab.

"Everything is huge. It's much bigger than the places we've been to recently." She breathed. Ana laughed at her expression. After India they had done what Lavender had asked and headed to America. They had gone up and down the country, spending a day in every amusement park that they passed.

Ginny was still terrified of people dressed up in banana suits after the fiasco at the second one.

It had been fun break, but Ana wanted to open a pub and Ginny had wanted to go to New York. "Turn up here."

Ginny said suddenly, the cabbie nodded and the car swerved violently. Ana braced herself and looked at the red head. "I want to go to the pub. Jetlag can wait for tonight. Let's just see it and I'll set everything up if you want. You can just sit on your arse and I'll do all the work." Ana nodded slowly. Ginny was acting strange.

Ginny continued to feed the driver directions and they drove up and parked in front of a row of businesses. Ginny hopped out and Ana slipped the money to the front through the small window. "You wan' me to wait? Won't even charge ya extra." The man asked. Ana told him no.

She climbed out of the cab and it sped away. Ginny was slipping through the door, her wand sneaking back into her purse. Ana quickly walked up to the door and pulled out a key to cover for the spell. Honestly, what was wrong with the other girl? She was becoming almost as sloppy as before the main of the war.

Ana locked the door and turned to see Ginny sweeping the floor. For a moment she was flung back into the past, watching as Flinch pushed the rubble around the floor. There had been so much dust and rock that it had taken nearly months just to get the entry hall clean enough to be able to use magic to fix the rest. She shook her head slightly and was brought back to the present.

"You know you can do magic, right?" Ana said. Ginny blushed and tried to subtly put the broom down. Ana laughed at the other girl and pulled out her wand. They began to clean the room and add some air freshening charms. As Ana waved her wand, she felt slightly ridiculous.

When she had started Hogwarts the exact precision of wand-work needed to make the actual magic seemed too over the top. Then, when she had spent a bit more time in the wizarding world it wasn't as bad. Yet now that she had mastered wand-less magic, it was getting to be ridiculous again. She finally gave up and stuffed the wand back up her sleeve and began casting without it.

There weren't going to be anyone from the American Wizarding World looking in anyway. Western ministries were always so odd about windless casters. 

Hours passed, enlarging the furniture and setting spells to move in before Ana gave up and collapsed on a purple cushy chair in front of the fireplace. "I'm done." She yawned. "Let's find the tree and sleep. Travel is finally catching up to me." A sniffle made her look up, startled and she blinked in confusion at the younger girl. "Ginny? What's wrong?"

Ginny was staring forlornly at the fireplace, twisting a strand of hair around her finger. "It just feels wrong. I mean, without Lavender here it feels like somethings missing, you know?"

Ana stared at her. "Ginny, this isn't the first time Lavender hasn't been here. She's been with Bruce for almost a year now." Ginny sent her a small, halfhearted glare along with another sniffle.

"And you say I'm the emotionally stunted one." Ginny huffed. "This is the first time that we've settled down with out Lavender. The other places we were just passing through, but here we're going to be staying a while. What if we go years without seeing each other. Like you said, it's almost been a year and we haven't seen nor heard of them. What if something happened? What if they need help? You know Bruce gets sassy and there's no holding him back, and then he always gets all moody the day after. What if he left her thinking she would be better without him? She loves him, it would leave her crushed, and there's no way for her to contact us." She was crying by the end of her speech and Ana was startled.

Ana went over to hug the other girl, inwardly shrugging this off to be one of the emotional things that the Dursleys didn't teach her. They always seemed to pop up at the most inconvenient times. 

"Come on, cheer up. I'm sure Lavender is fine. She's tough. Plus, if she wasn't alright she would owl us, or go to Luna and Neville who would able to tell her where we are." Ana said. Ginny nodded, still crying slightly. "Now, how about I fix us a cup of tea and we can think of names for this place?"

"You said you were tired, though." Ginny weakly protested. Ana sent her a stern look.

"Ginny, I have to name this place before it can open, which it will, either tomorrow or the next day. I simply refuse to have people sitting in here without a clue in the world to call where they are. Plus, Merlin knows we have enough chairs to seat an army so if we get tried we can try a few out. Maybe get crazy and nap on a table to test that." Ana said. She got up and walked back to the kitchen. "What do you think about the name, Kettle Corner? Any promise? We could make both works start with the same letter if it convinces you more."

"Absolutely not."