Chapter 1

She arrived in a cold stone corridor, gentle whispers reaching her ears as footsteps echoed from another direction. She recognised the voice and without thinking, she followed it, suddenly stopping in her tracks, her blood running cold.

"You know the prophecy. It's all over."

She remembered this day with perfect clarity, it still graced her nightmares, even as old ones faded. She didn't have long before Death Eaters would swarm the dungeon, before Draco's death. But she couldn't move. Her mind screamed to run, to do something, anything, but a strange, new part of her mind remained still and calm. It told her only one thing. She simply had to wait.

And then she was walking, flanked by a group of death eaters. Maia screamed out in her mind to stop them, but she couldn't, Death's cold voice ringing in her mind "trust me" as the calm part of her mind took control.

She saw herself locked away in a cell. She saw Draco, his wand raised, his lips finishing that all too important spell.

Maia screamed against her mind as she watched her wand arm raise, a foreign spell tumbling from her lips.

And he fell.

"Where did that spell come from?" A familiar voice yelled. "The Dark Lord wanted him alive."

"I'd be more concerned with our missing prisoner." A second, more condescending voice spoke.

Maia turned to see Lucius Malfoy pulling down his hood, walking straight toward her. When he didn't slow his pace, she stepped to the side, noting the slightly milky sheen to his face as he passed. The same sheen she remembered from the invisibility cloak.

Bellatrix Lestrange rushed up to him hissing as she did so. "The Dark lord won't be happy. The mudblood is gone and Draco is dead. He'll kill us all in their place."

"No he won't." Maia smiled, flicking her wand at the two hooded death eaters. "But I will." She smiled, lowering the hood of her cloak.

She knew it must have been a shock to see her standing there, appeared from thin air mere moments before she killed them. She knew she was different now, drastically different. She remembered showing Tom Riddle mercy, forgiving the man who killed Harry, but there was a strange part of her that seemed to think that it was the wrong choice. Perhaps it was death's magic, he had said that they couldn't remain separate forever. Maybe it changed her like Dumbledore's ritual had.

Maia rushed to Draco's side, letting her worry for him push aside the train of thought that had accompanied the dead body of his father down the hall. She pressed two fingers to his neck, a sudden urge to sob coming over her.

Her tears fell, streaming unreservedly down her cheeks. He was alive. Whatever spell she had uttered, it wasn't the killing curse she had remembered from all those years ago, because he had a heartbeat. He was breathing and with a quick renervate, he was awake.

"Maia?" He breathed, blinking wearily. "You almost look like her." He said, his voice dropping into a sad helplessness.

"I am her." Maia smiled, unable to stop crying."I know I look a little different but it's me."

"She's gone." He muttered, apparently not listening to her. "I sent her to fix things. We'll be gone too soon."

"Draco Abraxas Malfoy, I swear to Merlin if you don't start listening to me I will hex you so hard your grandchildren will feel it." Maia barked.

Draco shot up into a seated position, his eyes wide. He tentatively reached out to touch her face, rubbing his thumb across the smooth wet skin beneath. "Your eyes." He frowned, his own almost drilling into hers. "They're different. I loved your eyes."

"Believe me that wasn't the only thing that changed back then." Maia muttered, covering his hand with her own. "I'm different now." She frowned. "I mourned you and I became someone else because of it and now I'm back it's like a darkness came with me, one i didn't have then."

"What?" Draco's eyes narrowed, though he didn't look repulsed.

"I killed them." A deep heaviness suddenly overtaking her. "I taunted them and I smiled and I…" She suddenly stopped, beginning to shake as she slowly turned her gaze to the lifeless body of Lucius Malfoy. "I killed your father."

"And he killed my mother." Draco spoke, a strange stiffness om his voice. "He killed her for lying to Voldemort, for lying to protect me."

It was Maia's turn to narrow her eyes. "But he's your father." She breathed.

"Not anymore." He spoke, hastily rising to his feet, pulling Maia up with him. "We're getting out of here and then you're going to tell me what happened to you and how you got back here." He was just the way she remembered him, a light smirk on his lips.

"There's something I need to do first." Maia drank in his face like it was the first time she was seeing it. "Something important." She barely breathed out her sentence before crushing her lips against Draco's . His hands reached up and cupped her jaw as she pulled him closer by his shirt. She poured as much passion as she could into the kiss. He'd kissed her mere moments ago, but Maia had waited three long years for it.

"I think I might like the new Maia." He smiled, holding her close.

"Don't be so sure." She smirked back, apparating them away.

She hadn't realised where she had apparated them to, not properly, given they should have been torn to shreds the moment they tried to apparate into Potter Manor but instead they stood in a plant infested ruin, a large portion of the upper floor and ceiling having collapsed, leaking moonlight into what should have been a fire lit entry hall.

"Welcome home." She muttered to herself, glancing around the destroyed manor. It was spell damage, she was sure of it, she could feel the faint crackle of destructive magic that hung in the air. She briefly wondered how long it would take to repair before realising that this wasn't her home, not anymore, she didn't have any claim to it. This wasn't the same Potter Manor that had housed Severus and Regulus, they hadn't stayed up with her through her nightmares here, that wasn't a place she would see again.

She reached to her side, expecting to feel her beaded bag, only to remember she hadn't brought it with her. She glanced down in frustration only to watch it materialise out of a shadow that poured from her dress. She glanced at Draco who had both eyebrows raised at her beaded bag. She wasn't planning on keeping anything from him, but she couldn't help but feel immediately terrified that he had seen… what had he seen?

"I think we have a lot to talk about." Draco frowned, taking Maia's hand in his own.

"More than you know." She frowned back, summoning a tent from her beaded bag. She led him into what would have been the library, though quite a few books sat intact on their shelves while others lay charred on the ground along with a shattered table and ruined chairs. With a flick of her wand, most of the mess was pushed aside, leaving space for the tent to erect itself. She hadn't been sure that it would work indoors, but could only be glad that it had.

Without a word, Maia led Draco into the deceptively spacious tent. With it came a flood of memories, the most prominent being the day Severus had appeared just outside her wards and began yelling at her. She was glad that memory sat in the forefront of her mind, there were much worse memories associated with it. She led him to the long wooden table and sat him down, though she struggled to look into his eyes, fat too terrified of how she would even begin to explain. Until the thought of Regulus and Severus crossed her mind.

"If you let me into your mind, I can show you everything." She spoke, her gaze firmly on the hand held between hers. "I don't know if I can put it all into words."

"Show me." He urged, an unreadable tenderness in his eyes as he lifted her chin, forcing her to look up at him.

So she did.

He saw everything. Every minutiae, every word, every smile and every struggle and merlin did she struggle. But she didn't hold back anything, showing him every time she shared her bed with Severus and Regulus, Remus' confession, Regulus' confession. A lot of people had confessed things to her, though not all of them regarding love however. She showed him every time she had cried for him, for her past, for the people she grew to love. She showed him every death and most of all, she showed him who she became.

When she was finished, neither of them spoke as, for the first time in years, she saw Draco Malfoy cry.

"Three years." He whispered. "Three years and you haven't aged a day. Three years through hell on earth." He took a deep breath. "Three years and you never stopped loving me."

"Draco Malfoy." She smiled, gazing into his teary eyes. "I plan on loving you for a lot longer."

With a broad smile, Draco pressed his lips against Maia's, a kiss that made all of the previous ones they had shared seem tame. They left the table, barely removing themselves from each other. Their clothes lay abandoned on the floor that night. All but Maia's dress as it evaporated into shadow.

An- I hope you're all as excited as I am for this sequel, I have had this planned since i began Death's Mercy and I hope you all enjoy the next leg of Maia's journey.

I'd love to know what you all think of this chapter.

Amyx