Disclaimer: I do not own any of the cannon characters or plot points contained here in.
Chapter 1: A Taste of Freedom
As she walked into the bar, a look of incredulity flew across her face. She could not believe that this dilapidated, dirty and down right depressing place was one of the most famous bars in the wizarding world, let alone Britain. She still questioned her instincts on coming to this establishment, but if they were looking for this is the last place they would look. They would never think that someone as highly trained as her would hideout in such an obviously place, she hoped. She looked around at her dingy surroundings as she began to formulate her strategy. She decided that she could have done worse, and had in the past. Confident with her decision, she walked up to the bar tender. He was an older man who appeared to be slightly haggard. She put on her best, most approachable smile and said, "Excuse me Sir, but do you have a room available?" He looked up at her from the glass he was cleaning and said, "A Yank huh?"
"Sadly yes, but nobodies perfect." She said with a sanguine smile. He grunted out a sound of amusement. "The names Tom", he said finally looking up from his glass, "And as it happens we have one room left miss …?"
"Oh, I'm Mira Bishop, its very nice to meet you!" Mira, it was a good Eastern European name, meaning peace. The irony of the name was not lost on her, in fact thats why she picked it. She couldn't use her real name, they'd track it, and she definitely couldn't use her op name or any of her aliases. "Well, Miss Bishop show you to your room shall I?"
"Lead the way Tom," she giggled. She almost rolled her eyes. She made a point of acting like an excited naive tourist, some one affable, but completely forgettable. It would make disappearing an easy feat if it came to that. She knew that they would be looking for her, but she hoped they wouldn't look too long or hard. Tom lead her up a flight of stairs and down a short hallway. "This is you," he said pointing to an old scuffed wooden door. "You got any bags Miss Bishop?"
"Actually I have them", she patted her pocket, "shrinking spell." Playing the whimsical vacationer was not a roll she usually played, so she hoped she came off as sincere. Tom just gave her a small smile and closed the door behind her. Apparently he had believed her story. She looked around the room, and was pleasantly surprised. The furniture was old and a bit the worse for ware, but the linens on the bed were clean, and the attached bathroom was spotless. Yes she had done much worse for herself in the past. She made an initial sweep of the room and bathroom. She checked for spells, enchantments, curses and potion residue. She also checked for the things that most wizards would never think to, like GSP units and bugs. Once she had secured her room she flopped down on the bed and shut her eyes. She began to make mental list of all the things she would need. She hadn't taken any of her things when she escaped, it was enough that she got herself out unseen. It would be too much to hope that she could escape with a few essentials and her life. The clothes on her back would do for now, but there were a few items that she had to pick up today. She would need a cauldron, a few specific ingredients, and a very strong sleeping potion. In order to get these things she would need to access her bank vault. All of her accounts in the states would have been frozen by now. She had thought about getting out for a long time now, so she had covertly set up accounts all over the world and divided her money equally between them. She knew, if she got away with her life, she would need money where ever it was she ended up. While Uncle Sam had control of her accounts in the US, she was free to access her accounts anywhere else without fear of being found. Foreign banks had a reputation for not willingly cooperating with the United States government. Some international wizarding incident had seen to that. So the only thing left was to make a discrete appearance at Gringotts and the local potions shop.
For the first time in recent memory she felt exposed. She hurried through the streets of Diagon Alley with her hood up to try to hide her face. It was a good thing that it was a chilly afternoon or she would have looked unusual. Her walk looked unhurried, but purposeful as she strowed into Potage's Cauldron Shop. A bell jingled merrily as she opened the door and walked in. The young witch behind the counter looked up as she walked in, and then went back to reading her Witch Weekly magazine and twirling her lavender hair around her finger. Looking around at the walls she quickly found what she wanted. She took the collapsable cauldron to the counter and paid. The young purple haired witch looked distinctly disgruntled at having been interrupted, but the exchange went quickly enough. In under a minute she was back out on the street. From Potage's she went strait to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. There she picked up the few potion ingredients she needed, and quickly went back to her room and the Leaky Cauldron. She had a shepherd's pie from the Leaky Cauldron for dinner. She loitered over her dinner for as long as possible, but soon stress and exhaustion forced her back to her room, and her bed. She looked at the bed as, if it were about to come to life and eat her. She looked away from the bed, and walked into the bathroom. She set up her cauldron in the tub and began to cook her potion; it would be ready tomorrow. However, until tomorrow she would be potionless. She hadn't been able to find the potion she needed ready made, so she would have to do without. This is the exact reason why she looked at the bed with such apprehension. Well, it couldn't be helped, she could do without the sleeping potion for one night. She walked back to her bed and began to place every ward and protective enchantment she had learned on the small room, leaving no corner or crack unprotected. She knew it would not be enough if they found her, but it would slow them down. Hopefully it would slow them down long enough for her to get away. She shrugged, and crawled into bed. As she snuggled under the covers she prayed to whatever God was out there that the nightmares would be kept at bay for at least one night.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading this little story of mine. It will be a bit of a long story, if I ever finish it, which I hope I will. If you wish to say something critical about my creative efforts, please make it constructive. I always welcome any helpful hints that will make my writing better and more entertaining. This story is based on an idea I had before the final book was released. There will be one major departure from cannon events in this story, but I'm sure there will be more as the story progresses. Again, thank you for reading. Please do review, I always appreciate hearing from you.