Anastasia and the Potter Legacy

Chapter One – Declarations

There are those that say it was all Draco Malfoy's fault – mostly fools, who make their claims from the safety of foreign lands.

They are quieter then they used to be, thankfully. I suppose they see that true English wizards and witches are dying to liberate their birthright, and perhaps they have finally been shamed into silence.

Or, maybe, they're just scared of Draco. He was a mythical figure for so long, but recent events have made it very clear that Malfoy is still very much alive, gleefully spreading terror throughout the crumbling remains of the parasitic organism that passes for a government in Wizarding Britain.

I'm hardly one to talk, really, being a mythical figure myself. The world no longer doubts that Draco Malfoy is largely responsible for the near-total collapse of the "Wizarding Republic of England" - but few believe that I exist, and fewer still comprehend that Draco now answers to me.

It wasn't Draco's Malfoy's fault. Anyone who says otherwise is welcome to discuss the matter with me at wandpoint.

The fall of the Ministry of Magic and the subsequent barbarism that swept Wizarding England has many root causes.

Sometimes, objectively, I step back and ponder that perhaps my father bears a greater share of responsibility for the fall of the nation he served and led. He was terribly, terribly young, a great wartime leader but quite frankly bored by the intricacies of running a government that appeared to be at peace.

Draco won't allow any discussion of my father being responsible for the Troubles. Sometimes, I think I have a much more balanced view of my father than he does. Part of me resents that; Draco can afford to forget my father's flaws, - I don't have that luxury.

Assuming I prevail in my bid to take back England, I must know where my father went wrong. I don't want to meet his fate. I will not make the mistake he made, winning the war and losing the peace.

This is what I tell people on the rare occasions they hear me arguing with Draco about the past.

The truth is more complicated. I love Draco for his blind, unswerving devotion to my father's memory. Draco is too Machiavellian and just too damned good at winning to be ignorant of my father's faults – and since he was truly my father's enemy for so long, he knew the good and bad of my father in a way that few others can understand – even me.

Come close, and I will tell you a secret. I'm a fraud. Those that believe I exist see me as some sort of youthful warrior-princess, fighting to avenge her murdered family, an all-knowing, mysterious witch, just waiting for the right moment to move my chess pieces into position before striking a death blow to the movement that slaughtered nearly everyone I ever loved.

Let them believe that. It's certainly true that I have a knack for strategy, perhaps inherited from my Uncle Ron. And, I certainly have more than my share of blood on my hands – although those who have perished by my wand or at my orders always deserved their fate. None of that really matters, for deep down, part of me stopped growing when I was ten. I may be older than my father was when he died, but in reality, I am, and always shall be, a scared ten-year-old girl who was helpless to prevent her Daddy and Mum and brothers and sisters from being murdered.

Harry Potter is not the Martyred Boy-Who-Lived to me, he is not the slain Chosen One who Vanquished Voldemort, he is not the Protector of the Wizarding Realm of Greater Britain – he was my Daddy, and I loved him, and I love Draco Malfoy because he will rip the throat out of anyone, save me, who dares suggest my father was flawed in any way.

I'm tired of the lies, and tired of the secrets. It's well past the time to set the record straight.

There are those who say that the "Wizarding Republic" had noble aims, and that many good people served it, and that we who fight for the freedom of England act without authority, or morals, or hope.

None of those morons and idealists know what really happened when the Republicans took over.

I do.

I was there.

And as for authority, I have that as well, for I claim the throne of my father.

My name is Anastasia Potter.

This is my story.