Here's the new chapter. I typed this one up on the way down to Texas. I'll be on leave for the next two weeks, so it's family time for a bit. I'll be typing, yes, but not as much. Updates will become much more regular once I get to my permanent post. Until I get deployed, that is. But let's not talk about that right now. For now, just enjoy the story.

Stella had never been to Diagon Alley. In fact, barring her brief stay at Hogwarts, she had never been outside of the Potter House. Luckily, Sirius had been kind enough to tell her exactly how to get to the magical hotspot during one of his attempts at impressing her through one of his many tales of bravado and derring-do. She looked up at the creaking sign for the Leaky Cauldron, frowning distastefully. For being the main entrance to one of the most prominent magical hotspots in Great Britain, it looked rather... run down.

"Are we sure this is the right place, Ghost?"

Well... there is a 5% chance of error, but with the concentration of magical energy, and the name matches the one given by Sirius, this has to be the place.

Stella shook her head, shifting her grip on Harry so that she had better access to her weapon. A place like this... it would be crawling with more scum than Cayde's prison. After a moment to get her wits back, she calmly entered through the oaken door. The sight that greeted her was only somewhat of a let down.. The bar was empty, with only one or two patrons sitting up near the bartender. He looked at her in confusion, taking in her rather unusual garments before passing her off as ust some strange foreigner. Stella stiffly made her way to the back of the bar, shutting the door behind her. Once she saw the brick wall, she summoned her Ghost, "Alright, buddy... time to work."

Her Ghost quickly analysed the bricks, carefull creating a map of the magical energies. Once he had done that, Stella began concentrating, carefully channeling her inate magical abilities through her fingers. It took a few tries, as well as several scorched bricks, but she managed to brute force her way through to the other side. The Guardian shook her fingers out, wincing slightly at the frayed nerve endings, "I really don't want to do that again... Now let's find Gringotts."

It took only a few minutes to realize that Stella was completely and utterly lost, "Damn... We need to ask directions. We'll never find Gringotts at this point."

"Gringotts you say?"

Stella snapped her head to the left, seeing a rather threadbare man looking at her curiously. She nodded cautiously, keeping her hand near her weapon. This man felt... off. Not hostile, but not human either. "Yes... who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Remus. Remus Lupin. If you're looking for Gringotts, it's that tall white building down the street."

Stella looked at the massive building that nearly blended into the dark, gloomy fog that had taken over Diagon Alley, before looking back Remus and nodding, "Thank you, Mr. Lupin..."

He just gave her a wan smile before trudging off into the fog. Stella stared at him for a moment before shaking her head and moving to the bank. She hesitated at the rather foreboding warning up at the top before muttering something in the Fallen tongue and entering. Unlike the gloomy, dark Diagon Alley, Gringotts Bank was well lit and held a sort of... antique air. All eyes went to her as the door bomed shut behind her, and a tense silence hung in there air. She cautiously approached the Teller and cleared her throat, "Is Griphook in?"

The Goblin peered over his desk at her, scrutinizing the strange armour, "The bank is closed for any business other than withdrawels and deposits. Come back in an hour."

Stella narrowed her eyes, the action hidden behind her helmet, "Tell Griphook to get his ass out here before I decide to speak to your manager. The Potter House was nearly obliterated by Voldemort, and I'm carrying the sole survivor in my arms. Tell him that Stella of the House of Wolves is here."

The Goblin's eyes widened at that, and he gasped, "The Queen's Guard! Someone get Griphook, now! And the Account Manager for the Potters... I thought Griphook was makeing up some story. And the Potter's... We need to find the wills, and I assume you need some sort of assistance to relocate. Did you have something in mind?"

Stella nodded curtly, summoning her Ghost, "Tell him."

Her companion bobbed on some unseen current of air, "I already have identities prepared for Stella at least, but I could use some assistance with Harry Potter. Our initial plan was to leave for America once this had blown over, but it seems that must be pushed forward now... Do you have any suggestions?"

The Goblin nodded after a moment, coming down from his Teller's desk as Griphook came up with a second goblin, "We'll have to contact one of our American branches... Probably down in the state of Texas. They're a lot more flexible there... And a representative of MACUSA will want to interview you. We should get you two some new identities. Did you already have something in mind for that?"

Stella nodded curtly, before bowing slightly to Griphook and his companion, "Yes... I am to take the surname of Wolfe. Rather fitting, don't you think, Griphook?"

The goblin frowned at her, a serious expression on his face, "I agree, Miss Wolfe. Before we do any of that, we need to solve the issue of Mister Potter..."

Stella tightened her grip on the boy, her hand twitching towards the gun on her hip, "I will not hand him over, if that's what you are suggesting. I swore I would protect him. I gave my word to the Potters."

The goblin quickly shook his head, raising his hands to try and placate her, "Not at all, Miss Wolfe. While there is going to be a rather unusual precedence to be set by giving guardianship to a nonhuman, I'm sure something can be arranged. The problem is the fact that we need to ensure that he is still Harry Potter. We're already recieving reports from the Wizarding Community that Mister Potter was subject to the Killing Curse. No conventional magic, not even Goblin Magic can shield against such dark energies."

Stella wanted to refute that, having already "survived" the curse, but decided against it. She reluctantly moved her hand away from the Queen of Spades, "Alright... what do you want?"

Griphook checked the clock, frowning more than usual, "Come with me. We'll need to get the Potter boy to a group of our mind and body healers. And then we have things to discuss, Stella Wolfe."

She nodded, following the pair of goblins to a more secluded area of the bank. It was obvious people didn't come here often, at least not human people. Goblin carvings, covered in gold leaf, were scattered here and there, still giving it a rather medieval feel. However, Stella immediately noticed that the Goblins were using electricity, and rather copious amounts if the hum in the air was anything to go by. They made it about ten yards, before an awful thought struck her, and she immediately pulled out her handcannon. "Hands where I can see them!"

Both Goblins spun around at the urgency in her voice, confusion on their faces. The 'account manager' balked and fell back on the ground, recognizing the gun alongside Griphook. The latter glared at her with anger and caution, "What is the meaning of this, Wolfe?"

"The Potters said that you were the account manager, Griphook. And yet they said to find you and the account manager. I don't think the Potters would be unable to recognize their own account manager, so what the hell is going on?"

Griphook frowned, "Yes, I am an account manager for the Potters, but I handle affairs of a different kind. With the Potter accounts being so vast and influential, it would make little sense to dump that workload onto one Goblin. There are fifteen goblins in all who work alongside the Potter family. My job mainly concerns major paperwork or financial transactions. Bloodsteel here deals with identity issues. While yes, you would see me more often than not, Bloodsteel is called in emergency cases. Please, Miss Wolfe put your weapon away. We are not your enemies."

Stella frowned, trying to detect any sort of falsehood in the goblin's words. Fortunately, or unfortunately (she wasn't sure yet), there was none to be found. She shoved her weapon away, ignoring the sighs of relief from both goblins, "Pray to whatever god you believe in that I never find out you are lying to me... Or they'll never find the body."

Bloodsteel swallowed nervously, walking over to a small, out of the way door, "Please, Miss Wolfe, you will need to leave young Mr. Potter here. Our healers will ensure that he is healthy and er... whole."

The Guardian hesitated, thinking carefully, before summoning her Ghost, "Ghost... I need you to keep an eye on Harry. Let me know if something is wrong as soon as it happens."

The small device bobbed in the air, "Trust me, Stella... I'll let you know before it happens if I can."

"Thanks..." She took a deep breath, looking down at Harry and brushing some of his wispy black hair away. "Harry... You need to wake up. The goblins need to see if you're healthy."

The young boy yawned, slowly waking up, "Miss Stella... Mama..."

"Yes, I know... I want Lily to be here too... I have to leave you with these Goblins, Harry. Can you behave for me? I need to talk to Griphook."

Harry pouted, looking up at Stella, "No, don't wanna..."

Stella's Ghost hovered next to her head, looking at the boy, "Please, Harry Potter. This is of the utmost importance."

"Ghost, use little words. I don't think he knows what utmost means." She shook her head and knelt down to let Harry stand, allowing her helmet to vanish with a flickering glitter of light, "Harry, Ghost will watch over you while I'm gone. If anything happens, then I'll be right there. Do you remember what I said about Ghost and myself?"

Harry frowned thoughtfully, his little face scrunching up in concentration as he tried to remember, "You and Ghost, con-nect-ed?"

She resisted the urge to smile at Harry sounding out the words, and nodded seriously, "Yes. If anything happens, I can be there in a snap. Please, just go to the goblins, and everything will be okay."

Harry remained silent for several long seconds, before nodding, "Okay, Miss Stella..."

Stella watched as Harry let himself be led by a small group of goblins into the previous room. She turned towards Griphook, crossing her arms, "Alright, what was so important that I couldn't stay with him?"

Griphook gestured for her to follow him, moving at a considerably faster pace than before, "With the Potter head of house dead, there is a rather rare, but dangerous situation. I won't go into the finer details, as politics isn't my stong suit, but some very darke wizards would love very much to get their hands on the political power that could be weilded by the Most Noble and Ancient House Potter, or whatever it is those wizards call it."

She crossed her arms, walking alongside the creature. Mara had made sure she was trained in rather cut throat methods of politics, so she could understand where he wsa coming from, but not so much as to how the Potters had enough power to cause concern in the Goblin community. More on that late, though, "Again, what does that have to do with me? I'm just trying to get Harry away from Voldemort and Dumbledore."

He opened the door to his office, letting Stella through first before bustling around to the other side and climbing into his perchlike seat, "Well... Before he died, did Lord Potter say anything to you specifically concerning the House of Potter?"

Stella frowned, thinking about the attack, "Well... Nothing comes to mind. There was a moment when he said something about his house always being open to me, only he used that odd title you gave it, Most Ancient and Noble, or whatever..."

Griphook gave a snakelike grin, "Well, then he may have just inadvertently saved his family house. As Scion Potter's sworn protector and magically adopted member of the Potter family, you have the opportunity to become the Defacto Head of House. Actually, you are the new Lady Potter. All you have to do is make it official."

"Wait, what!?" Whatever Stella had been expecting, it wasn't that. "What the hell do you mean I was adopted?"

"Well, adopted is strong word. A better way to say it is that Potter made you his liege. As the defender of the last Potter, you become his legal Guardian. Because of that, you become the defacto head of house by consequence. A mere placeholder, really." Griphook pulled out a thick scroll from one of his many piles littering the desk. "Your main responsibility is still to keep Scion Harry safe until he reaches his majority, but now you have access to the Potter family resources. Your family's resources now, Miss Wolfe"

Stella frowned, taking the scroll from him and opening it. On it was a list of vaults and finances handled by the goblins for the Potters. She had only made it a few lines before blanching and slowly rolling it up, "I uh... erm... By the Light, that is a lot of money... But are there any more... practical resources? I understand that cash is king in this time, but where I'm from... cash is less valuable than a well placed bullet."

The goblin nodded, grinning like a shark at her words, "Good. You aren't as shallow as the wizards and witches I have to deal with. Yes, there are plenty of magical artefacts that you may find useful. I'll have a list drafted up later. Are you going to want these vaults moved over to our United States branch?"

The Guardian nodded, "That would be er... acceptable. I don't have to call myself Lady Potter now, do I? That just sounds nightmarish..."

"Only if you have to attend a wizengamot session, though I suggest you get out of the country before that happens. And how much will you be transferring?"

She thought about it for a moment, dismissing the mentioning of the Wizengamot, "Hmmm... Ten percent of the money should suffice to get us started. I have a few plans of my own to keep us afloat comfortably, and I don't want to break the bank by taking everything out. I will, however, be wanting all of the artefacts transferred to America. Can I trust you to remain as my er... account manager here in Europe?"

Griphook raised an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless, "Of course, Miss Wolfe. Now, there are a few papers to sign to confirm your identity and to sign Power of Attorney rights to you. As for Scion Potter... I suggest giving him your surname, to avoid any unpleasantness."

Stella sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose and nodding. She could feel a headache coming on, and it wasn't from the small skirmish she just had, "Alright... I'll do that. What else?"

Griphook pulled out another scroll and a quill, siding them over to Stella, "You just have to sign this. It will give power of attorney and officially and magically place you in the Potter family."

She accepted the proffered quill and signed the document, ignoring the slight sting in her hand until she realized that she hdn't used ink for the quill... but it still wrote. She inspected the 'ink' carefully before looking up at the goblin, "Seriously, you actually sign things in your blood here?"

The goblin opened his mouth to respon, but Stella held her hand up, receiving a message from her Ghost, Stella, ask Griphook what a horocrux is, and then gear up. I'll explain after you're ready.

Stella stood up abruptly, gesturing for Griphook to follow her, "My Ghost contacted me, asking about something called a Horocrux. Tell me what you know."

Griphook had to slightly jog to keep up with the Guardian, a look of disgust and concern on his face, "A horocrux? It's one of the vilest pieces of magic invented. It involves splitting the soul through a heinious crime, such as murder. And then using a ritual to encase a portion of your soul in an object of the caster's choosing. Why would... Voldemort must have been making them. Whatever happened to Scion Harry... he must have a piece of Voldermort's soul accidentally lodged in his body."

Stella was brought to a screeching halt, looking at the Goblin incredulously, "He what? Ghost, can you verify?"

Yes. The healers have detected a portion of Voldemort's soul residing in Harry's scar. It's a miracle Harry wasn't killed by the pressure put upon his magical core. I have already analyzed the horocrux and compiled it against data I already have. By my calculations, the portion within him is around a seventh or eighth of a full "soul."

Stella frowned, putting her helmet on as her Ghost appeared in a fizzle of light.

"Hello again, Griphook. The healers have Harry Potter in a coma state while they prepare to extract the horocrux. However, I feel that we need to find a source of information for ourselves. So, I have compiled a list of potential targets provided by the late Lord Potter, news articles, and the Goblins here. I believe I already ow a potential target that will be attacked within a few hours."

Stella nodded, and looked down at Griphook, "Make sure that no one finds out about Harry, no one human, at least. I will be going out to capture a Death Eater to interogate."

Griphook grinned, giving her a slight bow, "Good hunting, Lady Wolfe. Deliver the wrath of your queen upon our enemies."

She couldn't help but smile at that, "I'm know a few people who would have loved to meet you Goblins... One in particular. Good luck with this... horocrux." The two parted ways hastily, with Stella quickly exiting the bank and summoning her Ghost again, "Alright, which way?"

Her companion projected two images in the air, a man and a woman, "Alice and Frank Longbottom, high ranking aurors and members of Dumbledore's Order of the Pheonix. I ran an algorithm, using available data and some speculation with Voldemort being... well, not dead but something similar, and these two seem to be the most likely to be attacked. They live about thirty clicks outside Ottery St Catchpole. We will have to use the Sparrow to reach them in time."

Stella nodded, moving quickly. She stormed through Diagon Alley, barely noticing the massive celebration that was going on. It was only when she reached the Leaky Cauldron, that she ran into a problem. The entire building was packed to bursting, and she couldn't find a way through. With a growl, she drew the Queen of Spades and fired it into the air. Almost immediately, the noise died down, and all eyes went to her. She practically hissed the order, "Move. Now." As if by magic, the entire crowd parted like the Red Sea. She stalked through them, ignoring the whispers of fear and confusion as they beheld the armoured figure. Once outside, she inspected the area around her before summoning her sparrow and taking off with the shrieking roar of hybrid jet/rocket engines. "Give me a waypoint, Ghost."

She cursed when the waypoint came up at nearly 210 km out. Then she thanked her lucky stars that her Sparrow was customized to have an overdrive engine that would propel her at near sonic speeds. This was going to be the fastest she had ever pushed her Burning Feather, thought it should be up to the task. "Initiate Overdrive."

The shrieking roar turned into a deep bellow as her air intakes closed and the hybrid engines turned into a direct rocket engine fueled via nuclear engine. She yelped as she was nearly thrown off the sparrow by sheer accelration forces. Fortunately, she had just enough strength to hold on for dear life while her internal momentum caught up with the linear missile.

An excellent display of strength Guardian, not so much in the intelligence area.

"Shut up, Ghost. I was more concerned with the Longbottoms about to be murdered." Stella scowled, looking at the waypoint. Within minutes, she had made a considerable amount of progress. A the fifteen minute mark, she had to start slowing down, lest she wanted to be thrown off the bike and launched over the Longbottom house. She switched the Overdrive engines off, letting the Sparrow cruise down to a much re managable speed. She balked slightly upon realizing that it wasn't a house she was dealing with, but a freaking manor. "Well... That's a big house."

Yes, it is Guardian. Perhaps you should concentrate on the rather large amounts of magic being thrown around. I suggest taking the window, or maybe-

"The massive, gaping hole where I'm guessing a door once stood?"

Yes... Exactly.

Stella rolled her eyes, hopping off the sparrow and drawing the Queen of Spades and marching up to the ruined manor entrance. She cautiously poked her head in, looking around. Determining the coast was clear, she moved to step inside, only to be stopped by her Ghost.

Hold on, Stella. I'm detecting some sort of Ward, similar to the one employed by James Potter for detecting intruders. You can't march in without setting it off.

She cursed, stepping away quickly. Now what? She couldn't go in the normal means, and a ward generally encompassed the entire building, from top to bottom. "Ghost, these wards are meant to detect magical and nonmagical creatures. Could you transmat me inside?"

There was a moment of silence, and then he appeared with his customary flash, "That's actually a good idea. Prepare for transmat... and try not to loose your lunch."

"But I didn't have any lun-"

Stella failed to finish the statement, her entire body vanishing in a blur of brilliant light. The Ghost chuckled, drifting a few metres past the ward line. "I love it when I get the last word..."

Stella reappeared, collapsing to her knees and gasping for air. She shot a sour glare to her Ghost, pulling herself up and gesturing with her gun, "Remind me to use a few of your shells for target practice."

Her friend just chuckled in response, looking around at the mess caused by whatever attack had occured, "Well, this place is a dump."

The guardian opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a loud scream of pain. She whirled around, bringing Queen up to bear, "What the hell was that?" When the scream burst out again, she took off running through the manor, ignoring her Ghost calling for her to stop. It was only when she saw a room coming up with the lights on and voices coming out, that she stopped and pressed herself against the wall. She edged closer until she could clearly hear and understand what the humans were saying.

"Hit him with the curse again, Bellatrix." The first voice was low, rough, and sounded drunk. This wasn't premeditated? Maybe the Death Eaters were here or some sort o revenge for Voldemort?

"Rodoulphus, I don't think that's neccessary. If I do it anymore, they won't be able to talk. And besides, they're pure blood and one of the ancient houses. We can't push our luck anymore tha-" This one was definitely female, and had a light, singsong voice with soft, feathery tones.

There was a resounding crack that made Stella wince, and a short cry of pain from the second voice.

"Damn it, Rod, you knocked her out! Now what are we going to do?"

By this point, Stella had heard enough, and decided to make her presence known by stepping through the open door and pointing her weapon at the nearest masked person, "Well, for starters, you can drop the wands and place your hands behind your heads."

The scene that greeted her was like a bad movie from the golden age. Two masked figures, both male, stood over a third figure laying out on the floor. A man and his wife were huddled against the wall, trembling from some unknown trauma. They were magically bound and gagged, looking at Stella in confusion.

"'Bastion... Didn't you place anti-muggle wards and detection wards around the place?"

The man on the left growled, drawing his wand as fast as he could, but not fast enough. Stella adjusted her aim a bit, and pulled the trigger, tearing the air apart with the Queen's report. The man's wand and hand vanished in a shower of blood, along with much of his arm. He screamed in pain, clutching at the injured limb. Almost immediately, his friend reached out to him, digging into his robes and vanishing in a flash of light. Once Stella had blinked the spots out of her vision, she realized the two males had somehow teleported out of the building, "I hate magic... Ghost, go see if you can remove some of the spells keeping the Longbottoms in place. I'll secure the female."

The device whizzed over to the struggling Magi, "Sorry if we're a little late, sir and ma'am. We actually wanted to prevent this attack." He zipped around them, scanning and muttering to himself as he worked to do whatever matricies were placed to restrain them. It wasn't too different from hive magic.

Stella crouched next to the woman, picking up her wand and pocketing it. Then she began to strip search her, pulling away whatever trinket she could find. She didn't know what was a potential weapon or if it could be enchanted to be one. Finally, she reached up and removed the woman's mask. A soft gasp escaped her as she saw the face underneath. The woman was drop dead gorgeous, even with the nasty bruise forming just under her left eye and cheekbone. Pristine, pale skin, curly ravenette hair, and a body most humans and Awoken would die for. What was a woman like this doing on the battlefield? From what she knew of humans, they tended to idolize women like this, and treated them like fragile pieces of glass. Stella on the other hand... She pulled the wand back out and aimed next to the woman, muttering "Auguimenti." A sharp jet of water burst out, soaking the woman with backsplash and almost instantly waking her up. Stella backed up quickly, keeping her weapon trained on the woman, "No sudden movements, witch. I want to see those hands, too."

The woman looked around in confusion, freezing when she registered the Guardian with a rather large and lethal looking hand cannon pointing at her, "W-What? Who are you? Where's Rodolphus? Sebastian?"

"I you mean the two bastards that knocked you out, I shot one of them in the arm, and then they teleported away," Stella glanced over at Ghost, who was having moderate success in releasing the Longbottoms. "Listen to me, and listen carefully... I want to make you an offer."

The woman swallowed nervously, her eyes never leaving the gun, "Wh-Wh would I listen to a muggle like you?"

"Several reasons, actually." Stella put the wand away, ticcing off the reasons on her now empty hand. "One, I am most certainly not a non magical being, seeing as I just used Auguimenti to wake you up. Two, I'm pretty sure the Longbottoms over there want to either lock you up or kill you, and you witches and wizards are prett helpless without your sticks to wave around. And three... I'm your best chance at getting out of here alive. Now, are those good enough reasons, or do I need to list six more?" She gestured with the gun as she said that, refferencing the six bullets she had loaded after shooting the wizard previously.

The woman licked her lips, glancing over at the Longbottoms, "You really shot Rodolphus?"

"Yes. I actually blew of at least the lower half of his arm. There was too much blood to tell."

She scrutinized Stella with stunning violet eyes, "If I go with you... what will you want in return?"

"Information. I'll do the asking later. Right now, we need to get back to Gringotts as fast as possible. What's your name?"

"Bellatrix..." Bellatrix hesitated for a moment, before continuing, "Bellatrix Black. My name is Bellatrix Black."

Stella pulled the woman to her feet, "Well, Bellatrix Black, I'm Stella Wolfe defacto Head of House for the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Yes, the same Potters Voldemort attempted to wipe out. Let's go before the Longbottoms manage to get their wits about them and start throwing curses at you. Ghost, we're leaving!"

The Guardian gestured for Bella to lead, not wanting to take her eyes off the woman, "You go first. No offense, but I don't trust you."

"R-Right..." Bellatrix quickly walked out of the room, stumbling slightly as she was struck with a wave of dizziness.

Stella rolled her eyes and walked up to the woman, holstering her weapon before picking her up bridal style, "By the Light, you magi really are helpless without your magic. Don't make any sudden movements, and I won't accidentally drop you."

Bellatrix let out a sharp "Eep!" of surprise when Stella picked her up, clinging to her armour in confusion. The Guardian ignored her, leaving the building. Her ghost caught up to her just as they arrived at the Sparrow. She looked at the device, "Alright, how are the Longbottoms?"

"Shaken, but they should be fine. I left a small amount of magic binding them. Not too much they can't escape, but plenty enough to buy us enough time."

"Good. Ghost, this is Bellatrix Black. Bellatrix, this is my Ghost. He's the brains of the operation."

Bellatrix peered curiously at the Ghost, before deciding that he was just some sort of enchanted sculpture and turning back to the Sparrow with a look of pure facination, "What is this thing?"

Stella smirked slightly, "This is a piece of muggle technology known as a Sparrow."

Bellatrix looked at her incredulously, "This is muggle? Impossible! Muggles are still using that disgusting combustion engine."

Stella rolled her eyes and climbed onto the Sparrow, gesturing to the back, "I don't have time to explain... Just get on the back and hold on. Like a motorcycle... or a horse."

Bellatrix swallowed nervously, but did as she was told, "Sirius had one of those Motorcycles... It was rather interesting."

The guardian sighed, deciding that it was just the concussion talking, "Just try not to fall off..."

Thanks for reading the chapter. Don't forget to visit my Pat page and become a Patron. Any little bit helps. /Writing_Soldier for those of you who want to know. Fanfiction won't let me even type the word Pa TRE on (Maybe this will work). Also, leave a review!