Disclaimer: This work is based on the J.K. Rowling's World of Harry Potter. Everything you recognize belongs to her.

Albus Dumbledore insisted on getting her settled in America before he took a portkey back to the UK. "and erasing my memories," she thought resentfully. They stepped into the International Portkey Terminal and found a quiet seat. Dumbledore smiled at her and whispered, "Thank you for all your help. Maybe someday I will be able to tell you about our adventure ." It only took Dumbledore a minutes to erase the last three days.

Once Maerna's eyes cleared up, Dumbledore checked her over. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," she said as she looked around. "Where are we?"

"New York City," Dumbledore replied. "We just arrived via portkey a few minute ago."

"And I don't even feel queasy," Maerna celebrated. "I must have taken Severus's potion before we left Canada."

Dumbledore confirmed this and helped her stand up. "Do you want me to get you to your grandmother's house," he asked.

"No, but thank you. I have to check the Department of Wills and Trust here at MACUSA before I travel to Virginia. I have my muggle passport and my NOMID so I can floo anywhere." Maerna reminded him.

"NOMID?" Dumbledore questioned.

"It stands for Nomaj Identification. It's given to first generation squibs so they can enter magical places.

"You don't seem to be classified as that anymore," Dumbledore said.

"True, but since I don't have a wand, this is easier," Maerna said.

"Are you sure you are going to be okay, here by yourself?" Dumbledore double-checked.

"She'll be fine here," a voice boomed from behind her, "I'll be with her the entire time and she has a lot of questions to answer."

Maerna whirled around to face a very angry man in his early sixties with spikey, white hair striding toward her. Maerna ducked her head in shame. "Hi, Uncle Brent. It's been a long time."

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Uncle Brent flashed his American Auror badge at them. "You sir, need to come with us." He pointed to Dumbledore.

"Am I under arrest?" Dumbledore seemed amused at the idea.

"Not at the moment, but the last time I saw or heard from my niece was fifteen months ago as I watched a Death Eater bind me and kidnap her, so some questions need to be answered." Brent McDermitt growled.

"That is completely understandable. You must have been so worried and Maerna should have contacted you before now. I'm Albus Dumbledore, by the way, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." the old wizard said.

"I know who you are," said Brent. "If you had been anyone else, you would have been in the slammer by now." He turned his heel and headed for his office expecting the other two to follow.

"So, that's your Uncle Brent," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye as they walked down the halls of MACUSA

Maerna tilted her head, perplexed. "I told you about my uncle. I don't recall that conversation."

"Really? You just told me about him yesterday." A mischievous grin appeared on his face.

"What? Yesterday, but that was. . . . ooohhhh," Maerna swatted him on his good arm and he laughed.

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It took forty-five minutes of apologizes, explanations and a little bit of memory modification by Dumbledore to get Maerna's uncle to calm down. By the end, he didn't seem happy but he was accepting of her story. Dumbledore bid them adieu and told Maerna to owl him when she returned home which made her uncle cringe.

Once they were alone, Brent walked over and give her a huge hug, tears were pooling in his eyes. "Please don't ever do that again."

"Get kidnapped? Okay, I'll make sure that doesn't happen," Maerna tried to joke.

Brent continued to stare at her. "The day that I came to England, I came to tell you that-, that-"

"That my grandmother was murdered," Maerna said softly. "I heard."

"I'm sorry," her uncle said. "I know how special she was to you. She was an amazing lady. I was proud to know her."

"Me too, me too," Then Maerna felt the tears begin to trickle down her cheeks. The trickle turned into a storm and she was weeping for all that was lost and would never return

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Brent McDermitt had been married to Maerna's mother's sister. It had been a happy marriage, but she had died years ago and Uncle Brent had never remarried. Her paternal grandmother had raised her. When her parents had died while Maerna was still a toddler, her grandmother became her guardian but her uncle was the "second parent" who visited Virginia whenever his job allowed. As a result, all three of them became very close and Laurel Danazul had named Brent the executor of her will.

"Basically, she left everything to you." Brent said, "two houses, the car, the gold in our bank and the money in the nomaj bank, all of it."

Maerna wasn't surprised but she still felt awkward about the entire thing. "What is Cousin Sally going to say?" she asked.

Brent rolled his eyes, "Cousin Sally is going to be furious. She thought you had crawled into a hole and died somewhere. She has been nagging the executor of the will to take out a Benjamin Order and name her the beneficiary."

"I assume the executor of the will hasn't done that," Maerna smiled.

"Of course not, I never gave up hope on you," Brent said. "So, what do you want to do with the house and the money?"

Maerna reached out and grabbed his hand, "Thank you Uncle Brent, for everything. I am so lucky to have you as an uncle. As far as the property, liquidate all of it."

Brent's mouth dropped open. "All of it? There is probably close over a million dollars."

"I know," Maerna said, "and I'm going to need it. I have a plan and I'm going to need an American contact if you are willing." She proceeded to tell him her concern for the British muggleborns, her expectations when the Ministry fell and possible ways to hide them or get them out of the country.

They came back to Uncle Brent's apartment for dinner. Widowed for over twenty years, it was a typical bachelor pad of a 62 year old man that was well set in his ways and saw no reason to change. As a result, dishes were piled in the sink, newspapers strewn across the floor and a mismatch of furniture met Maerna when she arrived.

"Really, Uncle Brent, if I could do cleaning spells, this place would be sparking in minutes." Maerna admonished him.

"Yeah, well. I can stun, hex and bind the worst of them, but those stupid cleaning spells get me all the time," he grumbled.

Maerna just rolled her eyes and start summoning the newspapers into her hand.

"Hey, you got your magical abilities back," Brent observed from the doorway.

"Oh my gosh, you don't know!" Maerna squealed. She preceded to tell him all about the rediscovery of her powers, the burning by the wands and her and Severus's research into the Dark Arts ritual. The pizza came and she was still telling her story. "I keep telling myself, I'm sure my grandmother had a reason for binding my powers, but can't possibly imagine what that would be. I know she loved me, but when I think about that memory, I start to second guess myself. . . " She trailed off. "Did she ever say anything to you?"

"Now, you listen here, young lady," her uncle lectured, keeping a blank faced. "I don't know why your grandmother did that. She always acted like you were a squib, but I know she loved you more than life itself. Never forget that."

"Yes, sir," Maerna said. "Severus said the same thing."

"Now, there are two questions I have for you. First what magic can you do wandlessly? That's very impressive by the way. The second is who is this Severus?. You've mentioned him several times now."

Maerna threw herself on the coach and groaned. "I can do about a dozen spells wandlessly. I'll show them to you. That's the easy one. Severus is the hard one. Why are men so complicated?"

Her uncle looked at his niece and burst out laughing.