AN: Check the first chapter for disclaimers

Earlier in the first week of August

Cornelius Fudge, very unlike him, was concentrating hard on his paperwork. He had his complete focus on parchment detailing the financial implications that the World Cup Finals would bring next year. The reason for his concentration was not because of the topic in the parchments, as that was rather dull and tedious.

No, the reason Fudge was keeping all his attention on the parchment was because of the task that faced him once he finished it. He didn't want to think about it and wanted to delay doing it as much as possible. But, unfortunately the report on the finances was short and precise, and was over too soon.

He put it aside and dreadfully pulled the sheet containing the planned timeline of his annual inspection visit to Azkaban, which was scheduled for today. This was the one task of being the minister he absolutely hated. That place was truly hell on earth. The first time he had gone there, it had taken him a week to recover and it hadn't really improved over the subsequent years.

He had already asked his assistant to bring as much chocolate as she could find and had filled the extended pockets in his coat with it. Despite that, he contemplated faking being sick as he went over the list of inmates of the highest security wing.

His eyes jumped back to one name on it and a thought came to him. Smiling deviously, he buzzed his assistant. The young pretty brunette entered his office and he subtly admired her magnificent assets in her tight new outlet, likely courtesy of 'Spark Apparels', the new fashion store in Diagon Alley. He had to admit, they had a wonderful collection of clothes, his assistant looked wonderful in a white sleeveless top and a navy blue knee length skirt with a slit over her left thigh.

Giving himself an internal shake, he got to the point, "Heather, would you be kind enough to bring me all the last month's morning editions of Daily Prophet. There is a particular article I'm looking for, but I forgot when it was printed. It was definitely in July though."

"Yes minister. Right away." As she left to do the task, Fudge again got to enjoy a wonderful view.

Very soon, he was searching through a small stack of newspapers until he found the one he was looking for. He pulled it out with a delighted 'Ah-ha' and looked at the image of Helen Potter lounging on a coach in an advert for her new business, right above a picture of the Weasleys going on their holiday to Egypt.

This will be the perfect way to mock that monster, Sirius Black. Showing him the undoing of his master living a happy and successful life while he rotted in Azkaban would be the perfect taunt.

With that thought making his upcoming visit somewhat bearable, the Minister started getting ready.

XXXXX

Later that night, Sirius Black stared at the image of a very familiar mouse on the shoulder of the youngest Weasley boy.

Two days later, the guards discovered that their most infamous inmate was missing and pandemonium erupted.

XXXXX

A slightly annoyed Helen quickly made her way through the crowd on platform nine and three quarters and boarded the Hogwart express. She quickly found an empty compartment and removed the hooded robe she was wearing to keep herself inconspicuous from the searching eyes of the crowd.

Normally, she liked having everyone's attention but she was already annoyed since the morning and gawking would have made matters worse. The last few weeks had been frustrating to say the least, as she had to control and measure her every action, literally, and had been relying on her magic to complete her daily tasks like eating, drinking and bathing. For the past three weeks, Dobby and Teeny were ecstatic as their work-load had increased tenfold, repairing all the damage she had caused around the manor by her distinct lack of control, as a side-effect of her ritual.

It was only a few days ago that she finally had enough control to go out in public. And when she had gone to Diagon Alley to shop for her upcoming year at Hogwarts, Rita Skeeter had cornered her. The reporter had somehow, probably from ministry records, found that Helen had cleared her potions OWL and NEWT exams with flying colors and already had her application for a potions mastery accepted by the masters council.

Helen had been forced to give an interview and Rita had taken full advantage of the opportunity to ask about all the other topics that everyone was interested in, like her views on Sirius Black's escape, her relationship with Cedric, her opinion and relations with Severus Snape who had nominated her for mastery, her friends, her business, so on and so forth.

Helen had remained cordial and friendly for the whole interview despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to hang the blonde from a hook through her tongue in her dungeon while holding a cruciatus on her the entire time.

Yesterday, Rita had printed an article in the Teen Witches Weekly which seemed like a repeat of an earlier article about her relationships and fashion sense but this time with quotes and new pictures. Then in the today's Daily Prophet, Helen was front page news, with the headline

'The-Girl-Who-is-multi-talented'

Rolling her eyes at the weak title, Helen opened the paper and started to read. The article elaborated her success in business, in academics, personal relations, essentially painting an image of a Heroine, just as the masses expected from the Girl-who-lived. Thus, the gawking Helen received was only increasing.

On top of everything else, her visit to the Gaunt shack had also left her confused. She had no trouble with the various traps Voldemort had left there for protecting his second horcrux. No, she could have dealt with them easily enough even without the prior knowledge she had on them. No, what had left her confused was the ring itself. Or rather the stone in the ring. She had easily destroyed the ring and the horcrux by dipping it in a vial of basilisk venom, obtained from the chamber. No, what had her flummoxed was that the extremely corrosive poison had not even left a mark on the black colored stone itself. When she had tried to test it, her diagnostic spells had given readings indicating that it was just an ordinary stone.

She recalled Voldemort's memories about the ring. He knew that Gaunts were descended from the Peverells and the marking on the stone was the coat of arms of the house of Peverell. But he wasn't interested in the tale of three brothers or their famed three articles, the deathly hallows, except for perhaps the wand. So, he had never thought about the plain stone in the Gaunt ring as anything special. Helen, however, was forced to conclude that this might be the resurrection stone, leaving her unsure what to do now that she possibly had two of the deathly hallows in her possession. Though the legend of the master of death was likely a tale made up on a later date, it would not hurt for Helen to keep an eye out for the elder wand as well.

Helen knew sooner or later Dumbledore would find this place, while looking for Voldemort's horcrux, so she had created a perfect replica of the original ring and applied all the original curses on it with a deadly addition underneath them. The ring had a miniscule needle mechanism that would inject a mixture of basilisk venom and Jarrin root extract to the wearer. Combined with an anti-phoenix ward on the shack, this could kill even Dumbledore within a minute even if he somehow had a vial of phoenix tears, as the tears weren't an antidote for Jarrin root, or Nundu breath for that matter. Jarrin root was one of the most deadly poison in the world, only basilisk venom and nundu breath were deadlier.

To divert her attention from thoughts of casting a fire-ball at the platform, she pulled out a book from her truck before levitating it on the rack overhead. She sat in the center and opened 'Leviathan' by Thomas Hobbes, her second favorite political thinker after Machiavelli, and started reading. She liked his view that the state was supreme, even above the church. It was a good thing that the British political scene was heavily influenced by him, something she could use in future.

Soon, she was joined by her friends and had to expand the compartment once again to accommodate everyone. Cedric had dropped by as well for a few minutes before leaving to meet his friends. He had done well in his OWLs, in fact he was second in his year, with Os in DADA, Transfiguration and Potions, earning Es in rest of his subjects. Helen had promised him that they would soon continue what they started at his home.

Her friends kept throwing her glances, either judging her mood correctly or probably worried about her due to rumours about Sirius Black breaking out of Azkaban to get to her. She peaked into their minds to confirm her deductions.

In order to distract everyone, Susan dropped her own bombshell to the group. "Last night, Aunty was home for once and informed me that we are going to have some of the Dementors from Azkaban stationed in Hogsmeade and around Hogwarts until they catch Sirius Black. It's going to be horrible."

Hermione, who was cuddling to Helen's arm, asked "They can't be that bad, can they? I've read about them but surely their terror is a bit exaggerated."

"Oh, they are that bad. Worse, actually." replied Daphne, while all the other magical raised teens nodded grimly in agreement.

"They literally suck out all the happiness from you, feeding on it, leaving you in despair. You'll feel like you can never be happy again and that life itself is utterly devoid of all meaning. Once they have taken every happy thought from you, they suck your soul out of your body by performing the Dementor's Kiss. Unfortunately, there is no way to kill these demons," Helen scoffed internally at that while Susan continued on unknowing of Helen's amusement "and there is only one very advanced spell to repel them. And if that all was not bad enough, their presence also brings an unnatural chill in the vicinity," Susan ended with a shiver.

She was wrong about there being no way of killing Dementors. Voldemort had killed quite a few before they gave their allegiance to him. In theory it was very simple, you just had to burn them. In practice, it was very difficult, as their cold aura was not just 'chilly' as Susan put it but was their strongest defense mechanism. Dementors had a weakness to fire but if you couldn't make fire or keep one going, you can't harm them. The trick was to overpower the fire to such a level that it overcame a dementor's aura and managed to reach it. Only the most powerful fire spells, such as fiendfyre truly stood any chance at destroying a dementor.

But something Susan said repeated in Helen's mind and she interrupted the worried chatter of the group.

"Don't worry, I can teach you all the Patronus charm. I can do it and have already taught Padma to cast it successfully." As the group looked at her and Padma dumbfounded, astonished at their accomplishment. They discussed scheduling a bit before most left to roam around the train and catch up with their friends, leaving just Helen, Hermione, Daphne, Susan and Hannah in the compartment. Helen took the opportunity and asked Susan,

"You said Amelia was home for once yesterday. What did you mean? Had she been out of the country or something?"

Susan's face showed what she was feeling, sorrow, a bit of anger and disappointment, "No, nothing like that. It's just that she's been spending even more time at work than before. Sometimes she doesn't even come home and I hardly see her anymore, not that we saw each other much before. But I think we are drifting even further apart and there's nothing I can do about it."

Hannah gave her a sideways hug and said softly, "Hey, you know you are always welcome at our place. My parents will always welcome you."

The auburn haired girl gave her a watery smile, "I know, but you can't be there forever, like last month when you had gone for vacation. I was alone for the most part, with only letters from you all keeping me sane. I feel like I have no family left," she finished shakily.

Helen got up and stepped in front of the distraught girl, gently taking her chin in her hand and making her look at her, "Do you think that we will let you be alone? That I will let you be alone?"

Her eyes shone with unshed tears as she looked at her with desperate hope while the others nodded along.

Helen looked deeply into her eyes and said gently but firmly, "We will be your family," And then leaning forward added softly, "I'll be your family."

The tears finally rolled down her cheeks as Helen bent to hug the girl tightly while the others looked on with emotional smiles. Though, they couldn't see the victorious smile on Helen's face as it was hidden by the auburn hairs. Not much later, after Helen had returned to her seat, the rest finally returned to join them.

Soon, the group settled down as the train made its way northwards through the British countryside. The weather worsened the further north they went and a few hours after departure they couldn't see anything out the windows because of the torrential rain and dark clouds.

The temperature suddenly started falling and their breath started to become mist. The windows had started frosting on the edges when the train squealed to an abrupt stop. Helen connected the dots quickly, realizing what was happening and informed the group.

"Unless I'm very much mistaken, I think the train was stopped by the dementors and they are going to search the train, looking for Sirius Black."

Everyone exchanged worried looks and a few people started looking panicky. But before the situation got out of control, Helen took over, "We should rearrange the seating arrangements quickly. Susan, Hermione, Hannah and Tracey, nearest to the windows. Padma, you are with me next to the door, Colin and Blaise next after us and then everyone else in between."

They all moved obediently without a moment of hesitation and soon were in position, with Helen and Padma standing next to the door. After a few endless moments, the temperature started dropping further and Helen instructed everyone to take their wands out. Seconds later, their door was unlocked with a click and slowly slid open to show a dark hooded cloak of long ripped black cloth covering the greyed skeletal decayed looking body of the dementor. It was humanoid in shape and around 10 feet tall, making a rattling sound everytime it breathed.

It started to move in when Helen pointed her wand at its covered face and spoke clearly, "Sirius Black is not in this compartment. You may leave."

The dementor stilled and turned towards her voice. She spoke again more forcefully this time, "None of us is Sirius Black. Now, Leave!"

Apparently satisfied it started moving back. However, Susan whimpered at that moment, making it aware of her presence. It turned its head towards her, instantly pulled by her distraught emotions and started gliding forward.

Helen immediately screamed "Expecto Patronum" and a white mass immediately came out of the tip of her wand, pushing the dementor back. Padma joined her as well and together they pushed the foul creature out of their compartment, their spells combining to form a bright white shield at the doorway.

A wolf patronus then joined them from the side, galloping down the corridor and chasing the creature away. A tall shabbily dressed man came rushing behind the patronus with his wand raised and eyes alert. He had light brown hair with more grey in it than brown and had a pale face with premature lines. Helen recognized who this was and was surprised to see him here of all the places. However, she quickly realized that Remus Lupin must have been selected for the vacant post of Defense against the Dark Arts professor.

He stopped next to them to check on everyone and commended both Padma and her for their use of difficult charm under pressure, "Excellent work girls. I didn't expect anyone here to know the Patronus charm, let alone people so young. I need to hurry along now, but I'll make sure you are recognised for your worthy effort."

As he looked closely to memorize their faces, his eyes widened in recognition as he looked into Helen's vivid emerald eyes. He recovered quickly though and was on his way soon.

Helen and Padma went back in the compartment, locking it behind them and the former went straight to the back to check on Susan, Hermione and Hannah. Hermione and Hannah were mostly fine, if a bit pale, but Susan was shaking and looked cold. Helen quickly engulfed her and instructed Hannah to take out her chocolate stash. It was quickly distributed among the group with Susan getting the lion's share of it. She recovered slowly and returned to a semblance of normalcy only by the time they reached the Hogsmeade station.

XXXXX

Helen and the rest of the third year Ravenclaws waited patiently for the sorting to end. While there were a few potentials in the group, Helen found only one person interesting enough to pay attention to, Astoria Greengrass, who followed her sister to the Slytherin house. Dumbledore opened the welcoming feast with a few words, saving all the important announcements for later.

Once the food was consumed and the plates returned to their shiny gold state, Dumbledore once again took the podium to make the beginning of the term announcements.

"Good Evening everyone. Now that we all have been watered and fed, let me take a few minutes of your time before you all fulfill your yearning for the bed. I have a few things to say to you all, and one of them is very serious."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." His expression turned stony and the student body collectively leaned forward to listen carefully.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Helen and Padma glanced at each other. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said.

"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year."

"First, Professor Remus Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause as Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes. However, having seen his patronus, Helen had high expectations from him. She also knew that he was competent enough from Voldemort's memories as he was one of the most active fighters of the Order back in the day.

"As for our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Helen suppressed a groan, but the rest of her house were not so sympathetic, neither were the Slytherins. While a nice man, Hagrid was not a complex person and was rather naive and gullible, something not desired in a professor. Also, it was well known that he perceived danger differently from normal humans and liked to keep dangerous animals as pets.

"Next, I would like to take a moment to congratulate Helen Potter for her extraordinary achievement of receiving an OWL and a NEWT in potions before even entering her 3rd year at Hogwarts as well as getting nominated to the masters council for a mastery in the same subject. It has been a very long time since a student of Hogwarts has achieved this honor while still at school. Congratulations Helen, you have proven yourself to be an embodiment of your house by achieving such an academic accolade at such a young age and have made Hogwarts proud."

Dumbledore then led the applause and Helen stood and gave a deep curtsy with a pleasant smile fixed on her face. Her smile did lose some rigidity when she curtsied to Severus, who unsuccessfully tried to disguise his pride in her.

Soon after, Dumbledore dismissed them and the blue and bronze clad students ascended to their tower. The third years went up to their oval and decided to change first and catch up afterwards. Helen stepped inside her room, closed the door and pulled out her wand to enact what she had been meaning to do for some time.

While the oval rooms were wide and spacious, the individual bedrooms in the Ravenclaw house were on the smaller side. Helen decided to change that and started expanding her room internally. Once she reached her desired size, she placed various runes and enchantments to keep the size permanent and stable, until the time she changed it herself.

Next she created half-wall partitions to give the wide, mostly empty room some structure by creating various sections in the room. One corner at the far end was turned into a study and the desk was levitated into the space, to be transfigured into something elegant later. The other corner, along with the wardrobe, was turned into a walk-in closet. Helen deposited her trunk in it and summoned a few shrunken rugs from it. Soon, the floor was covered in thick blue and beige rugs, giving the room an elegant look.

With one last change left, Helen turned towards the single four poster bed and expanded it to a large king sized one with sheer beige curtains. It matched the size of her bed in the Potter Manor which could easily have four people sleeping in it. Something Helen was going to take full advantage of, as she planned to have many 'guests' in her room.

Done with renovation, she walked into her closet and came out wearing white spaghetti and pink shorts. She had thought of adding a bathroom as well, but that was too much hassle as she couldn't change the original plumbing of the castle. One way around that was to have runes fulfilling specific functions such as a water conjuring rune in some taps and a shower head, along with a vanishing rune in the drains, but that was too much work, especially considering that there was a decent enough setup just across the oval.

She stepped out of her room to find the rest already lounging in the oval. She could see the influence of her clothing line in the room. Gone were the ancient and stuffy nightgowns, to be replaced by clothing that wouldn't stand out in a muggle pajama party.

Padma and Sue were wearing pajama bottoms with a spaghetti and a sleeveless top respectively. Morag was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Mandy and Lisa were in nightdresses which were anything but traditional, with the hem well above the knees and a noodle string on their shoulders.

The boys too were similarly looking quite comfortable and dashing. Michael, who had grown into a hot handsome boy, was showing off his muscles in a tank top and knee length shorts, while talking Quidditch with Morag. Terry, in a T-shirt and shorts, was sitting close to Padma, casually flirting with the beautiful girl, while appreciating the view. Anthony was in tight Pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, discussing transfiguration theory with Lisa and Sue.

Helen, ignoring the armchair at the head, sat on the couch next to Michael and joined in the Quidditch discussion. Both the beaters of the team were 7th years, and while the team wasn't looking to replace any current member, they were looking to fill the reserve team spots. Michael, who had expressed his desire to become a beater next year, was asking for any advice for the trials. Helen thought that if his flying was any good, he'd certainly get into the team, as he already had the physique for a beater, with wide shoulders and muscular arms, exhibiting a good upper body strength.

Their Quidditch talks were interrupted by Lisa, "Helen, when do you plan on teaching us the patronus charm? I think we all want to learn that one as soon as possible," the rest nodded along, agreeing with her statement.

Helen agreed that they needed to learn the spell soon with the dementors around. "Let's wait until we get the timetable tomorrow. Since no one has opted for Divination and Muggle Studies, I think the period slots for those subjects will be adequate for our purpose. In the meanwhile, I want you all to read up on the theory behind the spell. If you have any doubts regarding that, ask Padma."

The group consented to her wisdom so Helen decided to push it further and give them a task, to see their approach and measure their effectiveness for the future. "I want to know the reaction to the Ministry's decision of posting Dementors at Hogwarts. Anthony, you and Terry are to ask your families about the wizengamot's stance on this. Which faction favors it, who opposes it and the general opinion about the minister."

Looking at Lisa, Padma and Sue, she continued, "You three are to get the same for the ministry itself as well as the opinion of ICW, specifically our neighboring nations. Can you handle that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Getting their verbal agreements, she turned to the last three members, "Mandy, Morag and Michael, you three are to get the same information from the student body and the staff here at Hogwarts."

Once the instructions were given, they chatted about random topics for a while. Susan's horrible home life came up and Helen suggested bringing her here for a couple of days every week. She mentioned that she had modified her room so that they could easily accommodate the redhead and Hannah as well, if she tagged along.

This led to everyone heading to her room to see the changes themselves and they were all astonished at the new look and size. They spent the rest of the evening in her room and later one by one everyone left to sleep. Helen held Michael back, and once they were alone, started approaching him slowly.

"So, I've had a very frustrating day today, with all people staring at me and gossiping about me because of that article," she said. Michael gave a nod in understanding, having observed the same.

Helen continued as she stopped in front of him, "Then there was the Dementor, sucking out our happiness. And later on, Dumbledore put me up on a pedestal like a prize in front of the whole school. The end result of all that is that I'm left quite stressed, tired and sore."

Helen lifted her hand to gently caress his muscled bicep and asked coyly, while looking through her lashes, "I was wondering if you could help me with that."

Now flustered and totally unarmed, Michael just nodded, unable to frame words as the beautiful vixen had him totally under her control.

Helen smiled sensually and beckoned him with a crooked finger towards the bed. "I have some scented oils here. I would love to have them rubbed into my skin. Will you do that for me?" She purred looking over her shoulder. He followed her looking like an eager puppy, nodding his head, glad for being given the opportunity to feel her skin.

Helen waved her hand, levitating the desired oil out of the side table and warmed it to a pleasant temperature. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she instructed him, "Why don't you start with my legs and arms?"

Michael immediately sat on the rug, took her feet in his lap and started applying the oil on her calves and feet. After rubbing it in for several minutes he hesitantly started oiling her thighs. When she encouraged him with a smile, he grew in confidence and his fingers started touching her thighs, which were almost completely bare. After feeling her shapely legs for several moments under the pretence of applying the oil, he started rubbing it in making Helen sigh.

Once done with them, he climbed on the bed behind Helen and worked on her arms and shoulders. As soon as her arms were done, Helen took her top off, causing him to draw a sharp breath in. Now topless, she laid on her stomach while still turned away, her arms covering her from the sides and looked at him.

"Would you do my back as well?" She asked him in a sultry voice.

Michael sat there with his jaw dropped for a moment, before springing into action. For several minutes he caressed her back before getting to work. Fifteen minutes later, when he was done, Helen was feeling quite boneless. Feeling satisfied, she decided to give him an incentive for the future. She got up, covering her breasts with her left arm and stood up almost touching him, bringing her lips next to his ear.

Throatily she whispered, "Thank You, Michael," gently blowing warm air into his ear as her free hand roamed over his hard chest and abdomen, making him moan and shiver in pleasure. As she leaned back, his eyes got fixated at her partially covered breasts and her cleavage.

After letting him enjoy the view for a few moments she brought her face in front of his to get his attention and gave him a peck on the lips, as her hand gently caressed his hardness through his shorts. Then with a mischievous smirk she wished him a "Good Night".

He left the room dazed, as Helen got back to bed chuckling, knowing that he was going to need a cold shower.

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