Disclaimer: I do not own any of Ms. Rowling's wonderful creations. Nor do I own any of the various songs that may be presented throughout the length of this fanfiction. The various songs will be named at the end of the fic, as well as in the chapter within which they lie.

A big thanks and a shout out goes to:


goldenlioness1102 – Well...you'll just have to see, won't you?

Bob the Amazing Immortal Bouncing Goldfish Lord of the Exploding Plastacine Chickens – Well...she gets out of it because...no, I won't tell you. I'll simply let you wait for Chapter 3 to come out to see exactly what twist of fate I throw in.

Raspberri13 – Technically, it was a prologue and a first chapter...but I know what you mean.

Ginny-and-Draco-fan – I'm glad you enjoy it. And I know what you mean about reading cliffies. However...I find that I enjoy writing cliffies because one, it drives you all bonkers and two, I'm sadistic like that.

hpobsessor – I'll explain more on that exchange, later. In the third chapter...which I have just finished writing...it shows a bit more. And why she doesn't answer him? Iono...ask Maya.

FredWeasleyLover1126 – Her empty eyes mean, basically, that she is completely emotionless. She believes that 1. she doesn't have a right to live after what happened to James and Lily and 2. her friends have all moved on without her- whether they be Ron and Harry or the Marauders and Snake's Halo.

Miss Pinky – I'm glad you enjoy this series so much. It's my most popular series, and I enjoy writing it.

screwtheperfectlife – I'll explain more on the whole piece of the soul missing thing later. It's one of those funky subplots that I sometimes throw into my stories to piss people off and make them go "Huh? Wait...huh!"

Dark Me – I'm glad you enjoy it so much.

amrawo – The last bit with Lucius confused a lot of people. You're just going to have to wait with everyone else to find out what she "did" because I'm not going to explain it five hundred times.

sln1987 – Glad you liked it.

dramaqueen73190 – Indeed it would...and you'll see later that it does and there are serious repercussions from it. So...you'll have to read to dfind out exactly what those are.

The Gryffindor Drummer – It's quite alright. I'm glad you got to review to the second update and that you enjoy it.

Dagworth – I'm glad you like it.

Here is your next update! –Bows.- I'm glad so many of you like this story! I'm only on the third update and already there are over five hundred hits! That's wonderful! I love you all! Okay...there has been a lot of confusion when it comes to the last exchange between Maya and Lucius in Chapter 1 (Or Chapter 2, for those of you who don't look at the title of the chapter and only see the 1. 2. 3...etc that the site posts) and I...WILL NOT...be alleviating the confusion at this point in time. It is- to a point- in the chapter that comes after this one...and after that, the explanation will come steadily until hopefully the confusion is all gone.

Anyway, we're not here to listen to my rambling...so without further adieu, I give you the next chapter!

Yours,

Allison

Chapter 2

Bellatrix Lestrange is dead. Penning those words makes me the happiest that I've been since I returned to this time, several months ago. My archenemy is dead. Would that I had done this sixteen years ago before taking that potion. But you cannot change history. It may not yet have happened...but it was history to me. The entirity of Lily and James' future was my past. My history.

Sirius, you have been avenged. All, now, that is left is Pudge Pettigrew.

Rat-face, you'd better start praying. I'm back.

Maya Gurgeon

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Maya stepped out of the fire into the headmaster's office, looking around silently. Spying Neville in one corner, she moved to the desk. Seemingly oblivious to the eyes on her, she reached into her robes and pulled free the robes that she'd taken from Bellatrix's body and- angling her own wand discreetly in her sleeve- held her left hand silently over the wands and cast a non-verbal spell. Accio, Bellatrix Lestrange's wand. As the wand jumped the whole two inches into the air to her hand, she slid her own wand back into the wrist holder that she'd recieved during her work as an auror.

Leaving the rest of the wands where they were for the moment, Hermione gripped each end of the wand firmly, one end in each hand, with her palms facing the ground and her thumbs extending near the middle of the wand. Looking at the wand- and not the group of aurors, students, and professors staring at her- she applied pressure firmly to the ends of the wand, which broke with a small crack. A whisp of black smoke trailed upwards from the exposed core of the wand and Hermione looked up, her eyes finding Neville once more.

"Mr. Longbottom, please step forward." She said in what Albus called her 'professor' voice. When he obeyed, she grasbed both ends of the shattered wand in her left hand and extended them to the boy, meeting his eyes. He hesitated for a moment before reaching up and grasping the exposed ends of the wand. "In accordance to the unspoken laws of both Vengeance and Justice, I give you the wand of the witch that sealed the fate of your parents."

"I...you...Thank you, Professor Grant." He said, automatically, taking the wand from her hands and stepping back in a daze.

"Neville." When he looked up to meet her eyes again from the wand, she smiled. "It's Maya." He nodded and moved back to his seat.

"Maya?" She looked at the Headmaster. "Is Bellatrix..."

"Bellatrix Lestrange is dead." There was an ice in Hermione's voice that hadn't been there moments before. Silence fell upon the office as Draco, Harry, and Blaise stared at her. Ron had taken Ginny to the Hospital Wing.

"I see." There was a gravity in Dumbledore's voice that rarely showed up. "The other Deatheaters?"

"We have them in custody, Albus." Alastor stated, stepping forward. His mad eye was aimed at Hermione. She met it for a long moment, before it turned away from her.

"Good, good..." Albus said, watching Hermione. She stood there for a long moment before turning and quietly walking to the door.

"Misters Potter and Malfoy." She called over her shoulder. "I want you both in my office first thing tomorrow morning." A chorus of 'Yes Professor's followed her out the door. Glancing about once she was in the hallway, she made her way towards the Entrance of the school, exiting and hurrying silently down to the gates. Slipping out, she concentrated and, with a pop, disapparated.

She reappeared in the mansion that had been her home for- to her- the past three years. The disorientation of knowing that she'd travelled through time returned with a vengeance...just as it had several times when she'd done it the first time, four years before. She would adjust, she knew, but it would be a while. Staring around the dust-ridden rooms, Maya's jaw tightened and she slipped her wand from its holder. "Scourgify!" She cried, beginning to clean the room thoroughly. When she had finished with the entire house, top to bottom, she moved down the eerily silent hallway of the second floor.

She felt as if her heart was being torn apart when she saw the letter that she'd written to Sirius resting on their bed. Forcing herself to shrug it off, she silently moved to the stairs at the end of the hallway and climbed up the curving, elegant staircase into the attic that had been made into her own personal library. Stopping before the sealed door, she studied it quietly before speaking.

"Aluminus Vestus" As the door slowly slid open, she moved slowly into the room that had been her haven...outside of which the final battle had been fought with Bellatrix Lestrange, the one that had sealed her fate...throwing her back into her original time and forcing her to lose everything.

The library was just as she had left it. It had been the one place that the dust had not touched. A fond smile graced her lips as she moved around the room, gazing at the floor-to-ceiling shelves and touching the spines of many of the books. Walking to her desk, she sat down and pulled open a drawer, pulling out a set of notes and studying it for a long time before sighing and sitting back. A glance at the clock on the wall made her happiness at being safely in her mansion disappear. A wizard's clock, near identical to Molly Weasley's...indeed, Molly's had been a gift from Maya and Sirius for Christmas. The hands each held the face of someone Hermione had loved. Harry, Draco, Sirius, Lucius, Trevor, Pudge, James, Lily, Narcissa, Severus, and Remus. Each of them had a hand.

Standing, she walked to the clock and gazed sorrowfully at the two hands pointing calmly at 'dead.' Her eyes closed slightly before she opened them once more and looked for the familiar, smiling, loving face. There...pointing at 'Hogwarts' along with Harry, Draco, Remus, and Severus. There it was. The undeniable proof that he lived. The relief was so great that she very nearly collapsed beneath its weight. He must have gone to the Hospital Wing.

Silently, Maya moved to the bookcases and studied the books there for several moments before she moved across the carpeted room and out of the library, sealing it behind her once more and studying the attic that she'd emerged into. As she walked down the hallways and towards the exit of the mansion, her wand began to release the windows, allowing light to stream into the house. Stepping out onto the front step, Maya looked around silently for a short time before closing the door behind her and disapparating with a distinct pop.

Moving silently up and into the castle, the witch stepped through the doors and walked up to get Madam Pomfrey's report on Ginny's health. As she entered the Hospital Wing, Ron looked up.

"Hermione." He said, quietly. She looked at him and he smiled. "You're back."

"It's Maya now, Ron." She said, her voice low. "It has been for four years...for me." She then brushed past him into the curtained ward where Ginny was curled up on the bed, shivering and staring into space.

"Who's there? Get ou...oh, it's only you Miss Gurgeon."

"Hello, Poppy." Maya smiled. "I don't suppose you could give me a report on Miss Weasley's health?"

"Sexual assault. That's the main part." Poppy said, looking down at the girl on the bed. "She doesn't seem to have taken any curse damage at all..."

"Shock?" Maya asked.

"Very possible. It's what I'm treating her for, anyways." Poppy explained. Maya nodded, cataloguing the information in her perfect memory- Fudge had once tried to catch her on a case by saying that she couldn't possibly have memorized all of the facts. He had failed...humiliatingly...when the medi-witch and other researchers brought in to confirm that Maya was lying had recited- to the word- precisely what Maya had said before.

"Would it be possible for me to question her now, Madam?" The brunette looked down at the trembling redheaded woman who reminded her so much of Lily. She bit back a growl of rage. It wouldn't help Ginny...indeed, it may just frighten the poor child and disincline Poppy to allow Maya to question her.

"Well, I..." The mediwitch was cut off by the soft, child's voice coming from the bed.

"I want to talk now...to get it over with." Ginny rolled over and sat up, curling back up once she was sitting. Seeing Hermione, she smiled faintly. "You're back...I thought it might have been a hallucination."

"No, Miss Weasley, it wasn't." Maya replied softly. "I need you to tell me, in your own words, exactly what was done to you. Leave out no details, Miss Weasley." She glanced towards Madame Pomfrey, who nodded discreetly and sat with a pen and piece of paper to document the questioning on the off chance that Fudge tried his little tricks again. How that dunderhead was still a ministry employ- let alone Minister of Magic- was beyond Maya's reckoning.

The telling was long and exceedingly brutal- at Maya's request, Ginny spared no details. It hurt her to talk about it...but she still saw Maya as Hermione in her heart, so it was visibly easier on her. Not only that, but it was as if each word spoken in that bitter, self deprecating tone of voice was a weight lifted off of her young shoulders. Maya listened impassively, never judging Ginny. Nor did she pity the young woman, for that was the last thing that the redhead needed. When at long last the story had been finished and Maya had within her mind the plethora of names needed to bring those who had done this to Ginny to their justice, the witch grimly stood aside as Poppy Pomfrey forced a dreamless sleep potion down the sixth year's throat.

As the young woman drifted to sleep, Hermione turned silently, her deep purple Auror's robes billowing in a very Snapeish way as she moved for the exit. "Maya." Poppy's voice stopped her and she turned, her gaze still impassive, empty of all feeling. "Perhaps you should take a dreamless sleep potion with you...I know you haven't slept well since you returned to your proper time."

"What is my proper time anymore, Poppy?" Hermione almost seemed sad as she asked the question. Almost. When the mediwitch had no answer forthcoming, Maya nodded silently. "I will look in on her again at a later date, to see how she is doing." With that, she swooped out of the Hospital Wing, oblivious to the stares of Ron, Harry, Draco, and Blaise as they waited their turns to be checked over.

She had almost made it back to the relative security of her room when she was stopped by an irate Severus Snape. "Why did you not tell me!" He hissed. "Why did you hide when you knew how much you meant to me! How much you meant to Lucius!"

Her mind flew back to that day several months before in her office...the first- and last- time she'd succomed to dispair. She'd thought that she could be no more alone than she had been at that time. How utterly wrong she'd proven to be. "Albus and I agreed that it would do little good to force you to keep yet another secret from Voldemort, and..."

He cut her off sharply. "BAGS on Voldemort, Maya! You don't get it, do you! You've been without us for two months! We've had to survive without you for sixteen YEARS! Even for a witch or wizard, that is no small span of years! You knew what was going to happen, and you let it happen! What, did you plan your return all along! DID YOU! Did you play us all along! Have you no sense of honor, woman, that you can allow yourself the satisfaction of utterly ruining those that you had the gall to call friend!" He roared at her. The sixteen years younger witch stood silently and impassively before his accusations, her head bowed slightly, her eyes on the ground. Her face, however, remained impassive.

"Are you quite finished?" Her voice was so low that he barely caught it.

"...Yes." Only then did he truly begin to realize his mistake, as she remained silent, standing still for only moments before she pushed past him silently and finished the trek to her office.

Spying the door slightly open, Maya fought to keep her proud, straight shoulders from sagging. It seemd that the confrontations were not yet over. Her suspicions were confirmed when she stepped into her office to see Remus Lupin and Sirius Black waiting for her. Utterly drained and already on her way into a despair deeper than the greatest of abysses, she fought the urge to simply surrender to that despair and squared her shoulders, raising her face to meet the eyes of the werewolf standing in her office, noting as she did that Sirius refused to look anywhere near her.

Contrary to the screaming that she'd expected- indeed, that she had only moments before endured from Severus- Remus' voice was astoundingly calm. "How long have you been back?"

That calm, disappointed voice was somehow worse than Severus' heated display of rage. She fought the urge to flinch and took an extra breath to insure the steadiness of her voice before speaking. "Two months now. When I took the potion, I arrived around two days after my disappearance. I believe it was the night of the Welcoming Feast."

"Two months." Remus echoed. Maya bit her tongue, forcing herself not to wince involuntarily. "Sixty-two days or so." He stared at her for a long moment. "The Maya that I remember wasn't a coward. You are no longer an honorary Marauder. Thus voted by the two remaining Marauders. Which means that I'll need that Ring back."

This time, she did wince. She could still remember the day that- laughing- she and Lily had been given their custom-made rings proclaiming them Honorary Mauraders. It had been near the end of their Seventh Year...just after Lucius and Sirius had intervened and forced the truce between Bellatrix and Maya. Silently, she reached up for the chain around her neck, pulling it free with one hard yank that she knew would leave a chain-shaped bruise around the back of her neck. Never looking at the broken- expensive- chain or her fist...clenched around the ring that Dumbledore had forced her not to wear. ("It's too easy to recognize, Maya. I'm afraid you're going to have to give it up. Wear it on a chain beneath your clothes, if you must, but it cannot adorn your hands.")

Remus extended his right hand as well, underneath her own. He tried to glance away but her dark, chocolate-colored eyes drew his, forcing his gaze into hers as she dropped the ring into his open palm. Within those dark eyes, there lay no spark. None of the love of life that Maya had embodied. Nothing lay there but a faint flicker of hope, which winked and shivered like a candle in a stern breeze for several long moments before- to Remus' horror- it winked out.

SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK

Maya sat silently in her office as she heard the knock on the door, the next morning. She hadn't slept the night before- though one could not tell by looking at her- due to having to visit the Ministry of Magic and report her findings to one of the head Aurors. Since Alastor had retired, she had forced to give her report to Kingsley, who nodded quietly and took notes for a long time before- sensing that she needed a friend- inviting her to tea. That simple act of kindness, more than anything, had helped her.

"Enter." Her voice was firm and steady, and the door slid open slowly to reveal Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. "Ah, boys. I wondered if you would come."

"Why wouldn't we?" Harry asked, confused. Her smile held no warmth as she spoke next.

"Your Godfathers are rather displeased with me, to put it quite lightly."

"I can see why..." Draco said, softly. When the dark brown predator's eyes landed on him, he shivered. "I just meant...why shouldn't they be hurt that you didn't trust them enough to tell them that you were back?"

"I can see that there is no way I am going to skirt that god forsaken issue. Bags on it all!" She snapped, standing up and walking in a billow of robes to the window, staring out for a long time before spinning with a dark glare at the snickering students behind her. "What?"

"You just looked...exactly like Professor Snape." Harry managed.

"Well of course! Who do you think taught him the trick? He certainly didn't figure it out on his own! Nor did Lucius figure out the whole 'the cane is my friend' concept by himself." She snapped, walking to her desk and sitting darkly. She seemed to be stewing over something, so neither of her Godsons dared to speak up. Indeed, she was quiet for so long that she startled them when she spoke. "It isn't that I didn't trust them. It's that- to keep my cover in tact...damn you, Albus- nobody could know for sure. Even Poppy- who treated me for my Travel Sickness- was not told who I was...though I do believe she probably guessed." She looked at the boys, who were serious, hanging on her every word. She sighed softly and motioned towards a pensieve in the corner.

"I compiled that for the two of you...as I am certain that Bellatrix did not bother sharing it, other than the fact that she was certain that she killed me." She said, her voice dark with self deprecation. "I felt that you two, as my godsons, deserved the knowledge more than, perhaps, anyone." They shifted slightly before walking to the pensieve and looking in. There was a long moment when she didn't think they'd do it, but in the next moment, their faces plunged into the swirling, silvery mist. Her eyes became distant as she, too, relived that battle, leaning back in her chair to wait.

When they came back up, falling ungracefully on their rears from the momentum of their return, she was waiting with tea prepared, sitting steaming on her desk. They were silent as they moved to her, sitting down and picking up their cups quietly, taking sips. They seemed to be waiting for her to speak, so she finally obliged them. "I must apologize." Expressions of surprise graced their faces. Whatever they had expected, it hadn't been this. "You see...I've missed a great deal. The majority of your lives, really. All to uphold a code that was ingrained in my mind from our Third Year."

Harry's eyes widened. "The time turner."

"Yes, Harry." It was the first time she'd used his first name since she'd returned. "The time turner. Dumbledore's warning that night, the warning to keep out of sight and to avoid changing things, was the code that I based the three and a half years of my life spent growing up with your parents and their friends and companions on. That warning simultaneously doomed you to the life of an orphan, Draco to the life of a deatheater's son, Lily and James to death, and Sirius to Azkaban. All wrapped up in a neat little package that came in two sentences."

"Professor..."

"While we are in private, and only then, the two of you may call me Maya." She cut him off, quietly. "I am, after all, your godmother."

"Maya." Harry seemed to be trying out the word. Draco was, for the moment, glad to let his 'Godbrother' talk as he studied their shared Godmother. She was beautiful, yes...it was easy to see why Sirius had fallen for her. But there was something about her now...something...missing. "How could you have done any differently than you did?" Harry was watching her. She met his eyes impassively, and he- too- felt as if something about the young witch wasn't there...that should have been. "You had to do what you did. If you had interfered, the repercussions would have been unfathomable. Had you interfered, I may have been an arrogant prick."

"How would you have known that Pettigrew was the traitor when you went back a second time?" Draco asked. "Unless you expressly told your younger self what would happen that truly didn't happen. How do you know your younger self would have gone back in time at all? How do you know you wouldn't have just...ceased to exist? There were too many variables, had you interfered. You told my father, once, that you didn't believe that History could be changed. If that's true, then no matter what you'd have done to stop it, things would have played out the way they were meant to."

"Truly, my godsons are wise." Maya sighed, whispering to herself. She pulled herself out of her thoughts a moment later and stood. "Harry. I know you have never seen your parents' graves. Nor, honestly, have I. I have much to atone for, and I find myself being pulled in the inevitable direction of their resting place. Therefore, next weekend, I will be portkeying to Godric's Hollow. If you wish to accompany me, I will speak with the Headmaster to arrange it."

"I...I'd love to." Harry stuttered.

"Good." She said, calmly. "I'll let you know the precise time sometime next week, then? Oh, and boys." They both looked at her. "I believe that some compensating is in order for all of the time that we have lost these past sixteen years. Though you have both known me for the past seven years of your lives, it was hardly as your Godmother." A wry twist of her lips let them both know that her memory was, in fact, very keen. She had not forgotten much during her foray into the past. "Shall we say...Tea? Twice a week? Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons?"

The boys thought about that for a few moments before they nodded. "Good." The twist of her lips grew, just slightly. "I will see you both in class tomorrow. I hope you have both finished that essay that was assigned last week." As they gave simultaneous groans, she chuckled to herself and escorted them out, watching them leave her classroom from the doorway of her office before sighing softly. There was only one more confrontation left...only one of both groups that she had yet to be face to face with.

...And he was walking into her classroom.

"Hello, Trevor. I see you have heard." She said, softly.

"Indeed. Severus sent me a rather emotional letter detailing exactly what...how did he put it? Oh yes...deceptions you had been carrying on these past two months." Trevor, ever the soft-spoken one of the entirity of Snake's Halo, moved to the stairs leading up to her office. With a world-weary sigh, Maya gave way, closing the door behind him. A flick of her wand vanished the cold tea sitting out from her Godsons' visit and replaced it with steaming, fresh tea. Sitting down, she looked silently at Trevor. When he did nothing more than sip his tea, she leaned back to sip her own. As he poured himself a second cup, she finally spoke.

"Aren't you going to scream at me as well?" Her words were bitter, the tone of her voice very self-hating.

"You've been screamed at enough." Was the only reply. Trevor stirred in cream and sugar before taking a long sip of his tea.

"I probably deserve it." She said sadly, staring into her tea.

"Bollocks, Maya." He said, gently reprimanding. "What has been done is done. I'm sure you had a very good reason to keep your return from us. And I'm equally certain that it's not you that I'm going to be screaming at, but Albus."

"You know...you're the first person to make that connection." She muttered miserably.

"Doesn't surprise me. You are a brilliant woman, Maya Gurgeon, but there are times when the company you keep- every single one of them down to the person- is nothing but a load of foul, greasy dunderheads." Surprised, she laughed out loud for a few moments before stopping and smiling across her desk at him.

"You're a right foul git, you know that Trevor?" She asked, but her voice lacked the proper vehemence to make the statement sting.

"And why is that?" He smiled back.

"Here I am, trying to have a proper wallow, and you won't allow it. How on earth does your wife stand you?" He laughed and stood up, moving around her desk and pulling her up into a hug.

"That's the Maya that I know and love." He whispered as she returned the hug tightly, resting her head against his chest as if he were a lifeline.

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Severus Snape stormed up from his dungeons in a foul mood. Mondays. He hated them with a fiery passion akin to that which fueled the fires of the deepest pits of hell. It was the day when each of the little dunderheads dared to slack off, the day that a large majority of the explosions and other mishaps occured in his classroom. A day during which the students were still lazy from the weekend with nothing but a long, boring week ahead of them to show for it. A day which, upon that particular day, was made even worse by the fact that he had to suffer through meals with her at the same table in the Great Hall.

Dumbledore had known all along. From the time he'd realized it, Severus had held onto a sliver of hope that somehow, impossibly, Albus Dumbledore hadn't been aware of Maya Gurgeon, AKA Helen Grant, AKA Hermione Granger's deception. A hope which had been mercilessly struck down the moment that the young Defense teacher had stepped into the Great Hall and Albus had explained her deception to the students in a grave, twinkleless voice.

And then he'd had the balls to arrange it so that the only seat available upon Maya's arrival had been the one directly next to the Potions Professor.

Exactly how the bleeding twenty-three year old woman had managed to both ignore him and make him feel like he should be utterly ashamed was beyond him. She had perfected that mannerism. He could remember once or twice when she had refused to acknowledge the existence of Sirius or James for something stupid that one or the other had done...they had come to her on their knees pleading to be forgiven for whatever they had done, and she had glared at them for a good ten minutes before relenting.

He'd be damned if he was going to drop to his knees like some house elf and beg forgiveness for being in the right. If the wench wanted to ignore him, then far be it from him to contradict her highness.

Five cauldrons melted, three explosions, and a truth serum-turned-love-potion were enough to give anyone a migraine. He could feel the little demon flitting at the back of his mind like one of those infernal fairies that Lockart had had the gall to bring in five years before. However, he was expected to put in at least a mild appearance at dinner...all of the teachers were. Damn you to hell, Albus. Severus stepped into the Great Hall to see two empty seats at the end of the Staff Table. No. Not again! He fought back a groan as he walked up to the table and sat down. After a long few minutes, Maya Gurgeon stepped into the hall. She was wearing rich red robes, and she was twirling her wand idly in one hand as she spoke to the blonde that was walking beside her.

After several moments of speech, the witch nodded and looked towards the table. She spotted the last available seat and moved to it, sitting down without even glancing in Severus' direction. He bit back a growl as she simply reached- rudely- in front of him for some turkey. He eyed the bare stretch of her arm before the pulled up sleeves of her robes and contemplated, very seriously, jabbing his fork into her flesh. That, however, would not be gentlemanlike. So he did nothing.

"Maya?" A voice came from down the table. The witch beside Severus seemed to look right through the Potions Master as she answered.

"Yes, Albus?"

"Kingsley would like to see you after dinner. I believe it's about the...ah..."

"Nevermind, Albus, I know what it's about." Severus was surprised to hear a dark, deadly pleasure enter her voice. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go attend to this...business." Again, there was that thrill of deadly pleasure.

"Of course, Maya." The Headmaster said, watching as she stood up, pausing to finish off her pumkin juice before walking out of the Great Hall in a dramatic billow of red robes. Severus snorted discreetly into his plate, glaring daggers after her. "Something wrong, Severus?" He jolted, turning to meet the twinkling gaze of the Headmaster.

"Nothing, Albus. Nothing at all." Severus snapped, stabbing his fork into the plate only to find that he'd inadvertently bent the fork in half with the strength of his grip. With another snort of discust, he chucked the fork and snatched up another, eating sullenly. He could hear the soft, barely audible snickers from Minerva and Sybill, further down the table, mingled with the small chuckle from the Headmaster, and he growled to himself.

SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK

"Maya." Kingsley Shacklebolt looked the witch up and down for a moment before his face relaxed into a smile. They had gone through training together, and he was still struck by how young she still was...the potion had preserved her youth, even though she'd been thrown through time. Her eyes, however, were much older than they should have been. "I have that information on Pettigrew that you wanted."

"Thank you, Kinglsey." She took the papers from him. "You've been most helpful."

"It's the least I could do after you rid us of Bellatrix Lestrange. Will you need backup on this?" He asked. She looked at him.

"No, thank you. Fudge can't possibly hate me any more than he already does...besides, Peter Pettigrew couldn't tie his own shoelaces without someone around to hold his hand...he will be rather easy to dispose of." Maya's eyes glinted with that same dark, deadly pleasure that Severus Snape had- only minutes before- noted. Kingsley, too, noticed...and the sight filled him with fear. It wasn't often that an Auror lost everything that they cared about- to the point that they gave no thought to the dangers of each new mission. Maya was a brilliant Auror and- unlike many of the other Aurors- Fudge had no hold on her. Her assignments came straight from "the men" themselves...the Wizengamot. Of which, Dumbledore was a part.

"Well...you have your ignasia, right?" He asked. She paused, looking at him for a long moment before shifting her robes to reveal the small charm necklace hanging beneath her clothing. All Aurors were required to wear them...they were the wizarding equivilant to a muggle soldier's dogtags. "And you'll use it?"

"Maybe." Knowing that that was the closest thing to a yes that he was likely to get, Kingsley nodded and left. Maya sighed and turned her eyes back to the papers in her hand. After a moment, the strange, deadly smile came back to her lips and she practically ran up to her rooms for her cloak, taking time only to change into her 'official' outfit and snatch up her cloak before she returned to the Entrance Hall. Dinner was finishing up by this time, and she could see Severus Snape making his way for the door of the Great Hall as she reached the tall, formidable doors. He stopped and she could feel him staring at her back, though she didn't acknowledge his presence.

Severus could understand why she had become one of the most feared Aurors in history in those few moments. She had turned at the sound of the Great Hall's doors opening and- though she didn't acknowledge him- he could see that every line of her face reminded him of a not-so-nonexistant elf. Her eyes were dark and feral, her hair held back just slightly from her face- which (besides keeping her hair out of her eyes) emphasized the sharp angles of her face that gave her an exotic look. She looked like some fierce, feral creature from the dark...and her entire being was centered on catching and bringing to justice dark wizards. For the first time, Severus found himself regretting the fact that he was on her bad side.

Maya swept out of the castle, sliding her wand into its wrist-holder as she glanced around, slipping into the bushes at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. In the next moment, a large griffen stepped back out of the forest, spreading its wings for a moment as if testing them before it vaulted into the air. Giant black wings caught the warm thermals and in the next moment the griffen was well on its way.

Maya allowed the muscles in her back to writhe uncomfortably as her long black wings folded up and sank back into her flesh, leaving her once more as a human. She didn't use her Animagus form often...it just didn't seem right without the white Griffen that had made up the 'yin' of her and Lily's private joke back in school...but this had been an exception. She'd had to get the hang of transforming swiftly and with almost no delay time, so that she would be able to catch that fool traitor, Pettigrew.

Her eyes- naturally sharp even before she'd become an animagus and twice as much so once she'd decided to become a predator, of all things- skimmed the dark landscape in front of her and she checked her muggle watch. She had a good eight hours to find Pudge, separate him from Voldemort's protection, make him wish he'd never been born, and return to Hogwarts to teach her first class. That was pushing it, even for her, but she was confident that her hatred for the rat would help speed things up. Indeed, it proved almost painfully easy to find him. He was on patrol in the graveyard beneath the old Riddle House that was Voldemort's hideout. A quick scan of the area told her that there were two Deatheaters walking to and fro in the graveyard, so that one was at each end at all times. They crossed in the middle once every ten minutes. Perfect. If she caught Pudge on the edge of the graveyard closest to her, she would have a good five minutes, at the least, before he was missed. With any luck, the other Deatheater on patrol- who she recognized as Rodolphus Lestrange- would think that Pudge had decided to take a break in the caretaker's cottage.

Slipping around, she crouched in a bush at the very edge of the graveyard, a mere yard or so away from where the deatheaters stopped in their patrolling, searching for a while before going back across the graveyard. It was Rodolphus' turn on that side of the graveyard, and she watched him as he turned and made his way back across in silence. When Peter had reached the spot and stopped, her wand was already pointed. "Oi! Pudge!" She hissed.

He gave a very ratlike squeal, spinning and pointing his new wand at her with his new hand. "Who's there? Avada..."

"Expelliarmus!" She hissed, catching the wand as it landed in her hand. He let out another squeak and she glanced across the graveyard to see that Rodolphus still wasn't in view around the caretaker's cottage. "New wand, Pudge? You shouldn't have wasted the galleons."

"Who are you?" He hissed, his eyes narrowed. "Does the Dark Lord know you're playing this prank?"

"Prank? Oh no, I'm afraid not. Into the bushes, Pudge. Don't try to transform. I can smell you from here in your human form...imagine what you must smell like as a true rat." With a yelp, he hurried into the bushes, coming face to face with his tormentor as she backed up to make room for him. His eyes widened and grew fearful as he recognized her.

"M-Maya!" He whimpered.

"Surprised, Pudge? You should have realized that I would hunt you until the ends of the earth. That you would never escape me." He whimpered. She was relentless. "Now...move along ahead of me, through the woods, out of any range whatsoever of that godforsaken mansion. As he began to walk, she could almost see him thinking of the best way to escape. Sure enough, there was a roar from behind them signalling that he was missed and he transformed the moment she glanced back. Skittering for the bushes, he suddenly found his way barred by a pair of very sharp talons.

Squeaking in fright, he ran back the other way, just to have a sharp beak drive into the dirt directly in front of him. While he was squealing, trying to avoid the beak, a whip-like tail flashed around and slammed into him, knocking the breath from him and his feet out from under him. As he lay, trying to get his breath back, a cage slammed down over him. He knew without even trying, somehow, that this cage would not be possible to chew through. She had also probably cast several unbreakable and expanding spells on it, so that it would encompass him even in his human form and no matter how he tried to break free.

Still, he had to try, and as he transformed back, the...creature...on the other side of the bars settled into a crouch, the whip tail slowly sliding around its haunches like a cat's as it watched his desperate attempts at escape. He slammed his silver fist into the bars of the cage, tried to bend them with it, even resorted to gnawing on the iron- in both rat and human forms- to no avail. When he'd finally given up, he transformed back into a rat and curled as tightly as he could in one corner of the cage, knowing that his fate was sealed. One of the creature's- for Peter had no real knowledge as to the creature's true title or name- foretalons reached out suddenly like a cat's paw, gripping a bar that was tied to a rope, much like one of the muggle contraptions that allowed boats to tow wayward muggles behind them, riding on small, polished boards.

Peter tensed, fearing what was to come. His fear was founded, for in the next moment, the creature was flying...bullet-fast, weaving through the trees and knocking the cage- and the rat inside of it- around quite brutally. Bursting from the treetops in a shower of leaves, an explosion of branches, and an escort of birds, The creature beat its long wings- at least four feet, each, in span- several times hard before catching a warm thermal and soaring.

SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK

Draco and Harry walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts the next day to see a cage strapped firmly to the desk. They stared at the rat within for a long moment before Ron, who approached behind them, recognized it and gave a shout. "SCABBERS!"

"What? Are you sure, Ron?" Harry asked. The rat looked up and seemed to be pulling at the bars. One of its forepaws- the right one- was an odd, gray color.

"I think I'd know my own rat, Harry! Blimey, that means!"

"Mister Weasley." The voice of their teacher spoke from the front of the room. "Please take your seat. You as well, Mister Malfoy." Maya stepped slowly down the stairs leading from her office. "Mister Potter, remain where you are, please."

Once the rest of the class had filed in, their teacher reached easily into her desk and pulled out a long, strangely shaped wand. It was twisted and unpolished...just like the wizard who had handled it. "Today, class, you will learn about a debt owed and a debt paid, as the old saying goes." She motioned Harry to one side so that the class could all see her. He stepped to the corner opposite of the rat's cage. "You see, it is a very, very grave thing...to take a life. Especially in a betrayal or a war, such as this. You never know when the friends or family of those who have been wronged will seek to take their revenge...their justice." Harry had an idea where this was going, and he stared hard at their teacher. "However, be warned." Their teacher's voice took on a very Snape-like drawl...ensuring that their attention was on her.

"To take one's revenge is also a very dark thing. Often, only those who have naught to lose will attempt it. In this case, however." She pushed herself off of the corner of her desk, where she had been leaning. She knew that Severus Snape would hear of this, and she cared not. Gripping the twisted, tormented length of wood between her slim hands, she broke it in half smoothely. From the corner, the rat let out a squeal of rat-ish dismay. Setting both halves of the wand into one hand, Maya turned to face Harry, extending her wand hand with the wand halves clasped within.

"Mr. Potter, please step forward." He did so, and she nodded to him, presenting him with the broken wand. His hand closed over the ends of the wand as he stared up at her in awe. "In accordance to the unspoken laws of both Vengeance and Justice, I give you the wand of the wizard that sealed the fate of your parents."

"Thank you, Professor." Harry said, firmly. By this time, the rat was throwing itself against the bars of the cage in a clear attempt to kill itself. Once Harry was seated, the witch at the head of the classroom spun towards the cage.

"Stop that, unless you want to be tied up as well as caged, you filthy, miserable little wretch!" She snarled. The dirty, ragged rat let out a frightened squeak and fell completely silent.