Disclamer: Still don't own it

HI! Yay! I got a review.

Quick WARNING: nothing graphic or anything, but there is something in this chapter that might offend…explanation (I'm a hard core Bio major so I know these things) when a cat goes into heat it means she is physically able to carry a litter, same thing for when girls start their periods. Most girls start around age 12. So, it makes sense even if it is politically incorrect.

Ummm…please enjoy.

Allen Pitt: Thanks so much…actually a lot of what you said was a really good guess. Congrats. As far as I know, the Pulse only effect the US. Tell me if I'm wrong. Thanks

Chapter 1

9 August, 2015

Harry was for the first time that summer, happy. He embraced Ron and Hermione in the kitchen of Black Manor. This summer had been hard for him. Cedric had never been a close friend of Harry's, but it had hurt him to see him die. He and his friends talked for hours, Harry could not bring himself to hold the summer's silence against his close friends. Mrs. Weasley had let the stay in the kitchen talking, telling them that tonight was theirs for catching up so long as they woke before too late in the morning, but after this night she would see to it that they went to sleep at an earlier hour.

They were talking quietly when Snape and Mrs. Weasley walked in together. Harry stared. He had never seen Snape and Mrs. Weasley talking together so…civilly.

"I know you and Remus have said that she can take care of herself. But Merlin, she's just a little girl, hardly older than Ginny. She was due back hours ago." Mrs. Weasley sounded worried.

"Mrs. Weasley, I have told you this many times, so I will try one more time, as plainly as I can. I have met, and taught as well as I can, many children. They come, learn a little, grow a little, and leave. At the end of this process I am glad enough never to be bothered by them again. I have met many different types of children. Max will be fine. When she returns you can ask her to be more punctual. Other than that you are fretting like a mother hen. Stop wasting my time." Alright, maybe civil wasn't the word for it. Snape was beginning to sound annoyed.

Mrs. Weasley looked like she was about to say more, when something that sounded an awful lot like firecrackers went off upstairs. Already screaming at the twins Mrs. Weasley stormed out of the room, Snape leaving soon after. Harry gave his friends a questioning look.

"Oh," Ron seemed to suddenly remember that Harry didn't know what the adults had been talking about, "Mum's just all worried 'bout Max. She's Lupin's adopted daughter. Dark hair, dark eyes, about our age too. She's real nice looking if you know what I mean. Friendly too. She's coming to Hogwarts this year with us. Wonder if she might go to the ball with me…you know seeing as she doesn't know anyone…" at this point Ron was just babbling.

Hermione gave a frustrated sigh, she had obviously been dealing with him for a while, "What Ron was trying to say is Max is actually a muggle girl, she's just going to Hogwarts this year because Lupin doesn't feel she'd be safe while he's doing work for the order now that You Know Who is back. I heard that even though she's a muggle Lupin had her tutored at home in muggle skills and basic magic theory and history. Snape taught her how to make potions, and she'll be acting as a teacher's aid of some sorts. She's been missing for over two days now. Lupin said not to worry, but…well it's just so odd for her to disappear without a word."

Harry thought it over. He hadn't even met the girl yet, but there hadn't been a year thus far that someone hadn't betrayed him. Pushing the thought away Harry changed the subject, and the three were soon off to bed.

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Lupin idly tapped his finger on the wooden surface of the table. Over the years he had learned that Max, despite her small build and inability to do magic, could take care of herself. Still, he was in the habit of worrying about her after she passed the two day mark.

He could still remember the first day he brought her to Snape. She had been so serious and lost. Everything had seemed like a surprise to her. At first Lupin had thought that she was just surprised by all the magic being preformed in the wizarding world. But, it soon became apparent that magic was not what surprised her. It was obvious enough that she was in fact a muggle, but she took everything magical in stride, it was everyday life that seemed to leave her unbalanced. It didn't take Lupin long to realize that she hardly ever slept and often snuck out at night, but it had taken her about a month to get out of the habit of having her bed perfectly made and standing straight as a rod next to her bed until Remus came to get her for breakfast in the morning. Though everything from travel, to going outside for walks or in town, or even reading seemed to fascinate her, unless he told her to do a certain activity she would just sit with her back strait staring at the wall.

She had changed so much since them. It had taken her longer than it should have to heal from her injuries with the potions, but as soon as she was well enough Lupin had made the adoption legal. It seemed the magical world had fewer qualms entrusting a muggle into his care than they did Harry Potter. Still, he wouldn't trade Max for any other child, magical or muggle. Once she trusted him more, she began to show him flashes of her true self. She was a spunky energetic girl who seemed to naturally take care of anyone who seemed to need it.

It had taken Lupin a week to notice that she snuck out almost every night. At first it had worried him, but after an awkward conversation one morning which ended in the mutual understanding that Max would keep herself safe, and Lupin wouldn't ask too many questions. When she was eleven, she went missing for nearly a week, when she came back things were different. He had come up with this grand scolding lecture, but when Max came home she seemed like she had reached a decision. She looked sad, but she smiled and said, "If it's alright I want to stay with you." From then on she seemed to come out of her shell in leaps and bounds. Her stoic self only showed itself on rare occasions now.

Still about a year after that, every two weeks or so she would leave for two days at a time. It was not a surprise when she left, she would become fidgety and snappy for about a day before she left. No matter how many times she left though, Lupin worried. It was probably due to the condition in which he found her. Logically he knew that the family that she had run away from, who had hurt her so badly, could no longer get to her, but still…It was an intangible thing, but it existed. Sometimes in the most normal situations Max would suddenly go still and seem to remember something from long ago and all Lupin could think about was that first empty look she had in her eyes.

The opening of the door brought Lupin out of his reverie. Lupin looked up to see Harry. He felt a moment of surprise, he hadn't really said much to the boy since he had gotten to Black manor. He cleared his throat before saying, "Harry, what are you doing up so late?"

Harry shrugged as if unable to come up with a real reason before saying, "I just couldn't sleep. Professor, ummm…I know it isn't my business or anything, but well you see, I heard Mrs. Weasley and Snape talking about it, and then Ron and Hermione told me, and well, I…I was wondering, do you really have a daughter…adopted daughter I mean?"

Lupin smiled faintly at Harry, "Ah, yes, Max. Actually, you've caught me at one of my bad habits: waiting for Max. She's a good girl, but I think she would run wild if she didn't know I was home waiting for her."

"You know," a female voice said from the door which lead to the garden, "in polite society it's usually considered rude to talk bout someone like they aren't there when they're in earshot." Stepping out of the shadows, the voice's owner revealed herself to be a young woman. "Sorry I'm late, I ran into a guy who didn't understand the meaning of 'back off'. Then I played a little game of hide-and-seek with a few of his friends who didn't like the idea of their friend getting the crap beaten out of him by a girl half his size."

Harry was a bit taken aback at how casual she was with the professor. It was understandable, given that they lived together, he just couldn't imagine Lupin as anything more casual than a friendly professor. They spoke for a while. Harry found Max to be friendly, but whenever he brought up the subject of what she had been doing for the past few days she changed the subject.

As the summer wore on Max became just another person in the house. In many ways, even though she was a muggle, she was just like all of the other underaged wizards in the house. It was a surprise to them all when they saw her with Snape. It wasn't that Snape was any less…Snapeish, he just seemed to trust her. It seemed that once she had his respect they formed something resembling a friendship. Whatever the case, it was obvious that Snape preferred her company to that of any of his students, and most of the adults.

Though it seemed that she was at more ease with the professors, she wasn't really treated any differently. She wasn't allowed into the Order meetings, and it seemed that she didn't know anything more than they did about Voldemort. When it seemed that Black got along well enough with her, Harry's suspicions began to lessen. All of the teens did feel a pang of envy though when they found out that Max snuck out every night. When the twins decided to try using Max's escapes to support their noble cause of getting their curfew removed Mrs. Weasley turned and interesting shade of red before saying, "When you can get through a week without nearly blowing yourselves up with your little experiments and practical jokes we'll see about getting your curfew changed. And besides shouldn't you be studying, don't think for and instance that I've forgotten about your performance on the O.W.L.S." After listening to the screaming that the twins were receiving the others decided not to breech the subject with Mrs. Weasley.

They were reaching the middle of August when Mrs. Weasley decided that they needed to spend more time cleaning the manor if they wanted it livable by the time they left for school. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione worked on trying to clean out the extensive silverware drawer, most of which was somehow enchanted, Max began cleaning out a dust room. They had been talking about the quidditch when they heard a scream come from the room Max was cleaning in.

They ran into the room find Max sitting on her heals, trembling, with tears running down her face. In front of her lying on the floor were eleven children dressed in what looked like blue hospital clothes, a little younger than first years with shaved heads and black markings on the back of their necks. All of them were dead, most of them had pools of dark red blood spreading slowly away from their bodies. There was a boy about their age with blond hair and deep blue eyes, though it was hard to tell they were so blood shot and swollen. He didn't have a shirt on, and it seemed obvious from the cuts, burns and bruises that he must have been tortured, most of his fingers were at odd angles, and the insides of both of his elbows showed the signs of being injected with something several times.

The man manage to croak out a few words from his cracked and swollen lips, "Maxie…you've gotta get away…Lydecker is". That was all he got out before a man seemed to appear from out of nowhere right behind Max. He grabbed her by the hair pushing her forward so that her forehead hit the floor. On the back of her neck was a black mark like the ones on those of the children. Hermione could from where she was standing see that it was a barcode of some sort.

The man looked at the barcode and kept Max's head down before shouting out, "State you designation!" Max's trembling increased. By this time were trying, unsuccessfully to attract the boggart's attention away from Max. Hermione ran into the hall and started calling for help. Harry and Ron watched with morbid fascination as the man holding Max's hair brought a metal object out of his coat and pulled the trigger causing the back of the blond man's head to explode. Ron ran to the corner of the room and got sick while Harry fought the urge to follow when he saw the brain matter hit the wall.

Max let out a low moan and started clawing at the floor like she was trying to crawl towards the dead man, "Zack? Zack….no, please…" she started sobbing, her shoulders shaking slowly.

The man holding her down said again "State your designation!" After a moment Max started mumbling out an incomprehensible series of numbers. Harry wanted to go help her, he had never seen so much blood, but he was frozen to the spot. Watching as Max curled her self into a ball even as the man held her hair exposing the barcode on the back of her neck, and muttered a stream of numbers, occasionally crying out words that sounded like names.

Lupin, Snape, and Mrs. Weasley arrived at about the same time. Mrs. Weasley cried out when she saw the blood and gore covering the floor. Lupin searched the room for a moment, taking in the dead bodies that looked so much like Max on the night he had found her, before landing on the girl herself. Lupin had never seen her so broken down; it was hard to connect the sobbing girl with the Max which had been living with him for years. They stared at the seen for a moment before Lupin stepped forward and cast a spell to set off an explosion which startled the boggart into refocusing its attention onto Lupin. He quickly dispatched it and went to Max.

When he knelt to comfort her she shook him off and stood up saying in a cold voice that she didn't want to talk about it. Max ran until she reached the small town of Faerilane. It was a fairly quaint village; usually in Max wanted to get out at night she would go to a muggle city, or one of the larger wizarding cities, such as Govinsmoor. Tonight through she was more than happy with a seat in the back of the town's quiet pub. There, she phoned Zack.

Zack had found her when she was eleven. She had wanted to go with him like they had originally planned on the night of the escape, but he convinced her to stay. Max was confused, if anything she had thought that he would have been against her staying in one place for so long, but he said that she was safer in the magical community than he could arrange for her to be in the muggle world. It took her a while to realize just how much he wanted to keep her safe. When she argued that she could have been more help taking care of the others, he asked her to stay so that she could research cloaking charms that might help the others. She had agreed, though she wasn't sure if she could ever find a charm to help her siblings. It seemed, much like the healing potion, most magic seemed to have little effect on transgenics. After researching she found that the reaction was similar to one found when spells were used on magical creatures. Well, most magic; some thinks like floo powder and cleaning spells worked fine. In the end Max wasn't to saddened by the way things turned out, she would have missed the protective werewolf.

Though she missed Zack she knew she couldn't complain. She called him once a week, she had been happy to discover that cell phones worked so long as no one in the room was doing powerful magic, and she was off Hogwarts grounds, and he managed to make it to visit each of them once a month. She smiled a little thinking that in a way she got special treatment; though he spent a little under a day, sometimes the night at each of the others' homes, he usually stayed a few days with her.

A lot changed when she was twelve. She started her heat cycles. The fist time it happened she didn't know what was going on. She had run as far into the woods as she could and called Zack. He had heard about the same thing happening to Tinga, so he had a fairly good idea what was going on. He had spent hours taking to her while she hid in the forest. Because it was her first cycle, it passed fairly quickly. She was thirteen the next time she went into heat, and Zack was visiting. Though they hadn't really said so out loud both of them by that time knew that the feeling they had for each other weren't brotherly or sisterly. Not that it would have matter for about the first day. It turns out that when transgenic females go into heat, the males can smell it. More importantly, just like male cats they react instantly to it. Zack broke a man's nose and scared the living hell out of two others when he thought they were getting to close to Max before they could get a room. To be honest very little of the first few hours of heat were sweet or gentle. It was all a blur of teeth, blood and sex. It slowed down over the rest of the first day, and on the second they were actually able to have normal conversations without attacking each other. Max had been going into heat twice a month since then. Zack was only in town once a month, so Max had learned how to avoid people when Zack wasn't there. When he was, it usually played out similarly to the first heat. It was probably a good thing that she had decided to start stealing birth control along with Tryptophan after her first heat. The unfortunate male that managed to meet Max while she was in heat, and alone was greeted with what seemed to be a girl who was crawling the walls to get some. For some reason though, maybe the animal DNA had given her an instinct to keep a mate for life or something, as soon as any male got too close her aggressive side kicked in urging her to fight him, and see if he was good enough to take the place of her mate.

But that night had nothing to do with sex, or even friendly conversation. She called to be reassured that Zack and the others were okay. Though he never told her what cities they lived in or gave her any specifics about their lives, they often spoke of their siblings and how to best keep them safe. Max knew he only kept it from her for her own safety, but she worried about them.

For the rest of the summer, everyone avoided the subject of the boggart. No one said anything about how haggard Max looked when she got back the next morning, and everyone tried not to shudder when they passed the room in which they expected to see dead bodies and blood across the floor. Slowly, they were able to pretend it didn't happen. Though, Hermione, Ron, and Harry sometimes spoke of it, wondering what to do with this clue about Max's strange past. Hermione seemed to think that she must have come from some children's hospital that had been attacked by terrorists of some sort. If she were American, Max would have been about the age of the dead children during the Pulse when people starting acting so crazily. The barcodes still troubled her though.

On the 25th of August Max left, saying that she had to get some things from her home to transport to Hogwarts and set up in the dongeons. In actuality, she met up with Zack. Because Lupin had told her how to reach Hogwarts she could see it even though she was a muggle. She took Zack, and together they reviewed the secret passages of the school, and decided to use the Shreiking Shack as a meeting place. It would probably be the easiest place for her to call him from too. They spent a few sweet days together, and Max went into heat for the second time that month before Zack had to leave.

Max went to her room in the castle, and recited her barcode to the picture of the wood nymph outside of her door. She had chosen her password for the irony instead of sentimentality. God knows that she would never be able to forget it. She gave smile thinking about setting up a scanner in place of the picture, so it could just read her barcode and save her the time of reciting. 'Wouldn't that get a few rumors started' As she lay across the bed, still fully clothed she stared at the ceiling. After a moment she decided to get some sleep, the students arrived tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for reading. I love you all. PLEASE review. Good or bad it doesn't matter.