AN: Check the first chapter for disclaimers
So, I'm back after a short break. I've done some editing to previous chapters but no further change in content. I'll not do more of it as it is time consuming and I still leave some errors behind, so it's not productive either.
This is a light chapter, but there is some story progress and character/relation building in it. There are a couple of flashbacks in this chapter, tell me if you like them and should I include them in future.
Enjoy!
It was her birthday and Helen was having a party at the Grangers' house, where she was invited to stay for a few days. The Dursleys were shifting to their new house in Holland Park in London, so it was convenient for her to be here. Helen had gotten Vernon a new job as President in a multinational company that produced parts for all types of automotives and had their head office based in London. She did that for two reasons. Firstly, she wanted to live in the city closer to where most of her required services were easily available. Secondly, she wanted to get away from the blood wards. She had discovered their real purpose the day she returned.
*Flashback*
Petunia had dutifully picked her up from the station and had driven her back to Privet drive. Upon reaching the Dursleys' place, she absently entered the home thinking about all that she had planned to do this summer, and how it would be difficult to go out here in Surrey. But soon after she entered the wards, what Dumbledore had said to her came to mind. He had said she carried her mother's protection within her. She knew that it was based on the blood connection that they shared with Petunia. Was it just a coincidence that Dumbledore had erected blood wards around the house.
She went out again, ignoring Petunia's query about supper and checked the wards closely. She of course knew about them since the day of her awakening, but had only ever given them a customary inspection, identifying them as a blood ward and nothing more.
Now, on closer inspection, she found that they were indeed just blood wards but there were two anomalies. One, there was a monitoring charm hidden, embedded deep within the ward. It kept an eye on her health at all the times when she was in or near the wards. Two, Dumbledore had used her mother's sacrifice to power the wards, leaving the actual protection weakened.
This made her blood boil. She hadn't minded the wards themselves but to monitor her and use her mother's sacrifice to do it left her furious. The protection was hers and hers alone, not something for Dumbledore to meddle with.
So, rather than doing what she had planned, she started working on getting out of this place. She couldn't tamper the wards themselves because Dumbledore would know immediately. Instead, within a week she got Vernon a new job in London. By the time they would move out, the wards would be charged due to her presence and Dumbledore would not know any difference. She had also confounded his squib spy who lived a few blocks away to ignore what was happening at number four, privet drive.
The Dursleys' also got a good deal because of this. Vernon had a much higher paycheck now, making it feasible for him to own a large house in Holland Park. They would put the Surrey house on sale as soon as the Hogwarts term started again. Petunia would have richer neighbors to gossip and compare gardens with. Finally, Dudley would be attending a school in the capital, far better than that stupid Smeltings.
*End Flashback*
Helen looked at her reflection in her full length mirror. She had just come out of the shower and had a towel wrapped around her. Over the last year her hair had gone from black with a red tint into mahogany. Her hair was wet from her shower so she picked up her wand and used it to dry it out. She could use her wand now because right after her return from Hogwarts, she had gone back to London to visit Diagon Alley.
*Flashback*
Helen had instructed her aunt to go out in London and return to the pub two hours later. Then, Helen proceeded into Diagon alley and went to the Gringotts. She asked for a meeting with the Potter account manager and after waiting for ten minutes, met him in his office. From him, she learned the general status of Potter accounts and properties.
As it turned out, Potter manor was indeed damaged and would require significant funds to repair. The cottage over in Godric's hollow had been seized by the ministry as a site of national importance. At least they had transferred money equal to the market value of the property to the Potter account, it wasn't worth much though.
The Potters didn't own any other property in England, however they did have an island near the Azores, made untraceable and hidden. It was like a get away and a vacation home for the Potters with a small manor on it. She didn't have time to check it out this summer, though she might give it a look later. Right now however, it wasn't that useful to her because she couldn't live there, isolated from the rest of the world.
The Potters didn't have many liquid assets, they had little over a hundred thousand galleons which included money from the 'sale' of the cottage in Godric's Hollow. But it was enough for Helen's expenses until she graduated.
She then went to her vault and made a generous withdrawal to last her the whole summer. Next, after donning a hooded robe, Helen made her way into Knockturn alley. She then went into a side alley near the entrance where more 'grey' businesses were situated and entered a plain looking door, finding a man sitting behind the counter.
"I need a new wand and the trace removed from the one I'm carrying," she asked smoothly.
"Let's see the wand," the man replied, not asking her to remove the hood. Taking the offered wand, he put it in a weird looking mechanism with a stand inside it, made just to hold wands. Shutting the glass door of the contraption, he poured a navy blue potion in it from a hole in the top and left it there.
"Now, while that works, we shall find you a wand."
Thirty minutes later Helen left the shop 200 galleons lighter with the trace removed from her primary wand and a secondary wand in the form of 13 inches long Blackthorn with dragon heartstring, in an invisible untraceable ankle holster. Obviously, the wand didn't have the trace on it.
Next, Helen went to the apothecary and got several ingredients that she would require for the potions she would be making and experiments she would be conducting in order to advance her alchemy studies. With that done she went back to the pub and had her aunt drive her back home.
*End Flashback*
With her hair now dry, Helen looked over her body. She now had a low body fat percentage, making her cheekbones and jaw sharply stand out. Her lips were fuller as well and had a natural pink color in them, making her not need lip colors most of the time. Her eyes were still their vibrant green and radiated power. She moved her gaze downwards and saw her long slender, shapely legs. She had grown considerably over the year and now stood at 5'5", well above average for girls her age and taller than most of the boys.
Helen dropped the towel and looked at the whole picture. While she was tall, she didn't look disproportionate. She didn't look fourteen, no, she looked more like how a runway model would look at sixteen. If she wanted to she could become a teen model next year, something she was a bit interested in if it didn't take much of her time. She estimated that by the time she started fourth year at Hogwarts her body would have fully matured. She already had an hourglass figure and her breasts had grown into firm B cups with pink nipples. She turned slightly to look at her bum, it was round and perky and looked good along with her shapely legs.
As she was observing herself, there was a knock on the door and Hermione entered without waiting for a reply, already speaking, "Helen, are you rea-EEP!"
Helen didn't turn from her inspection and asked, "Could you close the door behind you please? I don't want your father to see me naked."
Hermione followed the instruction without a word and stood by with her eyes on her feet.
"What do you think of my bum?"
"What?!" Hermione asked, startled.
"What do you think of my bum? How does it look?"
The Brunette stared at the said bum for a few seconds and jerked her eyes back down realizing where she was looking at, blushing furiously.
"Well?"
"Uhh... It looks lovely." she replied. Comprehending what she said, she backtracked, "NO! No, I didn't mean that!"
"What? You mean it doesn't look lovely?" Helen asked, turning around.
"NO! Of course it looks lovely." She blushed further on seeing her breasts and ducked her head again.
"So you like it?" Helen asked with a mischievous smirk on her face, not that Hermione saw it, because Helen moved to the bed and bent down to pick up her bra, giving Hermione a perfect view to inspect before answering.
"Yes. It's perfect." Hermione answered distractedly, with her mind on the enticing view.
Helen picked up the matching panties and slid them up, wiggling unnecessarily to tease Hermione further. When it was in place, she turned around and smiled at the girl who was emulating a ripe tomato and said brightly, "Thank you!"
Hermione couldn't reply with all the blood in her head and just nodded. Helen picked up the dress, stepped into it and pulled it up. Turning around she asked, "Could you help me with the zipper please?" presenting her back to the girl.
Hermione shuffled towards her and zipped her up, trying to not touch the skin. She failed and sent a pleasant shiver across Helen's body as her fingers brushed her bare skin, making her sigh. Mumbling a "sorry" Hermione stepped back with her work done.
Helen turned and kissed the girl on her cheek, making her blush again, and responded "Thank you."
She continued, "Just give me a moment, while I put on some make-up." She started doing the same as Hermione sat down at the edge of the bed. Looking at the girl in the mirror, Helen said, "Sorry about teasing you. I just couldn't help it." she smirked her when she looked up. Continuing she said "Though to be fair, you did barge in without waiting for an answer."
Hermione dropped her head, "Yeah, I did. I guess I deserve a bit of teasing."
Done with her work, Helen got up and turned around spinning flaring her dress a bit and asked, "How do I look?"
Helen was wearing a fit and flare V-neck dress in emerald green color that ended above her knees. She had matched it with simple golden short heels and a single emerald pendant on a thin golden chain with matching earrings. She had applied dark green eyeshadow with light blush and a transparent lip gloss.
Hermione looked at her, captivated, then shook her head and replied, "You look gorgeous." she then looked at her critically and said, "The dress and make-up bring out your eyes. Very nice effect."
"Thank you. That is what I was going for." Helen replied pleasantly and continued, "You look wonderful as well. That dress is very cute and looks appealing on you"
Hermione was wearing a white summer dress with inch thick shoulder straps and had dark green leaves and dark orange flowers printed on it covering more than half of the white background. She had matched it with plain white heels and had no accessories on her. Her brown hair had by now straightened out and she had styled them layered with a small side part reaching just below her shoulders. She also had applied light make-up with black eyeliner and pink lipstick.
Helen had to suppress the urge to taste those lips and hurriedly pulled Hermione up to go outside. They went to the backyard where everybody had gathered and as soon as they entered, everyone burst into happy birthday.
Most of her friends were present, though a few couldn't make it on the account of being out on vacations or visiting family members. All her Ravenclaw year-mates were there except Mandy and Morag, who both were visiting family members, so was Blaise. Daphne and Tracey had come though, so did Cedric, but Susan and Hannah couldn't on account of being out on vacation with Hannah's family.
The party was a bit of a surprise from Hermione, as Helen was told about it only in the morning when the Granger family had wished her a happy birthday. The Gryffindor had sent letters to all their friends and had coordinated with them to make this event possible.
Then the cake was brought in. It was a large chocolate bliss cake with strawberries, her favorable combination, with fourteen cards around it. The candles were blown and the cake cut with a lot of fanfare and flourish by the group. Soon everyone was chatting around, having snacks and dancing, Helen made sure to set aside some time for Hermione and Cedric in that particular activity. When that was done with, presents were brought in, surrounded by oohs and aahs as they were opened. Soon the party wound down and guests started leaving one by one. Helen gave all the girls a hug and guys a kiss goodbye, as finally only her and Grangers were left. She thanked them for arranging and allowing the party, which they waved off, saying it was their privilege and they were happy to do so.
Helen changed out of her dress and helped in the cleanup which took about an hour. After that was done, Daniel and Emma had to leave to check out their clinic and to do some grocery shopping as well as getting some take away, so the girls decided to spend some time by the pool.
Both the elder Grangers were dentists and quite successful ones at that. They had a huge double-storey house in Greenwich which had 4 bedrooms as well as a wide backyard with a decently sized swimming pool in it. Hermione was already lying in a deckchair in a modest yellow bikini reading a novel when Helen entered wearing a robe and carrying a towel. Spreading the towel on another deckchair, she untied her robe and stretched a bit, displaying her figure in her red bikini, which wasn't modest at all. She knew Hermione's eyes were on her as she loosened her muscles. Once done with her stretching she dove in the pool and swam for half an hour, to burn the calories she had gained because of the party.
She got out of the pool, laid down on the spread towel and dozed off next to Hermione who was already snoozing with her book laid forgotten. Helen was woken up by Emma, who had changed into her own bikini and told that they would be having dinner out here itself. She woke up Hermione as well and they together set up the poolside for dinner, which was pizza. Daniel joined them and they had a pleasant evening together.
Later that night Helen had changed into a comfortable pair of shorts and T-shirt and was reading an advanced book on enchanting, when there was a soft 'pop' in her room. Her wand was immediately trained on the intruder. It was a house-elf and a miserable looking one at that. It was wearing an old pillowcase, with rips for arm- and leg-holes.
"Helen Potter!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice, Helen was sure would carry down the hall to Hermione. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, Ma'am... Such an honor it is..."
She knew that name. Malfoys had a house-elf named Dobby. Voldemort had never paid attention to house-elves but this was likely the same beast.
She asked him, "What do you want, Dobby? Why are you here?"
"Oh, yes, Ma'am," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, ma'am... it is difficult, ma'am... Dobby wonders where to begin..."
Helen thought he was harmless enough so she stopped pointing at him with her wand and decided to be kind to the poor creature, "Why don't you sit down?"
To her astonishment, the elf burst into tears. "S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never... never ever... "
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to offend you."
"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by anyone - like an equal-"
Ah, of course, Malfoys would have never treated their house-elves kindly. Which Helen thought was rather foolish, one should never treat help unkindly. They might be bound to you by the bond and internally you will lose their loyalty. Also, it never hurt to be kind to those under your domain. She might be able to coax some extra info out from him though with kindness, a totally new experience for him.
"You can't have met many decent wizards. It is a kind and polite thing to do to offer your guests a seat."
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
She immediately snatched him and set him up on her lap giving him a light hug and massaging his head. "I understand your family might have ordered you to punish yourself whenever you thought bad of them. It's Ok. We don't have to talk about it. Why don't you tell me why you are here?"
He gave a sob, thinking what a kind witch she was, to touch and comfort Dobby, then he answered "Dobby has come to protect Helen Potter, to warn her, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later... Helen Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."
"Hmm", Helen hummed and turned him in her lap sideways and rubbed his back. She looked into his eyes and sent a subtle probe in his mind. As the connection was made without him being the wiser, she asked, "And why must I not go back to Hogwarts?
He squeaked, "If Helen Potter goes back to Hogwarts, she will be in mortal danger. Helen Potter must stay where she is safe. She is too great, too good, to lose."
"Why?" she prodded already seeing the picture though the connection.
"There is a plot, Helen Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, ma'am. Helen Potter must not put herself in peril. She is too important, ma'am!"
With that information Helen was starting to get a picture painted in her head. Malfoy was being an idiot, he was planning on smuggling Tom Riddle's diary to a member of the Wealsey family to cause mayhem and sully Arthur Weasley's reputation. He was going to give away the Dark Lord's most precious treasure, for what, some kicks and giggles and to humiliate Arthur Wealsey because he was conducting a few troublesome raids. He must have thought the Dark Lord was really gone to even consider such a thing.
Oh, well, all the better for Helen. Of all the horcruxes of Voldemort, the dairy was the second most inaccessible for her after the cup. Now that it was going to be in Hogwarts this year, it would be a piece of cake for her to get it. She already knew the likely candidates who would have it. It would have to be their Hogwarts going children, so either the four youngest boys or their daughter who started Hogwarts this year.
Dobby squeaked again, startling Helen out of her thoughts "Helen Potter must promise to not go back to Hogwarts," he looked pleadingly at her with his wide watery eyes.
Helen placated him, "Alright, I will not go to Hogwarts this year. I must thank you for warning me about the dangers. You are the best house-elf I've ever met," and then tightly hugged him.
Dobby cried again at the kindness being shown to him by the great Helen Potter; she indeed was the greatest witch in the world.
"Dobby has something to return to Helen Potter. Dobby has been blocking all the letters her friends have written to her. Dobby hoped... if Helen Potter thought her friends had forgotten her... Helen Potter might not want to go back to school," he said, offering the letters while struggling to reach for the table lamp.
'So, that's what happened to the letters.' Helen thought as she held him in place to stop punishing himself. Her friends had told they had written to her but she had not received the letters. She hadn't given it much thought as that happened sometimes when you changed your home address. She had assumed she would receive them belatedly once she settled in at the new place.
"That's alright, as long as you don't do it again," she said to him.
Dobby teared up again, "Helen Potter is humble and kind," he said reverently, "Dobby must be going now. He has work to do and punishments to be performed. Good night Madam Helen Potter." He then gave her a deep bow and vanished with a 'pop'.
Helen thought back to the conversation with the house-elf. Of course, she had lied to him, there was no way she wasn't going to Hogwarts. Especially now when there was a perfect opportunity to get Tom Riddle's first horcrux in her hands. She looked through the letters she had received from her friends. Susan, Hannah, Morag, Mandy and Blaise all had written apologizing to not be able to attend her birthday party and had wished her their best on her birthday. Susan had invited her to stay at her place for a few days later in August, which Helen planned to accept, thinking about getting into the good graces of Amelia Bones.
XXXXX
A few days later, Helen had returned to the Dursleys at their new house in Holland Park. It was in an affluent area with beautiful houses and gardens around every corner. There was a small park a few blocks away from their house, from which the area got its name; it was a five minutes walk away.
The house itself was a three-stories townhouse with a spacious garden. It didn't have a swimming pool, as the plot size wasn't big enough for one, nonetheless, it was a beautiful building in the Victorian style. Its ground floor contained a formal drawing room, kitchen, dining room and a porch that led to the backyard. On the first floor was the master bedroom, an office and a family living room. The top floor had three bedrooms. Helen had taken one of these, which was towards the back of the house with a balcony that looked over the garden and had a beautiful view of sunsets. It was smaller than the master bedroom, but in her opinion the attached balcony made it worth the trade. The ensuite attached to the bedroom had a bath and shower, it was done in a beautiful light pink marble.
Despite not having a pool, the house did have a Jacuzzi near the back porch, with half walls to provide some privacy. The house had tall hedges acting as a boundary line, with iron fencing on its front.
Upon arriving, Helen had immediately set to work on the local neighbourhood. She had quickly found out which neighbors were of any worth to her and had gotten into their good graces. She didn't bother much with children her age unless they were exceptional and stuck mostly to adults.
Petunia and Helen had scooped out the local designers and clothing shops, of which there were many. There was a lot more variety in the local area, which negated the need to go too far from their home. She also had Petunia inducted into the local social community, so that she could keep herself busy while keeping an eye out for some influential or authoritative people of interest.
Earlier in the break, Helen had found, through her contacts, a man named Haruto Yamamoto who was a master of Japanese sword fighting. She had hired him to teach her the fighting styles which used swords in one hand and a ranged weapon in the off-hand. It was a difficult demand as Japanese samurai traditionally didn't use off-hand ranged weapons, but he accepted and started training her. He had suggested that Helen should use a Ninjato instead, but Helen had rejected that because of their shorter length, she wanted something with some reach. Helen had decided to use her left-hand as her sword hand, because while she was ambidextrous, her right hand was the dominant one and she wanted to save it for spellwork. For now, she would only learn about stances, movements and the correct handling of the sword, because she didn't have a lot of time but next year she would start learning actual fighting. She would be carrying a dummy sword with her to Hogwarts to practice.
The sword fighting wouldn't normally be useful in a magical fight, for obvious reasons, but if the fight was in close quarters, a fast sword would make quick work of any opponent because wizards didn't generally wear armor and were quite stationary as they casted spells.
There was also the matter of aura interruption in close quarters. Spells didn't work very well if a stronger wizard than you was within a few feet of you. That was because strong wizards always projected an aura around them. Actually, all wizards did that, but an average wizards aura was so weak it could barely be detected. However, people like Voldemort and Dumbledore had such a strong aura presence that they used to act as a beacon in all battles. So, if suppose, she somehow managed to be physically close to Voldemort in her current state, she wouldn't be able to cast even a tickling spell let alone anything lethal. In such scenarios, the sword would help, especially if she had enchanted it beforehand.
She had also found a Cantonese teacher because Su wasn't able to teach the language to her completely. Helen could have pillaged Su's mind, but there was a risk of detection. She had met the teacher over tea and had then proceeded to copy the entirety of the language from his mind. After politely declining to take classes, quoting scheduling issues, she had left with the complete knowledge of the language and an acute headache. This was the problem with learning languages using Legilimency, a massive download of knowledge over a short period of time would do that. The Legilimens also had to have decent Occlumency skills or little knowledge would be retained by the mind. It couldn't be done on everyone either. The target had to know both the languages and should be easily able to think in both languages. Usually only language teachers or language experts were like that. This was the reason not many wizards were doing this.
Helen went straight to bed because an unconscious state of sleep would help her retain the knowledge more effectively and it would help with the pain as well. As she waited for sleep to come, she thought about all the languages she knew now. She already knew French, German and Spanish from the memories of the dark lord. And now she had added Sanskrit and Cantonese to her repertoire. She wanted to add a few more but that wasn't a priority for her as what she already knew would be enough to communicate with most of the world's population. She of course already knew the Queen's English.
Next day her GCSE exams started. She had gotten special permission to write these exams as a fourteen year old and was going to take maximum advantage of it by taking the maximum amount of 14 subjects within a few days. Her subjects were: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Management, Computer Science, Fashion and Textiles, Sociology, Economics, Business studies, French, German, English, Mathematics and Political thought. And she aced all the exams as it wasn't difficult for her with her expertise in mind magic and immense memory retention capabilities.
Later when the results were declared there was an increased interest in the newest member of the locality, the beautiful and intelligent green eyed niece of the Dursleys, which Petunia handled expertly as Helen had already left.
Please leave a review.
A transition chapter, first part of the summer break. There will be one more chapter before 2nd year starts.
On the side note, I know that's not how GCSEs work but... eh, this is Fanfiction.
Thanks once again, 1saaa, for all your wonderful work.
