AN: Check the first chapter for disclaimers


Despite all the excitement of Black breaking into Hogwarts, soon everyone's attention was back to the upcoming Quidditch match. The Gryffindors were going to play the Hufflepuffs for the season opener. Even Helen was a bit excited, as this was the first time her inventions would be used.

On the matchday, everything was in place for the first Quidditch match to be ever recorded on video. Helen had made her followers practice with the cameras for two nights straight and now they were spread around the pitch so that she could get a full 360 degree coverage of the match. She herself was out of sight, subtly hiding near the changing rooms with several screens and a central hub. The central hub was attached to a slightly bigger screen which would show the actual footage that was being telecasted through the network.

Helen was already busy switching between different feeds and tweaking the hub to do it automatically for her to switch to the most interesting feed, showcasing the action. Soon, Professor MacGonagall gave Lee, today's commentator, the go ahead and he approached the podium.

As several cameras focussed on him, he began "Good Morning and a warm welcome to everyone to the opening match of this year's Hogwarts Cup. It's not a good day to be out flying with strong cold winds, heavy clouds and already a smattering of rain. However, a storm has never kept us down and we will continue on with this match."

"This year, breaking a decades old pattern of Gryffindor vs Slytherin being the season opener, it will be Hufflepuff that faces the Gryffindors in the first match. Some last minute scheming by the snakes to avoid this horrid weather led to this change." Lee said in a mock whisper, resulting in a round of boos towards the green clad house from the rest of the student body.

"Jordan," MacGonagall warned.

Chuckling nervously, Lee continued, "Anyways, let us put our hands together for the teams. First, the mighty lions," Here Helen switched to the video feed on the dugouts just as the first person appeared from the tunnel, "lead by Captain and Keeper, Oliver Wood…"

The Gryffindors were soon followed by the Hufflepuffs and the match started just as rain picked up. What followed was one of the most horrible games of Quidditch Helen had ever seen, mostly because of the weather. The rain made the visibility poor and the strong winds were causing difficulty to the flyers, dragging poor Ginny, who was playing her first match, off her course on multiple occasions.

Helen's followers were doing an excellent job of catching all the action despite the poor visibility. They even caught the moment when Cedric changed his team's strategy by joining up with the rest of the team after realising that looking for a snitch in this weather was futile, giving them a man advantage.

Half an hour later the man advantage was reflected in the scoreline as the Hufflepuff led the match 100-50. An hour later the advantage was closing to being insurmountable at 200-70 with Hufflepuff needing only three more goals to assure victory, even without a snitch catch.

The match had become extra difficult with injuries piling up on both sides as well as cold and fatigue settling in on the players, after having played against both the opposition and the weather.

So, it was a relief when the Snitch finally showed up. Unfortunately for Cedric it showed right next to Ginny, who spotted it immediately as well and gave chase. The snitch avoided her first swipe at it and flew vertically upwards, with both the seekers giving chase.

Helen, who was watching the whole spectacle from the screens, saw what neither of the seekers could see. The stadium fell eerily silent as well when they too witnessed in horror as the dementors started chasing behind the pair. Helen immediately bolted out of her hideout and ran to the field with her wand out. Cedric, having realized what was happening, screamed at Ginny to turn around, but she couldn't hear him over the wind and was still flying after the snitch. Cedric kept up with her the whole time and when she finally stopped after catching the snitch, immediately reached her and started pulling her towards the ground and safety.

But the delay was enough for the dementors and they surrounded the pair, blocking their path to safety. Having seen enough, Helen pointed her wand towards them and sent a patronus at the swarm of black cloaks.

A bright white Raven spread its wings and charged into the swarm. Another bird patronus joined hers but she didn't pay attention to it. The dementors shrieked and dispersed as a Phoenix patronus joined Helen's. However, her worries were not over yet and Cedric started falling, after having shielded the younger girl from the dementors using his body after his patronus shield had fallen under the massive assault.

Helen was about to cast an 'arresto momentum' on him when Ginny suddenly swooped down and caught Ced across her broom before gently guiding both of them to the ground.

Helen immediately rushed over and started checking over Cedric for any injuries. She didn't find any except for a couple of bludger bruises. Relieved, she pulled out a bar of chocolate from her pocket and gave half of it to Ginny, instructing her to eat it. Helen then started coaxing small bits of it into Cedric's mouth.

Soon, they were surrounded by the rest of the players and a few professors, while the remaining guided the student body into the castle. Madam Pomfrey quickly took charge and shifted both the seekers to the Hospital wing. She commended Helen for her use of chocolate and allowed her to accompany the patients.

Once Madam Pompfrey started checking on Cedric, Helen went to check how Ginny was doing. The younger girl was in shock, expectedly, but responsive. Helen put an arm around the redhead and whispered her praise for her quick thinking and prompt action which prevented further injury to Cedric.

Madam Pomfrey informed them that Cedric was fine and would wake up soon. She made Ginny drink a calming potion for her shock before going about her tasks. They both went to sit next to Cedric and continued talking softly, with Ginny slowly growing into the conversation.

A few minutes later Cedric gained consciousness and Helen welcomed him back with a gentle kiss.

"Hi, Handsome," Helen said softly "How are you feeling?"

"Soar, and cold," he replied hoarsely, prompting Helen to pull up the blanket and tuck him in properly. She picked up the pepper-up potion Madam Promfrey had left just for this purpose and made Cedric drink it.

As his skin gained color, he spotted Ginny sitting on Helen's other side.

"How are you Ginny? Did they attack you as well?"

"No they didn't, thanks to you. I didn't even know the dementors were there until you caught up to me. I'm sorry for the match, and I'm ready to forfeit the catch in favor of a re-match."

Cedric was already shaking his head before she finished, "No, you caught the snitch and won. You were determined, kept to your strategy and flew well. You deserved it." He paused for a second and turned to Helen asking "What was the final score anyways?"

"220-200 Gryffindor."

Ginny left after chatting for a few minutes and Cedric was given a clean chit of health by Madam Pomfrey and allowed to leave. Since he was expected in the Hufflepuff common room, Helen pulled his arm around her and guided him to the dungeons. He was given a hero's welcome with a rapturous applause by his housemates. Cedric spent the next five minutes ensuring everyone that he was alright and just needed to rest, before Helen guided him to his dorms, an action which caused a lot of cheers and wolf whistles.

Helen helped him undress, tucked him in and laid down next to him, cuddling him over the covers till he fell asleep. Once he was down, she left the dorms, took a minute to say good night to her friends in the common room and left the Hufflepuff common room.

Fifteen minutes later, Helen was in her room on a mirror call with Howard, getting a report on her first telecast. Howard was blown away by the results and assured her that their venture was going to be a huge success. He further informed her that her tinkering of the rune script on the hub had worked and it continued to automatically select the best feed to telecast after she had gone out on the pitch.

He then went on to describe what he wanted to do for their grand reveal and Helen gave her approval for it. She even penned a letter to Adrastia asking for her help and input. With her help they could pull back the curtains, so to speak, at even more locations across the continent.

An hour later when the call disconnected, the calm controlled facade blinked out and a wrathful expression appeared on Helen's face before she smoothed it out. She donned her invisibility cloak and went out.

That night when they couldn't find one of them, the dementors assumed that it must have chased after some prey. However, their assumption was proved incorrect when they found a black cloak whipping in the wind from the spire of the highest tower of the castle, with several burnt holes in it, clearly indicating that it was tortured before its death.

After that night, they never crossed the ward boundary again, afraid now that someone could kill them.

XXXXX

The next morning, during breakfast, Dumbledore announced that Dementors were not allowed within the boundaries of Hogwarts anymore and that they would only be allowed in with special permission, an auror escort and then also only two at a time. He also commended Helen for her excellent use of Patronus charm and offered to hold a special class himself to teach anyone capable how to cast the charm.

After breakfast, Helen was summoned to the Headmaster's office and he asked the expected question to which she gave her prepared reply "I read about it when I was staying at the Bones' place. Amelia had an excellent book, which she permitted me to read, that described the charm as well as the requirements to cast it properly. I have been practicing the spell since then with my friends and intensified my practice ever since I came to know about the dementors. Yesterday was the first time I actually got a definitive shape to my patronus, though I didn't manage to get a look at it in all the chaos."

Dumbledore smiled and replied, "I'm sure it was a bird of some sort. Why don't you cast it right now and I'll help you identify it."

'More like trying to identify what my patronus meant' Helen scoffed internally and cast the spell. Her raven patronus shot out of her wand, looped around the office and landed on the perch next to Fawkes.

"A Raven," Dumbledore spoke softly, obviously contemplating what it meant and signified. A Raven was a bird of conflicting nature. It was protective of its fledglings but territorial. It was brave and intelligent but opportunistic and cunning. Dumbledore was going to have a hell of a time trying to figure Helen out based on her patronus. Same for her animagus form, not that she planned on letting him know that she was an animagus.

They discussed more about the charm for a while when Dumbledore even asked her to do a demonstration for his special class, which Helen agreed to. Soon she left to go about her day.

XXXXX

The Ravenclaw vs Slytherin match started with a very different approach from the blue team. Instead of attacking from the get go, the Ravens all apart from Helen formed up into a defensive unit in their own half, leaving no avenues for attack to the Slytherins. The green and silver team, whose whole game was based on pressing their opponents, were baffled and couldn't do anything apart from passing the quaffle amongst them on the half line.

However, when one of the chasers made a lazy pass, Cho immediately cut it off and drove to the right, pulling the Slytherin beaters with her. She suddenly turned her broom up and made a back pass to Roger who in turn threw a long ball to the left for Morag, who was left open and easily scored the first goal of the match. As soon as the quaffle was through the ring though, the blue chasers were back in their defensive positions.

The game continued on in the same vein, with the Ravens playing a defensive game with lightning fast counter-attacks and the Slytherins pointlessly trying to press the defense with no result.

After a frustrating half an hour and trailing by a score of 50-0, Slytherin changed tactics and started playing dirty. They started targeting the only vulnerable Ravenclaw player, Helen, with both beaters sending both the Bludgers her way. Despite her agility, Helen started getting pelted and was nearly dislodged when both the bludgers hit her at once.

The Ravens, in turn, started playing more open with either Robert or Chester always there to protect Helen and the match turned into a free scoring game at that point. Another half an hour later the score was 80-40 in favor of Ravenclaw when Helen spotted the Snitch. It was only a few yards away from her and Malfoy was on the other end of the pitch. Within a few seconds the match ended when Helen easily caught the snitch, very anticlimactically, with Ravenclaw winning by 230-40.

The match was a testament of how to play against an equally skilled team, though the easy and early catch made the score a bit flattering for the Ravens. Had the match gone on for longer, the scores would have been much closer. After the win, the team was carried on shoulders by the rest of the house to their common room where a long party commenced which would continue till late in the night.

XXXXX

Helen had escaped the party after a few hours and was in her room lying on a transfigured massage table while Micheal's strong hands rubbed oil into her stiff muscles. She had been enjoying the massage for only ten minutes when they were disturbed by a knock on her door. She activated an identification charm on her door, sighed, and called the visitor in.

Blaise entered her room and paused at the doorway upon seeing her lying naked with just a narrow towel covering her arse. He then eagerly closed the door behind him and walked towards them confidently with a smile on his face.

"I've a letter from my mother for you Helen, but that can wait. Why don't I make amends on behalf of my house team giving you a hard time today and help you get rid of your aches," he spoke while removing his shirt sleeve, leaving him in a singlet, just like Micheal.

Helen could hear Micheal grinding his teeth but knew that he wouldn't speak for her. Amused, and aware where this was heading, Helen nonetheless replied "Well, as you can see Micheal is already doing wonders in that regard. There's no need for you to make an effort."

Blaise smirked, enjoying their game and replied while warming his hands, "Think of me as an extra pair of hands. Together, we can work on you faster and relax you quicker. Besides, think of this as my returning the favor from earlier." With that he poured some oil in his hands and started working on her calves, as Micheal continued to work on her shoulders.

While Micheal was massaging to relieve her aches and relax her body, Blaise started giving her a sensual massage, stimulating all the nerve bundles and focusing on all the pleasure pressure points. Helen moaned whenever he focussed on the pleasure points and was soon aroused and wet.

Slowly, Blaise started moving northwards and started working on her thighs. Being the menace that he was, he started guiding Micheal into the 'proper' way of massaging and soon Helen was getting double stimuli. At the same time, Blaise's fingers started approaching dangerous areas.

At this point Helen wouldn't have minded if he had gone further, but the rascal stopped and asked her to flip so that they could cover her front. Helen carefully turned pulling one of the towels she was lying on to cover her boobs and keeping the towel covering her bits in place.

Blaise and Micheal decided to switch positions with Micheal now working on her feet and Blaise on her arms. Again, they both exploited as many pleasure points as they could, making it a competition about who could make her moan louder.

It didn't matter who made her moan the loudest, as everyone won in the end. Micheal's fingers reached the top of her thighs just as Blaise had done everywhere but her breasts. Both their hands stopped just before touching anything but Helen was not having anymore of it and guided Micheal's fingers where they wanted to be.

Blaise didn't need any such guidance as one of his hands removed both the towels, exposing her completely, and his other reached up to give her right nipple a tweak, eliciting a wanton squeal from her.

Micheal was tentatively exploring her folds with his fingers. Helen moaned loudly when he cautiously rubbed her nub, prompting him to do so again with more confidence. Meanwhile, Blaise had maneuvered himself to her side and had his lips attached to her left nipple, while his fingers continued to play with her right.

Such an overload of stimuli bore results and soon Helen was screaming out her orgasm. But the boys weren't done yet, and after giving her only a few moments of respite were back at it this time with more intensity. Micheal went down on her, experimenting with his lips and tongue as one of his hands had reached up to play with a breast while Blaise's lips sucked on her pulse on her neck, as the tip of his fingers trailed over her sensitive skin causing goosebumps all over.

Micheal's tongue brought her to another earth shattering orgasm five minutes later, the scream of which Blaise swallowed with his tongue exploring her mouth. Now feeling completely relaxed and boneless, Helen indicated Micheal to come up and gave him a kiss as well. She then asked the boys to put her in the bed and they carried her over. Blaise obviously suggested that they join her as well but on receiving a firm no, chuckled and turned around with a 'next time'. Helen knew that would be true but didn't say anything. The last thing she saw that night was Blaise and Micheal leaving her room chatting like best friends.

XXXXX

As November turned into December, a strange phenomena started to occur at various popular locations across the world. Huge black rectangular shapes started appearing, hovering several feet over the alley, above the shops. They were about sixty feet wide and forty feet tall. And they weren't totally pitch black, but had a shiny surface. Initially, the people were scared and panicked, but when the aurors were called, they dismissed the issue and told everyone not to worry. Several articles were written in various newspapers speculating what they were, but no one was sure what was happening.

A few days later one afternoon, out of nowhere, the screens lit up with a beautiful display of colorful patterns that slowly started forming into numbers. Once the numbers were fully formed, people realised that it was a countdown, counting every second till a specified time. The quick ones swiftly realized that the countdown was until the day of the first match of the group stage of the Quidditch World Cup, causing a wave of excitement to spread throughout the crowd.

Everyone did wonder though what the letters 'GWC' meant, which would flash every ten seconds or so.

XXXXX

A few nights before the Winter holidays, Cedric was spending the night in Helen's room. They had finally slept at 1 O'clock in the morning after engaging in various creative and fun activities for two. They were asleep only for half an hour before they were woken up by insistent knocking on their door. Irritated Helen extracted herself from the warm embrace of her boyfriend and went to the door after donning a robe.

She was surprised to find Professor Flitwick in the oval, with the rest of her year mates also groggily poking their heads out of their rooms.

Flitwick quickly informed them that there had been another break-in by Sirius Black and he had successfully made his way into Gryffindor Boys dormitory. Apparently Neville Longbottom had left a list of passwords around and Black had somehow gotten his hands on it. So now the castle was being searched again, though thankfully they were told to remain in their dorms.

As he was leaving Flitwick cheekly informed Helen to tell Cedric not to worry as Professor Sprout had already asked him to check if her missing Hufflepuff was in Ravenclaw tower.

Soon everyone returned to their beds and as Helen tucked herself under Cedric's arm she again thought about what was Black's motive. She knew now that she was missing some information, and she knew someone who would know the missing details of both sides. The fact that she liked him and that he was infatuated with her just made the task easier.

Helen didn't even think of approaching Lupin, aware that he was a Dumbledore crony.

XXXXX

The next day found Helen studying in Severus's office, sitting in an armchair by the fire, with her feet crossed on the armchair across from her. She had a heavy tome in her lap describing the effects of some rare ingredients from south-east Asia and Australia.

Severus was in class with fourth year ravens and badgers, and probably wasn't aware that she was in his office as she had entered through the door in the classroom using the cloak. She was waiting for the class, which was the last for the day, to finish before asking Severus about what he knew about the Sirius issue.

This year, during scheduled potions classes, Helen had taken up staying in Severus's office, reading exotic tombs or experimenting for the mastery tasks, as attending classes would be a waste of her time. She estimated that it would take her a couple of years or even less to be ready to present her requisite three modifications as it was not something you could learn from books. It was something potion master's all over the world had achieved after years of meticulous research and experimentation.

The first potion Helen had chosen to modify was the most difficult one as well. The wolfsbane potion was something that only an expert in potion making could even think of concocting. So, if she was able to successfully improve it, it would certainly highlight her skill to the council of potion masters.

The problem was the difficulty and the magnitude of the task. While the wolfsbane potion didn't take as long as, say veritaserum to brew, it had by far the largest number of steps among all the registered potions, most of which had to be done in quick succession within very small windows of opportunity. Furthermore, the ingredients involved were very volatile by themselves, and when mixed incorrectly usually led to devastating consequences.

Moreover, the improvement Helen wanted to add to the potion was very ambitious as well. She wanted to modify the potion so that drinking it would give the werewolves complete control over the wolf. It would be like having an animagus form on the full moon and can choose to remain in their human form if they wished or change to the werewolf form at will and back. At present the wolfsbane potion didn't really 'bane' the wolf, but rather just tamed it.

If she succeeded in making such an improvement, governments around the world could make it mandatory for werewolves to take her potion every full moon and eradicate the disease in a generation or two.

Earlier, she had planned to find a cure for lycanthropy but had decided to not pursue that avenue for now after further researching the disease. She had found that the disease went a lot deeper than what she had thought and changed the victim at a genetic level. To even think of a cure, she would have to learn and understand the concepts of genetic engineering, a field she wasn't versed in at all. So instead, she had gone for the next best thing, controlling the change.

She was currently looking at the rare Chinese giant Chaurus, whose chitin supposedly had properties that could be useful. It was used as an ingredient in an extremely potent immunity ritual as well as in a ritual that cured most wizarding ailments. While both the rituals were dark and illegal, because they required human sacrifice, the chitin had potential to help her make her improvement.

The issue was the rarity of the Chaurus as they were found miles deep in the caves in the forests in southern China. Also, while they were not rated in the danger rating system for a creature by ICW, because one hadn't been sighted for centuries, these Chaurus could easily be placed in the XXXXX category as they were rumoured to grow above 15 feet long with foot long pincers and a mouth that could sprout poison several yards away. They were also rumoured to be extremely quick and resistant to cold, lovely.

Helen was pulled out of her brainstorming session about battle tactics against such an opponent by the class ending bell. Within moments Severus entered his office and paused at the doorway, staring at her.

Helen chose to be cute and waved at him from her seat with a coy smile. "Hello Severus, why don't you join me? The fire is nice."

Severus remained standing, visibility trying to think of the ways she could have entered his rooms without detection. She could see in his face that he figured it out by the way his expression changed. Finally, he asked probingly, "What are you doing here?"

Helen changed her expression slightly from coy to coquettish "Why Severus, are you not happy to see me?" she asked with mock sadness.

He rolled his eyes at her words and asked as he walked towards the armchair beside her, "You know that's not really what I'm asking. I'm just curious why you sneaked in here."

He raised an eyebrow at her feet resting on the seat, and when she continued playing innocent while not moving her legs, he sighed and levitated her ankles off and sank into the cushy chair. Helen immediately put her feet in his lap, getting another raised eyebrow and replied, "Well, technically I'm your apprentice now, seeing that you're the one who recommended me to the Master's council. And as your apprentice, I can live with you in your place of dwelling unless you say otherwise."

Adopting a flirtatious expression, Helen asked "Are you saying no to me, Master?" she teased, purring at the end.

Despite his stoic demeanor, color rose in his skin up his collar and Helen could feel movements in the fabric of his pants from where her feet rested on his lap. She knew if she moved her ankles just a few inches she would come in contact with him. She bent her stocking covered left leg at the knee, bringing her toe tantalizingly close to him without touching. Her action also raised her short skirt and it slid a bit, exposing the top of her stocking and an inch of her bare thigh.

Severus drew in a sharp breath, and his eyes jumped from her eyes to the bare skin on display. When he didn't answer for a moment, Helen leaned forward, 'accidentally' stroking him with her toe and prompted, "Well, Master?" again purring the words.

Severus croaked, "You can stay," while remaining like a statue, not moving any muscle.

Helen smirked and replied, "Thank you, Severus," and slowly dragged her foot away from his hardness, but still let them remain in his lap.

"I actually wanted to ask you a few things," she said, putting the tome aside and turning slightly to face him directly, aware that her action had caused her skirt to ride further up, now almost flashing him.

Her next words, however, were anything but flirtatious. "What can you tell me about Sirius Black?" she asked with a sharp edge to her tone.

His head turned sharply towards her, his long silky hair whipping his face slightly. He searched her face and found only aloof and cool eyes in a set, unyielding face. Understanding that she wouldn't take no or bullshit for an answer, he sighed and asked, "What do you want to know?"

Helen realized he would tell her anything now and started with simple questions.

"Is he a death eater?"

He looked surprised at her question but answered truthfully, "No. At least not to my knowledge."

"And you were aware of the identity of all the death eaters, considering that you were in the dark Lord's inner circle?"

Severus jolted at the question, but Helen held him in place with her feet easily due to her enhanced strength. For an additional measure, she also secured his hands and torso wandlessly.

Unaware that he was essentially trapped, he asked, "How did you know? When?"

She replied, "Does it matter from where I got this information? And I've known since before Hogwarts. Now, answer my question. Were you aware of all of them?"

By now all the color had left his skin, his stoic demeanor long lost. Helen could see that her revelation had unnerved him, making him think that she might hate him because of his past.

In order to ease him, Helen leaned forward and rested her palm on his face gently, while freeing his body from the binding she had placed on him.

He jumped slightly at the contact and looked at her.

Helen spoke softly as she gently stroked his cheek, "I don't hate you Severus. This would have been a very different conversation if that were the case. No, infact, I rather like you. You are a brave man for what you did later during the war and for what you are still doing for Dumbledore."

As he tried to speak, she shushed him and continued "I'm aware about your fierce rivalry with my father and his friends, including Sirius Black."

With her palm she gently turned his face towards her "I'm further aware of the fact that you loved my mother, that you loved Lily Evans."

As his eyes widened, Helen leaned forward bringing their faces closer and whispered, "I'm also aware of your feelings for me."

Here she paused to let him gaze at her face and into her eyes. She continued after a minute, "How this conversation goes will determine what kind of relationship we will have, Severus," she paused for an effect and continued "if any. If you wish to have any chance of any kind of relationship with me, you will answer my questions truthfully now. Understood?"

He continued looking into her eyes for a while before nodding. Satisfied, Helen started by asking him all what he knew about Black.

Severus started by describing his school years and how he and the Marauders, as the group were called, were always at each other's throats. He told her how Black had almost had him killed, only for James to save him from a turned Lupin at the last moment. He explained how he joined the death eaters, after Lily had left him because he had called her a mudblood in the heat of the moment.

When Helen surprised him again by asking about the prophecy, he again told her everything he knew. He told her about his actions during and after the war and what roles he was playing for Dumbledore.

Helen then went on to pull out every shred of information he had about Dumbledore's plans for her, which wasn't much as the headmaster was playing things close to his chest, something Helen had expected.

After extracting all the information she could from him, Helen stood up and bent over, bringing her face very close to his and spoke softly

"Now, I need you to answer the most important question I have for you."

Looking deeply into his eyes, Helen sent a mental probe forward to 'knock' at his shields. Severus understood her request and apprehensively lowered his considerable mental defense. Once they were down, Helen made a connection without entering his mind, and asked her question.

"Where do your loyalties lie? Are you loyal to Dumblelore? Or to the dark Lord? Or to Lily?"

She saw the answer in his mind before he spoke, "to Lily."

"Hmm, good," she spoke and climbed in his armchair, placing a knee on either side of his legs, straddling him. She took his head in her hands gently and spoke, "However, Lily has gone, as the Headmaster is fond of saying, to the next great adventure. But, I'm here, her child, her legacy. Wouldn't it be more meaningful if your loyalties were to lie with me, hmm? Don't you think she would prefer that?"

As he still hesitated, Helen played on his weakness. Her hands glided up from his face and into his hair. She leaned forward, pressing her breasts into his chest and huskily whispered into his ear "You could never be with Lily, but you could be with me. All you have to do is be loyal to me." she finished by slowly trailing her lips from his ear right to the edge of his mouth before pulling back to look into his eyes, waiting.

Severus shuddered and groaned at the combined effect of her words and her action. Eventually, he answered with a quiver in his voice, "I will be loyal to you."

Helen gave him a delighted smile and leaned forward to kiss him properly for the first time. He kissed her back desperately, but Helen pulled back only after a few seconds and spoke cheerfully

"Now, give me an oath on your magic and life pledging your loyalty to me."

Severus looked startled at her demand and stared at her, as she continued to hold a cheerful expression. But he could see in her eyes a cold and menacing intent which told him that the oath wasn't optional. After a moment, he submitted to her unyielding will and gave the oath as per her satisfaction.

Once that was done, Helen kissed him again, this time pressing her body into his and invaded his mouth with her tongue. But she soon pulled back and gave him an impish smirk, "I would love to continue, but I've an appointment in a short while."

She lowered her pelvis and dragged herself over his hardness, getting him to draw in a sharp breath. Helen stole that breath with one last kiss and left with a purred, "See you later, Master."

XXXXX

Helen really did have an appointment with the Weasley twins. They wanted to meet her over something and had written her a short note asking for her time. She had decided to do the contract signing as well as the meeting together and had called them to her room.

She arrived in her oval to find them already waiting there and waved them to follow her into her room. Once again she sat in the center of the sofa, but this time invited the boys to sit on her either side.

Fred began this time "Listen, Helen, we really appreciate what all you have done for us and continue doing…"

George took over, "So we wanted to show our appreciation by giving you something we cherish."

As Helen started to object, Fred spoke up, "Consider it as an early Christmas present for you."

George pulled something from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it on one of the desks. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it. Helen, suspecting one of their jokes, stared at it and raised an eyebrow in his direction, her question obvious.

"This is the secret of our success," said George, patting the parchment fondly.

"It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your needs are greater than ours. We think there might be a chance that Sirius Black might be after you and this will be helpful."

When Helen looked askance at the parchment George started explaining.

"Well… when we were in our first year - young, carefree, and innocent —"

Helen snorted. She doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.

" — well, more innocent than we are now — we got into a spot of bother with Filch."

"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason —"

"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual —"

"— detention —"

"— disembowelment —"

"— and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."

Helen couldn't help but smirk knowing where this was going.

"George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed — this."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

Helen asked, now her interest peaked, "So what is it?"

George took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Helen bent over it. A labeled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room.

Helen was blown away at the treasure in front of her. This was a perfect tool to spy on people within the castle and nothing to speak of the work required to make something like this. She recognised the name Marauders as well, having just been informed about her father's group by Severus.

If they had created this in school, they surely were brilliant, though Helen suspected that her mother might have played a major role in the map's creation as the charm work she could already detect on it was detailed and extensive.

Unaware of her musing, the twins continued.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much."

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.

Helen recognized the name Wormtail, obviously referring to Pettigrew. She also guessed Moony was Remus Lupin, being a werewolf. Suddenly, she realized that these were juvenile nicknames for animals. So, it meant that they all were animagus, apart from Lupin obviously. Padfoot obviously was some form of a canine while prongs referred to a leader so probably a lion or more likely a stag. Knowing what she knew about them, Helen guessed the Black was Padfoot and James was Prongs.

George again brought her out of her reverie "After you are done using it just tap it with your wand and say 'Mischief Managed!' and it'll go blank."

Helen really appreciated what they had unknowingly given her and gave both of them a tight hug and a kiss on cheek, making them blush. She then invited them to her Manor over the holidays and they agreed to show up at some point.

They talked about what all they had found or seen using the map over the years and tried to embarrass her by telling how she was rarely alone at night. She turned the quip back on them by inviting them to join her some night causing them to stammer.

After some time she summoned the contract she had prepared for their business venture and the twins signed it only after a cursory glance at it. Helen signed her name after them, binding the twins to her, unknown to both of them.


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