A/N - I don't own Harry Potter.

A nice little early Christmas present for you. Enjoy. Please let me know what you think.

Kuro Neko.

As she left the gym, aching from taking so many kicks and punches thrown her way from the Muay Thai session she'd just had, Roxy smiled gratefully when she saw Josh was waiting for her outside, with his car. Like everyone in the foster home who worked there, Josh understood why Roxy felt the need to have a martial art's discipline under her belt. The story of how the Dursleys had beaten her, black and blue, dowsing her in boiling hot scolding water before they were taken to court was known to the entire social services division in Manchester - and there was no doubt at all in Roxy's mind many of them could not work out why their colleagues in Little Whinging had missed it, but no such luck here - and ever since Roxy had recovered from her stint in the hospital, she had asked for some kind of training in the martial arts.

Some of the caregivers did not like it, but Roxy had taken her time convincing them of the practicalities of learning a martial art's discipline. Roxy knew as soon as the Dursleys got out, there was a horrible chance they'd try to track her down, but she planned to be prepared for that although there was still a great deal of time.

She didn't want to be caught by surprise, there was no telling what they would do. In any case, Vernon had shown what kind of thing he was when he'd screamed and yelled those threats, promising he was going to get hold of "the freak and rape her to death!"

Roxy believed him.

She didn't want to be helpless when Vernon and Petunia and Dudley came back into her life. She wanted to be prepared. She wanted to have knowledge of how to fight back; she had never liked it when she'd been helpless whenever Vernon and Dudley had pummelled her to death, and she refused to even keep herself remaining that way. She never wanted to be helpless again. Never.

"How was it?" Josh asked warily as she carefully climbed into the car, slowly locking herself in.

"Hard," Roxy winced. She had taken quite a few punches and blows to her head and her chest, leaving her winded; a far cry from how she'd been before. Roxy scowled as she remembered how during the first few weeks she had suffered quite a few injuries, but now she had grown stronger. She loved that feeling.

Josh winced himself when she groaned and hissed. "Yeah, it sounds like it."

Roxy said nothing. She knew Josh, like the others, hated to see her like this and they hated the way the Dursleys were still allowed to be a shadow lurking over this girls' head. But they understood her reasons for it, given how she had made sure social didn't cover up what happened during the trial of the Dursleys, which exposed all of their nasty little crimes on top of the more serious crimes of child abuse and assault. How did they think she felt? Did they honestly think she enjoyed living with the threat of the Dursleys hanging over her head? Roxy hated it, but she also hated the fact Marge Dursley was still out there, and heaven only knew what she was doing now her precious brother was in a prison cell. She didn't know how Marge was taking it, but she only hoped the police hadn't been stupid and told the dog-woman where she (Roxy) was.

Once she was sitting as comfortably as she could be in the car, Roxy rested her head against the soft cushioning of the seat. All she wanted was to have a long, hot bath and get into bed.

Unfortunately, Josh couldn't keep his opinions to himself. "I'm worried about you, Roxy," he said sympathetically while they stayed motionless outside of the gym, knowing why she was killing herself in Muay Thai, that didn't mean he needed to like it. "We all are. You go out to the gym and you come back tired, sporting new bruises. It's like you're trying to get yourself punched and kicked because you want to be abused-," Josh went on, and the moment he realised what he was saying he instantly shut his mouth, knowing he had just made a fatal mistake.

But it was too late.

"I want to be abused?" Roxy's voice was low, and he knew she was incandescent with rage. "You think I want to be abused, all because I go to Muay Thai classes and get kicked around? You're wrong. When my uncle threatened to kill me when got out, I knew he wasn't joking. Vernon Dursley's probably not much of a man when dealing with others of his gender, but I turned his life upside down when I testified against him. I dunno what Dudley or Vernon's sister will do, but I don't want to go into the world without some knowledge of how to survive and how to fight. I get what you're saying, Josh, believe me, I do," genuine sadness filled Roxy's voice and it broke Josh's heart, "I want nothing more than to live like a normal girl, but the Dursleys took away a lot from me. I might be more outgoing now, with my place on the football team and having real friends instead of everyone being threatened by my dick of a cousin, but the Dursleys are scum. I don't know if they're going to come after me or not, or if they're able to if what I've heard about what happens to child abusers in prison is accurate, but I am not going to take any chances, nor am I going to give them the satisfaction of knowing I am going to be living in fear of them for the rest of my life, they're not worth it, but I won't let them hurt me again. Now can we please get back home?"

By the end of Roxy's little speech, Josh was gazing at her sadly and regret, and he started the car and they were off. Josh liked driving silently so he could concentrate solely on the road, and after what had just been said in the car, Roxy welcomed the silence and since she had her head turned so she could look out over the streets they drove down, she had time to think.

When she had testified against the Dursleys, it had been a dream come true. Roxanne had always wanted nothing more than to escape from their clutches but she hadn't gone into martial arts training afterwards. When she had been in hospital following their attack on her after that shambles at school because of Dudley's stupidity, Roxy had time to think. She admitted to herself she had been so hopeless when the Dursleys had attacked herm, with Petunia pouring scalding hot water over her while she'd been incapable of fighting back. If the Dursleys hadn't been stopped, well Roxy had no doubt they might have killed her.

But when she had been in hospital, Roxy had been left terrified that somehow the Dursleys would be let off, the judge and the jury saying the whole thing was a misunderstanding, like some many other occasions when the Dursleys had gone too far or somehow somebody had noticed the abuse only to forget it when it had been reported or sent away. If that had happened, Roxy had little trouble guessing as soon as she once more found herself in the Dursley's home, they would kill her.

She had made plans to escape in case the trial twisted in that direction. She hadn't given a damn about where she would be going, she didn't care if she went further up north or slightly to the east or west, so long as she could escape and give her the time and a chance to change her identity and make a new life for herself. But at the same time, Roxy had come to realise she needed to become stronger, and that was when she had hit on the idea of learning a martial art. And boy did it take a while for her to choose Muay Thai; while judo and karate were close by, Roxy had quickly discounted them despite both of them being effective.

There was little physical contact in both martial arts, in any case, she needed something that would allow her to fight Dudley. Vernon had taught his son some of the basics of boxing, and since Muay Thai was a similar discipline, Roxy had figured it would give her an edge. That was why she'd chosen it, but she was considering other options as well.

At the same time, Roxy hated the fact she needed the necessity of needing to learn a martial art in the first place; while she enjoyed learning something new and it had not only improved her health and it had done wonders for her general strength, rather than her still being the frail, visibly-abused girl which made her wonder how on earth somebody could have said the Dursley's abuse was a misunderstanding and get away with it.

Roxy mentally spat at the times where the Dursleys had gotten away with their crimes in the past, about them being misunderstandings although she was curious about how it had happened in the first place; it was as if the Dursleys had a sadistic guardian angel hovering over them, stopping anyone taking action against them while she'd been left to their mercy, although she knew the Dursleys would react to the prospect of a guardian angel in the same touchy manner as they lashed out at mentions of magic, the tooth fairy, or fairies in general.

She had made herself too comfortable in the car, because when Josh gently parked the vehicle outside the foster home, the painful aches her body returned with a vengeance as she got out of the car.

After a long, relaxing hot bath, Roxy got ready for bed, munching a ham sandwich while she nibbled on a piece of cheese before eating one of the apples she had. The food did her the world of good, especially after the night of training she'd just had. As she ate her meal, Roxy thought about the Muay Thai training she pushed herself through and what it would mean for her in the future.

For a long time, Roxy had known she was not physically strong enough to cope with the abuse, but she had to admit she felt stronger and healthier now than she'd ever been in her life. Her body might be in pain, but she was getting better at Muay Thai. Her technique was improving. A far cry from the girl who'd been clumsy, uncoordinated, but she had pushed herself to the limits then, and she had grown better even though her limbs lacked a lot of strength.

She was still a long way from being strong enough to be a threat or a rival to Dudley, never mind Vernon, and Roxy knew it.

The good news was she would get stronger, and as long as she continued to practice Muay Thai, and perhaps looked into other martial arts or other forms of fighting, Roxy couldn't see herself losing.

Roxy sighed, wincing in pain as she put away the plate - she would take it down in the morning - and she got into bed, sighing peacefully as she settled onto the mattress. It was still hard for her to believe she was in an actual bed, and she didn't need to turn it over to an obnoxious bully like Dudley.

Idly she wondered what was happening with the Dursleys now.

She hadn't seen or heard from them for a long time, not that she was expecting them to send her a postcard, but she had no doubt they'd come after her. Roxy just refused to live in fear of a Dursley shaped shadow looming over her head. The child psychiatrist had helped her move on, talking to her even if as a naturally independent-minded girl, she didn't like talking about her problems even if she had little choice in the matter. Thanks to the psychiatrist, Roxy had moved on from her fears of what the Dursleys would do to her. She remembered how she had come to the foster home for the first time, remembered how distant she was from the staff, from the kids, how she didn't want to spend any time with them as the memories of what happened to all the so-called would-be friends or the friends she'd had at primary school, before Dudley scared them off with threats of violence while the teachers turned a blind eye, or they pretended to be her friends, leading her on before she was humiliated in public until she felt nothing but loathing for all of them.

That was one of the reasons why she had burgled the neighbourhood at Little Whinging. Roxy had become so angry, so tired of being treated like dirt by the normal people of Little Whinging, and she had taken particular pleasure in burgling all of Dudley's friends and going for the houses of the kids who'd mocked her either for her height and appearance, or her clothes while calling her freak. Hearing that damn word, especially from the people who pretended to be her friend had rendered Roxy's heart cold to the idea of friendships.

In her mind, the concept of friendship was a myth.

And soon, she had begun to see the idea of sharing secrets or anything like that was a mistake. So she hadn't made any friends after that. Even now she kept far from everyone, believing she was stronger on her own than she would ever be with a friend by her side. Some might argue, the children's home staff certainly did, the social workers did until Roxy wanted to scream for silence and to make them see her point of view.

But she knew they wouldn't understand.

They had never lived as she had. They had never been thrown into a cupboard under the stairs, forced to work while feeling the pain of old bruises or where she had been whipped. They had never had to go to bed hungry, knowing the last meal could literally be the last.

She had formed a plan to escape, deciding she would escape when the Dursleys left on one of those lavish holidays they splurged out on while she was left with Figg, who happened to be the only person who'd take her on. But that was likely because Figg was insane. But being with Figg offered her the perfect opportunity to escape from Little Whinging, the old bag was so insane and forgetful, it was easy for Roxy to imagine ways of getting away since Figg wasn't as paranoid as the Dursleys.

The idea was simple enough. Roxy would steal enough money to get into London and would give her something to live on for a bit while she lived on the streets, but she would wait until the Dursleys sent her to Figg while they left for a few weeks, inwardly delighting at the idea in a few weeks when they got back…she would be gone.

Not only would they be partying, but she would also as well.

She would watch out for an opportunity, studying Figg's habits, and then she would make a plan before escaping. The move to Manchester had ruined that, but in a way, things had turned out for the best, although she had to worry about the Dursleys coming for her if someone truly stupid told them where she was, or they hired a private investigator to track her down; escaping from Figg's place would have given her time to hide in London even if she knew they wouldn't care.

But Roxy would prepare, and she would get stronger before she escaped for London. With a smile on her lips, she went to sleep.

The next morning, Roxy woke up, shaken. She looked around the room, letting the familiar surroundings reassure her now she was back in the world of the awake. She couldn't believe what she had just experienced.

Roxy had been speaking to her mother.

It was ironic, but for many orphans - Roxy included - knowledge of parents could go both ways; she had wanted to know more about her parents, of course, but she had often asked herself if the Dursleys were right, that they had hated her, or if the Dursleys were just lying to bring down her morale. In any case, she had no idea where to look for information about them, and the Dursleys would never tell her where to look anyway, so what could she do?

It turned out she didn't need to concern herself, after all.

Lily Potter had magically transferred her memories, her experience, and she had also put some of her magic into her daughter. To protect her and to tell her who she was.

Magic.

Magic existed.

Lily Potter had been a witch, and so was Roxy….

The side of her which was still conditioned by Vernon and Petunia Dursley to say magic did not exist had been pushed to the side, although she could hear it echoing in her head, telling her it was nothing more than a dream. But Roxy knew it wasn't. She also couldn't help but equate magic with everything she had experienced - the wig turning blue, finding herself on top of the school roof, everything - and it just rang true.

Last night had been too clear, whereas with a dream everything just seemed rushed like she was moving through a tunnel on a High-Speed Train to new places.

The talk with Lily Potter was too much like a conversation with someone in the real world for it to be a dream-like she'd first imagined. Lily had told and shown her everything; growing up, meeting Severus Snape, discovering magic, going to Hogwarts, and dealing with her jerk of a dad. And then the war with Voldemort.

Roxy frowned as she thought about the Dark Lord. It sounded too much like a fantasy novel to be taken seriously, but when Lily's memories of Voldemort's deeds, the people he'd murdered for no reason other than the fact he disliked them, entered her mind, and that Voldemort had been after her, all because of some prophecy…. Roxy had started to think somebody had set her up.

And she had a good idea who'd done it.

Albus Dumbledore.

The war had been going badly, and Lily hadn't been impressed with her old headmaster's efforts, to say nothing of his lack of real leadership qualities. He always seemed to want to save the Death Eaters (Voldemort, Death Eater; Roxy was now worried about what passed for sanity in the magical world if they came up with names like those), not even paying attention to others. While she could understand the ends justified the means, Roxy did not like the idea of somebody playing god over something which, in the longterm, was going to fall apart anyway.

But it had happened many times, and Lily had felt the same she had. She had no faith in Dumbledore, even in death. She had transferred her memories and experiences to her only daughter while making sure some of her protection lasted even after her death.

Roxy couldn't believe it, her mum had been protecting her from beyond the grave. It explained a lot, like how during those occasions where the Dursleys had come so close to killing her…she managed to survive.

Roxy rubbed her eyes, wondering just how she was going to assimilate all of this. It was just too soon for her to think it through now, although she knew it would take a while for her to truly understand all of it.

But she knew one thing, for better or for worse, her life had just become more complicated.