"Why is the house so damn far from the gates?" Artemis muttered as she walked along the drive leading to Potter Manor. She and her mother had arrived via portkey at the gates, but Kerra had been unable to cross the ward boundary. Also, since they didn't know how the wards would react, Artemis had to keep her speed to a slow walk.
Finally she reached the front door to the manor. Pressing her ring to the door, she heard it click, allowing her to open the door.
Entering the massive foyer, she looked around taking in the sight.
"I'm inside. Now to find the ward book so I can get my mum in here." Artemis said to herself.
A quiet pop made her jump as a small figure appeared before her.
"Mistress Artemis? You've returned!" The figure said in a slightly squeaky voice.
"Umm, yes. Sorry, but who are you?" The confused witch asked.
"I am Mipsy, the head house elf for House Potter." Mipsy explained.
Artemis nodded, having encountered house elves before on a visit to MaCUSA headquarters the previous year.
"Well hello then Mipsy. Could you please direct me to the ward book? My mum is standing at the gate waiting to be let in." Artemis said kindly.
"Of course. Follow me." Mipsy said as she lead Artemis through the house.
Eventually the reached the Lord's study.
Mipsy pointed to a panel in the wall next to a bookcase. "Press your ring against the panel and it will open. The ward book is inside." She said.
Artemis did so and quickly pulled out the book and moved to the desk. Opening the book she saw a large amount of people that had access to the manor.
"Mipsy, how do I revoke access to the manor?" She inquired of the elf.
"All you need to to is to strike through the names that are written. This will remove their access." Mipsy replied.
Artemis smiled. "Thank you Mipsy." She said as she found a place with open space and quickly added her mother's name to the authorized list. "I have added my mum to the list. Could you please go and get her. It will be a bit for me to remove access to these people."
Kerra entered the study a few minutes later to find Artemis still removing names from the list.
"Damn, how many people had free access to this place?" Kerra asked with a low whistle.
"Too damn many truthfully." Artemis replied. "Mipsy!"
"Mistress Artemis called?" Mipsy inquired when she popped into the room.
"Yes. Has anyone been here since my parents died?" Artemis asked.
"Yes Mistress. Master Moony has visited once a year on your birthday, but leaves when I tell him you have not returned. The Headmaster has also been here several times." The elf replied.
"Did he remove anything?" Artemis asked, her tone flat.
"Yes Mistress. He was given permission by Master James to borrow items as he needed." Mipsy replied.
"Have any of those items been returned?" Artemis asked.
"No Mistress."
"Then I am calling them due. Mipsy, retrieve every bit of House Potter's property that is not in our vaults or in our properties." Artemis said firmly.
Mipsy nodded and popped away.
Soon items began to appear on the conference table across the study.
Books, paintings, a pair of wands, a pensive, and a silvery cloak appeared on the table.
Artemis stood and moved over to the table. Picking up the wands, she stared at them.
"These belonged to my parents." She said, her voice heavy with emotion.
Moving to the portraits, she located one that had tears running down her face.
"Mum, this is my parents' portrait." She said, turning to Kerra. "Could you help me hang it?"
Kerra nodded with a sad smile.
The pair found an open space on the wall. A quick spell had the proper hook mounted and the pair manually lifted the frame and hung it carefully.
There was a flash when the frame touched the wall.
The figures in the painting stirred.
The male looked around until his eyes locked onto Artemis.
"Prongslet?" He said.
"Mother? Father?" Artemis said quietly, tears rolling down her face.
"Oh, Artemis. You've gotten so big. Why are we just now seeing you?" Lily Potter asked, tears shining in her eyes.
"I just arrived at the manor today. Things, did not go as you had planned." Artemis replied.
Kerra, not wanting to intrude, moved a chair behind Artemis, who sat down when it bumped the back of her legs.
"What happened?" James asked.
"Sirius is in Azkaban, everyone thinks he was your Secret Keeper and that he was just like all of his family and was secretly working for Voldemort. Frank and Alice have been in the long term spell damage ward at St Mungo's since about a week after you were killed. The will was sealed so anyone else that you wanted to raise me was unable to do so." Artemis explained as she wiped her face clean.
"Who did you live with?" Lily asked.
"Until four years ago, your sister." Artemis replied.
This caused Lily to explode like a volcano, ranting and raving, spew invectives that had Kerra pulling out a notebook to write them down.
"So who have you been living with now?" James asked as Lily quieted down to angry muttering.
Artemis smiled. "May I introduce my adopted mother, Kerra Prower-Potter, a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the United States Air Force, and the first Chaos Mage in nearly a millennium."
Kerra nodded her head respectfully to the figures in the painting.
James smiled. "Thank you for taking care of my little girl. It means the world to me and to Lilly."
"It does. But I want to know why she was not placed with the guardians we appointed." Lilly said, finally calmed down.
"Primarily because your will was sealed. No one was able to contest her placement, especially because of the interference of the oh so great Albus Dumbledore." Kerra explained, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"Why would he do that?" James asked.
"Because of the prophecy that sent you and the Longbottoms into hiding. Since Moldyshorts chose Artemis as his target, our best guess is that he wanted Artemis downtrodden and would look to him as her saviour. In that way she would be moldable and would not question things too much." Kerra replied. "Now though, she questions everything. Never takes it at face value when she is told something."
"I always ask for clarification or I research the hell out of it from all available sources." Artemis added in. "That was why I wasn't counted off on my final History paper when it was four pages longer than the teacher asked for."
"You wrote that long of a paper for primary school?" Lilly asked.
Artemis snorted with laughter. "More like High School. Turns out I am way smarter than most of my age group. I have completed my mundane education. I actually had some offers for a few Ivy League schools and I have an appointment to the Air Force Academy when I am eighteen if I choose to go into the military." She said.
"Really? That is quite an accomplishment." James said, beaming with pride.
"Indeed it is. But how did you get an appointment to a military academy?" Lilly asked.
"My fault on that one. Due to some not quite unforeseen circumstances during the blood adoption ritual, Artemis is aware of the black program that I was assigned to until my retirement." Kerra said. "I still do some consulting work for my old unit and during the summers Artemis would go with me. Aside from having the genetic markers to use Ancient technology effortlessly, she is smart as a tack and was able to assist some of the researchers and that got them singing her praises. General Landry and General O'Neill both put in a recommendation to the Commandant. Needless to say, she has a spot waiting should she choose to wear the uniform and an assignment to my old unit once she earns her commission."
"Is that what you want to do Artemis?" Lilly asked.
Artemis cocked her head to the side as she thought.
"At this point, I am leaning towards taking the opportunity. Thanks to my knowledge, my ability to learn, my genetics, and my magic, I have a unique set of skills that would truthfully languish otherwise." She said finally.
"What about your responsibilities as Lady Potter?" James asked.
"By the time I have taken up my headship and personally take my seat, I will have enough allies that will hopefully come around to my line of thinking and will be able to make all major government positions elected, rather than hereditary. Strict term limits for all positions will be enacted at the start." Artemis replied.
"So more House of Commons than House of Lords?" Lilly inquired.
"More of a republic, like the US government started out as. For the people, by the people. Elected on your own merit and not by who you know." Artemis said. "But that will take some work. Though fortunately, not as much as most would think."
"How so?" James asked, curiosity in his voice.
"Well, considering we have confirmed that Moldyshorts didn't kick the bucket when he murdered you two and tried to do the same to me, we, well mum and the crew she is putting together, will be slowly ruining and taking out the Death Eaters and their unmarked financial backers." Artemis said, a mischievous smirk on her face.
"How do you plan to do that?" Lilly asked leaning forward in the frame.
"Well, for all intents and purposes, Moldyshorts and his minions are a terrorist organization. The Crown takes a dim view to those, especially the ones that are homegrown. Once Hogwarts starts, I plan to seek an audience with Her Majesty to get a Letter of Marque and Reprisal. Once I have that, I will effectively be a privateer in the service of the crown. I plan to recruit from the first gens and half bloods that were forced out of the magical world due to the rampant bigotry. Considering how many apparently went into the SAS, I have a feeling we will be able to root out all of them." Kerra explained with a vicious smirk that Lilly mirrored.
The living pair spoke to the painted pair for several more hours as stories were told and a gap was bridged between an orphan and her birth parents.
A/N: Up next, the Potter seat in the Wizengamot goes active, alliances are made and broken, an innocent man has his day in court.