Introduction – Part 1: The Old World

Maeve Iris Potter-Black was tired.

This wasn't the normal kind of tired either, this was a bone deep weariness, that made you want to give up on the world... and everyone in it.

Hope. It was something she had tried to keep a hold of, it had seemed so fruitless though. It was one thing after another dragging her further and further away from her own future. The one thing that had kept her going, the freedom of becoming an age where she made her own rules for her own life. No one to dictate where she lived or who she could spend time around.

A time where she didn't have to hide half of her personality, so she didn't offend the delicate sensibilities of the sheep surrounding her.

She had been a fool; she should have known that wasn't ever going to be the case for her. She was fates bitch and anything that could cause her life to stay as something that wasn't her own, was bound to happen.

Her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been as eventful as the ones previous. She had a toad that had the audacity to proclaim itself human and her little Slytherin lackeys relentlessly tormenting her. Voldemort sending her searing pain though her scar, combined with random bouts of anger and vivid, recurring dreams that granted her very little actual sleep. Oh, and her O.W.L exams, which were apparently very important for the future of every young Witch or Wizard.

At the end of the year Voldemort had lured her in with a vision depicting the capture and torture of her Godfather, Sirius Black. Given the man's reckless nature it had been entirely conceivable that he had left the safety of Grimmauld Place, been a little less than vigilant and gotten himself caught.

Now, Maeve didn't have a lot of people she cared about, and even less people that she loved. She could make and maintain friendships but only so long as there was an equal exchange of care, she wouldn't let herself be taken advantage of. When she cared about someone, she would go to any lengths to ensure your safety and happiness. She could protect herself just fine, but you had to care about her wellbeing and happiness as well, she couldn't be the one putting in all the effort. She was more than a little bit jaded in that way.

It was for that reason, her friendships with her supposed Best Friends had dwindled down to mere acquaintances. They hung around her constantly not even noticing she didn't seek them out or confide in them anymore, and even that was only when she didn't actively avoid them. The overbearing and controlling nature of Hermione and the constant bouts of rage due to jealousy and insecurity from Ronald meant their relationships had diminished to nothing of any real importance.

So, given the fact that Sirius Black was one of the only people she cared for, and perhaps the only person she loved, she had gone in after him.

A ragtag group of people had joined her in her endeavour. She wasn't sure on the how's and the why's, especially given some of them hadn't even shared a handful of words with her. She was in too much of a hurry to question it, at least out loud, at the time and never got the chance after. Together they set off on Thestral back to break into the Ministry of Magic.

He hadn't been there.

It had been a trap.

And she had fallen for it.

Sirius had come in after her, all the impulsiveness and insanity the Black family was known for on full display, as he charged in without thought. He had fought and he had died, at the hands of his insane cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. It hurt; she was officially alone in the world but in the moment before she charged after the culprit, she heard voices coming from the veil that had taken his body from her. It was the voices of her parents and godfather.

"We'll look after him Prongslet"

"Be careful my little Fawn"

"Live well Bambi, remember, I will always be with you"

There was a solace to be found in the knowledge that Sirius was back with her parents, who she knew he missed desperately. Only holding on for as long as he had out of love for her, because she had needed him, but always longing to return to his lost loves. She would miss him terribly, but he was back in the arms of the people he loved and she knew one day she would see him again. That belief was something that had gotten her through even the hardest of times, that one day she would be with them all again.

In that moment of loss, she felt something inside her shatter. Something not unlike to a glass bubble had been encasing her magic and then it wasn't. Like her magic had been subdued, restrained and in that moment torn between rage and grief it had exploded. She had raced after Bellatrix, determined to get her revenge only to be confronted by Voldemort.

It had been a surprise in the end, how easy it had been. The raw power released from her core flowed through her, effortlessly bending to her will and it had its target. Focusing everything she had she released her magic at him, not focusing on a spell or anything really, just a desire for this to end. No more loss or pain. No more fear.

The fireplaces surrounding the Atrium had all activated the Ministry workers all filtering in summoned by some unknown source.

They all saw him!

Maeve Potter had been telling the truth.

Lord Voldemort was Back!...And then he wasn't.

A bolt of pure magic, the likes of which she had never felt before, shot out of her and struck him directly in the chest. It hit its mark, a moment passed as his mouth opened in a silent scream, and then he was gone, destroyed by a power he could never understand. Like ashes on the wind he slowly disappeared until there was nothing left.

It wasn't long after that that the whispers started, although she was blissfully oblivious to it for her remaining time at Hogwarts. It wasn't until she was home for the summer and occasionally snuck out to Diagon Alley that the whispers finally reached her ears.

Yes, she was no longer insane or a liar.

Yes, she had defeated the monster that was Lord Voldemort and spared them the horror of a second Wizarding War.

But, she was powerful. Too powerful.

Could she be contained if she decided to turn against them?

Should she be controlled or stopped before she could become such a threat?

Would they even be able to stop her when they couldn't stop the man she defeated?

The one man willing to defend her till the end was gone. Another too much of a coward to face the masses despite his supposed love of her and her family. The final man, could defend her, but seemed to be choosing not to. Dumbledore seemed to be subtly encouraging the dissent for reasons she did not know, and yet, it didn't really surprise her either.

Then there was her so called Best Friends, they had gleefully joined the mobs mentality, exulting her temper for the last year and proclaiming how often they had talked her out of moments of violence against some of the students at school.

As if the whole of Wizarding Britain wasn't calling her a liar and insane, or that she was being repeatedly tortured at school by the toad and her little inquisitorial squad. Never mind that it was her that had to repeatedly hold back Ron to prevent him from punching Draco Malfoy in the face or had to disarm Hermione when she went to hex one of the other students for doing better at her in class or disagreeing with her opinion.

She had more than enough reason to be grumpy, but, a raised voice after a very stressful year does not equate to a violent and uncontrollable temper. It was ridiculous that she couldn't even vent her frustrations around the people she should have been able to trust without it being used against her.

The sheep were bleating louder than ever, it was time to get the hell, out of dodge.

~*8*~

After her first two years at Hogwarts and her life at growing up at Privet Drive it had always been her plan to run away as soon as the opportunity presented itself. At first she had planned to leave when she was sixteen, legal age in muggle Britain, but then she discovered that in the wizarding world, coming of age was seventeen.

She loved her magic too much for not to postpone her plans for another year, so that what she did. Now it looked like those plans where needed a couple of years early.

During the summer before her third year, when she had run away from Privet Prison, she had bought herself her biggest purchase to date. Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment had been wonderful, all different wizarding equipment was sold there. She had promised herself she would return to at a later date to explore more thoroughly. However in the midst of searching for an expanded trunk she had discovered something magnificent.

Multi-compartment Trunks, Pocket dimensions of space for all your Wizarding and Witchy needs.

She had bought one, cost her a pretty penny too, but it had been worth it. It had 4 compartments. One was a Library, one was a Wardrobe, one was a safe space for Potion Making and practicing spells, the last however was her favourite; it was a fully furnished and equipped living space.

It was perfect.

Over the years she had filled it with whatever her heart desired. Clothing, shoes and accessories filled the wardrobe compartment all enchanted with charms built to grow as she did so they would always fit her. School books had started her library until she discovered the owl order catalogues from Flourish and Blotts and Obscurus. Books had always been her vice, even if they were just borrowed from the Library. So, every so often she bought herself a few books to add to her collection, magical while at school and muggle ones during the summer. Nik Nak's were bought and stored in open plan apartment which she spent time enchanting and charming to her specification while she was at school.

The other things she had done while at school was making copies of the entire Hogwarts library to add to her collection, using a nifty little parseltongue charm she had discovered in the hidden library in the Chamber of Secrets (Which had also been added to her trunk). The uncovering of the room of requirements had also help to fill her trunk, especially the room of lost things.

Technically she was stealing, but considering neither location had been used for a couple hundred years she decided to make some use out of it all. Plus, there was a certain thrill when she considered the others telling Dumbledore of their location and him finding them bare.

That, however, was beside the point. After realising she needed to leave she immediately headed to Gringotts. The meeting she had was very insightful and probably should have happened the year before.

She hadn't entered Gringotts herself since the summer before her third year so this had been the Goblins first opportunity to alert her of her new status. Due to her unwilling participation in the Triwizard Tournament during her 4th year she had been declared a legal adult by her magical guardian.

The fact that Dumbledore as her magical guardian could have removed her from the tournament due to her under age status was something she decided to contemplate later, lest she lose her temper and prove the masses correct.

Nevertheless, she was now legally an adult and that meant she had no need of a magical guardian, she could not be forced to stay at Privet Drive, she could use her magic outside of school and she had full access to everything that was hers but would have been held until she came of age naturally at 17.

This meant vaults. Many vault full of money and jewels, books and weaponry. It also meant titles and properties. All of which while useful weren't going to help her with her current predicament… well maybe the money would. So the Goblins made her a deal.

While the Goblins normally kept a distance for any Wizarding situations they had as a collective found themselves disliking the way the heiress of two prominent family's was being treated by the magical population. The fact that this was also a way for them to snub the Wizarding world as a whole that looked down on them for their creature nature was just a welcome bonus.

They planned to fake her death and get her out of the country.

She made a Will, bequeathing all her titles, properties and moneys, upon the event of her death to the Goblin Nation. In return the Goblin's where giving her the Muggle money equivalent so she could easily fake her death and slip away into the muggle world, unnoticed. If all went to plan she would then be jumping on the next available plane that would get her across the pond to the United States.

Over the course of two week she bought and stored everything she thought she would need and anything she found that she wanted. A full Muggle wardrobe and a couple of wizarding pieces (especially some protective gear for practicing her potions and spells), all her properties were looted of anything she wanted for herself, the books stored in her Library compartment which she had ended up having to expand as it was getting quite full. Potions Ingredients and some potions were purchased and stored in stasis. Many unusual shops where thoroughly explored, especially the junk and second hand shops, for anything and everything that took her fancy.

All her vaults were thoroughly explored for anything she wanted to keep, she especially enjoyed Sirius's old motorbike, that was now hers, that had been stored in Sirius's personal vault. Anything and everything she wanted was bought and stored including a magical tent, a foe glass, a couple of old brooms, a time-turner and a pensieve that she wanted to analyse for future use, creation and enchanting.

She really should have known it was going too smoothly for one of her plans.

~*8*~

After leaving Gringotts for what she had planned to be the last time, an Emergency Portkey around her neck on a single long chain, she was immediately confronted by members of the Order of the Phoenix and several Auror's.

"Miss Potter, You will come with us immediately" one of the Auror's ordered.

"One, Its Lady Potter-Black, show some respect" Maeve answered with all the pureblood superiority she could muster. She had no intention of going quietly "Two, No. I am in the middle of something. You can however request an appointment. All requests for meeting with me get processed through Gringotts"

"Miss Pot…" The Auror started.

"Lady!" she demanded.

"Lady Potter, we demand you come with us!"

"No!" she replied, and upon seeing several of the Auror's behind the lead one raising their wands she sent a high powered knock-back jinx at the congregated group sending them sprawling. Then the fight was on, they all got back up, some quicker than others and they fought.

She didn't know how long she fought for; spell after spell left her wand with barely a thought. She disarmed, stunned, shielded and incapacitated by whatever means necessary but didn't use anything outright lethal, she refused to become what they were afraid of.

They were showing no such restraint.

Then out of nowhere a bright green light flew at her from the side. She never got the chance to see who threw the spell before it hit her. It slammed straight into the centre of her chest, right over her heart and right where her necklace sat. Pain like she had never felt before resonated through her entire body, it felt like she had been frozen solid and then shattered into a thousand pieces.

There was a scream as the spell hit, and then nothing. The echo resonated down the now silent street. No body hit the floor, she was just gone.

~*8*~

Hope you like the new chapter. Please read and review. MidnightRose xo