Nicolas Flamel was looking for someone. And it didn't take long to find a short pink haired girl with realistic dog ears at a nice cafe.
"Excuse me, has anyone seen a large suit of talking armor? I seem to have misplaced it," he said jokingly.
Immediately the pink-haired kid turned around, revealing a young girl with bright red eyes.
"That depends... where's the local animal shelter? I believe I overheard someone commenting on a suit of armor around the cats," she replied.
"Nick Flemming."
"Kaede 'Lucy' Lupin. This is my friend Harry and my dad Remus."
Remus stared at him for three seconds in shock.
"Now I believe you have a fake that needs to be returned?"
Kaede reached into her pocket, but before she handed it over he felt a pressure behind his head. One didn't live as long as he had without learning Occulmency, so he let her in. She immediately handed it over once he did.
"Impressive. Not many learn Legilmency at such a young age."
"Not many would willingly hand over a replica Philosopher's stone or replace it with a garnet either," countered Kaede grinning.
"So is this the reason you chose France?" asked Remus.
"Dumbledore had a replica Philosopher's Stone in the castle, so I wrote to him to insure it was a fake and not a real one. He said we could give it back if we came to France, and besides, we needed a good destination for our first trip anyway," said Kaede.
"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting anyone to figure a way through our mail-wards, let alone using something I jokingly helped create against me," said Nick.
"SHE'S SOOO CUTE~!" squealed Perenelle, or Penny as she insisted on being called.
Kaede found herself being turned into a Diclonius plushy by a very hyper Sorceress. Harry, the traitor, was laughing behind the safety of Nick.
Penny didn't even bat an eye when she saw the horns.
"So you're part of the growing trend in the muggleborns," said Nick.
"We call them First Gens, less insulting," said Remus.
"Sorry. Anyway I've heard about the fact that the first gens in Japan were showing a rather large trend in pink hair, red eyes, and an unusual ability," said Nick.
"The muggles have started to call the Diclonius," said Remus helpfully.
"You simply must stay for dinner!" said Penny firmly. She had always wanted a little girl, but age and bad luck had left them childless.
They had tried adopting repeatedly, but eventually the children always died.
Usually from someone trying to get the stone.
Remus chatted with Nick while Penny turned the children into her little dress-up dolls.
Nick seemed very interested in fostering a few of the Diclonius...it would make Penny happy and the scientist in him was very curious just what these girls could do.
Besides, these vectors would protect the girls from any unpleasant spells that could hurt them. Not to mention make his wife very happy.
Remus carefully hid a laugh at the look on Kaede's face in that frilly dress. Harry was so used to Kaede tricking him into wearing stuff like this that it didn't faze him in the least.
Since it was clear that the children would have more fun being lead around by people who actually knew where everything was, Remus accepted the offer for them to be shown around France by the Flemmings.
Penny was in Milan with Kaede while Nick took Harry to see the Louvre. It was the first time in a while that the children had been away from each other, but the fact they would see each other later kept them from feeling unhappy with the situation. Well that and both of them were armed with a dog. Kaede had Pochi and Harry had Padfoot.
"Just look at this Kae-chan!"
Kaede was looking at a black dress that was spelled to resize and came with a dark pink shirt. It would go great with the white ribbon covering her horns.
Penny eagerly took the girl cloths shopping, mostly as practice for the Diclonius children that Nick was already arranging for them to foster.
One girl in particular had caught their eye by the name of Nana. She had the longest reach of the girls, and she was so adorable.
Besides, Kaede was turning out to be an early bloomer to Remus' dismay, and it was better she learned about things like bras from another female rather than him.
Penny certainly didn't mind, as the two gushed over the latest fashions while exploring the magical half of France.
Later Kaede would show her dad all the new outfits she had gotten (thankfully Penny had told her the underclothes weren't to be shown) while Harry talked about all the exhibits Nick had taken him to.
"Lucy? Harry? What are you doing in France?" asked Hermione.
Hermione had spotted Kaede's distinct pink hair and Harry's ribboned black, and had waved to them.
"Dad said that since we're going to Hogwarts for the next seven years, he wants our summers to be really fun. So each year he's going to take us overseas to other countries. This year it's France."
Hermione noted an amused brown haired man with light green eyes watching them with a patient eye.
"Romulus Wolfe, at your service Ms.?"
"Granger. Hermione Granger," supplied the bushy-haired brunette.
"There you are Hermione. And who are they?" asked her mother Emma.
"Apologies. My name is Romulus Wolfe and this is my adopted daughter Lucy. And this is her friend Harry."
"We're friends with Hermione," said Harry.
Friends was a bit of a stretch. They were more friendly acquaintances since she had such an abrasive personality and didn't know when to leave well enough alone.
Kaede didn't want Hermione anywhere near the Diclonius issue until she lost some of her authority worship and learned not to be such a pest.
Which meant she would have to keep the ten girls coming in on a semi-tight leash.
"Dan Granger."
"Emma Granger."
"So Hermione mentioned you two were dentists?" said Remus.
As they chatted about adult matters, Kaede and Harry gave Hermione directions to the magical sections of France that were muggle friendly. If only so she could use her wand without getting into too much trouble for it.
She had been entirely unaware that there were areas where it was allowed to use magic so long as the muggles were already in the know...which her parents were.
As they chatted, Kaede's vectors were working double time so that Hermione would forget about seeing Harry in France. She would remember meeting Romulus Wolfe and Kaede, but she wouldn't remember Harry. If Dumbledore knew that they planned to take these trips every year, he might investigate them and they didn't need him to learn about Remus.
Kaede and Harry were in the house with Sirius who was having a chat with Nick about some of the pranks he knew down the ages when the wards went off.
Penny was the first to look outside, and she immediately opened the door to reveal a Japanese Guard with a young girl a little under six with pink hair and horns.
"Nick and Penny Flemming?" he asked in accepted English.
"That would be us."
"Here's the girl that was agreed upon. I just need you to sign some papers and she's all yours," he said calmly.
The number of Diclonius was rising, though fortunately they had flagged the pink hair at most hospitals in Japan so they were able to extract or at least warn the parents before the muggles could get to them.
But they were getting rather crafty of late, so the out-of-country adoptions were keeping the problem of where to put the girls to a minimum.
Penny bent down to Nana's level.
Kaede sensed the vectors come out to inspect the woman, and she intervened before it got out of hand.
"Calm. She means you no harm, outside of turning you into a dress-up doll for new clothes," said Kaede firmly. Remus sat up straight without realizing why.
Nana's reaction was much more extreme. She went ramrod straight and looked right at Kaede, who's horns were exposed to everyone.
Kaede placed her physical hand on the girl.
"Easy, little sister. No one in this house will harm you," she said gently.
Nana's eyes were wide as she clung to Kaede like a life-line.
Penny and Nick observed this with interest. It was clear Nana knew something about Kaede, but what she sensed they had no idea.
Things were slowly winding down in France when their peaceful vacation ended by a house elf.
Dobby, as he said his name was, was firm about Harry not going back to Hogwarts.
But the house elf was quick to back off when faced with Kaede looking irritated at the racket from Harry's room.
Dobby looked between the irate Kaede and the tired Harry.
"Does Harry Potter sir have a protector?" he asked carefully. If Harry had a protector as dangerous as that girl, then he might be safe at Hogwarts.
"What exactly is going on at the school?" asked Kaede.
Most of the Potter elves tolerated her presence, because they could see that the pink haired demon would eventually become the next Mrs. Potter...and she was very loyal to the current Potter.
So long as she didn't turn those hand things on them, they could deal with her presence around the new Mr. Potter sir.
"I'm not his bodyguard. I'm his best friend. We share the same house for a reason," said Kaede, her headache getting worse.
Lucy, her more homicidal half, was kept firmly in check by dealing with the dangerous elements of the Forbidden Forest. The Centaurs tolerated her presence because she left them alone and they did the same, but mostly because the unicorns didn't run off when she came close.
Dobby silently gulped. Facing his master was one thing, dealing with this creature was infinitely worse. He didn't know what she was, but he knew that she was dangerous.
By the time he left Harry turned amused to his best friend.
"Why is it that your vectors scare the living shit out of anything that isn't human within seconds?"
"Don't know. Don't really care. All I know is that we have to meet the werewolves tomorrow so I can give the new group of girls orientation before they come to the school," yawned Kaede.
As a safety measure for the more traumatized girls, they were having Kaede come in and lay down the rules for the newcomers. It would go a long way to proving the 'Queen Diclonius' theory if she could keep the girls in check after one meeting.
They still weren't sure if Kaede was a 'Queen' Diclonius, made to keep the others in line like worker bees, but at this point they knew that she was different from the others.
"Hello fellow Diclonius. My name is Kaede Lupin, and I'll will give you a basic walk-through of the rules in Hogwarts."
"Why should we listen to you?" asked one of the other girls, her short pink hair rather cropped against her head showcasing her horns. Her vectors were already out and it looked like it was hissing at Kaede.
Her eyes narrowed.
Kaede let loose her vectors, and without warning all talking stopped as they looked at her in perfect silence. Their full attention was on her now.
Suddenly the whole queen theory was gaining a lot more credence.
"Because I'm the only one who can keep those bastards from Japan who seek to destroy us from finding us and taking us out. In case you haven't noticed, there's an entire group of idiots who think we don't belong in this world and they want to experiment to see just how far they have to go to kill us off now."
Kaede looked at the group of twelve. They were the first in a set of girls that were being sent to Europe to escape those damn muggles.
"Here's the deal girls. I'm not going to tell you to not kill. We all know there is a side of us that begs to use our vectors to destroy anything we deem a threat. Some of you have probably given in to this voice more than once and it speaks to you, tempting you to do more. Instead we're going to learn how to use this voice constructively."
That got their attention more than her vectors had.
"Is that even possible Nee-san?" asked one of the more timid girls. She didn't like the voice...it scared her.
Kaede smiled at her.
"I have been keeping my own voice in check by getting rid of a rather annoying spider problem in the forest outside the castle. And coincidentally the unicorns didn't have a problem with me being there."
Seeing their eyes light up at the mention of unicorns, she knew she had them hooked.
"Now who among us loved animals?"
Every girl raised their hand.
"There is a man who lives next to the forest who is perfectly harmless named Hagrid. If you ask him, he will show you some of the harder to find animals near the castle. Also his dog Fang may look big and mean but he's a total sweetie. Now who loves big dogs?"
A few bravely raised their hands. Kaede grinned.
"Perfect. Now Fluffy will have loads of attention when we reach the castle."
"Fluffy?" spoke the snide one from earlier.
"Hagrid has a pet Cerberus he has named Fluffy, as well as a pet dragonet that is named Cloud. Once we prove that they're no threat to us, we can start planning trips to visit both," explained Kaede.
Seeing that their attention was definitely on the idea of behaving, Kaede told them the basic rules of the castle.
Rule One: no killing the other students, no matter how much they pissed you off. The only exception was the pure bloods, but she advised them to contact the Weasly twins for pranks they could set off at a distance with their vectors to get revenge.
Rule Two: under no circumstances were they to reveal their horns. Kaede was open to showing them how to tie ribbons or how to cast the charm to hide the horns under fake animal ears. No one had batted an eye when she wore them to classes.
Rule Three: if she was unavailable, look for Harry (he helpfully waved his hand so they recognized him) before they approached Flitwick, who was the shortest teacher on staff.
Rule Four: no using vectors to read minds without consulting her first. She warned them about the legilmency spell and how their vectors could be mistaken for it. They didn't need the Ministry butting in.
Rule Five: if they found a muggle device in their things, or received one in the mail they were to destroy it immediately.
Kaede and Harry still had no idea how the hell the muggles found them in Hogwarts, or why they kept trying to locate them with a GPS, but it was getting annoying. They already had to deal with a bitchy Petunia complaining about foreigners from Japan looking for a pink haired girl with horns.