Disclaimer: I don't own any copyright material including Harry Potter and his friends/enemies.

Underline - thoughts
underlined italics - non-English speaking

As Kearia next became aware of her surroundings, she found herself floating in a dark cavern, with pale blue lines criss-crossing the walls. In the centre of the cavern she noticed a big ball of energy the same colour as the lines, but it seemed to be restricted by two sets of chains. "My magical core.." She thought, but what are the chains then?

The core bindings perhaps, but that would only explain one of them."

As she looked closer, she saw that the two chains were actually different colours. The first one which only covered her core was a sickly green colour and was connected to a much smaller ball of energy which was a green-black colour. The second set was restricting both her core and the foreign core/chain mix, was a red in colour, and she instinctively knew that the red chain was the core binding from Dumbledore, while the green ball/chains must be Voldemort Horcrux. During her inspection of the red chains, she saw cracks in the links and with some mental prodding and pulling, the chains shattered before becoming a white mist and shooting off into her core, making it increase slightly in diameter putting extra strain on the green chains.

Suddenly the green chains started to unravel from her core and return to the main ball, while suddenly she felt a tugging sensation acting on the foreign core, despite its reluctance to leave. Deciding to help out what she assumed to be the goblins attempt to remove the Horcrux, she willed her magical core to become solid and unmovable. She then concentrated her hardest at forcing all foreign presences from her mind, calling upon all her years of Occlumency practice to help her. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a mentally exhausted Kearia watched the Horcrux shoot out of the cavern and her ball of magical energy grow to at least four times its size, filling up most of the cavern space. Before she could further examine it, the tugging sensation on her mind returned, before it pulled out of her mind. Waking up, she saw a female unspeakable kneeling behind her, with Kearia's head resting in her lap as Kearia lay on the ground.

"Welcome back to the land of the waking," she chuckled, "your vitals seem to be fine and while it looks to be exhausted, your magical core has grown even larger than expected. Five minutes rest and a pepper-up potion and you should be jumping around in no time. You'll be pleased to know that the removal of all the soul pieces was successful and Nightclaw wishes to speak to you about the containers as soon as you feel up to it. I have also been requested by my superiors to ask you if you would mind letting us study some of the items, if you gain ownership of them that is, as they have powerful enchantments on, the means of which to produce and replicate have been lost to us for centuries."

"Erm sure..." Kearia replied still tired, "just let me know when you would like them."
Half an hour later, Kearia was sat in front of Nightclaw's desk again as she reflected upon everything that happened today. First she had taken a blood inheritance test, three out of four reports she had read through leaving one remaining. From those she had gained a complete copy of her family tree and learned she was related to three founders, though one was through conquest.

Then she had learnt she had several magical abilities, including the rare 'beast speak' and 'astral projection'. They then discovered that first of all she had several detrimental enchantments cast on her, all of which had been removed and secondly she was a Horcrux container! Thankfully that was removed without any negative effects and she found that she felt lighter than she could ever remember feeling, though whether that was down to it being removed or her unrestricted core getting filled she didn't know. They had also decided that with the amount of fan-mail and other possible port-key kidnapping attempts, she would have to hire an elf to check and sort all the mail she was bound to receive.

Now all that was left of the inheritance test was to find out any family title('s) she had claim to, and the possessions and properties those titles granted her. At Nightclaw's prompting, she unfurled the last roll of parchment and they both looked it over.

Family claims

Lady Potter - birthright through blood. Properties include: Potter Manner, 10 Godrics hollow, vaults 713 / 240 / 010. Investments listed in account ledger.

Lady Black - blood heir apparent. Properties include: 12 Grimmauld house, vaults 400 / 401. Investments listed in account ledger

Lady Ravenclaw - birthright through blood and magic. Properties include 1/4 of Hogwarts grounds, vault 001.

Lady Gryffindor - birthright through blood. Properties include 1/4 of Hogwarts grounds, griffon tower (under rune based blood Fideleus).

Lady Slytherin - magical heir through conquest. Properties include 1/4 of Hogwarts grounds, various books in Parsletongue: held in trust by the goblin nation, vault 002

Upon finishing, both Kearia and Nightclaw sat back as they contemplated these latest revelations.
"Well then, if there are no objections I shall send a message to get your head of house rings" Nightclaw finally said interrupting the silence.
"Yes please, however I have some questions if I may?"
"Of course, just let me get your house rings sorted out." He quickly penned out a message and sent it off. "Now what was it you wanted to ask?"
"First, for the black family title, what does it mean by blood heir apparent? Secondly as heir to three of the four founders, do I have any responsibilities from it?"

Seeing she had no further questions, Nightclaw gathered some documents into one pile while answering, "for your first question it means that while you claim relation to the black family by blood, you weren't the closest heir by blood, but upon the death of the previous head, Orion Black, he chose you as heir based upon your diseased godfather's will. It was well known that Orion hated death eaters, and in his will he chose to follow his son's wishes, as he was still alive at the time, as he was thankful that you vanquished Voldemort. For your second question, we know you will have some measure of control over the wards of Hogwarts, and its rules and regulations. Hogwarts is sentient, however and I imagine it will contact you for further information upon entering its grounds. Now if that's all your questions dealt with?"

"Yes, for now thanks," she said giving him a brief nod.
Before he could say more, a goblin entered the room, carrying a box and placed upon the desk before walking out the room. Nightclaw opened it up and turned it round,

"These are your family rings; they are to be placed on your ring finger on your left hand where they will merge. Only one ring will be seen at a time, unless you will it otherwise, so you will have to choose what ring is show as required. I would suggest you show the Potter ring as the standard as that is the only one people expect you stand to inherit. Next on our agenda is the matter of the ex-Horcruxes. One of them was a diary that belonged to Voldemort in his Hogwarts years; as it is now useless we sent it back to original hiding spot. Three of them are family heirlooms from Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Peveral, which later became Potter, and are yours to decide what to do with. The last one, while not yours, is an heirloom of the remaining founder of Hogwarts, Helga Hufflepuff. It is to be held in trust by your family, as the first uncovered founders heir, until you or one of your heirs meet and have the opportunity to return it to the Hufflepuff heir.

"For now, the items have been placed in your family vault and I would suggest taking a few days of to relax and think before deciding what to do with them. I shall enquire about the books left in trust and will move them to the Slytherin vault for you. Usually, only a Parslemouth would be able to understand books written in Parsletongue, but the head of house ring allows you to translate it anyway. Now, unless there is anything else you can think of?" Seeing her shake her head, Nightclaw continued "all that's left is to sign your emancipation forms, which we will then sort out and send them to the correct ministry departments to ensure it is iron-clad and not even the head of the Wizengamot will be able do anything about it. Don't worry," he said quickly upon seeing her worried face, "this happens so rarely that they won't be bothered to check their records until someone enquires about your status; by then the standard week for objections would have passed and not even the joint forces of the entire Wizengamot and ministry can legally overturn it. The only ones who know enough about you to object is certain Gringotts goblins and the unspeakables here today. You have no fear of your secret being leaked however as all those who know have been vowed to silence until you yourself announce the details. Finally, to finish off with you have your idea to explain."

Kearia, satisfied with his explanation, spent the next twenty minutes reading through the various forms and signing in the appropriate places. When she had finished, she traced an intricate pattern in the air above the forms, causing the room to be engulfed in a flash of blue light upon finishing, causing its occupants to blink furiously as they tried to clear their vision.

"My apologies Nightclaw, however it was necessary to ensure my privacy." At his alarmed look she smiled softly before putting his fears to rest, "don't worry, it's just rune based Fideleus charm so only the initial of my first name will be known to wizards. It doesn't affect goblins, but it ensures I can't be entered into a magical contract unless I sign it myself under my own free will. Even those who know my first name can't write it down as that counts as 'sharing the secret'. Those who weren't told of my first name by me, won't be able to hear it from someone else, even if the person that knows it is shouting it down the ear of someone who doesn't." seeing Nightclaw relax, she unconsciously relaxed as well. It never bode well for those that made a goblin tense in worry, mistrust or anger. "As for my idea," she started, prompting Nightclaw who had got out a notebook and pen, prepared to take notes "it's actually a Muggle idea so you may have to research it more. The basic idea is that there a special card that is linked to a person's vault which can be used as payment in the place of gold. The advantages for the goblin nation is that one: you can charge transaction fees, two: you won't have to deal with them all the time as they won't need to continuously go to their vault to draw out money and three: if the vault it is connected to runs out of gold, you can set an overdraft amount with interest rates and it will be up to them to keep track of the remaining gold in their vaults so you won't be held responsible for them getting into debt."

Throughout the explanation, night claws expression had steadily gone from polite, feigned interest to genuine interest and glee. The last points, however, made his face morph into bloodthirsty excitement, all the while he was continuously writing notes in his notebook both, what Kearia told him and his personal ideas on how to improve it. "Well it is certainly worth looking into, if this idea is implemented what is it you want in payment?"

"Nothing much actually. But would it be possible for me to be exempt of the transaction fees? And I would think it best if I leave my investments until I've had a chance to look through my different ledgers."

"Of course, the goblin council should be happy to wave the fees for you. Now if that is all, I think I'll be busy for a while with all that's happened today. Here are the documents your requested earlier" He said handing over the various identity forms before he stood up and bowed, which Kearia mimicked, before opening the door and leading her back to the front door of the lobby. "I will be in contact with your account ledgers and anything else that comes up shortly. May your gold reserves never empty." He said, bowing again
"And may you crush your enemies without mercy" she replied, returning the bow.

As she left Gringotts she was overwhelmed by the noise coming from the everyday hustle of the alley. It was a huge contrast to the calm, quiet bank she just left. She pulled out the list of equipment which accompanied the kidnapping device, ¤cough Hogwarts acceptance letter cough¤, as she pushed and dodged her way through the crowd. After scanning it a couple of times she decided it would probably be best to get her wand first so she could use some of the basic spells her grandparents had taught her to make shopping easier.

While most people, light or dark, got their first wands from Ollivanders as they believed he sold the best in Britain, Kearia wasn't as stupid, she knew his weren't the best. First was the fact that all of Ollivander's wands were pre-made; this meant that 99.9% of the time your wand wasn't fully matched and bonded to you, which made it harder to use it; as it wasn't completely bonded to you, it also allowed other people to use your wand should they pick it up or take it off you.

Another reason against Ollivanders was that he put the magical trace on all of his wands which while encouraged by the ministry, wasn't required by law to do so. That meant if she got one of his wands she would have to apply at the ministry to get it removed. That would announce to everyone in the Wizarding world and their goat, 'Harry Potter the boy-who-lived' was female and had taken up the mantle as the head of the Potter house. While she was intending to let the public know, she wanted to wait until she was at Hogwarts so she could control the fallout. She also didn't want to advertise to everyone that she was exempt from the under-age magical restriction. Fortunately, she knew of another wand maker, located in Knockturn alley, which negated all of the problems you would get with Ollivanders. They even looked better too. Without even realising it, her feet had led her to the required shop while she had been lost in thought. "Lucky," she thought, "I could have walked anywhere or knocked into someone."

"Welcome to Brad's wands," a voice called out as she entered, "how may I serve you today?" she looked around surprised, he knew her so why was he acting like she was new to the shop? As she finally spotted Brad sitting at the counter, focussed on his paper she chuckled. She took a few moments to study him before speaking out as once again he had changed his hair, the only part of him visible; currently it was jet black with red highlights in the shape of a traditional Japanese dragon.

"Hello again, Brad. I like the new hair." Instantly, his face snapped up, showing a tanned, middle aged face before his face lit up in a smile that seemed to melt years off his age.
"Welcome back missy. Finally starting Hogwarts I take it?"
"Yeah now would you finally tell me how you change your hair so much in such a short time?"
"Of course" he chuckled, "but you'll have to tell me your name first." That was a running gag between them ever since their rocky start five years ago when she first wandered into his shop and bugged him endlessly for a wand. He would change his hair style in between her visits, even when they were only minutes apart. She would then ask how he did it, and he would challenge her by asking her name first, but always rejected her ideas of glammer charms or Muggle hair dye.

"Oh if I must," she sighed," but I'll need an oath of silence until the second day of Hogwarts." He did so and satisfied with the accompanying blue flash, leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "Kearia Hailey Potter, the so called 'boy who lived.'" As she leaned back, she giggled upon seeing his dumbstruck face; a face that despite all previous attempts, she never caused him to take. As his eyes turned disbelieving, she slid across her ministry birth certificate for him to study.

"Merlin," he whispered, looking back to her face, "how the bloody hell did Albus mistake you for a boy? The whole Wizarding word is going to be in outrage when this comes out. I can already hear the purebloods and ministry calling for his blood." He soon got over his shock, though he kept a small grin, which Kearia mirrored "now then, you've seen me work enough now to know the drill; hand in potion." As she walked up to a cauldron and stuck her hand in it, Brad had tapped a rune with his wand and one of the walls faded away, revealing huge shelves; each one containing varying quantities of thousands of different types of wood and bone. "Gotta love space manipulation runes. One day you're going to have to teach me how to draw them so I can make adjustments to the place."

"One day," she giggled as she joined him. She lifted the potion covered hand, watching as several materials glowed before two shot out and smacked into her hand, hard enough to sting.

"Black rose and yew, interesting combination." He said naming the two woods; one black, one white respectively. "Promotes both light and dark natured spells. Now dip your hand in the potion again" he took the woods off her, placing them on the counter before tapping a second rune. The room shimmered momentarily and looked exactly the same, apart from the fact the wood and bone had been replaced with core materials. "While Ollivanders limits himself to magical creatures, and so few at that, my core materials include anything magical that acts as a focus, whether the Ministry deem it legal or not." Kearia repeated her actions with the wood and like the wood, multiple materials glowed. This time, unlike with the wood, three materials flew into her outstretched hand, softly this time. The materials were: a vial filled with silver liquid, a small plastic bag filled with a grey powder and lump of some sort of plant.

"Unicorn Blood, willingly gifted excellent for light orientated magic; ash of a Dark Phoenix, perfect for dark orientated magic and finally the heart-root of the rare Dragontoungue vine, the ultimate stabiliser. I must say, judging by your wand materials you'll be neither light nor dark but a perfect balance of both. Grey if you will, it shouldn't take me to long to prepare, why don't you take a seat and ponder my hair changing ability while I make your wand." And with that he disappeared behind a door, as the room containing the core materials shimmered out of existence leaving the wall behind.

Kearia spent the thirty minute wait deliberating on what runes to carve into her wand. As Brad walked back into the room she had finally decided upon an unbreakable charm, a return summoning charm and a low powered lightning hex, a little surprise for anyone unauthorised who decided to touch it; while it wouldn't kill them it certainly would knock them out. So lost in her ideas, she missed Brads several attempts of gaining her attention. Finally he just bonked her on the head, ignoring her mutter complaints as she rubbed her head, and opened up the 4" by 7" box, to reveal her wand resting on a velvet cushion. The wand itself was beautiful, it was 6 1/2", with the handle being twisted perfectly into a spiral with grooves for finger holds. As the spiral of the handle ended, the colour of the two woods extended into a perfect spiral to the tip of the wand in a dizzying pattern of black and white while remaining a smooth cylinder. The world seemed to slow to a crawl as she picked it up, and her breath hitched at the felling of warmth that crawled up her arm, accompanied by the light show of white and black stars that erupted from her wand, swirling around the two of them before merging into a background glow of grey. Mesmerised as she was by the sight of it, she missed Brad chuckle and comment of "definitely grey."

Finally, the light show ended and Kearia reluctantly brought her attention to Brad. "Now then, you owe me an answer."
"He he I guess I do. I'm a Metamorphagus, although I try to limit myself to only do minor changes, such as my hair and eye colour. Anything more than that and it really screws up my balance." At this answer, Kearia smacked her hands to her face before dragging them down. "How on earth did I not think of that? Wait a minute that answer was obvious yet I didn't think of it, I bet the bastard hid it under Fideleus."

Seeing her look of realisation, brad chuckled "figured it out have you? Anyways, it will be forty galleons for the wand and I'll throw in a special wand holster free. It's made from dragon hide, Hungarian Horntail to be exact; it is warded to be disillusioned when your wand is placed in it and is charmed against summoning. It also has a diamond flaked Kevlar wire which attaches to your wand; that way you can't lose it in a fight, and will easily be able to retrieve it if someone disarms you."

Kearia smiled and dug out the required galleons from her moleskin purse before putting her wand holster on, placed her wand in it and walked out, a promise to visit in a few days thrown over her shoulders. After her wand, she thought a trunk was the next most important as it was needed to hold her purchases, and went to the next store to get her desired trunk.

Albus was getting annoyed as he sat in the corner of the leaky cauldron. He had been sat here for five bloody minutes and the little shit had the gall to keep him waiting! Did he not realise who he was? Despite his displeasure, he conveniently ignored the clock on the wall showing the time to be 11:50, ten minutes before the specified meeting time. Finally a hooded figure arrived and sat down, placing a rune stone on the table.

"Notice-me-not ward" the figure spoke, keeping their hood up. "I thought this conversation would be better kept private."
"Harry Potter I assume," Dumbledore said, instantly hiding his aggravation and putting his grandfatherly mask on, "I'm here to take you to Hogwarts as your magical guardian while we get the wards at your aunt's house sorted out. It is the safest place for you there after all."

"You must be mistaken," the figure spoke, their voice distorted sounding neither male, female, old nor young. "I am Miss Potter's representative as she is currently busy attending other business. Also, you appointed yourself as magical guardian illegally, completely ignoring her parents wills, therefore it was not required to tell you when her true magical guardian took over from you, which explains why you think you still have power over her, and no I am not her magical guardian. However, that also means that your unwanted attempt to bring her to the castle was illegal, and is classified as attempted kidnapping." Albus turned white at this,

"You must realise for her safety and the greater good I need to be her magical guardian, and she needs to be disguised as a boy. It is too dangerous for to be known as a girl." He said, eyes twinkling furiously

"For your safety you mean, when she announces her gender, you will be the one the Wizarding world turns it ire to. And to remove her magical guardian, you have to prove they are unsuitable and gain a majority vote from the Wizengamot. Though I don't think it will do you much good since you as the head of the Wizengamot at the time illegally declared yourself her magical guardian, and the members did nothing to stop or even question you I doubt magic will allow you to become her guardian again." Although the person's face was covered, Albus could Clearly sense the amusement on their face. "And for the greater good? Who are you to decide the greater good? Your only achievement was the defeat of Grindalwald, and even that was pathetic as you dilly-dallied so much that thousands died needlessly; that war lasted years too long, years you didn't bother to do anything. Their blood is on your hands Dumbledore."

"That snarky shit, how dare he question me! I must find out who he is so I can show Mr. Potter how dark he is, then maybe the lad will listen me like good little tool he should be." "Well, then, you must busy so I'll leave you to it. I myself have several important matters to attend to." Albus said, getting up and putting his cloak on. "Please tell Mr. Potter I will see him on September 1st."

The figure just sat there, watching as Dumbledore got up and walked away, mumbling about 'becoming Harry's mentor for the greater good'. As he left the wards boundary, the figure sighed before removing the hood to reveal that it was Kearia all along. "This complicates things," she mumbled, pulling out a letter. "If he's this insistent about me being male I dread to think what he'll try at Hogwarts. Better go with plan B." She was surprised when a figure sat down at her table, despite the ward, but relaxed when it turned out to be her account manager.
"Master Nightclaw, it's good to see you again. What do you have for me?"
"Miss Potter." He nodded in greeting, "unfortunately the results of our last meeting have uncovered some irregularities. Fortunately they can be easily and quickly solved."
"What sort of irregularities?" She asked growing concerned.
"Don't worry, like I said it is easily solved but it would be better dealt with in privacy."
"Of course, just let me send of this letter first." With that they both stood up, and after deactivating and pocketing the warding stone, Kearia paid Tom for the use of an owl, and sent of the letter addressed 'Rita Skeeta, The Daily Prophet' before joining Nightclaw on his way out of the bar.

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