AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited, you make me happy in this otherwise awful weather!

Please, take in account that I only understand the very basics about politics and law and such. I'm sure that the way I wrote this chapter is not the most accurate one concerning this matter and the following chapters will be even more imprecise. Though I will claim here my right of creative license or whatever it's called in English. It's the wizarding world and even in the books their system was not the most ordinary one.

If you have ideas for the story, don't be shy, I don't bite.

DESCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, if I did… Harry would leave the Wizarding World before his 5th year to another country, so the sheep could deal with Voldemort on their own or simply keep on behaving like ostriches with their heads buried on the sand until the Dark Lord felt like taking over them all.

''If you meet a woman of whatever complexion who sails her life with strength and grace and assurance, talk to her! And what you will find is that there has been a suffering, that at some time she has left herself for hanging dead.''

– Sena Jeter Naslund, Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer

Previously:

And thus, it was at the old age of two-hundred and sixty-five that Ignotus had lastly greeted Death like an old friend, having led a full and happy life accomplishing his every goal – be it family, wealth, business – and realising every dream – traveling around the world, creating new potions and spells – and leaving the land of the living with no regrets behind.

CHAPTER 6

When Missy offered to take Florence on a tour around the manor, she politely declined. After all, she already knew the propriety quite well and there was no need to pretend around them, unlike with magical humans.

She was eager to meet with Ignotus again; the man had become her great confident in her world, actually the old portrait had been her only friend after she had found out about Dumbledore and company's treachery and she had been unable to trust people anymore as that revelation had been a very hard one to Florence to swallow.

(Flashback)

At Ignotus' insistence, several weeks after her arrival at Peverell Manor, she read through the folders she had received from Gringotts. The old wizard hadn't mentioned anything out loud at the time, though later he confessed that when the young woman came home the prior day in a state of utter shock and blurted out that Albus Dumbledore apparently wasn't dead, he started to become suspicious of the ex-Headmaster and his miraculous survival.

Florence had been practising lately to see through glamours when doing her occasional errands in Diagon Alley (with her own glamour in place) and had happened to notice an old wizard called Julius Fitzroy, who had become more and more prominent for the last weeks in the Daily Prophet with his sudden appearance in Britain after the war and his political manoeuvres inside the Ministry. She had realised immediately that the man was wearing a facial glamour and she couldn't help but be curious and test her new powers, mentally fighting her way through his magic; the old man's magic was strong but she was able to see through it. What she found let her momentarily frozen in the middle of the street, her mind unable to process who her eyes were really seeing. When she recovered from her shock, she forwent her shopping altogether and immediately apparated back to the manor.

It appeared that Dumbledore had been helping himself to her parents' money for years; in fact, she noticed appalled, the old man had started stealing from the Potter's as soon as they had died that fateful Hallowe'en night. He had transferred periodically 500 Galleons to his own account and had paid 200 Galleons every month since then to the Dursley's, supposedly to help 'take care' of their niece. Then a couple of months before Florence had started at Hogwarts in 1991, there was a rather suspicious transaction to one Molly Weasley of 250 Galleons and some others randomly through the next years with no explanation whatsoever. After that, she found yearly transactions to Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley of 250 Galleons each, and also to Ginny Weasley of 150 Galleons starting the following year.

To say that Florence was shocked was a huge understatement. At first, she felt hurt and betrayed evidently, though that quickly changed to outright fury and rage, her magic violently lashing out blindly at her surroundings. She intended to leave the manor in that exact moment and apparate directly to the Burrow and confront those thieves for their treachery against someone who had always considered them like the family she had never had.

As usual, Ignotus was the voice of reason and succeeded in calm down and convince the heartbroken witch that she could not just charge in the Weasley's home and throw accusations at them out of nowhere. True, she had the evidence of their misdeeds however Florence needed to be careful with her actions in this situation. If in fact Albus Dumbledore was inexplicably alive – Florence wasn't one hundred per cent certain that it was really him, though she was feeling surer by the minute – there could be something even more serious going on. For all the both of them knew, her (ex-) friends and honorary family could be part of some nefarious plan devised by Dumbledore. As Ignotus definitely pointed out, there must be a questionable reason as to why the ex-Leader of the Light had fabricated his own death and posed now as a different person in the Wizarding World.

For the next weeks Florence avoided everyone in the wizarding world by announcing to her friends via letter that she intended to travel for some time (with destination unknown) as she needed a while to be alone after the war. She had received a displeased letter in answer written by Molly Weasley, with a hidden – and inoffensive, after a swift Finite Encantatem – tracking charm for good measure, stating that she shouldn't go where no one of them could reach her quickly. Mind you, she didn't put it that way of course. The woman who Florence had previously thought of as a mother could be as cunning as the best Slytherin when she wanted to and it was only now that the young witch's eyes had been opened that she could really see their fabricated concern for her well-being for what it truly was. Incensed, Florence didn't deign responding to the impertinent letter and decided that should they ask her later about it, she would merely say that she hadn't received any letter; after all, it was possible that the mail could be lost or intercepted and there was no way of proving whether that was true or not as the tracking charm had been disabled.

Let them stew in frustration for a long while, she had thought spitefully.

After that rather enlightening day, Florence paid more attention to the old man's political actions. At first, it seemed that Julius Fitzroy was your average light wizard – claiming that blood status didn't matter and with pro-muggle views – however as the time passed and he became surer of his standing he had started to bring some extreme ideas concerning Muggles and Magical Creatures.

Florence remembered quite well the morning when (about three weeks after her shocking discovery) she had read the front page's headline in the Daily Prophet announcing the approval of the new regulations and restrictions for werewolves and vampires, and wondering rather dismayed what the war against Voldemort had been about if this was the result. Hadn't the Light Side fought for equality among magical humans and creatures alike? The muggle-like view of their world had slowly but steadily grown and people (or sheep as Florence started to call them in her mind) were becoming more intolerant of anyone who was different; human or creature didn't matter.

To her horror, she found out that the utterly nasty Dolores Umbridge was always beside the concealed Dumbledore on the front of these political actions. She would like very much to know how she had escaped being sent to Azkaban for her actions during Voldemort's short reign, with her 'Muggle-Born Registration Commission' where she had prosecuted many innocent people. Certainly, the cruel woman had to pay several people quite handsomely to keep her freedom intact. And that was another fact that Florence was very discontent about; the corruption in the Ministry continued alive and well. Right after Voldemort's defeat, it had appeared that the Ministry would change for the better. Kingsley Shacklebolt had been appointed Minister and Florence had trusted that he would do his better to take their world into the right path. Alas, that belief hadn't last long.

Shortly thereafter, the pro-muggles laws were instated as well. The few traditions that the Ministry hadn't previously banned were at this point in time considered Dark and anyone found practising them would be automatically sent to Azkaban with a minimum sentence of 2 years. The muggle mentally was becoming rather intense and each and every magical concept that could upset the Muggle-Born and/or their families was to be immediately dismissed and replaced by their Muggle counterparts if there was one. For example, the practise or even the mere mention in public of the Magical Traditional Festivities such as Yule, Samhain and the like, were completely prohibited. Even the school and other public-selling books were amended to this new way of thinking and not even in the history section one could find mention of them after the Ministry had their way.

Obviously, not everyone was happy with the current state of affairs. The Pureblood families had been understandably outraged by this, though after the prompt incarceration in Azkaban of one Lord Silvius Greengrass due to his loud and angry protests against the Ministry's actions, everyone with a minimum of intellect kept their opinions to themselves.

Seeing these appalling happenings, Florence also had become more and more outraged with the prejudiced Ministry and decided that she actually should travel somewhere and take some time to be alone and far from all those bigoted sheep before she could do or say something that she would surely regret. She was aware that if she honestly and openly stated her opinion on the matter, she would be following Lord Greengrass swiftly into Azkaban.

If she hadn't been so interested in the news and political events lately she wouldn't have noticed the slow but evident change in the way that her image was being portrayed to the masses. Not even a few weeks prior, most of the Wizarding World had been singing praises and declaring their unending gratitude to their Saviour; however now, there were several rumours about her whereabouts and possible reasoning behind them. Some would say that she was hiding somewhere because she was planning and gathering allies to take over the Ministry; others declared that she was practising forbidden magic and turning Dark, as she had become addicted to it due to her defeat of Lord Voldemort. Florence was convinced that these rumours had been instigated by Dumbledore and his lackeys, because only the Weasley's and Granger knew that she supposedly was not in the country at the moment. If that had been indeed the case and the Girl-Who-Lived was not in Great-Britain, she would have been taken quite off-guard when she returned and was faced with the fickle sheep's new opinion of her.

Ignotus supported her decision to get away for some time, adding cryptically that she should visit other countries to learn how other cultures and traditions were like and see what was severely lacking in Britain. She had a suspicion that his only friend was hinting at something more, though she didn't know exactly what. He made himself scarce after, abandoning his portrait for the rest of the day and leaving Florence with several unanswered questions.

''Welcome back, child,'' the cheerful voice of his only friend suddenly brought Florence back out of her memories.

Surprised, she turned sharply to her left – at the same time feeling a sense of dejà-vu – and smiled genuinely and brightly and for the first her features were bared of any mask or restrain. She hadn't expected the possibility of the wizard remembering her; it was a different time and dimension after all.

''Ignotus!'', she cried happily, quickly approaching the portrait.

The wizard stared at her for a few heartbeats, as if searching for something, though he remained his jovial self. Then he nodded to himself as if satisfied with what he found and positively beamed at her.

''Firstly, how was the travel? Did you have any trouble passing through?'', he asked curious, as Missy popped in with a tray laid with tea and a plate with small sandwiches.

Florence took a seat in front of the table where her snack had been left by the house-elf and prepared herself a cup of the hot beverage, before taking a comforting sip. Only then she sated the curiosity of his friend.

''Everything went very well. The ritual worked flawlessly and Harry was easy to convince at giving me a chance. I already went to Gringotts and Amelia Bones is already on Harry Potter's death case,'' she explained before eating a sandwich. Merlin, she was ravenous! ''The article announcing the news will most definitely come out tomorrow morning and the funeral will be surely the day after.''

Ignotus heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. After getting to know him better, Florence had learned that he was a worrywart, even if his usual cheery disposition didn't give that idea. She simply smiled at him again, happy to have someone – even if he was a painting – that truly worried about her and never demanded anything back for it.

''Ignotus, how is that you remember me?'', she wanted to know rather curious herself, after another sip of her hot and delicious brew.

''Being the Master of Death has many perks, my dear,'' he said with a smirk. ''Even if you are the current Mistress, I was still in possession of the Hallows when my portrait was created. As you already know, a magical portrait, if painted with the subject's permission, usually absorbs part of their magic. Thus, inside this painting I still have the power necessary to send my memories to my counterpart's portrait on another dimension with a little ritual.''

The young witch was quite surprised with this new bit of information as she was not aware that what her friend had done was at all possible. Even after all these years as the Death Mistress, she knew that there was always something more to be learned about magic and her immortal status.

Florence passed the rest of the morning telling the whole tale of her journey to Ignotus as she took this opportunity to rest comfortably on her armchair. She was still feeling tired but she just drank some more tea and pushed the need to sleep to the back of her mind.