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※ La Vida Loca ※
※ Ch. 01: Awake and Alive ※
Hermione Granger immediately threw the covers off of her bed when her closest friend began screaming her way through yet another of the horrific nightmares that seemed to act as doorways into the Dark Lord Voldemort's mind. The frequency with which these nightmares occurred had gotten to the point where she was the only one willing to share a dorm room with Amara Potter.
Hermione had only taken two steps when a huge blast of magical energy radiated out from Amara's bed, simultaneously knocking the brunette girl off her feet and shattering the room's windows, letting in the cold chill of winter. This prompted Hermione to say something she would never say under any other circumstances, "What the ruddy hell?!"
She hesitated for a few seconds before approaching Amara and placing two fingers against her throat to check for a pulse. She quickly found what she was looking for, and left the room so that she could fetch the Head of House Gryffindor and School Matron, since she refused to allow her friend to continue ignoring the problem she was dealing with after what just happened.
※※※※※
Amara Potter had only just opened her eyes after waking up on the morning after what was quite possibly the worst vision her connection to Voldemort had ever shown her, when she was forced to close them due to just how bright her current surroundings were.
"You gave us quite a fright last night, dear girl." admitted the grandfatherly voice of the Hogwarts Headmaster.
"How is he?" Amara queried in a distressed tone of voice.
"I'm sorry, but who is it you are asking about?" Headmaster Dumbledore inquired in a bemused tone of voice.
Amara's eyes once again snapped open, only this time they were glowing with an internal radiance that rivaled the sun at high noon. "You are such a careless twat!"
"I will not be spoken to in such a…"
"Arthur Weasley was attacked by Voldemort's familiar last night!" Amara exclaimed, only for her eyes to widen in shock when she heard a familiar sounding girl begin sobbing uncontrollably while three young men making noises of protestation.
Amara immediately pulled herself out of the bed, not even caring that she was still dressed in her night clothes, and pulled the privacy screen back as she went out to comfort her friends, only to stop when Ron Weasley roared out, "How could you just sit there and let it happen?!"
"Oi, Ron…" one of the twins started to say, not for one instant believing that Amara had any control over when she woke up from the magical exhaustion that Madame Pomfrey had diagnosed her with shortly after midnight.
"I did…" that was as far as Amara was able to get before Ginny Weasley stood up and stomped her way out of the room with Ron following closely on her heels.
"For what it's worth…" one of the twins started.
"We don't blame you." the other completed.
"You'd best go after them, guys." Amara replied with a soft smile for the two Weasley's who she could still count on as surrogate brothers.
She then rounded on Dumbledore and said, "I regret to inform you that I am withdrawing from Hogwarts, effective immediately."
"As your magical guardian…" Dumbledore started to say, only to have his words cut off.
"Nothing you can say or do will stop me from leaving."
"There is a prophecy." Dumbledore admitted with a forlorn expression.
"I suppose that explains why Tom is so interested in the Department of Mysteries." Amara quickly deduced. "What could this prophecy possibly say which would alter my decision?"
Dumbledore frowned and said, "I will not share that with you until you can successfully defend your mind."
"Have it your way," Amara said as she slashed a hand through the air, creating a large shimmering hole in the fabric of reality.
"Wh-what is that magic?" Dumbledore queried in a dumbfounded tone of voice. He had never encountered anything quite like what he was currently looking at.
"Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time," Amara snarked seconds before seconds through the aperture, while simultaneously causing it to collapse in on itself before the old man had time to react to her departure. One advantage to her chosen form of teleportation, was that it was so old that only a similarly ancient tracking spell could follow it, and there was only one other Sorcerer in the entire world with access to such spells at the current point in time.
※※※※※
Amara had only just arrived in one of the bedrooms of 12 Grimmauld Place when she noticed the sounds of spellfire coming from several floors below her. This caused her to slam open the door to that bedroom as she began running on the air itself so as to avoid tripping on any of the crap cluttering the hallway floors.
It only took her a minute to reach the kitchen, and what she found was quite surprising to her. The eldest Weasley brother was laying on the ground a few feet to the left of the antique stove, with most of his visible skin being covered in rather nasty looking burns. This was likely caused by the furious Veela standing a few feet away from him.
Standing a few feet behind and to the left of the Veela, she discovered Charlie Weasley and Remus Lupin, neither one of whom looked particularly happy with what just occurred.
Amara's attention was then grabbed by Molly Weasley, who immediately yelled out the words, "How dare you show your face…"
Amara tilted her head to the side, noticed her godfather's unconscious body and said, "As acting Head of the House of Black I call the manor's wards to arms. Enemies of the Blood, you have two minutes to leave, use them wisely."
"I will not be intimidating by…"
"Mum, you need to leave now!" Charlie spoke up. He may not know much about wards, but he knew enough about the House of Black to know that theirs would definitely be lethal. As such, he had already made his way over to his brother and tapped his wand against the man's emergency portkey, activating it and sending him to the cottage he had been planning on surprising Fleur with before today's debacle ruined that chance for him.
"I refuse!" Molly exclaimed, only for Moony to flick his wand in her direction, silently stunning her. He then sighed and said, "Get her out of here, Charlie."
Charlie wasted no time in activating his mother's emergency portkey, this one designed to take her back to the Burrow, and then said, "Mum has gotten it into her head that you are somehow responsible for Dad's demise down in the bowels of the Ministry last night."
"Dumbledore asked your father to guard the doors leading into the Department of Mysteries without offering him any backup." Amara admitted.
"Well that figures," Charlie admitted. He then bowed formally and said, "I'll take my leave."
"You and the twins are welcome to visit at any time; although we may be relocating to another residence in the near future."
Charlie nodded his understanding and then began ascending the steps that led into the entrance hall. Once the door closed, Amara turned to look at the remaining occupants of the room, and blinked in surprise when she saw whose face was hiding behind the Veela's avian visage up until now. "I thought you hated England, Fleur?"
"Non. I 'ate Scotland!" Fleur admitted with a laugh. "It's good to see you, I'amie, I just wish it were under better circumstances."
"Agreed." Amara said, while looking down at her godfather's unconscious form and asking, "Please tell me whoever got Padfoot was playing by Dumbledore's rules?"
"Stunning spell to the chest, yes."
"I see, then leave him as is for the moment. I need to do some political maneuvering that Padfoot may not approve of if he's conscious, and since I have control of the wards right now, there's no better time than the present." Amara admitted. She then walked over to the stairs leading into the entrance hall and said, "You might want to cover your ears, Moony, my first act is going to involve a lot of yelling."
Lupin smirked and did as his honorary niece advised, while Fleur followed after the younger girl, curious to see who else was in the house right now.
※※※※※
Amara walked up the stairs turned to face the veiled portrait of the late Walburga Black. She hesitated for only a second, before kneeling down to inspect the baseboard for a second, then glancing up at where the center of the portrait was located before smirking viciously.
"Amara what…"
That was as far as Fleur got before the veil surrounding the portrait flew to the sides and revealed the furious visage of the former Matriarch Black, who promptly screamed out the words, "Filth! Blood Traitors! Scum…"
By this time Amara had pulled herself back onto her feet and promptly slammed a fist into the portion of the portrait which corresponded with Walburga Black's mouth, destroying both the painting and a significant section of the wall behind it.
"Mistress!" the demented elf known as Kreacher cried out as he materialized just in time to watch Amara's fist connecting with the girl's target. "Kreacher knows just what to do with vicious half-bloodsies…"
Kreacher's threat cut off abruptly as his body locked up and he fell to the ground in a Full-Body Bind hex. Amara turned to face the creature with one hand on her hip, while the other held onto the frame of the dispossessed portrait. "I think you've earned an early retirement with that stunt, Kreacher."
"Amara, 'e's not your elf so giving 'im clothes would be pointless." Fleur protested.
"I never said anything about clothes," Amara admitted as she conjured a small headsman's axe.
"Please tell me you're not about to do what it looks like you're about to do, Amara…"
Amara ignored Fleur while waving her hand at the elf and saying, "If you have any final words, this is your one chance to say them."
"Kreacher is a bad, bad elf and does not deserve the grand honor as yous be wanting to give him." the elf lamented with tears flowing from his eyes.
"He wants to die?" Fleur queried in a confused tone of voice. "Why would anyone want to die?"
"Kreacher, what makes you a bad elf?"
"Master Reggie ordered Kreacher to destroy Voldie's locket. Kreacher has failed."
Fleur frowned as she tried to wrap her head around the concept of a locket which could withstand the remarkably powerful magic of a House Elf, only to blink in surprise when Amara said, "I'm going to release you, Kreacher. You will then bring me this locket, and I will destroy it."
"Then Kreacher can die happy." the elf remarked.
"Not by my hand," Amara remarked as she vanished the axe, and snickered at the crestfallen expression the elf was now giving her. Waving her hand, she released the body bind and said, "Collect the locket and meet us in the kitchen."
"You were never going to…" Fleur started to say, only to have a loud voice speak over her the instant they stepped into the kitchen.
"Oi! You're supposed to be in school, pup!"
"Moony, I thought I told you to leave him be?" Amara queried as she walked over to the stove and pulled the door open so she could look inside of it.
"He woke up the instant Walburga began shouting at you," Remus admitted.
"Oi! Stop ignoring me!" Sirius Black complained while pouting at his goddaughter.
"I dropped out of Hogwarts earlier today in order to fulfill my obligations as the Head of House Potter and the Acting Head of House Black." Amara remarked as she held a hand out expectantly.
"What do you mean, 'Acting Head'?" Sirius asked in honest confusion. As far as he knew, the only titles she could claim were those associated with the House of Potter. He then blinked in surprise when Kreacher materialized next to her and dropped a gold object into Amara's waiting hand.
"Thank you, Kreacher." Amara said while inclining her head slightly in the elf's direction. She then tossed the small object into the stove and jabbed a finger into the opening while breathing out the word "Azreth."
"Holy hell!" Sirius exclaimed in shock as a gout of sentient fire burst into life within his ancestral home and tore its way into the confined space that was his kitchen stove. He was too far away and too slow to stop her from casting what was arguably the single most destructive dark spell in existence.
Thus he was forced to watch with open horror as the fire began turning back towards her, even as she slammed the door to his stove shut and yelled out the words, "Initiate aggressive fire suppression!"
As soon as she said those words, Sirius realized that she had taken control of the wards, which meant that Dumbledore's Fidelius charm may not be active anymore. A loud whining noise had also begun filling the kitchen as soon she finished speaking those words, as the wards worked to combat the demonic fire.
Amara however, promptly turned around and began walking up the steps and back into the entrance hall, perfectly content to let the Black family's ridiculously powerful wards deal with a type of fire that she could have easily quenched all on her own.
※※※※※
It only took Amara five minutes of looking before she found the Head of House offices, at which point she took a seat in the dominant chair and called out, "Dobby!"
"The great Amara Potter ma'am be calling for Dobby?!" exclaimed her over excitable friend as he materialized within the room and began hopping from one foot to the other.
"Yes. Would you please locate Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, and then bring them before me. You do not need to be gentle with either of them, but I do need this to be done in as discrete a manner as possible." Amara asked in as gentle a tone of voice as she could.
"You's not be giving Dobby back to bad masters?" her friend inquired while giving her a slightly horrified expression.
"I will officially make you the Majordomo of House Potter if you succeed in this task."
"Dobby be right back!" the elf exclaimed as he popped away.
While she waited, Amara looked down at the paperwork which had been left behind by Sirius's late father, the previous Head of House Black, and quickly discovered one particular document which Sirius probably didn't know about just yet. One which would have been quite awkward for one of her yearmates at Hogwarts if Sirius had ever been able to claim his freedom.
She glanced down at the signatures on the document, and quickly scowled when she realized this particular document was drafted by Cygnus Black in his capacity as the Regent for House Black. That meant that this wasn't written with her godfather in mind, but rather the young man who she would soon be confronting.
A loud pop of displaced air heralded the arrival of one of her two guests, who promptly growled out the words, "I don't know who you think yo-you… oh hell."
Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) was many things, but she was not oblivious. She knew perfectly well who held all the cards in this particular situation, especially if the young Lady Potter was looking at the document she suspected was left on that desk for all these years.
A second pop of displaced air sounded just to Narcissa's left and the new arrival immediately roared out the words, "You just abducted the scion of…"
"I know perfectly well who you are, Draco." Amara stated as she finally acknowledged the other two occupants of the office.
"Why am I here?" Draco demanded. "For that matter, where is here?"
"Right now, you are both political hostages. Depending on how you answer my questions and whether you have unblemished arms or not, I may upgrade your status to honored guests."
Draco glanced to his side, and winced when he realized his mother was sitting in the seat next to the one he was clearly expected to sit within. "You've kidnapped us…"
"I will not stop you from walking out the front door, Draco. However, this estate is in muggle London, and the Leaky Cauldron is over three miles away by foot." Amara retorted. "I'd also advise you both to keep your wands stowed at all times while you are within this domicile."
"We are at your service, Heiress Black." Narcissa stated, effectively cutting Draco off from any further protest as he slumped into the chair he had been assigned. He was smart enough not to contradict anything his mother said for fear of what she might do to him.
Amara turned her attention towards the woman and asked, "When did you first realize I would one day inherit the title of Lady Black?"
"During the reading of my father's Last Will and Testament. He left everything he owned to Draco, which wound up being a vacation home in France, a Gringotts vault which contained just over 11,000 Galleons, and lots of clothing that won't really be of any use to Draco given the current fashion trends and their comparative ages."
Nodding in understanding, Amara turned her focus onto Draco and studied his face for a moment before asking, "Do you still believe that muggle-borns shouldn't be allowed to attend Hogwarts, Draco?"
The boy hesitated before glancing at his mother for some sort of indication as to what caused this question or how he should respond to it. Unfortunately, his mother was currently inspecting her finger nails, indicating that she had no desire to help him claw his way out of the hole his father had helped him dig. He quickly refocused his attention onto the girl who was dominating this meeting and then said, "I don't recall ever saying something like that in your presence, Heiress Black."
Amara frowned for a moment, before saying, "Oh that's right! You were regurgitating things your father had said during our initial encounter. In that case, I'll assume it was your father who instructed you to offer me your friendship, since I don't think your mother would have made such a request after what she admitted a few moments ago."
"I… wait, initial encounter?" Draco queried while furrowing his brow together in an attempt to remember where he might have seen someone with Amara's distinctive purple hair prior to the Hogwarts Express in their first year.
"Don't hurt yourself, Draco." Amara remarked in an amused tone of voice as she caused her hair to shift through a multitude of colors, before returning back to the purple color she preferred to wear while in the wizarding world.
Narcissa blinked and then began laughing at what she had just seen. "I see you inherited that particular family trait."
"My metamorphic abilities are pale imitations to those possessed by Nymphadora Tonks."
"Nymphadora?" Draco laughed out. "Who would name…"
Suddenly the door to the office was thrown open by an irate looking metamorph with a drawn wand that she immediately flicked in Amara's direction, releasing a flash of red light. Red light which flew through the air at an astounding speed, only to stop moving before it ever reached Amara.
Draco frowned and said, "I've never heard of any wards which can do whatever it is we are seeing here."
"That's because whatever this is, it isn't the wards." Narcissa admitted, while glancing over her shoulder to see who just cast that spell and blinked in surprise when she realized it was her sister's only daughter and that she was also frozen in time.
"It seems I overlooked a small but easily exploited problem in the wards, which means that relocating is now a priority." Amara admitted while releasing the bolt of energy from whatever stasis effect it had been under, which somehow caused the thing to dissipate without any harmful effects. She then stood up and walked over to the shielded window and pulled aside the blinds, "Mad-Eye Moody, Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Severus Snape are all standing in the abandoned park outside this manor, which means leaving by the front door is not something I would suggest for either one of you."
"That also tells us how my dear niece knew to look for you in this room instead of any of the others." Narcissa acknowledged. "How long will she be frozen like this?"
"A few minutes at most." Amara admitted. She then smirked at the other two and exclaimed, "Dobby!"
"Mistress be calling for Dobby?" the small creature inquired after appearing in the room and bobbing from one foot to the other.
"Please pop us over to the kitchen so we don't disturb our uninvited house guest."
Narcissa opened her mouth to say something, but was unable to articulate that thought before Dobby snapped his fingers three times.
※※※※※
"What the hell are they doing here?!" Sirius black roared out seconds after the unlikely trio arrived within the kitchen.
Amara was the only one in that trio who landed on her feet, and immediately walked over to Fleur and pulled her into a hug, causing the woman to stiffen in shock at what olfactory senses were now being exposed to. "I thank you for protecting me from your proper mate, but it was unnecessary. Now go home."
Fleur sighed wistfully as she admitted to her fear, "I don't think he'll agree to bond with me now."
"There will always be a place for you in Aeaea, Fleur." Amara remarked as she waved a hand towards the Floo and said, "I just keyed you into the floo."
"Thank you, Basilinna mou."
Amara tilted her head to the side and asked, "You know how to speak Greek?"
"Only a little bit, and most of it relates to the honorific I just used for you." Fleur acknowledged. She then walked over to the Floo and grabbed a handful of green powder before throwing it into the embers and calling out the words, "The Rookery" and stepping through the temporary wormhole she had just created.
"Why do you keep ignoring me, pup?" Sirius complained.
Amara slashed a hand through the air, creating the same shimmering portal she had used to escape from Hogwarts earlier in the day. "This portal leads to a tropical paradise that is home to ten nymphs, and only one of them even bothers to wear clothing."
Sirius stared at the portal for a second, before a huge and very goofy grin appeared on his face as he quickly morphed into his canine form and ran through the portal at his maximum speed. Narcissa frowned at the portal and said, "I don't know I feel about traveling to this particular island."
"It's better than the alternative," Draco said as he walked up to the portal, stuck a hand in it, and then pulled it back to stare at it in mild confusion. "Okay, what exactly did that just do to my hand?"
"You're better off not knowing," Amara admitted with a snicker.
"Amara, is that a Stargate?" Remus inquired with a confused tone of voice as he stared at what seemed to be a freestanding puddle of water.
"What the hell?!" a loud voice exclaimed from another room.
"Time's up, step through lady and gentlemen." Amara said while gesturing towards the gate and turning to face the stairs. Draco immediately dove through what looked like a pool of upright water while holding his breath, while Remus extended an arm to Narcissa, who sighed and grabbed hold as he led the woman through the portal at a much more sedate speed.
"Stupefy!" a loud voice exclaimed just as Narcissa passed into the gate, causing her to stumble and fall on the other side as her escort fell onto the ground beside her, having clearly been the target of that particular stunning charm.
"Mum, what's…" Draco started to say, only to roar out, "No! She just… I can't believe that…"
Narcissa scowled at her son's reaction, knowing it meant that Amara had just sealed the portal and trapped herself within the least defensible location in that entire home.
※ Chapter Concluded ※
Author's Note: Amara basically told you who she actually is when she revealed the name of her tropical island.