Last time..

"Tell him." Lupin wheezed through his giggling. "Tell him what you did."

"Honestly, it wasn't even that bad." Hera rolled her eyes, which just caused Lupin to snort, so she shows Sirius the scar on her left forearm. There are talon marks, deep ones, across her arm now that the wrap had been removed. "Caught Buckbeaks talons with my arm when I pulled Malfoy out of the way, and then hauled back and punched that hippogriff square in the face…erm…beak?…area."

Sirius just blinks at her owlishly as a slow smile spread across his face.

"And then…and then she just…scolds the hippogriff!" Lupin snickered. "Ronald Weasley said the hippogriff looked like a sulking child as it went back to its paddock, and she just stood there, blood dripping down her arm like she had no idea. He had to point it out, and her first thought…her first thought was wondering what Minnie's reaction was gonna be!"

The grin on Sirius' face gets bigger, and suddenly he's horse laughing along with Lupin.

"James would be so proud!" Sirius manages to say. "And also scared out of his mind, like absolutely terrified. Hera's inherited Lily's temper!"

"Even better. I didn't get a chance to tell you this." Lupin reveals animatedly. "I was with her on the train ride to Hogwarts, and the Dementors stop the train. She grabs the Dementor as it makes for her friends, and then fusses at it for scaring her friends!"

"Still don't know why my hand turned blue." Hera muttered, which only made their laughing fit worse.

Chapter 14

Hogsmeade weekend finally rolls around, and Hera feels like she's going to war. Today was the meeting with Malfoy's dad, and she was nervous. Ron wasn't coming with her for this one. Even he knew he couldn't keep his composure around Malfoy, and she needed composure. Hermione was coming, along with Draco. She knew Lupin would be there to keep Sirius in check, and could only hope that would be enough.

Madam Rosmerta ushers them into the meeting room, where she assures them ample food and drink had been prepared. It's a cozy little room, but she can feel the tension in the air due to Lucius' frostiness and Sirius' desire to kill him. Lupin looks more nervous than usual, sitting on Sirius' right side in order to make sure the man can't cast spells easily, but that puts him closer to Lucius. Next to Lucius though is a fair skinned woman with blonde hair slightly peppered with black streaks, who looks at the three men as if she's had enough of their crap, but decides that hiding her annoyance is the better part of valor. Hera has no such compunctions.

"I see we're all behaving so well." She comments snidely, as she walks into the room, and looks to Draco's mother. "I had no idea that you would be here today, or else I would have arrived earlier just to help you cut through all the male testosterone driven hostility going on in here. However have you managed?"

"The same way women have been managing for millennia, I suppose." The woman replied with a cool air, though not an unkind one, with the kind of practiced patience that can only be learned from not killing those who annoyed her over the years. "I'm Narcissa Malfoy, formerly of the House of Black, which is why my husband brought me. Sirius is my cousin. I think he was hoping it would help smooth things."

"Hera Potter." Hera replied with the same manner, and a slight nod. "This is Hermione Granger. She is one of my best friends, and offered to be a source of moral support for me while I deal with all of…this."

"Ah, yes, my Dragon has told me a lot about you." Narcissa mentioned with a soft smile, and Hera looks at Draco and mouthed 'My Dragon?' at him. Draco pinks, which tells her Narcissa is pulling the embarrassing mum card, and it hurts a little to know that she'll never have that. "Brightest Witch of your Age, and first witch in your family? Your parents must be proud, Dear."

"They are." Hermione smiles, giving a slight nod. "It's hard for them for me to be away for such long periods of time, especially given that this is a world they'll never really understand even if they got to experience it, but they are supportive. There aren't many in my position that can really say that."

"If we can get on with the actual business of the day?" Lucius sniffed in disdain, his eyes flitting to Hermione.

"I thought you were supposed to be subtle." Someone commented, and all eyes turned to Hera. Oh. She'd been the someone to say that. Might as well stick the other foot in her mouth too then. "With the amount of times your son has said 'Wait till my Father hears about this' I can imagine your opinion of myself and my friend. Your wife may even share in that opinion, but I wouldn't know, because she has manners."

"Oh, good, it's not just me then." Sirius commented, when it looked like Lucius was about to explode with annoyance. The Malfoys turned to him for clarification. "Should have seen how she ripped me a new one for going after Pettigrew instead of taking care of her like I should have been doing."

"She bears her namesake well." Lupin added with amusement.

Lucius looked stubborn, but resigned. "Very well. Hera Potter, my son has expressed a wish for me to represent your godfather, and clear the man with mind healers, in order to resolve his life debt. This would, if I accepted, transfer it to me. You understand this?"

"Yes. I do." Hera replied formally.

"If I may have the particulars of how my son came to be in your debt, and why you want me to represent this man here, I would appreciate it." Lucius continued, sounding official.

Hera hadn't planned for Draco to actually be here for this part, but there was no other choice. So she plowed ever onward. She showed them the deep gash marks on her arms, scars now, healed as best as Poppy and Professor Snape could make them. She explained her experience with the hippogriff, and had admitted to not paying much attention when Malfoy had started his attempt, only catching his offhanded comment towards the creature; explaining that it was more like talking down to a dog but with a happy voice, because it's not like they're going to know. Hera had only had a split second to react, moving her arm in place as she shoved Malfoy behind her, before hauling off and punching the animal in the face.

"Wait…Draco wasn't exaggerating?" Lucius asked, blinking in shock as he put down his tea. Her face must have expressed some confusion, because he elaborated. "Miss Potter, do you know how hard a hippogriff's beak is? To literally punch one would be akin to running full tilt into Hogwarts at speeds only reachable via racing broom. Your hand should have been…for lack of a better word…mush."

"Well, I won't lie. It did smart a bit afterwards." Hera admitted, still not getting it. More blinking from Lucius. This must just be something adults did, she decided.

Lucius turned to Hermione, and asked. "Is she like this all the time?"

Hermione just cracked a smile. "You get used to it after a while. At the beginning of the year, she actually grabbed the arm of a Dementor to stop it from going after Ron and I."

"It's true. I was there." Lupin confirmed, not even bothering to hide his amusement.

"I see." Was all Lucius said, before soldiering on. Brave man. "You expressed issues with your home life. Please explain. It will help me build a case for Sirius to replace them as your guardian, and then we'll work on getting him replaced as your magical guardian as well, if we can manage to free him first. I understand you have a solid case against Dumbledore for breach of contract and dereliction of duty, though it has been filed with Gringotts and not the Ministry."

Hera looked to Lupin before beginning, because this is what Sirius was likely to lose it over. It began with the Cupboard under the Stairs, how she thought all little girls must have one, how she thought her name was Freak until primary school. She talked about learning to cook at four years old, how it was just better that way because Petunia wasn't good at it anyway. Besides, if she cooked the food, she could make sure she got enough to eat, even if she did have to sneak it when the Dursleys weren't looking. She told them how she'd never gotten clothes of her own, other than underthings, till she went shopping in Diagon Alley; it was how she'd gotten so good at altering clothes, after all.

She told them about the strange things that would happen around her, how she would be locked in the cupboard for days because somehow she'd done something freakish again. She'd not known about the magical world, or that her parents hadn't died in some car crash drugged out of their minds, because there was a strict 'Don't ask questions' policy at the Dursley household. The word magic was a bad word. Getting higher marks than Dudley lead to broken bones and more time out in the cupboard. The only reason she wasn't still sleeping in the cupboard was because the Dursleys had decided it someone might notice, since they were entertaining more now.

The only reason she'd made it to Second Year, was because she'd been rescued by the Weasley twins and Ron. She wasn't allowed to eat with the family, had never received a Christmas or Birthday gift from them till First Year; showed them the coin as she explained that it came with a note asking her to see if she could stay the summer too. She explained the cat flap on the door, and the bars on her windows this last summer. Hermione and Ron had been able to send her food and things, but that was only because she knew how to shrink and expand things with her wand that summer so it wouldn't register with the Ministry as underage magic use. She'd actually had to escape by pouring a large amount of magic out in an effort to try and freeze the bars on her windows.

"That's why I found you on the street that night, when I was Grimm?" Sirius asked, sounding strangled. Hera nodded. "No wonder you were mad at me. I figured Petunia would be unpleasant, but…not this, not…I'm sorry."

The rest of the year was quiet. Hera and Hermione slowly drifted to the point where they were helping each other manage their time, even though they said they wouldn't at the beginning of the year. It kept Hermione from overtaxing herself, by making sure that she took time for herself regardless, and kept her from doing something drastic in Divination, as well as keep Hera distracted from the fact that she had told Draco Malfoy literally everything about her home life. Hera wasn't sure where she'd heard of loom weaving as a form of Divination, but it appealed to Hermione's meticulous nature far better than tea leaves or the crystal ball, so Professor Trelawney let them both take their exams with it. It ended up being a project that took half of the last term. While Hera didn't develop a sudden love of complex math, she did appreciate it more with Hermione's help, and together the two tackled Arithmancy.

Muggle Studies had disappointed them both. While pureblooded children learned how muggles had adapted without magic, the information was sadly out of date for the current times, and the two girls often found themselves helping the teacher answer questions in class. Otherwise, it was just like a history class. Hera was thinking about not continuing it next year, and maybe picking up an art class or something. The portraits of Hogwarts were fascinating that way. Perhaps music?

In the same vein, Hermione wasn't going to be continuing Divination. While she was glad Hera had helped her stick it out, it just wasn't for her. The Gryffindors had managed to win the House Cup for the first time in seven plus years, which was another thing that did not endear her to Professor Snape. Lupin resigned from the DADA position so that he could help Sirius prepare for his trial, the most nonviolent way the curse had ever struck a teacher so far in Hera's school career, though they had all tried valiantly to get him to stay on. All of which was pushed out of her mind once she was back at the Dursleys.

This summer, the Dursleys had taken ignoring her to a whole new level. They hadn't even picked her up from King's Cross this year, not that she'd had any trouble finding her way back. When she got there, she actually had to laugh at what they'd done to her room. They had taken down the door, and completely walled the room up. Uncle Vernon actually looked proud of himself.

Hera just smirked, and headed for the tool shed out back. There was a collapsible ladder in there that she regularly used to keep the gutters cleaned. She used it now to get into her room via the windows, now that the bars were gone. They hadn't sealed those in. Yet. She imagined that would be next year's project, seeing as Vernon's face was turning a shade of red Hera hadn't realized was humanly possible till now.

As much of a prisoner as they tried to make her feel like, she felt an alarming amount of freedom instead. She could go do her homework whenever, go into Diagon Alley for supplies, go to the grocers to buy her own food, and not once was she asked to do a single chore. It was liberating. When Hera realized that Mrs. Norris looked like Mr. Tibbles, one of Mrs. Figgs cats, Hera began asking questions. Finding out that Dumbledore had placed her there to watch over Hera had not endeared the woman to her, but finding out that Dumbledore had pretty much ignored all Mrs. Figgs warnings about the Dursleys had endeared him to neither woman, and the two settled into a fast friendship. Coming back from one such visit, she was not expecting Lucius Malfoy to be standing in front of the Dursleys house staring at the house as if it offended him; it was certainly discombobulating to see someone so thoroughly magical in such a mundane place.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Hera called out in disbelief, causing him to turn slightly to face her. "What are you doing here?"

"You weren't answering my owls, and I have news about your godfather's case." Lucius stated, rather put out until he saw her clueless expression. "You haven't gotten any of my owls, have you? No matter. We can speak now."

"I'd invite you in, but…" Hera trailed off, not sure what to think about Dumbledore tampering with her mail, but wasn't sure she could do anything where he was technically still her magical guardian.

"I don't think my magic would survive the drain. Between the blood wards, and the utter mundane aura of this place, I'd walk out of there with less magic than a squib." Lucius drawled distastefully, looking back at the house. "Honestly, if it hadn't been for the wards, I would have walked by this place without even realizing it was here."

"I live here, and I still have to check the house numbers sometimes just to make sure I haven't passed it up." Hera snorted in amusement. "Come on. There's a park where people play chess nearby. We can go there, and you can tell me the latest."

"You would trust me to walk with you unaccompanied?" Lucius asked, surprised, but followed along side her nonetheless. "Surely your godfather warned you about me."

"He did." Hera confirmed. "But seeing as how he's part of the reason I'm in this mess, and you might be my way of getting out of it, he doesn't have a whole lot of room to talk."

...

"He's not seeing the Mind Healer like he's supposed to, is he?" She concluded, when he was through giving his summation of events. Sirius was finally a free man, but with freedom came the independence and rebellion he'd displayed in his youth.

"No, he is not." Lucius confirmed, watching as her shoulders slumped slightly. "Nor is he taking his potions as he should, though I think that is more due to the fact that he and Severus Snape have a bad history."

"That selfish bloody wanker." She swore under her breath emphatically, before pinning him with a glare. "Where is he?"

"Currently at St. Mungo's." He replied, hiding his amusement. "We can go now, if you like."

"Would you mind waiting for me?" She asked quickly. "I'd like to get my things before we go. I'll not be coming back here till after school lets out again."

"After you then." Lucius allowed, and the two walked back to the oddly mundane house. The girl proceeded to bring out a strange contraption and rest it against the house. When he realized her intention to climb it, he had to ask. "Isn't the front door more prudent?"

"It would be if they hadn't walled up the door to my room." She replied succinctly, and starts climbing. "I've had to runaway from this house every year just to get to school, and this last year they didn't even come to get me from the station. When I got here, I discovered the door sealed off. Last year the windows had bars on them. I could go on, but you get the picture."

Indeed, he did. He wondered if she'd noticed that there was a horse faced woman now glaring at him from the window. When Miss Potter came down the ladder contraption, she didn't even bother putting it away, and angrily gave the house and its occupants the two fingered salute with each hand, before walking off. Ah, so she had noticed. Lucius couldn't help a slight smirk as he nodded to the woman in the window before apparating Miss Potter and himself out. The apoplectic shock on her face had been well worth it.

Sirius didn't have the time to do more than look up before she started.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your arse right now." Hera demands, once the door to the room is closed. "We had an agreement. You do what needs to be done. You get better, get cleared with mind healers, whatever it takes. You can not raise me if you do not make an effort to get better. Refusing to take your potions qualifies as you not making an effort; or did you think you could skip them, and the healers not notice?"

"You didn't say anything about taking potions from Snape." Sirius shot back stubbornly petulant. He'd even crossed his arms.

"I didn't think I'd have to, because you're supposed to be the responsible adult. That means that sometimes you do things you don't want to, because you have someone else depending on you, someone who needs you to bloody be responsible." Hera snapped scathingly. "He's the best Potion's Master this side of the world, to hear Madam Pomfrey tell it. Who else did you think I'd get to make your potions?"

"There's no way he'd be willing to help me." Sirius shot back, on the defensive. "After everything we did to him? No. Snivillus would rather poison me first, and I'll not take anything he makes."

"Snivillus?" Hera asked, narrowing her eyes at him as her voice held a low and dangerous edge to it.

"Old nickname. Pranked the hell out of him. Nothing he didn't deserve, of course. Slimy old git with his ratty clothes and greasy hair, knew more dark curses by the time he entered school than most of the upper years." Sirius rushed through the description with a flippancy she didn't care for. "He was bad news, and Lily eventually realized that. Stopped being friends with him after he called her something he shouldn't have."

Hera felt instantly nauseous, as she knew this was undoubtedly something Professor Snape would not want her to know. No wonder he couldn't stand the sight of her. She reminded him of one of his bullies from childhood. Being reminded almost daily that your own friend had chosen your bullies over you was not a scenario she could envision herself weathering well, no matter how much of an arse she'd been previously. She'd heard enough stories to know that Lily had called James a useless toerag, before the year they fell in love that is, which gave her the hope that at least James had grown up a little, even if Professor Snape and Sirius had not. Lupin had grown up as well, though he seemed to remember things with rose colored glasses; something which came with its own trappings.

"I was bullied in primary school." Hera began, not wanting to look at him now. "Dudley made sure everyone knew not to be friends with me. He and his gang made sure I knew I was a sniveling little freak, especially if I cried. They would push my down the stairs, yank my hair, throw rocks at me, try and rip off my clothes, even pour buckets of yuck on me if they could manage it."

Sirius looked mortified, obviously knowing where this was headed, but not wanting to face it.

"Pretty soon, the whole school got in on it, or at least it felt that way. They certainly ignored what was happening to me, that's for sure. Couldn't be friends with that Potter girl. She's always wearing those raggedy clothes that don't fit right. Her hair is too unkempt. Her family says she's troubled. Can't trust a thing she says. She's bad news." Hera continued, her voice sounding hollow and far away to her own ears. "Dudley and his friends had this game they liked to play called 'Hera Hunting' or 'Find the Freak', where they would find me, chase me down, and then beat me up while yelling about what a drunkard my father must have been, how my mother was a drug addict and a whore, how it was no wonder that they went and got themselves killed in that car accident drunk and drugged out of their minds, trying to numb the stupidity of having a freak like me for a kid. And if I happened to break an arm, or walk with a limp for a week, it was fine-"

"Hera…" Sirius trailed off, his voice filled with pain and regret.

She was glaring hard at him now. "-because I deserved it."