The path not taken

Lily could not help the slight smirk that spread across her face while they sat in their guest room. The children had been allowed to stay with their parents due to the subject matter being connected to them. It was thought that they would have much to discuss about the goings on within the viewing.

Harry was growing more and more confused and annoyed. The fact that the story was about him, as a female was not helped by the fact that his sister was teasing him when she saw the opportunity.

James was annoyed by what he saw as a lack of etiquette from the goddesses. This was more of an instinctual reaction. He had accepted that they were from another culture mentally. Unconsciously however, despite rebelling from it in his teen years, was irked by what he saw as a lack of propriety. It was something that lily found amusing to no end.

Lily however was amused that despite the fact that Chloe was a different person. The girl still kept personality quirks from both her and James. Even some that she hid like her addiction to coffee. She had a stash in the house so that she could make sure that she was well supplied. The fact that she was similar to Chloe in the story when she did not have it amused the woman. James on the other hand had flinched at the idea of a super powered woman without her morning coffee.

Sirius and lupin had laughed themselves to the floor only to be cursed by their friend. They did not have to live with such a time bomb, he did.

Thus it was that they had all gathered in the hall again. To the shock of some Chloe had decided to sit with the potters. What they did not know was that it was at Verts prompting as she wanted her sister to get over her past and facing it was probably the best way for her to do it. The fact that she was close by and could intervene if needed was the final push for the girl.

Chapter 17: Winter break 1.

The next day saw a very tired Chloe stumble into the dining room, alone. She hadn't slept a wink the night before, and it showed in her appearance.

Her skin was paler than normal, and had deep bags under her eyes, while her clothes were rumpled and looked like they hadn't been changed.

She would never walk outside the basilicom looking like this, and normally wouldn't be seen looking like this even in the goddesses privet quarters, but today she didn't care. The combination of being reminded of her time as Harry Potter, combined with the flower and note left her unable to even try to sleep. She really didn't know how to handle someone trying to court her.

Well someone trying to do so because they are interested in her as a person, rather than her position like the two Hogwarts boys.

This caused a small ripple of laughter to ring through out the hall. Some of the professors could not help the small smiles that were pulling at their lips. Lucius could not help the sigh that escaped him, his wife throwing an amused glance at him. She knew that he was an adept politician and had been teaching their son so that he could take over as the head of house. The issue which she saw and her husband did not was that Draco was still a child and did not fully grasp the need to adapt to the situation. It was something that came with time and experience hence why her husband got frustrated.

She knew how to deal with the latter situation.

With a sigh, she ordered breakfast and the largest mug of her coffee that they had.

The mug was of a size that it took two pots to fill, and considering the caffeine content of her coffee, it had enough to kill most of her dorm.

This got a few covert glances thrown at lily potter. Those that did though instantly regretted it as they saw what could only be described as a dangerously happy smile.

With luck, it would be enough to keep her up until bedtime.

After her breakfast, and a good quarter of her mug, she felt well enough to get ready for the day, and so she went back to her room to shower, and change.

She then moved to the main basilicom area, and sat at the receptionist's desk, the receptionist had called in sick, and it was a good place for her to work on her paperwork, and allow her to keep an eye on the basilicom. Paperwork that had been piling up while she was at her school and had been unable to keep up with while at the same time doing her homework, and classes.

She had three hundred different documents to read, some of which were forwarded to her by her sister since she was going to be out of their nation, and nearly a thousand E-mails.

While she was working, a young woman in red robes and with a pink hair colour came up to the desk. A woman who had been finally cleared to be sent in as a Representative of Magical Briton.

Every one turned to look at the only person who matched said description in the hall. Said person just so happened to have her jaw almost on the floor.

Chloe, who was just about finished with her current document, which detailed the agreement that all of her blitz-ball income was to be funnelled to the largest orphanage in the nation, said, "hold on a few minutes, I'm nearly done with this."

True to her word, three minutes later Chloe had electronically signed the document and turned to the newcomer. "May I help you?"

"Er yes, I'm here to meet with the, er goddess. I'm supposed to be the new representative from Magical Briton," the young woman said nervously.

"I'm afraid my sister is out right now, but I can help you get settled in," Chloe responded warmly.

"Er sister?"

"I'm the Leanbox goddess candidate. My sister, the goddess Green Heart, is currently at a conference, and won't be expected back for nearly a week, but in the meantime, I can set you up in a guest room, and set up your expense account," the candidate replied while closing her laptop and standing up.

A loud snicker broke out from a certain lord black. This resulted in a stinging hex being launched at the man from said auror. It was only the fact that it was known that the two were related that stopped anyone from reacting to the 'attack'.

Then the Trainee Auror saw something that had her drawing her wand and pointing it at a man and screaming "Stupefy!"

Her spell splashed harmlessly against the ceiling as Chloe roughly redirected the wand arm at the last moment. The shorter girl, while easily holding off the larger woman hissed, "What do you think you're doing?"

"That man is..." the trainee started.

"Wrongly accused. He had been questioned and granted asylum in Leanbox. Now put away your wand, or else," Chloe said slightly tightening her grip and causing the older woman to wince.

Tonks blushed in embarrassment which was quite the feat for a meta-morph considering the control over their features that they have. It was only made more apparent due to her hairs rapidly changing hair colour and style.

The woman looked at the apparently fourteen-year-old girl, who let her arm go after the warning squeeze, and put her wand away reluctantly.

She also remembered she didn't actually have any authority in Gameindustry beyond her ambassador status, and the one stopping her is apparently considered to be the person with the second greatest authority in the nation.

So she simply settled for glaring at Sirius Black, unbelieving that he was innocent.

The man in question, while wanting to reconnect with his favourite cousin's daughter, decided to approach her later, with Chloe, Chika, or Vert if they have time, to act as an intermediary.

"Now, since that's settled," Chloe said a bit coldly, "Let's get you settled in. Follow me."

The Auror nearly stumbled at the cold tone of voice, so different than the previous warm reaction, and realized that she had already screwed up.

The young auror shrunk in upon herself when she saw her boss throw her a sideways glance. She could only hope that things got better or she might be in some serious trouble.

The Auror trainee was taken to the same room that the previous representative had used, and that had been cleaned to the point that there was no indication that someone else had lived there.

"This is your room, and here are some booklets we created for your predecessor. Please read them. We don't want to go through another representative because they broke some of our rules. The books contain both laws that we won't ignore due to you being from a different culture, as well as instructions on how to access your expense account. Both I, as long as I'm not in a meeting, or other important duty, as well as the servants can help if you have problems," Chloe said while handing the young woman the books.

"Wait," the woman said, as the candidate started to move away. "I'm sorry for back there, my training took over as I was trained in law enforcement, and he is a wanted criminal where I came from. Can we start over? My name is Tonks."

Chloe sighed and replied, "I'm sorry, I didn't sleep last night. Yes, we can. I am Leanbox Goddess Candidate Chloe, please call me Chloe, or when I'm in my... other form, Green Sister. My sister might require a bit more formality in public since she's the goddess... but usually not."

The room let out a collective sigh of relief that they did not even know that they had been holding. This time things seemed to be going better than before. Hopefully the woman will take the advice and not cause another incident.

Tonks took a deep breath, not only did she not have to say her first name, but she managed to undo her lousy first impression.

She did have to report the fact that Sirius Black was here though, and that he was questioned and found to be innocent, but that was for later, for now, she had to study the books she was given.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

The next day saw her leaving the basilicom to check out the shopping centre, as she had a little under a week to go before the goddess came back to settle in and get used to her new home, at least for as long as the assignment lasts. She was surprised to see on her way out Chloe and Cyberconnect2 heading out as well. She would've thought that the candidate would be staying in the basilicom to take care of business.

She shrugged herself out of her thoughts and decided to go shopping with that rather generous stipend.

Those from gameindustri could not help but chuckle. While yes they do have a lot of work. Due to the technology that they have available to them what would have taken weeks to get done before now only took hours. Even then a lot of it was just checking over and signing documents that requires the authority of the CPU. It was one of the reasons that each of the goddesses could get away with their hobbies and still finish their work. Noire was the only one who checked it all by hand and that was mostly due to her having OCD. Not that anyone would admit such a thing, especially to her face.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Chloe and CC meanwhile were hopping onto a transport. They were going to a small town that was reporting an unusual amount of monster activity. On the way, she was setting up for the idea that the headmaster mentioned.

As all the current reports stated the place was calm at present.

That a small group of students, and a guardian for each child, be allowed to visit Gameindustry for a while.

Chloe was thinking that, minus the day they arrive, and the day they leave, that it would be best to plan for nine days. One day is their yearly fundraiser, and the other days spaced evenly between the four nations.

She did not want to deal with, or have her sister deal with, the complaints of the other three primary nations that they were left out of the tours, of course, if one didn't want to be involved, the group would be welcome to stay in Leanbox for those days, but so far the responses from the other nations were positive, and the candidates from each nation would be the guides.

Each of the CPU nodded in agreement at this as it was something that they would agree to. However any complaints that might have been logged would have been purely superficial and only for the record and not taken seriously, it was one of the bonus's of the CPU being able to contact each other directly, most of the work gets done at dinners or meetings with the paperwork being drawn up for the record.

Assuming nothing more important comes up.

In the thirty minute flight, she managed to hash out a rough plan and send it to the other nations.

It was then that they arrived at their destination...

and were promptly attacked by a monster as soon as the transport door opened.

Cyberconnect2 killed it quickly and then the two left the vehicle, only to find pandemonium in the town. Monsters of all shapes and sizes were in town, attacking buildings, civilians, and the few defence forces stationed in the town.

With a look, the two charged out of the vehicle and started fighting the, thankfully, low to middle-level monsters.

Thankfully, because that allowed the duo to split up.

Looks of shock had appeared upon the faces within the room. The nations had appeared to be peaceful so they could only assume that this was not a normal occurrence.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Walking past a TV shop Tonks was startled by the special report that was on the screen, and she realized where the candidate had gone that morning.

On the screen showed carnage, with Chloe and CC fighting large amounts of monsters, while defending the civilians, along with dead civilians and men and women in uniform.

Some of the bodies were heart-rendingly small.

Her fist clenched. "I should be there," she whispered.

This got a series of nods from the aurors and others. They felt helpless at not being able to do anything, they had fought in the war and were sure that they could have aided in the defence.

"No you shouldn't," a young woman in a large trench coat said calmly from behind the trainee. "You wouldn't be able to help. I, on the other hand, could help, but it'll be over by the time I get there."

"Why couldn't I help? I'm a fully trained Auror trainee!" Tonks shouted angrily.

"You're weak," IF stated calmly. "you barely reached level twelve, most of those monsters are probably at least twenty."

Silence filled the room. An auror was too weak despite their training? That was not a comforting thought line. It was a common thing that the aurors were usually some of the strongest wizards due to the extensive training they got. To hear that one of them was considered weak was unsettling.

The TV footage showed Chloe destroy an entire line of monsters with a single Holy arrow, as well as showing the level of the monsters being destroyed, all of which were between twenty and thirty.

The guild member nodded towards the footage, and commented, "unless you could even match half of what she's doing, your better off staying here."

"But!"

IF glared at her and interrupted, "I can take you to some low-level areas if you want to train, and see how much you need to improve before you could even think of joining in a fight like that. And even before that, you'd need to get some gear to survive, healing items, defensive gear, and a weapon."

Tonks narrowed her eyes and asked, "why would I need those? The healing I could understand, as well as the defensive stuff, but why a weapon? I have my wand." she finished by brandishing said stick. (EN)

The trench-coat wearing woman looked at the stick and was unimpressed, "that thing would snap if an enemy gets a single blow on you. I would recommend upgrading to a staff, that way you can whack monsters that get to close with it."

"Good advice" barked out moody, it was one of the reasons that he used a staff besides a walking aid. He himself had gotten into a few incidents were his wand had almost snapped. He was fully aware of the wizards arrogance and pride when it came to their wands. Most did not even notice that they were arrogant about such a thing.

Those from that world were smirking as This was IF one of the most experienced in combat in their world.

"I'll be fine," the Auror trainee stated with full confidence.

"Fine, meet me by the entrance to the capital after you get what you need, and I'll show you the problem with overconfidence."

IF walked away, not needing to restock since she had a huge supply of healing items from drops, and chests.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Half an hour later the new duo left for the lesson Tonks needed if she was to survive in Gameindustry.

Knowing her limits. Currently, the young woman thought that her training in her old world would be sufficient to survive in battle in this one.

She would be proven wrong.

Tonks could not help but be embarrassed as she put her face into her hands. True she was well trained and powerful for her age. There was one thing that she had forgotten. She was not in britain and things were different.