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Astrid stood in front of a newsstand, absentmindedly scrolling looking at all the titles on display. She wasn't even sure why she was here. One second she had been in a little know bookstore tucked away in a corner of Novertically and Knockturn Alley looking for a few archance healing texts and the next she knew she was suddenly in front of a very muggle newsstand, looking for what, even she didn't know. Now, if it would have been anyone else, they would have worried about the sudden loss of time, thinking that maybe they had a neurological problem. But, for Astrid she had gotten used to the sensation of randomly being in the right place at the right time, or rather the path to the right place. She didn't worry that nothing had jumped out at her yet, she knew it would come to her when required. She picked up a lifestyle magazine, casually flipping through the pages before a sudden image caught her eye. She flipped back a few pages, studying the image and text before a smile overtook her face.

Of course. Why hadn't she thought of this before? "Excuse me." She said with a charming smile to the proprietor of the stand even as she dug into her purse. "How much for this magazine?"

With a skip in her step, she moved back towards the bookstore, stoving her magazine back into her oversized handbag. She had been a bit stuck on how to figure out what the magical taint in Harry's scar was. She had taken a few days off after the whole fiasco, not wanting to be away from the house in case she was needed, Harry was in a bad way even if he was fooling Remus and Sirius that he was fine.

She wondered why she hadn't thought of this yet, it was the best solution, and she should have thought of it sooner. As plans began to form in her head, and webs weaved between the various people she needed to contact, she finally found the few texts she needed. Just as she was going to the till to pay, another book caught her notice, an innocuous, thin red book that was hidden between a copy of Magick Moste Evil and Paracelsus - The True Wizard. She walked towards the bookshelf, wondering why she was drawn to the red book. Just as her fingers brushed the spine of her book, she violently jumped back, her heart racing, sweat blanching on her skin, goosebumps spreading all over her. She could physically feel her magic roil away from the book, pushing her to leave, just leave.

With a soldering breath, she pulled out her pair of satin gloves embroidered with protective runes. Heart still thudding dangerously fast, she called out to the owner of the store. A pudgy, bent woman, with blank eyes appeared before her out of thin air.

"Yes?" Her voice creaked, disused through time. Sporting a stiff smile Astrid pointed at the red book. "Can you tell me about this book?" A glimmer of something passed through the woman's eyes, shadowing her face for half a second. "It's a book. You want?"

"Yes. What is it about?" Astrid persisted. "Lass, do you think I have read every book in this store? If you want, you take. I know nothing about it, I just sell it." Even though her words sounded aggressive, the tone made them fall completely flat, almost as if the woman had forgotten how emotions worked.

"Yes, and these too", she pointed to the books she had set aside. The woman barely flinched as she pulled the red, red book off of the shelf, tallying it up with the four other books. Just as Astrid was about to move away from the till, the woman grabbed her hand, her eyes filled with hazy white flames.

"Be careful girl, no one who has ever bought the book has had anything good happen to them, the last owner, a young gentleman lost himself at just the age of 16, poor thing too he was so handsome." A gruesome grin stretched across her face, delighting in the death of a young teenager.

Astrid didn't say anything, merely snatched her hand away from her before quickly making her way out of the house. She didn't directly go back to Surrey, instead, she went to the outskirts of London, to the older manor surrounded by layers upon layers of wards.

Painful memories surged forth as she walked into the manor, the last time she had been here she had believed herself to be the last decent Black. Her grandfather had just died and she had taken on the mantle of Regent Black. She had closed up the Manor, unable to stand being in there, haunted by memories of a happy childhood before her family had begun dropping like flies. She had been the only one left in the end, she and Cissa, but by then she had fully embraced being a Malfoy, almost discarding the Black name due to the shadow which had been cast on it.

Luckily now, her family was growing and if she had it her way then they would be shaking up the British Wizarding World soon. She would make sure that they regretted the day they scorned the House of Black. For now, she had a job to do. Inside the Black Manor was a secret that no one without Black blood ever knew, an innovation that had been made purely with selfish motives, a room to hold Volatile Magicks.

She walked towards the end of the library before pulling a scone and pressing her signet ring into the opening. The sound of grinding stones filled the room, as fine dust floated in through the opening gaps.

Damn, she had forgotten about the dust which usually settled in the old hidden room. Her hand waved in front of her face, trying to dispel the dust particles that were making her almost double over coughing.

Finally, the dust stopped irritating her and the sound descended into silence. She stepped through into the stone-lined alcove, her footsteps echoing in the silence. The room was filled with shelves carved into the walls and pedestals with insulated covers. Everything in the room was built to hold extremely dangerous and volatile books and artefacts, the walls carved with suppression and calming runes and circles. Surprisingly the room wasn't bursting with such artefacts. The Blacks had a plethora of artefacts relating to dark arts and forbidden magics, but even they weren't stupid enough to collect volatile artefacts wily-nily.

She walked to the closest empty pedestal and carefully pulled out the blood-red book, her hands still covered with the gloves. She placed the book on the pedestal, the insulated cover automatically coming up to close over the book. She hadn't even realised how tense she had been until the book had left her person, her stance relaxing as her tension leaked out of her. With a relieved sigh, she made her way out of the manor and back to the house in Surrey. Perhaps she should call back a few elves from the other properties so that they could begin cleaning the Manor again. There was no way she was staying in that cramped little house any longer than necessary, she had just been waiting for an opportunity to move out of there and now she had the perfect excuse.

Before she entered Privet Drive she made sure to reapply her 'Violetta' glamour. There was no way she would let anyone catch her as herself, especially not now. That was the reason why she also had Remus under a glamour pretend to go to 'work' every day when in reality he just took the car to another parking lot before apparting back disillusioned. She had even given him a charm that would mask his magical signature, which even she and Sirius used anytime they had to do any magic. She knew she was going to cause an uproar soon and needed to make sure that all evidence pointed to 'Violetta' and 'Herb', a seemingly unassuming muggle couple.

She slipped into the house, her heels clicking determinedly on the floor as she made her way to the dining room, where the other three members of her family were sitting, Sirius and Remus coaching him through the basics of runes.

"No no that's absolutely rubbish. Here Moony, let me explain it-"

"Padfoot you couldn't even tell one rune from another until a month into class and you think you know more than me?"

The bickering though, was constant. It seemed every day they found something new to contradict each other over. At times it was entertaining, other times it was just plain exhausting. It seemed today was an exhausting day, looking at where Harry seemed ready to tear his hair out in frustration.

Without breaking her stride Astrid threw down the opened magazine page. The thud made the werewolf and dog animagus wince.

"Pack, we will be leaving tomorrow." She didn't leave room for any discussions.

"Oh, you guys are leaving?" Harry's whole demeanour had changed from his previous relaxed posture to one of stiff determination, resolute in not showing his emotions to them.

A mischievous smile crossed Astrid's face as she plopped into a chair beside the teenager while Sirius and Remus pulled the magazine closer to see what had excited Astrid so.

"Nope." She popped out looking into blank green eyes. "We are leaving." She waved her hand to indicate all of them. Harry still looked sceptical, unable to believe, no unwilling to believe her words.

"Don't be ridiculous Astrid, there's no way I can come. This is the best thing that I could have hoped for." He scoffed before the hope and elation even had a chance to take root. Astrid just gave him a look as if he was ridiculous.

"Did you really believe that we would be spending the whole of your summer in this muggle shite hole? Please I cannot believe that you think so little of me."

Her fervent and forceful words seemed to serve perfectly, as Harry seemed to accept the fact that he would be leaving Surrey soon, and that too to be with his family.

"So," Sirius broke the silence that they had let envelope during Harry and Astrid's conversation. "Switzerland?"

Harry looked down at the image of an idyllic snow-covered town in the magazine before looking into the three sets of eyes looking at him expectantly.

"Switzerland." He grinned back, truly excited for his summer.