Maya hopped up onto the table in the Healer's room and laid down. The ceiling above her head was just as beige and uninteresting as it had been the two previous times Maya had been in here. Maya shut her eyes, as Mathixk, the young goblin who was learning from her healer Garruk, started to place the rune stones on her body. She let her mind wander to the meetings she had just had with the goblins who managed her family accounts. Ghumana was in charge of the Potter accounts, and Kalital of the Black accounts.

Her first and second meeting with Ghumana had been relatively easy. The Potter account manager was almost two hundred years old and had been managing the accounts since her great-grandfather Fleamont was Lord Potter. He knew everything there was to know about the Potter accounts, their wealth, accounts, holdings, and investments. And he had begun to share his insights with Maya, teaching her everything she needed to know to manage her inheritance.

Her mother had left everything in Ghumana's hands when she had gone into hiding with Luke after Charlus and Dorea had died. So, Jasmine had had no time or opportunity to change the instructions that Charlus had given him. Ghumana had therefore faithfully followed them, maintaining the upkeep of the various properties that Maya now owned and making prudent investments that aligned with Charlus's vision. As a result, he had grown the Potter wealth by an impressive 8% annually for the last twelve years.

The Black accounts were in a largely similar state, the Last Lord Black, who'd been Maya's grandmother's nephew, had passed away last year just before Maya had started Hogwarts. He had been very-ill and pretty much bedridden and so had left Kalital, the Black account manager, largely in charge of managing the vast estate that the Black's had accumulated over the centuries. Kalital was just as competent as Ghumana and had managed to increase the wealth of the Black accounts by nearly 13% a year in the five years since Lord Arcturus Black had last been actively involved.

Which was part of the problem. The Black Family had been accumulating wealth since Rome had been a republic. Their family accounts were so enormous that they required the expertise and assistance of three goblins to manage them. Kalital was the chief account manager, and he had two helpers who worked under him. Maya felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and details that she had to learn about those accounts. She doubted that she would ever be able to master them all.

There were other issues with the Black accounts, the biggest one being the townhouse in London. Ragnuk had sent a team to the townhouse with Maya's permission to retrieve the Horcrux, which they had done successfully. In the process they had discovered just how bad a state the townhouse was in. No one had lived there in seven years except for a house-elf who had apparently gone slightly insane. The house had been in a terrible state, that the goblins who had gone in to retrieve the Horcrux had been surprised only seven years had passed since Walburga Black, the last resident of the house, had died.

According to Ragnuk, the Horcrux had simply been left on a shelf, with no wards to prevent it's evil from seeping out into the rest of the house. It had drawn power from the ambient magic of the house and had sunk it's evil even further into the house, which had increased the ambient magic it could draw power from. It was basically a vicious cycle that when combined with all the cursed and dark objects, that had been collected by the Blacks over the years had basically caused the house to become infected.

On the occasion of their first meeting Kalital had suggested that Maya commission the bank's cursebreakers to do an assessment of the house. Which Maya had agreed to. In the meeting they'd just had, Kalital had gone over the preliminary assessment with her, which basically said that the House would take twelve to eighteen months to cleanse. Maya now had to decide if she wanted to hire a team of cursebreakers to do so. Kalital had strongly implied that she should, telling her that the longer it was left the worse the infection would get, even with the Horcrux having been removed. He'd also advised her to do something about the house-elf.

Maya had made the decision to ask Narcissa if she could take the house-elf, Narcissa had been a Black before her marriage, so she probably knew the elf in question. Plus, Maya, considering how the Dursley's had treated her, just wasn't comfortable owning what basically amounted to a slave. Luna and Draco had explained house-elves to Maya and the symbiotic relationship they shared with wixen, but that didn't make Maya any more comfortable with the concept. Damon had advised her to think about the house and give Kalital an answer at their next meeting and the conversation had moved on to other topics. Once the meetings were over the two of them had come down the hall to Healer Garruk's ritual room for Maya's latest check-up.

Mathixk gently touched Maya's shoulder letting her know that she and Garruk were finished with the ritual. Maya carefully sat up and drunk down the pain potion Mathixk handed to her, the ritual always seemed to leave a low ache throughout her muscles and bones. Damon who had waited to one side during the ritual, offered her his hand, and helped her off the table. Maya looked at Garruk who grunted at her before offering a sharp grin.

"You've put on another two pounds, but you're still underweight for someone of your age and height. Keep up with the potions, diet, and exercise, Miss Potter, they are clearly working."

"I will." Maya placed a palm over her heart, "I promise."

Maya sat on the floor and concentrated on the small stone bowl and the water it contained, around her all of her classmates including Kamala were doing the same. It was week five of Magical Studies and they were practising setting fire to water. They'd already mastered the art of lighting candles with their minds, one of the easiest tricks for channelers to learn, in their second week of classes. In their fourth they had practised with other objects, first paper, then twigs, then logs. Now they were supposed to be using the skills they'd learned in the previous weeks to set fire to water, which was a much more difficult skill to master.

Unlike her other subjects, Magical Studies was not based on age or grade, but on the awakening of one's magic. Magic could surge at any time during puberty, but it was different for everyone. Maya and Kamala belonged to the beginner class, the ones who had just felt the spark of magic within them in the last six months. They were nine in total, ranging from eleven to fifteen years old. The younger and older students had their own classes in the Elementary and High schools, depending on when their magic had awakened.

Maya was the only student in the class who had been using channeler magic for longer than six months. She had apparently tapped into it at an early age, but Maya hadn't been around any channelers before, at least as far as she knew, so no-one had sensed it. Vernon and Petunia would have assumed any bursts of accidental magic were caused by her being wixen, and no-one at Hogwarts would have thought to check her for being anything other than a wixen. Professor Aradia had apparently suspected when Damon and Maya had first toured the school, and the tests Professor Bloodworth had conducted had confirmed it. Despite that, Maya was still very much a novice when it came to channeler magic and so was placed in the beginner class where she could learn to consciously control it.

Being a class for beginners, Professor Song, was teaching them first to summon, create, and control the elements, starting with fire, the first and simplest element to summon and create. Fire was the embodiment of heat, light, energy, and creation. But it also had a dark side: destruction. Professor Song warned them that all the elements could be deadly, as evidenced by the disasters of tsunamis, earthquakes, and tornados. But fire was different from the other elements. Water, earth, and air required a witch's full attention to cause harm with magic. Fire, on the other hand, could burn out of control even if it was magical. If a witch lost control of fire and it had found something flammable, it would not stop until it consumed everything.

Candles were the easiest to light with their minds because their purpose was to burn, it's what they were made for. Other materials, like paper and wood, resisted their will a bit more, for they were not meant to be devoured by fire. But with enough focus and force, they could make them burst into flames as well. Water was the hardest to master, for it was the opposing element of fire. Water quenched and cooled; it did not burn. To set water on fire, they had to overcome its very essence with their own, making it one of the most difficult to master.

Maya took a deep breath and centred herself, the way she'd been taught in her first class, before reaching out with her magic. This part was difficult for Maya because of her two sources of magic, her magical core that marked her as a wixen, and the spark that enabled her to draw on different energies to perform magic, that marked her as a channeler. She had been unconsciously using both for so long that it was difficult for her to intentionally separate them and practise solely with her channeler abilities.

According to Professor Song, using both magics to power her spells wasn't a bad thing. But Maya should be able to consciously separate them and use one without the other, as there may come a time when she needed to. The professor also considered it to be the first step towards unlocking Maya's full potential and allowing her to master her gifts. When it came to the more advanced magics, power alone would never truly be enough. Knowledge and complete control of her abilities would be required as well.

Learning to differentiate the two magics was difficult and she still slipped up quite a lot and really had to focus on what she was doing, but it got a little bit easier each time she tried. Following some guidance from her professors, Maya had begun using visualisation techniques to separate the two. Her magical core she visualised as being in her chest, sort of the magical version of her heart, connected to the rest of her body by a system of veins and arteries through which magic flowed through her body. The spark that enabled her to channel nature, she visualised as a door in her head that she could open and close at will. When the door was open, she could tap into the forces of nature through it and use that to power her magic.

Maya knew it didn't really work like that, but the combination of wixen and channeler magic within one person was such a rare occurrence that she was pretty much flying blind. Her professors were helping her as much as they could but none of them could wield both, so they were very much working on a theoretical basis when it came down to it. Professor Aradia was attempting to find someone who could wield both who might be able to tutor Maya. But until she could. If she could. Maya and her professors were stuck trying to figure it out for themselves. Hence the visualisation technique.

Maya pushed open the door in her head and began channelling power with her spark, even as she consciously held back her core magic. Using the same technique, they had learned when they were taught to light the candles, Maya visualised the flame in her head and used her magic to push that flame onto the bowl of water in front of her. With a loud crackle the water in Maya's bowl ignited into a fiery blaze. It burnt for no longer than a few seconds before disappearing, leaving nothing more than a scorched bowl, devoid of any moisture.

"That was very impressive, Maya" Professor Song praised, "But remember, we must find the balance, the key is to control the flames, don't allow them to overwhelm the water."

Maya nodded and refilled her bowl from the jug of water, grinning slightly at the small thumbs up Kamala sent her way. Part of Maya's struggles with control were down to the sheer amount of power she could wield. No-one was sure if that was because of Maya's hybrid magics or if she would have been just as powerful if she was solely wixen or solely channeler. It made performing magic very easy, controlling it less so.

Maya hadn't struggled with her control as much last year at Hogwarts and no-one was absolutely certain why she was now. Professor Mephisto, Professor Aradia, and Professor Song, had discussed it with Maya and she knew they'd also spoken about it with Damon because he'd told her they had. The way the professors saw it there were four distinct possibilities.

The first was her age, channelers tended to gain in power consistently as they aged, the older they got the more powerful they became. Wixen on the other hand increased in power in stages and then plateaued. They were born with a magical core that grew with them as they aged, but it was unstable when they were younger. Therefore, most wixen didn't really start to have proper bouts of accidental magic until they were about five to seven, though some had been known to start younger. Between ten and eleven, their cores stabilised enough for them to be able to actively practise magic. Between the ages of eleven and seventeen, they would have several episodes where there core would grow and expand and stabilise again. Finally, between seventeen and twenty-one, their cores would stabilise completely, and their power levels would be set. Those whose accidental magic started earlier and who's cores took longer to stabilise tended to be more powerful.

So, one possibility for Maya's increased power levels was her age. The second possibility was that she was starting to consciously use her magics separately, whereas before she had unconsciously been powering her spells with both magics. The theory was that when her magics were combined they both supported, and constrained each other. Now that she was using them separately, she was having to figure out how to consciously use less magic to power her spells. That was how Professor Song had explained it anyway.

The third and fourth possibilities were sort of linked together, at least in Maya's mind. The theory went that the Horcrux in her scar had been feeding off of or suppressing her powers making Maya's magics weaker and therefore easier to control. Or that her malnutrition and general lack of health had made her weaker because most of her magic was going into healing her body and keeping her alive. Now that the Horcrux had been removed and her health was improving her magics were becoming stronger, and stronger magic was more difficult to master.

The prevailing theory according to Professor Mephisto was that it was more than likely a combination of the four. The last two were also the theory behind Maya's sudden increase in strength, speed, agility, endurance, and healing. Though the theory was that her fast healing had always been working to help her magic keep her alive when she lived with the Dursley's. Maya was by no means a match for the triggered werewolves, vampires, and some of the fey, who attended the Academy. But she was stronger, faster, and more agile than other witches and wizards her age.

Whatever the reason, Maya's power level meant that she struggled to control her spells. She had obliterated more than a few candles when they had first been taught to light them with their minds.

Maya centred herself and tried again, focusing on reigning I her power and only allowing a fraction through to create the fire. This time the flame was barely more than a candle's worth, flickering and dying out in an instant. The trick was finding a balance between what was too much and what was too little. It was a balance that she still hadn't completely figured out by the end of the class.

"Well done everyone, we will continue this next Friday. For homework I want a thousand words on how the fire and water elements oppose each other."

Professor Song's announcement, as they were packing away their things and preparing to go to their next class, was met with a chorus of good-natured groans. Maya and Kamala shared their next class and headed out together.

"So, wanna get together for a study session after Community Enrichment, tomorrow?" Kamala asked.

Maya tilted her head to the side and thought about it. She didn't have anything planned for the afternoon except homework so a study session would work fine. Tomorrows Community Enrichment morning was at a food kitchen in the Bronx, so Damon's house would be closer than Kamala's house in Brooklyn. Which was where they'd held a study session last weekend after the Quidditch match. Dragons, Kamala's team, had played Caladrius and had won the match 200 – 150. Sora and Maya had both attended to cheer on their friend in her first ever match, as well as Sora's brother Ryuu who was also on Dragons. Afterwards the three girls had gone over to Kamala's house to study and work on their History Project together.

"Sure. I'll have to ask Damon first but if he says yes, we can hold it at the townhouse. I'll send Damon a text at lunch and ask him, and I'll invite Sora as well."

"Great! I can't wait."

Maya's eyes sparkled with laughter.

"Damon hasn't said yes yet."

"Like he'll say no."

Kamala's reply was playful and amused, she'd met Damon a few times now and knew how keen he was to shower Maya with anything she could possibly want. Maya had to admit that she was right, Damon had yet to refuse her anything she asked for, although to be fair, Maya hadn't really asked for much. Still, he was unlikely to object to her having her friends over for a study session. He'd been very encouraging when she'd requested to go to Kamala's house for the same, and had basically told her that he would be happy to host her friends whenever she wanted. Still Maya thought it was best to check with him before she confirmed anything with Sora and Kamala.

Maya's ice-cream was slowly melting in its bowl, but she barely touched it. She just stirred it with her spoon, lost in her own thoughts. Damon watched her from across the table, wondering what was going through her mind. She had been quiet since they had left Dr Acesco's office after the third and final session Maya had agreed to try, and he still didn't know if she would choose to continue or to quit.

They were sitting at an outside table of a small café close to the Museum of Modern Art, where he had booked tickets for their monthly outing. The plan had been to go straight to the museum, but Maya had been so obviously distracted, that Damon had decided a small stop, and a treat might help her clear her head a bit. Plus, the weather was nice enough to sit outside but the tables were much more spaced out than inside, giving the two of them a reasonable amount of privacy.

Damon was content to sit in silence until Maya was ready to talk. He'd promised her he wouldn't press about her sessions with Dr Acesco, and he was going to keep that promise no matter what. He wasn't going to push her to give him an answer about continuing therapy or not either. Maya would speak when she was ready too.

"What makes someone a bad person?"

Damon really didn't feel like he was the right person to answer Maya's sudden question, but he would have to try.

"It can be very subjective, different people might have different opinions on what makes someone a bad person. I suppose someone who deliberately causes harm to someone else would usually be considered a bad person."

Damon had been thinking of the Dursley's when he'd said that, but judging by Maya's reaction, he'd said the wrong thing or should have qualified his answer somehow.

"I'm a bad person. I've hurt people. I hurt Professor Quirrell. If I'm a bad person, then the Dursley's were right to punish me."

Damon didn't know where this was coming from, or who professor Quirrell was or who else Maya thought she'd hurt. He just knew that she was wrong and if he didn't find a way to get her to see that he might lose all the progress they'd made over the last two months. Possibly even more than that.

"No!"

Damon shook his head fiercely from side to side.

"No." he repeated. "Just no. You're not a bad person, Maya, you're a very good person who bad things have happened to. I don't know what Makes you think you're a bad person, but even if that were true, which it's not. The Dursley's had no right to treat you the way that they did. They were wrong to hurt you the way that they did. Even if you had done something wrong, they still shouldn't have hurt you."

"You said someone who deliberately causes harm to someone else would be considered a bad person. I did that to Professor Quirrell, I burnt his face deliberately, therefore I'm a bad person."

"I don't know what happened between you and Professor Quirrell, so I can't judge your actions. I can only judge the Maya I know. And the Maya I know is a good person, a wonderful person, who I am very lucky to have as my goddaughter and a part of my life."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, I do."

"How?"

"Because I know you. I know you're a good person because you love your friends, and you love Hedwig. I know you're a good person because you're kind and friendly to everyone you meet. I know you're a good person because you want to help people even when you don't have to. I know you're a good person because you're happy to volunteer to go litter-picking in a public park and pack food parcels for people in need. I know you're a good person because you're sitting here trying to find an explanation, an excuse, for people who caused you a great deal of harm. That's not something a bad person would do, Maya."

"I hurt Professor Quirrell; I killed him." Maya insisted stubbornly.

Damon's heart contracted in his chest, he really needed to find out what exactly happened with this Professor Quirrell. That didn't matter right now though, what mattered was talking Maya down off the ledge she was on.

"That's not true."

"You don't know that! You weren't there!"

"No, I wasn't. But I do know you can't possibly have killed him or been responsible for his death. Do you want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you haven't triggered the werewolf curse. Remember what Professor Aradia explained when she told you about your heritage."

Maya gave a very shallow nod, and Damon figured that she didn't really remember the conversation right now.

"To trigger the curse, you have to be responsible for the death of a human being. Therefore, you can't possibly be responsible for this Professor Quirrell's death."

"Oh."

Maya slumped back in her chair, brow furrowed, obviously deep in thought. Damon sat and waited for her to speak when she was ready to again. It was another ten minutes or so before she did, and Damon could see her visibly wrestling with whether to speak to him or not.

"Last year at Hogwarts some stuff happened."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

Maya shook her head, but the story came tumbling out anyway. A story of magic and trolls, three-headed dogs, and dragons. And a professor possessed by the earthbound spirit of the man who had murdered Jasmine and Luke and attempted to kill Maya.

"…I didn't know what to do, I just knew I couldn't let Voldemort get the stone. So, when I realised that touching me caused Professor Quirrell so much pain, I grabbed onto his face, and I didn't let go till Dumbledore came. I hurt him."

Damon was seriously considering adding Dumbledore's name to his list underneath the Dursley's names. That didn't matter right now though, what mattered the most now was Maya.

"Thank you for telling me. I know that must have been hard for you to relive."

"Do you hate me now?"

"No, I don't. I could never hate you Maya, no matter what. I love you and I always will."

"Why?"

Damon didn't know how many more times she would make his heartbreak, but it was worth it. To have her in his life, to be able to give her the love and kindness she had been denied for so long. It was worth anything.

"Because you're a very lovable person, Maya."

"Even though I hurt someone?"

Damon held back his sigh; it wouldn't help Maya.

"When you asked me that question earlier, about what makes someone a bad person. I didn't explain well enough. It's a difficult question to answer because it's so subjective. I said someone would usually be considered a bad person if they deliberately hurt someone else. What I forgot to add was that hurting someone in defence of yourself or in defence of others is justified. You weren't malicious in your actions against Professor Quirrell. You weren't being cruel or evil, you were trying to save yourself and your friends, and you were trying to stop a monster from coming back. That makes you a very good person, a selfless person who's willing to risk themselves for everyone else."

Maya didn't respond for a moment, going back to stirring her spoon through the bowl, the contents of which were now completely melted. Eventually she nodded slightly.

"I think, I want to keep seeing Dr Acesco."

"Okay, I'll book you some more appointments, and just so you know, it's still okay to change your mind."

"She said I should keep a journal, to help me sort through what I'm thinking and feeling."

"Is that something you want to do."

Maya nodded again, a bit more firmly this time.

"Okay, we can get you a journal. Do you want another ice-cream?"

Maya pulled a face and shook her head, letting the spoon drop into the bowl.

"Do you still want to go to the Museum, or would you rather just go home?"

"I… Can we still go to the Museum, even though… even though I argued with you?"

"Maya, we're not always going to agree on everything. We're gonna have differences of opinion and even arguments, though I wouldn't classify our conversation this time as an argument. I'm not going to punish you for disagreeing with me though, you're entitled to have an opinion." Damon grinned at her, "even when your opinions just wrong. So, if you want to go to the Museum then we can absolutely go to the museum. If you want to do something else, then we'll do something else. It's completely up to you."

Maya smiled; Damon could see amusement in her eyes.

"I'd like to go to the museum."

"Then let's go."

"Damon?"

"Yeah?"

Maya's smile turned shy, a mix of awkwardness and anxiety.

"I'm really glad Lady Magic made you, my godfather. And I… I love you too."