Maya woke up the next morning with the absolute certainty that there was nothing she could do to prevent the impending calamity that would come from Luna and Mrs Malfoy meeting the Dursley's. A belief that was reinforced when she discovered that the door to her bedroom had been locked before she had awoken. With nothing to do but sit and wait, Maya's thoughts turned to the conversation she had overheard last night.

It was not the first time she had gleaned such thoughts from the minds of Uncle Vernon's clients and colleagues. It was something that occurred with more frequency as Maya grew older and the promise of her future beauty became clearer. Mr Mason however, had been the first person to voice such thoughts aloud. What worried her most about it was that Uncle Vernon hadn't objected, instead he's sounded intrigued by the idea of getting money for Maya's hand in marriage, or worse, by selling her body as Mr Mason had been alluding to when Aunt Petunia had opened the door ending their conversation.

Maya might only be twelve-years-old, but her aunt and uncle had never bothered to shield her from the harsh realities of the world like they had with Dudley. That and her Legilimency meant that she had learnt enough about the world to understand exactly what Mr Mason had meant when he'd mentioned knowing like-minded men. The very thought of a bunch of strangers touching her like that made the bile rise in Maya's throat and she had to force herself to push it back, knowing that there would be hell to pay if she threw up on the carpet.

Hedwig flapped her wings slightly and hooted softly. Maya looked over at the bird Hagrid had given her for her last birthday, who had become Maya's first friend and the only being at number four Privet Drive who didn't despise Maya or consider every breath she took to be a waste of oxygen. Hedwig had a look of concern in her eyes, that made Maya sigh and send a small smile back.

"We have to get out of here Hed, go somewhere where nobody can ever hurt us again."

Hedwig fluffed her wings up slightly and gave her an imperious hoot, clearly asking Maya the question 'well when are we leaving then?'

"It's not that easy Hed. I'm just a kid so no one's gonna let me live on my own and if I run away Professor Dumbledore will bring me straight back here and that will just make things even worse."

Hedwig tilted her head to one side and hooted softly again; 'why?'

"Because Professor Dumbledore is my magical guardian, so he gets last say over where I live in the summers, and he didn't listen to me when I tried to tell him about the Dursley's." Maya sighed heavily, "Adults never listen Hed. They just pat you on the head and tell you you're mistaken or that they're sure everything will turn out okay and things like; 'I'm sure your aunt and uncle love you really, they probably just have trouble showing it.'"

A soft whistle from Hedwig was her reply; 'they can't keep us here forever, one day we'll be free.'

"One day might come too late Hed, especially if Uncle Vernon decides –"

Maya's words were cut off by the loud peal of the doorbell, a swift glance at the clock showed that 10 o'clock had arrived without Maya realising it. She fell silent, trying to listen to what was going on downstairs. She heard footsteps, the front door being opened, the low murmur of conversation, though she couldn't work out what was being said, and then the door being shut.

Maya braced herself as heavy footsteps came pounding up the stairs; clearly Uncle Vernon had been the one to open the door and he wasn't happy about it. Maya heard the locks on her door being slid open, one after the other, then the door was flung open so hard it bounced off the wall. Her uncle was stood in the doorway, face purple with rage, eyes narrowed on Maya. She flinched back and braced herself for what was coming.

"HOW DARE YOU GIVE PEOPLE LIKE THAT OUR ADDRESS!"

The first blow of his fist knocked Maya to the floor, where she curled up trying to protect her head as much as possible.

"HOW DARE YOU INVITE THEM TO OUR HOUSE!"

The second blow came in the form of a kick, her uncle's foot landing heavily on the welts that had formed when he had whipped her last night. Maya bit back a scream as agony flared up her spine, the pain whiting out her vision.

"HOW DARE YOU –"

Whatever words Vernon Dursley had been about to utter never came.

A beam of white light hit him square in the centre of his back, his arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole-body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his back, stiff as a board. A tall, slim, woman with blonde hair done up in an elegant twist stood in the doorway. Her arm outstretched and holding a wand pointed at Vernon Dursley a look of absolute rage etched into her aristocratic features.

Narcissa Malfoy was furious.

She had not been happy to hear from her son that his friend and the current heiress to the house of her birth had not been replying to any of his letters.

She had been unhappy and slightly concerned when her niece Luna, had informed her of the same thing over afternoon tea.

She had been extremely displeased when she had discovered that their house elf Dobby had been intercepting the letters her son and the rest of Miss Potters friends had been sending her in an effort to persuade her not to return to Hogwarts.

She had become angry when she had discovered that the reason Dobby did not wish Miss Potter to return to Hogwarts was because her husband was planning to slip a diary belonging to the former Dark Lord to one of the students.

She had been furious when she had discovered that the diary her husband meant was actually something as despicable as a horcrux.

The discovery of the Horcrux had spurred Narcissa into action. She had promptly hexed Lucius in several imaginative and painful ways she had learnt from her mother over the course of her childhood. Told Draco to write a letter to Miss Potter informing her that she, accompanied by Luna, would be picking her up from her muggle family's home the next day and that she would be spending the rest of the summer with Luna and her father. Ordered Dobby to deliver Draco's letter to Miss Potter and ensure that she read it, without revealing himself to the girl or the muggles she lived with. Finally, she had wrapped the diary in several layers of black silk and taken it straight to Gringotts for the goblin horde to deal with.

Narcissa's anger which had cooled slightly once that awful thing had been taken care of had reignited when Miss Potters awful muggle uncle had slammed the door in her face. It reached astronomical levels of rage when she had heard the uncles furious shouts and had apparated into the house to discover him viciously beating the child he was supposed to be caring for.

Narcissa Malfoy had been born a Black, but her mother had been a Rosier before she had married her father. So, whilst Narcissa had inherited the infamous Black temper from her father, she unlike her sister Bellatrix, had inherited her mother's ability to remain cooly pragmatic even in the most stressful of circumstances. Which is why, even though every part of her being was screaming at her to curse the man, she merely struck Vernon Dursley with the full body-bind curse. An elegant solution that wouldn't bring the aurors down on her.

It didn't alter the intense rage that was coursing through her at the site of a child, bruised and bloody, cowering on the floor awaiting the next blow. It didn't change the fact that she wanted to spend hours causing Vernon Dursley to feel every second of pain he had inflicted on Maya Potter. It didn't stop her from wanting to find Albus Dumbledore and rip out ever hair of his stupid beard one by one for leaving the heiress to the Black and Potter houses with the most hateful muggles Narcissa had ever encountered.

It did however solve the most immediate problem. Frozen on the floor under her spell, his black eyes darting frantically from side to side, Vernon Dursley was completely incapable of hurting his niece any further. Narcissa took in a few deep breaths to calm herself before turning to her niece.

"Luna, why don't you help Miss Potter clean up, get dressed and get her things together, whilst I handle her aunt and uncle okay?"

Luna nodded and entered Maya's bedroom, approaching her friend who was still curled up awaiting the next blow, whilst being sure to give the man her aunt had frozen a wide berth.

Narcissa waved her wand, thankful for her foresight in informing the ministry that she would be at number four Privet Drive to collect Miss Potter and therefore any magic detected would be her own. She floated the man down the stairs and into the lounge where she was greeted with a quickly muted scream by the man's wife and the shocking fat form of their son who was gaping at her in fear and surprise.

"Sit." She ordered them both coldly as she floated Vernon Dursleys paralysed body onto the sofa.

They both hurried to follow her orders, fear obvious on their faces, and Narcissa allowed that to quench some of the rage that still burned so fiercely inside of her.

"Now. As much as I might wish to inflict as much pain on the both of you as possible, I am also sensible enough to know doing so would bring the Auror's flooding to this house. And I am not going to risk Albus Dumbledore covering everything up under the guise of a Death Eater attack, thus ensuring that he can continue to leave Miss Potter to your non-existent mercies."

Narcissa paused, passing a disgusted glare across the three muggles before continuing.

"What I am going to do is erase your memories of events thus far today and replace them with memories of you agreeing to allow your niece to spend the last few weeks of the holidays at my nieces house."

Narcissa was quick to obliviate the memories of the three muggles, taking care to ensure all memories of her using magic on them were erased fully before replacing them with memories of her collecting Maya Potter for her agreed upon stay at the Lovegood's. Satisfied with her work, Narcissa waved her wand once more, releasing Vernon Dursley from the body-bind and sending all three of them to sleep. With that done, she returned upstairs to collect Luna and Maya, their next stop Gringotts bank. It was clear to Narcissa that Albus bloody Dumbledore wasn't going to step in and stop the abuse of his girl-who-lived, and therefore she would have to.

In short order, Narcissa had summoned Dobby to take Maya's belongings and her owl Hedwig to the Lovegood house, with instructions to let the owl out as soon as he got there. She had then taken hold of each girl by the hand and apparated them to Diagon Alley. It didn't escape her notice that Maya had flinched back when she had first reached out to take the girls hands or how quickly she had pulled away when they landed.

Narcissa frowned at the visible bruises that had been left on Maya's face by her brute of an uncle and with a swift wave of her wand she had covered them with a glamour charm. Normally she would have healed them instantly, but right now she wanted the horde to see them, to see what the muggles had done to the child. For nothing would stir the horde to help faster than the clear abuse of a child, and if Narcissa was going to pull off what she was planning she was going to need all the help she could get.

It was a short walk to Gringotts from the apparition point, and it didn't take long for Narcissa to lead the two girls there, Luna holding onto her best friends hand and whispering reassurances and encouragement in her ear as they followed along behind. Inside, Narcissa strode directly for an open counter and greeted the goblin behind the desk.

"Good Morning. I require a meeting with the Black and Potter account managers as soon as possible, please."

The goblin looked at her before glancing behind her at the two girls, his eyes widened and then narrowed.

"I see." He replied his gaze switching to Narcissa an unasked question in his eyes, she inclined her head subtly. "Very well. Khibal will show you to a meeting room and the Black and Potter account managers will be there promptly."

"My thanks."

Narcissa guided the two girls in front of her as they followed the goblin names Khibal to one of the banks meeting rooms. Once they were settled inside, he glanced over the two girls, his gaze lingering on Maya, before asking if they would like any refreshments. Narcissa accepted the offer gladly, Maya was much too thin, and she was quite sure that the girl had had nothing to eat yet, Khibal clicked his long fingers and a tea service accompanied by a plate of sandwiches appeared on the table. He gave them a short bow and left closing the door behind him.

Narcissa poured out a cup of tea for each of them and pushed the plate of sandwiches in front of Maya.

"Why don't you have something to eat, Miss Potter. We may have to wait a while for your account managers to arrive since we didn't pre-request a meeting."

"My account managers?"

Narcissa bit back a curse. What an earth had Dumbledore been doing with the child that she didn't know she was the heiress to the houses of Potter and Black. Instead, she smiled and nudged the plate of sandwiches closer to Maya.

"Yes dear. Why don't you start eating and I'll explain."

Maya looked at Luna who nodded encouragingly, even going so far as to pluck a sandwich from the plate herself and hold it out to Maya. After a moments hesitation, Maya accepted the sandwich Luna offered her and took a small bite, her gaze switching back to Narcissa expectantly. Good, Narcissa thought, she isn't completely cowed.

"So, you're mother, Jasmine, was the last of the Potter family. She became Lady Potter, head of the house of Potter, when your grandfather Charlus passed away and as you are her only child you will take up the mantle when you come of age at seventeen. Because the Potters are a very old very rich family with more than one account at Gringotts, you have an account manager to help manage your holdings."

Maya swallowed the last bite of the sandwich and reached for another one.

"I thought I just had the one vault; the one Hagrid took me to last year to get money for my school stuff."

"That was most likely your trust vault. The old families tend to set them up when their children are born, they usually plan for an annual amount to be transferred in. Each family has different arrangements for the trust vaults, my fathers family for instance stops transferring money into the accounts of their daughters when they marry, as it is assumed their husbands will take over with providing for them. I believe the Potter family usually stopped the payments once the child was of age and had secured a job."

"My trust vault will stop being added to when I turn twenty-one." Luna said blithely before taking a sip of her tea.

"As I said, each family does things differently."

"You said managers, as in more than one?"

"Your mother named Sirius Black as your godfather. He is the current heir to the Black Family, and he named you as his heir. My great uncle, who was Sirius's grandfather and your first cousin once removed, passed away last year and as Sirius is unable to take up the lordship that leaves you as the de facto heir to the house of Black. Therefore, you have two account managers not just one."

"We're related?" Maya asked with a considerable amount of surprise.

"Indeed. Your grandmother was Dorea Potter née Black. She was my great-grandfathers youngest sister, which makes us second cousins once removed."

"But Dumbledore said that the Dursleys were my only family."

Narcissa smiled thinly.

"On your fathers side that may be the case as he was muggleborn. However, your mother was a pureblood which means on her side of the family you have many relatives, though none as closely related to you as your aunt."

"Then why wasn't I left with any of them rather than the Dursley's? Why didn't you take me in when my parents died? Why didn't my supposed godfather?"

Maya's mind was overwhelmed at the thought that she had had family other than the Dursleys who could have taken her in when her parents were murdered. Except nobody had and she had been left to grow up lonely and abused by the people who were supposed to care for her.

"I don't know why Dumbledore chose to leave you with your fathers sister to be raised, perhaps because she is your closest blood relation or perhaps for some over reason. I would have taken you in and raised you in a heartbeat if I had been given the option, however due to my husbands, suspected affiliation I would have been refused."

Maya knew what she meant; Draco had explained it all to her last year when they'd become friends. His father had long been suspected of being in league with Voldemort, according to Draco he'd been under a curse and that's why he wasn't charged or sent to jail, but some people didn't believe that.

"What about Sirius Black? You said he was my godfather, why didn't he raise me?"

Narcissa's lips twisted slightly, and she let out a sigh.

"Sirius was unavailable to raise you for the same reason he is unable to take up the lordship of the house of Black." She replied finally.

"Which is?" Maya pressed, determined to know why her godfather was unavailable all her life, why she had been abandoned by the man her mother had chosen to stand in her parents stead.

To Narcissa's great relief the door to the meeting room opened and three goblins entered, putting an end to the conversation. It wasn't that she thought it was best to leave Maya in the dark about Sirius, she was certain Maya deserved to know the truth. Just perhaps, not today. Not when there were so many important things to be sorted out.