Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, characters, universe, etc. I make no money from this.

Warnings: I'm introducing an OC in this chapter.

Acknowledgement: A large round of applause for my brilliant beta, bluefirefly5, for her dual specialty of providing excellent input and keeping me inspired to write this story. Thanks again.

Chapter XV

"Am I Crazy?"

x_x…S_S...x_x

26 July 1996 – Friday

"Are you okay?"

Severus contained a flinch at Hermione's question. If he wasn't bleeding profusely, he generally considered it a personal failure whenever anyone asked him that question. He was supposed to be better than to let anyone read him like that, much less a sixteen-year-old student. "Do I not look okay?" he posed coolly.

She leaned away from the massive legal reference that she'd been perusing and met his eyes. "You don't usually cast a tempus every three minutes," she pointed out.

Severus clenched his jaw briefly as he privately acknowledged that she wasn't exaggerating. He was nervous. Well, he had plenty of reason to be nervous, but he was displeased to note how poorly he seemed to be concealing it. He studied the witch seated next to him for a moment. She was still wearing that bloody robe from earlier.

Fifteen years Severus had been teaching – nearly as long as Hermione had been alive – and he had never looked at a student inappropriately. Never. He absolutely refused to start now. They were nice robes. She would wear something else tomorrow and everything would go back to how it was.

Maybe if he kept telling himself that, he'd start to believe it.

He cast another tempus, ignoring the way Hermione's brow rose in response. It was a few minutes early yet, but given that he'd evidently lost his ability to contain his anxiety, it was probably best that he didn't linger any longer. "I need to meet Harry," he said quietly as he rose. Hermione was intelligent enough to figure out that that explanation was meant as much for his departure as his uncharacteristic behavior.

Severus frowned slightly as he passed Luna on his way out. She was leaning against a shelf with a book open on her hand. The curious part was that the section was of the library in which she lingered had only books written in foreign languages. He had to wonder if the girl actually knew any others. Given her general senselessness, it was entirely possible that she did not. She gave him a dreamy, overly bright smile and a wave as he passed her.

With a shake of his head, he pushed the eccentric Ravenclaw from his mind as he left the library. He really could not afford to be distracted now. He had to mentally prepare himself to venture into Harry's mind again. That chaotic consciousness was unnerving. The prospect of invoking Harry's ire while attempting to teach him the difficult discipline was unsettling. But neither of those things were what concerned him. No, between Albus and Voldemort, Severus was an expert at dealing with uncomfortable things.

That abyss lurking in Harry's mind was not an uncomfortable thing. It was terrifying. It was unnatural. Such a thing should not exist at all. He didn't want to imagine what may happen should he touch that. He didn't want to even guess what Harry might become if that abyss were to overtake him. Power such as his with that emotionless void behind it…

He was virtually certain that he'd prefer to face Voldemort again. Perhaps Voldemort and Albus together.

But that was why it was so important to teach Harry occlumency. He needed to understand his own mind. He needed to learn to control it before it began to control him.

The door to Harry's sitting room swung open at his approach, but it wasn't because anyone was coming out, he quickly noted. He stepped forward cautiously and found Harry reclined on the sofa, just closing a book in his lap. "Come in, Severus," he offered, and the door swung shut, evidently of its own accord, as soon as he had cleared it.

Harry sat up and set the book aside as he studied Severus gravely. "Am I crazy?" he asked bluntly.

Severus studied him briefly before deducing that Harry was looking for an equally blunt response. "Yes," he admitted.

Harry huffed a small laugh and gestured Severus toward the chair, which he took with relief for having evidently chosen the proper response. "Thank you for being honest with me." He sobered quickly. "Am I going to end up like Voldemort? Am I in danger of losing it completely?"

"The fact that you're asking me these questions at all proves that you are not nearly as unstable as you were a week ago," Severus pointed out. "Then, you did not even seem to notice that you were acting any differently."

Harry's eyes unfocused as he leaned back in his chair, and he nodded slightly. "I didn't," he admitted grimly. "I was worried because of the way everyone was reacting to me, but I didn't realize that I was really different. Didn't even occur to me… I've thought about it a lot since then."

"It is possible that you could end up like Voldemort," Severus admitted, since Harry seemed in the mood for the cold, hard truth today. "From what little I've seen of your mind thus far, you do have the capacity."

"And is there a way to prevent it?"

Severus nodded, "I believe so."

Harry's shoulders sagged lightly, giving away the release of tension that he'd been concealing very well. "How?"

"You have, in your mind, a sort of barrier that is separating your consciousness from the chaos brought on by the violent destruction of so many compulsions. Most minds would have been utterly ruined by having such compulsions torn out all at once. Yours is not in ideal condition, but you have somehow created a small zone in which your consciousness functions separately from the rest. That has allowed you to stay functionally sane. Through occlumency, I believe that I can teach you to build on the barrier that you instinctively created. Properly maintained, you should be able to retain it indefinitely, which will prevent you from ever losing your sanity as Voldemort did."

Harry nodded determinedly. "Great. How do we start?"

Severus hesitated, but he had a feeling that it would be very bad were he to withhold information that Harry would most likely discover later. With that in mind, he took a deep breath and went on. "There is… one more thing. There is… another layer within your mind. It is the deepest layer, which I've seen rise the surface only twice."

Curiously, Harry sighed and nodded with recognition. "It feels cold," he admitted, turning his face to gaze out the window into the little courtyard. "And still. And so clear. All of my anger drains away, and… I don't know how to explain it. Everything's different. It's like the world drifts into the background and my thoughts come to the fore."

"Have you experienced this more than those two times?" Severus asked cautiously.

Harry shook his head, which was a relief, but then he added, "Not that completely. Sometimes, when I'm alone and just thinking, I can almost get there, but only those times has it happened fully."

Severus nodded slowly and warily ventured, "It may be wise to avoid it if at all possible. Just until you've had a chance to progress in your command of occlumency so that you can fully understand what is happening within your mind."

Harry studied him a moment as though he was trying to decide how to take that. Finally, he nodded. "I'll try. So how do we begin?"

"I would like to start by taking a few minutes to just examine your mind in greater detail," Severus admitted. "I won't touch any of your memories. I merely need to assess the present state of your mind as carefully as possible in order to determine the best way to begin instructing you."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded, meeting his eyes.

After fifteen nerve-wracking minutes examining Harry's mind, Severus withdrew. "Unlike the last time we… attempted this, our focus is not to teach you to guard your mind, but to control it. This is the natural first step that most people learn on their way to becoming Occlumens. Had Albus not felt the need for haste last time – and had I been more patient with you," he judiciously added, "we would have started this way. The first thing that I am going to teach you is to create a mindscape. That is a place within your mind that you will access consciously. From within that space, you will find it much easier to explore and organize you mind. Again, however, I must caution that you not attempt to explore the… black space too soon. Were you to lose yourself within that… I expect that we may all wish you were merely as unstable as Voldemort."

Thankfully, Harry nodded solemnly. He seemed to take Severus' warning seriously.

"Then let us begin."

x_x…N_L...x_x

"Hey, Ginny," Neville smiled as he joined her in front of one of the fireplaces in the library where she was staring blankly into the flames.

She flinched a little at the sound of his voice, then gave him a small smile as he sat down. "Hey, Nev."

"How's your head?" he inquired. It still caught him off guard sometimes when he didn't feel nervous. For the last few years, everything had seemed to make him uncomfortable. Especially when he had to talk to anyone. Now, though he found himself feeling like he should feel nervous, he just… wasn't. It was excellent inspiration for hating Dumbledore and embracing Harry – questionable sanity or no.

"Mine," she answered with a rueful smile. "For the first time in years," she shook her head and her lip curled in a small sneer. "I still can't believe that that sick fuck manipulated my crush on Harry like that. Before I was even twelve! I'm not the only one that finds that extra creepy, right?"

"Definitely not," Neville admitted. He looked up as Luna drifted over to them and deposited herself in the third chair. She just smiled at him when he looked at her curiously.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"No," Neville smiled. He liked Luna. She'd always been a bit of an outcast. Like him. Unlike him, she seemed to be happy being in her own little world. When Luna didn't say anything more, Neville turned his attention back to Ginny, who was looking bemused by the blonde.

"Have you noticed something… something, between Harry and Draco?" Ginny inquired of him as she looked away from Luna.

Neville smirked at that. "Yeah. They're not as sneaky as they think they are."

Ginny grinned, "Ha! I thought so! They're cute together, aren't they?"

Neville shrugged. If they were happy together, then he was happy for them, but personally, he was a bit too straight to call them "cute". "Lucius isn't going to be happy though," he pointed out. "It's a bit ominous for the future of the Malfoy House, if Draco's bent and admitting it."

Ginny waved off his concern, which he didn't find too surprising given how… unconventional her family tended to be. "There are ways around that. Plenty of purebloods have found themselves unable to conceive and gone with surrogates."

"Yeah, but only after the traditional ways have failed. It's almost unheard of, their circumstance. I don't think the Potters or the Malfoys have ever been openly gay until at least one suitable heir was produced."

"Sure, but Harry's hardly your average anything, is he? I think he's pretty much writing his own rules from this point on. Who knows? In a hundred years, their situation might even be common."

Neville's brow rose at that idea. It was hard to imagine, but if anyone could rewrite the rules of pureblood propriety, it would be Harry. "He's always made his own rules, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, and that was before he was throwing around the Killing Curse like a party favor," she huffed. "Can you even imagine what Hogwarts is going to be like this year? Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy dating. Severus being nice to Gryffindors. You standing up for yourself, and Harry walking around like he owns the school. Merlin, I'll bet Hermione even gets a detention this year!"

Neville chuckled quietly. "Not to mention that I think Harry's going to give Hermione and Draco a run for smartest student in our year. You heard what he said at breakfast. Dumbledore didn't want him to be smart? I have a feeling that he had some compulsions on him too."

"It would definitely explain his badass new outlook on life," Ginny nodded. "I like the new Harry."

"Except when he gets angry," Neville pointed out.

"Oh, he's freaking scary when he gets mad," Ginny agreed, "but he's got this presence now. Confidence. You just want to follow him, don't you? He just seems so much stronger and smarter and wiser that it just seems right that he's in charge. It's really impressive for a sixteen-year-old."

"Fifteen," Neville corrected. "We won't be sixteen for another five days."

"Oh right. I forget that you guys are young for your class, like me. I'll be fifteen in a little over two weeks."

"Do you think we should do anything?" Neville wondered. "For Harry's birthday, I mean? I don't know if he'd want a party or gifts or… I mean… Hm. We should talk to Draco about using some of his owls to order a gift."

Ginny nodded, "I'm sure he won't mind. It's for Harry, after all."

Neville nodded.

"I'm throwing a surprise party."

Neville flinched. He'd forgotten Luna was there. He looked at her curiously. "For Harry?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure he'll like that?"

She just nodded again.

"What are you planning?" Ginny wondered.

The dreaminess abruptly vanished from Luna's eyes as she leaned forward with a slightly disturbing smirk. "Okay, so here's the plan, but you can't let Harry find out…"

x_x…H_P...x_x

By the time dinner rolled around, I was exhausted. Severus and I had worked on occlumency straight through lunch, alternating between meditation exercises to help me get started on creating my mindscape and listening to him lecture on various occlumentic techniques. My brain was feeling a little soggy and all I wanted to do was curl up with Draco and pass out until morning. Of course, I couldn't. Because being a Dark Lord was way more work than anyone realized. Between managing minions and plotting nefarious schemes, there were things like studying, and managing your insanity to keep it at an acceptable level. And studying.

Well, admittedly, most Dark Lords probably didn't have to worry about passing their NEWTs, but I very much doubted that even Voldemort – before losing his mind completely – had ever stopped learning new things. You couldn't. Because no matter how much raw power you had, if you didn't know how to manipulate it right, then you weren't going to ever force the world into your idea of what it should be, which seemed to pretty much be the purview of dark lords everywhere. And magic wasn't the only thing I needed to learn about. There was a ton that I needed to learn about the world. I still didn't know how the Wizengamot actually functioned, nor anything more than the most basic wizarding laws.

I needed a time-turner, because there really weren't enough hours in the day to do everything that I needed to do. Hm. I needed an Unspeakable. I'd have to talk to Lucius about that after he'd gotten my Defense professor. Maybe he knew someone who knew someone or some such.

My eyes swept the dining table as I entered the room. Severus and Draco remained seated on either side of me with Lucius at the foot, flanked by Narcissa and Luna. Everyone was present tonight. Even Fred and George were present. I highly suspected that their appreciation of the food served by the Malfoy house-elves might have had more of an impact on their attendance than I did.

Draco gave me a small smile as I took my seat next to him and I returned it. Gabby arrived to serve the meal as soon as I was seated, and quiet conversation stirred through the room throughout the meal, but I didn't broach any important discussions. That could wait until we were done eating.

I eavesdropped around the table while I was eating. I'd discovered another nifty trick of my magic. I had only to focus on anyone within my sight and wish to hear them and it was so, no matter how quietly they were speaking. Even if they were behind a silencing ward, actually. Handy, that.

Hermione and Severus were quietly discussing old Wizengamot cases that sounded like they were related to the Creature Rights bill that Hermione was working on. I made a mental note to talk to Hermione about tutoring me on the Wizengamot when we both had the time. Maybe after we went back to Hogwarts.

Fred and George were deep in a discussion about some new invention, which explained why they were being less obnoxious than usual.

Lucius was eating silently for the most part, speaking only when propriety demanded that he reply to a direct question Luna was asking him, though the Ravenclaw was mostly speaking with Narcissa. She seemed to be grilling the pair of them on their family histories and traditions, though in her own slightly mad way.

Neville and Ginny seemed to be talking about who at school we might be able to recruit to the Vanguard. I made a mental note there to bring that up with them later. From the sound of it, they might be instrumental in helping me to recruit when we got back to Hogwarts.

Ron and Remus were each lost in their own books.

Draco…

I smiled when I found that he seemed to be watching me. His foot pressed against mine under the table, and then slowly worked its way up my calf before moving back down. He lifted an eyebrow at me almost challengingly. I made yet another mental note. This one to see him suitably punished for that tonight. He wasn't too old to spank.

The meal was completed shortly and the dishes sent to the kitchen. Everyone turned to look at me then, the two bookworms finally emerging from the pages of their books – though it was still a bit strange that Ron was part of that particular group.

"Okay, first, does anyone have any concerns to address?"

Hermione hesitantly raised her hand.

I nodded to her.

She lowered her hand and cleared her throat. "Um. I was just wondering. That… ah… mark that you gave Rita. What does it do?"

"Oh," I blinked. I should have realized that Hermione would be dying of curiosity about that. "Well, obviously it was inspired by Voldemort's mark," I admitted. "Of course, it's a bit different. It's got a few purposes. First, it will remind her of whom she serves. If she so much as seriously considers betraying me, she'll feel a pain. If she actually attempts to do so, it will be considerably more severe. And, like an Unbreakable Vow, if she actually does betray me, she will die.

"I can also use it to find out information about her. Her health, emotional state, and location, and I can use it like a portkey to bring her to me at any time – or to bring myself to her, actually. It's designed so that she will always be able to see and feel it, but no one else can unless I want them to. I'm planning to use it in place of the Vow from now on."

"You don't think that's… a little invasive?" Hermione asked curiously.

I lifted an eyebrow at her and smirked a little. Trust Hermione to keep an eye on my moral compass. "No," I answered simply.

"But… Well, I'm not saying that Rita doesn't deserve – or even warrant – that kind of supervision, but you're kind of eliminating her privacy pretty effectively," she pointed out.

I shrugged, "Perhaps, but it's not like I'm monitoring it all the time. Also, you should consider that it's not only effective for spying on her. If she was ever hurt or in danger, I could use it to bring her to safety or go to her to defend her."

Hermione blinked and frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose that's true," she admitted.

"Was that all?" I wondered.

She focused on me again. "Oh. Well. How does the magic in the mark work?"

I sighed, then shook my head, "I… honestly don't know," I admitted. "The next time I mark someone, you can examine the magic and try to figure it out if you want."

She nodded eagerly.

I smiled fondly and turned my eyes down the table. "Anything else?" I asked the room at large.

"We have a question," Fred spoke up from his place next to Hermione.

I lifted my eyebrows inquiringly at him.

It was George who answered, "Can we get those marks?"

I chuckled. Trust them to have the exact opposite impression as Hermione.

"What?!" Hermione asked immediately.

Fred shrugged, "We don't understand the concept of privacy anyway."

"Too right," George agreed. "Highly overrated, it is."

"So."

"How about it?"

"Of course," I smiled. "Come down here. I should be able to work them right into the vows you've already taken, so they don't make it any more strict."

Grinning like a pair of loons, the two of them bounded around the table while I turned my chair to face them. I took one of their wrists in each of mine and let my eyes unfocus while I searched out the threads that connected us through their vows. It only took a few seconds before I saw the blazing red cords bloom to life. I then called on the serpents that had helped me with Rita, ignoring the twins' twin exclamations of "wicked!" when the snakes began slithering around their wrists. The two tiny snakes eyed each other briefly before swallowing down their tails.

I drew on my magic more deeply and concentrated on pressing my will into the forming marks so that they would function the way I wanted. I strongly suspected that Hermione would have a fit if she ever found out that I was working this kind of magic on willpower alone.

Each snake was wrapped in the red cord of the Unbreakable Vow as they sank down into the skin, and I sighed tiredly as the magic finally settled. That was exhausting. I made a mental note to never try to do more than two of those in the same day as strenuous occlumency practice.

I blinked and focused on the twins again. They were currently comparing tattoos excitedly. I held out my hands again. "Give."

They both hastily returned their hands to mine. I took a deep breath and blew it out with a gentle caress of magic to ghost over the head of each snake tattoo. The scales shimmered and fell still again.

"What was that?" George inquired.

"They are now invisible to everyone except for me and anyone else who bears the mark."

"Wicked," they chanted in unison again, then Fred shoved his wrist in front of Severus. "Can you see it?" he demanded.

Severus glared at it a moment. "I can see your hand," he said in a clipped, irritated tone. "If you do not remove it from my face, it will cease to be attached to your arm."

Fred jerked his hand back quickly and cuddled it against his chest, muttering apologies and reassurances to his tattoo while he stroked the scales, which would feel like real snake scales to him.

I shook my head at the pair of them and turned my attention down to Lucius. "Any progress on the Defense professor?" I inquired.

"Yes," he answered, which was a pleasant surprise. "I believe I've located a suitable candidate. If you would like to accompany me to my study, my Lord, I can show you what I have."

"Great," I grinned. "Let's not waste any time, then."

The walk to Lucius' study was made in silence, and he wasted no time in locating a file folder and passing it across his desk to me once we were secured inside.

I opened it and located the name at the top. "Austeria Evingar?" I asked with surprise. I'd been expecting a man for some reason. Well, probably because all of my previous Defense teachers had been men. And I was not counting Umbridge, since I respected the female gender too much.

He nodded. "She prefers to go by Blake, a nickname that she acquired in her first year at Hogwarts."

I nodded thoughtfully. Austeria was a bit of an awkward name. A bit better than Nymphadora, in my opinion, but it did make me think of a stuffy old crone – Madam Pince came to mind. Assuming that she wasn't a stuffy old crone, I didn't blame her for going with a nickname. Even if "Blake" seemed a bit unusual for a woman.

I looked over the file. She had a Defense mastery and a Potions mastery, evidently. That was impressive. She didn't seem to have ever worked full time as a teacher, but she'd worked on and off in both Defense and Potions at the Salem institute over the last eight years, filling in whenever the regular professor needed time off. She was apparently a pureblood widow of a pureblood, which meant the less than totally nonbiased Board of Governors would approve.

A mastery, teaching experience, and a pureblood. Dumbledore couldn't keep her out if he wanted to.

"Looks good," I approved. "So tell me about her. How do you know her? Is she Dark or Light? Will she follow me?" I slid into the chair in front of his desk while he poured a glass of wine for himself and silently offered one to me, which I accepted with a nod.

"She will be arriving tomorrow by international portkey," he supplied as he sat down. "She has agreed to meet with you, and I don't imagine that she will be able to refuse you once she's met you."

x_x…B_E...x_x

Blake sighed as she did a mental inventory of her packing to be sure she hadn't missed anything. Damn Lucius. She never should have accepted that floo call. Britain. She'd spent the last fifteen years avoiding it for a reason. That bastard was far too persuasive for his own good. He really was. If this turned out to be as large a mistake as she feared, she was going to make sure that his heir was cursed sterile before she left.

"Mom? What ar- AH! Damn it!"

Blake chuckled quietly while she listened to her son pulling himself off the floor. Rowan and his brother Edison had graduated from the Salem Institute last spring and were soon to be off to University. It was difficult to believe that it had been so long…

"Where the hell did that come from?!"

"You need to be more mindful of your surroundings, Rowan," she chided, turning to lean against her desk so that she was facing him.

"I need to stop trying to come into your office," he grumbled. "It's darker than sin in here!"

"You rely too heavily on your sense of sight."

"What can I say? You should have blinded me when I was a baby," he muttered darkly.

"I'll keep that in mind for my grandchildren."

"Hey!" he replied indignantly. "Do me a favor and don't let Anita here you talking like that. She finds you creepy enough as it is."

Blake smiled with satisfaction at that. "I always did credit her intelligence. Now, did you want something other than to amuse me with your clumsiness?"

He sighed and Blake watched curiously as his aura churned with uneasiness. "Are you sure about this? You hate Britain. Besides, the Defense post at Hogwarts is supposed to be cursed. You're not usually so fond of tempting Fate."

She shrugged. "Lucius made a compelling argument."

"You mentioned that. Are you going to tell me what the argument was?"

"Another powerful entity is rising in Britain," she said thoughtfully. "Perhaps more powerful than Voldemort ever was. This is an opportunity to endear myself, and through me, you and your brother, to one who may one day hold all of our fates in his hands, Rowan. You don't pass up an opportunity like that out of hand."

"He's in Britain," Rowan ventured uncertainly. "You honestly think he might be powerful enough to affect us in America?"

"Lucius does. He seemed equally awed and terrified when he spoke of his new master. He seemed almost… disdainful of Voldemort when I mentioned him, and he spoke the former Dark Lord's name, a thing I had never known him to do, even after his first fall. That tells me that he is convinced his new lord is significantly more powerful."

"Awed and terrified. That sounds like someone that you want to get to know, huh?"

Blake turned a mild scowl on her son. "I've taught you better than that, boy. Maintaining our distance from Voldemort did not prevent your father from being killed by his Death Eaters in a random attack. I am not saying that I think we should have followed him," she added when his aura turned stubborn and incredulous. "I am merely saying that people with power like that cannot always be avoided. If I must face him eventually, I would rather do so while I have something to offer him. If he is half what Lucius claims, it shall be worth it."

"Mom, you've never bowed to anyone. I can't…" he sighed, distressed. "It turns my stomach to think of you like that."

"There are more important things than pride, my son," she admonished quietly. "This family is nearly extinct. Between my aunt's eloping with that awful muggle and getting herself disowned, and your father's death before you were even born, two of the greatest ancient lines hang by a thread. If this new lord is truly more powerful than Voldemort, our family may well one day perish or flourish on his whim. I will do what I must to ensure our survival."

Rowan sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair, which made her roll her eyes in exasperation. She'd never been able to break him of that nervous habit. "Fine, but if he harms you, mother, I don't care if it does destroy our family. I will devote the rest of my life to destroying him," he said fervently.

"If you must, I don't imagine that I'll be able to stop you from beyond the grave," she said regretfully. "Just do me a favor and have a child or two before you do anything too stupid."

She watched his aura turn grudgingly wry in response. "I love you too, mom."

"Good boy," she smirked. "Now go find your brother. My portkey leaves in five minutes."

She felt him drift out of her study – without tripping on anything this time – and she took a moment to just appreciate her surroundings. Fourteen years she'd lived in this house. It had become her sanctuary. Leaving it felt nearly as wrong as leaving her sons. Of course, they were off to University in a month anyway. The timing of Lucius' call could not have been any better. She literally had nothing holding her in America anymore. The boys were going to University in Europe anyway, so she'd actually be closer to them.

She only permitted herself another minute of reminiscing before turning her attention to her departure. Tapping her nails against the top of her desk, she listened carefully to the way the sound moved around her, picking out the shapes of her bags, and began shrinking them all and tucking them into her pockets.

She'd been born blind – an extremely rare occurrence in a magical child. Not that it had ever been a handicap for her, since she'd also been born with an instinctive sense of echolocation. She'd been three before anyone had even realized that she was blind. That was when her father had bought Tia, her familiar. Thanks to an ancient spell from the family grimoire, she'd been given the ability to see through Tia's eyes. It was invaluable in reading print and picking out clothes that matched, but of course Tia could not see in the dark, being a bird.

With that in mind, she turned her wand toward the window, throwing back the curtains and opening the pane at once, then she lifted the suppression wards around her office that prevented light – magical or mundane – from entering it. That was a particularly useful kill she'd acquired in school. She was guaranteed the advantage in any situation if she ensured that those accustomed to relying on their vision were deprived of it.

Her bond with Tia allowed her to call her soundlessly, and she soon heard the distinctive sound of wind rushing around wings as the Merlin swept into the room, alighting on her shoulder. She stroked her familiar fondly for a moment until she both heard and felt Rowan return with Edison. With only about two minutes left before her portkey activated, she hugged them both quickly and they reaffirmed their promises to write frequently. Then she picked up the little skeleton key that she'd acquired at the Ministry earlier in the week.

Lucius was expecting her in the morning. So, of course, she was going today. She was not going to walk into this situation unprepared. By the time she met Lucius and his new lord tomorrow, she'd have secured her safe house and explored the local political climate in more detail than she'd been able to do from overseas in the little time she'd had to prepare.

The tugging sensation behind her navel came right on time, and she kept a firm hold on Tia as she was whisked away to Britain for the first time in fifteen years.

A/N: As always, thank you so much for the beautiful reviews. You guys rock. They are wonderful inspiration for me to keep working on this story, even when I don't particularly feel like it.