Chapter 1

Jean Grey shook her head softly as she gazed at the buildings that surrounded her. Even in the city proper there were still so many signs of the history that had carved itself upon the city. Not the least of which was the winding roadways.

The susurrus of surface thoughts hovered at the edge of her attention but for now her own mind was focused on the trouble brewing back home. She'd been willfully blind to the situation with Duncan. As soon as she'd let herself hear them there were more than a few people whose surface thoughts gave away what an asshole he was. Most of those people hadn't been bitter like she'd always comforted herself, but rather concerned for her.

To put it simply Duncan hadn't been the only one being an ass and she knew it. It had just been so much easier to pretend. To pretend to be blind to Scott's affections, to pretend not to see Duncan's horrible character. As soon as this trip ended she'd be stuck, and the blind act wouldn't last. The revelation of their powers was not making any of it any easier.

A sudden shift in thoughts caught her attention. The mind in question was a bartender's. He was attempting to rationalize to himself why he had just served a teenage girl hard liquor. It had the feel of a mind that had been clumsily tampered with.

Jean quickly found the mind of the girl that was probably responsible. It wasn't exactly hard. Once she cut through the immense grief and bitterness that the girl wore as a shield she was practically screaming her thoughts.

'Not old enough to drink but old enough to fight a basilisk! Don't worry, old bastard says, be a kid, old bastard says… What about Sirius!? If I'd been faster… If I'd just known… Fucking bastards all of them.' There were parts of the monologue that she couldn't really make sense of. The girl's frame of reference was just too foreign for her to understand the references. Still she more or less got the gist of it.

With a sigh she ducked into the bar. Chances were the girl was a mutant and if she just left her alone with a latent mind control gift things could get messy. It was easy enough to find the girl with wild midnight black hair. If not for her angry expression than for the pint of whiskey she was putting away like water.

Jean grimaced and slid up next to the girl. "Hello." She put on her best smile. The girl turned to her with an annoyed expression but paused and blushed when she saw Jean's face. She couldn't help a small giggle as she herd the girl's transmitted thoughts turn into mush and adoration.

"Hi." The girl finally responded with a cute blush.

"My name is Jean, Jean Grey." Jean told her.

"Sam. Sam Potter in point of fact. Just don't spread it around." Sam told her. 'Not that anyone will notice anything else once they get a good look at the scar.'

Jean had to call on all her willpower not to look directly at the scar the girl had just thought about. She had the feeling it wouldn't earn her any points to do so. "I'm just visiting, playing tourist. Have you been in London long?"

Sam laughed but it was hard and bitter. "Of course not, Jean. The old bastard wouldn't like his precious Sammy Potter walking around somewhere dangerous like… well anywhere really… without his holding her leash. And poor little Sammy Potter is such a good little girl she'd never even think of telling the old bastard where to shove it. So no, not long at all."

Jean didn't need to see the girl's surface thoughts to know it wasn't so much exaggeration as metaphor. It was going to be hard convincing the girl to have a serious, sober discussion. "So, do you play any Soc… Umm, Football. I play on my high school team back in the states but I hear it's a lot bigger over here."

"Hmm, no, can't say I have. Not that it doesn't sound fun." Sam replied and took another swig of her whiskey. "Personally I hate sports… but I kind of love 'em too. I make that perfect catch, win the game all in one fell swoop and… It's magic. Real magic. And I know it's for me you know. For that moment everyone sees me and what I did."

Jean wasn't sure how to interpret the images of flying and broomsticks that accompanied those thoughts, but she recognized the emotions. It was the same things she felt when she scored a goal for her team. That one moment where it didn't matter she was a mutant. Nobody was impressed with her powers or her popularity or her mind, they praised her because of what she'd done, not who or what she was.

"I know what you mean." Was all she could really say.

Suddenly Sam was on her feet and dragging Jean behind her. "Come on! We're going to find somewhere we can gamble and we're going to go broke!"

"We are?" Jean asked as she was dragged along by the surprisingly strong girl.

"Absolutely! Just you and me and our knickers!" Sam cackled as they picked up speed out on the street.

Jean barely opened her eyes when the body she was holding stirred. She was so warm and the feel of her bed partner's flesh was positively scrumptious. Of course the girl's rather loud thoughts were making it a bit hard to settle back into slumber.

'Where am I? Who is that?' The black haired girl shook herself slightly. 'My head hurts…'

Jean sighed and plucked a few memories of the night before from Sam's perspective from her mind. With a bit of focus she easily showed them to Sam to guide her back to her own memories of the night. "Jean... We… Umm, that is to say… Please don't hurt me?" Sam was rather cutely embarrassed, though sadly apparently used to a lot of negative feedback.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Sam." Jean told her. "In fact, I'm rather looking forward to doing that again. Trust me we are doing that again."

'Oh god. Too sexy.' Sam thought but said aloud, "I think I remember some of it but I'm still a little fuzzy on how we wound up here."

Jean smirked at the naked girl and took a second to just enjoy the way her breathing made her breasts heave. Then finally she used one finger to trace the surface of the platinum domino necklace she was wearing. "You decided that it would be good to hit that little casino and lose all your money. It was going exactly as planned until you actually bet this necklace… Anyways, after that the plan utterly failed. You positively cleaned up and got us the penthouse suite comped as part of the payment."

"After I got you alone I asked you about mutants and you confused me with drunken ramblings about witches. Once I was sure we wouldn't get anywhere I asked if I could scan your mind and you agreed. During the scan… Well I guess you could say we bonded. Right now I'm keeping it silent so it doesn't overwhelm you, but from now on our minds are intimately connected." Jean told her.

Sam paused for a moment and then nodded. "I'm sorry."

Jean frowned, "For what?"

Sam shook her head. "I can't imagine my mind is a very nice place to be lately…"

Jean sighed and sat up. She greatly enjoyed the mental and physical gasp Sam gave at seeing her body. "That's a silly thing to think about your own mind. Personally I quite like your mind. Safe and warm, perhaps not as bright as some but it has a dark beauty to it, just like you." Jean pushed her own feelings about the girl's physical attractiveness to her through the bond.

Sam blushed. "That's… I mean that's just so…" Then she grimaced. "What about Voldemort? I'm connected to him. That can't be pleasant."

Jean waved her hand. "We cleaned that crap off of your soul right away. You shouldn't have had to live with that."

Sam looked confused. "How much of last night am I missing?"

"Almost all of it. There was a lot that happened. But in order for me to show it to you I'm going to have to open up our bond… For now it's going to be hard keeping ourselves separate." Jean warned her.

Sam took a deep breath and readied her mind as best she could. "Okay I'm read—"

The ringing of Jean's cell-phone interrupted them. Sam groaned and threw herself back on the bed while Jean giggled. The redhead walked over to her pants with a purposeful sway in her hips that teased scrumptious waves of lust from her lover. With a bit of sensual flourish she pulled the phone out of the pocket and accepted the call. "Hello Professor."

"Jean, Cerebro registered the activation of a new mutant in your area. A Samantha Rose Potter of Number Four Privet Drive, in Surrey. I was hoping I could convince you to make a slight detour to meet with her." Professor Xavier said.

"Sure, Professor. I'll make sure she knows all about the institute. Are you going to be coming over yourself?" Jean asked.

"Of course." He replied. "I'll be there tomorrow morning at the earliest."

"Tell you what, Professor. How about I see if I can't convince Samantha to meet you for lunch in London, then." She offered.

"If you feel that's best. I look forward to it then." Professor Xavier said and hung up.

"We have a lunch date with Xavier tomorrow," Jean reported to Samantha. She walked back over to the bed and took a seat facing her lover. Her hand caressed the girl's cheek. "I think we can wait to experience the full bond again. We have time… I won't leave you. Not just can't, won't. It may be new, but I know… I love you Sam. I love you."

Sam looked near tears. Jean opened their connection just enough to share her feelings of love through it. That broke the floodgate completely and Sam burst into tears. Jean gathered her in close and held her head to her chest.

"You're right, last night can wait. We need to go to the goblins so I can transfer some money to the states," Sam said quietly after crying herself out.

"You're certain?" Jean asked.

"Yes. I'm through with Britain. Let them save themselves for once." Sam said. "I'm going to be with you. That's what's important now."

Jean paused halfway up the stairs to the marble building. A part of her wanted to growl at the unkind things the people around her were thinking of Sam, but another part just wanted to appreciate the wonder of such a grand building.

"I know." Sam said taking her hand. "Before we get in there though I want to make some things clear. Goblins are not humans. Now hear me out… Mutants are still human. Witches and Wizards are still humans. We may be different but fundamentally we are still human. Goblins are not. If you try and walk there thinking of them as humans and treating them as humans you'll be just as disrespectful to them as the arrogant arses that treat them like slaves."

"Goblins are hard and often cruel. They believe life is a test of your cunning and ruthlessness. When you enter a goblin bank it's a battle of words and contracts. They are almost physically incapable of breaking a contract unless they know the other side has already broken it, but that just means they have a lot of experience in navigating the murky waters of loop holes and technicalities." Sam told her. "Even if you learn their language, never give a goblin a greeting they use with each other. What is acceptable within the clan is a grievous insult from an outsider. Show respect, but never show fear."

Sam smirked, "Oh, and never take legal advice from a Goblin. They'll tell you the truth, but rarely the whole truth."

Jean could only nod and follow her lover into the building. A part of her desperately wanted to gawk at the diminutive creatures, but with a force of will she kept her eyes on Sam's back instead. She couldn't help a slight smile when her eyes came to rest on the girl's shapely rear though.

"I'd like to speak to the Potter and Black accounts managers, please." Sam told the teller she'd marched up to.

The goblin took an annoyed sniff but pressed a few buttons on his stand. "Take a seat." The goblin ordered with disdain.

"We'll stand." Sam replied but moved them to the general area of the seat anyways. In the silence that followed Sam started speaking, "At Hogwarts they have a history class that has given me six years of fucking goblin on wizard violence and it wasn't until I had access to my godfather's library that I learned the first damn thing about actually dealing with them on a daily basis."

"That seems kind of disappointing." Jean replied. "I mean it's not like mundane schooling doesn't have similar problems, but that's pretty bad. I'd have expected that much history to include at least something about their culture."

"There are no secondary schools except maybe Auror training. Everything else is based on apprenticeships." Sam shook her head. "According to Hermione's parents, it's university that really teaches critical thinking skills. It's kind of obvious the magical world is missing that quality."

"The managers will see you now. If you'll follow me." A somewhat younger seeming goblin told them from an open doorway.

"Of course." Sam said and walked after the goblin practically pulling Jean along after her. Jean would have objected but she could feel the nerves radiating from her lover. Instead she gripped back and tried to project a bit of reassurance past the shield silencing their bond.

"Ah, Ms. Potter, my name is Hooksnit manager of the Potter account and this is Grimshack manager of the Black account. What can my colleague and I do for you and the Most Ancient and Noble Houses Potter and Black today?" A particularly gnarled goblin asked as they entered a rather posh office.

"I need about eighty percent of my trust vault moved to American dollars and banks. Those banks must have major branches in or around New York City." Sam told them.

"You may only remove a maximum of ten thousand galleons per year from your trust vault." Hooksnit replied.

"Then you will transfer all that remains of this year's limit to seed the accounts. I'll also want a plan by the end of the month for moving the remainder next year after reaching my majority." Sam told him.

"Ah. So you are quite serious about moving closer to your mistress then." Hooksnit said gaining a narrow eyed glare from Sam. "If you were to perhaps marry the girl than you would be immediately emancipated to act as Lord Potter and Black with her as your Lady… Potter of course, the Black family charter would not allow her to become Lady Black."

"Perhaps. It is a cunning suggestion." Sam replied but didn't follow the train of thought. "I am aware that I cannot access the family vaults however I would like a full audit of both accounts. Jean…" Sam turned and accepted a business card from Jean. "It should be sent care of the Xavier Institute. They shall ensure it reaches me. I suspect this will take you some time, but I fully expect the audits completed by New Year's Eve."

"That is acceptable for the Potter Account." Hooksnit said.

"While that is acceptable for the Black Account in general, I am curious if you wish an audit of the vaults of those that have sworn fealty or signed subordinations contracts with House Black?" Grimshack asked.

"I would like a list of those vaults. However I will eventually audit those vaults myself rather than waste your precious time, Manager Grimshack." Sam told them. "Now do either of you have outstanding business for me?"

Both managers shook their head negative. "No, Ms. Potter. If you are done then this meeting can be adjourned." Hooksnit replied.

"Yes, I am quite satisfied. Good day." Sam told them and turned to follow their escort back out to the lobby. It wasn't until they had left the bank entirely that Sam allowed herself to shake from overworked nerves. "Oh god that was tense."

Jean put her arm around her and pulled her close. Still she had her own insecurity she needed to get out. "You were pretty quick to dismiss marriage in there."

Sam looked at Jean for a moment then lowered her eyes. "Oh… If you want to, we probably can. Just… There's a chance it may not be what you'd expect. While I'm sure it will emancipate me like they said, there's no much telling how much else it would do. We could easily run afoul of a dozen ministry laws or orders. The Potter and Black accounts are enormous, if they thought a bit of 'free legal advice' could get them defaulted into goblin possession they wouldn't hesitate a moment."

Jean nodded and smiled. "I'm sorry for doubting you. You're right, you need to be careful."

"Actually, being careful doesn't mean dismissing it out of hand. I'd really like to find a solicitor to talk about it, but that could be rather hard. I'd need my guardian there even just to talk about it. I don't… I don't trust any of my guardians." Sam said quietly.

"Well Xavier will be here tomorrow. We could try from my side instead." Jean offered.

Sam looked sad, "Muggles don't have any rights in magical…" She stopped and suddenly broke out into a huge grin, "But you also don't figure into our rules in general! You wouldn't even need a guardian to talk to a solicitor and so long as we don't bring me up by name, we can get a full consultation right now!"

Jean paused and then grinned. "Alright, let's do it."

"Come on, I'm pretty sure there's a solicitor's office over this way!" Sam dragged her lover along.

Hardison Bell crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. It had always been easy to get Hardison to admit that he didn't know everything but he was certainly no fool. When a muggle girl accompanied none other than Samantha Potter into his firm and then met with him alone to ask endless questions about the legalities of marrying an under-age heiress he put two and two together. He'd even noticed that her questions would change and sharpen with time. It was a safe bet the pair had some way of communicating with each other.

"If you ran into it blind I don't expect you'd keep the family's fortune, sadly enough. There is however an option. An extreme option, mind you, but it would allow your marriage while protecting you from any legal repercussions." Hardison told her. "Without this, even if current laws allowed your marriage the Wizengamot would just write a whole new bill to destroy you."

"I see." Jean said. "And this option would be?"

Hardison couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face. "Well you see pureblood males have developed a nasty habit of going sterile over the years. For that reason some enterprising potions mistress managed to create a potion that would, if applied properly mind you, impregnate a woman using blood rather than sperm."

Jean blinked and then blushed completely red. "Are you saying I would need to… To conceive her child before…"

"Afraid so." Hardison told her. "Once you've got an heir on the way the Wizengamot can't muck around. Laws against tampering with pureblood lines are about as hard as they come." He shook his head sadly, "It's unfortunate the potion is such a recent invention. A few centuries back there wasn't so much prejudice against this sort of thing amongst magicals. The purebloods finally stamped that out in their rush to make all women whores and all their bastards lords of minor houses."

"And if we just waited for a few years? Would that make any difference?" Jean asked.

"Yes and no. If you waited for your blushing bride to be to naturally inherit there'd be less chance of losing the money certainly. But they could still use inheritance laws against you to take away the lordships and the ancestral manors. Probably award them to some third or fourth cousin. Actually from what I've heard there is a certain heiress to an ancient and noble house that may find themselves on the wrong side of the Wizengamot if they don't get at least a betrothal in the works soon." Hardison gave her a hard look to make sure his warning was understood.

"Beyond that… Well, the return of That-Evil-Git is the talk of the town. It may not be ideal but now is the time for whirlwind romances. It's difficult to say who might still be around tomorrow or where things are going to fall out with the ministry over the next few years. Time was the Ancient and Nobles ran things and everyone else fell in line. Nowadays the not so ancient and arguably noble houses are piling on the death-eater wagon while all of the great old families are reduced to a few underage school kids at most."

"Tell you what. You get your lady love to 'acquire' the potion in question and I can get a trusted medwitch to test for conception and proof of lineage a month later. A month of patience and we'll have you legally married, out of the country and with a proper heir on the way." Hardison offered.

Jean was silent for a long moment. Hardison was more certain than ever that they were capable of communicating at this point. Finally the redhead nodded with a determined set to her jaw. "Please do contact the medwitch in question, Mr. Bell. We expect to make use of the potion tonight."

Hardison Bell crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

Jean stared at the potion that Sam was rather casually holding her bleeding hand over. "According to the Potions Mistress I got this from we will need to ahhh consummate the act to ensure the potion takes hold. It also has to be applied directly and you'll want some lead up to that." Sam told her.

The redhead shook her head. "I really thought I would be fighting this tooth and nail. I can't think of anyone back home who would ever expect me to do anything like this. Straight A honor student, plans it all and never throws wild parties…"

"But you're not." Sam pointed out. The link was being held partway open to help them adjust to it. If Jean had an objection Sam would have been able to feel it.

"No. No I'm not." Jean agreed.

Sam gave her an encouraging smile. She picked up her wand and cast a simple healing charm to close her cut. "The potion needs to set for a bit. I think we could use a shower…"

AND THEN THERE WAS ADULT STUFF BETWEEN OLDER ADOLESCENTS!

Jean snuggled close to her lover. Their minds were slowly disconnecting and settling back to their own bodies. It took a bit more effort than she liked but she quickly raised a thin shield over their connection for when they woke. She passed into slumber only seconds later.

A/N: Don't feel like messing with the story for such a small technical detail, so here it is. The potion when used as intended will essentially remain in effect until the woman ovulates so there is no need to specifically plan when to use it. The important timeframes are brewing till copulation, outside of that it's a very flexible and forgiving potion.