Going Home
Hogwarts Castle located in the Highlands of Scotland just witnessed the end of the Second Wizarding War against Tom Marvolo Riddle. With their leader dead the Death Eaters did one of two things, they decided to flee from the Aurors or turned themselves in because they were forced to do that madman’s bidding. Some of them were so weighed down by his control that they passed out when he was truthfully dead.. Heleana Grimes, born as Harriet Potter breathed heavily staring at where her nemesis body laid in the dirt from his defeat. Cheers went up all around her, but her only thought was to go home, home to America, to a town named Cynthiana, Kentucky. She’s going to visit her parents then head to King County, Georgia where she’s going to visit her brother and his family along with Shane Walsh, his best friend. She missed her family and now that her destiny had been fulfilled she was done with the British Wizarding World. She’s already been in touch with MACUSA and they have sent her everything she needs to return home by way of the Goblins..
She’s already spoken to Gringotts bank and everything that she owns has been sent to a secure residence that she has in America that was owned by the Potter family, and she can access her vaults from the branches in the United States. She has made a few friends here and will miss them, but she will be glad to get home to her family. A soft smile crosses her face when she remembers the day she got her new family.
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Uncle Vernon got a promotion from his job, but the only thing is that they had to move to Cynthiana, Kentucky because Grunnings was building a new plant and Uncle Vernon was going to be the one to oversee it as their new partner. They moved to their new home and got settled in. She was excited at first thinking that things would be different, but they weren’t. They got worse, without Misses Fig to babysit, she found herself alone when they went somewhere.
Now their new home was right beside the town’s sheriff and his family. They had strange vibes from them, but it wasn’t confirmed until on hot July 31st. Uncle Vernon roughed her up really good for her fifth birthday when she asked about going to a preschool program like Dudley was going to, her uncle told her freaks don’t go to school proceeding to smack and kick her around. Dragging her into the kitchen he tells her to get busy cooking breakfast as Petunia and Dudley join them talking of their plans for the day. Dudley as usual complains about her going and he is reassured that she will not be going with them. Petunia shrieks at her for burning the bacon, grabbing the child's hand and pushing on the stove burning her hand. Vernon roughly grabs her and takes her to a shed out back, throwing her in and locking it before stomping back to the house taking his family out to breakfast instead. As the car pulls away Rick Grimes the sheriff's son comes outside and starts to dribble a basketball waiting for his best friend Shane to come over, his parents both at work, his mom working at the pediatrics office.
She heard the ball bouncing and started to whimper in fear. Rick kept hearing a noise so he stopped bouncing the ball to listen. The more he heard it the closer he got to finding a noise from the new neighbors yard, he thinks they have a dog named Girl. Thinking that the dog knocked over her water or something he went into the backyard and looked around at first he saw nothing and started to leave ,but the whimpers got louder. He went towards the shed and tried to open the door but it was locked. His heart sank when he heard a small voice call out, “I’m sorry Uncle Vernon.”
That kicked him into gear and he ran back to his house to call his dad, but didn’t need to, his dad was pulling in the driveway, Shane in the front seat. Mr. Grimes had stopped him from getting into trouble on his way to their house. Rick grabs his dad and drags him to the shed in the neighbors yard and knocks against the door, the small voice whimpers out again, “Sorry for burning the bacon Aunt Petunia.”
Sheriff Grimes was horrified by what he heard and started to kick at the door breaking it open. What all three men saw left them with nightmares for weeks. There was a little red haired, green dominant hazel eyed girl that was covered in bruises, blood, and crying. Sheriff Grimes went to his patrol car, called everything in, and got a crime scene kit out of it. When he went back over to the Dursley’s yard, Rick and Shane were crouched down making themselves as small as possible and they were gently speaking to her trying to calm her down and find out what happened. Sheriff Grimes did the same, introducing himself and the two teens to her. He told her that he was the town sheriff and that she could trust him.
They kept talking until Rick was able to coax her out and she crawled into his lap and started sobbing, and he just sat there and let her cry herself out. Sheriff Grimes began to process everything outside while they waited for some of his deputies to arrive, one of them to take the little girl to the hospital. Shane was making his way to the pediatrics office to let Mrs. Grimes know what was going on so she could meet them at the hospital. The sheriff started to take pictures of Heleana’s body from where she sat for evidence. When his female deputy arrived at the home he had her take Rick and the girl to the hospital. When they got there, Doctor Grimes was there to meet them.
She didn’t know what happened to the Dursleys after that. The Grimes family was disgusted about how she was treated and that there was no evidence about who she was, she didn’t even know her own name, and the only reason that she knew when her birthday was, was because her relatives used it as a way to show their dislike for her. They didn’t even hesitate and filed for adoption of the sweetest little girl in the world to them and they named her Heleana Skye Grimes. From that point on her life was filled with love and laughter, with an overprotective older brother and his equally protective best friend. For her Rick was the best brother she could ask for even if they were twelve years apart. Shane came in at a very close second, and between the two of them she couldn’t ask for anyone better as brothers.
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Looking around Heleana knows it’s time for her to leave, to pack her bags and go home, so she heads inside the school to get what remains of her personal belongings packed so she can go. As she sits in her room in the Slytherin dorms she thinks back to when she first learned about having magic, and finding out about Hogwarts. Both incidents were very surprising when they happened.
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She was so safe and loved that her accidental magic came out in non protective ways, the flowers were prettier, the food she helped her momma cook always tasted better and more filling. Sometimes it seemed as if a room would light up just because she entered the room. Craig Smith, Tina Grimes partner, is a muggleborn wizard his mother was Modesty Barebone, and his father was a squib named William Smith, his parents told him all about the wizarding world, so when his partner brought in her 6 year old adopted daughter, he could feel the magic in her when she visited his office for a check up, well he invited them over to dinner and tell the family about the world they are now apart of. He explained to them what he knew and offered to go with them to Lofthouse Alley, the local market area for wizards and witches; they could go to Gringotts while they are there to get an account setup for Heleana.
When Craig took them to Lofthouse Alley, they were amazed by what they saw as they made their way to the bank. Once there Craig asked for his account manager Larlok, and once in his account managers office Craig explained the situation to his manager. Larlok explained to the Grimes that he was going to do an inheritance test on Heleana to see if they could find out if she is a muggleborn or has magical parents. When the test was done they were, at least the wizard and goblin were shocked to see who she really was, Lady Harriett Jamie Potter.
Larlok looks at them, “How did you come to adopt Lady Potter?”
Walter looks at the Goblin, “Her relatives moved in beside us a little over a year ago, we didn’t even know that they had a female child with them. My son discovered her one day, thought she was a dog they named girl, but to our horror what we thought was a dog was a badly abused little girl, we didn’t know her name and neither did she, the English government didn’t even have any records for her. My wife and I adopted her after the trials for her family, and we named her Heleana Skye Grimes.”
Larlok, “Abused, the daughter of the savior of the wizarding world…,” takes a deep breath, “just a moment, I need to contact the account manager for Lady Potter’s accounts,” walks out of the room to the floo room that is used between the banks.
Tina looks at her colleague, “Craig what is going on?”
Craig looks at them and launches into the story of Heleana’s birth parents. While he is telling the story Larlok returns with another Goblin and they wait for him to finish.
Heleana looks at Craig, “My parents weren’t useless drunks that died in a car crash leaving me with this scar,” she touches her arm where a lightning bolt is.
Fingott sputters, “Of course not child, who told you that?”
Helena looks at the Goblins, “Petunia Dursley did.”
Fingott, “I see and have the Dursley’s been dealt with.”
Walter nods, “Yes the elder Dursley’s are in prison and the son has now been placed with his father’s sister.”
Rick, “What is wrong?”
Fingott nods, “That is the appropriate question. They are not the only guardians she has, her current magical guardian is Albus Dumbledore, he can come in and remove her from you, but we can circumvent that in one of two ways, we find a magical guardian here in the United States and get her magical citizenship setup since she has a No-Maj one, or we have her petition the British Wizarding Government to get her godfather Sirius Black a trail that he never had.”
Craig looks at Fingott, “He would never be approved to take her not with being around the dementors.”
Heleana looks at them all and rolls her eyes, “How about Dr. Smith becomes my magical guardian, and then after he is established in that role, we work on getting Sirius freed. That way we have a safety net setup first and then we will have a bigger buffer between us and that Dumbledore man.”
Fingott busts out laughing, “Oh how very clever you are, okay let’s get this taken care of,” the two Goblins walk over to the desk and begin to pull out all of the paperwork that is needed.
Walter Grimes was looking over everything about what his daughter inherited at the same time she was Heleana looked up from the paper, “The Dursleys got money to take care of my needs, but they never spent any on me.”
Walter, “Don’t worry we will get everything taken care of.”
Fingott nods, “Yes we will and this is just the beginning.”
Larlok looks at them, “Dr. Smith is now Heleana’s magical guardian.”
Fingott grins, “Good, now as her magical guardian you can give us permission to open the Potter’s will.”
Craig snickers, “You came prepared for this.”
Fingott, “Of course, our family has personally been in charge of Heleana’s families accounts for centuries.”
Craig gives a nod, “Please go ahead and open the Potter’s will, or should we wait for an auror to arrive.”
A female voice is heard, “I am Amelia Bones, and as an auror and a member of the Wizengamot I am ready to hear the wills of James and Lily Potter. I have brought with me the requested individuals that are mentioned in the will at the time it was written in your presence.”
Fingott smiles and begins to read it out loud for all to hear. The first person mentioned was Remy, who looked up when her name was called, they left her several books, some personal items, enough galleons to live an easy life, and a cottage in Scotland. Remy’s eyes water because she felt guilty that they left her all of that and she wasn’t able to protect her cub from harm.
Helena walks over to her and squeezes her hand, “It’s okay Auntie Moony they would forgive you, and I know this because I forgive you. Things happened that were out of our control, but now we have the chance to fix it.”
Remy looks at her and gives her a hug, “Oh cub I am so sorry.”
She smiles and hugs her back, “You’re forgiven, now we need to get back to this, I have a feeling it will change a lot of things.”
Fingott nods and continues reading, other small things left for others here and there. Sirius was left with the responsibility of taking care of Harriett and all of her holdings, along with getting their jokes and some personal items, and James told him to get a move on it and ask Remy to marry him. The last two mentioned were Peter Pettigrew and Albus Dumbledore. They left Peter some money, but if they are murdered by Voldemort Peter was the traitor and would get nothing. Albus Dumbledore was left with nothing, except for a few words he is not to place Harriett with Petunia and Vernon Dursley if something happens to Sirius then she is to be placed with Andromeda Tonks, Sirius’ cousin. He is to never be in any of the vaults that she inherits and is only to take on the role of headmaster and nothing else in her life.
At the end Heleana tilts her head and looks around, “So this Dumbledore man has a lot to answer for, and he needs to be dealt with.”
Tina looks at her daughter and gasps, “Heleana…”
She looks at her mother, “Oh no momma nothing violent, but creative and done in steps.”
Remy laughs out loud, “Okay cub what is going through that mind of yours.”
Helena, “The first step has been completed, Uncle Craig, he’s momma’s coworker, is now my magical guardian. The next step is underway with Miss Bones being here she knows that Uncle Padfoot is innocent and as his heiress I can petition for his trial records. Once he is free and mended we will have a legal double barrier between my family, myself, and Dumbledore. Then it will be just small steps just depending on what we discover.”
Tina looks at Walter and Rick, “I blame you two for that level of cunning at her age.”
The two men smile sheepishly at that. After the reading Craig took the Grimes family and Remy on a tour of Lofthouse Alley, where they picked up some books and magical items for Heleana much to her delight and her family's intrigue. Rick and Heleana got a big kick out of some of the sweets and joke products, buying some to try on Shane. Remy got to know the family that took in her best friend's daughter and how they ended up taking care of her. Remy also Heleana about her parents and Hogwarts the school they all went to, the school that hopefully she would go to, and she reassured the Grimes that it is all paid for. She also got to know Craig as well and the two worked out a tutoring schedule to get her caught up on things that she should know about. The day ended with Walter Grimes letting Remy know that she was welcome to visit anytime and not just for tutoring.
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Poppy walks to the room that Heleana is in and knocks on the door frame, “I have your mastery certificate for being a healer and potions mistress here, and the equivalent for the No-Maj side as well.”
Helena smiles and walks over to her colleague, “Thank you for listening to me and training me with what I wanted to do.”
Poppy smiles and cups her face, “The pleasure is all mine getting to know a wonderful young lady such as yourself, you truly changed our world for the better, you freed us from both Dumbledore and Riddle. You made so many changes that helped us all, giving you the opportunity to do what you wanted to do instead of what others told you that you were supposed to do was the least I could do, I wish I could do more.”
Severus Snape walks in, “I have to agree with you Poppy, now you need to hurry, there is something going on in the non magical world, it hasn’t touched us yet, but whatever it is, the dead are not staying dead, and it is spreading fast.”
Heleana takes two bracelets from her bag and hands them to her mentors, “If you ever need a safe place just say my name and these portkeys will bring you and whoever is with you to my estate in Virginia, I have given one to everyone I care about these are the last two.”
The two take them from her and put them on Severus takes her arm shrinking her belongings and handing them to her , “Now no more time to waste Professor Flitwick is waiting to take you to Gringotts Bank through his floo and then from there you will go to the one in Lofthouse Alley. As I said be careful we don’t know what is going on and we have not had any attacks on anyone magical yet,” she nods as Severus leads her through the school to the charms professor’s office.
Flitwick smiles and takes her hand leading her into the floo. They had to take this precaution because some of those on the Sacred 28 were trying to keep her in England, and they were trying to force her into it through a marriage contract. So they devised a plan to keep her out of it. One part of that was her apprenticeship to Snape and Pomfery. The next was all of the dueling that Flitwick had been teaching her, and any other extra lessons she could take up. On top of that 3 house elves Kreacher, Dobby, and Winky all kept an eye on her food and drink to see to it that she wasn’t potioned. Hogwarts herself even got in on the plans to protect Heleana by keeping unhonorable boys from her and anyone with a marriage contract with them that attempted to enter the school was booted out on their arses. The two traveled by floo to the London branch of Gringotts, Flitwick went back to the school and Heleana flooed to the branch in Lofthouse Alley. They greet her and warn her about the disease that has been spreading amongst the muggles, and that the only way to stop them is to hit the head hard enough to pierce the brain, they have not heard of anyone with magic getting bit so she needs to be careful. She nods and thanks them before leaving the bank and heading to the alley. She throws her invisibility cloak around herself and mounts her broom to fly home.
She found the silence overwhelming as she flew, no cars, no lawnmowers, and no people. It was like this all the way to her parents house, as she descended to the front lawn, she saw the doors to their stow ‘n’ go van open and it looked like it was being packed up. Shane’s parents' car was parked out front of her home. Once she landed, she pulled out her knife, and slowly approached the house ready for anything. The garage door was open so she went in that way, carefully making her way in seeing the door that leads into the house open. Peering around the corner she sees non perishable food stores sitting in bags as if someone was in the middle of packing them, walking further in there is a note for her on the fridge, telling her that Rick had been shot and that they were loading up and heading to where he was at to be with him, Lori, and Carl. Also she should make her way to them as soon as she could and stay away from as many people as possible. She stepped back and bumped into the kitchen island knocking cans over. A hissing moaning noise came from the living room as zombie came from the dining room recognizing it as Shane’s dad, she buried her dagger into his eye, and had to hold back a sob as he slumped to the floor. She stepped over his body and headed into the living room where another zombie quickly set upon her, she drove her dagger into its ear, when this one fell she saw it was Shane’s mom. Checking the rest of the downstairs, she found nothing, and carefully made her way upstairs looking for her parents.
One by one she looks in all of the bedrooms not finding anyone and not sure if she should feel relieved or worried that she hasn’t found her parents. Walking back down stairs she hears a shuffling coming from the backyard, taking a deep breath she makes her way to the screened in porch. Opening the back door she found no one on the porch, but before she could sigh in relief two shambling bodies in the backyard caught her attention, a sob catches in her throat as she sees her parents corpses in the backyard. She opens the door, getting their attention, her mother comes for her first, Helena uses the door as a shield trapping the body between the door and frame stabbing the corpse through the head. Taking another deep breath she opens the door repeating the same action with her father’s corpse and once she’s done, she slides to the floor letting out gut wrenching sobs.
Craig Smith, who is currently hiding in the shed in the Grimes’ backyard, is startled by the lack of noise he is now hearing. He had come over to head to Georgia with Walter and Tina, and when he went into the home he found them doing CPR on Shane’s father because his heart stopped. He ended up calling the time of death. They had draped a sheet over him and were trying to call the mortician when Shane’s mother screamed, they rushed into the living room to see her husband eating at her, they rushed to go to the garage but Mr. Walsh followed them biting Walter in the process. Craig grabbed Tina and ran for the shed, locking them both in. After a couple days they didn’t hear anything, Tina went out while Craig was asleep and was bitten by her husband. Craig went out to find her once he woke up, he made it to the yard and saw her dead body, before he could retreat back into the shed Walter had made a grab for him and scratched him. He got away and back into the shed, as he sat down he noticed the scratch, sighing, he sat down to wait for the end knowing that a bite or scratch would make him infected. That was a week ago, he burnt with a fever for days, it was pure torment hearing his friends and honorary family moaning and snarling outside the door, and the hallucinations of their children were the worst part of it. After three days hallucinating everything settled and now he hears sobbing coming from the house, it startles him to the point that he knocks over some tools, and suddenly the noise stops.
Heleana looks up and quiets down after a noise comes from the shed. She straightens up and immediately stands to head over, knowing that she needs to be ready at all costs. Holding her dagger ready she opens the screen door to the porch and slowly walks to the shed. No other noise can be heard, it’s like all sound has left the area of the Grimes’ backyard. She can’t even hear her heartbeat as she reaches the shed, slowly her hand goes out to the handle, placing her hand on the door, and she pulls it open fast and quick hoping to use surprise to her advantage. As she lunges forward a startled voice yelping Heleana stops her in her path, and she looks at Craig. She launches forward hugging him close to her, he rubs her back to sooth her tears.
“What happened,” she asks him.
He tells her what happened, leaving nothing out including how he was scratched and never turned. They take a few minutes to sort everything out and make a plan. They find every trunk and bag they can in the neighborhood as well as a few gas cans, and charm them to the max with security, extension, cooling and freezing charms for foods. After they are charmed they begin to take everything that can be of use to them, thankful the power is still going, so the food they find is still good. After they clear what they can, killing any zombie they come across and burning the bodies as they go, they return to the house and start loading the Grimes’ van with the trunks. They burn the Grimes and Walsh parents collecting the ashes from each to give to Shane, Rick, and some for her to always carry with them. After they are done the two sleep for the night.
In the morning they notice the power is off, but that doesn’t get the two magic users down. They grab some breakfast bars and water to eat and drink, and head to the hospital first, to grab what medical supplies they can. The hospital is worse than their neighborhood. There are bodies in bags just laying around all over the place. On top of that, they could hear the dead moan and move around inside.
“We create a barrier, haul the bodies that are already out here into it and burn them,” Craig says.
Heleana nods, “And then we create a path from the door to that same barrier for the ones that are locked in the hospital, herd them like cattle into the burn area, close it off and then burn them.”
Craig grins, “Sounds like a plan.”
Heleana nods, “Let’s do it then.”
The two worked together taking concrete dividers building a square barrier. Once it was done they started floating the bodies into it and set them on fire. After they were burned the two took and created a hallway of sorts leading into the square room from the doorway of the hospital. When they have it created Craig uses a charm to open the door and the two make some noise. It takes a few minutes but zombies slowly make their way into the sunlight and into the fire that is being cast once they hit the room that was created. About two hours after they arrived the hospital was completely cleared, they went inside and started summoning everything that was useful to them and put them in the empty trucks. Once they cleared and cleaned the hospital of the dead and useful items, they loaded up and went to their last destination which was the sheriff's station, to their surprise they didn’t encounter any zombies, so they had an easy clean out of all of the weapons and essentials. Even though they made sure to get what they needed they both walked away with things that are sentimental to them, Rick, and Shane. With one more look at their home the two climbed in the van and drove away.
Craig, “If we push straight through it will be a six hour drive to King County, that’s the quickest route.”
Heleana nods, “Let’s do it then, you take a nap while I’m driving and halfway down we switch with you driving and me napping.”
Craig nods, “As you wish Lady Potter,” with which he reclines back and falls asleep while Heleana snorts and laughs at him driving her three hour shift.