Chapter One
Many centuries ago, a Seer warned the Cursed Duchess of a plague that would devastate the entirety of both Wizarding and Muggles alike, a plague that did not discriminate, a plague none in which none would be prepared. The Cursed Duchess having lived through kingdoms rise and fall listened to the Seer's warning for what it was, a child's hope that one with the power to make a change would use such power for the betterment and survival of human and Wizarding kind.
However after centuries of nothing did she begin to waver in her hoarding of things that may aid in such a catastrophe, only starting up when muggles invented something that she believed may stick around for more then a decade, such as weapons, cars and other motor vehicles and all manors of petrols, gasolines and much more created over the centuries.
Within the Wizarding community was another matter as it was a rarity for anyone to make a new discovery, build on something or enhance it: yes; to actually make a discovery and claim it was another as many liked to keep it to themselves, the Cursed Duchess herself was one such witch witch no discoveries of her own to claim attribute to her fortune accumulated over millenia; having created many spells, rituals, potions, wards and more over time that keeping them secret had given others time to figure out a way to create much tamer versions of her own, such as one of her extensive collection of multi-compartment trunks she herself designed based off of fan fictions read prior to being dragged into this universe.
The Cursed Duchess was proud every time she had managed to create a multi-compartment trunk with even more compartments then the last or a BIOME trunk to rival the last of her creation crafted after the like of the suitcase she had seen on screen long ago that if the was in regards to the extendable charm hadn't been altered just after Newt Scamander's arrest at with his very own she would have simply forgotten.
She used the BIOME for not only Magical creatures, flora, fauna, fungi, herbs and all matter of potions ingredients that she wished to potentially keep for herself, or use for for their meat, hide and bones for rituals; she also held seperate ones for mundane food crops, animals for food, as well as a lone BIOME sorted for the more recent for of fertilising animals much as humans in this day and age are able when they have the money to do so.
As paranoid as she is powerful, the Cursed Witch had spent the majority of her time the past centuries alone in seclusion making sure that she had everything she could ever need without having to leave her home, a rare witch or wizard in this day and age capable of using all matters of magic wandless did she spend most of her time doing things in the way that most without magic would, ensuring that she was ready for when the Seer's Prophecy occurred... although mostly because after age after age of enduring watching humanity and wizard kind destroy themselves without reason she was tired, she longed to move on and was bitter in the fact that nothing could end the pain that was never ending life cursed upon her by her long deceased husband in a bid to bring his beloved back to life. She didn't know what day it was, time had become irrelevant at this point. Every now and then she would emerge and use Legillimency to read the minds or the mundane, witches and wizards alike to learn of what had occurred in her absence, the newest slang, latest trends and most importantly inventions. The longest she had ever gone in the last millennium had been between the Salem Witch Trials and the rise of the Statute of Secrecy. It wasn't that difficult for the lone witch to get a handle of, making purchase of one of few copies of a self-updating book of the Statute and Laws of the New Wizarding World.
It was not one such day that she was in public, in fact her wards were in full effect when she felt the presence of unknown wizards and a potential witch on the outskirts attempting to cross them. Within a moment a shimmer much like ripples of water concealed the witch before standing, and in an instant she was standing mere feet away from those who had somehow found her.
Annoyed, the witch looked from one to the next, recognising each from the British newspaper the Daily Prophet; the girl to the left the child of the owner the recently deceased Quibbler, a much smaller counterpart to the Daily Prophet who's following had grown since the war with the young girl as its inheritor, to her left the boy-who-lived himself, Harry Potter and to his left the newly dubbed Lord Neville Longbottom. Three war heroes by all accounts of Wizarding Britains occupants, but by her own the three along with those at the Battle of Hogwarts, all child soldiers.
Using a small probe of Legillemency could the witch tell each had been taught some level of Occlumency and decided rather then raiding their minds to give the children a chance to explain themselves, after all they were alone, she could tell that easily enough due to the lack of magical activity in the surrounding area but was not in any way naive to trust the children.
Revealing herself to the children earned three gasps, wands all immediately raised with spells upon the children lips before the blonde seemed to know something the others did not immediately telling the others to lower their perceived "weapons"; looking at the girl at first glance you would wonder if she was all there, however looking into her eyes you would see a knowing, a deep understanding a child of her age should not.
"We are sorry if we have disturbed you in any way, and for our reactions-"
"I know who you three are so don't bother with some such trivial things as introducing yourselves. You somehow found me when none have, that alone gives you a chance to explain your presence before you leave. So why have you come?"
The small blonde closed her mouth, face grim as she turned to the wizards beside her, both looked back at the girl, eyes showing that they were unsure of what to say themselves leaving the young girl to fend for herself with the very obvious threat before them.
Straitening her back, little Luna Lovegood turned to face the infamous Cursed Witch and took a deep breath.
"We have come to ask for your aid..." the blonde took a beat, watching the woman's face for any reaction, the witch in question held a blank mask upon her face, blue eyes glassy, void of anything that may give away what she thought of Luna's first words.
"I had a vision, a vision of a plague that will soon sweep through Wizarding Britain and very soon after cross the rest of the world-" it was this that brought a flinch of something upon the Cursed Witch's face, though she held her tongue "-in the vision I saw the plague would not discriminate based on blood, Muggle, Witch or Wizard; I saw the death of nearly the entire world. I saw only myself, Harry and Neville surviving this-"
At this the young witch had to stop, holding back sobs at what she had seen, the visions of those she knew being torn apart, being made into the Walking Dead that looked like Inferi but weren't so clear in her minds eye in that moment that she was projecting it that the Cursed Witch saw what was to come and closed her eyes understanding what was coming next when she looked up to see the determined look in the blondes eyes.
"Please... I saw you, I saw your knowledge, your power; you've been preparing for this for a long time, you can help us survive, help those that we may be able survive."
Looking at each child the Cursed Witch felt a flurry of emotions, the strongest of all however was hope. Hope that this plague may very well be the end to her cursed existence. So with a sigh and nod of her head did she lower her wards.
"You will staying here from this moment forward until the plague strikes at which time we will portkey to the states, if there is anything that you need to retrieve from your homes I suggest that you do it now; if you have yet to empty your Gringotts accounts I suggest you do it now. I am aware that this will take some time to say your goodbyes so I will expect each of use back by weeks end."
Lowering her wards did she turn, stopping for a moment.
"And from this moment forward you will address me as Duchess."