A New Life

"Harry, why don't you show Gradma your bedroom; she hasn't been here for a while," Alyssa said calmly, needing to talk to the other adults. Harry had been calling Minerva 'Grandma' for the past year and a half, and it pleased the older woman that they felt comfortable making her part of the family.

"Oh, can't I finish opening my presents first Aunty?" Harry begged, turning pleading green eyes on his aunt. As he did, he saw that she looked worried. Is something wrong?

"We need to finish with lunch and your cake," Alyssa lied calmly, "And I told you that part of your birthday was going to be a surprise?"

"Ok Aunt Lyss," Harry sighed, looking at each of the adults in the room. Papa, Padfoot, Aunt Lyss, and Uncle Moony all look upset. Something must be going on.

"Fawkes," Alyssa said, calling her beautiful familiar to her side after Harry and Minerva were outside, "Go with them please. Watch over them, and if anything happens, send for us immediately." Fawkes trilled his reply, flying out the window and across the street.

"Nyx," Severus called as he entered the kitchen, "Watch for anyone suspicious. Long black cloaks and robes with silver masks covering their faces."

"Of course," Nyx hissed, moving to go to the house across the street, where her young master was.

"How did they find us?" Sirius asked, entering the kitchen and sitting in one of the chairs at the table.

"I don't know," Remus said, mirroring his friend, "We didn't exactly leave a trail."

"Fawkes flashed here, Nyx swam over, and we traveled the muggle way," Severus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Very few people know where we went," Alyssa sighed, sitting down beside Remus, "And nobody here knows who we were." She picked up the Prophet, which they still had delivered to keep up with news in Britain, and began to look through it, not reading any page for more than a few seconds. She froze as an article in the classifieds registered. "Look at this."

The other three looked at her curiously.

"This isn't exactly the best time to read about the latest scandal Lyss," Sirius said confusedly.

"It's not a scandal I'm reading about," Alyssa said, pointing to an ad about halfway down the page. Intrigued, the others leaned in to read.

Missing

My daughter was in a horrible accident a few years ago and suffers from memory loss. She ran away, thinking that her name was Alyssa Snape, and her mother and I are frantic to find her. She is twenty-three years old, rather tall, with pale skin, black eyes, and black hair. She is fond of wearing black dresses and heels. If you have any information on our daughter, please owl the Prophet. We want to bring her home.

"He put an ad in the paper?" Remus asked incredulously.

"It's possible," Severus said. "All he would've needed was the hint that we were in America, and he would have been on our trail. Basilisks and phoenixes are rather rare, and word has traveled that both reside in this town."

"Why did he choose Alyssa?" Sirius asked, wrinkling his brow in confusion. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I think his focus will be on her more than us. Why though?

"He probably randomly picked me as the test subject," Alyssa replied, more worried about where Lucius was at that moment than why he seemed to be targeting her, "If he didn't get a response, then he probably would have tried something similar with the three of you."

"Maybe," Sirius said, still not liking this at all. It's been two bloody years! We've finally managed to stop jumping at shadows and settle in here. Is this our penalty for letting our guard down?

"The main question we should focus on right now isn't how he found us. Rather, we need to figure out what to do now that he has," Severus said practically, the strategist in him coming out to play.

Sirius waved a hand lazily through the air lazily and said, "Simple; we'll do what we did last time. You and Lyss will take one group while Remy and I take the other."

"Oh yes, wonderful plan," Alyssa said testily, "If you remember we didn't exactly come out of that battle clean. You were trapped as a dog for a week before we could find the counter to Narcissa's curse. Remus had a concussion, Severus was covered in burns…"

"Oh yeah," Sirius said, wincing as he thought back. They were all excellent duelists, but they were outnumbered three to one. It also didn't help that their opponents had no qualms with killing while the others, Sirius included, didn't want to go there. "At least Harry was ok."

"Yes, and that's the main thing," Severus said, "Thank Merlin for familiars."

Alyssa nodded, thinking back to that day. As soon as the wards had alerted them that someone was trying to gain access to their house, a simple detection spell told them who it was. They had Fawkes flash Harry and Nyx to the Glen, where he was safe surrounded by the familiars. That was one of the few bright spots on that day. Grimuald Place was in ruins, and Spinner's End had nearly been burned to the ground. That was the deciding factor in their desire to leave the country. We couldn't keep him safe.

Since that time, each of them had been studying more about wards, how to set them and how to strengthen them. Alyssa was confident that Lucius wouldn't be able to attack them at home, but what about when they left home? The apothecary is warded, but the hospital isn't; neither is the station. Harry is starting preschool in the fall, and I don't know how strong the school's wards are. It's not Hogwarts, of that I am certain. Lucius's letter was making all four of them think back to a time they would rather forget; remember a past well buried. Coming here was supposed to be the start of a new life for us, and it seems that Lucius is determined to ruin that.