Disclaimer: I own nothing, all of it belong to J.K Rowling, I am just playing in her sandbox for a while.

Authors Note: AU: Its not my first fanfic but its my first Harry Potter, so I hope you enjoy it. The story starts at the end of the 5th Book.

Language Note: "I'm speaking a different language"

Black family Etiquette : Note as someone pointed out in the Black family tree (I have a lovely copy of it) how technically Narcissa and Andromeda are not Alya's Aunts, you are correct. However, in many families including my own, it is common to call older cousins, usually those near our parents age Aunt and Uncle. Members of the Black family do the same.

As the sun was coming up, Fleur found Alya sitting outside on the large patio overlooking the apple orchards. Surrounding her friend were books and piles of parchments covering numerous subjects.

"You're up early."

Alya turned her head and smiled. "Morning."

Kissing Alya on the cheek, the French witch took a seat. Although appearing as if she wanted to say something, instead she grabbed the copy of the Daily Prophet that sat on the table.

"Your new Minister appears very resolute 'We will fight in the air, on the hills and under them-'"

Alya just nodded having read through most of the paper already. Although Minister Abbott obviously had taken a page from Winston Churchill 'Blood, toil, tears, and sweat' speech it was still very moving.

The Daily Prophet also reported number of arrests. Much like what Madam Bones had done within the DMLE, the new Minister made a quick move to try to limit Voldemort influence within the Ministry. Several prominent names stood out including Madam Edgecombe, who was a Floo Network Regulator. According to the Prophet, such important positions would now require an Oath of Office.

Alya's contribution, she sent Harry Potter's memories of the end of the third task to Madam Bones, which included the faces and names of the Death Eaters who had been present.

One thing Alya noted were the lack of raids by Death Eaters, not even in retaliation for the arrests. True, there had been a few skirmishers but nothing large. She hoped it was because he and his followers were now scrambling for somewhere to live other than it being the quiet before the storm.

Alya gave a half-smile. "Take a look at the top of page two."

"Dumbledore's been suspended as Headmaster?" Fleur looked surprised.

"Professor McGonagall is now charge." Alya felt she should be happier but at one time, she looked up to him as a surrogate grandfather. Now all that was left was a sense of betrayal.

"At least until the Umbridge investigation is completed. Truthfully, I have no idea whether he knew anything or not. Even so, I wouldn't be surprised if he loses his position as Chief Warlock as well."

"You don't think they will remove him as a member of the Confederation?"

Dumbledore suspension as Supreme Mugwump occurred during last year smear campaign and although he had been reinstated as a member of the ICW, he did not get his old job back.

"My aunts don't think so." Alya shrugged. "He's still very popular, so even if found negligent, I don't see the court sending him to Azkaban. Even the goblins will most likely fine the hell out of him if he is found to have broken the inheritance laws."

"Doesn't seem fair."

"No it doesn't, however he will just be a figure head, as no one trusts him. I imagine the Ministry will use him until Voldemort's demise, and then ask him quietly to retire."

The two sat quietly for a moment, before Fleur asked. "You're still concerned about your aunt's ritual? I thought last night went well."

Alya smiled, not surprised at the subject change. "It did, surprisingly well."

Removing the bond from the teenage Veela took less than an hour. It was especially helpful that both of the young girl's parents were there to give a little blood, which acted as a positive catalyst. No it was the afterwards.

"However, the poor girl has very little memories of what happened." Alya rested her head on her hands.

The only good thing was she had no memory of her older brother death while trying to rescue her. How she physically fought him the entire way out of the slavers house and in the end took a spell in the back meant to her. Her last memory was happily shopping with her parents and her brother in Paris over the winter.

"I'm not sure if that's a terrible thing. " Veela were kidnapped for nothing more than to be sex slaves.

"Six months of horrible memories gone, true." Although Alya knew that bits and pieces of her experience might surface to haunt her. "But what does a person do who's lost over twenty years of memories?"

"Are you having second thoughts?"

Alya just shook her head. The faces on the young Veela's parents she will remember until her dying day, their lost child had come home. None of it would have been possible if she had not become Alya Black. She knew at that moment something inside her changed.

At first, part of her fought against the transformation, believing there had to be a way to turn back into Harry Potter. However, as she became more comfortable with Alya Black, she had come to believe it to be blessing not a curse. The look in the parent's eyes of the young Veela only confirmed that belief.

"Even if it works as well as I hope it does, Bellatrix will revert mentally back to what a sixteen – seventeen year old witch. I hope my aunts are prepared to deal with that. Worse, how do you explain to her what has happened during all those missing years?"

Fleur nodded understand that was best case, worst Alya's aunts mind would be left with no memories, just an empty shell of a body.

"However, if it all doesn't go pear shaped, I'm not really sure how I am going to thank your father for what he is going to do afterwards."

One of the things they were all worried about was trying to protect the identity of Bellatrix Black. The Veela understood the dilemma however; they doubted anyone else would understand. Even if found innocent in the English Courts, she wouldn't be forgiven as those terrible deeds would continue to haunt her for the rest of her life. No what they needed was for a way for Bellatrix Lestrange to disappear.

"I really don't understand all of it. Papa has always been very secretive about what he does for the Ministry. However, I did happen to read in one healing journal how they are combining muggle and magical medicine for some procedures. "

Due to the nature of Dark Magic, it was often impossible to heal the injury; however, Dutch muggle born healers discovered that a combination of both magical and muggle healing produced some remarkable results.

Of course, after giving a number of oaths, Alya now had an idea whom Sebastian Delacour worked for in the French Ministry of Magic. Still for Alya, it all sounded like something out of an Ian Fleming novel Harry used to read in the library when hiding from Dudley.

If the ritual was successful, plans have been made to build Bellatrix a new face and a new identity. They had actually already set up the new muggle and magical documentation through the goblins.

"But really, mon chére, don't worry about paying us back. The Veela nation will forever be in your debt. Remember, they will pay for everything. Gold is nothing compared to the return of our lost sisters."

Alya smiled, still not comprehend what she had done for the Veela community. "I guess; I'm just happy to have the ability to help. Anyway, the only real problem now will be my aunt's magical signature, but there are a couple of rituals that can be done to at least suppress it."

"Yours changed."

Alya giggled. "Sure but I'm pretty positive that my aunt won't be interested in going through what I did so her signature would change."

"Probably not." Fleur grinned. "Alright since you have all of this on the table, let me have that book on Runes. I'll quiz you if you're so worried but after what I watched last night, it's doubtful you will not do well on your OWLs."

"Well that's probably not needed, at least on that subject." Both girls turned at the voice, as another person stepped outside.

"Oh, good morning Wadi'ah." Alya smiled as the old woman joined them at the table. "Would you like to join us for breakfast? I think with all of the people in the house, Apolline is going to be feeding people in shifts."

Fleur laughed. "Very true."

Most of the ritualists had remained, including Fleur's grandmother and a number of other important Veelas, mostly because they had been celebrating long into the night.

"So I heard you met Madam Fécamp." Wadi'ah asked obviously amused.

As Alya thought about it, she missed Fleur's eyes going wide and Wadi'ah motioning her not to say anything, "Yes, she seemed really nice but she sure asked a lot of questions. For some reason, she also insisted on watching me make those runic changes to the ritual we talked about."

Fleur giggled. "I'm sure."

"She was impressed that you inscribed the ritual in Futhark as opposed to the original Egyptian Hieroglyphics."

Alya shrugged. "Considering whose shrine we performed the ritual at, it seemed rather prudent."

"Of course but as you just said, you also modified the original ritual."

Everyone involved had received a copy along with the Arithmancy behind it well beforehand.

"And from what I see on the table, you plan on changing it again."

"True, we added another seven people which made it easier for us, but it did put more magic into the ritual. I needed to make sure that any extra magic bled out safely."

Pulling out another parchment, she passed it to Wadi'ah. "After last night, I thought that I might make it a little more efficient."

All rituals require sacrifice, this particular one of magic. The more people involved less strain on everyone, however all of that extra magic needed to be accounted for at least.

Fleur leaned over to look at the parchment, impressed at Alya's skill at runes. Bill had been right; she would make a wonderful curse-breaker.

"So you re-wrote zee ritual, changed eet and are currently modifying eet again. No wonder Madam Fécamp wished to speak with you. I bet my grand-mère set eet up."

"Who is she, Fleur?"

"She is in charge of OWL and NEWT testing for Ancient Runes for the French Ministry of Magic." Wadi'ah smiled before passing Alya a large white enveloped with the French government seal upon it.

Alya grinned at the two women. "What, so does that mean I took my OWLs last yesterday?" Her smile disappeared when she opened the envelope and read the letter inside.

"She must have headed straight to the Ministry after the ritual was complete. From the note, she thinks that you should schedule time with Messeur Nys, who is in charge of the Arithmancy exams."

"But this says I was given an 'O' in Ancient Runes for NEWTs. How can that be I haven't taken my OWLs yet for it?" Alya sat back stunned.

"Everyone remain where you are." A commanding voice of Razim spoke above the whispers as the ritual ended. Even with it concluded, they could feel the dark magic swirling about like a snake until it finally faded.

In the center of a runic circle, sitting around a naked Bellatrix, a worried Alya watched as Wadi'ah started to cast a handful of diagnostic charms. The most surprising thing was both of her aunt's arms were now bare.

Alya might have just received in Outstanding in Runes; however, it no way competed with a century of experience in rituals and curse breaking. So it came as no surprised when Wadi'ah insisted that the ritual be postponed until they could deal with the Dark Mark first.

Both curse breakers concluded that the mark bore resemblance to a Slavic slave brand, which in itself posed no real problem. However, somehow, Voldemort intertwined the brand's magic with the chattel bond, easily explaining Bellatrix's fanatical loyalty to her master. Wadi'ah also explained that the magical feedback from the Dark Mark would most likely have killed Bellatrix if they went ahead with the ritual.

For the next few days, Alya watched in amazement as the two legendary cure-breakers broke down the Dark Mark using advanced Arithmancy. By the time the two were finished, the room in which they worked looked more like a physics lab than a magical one, with archaic formulas written all over the walls.

Combining what Alya had done, and the Kartal's work, thirteen witches or wizards would be needed to complete the ritual. Andromeda quickly volunteered and so did Narcissa, who just returned the night before from the United States.

Fleur happily agreed to help as well and by the end of the day, all of the new people understood their parts. In addition, for the level of complexity, Alya happily handed the lead off to Wadi'ah.

While the new people learned their roles, Alya and Wadi'ah diligently etched out the runes on the ancient shrine floor.

As night fell, with everyone involved wearing the thin silk white robes of a ritualist, they couldn't help but admired the beautiful colorful patterns on the shrine's floor. Intricately drawn so three witches would sit at specific points in the center around Bellatrix, corresponding with the constellations above. Three more three points were set right behind them supporting the inner circle, with the final seven along its edge.

The ritual itself wouldn't be too difficult however; Alya insisted that on some last minute changes, calling upon the goddess of the shrine asking for her blessing. She had done the small prayer before the first ritual had taken place, burning a small offering to Eir.

Whether they existed or not, only the older families now called upon the old gods, however no one disagreed with Alya, feeling that that it was the right thing to do.

"How is she?" A nervous sounding Narcissa asked.

"Asleep." Wadi'ah began then smiled. "But both bonds have been broken."

While sitting in a room, which looked remarkably like Bellatrix's bedroom in Grimmauld Place, three Black women, quietly talked among themselves.

"So you're telling me my son is dating a muggle?" Narcissa frowned at the small unmoving photograph in her hand.

"I wouldn't say that." Alya noticed that bare chested Draco was actually smiling in the photograph. Standing next to him, with her arm around his waist was a rather cute brunette.

"She's a cheerleader."

"I see." Alya thought she heard the term before but it wasn't that what was upsetting her aunt.

"And that outfit-", Narcissa began but was interrupted by Andromeda.

"It's just a muggle bikini, Cissy, no worse than what Trixie wore when she sunbathed on the roof." Andi tried not to laugh at her sisters expense. "So how did the two meet?"

"The family next door to where he is staying has a boy his age. He introduced Draco to a number of young ladies who live in the area."

"She's very pretty." Andi said as she returned the photograph.

"It wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?" Narcissa whispered while studying her son's smiling face. A real smile, something she hadn't seen on his face in a long time. "Marrying a muggle, I mean, if it made him happy."

Narcissa knew that her parents would never approve and of course, neither would Lucius. However, having experienced an unhappy marriage herself and remembering her parents' lives, her priorities for a proper marriage partner had changed dramatically.

"Not at all." Alya squeezed her aunt's hand, also amazed as well at the turn of events.

As she put the photograph away, pleased with the approval of such a union from her Head of House, Narcissa said. "I'm told that you passed your NEWTs in Ancient Runes."

Alya tried not to laugh. "I did but I had no idea what Madam Fecamp was doing. I had already been answering questions since I owled the ritual to everyone involved, so it didn't seem that unusual. However, she continued to follow me throughout the day. Frankly, I was so busy I truly didn't notice."

"So, do you still plan on attending Hogwarts?" Narcissa asked concern in her voice evident. "Even after everything that went on last year."

For Alya that had been one of the most difficult conversations in her young life. After speaking with Andromeda, the two decided to tell Narcissa the former identity of her new niece. They had no fear she would run off and tell everyone, besides being under a Fidelius Charm; her aunt had taken an oath of loyalty. However, Alya had truly come of care for her.

Afterwards, her face impassive, Narcissa simply left the room. Later that night, she returned to speak with Alya. At first, the raven-haired girl could see the anger in her aunt's face but was surprise it was not directed at her. No, Aunt Cissy was furious at Cousin Jamie and Siri. How dare Sirius cast that damnable ritual. In the end, revealing that one last secret made them closer than ever.

Leaning her head on her aunt's shoulder, Alya said. "I don't know, part of me doesn't, as I would be just as happy finishing my last year at Beauxbatons."

Both older women nodded. Along with passing her he Ancient Rune NEWT, she learned that Wadi'ah also wanted her as an apprentice. Moreover, like the famous curse-breaker, Alya would be taking the rest of her NEWTs early.

"But even if I say I want to go for a sense of closure, there is always the – "

"Prophesy." Andromeda replied.

That was one thing Alya made sure her aunts knew. Suffice to say, they took it almost as bad as when she heard about it the first time.

"Damn that old man." Narcissa grumbled. "However, the Dark Lord doesn't know your identity."

"True but you cannot say House Black hasn't done him any harm. It's doubtful that she will be truly safe anyplace else." Andi pointed out.

"You don't plan on confronting him do you?"

Alya squeezed her aunt's army. "Not on your life, I've had the displeasure of being in his presence almost every year since turning eleven."

She managed to skip mentioning that the strange dreams returned. Nor that like knowing a prayer to the goddess Eli would lead to a successful ritual, she felt a need to return to Hogwarts.

"Trust me, Aunt Cissy; I have no desire meet old snake face again. Let someone else vanquish him. Perhaps helping Minister Abbott into office will cause his death."

Narcissa involuntary cringed at the disrespect to the Dark Lord. However, she felt proud of her niece's accomplishments finally realizing that all of her son's complaints through the years about the Potter boy had been nothing but jealousy.

"Holy fuck!" A weak voice called out from across the room causing all three women to rush towards the bed.

"Trixie."

"Merlin don't be such a spaz, Cissy. You know how I hate that name." Bellatrix sat up in bed, rubbing her face. "Man, I feel like crap what's –"

Suddenly she stopped, dropping her hands to look at the women in the room. "Aunt Dorea?"

"No, Bella, it's me Andi."

"What?"

Narcissa sat at the edge of the bed. "No, it's true."

"Who the hell are you – wait, Cissy? Can't be, you're ancient. This isn't one of Siri's jokes, right. The two of you aren't juicing?"

"Juicing?" Alya asked stunned how different Bellatrix Black was from Bellatrix Lestrange.

"It's an old slang term for someone abusing Polyjuice Potion." Andromeda explained.

Bellatrix still trying to cope with what was happening turned her eyes on the new girl. She looked like a Black. Thinking her to be one of her cousins, she asked. "Who's the bunny?"

"Perhaps I should get the healers." Alya said as she left the room, wanting the three sisters to have time by themselves.

"Well who is she?"

"Your new Head of House."

"Bugger me." Bellatrix said before her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

Andromeda looking down at her unconscious sister, just sighed, realizing how difficult this was going to be.

Authors Notes: A special thanks to djkauf for a little elvish editing. If you like the story please leave a Kudos, if you have the time I would love to hear from you. My Muse mugged me with this one, pretty much forced me to write it at pen-point :) Thanks to all for reading! - Elsbeth

PS Dont worry my other stories haven't been dropped, just taking a break