Chapter Two

The next day, Connie was up at dawn. She had been feeling giddy ever since she woke up and although she was a little worried about her dream, it wasn't the first time she had dreamt something like that. In fact, her dreams had always been weird and more often then not, they centered around a boy a few years younger than her with the same sea green eyes and black hair as her. She had never been able to figure out why she would dream about him, but now she guessed it had something to do with her father. Weren't the gods known for having a thousand and one kids? Perhaps the boy was a relative of hers?

No, that was too good to be true.

Connie, once she was properly dressed, went downstairs to get breakfast and eat. She was hungry and her stomach had been growling for a while now. She had spent the last hour reading a book on charms she had bought the day before, it was on hexes and more interesting than she thought it would be.

Her dream troubled her though, a horse and an eagle had been fighting in the middle of a storm. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she could hear them fighting and the eagle was screaming at the horse to give something back.

After breakfast, Connie took her pouch of money and went out into Horizon Alley. The first thing she noticed was that there was not nearly as many people walking around as in Diagon Alley, which made since she supposed not many people knew about it, or someone should have slipped up and told her. There was many shops, there was even a muggle clothing store which was where she decided to start. She should be able to get answers there and buy clothes at the same time. Two flies with one stone.

Connie entered the store and went to the shirts. She did not want to wear the clothes she was currently wearing any longer than necessary. She picked up two light blue ones, a black, a white and a green one that matched her eyes. After that she bought three pair of jeans, one blue, one white and one dark grey. She grabbed a couple of underwear when she passed them and went ahead and grabbed a green bikini when she thought about it. She was free of Privet Drive and Dumbledore couldn't tell her what to do, if she wanted to see the ocean and swim to her hearts content then she could very well swim.

After trying them on in the dressing room and making sure they fit, she went to the counter to pay. She wondered briefly why she hadn't done this the first time she went to Gringotts, there was plenty of muggleborns in the Wizarding World and Hermione had told her it was possible to exchange money from both galleons to pounds and the other way around. Hermione's parents had even opened a vault in Gringotts for her.

Next to the counter there was a wall with belts hanging on it. She had never owned belts, there was always a rope because Vernon would not let her waste his precious money. Now that she saw them, she couldn't help but want one. She put the clothes she chose on the counter and grabbed a black belt. She pretended to put it on around her waste and was happy when it was the right length. The buckle was bronze and had an odd symbol on it, but she ignored it. The lady behind the counter only looked to be around eighteen but she smiled at Connie with ease that made her less tense.

"Will this be all?" she asked. Her name tag said her name was Camille.

Connie smiled in return. "Yes. Also could you tell me why I have never heard of Horizon Alley before?"

"You are a demigod, yes?" Connie nodded. "There is a barrier that stops anyone who is not a demigod or a legacy from entering. It is similar to the barrier around Camp Jupiter in America. Monsters can't see, hear or smell anything from here. They can't enter and it's about the only safe place in Britain where a Half Blood can make a living without dying horribly in the process. Not even Chiron knows about this place, it was started after the gods left the United Kingdom and there was no longer a safe camp around for demigods to go to. A couple of children of Hecate and Trivia worked together to make the wards and barrier."

Connie nodded again. "Hecate and Trivia?"

"Yes, the gods have a roman and greek form. Hecate is the greek goddess of magic and Trivia is her roman counter-part and form. They can have children in both forms. In America there is two camps, Camp Half-Blood for the greek demigods on Long Islands and Camp Jupiter for the roman ones in San Francisco. There used to be camps here in England as well, but then the heart of the western civilization moved to America and the gods did as well." Camille finished explaining. "This will be 753 galleons and five sickles."

Connie handed over the money as Camille put everything in bags. When she looked at the receipt, she noticed that the belt cost a lot more than she would have thought. Oh well, it wasn't like she couldn't afford it, though it did made her feel a little weird when she thought about how much money she now had.

When she left, she was happy about her purchases and thought about coming back one day. Perhaps before the new year at Hogwarts started, she would need warmer clothes then. The sign above the store said Miss Lilith's Clothes, she would need to remember that.

She spent the next three hours moving from store to store, questioning people as she went. She found out that the gods reside on the top of the Empire State building on floor 600 and that there was a law Zeus had made that stopped the gods and goddess from helping their children. They weren't allowed to raise them. She also found out that Hitler was a son of Hades and the oath the Big Three had sworn on the river Styx not to have anymore mortal children because they were too powerful. Zeus had apparently broken it and there was a rumor that Poseidon had as well. Strangely enough, Hades was the only one that hadn't broken it yet.

Connie bought two pair of shoes, a pair of sneakers and a pair of white sandals. When she was finished with her shopping spree and after having bought about a hundred more books, most of them dedicated the gods and their children's stories, and some were written by children of Hecate and Trivia on what they called real magic. Apparently a wand was nothing more than a crutch and although it took more work to do wandless magic, it wasn't nearly as hard as people made it out to be. She also bought plenty of books on different magical creatures and monsters. Connie did not want to die because she didn't know what she was up against.

When she had finished shopping, she went back to the Inn and went to her room. SHe had reading to do and it wasn't going to get itself done. If she wanted to do wandless magic she should probably start small, right? She took out the beginners book on magical theory she had bought that was written by Adam son of Trivia. It was in Latin and she had never been more glad she took those lessons.

With Connie reading and trying her hand at wandless magic in between, the day went by fast. By the time midnight rolled around, her eyes hurt from reading so much and she was exhausted. She would need to go to her properties tomorrow and find a place to live, and then she was raiding the Potter Family Library for any book on gods she could find. Perhaps she would be able to figure out who her father was.

—

She woke up around ten the next day. The sun was shining in her face and for a moment, Connie thought she had gone blind. There was a moment of panic and flailing limbs before she realized that no, she was not in fact blind and yes, looking straight at the sun was dangerous. Because of her spending so much of her childhood in her cupboard she hadn't really thought about that before. Connie blinked from where she had fallen off the bed onto the floor in her wild panic and looked around now that her vision was starting to get better again. She was now incredibly glad she did not need glasses, in fact her vision was perfect, though it was funny to see Hagrid's reaction when he first saw her and noticed she did not in fact need glasses. Apparently, the entire wizarding world was convinced she had emerald green eyes, black hair, a face that resembled James Potter's and glasses.

Connie quickly changed into a pair of blue jeans and a white tank top that she had bought in London while waiting for the Dursley's to pick her up from King's Cross Station after the end of Hogwarts fourth year and put in the blue cap on her head.

She pulled her dark hair up in a high ponytail and packed her things the best she could before she went downstairs to eat. She was going to pick up her trunk from Diagon Alley, pack all her things in it and go to see where she wanted to live. Preferably somewhere close to the sea, she had never seen it before.

Connie left Lorette's and headed towards Diagon Alley. She would need to make a quick stop at Gringotts first though, to exchange galleons to muggle money. She was not going to make notes with quills anymore, it was ridiculous, she was going to get proper muggle pens and notebooks. And some other things, like folders and binders. The magical world was so far being it wasn't even funny.

Stepping in in the trunk shop, she ignored the smell and walked to the counter. She was going to get her trunk, leave, go to Gringotts and find a place to live. Hell maybe if she wanted to know more about the gods, she would visit one of the camps. Actually, that didn't seem like a bad idea considering those people there, or at one of them anyway, were her family and if there was one thing she had always wanted, it was a family of her own. One she could love and that could love her. The Weasley's were great, but they were too overbearing and didn't understand the concept of privacy. They always had to know everything about her. Besides, she hadn't forgiven them about that marriage contract and Ron's abandonment of her during the Tournament and she wasn't going to anytime soon.

At least Hermione had believed her when she said she hadn't put her name in the cup.

Connie stared at the trunk sitting at her feet. "It's finished?"

"Yes. Just like you wanted it. All we need to do is tie it to your magical signature and than you can take it away. This is instructions on how to change the password or tie it to someone else's signature as well." the man smiled proudly at her.

Connie put her finger to it and pushed some of her magic into it, the way the book she had read about last night said too. She said with a clear voice the word shrink and watched as it became smaller and smaller until it was as big as a matchbox. Connie nodded at the man.

"How much?"

"307 galleons." the man answered and Connie put the money on the counter, put the trunk in her jeans pocket and left.

Afterwards, she went to Gringotts. She was only in there for about twenty minutes before she had 5000 euros, 10000 dollars and 5000 pounds in a new wallet. She would say what kind of money she needed and the wallet would change the money to it. It worked well and she liked it, she could go where-ever she wanted and she would have the money she needed, otherwise she would go to that countries Gringotts division. Apparently, Gringotts existed all over the world. Though in Switzerland, the gnomes had a bank that you could open international vaults in that the British ministry couldn't touch. She had arranged for a vault to be opened there and two thousand galleons were to be put there every year under the name of Clio Evans. It was, technically, still her name and she would be the one with a key, so it was very much hers and hers alone.

There was nothing the joke of a Ministry could do about it.

Connie left the bank and the scary goblins behind her as she concentrated on the port-key that would take her outside the wards of Potter Manor. When she landed, her breath caught in her throat. There was a giant silver gate at least two meter high in front of her with the Potter's crest in the middle. She moved on instinct and before she knew what she was doing, she had reopened the cut on her palm. She would need to fix that. She raised her by now blood covered hand to the gate and pressed against the middle of the crest. For a second, she was scared she was going to die, but then the gates creaked like they hadn't been opened in along time and they started to move.

She took a hesitant step inside when the gates stopped moving. Connie held her breath and when nothing happened, she continued walking on the path gravel that she could now see. The grass was green and after walking for about five minutes, she could see the Manor. It was huge and it made her wonder how Black Castle would look. The manor was painted red and was at least four floors high. She suspected the existence of a basement or dungeons.

Connie stepped up on the porch and walked towards the light brown double-doors. She pressed down on the handle and was surprised when it opened. The hallway she entered was big and painted in a light yellow color. Before she could take another step, five pops were heard and in front of her stood suddenly five House-elfs. Three of them wore red dresses with the Potter crest and the other two wore a pair of black pants and a red shirt with the Potter crest on them. She supposed it made sense that the Potter family would have elfs, but she wondered where they had been all her life.

One of the elf with a dress stepped forward. "We is Potter elfs. Mistress back? Elfs new work to do. Is Fizzy, left is Molly and Mitzy, on right is Telly and Nessie. Mitzy is mistress personal elf. We clean up house, you not touch kitchen."

Connie could only nod as who she thought was the head house-elf took charge. Apparently she had a personal elf and was now forbidden to cook. "Hello Fizzy. My name is Connie Potter. You've done a beautiful work with the garden. Now I don't want you to hurt yourself, so if you make a mistake you think is horrible I want you to tell me and then stand in a corner for ten minutes thinking about what you did and why it was wrong unless I say otherwise. Okay? No punishing yourself."

The house-elfs nodded before bursting out crying about Mistress Connie Potter's kindness and how she was a great witch. Connie could only watch in despair as they cried in front of her, wondering if she should do something. No, she decided, she would probably only make it worse.

Connie walked in to the house and closed the door behind her. The elfs all disappeared except the one she suspected was Mitzy. Now that she thought about, didn't Dobby say he wanted to be her elf?

It couldn't hurt to try. "Dobby!"

Not a second after, Dobby appeared in front of her in his Hogwarts uniform. "What can Dobby bes doing for Mistress Connie Potter sir?!"

Connie smiled at him. "How would you like to be my elf, Dobby. I would of course pay however you want and I will the other elfs too."

"Oh Dobby not want any. Dobby want to be Mistress Connie Potter's elf." Dobby nodded so fast she thought he was going to break his neck. And then Mitzy started talking as well. "Potter elfs not want any either. We work, we happy. No money."

"How about one free day a week to do anything you want and two galleons a week to each of you." The response she got was two shaking heads.

In the end, it was decided that they would have one day each month at which they could spend doing anything they wanted and twelve sickles a year. No matter how much she pushed, they wouldn't accept anything more and because Connie didn't want to make them think they didn't have a choice, she allowed them to dictate how much they wanted. In the end, it was worth it to see their happy faces when they realized they weren't slaves though she did have a suspicion what they would be doing on their free day. Not that there was anything she could do about it. It was their choice.

Connie than spent the next hour on a tour through her new manor. It was beautiful and she found the portraits of her grandmother Dorea Potter and her grandfather Charlus Potter in the office. The shape of her eyes and her nose was completely Dorea. She was shorter than both of them, though most of it would hopefully be solved when she fixed her malnutrition and got a growth spurt.

She had spoken to her grandparents and they informed her that from time to time, a child of Hecate or Trivia was mistaken for a muggleborn and that had been the case with Lily. Though having never known it and because it would only be dangerous if she knew, Lily had been a daughter of Hecate. Or Trivia. They hadn't been sure and they hadn't known her for long before they died and then she died as well. If she were ever to meet the goddess she could probably ask, but gods had a lot of children and you couldn't expect them to remember them all. And there was plenty of demigods that never got claimed either and ended up bitter and angry at the gods.

Though Connie liked the idea of her mother being the daughter of a goddess, it was not something she could deal with right now. She had enough trouble to come to terms with the fact that her father was a god and she wasn't exactly mortal. Though a lot of purebloods had demigods in their family and from time to time, the traits would show up again, apparently the Black's were descendants of Dionysus and the Malfoy's of Aphrodite. When she thought about, it made since. The Black Family had apparently always been a little unhinged and Sirius had told her about his cousin Bellatrix that was certifiably insane.

And well, there was no need to explain the Malfoy's.

Connie spent the night in the manor, she didn't have the energy to do anything but read and be mortified by how far behind the Wizarding World was. When she read a law book she found in the office, though slightly outdated, she couldn't help but be embarrassed about the wizards and witches views on muggles. They thought they still fought with swords and spears and made them out to be simpletons that needed the Wizarding World's guidance to survive. There was no mention of guns and there was no law against killing someone with muggle-means. If she were to shoot minister Fudge with a gun, it was not against the law and she couldn't be punished for it. If she claimed it was an accident, they would believe her and sweep the entire thing under the rug.

What horrified her was how often she saw Dumbledore's name in it together with most of the laws against the so called Dark. According to a legacy of Hecate she had met at the bookstore, there was no such thing as evil and good magic. There was harmful magic and magic that healed. Dark and Light referred to which came easier to you and what magic you did as you grew up. It was your core and magic responded to your wishes. Dark or Light didn't matter to demigods, magic was the same, it was a tool, a weapon, and no-one ever blamed a sword for cutting.

The rest of the evening, even as she read and learned things she had no idea about, was spent thinking about those camps. If there was a chance that she had family, that was where they would most likely be, most of the people at Horizon Alley were legacy's and if she wanted to be claimed and find out who her father was, than she would need to go to America. The gods rarely looked at Britain anymore, there was far to much going on in USA. And Connie did want to know if she had family, she didn't really care who her father was, she had lasted fourteen years without a father, she could last the rest of her life.

No, what she wanted was a family.

Connie went to bed that night worried about the next day. She didn't want to stay in Britain for another moment, but she had never left it before.

Waking up in the master bedroom of a manor when she used to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs was a weird change. She couldn't say if she liked it or not, she had gotten used to little space and Connie wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to knowing she would never have to sleep in a cupboard again. Was she supposed to celebrate it, or despise the change? She had had routines and a set schedule for as long as she could remember and even when she started school at Hogwarts, that hadn't changed. There was no chores to be done anymore and the House-elfs had outright forbidden her from cleaning or cooking.

Connie was at a loss of what to do and how to think.

And then there was the marriage contract.

Connie would never be able to marry Ronald Weasley. Not only was he stupid and tended to bully people, but he was insanely jealous. He had left her because of something she had no control over and when Connie thought about it, the Hogwarts Express train was huge, there was no way that it was full. Connie didn't want to think that Ron only wanted her fame and money, but from what she had seen the last year, that was too possible for her to relax around him anymore.

Ron was a good friend, but friendship didn't always last forever.

It was while eating breakfast that she decided that she wanted to know family. She didn't care if she was moving to fast or hadn't researched enough, she wanted to meet new family. She wanted to make a life for herself. The fastest way to get to USA and close to Camp Half-Blood would be with the use of a port-key like the one they used to get to the Quidditch match last years summer. The only problem was to get one.

Or maybe there was another way.

"Dobby!"

Dobby popped in in front of her. "What cans Dobby bes doing for Mistress Connie?"

"Dobby could you get me to Long Island in USA together with my trunk soon? Or do I need to get a port-key after all?" when Dobby started nodding so fast she feared he would break his neck, she knew she made the right choice. Besides, as far as she knew, there was no way to track or block a house-elf. Dobby would get her where she needed to go and she would get there in one piece. Hopefully.

After breakfast, she explored the manor a little more before she gave up and went outside to the garden. Gardening was something she had always loved and had never mined doing — it was also the only thing she had gotten the elfs to accept her help with — and she couldn't stay away anymore.

The garden was more beautiful than she thought. Some parts were overgrown and messy, but the feeling she got from it was wonderful. She almost didn't want to leave until she remembered that she could always come back. This was her home now and just because she would be spending some time in America, nothing changed. Potter Manor was beautiful and something that she had always dreamed of having when she was younger and it was hers now. Hers to live in and do as she pleased. No looking over her shoulder for some reason or another and no worrying. This was her safe haven and she would always come back.

The time until lunch was spent in the garden. Connie, though a little bit bored, had never had more fun. When it wasn't aunt Petunia ordering her to work, it was more fun than she had expected. And this was her home, it was her garden.

It made it all the more different.

Connie ate the lunch the elfs had prepared for her without comment, though it felt weird to not make it herself, and spent the time thinking of what she should pack. Most of her stuff was still in the trunk and what wasn't weren't something she really needed. Besides, she had no idea what kind of camp she was going to and how long she would be staying. If she didn't have any family there than she couldn't see herself staying there.

Mitzy packed the trunk and put even more books from the office and library in it and insisted she was going to come too. Connie didn't even try to protest, House-elfs could be scary when they wanted too.

They had decided they would be leaving at eight in the evening based on the time difference and Connie spent the time leading up until that point napping. According to her inner clock and the schedule she was used too, she would need the sleep.

Connie woke up an hour before they would be leaving and laid still in the bed. She wasn't sure what to think, everything had happened so fast she barely got a chance to breathe and for the first time in her life, she had a choice. It was her choice to go to America, it was her choice to find out if she had any family after all and it was her choice where to live. She could have a life for herself and there was nothing anyone else could do about it. If she wanted to waste it or do something with herself, well that was her choice and everyone else could go shit themselfs.

Connie stood up from the bed and quickly went to take a shower. This Camp Half-Blood could be horrible and she didn't want to have to be stuck at it when it was like that. Not that she had ever been to a summer camp before, but she had seen movies, well when Petunia would allow her to see the movies. And maybe that wasn't exactly accurate, but it was all the information she had.

After having put on the grey jeans and white t-shirt, she went downstairs to eat something. Having slept for a few hours, she should be able to keep up with the time difference and fall asleep when it became night there. Downstairs, when she entered the diningroom, the first thing she saw was a group of frazzled House-elfs running around doing different things. When she looked around, she could understand why. The room was shining, so clean was it, and from what she could see of the rest of the house, so was the rest. Hell, even the garden from what she could see through the window was fixed. On the dark wooden table there was food enough for a feast and Connie got quezzy just looking at it. No matter how much she ate at Hogwarts, she could never quite get used to eating a lot of things in one setting.

"Are you okay?"

Several heads nodded. "Of course Mistress Connie! We perfect. We coming with Mistress Connie to camp in Long Island!"

Connie stared at them for a few seconds. "You're coming with me? Don't you have things you need to do here? I thought that was the purpose of forbidding me from working."

Who she though was Fizzy nodded. "We come back to do work when we needs. But you might find work in camp, and you no cans be working. We will, so we come with."

After some complaining on her part and what might have been exasperation on their part, it was decided that they could come and go as they wanted. It wasn't exactly like she could stop them and if it made them happy, then why not?

She ate the food they had made for her, well as much as she could anyway, and told them to bring the left-overs to some charity that would need it. Connie's mind went to a book on potions she had read and wondered again why Snape was still the professor, she wasn't even sure anymore if Hogwarts was as good of a school they said themself to be. Honestly, the education was horrible, Binns could bore a ghost to sleep and only ever taught about goblin wars, Snape was a bitter bastard that did not understand a single thing and loved to abuse others, McGonagall dismissed anything Connie said and never helped her. Hermione had told her about the talk she had had with McGonagall at the start of term in year one and how everyone had them. Sybil Trelawny at least knew what she was talking about, but no-body ever listened to her and dismissed anything she ever said, Hagrid had a fascination with large and dangerous animals that had no place on school grounds, according to Hermione the Muggle Studies class was a joke that was stuck in the seventeenth century and Connie didn't even wanted to get started on the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Connie stood in the hallway with her trunk in her pocket and Dobby next to her. They would be going as close to camp as they could and the others would be coming after her. Dobby had instisted that he could move them halfway around the world by himself and that she shouldn't worry, but damnit she had never been outside of Britain before she had a right to be nervous. And if she did have family there...well that changed everything didn't it?

She took a hold of Dobby's small hand and grabbed it tightly. She did not want to be left behind somewhere in the middle of it. Dobby got a comical look of intense concentration on his face before she could hear the pop that signified a House-elfs transportation. For a moment, she thought she was dead. Everything went black and cold. Then, just as she was about to ask Dobby what was going on, he let go of her. She was shocked to discover she had closed her eyes when she opened them to ask him what happened and looked around to discover she was in some kind of forest.

When she was about to ask Dobby if they were at the right place, she felt him take her hand and when she looked down at him, he was pointing at something behind her. Connie turned around and felt her breath leave her lungs as she stared at what could only be three hellhounds in front of her.

Yep, it was official, her luck sucked.

—

And that's chapter two!

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Sadly, this isn't edited so if you see a mistake, please let me know.

Also, thank you so much for all of the reviews, I hope you liked it.

-FantasyDeath