Disillusionment and cold hard truth was a hard thing to take sometimes. As was betrayal and being almost locked into a loveless marriage she had never wanted in the first place to a man she would gladly kill if she thought for a second it would get her out of this mess.

At least they weren't trying to turn her into a weapon. After the war, she had lost any love for magic and had forgotten her wand so often that she quit caring.

And after the fifth time she showed up to Gringotts without a wand, people started to believe she had lost her magic in the fight with Voldemort. As a consequence, the Ministry didn't even try to make her their personal attack dog. Instead they more or less forgot she even existed.

However the downside was that no one thought twice about marrying her off in hopes of at least salvaging the Potter line.

However she had seen that coming a mile away after realizing people were looking at her with pity. Once she had a large enough stockpile that she promptly placed into a muggle bank, she sealed all her vaults and left the magically binding contracts she had made during her tenure in Hogwarts in a simple safety deposit box that no one outside of her would be able to get to. With her money safely secured and with no feasible way for the Ministry to get anywhere near it, she started making long and short term goals.

Goal one: eliminate Ronald without anyone realizing he was no longer an issue. This was quickly proven to be a short term goal once she started paying for black market painkillers and sleeping aids. A half-pill of each and he was out like a light...and that was after she had neutered the bastard so he would never touch her.

If Molly was expecting children, she should never have forcibly married her youngest son with a young woman who was a fully trained vet with access to legal drugs and the ability to trick her new 'husband' into his animal form when she had the right tools on hand. Ron lost his ability to continue the Weasly line the very night they were wed and she talked him into transforming into his animal form right after drugging him for the first time. The rest was child's play.

Yes, taking those night classes had been a bitch and a half during the war, and she probably shouldn't have stolen so many muggle drugs, but to be honest she wasn't regretting it one bloody bit.

Goal two: find a way to break the fake marriage contract and make sure they didn't try it again with someone worse.

She would have killed Ron ages ago if she were certain they wouldn't put her with some other intolerable inbred moron she couldn't keep in line through drugs and laziness. Draco, for instance, might have been a fool but he wouldn't have been as malleable as Ron was. Ron was easy to take care of...he was the magical equivalent of her idiot cousin Dudley. Just feed him until he was ready to pop with a few mashed up pills, and he would be too tired to do anything. Combine that with the fact she had literally removed his balls, and he wasn't likely to touch her anytime soon.

Goal three: insure these idiot magicals never had the chance to cross her again. That was easy enough to accomplish...years of living with the Durselys had taught her a valuable skill.

Bolt holes and back-up plans. The goblins had a high-stakes tournament for those rich enough to pay for the buy-in, and she hadn't bothered to do anything with her vaults.

So long as she didn't try to claim her full power, the ones who kept her ignorant and downtrodden never paid her any mind. They thought she spent all those hours on insane shopping sprees.

Five hundred galleons and anyone could buy a time turner. She just kept it hidden from everyone and never bothered to use it at Hogwarts.

She spent more time in Gringotts in those poker tournaments than anywhere else...and during third year while the others were feeling good about getting out of the drafty old castle, she tricked the older students into her own mini-tournament.

If she wanted, she could bankrupt the entire magical community through their children alone. Or at least cripple it so severely it would take centuries to recover. Malfoy was one of her favorite victims. The goblins either didn't know or didn't care about that fact. After she sealed the vaults she never took another step in the bank, which was just fine by them.

Once she found a way to close ranks against the sheer stupidity of the magicals, she was going to drain the bank dry and invest in the Dwarves, who at least know about the muggles and their advancements.

Most might try their luck with the gnomes, but she was no fool. Gnomes didn't wield actual weapons or know the value of protecting what was theirs.

Besides, they hated the goblins almost as much as she did and they would delight in draining the infamous Gringotts bank dry and denying the wizards any chance of reclaiming the gold. When she finally stole the gold, they were planning to declare her an honorary dwarf for the blow she was about to deliver to the goblins and their 'allies'.

In between working towards her long-term goals, continuing her job as a veterinarian's assistant (she could do almost everything except prescribe medication, and the office she worked for was so loose no one thought twice about her stealing from the painkillers so long as there was a decent supply), and finding out what the hell had been in her mother's vault, her days were kept busy.

So far she had determined the odd athame she had found was used to break something, but she had yet to figure out what. It was so thin it barely qualified as a ritual dagger and it looked like it would break if she tried to use it for anything practical. And it was old, really old.

As far as she had been able to tell, it was Greek in origin. That was the most she had been able to figure out.

Finding out her mother had been an Unspeakable had been a nice surprise. Learning they weren't trying to reclaim her research (it had been declared a dead area so they could care less) was an even better surprise.

At least it gave her something to do when she was bored.

"What the hell?" she muttered, not even wincing at the blood running down her arm.

"How interesting," said the latest pet owner. He had red eyes and graying hair, but she had ignored it. Just because most of the imbeciles that littered the magical world thought red eyes were a sign of evil didn't mean she did.

"Pick up or drop off?" she asked.

"If by drop off you mean some books."

"This is a veternary clinic sir. If you don't have a pet, I wouldn't be able to help you," she said tersely.

"Is that anyway to talk to the man who could help you with the problem you have?" he asked.

"What problem is that?"

"These...wizards...think you are nothing but an airheaded former witch, correct?"

She sat up.

"What do you want?"

"I'm bored, and watching the wizards run around like headless chickens is amusing enough that I would be willing to help. You can't keep them at bay for much longer without them wondering why Ron has yet to impregnate you...especially considering his family history," said the man. She winced.

She had completely forgotten about the small fact that most Weasleys were rather...fertile...in concerns to having children. Fleur was already pregnant by Bill again, which spoke volumes about how strong the genes were.

"So what would you suggest?"

"There is a tournament in Japan. It is one full of endless possibilities...and one wish. Those markings on your hand mean you have been selected to be a Master."

"Great...another tournament."

"Yes, but in this one you can kill the other competitors to make it easier."

That made her perk up.

"So what's the catch?"

"The catch is that you and your 'Servant' have to be the last one standing to get the wish."

"I don't need a wish. If I did have it all I would do with it is reverse time and make their lives an even bigger hell than before."

The man's grin was evil. Strangely, she didn't feel afraid of it.

"So what do I do?"

His grin widened.

It was almost the exact hour of Samhain that she was cursed with the title of Savior, and she was going to attempt something she hadn't done in years.

Magic.

She bleed freely onto the circle. She was doing this in Grimmauld because one, she knew no one in their right mind would bother coming here considering how wrecked it was, and two, because it was isolated and protected. She had remade the Fidelius charm so no one could possibly find her, and no one would think she would return because of how many bad memories she had.

It was no comfort to know that this was almost literally her last chance to be free of the idiocy of England.

She took a deep breath. She felt her magic at it's peak as the full moon hit her circle.

"Silver and Iron to the Origin.

Gem and the Archduke of Contracts to the Cornerstone.

The Ancestor is my Great Master Shweinorg.

The Alighted Wind becomes a Wall.

The Gates in the four directions close,

coming from the Crown,

the three-forked road that leads to the Kingdom circulate.

Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill).

Repeat every five times.

Simply, shatter once filled.

I announce.

Your self is under me,

my fate (doom) is in your sword.

In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail,

if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.

Here is my Oath.

I am the one who becomes all the good in the World of the Dead,

I am the one who becomes all of the evils in the World of the Dead.

You, Seven Heavens clad in three words of Power,

arrive from the ring of deterrence,

O Keeper of the Balance!"

The magic rose into a crescendo with her voice, as something reached and touched the marks on her hand.

There, on the far end of the circle itself (she had made it big so as not to make any mistakes) was a figure. She was clad in black with white hair and countless healing scars.

"I ask of you, are you my Master?"

She sounded young. Too young.

"Oh you poor thing," said Phoebe.

For some bizarre reason known only to those who knew James Potter, her father named her Maleficent after the great sorceress who was so powerful that she had put an entire kingdom to sleep.

The fact that in the muggle stories she was the villain was apparently something that had been lost to him, and Lily had been beyond horrified when she came out of her potion-induced painkillers. The moment she gained her wand she hexed her husband to London and back for giving their daughter such a terrible name.

Hence why she usually went by 'Fin' instead. Much less embarrassing than being called Phoebe Maleficent Corvus Potter-Black.

The girl froze as Phoebe hugged her. Slowly she hid her daggers and tentatively hugged her new Master back.

Phoebe bent down to her level.

"What's your name little one?"

"...Assassin."

"I meant your real name, not the card I drew. Though it does seem fitting that I would end up with the silent death Servant."

"...Jack..."

"Well Jackie, from now on we're going to have a lot of fun. And don't mind the fat red head you'll see later. He'll die by my hand once his usefulness is over with, if he's lucky," said Phoebe cheerfully.

Jack leaned into the hug a little more. She liked this Master.

Phoebe got ready to leave for Japan. Ron would be coming as well for 'support'...more like spare parts to her. Molly was thrilled her 'daughter-in-law' was trying to bring back her magic, which they had believed as lost.

Short of having a child, the Potter vaults were completely closed off, to Molly's despair. They thought it had been the goblin's revenge for the fact Phoebe had broken in during the war...they had no idea she had sealed them off herself. Outside of the payments for taxes and the like, not a single knut left the vault. She still received gold from the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, as their partner, but she couldn't touch a single coin of it.

Jackie, as Phoebe affectionately called her, stayed glued to her side. The first thing Phoebe had done was take her on a long shopping spree for clothes, which was why Jack was currently wearing a hoodie with black and white coloring, a pair of jeans and a cute backpack with the emblem of a popular muggle movie series called Monster High. Specifically the skull with the bow on the side.

It suited the Assassin servant bizarrely well.

Once she was properly prepared for an all-out war, Phoebe dragged her 'husband' to the muggle air port. In a pet container. It was cheaper than buying three plane tickets for someone who would be doped up the entire flight, and this way she got to enjoy her trip.

"Momma, can I have some ice cream?" asked Jack. Jack seemed to have adopted Phoebe as her mother, and considering what Zelretch told her as her origins, Phoebe didn't mind.

Who knew Jack the Ripper had been a girl who had lost her innocence because of the fact she had to grow up on the streets without anyone to care for her. The entire reason she became a murderer was in a vain attempt to find a mother. So long as Phoebe fulfilled that role (she didn't mind it), Jack would never turn her blades on her and would defend her with her dying breath.

"Of course you can sweetie," said Phoebe with a smile. Being around Jack was the only time she ever smiled...most of her life had been filled with pain, so she knew what it was like to go hungry. Jack selected a scope of chocolate, which had been a luxury in her time, and the vendor gave her a double on the house.

By the time they left England far behind, Phoebe was grinning. One way or another she would find someone to act as her shield against any more marriage contracts...because the tournament didn't have a set end date, it gave her some leeway. At least Zelretch (who gave her the book on how to summon Jack and the basic gist of the tournament called "Heaven's Feel" for some reason) finally told her what the dagger her mother had in her vault was.

Rule Breaker, a weapon specifically designed to destroy magic and magical contracts. A weak Noble Phantasm once wielded by none other than Medea, the Witch of Betrayal...though she could also be summoned as the Princess of Colchis, before she had been used by Aphrodite.

She was going to find a way to earn it's allegiance or die trying. A dagger like that would be beyond useful and it would piss off so many people!