A Tale as Old as Magic

Once upon a time, many years ago, there lived a wizard by the name of Merlin. This Merlin had many adventures, and he is today known as the most famous wizard to have ever lived. He served the great and just King Arthur with his Knights of the Round Table, often lending his counsel to the good king of Camelot.

However, the king had a deformed half-sister named Morgana, an evil sorceress, whose only goal in life was to see her brother dead so that she could ascend the throne that she considered rightfully hers. One of her plans to achieve this was to conceive an heir with her half-brother, so her son would be able to claim right to the throne, and through him, she could become the queen of Camelot. However, in one of her attempts at this, her magic crossed with the wizard Merlin's magic, and they became ensnared by each other's magic, causing them to conceive a son together, one that Morgana kept hidden from the world out of shame. Not even Merlin the wizard knew of this child, this Maine Pentdragon.

It is this child who started our story, for without this son of Merlin and Morgana, neither of us would exist, my son.

This boy grew up to be a very powerful wizard, with the power of two such powerful parents coursing through his veins. He ruled a land near the land of Camelot, as a noble to the great Arthur and his descendents. He eventually married, for he desired a son to carry on his legacy.

Unfortunately, it took several years for that son to appear.

His first child was a daughter, whom he named Agatha. Fair-haired and gentle, she married into a French family in an effort to secure an alliance with the family. The Malfoys welcomed the beautiful witch and agreed to the alliance; however, they would be the first to betray the Pentdragons.

His second child was also a daughter, whom he named Margaret. A raven-haired minx, she married into a family who had served as one of the Knights of the Round Table. The Blacks spent a good amount of time persuading Maine Pentdragon into this arrangement and eventually just kidnapped Margaret, unaware of her status as a witch.

His third child was again a daughter, whom he named Andorra. Born to a new wife, this daughter had both a fiery head of hair and temperament. She fell in love with a commoner, while shopping one day and soon became a Potter. Maine Pentdragon nearly disowned her for her poor judgement, but his second wife begged him not to and took her daughter's punishment herself.

His fourth child, much to his chagrin, was a daughter, whom he named Tai. An exact copy of her mother, she had the face of an angel with white-blonde hair and demeanor to match. At this point, Maine Pentdragon had taken to drinking and gambling to conceal his pain over not yet having a son, and most of his money was gone. He married Tai into the Greengrass family because they had plenty of money to spare and paid much for his angel.

His fifth child, as he was coming to expect, was a daughter, whom he named Morgen, after his mother because he believed that she had somehow cursed him, and he wanted her attention. However, all he got for his actions was a deformed daughter, whom he gave to a low-class magical family because no one else would have her. The Bones family took care of her.

His sixth child was once more a daughter, whom he named Millicent. Bright and powerful, she married into the Shade family, a magical line that Maine Pentdragon searched for for years, so his daughter's abilities would not be wasted.

It seemed as if Maine Pentdragon would never see the day where his son would take his place, and he fell into a deep depression. His wife grew very concerned, and she contacted her daughters, Tai and Millicent, to come up with a plan.

Together, these two ventured through the lands, searching for their paternal grandmother, who they also had long since had suspected of cursing their father for existing. They found her on her deathbed after several months of traveling, and they begged Morgana to end this curse on her son. Morgana, seeing how beautiful and powerful her granddaughters were, admitted that she had no idea what they were talking about, but she agreed to help them and put the last of her life into a potion that would help their mother conceive a male.

Overjoyed, the girls headed back to their father's estate... only to find that their father had killed himself. Feeling that it was their fault for taking so long, the girls considered throwing the potion off the top of the highest tower, until they discovered their mother had conceived just before their father died. She drank the potion willingly, and nine months later, a son was born.

Altair Pentdragon grew into an honorable wizard. With the help of the families of his sisters, he created the order of the Seven Noble Families. These families were meant to protect the magical world and train newcomers to the ways of magic. The families were also meant to keep each other in check to prevent any one family from gaining too much power, and children were swapped between families for marriages, as well as bringing in new blood from other families. For many generations, this worked out quite well.

That is, until the Malfoys moved out of France because of the Wars of Religion. They begged land from the Pentdragon heir of the time, and being a good nobleman like his forefathers, the wizard split his own lands and gave land to his kin.

Nearly a hundred years passed, and this kindness was soon forgotten. The new Malfoy head of house attacked the Family of Pentdragon as well as the Family of Shade for helping them, murdering all of those who carried the names. Both families were forgotten over time, and the Malfoys became more powerful. The Family of Black became their powerful ally, while the Families of Potter and Bones fought against them. The Family of Greengrass worked to settle the disputes between the families, but to no avail.

Now, these families have all but forgotten one another, but their connection still holds strong.

"But father?"

"Yes, my son?"

"How can the connection still be there with two of the families gone?"

"That, dear Harry, is something to discuss another time." Harry's father tucked him into bed and went to blow out the small candle by the door, but he stopped as he heard his son's voice.

"Father, is the bad man going to come get me tonight?"

Mildly alarmed, his father leaned in close to his son's bed, "No, son, the bad man will never hurt anyone ever again." He blew out the small flame and shut the door most of the way before walking down the short hallway to his room, which was almost as cramped as his son's.

He sat on his bed and thought. His son had never before asked him that question about the connection before; he shouldn't really be surprised. He had told his son this story many times over the years, and he supposed that eventually a question like that would come along. He just didn't think his son would only be eight when he asked it.

Of course, he already knew the answer; he just wasn't sure how to go about changing it, but he knew it would be able to be changed this generation. This generation would be the pivotal point to changing the British wizarding world for the better.

He picked up a compact mirror off the set of drawers beside the bed and stared into his reflection deeply. His vivid green eyes, inherited from his mother, stared back at him. Hopefully, it would be a while yet before his son realized just how very similar the two of them were.