So, this strange idea for a story came to me years ago and I had started to write it in Italian but I was able to write only the first chapter and then I abandoned it.
I don't know what made me change my mind years later to decide to give it another go but maybe that's what happens when you're obsessed with TV Shows like Game of Thrones, Merlin and Once Upon a Time. So here I am. I translated the first chapter from Italian but there are various differences compared to the original version. From the second chapter and on, it will be completely new. I really, really hope you like it.
*I've put a poll in my prophile. Choose who you want Aurora to be with: Severus or Marvolo(Tom). I have to say, I'm undecided. So, I'll let you choose.
THE PROPHECY OF THE CHILD-QUEEN
Summary: Alternate Universe. Female Harry Potter. In a time of Myth and Magic, the Hogwarts Realm, also called the Realm of the Four Lands, was ruled by four sovereigns who lived in peace among themselves.
The King of Slytherin, - King Voldemort - however, was power-hungry and he sought to become the High King and rule over the entire realm.
Taking advantage of the ongoing war against the Dark Lord Grindelwald, - the King of the Unknown Lands - he sent assassins to kill the King of Gryffindor - the one who would surely be elected as the High King - and his wife before appointing himself High King.
Only one year old Aurora Potter was able to survive thanks to the Weasleys , the King's royal guard.
Now, seventeen years later, the only daughter of King James of Gryffindor lives in the Forbidden Forest at the borders of the Kingdom, raised by a Druid - Albus Dumbledore - and still unaware of her destiny, but not for long.
A prophecy, uttered a century before, indicates her as the only one able to defeat Voldemort and bring peace back to Hogwarts.
In this story, Hogwarts is a land divided into 4 Kingdoms: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, each one with their own kings and queens - at least until Voldemort came - and one next to each other.
The Forbidden Forest is a vast forest that - together with the Black Lake -separates the four kingdoms from the Wild Lands on the south.
The Wild Lands - like the name says - are not under the High King's command. The Black Lake is just south of the Forest. The Great River runs through the Forest and divides it in two. At the mouth, the River meets the Black Lake.
On the north of Hogwarts there are the Unknown Lands.
Hogwarts and the Unknown Lands are separated by powerful wards old thousands of years and created by the Order of the Druids. They have never fallen but Grindelwald's attacks have been able to weaken them considerably.
And they had become weaker and weaker still, since Voldemort first sat on the Throne.
Beyond the Wards, the King is the Dark Lord Grindelwald who had been a Druid, once upon a time, before giving in to the Dark Arts. Some says he has mastered Death itself.
Pairing: Severus Prince/FemHarry/(Tom) Marvolo Riddle(like the diary-version of Tom Riddle, just a little older) - Love Triangle.
Voldemort and Tom Marvolo Riddle are two different people in this story.
Voldemort has one son and one daughter.
Marvolo Riddle(I'll call him Marvolo in this story, not Tom) is Voldemort's illegitimate son.
Bellatrix is Voldemort's legitimate daughter and only heir. She's completely devoted to her father.
Disclaimer: I'll say this only once. I don't own the Harry Potter series nor do I make money by writing this story.
Don't worry, I'm done now. Read and Review, tell me what you think!
Prologue
"None of us can choose our destiny. And none of us can escape it."
(The Great Dragon - Merlin)
Living in the Forbidden Forest wasn't easy. You needed to hunt if you wanted to eat and water needed to be collected from the river every morning if you wanted to avoid dying of thirst. The winter was incredibly cold, even inside a cave, covered with animal fur and the fire lit and crackling. While in the summer the humidity was almost unbearable.
And of course you needed to keep your eyes on alert for the numerous wild creatures that inhabited it. Dangerous, magical creatures that could only be found inside that forest.
And yet Aurora loved the forest; she knew every tree, every stone, every flower of it. But, how could it be otherwise? She had always lived there. She had never known anything else.
Albus had taken care of her since she was one year old, after having found her on the shore of the Black Lake, inside a crib, crying.
It was him who had taught her everything she knew and the wise, old man knew a lot of things.
He had taught her to read and write, to use bow and arrows to hunt and even to use a sword.
And he had taught her magic.
Once upon a time Albus had been a High Priest, when the Order of the Druids was still present and prosperous in the Hogwarts lands.
But since King Voldemort had proclaimed himself High King and banned magic, the Druids had gone into hiding, a lot of them had been killed and the Order, by now, was practically extinct.
Albus had therefore taken shelter in the depth of the Forest and had created a home there, inside a cave, hidden from the eyes of men who hadn't the courage to venture in those enchanted woods.
The men were afraid of the Forest because - besides being scared of the creatures there - in a time far gone, that same Forest had been the home of the Druids when they had been at the highest of their powers.
Many believed that these same woods had somehow absorbed some of the powers of the Druids and that now the Forest had a mind of its own.
Aurora knew that that wasn't the case however. The Forest was simply composed by trees that had nothing magical in them.
Now, though, the old man had become ill, after having being bitten by an acromantula, and Aurora knew, in the depth of her heart, that he wouldn't survive the winter.
She had tried to cure him with all the remedies she knew, searching in the depth of the forest all the healing herbs she thought could be useful. She had prepared every kind of poultice she knew but none of it had been of any use.
The fever had stayed consistently high and Aurora was starting to lose hope.
No matter what the situation was though, Albus never lost his smile, peaceful in the face of impending death, with his clear, blue eyes twinkling like always.
Aurora couldn't help but feel useless in this kind of situation. She wasn't one used to stay idle by, she was a woman of action.
But she didn't know what else she could do to help him.
"Come here child." The great wizard called to her, voice weakened by the illness.
"I am here, father." Aurora came closer to him.
The elderly magician was lying on a bed made with animal fur and dead leaves. He was very pale and he was sweating heavily. His wet hair shone silver under the light of the torches that lightened the dark cave.
"My dear girl, do not stress yourself further. There's nothing more you can do. You know it as much as I do. It's time for me to return to the Great Mother we all come from." His voice was a faint whisper and Aurora came closer still to be able to hear him.
"No, please Albus, don't say that. I will find a cure, you'll see. Please, you can't leave me. I wouldn't know what to do without you here." Aurora begged him, on the verge of tears. She could feel the pain of loss insinuating itself into her heart.
"You will go on, even without me. A great destiny awaits you." Albus replied with a gentle smile.
"What destiny? What are you talking about?" Aurora asked, a confused frown marring her forehead.
"There are things I need to tell you. Things you need to know. I never mentioned it until now because I wanted you to have a happy and peaceful childhood, at least as far as it was possible in these circumstances. But I can't hide the truth from you anymore. You need to know." Albus stopped talking for a second, his breath heavy. The effort to say even those few words was taking a toll on him in his weakened state.
"You are the only daughter of King James I, of the House of Potter, sovereign of Gryffindor, legitimate heir to the throne.
King Voldemort, at the time King of Slytherin, sent assassins to kill your parents in order to prevent your father for becoming the High King and take James' place.
You were the only survivor and it's because of the actions of the Weasleys, your father's royal guard, that you are here today, alive and safe.
Voldemort remains High King still, even if the war against Grindelwald has ended more than ten years ago.
You know, I suppose, that - according to the ancient laws of Hogwarts - a High King is elected only in case of grave danger and he's supposed to renounce the throne once this danger has been overcome.
Voldemort, however, has continued to hold the position of High King and has been reigning as the absolute monarch of the Hogwarts lands for over 17 years now.
He has also placed some of his most trusted knights as governors of the four lands, banishing the legitimate rulers and their heirs from the realm.
The people have been under this tyrant's rule for almost two decades and, as I'm sure you know, everyone who dares trying to rebel against Him is immediately killed.
The most fortunate ones have been able to escape beyond this forest and found refuge in the Wild Lands but the most of them are forced to serve him.
You need to put a stop to all of this. You are the only one who can do it, the only one who can bring freedom and prosperity back to Hogwarts.
Voldemort is incredibly power-hungry and a very powerful wizard. I should know, I've instructed him myself when he was just a boy. I know what he's capable of.
He banned magic for fear that a witch or wizard could be born with the power to kill him.
What he didn't know was that a witch had already been born, destined to destroy him.
You're the only one powerful enough to do it. You're the only one destined to do it."
Aurora had listened enraptured to the story Albus had just told her up until that moment but at those words she interrupted him. "No, you're wrong. I can't be the one destined to destroy King Voldemort. It's not possible. I'm just me, I'm nothing special."
"You are far more special than you think Aurora.
You are incredibly powerful. Everything that I taught you, you have grasped it at the first try. Using magic comes as natural as breathing for you. You are adept at using a sword and a bow. And you have the kindest of hearts.
There are many people who will be willing to follow you if only you would give them the chance to.
That's why you need to leave this forest and reach the Wild Lands, where the ones who had been able to escape the realm, are now hidden.
As you can imagine, they are considered outlaws but no one has the courage to walk through this forest to hunt them down. They can help you take back what is rightfully yours.
Among this group of rebels, there are also the legitimate heirs to the thrones of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, of the House of Diggory and of the House of Lovegood respectively.
Furthermore, to succeed in your quest, you will need four magical objects that belonged, once upon a time, to the first four rulers: Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff.
These items have been created by the Druids to protect and help the four monarchs and were used for the first time together by the first High King in history. It has been a millennium since then, and they are now considered a myth. But they exist, they're real and you need to find them."
"I don't understand. Why me? Why are you so sure that it should be me?" Aurora asked with a note of hysteria in her voice. She couldn't understand why Albus was so sure that she was the only one able to stop Voldemort. It didn't make sense.
"Almost one hundred years ago, it was foretold that Hogwarts would face a reign of terror that would destroy the peace and prosperity known until that moment. But it was also prophesized that, one day, this reign would come to an end, thanks to the actions of a Child-Queen, heir to one of the monarchs of the four Lands and a direct descendant to Ignotus Peverell, the first High King, and that she would bring peace back to Hogwarts."
"But I'm not a Child-Queen." Aurora replied confused. She was eight and ten. She was not exactly a child even if sometimes Albus called her that. And she was certainly not a Queen, no matter who her father was.
"You are a Queen, even if your throne has been taken from you. When your father, the King James, was killed, you became, at barely one year of age, the new Queen. And that's why the prophecy talks about a Child-Queen."
Aurora nodded in understanding even if she was still doubtful. "All right. so, what are these magical objects and where am I supposed to find them?"
Albus continued speaking then."The magical objects are:
a sword that belonged to Godric Gryffindor and that represents courage,
a book of ancient spells that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw and that represents knowledge,
a wand that belonged to Salazar Slytherin and that represents power and
a bow and arrows that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff and that represents focus.
You will need all of these qualities to win.
These objects can be found inside the Crystal Cave, at the edge of the Black Lake."
"What edge of the Lake? Can you be more specific?" Aurora asked, irritation palpable in her voice.
"Your instinct will guide you in your quest. And your magic will help you in your journey." And with that said, the old wizard expired, finally at peace knowing that he had been able to reveal everything Aurora needed to know to complete her mission.
Aurora watched Albus closing his eyes for the last time and wept. She was scared and confused but she had no intention of disappointing her mentor. She knew what she needed to do. She was ready, no matter what it took.