Author's Note

Here's the first chapter of my new fanfiction story called The Blood of Kings. This story follows my original character Adeline, and well, you'll hear all about her as you read! I know she's going to sound kind of extreme at first, but just remember that it was the way she was raised... things will be changing, don't you worry!

Read, enjoy, and please review! It would mean so much to me!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me!

1. Prelude

I stood in front of my full-length mirror, surveying my appearance one final time. Tonight, like every other night, anything short of perfection was unacceptable.

My hair, black as coal, hung long and straight down my back and over my shoulders. A thin silver hair band pushed the front strands away from my heart-shaped face, my pale ivory skin seemingly glowing in the dim light of my bedroom. My bright green eyes scanned my outfit as I analyzed the ensemble one last time.

My clothes were simple but neat and elegant. An emerald green sweater dress with black tights and black shoes, topped off with silver earrings, a tiny A engraved on each of them. A for Adeline.

With a final nod to no one in particular, I smoothed down my dress once more and walked confidently out of my bedroom, assured that I looked presentable. Because presentation was everything in my house, especially on days like these.

I entered the great hall of our manor just as three people suddenly appeared in the middle of it with a tiny "pop". I stood back a bit as my mother and father went to greet the first guests.

"Ah Antonin, Igor, Rabastan, welcome." said Father evenly, shaking each man's hand and looking him in the eye. They exchanged pleasantries and my Father motioned me towards him with an almost imperceptible nod of the head. I stepped forward as I had done countless times in my life, with short, quick movements, and approached the three tall, dark men in front of me.

Dolohov, Karkaroff, and Lestrange were all younger than my father, and of much lower status, but I had known them a majority of my life. With practiced ease I greeted all three with a radiant smile, leaning slightly into my father as he patted me on one thin shoulder. All men responded cordially, giving little bows towards me and my mother before they followed my father into his study for some pre-dinner drinks.

I stood by my mother, a tall woman with green eyes like me and bright blonde hair. She was almost ten years younger than my father, and still possessed the beautiful features he had wed her for almost twenty years before. We looked much alike in everything but hair color and she smiled at me and squeezed my hand gently as we waited side by side in the great hall, our many servants scurrying all around us as they prepared dinner and set the Manor's dining hall with our nicest china.

Mother and I didn't have to wait long before there was another soft "pop" and three women appeared in the center of the room. Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Walburga Black stepped forward to meet my mother and I. Walburga was a rather large woman, and quite outspoken, married to Orion Black, who was a good friend of my father's. Her nieces, Narcissa and Bellatrix, were a few years older than me, though I still knew them fairly well.

Narcissa bore a striking resemblance to my own mother, with her near-white hair and pale complexion. Even their personalities matched, both being somewhat subdued and soft-spoken.

Bellatrix could not have been more different. She was loud and stubborn, firm in her beliefs. She was also quite beautiful, but in a different way than her sister or my mother. She flaunted it, using it to her advantage whenever she could.

After all the women had greeted each other, we stepped into my mother's expansive parlor room for refreshments.

This was how every one of these get-togethers always went. The men arrived. My father greeted them, exuding confidence and superiority, and then presented me as his favorite treasure: the perfect daughter, his pride and joy. The men retired into the study. Mother and I waited for the women, if any were to being joining us, as often they did not. When all, if any, of the female guests had arrived, we had tea or coffee in the parlor while we waited for dinner to begin. Dinner was served, polite conversation was maintained. The men went into the study again to discuss private matters. Everyone left.

I had grown so accustomed to these little get-togethers that I felt myself going through the motions without a thought. The guests were always different but the layout was the same.

But one thing I had learned early on in my life, when I had been just a little girl and my older brothers had grown up and one by one, been invited to join in on these solemn "private chats" in father's office, were that these were not just social visits. They were business meetings.

Since practically birth, my lineage, and everything that went along with it, was something that I was reminded of again and again and again.

I was a pure-blood. And not only was I a pure-blood, I was a Villori, a member of the most powerful, most wealthy, most influential pure-blood family in all of Britain.

Presentation was everything. Wealth was everything. Blood was everything.

My parents believed this. Their status, their role in society, their way of life centered around it. We were at the core of a group of people who believed what we believed: purity was supremacy.

My family looked down upon half-bloods and muggle-borns because they were not full wizards. They had no wizarding lineage, no true claim to magic. And these people that my father invited to our house, these people who I had grown up listening to talk about purity and power and wealth, were the kind of people who were trying to make our wizarding society a better, purer place to live and flourish.

And I agreed. Why wouldn't I? My parents were noble-minded people. They were doing this for the good of our friends and our family. They had worked hard to make Villori a name to be revered by all.

I wasn't naïve. I'd heard our servants talk when they thought I wasn't listening or couldn't hear them. They said that a war was brewing, between us—the pure-bloods—and the others, the muggle-borns and the half-bloods and anyone who thought that magic was just for anyone.

But according to my parents and my older brothers and our many dinner guests, our side would win. Which made sense to me. Our claim to magic was the strongest of anyone. It was only suitable that we would come out on top.

During dinner, as we were all served on silver platters and the servants danced around the table, offering us more of everything and keeping our glasses full, the conversation flowed among a great many topics.

Talk revolved around the war (which was never actually called a war outright. Mostly it was referred to as the 'situation'), the latest scandals among pure-blood society, and Narcissa's recent engagement to Lucius Malfoy, a regular at my father's get-togethers and a close friend of my eldest brother, Roy.

Mrs. Black, sitting on my mother's left, was chewing her food thoughtfully, her eyes on me. I had been mostly silent up until this point, the only non-adult present, and had been somewhat lost in my thoughts when the mention of my name by the matriarch of the Black family caught my attention.

"And what of sweet Adeline, here? How is her schooling?" she asked, her eyes suddenly on my father, who was taking a large gulp from his silver goblet of wine.

He set down his drink, his smile wide as he looked at me with the utmost pride. "Ah, funny you should ask, dear Walburga," he said, stabbing his roasted quail with a fork as he spoke. "Lenoir and I have recently decided that it is high-time Adeline continues her education at Hogwarts." He smiled at me, although I could see that hint of warning in his gaze that told me I was not to appear shocked.

Though shocked I most certainly was. I did my best to keep my face impassive, although I was certain I failed miserably despite my best efforts. But Father had never so much as mentioned the possibility of my going to Hogwarts. Had he and mother really been discussing it? How had I not known? I knew everything that went on in this house.

Or at least I thought I did.

"Oh I see." said Walburga, as all the attention in the room suddenly focused on me. I held my head high, trying to exude confidence and calmness while inside I felt only turmoil. I did my best to listen to what was being said. "Yes I suppose it is about time. What made you change your mind?"

My parents had never sent my brothers to Hogwarts. They—and I as well, apparently up until now—had been taught by the best tutors that money could buy, right in our own home, despite the fact that Hogwarts was supposed to be one of the greatest wizarding schools in the world. They had strongly disagreed with the fact that Hogwarts was open to children of all blood-lines. Mudbloods were welcome, and my parents hated it.

It had always been a secret desire of mine, however, to attend the school I had heard so much about but never visited nor even seen. It sounded interesting. I had never been around many people my own age, besides my brothers and the other pure-blood children my parents allowed me to interact with. Most of my life had been spent in this manor, with my parents and our servants and the many guests we entertained on a regular basis. Of course I had been on trips and headed into London or Rochester once in a while, but for the most part my life had been quite sheltered.

But my parents had never even considered Hogwarts an option, due to its non-pure reputation, and I had never even thought to question it. It was just so much easier to do as they wished.

My father was looking at me thoughtfully now, and I could tell he was pleased at how well I was taking this surprising news. He smiled at me before answering Mrs. Black. "My Adeline is a clever girl. I want her to go to Hogwarts and show everyone there, that damned Dumbledore included, that the Villori family is a force to be reckoned with. She needs to build up a reputation at Hogwarts, and be a leader for the other pure-bloods that go to school there. You're son included, Walburga! Regulus is just a few years younger than Adeline, is he not?"

"He is." said Mrs. Black, eyeing me dubiously, as if she wondered whether I could really be a leader to her son, Regulus, the pride and joy of the Black family. I stared right back, the shock wearing off to be replaced with joy. If Father would really allow me to attend Hogwarts, I would be the leader of whatever he wanted me to be. "What about the mudbloods that walk the halls and even teach the classes at Hogwarts? I thought you were strictly against the idea, Samson."

"I am, as I think we all are here." My father said calmly, nodding at every person sitting at the long table, all eyes on him. "But soon, as we all know, this will change. Until then, I know that Adeline will only converse with the correct people. She's got a good head on her shoulders, and she's grown up in a pure house. She's an excellent representation of the Villori family, and I must say, pure bloods in general. I have no doubt she'll make a name for herself at that school."

Bellatrix raised her glass at the end of my father's speech, a smile on her face. I had no doubt that she, a former Hogwarts student herself, agreed with my father's sentiments. Bellatrix's entire Hogwarts experience had been about proving the supremacy of pure blood over all else. It was obvious that she was eager for me to do the same.

And why not? I thought, as I raised my own glass and said the Villori family motto along with everyone else at the table, my heart beating fast as it really sunk in that in just two weeks I would be on the train to Hogwarts, proving to everyone what it meant to be pure. To be a Villori.

"Sanguis Regis, Purus Ut Nox."

The Blood of Kings, Pure as Night.