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The young man awoke with a start. His fire, red eyes quickly scanned around as if searching for an intruder while breathing heavily. It was dark in his room and, other than the orange haze of the setting sun, there was no light. His vision was still coming together. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light and wiping the small amount of sweat off his forehead. He threw his covers off and shakily sat on his bed his legs dangling off the end.
He looked towards the clock in the corner of the room and saw that it was nearing five in the evening. He quickly did the math in his head. 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep. He thought to himself. That fight must've drained me. He shook his head and stood up. If he was lucky, maybe everyone else was asleep or even better gone.
He slowly walked out of his bedroom. His tall form silently walking down the long corridor in a black suit and tie. He was surprised that he was able to fall asleep in it.
`On the walls were pictures of men and women that resembled himself. Stern, unrelenting gazes met his own on equal ground. Their confident and imposing figures sat in impressive looking brown leather chairs.
He finally reached the stairs that lead to the first floor of the house. He sighed and gave himself a once over. Not a single wrinkle or sweat stain or any abnormality for that matter, courtesy of a charm that the dry cleaners had put on.
He entered the living room with a small smile on his face. Which quickly faltered into a glare at the nearest guest, who returned it in kind.
"Ah, Aaron!" Another, a broad shouldered man that had salt and peppered hair on his head and around his smiling face, said with his arms outstretched and drink in hand. He had that grandfatherly feel about him. Two men wearing similar black suits and ties both wearing dual wand holsters. They had a very professional aura around them.
And Aaron hated them.
Aaron forced a smile as he greeted the man with a quick handshake. Aaron then discreetly wiped his right hand on the side of his pants. With the forced smile still on his face he responded, "Mister Adams, I would have thought that you would have left already. The service is over."
"Your father was a great man." Mr. Adams said back, probably a little more hostile then he intended. "But-" He was cut-off when a strikingly beautiful woman strode passed the two bodyguards and Mr. Adams and went to Aaron's side. She bore a resemblance to Aaron. "Missus Aragon, glad you can join us. I was just going to ask the new Head of House about his arrangements on the Council."
"While I, and my son and daughter, understand your concern about the alliances and such. Isn't it a bit early to be talking politics?"
"I am merely ensuring that the Aragon twins are not swayed to go against the foundations on which they were brought up." The older man shrugged. Aaron immediately made to grab the man and beat the crap at him. His mother put a hand up halting him in his tracks while the two guards moved a step closer.
"Excuse me?" Mrs. Aragon responded dangerously sweet.
"Well they are Battle Mages. First ones in centuries I might add and both twins." He said as he tipped his glass of alcohol, with a smirk on his face, toward the pair. Aaron took a step closer and his mother this time grabbed his arm to stop him. A crowd of spectators have also gathered around while others hurried out the door. "So forgive me when I say that Battle Mages, especially two hormonally distraught teenagers who haven't had a lick of political experience, are in fact a liability to Council interests."
"Is this an appropriate time to talk about this?" Mrs. Aragon responded in a deathly whisper.
He got close to her and whispered so that no one could hear them. He also casted a silence charm, just in case, wandless. Aaron looked on confused as did everyone else. "I need to speak to you and this was the only way to get your attention."
She heard the urgency in his voice and nodded. "Aaron, find your sister." She broke the silence charm
The young man looked at her and then to the Head of the Adams family with a glare before moving away quickly.
The older man followed the woman up stairs and through the first door where there was a medium-ish room that was surrounded by various books and filing cabinets. Towards the back of the room there was a black leather chair and large oak desk that was stacked with papers and various other materials. Mr. Adams reasoned that this used to be Eric's old study.
"There will be a Council meeting deciding the fates for the two. I recommend getting them out of country as soon as possible. The only thing that kept them from being killed this entire time was their name and their father. Now one of them is gone and that wealth and influence won't persuade the forty other Council Heads. The rest of us don't hold the clout to keep them pacified." He said to her as he leaned on a bookshelf. The woman sat in a lounge chair staring at him with an impassive expression on her face.
"As you know, Eric-" He began before being cut off.
"No, I don't know." She said quickly. She usually didn't pay attention to her husband's political affairs and mainly concentrated on their many successful businesses in securing both common and rare potion ingredients and undertaking in the muggle Stock Exchange and taking care of her children. Her husband also helped with a wand-making business that was beginning to take off.
There was a slight pause before he began again. "Well, to start off as you should know the Battle Mage is an incredibly dangerous being. Uncontained magic and a temper to match. Every time a Battle Mage has appeared, suffering followed." She nodded in response, not liking at all where this was going. He was making them sound as if they weren't human.
"Most likely, the Council would arrest the twins rather than outright killing them but I cannot guarantee which course they will choose." He sighed.
"What about everything else if we do leave? All of our things? Of course we have other places in the world where we can reside but ever since my husband's family migrated here all those years ago and my family just moving here….." She trailed off. "This is our home. We can't just leave."
"The Council won't or rather can't seize anything belonging to the family since it's illegal. Condemning Battle Mages, however? That has been happening ever since the first one, some five thousand years ago when she almost brought about a massive war between her followers and everyone else. Luckily, she was subdued." He paused seeing the growing look of anger on her face. "You see, ever since then Battle Mages have never been trusted, most being killed as soon as they show signs of being one.
Your family, the Aragon's specifically, broke the status quo and kept them," He said gesturing towards the door with his glass of liquor. "alive long enough to mature and train. Now, excuse my French, the dumbasses on the Council want to be rid of a threat that, you, me and a few trusting others, know not to be one."
"Then we can't convince them?" She asked with a hint of desperation. She, being a half-blood, didn't really know much of the politics of the American Wizarding World, other than what was taught at her school that is.
He chuckled. "Sadly, no." He responded after a second. "What I do know though is that if you get them out of country before, at the latest next Saturday, they will be safe. My recommendation? Go to Britain. They just went through a war and killed a Dark Lord about seventeen years ago. They won't take kindly to a Council extradition, even if it is to be rid of a threat."
Her face scrunched up in concentration. "Seventeen years ago? That can't be a coincidence."
"Priorities Pamela, Priorities!" He shook his glass at her. "Time is of the essence. The Brits will hold their tongue for a price that will be just a drop in the wealth of the Aragon's. I have already taken the liberty to set my solicitors up with a few powerful Heads of Houses both in England and mainland Europe. However, even though the French Ministry is willing to keep the whereabouts of the Mages' a secret, I do not trust them."
This was beginning to be too much for Pamela. There was a reason why she left the politics of the family in the hands of Eric. The pressure and backstabbing that it involved sickened and stressed her out to no end. That's why she stayed with the financial businesses.
There was still one thing plaguing her mind though, but she knew this was her only chance to have a normal life in a not so normal world. "Why are you helping us? Of all people...you are the last one on that list. I can see that your hate for Aaron runs deep."
He looked towards her. His eyes showing a weariness that she had only seen once before and the was when her husband was at their children's tenth birthday. She saw it but said nothing about it. He sighed as he downed the last of his drink and inhaled deeply. "My son...he was a Battle Mage. I kept it a secret."
"Was?" She further prodded. "And you had a son?"
"Fifty years ago I did." He sighed once again. "On my son's tenth birthday, Inquisitors kidnapped him." He paused, internally debating whether or not to continue. "I searched using every lead and resource I had. Your husband Eric was only eighteen at the time, barely graduated from Westeros United and training to become an Inquisitor himself, he helped me since his family owed a debt and wanted to pay it off."
She gestured for him to continue. "We finally found a solid lead a year later at a Mason house party..."His eyes had tears that were forming but the stern gaze was still there and his voice held no emotion. "The Inquisitors were hired by the Mason family to kidnap and abandon my son in the wilderness and it turns out that the Mason's owed a life debt to the Aragon family and Eric used it to locate my son but we were...too late."
"I'm sorry." She consoled. She realized that her family's archenemy was due to jealousy between the two older men. Both had children that were Mages but only one got to live and the other died.
"I have moved on but he still and will always have a place in my heart. The Mason's paid dearly that day however from the debt and suffered heavy repercussions from it. That in turned into a debt for my Family to repay was not surprising since Eric and his father saved all our belongings from being confiscated for keeping the knowledge of a Battle Mage being born. They and a few other Family heads used their influence to keep this under wraps."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as the Head of the Adams family looked around and Pamela stared at him still wondering why he was doing all of this. The man spoke after a few more uncomfortable moments. "I will take my leave. Remember get out of the country it's too dangerous."
And with that he left.
Pamela stayed in the study to mull over what she learned. After a few moments, Aaron and his sister, Emilia appeared in the doorway. Emilia stood at about five foot ten and shared her brother's raven black hair. She had an athletic build and a figure most women would kill for. Her eyes though were what drew most attention though, almost glowing similar to Aaron's fire red irises but instead hers were a bright cerulean blue color. She currently wore a form fitting, modest black dress.
Emilia quickly went to comfort her mother while Aaron watched on from the doorway. Seeing as he this wasn't going anywhere, Aaron spoke. "I'll start getting everyone to leave, I guess." For some reason he did not know, Aaron figured it was going to be a long couple weeks.
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