A tall, powerful man in a leather jerkin walked down a brightly lit corridor. He walked as a warrior would. As, after all, that was what he was, a knight of the Realm. As he made his way to the end of the hall, he nodded to the two guards standing in front of a large door. The guards hastened to open the door for the man and he quickly continued into what appeared to be a mid-sized office with an open door leading into another room. In the office, a tall, broad shouldered man with dark black hair sat behind a large ornate desk. On this man's head sat an unassuming gold circlet. As the dark-haired man placed his quill down and dusted pounce powder on the paper to dry the ink, the knight stopped and stood quietly at attention a few paces from the desk. The seated man tiredly poured wax onto the letter that he had just finished, sealed it, and handed to the knight in front of him.
"Make sure this gets to the Ministry before Wizengamot's summer session begins on Friday. I want a reply promptly." The man behind the desk leaned back and looked at his knight. "Thank you for doing this Jonathan, I know that you just returned from the patrol."
"Think nothing of it, Your Majesty. It is, after all my job." The tall man, Jonathan, replied.
"Please Jon! This is so far beneath you, I am surprised that you even dignified my request with a visit! I have just been running the squires and messengers so hard lately that Michael ran into Cook! She was livid, and the poor child - mortified! My manservant, Henry, does not speak to me for fear that I will have more work for him to do! The time between sunup and sundown has been fraught with such work that not one person in the castle has stopped in days! I fear that by summer end, we shall all be buried in the paperwork and letters I receive and my needed replies!" The man at the desk, the King, threw his hands in the air before laying his head on the desk in front of him.
"Charles, please, do not be so dramatic my friend. It will not be so busy soon enough." Jonathan chuckled, while relaxing and moving a chair from the side to sit in front of the desk.
"Yes, it will not be busy after I die of overwork!" King Charles replied. Though with his head still buried in the desktop, his words came out muffled, "Mmmmph, mm mm mmmm mhh ummmm gurrrrrk!"
"Charles!" Jon laughed, "Just take a break, go eat in another room, go for a ride, take your children out for a picnic, Do something! I am sure that they miss you. Not to mention they must be tired of Madam Luisa. After all, while she is a fine seamstress, she is an old woman that cannot play with children as you can! And with Dorea in France and you holed up in here, they would have spent too long with Madam Luisa after a day!"
"I know, I know. And I know that they miss their mother, I do as well. I will go to find them soon. I just needed to finish the letter for my ministry. Besides, it is not as if you are much better, my friend! How long has it been since you have been home and seen your wife and child? Hmmm?!" Charles lifted his head to glare at his long-time friend and confidant.
"A fortnight and a day. And it appears a few hours more considering that I will be dealing with moronic minions that the ministry has employed! I will be heading to them as soon as I have delivered this letter. As it is, I have not been on patrol in several months. And while I love my family, I needed to be on the road again and to be doing something other than training." Jonathan stretched and stared out the window towards the town that you could just barely see through the courtyard gate.
"Yes, Yes. I am well acquainted with those at the ministry, but hopefully you will be dealing with someone competent. As for patrol, I know the feeling. How did that go, by way?" Charles removed his circlet, set it on the desk, and leaned back in his seat while running his hands through his locks.
"It went well, no signs of troublemakers on the main roads to the border, nor has there been any signs of dark magick in your royal cousin's side of the kingdom. In fact, there has not been any reports of issues caused magic kind in non-magical England nor in magical Albion. At least none that have needed to draw our attention that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement cannot handle." Jonathan reported to his King promptly.
"Good, good. I do not expect there to be any problems but better to be safer than sorry! I fear though that soon the knights will need to seek employment elsewhere to actually have something to do. At least so far as to be able to do something other than train. That is part of which I have included in the letter. I have instructed my minister to allow any knights that wish it, employment where they most fit into my ministry. Most I suppose will want to go into either the DMLE or the Department of Mysteries. Hopefully my minister will not make too much of a fuss." Charles contemplated.
As Jonathan moved to reply, they were struck silent as the sound of giggles and the children's light pitter patter of feet came from outside the door. As the king and Jonathan smiled to each other, the guards opened the door and a blur of dark hair ran towards the king, followed by that of a blur of brown hair. As they both neared Charles, he quickly stood up and caught both by their waists and hoisted them into the air! More giggles erupted from the dark hair boy on his left and the brown-haired girl on the right. The twins, no more than five years in age, hugged Charles tightly.
"Daddy!" "Daddy!" "Are you done?" "Can we go for a picnic?" "Cook said that she would prepare a basket!" "Can Remus come with us?" "No! It is a picnic with Daddy! You always invite Remus!" "He is my bestest friend! He can come!" "Cannot!" "Can!" "Cannot!" "Can!" "Then I shall invite Aria!" "You shan't!" "Shall!" "Shan't!" "Shall!" The twins switched talking quickly though it soon devolved into arguing. The two men exchanged a look.
Charles sighed but quickly calmed the children and answered them both, "Hello James, Alexianis. Yes, I am finished and yes we can go on a picnic. Though perhaps you should ask Aria's and Remus' parents if they can come with? Yes?"
Ale's eyes grew and squirmed to get down. "Okay! I will go ask Ari now!" she answered breathlessly. She proceeded to grab the hand of the maid that had followed the children in and drag her out, "Come Tiarra! We have to hurry and find Ari!"
Tiarra quickly curtsied to the King and called on her way out "I shall let Cook know to fix a basket for your Majesty and let the stable master know to saddle Your's, their highness', and Friend's steeds."
"Thank you Tiarra!" Charles called before motioning to the guards that they can close the doors.
"Can Remus come with us, Jon? Please!?" James blurted just as the doors closed.
Jonathan smiled at the young prince, "I do not know, you two tend to play too many pranks! I am not sure that your father can handle that."
Charles and James looked upon Jon with twin looks of outrage. "You think I cannot handle two pranksters barely past four years of life? You mock me sir!" "We would never prank my daddy!"
Jonathan laughed and nodded, "Very well, I believe that Kathrein and I can manage dinner without Remus tonight. And yes Charles, you very well know that I do mock you."
"Then I suppose that we really must get ready for a picnic in the glade, hmm James?" To answer Charles' question, James squirmed to get down from his father's arms.
James went around Charles and started to push him towards the open door. It led to his bedchambers, and from there, James shoved his dad towards the tall closet in the corner. "Get changed! Get changed! Get changed! Hurrrrrrryyyy Uuupppppp Daddyyyyyy!" James continued to push him along.
Charles and Jonathan laughed at the young boy's antics. "Very well! Jon, would you mind fetching your son and meeting us at the city's gates?"
Jonathan bowed his head, "Of course Majesty! We will see you soon." Jonathan swiftly turned and headed back the way he had come just an hour before. As he left, he heard James whining, "Come onnnnnn! Daddyyy! Come on Come on Come onnnnn!"
Twenty minutes later, Jonathan was sitting on his horse with a brown haired child beside him on another, calmer, steed. This child of five years, Remus, fidgeted in his saddle. Remus quickly cheered out, "Jay! Ale! Ari! Ready for a pi-cin-nic?"
James answered from his own horse, just as excitedly, "Yes! I am sooo ready!" Ale and the small strawberry-blonde Aria quickly agreed and trotted their steeds up to Jonathan and Remus.
Charles, following on his own gelding, laughed and called out over the four children as they loudly chatted, "Well, Jon, I do not think I am getting any more work down with these bundles of energy with me! So you got your wish, I am taking a break."
Jon laughed along as he turned to get ready to leave. "Good Luck is all I can say. You deserve it!" As he headed towards the house to catch a floo to the ministry of magic, Charles herded the excitable children towards the gate for the short ride to the glade a few miles down the forest path.
Soon the children and Charles reached the glade where Charles helped each dismount before tying the horses to a low branch near the stream on the far side of the glade. After laying out the blanket and unpacking the food, Charles and the children dug in. As he ate, Charles sat back and watched the children chat and laugh without a care. As he looked at them, he knew that the future was bright indeed. After all, with children like these as Albion's future, there was no chance of of it not being bright. With that thought, he leaned in and joined the children's conversation, laughing to himself at just how wonderful and strange children's minds were. The future was bright indeed!
A/N:
Hey Y'all!
Sorry, Sorry, Sorry! I know I promised to work on DBPT and I have been! I solemnly swear on a hogwarts toilet seat! But as I was working on rewriting chapter five and writing chapter six, I realised that I really do not like doing the time skip that I did, but that I also could not figure out how to write James' and Hermione's story without it seeming really drawn out and not really fitting in with DBPT. So I came up with this, I will write out their story up to the point of Hermione going missing, maybe a little bit past. This way I can get this story on paper and NOT AK my wonderful (i.e. horrible!) little bunny that just keeps tossing ideas my way and eating away at my sleep!
So here you go, posted at half past one in the freakin morning, the night before my first test of my junior year (when I SHOULD be SLEEPING you stupid little brat of a plot bunny! QUIT MULTIPLYING YOU FLUFFY LITTLE MONSTER!) the first chapter of the A Horned Serpent's Cry!
Catch ya on the flip side!
Lexi