The Knights of the Founders
By J.C. Vascardi
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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.
Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric
Eventual Pairings: Harry/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.
Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and Mpreg
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Chapter Three:
New Beginnings
Part Two
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Ryan awoke the next morning in a large bed and for a few moments he was slightly on edge as he didn't recognize where he was. After a moment, however, when he'd more fully woken up, he realized that he was in his old room at Cromwell Hall, which hadn't changed at all over the years that he'd been living in Asheville. Getting up, Ryan headed into the adjoining bathroom to start his morning routine. Once he was finished he came back out, selected the clothes he was going to wear for the day, applied his Glamours, and got dressed. Before leaving the room he looked at the clock on his bedside table and smiled.
'Grandmother can't complain that I'm sleeping too late now,' Ryan thought. 'It's only eight fifteen in the morning.'
Making his way down the hallway towards the back stairs that led down to the kitchen, Ryan paused outside the doors to the master bedroom, which is where his cousin Matthew slept. Ryan knew that his cousin had been a bit wary of moving into the bedroom after his father had died three years earlier, but eventually he got over it and moved into the larger, more luxurious suite of rooms.
'I wonder if Matt is up yet,' Ryan said, as he stood there for a moment, before walking over to the double doors. He raised his fist and was just about to knock when he heard a muffled moaning sound, along with the sound of squeaking mattress springs and a headboard hitting the wall. Ryan grinned as he lowered his hand. 'Seems Matt is up after all, though not precisely in the way that I'd been thinking.'
Backing away from the door, as he didn't want anyone to catch him loitering outside the door to the master bedroom listening to its' occupants having sex, Ryan continued on his way towards the back stairs. He was very curious, however, about just who was in the room with his cousin, because while living on opposite sides of the Atlantic for the last few years, Ryan and Matthew had still kept in regular contact. In fact, they'd talked via the Floo Network for just over an hour two days before Lucinda dropped the bomb on Ryan that they'd be moving back to England and never once in that time did Matthew mention being involved with anyone.
Arriving in the kitchens, Ryan spotted one of the family elves and said, "Hello Barin."
Turning at the voice, Barin smiled and bowed deeply, before he said, "Master Ryan, welcome back. How can Barin serve you today?"
"I'd like some breakfast, please," Ryan said and the elf nodded. "Just tea and toast is fine."
"Yes, Master Ryan," Barin said. "If you'll have a seat in the family dining room, Barin will bring it out to you."
Ryan had considered eating breakfast in the kitchen's breakfast nook, but looking out the windows he could see that it was a rather gloomy and depressing looking day outside and thus opted to head out to the small family dining room that adjoined the kitchen as Barin had suggested. Sitting down at the round dining table, which would seat about ten people comfortably, Ryan looked around at the oak paneling and floors of the room. It had been years since he'd last eaten a meal in this room and yet, as the memories began flooding back to him, it felt like it was just yesterday. There had been many family dinners held in this room over the years he'd lived here, some of them being joyous occasions, while others had been much more somber. It had also been in this room that Lucinda had changed the course of Ryan's life by telling him they were moving to America.
'I honestly never thought I'd be back here,' Ryan thought. 'I wonder if any of my old friends will even remember me when I turn up at Hogwarts.'
Before his move across the ocean, there were several people that Ryan had counted as friends, both in the muggle and wizarding world. It was somewhat uncommon for the son of a pureblood witch to be associating with muggles, but then the Cromwell family had never really bought into the whole blood purity spiel, as evidenced by the fact that Ryan's late uncle, Charles Cromwell, had married a muggle woman. Katrina Cromwell had been more than a little shocked to find out that her new husband was a wizard, but she had eventually come to terms with it. Of course, there had been some tension, as well, because Katrina had wanted Matthew to go to Eton College and thus had lobbied quite hard for him to be pulled out of Hogwarts after his second year, figuring that by then he should have learned enough to control his powers and could then go and get a proper British education.
In the end, however, Matthew, with his father's help, managed to convince his mother that remaining at Hogwarts would be for the best. Charles had to bring in some very expensive private tutors to ensure Matthew kept up with his muggle studies to a sufficient enough degree to placate his wife, but he didn't mind doing that, as the Cromwell family was old money and had more than they knew what to do with anyway. Of course, the year before Ryan moved to America with his grandmother, his Aunt Katrina found out that she was pregnant. With the whole family saddened by the declining health of family patriarch William Cromwell, the news was a much needed bit of happiness. Unfortunately, in her sixth month of pregnancy, Katrina tripped and fell down the stairs, breaking her neck. The whole family was devastated not only by her death, but the death of her unborn child, as well, which had been determined to be a girl only a week prior to the accident.
Ryan was brought out of his thoughts by the door to the kitchen opening and Barin coming through, levitating a tray behind him. Once it was moved up to the table in front of him, Ryan saw the china tea service, along with a plate of toast and a few bowls full of various fruit preserves. There was also a small glass of orange juice, a helping of scrambled eggs with diced onions, red and green peppers, and ham added to them, as well as a bowl of fresh fruit. Turning to glance at Barin, Ryan raised an eyebrow and the elf gave him an apologetic smile, before he said, "Sorry sir, but Barin has orders from Mistress Lucinda that Master Ryan should eat more balanced breakfast than just toast."
Ryan rolled his eyes. He had never been a big fan of breakfast, because he wasn't really a morning person to begin with, and thus he usually would only opt for something light. Like the tea and toast that he'd ordered. He wasn't the least bit surprised, however, that his grandmother had already gotten to the house-elves and made sure that he was eating more than that. He could just hear his grandmother saying, 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Ryan,' and grinned.
Picking up the fork on the tray, Ryan took some of the eggs and took a bite. Once he was finished chewing, he swallowed and said, "Thanks Barin, these are actually very good."
"You welcome, Master Ryan," Barin said with a smile. "Anything else Barin can do for Master Ryan, sir?"
"Well, I do have a few questions."
Barin nodded his head and said, "Barin will do best to answer, Master Ryan."
"First off, where's my grandmother?" Ryan asked, as he hadn't seen her yet this morning and that was very unusual, since in the time they'd lived in Asheville, he couldn't remember a single time that she hadn't been there when he'd woken up, whenever that might be.
"Mistress left early this morning, sir," Barin answered. "Said she had some important work to do. Barin not know what, sir."
"Okay," Ryan said, as he wondered just what this important work was. He couldn't help but be curious about it, after all, since it was the reason why his grandmother had suddenly uprooted his life yet again. "Do you know when my cousin will be down for breakfast?"
"Master Matthew and his friend take their breakfasts in bed, sir," Barin said, although his eyes bulged after he'd said it and he added. "Oh, Barin wasn't supposed to say that. Oh, Barin is in so much trouble!"
"Calm down. It'll be okay," Ryan said in an attempt to calm the now hysterical house-elf.
"No, Barin is in much trouble," the elf repeated. "Master Matthew say house-elves not supposed to talk about that. Barin is in trouble. Bad Barin! Bad!"
"I'm family though," Ryan said. "Aren't you supposed to do as I ask?"
"Um, yes." The elf nodded and Ryan could see that the elf desperately wanted to punish itself, but it didn't because Ryan distinctly remembered his grandmother telling him that she had long time ago forbidden the house-elves from punishing themselves. "But not this. No, no, not this. Master Matthew insisted. Threatened Barin and other elves, sir. Said he'd give us clothes if we told!"
"Ah, I see," Ryan said. "Okay, well, I'll just ask my cousin then, Barin, and don't worry, I'll make sure that Matt doesn't give you clothes for revealing what you have. I've always been told that I can be very persuasive. Anyway, Matt and I have always been close, so I'm sure I can convince him not to punish you."
"You is most kind Master Ryan," Barin said as he bowed again before disappearing from the room with a loud pop.
'Hmm, if I can't get the information out of the house-elves,' Ryan thought, 'I guess I'll just need to try the sneakier approach.'
A few more minutes later, Ryan had finished his breakfast and was headed back upstairs to his bedroom.
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As the morning sun began to peek through the edges of the drapes, Nicolas opened his eyes and just laid in bed for a moment, not quite ready to move. He'd been shocked yesterday when arriving at Delaney Hall for the first time in five years to find that his Aunt Sarah had moved out of the master suite, which had been the room she'd shared with her late husband. More shocking was when she'd had the house-elves take all of his belongings up to the master bedroom, rather than the smaller room he'd always slept in previously whenever visiting the house. He'd tried to object, but Sarah insisted that it was his house and thus he should sleep in the largest bedroom.
After everything else that had gone on in his life recently, Nicolas had been too tired to argue and opted to just deal with it. There were far more important things that he'd have to adjust to than where he was sleeping after all. One was the weather, because it was quite a bit colder in Northumberland, England than he was used to living in Versailles, France for most of his life. There was also the issue that he was used to speaking in French and knew he'd have to switch to English now that he'd be living in England. Since one of his two fathers was from England, he had learned how to speak English and was fluent in it, but he very rarely, if ever, used it while living in France, so, it was going to take some time to get used to speaking in a different language.
Of course, there was also his impending transfer to Hogwarts and he still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that. Partly because, again with the weather issue, he knew that the highlands of Scotland would be even more of a temperature difference then he was used to, especially with Beauxbatons being located near Cannes on the southern coast of France in the French Riviera. Beyond that, however, was the fact that he didn't really know anybody at Hogwarts and he still didn't really like the idea of leaving behind his life and all of his friends. Not for the first time he found himself wishing that his grandfather hadn't died. Or if he'd had to do so, that he could have just have waited a couple of months until after Nicolas had celebrated his seventeenth birthday.
With a sigh, Nicolas threw back the bed covers, got out of bed, and headed for the ensuite bathroom to start his morning routine. Thirty minutes later, he was entering the kitchen to find his Aunt Sarah standing at the stove making pancakes.
"Morning, Nicolas," she said, without turning away. "Breakfast will be ready soon, did you want some juice while you're waiting?"
"Do we have any coffee?"
"Yes, it's in the pot right there," as she pointed at the coffee pot. "Didn't realize you were a coffee drinker though, Nicolas."
Nodding, he said, "Yeah, I started about three years ago. Now I just can't function right in the mornings until I've had a cup." Walking over to the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup, he asked, "Is that going to be a problem at Hogwarts? I know you Brits usually prefer tea."
Sarah laughed. "That's true for many, but I've always preferred coffee myself. As for Hogwarts, I honestly couldn't say. It's been a long time since I went there, although I can say that when I did, they didn't serve coffee. Only milk, tea, water, or pumpkin juice with meals."
"Lovely," Nicolas said, as he sat down at the table in the breakfast nook. "Well, hopefully I can convince the house-elves to make me some." Taking a sip, he said, "This is good."
"It's an imported blend that I have to specially order," Sarah said. "A bit on the expensive side, but I figure I can afford an indulgence or two. I can make sure you're well-stocked at Hogwarts, if you like. And since you're not asking for alcohol, I don't think the elves will have any issue with making it for you. They always seemed more than willing to fill special requests for students if they asked, so long as there were no rules forbidding it. You might ask at Hogwarts when you go to take your tests and get sorted if it'll be a problem. Just to be sure."
Nicolas nodded and said, "Oui, c'est logique." After a moment, he said, "I mean, yes, that makes sense. I'm going to have to work on remembering to use English now."
Plating pancakes, eggs, sausages, and bacon for her and her nephew, Sarah came over and placed one of the plates in front of him and said, "Yes, I suppose that's true. I'm sure there's at least a few people at Hogwarts who will understand French, but there won't be enough that you can use it exclusively. And I doubt your professors will let you hand in your assignments in French, because having to use a Translation Charm would just mean more work for them and they're already overworked."
"Overworked?" Nicolas asked, as he picked up his fork and cut some of his pancakes and popped them in this mouth. "And thanks, Aunt Sarah, for making these for me. I know they're not a common breakfast food in England."
Sarah smiled. "No, but I know you ate them at home, Nick, and I want you to feel at home."
"Thanks," Nick said with a grin, as he remembered the vacation to New York City he'd taken with his grandparents when he was six. It's when he'd first tasted pancakes and had pretty much had them for breakfast almost every other morning ever since. "I know I'm probably not going to be getting them much at Hogwarts, so, I guess I should enjoy them while I can. Of course, it wasn't exactly easy getting them at Beauxbatons, either, but I'd eventually worked things out with one of the elves that they'd make them for me."
"Well, again, I think the elves will probably accommodate you," Sarah said. "Unless something has changed since I went to Hogwarts, alcohol is pretty much the only special request the elves won't fulfill." She paused here to take a bite of her own breakfast, before she said, "Anyway, as for the professors being overworked, Hogwarts doesn't have the same setup that Beauxbatons does."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, correct me if I'm wrong," Sarah said, "but at Beauxbatons you have assistant professors who teach the younger years, right?"
Nick nodded and said, "Yeah, there's an assistant professor who teaches the first through fourth year classes and then the main professor for the subject teaches the fifth through seventh year classes."
Nodding, Sarah said, "Yes, I thought that's what I read. Anyway, at Hogwarts, it's traditionally always been one teacher for all seven years of classes. Thus, you'll probably end up having most of your classes in a particular subject one day a week simply because the professors don't have time to meet with you more than that with their other classes."
"Cela ne sonne pas vraiment comme la meilleure approche," Nick said, before he groaned and said, "Sorry, I'm doing it again, aren't I? I said, 'That does not really sound like the best approach.'"
"It's okay, Nick, I understand," Sarah said. "Besides, I actually do speak French, so, if you're more comfortable speaking in French, you can do so."
"Well, I am more comfortable with it, because it's what I'm used to," Nick said. "But, no, I suppose I need to make an effort. Hard to get used to speaking in English if I never do it."
"Yes, that's true," Sarah said. "Anyway, lets finish our breakfast and then I can tell you some more about Hogwarts, if you like."
With a smile, Nick said, "That'd be great, Aunt Sarah. Dad told me a bit about his own time there and about Ravenclaw."
"Well, I can tell you a bit about two more of the four houses," Sarah said. "Christian was a Hufflepuff and I was a Slytherin, so, I know about both houses."
"That'd be great, thanks."
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Arriving back in his bedroom, Ryan pulled out his wand and cast a Notice-Me-Not Charm on himself, followed by a Disillusionment Charm. Having lived at Cromwell Hall for the first ten years of his life, he knew many of the house's secrets, including where the numerous hidden passageways were and thus reaching his hand under the mantle of his bedroom fireplace, he found and triggered the small latch. Moments later the entire wall that the fireplace occupied swung open and Ryan made his way into the passageway.
After a few moments of navigating the cramped passage, Ryan found himself in the passage that he knew led into the master bedroom. 'I'd better make sure it's all clear,' he thought, as he reached up and grabbed the small silver handle which slid aside a panel behind the portrait above the master bedroom fireplace and looked through it, knowing that he was actually looking through the eyes of the man depicted in the portrait. Since his Uncle Charles had married a muggle, all of the moving portraits had been moved to Charles' study, the library, or the portrait gallery, as the moving and talking portraits had freaked out his Aunt Katrina.
Looking into the room, Ryan could see that the room appeared to be empty. He did, however, spot that there was light and a small amount of steam emerging from underneath the door to the bathroom. Closing the spy panel, Ryan moved a couple of feet and pushed the button which would open the panel into the room and entered the room, closing the panel behind him. Crossing the room, the sound of the shower running was obvious as well as the fact that the house-elves had not been up yet to clean the room, as the bed was turned down on both sides, the sheets were very rumpled, and a breakfast tray with two of everything except food on it laid abandoned at the foot of the bed.
The shower water soon turned off and, after a moment, a tall and slender young man who must have been about the same age as Matt walked out of the bathroom clad only in a white bath towel. His hair was damp and was clinging to his forehead, but it was obviously a light brownish blond color when dry.
Ryan watched the young man getting dressed for a few moments, thoroughly enjoying the sight before his eyes. Ryan couldn't help but think that while he was unaware of the fact that his cousin liked guys, he certainly did have good taste. And that's when it happened. Something which Ryan wished hadn't and he tried to stop it, but he failed. He sneezed.
The young man's eyes quickly looked around the room and seeing nobody there he asked, "Who's there?"
"I said, 'Who's there?'" the young man asked a second time, after a few moments when nobody said anything, during which he grabbed his wand from the bedside table and held it up, ready to defend himself if necessary.
Ryan sighed and then said, "No need to be alarmed," as he cancelled the charms that were hiding him from view.
"Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"I asked you first."
"I'm Ryan Cromwell."
"Oh, Ryan," the man said as he lowered his wand. "You're Matt's cousin from the States, right?"
"Yes, I'm Matt's cousin," Ryan said. "Are you going to tell me who you are?"
"Oh, sorry," the man said. "Name's Wood, Oliver Wood."
"A pleasure to meet you Oliver," Ryan said as he held out his hand and Oliver shook it. "You look rather familiar. You play professional Quidditch, don't you?"
"Yes," Oliver said, instantly lighting up at the mention of Quidditch, "I'm the reserve keeper for Puddlemere United. I only play when the normal keeper gets sick or injured and can't play, but I love it nonetheless."
"I knew I'd seen you somewhere before," Ryan said. "Must have been in a Quidditch magazine. Having been born here, I still followed the British Quidditch circuit despite living in the States. I have subscriptions to a few of the British magazines and must have seen an article about your signing."
"What's your favorite team?"
"It's a tie between the Magpies and Puddlemere actually," Ryan said. "My grandfather was a Puddlemere fan and grandmother is a fan of the Magpies, so I was raised to like both."
Oliver nodded and then asked, "How long were you standing there concealed?"
Ryan just grinned and then said, "Long enough to know that my cousin has extremely good taste for having himself such a gorgeous and well-endowed boyfriend."
Oliver blushed several shades of red at the comment and then asked, "How do you know I'm Matt's boyfriend?"
"Oh please, Oliver," Ryan said. "It doesn't take much to figure it out. I mean, we are in Matt's bedroom and you were showering in his bathroom. The bed is turned down on both sides, the sheets are rumpled, and it's obvious that two people ate breakfast in bed this morning. Of course, the clincher is that I heard the two of you on my way down to breakfast this morning."
"You heard us?"
"Yes, I did," Ryan said still grinning. "I'd wondered if Matt was up yet, meaning awake, but I guess he was up in another way. Or was that you?"
Blushing a shade of red comparable to a Weasley's hair, Oliver, who really didn't want to discuss his sex life with his boyfriend's sixteen-year-old cousin, then said, "Okay, can we change the subject now?"
"Sure," Ryan said, "though I must admit you are quite cute when you blush. I haven't known you that long, but I can certainly see why Matt likes you so much. How long have you been together anyway?"
"Since our fourth year at Hogwarts," Oliver said as his cheeks began returning to normal. "So, almost seven years."
"Wow," Ryan said. "Seven years and Matt has never once mentioned having a boyfriend."
"We've been keeping it a secret."
"Why?"
"Well, at first it was because of Matt's mom," Oliver said. "While the wizarding world has no problem with same-sex relationships, it isn't the same in the Muggle world and Matt's mom would have been furious if she'd found out Matt was gay, so we didn't tell anyone. We got so used to keeping it a secret that we kept it up after she died."
"So, does my grandmother know?" Ryan said.
"As far as I know, no, she doesn't," Oliver said. "And Matt isn't sure if he should tell her or not because he's afraid that she might not accept it."
Ryan burst out laughing at that, prompting Oliver to look at him strangely as he asked, "What? What's so funny?"
"It's just that I thought Matt was smarter than that," Ryan said. "Obviously I was wrong."
Oliver's whole face looked confused, as he asked, "What do you mean?"
"Oliver, I'm gay," Ryan admitted. "And grandmother knows about it. Her exact words to me where, 'Ryan, I don't care if you're gay. You could date a llama for all I care - so long as you're happy, that's all I care about."
Oliver grinned and said, "A llama? Do I want to know?"
"Grandmother is a very serious woman," Ryan explained. "But sometimes she shows another side of herself and has a good laugh. As for the llama comment, well, sometimes she has a weird sense of humor." With a grin, he added, "I'm sure that if she'd been the one to overhear you and Matt this morning, she would have had something very interesting to say. Not that I'm complaining, because from what I heard you and Matt were having a great time, but, seriously, you may want to remember the silencing charms next time."
"Yeah, I'll try to remember that," Oliver said, as he blushed again.
"You're cute when you blush, you know."
"I'm taken."
"I know," Ryan said. "I love Matt too much to try and steal his boyfriend. But, stealing and admiring are two very different things and you're hot."
Oliver blushed again and said, "You're complimenting me on purpose aren't you?"
Ryan nodded and said, "Yes, I am, you sexy beast."
"You're incorrigible."
"So I'm told," Ryan said and with a grin he added, "Hot stuff."
Oliver sighed.
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To be continued.
So there's, Part Two of Chapter Three of 'The Knights of the Founders'. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Next chapter, you'll find out which offer of a place to stay for the rest of the summer Harry chose. Where do you think he'll go? The Burrow or the Diggorys? The French in this chapter is compliments of Google Translate, so, I apologize if it's wrong. I've also closed the poll regarding Noah and Harry possibly being a couple now and have the results.
Question: Since Noah and Cedric were stepbrothers and Harry dated Cedric when he was alive, would it be wrong for Noah and Harry to find love with each other?
No - 32
Yes - 5
So, the majority of you who voted clearly feel that it would not be wrong for Noah and Harry to be involved romantically.
