A Royal at Hogwarts
By J.C. Vascardi
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.
Eventual Pairing: Harry/Cedric/Charlie/OMC: Wesley/OMC: Carter/OMC: Hunter/OMC: Jean-Luc
Established Pairings: Charlie/OMC: Jean-Luc, Bill/Firenze, and Marcus/OMC: Jackson
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Previously in 'A Royal at Hogwarts'…
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At Wells Manor, Harry participates in the Wells Family Christmas traditions, which include decorating a Christmas tree with ornaments bearing their names and singing Christmas carols, with music provided by a pipe organ, compliments of Dylan. In Romania, Charlie Weasley is surprised by the unexpected visit of his parents and sister and worries about how to handle the fact that his boyfriend, Jean-Luc, is there and he hasn't told his family yet that he's gay. His family, however, is totally supportive after they find out. Over at Hogwarts, Bill and Firenze talk and realize that they both want the same thing—a romantic relationship with each other—and embark on what's sure to be an interesting adventure. And finally at Sandringham, Wesley prepares to head for Windsor Castle for the rest of his break. Unexpectedly, Evangeline ends up making plans to accompany him due to a broken boiler at Buckingham Palace forcing her to have a last minute state dinner with the Argentinian President at Windsor Castle.
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Chapter Nine, Part One:
Winter Break
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Orion "Ryan" Black sat forlornly in an antique rocking chair in the master bedroom of Arlington Grange—the ancestral home of the Black family—rereading the same passage in a book of Wizarding poetry that he'd been reading for the last ten minutes. He'd had a very depressing holiday, as with Lord Black's impending death there was no celebrating at Arlington this Christmas.
Lord Black was too weak to leave his bed, so he wouldn't have been a very good host and Ryan couldn't act as host in his place because as the heir, he was expected to be at Lord Black's bedside when he drew his last breath, which meant that Ryan had pretty much been living in the master bedroom for the last few days since he arrived from King's Cross. The house-elves had set up a cot for him to sleep on and brought all of his meals up to him. The only times that he was allowed out of the master bedroom were when he had to go the bathroom—thankfully the house-elves had not gone so far as to provide him with a chamber pot and thus he was allowed to use the facilities in the master bathroom—or for about five minutes a day when he was allowed to get some fresh air, although even then he was never allowed to go further than the master bedroom's balcony.
The reason that Ryan was rereading the same passage over and over again was because his thoughts weren't really on the book, but instead on his adoptive family. Since she had been disowned, Andromeda wasn't allowed to set foot at Arlington Grange, which meant that Ryan wasn't allowed to see Andromeda, Ted, or Nymphadora over the holidays, as they weren't allowed at Arlington and Ryan, as the Black heir, wasn't allowed to leave until Lord Black died. Other than his dying cousin Arcturus, the only person that Ryan had seen was his great-grandaunt, Cassiopeia Black, who quite frankly scared the shite out of him.
A loud, hacking cough brought Ryan out of his thoughts, as Arcturus suddenly sounded like he was in the middle of coughing up a lung. Putting his book aside, Ryan pulled out his wand and quickly did the spell the healers had taught him to help relax the man's airways and thus reduce the severity of his coughing fit. Once it had subsided, he stood, poured a glass of water and helped the elderly man take a few sips. Usually, after an incident like this, Arcturus would fall asleep and remain quiet for a few hours, but this time, he turned his head and asked, "Orion, what day is it?"
"Friday, 27 December," Ryan answered.
"So the holidays are over," Arcturus said, prompting Ryan to nod.
The old man remained quiet long enough that Ryan assumed he'd fallen asleep—as the monitoring wards that the healers had set clearly showed that he was still alive—prompting him to sit back down and pick up his book. Before he could open it, however, Arcturus said, "I'm sure this has been a very depressing holiday for you."
Looking over at Arcturus, Ryan could see him gazing right at him, his eyes seemingly clearer than they'd appeared in days. Honestly, Ryan had thought the old man's illness had nearly blinded him, as he had stopped focusing on anything. Now, however, his focus seemed to be Ryan himself. Ryan was going to say something, but Arcturus shook his head and said, "Don't bother lying to me, boy. I may be old and I'm as close to death's door as you can get without actually dying, but I still remember what it was like to be your age and I know this must be very depressing for a boy your age."
"Yes, it is."
"You're the future of this family, boy," Arcturus said. "Tell me, what direction will you take it?"
Ryan remained silent as he thought about that. He'd thought of it during the hours since his arrival at Arlington, although the fact that he technically couldn't do anything until he turned fifteen meant that he hadn't given it as much thought as another older heir facing impending lordship might have. There were several things he wanted to do, but he wasn't really sure if he should tell Arcturus or not, because the man was old and set in his ways and had been the one to control the direction the family had taken for the last thirty-nine years, ever since Arcturus's own father, Sirius Black, had died.
"While I'm still alive, Orion," Arcturus prompted, when Ryan stayed quiet for a few more minutes, deep in thought.
"I plan to breathe some new life into the family," Ryan said, after a moment and seeing Arcturus nod at him that he should continue, he added, "For too long now this family has been left to stagnate and age which has left it in the position it's currently in of having very few members who still bear the name of Black left. I aim to change that."
"A worthy goal that I can support," Arcturus said. "Are you seeing anyone who you think can help you with that plan or is that just a long-term goal?"
Ryan blushed slightly. "More of a long-term goal, as I'm not currently seeing anyone."
"I see and do you prefer women?" Arcturus asked. "Or men?"
Ryan suddenly wasn't sure if he liked where this conversation was going, but answered it anyway. "I'm bisexual, so either one is fine with me."
Arcturus nodded. "Well, then I think I have a way of speeding up your goal of revitalizing the family and saving us from financial ruin all at the same time."
"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?"
"Before I was taken ill this last time, I was going through the document vault and I found an old contract between the Blacks and the Burkes that had never been fulfilled. After reading it I realized that the date by which it had to be fulfilled was fast approaching and if it isn't fulfilled by that date, the Blacks will have to pay the Burkes a substantial amount of money as a penalty for failing to fulfill the contract and I'm afraid that amount is more than we have in our vaults."
Ryan's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he asked, "More than we have in our vaults? Aren't we the second richest family in Wizarding Britain?" Arcturus nodded. "So how could the penalty be more than we have in our vaults?"
"The contract was drawn up a little over five hundred years ago and never fulfilled," Arcturus answered. "After the first hundred years of non-fulfillment, the penalty for not fulfilling the contract became subject to compounding interest for every year that it went unfilled and I'm afraid to say that with the interest the penalty for not fulfilling the contract currently sits at just over 950,000,000 galleons and we only have 945,237,863 galleons in our vaults. If we sold off a few holdings, we could raise the rest, but it would place us on a downward spiral that would leave us with no money in our vaults and thus nothing left to maintain our various investments, which would also trigger numerous penalties with the goblins that we'd be unable to pay as financially we'd end up worse off than the Weasleys."
"Why on Earth was it never fulfilled?"
"As near as I could tell, the contract was drawn up and placed in the document vault here at Arlington and then it was completely forgotten about until I found it about a month ago. I was going to write you about it, but then I was taken ill and I couldn't."
"I'm guessing this is a marriage contract?"
"Correct," Arcturus confirmed. "Like most marriage contracts in the our world it has a long term within which to fulfill the contract, however that term will be up in June of next year. I'm sure you can see the problem."
Ryan closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head, not wanting to believe what he was hearing but even not being particularly close to Arcturus, he knew him well enough to know that he would not lie about something like this. "Yes, I can see the problem. In order to avoid paying the penalty, both of the current lords of the Black and Burke families have to be present at the wedding in order to witness it and then sign the necessary lines on the contract to confirm that it was fulfilled. However, your healers expect that you won't live to see the New Year and I'm only thirteen, which means I won't become Lord Black until after the contract's expiry date and I can't sign the contract until I actually am Lord Black."
"Indeed," Arcturus confirmed. "I'm afraid there's another wrinkle in that the contract requires a member of the Burke family to marry the Black heir, which would be you, Orion. So in order to avoid the complete ruination of our family, you need to get married before I die, which could honestly be anytime now so you may well be a married man before dinnertime today."
"Oh sweet Circe and Morgana," Ryan said.
"If I was in your position, those would be my sentiments too," Arcturus said. "Of course, the other issue at hand is whether or not Lord Burke will even agree to fulfilling the contract, because at this point, one could say it's definitely in his best interests to allow it to lapse, as the penalty we'd have to pay the Burkes would most likely allow them to surpass the Potters as the wealthiest family in Wizarding Britain. We are currently allies with the Burkes, but that alliance will die with me and can't be renewed until you become Lord Black, so Lord Burke might not care that much about our ruination, as our money will allow him to sleep perfectly fine at night. After all, the Burke family motto is 'Verum utilitas honestati.'"
"'But profit is our honor,'"Ryan said, as Arcturus nodded.
Ryan didn't really want to get married at this point in his life, but he also didn't want to be responsible for the fall of the Black family, as he'd dreamed of reviving it and cleaning up its reputation ever since Arcturus had named him the heir. He also knew that despite being disowned, Andromeda was still very proud of her Black heritage and she wouldn't want to live to see the family fall into ruin so completely. Jumping up from his chair, Ryan called out, "Kallix!"
A moment later, there was a pop, as Kallix, the head-house-elf at Arlington Grange, appeared in the room and asked, "You called, Master Orion?"
"Go to Sutton Grange and bring Lord Burke here immediately," Orion said. "Tell him its emergency family business."
The elf looked briefly at Arcturus who nodded his head in agreement before he popped away. With that issue taken care of, Ryan turned to Arcturus and said, "Okay, if we can work out a deal with Lord Burke for this marriage to go through, I'll do it, although I'm not happy about it. I do have one request, however."
"And what's that?"
"That you agree to reverse Andromeda's disownment," Ryan answered. "I love her and her husband as if they were my parents and I think of their daughter as my sister. So, if I have to get married, I want them present for my wedding."
Arcturus was quiet for a moment, before he nodded and said, "Fine. Since you'll essentially be the family's savior, I'll do it, but only if Lord Burke agrees to allow the contract to be fulfilled."
"Fair enough," Ryan said, as Kallix reappeared with Lord Caractacus Burke.
"Arcturus, what is going on?" Caractacus asked. "What's this emergency family business?"
"First off, Caractacus," Arcturus said, "have you met my heir? Bellatrix's son Orion?"
"No, I hadn't met him," Caractacus said. "Hello Orion."
"Hello," Ryan said.
Pausing to cough, Arcturus said, "Kallix, there's a document in a red folder in my safe in the study. Bring it here."
"Yes, Master Arcturus," Kallix said with a bow before he popped out, only to return a moment later with the document.
"Orion, if you could explain?" Arcturus asked.
"Of course, sir," Ryan said, as he proceeded to explain the situation to Caractacus Burke, adding in the fact that he was bisexual and thus wouldn't be opposed to marrying either gender.
When Ryan was finished and Caractacus had taken a moment to peruse the contract, just as Arcturus had suspected, Caractacus said, "At first glance, I'd have to say that it would be in my family's best interest to allow the contract to lapse, as we'd make a fortune." Holding up his hand, he said, "However, I also fully realize that to many of the other lords my profiting from the financial ruin of the House of Black would not be looked upon kindly, most especially by the Malfoys and the Lestranges, and even the Longbottoms. I don't really care what the latter family thinks, although I would prefer not to make an enemy of Callidora Black Longbottom if I can avoid it and I definitely don't want to make enemies of Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Lucius and Narcissa."
"So you'll allow the contract to be fulfilled?" Ryan asked.
Caractacus was silent for a moment, before he said, "I have conditions, which according to the terms of the contract I'm allowed to set."
"Name them," Arcturus said.
Caractacus got a shrewd look on his face, as he said, "If you want me to agree to this, then Orion must agree to marry my son Maximus and his brother, Octavius, and the Blacks will pay me a groom price of twenty million galleons for each of them."
Arcturus summarized, "So, Orion takes two husbands and we pay you forty million galleons." Caractacus nodded, which prompted Arcturus to look at Ryan and ask, "Well, you're the one who would have to get married, so thoughts?"
Knowing that Arcturus, as Lord Black, could force the issue and order him to do it regardless of his thoughts or feelings on the matter, Ryan was happy that Arcturus had even asked. Before he answered, however, he looked at Caractacus and asked, "If I may ask, how old are Maximus and Octavius and why do you want me to marry both of them?"
"They're eighteen," Caractacus answered. "As for why I want you to marry both of them, it's because they're rather wild in terms of their sexual conquests and I'm hoping that marriage will tame them. Especially since the contract stipulates that the Burke entering the marriage must remain faithful to the Black heir until they've provided them with no less than three children, two of which must be sons. I want you to extend that clause to cover both of them."
"Okay," Ryan said, but seeing the look on Caractacus's face, he had a feeling there was more to it than that, prompting him to ask, "And what else as I suspect there's another reason you're not mentioning."
"Very perceptive, young man," Caractacus said. "In addition to the reasons I already stated, I'm asking that you marry both of them simply because it would be awkward for both them and you if you only married Maximus, because he and Octavius share a liver, a leg, and a magical core. So even if you married only one of them, you'd still have both of them in your bed so you're better off just marrying them both."
Ryan sighed, although honestly, a part of him was intrigued by the idea. "Yeah, I guess so." After a moment of thought, as he quickly weighed the pros and cons of the whole situation, he said, "I'll do it—I'll marry them both."
"Very well," Arcturus said, as he turned to Caractacus and said, "We have a deal then, Caractacus. I suggest you fetch your sons, as we'll be having the wedding today. As Ryan said, I could die at any moment so there's no time to waste."
"Very well," Caractacus said, as he called out, "Nala!"
The Burke's head-house-elf, Nala, appeared a moment later, and not waiting for her to speak, Caractacus ordered, "Find my wife, Maximus and Octavius and bring them all here to Arlington Grange immediately."
"Yes, Master," Nala said, as she curtseyed before popping out.
"We'll need an officiate and additional witnesses," Arcturus said. Glancing at Ryan, Arcturus said, "Your family can serve as witnesses, so per our agreement, Orion, I, The-Lord-Teryn Arcturus Black, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, do hereby reverse the disownment of Andromeda Tonks née Black and restore to her all of the titles, duties, responsibilities, and privileges due her as a member of the House of Black. Furthermore, I also hereby lift the ban that prevents her, her husband, and her daughter from setting foot inside Arlington Grange. So mote it be."
A swirl of magical energy and a brief burst of magic followed 'So mote it be.' As for Caractacus, he remained silent as it was fairly common knowledge among the nobility that Ryan had been raised by Andromeda and Ted Tonks. He didn't necessarily approve of a respectable pureblood woman marrying a muggleborn and having a halfblood daughter, but there were worse things, such as producing a squib.
"Might I suggest Minister Fudge as the officiate?" Caractacus asked. "I think given the last minute nature of this wedding it would be wise to have a ministry official present to ensure that everything is done right. Fudge is allowed to perform wedding ceremonies and he owes me a few favors."
"Very well," Arcturus said. "Normally we'd also have to invite all of the other lords, but given the last minute nature of this event and the fact that it's happening here in my bedroom since I'm too weak to get out of bed, I think we'll keep it limited to the Malfoys and the Longbottoms since they're the only families that still have living Blacks among their members."
"I can deal with that arrangement," Caractacus said. "Although I would ask that we also invite the Prewetts, since my daughter Philomena is married to Lord Prewett's heir. She was also best friends with Maximus and Octavius's late mother and is their godmother, so she'd never forgive me if she found out that her godsons got married without her being present to witness it."
"Fine, but only if they can be here within the hour," Arcturus agreed, just as Nala reappeared with Teryna Ophelia Burke and a pair of conjoined men that Ryan could only assume were Maximus and Octavius.
Looking at his future husbands, Ryan was definitely glad that he was wearing wizarding robes, as it hid the fact that he'd gotten hard while doing so. 'At least they're easy on the eyes.'
"Caractacus, what's going on?" Ophelia asked, almost at the same time that Maximus asked, "Father is this important?" and Octavius added, "We have a date."
Rolling his eyes, Caractacus turned to look at his sons and said, "I'm afraid you're going to have to cancel it, because very soon neither one of you will be allowed to date anyone other than Serah Orion Black, whom you will both be marrying within the hour." Seeing that his sons looked like they were about to object, Caractacus added, "And no, that was not a request, so unless you'd prefer that I disown you and cut you off without a knut to your names, you will do as I say."
Both Maximus and Octavius's eyes widened at their father's order and for a moment it looked like they were going to object, but then they deflated, because they knew better. Despite getting very good grades and several NEWTs each, since getting out of Hogwarts this past June, they'd focused entirely on having fun—and their sex lives—and thus they hadn't gotten around to getting jobs and they also still lived at Sutton Grange. So, the idea of being left penniless and homeless was enough for them to not object.
"Very well," Maximus said, as Octavius scanned the room for a moment, before his eyes landed on Ryan and he asked, "I assume you're Orion Black?"
"Yes," Ryan said as he stepped forward and held out his hand. Octavius shook it, followed by Maximus, before the latter asked, "And how old are you?"
"Thirteen," Ryan answered.
"Well, at least he's legal," Octavius commented to nobody in particular, as he knew that the Age of Sexual Consent in Wizarding Britain was thirteen, as the age had never been upped from the centuries past when it was common for people to get married very young since life expectancy generally didn't see people living much past the age of thirty.
Turning to his father, Maximus asked, "Can I at least ask why you're in such a rush to get us married off Father? I mean less than an hour? Really?"
"The rush is because Lord Black is dying," Caractacus answered. "He could literally go at any moment, so there's no time to waste. Besides he's paying me forty million galleons for your hands."
Maximus and Octavius looked at each other and then at their father, before they said in unison, "Ah, okay."
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Meanwhile, at Windsor Castle, the majority of the royals hadn't arrived yet, although Dylan, Thorne, Carter, Hunter, Wesley and Harry had arrived. They'd arrived first due to the unexpected state dinner that was not on the schedule and thus several members of the Royal Protection Squad had been recalled from their holiday vacations in order to perform a security sweep of the castle in preparation for the Queen's arrival and the upcoming state dinner. Needless to say that between the protection officers and the castle's household staff, Windsor Castle was currently in a flurry of activity that was uncommon for this time of year, since the Queen was usually only at Windsor Castle for a month in March to April—for the so called Easter Court—and for a week in June for Order of the Garter services and the Royal Ascot race.
Seated in a ground floor sitting room with Carter, Hunter, Wesley, and Thorne, Harry asked, "Why are the protection squad performing a security sweep?"
"The castle is usually open to the public this time of year," Wesley explained. While the rest of the royals hadn't arrived yet, Wesley was already at Windsor because of the standing plans for Dylan and Thorne to pick him up from Sandringham House. The Queen had seen no reason to change those plans and thus Wesley left with them, with the others to follow later. "Grandmother arranged for it to be closed for my winter break, so a security sweep would have been performed anyway, but they're doing a much more extensive one right now because Grandmother herself is coming."
"The Queen is coming?" Carter asked. "You didn't mention that before, Wes."
Wesley grinned. "Yeah, sorry about that, but I didn't know about it myself until breakfast this morning. Long story short, my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandmother are coming over from Sandringham for a few days because the President of Argentina is coming for a last-minute state dinner and the main boiler at Buckingham Palace is broken and can't be fixed until next year, so Grandmother is having that state dinner here instead."
"Are we going to be expected to attend?" Hunter asked.
Shaking his head, Thorne said, "No, none of you will be attending. The Queen-Mother is also not attending the dinner, but she's coming to help Dylan and I keep an eye on you kids, since I'm pregnant and don't have quite as much energy as I usually do."
Thorne wasn't due until early April, but that still put him almost halfway through his fifth month and thus he'd begun showing. The baby bump was still small enough that it could still easily be passed off as Thorne just gaining a little extra weight, although after another month or so that would no longer be the case as it would be painfully obvious to anyone with eyes what the cause of his weight gain was. Muggles would probably think it was just fat since he was a man, but just to be safe, once he was far enough along, it was the plan that Thorne's contact with muggles would be severely limited until he gave birth.
The room was silent for a few minutes, until Dylan came in and said, "Okay, I just talked with Jordan, Matthew, Kyle, and a couple of the other protection officers. They've finished sweeping the family apartments, so you're clear to head up there now, Wes. Also, you should know that we've had a bit of a change of plans regarding the sleeping arrangements."
"What do you mean?" Wesley asked.
"Your friends will all be sleeping in your room, Wes," Dylan answered. "Previously, they would have each had their own rooms, but with the Argentinian delegation arriving and staying for a few days, all the guest quarters are needed to accommodate them and the Queen also wants to keep you and your guests away from them in the hopes that none of you accidentally break the Statute of Secrecy in front of them."
"So, does that mean that we'll be camping on the floor of Wes' bedroom?" Carter asked.
Thorne smiled. "No, we'll magically expand Wes' bed to accommodate all of you, although given your closeness on the train, I don't think that'll pose any problems."
Wesley, Carter, Hunter, and Harry all blushed slightly, but remained silent, as they left the sitting room and headed upstairs with Dylan and Thorne.
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To say that Andromeda was shocked when Kallix showed up at her house to tell her that Lord Arcturus Black had reversed her disownment and that her presence, along with that of her husband and daughter, were required immediately at Arlington Grange would be the understatement of the century. She suspected that in two years when Ryan became Lord Black that her disownment would be reversed, although she'd never actually asked Ryan to do it. Lord Black doing it, however? She honestly thought that it was more likely for the Wizengamot to repeal all of their anti-werewolf laws and for centaurs to actually start using the office set aside for them at the Ministry.
Arriving at the Black ancestral home for the first time in over a decade, Andromeda smiled. While she'd always thought that some of the décor was gruesome, she'd still grown up in the house and thus it held some very happy memories for her that she would always cherish. Her husband and daughter, however, had never set foot inside Arlington and they were looking around with looks of horror on their faces as they looked at some of the tapestries and frescoes.
"Mum, I'm going to have nightmares looking at all this," Tonks said.
Ted nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely enough to trigger a Dreamless Sleep addiction."
Before Andromeda could say anything, Kallix snapped his fingers and Apparated them all upstairs to the master bedroom, where they found Teryn Arcturus Black himself, looking very pale and weak, lying in his bed. Ryan was standing next to the bed, while Teryn Caractacus Burke and a pair of conjoined twin boys that Andromeda was pretty sure were his sons were sitting in front of the fireplace on one end of the room. Also present were Cornelius Fudge, Arl Ignatius Prewett and Arlessa Lucretia Prewett, Cassiopeia Black, and Callidora Black Longbottom.
"What are they doing here?" Cassiopeia asked. "Blood traitor and muggleborn filth!"
"Cassiopeia, shut up!" Arcturus exclaimed, as he coughed violently. "I've reversed Andromeda's disownment and lifted the ban for her and her family. If you don't like it, I suggest you go…" coughing again, he said, "Orion, finish," and more coughing, "that statement."
"Soak your head in a barrel of dragon dung," Orion finished.
Tonks laughed, while Andromeda, Ted, and Ignatius grinned. Maximus and Octavius were also grinning, but under the hard look from their father were holding in their laughter.
"How dare you say that to me, Orion," Cassiopeia practically shrieked. "Apologize now!"
Finishing his coughing streak, Arcturus said, "He'll do nothing of the sort, Cassiopeia, as I told him to finish my statement." Looking at Orion, he said, "It's not precisely how I would have said it, but the sentiment remains and that is if you don't like it, I don't care. While I still have breath in my body, I am still Lord-Teryn Black and head of this family, so what I say goes, Cassiopeia."
"May I ask why exactly we're here?" asked Cornelius Fudge.
"All will be revealed soon, Minister," Orion said. "However, before we get into that, we're waiting on a few last people. Namely Arl and Arlessa Prewett's son and daughter-in-law, and Bann and Banness Malfoy."
Arcturus nodded as he looked at the clock on the fireplace mantle and said, "But if they're not here in the next five minutes, we're starting without them."
"Starting what without them?" Andromeda asked. "Orion, what's going on?"
Before Orion could answer his aunt and adoptive mother's question, there were several pops as the last four remaining guests they'd been waiting for arrived in the room, Kallix bringing Jonathan and Philomena Prewett, while the Malfoy elf Dobby brought his master and mistress.
"Dromeda?" Narcissa asked, surprised to see her sister.
"Reunions can wait until after I'm dead," Arcturus said. "Orion, explain."
"You're all here for my wedding," Orion said, as he quickly explained about the contract, the penalty fee, and the agreement with Teryn Burke that he would marry both Maximus and Octavius to avoid the Black family going bankrupt.
"Ryan, you don't have to do this," Andromeda said. "You're only thirteen. Surely there's other members of the Black family who could marry Maximus and Octavius to satisfy the contract."
Shaking his head, "No, Mum, unfortunately that won't work. Maximus and Octavius are gay, so other than Arcturus, who will be dead soon and Sirius, who's in prison, I'm the only suitable male Black left. Besides the contract clearly states that it must be the Black heir and that's me."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Ted said, "but as the heads of the families involved, can't Lord Black and Lord Burke agree to make changes to the contract?"
Caractacus shook his head. "In modern contracts that's possible, but this contract was drawn up over five-hundred years ago in an age when all the contract's stipulations became permanent and unbreakable once it was signed."
"So you're getting two husbands, Ry?" Tonks asked, as she looked over at Maximus and Octavius and grinned, before she said, "At least they're easy on the eyes."
"Enough!" Arcturus said. "It's taking every last bit of my magic for me to stay alive right now so let's get this done so that I can die in peace and preferably before I drain my core to the point of being a bloody squib. Minister, perform the wedding and make it as quick as you possibly can."
Fudge nodded, as he motioned for Ryan, Maximus, and Octavius to stand in front of him. "Face each other and join your wand hands." This proved to be slightly difficult as it took a moment to figure out how Maximus and Octavius could both hold Ryan's wand hand, but they managed. Fudge, meanwhile, looked at the piece of paper that Ryan had handed him and saw that it was Ryan's and his new husband's full names.
"Do you Orion Cygnus Black take Maximus Caractacus Burke and Octavius Balthazar Burke as your lawfully wedded husbands, in sickness, health, yadda, yadda, until death do you part?" Fudge asked, saying 'yadda, yadda' after he'd seen Arcturus motioning for him to speed it up.
"I do."
"Maximus Caractacus Burke and Octavius Balthazar Burke do you take Orion Cygnus Black as your lawfully wedded husband, yadda, yadda, until death do you part?"
"I do," they both said in unison.
"Then by my authority as Minister for Magic, I now pronounce you married, so mote it be. You may seal your unions with a kiss." As Ryan hadn't hit his final growth spurt yet, he had to stand on his tiptoes and both Maximus and Octavius had to lean down in order for them to kiss each other, but once they did, Fudge said, "It is my great pleasure to present to you Serah Orion Black and his husbands, Serah-Consort Maximus Black and Serah-Consort Octavius Black."
"Yes, yes, good, now let's sign that thrice-damned contract," Arcturus said, as he took the quill from Kallix and signed his name on the appropriate line. Caractacus signed it and then shook hands with Arcturus.
"Well, the contract has been fulfilled," Caractacus said.
Arcturus nodded. "And not a moment too soon," before he gasped slightly and then let out a long breath before he slumped against his pillows, as his eyes closed for the final time.
-o-0-o-
After Lord Arcturus Black's death, Ryan found himself accepting both condolences and congratulations. It was definitely a strange experience, made perhaps all the more strange by the presence of his new husbands standing behind him, each resting one of their hands on his shoulders, while they also shook hands with the people offering their condolences and congratulations. If Maximus and Octavius were at all upset that as Ryan's husbands they would also have to go into mourning for three months and wear nothing but black, they didn't say anything.
Andromeda was the last person in the impromptu receiving line and after shaking hands with Maximus and Octavius, she shook hands with Ryan and said, "Congratulations, Lord-Teryn Black."
"He's not Teryn yet," Cassiopeia said. "He's only thirteen. He can't claim that title until he's fifteen."
Andromeda smiled. "Well, Aunt Cassiopeia, given your earlier comments about me and my family, I take great pleasure in informing you that you're wrong. As the Ministry's Chief Solicitor, I can tell you that while it's true the law says he can't claim his title until he's fifteen, there is a clause to that law which states that if he's married before the death of the previous holder of the title, he can inherit immediately. So that means Orion is now officially Lord-Teryn Black and Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black."
Upon hearing this, Kallix walked over to the bed and slid the Black family lord's ring off of Arcturus Black's finger, before holding it out to Ryan and saying, "Your ring, master."
"You're sure about this?" Ryan asked, more than a little nervous because he knew the ring would shock him if he tried to put it on if he wasn't Lord Black yet.
"Quite certain, Ryan," Andromeda said.
Trusting Andromeda, Ryan took the ring from Kallix and slid it onto his ring finger, where it didn't shock him, but did readjust to fit his finger. Smiling at her adoptive son, she said, "Now, I suppose we do have to work out exactly who is who in terms of your new husbands, Ryan. As you may know, only one of them can hold the title of Teryn-Consort Black, while the other would gain the next highest title and thus be Seteryn-Consort Black."
"Well, that's usually based on marriage order," Lucius pointed out. "Although in this case they both married him at the same time."
"Yes," Caractacus agreed. "May I suggest that we then go with birth order? Maximus is older by a minute."
Turning to his new husbands, Ryan grinned as he asked, "Any objections to that?"
Maximus and Octavius looked at each other, before Octavius shook his head and said, "No, not really. While I admit I'm occasionally frustrated by Max holding it over my head that he's a minute older, I still can't exactly complain about being a Seteryn-Consort. As my father's third-born-son, it's a much higher title than I ever expected to hold, especially considering my half-brother Linnaeus had already made Max and I uncles before we were even born. So my nephew Dominick would inherit our father's title even before Max would."
Maximus grinned. "Indeed, and Tavi had very little chance of ever inheriting the title, because even if Linnaeus and Dominick died and I inherited, it's not likely he'd ever hold the title since we're so close and all. Assuming I had no children, he might be able to hold it for a few minutes to an hour after my death, before death claimed him too."
"Max, please shut up," Octavius said as he visibly shuddered. "I can do without that mental image, thank you." Octavius was extremely close to Maximus and not just because of their physical connection. Spending every second of every day for the last eighteen years together, they'd developed an extremely strong emotional bond which did not make the idea of one of them being a corpse while the other was still alive something that Octavius enjoyed thinking about.
"Well now that that's taken care of," Tonks said with a grin, "I think we should let the newlyweds retire to their bedroom. It is their wedding night after all and they have marriages to consummate. Have fun, brother, dear."
Ryan looked at his sister with wide eyes, which just made her laugh.
"Arcturus just died, for pity sake" Cassiopeia said.
"That doesn't matter," Narcissa said. "The law is the law and it does say that marriages need to be consummated within twenty-four hours in order to be valid. And I'm sure there's a clause somewhere in that contract that requires consummation, or the penalty can be claimed."
"True enough," Callidora said. "Besides, it's not like anyone but the three of them are going to be in the room. Mourning or not, they need to consummate their marriages and since it won't be happening in public in front of witnesses, it doesn't break any of the rules regarding their mourning period."
Andromeda grinned, "Yes, run along now, boys."
"Et tu, Mum?" Ryan asked.
Andromeda laughed, as Ted said, "Well, son, for better or worse, you're a married man now, which means you have to do what married people do."
"Okay, okay, I get it," Ryan said. "Kallix, make sure everything is on schedule for Arcturus's funeral service tomorrow." The house-elf nodded, at which point Ryan began walking towards the door, as he said, "Max, Tavi, let's go."
Leaving the room and the sniggering adults behind, Ryan and his new husbands—and boy was that gonna take some getting used to—made their way down the hall to the second largest bedroom in the house, which was reserved for the heir. Even though Ryan was now Lord Black, tradition wouldn't see him moving into the master bedroom at Arlington until a week after Arcturus's funeral.
Arriving in the room, Ryan walked straight over to his desk, as he said over his shoulder, "I've just got to write a note to a friend of mine and send it."
"Okay," Maximus said, as he and Octavius moved over to the bed and sat down, their eyes never leaving their new husband as he bent over the desk, quill in hand, as he wrote his note. Whispering to his brother, Maximus said, "Too bad those robes don't really show off his arse very well."
Octavius rolled his eyes. "You're so impatient, Max. We'll be seeing the goods soon enough."
Finishing his note, Ryan folded it up and gave it to his eagle owl. "Take this to Wes. He should be at Windsor Castle by now."
The owl nodded his head, as Ryan opened the window, and it flew out. Watching the owl fly away for a moment, Ryan took a deep breath before he closed the window and turned to the two men sitting on the bed. "So," but he stopped there.
"Who's Wes?" Octavius asked.
"He's a friend from school," Ryan asked. "He's a first year muggleborn. Queen Evangeline's grandson, actually."
Maximus nodded. "I thought I'd heard something about the Queen's grandson going to Hogwarts."
"Yeah, he's a Gryffindor," Ryan said. "He invited me to spend some time with him at Windsor Castle over the break, so now that Arcturus is dead and I'm actually allowed to leave Arlington, I figured I'd write him and ask if it was a good time for me to drop in for a few hours."
"What you're gonna abandon us on our wedding day?" Octavius asked.
"No, I asked in the note if I could bring two guests," Ryan said. "Meaning the two of you, although I didn't say that I was married because I rather think that kind of news is better shared in person."
Octavius nodded. "Okay, and just so you know I was only kidding about the abandoning thing."
"Ah, okay."
"So, Ryan, if you're done with your note, why are you still way over there?" Maximus asked. "I'm assuming it's gonna take a while for your owl to fly to you friend's castle and back. Where is it?"
"The town of Windsor in Berkshire, England," Ryan answered. "It's just over twenty-three miles west of London."
Octavius said, "Well, we've probably got at least two hours then before your owl gets back." And since Ryan hadn't moved yet, Octavius added, "We don't bite, so, you could come closer, you know."
Maximus nodded and hoping to break the obvious tension with a bit of levity, he said, "Yeah, and unless you've got a real monster hiding under your robes it's gonna be kind of hard for any consummation to occur when we're ten feet apart."
Ryan flushed crimson at this comment as he felt himself go slightly week in the knees, prompting him to grab onto the back of his desk chair to steady himself.
"You okay there, Ry?" Octavius asked, as even from a distance he could see Ryan's knuckles turning white as he gripped the chair back.
"Yeah, just crazy nervous," Ryan admitted. "I'm a virgin, after all, and well, there's only one of me and two of you and I just don't know how I can possibly satisfy you both."
Looking at each other for a moment, Maximus and Octavius nodded before they stood up and walked over to Ryan, who soon found himself wrapped in Maximus's arms as Octavius reached over and massaged his shoulders. Resting his chin against the top of Ryan's head, Maximus said, "It's okay, Ryan, we've got you. I know this isn't exactly ideal, as this whole marriage thing has undoubtedly caught all three of us by surprise. But what's done is done, so I say now we just need to make the best of it."
Octavius nodded and said, "Max is right, Ry. The three of us? We're in this together. It's also perfectly natural for you to be nervous, as I can tell you that Max and I were nervous before our first times, too."
"Really?" Ryan asked, as he tilted his head back so that he could look his new husbands in the eyes.
Maximus smiled. "Yes, really. Honestly, in a way this is going to be quite similar to Tavi's and my first time, as we both lost it to the same guy—a classmate of ours at Hogwarts—and obviously he couldn't take both Tavi's and my virginity at the same time. So on top of the nerves, it was also kind of awkward—I think you can guess why."
"Yeah, I think I can too," Ryan said with a grin, as he rested his head against Maximus's chest and just enjoyed the feeling of his arms around him, as Octavius continued to massage his shoulders.
After a few minutes, Octavius said, "Well, we should probably get this done. I don't mean to rush you, Ryan, but I know my father. He will use the spell to check for consummation and if it comes back negative, he won't hesitate to bankrupt your family, regardless of what he said about not wanting to make enemies of the remaining Blacks."
Octavius hadn't been present for that part of the conversation, but his father had brought him and Maximus up to speed on what was said before they'd arrived while they were waiting for the various guests to arrive. Neither Octavius nor Maximus believed for a second that their father actually cared about making enemies, especially because they knew that if the Burke family was the wealthiest noble house in Wizarding Britain, plenty of the other nobles would rather suck up to them than make enemies of them.
Maximus nodded. "Yeah and even though you're currently Lord Black, that's only because you married us before Arcturus Black's death. But if the marriages are declared invalid because we didn't consummate them, then you'll probably be stripped of the title until you're fifteen, which means the contract will revert to an unfulfilled state and your family will go bankrupt because the contract will expire before you could sign it yourself."
Ryan nodded before he asked, "Um, what about birth control? I wasn't exactly expecting to get married today let alone have sex so I'm not taking the potion or using the spell and I know that both of them don't kick in instantly. Because I'm so not ready for children."
"Well then I guess it's a good thing that Max and I are both using the potion and spell for that very reason. So as long as Max and I don't penetrate you, we shouldn't have to worry about any unwanted pregnancies. That does however mean you've got twice the work, since you can't top one of us and then bottom for the other in order to make both marriages count as being consummated."
"Great," Ryan said, knowing that while it was true that the contract had only called for one marriage, in order to be fulfilled, it not only had to be signed by Caractacus and Arcturus, but the names of the Black and Burke getting married had to be entered. And unfortunately, as soon as Octavius's name was added to the contract in addition to Maximus's, the contract's magic would require both marriages be consummated in order for the contract to remain fulfilled.
"Hey, look at the bright side, Ry," Maximus said. "You're a teenager, so I doubt you'll have trouble getting it up twice in the same day."
Ryan laughed. "Yeah that definitely won't be a problem."
-o-0-o-
Back at Windsor Castle, Wesley knew the moment that the rest of his family arrived, because he could hear his grandmother's dogs yapping.
"What is that racket?" Harry asked.
"My grandmother's dogs," Wesley answered. "I've never been a big fan of the corgis or the dorgis, for that matter."
"What are dorgis?" Hunter asked, as he'd heard of corgis, but he'd never in his life heard of a breed of dog called a dorgi.
Wesley shook his head. "My grandmother's sister Millicent has daschunds and some of grandmother's corgis had puppies with them, resulting in dorgis."
"Ah, okay," Carter said, as he looked down at his Exploding Snap cards. "It's your turn, Wes."
"Yeah," Wesley said, as he took his turn, followed by Harry, and then Hunter.
When it was Carter's turn, he grinned as he laid down his hand and said, "Snap," which made Harry's, Hunter, and Wesley's cards explode. Of course, Exploding Snap decks were magically charmed so that when they exploded, they magically reappeared a few minutes later good as new, so the other's cards weren't permanently lost, just temporarily disintegrated.
The four boys were in the midst of another game of Exploding Snap when the bedroom door opened and Dawn walked in with Holden.
"Wes!" Holden said, as he almost bounced over to his older brother, clearly happy to see him, even though it had only been a few hours since they'd last seen each other.
"Hey Holden," Wesley said to his brother. Turning to his school friends, Wesley said, "Harry, Carter, Hunter, you've already met my mum." The three of them nodded, since Harry had meet Dawn when she visited Hogwarts following the detention incident and Carter and Hunter had met her on the first day of school when they accompanied their fathers to Buckingham Palace to collect Wesley and take him to King's Cross. "Well, this little hellion is my brother, Holden."
Normally, Harry, Carter, and Hunter would have been expected to stand up as per protocol when Dawn entered the room, seeing as she was the Princess of Wales, however, Wesley had already relayed to his friends that his mum had said that none of them had to do that when they were in private among just the family.
"Holden, these are my friends," Wesley said as he pointed at each of them, "Carter Wells, Hunter Wells, and Harry Potter."
"Hi!" Holden exclaimed, as he shook hands with each of them. "What are you doing?" Looking around the room a bit, he then added, "Wes, why is your bed so big and where did that door come from?"
"I was just about to ask the same thing," Dawn said before Wesley could answer.
"We're playing a wizarding card game called Exploding Snap," Carter explained. "We're in the middle of a game, but we can deal you into the next one if you want."
"Okay," Holden said, clearly excited about playing a wizarding game.
After explaining about the bed, Hunter then said, "As for the door, when the bed was expanded Wes' wardrobe had to be moved to make room and we found that door behind it."
"Since the wardrobe is taller and wider than the door," Wesley added, "I never knew it was there."
"Where does it lead?" Dawn asked.
"No clue," Harry answered. "We wanted to explore when it was first found, but Dylan and Thorne wouldn't let us until they'd done a security sweep to make sure it was safe."
"I tried to argue that it had to be safe," Wesley said, "because I couldn't see how any room connected to my bedroom wouldn't be, but they argued that this castle is centuries old and this room apparently doesn't appear on any of the blueprints they've seen, so they insisted on checking it out before letting any of us inside."
Dawn nodded, clearly reassured by Dylan and Thorne's thoroughness, but said nothing as Carter said, "They went down to the guard room to tell the other guards about it and said we'd probably have to move to another room while they conduct the sweep, just to be safe, but said we could all stay here until they were ready to do it. Dylan warded the door to make sure we stayed out."
"Bummer," Holden said with a sad shake of his head, although his expression almost immediately brightened when he heard a tapping noise and looked up towards one of the windows and saw an owl sitting there. "Wes, look! Owl post."
Looking at the window, Wesley saw the regal looking eagle owl sitting on the windowsill tapping it's beak on the window. He almost immediately recognized it as Ryan's personal owl, Achilles. Standing up, he opened the window and held out his arm, as Achilles flew into the room and perched on it, as Wesley relieved him of the letter he was carrying. Petting the bird's plumage, Wesley asked, "Did Ryan ask you to stay for a response?"
The owl nodded its head.
"It can understand you?" Holden asked, his eyes wide as he looked at the owl perched on his brother's arm.
Harry grinned and said, "Yeah, post owls are very intelligent and understand human speech. They can't talk back, but they still find a way to communicate. My own owl, a snowy named Hedwig, can say quite a bit for a creature that can't speak. Whether it be through nodding, nipping my fingers, affectionately or not if she's not pleased with me, or just by looks alone."
Holden was reaching out a hand to touch the owl, which prompted Dawn to say, "Holden, be careful."
"Achilles, this is my brother Holden," Wesley said to the owl. "Would you mind if he strokes you?"
Achilles peered at Holden for a moment before nodding to indicate that he'd be okay with it, prompting Wesley to say, "He says it's okay, but be gentle, Holden. Just as if you were petting one of grandmother's dogs, because Achilles will bite if you hurt him and his beak hurts more than a dog bite."
Holden nodded, before he reached out and very gently stroked the bird's plumage as he'd seen Wesley doing a moment earlier. The owl turned its head and nuzzled Holden's hand a bit and hooted softly, bringing a smile to everyone's faces. After a few more minutes, Wesley shook his arm a bit and Achilles flew over to sit on the back of a nearby chair, as Wesley opened the note.
Wes,
Lord Black died twenty minutes ago, so I'm now officially in mourning. The funeral is tomorrow at Arlington Grange, but the adults here said that I could come over to see you today for a few hours. I've got a lot to tell you and the others. You should prepare for a shock. Oh and can I bring two guests with me when I come over?
Ryan
Reading the note and then showing it to everyone else, Dawn was the first to speak, as she asked, "I take it Ryan is a friend of yours from school?"
"Yeah, Orion Black, although we all call him Ryan," Carter explained. "His ninety-year-old cousin Arcturus is the Lord Black he mentions. They weren't very close, but Ryan's the Black heir so he had to be at Lord Black's bedside when he died."
Dawn nodded, as Hunter added, "As the heir, he's now expected to mourn for three months, during which he has to wear all black and can't be seen to be having any fun in public."
"That sucks," Holden said.
"While it's a longer mourning period then we would practice," Dawn said, "There are similar plans already in place for your great-grandmother, Wes, Holden. As its only right to show how sad you are when a member of your family dies, even if you're not close to them."
Wesley and Holden nodded. Neither one of them liked to think about their great-grandmother dying, but they had both been told to prepare for it, because she was ninety-one and couldn't possibly live forever.
"I am curious who these guests he wants to bring with him are though," Wesley said after a moment. "As far as I know he's the only member of the family under the age of thirty. The rest of the family is very old and there's not many of them left, especially now with Lord Black dying."
"Maybe with Lord Black passing on some of his distant cousins are visiting?" Dawn asked.
Carter nodded. "It's possible. The way the noble families intermarry, almost all of them are related somehow. I just hope he doesn't want to bring his cousin Draco here."
Shaking his head, Hunter said, "I doubt Ryan wants to bring Draco, because from what I've seen at school they're not all that close."
"So, what should I say, Mum?" Wesley asked. "Can Ryan bring his two guests?"
Dawn was silent for a moment, before she nodded and said, "I don't see why not."
Wesley nodded and grabbing a ballpoint pen from his desk, he wrote a quick response on Ryan's note saying it was okay, before sending Achilles off with it.
Seconds after Wesley closed the window, Dylan, Jordan, Matthew, and Kyle entered the room, and Dylan said, "Good morning, Your Highness," to Dawn, who nodded at him. "Okay, we're here to do the security sweep on that mysterious room. Since we have no idea what's behind that door, all of you have to go someplace else until we give the all-clear."
Dawn nodded and said, "Okay, boys, you heard Dylan, come with me. Wes, Holden, I know you've already seen most of the castle, but your friends haven't, but why don't we show them around a little? Although we'll have to be careful not to get in the way in any of the rooms that are being prepared for the state dinner."
Wesley, Carter, Hunter, and Harry looked a bit upset that they had to abandon their game without finishing it and Dawn clearly saw the looks on their faces as she added, "You can bring the cards with you."
-o-0-o-
To be continued.
So, there's Part One of Chapter Nine. I hope you enjoyed it. So, how big of a shock were Ryan's surprise marriages? How will Harry, Wesley, and the others react when they find out? You'll just have to wait and see, although since this is the third chapter I've put out in the last two months, I'm now going to be switching my focus over to one of my other stories and it'll probably be several weeks before the next update of this story, as I put out three chapters each for 'Breaking the Cycle,' 'Knights of the Founders,' 'Brotherly Love,' and 'The Journey Begins/Along the Journey.' Still, the alternating schedule is probably better than letting this story and the first three above languish for years without updates while I concentrate solely on 'The Journey Begins/Along the Journey.'
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me via review, email, my Yahoo group, or on Twitter JVascardi.