The Journey Begins

by JayColin

SLASH AU Harry/Cedric/OMC/OMC/OMC - Unexpected Love Book One. Harry Potter and three classmates are selected for training in a series of advanced magical arts and begin a journey that will have many twists & turns along the way. Rated for future chapters. Evil!Dumbledore; Wizarding Politics/Traditions; Mpreg

21. Chapter 15

Unexpected Love: The Journey Begins

Written 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: Terence/Oliver, Charlie/OMC: Noah, OMC: Edward/OMC: Ramesses, OMC: Nick/OMC: Dominick

Eventual Pairings: Harry/Cedric, plus others that I choose not to reveal at the present time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Mpreg, Language, Violence, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, Twincest, Threesome, Foursome, Moresome, Harem

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Chapter Fifteen

-o-0-o-

Shortly after finishing up the blood ritual, the four trainers and their four newest students made their way back upstairs. They'd just stepped into the kitchen when the front door of the cottage opened and a woman wearing a red dress covered by a white apron entered the house.

"Hello everyone," she said. When she spotted Edward, she curtsied, adding, "Your Majesty."

"Who are you?" Edward asked in a confused tone.

"Don't worry, I guarantee she's trustworthy," Pomona said as she walked over to the newcomer and said with a smile, "Allow me to introduce my wife, the Matron of Hogwarts, Madam Poppy Pomfrey."

"I didn't know you two were married, Professor," Blaise said.

"Of course you didn't, Mr. Zabini," Rose said. "I can't imagine many of your professors are in the habit of telling their students about their personal lives. As it is, however, Pomona and Poppy have been married for nearly two years, as they opted to wed about a month after Lord Ollivander legalized same-sex unions on his lands in 1992."

Poppy nodded. "Indeed. Pomona and I will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary in November, although we've been together for 34 years now."

"You're married but your names are still Sprout and Pomfrey?" Dominick asked, as he and the others entered the kitchen from the library, having just finished up learning the focusing technique from Arthur and Merlin. Dominick wasn't doing mage training, but Arthur said that didn't matter as a focused mind was still beneficial to non-mages.

Pomona nodded. "Yes, we've both got a feminist streak and thus opted to keep our own surnames. I also don't tend to wear a wedding band because digging around in dirt as often as I do, it might get damaged or lost. Not to mention a few breeds of dangerous plants that are attracted to sparkly things like diamonds."

"So, Rose," Poppy said, "I see you're the last one to go unidentified. Did your plan to drop false hints to suggest you were me throw off your students?"

"Well, they haven't guessed who I am yet," Rose answered. "Although they've known for some time now that I wasn't you, thanks to Rolanda's big mouth."

"I've apologized for that, Rose," Rolanda said. "I'm sorry that I ruined your plans, but after seeing poor Kolin lying there with his wrist slit open and knocking on death's door, I really wasn't thinking about anything but him. Besides that, I'm 93 years old and while I'd like to think that my mind is still a steel trap, I'd be lying if I said I didn't still occasionally have forgetful moments and that was unfortunately one of them."

After a moment of silence, Poppy said, "Anyway, other than wanting to see and spend some time with my actual wife instead of her double, I do have some intelligence from the school to report."

"Go on," Minerva said.

"Albus left the castle early this morning," Poppy said. "Shortly after breakfast. He said that he'd be out of the castle for the next few days, ostensibly attending to ICW business, but I checked with my contact in the ICW and they're not due to be meeting again until early next month. It's certainly possible that he's dealing with some pre-meeting business, but my contact had no idea what that might be. Not that the Supreme Mugwump is required to report his movements to her, but still. At any rate, he said not to expect him back until sometime around lunchtime on Tuesday the 25th."

"Hmm," Harry said, before he called out, "Barin?"

"Yes, Master Harry, sir?" the elf asked as he popped into the room.

"Could you do me a favor?" Harry asked, which prompted the elf to nod his head. "Being a Saturday I assume she's at home, so go over to Kinloch Hold and ask Lady McLaggen if she can find out if any official portkeys have been issued to Albus Dumbledore recently."

"Yes, Master Harry, sir," Barin said as he popped out of the room.

"You do know that Dumbledore knows how to create his own portkeys, right?" Pomona asked.

Harry nodded. "I figured as much, but since doing so is illegal, I assume that if he actually was engaging in any sort of official ICW business, he'd use a legally obtained portkey to do it and thus as the Head of the Department of Magical Transportation, Caroline McLaggen will know, or be able to find out, if he obtained one recently."

"Exactly how much of what's going on are you aware of, Madam Pomfrey?" Edward asked.

"You can call me Poppy, if you wish, sir, and I know everything about your imprisonment and the situation with Albus and Gellert. I understand the need for discretion and you have my word that I won't tell a soul who doesn't already know."

Pomona nodded and said, "I know I should have asked your leave to tell Poppy, but she is my wife and I trust her implicitly, so we don't keep any secrets from each other. Minerva, Rolanda, Rose, and I all have our doubles at Hogwarts, plus we have Regulus now as well, but I figured that having another set of eyes at the school couldn't hurt. Plus, as the Matron of Hogwarts, Poppy is pretty much on equal footing with Dumbledore, as her authority supersedes his own in health matters."

"Very well," Edward said. "I'm not mad at you, Pomona. Poppy is your wife and I would never ask that you keep secrets from her, as I have no desire to cause any friction between you. And you're right, having an extra set of trusted eyes and ears at the school certainly can't hurt anything."

"Well, Head of the Department or not, I imagine that it'll take a while for Caroline to check," Minerva said. "She doesn't know the full truth, as Bruce has opted to keep her in the dark, but she knows enough to know that she should handle any requests from Lord Potter as discreetly as possible. So, simply pulling rank and having one of her underlings check out of the blue would get tongues wagging."

"Indeed," Rolanda said. Looking at the students, she added, "In the meantime, why don't you all head upstairs and get cleaned up for dinner? Barin usually does the cooking, but I'm sure between the three of us that Rose, Minerva, and I can whip something up." Turning to Pomona and Poppy she added, "And you two should go spend some quality time together before Poppy has to get back to the school."

There were nods all around, as the mage students and Dominick left the kitchen and began climbing up the stairs in the living room in single file, since the wrought-iron spiral staircase wasn't wide enough for two people to ascend next to each other. Pomona and Poppy left the kitchen and went down the hall to Pomona's bedroom, while Minerva and Rose got started on dinner, as Rolanda began setting the table.

-o-0-o-

Twenty minutes later, Harry had showered and was just pulling a t-shirt over his head when there was a knock on his door. Pulling it down and quickly checking himself in the mirror, he walked over to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open to find Cedric on the other side.

"Hey, Ric," Harry said, more than a little surprised to see him standing there. Outside of classes, meals, and group activities, they'd been avoiding one another pretty much since the blood ritual. "Something I can do for you?"

"Can I come in?" Cedric asked.

"Sure," Harry said, as he moved aside to let Cedric into his bedroom.

"Wow," Cedric said, as he entered and looked around the room. "You know I think this is the first time I've ever actually been in your room. You were in mine before I moved over to the barn, of course."

Harry smiled. "Yes, the dancing lessons, for which I'm eternally grateful because I'm sure I would have made a fool of myself without your help."

Cedric shook his head. "You're too hard on yourself, Harry. You're actually quite good at dancing, once you let go of the idea that you weren't."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "Really? Cause I seem to recall stomping on your feet more than once."

"True," Cedric acknowledged. "Although honestly, as I said at the time, you weren't nearly as bad as I was when my Mum was first teaching me how to dance. She had to wear flats for a week, because even with Pain Relieving Charms, her feet hurt too much for her usual heels."

"Well, I don't imagine you wear heels very often, Ric," Harry said with a grin, "so you didn't have that particular issue, but I'm sure your feet still hurt for a while afterwards."

"Some yes, but it was bearable," Cedric said. "And you're right, I generally don't wear heels, although there are some wizarding fashions that do call for men to actually wear boots with higher heels than most muggles would think belonged on a man's shoe." Shaking his head, he added, "But I didn't come here to discuss fashion or footwear."

"I figured that much," Harry said. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Cedric hesitated at this question, as he knew they had to talk and he'd resolved to do it now, but he was feeling more than a little nervous about it now that it was actually time for it to happen. After a moment, he asked, "Could you close the door? This is a conversation I think is best had in private."

Harry shrugged and said, "Okay," as he pushed the door closed. "Lock it too?"

"Would probably be a good idea," Cedric answered, as he pulled out his wand and took a moment to perform the new focusing technique that Merlin and Arthur had just taught them. They'd been correct in that it worked much better than the one that Rolanda had previously shown the class. When he was done focusing, Cedric cast a Silencing Charm, a couple of locking and privacy charms on Harry's door, and finally another charm on the landscape hanging above the fireplace.

"What was that last one?" Harry asked, having recognized all the spells that Cedric had cast, except for the one he'd cast on the painting.

"A security charm to prevent anyone from entering the picture," Cedric said. "It's taught in fifth-year Specialized Charms and is quite useful."

"I'd say so," Harry agreed. "Damn good thing I guess that Dumbledore and Grindelwald didn't cast it on the pictures at Camelot or we might never have known about Edward if Merlin and Arthur hadn't been able to investigate."

"True," Cedric agreed, as he moved over to one of the wingback chairs in front of Harry's fireplace and sat down, as Harry came over and sat in the other one. "Anyway, first, I wanted to apologize to you for avoiding you since the blood ritual."

"You don't have to apologize for that, Ric. I know why you were doing it and let's be honest here, you weren't the only one doing the avoiding, because I was doing my own fair share of it too."

"I guess finding out you have a soulmate is a lot to take in."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it was definitely something I think we both needed time to digest. I'd never really given my sexuality any serious thought. I mean, I'd seen a few girls at Hogwarts that I thought were good-looking, but I never really paid much attention to that kind of stuff as I usually had other things on my mind."

"I think that's a bit of an understatement, Harry," Cedric said with a grin. "Having heard about all your adventures since you started school, I can't really say that I'm surprised that you weren't thinking about girls or dating."

"Well, I suppose being gay also has something to do with why I wasn't thinking about girls," Harry said, in a very matter-of-fact tone. "I was more than a little confused when I started noticing boys recently and thinking they were fit, but that charm that Cailan used on me cleared things up for me." After a second, he added, "What about you?"

"I've known for a while now that I was gay. If I'm honest, I knew it even before I knew that Noah was bisexual and I knew that for about a year to a year and a half before he told our parents."

"Did he tell you?"

Shaking his head in a negative gesture, Cedric said, "Not exactly."

"You're blushing, Ric," Harry said with a grin, as he watched the other boy's cheeks redden even more than they had been previously because apparently having it pointed out had only made it worse.

"Yeah, I know," Cedric said, as he made a concentrated effort to stop the ever-growing redness in his cheeks. "My dorm mates at Hogwarts were always talking about girls and I pretended to go along with them and act like I was attracted to the girls they were talking about, but it never really worked. Of course, now I know that I'm a six on the Kinsey scale, so, I guess it makes sense that it was actually my dorm mates that I was lusting after instead of the girls we'd talk about. Anyway, I was beyond confused about my feelings, so one day when my parents were both away I decided to go and talk with Noah about what I was feeling, because we'd always been very close and I figured maybe he could give me some advice or something."

"So what happened?"

"I knew that Charlie was visiting and I knew they were friends and dorm mates at Hogwarts," Cedric answered. "But I didn't know anything about them being together before that point. Anyway, while they'd put up a Silencing Charm and closed Noah's bedroom door, they'd forgotten to lock it. As I said, Noah and I had always been very close, so we usually just let ourselves into each other's rooms without knocking first, so I did and I got an eyeful."

Harry blushed slightly, as he asked, "You walked in on them having sex?"

"Oh yeah," Cedric said, as his blush deepened despite his best efforts. "Obviously they were both completely naked, although Charlie was blindfolded and handcuffed to the headboard. Noah, meanwhile, was fucking him, while leaning over him and licking whipped cream and chocolate sauce from Noah's chest. And, of course, from the positioning of the bed compared to the door, and because Noah was leaning down with his arse in the air I could see between his legs, which gave me a great view of his cock going in and out of Charlie's arse, while his balls slapped against it."

Harry was blushing just as deeply as Cedric by the time the older boy stopped talking and he soon found himself cursing his mind for conjuring up the image that Cedric had just shared, which caused him to get uncomfortably hard. Raising one leg and crossing it over his other so that Cedric hopefully wouldn't be able to see what he was doing, Harry surreptitiously adjusted himself in an attempt to lessen the pain caused from his cock suddenly swelling to what he was sure was a record size against the denim of his jeans.

"You're looking a bit uncomfortable and very red, Harry."

"You shared all those details on purpose didn't you?"

Cedric grinned. "Maybe, but I figured if I'm going to be blushing and uncomfortable then it's only fair that you are too."

"Bloody Hufflepuff," Harry said, although there was a big grin on his face as he said it.

Nodding his head, Cedric said, "And damn proud of it, you bloody Gryffindor." Both boys laughed at this, which helped take their minds off of their hormones and allowed them to get a bit more comfortable as their blushing cheeks started lightening. Once he'd gotten a hold of himself, Cedric added, "At any rate, I had a similar reaction to the one you had when I actually saw it. Not so much for Noah, but the situation, which was also the first time I'd ever actually seen gay sex."

"Yeah, I've never seen it myself, but after that description you gave, I had little trouble imagining what you saw. So, how did Charlie and Noah react when they found out you were watching?"

"They didn't know until later," Cedric said. "Never let it be said that I'm not a good brother. I left the room without saying a word, so being blindfolded, Charlie never knew I was there and Noah was too busy to notice. Of course, I confronted them an hour later, and yeah, they were mortified when they found out I'd seen them."

"I'm sure they were," Harry agreed, as he shook his head. "So, did you get the advice you wanted?"

"No, we never got that far," Cedric answered. "However, just knowing that Noah was bisexual and dating Charlie made me feel better about the whole thing—like I was normal. Of course that was shot to hell once Noah came out to our parents and he was disowned. Then came Lucy and our parents refusing to allow Noah to see her and from their comments, I knew they had every intention of raising her to hate Noah. So, that started me down the path of extreme terror that someone would find out about me and obviously denial that I even had a secret. The more time I spent with Lucy, the more I denied my feelings, because I didn't want to lose my relationship with her."

"I've never had a little sister, so I'm kind of out my depth there, but I can understand not wanting to lose a relationship that you really care about." Pausing for a moment, Harry then added, "And I can't imagine that it felt good knowing that your parents would probably turn on you too if they found out about you. Not to mention having to listen to your bigot of a father going off on Noah and his lifestyle and ridiculing his relationship with Charlie all the time."

Cedric nodded. "Yeah the more he said, the deeper I hid. Finally, it got to the point that I was almost like a monk. Just threw myself into my schoolwork and other activities that kept my mind as far away from sex as it could possibly get. Continued pretending to like girls, even went on an occasional date, but I was miserable the entire time. If I'd had my way I would have slipped into the background and not be noticed by anyone, but that didn't happen."

"Yeah, I imagine it's hard for the 'Hufflepuff Hottie' to slip unnoticed into the background."

Cedric rolled his eyes, "Yeah that nickname has been the bane of my existence since it first started. I mean, yeah, on one hand it's flattering to think that people think I'm good-looking enough to single me out that way, but on the other hand, it also had people expecting me to be interested in sex, which I was trying not to be because I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything with a girl and I couldn't be with a guy and risk it getting back to my father."

Pausing briefly, Cedric said, "Of course, Noah was disowned and I was no longer the courtesy Viscount Laynford—the relatively unimportant spare heir—so that made things worse, especially since all of Dad's hopes and dreams for Noah then transferred to me. He was pleased with the good grades, obviously, but then he started insisting that I had to be better-rounded and that's why I joined the Quidditch team. I do enjoy the game and I like playing, but being the seeker, and then the captain—not to mention the whole Earl of Charwell thing—pretty much made hiding impossible."

Harry nodded. "Yeah I can understand what it's like to feel like everyone expects something from you, because the whole Boy-Who-Lived thing is hard to live up to. And of course I'm also a lord now, so I've got all the people living on the Potter lands expecting me to do a good job as their lord. There's also the whole Lord High Chancellor, Privy Counsellor, and Governor of Hogwarts thing—lately I admit I've felt a bit torn apart, as if I'm being pulled in every possible direction." Harry sighed. "I also know what it's like to have family that says bigoted things."

At Cedric's questioning look, Harry said, "My Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley have all said some pretty bad and bigoted things over the years. Aunt Petunia wasn't as bad, although she appeared to agree with everything that her husband and son said and she always took their side over mine." Looking a bit confused, Harry added, "Of course, before Remus showed up at Privet Drive I was having some very strange dreams that I guess were memories from my double that appeared to show my aunt treating me a lot better than she ever had in the past and even siding with me against her husband and son, which honestly I can't think would ever happen. I'm sure that had to just be my imagination, but I won't know for sure I guess until my double is banished and I get all the memories he accumulated."

"She seemed pretty bad to me when I met her," Cedric commented, "although she did seem to be a bit more subdued by the time we left. Maybe McGonagall and Sprout fooling her into thinking they'd put her under the Unbreakable Vow scared her or some of what they said about your uncle and cousin finally got through to her."

"Maybe, but I'm not going to get my hopes up," Harry said. "It'd take a whole hell of a lot more than just a week of better treatment to make up for all the years of them treating me like I was lower than dirt and responsible for all the problems in the world."

After a few minutes of silence, during which Harry and Cedric just stared into the flames of Harry's fireplace—which had only just recently started getting lit again with the incidents of accidental magic dropping off—Cedric finally broke the silence and said, "I suppose we should probably talk about the dragon in the room."

Harry looked confused as he asked, "Dragon?"

"I think muggles would say 'elephant in the room'?" Cedric asked in an attempt to clarify what he meant.

"Ah, okay," Harry said. "I assume you mean the whole soulmate thing?"

Cedric nodded. "Yeah. We've both had some time to digest it now, although now we've both gotten the shock about what that could actually mean."

"That we could be the first Archmagi since Merlin's day," Harry said. "Yeah, that's kind of scary in a way, because you know that's just going to bring a whole new host of expectations for both of us."

"True. Of course, we wouldn't necessarily have to tell people that we were Archmagi, I mean, look at Dumbledore. He successfully passed himself off as a Grand Sorcerer for decades, despite being an Archmagister. I'm sure that between your power as Duke of Granston and Lord High Chancellor, not to mention having the King's ear, you could make sure that any records that mentioned it got sealed."

"Yeah, that's probably true and I own the Prophet so I can leave standing orders with Terence's mum not to print anything that would reveal that fact." After a long drawn-out breath, Harry added, "Still, it's daunting to think about having that much power and that's not even thinking about what we'd actually need to do in order to get it."

Cedric's cheeks turned slightly pink as he said, "Yeah, I'd have to be the Charlie to your Noah."

Harry's cheeks pinkened at this, as he added, "Only without the accessories and condiments." Cedric groaned at this, while Harry giggled a bit, before he sobered and added, "Although someone would also have to be the Cedric to that situation, since when the bond is actually cast, someone has to be in the room with us to act as the bonder."

Pink cheeks turned red at this as Cedric said, "Yeah, I never thought I'd ever have sex in front of an audience. That's definitely going to be embarrassing and I have no idea who we would get to fill that role—definitely none of our trainers."

"Oh good Gods, no," Harry said. "Definitely not our trainers. That'd just be wrong on so many levels."

Cedric nodded emphatically. "Still the thought of us, well, you know having sex. Don't get me wrong, I'm not repulsed by the thought—quite the opposite actually—but, still I don't think I'm there yet."

"I understand and I agree. I mean, I can accept the gay thing and honestly knowing that I'm wired to like men more than women is a relief, really, because at least I know there's nothing wrong with me. I mean I know there's nothing wrong with it, but much like you I grew up hearing that it was wrong so while I've done my best to be a lot more accepting than my relatives would be, I can still hear them in my head occasionally."

-o-0-o-

Downstairs in the kitchen, Rolanda had finished setting the table and began helping Minerva and Rose with dinner. Opening the oven, Rolanda placed the large pan of roast beef on the rack, as Rose stood at a nearby counter chopping vegetables and Minerva busied herself with making a chocolate cake for dessert. They were working in relative silence, until Rolanda straightened up and closed the oven. Leaning against the counter next to the oven, she said, "You know I was thinking that maybe we should contact some of our past students and see if they can help with the Camelot operation."

"It would be extremely short notice," Rose said, "although I agree it could certainly be beneficial to have some more mages helping with the operation."

"Yes, although we'd have to clear it with Edward," Minerva said. "And then there's the Egyptian allies. Edward might be okay with it, but we have no way to know how the covert operations team that Egypt is lending us would react to it."

"Well, my father was special forces in the Great War," Rolanda said. "So, I know that they tend to be very dismissive of people who don't come from a special forces background. My father and his team always thought they were the best and that nobody else could possibly compare to them in either skill or training."

Rose nodded. "Yes, I've heard that, although we've no clue what the power levels are of the team that Egypt is sending. If they're all just regular witches and wizards, I'm sorry, but they're not going to have a choice but to suck it up and accept help, because even if we sent in a team of two or three hundred witches or wizards, they'd be hard-pressed to face off against two Archmagisters of Dumbledore and Grindelwald's caliber."

"Not to mention the Camelot royal guards," Minerva said. "You better believe that they're some of the best trained guards in the world now, after being so incredibly embarrassed when almost the entire royal family—save Edward—was murdered on their watch. I'm sure the people in charge of the royal guards have ramped up their training in the years since to make sure it never happens again and that's another unknown, because we don't know what their power levels are."

"Well, we can bring it up with Edward at dinner tonight," Rolanda said. "And if he agrees we can contact some of our past students and hope that at least a few of them can help. Obviously we can't tell them what they'd be helping with until they're actually here and can be sworn to secrecy, but I think I can safely say that all of them trust us enough to know that if we're asking them for help that the situation is serious."

Minerva nodded. "Yes and with very few exceptions, I would trust all of our past students with my life. Obviously a couple of them have disappointed me in what they've done with their powers since they left our training, but then again some of them weren't given much choice."

-o-0-o-

Above the barn, Terence and Oliver re-entered their bedroom with towels wrapped around their waists, as they'd just gotten out of the shower. It had taken all the willpower they could muster, but they managed to keep their hands off of each other in the shower, or at least in a sexual manner, as they had washed each other's backs. The reason for this was because they shared a bathroom with Gavin who had let them shower first, so they were as quick as they could be as a courtesy to him.

Now that they were finished, however, Oliver locked the bathroom door, as he picked up his wand where he'd left it on top of the dresser, and pointing it at the door out to the hallway, incanted silently, "Colloportus," followed quickly by, "Silencio," and "Muffliato." Terence had his back to him as he looked through clothes in the wardrobe across the room, so with a grin, Oliver pointed his wand at his boyfriend and said, "Accio towel."

"Will!" Terence exclaimed as he felt his towel being pulled off his waist and tried in vain to catch it. Turning his head and upper body slightly so that he could look over his shoulder at Oliver, Terence put his hands on his hips and said, "We're supposed to be getting ready for dinner, you know."

"I know, but we've got plenty of time," Oliver said. "Dinner hadn't even been started yet when we came up. It might be in the oven by now, but it won't be ready for probably an hour at least."

"You know the oven and stove are charmed to shorten cooking times."

Oliver nodded, as he came over to Terence, dropping his towel as he walked across the room, and said, "Yes, which is all the more reason for you to stop wasting time talking." As he said this, Oliver slid his arms around Terence's waist and pushed his hardening member against his boyfriend's arse.

"You are insatiable, you know that?"

"Don't you mean irresistible?"

Terence rolled his eyes. "Yes, that too," as he kissed Oliver on the lips.

The two kissed for a few minutes, before Terence backed away and said, "We need a Silencing Charm."

"I'm way ahead of you, Liam." At Terence's raised eyebrow, he added, "I cast them silently before I summoned your towel."

"Ah, getting better with the more basic spells since the ritual?" Terence asked.

Oliver nodded. "Indeed, although the new focusing technique that Merlin and Arthur taught us has helped quite a bit, plus it lasts five times longer than the one Rolanda taught us so I didn't even have to pause to focus, because I was still focused from earlier when they taught us."

"True, it has helped quite a bit," Terence said, as he turned around in Oliver's arms and kissed him before pushing him towards their bed.

It wasn't long before the backs of Oliver's knees hit the edge of the bed and he tumbled backwards with a small thud, although with his arms wrapped around Terence's waist the other man went with him, their cocks grinding against each other as they resumed kissing for a few moments. Finally, Terence moved Oliver's legs upwards and whispered in his ear, "I don't have my wand handy, so you want to do the honors?"

"Who say's you get to top?"

"I do, because it's my turn." When Oliver looked ready to argue, Terence added, "Don't tell me you forgot about three-thirty this morning? You got up to go to the bathroom and when you came back, instead of going back to sleep like a civilized person, you decided to make a deposit in my arse."

"And here I thought you slept through that."

Terence rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like I could actually sleep through you fucking me. I was still tired though, so I let you think I was still asleep because I knew that if you knew I was awake, you'd have wanted more when you were done and I wanted to sleep. So I feigned sleep so that you'd go back to sleep afterwards and it worked."

Oliver shook his head. "Sneaky Slytherin."

"You know you love it," Terence asked. "So the spell?"

"Fine," Oliver said as he pointed his wand at Terence's cock and said, "Lubrico," causing it to be covered in a slick oil-like substance.

Terence grinned and wasted no time, as he positioned his cock and pushed forward into Oliver's waiting arse. "Ah, nice and tight. And warm."

"Ah, oh, eh," Oliver moaned. "Glad you like it."

Shaking his head, Terence said, "No, I don't like it," as he leaned down so that his face was inches away from his boyfriend, "I," he paused for a kiss, "love," another kiss, "it."

Nothing was said for a few minutes, as Oliver and Terence kissed, and Terence got into a good rhythm, thrusting in and out. After a moment, Terence moved slightly so that he could kiss Oliver's neck and it was at this point that the former Gryffindor said, "Oh sweet Gods! Ah, Roger doesn't know what he's missing."

Terence stopped kissing Oliver's neck and moved so that he could look his boyfriend in the eye, as he asked, "Really, Will? You want to talk about Roger now?"

"Well, we haven't really discussed it," Oliver answered. "There's been some ribbing and I said that I'd be okay with you topping him, as long as I got to watch, but we've never really discussed you and Roger being soulmates or what that really means for us."

Terence was silent for a moment, as he closed his eyes and muttered something that might have been a prayer under his breath, before he opened them and said, "True, we haven't discussed it and I'm not sure now is the right time."

Oliver grinned. "Oh come on, you know you've thought about it. Say what you will about him, but Roger does have a very nice arse." He paused here, before he moaned, "Ah, oh, and unless I'm very much mistaken—and I'm sure I'm not—it seems like somebody agrees with me because the mention of Roger's arse made him swell more than he already was."

"Fine, yes, Roger has a very nice arse and I'd love to fuck it," Terence said. "Is that what you wanted to hear, Will?"

"A part of me is jealous," Oliver answered, "but also turned on, honestly. So, as long as I get to watch, you can do whatever you want to Rog."

"Well, Regulus did say that a bonder was necessary when the ritual is first performed," Terence said, as he wrapped his hand around Oliver's cock and began pumping it in time with his thrusts. "So, as long as you think you can control your hormones enough to cast the necessary spells, then I'd say it shouldn't be a problem for you to watch."

Oliver grinned. "Oh, I'm sure I can manage that." Both boys were silent for a moment, before Oliver said, "And don't think I didn't notice that the way you just said that makes it seem like you think it's a given that you will be fucking Roger in the future."

Terence rolled his eyes. "I think everyone in the house, Roger included—whether he'd admit it or not—has come to the conclusion that we will be doing the bonding ritual at some point. Roger is too much of a Ravenclaw to say no to anything that would facilitate him learning new things."

"You're probably right," Oliver agreed, as he moaned again. "Oh, Liam that feels so good."

"Feels good from my end too."

-o-0-o-

Around noon the next day, after Caroline reported that Dumbledore had not obtained any legal portkeys from her department recently, Harry, Edward, Ramesses, Nick, Dominick, and Minerva Apparated to Harry's estate in Brynmoor, from which they then headed for the Tribunal Chambers. Meeting them at the Brynmoor estate, were Sirius and Neville, the former of whom had once again met Regulus and Neville in Hogsmeade, after Regulus had activated Neville's double and smuggled him out of Hogwarts via the secret passage into the Shrieking Shack. Also meeting the group was Rolf Phillips, who as Captain of the Seacliff Castle Guard, was the de facto leader of all the Potter family forces, regardless of which estate they originated from.

Arriving in the Tribunal Chambers, Rolf, Ramesses, and Minerva—who had never been there before—were more than a little awed when they saw it for the first time. Everyone else had been there before, either for Barnabas Cuffe's trial or the emergency meeting that Harry had called with the other Lords of the Thirteen. Nick and Dominick had not been present for the latter, however, so they joined Rolf, Ramesses, and Minerva in a state of awe when Merlin and Arthur appeared, in the flesh.

After a quick explanation to Rolf, Ramesses, and Minerva that Merlin and Arthur were able to appear in the flesh only at the four focus sites, of which the Tribunal Chambers was one, Neville walked over to the stone pedestal in front of the table that the Lords of the Thirteen would sit at during trials and pulled out his wand. After a moment of thought, he tapped the pedestal once with his wand and said, "Kenton Jacoby and Augusta Longbottom, I summon thee!"

Moments later, Kenton Jacoby, the Captain of the Lakeview Hall Guard, and Neville's grandmother Augusta appeared in the room, as they both looked around, confused for a moment.

"Hello, Gran," Neville said, before either of them had seen the other occupants of the room. "Kenton."

"Neville?" Augusta asked. "Where are we? And why aren't you in school?"

"We're in the Chambers of the Tribunal of the Thirteen," Neville answered. "And I am in school, well, at least a magically created double of me is at Hogwarts."

"A double?" Augusta asked. "You mean like the ones used during mage training?"

Neville nodded. "Yes, Gran. I figured you'd know about the doubles since Granduncle Garrick is a mage and your brother. Before you ask, however, no I'm not in mage training, but Professor Black created a double for me and smuggled me out of Hogwarts so that I could come here, as we have some extremely important business of both the family and state nature to handle."

"I don't understand," Augusta said.

"Perhaps I can shed some light on that, Madam," Edward said as he came over to the group.

Both Augusta's and Kenton's eyes widened upon seeing the King, as Augusta quickly curtsied and Kenton bowed. "Your Majesty," Augusta said, as she straightened up, "what an unexpected pleasure."

Edward nodded. "It's good to meet you too, Augusta. I realize that having attended the World Cup you are no doubt under the impression that we've already met. In truth, however, we never have until now and I'll explain that situation in a moment, but first, I must tell you that due to his state of mental incapacity, which I'm told is unfortunately permanent, I've stripped your son, Frank, of all the power that goes along with being the Duke of Aldersey. Henceforth, he shall be known as the Duke Emeritus of Aldersey, and his wife as the Duchess Emeritus of Aldersey, while your grandson is the new Duke of Aldersey, with all the rights and responsibilities that go with that title."

"Your Majesty, I don't mean to question you, but I'm not sure that Neville is ready for that level of responsibility."

Edward smiled. "I understand your concern, Augusta, but believe me, Neville has already proven himself more than capable in my mind."

"My Lord," Kenton said, as he kneeled in front of Neville, who held out the hand on which he was now wearing the family ring, prompting Kenton to take Neville's hand, kiss the Longbottom ring, and say, "I, Kenton Hiram Jacoby, pledge my unwavering loyalty to you and swear to serve you and your family faithfully all the days of my life. On my magic, so mote it be."

"I, Neville Preston Longbottom, Duke of Aldersey, Marquis of Claverton, Earl of Rosset, Lord of Lakeview Hall, and Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, accept your oath of loyalty, Kenton Hiram Jacoby, so mote it be."

As Kenton stood up, Augusta asked, "If I may ask, Your Majesty, how has my grandson proven his capability?"

"In his capacity as Lord High Chamberlain and Lord High Constable, he accompanied me, Lord Potter, and your brother Lord Ollivander to Thebes, Egypt recently for a meeting with Pharaoh Seti. Your grandson was instrumental in helping to finalize the terms of the marriage alliance which now exists between the House of Pendragon and the House of Ptolemy, as well as our respective empires." Motioning Ramesses over, Edward smiled and said, "Augusta, allow me to introduce Prince Ramesses Ptolemy of Egypt, my future husband. Ramesses, this is Lady Augusta Longbottom, the Dowager Duchess of Aldersey, and Neville's grandmother."

Augusta curtsied again, as she stated, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness." Ramesses smiled and nodded, before Augusta said, "I'm thrilled, of course, that my Neville could assist you, Your Majesty. I knew he'd make a fine lord one day and it seems that day has come sooner than I thought it would."

Over the course of the next several minutes, Edward and Neville explained what was going on to a shocked Augusta and Kenton, knowing that the magic of the Tribunal wouldn't allow them to speak of anything they learned while in the chamber—which was one of the primary reasons that they'd opted to have the planning meeting there in the first place. Meanwhile, several of the other lords began showing up, accompanied by the captains of their main estates' guards.

The last to arrive was the contingent from Egypt, who had been given a special one-time use, time and date activated international portkey that would bring them directly to the Tribunal Chamber. The party consisted of Vizier Khalid Khalfani, General Tarik Zuberi, a third Egyptian man that nobody in the room recognized, Lord-Commander Asim Bakari, and somewhat to Edward's surprise, Pharaoh Seti Ptolemy himself.

"This is an unexpected pleasure, Seti," Edward said as he approached the Pharaoh. "I wasn't aware that you were planning on attending this meeting personally."

"Not only will I be attending the meeting," Seti revealed, "but I will also be taking part in the operation itself. As has been tradition in Egypt dating back over 2,500 years, the Pharaoh's place is at the head of his army, personally leading it into battle. I normally would not do so for a covert op—although I do have the training and experience necessary to do so—but I felt that in this instance my personal attention was warranted."

"Well, then I thank you for your personal attention, Seti," Edward said. "Now, I believe some introductions are in order. First and foremost, meet Arthur and Merlin Pendragon."

Seti looked surprised as the two young men stepped forward. It was Arthur who said, "Yes, I am indeed King Arthur Pendragon, the first King of Albion and Iwernia, and this truly is my husband, Merlin Emrys-Pendragon."

"I'm sure you're confused how two people who died several centuries ago could be standing here seemingly in the flesh," Merlin stated and Seti and several other members of the Egyptian contingent nodded. "In life Arthur and I were Archmagi and using the power of the Earth/Water focus site," Merlin motioned towards the tree and spring visible in the cave beyond the windows, "we were able to setup many powerful spells. Including the ability for us to manifest here in the flesh so that we would be here to assist whenever Albion needed us."

"We cannot hold physical form outside of this chamber, however," Arthur said. "Except at one of the other three focus sites, one of which—the Fire/Air site—you might be familiar with, seeing as it's located in Ahkataten, Egypt."

Seti thought for a moment, before he said, "I believe I'm familiar with what you might be referring to. There is a large amphitheatre-like structure hidden on top of the cliffs near the royal tomb of Pharaoh Akhenaten at the center of which is a large firepit that seems to burn eternally and is surrounded by seven boundary stela with bronze spikes embedded in the tops of them. A thick cloud hangs above the firepit that issues lightning bolts at regular intervals that in turn hit the aforementioned spikes."

Merlin nodded. "Indeed, that is the Fire/Air focus site, which is one of the four focal points of magical energies around the globe. A small part of the magic from every spell that's cast anywhere on the globe is absorbed through the invisible ley lines and sent through them to the focus sites, where those magical energies gather and build up over time."

"Interesting," Seti said. "I've only been there once, not long after I was crowned, as it's become a tradition for the newly crowned Pharaoh to make a pilgrimage there to be elevated to the status of living god by the priests of Horus, the Egyptian God of Kingship and Patron of the Pharaohs. What actually is the purpose of these focus sites?"

"As Merlin stated, magical energy gathers there and builds up over time," Arthur said. "That power can be harnessed, although only by someone who is at least level sixteen or higher on the power scale as any lower than that and the power would be too much for their body to handle. Using the focus sites, one can cast spells of immense power that can affect the entirety of the planet, although it should go without saying that such power in the wrong hands would be extremely dangerous."

Merlin nodded. "Indeed, it's one of the reasons why when Arthur and I founded the judicial body known as the Tribunal of the Thirteen we chose the focus site itself as its meeting chamber and laid very powerful protections into both the chamber and the site to ensure that it was never misused. We also placed similar protections on the other three focus sites, which would punish anyone who attempts to use their power for nefarious purposes—such as to rule the world themselves or to help anyone else do so or to injure, torture, or kill innocent people—by stripping them of their magic, honor, and lives."

"Of course, we also suppressed much of the knowledge about the sites themselves," Arthur added. "For if people don't know they exist, or what exactly they are should they find them, they can't misuse them. Our protections have no doubt prevented centuries of Dark Lords from committing unspeakable atrocities. While it's true many of them will find a way to do as they desire if they're determined enough, that doesn't mean we have to make it easy for them."

"Yes considering the reason we're all meeting in the first place," Edward said, "I think we can all agree that those protections are a very good thing because the thought of Dumbledore or Grindelwald harnessing that kind of power is too unbearable to even imagine." Several people throughout the room nodded at this, as Edward paused for a moment to say, "Anyway, you're met Lords Potter, Ollivander, and Longbottom, but allow me to introduce my other nobles."

Once Edward had introduced everyone on his side, Seti introduced those who hadn't already met them to his Vizier, General, and the Lord-Commander, before adding, "And this gentleman is Nikaten Zayat, the leader of Egypt's most elite covert operations team."

"Well, now that the introductions are completed, let us get down to business," Merlin said, as he waved his hand and the two tables that had served as the prosecutor and defense tables during the trial of Barnabas Cuffe moved together to form a larger table, as a large map of Castle Camelot appeared on top of it. "These are the original blueprints of Castle Camelot, which I guarantee are still accurate as I personally laid magic into every brick of the castle that would make any and all structural changes beyond updates to the plumbing system impossible."

It was at this point that Neville, as Lord High Constable, took center stage as he laid out the plans for the operation at the castle, placing markers on a few locations on the map as he did so, before asking, "Now are there any questions?"

"How many men will each of us have to provide?" Caractacus asked, as he motioned to himself and the other Lords of the Thirteen.

Before Neville could answer, Nikaten said, "None, as sending in any teams other than mine is unnecessary and only jeopardizes the successful outcome of the entire operation."

Seti gave Nikaten a severe look at this and said, "Nikaten, these are our allies and this operation is taking place on their soil and in their royal palace no less. We have no right to tell them that they can't be involved in the operation."

"I meant no disrespect, my liege," Nikaten said, "but my team and I did not earn our reputation as one of the best covert operations teams in the world for no reason. It's already a danger to the mission success having you accompany us, but you at least have the training necessary for this type of mission and you've accompanied my team in the past, so I know we can work together if necessary. The same cannot be said for any of the other forces provided by the Lords of the Thirteen or the additional mage support that Lord Longbottom was talking about. Again, another completely unnecessary risk to mission success."

"I'm afraid, Nikaten," Edward said, "that you are over-estimating your teams' abilities, because I can safely guarantee that without local resources provided by my forces, you and your team would never get anywhere near Castle Camelot itself, let alone anywhere near the mission objectives."

Neville nodded, as he said, "Indeed, His Majesty is correct. Following the murders of his entire family in 1972, every single inch of Castle Camelot and surrounding lands underwent a massive security overhaul, which is why Edward lived at the Winter Palace in the Duchy of Penderleath as a child, only returning to Castle Camelot about a month before he was kidnapped. All of the wards were strengthened and several new wards were added, in addition to several other security features which require very specific magical knowledge to surpass."

"And yet he was still kidnapped from within Castle Camelot itself," Nikaten pointed out.

"True," Garrick conceded. "However, I would point out that the person doing the kidnapping, Albus Dumbledore, was a trusted official not only in our local government, but also internationally as the Supreme Mugwump, who as an honored guest in the palace was granted the ability to move freely around it. He's also an Archmagister and is in possession of the Elder Wand, which anyone who knows anything about wandlore could tell you is the most powerful and legendary wand ever created. And if the writings of Wilhelm Gregorovitch are to be believed the wand's core is in fact hair from Thanatos, the Greek God of Death."

"It's also important to note," Neville said, "that many of the new security features at the various entrance points can only be deactivated from other locations on the opposite end of the palace." Pointing at the map, Neville said, "For example, at the Western Gate the only way past the wards and security features there is in fact located in a highly secured room only accessible from the guard room in the hallway off the Servant's Entrance, on the southeastern side of the complex. All of the other possible entrances are similarly protected with the sole exception of the Main Gate, through which we'll be sending a couple of the Lords of the Thirteen, as them entering the palace won't be questioned by the guards."

"Accompanying the Lords will be Shadow Mage and Viscount Langleeford Asterion Black," Harry added. "He will be using his shadow abilities to hide both himself and Edward from sight. While the visible lords distract the guards at the main entrance, Asterion and Edward will make their way to the main guard room, where hopefully Edward will be able to convince the Captain of the Camelot Royal Guard to assist us in getting our other insertion teams into the castle at the various points, and redirecting the guards away from those points, allowing our forces to secure the castle and find but not engage Dumbledore and Grindelwald."

"Why are we not engaging them?" Amos asked. "Wasn't the whole point of this operation to capture them and take back Edward's throne?"

Neville nodded. "Indeed, Taleford, that is the ultimate goal, however, we must remember who we're dealing with here. Grindelwald was and still is the most feared Dark Lord in Europe, which is a reputation that is very well earned. Like Dumbledore he too is an Archmagister and because of a Friendship Soul Bond between him and Dumbledore, they can share the Elder Wand as if they were the same person. We are also aware from Edward himself that Grindelwald is a Shape Mage who can take the form of any magical creature that he's physically seen, which includes Dumbledore's former familiar, the phoenix known as Fawkes, who Grindelwald has been impersonating since the day Dumbledore kidnapped Edward."

"I find it hard to believe that a Shape Mage is as dangerous as you seem to be implying," Arcturus said.

"Really, Viscount Cumberworth?" Minerva asked, as she spoke for the first time. "I happen to be one, so perhaps a demonstration is in order? Your Majesty with your leave?"

"By all means, Professor McGonagall," Edward answered.

Walking several paces away from everyone else, Minerva said, "Many of you are familiar with the fact that I'm a registered Animagus and are thus aware of my tabby cat form." Minerva transformed briefly into it, before turning back to her human form and saying, "But it's far from the only form I can take. Observe."

Moments later, Minerva's whole body appeared to alight with flames, as her body shifted into that of a phoenix who circled the room, singing the phoenix song, before landing on the lord's table as she nodded her head at Merlin—as this had been prearranged between them—who raised his hand and pointing directly at Minerva, incanted to the great shock of everyone in the room, "Avada Kedavra!"

As the curse hit Minerva square in the chest, she burst into flames and a shower of ashes fell to the table below her. Moments later, the head of a newborn baby phoenix chick popped up through the ashes, aging rapidly back to a full-grown phoenix before turning back into the human Minerva, at which point she said, "While in the form of a magical creature, a Shape Mage gains full access to all of the magical abilities of that creature, including as you've just seen the ability to regenerate from death while in the form of a phoenix. But, if you need further demonstration…"

At this Minerva threw her arms up, as she began to grow taller and wider as horns grew from her head and she grew wings and a tail, before suddenly everyone in the room was shocked to see a full-size Hungarian Horntail standing where Minerva had been moments earlier. As the dragon reared its head, Merlin stepped forward and summoning his staff, incanted, "Praesidium Tholus Maxima!" The shimmering field of a maximized Arcane Shield, also known as the Dome of Protection, surrounded Merlin and the other occupants of the room as Minerva let loose a burst of flames from her mouth, proving that not only could she take the form of a dragon, but also make use of its ability to breathe fire.

While everyone could feel the heat from the dragon's breath, it didn't burn anyone as Merlin's shield held it back, as it hit the shield and spread out over it, leaving those standing under it unharmed. After a moment longer, Minerva stopped breathing fire and turned back into her normal self, as she asked, "I trust that's enough demonstration to show you all that a Shape Mage is not to be underestimated?" There were several nods around the room, as Minerva added, "The forms I've just taken are only a handful of the forms I can take and there's several that I can't, but I have no way of knowing what forms other than a phoenix that Grindelwald is capable of taking."

"Indeed," Arthur said. "For all we know, he's capable of taking the form of a basilisk, which would mean that you'd all be unable to look him directly in the eye as you'd be instantly dead and would also need to avoid his reflection in order to avoid being petrified."

"Another terrifying possibility," Harry added, "but one that we can't rule out, is that he might even be able to turn himself into a chimaera and any of you who has studied magical creatures will know that chimaeras are universally recognized as the most dangerous magical creature in existence, taking no less than a hundred fully trained witches and wizards working together to take down. A sufficient number of mages might be able to take it down with fewer numbers, but there are no recorded instances of a smaller group of mages doing it, so there's no way of knowing how many mages it would take."

"In life, Arthur, Morgana, Dakota and I did take one down between the four of us," Merlin revealed. "Although we were all Archmagi, and Morgana and I were both masters of all eight mage specializations. Even with those advantages we were all injured badly enough in the fight that all of our wounds and injuries didn't fully heal until nearly three months later, the first two weeks of such we all spent laid up in bed under nearly constant sedation and a strong course of various pain reducing potions. Since Morgana and Dakota are not here, and Arthur and I are not capable of leaving the focus sites, we can't help against a chimaera and since nobody since we died has ever managed to reach the level of Archmagi, it would take way more than four mages to take down a chimaera, even if it is a Shape Mage using that form."

"Isn't there a spell to force a Shape Mage out of the form they've assumed?" Bartemius asked. "I know there is a spell that does that for Animagi."

Minerva nodded. "Yes, Lord Crouch, there is a mage-level spell for that. But the problem with that spell is that depending on the form the Shape Mage takes, hitting them with it can be very complicated. Dragon scales, basilisk hide, and chimaera skin are all highly resistant to magic and thus your spell would have to hit them in very specific places, such as the inside of their mouth, which would take quite a bit of aiming skill but also a whole lot of luck."

"Speaking of basilisk hide," Harry said with a grin, "I will be providing every member of the teams that are entering the castle with a full set of basilisk hide armor. It will be on loan from the Potter estate and will need to be returned after the operation, but it should help in keeping all of you alive and unharmed, since basilisk hide is actually completely resistant to magic, unlike dragon scales and chimaera skin which are only highly resistant."

"Where did you get that much basilisk hide, Granston?" Garrick asked with a note of awe in his voice.

Harry grinned. "From Salazar Slytherin's thousand-year-old basilisk that I killed in his Chamber of Secrets in my second year." Pausing for a moment his grin falling from his face, he added, "You know now that I think about it, it's entirely possible that I owe Grindelwald a Life Debt."

"How?" Edward asked.

"Fawkes, or who I thought was Fawkes," Harry answered. "He appeared in the Chamber and attacked the basilisk's eyes, blinding it and taking away its death glare. However, it could still have killed me, if I hadn't managed to stab it in the roof of its mouth with Godric Gryffindor's sword – taking a fang to my forearm in the process. Fawkes cried on the wound and healed it however and now we know that was actually Grindelwald, which means he saved my life."

Before anyone else could say a word, there was a flash of fire as Fawkes appeared in the room and landed on Harry's shoulder, nuzzling his head against Harry's. Watching the interaction, Edward had a thought and asked, "Fawkes, are you trying to say that it wasn't Grindelwald in the Chamber of Secrets?"

The phoenix stopped nuzzling Harry at this, turned to look directly at Edward, and then bobbed its head up and down.

"You're sure that wasn't Grindelwald?" Erik asked, prompting Fawkes to move his head up and down again.

"So that means that Harry doesn't owe Grindelwald a life debt?" Sirius asked the bird, who now moved his head again, only this time from side to side.

"Oh thank Merlin!" Harry exclaimed, before looking over at Merlin and saying, "Sorry, Merlin, I know you have issues with that exclamation, but…"

Merlin grinned and shook his head. "That's okay, Harry, in this case I can totally understand."

After a few moments of silence, Neville turned to Nikaten and asked, "So, has your mind changed now about the necessity of more than just your team being involved in the operation?"

Nikaten was silent for a moment, before he nodded his head and said, "Yes, after that demonstration I have little choice. I trust in my team's stealth abilities, but none of us are mages—the highest among us is an Apprentice Sorcerer—so I realize now that it would be suicide if we tried to face off against Grindelwald and Dumbledore by ourselves."

Neville nodded. "Very well then. Now, Grangemore, I believe you asked how many of your own troops you'll need to bring."

"Indeed, I did," Caractacus confirmed.

"I discussed this at length with General Tarik," Neville said, "and we agreed that a team of five from each of your forces, led by your captains, would be best. Nikaten's team is six people, after all, so that way all the teams are equal. Additionally adding a mage to each group brings the total up to seven, although, some of you might have eight, I guess, for those of you that decide to accompany your men. I do believe though that the group of lords entering the main gate as previously discussed should consist of Whitehaven, Waringsford, and Coleford."

"Why those three specifically?" Amos asked.

Neville had been expecting this question. "Whitehaven because he's Lord High Secretary of the Privy Council and one of the highest nobles in the land. It's almost a guarantee that the guards won't question him. Waringsford because as Madam Bones' nephew, not to mention being the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Auror Training and Certification, it's pretty much assumed that he's above reproach. As for Coleford, well, I think we can all agree that his silver tongue is legendary and he has several well-placed connections, including with the Minister, so between the three of them, they should be able to keep the guards distracted enough for Asterion and Edward to slip past."

Amos nodded and said, "All right that makes sense. What about mages, however? We were discussing the idea of having a mage on every team, but where are we going to get all these mages from exactly?"

"I've just revealed to you that I'm a Shape Mage," Minerva answered. "However, I've also been a Mage Arts Trainer for the last 35 years, who along with three colleagues have successfully trained over 70 mages, including Regulus Black, who in turn trained his son Asterion. With King Edward's permission, I contacted a number of my former students and asked them if they'd be able to help me with an important task on very short notice, although I didn't share any details beyond that. I only told the ones who said they could assist me to stand by for further instructions."

"And did enough of them say that they could assist you?" Caractacus asked. He didn't voice the fact that he now felt better than he previously had about Minerva McGonagall becoming Interim Headmistress. While he hadn't taken it upon himself to nominate anyone else when given the chance, he had thought her to be a rather weak candidate for the position if only because Dumbledore had chosen her as his Deputy and the board at the time had allowed it without complaint, because they had trusted Dumbledore implicitly.

Minerva nodded. "Yes, between myself, my three associates, and our past students, we have enough mages for every team to have a mage, plus a few additional mages who can set up a field hospital in a safe location to treat any injuries."

"Speaking of the field hospital," Neville said, "every member of every team will be equipped with an amulet, charmed my Merlin and Arthur themselves using the focus site that will act as an emergency portkey if they need to make a quick exit due to sustaining life-threatening injuries. The amulets are strong enough that not even Castle Camelot's Anti-Portkey wards can prevent them from operating as intended."

"We will need a location for the field hospital," Merlin said, "so that Arthur and I know where we're sending people when we charm the amulets, which as an added precaution will be password activated, but will also be tied to the magical signature of the person wearing it, thus making it impossible for an enemy to overhear the password and steal an amulet from somebody on our side and use it to try and attack our field hospital."

"Is there any reason why we can't setup the field hospital right here?" Seti asked. "I assume this location has some of the most powerful wards in existence thanks to the focus site. And there's the added benefit that if we set it up here, you and Arthur can manifest here and help if necessary."

Arthur stroked his chin for a moment, before nodding. "Yes, that might be best. Although perhaps we could use one of the side chambers, instead of the main courtroom where we are now. Merlin and I can go anywhere in this complex, so we could certainly assist and while most mages can only learn a maximum of three mage specializations, assuming they're at least a Magus, Merlin is a master of all eight specializations, which makes him very versatile in all types of magic, from healing and defense to offense."

"So you're a Shape Mage as well then?" Bartemius asked.

"Yes, I am," Merlin answered. "And no, Seti, there is no reason why we can't setup the field hospital here. I agree with Arthur's reasoning on the matter and think that one of the side chambers would work out well."

"Well, now that that's settled," Harry began, "Lords, please take a moment to discuss with your captains which members of your forces are best suited for this type of mission and then use the pedestal to summon them here so that Merlin and Arthur can get their magical signatures and charm their amulets. I've already discussed the matter with Rolf, so Merlin and Arthur already have my forces' signatures. Minerva, I'll need to know the names of your past students so that I can summon them here."

With a nod, Minerva reached into a pocket of her robe and pulled out a list of names, which she handed to Harry, who scanning it, recognized some of the names and there was several who surprised him quite a bit. Of course there was one name that he immediately noticed was not on the list and that was Rose Ramsley, although shortly after noticing this Harry noticed the name of another Hogwarts professor, which made him grin.

Pointing to the name on the list, Harry asked, "Is this Rose?"

Minerva nodded. "Yes, Harry, it is. It's regrettable that this situation will require revealing her identity, but I asked Merlin's portrait last night if Rose could be summoned to the chamber via her pseudonym and wearing her Glamours. The answer was no, as she would need to be summoned by her actual name, at which point Merlin added that the Tribunal's summoning magic acts much like Gringotts' Thief's Downfall, in that it would strip away Glamours present on anyone summoned. So, this will reveal to four of her students and everyone here who she is, but she's undecided at this time if she'll reveal it to the other students."

"Well, that's up to her, I guess," Harry said. "Although, I'm not sure if Edward, Ramesses, Nick, and I, not to mention Dominick, will be able to keep it a secret from the others for long, as they're all bright enough that they may catch on to the fact that we know who she is. Don't know if the Tribunal's Sealing Oath would extend to preventing us from telling them or not."

"It wouldn't," Arthur said, as he overheard the comment. "The Sealing Oath only seals information about the trials heard by the Tribunal and any state secrets revealed to people in the chamber and the true identity of Rose Ramsley is not a state secret and I honestly see no reason to make it such, although I suppose if he truly wanted to, Edward could proclaim it to be."

"I doubt that Rose would want him to," Minerva said.

Harry, meanwhile, walked over to the pedestal, pulled out his wand and tapped it once. He wouldn't be summoning Regulus and Asterion, as they'd already provided their magical signatures to Merlin and Arthur, and were already aware of what their roles in the operation would be. Besides that Asterion had an appointment to meet with Ernie Macmillan today to assist in his mind healing that Harry did not want to interrupt. "Rolanda Hooch, Pomona Sprout, Septima Vector, Cailan Urquhart, Aedan Callahan, Kalyan Patil, Aidan Lynch, Andromeda Tonks, Nymphadora Tonks, Emmeline Vance, Thomas Nott, Tristan Nott, Lavinia McLaggen, and Rosmerta Macmillan, I summon thee!"

As the summoned individuals regained their balance following their transit to the chamber, Harry addressed them, "Welcome to the Chambers of the Tribunal of the Thirteen. You've been summoned here to assist Minerva and her mage training associates, Rolanda, Pomona, and Septima in carrying out a top secret task of great national importance for His Majesty King Edward. I'll let them fill you in on the details."

"If you'll please follow me?" Minerva asked, as her fellow trainers and their former students moved away from the pedestal to discuss the situation, as Harry walked over to Edward and Ramesses to chat with them, as one by one the other Lords of the Thirteen began summoning their own forces.

-o-0-o-

At 9 a.m. on Monday morning, everyone involved in the operation met at the Tribunal Chambers and were outfitted with complete sets of basilisk hide armor on loan to them from the House of Potter. After a quick run through of the plan to make sure everyone knew what they were supposed to do, Arthur showed Cailan and Septima to the side chamber that they thought would work best for the field hospital. Merlin, meanwhile, stayed behind to use the focus site to get each team to the locations they needed to be in, since for some of them it involved Apparating to a location they'd never been before.

Since Lucius's Earldom of Coleford was the closest to the Province of Camelot, Garrick, Erik, Lucius, Asterion, and Edward went there, appearing at a predetermined location right on the border between the two domains and as near as possible to King's Landing and Castle Camelot. Overnight, Lucius had his coachman move his family carriage to the location, since it would be needed for the three lords to get to Castle Camelot from their current location, as the edge of Camelot's wards was too far away from the castle for them to walk up the castle and maintain their noble dignity.

Thus it wasn't long before the Malfoy coach was crossing the border into the Province of Camelot and as its four black stallions galloped at top speed to the edge of King's Landing. The carriage slowed slightly upon entering the city, but continued traveling quite fast, the horses' hooves echoing on the cobblestone streets, as everyone on said streets, pedestrian or otherwise, quickly moved out of the way as they were required to do whenever they saw any of the carriages bearing a royal or noble crest. It was only when the carriage reached the main gates of Castle Camelot that it came to a stop as the coachman called down to the guard from his seat, "Open the gates for His Lordship the Earl of Coleford and his guests and fellow lords, His Excellence the Marquis of Waringsford and His Grace the Duke of Whitehaven!"

The guards had been surprised when they saw the Malfoy coach approaching the gates and were even more surprised when they learned that not only was it carrying Lord Malfoy, but was also carrying Lord Bones and Lord Ollivander, especially since none of them were previously scheduled to come to the castle that day and the King wasn't holding court. However, standing procedure was to allow Lords of the Thirteen into the castle regardless, as long as the monarch was in residence, as it was entirely possible for them to have pressing matters to discuss with him that didn't allow for an appointment to be made in advance.

After a quick magical check to make sure that the three occupants of the carriage were indeed who the coachman said they were—Merlin gave Asterion a spell to use on himself and Edward that when combined with Asterion's Shadow Mage abilities would mask their presence in the carriage from even the most invasive of magical scans—one of the guards cast the Sonorus Charm on himself and turned towards the castle, as he called out, "Lower the bridge and open the gates!"

"You may proceed," the guard said once the drawbridge had been fully lowered over the moat. As the carriage began to cross the bridge, the clanking of the iron portcullis being raised could be heard, with it being fully raised by the time the carriage reached it. While the city of King's Landing had grown up outside of the walls of Castle Camelot in the centuries since Arthur and Merlin's days, there was also a smaller city inside the walls of Castle Camelot, referred to as the Upper and Lower Cities. Passing through the portcullis and into the lower city, the Malfoy coachman drove the elaborate coach through the streets towards the sloped road that led up into the upper city where each of the thirteen noble families had a flat along with what was at one time called the Citadel, which was now just referred to as Camelot.

Stopping outside of the main castle, the coachman jumped down from his seat on top of the coach and opened the door of the carriage that faced the castle, at which point Lucius climbed out of the carriage first, followed by Garrick. While they were disembarking from the carriage, unseen by the guards, Asterion and Edward, magically hidden from view, exited the carriage from the opposite side. Erik disembarked from that side as well, so that if anyone had seen the carriage door not facing the castle open, they wouldn't wonder why it had opened if nobody was getting out through it.

As Erik walked around to the other side of the carriage, Asterion and Edward followed behind him, both of them careful to keep their arms wrapped tightly around each other's waists since it was only through physical contact with Edward that Asterion could extend his Shadow Mage abilities to affect both himself and Edward. The King wasn't about to complain, however, about the chance to hold onto a very handsome young man and to have that same young man holding onto him. The fact that Asterion was straight and thus nothing would ever happen between them did very little to dampen Edward's enjoyment of the situation.

While Lucius, Garrick, and Erik distracted the guards, Asterion and Edward made their way up the stairs to the large front doors of the castle, happy that the doors had already been opened due to the lord's arrival, as it allowed them to enter immediately without being seen or waiting for the three lords to join them in entering the castle. Moving swiftly through the entrance hall over to the side door that led to the hallway that the main guardroom was located in, Asterion and Edward entered the hall and then ducked into a darkened alcove before Asterion dropped his shadowy cloak that had allowed the two of them to hide in plain sight.

"With respect, Your Majesty, you can let go of me now," Asterion whispered, despite the fact that he'd left up the Silencing Ward that was erected around them to prevent anyone from hearing their footsteps.

Edward sighed. "If I must. You're very handsome, Rion."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Asterion said. "You do know I'm straight, however."

Edward nodded. "Technically, yes, you are straight, although at a three you're actually borderline bisexual, which is why you were able to find pleasure from those guys you experimented with."

"True, but I hardly think now is the time to discuss that."

"Indeed," Edward said, as he let go of Asterion and stepped far enough away from him that they were no longer physically touching each other. "Re-cloak yourself in shadow and then we can proceed into the guard room."

Asterion nodded as he faded from sight. Edward shook his head, amazed at the ability, and thought that he might have to consider the path of a Shadow Mage himself when it came time to choose his own specializations because as the King he knew that there would be frequent demands on his time, so the ability to hide in plain sight when he wanted some time alone would be useful.

Walking across the hall, with Asterion following close behind, Edward placed his hand on the handle of the guardroom door and pulled it open, not bothering to knock first because it was the guardroom and he was the King, so he didn't have to knock. Seeing who was entering the room, the shocked guards stood at attention, their backs even more ramrod straight than they'd previously been. The Captain of the Camelot Guard, seeing the King standing in the guardroom through the open door into his office immediately stood up and hurried over, bowing to him, as he said, "Your Majesty, what an unexpected pleasure. What can I do for you?"

Taking out his wand from the holster concealed up his right sleeve, Edward held it over his heart and said, "I swear that I am Edward Pendragon, rightful King of Albion and Iwernia and Emperor of the Empire of Camelot. On my honor and my magic, so mote it be." He quickly followed this up with casting, "Lumos!" as the tip of his wand lit and proved that he was indeed who he said he was.

Unseen by anyone in the room, just before Edward had given his oath, Asterion used his staff to erect a few mage-level security charms, including a version of the Silencing Ward that Merlin created for his personal use and never shared publicly. The hope was that it would prevent anyone outside the room—such as Dumbledore and Grindelwald—from overhearing what was happening in the guardroom. When the oath was given, the Captain of the Guard obviously looked very confused, not understanding why the King would feel the need to make such an oath. He remained silent, however, waiting for Edward to explain. He didn't need to wait long.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I did that," Edward said and the Captain nodded. "The reason is because as hard as this is going to be for you to believe, I haven't set foot in this castle since the 11th of November, 1981. The person you've seen since that time is an imposter."

"An imposter, Your Majesty?" the Captain asked. "I don't understand, how?"

"It's a long story," Edward answered, as he looked around the room and said, "And everything I'm about to say is a state secret, so if any of you reveal it to anyone without my express consent know that you could very likely find yourselves facing charges of high treason. Clear?"

The Captain and the other guards in the room all nodded their heads to indicate that they understood, before Edward launched into a brief explanation of the events that led up to an imposter being present in the castle. Needless to say the Captain and the guards were shocked by what they were hearing, but knew that it must be the truth because the person saying it had proven he was the King and they saw no reason to doubt him.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, the team headed by Philippe Beauchamp, the Captain of the Guard at Malfoy Manor, arrived at the spot they were designated to appear at. Accompanying Philippe and the five guards under his command was Thomas Nott, who volunteered to accompany the Malfoy guards because despite living in Albion, many of them still spoke French as their first language. All of them were capable of speaking English, but it wasn't as good as their French and even then they all retained French accents which sometimes made their English harder to understand. Thomas, was, however, fluent in French and thus could speak to them more easily and know that they understood what he was saying.

"Eh bien, nous sommes ici. Maintenant quoi?" ("Well, here we are. Now what?") Philippe asked.

"Maintenant, nous attendons le signal," ("Now we wait for the signal,") Thomas responded, as he leaned slightly on his oaken staff, which resembled two king cobras, their bodies entwined to form the shaft of the staff. At the bottom end of the shaft, the ends of the two cobra's tails were wrapped around the hilt of a silver dagger, while at the top end, their heads were turned to face each other, with an impressive deep green emerald held in their open mouths.

Philippe nodded as he and his guards kept their eyes on the castle. Thanks to the power of the focus sites, Merlin was able to send them through Camelot's wards undetected and thus Thomas and the Malfoy contingent had appeared in a small grove of trees about thirty yards from the castle, where they'd be entering through the Northwestern Gate. The signal they were waiting for was a change of the guards posted on the gate, with their replacements delayed by five minutes, allowing them the time they needed to slip into the castle unchallenged. Of course getting that signal depended entirely on whether or not Edward was successful in gaining the cooperation of the Captain of the Camelot Guard, as he was the only one with the authority to change the guards and delay their replacements.

It took a few minutes, but soon Thomas spied a runner exiting the castle and handing a piece of parchment to one of the guards. As he'd used a mage-level spell that greatly increased his visual acuity, he had no trouble in reading the text.

Guard rotation, effective immediately. Report to the Southwestern Gate. Your replacements are coming from the Southeastern Gate and won't be there immediately. You are ordered to report to your new post immediately after each of the guards present has read this, at which point you should burn these orders. - Granville Barker, Captain of the Guard

On the next line, under the Captain's missive, an additional sentence appeared, written in a different hand, which Thomas assumed was there to reassure the guards that they didn't need to raise the alarm, as they surely found it odd that they'd be ordered away from their posts before their replacements arrived.

There's no cause for concern. All is well, as long as you do as you're told. - EIXRI

The guard who first read the missive handed it the next closest guard, who read it, before handing it off to the next. Once all six guards on duty at the gate had read it, there was a visible flash of fire as the missive was lit on fire with a spell that Thomas recognized as being one that wouldn't even leave any ashes behind. Holding up his hand to signal the Malfoy guards to wait, Thomas watched as the guards left their posts and headed into the castle. Waiting one minute, to allow the retreating guards to get far enough away from the gate that Thomas and his group would hopefully not be seen entering the castle, he then nodded and said, "Le temps d'aller. Nous avons quatre minutes," ("Time to go. We have four minutes,") even as he set off towards the castle, with the Malfoy contingent following closely behind him.

Moving quickly the group got from the grove of trees they'd been in to the gate in just under a minute. They were slowed slightly by Thomas casting a mage-level charm to ensure that the wards were down and wouldn't sound the alarm if they went through the gate. Seeing that they were, they quickly made their way through the gate and down the corridor beyond, moving into a darkened alcove behind a suit of armor as they heard armored footsteps approaching from a nearby corridor. Not long after the last of them was safely hidden in shadow, the replacement guards from the Southeastern Gate arrived in the corridor and made their way towards the gate, thankfully not noticing the group hiding in the alcove.

Soundlessly casting a Silencing Ward, Thomas then whispered, "Il est temps pour la disillusion," ("It's time for disillusionment,") which prompted each of the Malfoy guards and Thomas himself to pull out their wands and cast the Disillusionment Charm on themselves. Once they were all hidden they stepped out of the alcove and began moving towards the stairs that would take them up to the private apartments of the King, as it was figured that since Gellert wasn't holding court today, that would be the most likely place for him to be found. The Malfoy teams' orders were to approach the apartments from the north—while three of the other teams approached from the other directions—and establish a perimeter.

Arriving on the correct floor, Thomas, Philippe, and the Malfoy guards moved towards the guardroom that guarded the northern end of the floor. If everything was going according to plan, then Captain Barker and Edward were going to send a message up to the Camelot guards stationed in the room to let them know to expect Thomas, Philippe, and the Malfoy guards. So far, everything was going perfectly to plan, but Thomas had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that their luck was about to run out and it would seem that he was right because no sooner did they enter the guardroom and drop their Disillusionment Charms, where they confronted by "Brian" Dumbledore.

"Welcome, I've been expecting you," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Oh merde," ("Oh shit,") Philippe mumbled under his breath, as he, like everyone else, had been briefed on the fact that the royal seneschal, Brian Dumbledore, wasn't actually a real person and was in fact none other than Albus Dumbledore.

"Now, now, there's no need for expletives," Dumbledore said with a smile, his eyes twinkling in that way that many people had come to associate with the much older version of Dumbledore that they were used to. "I'm sorry to say that I was here when the missive arrived from Captain Barker and Edward, so I'm sure you can imagine my temporary confusion over why Edward would send such a message here when he'd asked me to come here and talk to the guards. It didn't take long for me to figure out that my ruse has been found out."

"What are you going to do?" Thomas asked.

"Do?" Dumbledore asked. "I assume you mean to you and your companions?" Thomas nodded. "At the moment, nothing."

Before anyone could say anything, Dumbledore pulled out his wand—which Thomas and several of the Malfoy guards quickly realized was not the wand they were used to seeing Dumbledore use and was thus presumably not the Elder Wand—and placed it on his throat. "Sonorus," Dumbledore said, before adding in a voice that was easily loud enough to be heard throughout the castle, "Attention anyone attempting to covertly infiltrate the castle, one of your teams has been caught. Please report to the Throne Room in a timely manner. Thank you. Oh and don't bother trying to Apparate through the wards again—I don't know how you did in the first place, but that's not important now—or using a portkey, because you'll find both methods of escape to be quite useless now."

Cancelling the Sonorus Charm on himself, Dumbledore then motioned with his wand, at Thomas, Philippe, and the Malfoy guards and said, "I suggest you move and head for the throne room. And Thomas, I realize that you're a mage, but you're only an Archmage, which I shouldn't need to tell you is not much of a match for me, since I'm an Archmagister. So, I would strongly suggest that you don't put up a fight because then I'll be forced to hurt you, which I would rather not do just now if I can avoid it."

-o-0-o-

Twenty minutes later in the Throne Room, Albus stood on the raised platform next to the King's throne, as all of the infiltration groups stared up at him, unsure what was about to happen. They had all tried to use their portkeys but found that they didn't work and they had no way of contacting Merlin and asking him to use the focus sites to pull them out.

"Well, well, how nice to see you again, Edward," Albus said to the King. "I see you've escaped Nurmengard. I don't know how, but I'll assume that the meddling Lord Potter had something to do with it."

"You're not going to get away with this, Albus," Edward said.

"Ah, but he already has," a new voice said, as the faux-Edward walked out of a nearby room and took his seat on the throne, before his Glamours melted away to reveal a young Gellert Grindelwald. "It's a shame that I must now give up this lovely throne, as I've greatly enjoyed the power that goes with it, but I guess all good things must come to an end eventually."

"Does that mean you're turning yourselves in to face the justice you both so richly deserve?" Harry asked.

Gellert laughed. "Turn ourselves in? Oh please, Lord Potter, you can't possibly be that dumb."

"You're outnumbered, Grindelwald," Seti said. "Just turn yourselves in and make it easier for yourselves."

"Ah, Pharaoh Seti Ptolemy," Albus said. "The so-called living god of Egypt. Too bad you don't actually possess any divine blood contrary to what your sycophantic subjects like to believe. If you actually did, Gellert and I might possibly be scared now, but we're not."

"You dare question the Pharaoh's divinity?" Nikaten asked, clearly angry, as a he sent a spell flying towards Albus.

Raising the Elder Wand, Gellert erected a shield in front of him and Albus, and several people in the room—those who were well-versed in other languages—noted that he spoke the incantation in Ancient Greek. As Nikaten's spell hit the shield and fizzled out harmlessly, Gellert said, "Go ahead all of you, even the mages, throw everything you've got at my shield, because you won't break it. The power of the Elder Wand ensures that."

Taking that as a challenge, Minerva, Pomona, and all the other mages summoned their staffs and threw some of the most powerful spells they had in their arsenals at the shield, which didn't even buckle under the strain. Spying their dumbfounded looks, Albus laughed and said, "Old Gregorovitch was right in his belief that the core of the Elder Wand is Thanatos hair, instead of thestral hair. You can't break the shield because speaking the incantation in Ancient Greek—the language of the Greek gods—allows us to harness the power of Thanatos himself and thus all of your arcane spells are useless against a shield of divine creation."

"Which by the way, in case you were wondering, that's also how we blocked those lovely portkey amulets you're all wearing, a good precaution, but in this case quite useless." Allowing that to sink in for a moment, Gellert stood and added, "At any rate, I grow tired of this. You can have your throne back, for now, Edward Pendragon, but know that Albus and I will be back at some point in the future and that you don't stand a chance of defeating us."

Throwing up his arms, Gellert's body was consumed in fire, as he transformed into a phoenix, the talons of which Albus grabbed onto, before they both disappeared from the room in a flash of flames. The shield in front of the throne disappeared moments later, but nobody commented on it, as they tried to contemplate just what they were going to do now.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

And there you have it, Chapter Fifteen of The Journey Begins. I know some of you may be upset that Albus and Gellert escaped, but that was always the plan, because if they were captured, the story would pretty much be over now. Yes, there's Voldemort to contend with and he will be entering the story at some point, but that's a tale for another day and another chapter.

Also, I'm aware of the fact that Gregorovitch's given name was been revealed to be 'Mykew', however, since I had previously referred to him in this story as 'Wilhelm' before that revelation, I opted to continue to call him 'Wilhelm' for continuity sake.

I would also like to take this moment to reveal for those of you who did not already see the results of the poll for King Edward's love interests, that the winners '3 singles and 1 paired couple', composed of Blaise Zabini, Cailan Urquhart, Cassius Warrington, and Thomas and Tristan Nott. That won't be the only multi-character pairing, however, as I will say that future plans for this story do involve the Harry/Cedric pairing being joined by two original characters—who've already appeared in the story—that will play a vital role to the plot of the story in both this book and the two planned to follow it. Beyond that, my lips are sealed.

I'd be interested to know if any of you can figure out who the two OC's that'll make up a foursome with Harry/Cedric are. As I said above, they've already appeared in the story, but in what capacity and when, I shall refrain from saying. Also, did anyone guess that the fourth trainer was in fact Arithmancy professor Septima Vector? I know many of you continued to think that she was Poppy Pomfrey, even after she was eliminated as a possibility in Chapter Eight, just after coming to Kolin's rescue following his suicide attempt. Which is partially the reason for Poppy's appearance in this chapter, as I rather hoped that seeing her in the same room with "Rose" would quash that particular belief once and for all. Of course, I suppose her true identity later being revealed would have done that as well. Thoughts on whether that particular secret should be shared with the mage students who weren't present in the Tribunal Chamber?

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please feel my free to contact me via review, email, my Yahoo Group, or on Twitter JVascardi. I love hearing from my readers.