The Knights of the Founders
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: Harry/OMC, Charlie/OMC

Established Past Pairings: Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/CC/CC/OMC/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, Harem, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and Mpreg

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Chapter Nineteen

The Masquerade Ball,

Part One

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Classes were cancelled on Thursday, 31 October, 1996 due to the annual Halloween Feast at five that evening, as in years past, the professors had realized that on the day of the feast the students' thoughts were often so consumed by the upcoming feast that they couldn't concentrate on their studies. This year, of course, there was the added issue of having the Masquerade Ball start at eight in the evening, giving the older students who would be attending it even more reason to be distracted. Of course, there were plenty of students in years five and above that had decided to skip the Halloween Feast altogether in favor of using the time to get ready for the Ball instead.

All of the sixth-year Ravenclaw boys were among this number, having decided that they could wait to eat until the Ball, since the Headmaster had made it clear that food and drinks would be available for those who chose to skip the Feast. By 7:30 that evening, all of them had showered, but Ryan was hesitating to get ready as he watched his roommates getting themselves ready. He couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious because looking at what his friends were wearing, he knew that his new robes would make them look like they were wearing rags by comparison.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" Terry asked, as he looked over towards Ryan's bed and saw that he was still sitting there in his underclothes and not moving.

"I didn't want to make any of you uncomfortable," Ryan muttered, although everyone else could hear it.

"Uncomfortable?" Michael asked. "How could you make any of us uncomfortable by getting dressed instead of sitting there watching us get dressed?"

"Yeah, Ryan, mate, no offense," Anthony said, "but honestly you sitting there half naked and watching us makes me uncomfortable."

"I'm not checking you out or anything," Ryan responded. "I know you don't swing that way, Tony."

"And I'm not saying that you were checking me out," Anthony retorted. "We're Ravenclaws for pity sake. Give me some credit for being smart enough to know that just because you're gay doesn't mean that you're checking out every guy you see."

"Feel free to check me out anytime you wish, Ry," Kevin interjected with a grin.

"Yeah, me too," Stephen added. "But really, you should consider getting dressed. Ball starts in half an hour."

"Yes, you wouldn't want to keep your date waiting," Terry said.

Ryan sighed, but nodded as he stood up, "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Walking over to his wardrobe, Ryan took a deep breath before pulling out the white garment bag with the name Twillfit and Tatting's embroidered upon the bag, along with the name 'Master Tailor J. Tatting.'

"Mr. Tatting himself made your robes?" Kevin asked, as he saw the embroidered name.

"Yes," Ryan confirmed.

"Merlin's beard!" Stephen exclaimed. "I can see now why you were nervous about getting dressed in front of us. Mr. Tatting almost never makes anything himself anymore. He always leaves it up to his staff to make the majority of the clothes the store sells and only personally works on the clothes of his most elite and exclusive clients."

"Well, Ryan is Lord Cromwell-Ravenclaw," Michael pointed out. "I'd say that's pretty elite."

"True," Anthony acknowledged, as Ryan placed the garment bag on his bed. "Well, come on, let's see it."

With a slightly shaking hand, Ryan reached out and grabbed the silver zipper, pulled it down and pushing the bag open, revealed the robes inside. The eyes of Ryan's roommates all widened as they saw the exquisitely cut robes, made from what was clearly only the finest and most expensive materials available in Wizarding Britain.

Removing the robes, which were of a much more formal standard than most dress robes in common use, Ryan's friends could see that they consisted of a long black sleeveless tunic that would likely reach down to Ryan's knees. There was also a pair of deep blue satin breeches, stockings, a shimmering blue silk shirt with billowing sleeves, a long silk cape, a pair of black linen gloves, a black belt and a pair of shoes in the same color as the breeches. Both the tunic and the breeches were covered in detailed embroidery in metallic silver stitching that looked like it must have taken hours to make, but with magic, probably only took a Master Tailor of Mr. Tatting's caliber a few minutes.

"Is that dragonhide?" Terry asked, as he eyed the tunic.

Ryan shook his head. "No, it's basilisk hide. And the stockings, shirt and cape are Acromantula silk."

"Bloody hell!" Stephen exclaimed. "This ensemble must have cost a fortune. Just the cape by itself is probably worth more than most people make in six months."

"Yeah, it was expensive," Ryan agreed. "Too expensive, if you ask me, but my grandmother insisted that as Lord Cromwell-Ravenclaw, I should wear only the very best to the Ball. And suffice it to say that my grandmother is just not somebody that you say no to if you value your life."

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Meanwhile, in the sixth-year Gryffindor boys' dorm, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were all in the room putting the final touches on their own clothes for the evening, while Ron had already left for his detention with Mr. Filch. After a few moments, Dean asked, "Where's Harry?"

"Getting dressed in the bathroom, I imagine," Seamus replied. "He took a garment bag in with him when he went in to shower."

"Why would he get dressed in the bathroom?" Dean asked. "We've already seen his robes. He showed them to us the night of the Hogsmeade visit, as we showed him ours."

Neville shook his head. "He's not wearing the ones he bought at Gladrags." At Dean's and Seamus' obviously confused looks, Neville filled them in about Ryan's grandmother taking them to Diagon Alley. "He's Lord Potter-Black now, so, off the rack robes were deemed too inappropriate for someone of his stature in our world."

"So, where did he get his robes then?" Dean asked. "Madam Malkin's?"

"No," Neville answered. "From Twillfit and Tatting's, which is a much higher-end clothier than Madam Malkin's, since both Mr. Twillfit and Mr. Tatting are certified Master Tailors, while Madam Malkin is only a seamstress."

"There's a difference?" Dean asked.

"In the wizarding world, yes," Neville replied. "Don't know about in the muggle world, but in the wizarding world, a Master Tailor starts their career by apprenticing under another Master for a minimum of ten years. After that they're required to go abroad and work in at least six foreign countries over the course of two to three years in order to gain firsthand experience working with the most exotic of materials. They also commonly have connections with other artisans, especially jewelers and metal smiths, as a Master Tailor can provide clothes that use a trade secret magical conversion ritual that actually allows for pure gold, silver, or other precious metals and even crushed gemstones, like diamonds and rubies, to be converted into thread to produce some very exquisitely detailed embroidery."

After a moment, he added, "A seamstress on the other hand rarely if ever makes clothing from scratch like tailors do. They only alter existing clothes that were made by somebody else. So Madam Malkin has suppliers who supply her with already crafted clothing that she then alters to her customers' needs, but there's limits to the kinds of clothing she can make. You will never find her working with expensive, exotic materials like basilisk hide or Acromantula silk, for example. And she doesn't have the connections or training necessary to do the magical conversion ritual that I mentioned."

"How do you even know all this, mate?" Seamus asked.

"My gran taught me. At some point I'll be Lord Longbottom and thus my gran has been teaching me everything I'll need to know in order to represent the House of Longbottom well and that includes knowing from where and from who it's acceptable for me to buy formal robes."

"Didn't you buy your robes from Gladrags, though?"

Neville nodded. "Yeah, Dean, I did, but I'm not Lord Longbottom yet and while I am the heir to the family, heirs aren't held to as high a standard as the Lord of the family. Many lords will insist that their heirs do dress to a high standard and would never even consider letting them wear off the rack, but my gran believes that the higher-end clothes should be reserved only for the lord and their spouse and that includes her, as the Dowager Lady Longbottom."

Before anyone else could say anything, Harry came out of the bathroom wearing an ensemble very similar to what Ryan had gotten, only in red and black, with golden embroidery. Holding his arms out, Harry asked, "Well, how do I look?"

Dean and Seamus were silent, as their mouths were hanging open in shock, while Neville said, "You look very nice, Harry, although you're wearing the cape incorrectly."

Harry looked confused as he asked, "How am I supposed to wear it then? I thought capes went around the neck."

"Not this kind," Neville said as he came over to Harry and asked, "May I?"

"Please," Harry replied.

Unclasping the heavy golden medallion emblazoned with the Potter and Black family crests that served as a clasp for the cape, Neville then untied the two long golden tasseled cords, "The reason for these long cords on the cape is because you're meant to wear it over one shoulder and under the other. You're right handed right?"

Harry nodded, as he watched Neville adjust the cape so that part of it was over his left shoulder, while it then was positioned diagonally across his back so that the right side of the cape was under his right shoulder. Tying the long tasseled cord on the right side to the left cord, Neville finally refastened the clasp about four inches to the right of Harry's neck, rather than directly under it, as Harry had originally been wearing it.

"The reason the cape is worn like this," Neville explained, "is to prevent any choking sensation around the neck, but also to make sure that you have full range of movement with your wand arm. So, when you see a person wearing this style of formal robe, you'll always know which is their wand arm, as one side of their cape will be under their wand arm."

"Thanks for the help, Neville," Harry said, in an obviously grateful tone. "Growing up in the muggle world, I don't know anything about formal wizarding robes and Mr. Tatting never had me put on the cape during the fitting, so I didn't know I was supposed to wear it this way."

"No problem, mate," Neville grinned. "I'm happy to help."

Looking at his watch, Seamus said, "Well, we should probably get going - it's 10 minutes until eight and we don't want to keep our dates waiting."

All the boys nodded, as they headed out of their common room.

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Thirty minutes earlier, in the sixth-year Slytherin girl's dorm, the occupants were all busy getting ready for the upcoming ball, although Pansy Parkinson was livid.

"What does Draco think he's doing?" she practically yelled as she sat in front of a mirror fixing her hair. "How could he possibly want to take Ryan Cromwell to the Ball instead of me?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess here," Tracey replied, "but maybe it's because he's gay?"

"I still don't believe that for a second," Pansy snarled. "Mark my words, Draco will take one look at me tonight and realize he can't live without me any longer. He'll dump Ryan and beg me to be his date for the rest of the evening."

"Then you're delusional, Pansy," Daphne drawled. "Straight men don't go to formal balls with other men as their dates, even if they're going only as friends. And Draco went to Diagon Alley with Ryan and had custom robes made by Mr. Tatting himself to coordinate with Ryan's robes, so you think he would spend that kind of money for new robes if he planned on dumping Ryan?"

"I'm afraid, Pansy, that I have to agree with Daphne," Tracey added. "Yes, Draco is rich and a clothes horse, but he isn't going to drop well over a thousand galleons on robes that coordinate with Ryan's if he doesn't plan on being his date for the entire night. Not to mention the fact that Ryan is Lord Cromwell-Ravenclaw. Your family may be noble, but do you really think that the heir to House Malfoy is going to dump the first person to be the Lord of two Great Houses at the same time, especially when one of them is a Founder's house?"

"You're awfully quiet, Millie," Pansy said, as she turned to Millicent Bulstrode. "What do you think?"

"I'm inclined to agree with Tracey and Daphne," Millicent sighed. "While I agree with you that two guys together that way is sick, it's pretty clear that Draco has no interest in you, Pansy. And I have to agree that Draco is not going to spend a fortune on new robes only to dump his dual-Lord date. The Malfoys have always craved power and influence and you can bet that if Lord Malfoy wasn't on the run from the Ministry, he'd be telling Draco to get as close as humanly possible to Ryan, if only to get his two votes at the Lordsmeet into Malfoy hands."

"Lord Malfoy would never encourage his son to date a male," Pansy sneered. "It's sick."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "And yet it's perfectly legal for two guys to get married and has been since the days of the Founders. Even Salazar himself was openly bisexual and his first marriage was to a man, although history has lost that person's name. As for Lord Malfoy encouraging Draco to date Ryan, are you kidding me? You honestly think that Lord Malfoy would prefer Draco be with you, when you can't even deliver the Parkinson vote since your elder brother is the heir, when Draco could instead be with a person who has two votes? Lord Malfoy wouldn't care that Ryan's a man, because the votes are more important. Honestly what kind of Slytherin are you to not realize the political considerations?"

Tracey nodded and added, "Indeed, Pansy, honestly, grow a brain will you? Slytherins are all about power and influence and doing whatever is necessary to achieve our goals. And with Ryan having two votes in the Lordsmeet, he is the most eligible bachelor in Wizarding Britain and is going to have Slytherin suitors, both male and female, clamoring to get their hooks into him, all hoping to gain the power to influence him on how he casts his votes."

"I don't care what any of you say!" Pansy shrieked. "Draco is mine and mine alone! You'll see, he will dump Ryan and be with me as he's supposed to be."

"Stop embarrassing yourself," a voice said.

"Who said that?" Pansy asked, as she recognized the voice, sounding quite a bit like her own, but she knew that she didn't say anything.

"I did," the voice responded and Pansy realized it was her reflection in the mirror talking.

"See, Pansy?" Tracey asked, as she pointed at the magical mirror. "Even your reflection thinks you should give up on Draco."

"No!" Pansy shouted. "I will never give up on Draco. We are destined to be together and I don't care what I have to do! We will be together!"

Pansy's reflection rolled its eyes at her and the other three girls in the room finished getting ready for the Ball and left the room, wanting to put as much distance between themselves and Pansy as possible, considering that she was obviously crazy in addition to being totally delusional.

Stepping away from the mirror and thus making her reflection vanish, Pansy muttered, "Draco, you will be mine," as she walked over to her wardrobe and opened it, before opening the hidden panel near the back and grasping the vial of Amortentia she'd acquired. "I didn't want to do this, but it looks like its time for more drastic measures. They think I'm un-Slytherin, well, I'll prove them wrong. Draco will be mine, because I am willing to do whatever I have to do to get him, even if that means dosing him with Amortentia for the rest of his life!"

Grasping the vial in her hand for a moment, she then put it back in the hidden compartment of her wardrobe, as she thought, 'There'd be way too many potential witnesses at the Ball, so I won't try to slip it to him tonight, but I vow that he will drink it and fall madly in love with me.'

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Arriving in the entryway outside the Great Hall, Harry smiled at Noah, whose attire was a perfect match for his own, except that the red and gold were reversed, with the embroidery on Noah's black basilisk hide tunic and golden satin breeches done in thread that was magically created from crushed rubies that sparkled in the light. Adding their masks they'd bought at Fearn and Theakston's, which Mr. Tatting altered to match their new outfits, Harry and Noah made quite the striking pair.

"Harry, am I the only one feeling a little out of place here?" Noah asked.

Harry shook his head, "No, you're not. I feel like everyone is staring at me in this getup, because most of them have probably never seen anything like it."

"Well, I imagine many of the people from noble families have," Noah conceded, "but the Diggorys are not noble, nor for that matter are the Hawkes, so I never expected to be wearing this style of robe, especially when it cost more than double what Amos and my Mum make in a year."

"I know, they were crazy expensive weren't they?" Harry agreed. "At least we know we won't be totally alone, because Ryan and Draco will be wearing similar robes."

Noah nodded. "True. Not to mention Ernie and Hannah, since Ryan's grandmother insisted on taking her grandnephew Ernie to get new clothes himself when she found out that he was Lord Hufflepuff, and of course that included Hannah, as his date."

"Yeah, apparently Lord Macmillan met them at Gringotts'," Harry said, who'd talked to Ernie in the interim between his own trip to Diagon Alley and the Ball. "Ernie said he almost fainted himself when he found out how rich he was as Lord Hufflepuff, because that line was believed to have gone extinct in the 1200's and thus it's been about 700 years since the last withdrawal from the vaults."

"Did he say how much he was actually worth?"

Harry shook his head, "No, he didn't. I guess he didn't want to brag or he didn't want people to know how wealthy he actually is, but after tonight I don't think that'll be a problem when he shows up in, as Draco said at the store, a J. Tatting Original."

"Hey guys," Ryan greeted, as he and Draco walked over to Harry and Noah a minute later. With everyone wearing masks, it was a little harder to place some people, as their faces were partially obscured, but obviously Ryan and Draco recognized Harry and Noah as they knew what their clothes looked like since they'd been present when they were bought.

"Hey guys, you two are looking really good," Noah said, as he took in Ryan's and Draco's attire. While blue and silver were the dominant colors in Ryan's clothes, silver and green were the dominant colors in Draco's, with the blue colored items in Ryan's ensemble being silver in Draco's. Much like Noah's attire, all of the embroidery in Draco's clothes was done in thread created from crushed gemstones, only in emeralds instead of rubies. Harry still remembered his shock at the store when he'd found out that with magic it was actually possible to make thread out of crushed gemstones or in the case of his and Ryan's outfits, from solid gold and silver. It was definitely one of those moments where he found himself thinking, 'I love magic.'

"Thank you, Noah," Draco acknowledged, although referring to the boy by his first name still seemed a little odd to Draco, because he almost never used people's first names unless he considered them to be friends and he hadn't known Noah Diggory well enough for a long enough period of time to consider him a friend. With both of them working in the Potions Department as TAs, Noah had wanted to be on a first name basis with Draco since the beginning of the year, but Draco had resisted it. After the attack on Hogsmeade, however, in which Draco warned Noah to duck from a curse that would likely have killed him, Noah insisted that they be on a first name basis and refused to take no for an answer.

It wasn't long after this that Ernie and Hannah arrived, with Ernie wearing robes that were much like the other boys' with a black basilisk hide tunic featuring crushed diamond embroidery in an extremely intricate pattern, and a shimmering yellow Acromantula silk shirt beneath it. The diamond embroidery was repeated in the yellow satin breeches and on the shoes. Hannah, meanwhile was wearing a flowing yellow floor-length ball gown in yellow Acromantula silk that literally sparkled from the diamond floral-patterned embroidery present throughout the bell sleeves and dome-shaped skirt. Her waist, chest, and shoulders were covered in a finely cut black basilisk hide bodice, also featuring the floral-patterned diamond embroidery.

Harry smiled, "You look like a million galleons, Hannah."

Hannah shook her head. "Considering what this dress cost, I'm not surprised. My family might be noble, but I think this is still the single most expensive thing I've ever owned in my life, because the Abbotts aren't extremely wealthy to begin with, as my parents donate a lot of the money they make each year to various charities. They only really keep enough to keep food on the table and to maintain the family mansion, so there isn't a ton left over for fancy original clothes from one of the preeminent tailors in Magical Britain."

"Well, if you want fancy clothes from now on, you can have them," Ernie said, a winning smile spreading across his face. "Thanks to my Hufflepuff inheritance, I can easily afford to buy you the best of everything."

"That's really not necessary, Ernie," Hannah argued.

"I know it's not," Ernie said. "But, you will be Lady Hufflepuff one day, so I want to treat you like the beautiful princess that you are."

Hannah blushed at that, as Harry, Ryan, and Noah grinned at their friend who really knew how to lay it on thick. Draco wasn't grinning, but then he rarely did to begin with, as it was hard to break the years of conditioning his father had instilled in him to always keep his face cool and free of emotions, because emotions were a weakness that Malfoys couldn't afford according to both Lucius and Rule #9 of the Malfoy Code of Conduct.

A few minutes later, the bells in the Clock Tower and both of the Bell Towers began to toll the hour. It was just as the final bell had sounded, that the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor Dumbledore emerged from within, wearing rich purple robes covered in gold crescent moons and silver stars, a motif which was repeated in the mask covering half his face. Even with the mask, however, it was impossible to miss the aged Headmaster, if only because of his long white hair and beard. The woman on his arm, however, was hard for many of the students to recognize and many were unable to identify the purple and lilac silk dressed woman until Dumbledore spoke.

"Greetings, students," Dumbledore said. "Professor Babbling and I wish to welcome you to the Halloween Masquerade Ball."

Many of the students were confused by the fact that they couldn't catch even the briefest glimpse of the interior of the Great Hall, despite the fact that the doors were open behind Dumbledore and Babbling. This lead many to believe, correctly, that there was apparently some magic at work to block them from seeing inside the room.

"Now, if you'll all please line up next to your partners," Babbling said, as she waited for a moment as the students did that, "Professor Dumbledore and I ask that you follow us into the Hall."

All the students lined up next to their partners as Dumbledore and Babbling turned and lead the group through the massive doors into the Great Hall. Only, as many students quickly realized upon crossing the threshold it wasn't the Great Hall they were seeing upon stepping through the doors, but instead a long hallway. Black linen draped the walls and suits of armor from all over the world and many different periods rested on pedestals along the entire length of the hallway.

The students stared in wonder at the collection of armor and weapons on display, as their two Professors walked silently down the hall to the large doors at the other end. Reaching the doors, Dumbledore and Babbling turned to the students behind them and Dumbledore said, "Eat, drink, dance, and be afraid, be very afraid."

Luckily, even with the mask covering part of his face, Dumbledore's twinkling eyes and smiling face were still visible or else some of the students might actually have been worried about that statement. As it is, they realized that their headmaster was only saying it because it was Halloween. At this Dumbledore and Babbling turned towards the doors just as they opened and lead the group into a large room, very different from the Great Hall that the students had gotten to know so well during their time at Hogwarts.

Directly ahead was a massive stone fireplace, flanked on either side by several French doors, covered in blood red draperies. Instead of stone, the floor now appeared to be made of white marble, with a highly intricate inlay of the Hogwarts coat of arms in the center of the floor. Numerous groupings of candles and carved jack-o-lanterns floated in mid-air ten feet off the ground throughout the room. On the far left end of the room, a marble staircase lead up to a landing on which rested a large pipe organ, with two more stairways wrapping around it on either side.

On the opposite end of the room, a long table of food and drinks was set out, along with several round tables, so that the students could sit down and rest or for those who had chosen to skip the feast, eat dinner. Between the organ on one side and tables on the other, however, there was more than enough space left for dancing as the entire room seemed to be inverted, with the longer portion of the room going east-west instead of the normal north-south.

As the last of the students filed into the room, the large oak doors slammed shut and the enchanted ceiling, the one thing in the room that still looked the same as the Great Hall, burst into life with a display of orange and black fireworks. As the fireworks display ended, what seemed like every ghost who inhabited the castle, and perhaps a few that didn't, appeared and began dancing, as the organ began playing a melancholy waltz all by itself.

The ghosts waltzed around the room to the organ music for a few minutes, before they disappeared and Dumbledore turned towards the organ and raised his hands.

"And now, let the Ball begin!" he shouted as a shower of orange and black sparks shot forth from his hands and a stage rose up from the staircase in front of the organ, to reveal the Weird Sisters live on stage, as they began playing one of their latest hits.

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To be continued.

And there you have Part One of Chapter Nineteen. I hope you enjoyed it. Part Two will continue the ball and some interesting events will begin to take place, so stay tuned. And just to whet your appetite for what's to come, I'm going to do something I've never done before and give you a small snippet of the actual text from the next part of the chapter:

Dumbledore abruptly stood up, which caught the attention of Professor Babbling, who asked, "Albus, is something wrong?"

"The wards," Dumbledore said, in a barely audible voice that the Ancient Runes professor had to strain to hear, "Somebody is breaching the wards!"