…Shrieking Shack, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Severus Snape was not a happy man. He sat in his comfortable lounge chair staring at nothing in particular. He had finally calmed himself from the rage that he had been in for over a month. At present he was barely hanging on to his temper as it threatened to get away from him again. He had already killed both his captives early in his tirade and the sight of their bodies had been one of the many things that had kept his anger sustained.
He had also destroyed his living space and the only thing that had kept the expansion and anti-scrying charms from collapsing was the skill of the ward caster. He was lucky that had been the most powerful dark lord in a century. Unfortunately, the items within were not as well protected by charms and it now looked similar to the destroyed and disheveled Shrieking Shack that his trunk was hiding in.
Realization that he had destroyed his own space had ushered in another phase of his rage and he had destroyed it some more. As with all of the negative things that happened in his life, he blamed his current situation on Potter. He no longer distinguished between the father and the son and in fact had suffered a mental break and now considered himself in a vendetta against the entire House of Potter.
In one of the more lucid moments of his rage period, relatively, he had tried and failed to cast a course on the House of Potter. Casting a course against an entire house was possible. In fact many families were currently feeling the relief from having Sirius' cleansing ritual free them from curses various Blacks had cast against their families. However, unsurprisingly for all things magical, casting a course on a family required power.
The equation that determined the required relative power differential between the caster and the family they wanted to cast against was one of the most famous and complex in the field of Arithmancy. Basically, the equation determined whether the curse would work, do nothing, or rebound against the caster. The fact that a powerful Prima Potentia family with an affinity for ritualistic magic could only cast relatively minor, though cruel, curses against other families was indicative of the dangers and difficulties in even trying.
Severus Snape, despite his high opinion of himself, did not have any familial magic to help him and even though he was powerful, he was nowhere close to being powerful enough to cast against another family, much less a Prima Potentia one. He failed and it cost him. The backlash had damaged his hands and ended his ability as a master potions brewer. That had ended his lucid moment and he had exploded in rage once again.
The cause of all of this turmoil within the Trunk of Snape, was the legendary acts of Harry James Potter at the beginning of the school year. One of the functions of the trunk was that it had a simple version of the teleportation runes that was used in the Vanishing Cabinets. With it he had been able to get the Daily Prophet. With his mind finally back under his control, he thought keeping abreast of invents in the world might have been a bad idea.
He had taken out his frustration on the two ladies he had captured when he read that Harry Potter had turned down the title of Hogwarts Guardian and given it to his "useless friend's whore". But he had kept his composure for the most part. He had even found a rare bit of joy when looking over the aftermath of the two mentally broken women he had chained in his "playroom".
Unfortunately they had not survived the announcement that Potter and his friends had become animagi like his father and his friends before them. That the Potter brat was a "King Dragon" was a slight against him that he could not countenance.
He was in the rage that had blossomed from the realization that he had "broken his own toys" when news broke that Harry Potter could do wandless magic. The rage had simmered to practically nothing as he searched through the paper for any hint that it was false or that the boy had deceived the public. But there were pictures and witnesses.
He hated Albus Dumbledore but knew that the man would not let such a lie stand and he had confirmed it in the letters he sent to the former potion master still attempting to manipulate and control him. He normally just threw them out but he had read the parts about Harry Potter's behavior continuing to grow out of control. It was true, the boy had learned the secret.
Like Dumbledore, Severus Snape knew that wandless magic was possible. He had helped the Dark Lord in his search for the secret. It was one of the few cases where a willingness to do unimaginable things had not brought them closer to the secret than a fool like Albus Dumbledore could ever get. All he knew was that if you showed yourself to have the "right" potential, you would be approached and given the secret.
The Dark Lord and his followers had searched journals and grimoires and even found descendants of wandless magic users and in all cases had learned nothing else. Voldemort had been livid that his power had not been respected by these "keepers" and had vowed to find their secret and destroy them completely. It was an impotent threat and one the dark lord's followers had suffered for.
And now Harry Potter had been approached, and given the secret. "Why would these 'keepers' share their knowledge with Potter" the former potion's professor thought in complete frustration. The air around him had been calm but the anger had been just under the surface and then Severus Snape snapped and the rage returned tenfold. It had taken a month for him to reign himself back in and still his occlumency was working overtime to calm him down further.
The only thing holding back the anger that wanted to swallow him was his resolve to kill Harry Potter. He no longer had anything to live for and was sure killing the boy would lead to his own death and he wanted to die ending the House of Potter forever. He had even deluded himself into believing that when he reached the afterlife Lily would greet him with an apology for what her actions had forced him to do.
With his mind at relative calm, he began to plan. It was important to his warped sense of justice that Harry Potter suffer for the troubles he had caused the older man. He wanted the boy to die feeling lost and alone and suffering. He wanted the boy to curse his own Potter heritage for the pain and suffering it had caused him right before he died.
…Potions Classroom, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Horace Slughorn was not a happy man. He wished he could blame the manipulative bastard that had invited him to rejoin the Hogwarts faculty, but the man had promised him nothing and had even warned him that his attempts would likely fail. He had been sucked in by his own ego. The headmaster had challenged his very Slytherin nature and ability and he had jumped to accept the challenge.
He could not even blame himself. Even if he had been able to suppress his ego, the opportunity to curry favor and perhaps even earn some favors from, not one, but possibly all three of the current Prima Potentia heirs at Hogwarts was too good to pass up. Especially with magical Britain returning to the old ways. It had been something he had tried to encourage for decades. Britain was a place of nobility and the highest nobility had returned. How could he pass up the chance to have them as students?
When he first arrived, it had taken no effort to discover that all three heirs were already very active in the politics of networking and alliance building. He was saddened to see that the heir that was in the house of the cunning was doing the worst at it. He made a note that helping Nott to catch up to his peers would be a good start at entrenching himself within the future powers of the wizarding world. He had failed almost at inception.
…Flashback
Horace Slughorn stood in front of the students of Slytherin House. All were present but it was clear that the house was completely divided. He had been made aware of the politics within the house and knew that one side had committed themselves to House Potter and the other side had committed themselves to House Nott. Theodore Nott led the Nott faction while Daphne Greengrass, the future Lady Potter, lead the Potter faction within the house of snakes.
Horace was surprised that the Potter faction outnumbered the Nott faction considering that Nott was actually in the House and that Potter could only lead it by proxy. He was further surprised to see that not only was the Potter faction larger, it contained the youngest, most powerful witches and wizards in the House as well. Looking closely he realized that the Nott faction was made up of what remained of families that had been decimated by the recent trials. Which meant that the Potter faction held the financial edge as well.
He kept his face neutral but the truth was that the Nott faction was pretty pathetic. He could see the false bravado and misplaced sense of superiority the Nott acolytes held while the Potter side was genuinely relaxed and self-assured. If he could fix the Nott faction, it would be a huge boon to his personal plans but if he could entrench himself with the Potter side he would have less work to do, make less enemies and perhaps gain a point of entry to the last, and unrepresented, Prima Potentia family, the Blacks.
Deciding his course, he tailored his speech in such a way to send signals to the Potter faction that he was supportive of what they were doing. Since he was dealing with children he was not as subtle as he could have been. His time away from teaching might have made him a bit too open when dealing with them and by the end he could see dismissive amusement in the eyes of Ms. Greengrass and Mr. Nott was scowling at him.
He had spent the next couple weeks trying to find purchase with his students. He had first met with the first years, all of whom were in the Potter faction. The sub-group was led by the future Lady Potter's younger sister, Astoria Greengrass. Rumor had it that she was considered like a little sister to the future Lord Potter. She was haughty and spoiled but countered that with a high degree of charm. Her classmates adored her. She was not impressed by him.
When he met with the second years, he found that they had no year leader and like the first years were completely in the Potter faction. They viewed their role as being protective of Astoria on behalf of Harry and Daphne. He was also amazed that based on their practical grades, the group of second years were only behind the 6th years, the 7th years and the 3rd years when it came to magical skill and power. They proudly told him that they had already "diffused" some planned confrontations.
The third year meeting was definitely where the fracture point was. It contained both Theo Nott and Daphne Greengrass, along with both of their closest supporters. Nott and his three followers outnumbered Daphne and her loan supporter in the grade level, but Horus could tell immediately that Greengrass' follower, Tracy Davis, was much more committed to her than Nott's three were to him. The Parkinson girl barely looked like she was holding it together.
All that kept Nott's crew together seemed to be a shared and complete loathing of Ms. Daphne Greengrass. And she looked absolutely unconcerned by their animosity. Academically it was very interesting to watch but he ignored it and tried to present himself as an arbitrator to the two sides. Nothing. He tried to engender House pride and was surprised that both sides claimed it with Nott insisting that Daphne and Tracey had turned themselves into Gryffindors. The two didn't rise to the bait and just look at the Nott with dismissive smirks that obviously angered the boy.
The fourth and fifth years, like the third years had no real leader but were as fractious as the third years. The majority of them were in the Potter faction. The two grades seem to be where the conflict between the factions was the most contentious but again it was the Potter faction that seemed the most calm and self-assured.
The entire group was slowly catching up to the second years in magical ability, having had their education stunted by a combination of bad teachers and Severus Snape fudging their grades. Discovering that the third and second year classes could pretty much kick their asses had lit a fire under them. Seeing an opening, Horus had offered to help them and was surprised when he was refused. The Potter faction students didn't need the help because of the study groups within the large network. The Nott supporters refused to take help if the "blood traitors" didn't.
The sixth and seventh years were almost exclusively in the Nott faction but were decimated from the trials, and more focused on their post Hogwarts life. Neither Theo nor his father had promised them any future and in the new Ministry that did not hire or promote based on family name, they all found that they had to salvage what they could of their education for their futures.
None of them appreciated his speech in the common room as they saw it as a betrayal of the values they had been raised with. But he had found some hold with them as he still had a lot of connections across the wizarding world. He promised to help them get their academics in order and introduce them to some people in position to hire them. Other than some of their names which carried much less weight now, none of them would have been in his original Slug Club.
…End Flashback
He was standing in front of his third year Gryffindor/Slytherin potions class and sighed. None of them had been interested in his Slug Club and he still felt a bit of anger that they had all politely declined his invitations. Hindsight was twenty-twenty and his greatest regret was not inviting Lily Evans into his Slug Club all those years ago. He had intended to as she was a dream but had chickened out because of the rising Dark Lord and what he knew about him.
When he had held Harry Potter back to try and speak to him privately, the young man had allowed him to give his full spiel before asking, politely, why his mother had not been invited to join. He had not expected the boy to know that and had no answer that would not be taken as an insult to his mother and his lineage. The boy had left him stuttering and fumbling for an answer.
He had taken the job to gain favor and influence with the growing power in the wizarding world and had ended up with a group of desperate Slytherins confused about how they would navigate a world that didn't bow in fear to their every whim. He tried to comfort himself with the thought that if he succeeded he would be likely honored for generations within their families but could not bring himself to believe that the students he was dealing with had any true potential.
…Office of the Minister, Ministry of Magic
Amelia Bones was a happy woman. She was currently presiding over a version of the Ministry of Magic that she had always hoped for. In her time in the Ministry she had met many people that could have done it. And while she was proud of the work she had and was doing, she knew of a couple long retired Ministry workers that would have done an even better job.
None of them had ever thought they would get a chance. Corruption and blood purism had fully infected the Ministry and the continued presence of the god awful statue in the atrium was a testament to the fact that the magical government was not fully purged of such antiquated and dangerous notions. But things were going very well and the entire government was seeing a monumental rise in popularity.
The DMLE, her own previous and prized department, was doing even better than she had left it, under the leadership of Morgan Nicholson, and with the full support of the minister's office. The Auror force's moral was sky high and recruitment was up. They had completed their move into the old headquarters in Central Alley and had started to make good showings in their "war games" with the Berserks and the Lycans.
She was most proud of The Department of magical Transportation. It had been the worst and most corrupt department of the previous administrations, but now was in the midst of a renaissance. Not only had it been purged of the bad actors but a wave of innovation had swept through the department, revolving around personal security that shifted levers of control from the department to the customers.
That shift had been a financial boon for the ministry as it created a much more stable and trusted economic stream. The department was also working closely with Potter Industries to help develop communication standards like the muggles had so that the magical world could one day have access to muggle tech like the internet or develop a parallel magical technology.
People were already suggesting that she would be the greatest Minister of Magic in History. She was happy that her world seemed to be shifting on to a better track and that she could help usher that change in. But that was not why she was a happy woman. She was a happy woman because of the two people who had just walked in her door to visit her at her super boring job running the British Wizarding Government.
When the door closed behind Rubeus and Mytsi, she leapt into Rubeus' arms and squealed in joy as his large, powerful body lifted her so she could kiss him. Deciding it was time to christen her office she broke the kiss long enough to say "Private" and then re-engaged the kiss and lifted her legs to wrap around her lovers waist. Since she was wearing a pencil skirt that instantly rode up her legs to her hip and exposed her panties, Rubeus was pretty clear what the purpose of her yelling "private" was and grabbed her ass.
An exhausted Amelia was laying on Rubeus' chest with an equally exhausted Mytsi on her back. They had spent a delightful few hours satisfying one another and the poking that Amelia felt told her that Rubeus could still keep going. Deciding that if she was going to live this new type of life she should embrace it fully she said coyly "We need to find another girlfriend".
Amelia was a little disappointed that her announcement did not create any shock or surprise. When she looked into Rubeus eyes, she just saw humor. She wanted to huff but she didn't. She should have known better than to try to tease him and the chuckle she heard at her back told her that Mytsi was immune as well.
"Are you serious? Or are you just trying to get a rise out of us?" The deep base voice that never failed to turn her on rumbled. The soreness she felt despite her increased arousal answered her own question and she verbalized. "Yes, I am serious. You have ruined me for any other man and I can tell that you are holding back. I don't see why all your friends get massive harems and you should only have two when you have the stamina of a freaking giant."
Mytsi gave a supportive grunt and Rubeus chuckled sending pleasurable shivers through her body again. "Fine, if we are ever in jail again and a gorgeous, powerful woman comes to check on us we will grab her up too." He said. "Doesn't have to be jail, but gorgeous and powerful are a must" Mytsi helpfully added. Amelia didn't rise to the bait and just settled on her boyfriend's massive chest. She would endure till they got some more help.
Eventually they got up and Amelia slowly got dressed under the intense eyes of her two favorite people. She got herself back together and waited for Rubeus and Mytsi to get dressed as well before lowering her privacy ward. The minute it was down, her secretary called. Amelia ignored the accusation in the woman's voice when she was told that Lord Foster Barton and Lord Abraham Rosier both wanted to see her.
Her eyebrows raised and she asked "They want to see me together?" and her secretary indicated that the two political rivals did want to speak to her at the same time. She took a deep breath and focused on the wonderful experience she had just had, thankful that the break had relaxed her enough to deal with what she was sure would be an annoying meeting.
She told her secretary to set the meeting to occur in 30 minutes in the Minister's conference room. When she heard her secretary confirm her orders she settled into her chair and looked at her smiling boyfriend and girlfriend. She saw that they had settled on her coach and intended to stay and was happy they would be there when she returned.
15 minutes later Lord Rosier was in her outer office insisting to see her ahead of the planned meeting. The man was a little surprised that he could neither bully nor muscle his way past Amelia's secretary. Amelia was aware of what was happening and after letting the confrontation continue long enough to send the message that her secretary would not be intimidated, she tapped the intercom and said "It's Ok, Margarete. You can let Lord Rosier in."
The man entered the office already angry and when he saw Rubeus and Mytsi relaxing happily on the Minister's couch he snapped "What are those creatures doing here?" Amelia gave him a thousand watt smile that still managed to stagger him and make him shift uncomfortably. "That is Rubeus Hagrid and Mytsi, they are my boyfriend and girlfriend, they came to visit and help relax me. I am very grateful"
Amelia smiled at the man's angry blush as he realized exactly what she meant by "relax" and her triumph was extended as thinking of her "relaxing" caused his eyes to roam over her body. Amelia loved the conflict she generated in men like the one before her as they struggled to deal with their disapproval of her while lusting for her at the same time.
Flustered the man chose to leave instead of delivering whatever pre-meeting message he had wanted to. She was not worried. She was sure it would have just been some form of political threat made in hopes that she would be willing to compromise in favor of his side. "As if" she thought. Lord Barton was an idiot but at least he was trying to be protective of the giants, to the best of his knowledge. There was nothing Lord Rosier could offer that would make her help him. She followed Lord Rosier out toward the conference room stopping to kiss Rubeus and Mytsi in thanks before leaving.
…Slytherin Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Theodore Nott was not sure how he should feel. He stalked around his dorm room wavering from unhappy, to angry to simply confused. On paper this should have been his best year ever at Hogwarts. The Malfoy family had been destroyed and Draco and his two henchmen had been chased from the school. He had stolen Pansy from the pathetic blonde and taken his mother too. But this was not developing into a wonderful year for him. In fact he hated it.
For years he had been taught about the power and prestige of his family name and magics. But instead of being respected wherever he went he had been shunted to the side in favor of lower nobles like the Malfoys. Then the Prima Potentia had risen again and the other three families in the elite rung of Magical society had done what he hoped his father would have done long ago and reclaimed the position that their family deserved.
At first he had been glad and even interacted with Potter and Longbottom. But it didn't take long to see that he was being outclassed by the two of them. And no matter how hard he tried or how hard he worked he could not elevate himself beyond being as average as the rest of the student body. Even with his money and titles. He couldn't even get a girlfriend much less the harems that the other two scions seem to draw to themselves.
He had endured constant anger from his father for how bad he was showing himself compared to the other heirs. His father had been vicious to him over the last summer. After two years of being overshadowed by every other family in the Prima Potentia, his father had had enough. He was put through rigorous private training in magic and even completed a dark ritual that increased his power. His father had arranged for him to claim Pansy and had instructed him personally on her use. Then he had been given Narcissa Malfoy.
He had thought he would finally be at the level of Potter and Longbottom only to discover that while he was having boring sex with Narcissa No Name, and becoming slightly better at magic, Neville Longbottom had cured his parents and then been promised full control of the House of Longbottom when he turned 17, and was already in control of his family in spirit. He had also killed two of the most dangerous Death Eaters known from the last war, in spectacular fashion, and was hailed as a prodigy with a blade.
If that was not bad enough he returned to school and was instantly reminded that not only was Potter and Longbottom more respected than he was, but so was Ron Weasley of all people. He already knew that the Weasley family had been elevated to the nobility but the youngest male Weasley had gained yet another girlfriend in the ridiculously beautiful Romilda Vane. He had to sit through seeing Lavender be made Guardian of Hogwarts and then realize that even after sharing Pansy with his House, most of them joined Potter's faction anyway.
He finally understood Draco's hesitancy to engage with Potter. The blonde had quickly realized he was outclassed and had tried to avoid all conflict but was constantly forced into it and eventually his entire family fell to ruin. Now his father was doing the same and trying to force him into conflict with both Potter and Longbottom. And he was worried he and his family would suffer the same fate.
He had sent his father word about the Potter groups' animagus forms, the fact that Potter could do wandless magic and that Longbottom could hold his own against him with a sword, that itself was gaining a legendary reputation. But none of that dissuaded his father and instead his father was sending Narcissa to him during the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend with orders for him to "put her on display".
Theo could not understand his father's thinking. It was true that Narcissa had been the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts during her time, according to the Slytherins who pretended Lily Evans did not exist, and the blonde woman was still very beautiful but compared to the girls that surrounded Potter, Weasley and Longbottom, she would not be able to match up. Especially with the air of sadness and loss that surrounded he now.
Theo sank unto his bed and looked over at Pansy who sat in his bed reading a book. She was pretty but not pretty enough, just like Narcissa. Even if she had actually flourished in her role as his personal slut. He looked over to his only remaining dorm mate and apparently his best friend, Blaise Zambini and was disappointed again. Just like Pansy was no Karli Thompson, Blaise was no Ron Weasley. He was surrounded by a pathetic and incomplete version of Harry Potter's circle.
What was worse was he couldn't even find pathetic versions of Daphne Greengrass or Susan Bones to join him. He had no future Lady Nott while Potter had two of them. Bulstrode was an option but she was well below the class and beauty of Greengrass and Bones. He was contemplating Marietta Edgecombe and her friends from Ravenclaw. They were social pariahs still and would likely jump at the chance to join him, but it would mean completely accepting that he would never match Potter or Longbottom.
He looked back to the letter his father had sent him and re-read the most troubling part of it. Looking at it he wondered if it would even matter in the end. If anything, it would be the thing that led to the destruction of his family. Was he destined to be just like Draco? Would Pansy, pathetic as she was, be ripped from him? Would his fortune be gone and he be forced to hide away at Durmstrang?
His father was planning to try to infiltrate the Lycans. Theo shook his head. The fact that his father felt comfortable enough to write that down in a letter to him made him sure of the coming failure. His father had not even instructed him to destroy it. The entire plan was written and Theo was sure that if he had not had Kyler Capstonson as a teacher he might have left it out to be discovered.
He burned the letter in the fireplace praying that his father's failure would not doom his future. Thinking of how much loosing Pansy would actually bother him, he resolved to try and treat her better. His father would never allow him to elevate her past concubine but he could at least try to enjoy her for what she was, while he had her.
He wanted to say the same for Narcissa, but on top of having a dreary personality she was a horrible lover. He would put Narcissa in the role Pansy had played and keep the younger girl for himself. Hopefully after she was used by enough men Narcissa would learn to have a better attitude.
He also decided to approach Marietta. She was from a pureblood family that had the right politics but had not been caught up in the purges. She was very pretty and could be match for at least Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley.
Her friends were also very pretty and if he claimed the prettier one and gave the other two to Blaize, his pathetic version of Potter's group would at least exist. A few rituals and he would at least be better than everyone else. Resolved in his decisions he climbed on top of Pansy and surprised her with a relatively tender kiss.
…Marauder Estates, Devon
Lt Jana Slifkin looked at the group of men stalking slowly through the woods. She had to admit that the group was actually very skilled. She and her platoon had been following them since shortly after they crossed onto Marauder estates, and had almost been detected once. Considering the skill level of her platoon; that was a very real complement.
They had been stalking the group for two full days and had collected all the intelligence that they could. Most of the information they had gathered had been because of the impatience and stupidity of the man who hired them. He had forced them to break all logical protocols for infiltrating a hostile adversary's base and they had been able to intercept all the ill-advised communications.
The team of 10 mercenaries were infiltrating Lycan territory with a primary mission of killing the acromantula colony Lord Marauder had acquired from the liquidation of the Malfoy Estates. The mission had been commissioned and financed by Lord Nott who considered the existence of a second acromantula colony to be an insult to his family.
The fact that the angry man believed the creatures had been stolen from him by Malfoy, originally, made the insult even greater in his eyes. The group's secondary mission was to prove that infiltrating the Lycans was possible and they had a bonus objective to capture a Lycan for "study". Preferably young and female. Lt Slifkin had not been pleased.
The lieutenant had been actually considering trying to recruit the mercenary leader to the ranks of the Lycans, due to how impressed she was with his leadership and discipline. Especially as he was obviously fully magical but was willing to use muggle gear. Then one night in their base camp he had shared some stories about his life as a mercenary and his plans for the young female Lycan before turning her over for the financial bonus they were promised. The lieutenant was disappointed to find out he was just another monster pretending to be a human. He would die with the rest of his team.
A runner approached her with a slight change to her orders. She read the note and smiled. She had expected it and had already adapted her plan to accommodate the expected order. The mercenary team had a vampire as one of its members. Since the Lycans were at war with the Vampires, she had been ordered to take him alive. Mytsi would "drain" him for information and find out if he was just a mercenary or if he was acting on the behest of the Vampire council.
Giving the vampires way more credit than they deserved she assumed that the creature was under orders to kill himself rather than allow himself to be captured and interrogated by the powerful vampiress that could literally suck all the information from them. Based on the reports she had read and the engagements she had participated in, the vampires had way more ego and entitlement than actual tactical skill. But the unofficial motto of the Lycan's had become "Don't get complacent" and so her plan assumed that the vampire was as skilled with tactical planning as some of their best tacticians.
The mercenary team's method of infiltration was very ingenious. Even though they were able to nullify it pretty easily, it was troublesome that their enemy was actually starting to try to use logic and common sense. The mercenaries had acquired a Potter moving ward that was sold for migrating magical herds. Since they could not modify the ward they had also used a masking spell on themselves that made them seem as if they were unicorns. On top of that they would raise a fidelius ward every morning well before sunrise and bunker down for the day.
The problem for them was that, Marauder estates monitored all warded herds on the property for security reasons and the appearance of an extra monitoring ward for a herd that was not accounted for threw up every red flag they had. Secondly, the masking spell worked against humans and the wards but was not powerful enough to confuse the senses of Lycans. So almost as soon as the group crossed onto Lycan territory, they had a Lycan platoon tracking them.
Lt Slifkin discovered the mercenary leader's use of the fidelis charm the first morning of their stalk. It was the first time she had been impressed by the man's planning as it represented a redundancy to his security plan of using the fake herd as cover. The man was the secret keeper and in an attempt at maintaining operational security would write down the secret and show it to each man before destroying the parchment.
Again he didn't count on the advanced senses of Lycans and each night after the first, a two man team would position themselves to see the parchment. For a human, seeing the words in the dark and from as much as 50 feet away would be impossible but Lycans were not humans. It was sad since the reason the lead mercenary was writing it down was due to his concern that his voice would carry in the quiet woods.
Even inside the fidelius the Mercenary leader had an impressive level of paranoia. But in the end all his efforts were pointless. They were a day out from their first objective when 2nd platoon sprung their trap. The mercenary leader would throw the parchment holding the secret into the fire and watch it burn. With a combination of an incendio spell to flare the fire and a switching spell, the entire platoon was able to learn the secret.
The team was outfitted in the latest in Lycan tactical gear. Their LCUs (Lycan Combat Uniform) were the 5th revision that allowed for full transformations, not that it was expected to be necessary for the day's engagement. Her 12 person team carried the standard H&K MP5 inspired assault rifle. The model they carried was manufactured in the Lycan forges.
Unlike the muggle version, the Lycan version could magically switch between a 7.62 rifle round or be set to have a bigger diameter barrel and use .45 70 magnum exploding rounds. In either case heat dissipation, silencing and conjuration runes allowed for a silent 500 rounds at full auto. Each soldier also had a similarly modified desert eagle pistol and a 16 inch combat knife.
Objective one was the Vampire and they got inside his tent and used 10 syringes, injected simultaneously into major arteries to drain him to unconsciousness. This was the most dangerous part of their mission and the lieutenant led it personally. She saw the vampires eyes snap open in alarm when the needles punctured him, but he lost power too quickly to be able to do anything about it before falling unconscious. The vampire was packed into a satchel with an expanded interior and exfiltrated to the rally point.
With the vampire secure they switched to "human" caliber on their weapons and Lt Slifkin gave the signal to her team and they executed a simultaneous take-down of the four guard tents. And the four men on watch. Then immediately following that, the remaining tents were taking down. Finally all that was left was the mercenary leader's tent. He had additional wards around his tent.
Taking them down without him knowing was possible but the lieutenant didn't want to waste the time and she wanted to get the vampire back to base. She tripped the ward alarm and smiled as alarms started blaring and lights started flashing.
The mercenary came out shooting killing curses and the Lycans watched him from cover until he realized he was the only person still alive. Lt Slifkin saw the moment he realized he was going to die and before he could make a decision to "take as many with me as possible", she used her super human speed to rush to his position and decapitate him. He didn't have the time to be surprised before his body crumpled to the floor. 5 minutes later the entire campsite was gone with no trace. Entire mission duration; 10 minutes.
…Hogsmeade Village
London is the capitol of the British Magical society. It is where all the main governmental buildings are located as well as the home of the main branch of Gringotts and the main offices of most of the top magical companies. If London is the capitol and city center, then Hogsmeade village is the quaint town that muggles would want to visit to shop for antiques and buy homemade ice cream.
Just like the Magical alleys, Hogsmeade had undergone a renaissance with the return to prominence of the Prima Potentia. It had started with the donated Potter wards that Harry Potter had given to the town at the same time that he had upgraded the ones for Hogwarts. No one knew for sure but many suspected that along with the wards for protection Harry Potter had included other magicals aids for the town. The water tasted cleaner, the farms produced better crops, the streets seem to refuse to become trashy and there seemed to be a permanent sense of cleanliness and joy that would not go away.
The muggle raised students visiting the village for the first time consistently compared it to a fairy tale village. Many said they expected to see blue jays landing on the shoulders of any maiden willing to sing. That sense of goodness and light would only increase for the residents when the young students from the school were given an opportunity to come and visit.
Harry and most of his "court" along with Neville and his "court" walked together in a large group towards Hogsmeade village. It would be his first trip to the village during the academic year. He had been encouraged to go so that he could see the All Hallows Eve decorations that covered the town. For the magical community it was a grander time for celebration than the Yule Holidays.
He had not planned to visit the village this year because his Luna and Ginny could not go. Ron was also missing his youngest lover as well but the girls had insisted that they go and had given them both a list of things to bring back for them. Tracey had chosen to stay back as well to keep Romilda company as Ginny and Luna would have each other.
So Harry with Daphne, Susan and Karli joined Ron with Lavender and Hermione and Neville with all four of his lovers on their first trip into the quaint village next to the school. The conversation revolved around the eight drakes that were surrounding them. Neville and his girls were as enamored with them as the rest of the wizarding world and all hoped to one day be chosen by one of the magical dragon-like beings to be their bonded companions.
On the way into town the large group of students that were walking from the castle paused in wonder when a giant rose out through the tree tops. The giant looked at them or a moment before he slowly walked deeper into the forest before vanishing again. Everyone was amazed that such large beings could appear and disappear so quietly when they chose to.
Word that the two famous heirs to the Prima Potentia were visiting Hogsmeade spread quickly and Harry and Neville received an almost royal welcome. Harry Potter, especially, was a hero in the village because of the wards he had provided, but Neville received his due honor as well because the Longbottom group had invested heavily in the area as part of their focus on honoring wizarding traditions.
The women that made up the three collectives (including Ron's) almost instinctively spread out in a small orbit around Neville and Harry's central position, and began to charm the various shop owners and residents that had come to get a glimpse of the famous Lords. The scene was reminiscent of the summer with Neville and Harry in the center having a conversation with each other and various town leaders that came up to them.
Justine ran up to the group from her home in the village and melded herself to Harry's body. She stole a hug and a semi passionate kiss before wrapping her arms with his. Because of the vanishing cabinets she was not as lonely as she was pretending to be but she was happy to have an excuse to hold him close in public. Karli, Susan and Daphne all rotated in from their orbiting positions to share an "I miss you kiss" with the woman.
Everyone knew about Harry's relationship with his concubine now and no one thought ill of either of them. The muggle had made herself a true member of the community. The fact that she was a muggle had long since become a non-issue and she was personally responsible for the changing attitudes of many witches and wizards in the village toward "her kind". She was beautiful and charming and told the best stories about life in the Muggle world.
Madame Rosmerta loved her because the three broomsticks was her favorite spot to tell her stories and the two beauties together would bring in a lot of business. Plus the presence of Eve, Justine's drake, made sure that no trouble happened. Around the group that now included Justine hanging off of Harry stood Ron and Cedric participating in the conversations but also obviously acting as guards. Ron's Drake, Godric, made sweeping passes above them that delighted the children.
Lavender and Hermione stayed close to Susan and Daphne who were both without their personal guards, though Tracey's drake was with Daphne's and Susan's being protective of their mistresses. Similarly the Patil twins and Cho were close to Hannah offering back up if necessary. Anyone with any experience would be able to tell that some members of the group were intent on protecting others but for the casual observers it just looked like a group of very attractive friends walking through the main area of the village bringing happiness and causing a few blushes.
When the group would stop at a store all the drakes would fly up and settle on the surrounding roofs. For the muggle raised the town could not be more magical if it tried in those moments. The towns people loved it because the awed visitors spent more money, not that the two wealthy heirs didn't seem like they intended to leave every store's coffers full.
Neville was the first to notice that there were more drakes present than should be and realized that he was seeing some that belonged to people he did not know for the first time. He mentioned it to Harry and his fellow noble looked up. The drakes loyal to his own family seemed to be keeping an eye on the two drakes that were just hanging out. The drakes were expanding faster than he had expected and it was his own drakes' fault.
…Authors Note (Mid Chapter…Crazy)
I made a mistake when conceptualizing the drakes. I did the math and the way I pictured it would result in over one million drakes if not more which is too much for the population of the wizarding world. So I am adding a statistic to the drakes.
STAT: Only 10% of all hatched drakes find a bond mate. "Wild" Drakes will be as impossible to find as the Phoenix and the Crumple Horned Snorkack. Not even Harry will know where they are.
[Author waves pen, with a double swish and a flick, says "Deux Ex Machina"]
…End Author's Note
While each newly bonded drake could only lay one egg per year, that rule did not apply to Gwilym and Swanhild. His review of the arithmancy suggested it was because of their connection to him and the fact that he actually wasn't against a little population explosion of his early and still awe inspiring creations. Since all the eggs were laid at Potter Castle, Reggie was keeping a record of them and keeping track of their lineages.
By the time the first six bonded hatchlings returned to the castle to lay their own first egg, the original two had already had two additional clutches of 10. One for the winter season and one for the spring. You could tell in their coloring what season a drake had been born in. It was a feature Harry had not directly planned for but liked. Currently there were 32 drakes in existence with another 10 waiting to hatch.
12 were bonded to him and his inner circle and the rest had gone out to seek their bonded. A fare few were attached to people he knew, like Professor Hagrid, but there were at least a dozen that he had no idea about. Apparently two of them found a bond mate in Hogsmeade. Harry and Neville found the two wizards that had bonded to the drakes at The Three Broomsticks. Both Harry and Neville paid for a round of butterbeer for all the patrons and received a loud cheer in response.
…Room of Requirement, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Both Ginny and Luna considered themselves to be the happiest two girls in the entire world. They were loving their time at Hogwarts, they had each other's love and friendship, they had the love and support of their mistresses and they had Harry. Like Luna, Ginny was very outgoing, but despite having friends outside her circle, she was happiest about having her family, including Harry and her "sister wives" (a term that still made her giggle). She was growing to be a powerful witch in her own right and was extremely intelligent and she dreamed of one day playing professional Quiditch.
As the lone member of Harry's harem in Gryffindor, she was seen as the "princess of Gryffindor". In addition to treating her like a true little princess, the entire house also viewed her as if she was their little sister. Having six older brothers, she was used to being the protected baby of a large family. Secretly she liked all the attention and protection, even if it could be a bit oppressive at times. Luckily, her status as princess helped to give her just enough breathing room to make the whole arrangement perfect for her.
Her mistress, Susan, was the co-queen of Hufflepuff, with Hannah and in the spirit of their house they shared that title happily. Why Susan was a "queen" and she was only a "princess" was the most obvious thing in the world to her. Gryffindor House loved and protected her. She never felt alone or neglected and everyone pampered her. Susan was loved by her house as well but, along with Hannah, she led it.
It was the rest of the house that never felt alone when the two Queen B's (badgers) were around. Ginny was happy for her mistress, the whole thing allowed her and Hannah to strengthen their friendship. Something they had both feared they might lose to the powerful families they were both building.
Luna's extroverted nature was the more surprising of the two. She had been fast heading to a life of loneliness and sadness until Ginny had brought Harry to her and he had instantly filled the emptiness in her life with love and meaning. Luna felt he had even saved her friendship with Ginny. She would love the two eternally because of the part they both played in allowing her to live as she was. The strength and confidence of her friends had allowed her to flourish within her house and she was now considered the "princess of Ravenclaw" (a term that still made her giggle.)
Luna was the only member of Harry's harem in Ravenclaw. Like her best friend, the house treated her like a treasure to be protected more than she outright commanded them. She did not have a nature to lead in that way. Instead she would delight as each of her friends would share their experiments with her. She much preferred when they did something that she did not know anything about as learning about unfamiliar subjects appealed to the Ravenclaw that she was.
She especially enjoyed when she would have absolutely no clue about what the person was talking about, even after a lengthy discussion. It had become a bit of a competition within the house to become well versed in more and more esoteric bits of knowledge just to delight Luna by confusing her in the explanation. Through her, others in the house learned to appreciate hearing others be passionate about something that they could not remotely understand. The seventh years found it helped them to study trying to explain seventh year topics to confused but amazed first years.
Luna's mistress, Daphne, was the undisputed queen of Slytherin. Her closeness with the completely guileless Luna Lovegood was as great a mystery to many members of the House of the Cunning, as the mysteries Luna delighted in learning about. Except the darker members of the house did not enjoy their lack of understanding at all. Luckily for all involved, the lesson of Marietta Edgecombe was still remembered and no one dared test Daphne's, or Harry's, commitment to the Ravenclaw oddity.
Daphne was the epitome of a Slytherin maiden. Even those in the house who considered her a traitor thought of her as the most cunning and most perfect representation of everything Slytherin House should stand for. She carried herself with perfect manor, was undeniably beautiful, brooked no disrespect from anyone, was immensely powerful and despite being a Slytherin had been made the future Lady Potter, despite completion from three women representing all three of the other Houses.
The members of the House that had allied themselves with her or Potter, traveled in her wake and she managed them all with the perfect combination of prideful parent and tyrannical leader depending on what was called for. For the members of the House, her only flaw was how "gryfindorish" she became when around Harry. She would laugh and smile and blush. It was a testament to her ability that no one could or in many cases dared to try to exploit that weakness. Not even her primary rival in the House, Theo Nott.
Luna and Ginny were alone and away from their Harry and their mistresses. They had insisted that the three enjoy Hogsmeade without them. They had each other and would be fine. Luna showed her intelligence by deducing that the time away would cause Harry to give them both extra time and love later to make up for it. He was egalitarian in that way.
…The Shrieking Shack, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
It was time. Severus Snape was prepared to destroy the House Potter. He felt as if his moment of triumph against his most hated enemy was at hand. In his twisted mind he viewed his actions as totally justified and delighted in the murder he was about to commit. He even whispered a small prayer to Lily Potter asking for her help in his plan to murder her son. He ignored the cold wind that swept through his bones and the ominous stillness that surrounded him in the moment following his wicked words.
To accomplish his goal he had been forced to finally admit that Harry Potter was a skilled wizard. But his own ego and broken psyche had replaced his irrational belief that Harry Potter was a weak and talentless wizard with the irrational belief that "the boy" was a stupid and incompetent one. "After all" he had thought to himself in derision "Only a fool wood bring a muggle whore into the magical world."
Further proof was that the insipid child had unraveled all the protections, magical and otherwise, that had been left for him or created for him. Only to then make enemies of witches and wizards that were his betters. He had acted without guile or cunning as far as Severus was concerned and instead acted with a recklessness that reminded Severus of the way his former students ruined potions.
The insane man was convinced that he was only one of the many enemies that Potter had plotting and planning in the dark for his downfall. But he was determined that he would be the one to kill him and end the Potter line forever.
