Chapter 18 – The Tested Plot ~~~~~Power of Ancestral Magics~~~~~

Hogwarts, Scotland

The Hogwarts contingent, along with Harry and Neville arrived back at Hogwarts with heavy hearts just in time for dinner, the hall fell silent as the group came in. Dumbledore's somber mood was infectious as students realized that the hoped-for outcome had not happened. Before Harry or Neville could fully enter the great hall, he was pulled away by Artemis. "You have guests in the anteroom, my Lord." Artemis said. Harry was confused, he knew of no meetings scheduled for the day nor of a reason for Artemis to have called him my lord. He would only have done that when he needed to act in his more official capacity of the old court. Then Harry thinking through what had happened throughout the day understood who had arrived. He quickly with both Artemis and Neville following made his way to the antechamber.

Arriving there he was greeted by the sight of five black knights. The black nights where called such as they were the king's hand through his commander that gathered information, committed sabotage, and the other underhanded duties that went into protecting an empire and its people. Because of their affiliation with the shadows and darkness, and their all black attire people had taken to calling them black knights, as they were also assassins as well also numbered among the most deadly men in the land, they were trained from the age of 8 solely at dragons-moor and everyone was a ward of house Potter. Harry quickly received their reports.

"Well, Neville, shall we give Lord Le-Fay his first test?" Harry asked.

"With how quickly he seems to want to take the capital but ignore the rest of the Empire, I believe it would behoove us to begin the testing. It would be unwise for Albion to have a king unsuited for his position." Neville answered.

With that Harry sent a Patronus message to the great hall, asking for Lord Le-Fays presence along with those of his current entourage. Harry and Neville were rather surprised to be greeted by a responding Patronus. "If you wish for a meeting with me you may request one among the official channels, a lowly house such as yours, without even a proper head has no business requesting an audience with the head of an ancestral house. As such do remember your place in the future lest you force me to give your house a firm reminder of their place beneath mine." With that said Marvolo's voice stopped and the Patronus vanished. Harry and Neville both turned as one and marched to the great hall, power visibly crackling between the two.

The Great Hall doors both clanged open with a clang as Harry and Neville entered the hall fell silent as the hall took in the sight before them as the two strode forward, anger and fury emanating from them in waves. Dumbledore rose as the two came to stand before the teachers table. "Enough the two of you, I am highly disappointed in the both of you, first skipping classes without permission and running off grounds, then appearing here like this. This behavior is unacceptable of students at this school. Sit down and we will discuss this later."

The glare the boys levelled at the headmaster silenced the iconic man, and he feebly sat down. Harry addressed him, with a voice like ice. "As you are more than aware Dumbledore, we are heads and lords of our respective houses, the matters attended to today were matters pertaining to such, as is the matter of our appearance here. House Dumbledore has no standing to challenge the actions of an elder house, stand down."

"That will be fifty points apiece from Gryffindor and detention for a week for insolence." Dumbledore replied coolly, a hint of anger beginning to rise in his voice. "The houses of Longbottom and Potter had no duty at Nurmengard today…" Whatever he was going to say was lost by the sudden appearance of the five black knight from behind Harry and Neville.

"You have made your voice and opinions abundantly clear Dumbledore but be assured the house of Potter will not forget the slight done today, nor those of the past, an enemy our house has blood feud with escaped today, but if you had allowed our house our rights when he was captured it would not have happened." The malice clear in Artemis's voice was clear to all who heard it, as he sat down his eyes shone with anger evident for all to see.

"The matter can be spoken of later, the matter at hand however is not. You Lord Le-Fay you would be well to remember the position and titles of house Potter, and of who we command…" He was interrupted before he could finish.

"Title's and position I will be stripping you of once I ascend to the throne. House Potter will be disgraced because they dared to challenge me." Marvolo answered a vindictive sneer spread across his face.

Harry attempts to answer him before he finally gives up throwing his hands up in angers his hair now a vibrant red, and his are clenched into fists. The temperature in the great hall quickly raises by a good ten degrees before Neville finally speaks. "For those of you who have been taught proper court etiquette, the traditions and laws of Albion and its kings, can any one of you tell our would be king exactly why his newest proclamation is impossible."

Luna Lovegood a recent ward of the Potter house stands up answering Neville's request. "The simple answer would be that it is illegal, but as we have a would be king that sees himself as above the law, the answer would be the traditions rules and the absolute laws of Albion. The absolute laws of Albion are the laws and rules that were and are the very foundation of Albion, they were established as at the founding of the Albion, with the claiming of the throne for the Pendragon line. They set the rules regarding the succession in Albion, they designated the positions certain families would fill, the lands that went with different positions and title's, the laws of royal ascension. The only way to change these the absolute laws of Albion is for the summoning of the council, the calling of the heirs and a vote being cast. The council is the full high royal council, of which the king sits, along with the heads of the 13 houses Potter, Longbottom, Malfoy, Black, Le-Fay, Emrys, Evan-star, Mercer, Krum, Sirex, Smith, Devon, and Thames. The calling of heirs would call entail the calling of all the heirs of said lines, along with the calling of the crown prince. If the land has no crown prince of a suitable age to understand, or any of the heirs for that matter, the minimum age being 14, the vote is denied and cannot take place. If they are of the age, the vote is cast and all twenty-four are to cast their vote, publicly and in full view of the court, it will only pass if twenty of the twenty-four votes are for the passing or repealing of that specific law. The last time an absolute law was placed was the time of the third King Alexander grandson of Arthur, none have been repealed since the third, and the vote has been denied for underage heirs since the eighteenth. Our first king Arthur Pendragon the First of that name ruled from 542 A.D. to 586 A.D. since him, we have had approximately 35 Kings rule in almost a millennium, and each one since the second has had a Potter as the head of the armies, and a Longbottom as head of the kings personal guard, the only way beyond a vote for the houses to be removed from their positions, is the death of the entire house, or for the house to ascend to the position of ancestral and claim an empire that is not Albion as their own, otherwise the position immediately passes on to the next Potter in line." Finished Luna sat down, a quiet had settled into the great hall as even Harry had finally calmed.

"You would do well to remember that as you called into paly the rites of the ascension of Royal House, you are now bound to the same rules as the princes of old. The difference between Albion and other kingdoms of Avalon was the fact that being eldest did not guarantee that the throne was your inheritance. A prince in Albion would spend five years under the tutelage and guidance of the Potter and Longbottom houses, and in that time were under their sole authority with all privileges of their royal blood stripped of them, for that time. The first four years would be a study of many things, the tactics of war, of economics, business, the needs and wants of the people. At the end of the four years of study they were expected to know the traditions and ways of governance for the people of Albion, but to ensure they knew them, they were then given twelve tests, randomly assigned, usually one per month. Having called and named your time as one year you have entered that one year of testing Lord Le-Fay, if you fail more than four these tests you are unable to claim your crown until you have as the old princes did gone through the five years again and passed more than four tests. After a second time you are stripped of the right to be king forever."

Taking a second to pause Harry continued. "I called you for that first test as decided by both I and Lord Longbottom. Instead of coming to see me as asked, which considering your position and my responsibilities as head of the black knights and recent events you should have, if you are seriously considering becoming king of Albion. This test would then have been done in privately and the results registered with the magics of Albion, as you however instead chose to insult and belittle me, instead the test will take place here in front of everyone and your results and the reasons for said results will be public."

With that Neville stepped forward and began. "As you are now doubt all aware by now, Nurmengard was reduced for the most part, to rubble this morning, through magical means it was repaired, and a searched was carried out to discover the status of those that had previously been residents. Grindelwald's body was not found and as such he has been declared an escaped convict. The black knights standing behind us came with information to be acted upon, they with present you with only the facts of what they saw. We ask for the sake of the test, that all student spectators keep silent concerning all questions for the time being. At the end of the presentation of information the test will be posed to you, you will have the opportunity for a total of five points. Your score in points will be presented to you and then explained by Lord Potter and I. Knight one please begin."

The first knight took a step forward and began to speak. "I along with three compatriots were stationed on 6 hour watches of Nurmengard, specifically watching Grindelwald, at the time of his escape I was just coming into my shift and saw the escape happen I then trailed him for a time until I met up with my replacement. 2nd knight continue."

The second knight took a step forward and spoke. "I was the replacement for the first knight. I then followed Grindelwald and his fellow escapees to the Russian border where I then stopped following them and called in the location and time of the crossing, 3rd knight will continue."

"Wait" Marvolo interrupted. "Why did you stop at the border you could have kept following him."

The second knight answered Marvolo's question. "I hold the rank of scout." At the blank look on Marvolo's face, the knight glanced at Harry and Neville who nodded. "Scouts are only permitted to operate in one country at a time, I am only permitted to operate in Albion as that is where my training has been focused."

With no further questions asked the third knight stepped forward and spoke. "I located Grindelwald shortly after he entered Russia, I then tracked him to St. Petersburg where he entered the royal Palace, fourth knight continue."

The fourth knight when no questions were asked took a step forward and spoke. "I was in the palace when Grindelwald arrived, he was greeted warmly by the king and queen of the Russian empire and given sanctuary within the royal halls."

The final knight stepped forward "The test is this: based on the information given, you duty is to plan a response to the actions taken by others, for the betterment and protection of all Albion How would you have the knights deployed, what actions should Lord Potter take with the military if any at all, do you have any orders for any other members of the court?"

"You and the black knights will mobilize I want eyes on Grindelwald at all times, when he moves I want to know, others are to gather blackmail and other like pieces of information against the Russian King and Queen to force them to relinquish their offer of sanctuary. Lord Potter is to mobilize the army but not yet move out. We shall wait and allow Grindelwald the first move." Marvolo answered looking satisfied.

"What shall I do with my troops once they are mobilized, shall they be stationed only at the local bases or shall they be moved to strategic points around the empire?" Harry asked treating this as a real issue.

"They shall be placed at the ICW headquarters and around the ministries. As those are the places most open to attack."

"Anywhere else?" Harry probed.

"You are to be the head of military affairs, you figure out where to place them, it's not my job to handle those things." Marvolo snapped. Before he could go any farther Neville stepped forward and asked.

"Are there anymore instructions you would give?" Harry asked.

"No", answered Marvolo smirking a satisfied smile of victory.

"Before your score is given, I would like to clarify something. Yes, my duties as head of the military do give me the right to deploy troops as you said, the test however was for you not me to decide where the troops should be put. As a Potter I may lead battle's but is the position of our Kings to take the victory, if I do all the planning and take all action in a fight then it is my houses victory not the house of Pendragons. Albion will not stand for a king that cannot defend it. Furthermore, if I am injured in battle, it then falls to you as king to lead the troops as another Potter is not always simply available to step forward and simply take command." Harry quickly spoke, with Neville following.

"In the future might I suggest reading the official paperwork sent to you even from someone you may not favor, as I assume you never read Lord Potter's report on the inner workings of the black knights, he sent at the beginning of the month. Before you deny ever seeing it, it is also a standard packet in the Wizengamot paperwork, you are given when you claim your seat. In your results for this test, I unfortunately must say unfortunately you have failed. You received one and a half points of the available five. You received a point for not moving forward with immediate action and instead waiting for more information, and you received half a point for the placing of troops at the ICW and ministry building though lost the second half of that point for only thinking of government and not the people and order them in defense stations at the schools or at the five Albion Great Squares, or not having the houses deploy the house guards."

Harry then picked up the remaining explanation. "In not reading the information I sent you, you did not know that scouts are only trained and permitted to operate within one country at a time, as such you did not receive the knowledge point on the workings of the black knights. In not addressing your advisors at all you also lost a point. What if lord Malfoy already had a large piece of black mail at his disposal? You did not ask me for troop numbers in any capacity which lost you your third as you were then not able to know to ask or answer me as to whether or not I would be able to raise the soldiers needed to fight against the Russian armies, or if I needed to push recruitment, or even issue a draft."

Neville continued. "If you had been thinking as a king you would also have thought of yourself as well, addressing me and giving me orders to increase the Royal guard as to give you better protection could have earn you an additional point, however you did not even consider doing such a thing."

With that said the two turned to go along with the knights before Harry stopped once more to speak "If you are truly intent on becoming the next King of Albion perhaps you should stop thinking like a rebel leader using guerilla face tactics and slow down, Consider that if you are to become King of Albion you have close to a hundred million people to think about not the mere seven million people that live in Britain." With that Harry to finished and left the great hall.

~~~~~Power of Ancestral Magics~~~~~

Lord Le-Fay was surprised as the Potter and Longbottom boys left the hall. From the comments around him he was learning that all was not as he had been told in Albion. It seemed he would have to be creative to truly remind the Potter brat his place, he was soon to be king no matter what those two said.

Glancing towards Lucius and Abraxas he saw Abraxas tilt his head towards the Black lord. Yes, Potter's weakness was that blood traitor. Perhaps if the boy was especially difficult hurting those two mentees of his Tyler, and Marcus would send a message.

Marvolo hissed at the pain said thought brought from his Slytherin magics. He had won, he had claimed the rings through sheer force of will, but the true might and magic of the house was still just beyond his reach.

Finally having enough of the whispers and looks of the students, he rose and stormed out of the hall. Both the elder Malfoys on his heels. "I want a way to take Black out of the picture, he is becoming a thorn in my side and his guiding of that boy, is not aiding anyone." He snapped.

"I have discussed several plans with the minister, my lord, but house Potter just seems one step ahead. That entire Albion fund the boy set up, came days after the minister was discussing plans to have the boy tested to drive his bidding price up. The minister still has full intentions of selling the boy, but this has all put it to a back burner." Lucius explains.

"Perhaps Lucius, you should speak to the minister, of the fact that it seems he has a spy of some sort. Having one of mine win that bidding war could be very beneficial for us, find a way to make it happen Abraxas." Marvolo commanded a smirk splitting his face open, yes things were starting to look better.

~~~~~Power of Ancestral Magics~~~~~

"Harry, Harry, Harry, that was so cool." Tyler ran up excitedly chattering away about the night to Harry, with Marcus jumping in on occasion.

"You are aware that Lord Le-Fay won't leave you two alone after this. He's going to see this as a challenge." Theodore Nott drawled from his place by the fire as the group of four entered the room, the group used for the club meetings.

"It's a fact that he has to live with, he's the one that called the rights of ascendancy to be in play. Besides our tests are only to prep him for the last test." Neville answers.

"What do you mean? I mean, well, the three of your houses were rather secret. The succession laws may be general knowledge, but even we knew that more went on than that the houses and court didn't see." Theo commented.

"It was why so many tried to marry into your houses. They wanted to know more about the true process of succession. The how's, the why's, all of it." A Ravenclaw seventh year commented.

"Some things we can't talk about, they are literally state secrets, but Arthur set certain things up in the way he did to help safeguard his heirs from growing to full of their power. Yes, for some of it the reasoning was never explained, but the traditions are still in place. Our three lines were steeped in it, from the way we were raised, from what we were taught, to what we were to each other. Albions checks and balances, lied not in the ancestral house but in the triumvate of Pendragon, Potter, and Longbotton."

"I don't get it." Tyler answered.

"Our positions were the way they were, because of the family's history with house Pendragon." Neville answered.

"What did you mean final test?" Marcus asked curious.

"Well, you remember when I told you the story of how Arthur became our king?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Arthur, was the son of Uther Pendragon, the Pendragon line was an old one in Germany at the time, he inherited a small kingdom from his father, but due to several factors he lost the throne. Years later he was chosen as king by the people and he led the people that chose him to rule over them, into battle and eventually forged an empire, what of it?" Marcus asked.

"Short and concisely but yes. When the day came for Arthur to truly be crowned, after peace had been found, Arthur followed the tradition that many others followed and performed the ritual of ascendancy. He asked the land for approval to rule over its people. The land accepted the people's choice, but only after he had passed her tests. Albion tested him, and he survived, furthermore he passed the tests, it's one of the reasons Albion's wards are so strong. The wards are backed by the very magic of the land."

"Now ignore the fact that they are the wards that protect the entirety of Albion, for a moment in the end they are what?" Harry asked.

Theo perked up answering. "Ultimately they are wards."

"And how are the wards passed from Lord to Heir?" Harry asked.

"The wards test the heir, oh." Tyler answered, his eyes shining with interest.

"The wards of Albion pass in much the same way, however, instead of passing whatever tests the ward stone sends at you to claim them, you have to pass the tests assembled by the very magic of the land. There is a reason Arthurs grandson not his son became the second king of Albion. Ultimately it is the land that chooses its kings, and Arthurs son failed the test of the land, of Arthurs three grandsons only one past the tests of the land." Harry answered.

"Ok, so how is it that you were able to harness the wards? Does the head of house Potter also have to pass these tests?" Someone asked.

"That is some I never understood, house Potter is second to none in defensive magics throughout Albion, yet they aren't our defensive masters in either the Longbottoms, or the Blacks capacity. But their position lies in the one area where their family magic lacks. Does it tie into the reason the house of Potter is able to harness the wards?" Brwen Davies, Ravenclaw sixth year, and heir to the house of Davies, asks.

"Oh, Oh, I know this one it's because…"

"Marcus!" Harry's shout startles the room. "What is the cost of sharing house secrets without the permission of that houses head?"

"Sorry, Haldris, I forgot, my apologies one and all." Marcus answers.

Harry shoos both younger boys and the other students below fourth year to their dorms before giving his goodbyes and retiring himself. Leaving a room full of curious minds behind him. Curious as to the answers to the questions asked, and curious as to the relationship between Harry and Marcus, that Marcus would know Potter family secrets.