Chapter 22:
Dragon Kingdom: Hermione's Office
Dear Hermione,
We understand that you were seduced by the Dark Lord, but you have to understand we needed time to get over the betrayal. We are willing to give you a second chance and you will be able to explain yourself. Ron and Harry will meet you at Riversdale Park, a muggle park. We'll be there around 4:00 pm.
From Harry James Potter
Hermione chuckled at the short letter from her ex-best friend. The arrogance that spilled off the page, was truly comical. However, the Dragon King did not have time to entertain the Order of Jesters.
"Todd, can you come in for a moment?" Hermione called out, as she picked up another piece of parchment. The office door opened and a young dragon walked through.
"What is your will your Majesty?" Todd asked as he gave a respectful bow.
"Take this letter to the Sir. Jemme and tell him that the 'The stars are plentiful, as the oceans are deep.' Then you will report back here." Hermione said as she handed Todd, Harry's open letter. She watched as the young dragon tucked the letter into his inner jacket pocket and bow, before leaving the office.
Dear Your Majesty,
My original observation about the Dark Lord has been proven. His magic is chaotic and has no sense of self-preservation. The movement of his magic, his appearance, and animalistic periods, all point to a soul split. However, I do not know what method was used. I would like to make a request for access to the Royal Library, on my next visit to the Kingdom. Other than that there is nothing of interest to report. The raids on the Muggles have not increased, but there will be a raid on the Order in a few weeks.
Your Loyal Servant
Makayla Alaric
Hermione raised an eyebrow at the beginning of the letter. Soul splitting was a big deal in the magical world. The wizards that loved to classify things as light and dark magic. Splitting the soul was considered very dark magic, so dark that the wizards destroyed almost all the books that had the hint of mentioning the soul. The Dragons, Goblins, and other magical creatures that kept written records of their past, would never imagine doing such a thing. The main reason being that those books told you how to split a soul, but also taught you how to stitch a soul back together.
The problem with seeing the world as black and white, the wizards forgot about the grey. The soul is a strong being, one of the toughest things in the world to break. But that does not mean there are no weak spots. A soul can be broken through a ritual, torture, or something simple like a breakup that broke both heart and soul.
Hermione sighed and wrote an official letter of entrance for Makayla, to be delivered to her the moment she arrived. She placed the letter on the corner of her desk and picked up the next document that needed her attention. This document and the few others below it were declarations of demotion for the house of Singer, house of Beastrow, and house of Euchar. All those families will be demoted from 4th rank noble to the 10th rank noble and will be heavily monitored by guards Hermione trusted. Some other families like the Sequis were able to keep their current ranks but were warned about what could happen next time they were apart of a coup.
Hermione signed and used her official seal on the documents, making them decrees. And with a wave of her hand, the papers stacked themselves neatly and were sent to the messenger office. About an hour had passed before there was a knocking her office door.
"Come in." Hermione said without looking up at who entered.
"Your Majesty the guards have brought the Barfly family, including the prisoner Barfly." Todd said as he peeked his head into the office. Hermione sat up straight in her chair and allowed her magic to fill the room and change it quickly. The couches and Hermione's desk disappeared, while the windows shut with a loud bang. The desk chair turned into a large throne, similar to the one in her throne room, but a little smaller. The Dragon King's crown appeared on her head, while her magic ripped the office doors open revealing the struggling Barfly family.
"Bring them in and kneel them before me." Hermione commanded. She took a moment to look over the Barfly family. Henry Barfly, the previous Lord Barfly did not seem to have the best time in the dungeon, which puts a smile on Hermione's face. She swept her eyes over Olivia Barfly, previously Lady Barfly,she too had seen better days, as makeup dripped down her crying face. She was the one struggling the most out of the family, still making demands of the guards. At the one chance that Hermione was able to catch Olivia's eye, the king caught whiff of shame and regret. Helen Barfly and Hudson Barfly, twins previous heirs to Barfly estate were just as silent as their father. Hermione raised an eyebrow at the family as a whole.
"You know the Muggles have saying, 'A family that plots together, stays together.' Those Muggles are so resourceful aren't they?" Hermione said as she crossed her legs and leaned forward just a bit. The Barfly family all felt a chill run through their backs. "I already have all the evidence to throw you in the deepest part of the dungeons and throw away the key. I was going to give you all a chance to explain yourselves, but your behavior has already told me what I wanted to…"
"Your Majesty, wait please!" Helen interrupted. "Please, my brother and I were misled, we believed that the plan was to push you to see our way of dealing with the humans. I would never dream of overthrowing you. Please grant us your mercy." Helen had thrown herself forward, pressing her head to the floor. The rest of her family looked at the girl in disgust, even Hudson could not look at his older sister. Hermione gestured for the guards to stand Helen up and bring her forward. Hermione grasped Helen's chin and looked deep into her eyes and castes a silent Legilimens. Quickly searching through the girl's memories, Hermione let go of her and motioned for the guards to take her to the side, away from her family.
"Helen will still be punished for trying to deceive me about young Hudson, but you three will face the true wrath of the Dragon King! Take them to the dungeons, their trial will be in three days." Hermione ordered. She turned her head to the last respectable Barfly.
"Did you ever get to read the books of Education?" Hermione asked Hermione as she was brought back to kneel in front of the Dragon King.
"No, I did not get the chance, your Majesty." Helen replied as she kept her head down, focusing on the floor.
"In that book, there are different ways to teach Dragons, young and old. Freshly turned and even reversing the mentally insane Dragons. That book has it all. It even has a chapter called Re-educating the nobles, written by my Great x15 Grandfather, Liam Heartstring. You will go through the entire version of what Grandfather Liam wrote, within the span of 2 months. After which you will be granted the title of Lady Helen Barfly of 10th rank. You are going to be my little fly on the wall in the 10th rank do you understand?"
Helen gulped down her fear and nodded her head. "I understand your Majesty."
"Good. Take her to the dungeons, first level, there is no need for her to go farther down than that." The guards nodded at Hermione's command. When the guards and Todd finally left the office, Hermione let out a sigh and allowed her magic to revert her office back to its original state. She still had a lot of paperwork before she could spend time with her girls and she wanted nothing to get in the way of that time.
Dragon Kingdom Castle:
Time has flown so fast for Bella, only a few months had passed and Alicia had already grown so much. The little Prince had gotten a little chubby with baby fat, due to her diet of drinking Bella dry at every feeding. The dragon was just glad she didn't have to go as far as use lactating magic, but she had a feeling that as Alicia grew that would soon become a reality. Bella was sitting in the Royal Library with Alicia asleep in her playpen. Bella was reading an old tome that held the secrets of chaotic magic. Save for the Dragon scrolls, this was the only book to hold any information on chaotic magic. Chaotic magic is magic at its purest form, it has no rhyme or reason it just exists to destroy whatever it touches and create something new from what it had once destroyed. The term had been given by Gerost Heartstring himself as he wrote down his own experience with his magic. The tome's main theory is how chaotic magic will return and how all magical will lose magic at the greater or to a lesser extent have very small pools of magic to pull from.
Though the tome was a bit biased in Bella's opinion, since it claimed that Gerost was the first being to internalize chaotic magic, therefore all dragons being safe from this major lost. Bella had to agree that wizards and witches would feel the effects first, but there was no proof the Dragons would be unaffected. As Bella further dwelled into the tome, she heard the door behind her open.
"Auntie Bella, are you in here?" Bella closed the tome and place it on the table beside her. The brunette dragon turned her head towards the door and smiled at the young half dragon in the library doorway.
"Yes, I am here. Alicia is here too, Dora." At the mention of her little sister, Dora ran into the room and right to the playpen, where she sat watching Alicia sleep.
"No hug for me?" Bella said with a laugh. The four year old stood up and gave Bella a quick hug before going back to looking at Alicia. "By the way, who brought you here?"
"Mommy asked one of the maids to bring me here, she was still in a minor council meeting." Dora replied.
"Oh, well it is almost dinner time, we should probably start to get ready." Bella said as she looked up at the clock on the wall. The adult dragon stood from her chair and walked over to the playpen. She picked up Alicia and shrunk the playpen, before placing it in her sweater pocket. Bella held out her hand for Dora to grab and the three of them walked from the Business side of the castle, the East side to the living side of the castle, the West side.
The moment they stepped into the West side of the Castle, the three royals were welcomed by the maids that worked in that area. "We will take Young Miss Dora, to her room to change for dinner, your Majesty." Dora's main babysitter Emily said with a slight bow.
"That will not be necessary, she will change in my room today. She can help me pick out Alicia's dinner outfit." Bella said as she walked towards her shared room with Hermione, Andy, and Cissy. Once at the door, Bella let go of Dora's hand to open it, before directing the young half dragon to sit in one of the chairs near the fireplace. Bella took out the playpen from her pocket and enlarged it. A now slowly waking Alicia was yawning and pushing up on Bella to get a better look of the room. Bella placed the young prince into the playpen and Dora dutifully sat against the playpen to keep Alicia busy while Bella was looking through her closet.
After about 20 minutes of looking, Bella emerged from the closet with a red dress that had black diamonds around the neck. The Heartstring family symbol of a heart with loose ends coming out the bottom was sewn into the back of the and just above that the kingdom's crest, a four dragon heads with sharp eyes and open mouths and rows of teeth showing. She had laid out Alicia's outfits on the bed and took a step back.
"Dora, which one do you think would look best on Alicia?" Bella asked, calling the four year old's attention away from the baby. The young dragon slayer walked over to the bed where the clothing was laid upon. The first outfit was a white suit with a red collar, the Heartstring symbol on the right side of the jacket and the kingdom crest on the left, right over the heart. The second was a red suit that matched Bella's dress with the same arrangement of the crests on the white suit. The last was a red dress that came with a small cape and little gloves.
"I think the red suit will be best. That way she matches you Auntie Bella." Dora said as she looked up at her Auntie. Bella smiled back down at her.
"Red it is then. Emily please go get the Dora's red suit that matches ours. Tonight is a special dinner and I want all of us to match." Emily bowed her head and went to carry out her tasks. Bella allowed Dora to pick up and carry Alicia to the bed so that they could get her into the outfit that Dora had picked out. Bella changed Alicia's diaper, while Dora unbuttoned all the clothes.
As Bella was showing Dora how to gently dress the baby, the bedroom door opened. Andy walked in and without a word to anyone, crashed on the bed. Dora giggles behind her hand as she handed Alicia's shirt over to Bella. Bella smiled along with her niece and motioned for the maids, who just walked into the room, to get the four year old dressed. The maids quickly ushered the young half dragon into the bathroom, so that Bella and Andy could also get dressed.
"How was the council meeting?" Bella asked as she finished dressing Alicia and placing the little prince into the crib.
"Tense. They all knew about the coup, but do not know what happened to the ones who performed the challenge. I talked to one of the minor Lords about some of the rumors and the main one is that all of those who participated in the coup were turned insane without trial and banished to the human world." Andy dryly answered.
"Well it is a good thing, Hermione is holding this dinner. Everything will be cleared up soon enough." Cissy said from the doorway, surprising her sister wives with her sudden appearance.
"Good evening Cissy, how was your day?" Bella questioned. The black haired queen was quickly getting into her dress that was the perfect fit. Bella had moved over to her make-up mirror and began to put on some light makeup.
Andy sat up on the bed and sighed as both Bella and Cissy began their beauty routines. "My day was tense as well, none of the noble women I was conversing with refused to disagree with me on anything in fear of being called a traitor."
"If that is true, then only Bella, Alicia, and Dora were the only ones who had a good day." Andy commented as she finally stood from the bed to pick out her own dress. She had also chosen a red dress that had a low split up the left thigh and on the front side of the slit was the royal family crest. It was the exact opposite of Cissy's red dress that had the slit on the right side with the royal family crest.
The other two Queens chuckled as they finished their preparations. The bathroom door opened and a dashingly dressed Dora marched into the room, with a toothy smile. The maids quickly filed in behind the half dragon with their heads bowed. "You all may leave, we will just be a moment." Andy dismissed the maids as she gestured for Dora to come over, to which the young half dragon skipped over to her mother, her smile getting wider. The half dragon was wearing a white shirt under a dark maroon vest and all of that under a lighter red blazer. Her pants were the same color as the blazer, while her shoes matched the vest. The blazer had a pocket for a little pocket square that was perfectly centered.
"Why don't you look handsome, my little dragon." Andy said as she smoothed a rebellious hair on her daughter's hair. "Go sit down on the couch, Aunt Bella, Aunt Cissy, and I finish getting ready."
Dora excitedly nodded her head before heading over the side of the couch that Alicia's crib was next to. The three dragon Queens used magic to put on the final touches before inspecting each other to make sure they matched but did not clash. Once everything was finalized, Bella walked over to pick Alicia out of her crib, while Andy took hold of Dora's hand. They all positioned themselves in front of the door, Bella in the front with Andy to the right and Cissy to the left. First Queen Bella, opened the bedroom doors with a wave of the hand and they all stepped out with pride and confidence, heading towards the dining area.
As the four royals were on their short journey, Dora noticed that the maids that lined the hallway stared down, almost glaring at the half dragon. The four year old squeezed her mother's hand and quickly looked forward at her aunt's deep red dress that flew elegantly behind her. Andy noticed the slight change in her daughter and caught the eye of one of the younger dragon's gaze turned from glaring to fearing in an instant. Andy stopped in her walk and let go of her daughter's hand. Bella and Cissy stopped as well, only a few inches ahead of the Second Queen.
"Is there something wrong with my daughter's attire?" Andy asked the maid directly.
"N..no Your Highness, there is nothing wrong." The maid stuttered, averting her eyes to the ground.
Andy did not let the girl escape her gaze and grabbed the young dragon by the face. "You will look at me when I am talking to you. If there is nothing wrong, then why were you glaring at my daughter?"
"I was not glaring at her, I was glaring in her direction." The Maid defended.
"In her direction? So, perhaps you were glaring at me or the other Queens of this nation? Maybe you agree with those who tried to overthrow us. Do you believe we do not belong on the throne." Andy pressed.
Tears began to build in the Maid's eyes. "No, Your Highness, that is not true. King Hermione, First Queen Bellatrix, Second Queen Andromeda, and Third Queen Narcissa are the rightful rulers of the Dragon Nation and all its inhabitants."
"So, WHAT WERE YOU GLARING AT?" Andy raised her voice staring deep into the Maid's eyes.
"THE DUST. There is so much dust on the ground and it is a disgrace for the royal family to live in such a state." The Maid yelled as the tears were now flowing down her face.
"Really? Well I hope that you and your co-workers quickly clean things to your standards." Andy let go of the Maid's face and wiped her wet hands on the young dragon's shoulders. Once they were dried, Andy picked up Dora instead of taking her hand, before falling in line with Bella and Cissy. As the three Queens continued their walk, Dora looked up from her mother's shoulder and saw that the Maid had fallen to her knees and was openly whimpering on the floor.
After a few more minutes of walking, the royal family were in front of the dining area doors. Andy let Dora down and they all straighten their backs, holding their heads up high. The foreman opened the door and announced, "Their royal Highnesses, First Queen Bellatrix Heartstring, Second Queen Andromeda Heartstring, Third Queen Narcissa Heartstring, First Prince Alicia Heartstring. They are accompanied by Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of Second Queen Andromeda Heartstring."
Andy bit her tongue as he called out Dora's name, she just had to wait a few more years until and then her daughter would get proper recognition. They made their way to the high table, where only the royal family sits. Bella sat to the left of the throne, while Andy took the right side. Cissy sat next to Bella and Alicia, while Dora happily got into the chair next to her mother. The nobles in the room continued to stand as was proper etiquette and took to conversing among themselves. Bella surveyed the room and noticed that many that caught her eye, looked away immediately.
"Great job with the maid Andy. It was quite entertaining." Bella smirked as she went over what had happened in her mind.
"I agree. Though I would not have raised my voice so high." Cissy said with a matching smirk.
"Oh, please you would have done the same if it was Draco. By the way when is he coming home?" Andy asked as she patted her daughter's head.
Cissy huffed and conceded with a small glare. "Of course I would, he is my baby boy. Draco should be here soon, Hermione arranged an escort to pick him up from the single Malfoy town house that Voldemort does not have access to."
"Do you intend to have him go through the transformation dear Cissy?" Bella asked and before Cissy could answer, the dining area doors opened once more and trumpets blared into the room.
"Rise for her Royal Majesty, the venerable, merciful, worshipful, and rightful ruler, King Hermione Heartstring." As the door man made the announcement, three Queens and Dora stood from their chairs in respect, while the nobles lined up and bowed. Hermione walked into the room with two guards perfectly in step behind her. She was wearing her military uniform, with all the metals she had earned before she was recognized as the heir to the throne. It was a red suit that matched Alicia and Dora, but with the additions of a black sash to which the metals were pinned and the military cap that had the royal family crest. In powerful strides and without haste, Hermione made her way to the high table. The Queens and Dora respectively bowed as the King made her way in front of the throne. She nodded her head in acknowledgement and gestures for them to sit with her.
Once the royal family was seated the standing nobles attempted to take their seats as well. Hermione let out a growl that froze the whole room before standing once more. "I don't recall allowing you to sit." Her voice sent chills down the spines of the nobles who quickly got back into line.
"As you know there has been a challenge for the crown, MY crown, MY birthright. I am the only one with the blood of Gerost to sit on this throne. The magic that runs through your veins, that gives you the strength and super human abilities are variations of My ancestor's magic. Without that magic, what skills do you possess that will allow you to survive in this world? Without my family line, where would you be in this world, would you even exist?" Hermione leans on the table in front of her before huffing and continuing.
"Of course you cannot give me an answer, you have not had your magic ripped away from you. You do not know the insecurity of being magic less and thrown into an environment you know very little about." Those words struck fear into the nobles as Hermione made the gesture for the doors and windows to be magically locked. "Today you will feel that pain, today you will feel true fear."
Hermione raised her hand out in front of her and began a chant. A few nobles' fear grew too great and they tried to make their way to the exit but were captured by the guards. After a moment, the chant was over and a crystal ball appeared in front of Hermione. The King of Dragons grabbed a hold of the ball and took a deep breath. As she took in air, the nobles felt their magic being ripped from their bodies and screamed in a mixture of pain and terror. Their magic flowed into the crystal ball with the ease of water. Once the last bit of magic was seized, Hermione conjured a stand for the crystal ball and sat on her throne.
"One by one you will come in front of the high table and tell everyone what purpose you serve to the Dragon Nation. If you do not have a suitable purpose to this Nation, I will be merciful. I wipe your memory and send you to the muggle world with a decent job. If you do have a suitable purpose, I will return your magic to you and then you will pledge your magic to the benefit of the royal family and the nation." Hermione grabbed Bella's hand and stared down the crowd. "Who will be first."
A/N: New chapter, tell me what you think.