The Paladin and the Patriarchs
PoV I
She was different when she returned from the summer holidays. Those around, her the crass boys around her just put it down to having had got laid at last. She obviously hadn't informed them of her new status.
There were perhaps five students in the entire school who would be able to see the marking on her brow. The symbol that announced to the world that the Lady's Paladin walked among them.
As he watched she manipulated the glamour and suddenly she was clothed in a gown of pale white moon silk. The gown made her look ethereal, and it complemented the changes also caused by her status. She separated from the crowd of Gryffindors, and walked proud as a Queen to the head table and inclined her head in acknowledgement first to the Headmaster, then to Sybil, though she concealed it and then to him. The Head Girl and Boy sat at the table and as the only spare seat was next to him, she took it.
Minerva placed the sorting hat on the stool, and then exited the hall, returning moments later with a group of nervous first years that were sorted quickly. Twelve went to Slytherin, Eleven to Gryffindor, Seven to Ravenclaw and Four to Hufflepuff. After his usual speech, Dumbledore clicked his fingers and the food appeared, and a small salad appeared in her place, which she ate quickly. Eating barely enough to sustain a rabbit, she put her cutlery down, and began to chant softly in the old tongue.
Recognising the protective warding chant that she was performing, he relaxed as someone had obviously trained her properly, privately he owned up to himself that she was truly brilliant at almost everything she tried. Smirking he conjured a sorbet hand made with fresh blackcurrants and ice. No sugar, no milk or cream just the way a chosen preferred.
When she had finished her chant she looked down at her plate, and then across at him with a raised, perfectly shaped eyebrow, upon tasting just a little of the sorbet a smile spread across her face. She whispered a phrase in the old tongue that he recognised. "Thank you Lord Snape. I did never enjoy most dairy products, and my ... status merely exacerbated the situation..." He inclined his head slightly to acknowledge what she had said and resolved to gather those who would understand to him and set them to guard her, for no matter what her heritage had once been thought to be, she was now the Lady's Paladin and they were sworn to protect her before any other loyalty. He smirked internally as he realised potentially a third side had been added to the fray.
Looking down at the students, he picked out the wide-eyed stares of the patriarch students. There were only three, all Slytherin. One was Draco Malfoy ... ferret extraordinaire, prince of Slytherin. Severus snorted to himself. The second was Blaise Zabini, last child of an old Slytherin family, dark without being evil. The third was Nott whom they had carefully reformed. He was fortunate that all three were Slytherin, but they would all need explanations as to why a clearly pureblood symbol graced her brow.
Following his gaze she sighed and removed her gloves. To his astonishment underneath were the clear markings of a lineage potion, running all the way up her right arm. On the back of her right hand were seven small perfect symbols he could name from here. Running up her arm were tiny shimmering bands of various thickness, with silver runes in between.
"I will see you and those whom this concerns in your office if I may Lord Snape at ten. I have duties to see to first and must retrieve a few necessary items from my trunk." She spoke once again in the old tongue. He raised his eyebrows at her forthrightness, but forgave it on the grounds of her training and bowed his head in acknowledgement. Shortly afterwards Dumbledore clapped his hands and the food and plates vanished. He ran through his normal announcements, and then moved onto the special announcements, including a minute's silence for those who had died over the summer, and announcing the curfew. With those complete he dismissed the students.
The paladin was one of the first to leave the head table as she and Draco followed Minerva to the head suite.
PoV II
Malfoy was pleasantly quiet and almost ... courteous. Her mentor had warned her that patriarchs could be most charming and respectful, but she was to be wary of the Slytherin males. McGonagall left them at the portrait.
She spoke the password quietly in the old tongue. "And she chose the moon as her symbol for all are born, live, die and are reborn under its soft light." Malfoy spoke the rejoinder, the phrase given to patriarchs "and he chose the sun as his symbol for all are born, live die and are reborn under the its harsh light."
Password chosen, safeguarded by the curious quirk that protects the old tongue, the requirement that the speaker be of the old faith and the eldest in the line they are from, the portrait swung open. Her initial assessment was that this was not the head suite. She had read 'Hogwarts: A History' too many times to count and it had nine descriptions of the head suite. She had expected a small common room decorated in the house colours with two portrait-guarded suites leading off it.
Instead they walked into a truly beautiful garden. Admittedly all the flowers either seemed to be red, green, silver or gold, but it was a garden not a common room.
"It appears Lady Paladin that the castle appreciates your presence ... and your sensitivities. We have a room like this at home. Mother uses occasionally but she says it feels wrong if she uses it for too long. That it isn't hers. The archways lead to other rooms. I suggest you ward them appropriately my lady." Draco sort of half bowed, and disappeared through an archway with a dragon on the lintel.
She took the opportunity to look around. There were seats and even desks formed out of the trees. The grass underfoot was luxurious. Hesitating but a moment she slipped her thin-soled shoes off and took them in hand. Almost immediately she could feel crackles of energy from the earth as she connected, and it welcomed her. Taking a moment to thank the earth for its gift, and to thank the castle for the garden she padded off in the direction of the arch with the sword on the lintel, that matched the central symbol on her hand.
Slipping through the arch she entered a small grove with four more arches. Sticking through each in turn she was rewarded with a bathroom with a lagoon for a bath ... but there was a shower, toilet and sink as well; a fruit and vegetable garden; a study room that appeared to be linked to the library and finally another garden. This time set up like the grove she had trained in with her mentor.
Warding each room to only allow herself and someone she was holding onto to enter, she returned to the fruit garden and tried a little of each fruit present finding everything exactly how she liked them. Perked up by the fruit, she exited her part of the suite, removed the glamour entirely and relaxed on a hammock of vines, waiting for Draco.
Draco emerged three minutes later, and took up residence on the garden seat. Smiling she slipped into the classic meditative trance, and communicated with the castle, persuading it to swap the entrance garden for the fairly standard common room, though the castle made it much more luxurious and slightly more natural for the Lady's Paladin.
Each now sat in an armchair opposite each other across the fireplace.
"My lady." Draco bowed his head to the Lady's Paladin.
"As tradition demands ... the lady has risen once more, and her powers are manifest on earth, in the form of a true witch ... to her alone do the unwed patriarchs owe their loyalty, and once sworn thus, they are hers till she releases them to their wives, but even then they must rise to her call ... I do solemnly swear myself to thee and thine lady, until I stand before the goddess and she releases me, herself." Draco held both hands out palm up.
"With your permission milady I break all contracts and claims on my person, and swear only to submit to thee." A pure white ball of magic formed in his hands.
"Do you accept?" She nodded, and the ball flew to her and plunged into her paladin mark. Both became subtly aware of each other.
"I accept Lord Malfoy. I do swear to honour and protect thy loyalty to me and mine, for the entirety of thy life." A tiny golden spark leapt from the palm of her hand and burrowed into his forehead, marking him as the first of the patriarchs to reavow his loyalty to the goddess and her paladin.
"Draco this will sound bitchy, but I don't want to have to wear full glamours in my own quarters. Therefore I formally request that you allow no one other than the other patriarchs in this room. I also break the contract between you and Pansy, and deny her access to the suite. In return for this I promise never to bring the Weasel up here, and only to bring Harry up if he takes the old faith and recognises me as his sworn. However, I will bring Ginny up here, as she is the o7nly moon maiden here. If I bring her up here, you must not insult her, Lord Dragon."
PoV III
She was very different now. Her mentor had done her a lot of good, but I still want to know exactly how she became the paladin when she is muggleborn? How could she have been raised in the old faith? I nod in agreement in to the statement, and then I ask my questions. She smiles slightly.
"I'll explain everything later. I refuse to go through this multiple times even with my oathed. I have arranged to talk to your godfather in his private office at nine. I'll explain then, but may this assuage a few of your doubts." She pulled off her long gloves she was wearing exposing the lineage markings for my inspection. Left-handed she drew a silver and moonstone sword, and with a trill summoned her moon phoenix.
Moments later a second moon phoenix popped into the room, a sword, scabbard and sculpted belt in its claws, and flew to me. Trilling softly, the phoenix encouraged me to take the sword and wear it. Whispering softly to the beautiful bird I belted the sword on and carefully transferred the bird to his shoulder. She smiled carefully.
"Remember Lord Malfoy, the only I can harm thee now, through choice or neglect." Draco couldn't help but smile at the diminutive form of Gryffindor's resident know it all, as she ordered him around, and he accepted this, for Malfoys have always loved power, and power she possessed in spades.
He exited the head suite, clothed in a conditional glamour, with a moon phoenix sitting on his shoulder and the sword at his waist. Setting his wand to alert him at quarter to nine, he left to terrorise the first years and check that no one had escaped the curfew.
PoV IV
He had made his speech to the first year students and fitted them with the distress bands to make sure that none of them was beaten too badly, either by their own house mates or the gryffindors. He would remove them after a month or so, once they had integrated into their house and learnt enough tactics and basic curses to fight back. Now he sat quietly in his office nursing a glass of fire whiskey and reading the one book he could find on the Lady's Paladin. Snorting at the inaccuracies and the old wives' tales he threw the book into the flames as he laughed at the realisation his house elf's bedtime stories were probably more accurate.
Having realised this he sat back with his glass of fire whiskey and retold himself the stories with the aid of his photographic memory.
At exactly five minutes before nine, there was a gentle knock on his door and the three Slytherins stood before him. Smiling slightly, an expression all but his Slytherins found slightly disturbing on his face, he invited the three boys in, settled them into comfy armchairs and handed them each a glass of fire whiskey.
At precisely nine o' clock the door opened of its own accord and she walked in the ethereal white robes of the paladin. Perched on her shoulder was a moon phoenix and sheathed across her back a wicked looking sword. To Snape and the other two Slytherins surprise, when she entered the room, Malfoy stood and bowed to her. Straining his ears Severus could just hear what he whispered. "My liege. The other patriarchs await thee."
Draco guided her to a seat, which transformed as soon as she sat on it. She smiled at him and the others felt a wave of something flow over them. The first to rise was Nott, his heart prompting him do something his father never would allow. He stepped in front of where she sat, his head bowed.
"As tradition demands my lady ... the lady has risen once more, and her powers are manifest on earth, in the form of a true witch ... to her alone do we owe our loyalty, and once sworn thus, we are hers till she releases us to our soul's other half, but even then we must rise to her call ... to thee I bind myself with love, hope and loyalty, to protect thee and thine lady, until I stand before the goddess and she releases me, herself." Nott held both hands out palm up.
"With your permission milady I break all contracts and claims on my person, and swear only to submit to thee." A pure silver ball of magic formed in his hands.
"Will you accept my oath mine lady?" She nodded, and the ball flew to her and plunged into her paladin mark. Both became subtly aware of each other.
"I accept Lord Nott. I do swear to honour and protect thee, for the entirety of thy life." A tiny silver spark leapt from the palm of her hand and burrowed into his forehead, marking him as the second of the patriarchs to reavow his loyalty to the goddess and her paladin.
Nott returned to his seat, a blissful smile plastered on his face.
Zabini slipped from his seat, to stand before her, heart in his mouth.
"As my mother foretold ... the lady has risen once more, and her powers are manifest on earth, in the form of a true witch ... to her alone do those who believe owe their loyalty, and once sworn thus, they are hers till she releases them ... and they must rise to her call ... until I stand before the goddess and she releases me, herself, I am yours to do with as you see fit." Blaise held both hands out palm up.
"With your permission milady I break all contracts and claims on my person, and swear only to submit to thee." A pure silver ball of magic formed in his hands.
"My lady?" She nodded, and the ball flew to her and plunged into her paladin mark. Both became subtly aware of each other.
"I accept Lord Zabini. You offer me thy life, thy spirit and thy trust and I promise it will not go uncherished or undefended." A tiny silver spark leapt from the palm of her hand and burrowed into his forehead, marking him as the third of the patriarchs to reavow his loyalty to the goddess and her paladin.
Zabini head slipped back, and his eyes rolled back so one could only see the whites of his eyes. "As was foretold. As was is. She has risen once more to guide them back to her. She has chosen her paladin and has given her the right to fight in her name. Three are her circle now with one more to add. When all six bloods have joined the circle, the protections and powers of all seven will be complete. No rule or mere mortal can bind her, and she will be the only bastion of humanity. When the light betrays and the dark renegades she will pick up the pieces as she rescues her soul. The heir of the night is about to join and the heir of the day will join by Samhain. Each holds a piece of her soul as she holds theirs, given into her hands by the lady. Once they are revealed at Samhain, the battle begins. At each of the eight festivals a cycle of the year, a battle shall be fought. Who wins each battle does not matter. There are three sides in this battle – those who call themselves the forces of good, they who call themselves the forces of darkness and us – true darkness and true light. It is time for the lady, her consort her paladin and her court to reign once more. The power is unleashed and now its time for it to change the path that interference demands destiny must run. As was foretold. As was is."