Chapter Four: Arianna Shaw
Harry ran up to his room to retrieve his Firebolt while Ginny went outside to join her brothers and Hermione. He felt that things were much simpler than they should have been. He had expected everyone and everything to be gloomy and depressed after Dumbledore died. He was surprised to find that he felt more normal now than he had ever felt before in his life.
After finally finding his broom, Harry dashed back down the stairs. He was about to make his way to the backdoor when he realized that everyone had come back in. Frowning, Harry looked around and saw the Weasleys, the Grangers, the Delacours and some of the order members standing around the kitchen.
"Hey," he said, "what's every body doing in here?"
They all looked around at him, as though surprised that he was there. Lupin cleared his throat and said, "We have a visitor."
Confused, Harry tried to spot a face that he had not seen earlier. Just as he was about to ask whom the new arrival was, Bill slid over to the left revealing a person that Harry had never seen before.
She was tall with long black hair. Her frame was willowy and lithe, and she carried an air of dignity despite the fact that she looked somewhat nervous. She was, without question, the most beautiful girl that Harry had ever seen. He could see that Fleur was shooting her evil glares as though unaccustomed to meeting women more beautiful than she was. Harry noticed that she had twinkling blue eyes that seemed very wise, even though she couldn't be much older than he was.
"Hey," Harry said slowly, "I've never met you before. Are you with the order?"
Her nervousness seemed to increase as she looked around at the other people in the kitchen. She bit her lip as though trying to come up with an answer to his question.
"We've never met her before either," Lupin said before directing his attention back to the girl before him. "Who are you," he asked her, "You must be acquainted with Mundungus Fletcher, or you wouldn't be able to find us."
The girl cleared her throat, "I really think everyone should sit down before I start answering questions," she said in a flat accent that meant she was from America.
"I think I'll be the one to say when everyone should sit down," Molly Weasley said indignantly.
"Oh, of course," the girl said in a hurried voice, "I didn't mean to imply that I'm the one in charge. I just think that it would be a good idea."
"Well," Mr.Weasley said now, "there's too many of us to provide every one with a chair. Why don't you just tell us who you are."
"Alright," she said, taking a deep breath, "my name is Arianna Shaw."
Every one in the room gasped. Harry looked around in confusion as they looked at the beautiful girl in awe. He nudged Hermione who was standing next to him and whispered, "Why is every one acting so strangely? What's so intriguing about her name?"
She whispered back to him, "You know how I said that there was no such thing as wizarding royalty?" Harry nodded.
"Well, that's not exactly true."
Harry's eyes grew wide as he looked back up at the girl in front of him. She seemed to have lost her nervousness and was standing with her head held high.
"I thought you were just a myth," Tonks said to the girl.
"Well," Arianna said to her, "you hear enough myths, some of them are bound to be true eventually."
"I'm sorry, but I've never really heard of you," Harry said as politely as he could, "Do you think you could explain who you are exactly?"
Arianna took another deep breath and said, "Alright, but you can't go interrupting me. I need to be able to get through all this at once. For those of you who know the story, please bear with me."
They all nodded and waited anxiously for her words. "Thousands of years ago," she began, "wizards originated in ancient Egypt. All of the Pharaohs and queens were magical and they ruled all of wizarding kind as well as all of the Egyptian empire. Soon, wizards spread all throughout the world. And with the fall of Queen Cleopatra VII, they lost their unity. For centuries it was said that wizards would never be ruled by any monarch ever again. That is, until about seventeen years ago, when a prophecy was made."
She stopped for a moment to make sure that everyone was following her before going on. "The prophecy," she said, "stated that a witch had been born to the last remaining male descendent of the ancient royal line. It said that this witch, upon reaching the age of seventeen, would ascend the long vacant throne of Egypt. It said that she would unite the world of wizards once again and that, with the aid of the 'Chosen One", she would bring peace to all wizard kind. I am that witch."
She took another deep steadying breath. "Once the prophecy was made, my mother and father went into hiding. My father, you see, was the last male descendent of the ancient kings. He knew that I would never be safe from the dark wizards who were too hungry for power to allow such a witch as I to live. With the aid of my mother's father, we fled to the states where we thought we would be safe. But Voldemort continued to hunt us down whereas all the other dark wizards had given up. And one night, when I was barely even a year old, he came to our home and killed my mother and father, just like he killed yours, Harry."
She inclined her head towards him. He felt an immediate sympathy for this girl. She had suffered almost the exact same fate as Harry.
Arianna took a long look at Harry before continuing on. "When Voldemort turned his wand on me, he was unsuccessful in killing me the way he'd killed my parents. I think that he thought I was dead, because I was knocked unconscious. But my grandfather found me among the wreckage of my home and would have taken me to live with my godparents, Lily and James Potter, but they were killed shortly thereafter."
Harry's head snapped up at the mention of his parent's names. Arianna's parents had known his parents.
"The Potters were very good friends of my parents before their deaths," she said, "When they were killed, my grandfather left me with some trusted people in America so that he could tend to Harry."
"Hold on for just a second," Harry said, "Your grandfather left you so that he could tend to me? Does that mean—was your grandfather—was he…?"
"Albus Dumbledore," she finished for him, her blue eyes twinkling at him, "Yes, he was my grandfather." Every one gasped again. Apparently, this little tidbit had not made it into the myths that had been told of her.
"Marcus and Vivian Shaw," Lupin whispered slowly. Arianna looked up at him in confusion. He was shaking his head as though he had just realized something he should have known for a long time.
"They were my parents," Arianna said quietly.
"They were great friends of ours," Lupin said, "when we were at school. Marcus was the only Slytherin that we were ever friendly with. We were always on good terms with him, despite the fact that he was Snape's best friend."
Harry growled at the sound of the traitor's name. Ginny made the sound of an angry cat, while everyone else fumed silently.
"My grandfather," Arianna started again, not even flinching at the sound of Snape's name, "told me that he told all of my parent's friends that they were dead. He didn't want you to come looking for them."
Remus hung his head in sadness. "We had a funeral and everything," he said, "Why were we never told about this? We never even knew that they had children."
"You'd already lost them once," Arianna retorted, "My grandfather planned to tell you once he was sure that we were safe. When my parents were killed, you were just beginning to get over their deaths. He couldn't put you through that grief again."
The werewolf nodded, his face grave with the thought of his dead friends.
"Why was I never told of these people," Harry asked, "No one ever mentioned any Marcus and Vivian."
"Vivian was Dumbledore's daughter," Remus said, "She was the only child he ever had. No one ever really liked to mention her because we knew that the memory would only hurt him. Besides, explaining them to you would just be showing you more people who were close to you parents that you could never know. We didn't see the point in mentioning them."
Harry nodded and turned to Arianna. "You couldn't have survived the same way I did," he said, "or Voldemort would have been vanquished then."
"That is correct, Harry," she said with the same sparkle in her eye that her grandfather had had, "my survival of the curse was completely different. But there is one thing that we share."
She reached up to her shirt collar, which was in the shape of a 'v' and left most of her neckline exposed. With her left hand, she pulled the collar farther away from her neck, revealing the smooth skin underneath. There, exactly over her heart, was a lightning-bolt shaped scar just like Harry's.
Every one gasped for the third time since her arrival. Harry stared, transfixed, at the scar and reached his hand up to his forehead to trace his own with his finger.
"Why did Dumbledore never tell me," he asked, "How could he not tell me about you? I honestly never thought he had a family."
"For one thing," Arianna said, "you never asked. And for another, he was protecting me. You may have been his favorite student, Harry, but I was his blood. He wasn't going to just go around announcing my existence to the world."
Harry blushed. Of course Dumbledore would put the safety of his grandchild before the satisfaction of Harry's curiosity.
"Don't feel embarrassed," she said in a kind voice so like Dumbledore's, "He was so upset that he couldn't tell you about me. I was too in fact. But he said that I had to hide until I turned seventeen. I only ever met a couple of people from the order. But he always told me stories about you." Arianna's eyes sparkled with admiration now, " He loved to brag about how you and your friends Ron and Hermione saved the Sorcerers Stone. And about how you killed that basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. And at the end of your third year, oh he just went on and on about how much bravery and love you showed upon saving Sirius. Then, when you took on the Hungarian Horntail and rescued your friend and that other little girl from the lake, he just gushed for hours. He couldn't believe how caring you were to stay and make absolutely sure that everyone got back alright."
"He told you all that," Harry asked, his face growing hotter with every word.
"Harry," Arianna said seriously, "he thought of you like family. You were the grandson he never had. He was gutted that he had to keep secrets from you. But your godfather was worse. He always said that you would kill him when you found out that he had know something so important and didn't tell you."
"You knew Sirius," Harry asked in surprise.
"Yeah," she said, "he popped into my grandfather's house to talk about something and found me sitting on the couch, reading. When Grandpa got back from work he explained everything and then made Sirius promise not to tell you."
"I thought Dumbledore lived at Hogwarts," Harry said in surprise.
"No, he just stayed over there sometimes," Arianna said, "he had a privet portkey that took him from his office to our house and back."
"But you didn't answer my first question," Harry said, "How did you survive?"
Arianna turned around and pulled a knife from the counter. Without warning she raised it in the air with her right hand and slashed it across her left arm leaving a very deep cut behind. Everyone shrieked in horror. Mrs.Weasley lunged at her and took the knife from Arianna. She bunched her apron up in her hand and prepared to clean the wound before her.
But then, before Molly could do anything, the wound began to heal itself. It was like watching a film on rewind. Soon, without spilling even a drop of blood, the cut was gone and not even a scar remained in its place. Even the knife was now devoid of blood. Every one stood staring at her with their mouths hanging open.
"You—your—your immortal," Harry stammered.
"The only thing that ever had enough power to even scar me," she said, "was the curse that Voldemort used against me when I was a baby. I'm not sure that it would even leave that much if I got hit with it now, since I'm older and stronger."
"So," Lupin interjected, "what is it that you plan to do here?"
"Well," she said, "I came to take over command of the Order."
"Excuse me," Kingsley spoke for the first time.
"It is stated in my grandfather's will that I am to take over for him as leader of the Order of the Phoenix," Arianna said, smiling genially at everyone.
The Order members were staring dumbly at her as though she had grown another head. They were shocked that Dumbledore would leave this girl in charge of his affairs.
"Alright," she cleared her voice and became more business like, "we have some plans that we need to go over. All those of you who are not members of the Order must please leave the room now. Except Harry," she added at the end.
"If it's alright with you," Harry said, "could Hermione, Ron and Ginny stay with me. They'll beat any information I get out of me anyways."
Arianna stepped towards Harry and his friends with a wry smile. Looking over Harry's shoulder she said, "You must be Ron."
"Y—Y—Yes," he said nervously.
"My my, you sure are handsome," she said sweetly causing Ron's ears to turn red, "Of course I knew how cute Harry was from all those pictures Dumbledore showed me. That Creevey boy took them all the time. But I only ever saw pictures of you when you were younger."
Harry blushed at this reference to his looks. He felt Ginny clutch his arm protectively and saw that Hermione was doing the same to Ron. Both girls were giving Arianna looks of deepest loathing.
"And you must be Hermione," Arianna said, turning her smile to Ron's left, "My grandfather told me how smart you were. I believe you got all O's and one E on your O.W.L's?" It was Hermione's turn to blush now. She had no idea that Dumbledore cared enough about her to remember all of her grades. "But he never told me what a beautiful young lady you were. There goes the theory that smart girls aren't pretty."
"Thank you, your majesty," Hermione mumbled.
"Oh, for goodness sake," Arianna said, "we're family now. You can call me Ari."
"Okay, Ari," Hermione said, thrilled at the thought of being on a first name basis with the future queen of wizard kind.
"And you," she said turning to Harry's right, "have simply got to be Ginny. I hear that you have one hell of a bat-bogey hex." Now Ginny was as red as the rest of them, "Powerful, beautiful and a Weasley to boot. That's one scary triple threat."
"I'll be a Potter before long," Ginny said to Ari whose eyes widened in surprise. Ginny showed her the ring and her eyes got even wider.
"Is this," Ari's voice was hushed, "is this…Lily's ring?"
"How did you know," Ginny asked.
"My grandfather showed it to me when I was young," Ari said, "He said that it was my godmother's most prized possession. He used to let me wear it when I was really upset. It always cheered me up."
"Then I'm even more honored to wear it," Ginny said solemnly.
Ari smile at her before she pried her eyes from the ring and put on her business like expression again.
"We need to decide how things are gonna go," she said stepping back and addressing those who were left standing around the kitchen, "I've got a lot of plans that need to be carried out as soon as possible. First off, which of you is Arthur Weasley?"
Mr. Weasley stepped forward and raised his hand. Ari looked at him and said, "I need you to take me to the ministry with you tomorrow. I need to announce my existence to Scrimgeour and the rest of the wizarding world before I can assume the throne."
"We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning," he said.
"And where is Nymphadora Tonks," Ari asked now, looking around.
Tonks stepped forward and said, "That'll be me."
"You are a metamorphmagus, are you not?"
Tonks nodded briskly and Ari said, "Good, I've got a group of about twenty or thirty metamorphers who need a trainer. They're in Egypt, awaiting my arrival. Are you up to the task of training them?"
"Excuse my, your highness," Tonks said, "but why is it that they need instruction?"
"They're muggles," Ari said, "They have no idea what they're doing."
"I didn't think that it was possible for muggles to be metamorphmagi," Tonks said curiously.
"Weird, huh," Ari said raising her eyebrows, "but they can't do any other magic and they have no wizarding family, so they're classified as muggles."
"I will train them," Tonks said confidently.
"Remus Lupin," Ari called now. He stepped forward and faced her.
"You were a friend of my parents, where you not?"
He nodded, his face still a little sad from the mention of their deaths.
"In wizarding Egypt," Ari told him, "werewolves are some of the most respected beings in existence. It would go against tradition for me not to have one on my council."
Remus looked somewhat confused by what she had said but did not comment. "I need someone I can trust. Someone who my grandfather trusted. I would like to ask you to be a member of my royal council. It would give you and the Order a lot of power in the government."
"Would it be required that I live in Egypt," he asked.
"You will, of course, be spending some time there," she said, "But it would not have to be a permanent residence. If you like, I could set up a suite inside the palace for your own privet use. Or, if you'd prefer, you could buy a vacation home. Your salary would be rather large. You could have a home here and in Egypt, if you like."
Harry smiled. There was no one more deserving of an opportunity like this than Remus. Tonks, Harry noticed, also seemed rather excited at the idea of a vacation home in Egypt.
"I don't know," Remus said, "it sounds awfully grand. And I don't accept charity."
"Charity," Ari said, "this isn't charity. I need you to do this for me. You're the only werewolf I know of that I'm sure I can trust. You were a friend of my parents and my grandfather. I need you."
"I don't see why I would have to make so much money," Remus said.
Ari looked taken aback and slightly affronted, "Why," she said, "it would simply be indecent for a royal councilor to make any less than a minister of magic. Your job would be very important. I can't have someone working so high up in my government without paying them well."
Lupin looked at Tonks. "What do you think," he asked.
Tonks looked at him as though he were insane. "If you don't take this job, I'll go out and get bitten so I can take it for you." He laughed at her and she said, "Besides, it would be good for the Order. Would he have any power over the government here?"
"Just as much, if not more than the minister," Ari said, "I told you, in Egypt werewolves are very highly regarded. No one will argue with the amount of power I give him. And if they do, I'll just tell them to piss off."
"I'll do it," he said, "Just so long as you don't expect me to act like a dirty politician."
Ari laughed and said, "Absolutely not."
She turned away from Remus now and said, "I need to speak with Bill, Charlie, Fred and George Weasley."
They all stepped forward, Fred and George more enthusiastically than the other two. "How can we help you," Fred asked, taking Ari's hand and kissing it.
"We would be honored to do anything you like," said George, taking her other hand and kissing it. Ari laughed indulgently and Bill and Charlie yanked them away from her by their shirt collars.
"In fact," Ari said, "I have a very important job for you."
They both stood up a little straighter and Fred said, "You name it."
"I need you to give me all the records of your transactions at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," she said seriously, "And I want you to install a kind of security system so that you can monitor all your customers. If anyone looks suspicious, kick them out and put a ban on them. I don't want the Death Eater to get a hold of your goods anymore."
They nodded and immediately began whispering with each other about the best way to go about these plans.
"Charlie," she said, looking at shorter of the other two brothers, "I need you to secure all the dragons that you can. I think that Voldemort may have plans that involve them. And I want you to take four of five trained ones to my palace in Egypt after my coronation. I want to see if we may be able to use them against the Death Eaters. They're especially important because they aren't affected by dementors."
"Yes, ma'am," Charlie said, "I'll get right on that."
"Bill," Arianna said, turning to the oldest Weasley brother, "I need to know how much money Mr. Bagman owed those goblins from Gringotts."
"I think," Bill said thoughtfully, "he owed them about three thousand, four hundred and eleven galleons, give or take a few sickles."
"Wow," Ari said, while everyone else in the room made noises of disgust, "okay. I need you to take this purse," she pulled a black velvet purse from her robes, "and, as soon as possible, go to Gringotts vault 925 and get four thousand, five hundred galleons out of my account. That's enough extra to make them shut up about interest rates."
"Yes ma'am," Bill said, echoing his brother, "Would you like me to say that it's from Bagman?"
"That would be best, I think," she said.
"But, your Highness," he said, "even if we pay them back they may still join the Dark Lord if he offers them freedom."
"I'll take care of their freedom, Bill," Ari said gently, "That's one of the first things I plan on doing when I take the throne. And you can all call me Ari, you know. I'm not just giving Harry special treatment."
"What about us," Ron said, "is there something that you want us to do?"
"You four will be working with me," Ari said, "I need you, Ron and Harry, to help me with my wizarding army. I've got about a hundred or so elite soldiers who will be at your command. They only answer to you two and to me, understand?"
"What are we, generals," Harry asked.
"That is exactly what you are," Ari said, "But you are only to use them in the event of a battle. All four of us will be spending most of our time looking for horcruxes."
"And us," Hermione asked.
"There is a special force of witches that I want you and Ginny to work with when you have the time," Ari said, "There are some powerful forms of magic that only women are capable of. Grandpa said that if anyone knows how to use it its you, Hermione."
Hermione blushed and Ginny looked confused. "Female magic," she asked.
"Hermione will show you properly later," Ari told her, "but there are some spells that were created in the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt by the female pharaoh, Hatchepsut. They are not usable by men and they are very potent. They can be used to control the elements."
Ginny looked fascinated now and the others were rather intrigued as well. Ron looked as though he was about to complain about magical sexism, but kept quiet.
"What about Snape," Harry asked her now, casing several people to hiss angrily, "Are we gonna go look for him?"
"Of course," Ari said calmly.
"What are you gonna do," Harry asked, wondering if he would be allowed to watch.
"I'm going to go to the next Death Eater meeting," she said, "after my coronation. And I'm going to strike a bargain with Voldemort to get him to hand over Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape."
"But what do you plan to do with Snape after you've got a hold of him," Harry asked.
"Well," she said, "I'm going to protect him of course."
