Is sad Once Upon a Time ended. So I made a crossover with it.
For the longest time, she had felt disjointed. Awkward.
As if her body wasn't her own.
It wasn't just her body either. Even using a wand to cast spells felt inherently wrong and she couldn't explain why. Worse was the horrible feeling that she was being deliberately set up for something that wouldn't end well for anyone, especially her.
It was strange, how every time she looked at Dumbledore she kept mentally replacing the word "headmaster" with "king". An incompetent king at that.
Then again, there was probably a simple reason for that.
Dumbledore lived in a castle, mingled with important heads of state and politicians, ruled over several nobility, and generally ate while sitting on a throne. Just looking at the chairs around him proved it was an honest-to-Loki throne, and not simply a high backed chair.
The very fact no one else had noticed this disturbed her greatly. That they had essentially named Dumbledore a king in all but name and rank.
He wasn't even from an old bloodline, and she had checked. He only got those titles he used after dealing with Grindlewald and his line wasn't that old to begin with. He was a half-blood, same as herself and Voldemort.
The entire thing bugged her to no end, and she unconciously distanced herself from the old man.
It took Sirius' death and the revelation that Dumbledore fully planned to martyr her for a prophecy he apparently believed in just so everyone else could get their "happy ending" except for the "savior" that caused her to snap.
Something inside her soul woke up and took notice, and a dark malevolence filled her heart.
So Dumbledore wanted to sacrifice a single orphan just so he could play the hero again and possibly redeem his own soul?
Happy Endings didn't work like that. A true Happy Ending did not require the sacrifice of an innocent child in the name of the Greater Good. If he wanted to redeem his own conscience so badly, then he should be the one doing the sacrificing, not someone who he had failed so spectacularly because he was too blind to realize the damage he was doing.
Hope Potter had entered that office, hoping to make sense of Sirius' needless death at the hands of Bellatrix.
The Evil Queen Regina woke up with a vengeance, pissed beyond belief that the senile old man thought to use her to create his happy ending while denying hers.
The only thought on her mind as she left that office was that if she couldn't have a happy ending after being reborn thanks to that simpering fool Snow White, then she wasn't going to let anyone else have one either.
It was time for the Evil Queen to show the foolish old men how a woman took charge.
And she already had her first target in mind.
Spies were only useful so long as you had a clear idea of where their loyalties laid. Having a double agent was ridiculous, especially if there were no redundancies in place to confirm the information.
"Potter! Twenty points from Gryffindor for missing the feast!" barked Snape.
Snape only realized his error when he saw Hope's hand in his chest. She easily removed his heart and he stared in horror as she oh so slowly squeezed it, causing him unimaginable pain and agony.
"Hope isn't here anymore professor," she said smiling in a way that sent chills to his very soul. "And I think you'll find very quickly that things are going to change around here. Now, what's the password to the Slytherin dorms? I have some fools who need a reminder who is really in charge."
Snape found himself compelled to answer, staring in horror at the heart in her hands.
He had heard of heart magic before, but he had never seen it actually performed. It required a certain level of competence in dark magic as well as wandless magic...two things Potter had never displayed before now.
In the Slytherin dorms
Blaize had felt the shift in the air long before it hit them. Something had changed in the flow of magic, and it was going to take the enclaves by storm long before it was over.
Even so, seeing Potter lead Professor Snape into the Slytherin dorms with a heart in her hand was not was he expected. There was something about the way she held herself that had Blaize far more wary of her than he had been before.
This was not Potter. This was someone else. Someone powerful.
It was only logical Draco would attempt to assert control and find out what was going on while goading Potter. The fact he had yet to pick up that this was not the same girl he had spent years harassing like a child didn't speak well of his survival instincts.
It was the smooth, almost natural way Potter shoved her hand into Draco's chest and easily pulled out his heart that tipped Blaize off to whom they were dealing with.
He had heard that She had cast a curse, but there was always a chance that the heroes would find a way to throw one hell of a wrench in her plans without actually killing her for it.
Let it be said that Blaize Zabini was no one's fool, because he walked right up to "Potter" who was giving everyone a Look that said volumes of what she would do to anyone who dared to challenge her reign.
He looked her dead in the eye and bowed the same way one would to visiting royalty or higher nobility and said loudly enough for everyone's benefit...
"How may we serve the Evil Queen, your majesty?"
Dead silence.
"Have you lost your mind, Zabini?" hissed Draco. "Since when is Potter royalty, much less a Queen?"
Potter, no, Regina squeezed Draco's heart just shy of crushing it to shut the fool up.
"How amusing that someone would recognize me so easily."
"My mother is from the Enchanted Forest, and she showed me memories of your court," he replied. "She spoke rather highly of your ability to reign in the peasants, even if the Princess was an overly naive fool who didn't understand the realities of ruling."
Regina smirked.
"And you think I will be inclined to show mercy simply because you recognize me?"
"No, I just want to make it very clear I have every intention of either joining your side or getting the hell out of the way of your plans. Only a fool would side with the so called 'Lords' when they're about to face a woman trained by the Dark One himself," said Blaize bluntly. "Besides, even being under your rule would be better than having to deal with the corrupt incompetent fools we have in charge now. The only thing the peasantry cares about is that things are kept running, and they can easily learn to live with your quirks."
Regina considered that.
"I may have a use for you later," she acknowledged. Her memories and personality had yet to fully integrate with this body, and she still had quite a bit of work to do before she was ready to blaze ahead. She then looked around at the Slytherins with a sneer on her face. "Anyone else want to follow Draco's example and challenge me?"
One particularly dense seventh year who already had the mark drew his wand and it was clear he intended to attack.
Regina had absolutely no qualms ripping his heart out, and to the shock of everyone in the room save for Blaize, crushed it. The seventh year collapsed, dead.
Seeing that made Draco and Snape pale openly as she still had their hearts in her hands. The fact she promptly conjured up a large fireball without hesitation and set one of the tapestries ablaze made it clear that she was not one they could cross and live to tell about it.
Blaize however smirked and kept his silence.
He was already patting himself on the back for making his allegiance clear from the start. He would rather join the side of a notorious sorceress who had no qualms in killing her enemies or even those who got on the wrong side of her bad mood than either of the fools currently in play.
Finally one brave witch spoke.
"Question...if we join your side are we allowed to kill our future 'husbands' that our families picked for us if they aren't to our liking?" asked Tracey Davies.
"So long as you know who you serve and don't betray me I could care less if you happen to put some fool in their place. The current system is overdue for a shake up to begin with, especially when it comes to the inbreeding issue," said Regina flatly.
Did she really look like the person who cared if a witch decided to outright murder their betrothed when their parents were the ones to make the contract up? If she could have gotten away with it and had a few less morals back then, she would have happily killed Snow's father long before the marriage and taken Daniel up as her consort in a heartbeat.
Tracey looked darkly satisfied at that.
"Count me in," said Tracey. "I never liked that fool my parents were planning to marry me off to anyway."
"Me as well. I'll not leave Tracey alone," said Daphne flatly.
Slytherins might be cunning, but at the core of it they were all cowards only in it for themselves. Not even pale imitations of the Dark One, from the stories she had heard. He would have had these pathetic 'wizards' eating out of his hands within less than a week.
Regina was stopped on the way to the Gryffindor dorms by a very curious individual.
Luna Lovegood tilted her head and looked at her seriously. Regina almost shivered, as she could feel the weight behind Luna's "dazed" expression and odd speech.
"It's very nice to meet you properly, your majesty."
Regina paused. Luna had always struck her as more than just an 'odd' girl, and a lot of times her words hit the mark a bit too easily for it to be normal.
"You're a Seer, aren't you?"
Luna brightened at her.
"When you're ready, I can tell you how to find the Princess who thinks she's won. It might not be a bad thing for there to be two Saviors, even if they are Gray rather than light or dark," said Luna cheerfully.
Which meant Luna knew were Snow White was. Though Regina had to wonder what she meant by two saviors.
Luna looked at her, eyes clear and very sane.
"While the prophecy was highly misinterpreted, you were still marked a Savior at birth. It's hardly your fault that the false king never thought to verify which dark lord it spoke of," she said clearly.
False king suited Dumbledore perfectly.
"What of Riddle?"
"I think someone such as yourself can easily find a way to deal with a phalactery, your majesty."
Regina had to groan.
Of course, that explained everything. She should have guessed herself that Voldemort was stupid enough to split his soul and shove them into containers.
Dealing with them would be easy, once she had the right ingredients. It was a good thing she had been reborn with her magic intact.
Luna looked at her sadly.
"Can we still be friends, even though you got your memories back?" she asked hopefully.
Regina couldn't help but feel sympathy for the little seer. Which was why she did something uncharacteristically 'nice' and pulled the little blond into a hug.
"Of course we can be friends. Every queen needs a trusted handmaiden to help them," said Regina. "Especially with the royal hairstyles...they can be such a pain."
Luna brightened at that.
It began with a whisper, soft as the wind.
There was a charge in the air that spoke of great change.
Upon learning the Blacks had a castle that they allowed to fall apart, she had ordered it rebuilt and warded to her satisfaction. The goblins were no more fools than Zabini was. They had taken one look at her and all but lined up in formation once she entered the bank.
Not only were they more than 'happy' to assist her in asserting her dominance, they also shared her dislike of dwarves.
To be fair, she probably earned a lot of brownie points by calling dwarves a 'bunch of drunken louts who were good for nothing but mining'.
She might be a bit biased.
Blaize looked decidedly smug about the whole thing, as did Tracey and Daphne.
It was rather nice to have some actual female friends to discuss fashion with. While Regina could appreciate the simplicity of the modern outfits, some of them left much to be desired.
At the very least she had upgraded her wardrobe. Some might call her wardrobe "outdated", but if anyone dared to ask she would honestly claim she had a preference for the fantasy genre. It didn't help that her favorite series was Lord of the Rings.
Right now she was wearing a much darker varient of Arwen's dress, complete with the Evenstar pendant she gave Aragorn.
Fortunately the magical enclaves in the UK were so outdated that no one would really question her fashion choices. It was considered "appropriate" for an unmarried witch among the older pure bloods, according to both Daphne and Tracey.
If anything they found the dresses "stylishly retro" and they found the fact muggles can and did wear them out in public very surprising.
Regina had to wonder how they'd react to a medieval reenactment festival. Then again they had been looking through catalogs of outfits from the 'fantasy' genre for their own dresses.
Blaize's mother was rather proud of her son for swearing fealty so quickly...once she confirmed it was Regina they were dealing with.
"We have most of the neutral pureblood factions locked in, save for the odd family that has prior obligations to either faction. Revealing Riddle made Horcruxes as well as the fact Dumbledore's little club was so callously abusing the Rites of Hospitality of an Ancient and Noble house did a great deal to sway their opinion. That, and you haven't broken their trust like they have yet," said Daphne.
"The Dark families will join you once they see your power or when they realize the tide has turned to your camp. Those that don't are lost causes anyway and no one will particularly mourn them save as a loss source of 'pure' blood," said Blaize. "The Light side, of course will be on your side until they realize you're not their poster child or Dumbledore's protege anymore...then it will be a toss-up."
"What of the DA?" asked Regina.
"Some members might be a bit problematic, but the majority of them will likely side with you," said Luna.
"Who do you think will be an issue?"
"Ron and Hermione, for starters. However those such as Neville, the twins, Susan, Hannah and others will firmly side with you. The adults have been keeping us all in the dark and those in charge now were ineffective at dealing with the situation then as they are now. With Riddle out in the open, once the adults fail to do anything meaningful they will almost certain join up with us as long as you do something very public to turn the tide," said Luna.
Regina resisted the urge to snort.
It was the same with any 'young' generation. When the cries of war were heard, they would follow whoever they thought would "do something".
When the adults failed, they would join the side of the loudest voice actually making a difference in the fight.
And with how many new bloods the government managed to piss off, as well as the fact that the 'bad guys' had a rather nasty habit of targeting anyone who wasn't from their little 'group', odds were she wouldn't have any issue with recruiting people to fight in her name.
She didn't care how old or new their blood was...she wanted competence and skill.
"How long until we go public?" asked Tracey eagerly.
Regina smirked.
"Remember how I had you watch those mundane movies?"
"You mean like that one about the muggles with odd powers, and the one with the odd mask?" asked Daphne.
"'Those that do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it'," said Regina. "All we have to do is wait for the attacks to start, then we incite the other students into a frenzy. We borrow a few inspirational words of wisdom from other leaders of men, hijack a few stations and make it clear that we intend to fight back and throw out the current idiots who caused this mess by worrying more about power than the people they're supposed to serve."
Regina smirked.
"By the time the old men realize what's going on, it will be too late."