Disclaimer: The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.
Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.
1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .
2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.
3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.
4) THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.
For your references
"Talk"
"Parseltongue"
Previously
Cordelia gains her majority. Her metamorphagus abilties outshine her and she goes through rapid color changes and textures. Tom and she have a candid chat about her beauty where he assures her that he would love her regardless of her scruffy hair or scars.
As they discuss Slughorn's spring equinox, Cordelia realizes that she never explained the noble history to Tom and promises to remedy it. Meanwhile, they receive a package from Gringotts. Tom's protection is enclosed, but they also send a chest with 2 habitat protected eggs. Cordelia figures that goblins know of her majority and this is a parley move.
Cordelia fills Tom in on the history of founders, the wizarding council and nobilities, the founding of ministry of magic, Hogwarts heads and board of the school, the outlawing of dark magic and the argument that Grindelwald is using.
The two eggs hatch and Cordelia names the two additions, Ladon (for the yellow eyed one) and Styx (for the black eyed one).
Chapter 37
Familiars for Magicae
Cordelia's POV
Ladon and Styx were slightly longer than her palm. She looked at them slithering in the elaborate nest Tom and she had created for them. Thankfully, she had known what to feed them.
Magical Boomslangs and Magical Mambas were very rare, almost considered extinct, very much guarded by natives of their respective homelands. They were not very different from their typical counterparts, except that their scales, venom and entire being had magical properties. Perfect magical conduits. While other snakes would burn out if used for channeling magic, they wouldn't. The eggshells were very valuable. While they were not solid silver like Occamy, they were still very powerful magical ingredients.
These two were lucky that goblins found them and decided that putting them under the protection of a magicae was the best.
They were barely a day old and could not even understand Parseltongue yet. It would take at least a week before that happened. But she had imprinted on them and they had recognized her as a guardian.
Jormy was ecstatic at the thought of young, impressionable snakes. And Tom, her darling Tom had just looked at her with joy, albeit he was a bit miffed.
Apparently, he had been searching for snakes to gift her, for her healing parselmagic but nothing had satisfied him. Those that did were class A non-tradeable or rare or extinct.
Mambas and Boomslangs were vicious. They had a magical hide, resistant to most spells, with venom that was not yet treatable after 5 minutes.
Tom was a bit miffed that goblins had beat him to the task, but he was happy to observe that Cordelia would now be able to expand and explore more healing in parselmagic.
Styx was a black mamba, dark grey scales, a black mouth and black glittering eyes. Ladon, on the other hand, had greenish scales. There would be flecks of black coming soon as he grew older. His eyes were pitch black with yellow and pale green circles and unlike Styx, the flesh of his mouth was pinkish and fleshier.
"It's time," Tom murmured from the door.
Cordelia turned around. Tom's eyes widened slightly. He had not glimpsed her in the dress robes yet.
Slughorn's spring equinox party had officially begun about 20 minutes ago and Tom and she, while normally punctual, did not want to subject themselves to the closer space they would be sharing with Slughorn in the early hour of the party.
They were both in formal robes, coordinated in fact. Green would have been predictable and while black was classic, it really did not imbibe the spirit of spring. She wore a silvery gown with dark grey embroidered flowers with light grey leaves all over it, semi-formal in its style, from its raglan sleeves to the flaring skirt beneath her bosom.
Tom wore a dark grey robe with a hint of silver piping at the collar and the cuffs. His outfit did not scream spring. Men always had to dress in a singular manner regardless of the season. The only thing was that this was a lighter material than what you would wear in winter.
Her hair were tied in an intricate braid entwined with moonflowers and hyacinths. She wore no neckpiece but her earrings were a goblin created perfection of white gold, moonstones and diamonds. They were small, not too flashy but they spoke a lot regardless. Cordelia wanted to make a statement but with subtle undertones.
Tom wore his lord ring and while his cuffs were white gold and diamonds, they weren't goblin made.
Tom's POV
Tom supposed that he should not really be surprised. When had Cordelia not been beautiful? Most of the time, it was an effortless, guileless beauty.
Tom really did not think that her bedhead or her tired visage after a long day was something she put effort into. He was beholden to them just the same.
She was easily the most beautiful woman then.
But her standing there in robes when she had made the effort to look more beautiful than usual, she looked ethereal.
He strode forward, shaking himself of his stupor and offered her both his hands which she took in between hers with a smile. He brought them up and kissed them gently, "It would be useless to try and describe how you look."
It earned him a beam and a kiss on his cheek.
In retrospect, Cordelia's face and the reminder of her lips on his cheek was what saw him through the rest of the evening.
It was ghastly and dull. If he thought Slytherin was a poor case of power shuffles, this was even worse because of the pretense. But of course, he and Cordelia waded through it with polite, impassive smiles, indulging Heir Macmilan's pompous bragging about his father's connections in ministry, Heir Avery's claims of his father's astuteness (as if they would believe it after the betrothal of Julia with the Carrows), Augusta Fawley's rather probing, judgmental statements and even going as far as to ignore the jabs Heir Yaxley made towards Blacks.
However, they did not ignore when Cassius Zabini made an uncouth remark about Cordelia's appearance. Tom had immediately responded to it viciously, demanding an apology. They did not ignore when Proudfoot would go after the muggleborns in the court, but thankfully Sebastian and Burke came through on that end, defending the decisions.
That gave them an opening for talking about Wizarding culture and the much needed assimilation that happens. That made the evening more tolerable but Tom could not wait to just get out of there.
Dinner was a pretentious affair with several courses, with too rich and decadent dishes.
"What kind of spring menu is this?" Titania had mumbled over the rather unbearable fourth course.
And it was as if a dam broke with her statement, as everyone around her groaned or assented to her statement.
However it had been, having Cordelia with him more than made up for it. If their whispered exchanged about everyone had party had kept his brains charged, then the stolen moments throughout the affair had been more than worth it.
Evelyn's POV
Evelyn had heard all about the Slughorn's Spring Equinox gala. She was not popular enough to garner an invitation, even though she was now outed as the girl who hung around the Black Heiress.
But as it had been established, Evelyn was rather observant. She had heard and seen the plans that Cordelia, Tom and the rest of the inner circle had for the political maneuvering. She had seen the hungover invitees the next morning.
"Gore spiked the punch," Abraxas whispered to her as she sat in front of Cordelia who was scolding Alphard over his bloodshot eyes.
"Even if she had not, people had snuck in sufficient alcohol. Moreover, Sluggie got so drunk that he even let Zabini raid his personal bar. We finished several bottles of his vintage wine and whiskey. He is going to be in for a surprise when he sobers up." Burke told her with a great deal of enjoyment.
In the next hour of breakfast, she got all the details of the night, including a cat fight between Augusta Fawley and Milicent Bagnold, the garbs of everyone, and that Tom and Cordelia had started directing the conversation around the room pretty quickly.
"She has been pretty subdued in the house too," Evelyn told Titania on Bagnold.
"I do not have sympathies. Bagnold is from the breed of women who enjoy bringing other women down for scaling up. I know an alliance or truce is on the mind of many here, keeping her talents in mind but Bagnold will not find camaraderie with that toxic attitude." Titania said rather scathingly.
"She held her own though. It must not have been easy going against the daughter of a noble house and Fawley is as quick with the tongue, perhaps a bit bolder." Prince pointed out.
"It would have gotten ugly if Charlie had not proclaimed Cordelia's beauty in his inebriated state."
"Charlie?" Evelyn blinked.
"It was hilarious…" Pritchard began, "Here I was thinking that Dorea is going to give him one or two but she began nodding right alongside him about how beautiful Cordelia looked. And some drab about how it is pleasure to see her grow up into this women…"
"It was not funny. It was so mortifying. Only Burga seemed to get that!" Cordelia exclaimed, joining the conversation from somewhere.
"You should thank Tom for protecting you Dorea. If Cordelia had her way, you both would be drenched in punch or hit on faces or something. She was so angry." Burke said with amusement.
"Which I would have noted if someone did not slip me hard drinks without my knowledge. Mark my words, I am going to find you and you are going to regret it." Dorea slammed her cutlery down with force and anger that still sent much of the table chortling.
"Whatever…" Cordelia finished her pumpkin juice in a swig and addressed Evelyn, "Meet me in our nook in evening. I have to rush."
The next hour was spent in getting a minute by minute play for the Slug Club exclusive from the Madam Loren dress of Gore to Cordelia and Tom's coordinated Grey robes to what everyone did, said or implied.
Tom's POV
"Hello Evelyn, come up. Cordelia is in the foyer." Tom had Nyx squirming in his arms as he directed the hesitant Evelyn inside the Slytherin chambers. Nyx wanted to go poke at Styx and Ladon in the inner room (where Cordelia had created their habitats) because she found their shiny scales utterly fascinating but the baby snakes needed their sleep, undisturbed.
Cordelia had an imperturbable charm as well impervious, so all Nyx had been able to do in the past hour was butt her head against an invisible barrier.
While it had been hilarious and cute for some time, now Tom was worried that Nyx would just hurt herself in her stubbornness.
But of course, reasoning with a stubborn kneazle never worked, so Tom was struggling to hold Nyx as she used her claws to and teeth to gnaw on him.
Lux in comparison was happily asleep in Cordelia's lap. Tom envied him really! He would have just snuggled in despite propriety and all that if he did not want to shock Evelyn anymore than what Cordelia had already planned.
For the first time in over 400 years, the house of Black would offer to sponsor a muggleborn. Arcturus Black had no say in it because Cordelia was a Heiress and if she signed a pact, his disgruntlement could be shown through other avenues but he would be unable to reverse it.
A sponsorship would open so many doors to Evelyn. She would be de facto considered a member and daughter of House of Black. She would be bestowed with all the benefits that came along with it. She would also have to conduct herself as befit a Black.
Of course, while Cordelia wanted to do this for Evelyn as a friend, there was another angle here. If people saw that muggleborns could be as well bred as Evelyn, it would go over very well for smoothening relations and their politics.
It was exactly like the issue with women. There was already so much bias against having muggleborns within the system and it would linger even as they took steps. But they needed entry into the system.
The challenge was making people see and meet Evelyn. Why would a bunch of purebloods even make time to observe or see someone who was non-citizen in their eyes?
"It is not easy being a slogan, Tom. I would not put her through it if she did not understand the repercussions of this move on her being. She understands and I trust her ability to make a choice for herself, so I will make her the offer. But I will not push for it." Cordelia had told him after she detailed her plan and ran the entire thing by him.
She had thought this through very clearly. And his Lia had a thing, she would never use people as pawns in a game. They were always people to her.
When Evelyn nearly dropped her water goblet, Tom knew that Cordelia had loosened the cannon.
He went inside. This was Cordelia's move and she was more than adept to do this. His energy was better spent in trying to entertain Nyx.
Evelyn
To say Evelyn had a lot on mind was an understatement. A sponsorship was not offered lightly and it would not be rejected without a cost.
Of course, the talk had between friends. Cordelia told her that no one would know until she decided to accept it or wanted to disclose it. Tom knew, of course. So, she was sure that even if she said no, there would be no accompanying cost.
But this was unprecedented. It was an honor. She could not believe Cordelia's boldness and belief in Evelyn.
She had been upfront about the scrutiny it would bring along with the perks. She had also clearly described the political games at play in terms of blood politics. Evelyn would have known herself after she sat with it, but Cordelia had been forthright.
Evelyn did not know what to do. Take the opportunity and be constantly scrutinized or enjoy her life in the shadows.
She could not decide. She had written a code letter to her parents, asking for advice. Her parents were aware of Cordelia. She was mentioned in every letter Evelyn had sent home this year.
But well, she could focus on her problems later. Tom and Cordelia had called a rather crucial and secure meeting to disclose 2 important things.
From the buzz that was in the inner circle, they were all expecting an update regarding the whole Carrow-Lestrange situation. After how emotionally charged things had gotten last time, Evelyn was just praying that this all went smoothly.
Today was different, because the meeting was in Slytherin Chambers. All 4 houses were granted access to Slytherin common room and through it to Tom's personal chambers.
"It is better warded than anyplace else in Castle." Cordelia had quietly told Charlie and Tiberius when they had protested about violating Slytherin's privacy.
"We don't bite Potter. Look at Evelyn, she has been coming to our dungeons for ages. Don't you think it is about time you got comfortable with us Slytherins?" Walburga had jibed.
"It is not that Burga. I am a Gryffindor! I am not afraid of Slytherins. It just feels like trespassing." Charlie would say.
"How about all other houses host soirees and invite us on a later date?" Tom gently suggested.
"That's doable." Rowle shrugged.
"Is it alright though? The passwords are protected for a reason. And with the current reception that we are getting from certain people, I am unsure…" Gambol trailed off.
"Actually only Slytherin and Gryffindor use passwords. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw welcome all, pending a test. But you are all over-reacting. Cordelia got a signed permission from Slughorn. It was a 20 inches long parchment with appendixes on inter-house unity and movement. Slytherins also live in dungeons with the very people you are talking about, and we would make you privy if things were that dire. But I suppose Slytherins are used to hostility with how the school views us." Prince snapped.
There was an uncomfortable silence at that.
"You are all dunces if you think we have not covered bases. It is within the rules. You do not have to invite us back to your common rooms. The other group does not even show their face in the common areas at this stage. And Tom and I have still taken security measures. You are welcome to not join us for the meeting or leave in between if things seem unsafe. Regardless, every inner circle meeting is going to take place in the Slytherin Chambers because no other location is that secure. If there is something pressing and legitimate, you can write to me or Tom about it, we will see what we can do. Frankly after seeing this fear, I cannot believe that you all questioned Tom and I about keeping things because of the paranoia we expected." Cordelia said rather wryly.
That doused any protest.
Now, all the inner circle was sitting in the balcony of Slytherin chambers, delighted by the whole set up.
There were more round tables to accommodate people with an elaborate tea service and there were cushioned seats and tuffets all over.
And as Cordelia had said, the entrance had been smooth. The most obvious reaction had been nods that they had gotten from other people.
Now everyone was settled with their cups and lightly talking before the thing began.
Tom cleared his throat to begin, "Well, this is much lighter than most meetings will be. We are just going to update you on few crucial things."
There were nods all around.
"I am presuming that all of you have heard about my familiar Jormy at one point or the other. We have been keeping her under wraps because we feel that the school has had enough culture shocks at this point. Slytheris know her because she has been up and about in the dorms. Well, you get to meet her today." Tom spoke again and then hissed.
Out slithered a large, long snake from the living quarters. Everyone but the Slytherins froze.
For that matter, the snake ignored them and coiled itself around Tom's arms.
"An Apophis," Shafiq said gently.
At that Cordelia nodded and addressed others, "Meet Jormy. Her full name is Jormugandr and she is an Apophis, a magical snake with origins in Egypt as Waseem identified correctly. She is highly venomous and of course uses constriction because of her size. They are a rare breed with quite a bit of lore surrounding them, including being called queen of magical serpents. They eat everything from rodents and birds to other snakes. When she grows up more, she will be able to swallow up bigger mammals as well."
Most people would not notice it, but Cordelia had called Shafiq by his given first name. His equation had changed with Tom and Cordelia.
Tom stepped in then, "Of course, you can be at ease. She will not hurt you. Apart from the fact that she can communicate easily with me, she is also highly intelligent. She only ever gets visceral when Cordelia and I get hurt or are threatened. She also understands our common tongue, English and to an extent Egyptian strain of Arabic and…"
"Nubian," Cordelia supplied.
"So, she is usually a good judge of threats and can navigate between friendly japing and serious threats rather easily. Of course, her sense of smell just aids to that." Tom finished.
"She is beautiful," Gore had murmured. That got several affirmations.
And she was, the snake was gorgeous if you could ignore her lethality for one moment. She had a black body and copper and bronze specks all over. Her head was also distinctly shaped with a copper coloring on the hood giving it the look of a crown.
"She is also rather fond of making Alphard uncomfortable to the great fun of everybody in common room." Tom supplied, "Threaten Zabini and him with her and they usually back off."
Everyone chuckled.
And then the snake moved, it slithered across the room paying them no attention until it was climbing on Cordelia's legs and coiling itself around her neck like a garland.
Cordelia did not even blink or twitch through this, sipping her fruit tea without a care to the fact that an enormous snake was wrapping itself around her. She understood Tom's ease, Cordelia's comfort though was a little strange. There was an utter silence amongst the peers now.
"You do realize that on good days Jormy even lets Zabini pet her. She won't hurt me, not when she gets visceral if I am hurt." Cordelia said slowly.
Everyone shuffled in embarrassment.
"On to other matters. I understand everyone has been wary since we discussed the attacks. Jormy is going to be a layer of security for Tom. We are going to declare it to the court and then do what we must. So, you will be seeing her a lot more outside these chambers." Cordelia spoke again.
"That is a good idea. Nothing would deter people more." Applebee said faintly.
"People usually do give Jormy a wide breadth in the common room too." Orion smiled.
"We are also taking your input on keeping you abreast of key things. Only my family knows this one. But I would like the inner circle to know going forward. So here it goes," Cordelia said and then gave out a series of hisses to Jormy, who got alert and gave out a series of her own hisses.
Tom joined the hissing and it became a three-way conversation before they all quietened.
There was an utter silence until Dorea broke it, "It is a gift. Cordelia is the first Black to be able to speak to our family totem which is a runespoor. She already had such a strong affinity to family magic. This has just strengthened her."
"I know it is shocking, but I can only see this benefitting us." Abraxas added.
But they were both getting ahead of themselves. Most people were not thinking of the consequences of the gift but rather why it existed in the first place.
"You are a parselmouth," Tiberius gaped.
"There is no Slytherin blood in Blacks. At all. Unless we are missing crucial lineage information," Rowle piped in.
"I am a parselmouth, yes. I was not born this way, so it does not come from the Blacks." Cordelia agreed.
"How then?" Charlie piped in.
"It was a blood blessing I received when I was a mere toddler. In a blast of accidental magic, I apparated into the woods near my home. When my family located me, I had foreign runes on my head drawn with blood. They tried to understand what happened. Eventually, we got a letter of gratitude explaining what I had been gifted with. Our sense is that it was someone from a magical clan of sentient creatures or beings or a clan of magical people that are not in touch with the bureaucracy that communicates with our ministries." Cordelia explained.
"A blood blessing, you must have truly made an impression Cordelia." Prince whispered.
"Cordelia is just as fluent as I am. Her dialect is a little different from mine though. Different lilts when we speak." Tom said.
"And I did not get it all at once. It was much like learning any language, I advanced with age. Tom had a similar experience."
"Why hide it at all?" Gore asked.
"Why reveal it now? There must be a reason why it has been kept under wraps." Edmund Bones asked curiously.
"Well, that's a twofold answer. The first is that the letter that was sent explaining the gift was vague. Cordelia has spent much of her early life trying to understand it. Secondly, while I don't believe all of you were present for the conversation where we discussed Cordelia's status as a prize in the pureblood world. Well, imagine if Grindelwald got word about it. He is not interested in a bride, but he will be interested in this. So, a life of secrecy was much better." Tom began.
"As for revealing it now, stakes and power equations have shifted." Cordelia began, "Firstly, Tom and I are fairly sure our courtship will be able to hold overeager suitors at bay. Both of us also got our majorities in the past months, so we are fairly confident in our abilities to resist Grindelwald if we must or keep this under wraps in powerful oaths. Most importantly, I was recently presented with something for my status and I cannot deny the gift or my status as a parselmouth in light of it." Cordelia rolled her sleeves and there were thin leather cords tied around her wrists.
The cords moved. No, they slithered.
Cordelia made an introduction, "Meet Ladon and Styx, a magical boomslang and a magical mamba. Highly venomous and agile. Also, one of the best conduits of parselmagic, which I have been honing in secrecy. They are going to be my companions and security. They are very young, but they do understand me now. They hatched in front of me and we imprinted."
"They are about to be extinct. Whoever presented them to you must be resourceful?" Titania asked.
"You mentioned a status?"
"You cannot possibly have your majorities already. You are barely 15!" King looked exasperated.
"Yes King. We know you think of us as children. Frankly, I am done with appeasing your sense of age and wisdom and power. I find it tiresome. Next time you feel an urge to put us down for something like this, do us a favor and don't. Your criticism does not have takers and listeners." Tom snapped.
"About time," Longbottom and Potter muttered in sync.
Evelyn had heard that Gryffindors had some tension. King had been invited on Charlie's recommendation and when he had gotten overzealous, apparently Sebastian and him and even Gambol and Tiberius had words with him. But apparently it had been for naught.
"That means you are emancipated," Shafiq said.
"We are." Tom nodded.
"As for my status and my benefactors, let us just say that I have a unique understanding with goblins." Cordelia left it at that, "We plan on addressing the court on the matter of our familiars and my ability, but we wanted to let you all know first."
"Thank you for confiding is us, Heiress Black." Tiberius nodded sincerely.
"What will I have to do to get the scrap of either of their shed skin," Prince asked directly.
Cordelia chuckled, "We will talk Eileen. I actually had a bunch of ideas and things I wanted to run by you."
"That will be all for today unless there are questions or concerns. Walburga and Burke will be directing you outside. Jormy is going to tag along." Tom said.
" Tiberius, Charlie, Gambol, Sebastian, Burke, Pritchard Gore and Titania stay back. King you too." Cordelia piped in.
As Evelyn was passing, Cordelia discreetly passed her a note.
"I understand. Speak to your parents at Easter. A letter would be insufficient. I will wait."
The break began day after. She would nod.
Cordelia's POV
King was being a pain in the ass. He defied them, questioned them at every turn. Cordelia was not sure if she wanted him in the inner circle anymore.
There was a chance that he might slip information or defy direct orders or ignore requests. They did not have his respect or loyalty.
But of course, he knew so much that Tom and she were afraid of him going rogue.
So, she decided to address it in a meeting with his year mates. Tom was going to take the lead mostly because King was not just lording on them because of age, he had a misogynistic streak that made him question Cordelia to the point where she became murderous.
"What exactly is your problem with us King?" Tom would ask as they sat around in circle. He would sip his tea and go on, "I have tried to be understanding of the fact that following younger people can be jarring so I have given you time. Cordelia has given you time even though your attitude towards her has been even less stellar. In fact, all the senior members of the inner circle have noted it and brought it to us. So, we discuss and end this today. And you need to help us understand."
"Well, we are waiting." Burke would say after silence.
"If you had such massive problems with Cordelia and Tom's leadership, you should not have agreed when the offer was made, and oaths were taken. You are defying oaths and honor." Sebastian would say simply.
King would not react.
"You underestimate Cordelia. You underestimate women at court. This is not about your alliance with light or your allegiance to Gryffindor. You look at me like I am dirt. I have had enough." Gambol's nostrils would flare.
"Charlie was the one who recommended you. He does not seem to think that you take us seriously. Your housemates have had a chat with you. You have not responded. What exactly is it that you hope to achieve by this bizarre apathy and defiance?" Tom would ask.
Tom and she could have taken another route. It was so easy to intimidate people or to influence them or dispose them off or silence them.
Cordelia was trying to play by the rules in this one though. King had not done tangible harm. He was just insubordinate. So, they will give him a chance.
"What about us irks you?" Tom would say.
"This is what bothers me Lord Slytherin. You both are so sure of yourself. You are cocky, she is smug. When you don't have right to that kind of pride. You are both here because of noble nepotism and sheer dumb luck. The rest of them follow you like you have something to achieve that reverence," King would almost spit it out.
There was shock across the table.
"They are the first people to include all bloods and classes into everything. If anybody is nepotistic it is you. You protested Jade's involvement, calling her a pig farmer's daughter." Sebastian would sputter.
"Out-duelling everyone in school, including you is not dumb luck. You are blind." Titania would say.
"Granted, they got the chances because of their noble origins, King. But they have been deeply aware of it. If they were nepotistic, they would not be inviting counsels nor deny family from being a part of the court." Tiberius would say calmly.
"Saving my life was not dumb, nor based on luck. She is powerful, and she is a good person." Charlie would say quietly. Cordelia felt for him. He had been taking responsibility for King's behavior because he was the one who recommended him.
Well, it was enough to make her step into things.
"You are a blithering idiot. But hey, at least you are honest." Cordelia would say, "Pardon me, but what you are saying is still drivel and my patience has run thin."
There were very few occasions where Cordelia liked showing off. Today was one of them.
The teapots and teacups all started hovering and going away. All the people in the meeting were taken off the seats and gently planted on another corner of the room. The tables and chair vanished. Until, it was just her and King standing.
She would raise her finger in an upward action to make him float up, "This is so you don't doubt my power again. "
King was shocked.
"I agree. Nobility has played a role in bringing us where we are. We are trying to undo things and make accomodations and changes. It is not perfect. It is going to take time. We might do things wrong or in ways people do not like or appreciate. We are aware it can be patronizing. Which is why we invite counsel. Which is why we ponder on that counsel. If you had made the effort to sit with us and work, if you had made the effort to do anything beyond puffing up your chest in response to our invitation, you would know. The invitation was not an indication of your position of importance. It was an indication of your potential to do good. And here I am admitting to a wrong judgement, we misjudged your potential. You do not deserve to be a part of a circle that is open, accepting and gives unconditional positive regard to its members without thinking of all the ways they do things wrong, or their politics or family background. We tried to make it work. We gave chances. We were willing to compromise. You are the one who is unyielding and refusing to meet us halfway in your rigidity. Remember one thing about rigid things, King, they eventually break under pressure because they have no mechanism to adapt. You are hereby removed from the inner circle. Your oaths remain intact including secrecy. Do not defy them. You do not want to test my temper. You do not want to be recipient of my wrath. You certainly do not want the animosity of my family that will come if you go after me or mine." Cordelia would speak in a calm, eerie whisper but she knew everyone including King heard all the words, "Glad we had the chat."
Cordelia's POV
She regretted using wandless magic that casually. Not because she was sorry for how terrified King had looked, but because the people in the meeting were incessantly questioning her and staring at her in awe half the time.
Of course, Tom's way to shut them up had been to do wandless magic himself to display that it was not a big deal.
That had not helped.
But at least, King will not be a problem anymore.
It was the eve of the easter break.
Most of the upper years were staying back for easter to prepare for end of year exams.
Cordelia had thought about going to France but her parents had made plans to come down for the weekend around her birthday and they still had so much to do for the showcase.
Of course, Cordelia had other business that she was taking care of in the middle of the night.
While Tom was on a good path, and she was not really concerned about this man being an influence. However, it always helped magic to get rid of black magic users.
This one had lived nearly 300 years in seclusion, during dark rituals after dark rituals. He was an academic, not really concerned with gaining power, only with knowledge.
But his tests with black magic were unnatural and vile.
He had to die.
A simple fiendfyre to the horcruxes and an arrow through his heart took care of it.
Onto next person.
She was rather quiet the next day. Killing was not easy. She did not want it to be easy.
She usually retreated into her own thoughts for some time.
Tom would not ask questions.
She was glad. She would not know what to say to him.
He would however note her glumness and insist on staying in bed and cuddling. He held her all through the day, reading her French poetry with his broken accent.
She would kiss him full and thoroughly at the end of it, nuzzling his noses and telling him that she loved him so very much.
The goblin protection was on him.
The day everyone returned from easter holidays, the court will be disclosed with Jormy and Cordelia's parselmouth abilities.
Styx and Ladon were too young yet. They introduction could wait or could be left for a surprise defense maneuver.
They were meeting tomorrow for the showcase. They were making steady progress.
She lay quietly in Tom's arms, drawing circles over his wrists as he finished reading another of Slytherin's tomes when an unknown owl would click their talons on the balcony.
"This is becoming routine, isn't it? Letters we did not expect." Tom would say, unwrapping her.
Cordelia would plop herself down, open the door, take the letter, ruffle the feather of the owl as it would nip on its fingers before it would fly away.
"It is from my second cousin, Kyran." Cordelia would say.
"McKinnons, I thought you weren't close." Tom would say.
"We aren't. Not for any other reason but the fact that you are usually expected to connect and mingle on your father's side. I am related to him through Mother. His grandfather is my Great Uncle." Cordelia would say absent-mindedly, "I like him. He is on the quiet side but quite prudent."
She got more and more serious and she was sure that her frown was very apparent.
"What does it say?" Tom would ask as Cordelia poured over the letter.
"It is telling me that we cannot in good conscience leave Carrows alone anymore." Cordelia would say rather ominously, sighing and exchanging a dark look with Tom.
Dear loveliest readers,
It has been more than a year. I believed I put up Ouroboros on last Deepawali. And since then, it was just silence from my end but the message regarding the bereavement.
It has been a tough year. Grief does that. I don't think I am completely ever going to get over the loss but time and people have healed me a lot. Some days are bad. It is nearly going to be a year since the bereavement and the reminder of an anniversary does stupid things to my heart.
But I am also actively doing better, baking and getting on with life.
It was hard to write. I recently began to write again, on my father's birthday actually. But this chapter took time. The rhythm was not easy to get back to. So, I apologize if it is not upto the mark.I will eventually regain the things that are so hard to reach right now.
I have received your reviews and messages. I could not respond because most of the time, I don't know what to say. I have read them though. They have made me smile after s night of sobbing or questioning this world.
I have been overwhelmed by the support and love I have gotten, from the people I know and love in real life to my readers in this virtual universe. You are good people. All of you. You kept me afloat with your wait and patience and empathy. Thank you for being such wonderful sports.
I am still not sure about the frequency with which I will update this. But I will. Steadily.
Deepawali was my father's favorite festival.
Deepawali heralds a strive to drown darkness with all the lamps and light. Consider this update a symbolic effort to leave behind mine.
A very Happy Deepawali
Love, hugs and light,
Katoptris.
