Rowthan 13 – Brothers by Blood, Contestants by Choice

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it is not mine. No copyright or trademark infringement is meant, I have the utmost respect for the true intellectual owner of Harry Potter. This is meant to be nothing more than a means for my own creative process to thrive.

Secondary Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

o-0-o

AN: So, I didn't mean to have a three/four year break from this story. But thanks to COVID, I am back and am determined to finish! I read over the first twelve chapters and was like "wait, didn't I write more than this?" So I spent the two hours I wasn't working today working (part-time employment) and wrote this up.

-0-

I had someone bring up the fact that my Lily Potter is not exactly realistic. Here's the deal, Lily and James dated during the 1970s to conservative families. They had a shotgun wedding as soon as Lily found out she was pregnant and established James's paternity (via potion). They had not been exposed to anything outside of Hogwarts, whose traditions were heavily toned down due to wartime. It was only after they were married that Lily realized the world she had married into, and change does not happen overnight. Lily was immensely proud of being a Muggleborn witch at Hogwarts – and her conviction was only more set in stone due to the extreme prejudice towards muggles and muggle-raised students during the first war. Whereas McGonagall (I will have Hermione have a conversation with … someone to explain this further) cautioned Hermione's choice of schools due to the fact that the nobility system existed quite strongly in the Wizarding World. Hermione did what she always would do and got an extra book, if only because the girl was determined not to make a fool of herself. Note that Justin Finch-Fletchley in this world is the Viscount Fletchley and his parents (The Earl and Countess of Harringwood) are paying handsomely for their son to go to a "private and exclusive Scottish Boarding School" which most of the peerage translate to Gordonstoun.

o-0-o

"Français." - French

"Bŭlgarski." - Bulgarian

o-0-O-0-o

The meeting with Lord Potter ended on a high note, whereby Lord Potter offered his support for the Coterie and the Delegation to attend Hogwarts Classes.

Harrison and Fleur agreed to meet a short time later in a private study room they'd reserved in Hogwarts library.

To Harrison's surprise and joy, Louis and Rene "happened" to be walking with Mademoiselle Delacour when she realized what time it was. The two gentlemen offered to join her.

Harrison bowed to the French Duke of Bourbon. "Your Highness, it is a pleasure."

Louis smiled, while he got bored with people bowing – he knew it was expected and a sign of respect. "Please Lord Rowthan, it is a pleasure to see you again."

Harrison smiled in return, "Especially as we avoid a Conclave as we are students."

Rene frowned, "Pardonne, how accurate is your information?"

Harry grinned, somewhat gladdened to know that he was not the only one who did not know. "By a senior member of the Thirteen."

Rene cursed lightly under his breath. "Then am I to assume we have the support of this senior member in our shared endeavor?"

Harry nodded, "Of course."

Fleur smiled as the young men finally turned to her. She had to admit that this Lord Rowthan, Heir of Radnor, impressed her. He addressed his acquaintances before addressing her, as was expected, and ignored her Veela aura.

"My apologies Mademoiselle Delacour." Harrison said as he turned to the fair haired Frenchwoman. "Please, sit." He said as he motioned to the round table.

"Lord Rowthan, are we to understand the Delegation has already approached someone in regards to this matter?" Fleur asked as she sat down.

Harrison nodded, "Yes. We approached Deputy Headmaster Kamarov and Lord James Potter."

Louis and Rene glanced at Rowthan upon hearing the Potter name. "Lord Potter?" Rene commented.

Harrison nodded, "Lady Rowthan wanted his opinion on a legislative matter and it was relatively simple to bring up our current issue."

Fleur nodded, "Then you have our thanks."

Harrison smiled, "If you have any more concerns, please let me know."

Fleur nodded her agreement as they stood and the young men shook hands while bowing respectfully to the young lady, while saying their farewells before leaving the room.

o-0-o

Less than a week later, it was announced at breakfast that the Delegation and Coterie would be joining Hogwarts students in their classes.

Two hours later, Harrison was sitting off to the side in Defense Against the Dark Arts and taking notes in English (via quick quotes quill set to record all sounds made in the class) and Bulgarian (by Harrison himself) for his fellow classmates.

James smiled as he saw his son in the classroom, a sight he never thought he would see. "Good Morning Class. As most of you heard at breakfast," he said with a pointed look at a couple Seventh Year Gryffindors who'd been late to his class more than once because they slept in most days. "We are hosting the Delegation and Coterie for the Core Classes, as well as… Mr. Rowthan, what other classes?"

Harrison stood, "Potions with Master Snape, Arithmacy with Madame Vector and Transfiguration with Mistress McGonagall, Master Potter." He said with a small bow before retaking his seat.

Victor frowned, "What was that?"

"He wanted to know what classes we were sitting in."

Victor nodded his thanks, "I understood that, I meant why are the Hogwarts Students looking at us weird."

Harrison shrugged, "Because I stood? Hogwarts is less formal than Durmstrang."

James narrowed his eyes at Victor and the two immediately straightened in their seats. "I received advanced notice so the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students had enough time to get the required textbooks and do the reading. I apologize in advance to the Coterie and Delegation; I have not had time to memorize your names. Mr. Rowthan, I know due to his Welsh upbringing. For now, I will be forced to point unless I know your names."

The Delegation and Coterie nodded, nearly as one. Granted a few were silently thinking, 'A member of the Thirteen will know my name!'

"Over the weekend, I asked you to read about string spells and be prepared to discuss which you preferred, individual or string spell casting. As well as explain the benefits of verbal and non-verbal spell casting for strings."

To Harrison's surprise, Louis raised his hand.

James bowed slightly, "Monsieur Geroux?"

Louis stood, mostly because Rowthan had, "Oui, Maître Potter. The reading discussed string spell casting but remained silent on layered casting. I was wondering if you have any experience in combining the two methods? A silent string can be quite effective when one needs to cast spells in a certain order, but it appears that some spells may be amplified by casting them repeatedly."

James nodded, "The silent string works well when one has the concentration necessary to perform them silently. However, in the field, one will rarely encounter such a situation. Verbal Strings, or VS for short, are best used offensively. I have found on repeated occasions that layered spell casting is best utilized for wards, whereby the strength of the wards grows exponentially over time with repeated and multiple castings by the generations. One of the closest examples of which is Hogwarts herself. The wards are layered, one over the other, making Hogwarts a veritable fortress if attacked. Does that answer your question?"

Louis nodded, "Oui, Maître Potter. Merci beaucoup." He said and sat down.

The class continued in that fashion for the next hour before James allowed time for silent review and one-on-one questioning.

The Hogwarts students who knew the Delegation, including Fabian Prewitt, came over and sat next to the Delegation. Fabian was the only one of the group who spoke French and Russian, so he was able to speak with the few and help act as translator when they asked James a question but could not adequately speak it in English. Granted, James Potter was fluent in French by necessity but did not have the luxury of being fluent in Russian or Bulgarian and Harrison was not able to translate for everyone while working on his own classwork.

While most of the Delegation could speak English and understand it, having a designated note taker for the core classes who would translate the notes on the board into Bulgarian or Russian was invaluable. So, when Rowthan began making duplicates of the notes, the students were clamoring to obtain copies. Eventually, mostly because he did not want to be disrespectful, he set up a table in the library and had stacks of the notes in piles: French, Bulgarian, Russian, and English (which were more often than not picked up by Hogwarts students who started putting a few sickles in Harry's bag before Harry simply put a jar out and then gave the funds to Kamarov at the end of day).

Soon enough, every NEWT student who'd missed a day of class was going to Table 19 in the library at 11:00 AM or at 6:00 PM, or simply paying because they were so paranoid (cough Ravenclaws cough) that Harrison captured some tidbit of knowledge that they hadn't. It helped that Harrison had a break from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM, so he used a half hour block to set up the table in the morning and remained at the table from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM while he did his own homework and reading.

Then Victor began joining him in the Hogwarts library after class at Table 19.

"Victor." He said in greeting, barely glancing up from his book as his friend sat down across from him.

"Can you hear the girls whispering?" Victor asked as he looked at the papers with pages of notes. Harrison was nothing if efficient. His notes had comments to the side with cross-references for pages in useful books. Considering that Harrison had books written in English, French, German, Bulgarian and Russian in front of him he was surprised the comments were not more extensive. He also had four stacks of notes from the earlier Arithmacy and Potions classes, and his "tip" jar was nearly half-full with sickles and even a few galleons.

"Girls always whisper around us. Wanting our autographs, dates and even a few marriage proposals." Harrison reminded his friend.

"Yes, but they are not the ones I want to have looking at me."

Harrison nearly stopped writing a comment for further reading, depending on the first language of the reader. His master English Copy had notations in four languages and this way he could always point someone in the right direction should they require more information. The joys of being fluent in multiple languages!

But Victor had never, ever, expressed his interest for anyone in the last seven years at Durmstrang. Granted, the Heir of the Viscount of Sofia did court a countrywoman out of obligation. The Heiress of Zdravkov – one of the wealthiest families in Bulgaria – spent three and a half months courting the Heir of the Viscount of Sofia before she asked her parents to end the courtship. In reparation, the Zdravkovs forfeited half of Olga's bride price. Granted, a bride price was rather . . . outdated. But considering who both parties to the courtship were, a bride price was expected in that situation.

It was enough to add a new wing to the Sofia School of Magic – one that specialized in teaching Chemistry, Biology, Anatomy, Pathology, and Genetics. Subjects that would one day make SSM the school to send a child (or transfer a child to) who wanted to go into medicine and healing.

"Who would you like looking at you?"

Victor looked his friend in the eye. "She is an Englishwoman." He whispered, barely loud enough for Harrison to hear him. "A New Blood."

Harrison's eyes widened.

-HJRP-

Hermione Granger was a new blood and proud of it. When she'd first heard the term "New Blood" it was in a book on wizarding culture recommended her by Professor McGonagall.

It wasn't until her second month into Hogwarts that she learned what it truly meant to be a New Blood.

New Blood meant someone willing to adopt the customs, norms and mores of the Wizarding World. Someone willing to become a part of the six million British magical citizens – more importantly, someone willing to become a part of the less than half a million British Magical Peerage. From the Honorable William Weasley to the Duchess of Avalonne – whose political power was only surpassed by the Monarch. Granted, Her Majesty did not often step into magical politics (in part due to her active service in mundane society) but was willing to step in and respect the fact that in the British Magical World, Elizabeth II Regina had the same power as her Tudor namesake.

The British Magical Peerage had the power that was about five hundred years behind the British Mundane society. They owned a majority of magically owned land granted to them by King Henry VII after the War of the Roses. Or, if they were like the Rowthan Family, they were awarded land and titles by later monarchs.

There were seventy smaller isles off the coast of England that would never be picked up by modern technology, under the strongest enchantments renewed every generation by thousands upon thousands of residents. The odd part was that mundanes who did know about the isles believed them to be nothing more than small outcroppings of rocks, not even large enough to plant a flag upon it. It was a bit of complicated magic that folded space when one went above, below and beside it.

They were called the Isles of Avalonne – in honor of Avalon the home of Merlin and were governed by the Duchy of Avalonne, who answered to the Ministry and the Queen.

Granted, McGonagall only skimmed over this information and refused to go into specifics – which is why Hermione Granger was forced to consider other means to obtain the information she wanted. The information she only found was only the result of many, many hours poring over books.

o-0-o

Hermione sighed as she went into the library and sat down at the table she never usually sat at. Ever since the Durmstrang Delegation came to Hogwarts they had taken over her table. Table 19 was large enough to completely spread out, while still having room for Luna to sit down and spread out, had enough light and was within Madam Pince's line of sight. No one dared to bother her with Madam Pince nearby. Lately, she'd sacrificed her favorite window to avoid making waves with the Durmstrang students and reluctantly sat at Table 16. It had a bigger window than 19, but there were times it got a bit too warm in the afternoon sun.

Luna sat down next to Hermione, she could see how irritated her friend was but honestly – it was just a table!

"Hello Hermione."

"Good afternoon Lady Luna." Hermione said primly with a grin. The two of them were the outcasts of Hogwarts, but they were fast friends. After a while, Hermione understood that Luna might be a little crazy but it was a good crazy.

"Are you well?" she asked quietly as she got out her own writing utensils.

"They are sitting at my table." Hermione grumbled.

Luna just smiled and began her own homework. "I nearly forgot to ask," she mused aloud in her somewhat dreamy voice. "Do you plan on entering the Tournament?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, although I did hear a rumor that Jacob Potter was attempting to get permission from one of his parents to enter."

Luna mentally groaned, her opinion of the Boy-Who-Lived was less than an endorsement.

"So, have you started the homework for Arithmacy?" Hermione asked her friend. Despite being a year younger, Lady Luna was a genius and was getting 4th year Arithmacy assignments even though her schedule did not allow her to attend the 4th year Arithmacy class due to having Charms during the 4th year Arithmancy block.

"Finished, actually." Luna said as she pulled out her Charms homework. "And what are you studying today?"

"Runes. I can't find Russian and Slavic Runes though." She grumbled. "The assignment is due next week but I need to get my outline and bibliography done by Friday."

"Lord Rowthan has several tomes in front of him, perhaps he is utilizing it?" Luna said, lightly gesturing with her quill towards Lord Rowthan as she (in Hermione's opinion) defaced her textbook with notes in the margin. Luna was determined to turn Hermione over to the dark side someday and get her to at least write a definition or reference note in her textbook. Sadly, three years down and she was still unable to get her friend to even accidentally put a drop of ink in the textbook that wasn't a bookplate.

"But wouldn't that be rude of me?"

Luna shrugged, "Perhaps, but I am the Baroness Lovegood of the matrilineal line of Lovegood." She said with a smile and stood up to confront the older noble.

Hermione gaped at Luna as the blonde Ravenclaw stood and walked over to Table 19.

Harrison looked up as someone approached the table.

"Lord Rowthan, I am Luna, the Baroness Lovegood, my friend is searching for the book 'Russian and Slavic Runes.' I was wondering if you were using it?"

Harrison looked at the thirteen (nearly fourteen) year old, he could immediately see she was a Ravenclaw who, interestingly enough, was sitting with the New Blood Victor seemed to be enamored with. "Yes, I am. But I could take a leave from it for a short while. Would a day or two be sufficient?"

Luna smiled, "I am sure that would be plenty of time, Miss Hermione Granger has a homework assignment due Wednesday."

Harrison couldn't help but smile in return. "Of course," he said as he passed her the book. "Please ask Miss Granger not to remove the bookmark. I do not wish to lose my place."

Luna nodded, "Of course." She said and turned to go back to her table.

"Baroness Lovegood, if I may be so bold, from whom did you learn Bulgarian?"

Luna smiled softly, "William Weasley, last summer."

Harrison nearly chuckled, trust William to teach someone Bulgarian just so he could avoid boredom. "Your grasp is good. How long did he tutor you?"

"Three weeks." She said, leaving Harrison and Victor gobsmacked. "But I had it down in two. I think William was just bored."

0-O-0

Jacob Potter wanted nothing more than to prove himself. To his father, to his mother, to the other students of Hogwarts, to the Wizengamot, to the Thirteen, and to his brother.

When he got his mother's permission, he discretely went to put his name into the Goblet of Fire – smiling at Professor Moody who looked at him with a raised eyebrow. The Elder Dragon seemed especially paranoid lately. Alastor was a welcome addition to his parent's home for Sunday dinner, and while the wizard was always a bit paranoid – lately the man seemed to jump at anything.

He shrugged and left the hall, the decision would be made for who was most qualified in a few days anyway.

Chapter End.