Chapter Three: A Game of Chess
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the great world of Rowling, I am only doing this for my own amusement and sanity. As such, i make no money writing this story.
"Speaking"
'Thoughts'
'Rose's Thoughts'
"Alpha Speak"
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Grace's POV
As I entered the office, a few things became obviously aware to me. I was not going to like the upcoming conversation, and I should've torn Kell's tongue out of his head when I had the chance last night.
Fuck my life. This goddamn little shit is gonna get a foot in his face if he doesn't back off and stop looking me in the eye! I could barely control the growl building in my chest. As I looked around the room I tried to find anything to call myself before I bit off more than I could chew.
My father was calmly sitting behind his mahogany desk, setting up a chess board as he blatantly ignored the little fuck intentionally trying to set me off. Said sad sack was none other than Kell, my Alpha's bootlicking, when he wore shoes, personal Delta. Basically, he's a man-servant, or for a more modern term, personal assistant. Unfortunately he seems to believe that this position makes him more important than he is, and he is constantly attempting to outdo me in order to prove his superiority. Keyword being attempting, however that isn't stopping him from flat out picking a fight with me whenever I can't respond without insulting my father, which is obviously something I could never do, well not do and live anyway.
My father, Fenrir, allows Kell to do this only because he finds it amusing whenever I finally lose control, and he wants to see how well I can hold my temper before said event occurs. Needless to say, at the exact moment I stepped through the doorway, Kell chose to enter my personal space, and is now trying to loom over me, while still sticking his nose in the air, in order to get me to submit.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm a fairly laidback Alpha most of the time, but there are so many things wrong with this scenario I can't even attempt to find the humor in this. For one, I'm an inch taller then Kell, so he's standing on his tip toes in order to appear bigger. He's also puffing out his scrawny chest so much that he looks like a damn Toucan. Perched feet, skinny legs, small, black beady eyes trying to look down on me while his big fat nose points towards the ceiling. And don't even get me started on the damn puffball he calls his hair, all puffed up to make himself look taller.
Tear out his throat, then he can't bug us anymore. Go on, you know you want to. Just a little bit, please? Rose never helps matters by begging in the back of my mind to just kill him and be done with it every time this occurs, which is sadly every time I've had to meet with my father in his official Alpha capacity for the past year to prepare for my trial.
My father's second-in-command, or the Packs head Beta, Peace, just stand stoically in the corner, basically waiting for me to respond to Kell's challenge, and then for my Alpha to order him to separate us before I break his favorite toy. Like I said this happens often.
Peace is a very quiet man. That's not to say he's not powerful, because he has to be in order to run the Packs Beta command, which is like our own version of the military. But he doesn't often raise his voice or show very much in the way of emotions. He's very tall, a solid 6'9" with broad shoulders, and even bigger arms and legs. I can fondly remember using him as a jungle gym when I was young, all the while he would just stand there and act bored. He has a military buzz cut, with blond hair, bright blue eyes, and is only slightly tan, which translates well into his tan coloring in his wolf form.
Kell however looks just as ridiculous in either form. As a wolf he's fairly small and scrawny, with mud brown coloring and mud brown eyes, which is shared with his human sides hair and eyes.
As I try to focus on my father and not the strutting peacock in my face, I can see the power that rolls off of him. It's the same aura I could feel through the door earlier. My father is a rather solidly built man, and while not quite as tall as Peace, being "only" 6' 7", I say only when I myself am barely 5'4", he has much more muscle on his body (imagine the rock, but asgardian instead of Samoan) that he can use at the drop of a hat to physically subdue literally every living thing in our Valley. You would think such an obvious jock would always use force to get his way, but my father has often shown where mere words can have greater effect... and then follow said words with brute force.
Calm. Calm. I can't kill my father's pet. He wouldn't like that. Calm. I'm calm- Kell chose this exact moment to reach out and grasp my shoulder, to try and force me back out of the office, despite the fact that I'd already closed the door, and he couldn't sooner move me than a mouse good move a lion.
"Have you been listening to a word I said, girl! How dare you think you can just waltz in here and address our most esteemed Alpha in such a way! You a mere pup, attempting to take my Alpha's attention away from important matters! Remove yourself at once or I shall have to force you!" Kell sneered as he attempted to shove me back against the door, getting close enough to my face with his to hit me with spittle while he prattled on and on about proper procedure and needing to schedule any and all audiences through him.
Needless to say, I finally snapped. So sue me, but hell if I'm gonna allow him to literally spit in my face. I calmly, or I at least as much as I could be, turned towards Kell while grabbing his hand off my shoulder with my left and wiping the moisture from my face with my right.
I studied the liquid now on my hand for a moment as though trying to figure out how it could've gotten there before looking towards Peace in the edge of the room, just watching all this with slight amusement in his eyes.
"Father can always find a new toy to play with, can't he?" Before Kell could back track I turned slightly and back handed him with my right hand, while yanking his left arm forward with my own. Applying the basic laws of physics, it's not that surprising that, with one force harshly pulling his arm forward, while another equal force slammed into his face and pushed it back, Kell's left shoulder let out a satisfying Crack! as it dislocated before he hit the floor, already moaning and bitching in pain.
"My arm, my arm! Oh she broke it! Alpha did you see, she attacked me for no reason! Your number one Delta, your right-hand man! She must be punished for her crimes at once-"
"Silence! Kell, bite your tongue." Fenrir snapped, finally moving his attention away from his oh so important task of setting up a game, in order to flash me a smile and glare at Kell at the same time.
"You're lucky she didn't do worse with how you were carrying on, my daughter is no longer just a pup, something you should do well to remember." He said sternly, before continuing on, ignoring his toy now whimpering in pain as he bites down on his own tongue. "Besides, Peace is my right-hand man, not you. Imagine if he had lost his temper and hit you instead." He started to laugh a little at his own joke. I just smiled, my father really is that crazy. Fun, for sure, but completely off his rocker.
Careful, it's a good thing Alpha can't read minds, he might get offended. Rose pointed out, though she was too happy about Kell's pain to truly care about scolding me.
Please, you know you agree. Besides, Alpha would probably agree with us too. I thought back, as I approached the chair opposite Fenrir at his desk. It was clear that he wanted to play another game of chess, which I would lose at. Badly. Again.
"Sit daughter, we have much to discuss." Father waved his hand toward my chair, which I happily dropped into, as he turned to his SIC. "Peace, bring me the letter we received the other day would you? You know the one, I'm going to be 'discussing' it with Gracia, during our little strategy training session."
See that's the thing about my father, nothing is a simple game or task, there's always multiple layers, so chess is strategy training, tag is duck and cover maneuvers, hide and seek is stealth training, so on and so forth. Also, naming things was never his strong suit. Add in the fact that we're royalty and I get saddled with the most obnoxious name ever. Gracia Rosie Angelika Christina Eunice the seventh. Yes people in my family actually gave this entire name to a previous six females. Most of our people just refer to me as Little Alpha Grace, or they did when I was considered a child. Once I reach adulthood, if I pass my trial, they will refer to me as Alpha, My Alpha if they are in my Pack, or Alpha Grace if we are friendly enough.
Peace had already left the office and returned just a moment later, only pausing to 'gently nudge' Kell through the doorway before closing the door once again. Gently nudging with his foot. Against Kell's face. Repeatedly, until Kell finally crawled his way through the portal. I guess Peace didn't like the "right-hand man" comment very much either. I just smirked. Ass-kissing loser.
"Thank you Peace, you may go back to brooding silently by the wall while I have a little 'chat' with my heir." Again with that shit, "Discussion" and "chat" that's total bull. My father tells you what to do, and you do it. Very simple chain of command, but a pain in the ass for me when he gets into one of his moods. See my father loves to give me tasks to complete, but he always finds a way to make them harder than they already would've been as added incentive. He likes to call this giving me a "gift". Now don't get me wrong, sometimes the gift is a great thing like, 'just five more laps and you can have as much candy as you want!' On the other hand, occasionally the gifts are more like, 'move all the water from this pond, to the giant hole in the ground next to it, using only this bucket. And oh, you can only use one arm, because I'm gonna break the other!' Both of course being said in the exact same excited tone. Now before you freak, my arm was fully healed by the next day, so it was basically like tying it behind my back because it took that entire amount of time to do for me to move the pond, it's not like I was crippled for life or anything.
After receiving the letter my father simply returned to the chess game, slowly but surely stealing all of my pieces in a soul crushing fashion. I knew I would just have to wait to see what he wanted to tell me, so I focused on the game at hand, in other words just tried to prolong they inevitable until Fenrir becomes bored enough to tell me what he wants.
Not even ten minutes later. "Well then, that's enough of that!" He grinned as he swept the entire board to the floor, pieces and all, basically half of his and my single queen and king, before opening the letter and holding it out for me to take and read.
This is not good. I have a very bad feeling about this. I could tell immediately that the paper was in fact parchment, and I could still smell the ink that was used to write on it, and the wax used to seal it.
The annoying stick wavers want something then? That's funny, last time they interacted with Alpha, they tried to kill him, and he killed like twenty of them...they aren't very bright, are they? Rose scoffed, before mentally sticking her nose up at the paper.
Careful, or I might mistake you for Kell. I laughed as she just growled in return, and I finally focused on the words of the letter to see what trouble I'd have to deal with on top of my trial.
Dear High Alpha Fenrir, (the wizards not being important enough to to know my fathers full name just amusing me)
We, the Ministry of Magic (they foolishly believe that they rule over all magical beings in their territory, I actually had to laugh a little at that, anyway focusing now.)
We, the Ministry if Magic are courteous enough to invite you to come to the most important event of the summer season, the 422nd Quidditch World Cup, which we are gracious enough to host this year on our own soil. Please have yourself and two others ready and holding on to this letter at exactly 4 O'clock on the 22 of August. The port key tied into the letter will activate and bring you to the location in which the World Cup is taking place, so that we might further the relationship of the A-Ni tribe and the magical country of Great Britain. We would also like to discuss furthering our ties in greater detail once you have arrived, the game itself will not start until 7, so we will have three hours in order to discuss such other matters further.
Until then,
The office of the Minister of Magic
Cornelius Fudge
Well shit, this is gonna suck hard.
My father only grinned all the harder, as though he could tell what I was thinking, not that I would be surprised he could, and was silently agreeing with me. I would not like this at all, he however would find this all highly amusing so there was no way for me to get out of it. I could even see Peace break into a slight smirk as I paled further in realization that the letter was not a joke, and the underlying implications hit home hard enough to leave me breathless.
"You can't seriously mean..." I trailed off, realizing that resistance was futile, even as my Alpha began to nod to confirm my fears.
"Yes my dear, this couldn't have happened at a better time. You know very well that the wizards have been trying to alternately get on our good side or control us for centuries. Well they once again reached out to me at the beginning of may attempting the first once again." He leaned back in his seat to get more comfortable, while the only thing stopping me from slumping down was my sheer stubbornness born from being an Alpha and not wanting to look weak in front of my soon to be almost equal.
"I played along once again, for the entertainment value if nothing else. Oh you know how bored I've been since signing the peace treaty with the other tribes." He waved his hands, and somehow Peace just knew that Fenrir wanted him to reset the chess board, which he had collected almost as soon as my father had dumped it.
I winced almost imperceptibly at that, as normally that would be Kell's job but he was a little busy being, you know, broken, at the moment. Oops.
He deserved it, now listen to Alpha, we need this information to complete our trial! Rose was becoming very aggressive, not that I could blame her, as she too began to understand the connection between our trial and our apparently long planned trip across the pond.
"Now, under normal circumstances I would've eventually turned down whatever offer they made, mostly just to watch them squirm, but then I was hit with a bolt of inspiration! Pure genius! You, my dear, are on the cusp of adulthood." At this my father, no my Dad, actually softened and reached out to grasp my hand in a show of affection, rare since I hit the double digits and began to manifest my inner wolf. I couldn't help but feel warm at this, happy with the attention, but still nervous about was he was about to say.
"As a fellow Alpha, you will soon venture out into the world, with the driving need to establish your own territory, and build your own Pack." At this he leaned back once again to peer at me gravely past his now steepled fingers.
"Now, you and I both know what will happen if you can't complete this task, which is only made harder by having to find land Outside my control, basically all of the Western Hemisphere. It is my duty as your current Alpha to at least put you on the right path, so you may find your own way relatively safely, to create your future, and hopefully return to our tribe victorious at the end of your trial, with a new Pack by your side." He paused to see if I was listening, and I nodded to let him know I understood so far. It helps that Fenrir has started basically every serious conversation in the past five years with these same words, I very well understood just how important it was for me to succeed. It was a literal do-or-die situation, and I'd rather the first than the second.
Me as well. Rose had become solemn, and I could feel the weight of this burden fall even heavier on my shoulders.
We will not fail. There's is no other choice, we can do this! After my mental pep talk, I returned my attention to my father, who had been waiting patiently for me to gather myself, and I nodded for him to continue. He simply nodded in return, he understood the pressure I felt keenly, he himself was in this same position many years ago, when he was just turning fifteen.
"Now, the wizards have extended an invitation to compete in some international competition, one that normally only takes place between three different teaching institutions, in something called the Tri-Wizard Tournament. However, this year they have also invited two other countries school to join in, one from Japan, and one from here in America. They also would like the A-Ni to send a representative to compete for our people, all in the name of strengthening international cooperation." At this I became confused, and noticing, my Alpha pressed on to answer so I wouldn't have to interrupt him.
"Yes I am well aware that there are many different tribes of A-Ni," at this he paused and flared his aura at me, as though he believed I was insulting his intelligence. I quickly ducked my head in apology, not wanting to inadvertently challenge my Alpha when he was already so tense and irritated. I would be Destroyed if that happened.
"However, the 'ministry'" at this I could hear the sneer, even if I couldn't see his face, "has decided to start slowly, so they only want to expose their people to one kind of A-Ni, and honestly the only one they could invite and not insult Us, is well, Us." I relaxed at this, and slowly raised my head again. If my Alpha was breaking out the Royal We, than he had calmed down enough for me to be familiar with him once again. It was a fine line between my father and my Alpha, a relationship that would only relax once I was an adult in my fathers eyes, and no longer so directly below him as I was as a pup.
"That's very true." I carefully agreed, still not wanting to piss him off again.
"Exactly, because of this I have decided to actually accept their offer. Not only will it piss off the other tribal leaders, but it will allow you to complete your trial, and represent our people in public for the first time in centuries at the same time. Two birds, one stone." At this, he stopped, waiting for me to respond.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! Okay calm, calm. It's gonna be okay. My eyes darted around the office as I tried to calm my thoughts. Peace was still there, passively staring back, but I could almost see the flicker of sympathy in his eyes when ours met. I could feel the hysterical laughter bubbling up inside, and tried to force it down.
You have to ask, we need him to say it Grace. Rose was, for once, the voice of reason in our little partnership.
"What exactly are you saying, My Alpha?" I was proud that my voice was as steady as my gaze as I truly locked eyes with my father for the first time since entering the room. I would not buckle, and I would not waver. I am an Alpha.
My Alpha's next words were expected, but still felt like a punch to the gut.
"You will go, and compete in the wizards games. You will be the public face the A-Ni in peace, instead of war. You will go to Britain, to claim your territory and find your Pack. You will complete your trial across the pond. If you fail, you will never return home and die there, with the stick wavers, instead of in the valley surrounded by your pack at the moment you draw your last breath. You will succeed, or you will no longer be A-Ni."
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Authors notes: Hey guys, sorry for the mess the chapters were before, I've fixed it and hopefully you can see the revised chapters now.
Duh duh duh! Yes I am happy to say that I have felt a strong urge to finish my story, and hopefully keep writing like I originally intended. Unfortunately, I just did not feel very connected to my previous writing, since it has been almost five years since I started the original story. I hope you guys like the revamped version a littler better, it should be picking up the pace now that the world building and such has been fleshed our a bit better than I did before. Please if you see any grammatical errors or gaping plot holes let me know and I'll fix them as soon as possible. I don't really have a fixed schedule, it's more writing whenever I have time, which I have a lot of at the moment, and posting as soon as I revise and double check my chapters, this the three chapters in one day. Please read and review, let me know what you think, and ideas you would like to see in the story, I will be following the previous story roughly, but with obvious changes and more detail. If I like your idea I'll let you know and add it in. Until next time.