The Beginnings of the A-Ni (Rewrite)

by GraceRose69

I have decided to completely overhaul my story, if anyone is interested in the original I left it posted under the same title. The time has come for the Wizarding World to wake up and realize they aren't the superpower they believe themselves to be. With one invite to the World Cup, a chain of events take place that will leave the old goat crying, and old Riddle dying. Hang on.

4. Chapter 4: Over the river and through th

Chapter four: Over the river, and through the woods...

Author's notes: Hey guys, we just got our first Favorite! So shout out to AlecLightwoodMagnusBane for being the first to favorite my rewrite! Now I have a question for you all, do you like the shorter chapters with quick updates, or would you prefer longer chapters instead? Just review and let me know.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, though I'd love to get ahold of Luna. I am not making any money from this.

*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*

Friday, June 3rd: Late Afternoon

Grace's POV

I ran through the trees of our forest, jumping over roots and fallen logs in my path. As I passed through yet another clearing, I startled a deer that was grazing on the edge, and I briefly noticed the sounds of it's heart racing as it crashed through the brush to get away from me as fast as possible. I didn't care though, I wasn't out here to hunt, and there's no point in chasing down a defenseless animal just for fun. Not that I haven't done that before, but that was for training, and I'm on a different mission right now. I could hear the sounds of the forests inhabitants all around me, but I was traveling to quickly to truly focus my eyesight on anything other then the barely there trail winding out in front of me. I could smell the water of the river rushing past over towards my left side, as I travelled deeper into the valley, towards the roaring sound of the waterfall, getting closer and clearer every passing second. As I got closer to my goal, I could see a giant boulder resting just of to the left side, nestled between to trees that had grown around it. I bunches up the muscles in my legs as I got closer, and finally leapt as hard as I could towards the boulder, only to rebound off of it in order to get passed yet another fallen tree, one that had been struck by lightning in the previous storm this season. My paws just barely brushed the top of the wood as I finished my flight over it to reach the ground below. I slowed to a trot, and then a slow walk as I tried to cool down from my frantic passage through the woods to my destination. I paced around the small clearing that was created by the boulder, the fallen log, and the river, still rushing by innocently on my left. As I finally came to a stop, to drink from a puddle formed near the river's edge, I stared down at my reflection, and studied what was looking back at me.

Oh, what big teeth you have. I huffed humorlessly. Slightly amusing myself as I thought about the next, more difficult part of my trip. We need to bring her dinner, if we want to ask her advice. It's only polite. That and she won't hesitate to tan our hide if we show up empty-handed, so to speak. I leaned down to drink, the cool water feeling great against my tongue, despite the slight taint of mud swirling through the once pristine pool of liquid.

Let's just catch something and be done with it, it'll be dark soon, and I don't want to be out here all night, not when we must be up early tomorrow. Rose sighed, feeling the emotional drain of this morning still, even though she feels it less keenly than me. It was much easier, and much harder for her to accept our trial at the same time. Remember, she told us she wants a whole damn buck this time, and we still need time to clean and cook it, if only slightly, before the sun goes down.

Yeah yeah, dinner is at sundown, and not a moment after. I remember. I could feel a headache trying to build, but I pushed it back to focus on the nature around me, and try to relax in my home, for possibly the last time. Alright then, time to go hunting.

*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA

A long arduous hour later, and I was panting with exertion as I walked east through the forest, following a now clearly seen dirt path. I shifted the weight resting against my shoulders slightly, then continued on, stopping a little from time to time, so the mule deers antlers wouldn't get caught along low hanging branches above me.

That was fun. I couldn't help but smile at that, I could feel my inner wolf relax almost completely for the first time since this morning. No wolves to challenge us, no conflicting emotions from long-winded conversations, just me and her, in our most natural setting. Hunting, chasing, and inevitably catching and killing our prey. I can still feel the blood drying on my mouth, from were I had caught the bucks throat in my teeth.

Remind me to wash before entering her home, you know how she gets about dripping blood everywhere. I thought to Rose, hoping to use her as a built in personal assistant in my mind. Thankfully, she didn't get offended this time, and simply agreed to my request. She too, can quite easily remember the lessons that were taught to us the hard way.

As I got near the end of the path, I can see the rough side of the edge of the valley shooting up from the ground to create a cliff side. From the end of the path, there is a small clear area that leads to the rock face, were the subject of my thoughts resides inside a well-hidden cave. Hear, finally at my destination, I can feel the last of my tension melt away, due to the familiar sights and sounds putting me at ease.

A small stream flows near the cave, just a trickle from the lake and waterfall less than a mile away from me, off to my left, or to the north as I'm facing east, looking at my grandmothers abode.

You would think she would live in the Den, with the other elders of the Pack, but Nana Thorna does love her solitude, which is only broken by the young pups who are assigned to catch her dinner for their training, and by me of course, I try to visit her as often as I can without irritating her with my continued company.

Near the entrance to her personal den, there lies a rack that I built as a young pup, to help me in cleaning and draining my elders meal. I unceremoniously dumped my kill on the dirt near the rack, permanently stained with blood from numerous kills. I attempted to wipe some of the blood from my body and clothes, but gave up fairly quickly, knowing I'd need to go for a full wash in the river to get the blood off my current, and only, outfit.

I'm currently wearing a simple chest wrap and a pair of baggy leather pants that cut off at the knee, and that's it.

While we can an enchant our clothes to make the change with us when we shift our forms, when we're growing as pups it's pointless to make dozens of outfits that can only be worn a few times before being outgrown. Oh just pass them on you say, but no! No hand me downs for my people, it's yet another right-of-passage that all young pups go through to prove that the can be granted the privilege to begin hunting for themselves, and harder training. We make outlets own clothes, from the materials given by our parents or mentor yes, but still, it's a very big deal.

I quickly hung the buck by its hind legs from the rack, pulling my knife from the sheathe at the small of my back to make another incision on its neck to let the blood drain from its body as much as possible, a new pool forming below its carcass on the ground, as many have before. My knife is another tool I made myself, when I reached the double digits and my wolf fully manifested for the first time, and I completed my first shift. This is yet another turning point of our tribe, as this is something all packs do, not just my fathers. After my first change, my baby wolf teeth fall out very quickly, and the new set grew back even faster. Using the baby teeth, we mold them with our magic to create one large dagger-like tooth, to use as, you guessed it, our hunting knife. That way, even when in our human skin, we still use our wolves in our everyday life. It's symbolic of the bond between our human and animal selves, because even though I sometimes see Rose as a whole separate being, we are truthfully one and the same. Two sides of the same coin as it were. As I thought of all this, I carefully cleaned and polished the aforementioned blade still in my hands, almost on auto-pilot, seeing as I still needed to use it and was just going to have to clean it again once I was done. Nonetheless, I wiped the rag gently across the serrated edge on the inside curve, before running it around the sharpened point on top, and the flat, razor sharp edge on the outside.

Humming coming from my right snapped me back to reality, my nana subtly nudging me to get on with my task without saying a word or even emerging from her den. That's what she's like though, a nudge here, a gentle reminder there, until you irritate her, than it's a snarl in your face as she tears you apart verbally, and sometimes physically.

I returned my attention to our future meal, now that as much blood as possible had drained from it, not all though because that's the best seasoning for meat, I cleanly began the task of skinning and rendering the buck down for Thorna to use as she pleased. Skin to tan into leather, bones to craft into tools or objects, and more meat than a normal person could eat in a single day. A normal person. However for two A-Ni...

I piled the meat onto the skin to move towards the entrance of the cave for my nana, and then turned to head towards the lake.

"I'm going to clean up, and catch some fish to go along with dinner! Any requests?" I tossed back behind my shoulder, knowing my grandmother would just laugh, and take her meat to prepare dinner as I catch everything else we need. Sure enough, the howling like chuckles of Thorna follow me up a secondary path, leading towards the shallow portion of the river, near the source made by the lake. I wouldn't need to go into the lake itself, that's where the larger fish reside, a few trout would be plenty for a simple meal between family. As I continued on I forced myself to focus only on my next task, the next step I need to take for dinner. Nothing more, nothing less. Other, heavier thoughts can be brought up later, with my nana to help sort through them, not now when I need to focus on our food.

Dinner now, anguish later. My wolf merely silently agreed, and mentally nudged me to look back to the waters edge, not not inward like I was starting to.

Right, time to fish. I grinned, this was one of my favorite tasks growing up, and still is honestly.

I efficiently set up a small circle on the ground, made by piling stones around and then on top of each other to make a short wall around my little circle. I say little it's about two feet in diameter, and the wall of stones is about half a foot tall. I've done this so often that I just leave the stones for my wall piled off to the side when not in use.

With my circle set up right near the edge of the river, I stepped into the water, facing with the rush of water, shallow enough that the water just barely reached mid-thigh. I planted my feet in the river bed and dug in, spreading to shoulder width and bending my knees slightly in a catchers stance. In case it's not obvious, I'm about to awesomely catch some fish, with my bare hands.

And here we go! I spotted my first victim swimming at the bottom of the river, about to rush past me. With a flash and a spray of water, my hands shot down and grasped the fish near its head and tail. With a quick flick of my wrists, the cutthroat trout went flying through the air before landing perfectly in the middle of my circle. Even with its flailing, it couldn't get past the walls, which is why they were there. As the fish slowly began to still, and die, I was already focused on the water once again, to catch a second fish for me, since I already got one big enough for my elder.

After catching a second trout, repeating my previous actions, I quickly ducked down to wash most of the blood off my back and shoulders, and scooped some water in my hands to clean my face of the same. Nice and squeaky, I left the river and headed back to the path, pausing only to heap the two now very dead trout, and push my stone back over to a pile with a nudge of my foot. Arriving back at nana Thorna's shortly after leaving the riverside, I could smell the barely cooked meat waiting on me. I swiftly joined my elder inside now that I was clean, and went about gutting, cleaning, and de-boning our fish to add them to the spit over my nana's fire pit.

Once my job was done I turned my attention to her, and took a moment to burn her image into my mind, so I'd never forget in case the worst happens on my impending journey.

I could see her age, in the silver stripes forming in hair, and the wrinkles forming near her eyes, but besides that my grandmother looked very young for her age. Not much taller than me at 5'6" she has beautiful black hair, that's called down almost to her butt in a single braid. With thin shoulders and hips, she could almost look frail, if it wasn't for the muscles, though greatly reduced with age, that you can still see on her frame. In a simple tunic and trousers, both dyed the color of the forest trees, a light green, she cuts a striking image, and one would never guess that she's an Omega.

Not that shes ever acted liked one, not for as long as I've been alive anyway. I almost snorted, but didn't since that might raise her ire. Omega versus Alpha means nothing when it's your nana bearing down on you for a tongue lashing.

"Merry meet, Grandmother." I spoke with just a hint of reverence, as I bowed at a full 90 degrees at the waist, and waited for her response before rising with a smile.

"Merry meet, granddaughter. I see you remembered my request for our next meal. I hope you had fun, yes?" She smirked only slightly at her question, knowing the answer. She waved for me to sit next to her, and join her bye the fire.

I got settled next to her, and leaned into her side. It doesn't matter how old I get, I always feel like a pup when I'm with her, and can't help but want to seek out her comfort like I'm just a small child once more. "Of course nana, I always enjoy bringing you dinner. No picnic basket though, I don't think I could've carried an entire buck that way." I cheekily replied, and could only grin harder when she threw her head back and laughed, and began to stroke my hair like she always does. That's a little joke between us, one we've shared ever since she made the mistake of reading Little Red Riding Hood to me as a small girl.

"Come child, let's eat. Then you can tell nana Thorna all about your visit with your father this morning." She peered down at me, her eyes showing the wisdom she possessed, and sympathy for me when I simply pushed further into her side in response to her words. After a moment I reached out to pull my meat and fish skewer to me to nibble on. I finished eating quickly, surprised to find how hungry I was once I had started, but not really since I hadn't eaten since lunch with my father, where I could barely stomach emu thing around the stone I felt in my gut, weighing me down.

"Tell me Grace, when does he expect you to leave." Nana didn't bother asking if I was leaving, or even what the talk with my father was about, because she already knew the answers to those questions. My Alpha has informed me that every Elder in the Pack has already been informed of the details of my departure, and I was the last to find out. I couldn't be angry with her if I tried though, I knew that it wasn't her place to tell me, and that it was my father her chose to give me so little warning.

"The wizards have that World Cup that they invited father to, its not until near the end of august. Then the tournament I'll be taking part in doesn't officially start until October 31st, though all the representatives will be arriving there a week in advance, to get set up and prepare." I paused to lick my lips, a question forming that my Alpha told me to ask my grandmother. I shifted slightly so I could look at her face better, than asked. "Apparently every representative, or "champion" as the wizards are calling us, will have a judge on the board for the entire tournament. My father told me to ask you if you would like to be the judge. You would only have to travel to Scotland for the events themselves, not the whole time." I rushed to get it all out, before falling silent to focus on her reaction.

She just smiled softly and nodded. "I already told Fenrir that I would like to do so. I will also be one of your fathers "entourage" at the World Cup. Now, finish telling me the game plan sweetie." Nana Thorna was still being kind, but I could tell she was losing patience, and wanted an answer to her original question.

After a moment to happy-dance in my mind about my grandmother agreeing to actually leave her self-imposes isolation to help me, I composed myself and finished my explanation. "Tomorrow morning, just before sunrise, my Alpha will escort me to the edge of our valleys borders. At sunrise, I will cross the barrier, and will not cross them again until I pass my trial." I bowed my head at that, still worried that I might fail in my mission, and ultimately pay with my life.

Nana gasped lightly. "So soon?! Most alphas on the edge of adulthood still get a month of living alone within their Alphas territory before they set out on their own! Why so soon?" Grandmother was quick to pull me further into her side, holding me to her like that would stop me from leaving.

"I have to leave so soon, father wants me to travel to the grounds where the World Cup is to be held, on my own, without any help, and without being caught. Me leaving as soon as possible in order to have time to safely complete this task is his "gift" to me." I replied nearly snarling. I just knew that I would hate this, just from my fathers grin at the beginning of the conversation. Just the reminder was enough to make me want to punch something. Instead, I snuggled further into my nana's side and pouted. Not that I'd ever admit that to anyone.

She sighed, and just continued to hold me, weaving her fingers into my hair with one hand, to scratch my head, and to do the same to my back with her other. "I assume that you'll have to traverse to this "Hogwarts" the same way then?" She asked rhetorically, already knowing that the answer was yes.

"I have from June 4th, to august 21st, to get to the grounds of the World Cup, and relax a little before doing the same thing from August 23rd to October 23rd to reach the grounds of Hogwarts. I need to get to Hogwarts before the 24th, which is when they'll be introducing the other schools and myself to the student body." I groaned internally at this, as I immediately recognized my next problem. "I also have to find time to make some new clothes, since I'll be representing all of the A-Ni in my roll as royalty, I can't just show up in everyday normal clothes, I have to "properly represent the face of the A-Ni in peace instead of war", as father was oh so happy to say." I scoffed at this, irritation that I had to deal with such petty things on top of my life or death mission.

"Well now, I may just have something to help with that." My nana grinned as she stood up and walked over to her furs in the back corner of the den. Next to it, I could see a large chest, which Thorna went to and opened just long enough to pull out a long parcel, before closing it once again. Returning she handed me the package, which was long and looked to be wrapped in black leather, that glowed with an enchantment of some kind. After staring at it for a few seconds, just caressing the leather, my elder cleared her throat, and gave me a look to tell me to get on with it.

I slowed pulled the leather away, and realized that it wasn't a simple wrap like I first thought, but a long trench coat with my families crest pressed into the back. Underneath, I can now see that the coat was wrapped around a sheath, of what looks to be a short sword, with a simple grip, but my families crest also embossed onto the cross-guard of the handle. The pommel itself had a jewel inlaid, that shined a beautiful purple in the fire light. In fact, the sheath and the coat also shined purple, despite being dyed black, which let me know that they'd all been imbued with my family magic. It's magnificent. As I pulled the blade out of the sheath slightly, it let out a charming ring, and I could tell just from sight that the blade was of high dwarven quality.

"Well come on then, try them on, make sure they fit, and let me see. Quickly dear, we need to sleep soon if you have to get up so early." After letting me take in the bounty she had given me, my grandmother wanted me to make sure the gifts would be useful, before bed.

"Yes ma'am." I eagerly replied, speedily skipping the coat on over my chest wrap. It was a little large, but after glowing for a second and heating up, it shrink down to fit me perfectly. It was a simple trench coat, with a downturned collar, and was long enough to reach my knees once I stood up. It had deep pockets on each side, set at the perfect height for my hands to set inside. It also had no sleeves, and had no way to close, so I wouldn't overheat. With the knowledge that the swords belt would also fit, I quickly drew the blade before giving a couple swipes to test the weight and balance. It was perfect, not that I expected any different. I could see from the glow of the silver-blue sheen of the blade, that it was made to fit its owner. I looked at nana Thorna questionably, and she responded as I sheathed the sword and set it down with the coat to the side of her furs, on top of her chest, instead of in.

"Well, I couldn't have my favorite Alpha granddaughter leave the protection of home without a blade of her own now could I? I had the forgers put a rush on it after Fenrir first shared his plans with me, just in case it would be needed sooner than I thought, and what do you know, I was right." With that, she banked her fire, to let it slowly die in the night, and pulled me over to her furs. Before I could even think of arguing or resisting, she bopped my nose. "You need all the rest you can get, and I know you hate to sleep alone. Come on now, cuddle with your grandma, just one last time." She smiled sadly, and all the fight just left my body. She was right, and I couldn't say no, not when this could be the last time I see her, and Would be my last chance to sleep with her. As a full adult, if I passed my trial, I wouldn't be able to get away with acting like a pup, not as a fully grown Alpha.

She smells of home. Rose had been oddly quiet all evening, but she was content to just bask in nana's presence, while I wanted her physical reassurance that everything would be okay. Come on, let's get some shut eye. With that, I curled into my nana's side one last time, laying in the middle of her furs, while she stroked my hair and hummed until I fell asleep.

I'll always love you, grandma.

*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA

Everything was both to fast and to slow this morning. It felt like a blink of an eye before I was being nudged awake my grandmother. As I blearily looked around, I could that Peace was waiting for me just outside the mouth of the cave, his body somewhat hidden by the predawn darkness. I said nothing as I quickly got up, and pulled on my new coat, and strapped my sword to my back with its shoulder strap. Thorna was just as silent as she watched me prepare, only stopping me for a hug one last time before I left to join my fathers SIC.

"Listen to your wolf child, and don't be afraid to go with your instinct. And remember, when you meet your future pack-mates, you'll just know. Don't fight against it, and you'll succeed." With a kiss to my cheek, and a pat on my head, she pushed me to the entrance, not allowing me to respond. Not that I can to be honest. I feel like if I open my mouth, I might scream, cry, or throw up, and I can't do that. Not now, anyway, and especially not with Peace watching me silently, as always.

Our passage through the forest was all a blur, before I knew it I was standing before my father at the end of the valley, just minutes before sunrise. I bowed in respect, but differently than I would have just a day previously. Before, it would be a full 90 degrees with a bowed head, just like I did with Thorna, but now, as an Alpha about to step out on my own for the first time, I was almost his equal. Instead, I bowed at a 45 degrees, and a bent head, and waited for his response.

"Rise my daughter. You have 47 days to cross to the east coast, find passage across the Atlantic Ocean, and journey to the fairgrounds where I will be meeting the Brit's minister of magic on the 24th of August. I expect to see you there. You will be traveling alone, and you will need to get through the borders unnoticed, without being caught. You will not begin finding your pack until you are in England, that will be the territory you claim. Do you understand?" I just nodded once, he had already explained this the day previously. "As the sun rises, you will begin your first steps in your journey. Exactly one year from now, I can only hope to meet you here once again, and welcome your Pack into the tribe. I know I have made this more difficult than it already would've been, but I believe that you can handle it. However, I have a gift for you that will hopefully make for this somewhat." I had to use all of my willpower not to cry in despair at those words.

Please be something good, please be something that won't kill me, at the very least. As I prayed to every power under the moon, my father continued. If he noticed my anguish, he didn't say a word.

"My gift to you is this, at any time, if you need it, you may call for my help, but only once. Use it wisely." I was stunned, rule number one was no outside help, never mind help from your old Alpha. This was a huge deal, very serious, and I responded in kind.

"Yes father, I will endeavor to never need my gift, but if I do, I will gratefully use it." I bobbed my head again, trying to hide my nerves behind a veneer of confidence. As I did so, I noticed the sky begin to brighten, and I knew it was time. With one last look, I moved to the barrier. My father and Peace stood at attention, and watched as I crossed the border of our territory without a moments hesitation.

I can't afford to look back, I need to keep moving forward. Get ready London, the Big Bad Wolf is on her way.

*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA*TBOTA

The end for now! That's a wrap guys, I hope you enjoyed chapter four of TBOTA, and review. I need them like tinker bell needs applause to live, so don't be shy!

In case you're confused, that last thought was shared by Grace and her wolf. This will happen more often as they continue to learn how to work together.

Until next time.