Unexpected Ally

by WeasleyGirl12333

How do you think the Second Wizarding War would have gone if a group of people, who were thought to be dead, came out of the woodwork to aid the light in defeating Voldemort? Pretty interesting. Unexpected powers and strengths, and A LOT of battle and blood shed. Two people turn up at Malfoy Manor one night, and begin their journey of righting 300 years worth of wrongs done.

14. Chapter 14

A/N: I would REALLY like to know what you all think of this chapter. The ideas for this chapter just came to me and I fell in love with them. I hope you enjoy this chapter on the meeting! Already working on the next chapter! Thank you for reading!

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The whole room was filled with tension as they watched the exchange between the King and Brynjar. Waiting, some on the edge of their seats, some just on the edge, for chaos to ensue. They all watched, and noted, how Asta wouldn't turn her back to her father as she escorted Brynjar to the opposite end of the dining room. A gesture that they all knew would, and did, hurt the King deeply, though he was too proud to show it in front of his men. Everyone in the room ignored the pained and guilty look that flashed briefly across his features, except for Astrid, who simply, yet coldly, placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Clearly, she was none too happy with the King and how he treated and spoke to her son. But she couldn't help but still feel for the King, knowing that his daughter was all he had left, and the gesture made by the way she walked in here hurt him deeply.

Abraxus scolded himself internally for letting personal matters threaten to damn near break his resolve. He took a deep breath and took a second to regain his composure, before straightening himself up to his full height and sweeping his eyes around the room before beginning to speak.

"Let's begin, shall we?" Abraxus said gruffly, gesturing for everyone in the room to take a seat around the table before moving to pull both, his and Astrid's chairs out for them to sit in. Before he could lower himself down into his chair, however, his daughter spoke up in a waspish tone that matched her expression.

"Where's the book?" Asta snapped, having not moved from her spot against the back wall, even though Brynjar took his usual seat next to Balder as instructed, however her seat opposite her father remained vacant. She stared her father down from across the room, not really happy to be in the same room as him at the moment.

Abraxus bristled at her question, and at her tone, and at her complete show of disrespect in front of their people. He will always maintain that he can never deny that she is his daughter. This child is bold and brash and a right pain in the fucking ass.

He looked down the long, worn and beaten oak table at his daughter, resisting the urge to send a ball of fire her way at her boldness. Knowing the answer he was going to give her was not one she was going to like, but it was the truth at this point in time, and even she could not deny it.

"That is not your concern, now is it?" Abraxus stated more than questioned before gesturing for her to take her seat, unable to ignore the fire in her eyes at his answer. "Now take your seat, so we may begin." Abraxus added, finally settling himself in his seat. Just as he settled in his chair he looked down the table in the direction of his daughter, he saw both her and her chair were missing, then he heard a thud on his immediate left, and smirked.

"We are finding there is less and less things you can lecture and parent me on, Your Highness." Asta snarled at her father as straddled her chair, resting her arms on the back rest. "I'm an Akeldama. I'm privileged to that book by blood. That makes it my concern." Asta continued, jamming her most prized possession and inch and a half into the hard table top, as a show of proof of her blood. Her Grandfather's dagger. A dagger that has been passed down to from certain family members to other family members who showed signs of "Ferocity" like no other.

The dagger had been man made, and made with man power, no magic. The handle was four and a half inches long with a two-inch knob at the end. The handle was made entirely of solid Gold, with intricate markings etched into the beautiful metal, that was actually a charm that always made the dagger find its way back to its owner*. The blade of the dagger was crafted out of black obsidian, except for the tip of blade which was Gold. The blade of the dagger was thicker than the usual dagger, and was five inches long.

She generally kept this blade stowed away in her pouch, using her Goblin made blade for missions because the Goblin made blade retains poisons, whereas her familial blade does not.

The whole room looked at the blade in tense silence. Everyone in the room, except for Malfoy who was slightly proud of Asta, knew she never used her family name as means to get what she wanted. It was just something she never used, no matter what the situation was.

Asta rose from her seat, ripping her blade from the wooden surface, and quickly replacing its sheath before stowing it back in her pouch. She waved her hand at her chair casually, sending it floating back to its spot at the head spot at the opposite end of the table. She walked slowly around her father, sensing his hackles rise as she disappeared from view before reappearing on his right-hand side. She started making her way towards her spot at the other end of the table, once again, never turning her back to her father. She made it half way down the long wooden table before she asked him once again, "Where is the book?"

Abraxus pinched the bridge of his nose out of frustration with his daughter, closing his eyes briefly as he tried to keep his temper in check. When he opened his eyes, his daughter was in her seat, her fingers templed at her lips waiting for him to answer her question.

"The book is in my bedroom." Abraxus replied gravelly, meeting his daughters harsh, unwavering gaze. "Satisfied? Now can we-" Abraxus attempted to continue, but was cut off by his daughter once again.

"Not really, no. I'd be much more satisfied if you had the book on your person. That way we know where it is at all times." Asta declared holding her fathers' stare firmly, waiting for him to say something in response. She could see that her father looked annoyed, she could feel it in the air as well, but she wanted to make sure that the book would remain safe.

"Are you suggesting that someone amongst those gathered here, and those that have been trusted to visit this house, can no longer be trusted?" Abraxus drawled sending her a bored look from the other end of the table. His words earned a gasp from Astrid, who was seated on his immediate right, as she looked at him with a look of disbelief on her face. "Is that not what was-"

"No, you fucking imbecile, that was not what was implied." Asta ground as she slowly rose to her feet, making her friends scoot towards the edges of their seats in case she flew off the handle. Her father did very little to hide his anger at her tone and total lack of disrespect. He was growing very tired of being disrespected in his own house, and by his own flesh and blood no less. "The last fucking time you were laxed about guarding that fucking book, your brand new fucking wife took advantage of your trust and did one of two fucking things." Asta spat venomously, leaning heavily on the table towards her father as she explained why he, in her opinion, was being a childish dick. "She either, looked through the book and wrote down the information necessary to create a bloody mark, and passed it along to Snakeman. OR! She fucking copied the whole bloody book! Then gave the fucking copy to Snakeman!" Asta added breathing heavily as she tried her best to refrain from running down the table and choking her father out. "I do not want to think that anyone here would try anything like she did, however… Men!" Asta called out, not breaking eye contact with her father, waiting a beat as they all answered.

"Yes, Asta." The seven young men collected around the table called back without hesitation, looking directly at Asta.

"When we were finally old enough to start our training, what is the first thing we were taught?" Asta growled, anger emanating off of her as she looked at her father. She had no idea what had gotten into him that was making him be such a dick, but he was working the very last fiber, of her very last nerve.

"Trust no one." The seven young men called back, this time looking at the King with eyes that were unfeeling and hard.

Asta smirked slightly at their collective response, knowing that her father was slightly regretting the day he agreed to break Viking custom and let her train to fight with the boys.

Abraxus looked around at all the faces seated around the table, glaring at each of them, even Astrid and the Malfoy boy, though they did nothing wrong. How did his daughter gain control of his people without his knowledge? When had this happened? He buried his face in his hands and growled at the fact that he would be admitting defeat…. again, and he didn't like it. He heaved a heavy sigh and rose from his chair and made his way out of the dining room.

Gunnar looked down the table at Asta who looked around the table at them all, finding Gunnar's eyes, and shrugged. She honestly didn't know if he just gave up on the meeting because she wouldn't let up on the safety of the book issue, or if he actually gave up and went to get the book, or what he was doing. Even Astrid was confused by his actions, and she was usually in sync with her father, or even a step ahead of him.

They barely had time to contemplate further as to where the King had gone, because a moment later he came walking back into the dining room with a fairly sized book in hand. The book was fourteen inches long and eleven inches wide with a black cover, and a grey spine. The title of the book was handwritten on the cover in a blood red color. The book was a frightful sight to behold.

"I'm waiting for the day to come, that my going against the Viking custom of letting you train with the boys will not bite me in the ass." Abraxus said with a hint of playfulness hidden beneath his hardened features as he looked down the table at his daughter. Asta met her father's eyes, but didn't soften her expression.

"I'm still young, so keep waiting." Asta said flatly, looking down at the book then looking to Brynjar quickly, before looking back at her father. "When you or, just for purpose of my question, I am not touching the book, does it take on a different appearance to each individual? Is that something you know?" Asta asked earnestly, brow furrowed in deep thought.

Abraxus took her hint and quickly removed his hand from the book. He didn't see anything different, nor did his daughter see anything different than what sat on the table before him. However, the rest of the rooms occupants did and he was curious to find out what it was they saw.

"Well, what do you all see?" Abraxus asked them all, looking around the room authoritatively before eventually settling on Colborn. "Colborn?"

All eyes turned to the brown-haired man, as he straightened himself up in his chair and fixed his gaze towards the King.

Colborn cleared his throat and fidgeted slightly in his seat before righting himself in his seat and saying, "I see a quill, Sir."

Colborn's answer earned quite the comical look from the King. You would have thought he said he saw sugar plum fairies and rainbows frolicking in a meadow, by the look the King was giving him.

"Balder, what do you see?" The King asked, a look of disbelief and confusion on his face as he turned away from Colborn, and focused on Balder.

"A quill, Sir." Balder replied, looking from Colborn to the King with a confused look on his face.

"Eindride?" Abraxus growled, befuddled at how such a small book can appear to be something so bloody small!

Eindride looked at the book in front of Abraxus, and up into Abraxus's eyes and said, "A quill, Sir."

"Do all of you see a bloody quill?" The King asked, clearly annoyed and confused by their answers, watching each of the young men as they nodded their heads in agreement. He looked down the table towards his daughter in utter disbelief, and noted that her expression matched his.

For a brief moment, his Kingly resolve lowered as he lowered himself down into his chair, staring at the book in slight wonder while supporting his head in his hand.

"How the bloody fucking hell do you see something as small as a fucking quill, when it's such a large fucking book?" Abraxus grumbled more to himself than anyone else as he stared at the book on the table, still not touching it. "How?" Abraxus added, waving a hand lazily towards the book.

Asta leaned her hands on the table and rolled her eyes at her father's reaction, looking at her friends as they all sat there smirking at her father carrying on like a stressed-out mother.

"Ahem." Asta coughed, quirking an eyebrow as she stared at her father down the table. "Are you seriously hung up on the fact that it looks like a fucking quill? We DO have important matters to discuss, and Harry Potter and his friends set up in my room while we are here, so can we get back on track please?" Asta commanded, more than asked, knowing as soon as she said that Harry Potter was here it would snap her father back to reality.

"You brought them here? Why do you continue to risk the safety of our village, and our people?" Abraxus snapped, jumping to his feet and slamming his hands on the table in frustration.

"They are fighting for the same cause we are! It's not like I brought a small retinue from the enemy into the village! I brought Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger!" Asta snapped back, vanishing the table barrier that stood between her and her father. "Brynjar and I asked to accompany them while they set out to do…. Whatever the bloody fuck it is they're doing, and it is hard to do that if we are not with them you see. Also, Harry Potter requests and audience with you tomorrow, which is the other reason I brought him." Asta added as she closed in on her father. If he wanted to lash out at her she wasn't going to stop him, but he would be absolutely mental if he would expect her to not fight back. If he believes she would truly be that careless to give away the location of their village and risk their peoples' safety, he clearly didn't trust or know her as well as he claimed he did. "They don't know where the village is. They just know they are in a Viking settlement. Now can we please get on with figuring out what the fuck my egg donor did with the book?" Asta pleaded, giving her father one final hard look before turning on her heel and making her way back to her seat. As soon as she made it back to her seat, she brought the table back to its previous place, and held her fathers' stare for a moment or two before he broke it.

"Where is Taylor?" Abraxus asked flatly, looking around the room and furrowing his brow as he noticed the lack of female presence for the first time since they started the meeting. He saw his daughter look at him with a look of pure confusion on her face at his question. Rather than give a lengthy explanation they didn't have time for, he just sent his daughter off to go fetch young woman. "Go fetch her and bring her here, she needs to be here."

Asta shot one last confused look before disapparating on the spot to go find her cousin. She appeared in Taylors' bedroom with a pop, barely causing a reaction from the blonde girl who was laying in her bed playing her guitar.

Taylors' bedroom was the exact opposite of Asta's. The walls were painted emerald green with silver black trim. She had book shelves along one entire wall, they were partially filled with books and partially filled with pictures of her and Asta through the years. Taylor had a makeup station on the wall opposite from her bedroom door, which was right next to her window. Her wardrobe has a dark ebony finish and is massive on its own, yet she found it necessary to put an undetectable extension charm on it a few years back to accommodate her bad shopping habits. Her bed is the same size as Asta's, with emerald down comforter and black pillow cases. Her bed frame and the posters on her bed were made of solid wood with the same dark ebony finish as her wardrobe. Her floor was carpeted, against her parents' wishes, and it was black carpeting nonetheless. All in all, Taylors' room was the epitome of depressed and dark soul, except for the few happy smiling pictures of her and her cousin decorating her bookshelf.

Taylor lazily looked up from her guitar and saw her cousin standing in her room with her "serious face" on and knew this wasn't going to be fun for her.

"I do not want to train today, I'm playing my guitar all day." Taylor said flatly, as she focused her attention on playing the right chords on her guitar.

"No training. My father wants you at the meeting at my house, now." Asta said flatly before disapparating without another word, leaving Taylor to look after the spot where Asta had just been standing not just two seconds ago.

Taylor closed her eyes tightly for a brief second in loathing before opening them and setting her guitar aside and calling out to her mum.

"Mum! The King has summoned me to his house for a meeting, I don't know when I will be back, alright?" Taylor called out shakily, nervous as to why the King would want her to be at this meeting. They had an agreement; she would train with, Asta and or the King himself, to hone her stupid gift, and he wouldn't tell anyone she had the gift or make her go on any assignments.

"Alright Taylor, behave yourself!" Her mother replied from somewhere on the other side of her bedroom door.

"I always do mother." Taylor said flatly before disapparating away, wishing she could just stay in bed and keep playing her guitar.

Not a moment later she was standing in the sitting room at Asta's house and quickly made her way towards the dining room. As she entered the dining room, all heads turned to look at her including that of Malfoy, who offered her a sweet smile which she met with a wink.

Taylor made her way towards where the King was, stopping a good ten feet away from him, and bowed slightly towards him out of respect before making her way towards a vacant seat across from Malfoy. She took her seat and slumped down in her chair, sagging down in the left side of her chair, sticking her arm out on the table looking bored and annoyed.

"Thank you for joining us Taylor." Abraxus said firmly, noting the girls annoyed and angry disposition. His words were met with a tight, insincere smile and brief eye contact. Abraxus looked away from Taylor and down the table to his daughter, who raised her eye brows at him and shrugged her shoulder at him in response to his look.

Asta knew Taylor did not want to be here, she never liked taking part in meetings, assignments or training. She wasn't like Asta in that aspect. She wasn't a fighter unless she had no choice. What did her father expect? That Taylor would come in all happy and joyful that she was called upon to sit in on a meeting? The girl didn't even like the gift she had! Her father was barmy if he thought she was going to be happy for being summoned here.

Asta looked down the table and noticed what was adding to her annoyance at having to be here. The way they are expected to seat themselves around the table for meetings is, she and all her friends fill up one end of the table and Abraxus and his seasoned men fill up the other. The table goes according to rank, even when the seasoned men aren't called upon or vice versa. The only acceptable seat for Taylor to take was next to Gunnar, her ex-boyfriend.

Her father didn't seem to care however, though she couldn't blame him, they have more important matters at hand.

"It has come to my attention, and Asta's as well, that my ex-wife has violated a sacred Akeldama family heirloom, treasure and curse." Abraxus stated darkly, winning the whole rooms attention over, even Taylor who had been singing a new song she had written in her head. All eyes were now on him as he made sure he made eye contact with everyone in the room before continuing to speak. "At some point after Seraphina and I got married, through a blood marriage ceremony, she invited herself to this book." Abraxus continued, touching the book so all of them could see the book. "Whether she made a copy of just a charm, spell or curse, or copied the whole book, we do not know. But we need to find a way to figure out what she did so we can figure out the best course of action, because if it is just the information for the brand I will not be comfortable risking your lives to recover it. Especially since he may have it memorized, as well as already taught the procedure to a few of his most loyal followers."

"However, if he has a copy of the book we need to recover it as quickly as possible." Asta began, cutting off her father and looking forlornly at her friends before turning to her father and continuing on. "Which is why I believe….. the seasoned men should be the ones to do go and recover the book." Asta said firmly, as all of her friends shot to their feet behind her shouting their indignation at her choice, even Brynjar was upset, clearly he forgot they were already occupied with Harry Potter.

Her father and Astrid looked down the table at her with approving eyes at her decision, and were waiting to see how she handled the situation at hand, she knew it. Asta turned her attention back towards her group of shouting friends, and saw that Taylor was watching the scene unfold with a mixture of amusement and shock at the guys reaction. Apparently, she wasn't able to believe why they would get all worked up about not going on this assignment. She looked across the table from Taylor to where Malfoy sat, and she was shocked to see him staring at Taylor with a small smirk on his face.

The noise level seemed to continue to rise drastically for every moment Asta sat still and did nothing, and she couldn't take it for another minute.

Asta rose from her chair; aimed her right hand towards the chair, transfiguring it into a wooden bat, grasped the bat in her hand just as it was about to fall to the floor, and swung it above her head then down against the wooden table as hard as she could. The sound of the bat connecting with the table stunned the room into silence. The sight of the splintered top quarter of the wooden bat dangling from its counter-part, smartened her friends up enough to sit down.

Asta glared at each and every one of her friends, including Brynjar, with a look so incensed that she found many of her friends couldn't hold her gaze. She completely understood why they were angry with her, but they cannot act like a bunch of petulant children in front of the King, especially when they want to be the ones who go on a recon assignment for him. They just completely embarrassed themselves and her in front of her father! She was absolutely beside herself at their behavior!

She had never seen them act this way. In all fairness, she always fought for them to be given a shot at important assignments, and they always proved to be competent and trustworthy. However, this was different, and even she didn't want to take any chances with this. Did they not understand what this book was? Did they not understand the knowledge and power that Snakeman had in his dirty fucking hands at the moment? This is too big a job for them, and they will see reason or they will take her answer and deal with it.

Before she rounded on the group of men as a whole, she turned to Brynjar with that same petrifying gaze, and reamed him out first.

"First, I don't know if you have forgotten My Love," Asta began, the last two words dripping with anger, "but we are already preoccupied with Harry Potter so we wouldn't even be able to go on this assignment anyway." Asta paused for a moment to read his expression to see if she was right, and she was. He had briefly forgotten that they were accompanying Harry Potter on his travels. He looked guilty and sad all at once as he slumped back in his seat, letting his head hang over the back of the chair. Not that she could really blame him, this was a really big deal, the whole issue with the book. But still, he of all people should understand why she is making the decision she is. "So, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't jump down my throat like the rest of them. Especially seeing as you all don't seem to understand the severity of the situation." Asta finished before looking up at the rest of the tables occupants, to find them all staring at her with wide nervous eyes. 'Good' she thought.

"Normally I stand at this table and argue with my father for hours, until he agrees to let us take an important assignment. You all have proven, time and time again, that you are all more than competent and capable and trustworthy; shut up Taylor." Asta added quickly, glancing towards the blonde girl who was about to make a snide comment at her last few words.

Taylor looked down the table at Asta, who was trying like hell to hold off a smirk, then around at the rest of the table before catching Gunnar's eyes. He didn't look hurt, or bothered, he didn't even look angry. He looked at Taylor like he was confused. His look was met with an eyeroll, before she slumped back over to the left and leaned on her hand, waiting for the meeting to be over as Asta continued to speak to the guys.

"However, this assignment is one that I feel the seasoned men should take on. Snakeman is most likely housing his copy of this book at one of his most loyal followers Manors. The seasoned men have been inside damn near all their Manors, they know how to navigate their way around them without getting caught, or at least without attracting a lot of attention." Asta began looking around at her friends, hoping they were starting to lighten up, but of course they weren't so Asta pressed on. "The seasoned men know what wards are around the Manors, they know the general layouts of them, they know the areas to avoid…. I mean, they can get in and get out of them with very little chance of there being a problem. Whereas if 'we', and by 'we' I obviously mean you guys, we aren't as sure of that because we haven't been to those places. We will cause a raucous, and it will soon become known what we are searching for and he will start carrying it on his person, making it impossible to take it from him."

"You make it sound like we're new." Eindride said annoyedly two seats away on her right.

"Yeah. We've done shit… sorry Astrid… like this before! It's not like we are fresh out of training here!" Gunnar called out, cheeks red as he apologized for his language, before continuing on with his complaint.

"I just don't understand why all of a sudden you don't think we can handle this?" Cuyler asked from her immediate right, resembling that of a kicked puppy.

"Especially after all the other assignments we've done, I mean, each of us have almost died plenty of times so it's not like danger is anything new. I mean, fuck…" Balder exclaimed running his hands through hair out of frustration, before realizing what he just said and quickly looked down the length of the table towards Astrid. "Sorry Astrid." Bowing his head slightly, his cheeks slightly pink.

"I don't know why you all are apologizing for swearing in front of me." Astrid stated flatly, looking between the group of young men at the opposite end of the table. "Even my own son doesn't worry about swearing in front of me, and have you met his girlfriend? So please, save your breath, it doesn't bother me." Astrid added with a cocky grin towards Asta, who returned the same grin.

"Look, this has nothing to do with you all not being able to handle danger! This is just a matter of these men have snuck their way in and out of Death Eater Manors multiple times before, and have done it with minimal damage. We need to check as many of them as we can undetected until we find the book, so we don't give away what we are doing or that we are there." Asta groaned, feeling as though she had just repeated herself a hundred times but in different variations. She bent forward so she was leaning her elbows on the table, and began rubbing her temples to try and rub away the head ache that was making its presence known. "I feel like a bloody fucking parrot." Asta growled, giving all her friends except Brynjar, Taylor and Malfoy a mild shock, causing them all to yelp in surprise. "Still want to argue with me?" Asta dared, not even standing up-right to deliver her threat. She glanced around at all of her friends and saw them all staring at her in silent defeat, which broke her heart just a little bit. "Good." She declared, waving her hand over the broken bat to repair it before transfiguring it back into a chair so she could reclaim her seat and let her father continue.

Once his daughter was back in her seat he looked at her with a proud look on his face. She had handled that well, albeit, towards the end she got a little cranky but nonetheless she handled it well.

Abraxus suddenly rose from his seat and took Astrid's hand lightly in his, helping her out of her chair in a gentlemanly fashion. The action took the whole of the room by surprise, and amusement at Asta and Brynjar's expense.

"Now that that is settled, Astrid would you please go and summon my men? Tell them they are needed for an assignment and it is urgent." Abraxus asked with a gentleness that NONE of them, not even Asta, has even heard come from her father. Astrid nodded her head in agreement with his words and disapparated on the spot.

Balder leaned over to say something to Brynjar, judging by the smirk on his face it was probably a cheeky comment, but Brynjar cut him off before he could get a word out.

"Don't even. Fucking. Say it asshole." Brynjar growled, just low enough for Balder and Asta to hear, making Balder laugh and Asta cringe.

Luckily Balder didn't have much time to gather another cheeky response, because a moment later Taylor spoke up for the first time since she arrived.

"Why did you want me to come to the meeting?" Taylor asked Abraxus boldly. "I never go on assignments with them, I don't even train with them! So why did you have Asta summon me here?" Taylor more or less demanded, leveling Abraxus with a bored yet nervous look. She knew she was related to the King and Asta, and vice versa, but no one other than her mother, birth father and step father knew that information. The rest of the village was blind to it all thanks to Alastor, and Abraxus for helping keep it secret.

Abraxus looked at the young woman giving him attitude and saw the fire in her that was her father. There was no denying that she was Alastor's daughter, no way in hell anyone could deny it. She had his attitude, his patience, his eyes; she has her mothers' cheerfulness though, he has seen her happy and that is all her mother.

Abraxus gave Taylor a sorrow filled, but firm look, before looking down the table to Asta then back to her. Taylor almost instantly knew what he meant, and she shot to her feet, knocking her chair into the wall behind her. She looked at Abraxus, who looked almost saddened by his choice, then to Asta who looked angered and confused.

"What makes you think NOW is the time for this?" Asta asked heatedly, clearly not understanding her father's decision-making process.

"Trust me, it is." Abraxus said flatly, before waving his hand around the room just as Taylor was about to apparate out of the dining room. "You cannot escape this forever, as much as you would like to keep it hidden, the time for that is done." Abraxus growled, staring the young girl down. "I have let you lay low long enough. I am not going to continue treating you like a child, that luxury is over. You are seventeen in a world at war with a dark powerful force, and you expect to be left in peace?" Abraxus spat angrily from his spot at the table looking at Taylor, who was leaning against the wall for support. "Child, you are a Viking! We may fight and kill for the true honest good now, but we are still a brave, savage people!" Abraxus paused looking at Taylor who just stared blankly straight ahead at nothing. The girl looked completely defeated by his words.

"Fine." Taylor said hoarsely still staring at nothing in particular, with eight pairs of confused eyes switching between her, the King and Asta, before pulling her chair back underneath her and taking her seat next to Gunnar once again.

As soon as she pulled her chair up next to him, and was settled, Gunnar instinctively wanted to reach out and take her hand in his and give it a squeeze. Just to comfort her, because he could see that whatever it was the King was prattling on about was really upsetting her. Just because they weren't together anymore, doesn't mean he doesn't care about her.

Asta watched as Taylor sat down next to Gunnar with an expression she had never seen on her face before; hopelessness. She also saw that Gunnar looked very concerned for her, which she thought was sweet. She wished she understood her fathers' thought process for forcing this to happen now. She didn't think this would be happening until a big battle between the light and dark and everyone actually saw what Taylor could do.

She didn't have much time to think on it though, because not a moment later Astrid came back in with Abraxus' men following behind her. Everyone at the table stood up, out of respect to the men; everyone that is except for Taylor and Malfoy who were unfamiliar with the protocol.

The men came in laughing and happy, they bowed their heads to the King and to Asta before greeting their sons and their friends. The men were middle-aged versions of their sons, some with long hair some with short. All of them had scars, it was almost considered a sin to be a male Viking and NOT have a scar. They were all muscled and still maintained their muscle tone well for their age, seeing as their sons take most of the assignments now and they don't necessarily train as much as they should. Arvid's father was the first to speak up amongst the bunch of seasoned men.

"I'm surprised you called on us Ab', what with our sons and your daughter handling most of the assignments, and what not." Talbot said with a smirk looking down the table towards his son and Cuyler, who has become like a second son to him ever since his father passed away. "I don't know about the rest of you, but my Ria has been happier with the increase in… quality time, shall we call it." Talbot added with a smirk towards the other men, who nodded in agreement.

"Oi! Don't talk about my mother like that!" Arvid shouted down the table to his father as he covered his ears like a child. The whole room broke out into laughter at his reaction.

"She my wife!" Talbot laughed at his son. "How the bloody hell you think you got here boy?" Talbot prodded, as he watched the whole room, even Astrid, laugh as his son tried to unhear what he just heard, and remove the images from his head.

"I know how I fucking got here, doesn't mean I wanna think about it!" Arvid called from down the table, swatting his friends hands away from him as they tried pestering him further. "Aren't we supposed to be fucking discussing something that doesn't involve my mum and… that." Arvid growled before slamming his head down on the table, willing the images his father just put in his head out.

"I could tell you about the night you were conceived, don't tempt me boy." Talbot threatened playfully, laughing as he watched his son continued to cover his ears.

Abraxus wiped a tear from the corner of his eye from having laughed so hard, before clearing his throat in an attempt to try and regain his composure. Young Arvid was a piece of work, but so was his father, and when they are together they were a right riot. Abraxus finally got himself to calm down enough to speak after a few deep breaths.

"If you will excuse me for a moment." He said quickly as he rose from his seat and made his way to just outside the dining room and muttered something in Latin before walking back into the room. "I had cast an anti-magic charm around the dining room, to prevent a certain someone," Abraxus paused briefly to look towards Taylor, who was still trying to suppress laughter at Arvid, "from leaving before the meeting had even begun."

The room had quieted significantly now that Abraxus had begun talking, and Arvid had picked his head up off the table and focused his attention on the King. Taylor had gotten the last of her giggles out and was now looking forlornly at Asta, before turning her attention to the King.

Most of the seasoned men had never even heard Taylor speak before, seeing as she has never attended a meeting before, or really ever trained. So, for them to see her sitting there in the meeting was a little odd, and when they heard her speak to Abraxus the way she did they were absolutely stunned.

"So, did you want to put me through this hell now, or later?" Taylor asked Abraxus point blank, looking at him with very little patience. "I'd rather get it done and over with so I can go back home, and be fucking done with this day before Asta comes and drags me away for training." Taylor said flatly, ignoring all the hard stares she was getting from the seasoned men and the other guys.

"We will get the ball rolling with main reason we are here, then we will 'put you through hell' as you so kindly put it." Abraxus declared, summoning the book the younger generation at the table had come to recognize as her family tree book. Asta cringed as she saw the book come sailing into the room and land in front of her father. "Now, the issue at hand is a copy was made out of 'The Book of Cursed Black Souls' by my cunt of an ex-wife at some point after we got married. We do not know if she copied just the section of magic on how to create the mark, or if she copied the whole book, which is a major hindrance we currently face. As if making a copy of the sacred and evil book was not enough, she gave the copy of the book to Snakeman himself." Abraxus added darkly, noting the darkened expressions on all of his men's' faces at the monstrous betrayal. "We didn't know my bitch of an ex-wife had done this, until young Mr Malfoy here showed up with a mark on his arm. The magic used to create that mark was created many centuries ago by my ancestors, they wrote that magic down in this book, that is how I know." Abraxus growled as he looked around the room at all of them, opening the other book to the page with the family tree, and enlarging it so his comrades could see it. "This my friends, is something of a recent discovery of mine regarding Seraphina. As it turns out both, she and her 'parents', failed to mention that she was adopted into their family when she was but a mere infant. Have yourselves a look." Abraxus growled as he waved his hand carelessly at the book, sending it away from him and towards the middle of his gathered comrades.

All the older men rose to their feet, and leaned over the table to look at the book that their leader, and long-time friend, had shoved in front of them. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Seraphina was a twin. And not just a twin, she was a twin from the outside magical community. They all looked at over the faces on the tree, and came across a face they all saw when they came into the room just a ten minutes ago. They all turned and looked at the young blonde man sitting at the middle of the table, then to Asta, who looked as though she was going to explode, before turning their attention back to the King.

"Are you telling me this….boy, I'm assuming going by the name listed here, is your nephew?" Adelrik, Balders' father, asked Abraxus with a shocked expression that didn't suit him at all.

"Will one of you stun me?" Malfoy asked sincerely as he looked up and down the table for any takers, but was only met with amused or hard stares, and one sad one. "Every time one of you blokes questions my masculinity it hits a nerve, and clearly I don't stand a chance. So, I'm asking one of you to just stun me. Or call Potter or Weasley out here, I know one of them will be more than happy to do it."

Asta and Brynjar looked at each other and rolled their eyes, meanwhile the older men just chuckled at Malfoy's reaction.

"Boy, you need to get some bulk on ya' then maybe we won't mistake you for a girl." Altan, Eindride's father, said with a smirk as he sat back down in his seat, eyeing the scrawny boy carefully before turning his attention back to Abraxus.

"How do we figure out if she copied the whole book or not?" Cale, Colborn's father, asked, looking to anyone for suggestions as to how to get the answer quickly. "I'm sure we all can agree Seraphina wouldn't have been stupid enough to try and go near that book with any of us around, even if we couldn't tell what it was until she touched it."

"Right. She would have waited until she was alone in the house, which means…." Brynjar began but paused briefly as he turned to face Asta, who looked at him with a knowing look in her eyes as she finished his thought.

"She would have done it before I was born." Asta said coldly as she moved her eyes from Brynjar's to her fathers', which looked as cold as her own. "Which means… there has been a replica of our book in the hands of Snakeman and his followers for between eighteen and twenty-two years." Asta added with a grim finality that made the tension in the room grow so thick, you could almost drown in it.

All eyes were flickering back and forth between Asta and her father, knowing they were having a silent conversation with each other, and they were just waiting for the outcome to be announced. Before they could finish their silent conversation, however, Cuyler spoke up offering an idea.

"Since the book is spelled and charmed to only be able to be constantly seen by someone who is of Akeldama blood that is touching it, it is possible that it is charmed to take note of any duplications made of the book? And what was duplicated?" Cuyler offered looking up and down the table, having fully been expecting the looks he was getting from his suggestion. "I know it's farfetched, but look at the lengths they went to protect the book way back when, that we know of at least." Cuyler defended, waving off his friends looks and the older men's shocked looks. He was grateful that at least Asta, Astrid and Taylor seemed to think that he wasn't mad for thinking Asta's ancestors may have taken a little more precaution than they know of. He looked down the table towards Abraxus who was giving him an appreciative look, but a sad one at the same time, which told Cuyler his suggestion was soundless.

"As soon as the realization hit me that magic out of MY ANCESTORS book was used outside this village, that was the first thing I tried before I started throwing a fit in my study." Abraxus replied flatly, briefly making eye contact with Brynjar, who tensed up at the mention of the study incident.

Abraxus quickly turned his eyes towards Taylor, whose eyes widened in understanding and her body tensed up as she shook her head.

"Ohhhhh, no no no no…. NO! Fuck no!" Taylor said nervously as she shoved her chair back and backed herself into the wall. She kept nervously looking towards Asta as though she was asking for help, or forgiveness, as she kept telling the King no. Her actions were making both Gunnar and Asta nervous, as neither of them had ever seen her act like this before. "You can fucking throw that guilt trip shit at me all you fucking want, and tell me I'm being a child and hiding and all that other shit too…." Taylor growled at the King as she slowly started backing herself down the wall, turning her head once more to look at Asta, who was looking at her like she had no idea who she was anymore, before snapping her head back to look at Abraxus with utter contempt. "But I WILL NOT…. Put her through that… so you can fucking forget it… I won't do it…. I won't…." Taylor growled, just as Gunnar jumped out of his chair and wrapped his arms around her to calm her down.

As soon as he wrapped his arms around her, she sagged into him and just breathed. Not caring that they weren't together anymore and that he broke her heart. Not caring that she must have looked extremely weak in front of the entire room full of brutes. The King was asking to fucking much, and was being completely inconsiderate of his daughter's feelings and emotions. She absolutely would not do it, there was just no way she would do it!

"Abraxus!" Astrid exclaimed in a whisper as she whacked him on the arm as she watched the young girl freak out over mere eye contact. "What is it that she knows you're going to ask her to do?" She asked, whacking him again for good measure, earning a chuckle from the older men around the table. The laughter quickly died when Asta spoke over them; horror, anger, venom and malice dripping from every word she spoke.

"You were going to fucking SUMMON HER?!" Asta asked through clenched teeth as she glared at her father, her fists clenched so tight that she couldn't feel her fingers anymore. "Have you completely lost your fucking mind? Did you honestly think if you had her brought up here she would fucking cooperate, and answer your questions? Or did you just want to bring her back to fucking aggravate us some more?" Asta ground out, barely maintaining her anger with her father. It certainly was one of the only ways they could get answers, but it wasn't the only way. Before she completely lost control and launched herself at her father, she called out for her house elf, breaking eye contact with her father. Not wanting to look at him right now. "Dagmar!"

"What are you doing Asta?" Brynjar asked nervously reaching out and grabbing her hand, giving it a light squeeze to calm her down a bit.

"Getting answers." Asta answered shortly, as Dagmar appeared next to Asta's chair with a pop, curtseying low before her.

"Yes, Miss Asta?" Dagmar said sweetly.

"I need you to apparate into my room and notify Harry, Ron and Hermione that you will be brining me into my room within the next thirty seconds to fetch something, please." Asta ordered kindly, looking down at the sweet elf with a half-smile.

"Of course, Miss Asta." Dagmar replied, before disapparating away.

"Exactly what answers are you going to get from your room?" Abraxus asked boldly, his eyebrows raised and his eyes hard. He didn't get an answer though, because Dagmar reappeared shortly after to take Asta into her room. Before his daughter disapparated away with her elf she stopped and looked at him and proved once again, that there was no denying she was his daughter.

"If what I have gives us the answers we need, I want access to that mother-fucking book." Asta demanded, pointing down the table at the 'Cursed Black Souls' book, before disapparating to her bedroom with Dagmar, making the whole room chuckle.

Gunnar still had his arms wrapped around Taylor, and he walked her around the table and out of the dining room, ignoring all the looks he was getting from the others in the room, and brought her out into the sitting room and sat on the couch with her. He kept an arm around her shoulder and rubbed her arm in a comforting fashion until she managed to speak.

"Thank you." She said quietly as she leaned against him, feeling pathetic and weak even though she wasn't crying. "You didn't have to do this, but thank you."

"I don't know what the bloody hell happened back there, but I didn't like seeing you like that." Gunnar declared, his voice shaking slightly with anger. "It hurt to see you look terrified like that. I know we… we're not together anymore, but… but if you ever need anything, please don't be afraid or embarrassed to come and ask me." Gunnar said softly, kissing the top of her head. "I still care about you very much, and I'll always be here for you if you need me, ok?"

Taylor honestly didn't know what to say to that, well she did, but she didn't want to make him mad after he was just so sweet. She wanted to say, 'Where the hell was this guy when we were dating? Big, strong, sexy AND sweet?!' But that would have been rude, even she knew that. It was nice to know that he still cared for her though.

"Okay, thank you, again. It really means a lot." Taylor said weakly as she pulled away from Gunnar's shoulder and smiled up at him briefly, before turning to look down at the floor. "Especially since Asta's not the best at comforting, and that's who I was initially moving towards." Taylor added with a chuckle, making Gunnar chuckle as well.

"Hey! At least I try!" Asta pouted from the entrance to the dining room at the insult to her comforting skills.

Gunnar hoisted himself up and held his hand out for Taylor to take, which she did, and helped her up. They made their way over to where Asta stood and looked down to see a skull in her hand, and looked at her skeptically.

"You'll see." Asta said firmly, gesturing for them to get back in the dining room, following behind them as they made their way in.

All heads turned towards her as she made her way towards her father, only a skull visible in her hand. Just as Taylor and Gunnar found their seats, Asta set the skull down on the table looking at her father first, then around at the rest of people gathered around the table.

"Did you miss the bitch?" Asta asked darkly, turning her attention back down to the skull with a sneer.

"Is… is that… your… mother?" Malfoy asked nervously as he looked at, what is weird to call, his Aunt's skull sitting on the table.

"If you must call her that, yes." Asta replied through clenched teeth as she stared at the skull sitting before her on the table, fury bubbling up inside her as she stared at it. She didn't have long to let the anger fester inside her before her father broke her reverie.

"How is her skull going to provide us with the answers we need?" Abraxus growled, growing more and more angry at the sight of his treacherous ex-wife's vile skull. Wanting nothing more than to set that infernal thing aflame and watch it reduce itself to a pile of ash before his very eyes, than look at it for another moment. So, when he heard what his daughter said next, he thought his ears were playing tricks on him, and he had to ask her to repeat what she said.

"Open the skull-cap." Asta ordered, crossing her arms over her chest authoritatively as she looked down at her father, who was looking back at her with stupefied eyes.

"I'm sorry, what?" Abraxus asked, clearly hoping he misheard her. Not wanting to touch the fucking thing, knowing full well it was a trophy for his daughter of a partial first kill, and if he touched it he knew he would want to destroy it. He hated that fucking woman.

Asta rolled her eyes at her father's antics and pulled open the skull cap, revealing a small vial with a silvery-blue wispy liquid floating around inside it.

Abraxus' eyes widened and his jaw clenched, as he realized what this was and he looked up at his daughter with both anger and gratefulness in his eyes. Those closest to him gaped at what they saw and looked from the vial, to the King, to his daughter; before passing the message of what is was that she had down the line to those who couldn't see. Astrid's hands flew up to her mouth in disbelief at what she was seeing, before looking up at Asta with big watery eyes.

"How did you get this?" Abraxus growled at his daughter as he summoned the vial from the skull of his dead wife. He watched the vile with eyes of a hawk as the vial landed in his hand lightly. The liquid inside danced around the inside of the bottle like a snake, almost like it was taunting him, it was maddening. It was as though even her memories are as much of an asshole as she was.

Asta began fiddling with her hair before she began to speak, Brynjar could tell this was going to be tough for her, and apparently Balder could tell as well. The both of them, abruptly, got up and made their way towards the other end of the room. Brynjar came up behind Asta and wrapped his arms around her waist, earning him a warning growl from her father, which he ignored. While Balder took up leaning against a spot on the wall behind Astrid's chair, even though Brynjar could take care of her, Balder still couldn't help but need to make sure she was ok.

Even though Asta didn't like that this made her look like a damsel, she appreciated the gesture, and took a deep breath before answering her father's question.

"I woke up early the morning after you and…" Asta paused for a moment, debating whether or not she should actually use Brynjar's fathers name. "Brand took her to the shed. Brynjar was still sleeping heavily from all the potions Astrid had given him, and I figured I would go see if maybe you two hadn't killed her yet so I could get another go." Asta continued, noting that as soon as she said his father's name his arms tightened a little more around her. "But when I got there, I saw that you two were walking back to our house, probably to clean up, and I opened the door to the shed and she was still chained up but clearly dead. I saw the cerebrospinal fluid you had been teaching me about a couple days before, leaking out of her eyes and I grabbed a vial and caught them." Asta paused looking around the room, seeing nothing but completely shocked looks on all their faces, so she defended herself, assuming they were going to start on her. "I got advanced lessons from my father at home! He taught me all kinds of advanced magic at the age of eight that most kids don't learn until they are fourteen! He told me collecting memories of your dead enemies was the best was to get the information you desired. Untampered with proof, right from the source. So, I just took a vial and collected the fluid that was coming out of her eyes. Once I felt I had enough I sealed off the bottle, punched the stupid cunt in her fucking face, and went back to Astrid's before I was missed." Asta finished, still pawing at her hair before Brynjar pulled her hand away with his own, and kissed the top of her head.

Abraxus could only stare at his daughter in shock. She was a mere child when she collected this from her mother… a child. Not a day goes by that his daughter does not cease to amaze him. Admittedly, she does not always amaze him in a good way, but she always does seem to amaze him. As he was looking at her, he saw the question lingering in her eyes, the one question she never asked him for fear of bringing back his anger at his dead wife. He decided, even though it was one of his daughter's biggest pet peeves, he would take pity on her and tell her what she wanted to know.

He leaned to his left and gestured for her to come closer to him. She arched her brow, but did as he instructed and moved towards her father slowly. Once she reached her father's chair, her father reached out and pulled her head down towards him, so he had her ear. He didn't want anyone else to know how he finally did his wife in that night. It was a secret that Brand and himself were going to take to their graves. At the time, doing the act had killed him, he had, after all, loved his wife very much. However, he loved his daughter more, and that wretched woman still attacked his daughter and Brynjar. That crime alone was inexcusable and unforgiveable.

As he released his hold of his daughters' head, he looked into her face to find an unreadable expression, something he had not expected. He had expected to see a form of happiness in her features, yet her face was stoic. Then, it dawned in him what she must have been trying to figure out, and he couldn't contain the chuckle that burst from his lips as he pushed himself from his chair to make his way to the pensieve.

"No, I did not keep it." He chuckled softly so only his daughter would hear, smirking as he watched her shoulders sag at his words. "Even if I did, I wouldn't let you keep it. You got your trophy…." Abraxus taunted as he walked behind his daughter towards the archway, "that would have been mine." He added as he disappeared from view down the hall, leaving ninety-nine percent of the room confused as to what just happened.

"What the fu-" Arvid began but was cut off by Asta.

"My father's a big bully, that's what." Asta pouted slumping down in her fathers' chair, earning a smirk from Astrid and Adelrik.

"Hey Asta?" Cuyler called from the opposite end of the table, looking sheepish, like he knew he ought not to discuss whatever he was about to bring up, but was going to anyway, bringing a whole new tension to the room.

"Yeah?" Asta called back, pushing herself out of her fathers' chair, which was much too big for her and swallowed her up every time she sat in it.

Brynjar looked at Cuyler nervously, trying to figure out if what he was going to ask was really back or not, but it seemed as though Cuyler couldn't even really tell.

"You said, 'Untampered with proof, right from the source'. What exactly did you mean by that?" Cuyler asked, instantly causing Asta's face to turn beet red, then all of a sudden go pale. "Asta?" Cuyler called with a little more heart behind his voice this time, as he rose to his feet. "Asta, what is it? What's the matter?"

Asta's body was trembling with a mixture of anger and fear, as she thought of her father watching the memories in his study. How could she be so stupid? How could she not think this through? How in the name of Odins' Spear could she have forgotten that?!

There came a loud crash from down the hall, and all men jumped to their feet as they heard they King shout from his study.

"IF THAT FUCKING CUNT WAS STILL ALIVE, I WOULD BE RIPPING HER TO PIECES WITH MY BARE HANDS!" They heard him shout from down the hall, before a they heard a door crash open.

All eyes turned on Asta, who was still trembling and had her jaw clenched tight as she watched the entrance to the dining room for signs of her father.

Brynjar closed the distance between them, and wrapped his arms around her, not bothering to ask her anything. Knowing full well she wouldn't answer him if her asked anyway. They all heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall towards them, and Brynjar felt Asta pull away from his chest. She spun around and watched as her father entered the dining room carrying the pensieve, and called for Brynjar to come over to him.

Asta's eyes widened in fear as Brynjar obeyed her father and made his way over to him. She tried to hold him back, but it made very little effect on him.

"NO! He doesn't need to-" Asta began to argue, but Brynjar had already stuck his face into the pensieve. She spun on her heel at the sight, knowing as soon as he came back up he was going to be furious, she was about ready to pull her fucking hair out. "Why? Why are you making this about me? Just fucking let it go! It's done!" Asta shouted on the verge of tears, just as Brynjar pulled back out of the pensieve. His face was pale and he looked as though he was going to be sick. Though the tears threatened to spill, they never did. Asta would never allow them to, not anymore.

Abraxus moved closer to Asta, handing off the pensieve to Astrid while doing so, earning a growl from Asta. Once he was towering over his daughter her spoke, his voice full of pain, anguish and disgust as tears slid down his cheeks.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Abraxus growled, begging his daughter for answers, trying to understand what the fuck went wrong in her head to think she couldn't ask for help. He looked into her eyes and saw anger, offense and sadness; and he just didn't understand.

"It's done. Will you PLEASE just leave it ALONE!" Asta growled, her voice shaky and desperate. Not wanting to discuss it any further.

Asta looked behind her father and saw that the pensieve had made its way down to her end of the table now, and she felt so exposed and vulnerable. This wasn't what they were called here for. So why did this meeting suddenly become all about her? Why is she suddenly the center of attention?

"Did you find out anything about the book while you were watching the memories?" Asta asked coldly, desperately wanting to move on from this topic.

Almost all heads in the room snapped up and looked at her with utter shock on their face.

"Are you fucking serious?" Brynjar stated more than asked as her looked at her from where Abraxus had left him, unable to uproot himself from that spot.

"I couldn't continue watching that." Talbot said flatly, his fists clenched on the table, looking as though he was suppressing the urge to vomit.

"Well give me the pensieve, we need answers and by fixating on something that has been done for years we aren't getting anything accomplished." Asta said coldly, causing everyone but Taylor, who currently had her head in the pensieve, to look at her like she just said she wanted to have a slumber party with Vashti. "Don't look at me like that. I've already lived through it, I'm numb to it."

Abraxus couldn't believe all of what his daughter went through, and right under his nose, and how she was brushing it off like it was nothing. His daughter was tormented and tortured, damn near daily, by her mother in her own house, the place where she should have felt the safest. He was so thoroughly disgusted with himself for not seeing it when it was happening, he summoned the waste basket that was just outside the entrance to the dining room and vomited the contents of his stomach.

Everyone in the room froze, except for Astrid, who rushed to his side after fetching a wet dishcloth from the other room. Astrid bent down slightly, and offered the cloth to Abraxus once he finally stopped retching into the bin, unsure of what to do for once. Seeing the King broken like this was something new to all of them that they didn't know how to handle.

Abraxus took the cloth with as much of a grateful smile as he could muster to the kind-hearted woman who had been his rock for the last seven years. He turned and looked at his daughter, who had moved next to Brynjar and was now wrapped in the large mans arms protectively. Before he got the chance to call out to her however, Taylor spoke up, stunning them all with what she said.

"I watched the whole thing." Taylor said grimly, her eyes closed and fists clenched, as Gunnar wrapped an arm behind her back, rubbing small circles on her lower back. "It was fucking horrible, but I watched the whole montage of memories she collected."

"Taylor…" Asta said shakily, stepping towards the ever-paling blonde, only to be pulled back by Brynjar, who seemed to be afraid to let her out of his embrace. She turned around and saw the pained look on Brynjar's face, and decided not to fight him. "Taylor, you should have just let me-" Asta began but Taylor cut her off, not in the mood for her love of being a martyr.

"I'm tired of watching, or being made to sit back, while you subject yourself to shit that causes you pain. I won't watch you do it anymore!" Taylor shouted, slamming her fists on the table as she tried to keep the tears from falling, knowing it wasn't going to work. "Let other people be strong for you evry once and a while." Taylor paused, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief that Baldrick, Gunnar's father, handed her from down the table, before she looked towards the King. "She copied the whole fucking book, cover to cover. She hand delivered it to him as well, and he thought she was her twin, whose name I'm assuming is Bellatrix." Taylor stated, looking at the King for confirmation of the name, nodding grimly when Abraxus ran his hands through his hair in frustration as confirmation.

Taylor sighed as she summoned the bottle that had held the memories from Abraxus' office, before scooping the vile, scaring memories out of the pensieve, and putting them back in the bottle. After watching the blueish-silver liquid swirl around in the bottle for a brief moment, she slid the bottle down the table to Abraxus, so he could place the bottle back in the skull. As soon as he caught it, she gave him a consenting yet defeated look, knowing what was coming next.

"Alright Ab'," Adelrik began, motioning for everyone to retake their seats before placing a hand on Abraxus' shoulder, "what are your orders?"

Everyone stared at Abraxus intently as they settled into their seats, waiting for him to give them orders. He nodded his head towards Taylor, who blew out a long breath and threw her head back, drawing the attention of the room.

"Young Taylor hear, has something she would like to tell you all." Abraxus stated, looking from his daughter to Taylor, who had picked her head up and was looking at him with an arched brow. She nodded her head before pushing herself up out of her chair, with Asta following suit with a motherly look on her face, causing quite the stir.

"Before Taylor says what she has to say, let me warn you all right now." Asta began with a deadly glare to all the men gathered around the table. "If any of you say ANYTHING negative, or give her a hard time about what she tells you, I will become your worst nightmare." Asta growled, unsheathing her goblin-made dagger and jamming it into the wooden table for effect, as she made eye contact with everyone gathered around the table. "Is that understood?" She asked through clenched teeth as she leaned on the table heavily over her dagger, staring them all down.

All the men nodded their understanding. Only Malfoy was really afraid to find out what secret the gorgeous blonde girl was about to reveal. The rest of the men in the room just knew to be conscious of what words came past their lips after Taylor revealed whatever she had to reveal. None of them were really afraid of Asta, but they knew better than to anger the young girl.

Taylor nodded her head in thanks towards Asta, who nodded her head slightly in recognition, before turning her attention to the table in front of her.

"You all know my parents, Belva and Enoch Eriksen, how they're happy, cheery people. Love life and all that shit." Taylor started, waving her hand dismissively at the last bit before taking a deep, shaky breath. "What you don't know, is before my parents got together my mum had a one-off with Alastor Mirren…. and wound up pregnant with me…." Taylor added, looking around at all the stunned faces looking from the King to her. "My birth name is Taylor Ylva Mirren. But since my father ran off, Abraxus told my mum and 'dad' to have me give Eriksen as my surname, to protect my mum and me."

"So, you are… cousins… with the King and Asta?" Talbot asked Taylor softly, trying to get her to maintain eye contact with him, but she kept shying away.

"Yes, sir." Taylor answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, as she spared a glance at Gunnar, who was looking up at her as though he was seeing her for the first time.

"Can you see the book when Ab' isn't touching it?" Altan asked eyeing Taylor curiously, looking for signs of hesitation.

Taylor looked towards the book, knowing full well she could see the bloody thing, hating the very fact that it was visible to her eye. She blamed her ability to see the book for her having a gift. Firmly believing that had her birth father been a more distant relative, she wouldn't be able to see the fucking thing and therefore, would not have a gift.

"Yes, I can see the book. It is the reason Abraxus called me here today, my time of hiding is over, according to him." Taylor ground out, still glaring angrily at the vile book at the end of the table. "I have a gift." Taylor said angrily, closing her eyes tightly, as if that alone would make the words she was saying any less true. "I've researched for ways to try and get rid of it, or to swap gifts with Asta, but unfortunately there is no way to rid myself of it. So, Asta and Abraxus have been taking me into the clearing in the woods at night to train me on how to control it and use it, against my will might I add." Taylor continued, a hint of her old self shining through at that last bit, as she paused to glare at Abraxus then at Asta, both of them accepting her glare with smirks.

"And what gift do you have?" Baldrick asked curiously, leaning forward on his elbows to get a better view of the young girl, noticing her tense up.

Taylor looked over at Asta, who was giving her the most the sympathetic look she had ever seen, before nodding her head to get on with it. Taylor sighed and nodded her head in silent agreement, then reached down her shirt and pulled a chorded pendant out and into view. The pendent was a symbol of Hel, the Goddess of Hell.

"I can summon and control the souls of the damned." Taylor explained as she passed the chorded pendant to Gunnar, who took it from her numbly, to look at and pass on down the line. "Alastor apparently had the same gift, and if he was…. If he was still alive I…." Taylor had to stop to fight back the tears that were threatening to break through as she talked about her father. She felt Gunnar's hand wrap around her own and give it a light squeeze, she felt so grateful for him being so sweet to her tonight. She took a deep breath and pressed on so she could get this done and over with, so hopefully Abraxus would let her leave. "If he was still alive I wouldn't have to train so hard to hone my gift, but… he's gone, so… it is apparently necessary that I have mastered my gift before a big battle happens between the light and Snakeman, because I will be a weapon of epic proportion. But I suck at it so I don't foresee that happening any time soon." Taylor said shakily, lowering herself into her seat just as her pendant made it back to her, which she reluctantly took back and replaced around her neck.

Strangled silence and awkward tension filled the room around them all. Gunnar continuously ran his thumb over the top of Taylors' hand under the table in effort to comfort her. Malfoy watched the large blonde man from across the table, he watched how the large blonde man tended to the petite gorgeous blonde when she was upset. Malfoy was coming to realize that firstly, he must be her ex-boyfriend, which was good to know. Lastly, these large men really are gentle giants when it comes to women. But he knew as quickly as they could become gentle, they could turn murderous just as quick, if not quicker! The rest of the rooms occupants were exchanging surprised looks with each other over the news they just received, when Taylor finally broke the silence.

"I told them like you wanted, you have no further need of me here, so can I go now?" Taylor pleaded as she looked down the table between Astrid and Abraxus. Hoping Astrid might take pity on her and be able to convince Abraxus to let her leave, but it appeared that Astrid had no pull at this meeting.

Abraxus gave Taylor an amused look and shook his head, and Taylor slumped down in her chair looking thoroughly pissed, but gestured for him to just get on with the meeting. Abraxus nods his head and rises to his feet, carefully, he sends the skull of his dead bitch of a wife magically back down the table, and into his daughters' hands.

"Go return that horrid thing to wherever you got it from." He ordered, a fiery glint in his eye as he recalled what he saw in his wife's memories. "And tell Harry Potter and his friends that I strongly recommend they sit in on this next portion of the meeting. It may be beneficial for them, while you all are on the run, it is however, up to them." Abraxus added, sternly before shouting for their house elves, leaving Asta to assume he was finished with her.

"I'll be needing Dagmar for just a moment, remember?" Asta reminded her father, who made no objections and simply nodded in acknowledgement, before pulling Dagmar away to notify Harry once more, before coming back to collect her again. Once back in her room, she saw that the three of them had spread out on her floor, rather than using the bed or desk. "Is there something wrong with the bed? Why are you all on the floor?" She asked, her eyebrow quirked up as she made her way toward her wardrobe, levitating the skull back up to its' proper spot.

"Nothing's wrong with the bed, just more room on the floor." Harry said flatly, running his hands through his hair before snapping the book in front of him shut in frustration.

"Um, my father wanted me to relay a suggestion to you three while I put my mu-that… back…." Asta paused briefly, rubbing her neck nervously as she just barely caught herself. "We are going to be going over the floor plans for Death Eater Manors that are in Snakemans' inner circle, and my father believes it could be beneficial to you all to know them as well in case we get caught while we are on the run. Which he would be right, it would be good for you to know them, but it is your choice as to whether or not you all want to join us. Alright?" Asta offered, looking sheepishly between the three of them, wanting desperately to get out of there before one of them asked her about her almost slip up.

She watched the three of them exchange looks with each other, for what felt like an eternity, before in the end Hermione finally nodded her head in consent.

"Beautiful." Asta said cheerfully as she set about undoing the silencing charm around her room. "I don't know whether to offer to help with the books or not, because I'm sure after the meeting you're either going to be dragged off by my friends for show and tell, or you're going to want to return to your place immediately. But I know I might be able to guess what it is you're doing based off of the books you have, so…" Asta trailed off, leaving an opening for one of them to tell her to either help or bugger off, which Harry answered her.

"You're really going to great lengths to show you're not pushing to know, aren't you?" Harry said with a tone of surprise, and a look to match as he continued to hand Hermione books.

"I don't know if I should take that as you're calling me lazy, or you're really touched and/or impressed that I'm giving you space and boundaries. However, you all do realize you're two wizards and a witch right?" Asta pointed out with a smirk, glancing down at the way they were handing Hermione books like muggles would do. "You could just wave your wand and have them all stashed away in that bag, toot-sweet. Especially since we are on a bit of a tight schedule."

Hermione clapped her hand to her forehead and Harry and Ron chuckled at themselves for being so stupid. Hermione waved her wand and all their books flew into her open bag, which she then cinched up and slung over her shoulder.

"I always do that! How is it I always do that?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron, as they laughed at her ramblings while they followed Asta out of her room and down the hall, towards the large open area that was the sitting room. They turned left at the open archway and into the dining room and were met with silence and a number of large men.

Asta corralled the three of them towards her father, knowing respect had to be paid to the King first.

"Father, this is Harry Potter and his friends Ronald Weasley, and you already know Hermione Granger. Harry and Ron, this is my father; Abraxus Akeldama the Eleventh." Asta introduced, then stepped aside so they all could shake hands with each other.

Abraxus bowed slightly to both Harry and Ron before shaking their hands, making both Harry and Ron feel they had to do the same. Abraxus bowed slightly to Hermione, but instead of shaking her hand, he took her hand in his and kiss the top of it, making her blush.

"It is a great honor to meet you, and be of service to you Mr Potter, and your friends, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger." Abraxus said, his voice sincere and his eyes as penetrating as Dumbledores'.

"It is an honor to meet you too sir. Thank you for agreeing to an audience with me tomorrow, I know you must have other important tasks at hand, so I appreciate it." Harry said sincerely, feeling multiple eyes burnings multiple holes in the back of his head. He spun around to find the rest of the rooms occupants, except for Brynjar and Malfoy, staring at him intently, waiting for Asta to finish the introductions.

Asta rolled her eyes and sighed at their impatience, "Yes alright. Let me do Hermione first, shut up Arvid! Seeing as she's roughly met a good majority of the people here already." Asta stated as she began her introducing Hermione to the seasoned men. "Hermione Granger this is Adelrik Wolff, my friend Balder's father. Adelrik, Hermione Granger."

"It's nice to meet you sir." Hermione said with a sweet smile.

"The pleasure is mine Miss Granger." Adelrik replied with a smile, mimicking the King's actions.

"This is Talbot Olsen, my friend Arvid's father. Talbot, Hermione Granger." Asta said kindly.

"It's nice to meet you sir." Hermione repeated with a sweet smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Granger, you're going to hear that a lot on your trip around the table." Tablot joked, mimicking the King's actions, and patting her hand before she moved on passing right by Malfoy obviously.

"I don't believe you got introduced to ALL of my friends the last time you were here." Asta began, but was cut off by Arvid.

"Nope, just the one, because you apparently have fav-OW!" Arvid cried out as Asta yanked on the black-haired mans ponytail, making everyone else laugh but Arvid. "Fuck! Thought you didn't cat-fight…. Bloody liar…." Arvid grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"This charming pain in the ass is my friend, and it is times like this that I use that word LOOSELY, Arvid Olsen. You remember Cuyler, Brynjar and I telling you about him, don't you?" Asta asked Hermione with a devious smirk towards Cuyler and Brynjar, before peering over her shoulder at Malfoy, who trying to hide his smirk. "Arvid this is Hermione Granger, don't be an ass." Asta warned.

"Ahh, yes I remember. It's nice to meet you Arvid." Hermione said with a smile, offering her hand to Arvid to shake just as Cuyler peered his head around Hermione flashing a warning look at his friend.

"Come on mate, you think I'm that much of an ass?" Arvid said with a slight bite to his voice as he peered around Hermione. Confused, Hermione swiveled her head around to find Arvid was talking to Cuyler, but why? She was snapped out of her thinking as she felt Arvid take her hand in his and mimic the King's actions before speaking again. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hermione, Cuyler is a very lucky man."

Hermione blushed at his words looking into his hazel eyes, feeling the intensity of his words reflected in his eyes. She now understood what Brynjar, Asta and Cuyler had meant when they told her and Malfoy that if any of the girls had taken Arvid's words seriously, he wouldn't be alive. The young man spoke with through his eyes, not his words. His eyes conveyed so much more than his words alone did.

"This is my friend Colborn Troelsen. Colborn, Hermione Granger." Asta introduced.

"It's nice to meet you Colborn." Hermione said sweetly, smiling down at brown-brown haired man, offering her hand for him to shake. Even though she knows by now, none of them are going to shake her hand, well except for the blonde girl hopefully.

"The pleasure is mine Hermione." Colborn said sweetly, taking her hand with one of his before following suit, and mimicking the King's actions then releasing her hand.

"But of course, you remember Cuyler." Asta stopped talking, but continued moving to stand next to Brynjar's chair.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the table Abraxus started introducing Harry and Ron to the men that Hermione had met, in order to get the pleasantries out of the way quickly. The introductions of the boys were taking just as long as Hermione because it was "The Chosen One" and his best friend, but at least they were moving quicker than before.

Cuyler beamed up at Hermione from his seat, his honey-colored eyes damn near making her melt, and took her hand, that hand been kissed by the other men, and brought it to his lips, sending shivers down her spine.

"You're looking beautiful as ever today, by the way, love." Cuyler said softly, making Hermione blush furiously, internally swearing she will never get used to hearing that.

"You must have lost your sight since I've last seen you." Hermione said softly, through a beaming smile. "You look rather handsome yourself. No more self-inflicted stomach wounds I see." Hermione added with a mischievous glint in her eye, causing Cuyler to panic and stutter slightly as he released her hand.

"I.. uh… how did.. I mean… I don't… I…" Cuyler stuttered, looking from Hermione to Brynjar, to Asta, and both looked amused, but equally just as confused as to how she knew he had caused the cut on his stomach himself. He didn't have to wonder for long, just before she walked away to catch up with Asta, she gave Cuyler the answer.

"They don't call me the brightest witch of our age for nothing, you know." Hermione said cheekily in Cuyler's ear before walking off to join Asta behind Brynjar, who was looking at him with an interested look, and Cuyler just shook his head.

"This is my friend Balder Wolff. Balder, Hermione Granger." Asta introduced.

"It's nice to meet you Balder." Hermione said sweetly, smiling down at the black-haired man, offering her hand for him to shake. Balder took her hand in one of his own and mimicked the King's actions as all the others had done, before speaking.

"It's nice to finally, properly meet you Hermione. Cuyler's been talking about you non-stop for about two weeks now, the man never talks this much." Balder teased looking over at Cuyler, who was turning a deep scarlet and sinking lower in his chair as everyone, except Astrid, Hermione and Malfoy, laughed at the mans expense. "Perhaps you may be able to help us find his-"

"Let me point out, the only reason you're still talking is because she's still close to you. Once we're out of here, you're dead." Cuyler said flatly, still slumped down in his chair, tugging on his beard in frustration.

"Sounds like fun." Balder said optimistically, as he released Hermione's hand and swiveled back in his seat to face his friend, still chuckling at Cuyler. "OW! What was that for?" Balder asked turning around looking at Asta.

"What you looking at me for? I didn't do it!" Asta said flatly, pointing at Hermione with wide eyes and a smirk. Hermione was trying to look serious, but was failing miserably due to the fact the Balder's expression was quite comical.

Harry and Ron were stunned into silence at first, afraid that Hermione may have overstepped when she whacked Balder upside the head. But when they heard the whole room break out in laughter, they remembered this group of people were not the normal group of people they were used to, and joined the laughter.

Balder's jaw hung open and his eyes were wide as he looked at Hermione, who in her defense was trying to look intimidating, but he wasn't helping her in the least, what with his jaw hanging on its hinge and his eyes bulged. Cuyler was rolling in his chair with the rest of them now, barely able to contain himself to begin with, but after Malfoy piped up he could barely breathe.

"Yeah, not fun to be on the receiving end when she's swinging. I speak from experience." Malfoy said as he unconsciously rubbed at his nose, making Astrid's resolve break, and she joined in on the laughter.

"You're not as gentle as you look, by Goddess Frigg!" Balder exclaimed as he rubbed the back of his head, looking down the table at his father, who was wiping tears from the corner of his eye. "You're almost as vicious as Asta!"

"I think that'll teach you to pick on Cuyler!" Brynjar teased, shoving Balder in his seat as Asta pulled Hermione down to the next in line, still laughing.

"Seriously though, mate." Balder said with a chuckle, looking behind him at Hermione, then to across the table to Cuyler. "You might have found 'The Outsides-Asta', she got an arm on her."

Cuyler looked up from Balder, to Hermione and Asta to see them both smirking at him, and as if on cue they both simultaneously shot him a wink as if to say it's true. The only thing Cuyler could do was smirk back in response, his voice couldn't work, which was bad seeing as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were getting closer to him. He shook his head to clear it as Eindride was finishing up with them, vowing as soon as the meeting was over, he was going to kick Balder's ass.

Across the table, Asta was introducing Hermione to the last two of her friends, before she would finish up with the seasoned men.

"This is my friend Gunnar Lange. Gunnar, Hermione Granger." Asta introduced, before moving behind Taylors' chair, leaning over the back of it and beginning to whisper.

"It's nice to meet you Gunnar." Hermione said sweetly, smiling down at the blonde-haired man, offering her hand for him to shake. Watching as he took her hand in his as all the others did before him, and mimicked the king's actions.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you properly Hermione." Gunnar said kindly, before sparing a glance ay Cuyler who was watching him closely. "Oh don't worry, I'm not gonna." Gunnar chuckled as he let go of Hermione's hand, flashing her a smile, before Asta pulled her along. "Balder stole my bit anyway."

"You all fucking suck!" Cuyler shot across the table, before running his hands through his hair.

"Hey, you were merciless when it was me with Asta! Deal with it!" Brynjar shot back with a roar of laughter. Cuyler's retort was lost as the King, Harry and Ron finally made their way to him.

"This is my friend Taylor Mirren. Taylor, Hermione Granger." Asta introduced.

"It's nice to meet you Taylor." Hermione said sweetly, smiling down at the blonde, who looked like she hated the face that she had to be here. Hermione extended her hand out to shake hands with the blonde, hoping to God the girl did not kiss her hand. Thankfully, the girl grasped her hand and shook it firmly.

"Hope you don't mind, but I'm not kissing your hand. It's nice to meet you Hermione, Cuyler has said a lot of nice things about you. It's nice to see him open up a bit, he's too quiet." Taylor said kindly, looking down across the table at Cuyler, who was now watching everyone nervously, and offered him a small smile.

"Really?" Hermione asked quietly, following Taylors' gaze over to Cuyler, catching his eye, the corners of her mouth instantly turning up into a smile.

"Yeah." Taylor said flatly, before turning her attention back to her hands on the table in front of her, not feeling it's her place to tell his story.

"Alright, this is Baldrik Lange, my friend Gunnar's father. Baldrik, Hermione Granger." Asta introduced.

"It's nice to meet you sir." Hermione said sweetly, smiling at the man who was an older version of his son, offering her hand out for him to shake. Baldrik took her hand in his and mimicked the King's actions before speaking, just as the others had.

"The pleasure is mine, Miss Granger." Baldrik said sweetly, before releasing her hand.

"This is Cale Troelsen, my friend Colborn's father. Cale, Hermione Granger." Asta introduced.

"It's nice to meet you sir." Hermione said sweetly, smiling at the man who was an older version of his son, offering her hand out for him to shake. Cale took her hand in his and mimicked the King's actions before speaking, just as the others had.

"The pleasure is mine, Miss Granger." Cale said sweetly, before releasing her hand.

"And this is Altan Winther, my friend Eindride's father. Altan, Hermione Granger." Asta introduced.

"It's nice to meet you sir." Hermione said sweetly, smiling at the man who was an older version of his son, offering her hand out for him to shake. Altan took her hand in his and mimicked the King's actions before speaking, just as the others had.

"The pleasure is mine, Miss Granger." Altan said kindly before releasing her hand.

"I'm sure you remember Astrid, Brynjar's mum?" Asta asked, gesturing towards the regal looking woman seated next to the King's chair, with long dirty blonde hair done up in a plait.

"Of course. It's good to see you again!" Hermione said sweetly moving forward to shake Astrid's hand, only to be caught off guard as Astrid rose from her seat, and enveloped her in a hug.

"I am wonderful dear, thank you for asking." Astrid said sweetly as she released Hermione from her arms, summoning three more chairs from the sitting room for the additional guests, before turning to face the middle of the room. "Everyone back away from the table, just a few steps should be sufficient. Thank you."

As everyone did as Astrid asked, Hermione pulled Asta back a few extra steps, so no one would be able to hear them. Hermione looked around them once more to make sure that no one could over hear them before speaking.

"How come Brynjar and Cuyler's fathers aren't here? All the other guys' fathers seem to be part of the King's retinue but theirs'." Hermione asked, watching as Asta's face paled, then hardened before peering around over her shoulder to make sure no one heard.

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, because you don't know 'our world' and our past. But we don't talk about Brynjar's father, ever, at all. Ok?" Asta implored with wide, pleading eyes that did not fit her personality.

Hermione looked at her with a confused look, clearly wanting to know why they don't talk about his father, but knowing that now was not the time, she shook her head in hopes that Asta would explain later, or maybe Cuyler would.

"As for Cuyler's father, that's really his story to tell you when he's ready to talk about it. It's not a forbidden topic like Brynjar's, but it's personal… I'll leave it at Carwyn is no longer with us, may his spirit forever find happiness in the halls of Valhalla." Asta said sadly, hanging her head slightly at the end, as though in silent prayer, before bringing her head back up to look Hermione in the eye with a hard, yet pleading look. "Please, unless, for some fucked up reason, Brynjar brings up the topic of his father first, DO NOT ASK ABOUT HIM. I can calm him down from a lot of things, but…." Asta trailed off and shuddered, making Hermione regret bringing up the topic.

"I'll do my best to not bring it up, especially not around him, I promise." Hermione said shakily, as she watched Asta slowly school her features back to normal, while attempting to do the same before gesturing for Hermione to follow her back to her side of the table.

Asta lead them out of the barely secluded area they were whispering in, and guided Hermione towards her end of the room where she saw Harry and Ron were already seated where she would normally sit. She also noticed that Astrid had enlarged the table, to accommodate the extra people the various maps and diagrams that were going to be distributed shortly. There was an empty seat next to Cuyler that, she was assuming, was for Hermione. Which meant the seat the was between Ron and Brynjar was for her.

As soon as she settled herself down in her seat next to Brynjar, he leant over to her and asked, "What were you two talking about over there?"

If Asta hadn't been expecting this, she would have stiffened or panicked, but she knew he'd ask. She leaned over and whispered, "She was asking why Cuyler's father wasn't here. I told her that was Cuyler's story to tell." She didn't want to lie to him, and she technically wasn't. It was technically true, what she said. She just left out the part about Hermione asking about his father.

Thankfully, just as Brynjar was about to say lean over to her again, her father started talking, and that was the end of the conversation.

"Now that we have figured out what my ex-wife has done with the Akeldama family book," Abraxus paused for a moment, and a dark, thick tension came over the room as all, but three sets of eyes wandered to Asta, "and now you know of my cousin Alastor's daughter and her gift, and now that we have all become acquainted; let us get down to business." Abraxus growled as hand waved his hand down the table, distributing a copy of a Manor floorplan to each person at the table. By the time the floor plans were done being distributed, everyone had sixteen all together. "The good thing about having to sneak into the Manors this time around Gents, is this time, we have someone who has been in them before, at leisure." Abraxus said in a joyous tone, as he walked down the dining room floor, coming to a stop behind Malfoy. "Which means, the death risk might just be a little lower than the last time around." At that, the seasoned men laughed. "Well Mr Malfoy, care to get the ball rolling? It's going to be a long night, and I believe enough time has gone by."

Malfoy nodded his head stiffly and stood up from his seat, to begin his description of Nott Manor and where Nott Sr. usually tucks away his most precious artifacts. As he watched the men, and few women, in the room go from watching his face to his hands with such harsh intensity, he couldn't help but feel like a caged dragon.

He knew he was being held hostage, even though they had given him free reign due to his lack of wand and understanding of the muggle world, it was at this moment he felt more like a prisoner than ever. He had to admit, he didn't like the feeling. He didn't like it at all.

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A/N: *~Asta's family dagger that her grandfather gave her; the idea behind it finding its way back to her when/if it gets lost in battle, came from the "Percy Jackson" series.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I would really enjoy hearing what you think! I particularly enjoyed writing the banter between Arvid and his father, I couldn't resist adding that in.

~~I received a review regarding the way Malfoy interacts with Brynjar and Asta, and how he doesn't seem combative enough essentially. I understand where that thought comes from; but the way I am writing it is, Malfoy is tired of putting up the front he's been forced to put up, just to survive in his own house for the past few years. Malfoy is still very much cooperating because if he doesn't they will either kill him themselves, or send him back to his Manor, where he will most likely be killed by Voldemort. So, he sees no other way, than to just give them the information they ask for.~~ I hope this helped a little!

I do very much appreciate your reviews! Good AND Bad! Both help me become better! So thank you!