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-Six Years Later-
Hadrian yawned as he stretched his legs and arms. His back resounding a series of pops for the released tension.
Sweat dripped from brow and back as he finished both his archery and swordsmanship drills. He looked around the yard of Starfall. There were a couple of retainers still there, most off to quell the rebellion and as such he had no one to spar with.
He drank a skin of water slowly as he sat down on a nearby wall. He spied several servants roaming the grounds as they went about their work. He grabbed the tome that was lying nearby and began reading it. The cover read The Great Sieges of Westeros.
He rather enjoyed the books on the art of war that this world had. It was filled to the brim with knowledge and he (at least attempted to) learned just about everything. His mother even taught him what she knew of court politics considering she was a handmaiden to Princess Elia Martell. He also got a fix to the amount of magic he could use at this time. He thanked his lucky stars that he had learned of wandless magic. He quickly began practicing whenever possible with meditation becoming a daily routine to focus on the eldritch and chaotic magical energies he was able to wield.
It was several minutes before a group of men rode into the gates of Starfall. Having taken to his lessons with the maester vigorously and considering who his own father was, Hadrian recognized the sigil of House Stark. They also had a small cart being pulled and in the cart appeared to be a woman, bearing no heraldry, cradling a babe in her arms.
If Hadrian didn't know better then it appeared that the rebellion succeeded.
Eddard Stark made riding a horse look grim and sullen. His face set in an everlasting bland look after witnessing his sister pass away from an intense childbirth. He, followed by Howland Reed and William Dustin rode into the Starfall keep and was greeted by a skeleton retainer of guards and servants.
He saw a young boy with, while still developing, broad shoulders and stood tall. If Eddard had to guess, he was probably ten name days old. He was reading a tome however when he looked up and gained eye contact with Eddard, the grim lord instantly saw a younger Brandon Stark with grey eyes. The group approached the boy and now that he was closer, Eddard could see the eyes that while the majority of both irises were grey, they were inlaid with two other rings, one being a menacing emerald green and the other a vibrant purple.
"Where is Lord Dayne?" Eddard asked politely looking down from his horse. Eddard and the others shifted uncomfortably under the intense gaze of the boy.
"You are Eddard Stark." The boy stated simply to him.
Eddard did not know whether to be impressed or disturbed at the boy being so nonchalant about this.
"What is your name, boy?" Eddard asked, his voice coming out more gruffly then he intended.
"Ha-" He was interrupted when a woman shouted over to them.
"Hadrian, go inside and get cleaned up." Ashara Dayne spoke loudly and clearly. The now named Hadrian, left in a hurry apparently eager to escape their presence or rather, more likely not to invoke the woman's ire.
The three Northmen were the greeted by Lord Dayne, Ashara's uncle and herself with four guards that stood ready to strike as soon as the command was given.
"Eddard of House Stark, to what do we owe this visit?" The southern lord almost sneered at him. Eddard paid him no mind and instead got off his horse and went to the carriage that they were pulling along. He grabbed the greatsword Dawn in its sheath and approached Ashara with head bowed low as he handed her the sword. The Dayne beauty said nothing but stared almost lifelessly at the renowned sword. "We brought Ser Arthur's body. He deserves a proper burial."
Ashara nodded and thanked him meekly before walking away sword in hand.
He sighed in resignation before asking the Lord Dayne for the maester's services in helping his friend, Lord Dustin. The Dornish Lord nodded sharply before sneering again and walking away.
The next few days for Hadrian passed by in a blur. The burial of Uncle Arthur was a quick but solemn affair. He didn't know him as well as he was always with Rhaegar Targaryen but from the few encounters they had, he seemed a nice enough guy.
Then came the news that he dreaded.
The one thing he hated about this world was the speed at which information was shared. It never ceased to amaze him that a message could contain information a week or two old. The war and the Mad King didn't help matters either. Ravens were being shot down left and right and their information pilfered for whoever read the missives the damnable birds carried.
From what Eddard had told him, who wished to be called Ned by his nephew, told him that what sparked the banners to be called by everyone and their mother was that Lyanna Stark was abducted by Rhaegar Targaryen. Brandon and Rickard Stark had demanded the Mad King to force his son to heel and return Lyanna. The subsequent capture and burning of both Stark men led a rebellion that would end in bloody infamy.
His grandfather and father, burned and strangled respectively by order of the Mad King.
Robert Baratheon killing Rhaegar Targaryen at the Trident and being proclaimed King.
King's Landing being sacked by the Lannister army.
The Mad King being killed by his own Kingsguard, Ser Jaime Lannister.
Lyanna's rescue being for naught as she died of a fever with three Kingsguard being killed in a bloody melee by Ned Stark and several other men.
Thousands of men and many innocents being put to the sword all because a prince couldn't bloody keep it in his pants.
Hadrian knew his days at Starfall were numbered as he had overheard his mother and Ned discussing about him. He is the legitimate heir to Winterfell after all and he could see it in his uncle's posture and eyes that he was relieved that the wardenship would not go to him.
To say Hadrian didn't confirm that particular notion with a little bit of legilimency would be lying. Hadrian would also be lying if he said he didn't plant subtle compulsory notions in his mind making him resolute in his stance that no one else but Hadrian could be the Heir to Winterfell and Warden of the North.
As much as Harry wanted to trust the honor of the renowned honorable Ned Stark, it wouldn't do for someone close to Ned convincing him to take it over regardless of legitimacy. His mother taught him as much, not to trust anyone but family. Ned may be blood but he has yet to prove himself to Harry.
It was at the end of the week and just after breaking his fast, that his mother came to him and informed him that he would be leaving for Winterfell with Ned Stark in the afternoon.
"Will you be coming with us?" He asked with slight hesitation. Having grown up one lifetime with essentially no mother figure, as she had been killed when he was an infant and the other being what he called later in life the Shrieking Banshee and not at all a mother figure but akin to a sheltering bird who refused to see the world for what it was. he would rather not have to continue this life without one after having experienced growing up in loving household.
She paused caressing his hair as they both sat next to each other on his feather bed. "No, my sweet. Your grand uncle still needs me to take care of him." In other words, Grand Uncle Beric Dayne intended to have Ashara married off. "I do, however, intend to make my way to Winterfell as soon as possible." Which brightened his mood, but also internally soured it. He knew she didn't fancy her chances of being married after all she was, technically speaking, a widow and used merchandise as much as he hated this medieval world for the practice where women were bargaining chips to be used and discarded.
"Promise?" He tentatively asked while holding out one of his small pinky fingers. She wouldn't dare break one when it concerned her child and as much as the thirty-eight year old mind and soul hated acting like a child, he couldn't help himself when it concerned her.
"Promise." She smiled as she crossed her own dainty pinky with his own and then hugged her son. "Now go get ready." She sternly, however faltering as her voice was dissolving into laughter, ordered; to which he quickly brought out his trunk and began throwing his clothes onto the bed as two servants came in and assisted him.
A teary and heartfelt goodbye was had at the docks of Starfall. Harry was fussed over by his mother while the ship was loaded. The current Lord Dayne having a sneer plastered on his face directed at the northern party and at Hadrian himself but the hidden glee that they were leaving was poorly hidden.
Hadrian stood at the edge of the deck of the ship watching Starfall get smaller and smaller till it was just a speck of dust on the horizon. He hadn't spoken to any of the Northerners as of yet and he had a feeling he was about to be enlightened.
"Hadrian." Ned stated in his gruff but deep northern accent.
"My family calls me Harry." He interrupted before the older Stark could continue.
Harry didn't need to look to see the slight smile the briefly graced his face. "Harry, would you join us for supper?"
Having nothing better to do seeing as they were at sea, he turned away from the stern of the ship and followed the elder Stark to where the others were eating. It was a loud affair and rather informative.
Lord Howland Reed, he learned his name after having a rather short but pleasant early morning greeting with him, often looked to Ned for his opinion on matters while Lord Dustin was the more boisterous of the three and laughed rather uproariously at a drunken comment from a sailor while Ned Stark calmly sipped an offered advice to Lord Reed and spoke softly with Harry about the North, its inhabitants and the vast land that could fit the rest of the kingdoms in it with room to spare.
He was honest in the fact that he did not have much experience in dealing with the Northern lords as he had fostered in the Vale but had keen knowledge in the houses of the North and the Stark's vassals.
Harry appreciated this knowledge of the houses as he only had a general knowledge on them but something bothered him in particular. "Uncle, what of the Boltons? I've read that they've risen up in rebellion several times? Why keep them around if history has shown them to be untrustworthy?"
Ned sighed. He remembered Brandon asking this of his father and he in all honesty did not know why either but he supposed that they had their uses in regards of their militancy. Ned Stark finally answered. "I have always wondered that myself but if I had to guess, they have their uses in the amount of men they can call to arms. In that case, I guess that is why they have stayed in power. Neither is it honorable to cause an entire house to go extinct."
Harry nodded but did not looked convinced in the slightest.
The rest of the journey to King's Landing went off without a hitch. Harry attempted using the powers to speed the journey along but without being able to carve runes into the bottom of the outer hull and showing off his elemental magics he could do much but subtly influence the wind to push them along faster. This was also in due in part to little Jon getting rather fussy and Harry also getting impatient.
The younger Stark, however, knew that it was much safer going by ship rather than by land considering the current state of affairs within the kingdoms.
He didn't particularly fancy displaying that amount of magic and then having to mind wipe the crew. Not to mention he would have to come up with a way to explain the speed at which they made their journey and no doubt people would question the fact that a Dornish vessel crossing the sea at a pace that would not be possible for a ship not influenced by magic.
He'd have a much easier time using magic in the safety of the North where it could simply passed off as the work of the Old Gods.
The young Stark was still able to speed the month-long journey by a week so he figured that counted for something. The vessel's crew merely chalked it up to impressive luck and excellent wind.
The second the Harry entered the famed city, he wanted to leave immediately. Not only did it stink of just about everything that was putrid in the world and then some but it looked poorly designed other than the Red Keep. Under the guise of wiping his nose, he applied miniscule bubblehead charms to the insides of his nostrils to filter the smell, he did the same for baby Jon to spare the infant of the horrifying smell.
The place could do with purifying by mass scourgify several times over followed by fiendfyre and even that might be enough for the massive city to be cleansed of the filth that seemed to infect anything and everything with the smell.
Needless to say, he did not envy those that called themselves king if they had to live here.
The Northern party quickly disembarked the Dornish ship which, Harry noted, quickly set sail afterwards. Both eager to leave this city after recent events.
They Northmen and Harry quickly made their way to the Red Keep. Harry saw that the sack by the Lannister army was still showing its effects even a month after the act took place. Wherever he looked he saw smallfolk with their heads bowed low with trepidation in their step and demeanor while what few Lannister soldiers that still remained in the city had an incredibly large berth for them to walk through.
The group had split up with Lord Reed and Lord Dustin with the wet-nurse going with to gather the remaining Northmen in the city to meet them at the King's Gate with the Starks going to meet with the new king. They would leave for the North by week's end.
Ned, carrying little Jon, and Hadrian following closely finally arriving at the massive keep and even Hadrian would admit that the red stones, tall walls and imposing towers, would give off a certain sense of foreboding and dominance to all those who lived or entered its shadow.
Something prickled at Harry senses though and Harry didn't realize until after he was inside the great hall that the castle was warded! Albeit that the wards themselves had deteriorated beyond repair and to the point where only its ambient magic existed as part of the keep itself. 'Still that's something worth investigating' The six year old thought to himself.
He was snapped from his thoughts when a boisterous and deep laugh, more so than Lord Dustin, resounded from the infamous Iron Throne and its thousand swords. Hadrian took note of the golden blonde haired green eyed beauty scowling at the sight of them with an up-turned nose. Another older blonde bearded man with a balding head stood off to her side with a calculating gaze on the three. Hadrian immediately recognized Jon Arryn of the Vale due to his uncle describing him, his piercing blue eyes and whiting hair and sharp nose in contrast to his uncle's friend.
"Ned!" The voice greeted happily and his black beard of reasonable length shook with mirth but then suddenly did an about face as it turned confused and saddened as the man stood and walked towards the them. "Where is Lyanna?"
Ned stared for a second, his expression ever grim and solemn, then shook his head. "She didn't make it. She passed in a fever."
It was a second before what the elder Stark said clicked with the king, who Hadrian now recognized as Robert Baratheon and the instant it did, he began cursing the Targaryens, Rhaegar in particular.
Hadrian was pretty sure he was the only one to spot the smirk on the golden haired beauty and a glint of amusement in the elder Lannister's eye.
"The damn dragons! I'll have all their heads!" His incoherent rage finally making recognizable words. His temper cooling down but everyone present in the hall could see that the frenzy to kill anything even remotely reminding him of a Targaryen still bubbling underneath the surface waiting to be unleashed. It was several more moments before he spoke again, breaking the silence in the hall.
Nobody was stupid enough to anger the Demon of the Trident after all.
The Baratheon king smiled slightly at Hadrian who stood to his uncle's waist. "And who do we have here?" The Baratheon king's bright blue gaze lingered on Harry for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition and with a boisterous shout in, what Harry could only describe as amusement, the king announced, "He's the spitting image of Brandon Stark!"
The corner of Ned's lip curled slightly in relief at the change in topic between the two of them. The Quiet Wolf's outrage and blatant stand against the murder of two innocent children alongside the rape and subsequent murder of Elia Martell put a strain on the honor of Ned. He wouldn't stand for their deaths but there was nothing he could do about it.
"This here is Brandon's legitimate son and heir with Ashara Dayne, Hadrian Stark." Ned proclaimed as he gently pushed Harry forward. "My brother had a small ceremony with Ashara Dayne a couple months before the tourney of Harrenhall. My father and mother did not want to make a spectacle of it."
Jon Arryn, who was off to the side stepped forward. "Wasn't your brother supposed to marry Hoster Tully's daughter, Catelyn?"
Ned shook his head. His father was up to something when he set up the mummer's farce for Westeros to believe but he wasn't about to tell them that.
Rickard definitely had ambitions and he voiced them in a family council where only the immediate family was allowed to attend much to the adamant protests of Maester Walys. He told his two sons and daughter of his plans. He wanted to expand the House's ties but not so much so as to cause a huge political shift in a single fell swoop as that would draw unwanted attention to them for future ambitions he had and so it was planned that Brandon would marry Ashara Dayne of Starfall in secret to gain ties for a future expansion into the lucrative trade routes the western coasts of Westeros benefited from and then tie the Vale through Ned's own fostering in the Vale, his natural honorable attitude able to sway many of their lords into lasting friendships and eventually taking Catelyn Tully to wife to gain control of the Riverlands, due to Edmure's untimely demise as an infant and the Blackfish refusing to take the heirship.
The Stormlands would be tied with Lyanna's betrothal to Robert Baratheon. Trade through White Harbor would be increased as a result.
Benjen would also secure the Stark supremacy in the North by being married to Dacey of House Mormont where they would begin a new cadet branch called House Goldstark. He didn't know what drove the Old Wolf to name it that.
Not only would his plan essentially tie together everything above Harrenhall to the North, the Stormlands, a mighty military kingdom in its own right would secure their armies for an eventual dispute with the Lannisters and the Tyrells that would surely come once the whole farce was revealed for what it was.
With the Daynes on their side as well, Rickard explained that they would be able to count on Dornish support as well due to their close ties with the ruling family of Dorne. Not only that however, with Ashara being a friend and lady-in-waiting to Elia Martell, the future queen of the Seven Kingdoms and her brother Arthur, the legendary Kingsguard whose friendship and devout loyalty to Rhaegar Targaryen was widely known, would be able to also have the backing of the Iron Throne as well.
With Dorne and the Iron Throne tied through Brandon, the Stormlands through Lyanna and the Riverlands and the Vale through Eddard, the Reach and the Westerlands would have to sit idly and watch the North become a powerhouse instead of a poor kingdom that the Tyrells and Lannisters abused for their own gains.
Their father had told them that he has spent years perfecting his plan and had told them in no uncertain terms that when completed, the Starks would rival both House Lannister and House Tyrell in power.
It seemed his father, The Old Wolf, thought of everything it seemed. Other than the madness that gripped the Targaryen king and the delusions that plagued the crown prince.
With his plan in jeopardy, Rickard and two hundred Northmen rode south to King's Landing and their fates being sealed as the igniting sparks in the rebellion that would see Robert Baratheon being crowned the new King of the Seven Kingdoms.
But his thoughts returned to his foster father's question with the practiced excuse that was drilled into him by his father, before he left for the Vale. "We called him the Wild Wolf for a reason." Was all Ned said in response.
"And your father approved of this?" Jon questioned further before deciding that it was best not to question if the incredulous looks of both Robert and Ned were anything to go by and funnily enough the multi-colored eyes of Hadrian was the gaze that unnerved him the most. "Hoster will not be happy. He wanted his blood to rule the North."
"Let Hoster stew on it!" Robert proclaimed. "He stalled us at the Riverrun too long and is getting what he justly deserves." The King turned to his brother in all but blood. "Ned, if he so much as give you trouble you let me know and I will show him the Demon of the Trident!"
"It will not come to that, Robert." Ned assured but he was not so sure. Hoster did stall them at the Twins until he could secure marriage alliances for the Vale and the North. Ned was also was internally glad his father's plan was essentially carried out but at the cost of Dorne, his, Brandon's and Lyanna's life but the results were the same.
"And who is this little shit?" Robert asked in his rather famous coarse language.
Ned steeled himself for a split-second. "This is my bastard, Jon Snow. His mother passed away and I intend to take him to Winterfell with me." He spoke plainly.
Several reactions met the new information, Harry noted.
He saw the golden haired lady, wrinkle her nose in disgust and Hadrian did not need to read her mind to discern that she intended to make a snide remark about the slight of honor.
The younger Stark, however, had to use subtle legilimency on the elder Lannister (as the man had an ever present calculating gaze masking his emotions), to find out what he was thinking. Already Harry found several hastily though plans on how he could possibly use the bastard to undermine House Stark. Hadrian quickly squashed those where they stood with an added compulsion to keep Jon out of his nefarious plots.
If the elder Lion wishes to fight House Stark, my family, with cloaks and daggers then I will respond in kind. Hadrian thought with a sudden surge of malice.
Jon Arryn on the other hand, could see that he looked slighted upon by having a bastard named in his honor. In Hadrian's opinion, he doubted Ned would care all that much.
Robert, however, laughed rather uproariously in that deep voice of his. "Haha!" He boomed. "The honorable Ned Stark sired a bastard!" If Ned and Hadrian could tell it was meant in good humor, judging by the smiles that graced their faces, then just about the entire court could as well. His voice grew quite then and then grasped Ned on the shoulder who grunted underneath the unexpected force. "I won't lie Ned. The North has suffered, much more than any other house." No one bothered to correct him that the North was not a house, because wherever the Starks went the North followed.
"That is why as one of first decrees as king, I am ordering Moat Cailin to be rebuilt and giving you two million gold dragons to see it done. I know to you it is not much considering how much you lost but I won't allow the North to be caught unawares again and I want you close should I need to call upon you. I am sure Brandon's boy would allow you Cailin." The king gave Hadrian a pointed look who nodded with smile. The Starks and Robert ignored the looks of surprises that were directed at them by members of the court. "Make your pack numerous again, Ned. You deserve it."
Ned nodded flabbergasted at the gift and knew it was pointless to argue. Jon interrupted, "I have to say I do not think-"
He was interrupted when Robert rounded on his foster father. "Jon, I am king! By royal decree, I declare it to be done! I will see to it myself that Ned receives the coin should I have to!" He shouted in rage.
It became clear as day that so long as Robert controlled the throne, the Starks of Winterfell could do as they pleased because if there is one thing that would become readily apparent in the times to come, it was to never insult or question a Wolf in the presence of the Stag King.
Until Next Time!