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Chapter 5: This, Is, War.
When Albus Dumbledore and the staff arrived, it was to see Hogsmeade a mess of dead Death Eaters, a few dead students, and a battle raging on between the Dark Lord and Harry Peverell.
"Find any students you can, if they're alive get them to Poppy. If they're gone, retrieve their bodies for their family."
Albus quickly made his way to where the two powerhouses were facing off, he could clearly see that both were injured from taking various curses. Most likely on purpose to avoid even deadlier ones. His arrival did not go unnoticed by the Dark Lord who backed up.
"It seems that it's time for me to leave, until next time Peverell. You won't be lucky enough to have the old goat to save you," he sneered before disappearing in a mass of black smoke.
With a sigh of exhaustion, Harry lowered his wand and fell to his knees, his body shaking from the amount of magic he had used. Around him, Hogsmeade was barely recognizable.
"Harry, are you alright?" Albus asked as he reached the boy.
"Fucking… peachy…" Harry then passed out bleeding on the ground.
Albus did what first aid he could before he got Fawkes to teleport Harry right to Poppy for treatment. He then begun to help the other teachers sort out to mess and preserve any fallen bodies of students. He looked on sadly seeing the body of an elder Ravenclaw student on top of a younger one, the younger one was still alive but had been to petrified to move as her protector used his body to shield her from Death Eaters. He was one of many who died a hero.
He was most surprised when he came across a severely wounded and heavily breathing Bellatrix Black. Near here were the bodies of five death eaters and what appeared to be two broken ward stones. It appeared to Albus that she was the one responsible for destroying them and allowed the teachers to apparate straight to Hogsmeade after trying to fly brooms.
"Miss Black, are you alright?" Albus asked softly, kneeling next to her.
"Hah, question of the fucking century old man," Bellatrix wheezed.
"Normally I would give you a detention for those words. However, I believe you've saved many lives today. How about I help you to the infirmary?" Albus asked.
"Sure, thing Headmaster… how's Harry? Did he win?" Bellatrix asked hopefully.
"He did not, but Voldemort didn't win either. Both he and Mr. Peverell exchanged many blows to one another, he has passed out from magical exhaustion and blood loss. Poppy is tending to him now. How about we get you there so she can fix your leg up, I'm alright with field medical treatment but an experienced hand is never a bad idea," Albus helped Bellatrix to her feet.
"Huh, never thought I'd hear about Harry succumbing to magical exhaustion, injured or not. Thanks for the help Headmaster," Bellatrix limped a few steps before Albus apparated them both to Hogwarts infirmary.
Poppy Pomphrey and all the apprentice medics, Andromeda included, were frantically running around the infirmary now full of injured bodies, some minor, some major and Poppy herself was working frantically around the unconscious body of Harry Peverell.
"Poppy, Miss Black helped Mr. Peverell fight off the attack, she needs some assistance," Albus said as he helped Bellatrix into a conjured bed right next to where Poppy was working.
"Oh dear! Albus what happened?" Poppy asked, leaving Harry to draw the curtains around Bellatrix and with a wave of her wand and a small 'eep' from Bellatrix, she found herself in her underwear with the Hogwarts healer scanning her body and looking at her wounds.
"Death Eater attack on Hogsmeade, the Dark Lord himself was there leading the attack. From what I'm aware, Mr. Peverell was quick to engage them and focus the fighting around them."
"Harry had me round up as many students as I could and get them to safety through the passageway in the cellar of Three Broomsticks. I then went back to help him by destroying the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards."
A nod from Albus outside the curtain and Poppy just shook her head before waving her wand and summoning a few potions to her.
"Blood replenisher, numbing potion and a dreamless sleep potion, take all three Miss Black. I am going to have to vanish the splinters in your leg and then heal the cuts. It's better your unconscious for it as it will be very painful," Poppy explained, Bellatrix frowned but looked at Harry.
"Is he okay?"
"Lord Peverell will recover in a few hours, aside from a few cuts and scrapes he has no major damage aside from magical exhaustion. Though it appears he is quite adept at battlefield medical application given the crudely healed scar on his side," Poppy sighed.
"Okay," Bellatrix said relieved as she reached for her potions. Downing them one by one and suppressing her gag reflex at their tastes. She fell into a blissful sleep.
Apolline Devereaux was not the biggest fan of Britain, it was cold most of the time and her Veela heritage was not exactly welcome, any half-creature was looked down upon and even half-bloods and muggle-borns were viewed with distaste. However, she and her family were visiting for a reason. All the Sentinel Families had received a reply from Lord Peverell, saying that he would welcome them to Peverell Manor next weekend. The Devereaux's had decided to come early and investigate the state of Magical Britain as well as to see what the people are saying about Lord Peverell as a point of inquisition. Most Sentinel families were friendly with one another or had alliances to help if their problems got too big for one family to handle alone.
Apolline, her elder sister Nadine, a Veela like herself. Her two cousins Veroniqua and Jean-Paul and Aunt Lauretta were shopping in Diagon Alley, the central business district for Magical Britain. Her cousins and aunt were having a better time than she and her sister were as Veela they drew the desire of men and the ire of their women. While her cousins were half-elves, well, half high-elf not house elf and her aunt Lauretta was part Vampire.
"So, what should we get Lord Peverell as a gift?" Veroniqua asked casually.
"I think Father is gifting Lord Peverell a Thestral," Aunt Lauretta replied.
"Why a Thestral?" Jean-Paul frowned.
"Thestral's are animals that can only be seen once someone has witnessed Death. Given the Peverell family's affinity is Death, Thestral's are like their House Animal. I believe Father wants to resume the alliance that the Devereaux's and the Peverell's had a few centuries ago when Matheius and Karine Peverell helped our family during the Napoleonic Wars," Aunt Lauretta said.
The group were in the apothecary looking at the various ingredients the English had to offer for potion making and they weren't overly impressed by the spread. They heard screaming from outside, alert, they looked to see masked individuals in black robes casting spells at the public.
"What the hell?" Nadine said.
"Wands out, I believe this is a terrorist attack that we've been hearing about from the papers. Nadine, you and Jean-Paul take the left, Apolline, you and Veroniqua take the right. I'll take the center, we move out as a unit," Aunt Lauretta ordered, they were quick to get into an arrow formation as the exited the shop.
Outside was pure chaos as witches and wizards were trying to flee in droves from the masked individuals. Jean-Paul and Veroniqua cast shielding charms and defensive spells, transfiguring the ground into high magically resistant walls. Apolline and Nadine focused their affinity for fire to deter the masked individuals attention away from the innocents while Lauretta was casting offensive spells cutting down the attackers before the realized there was a force opposing them.
"Well, lookie what we have here boys, two Veela and a bunch of half-breeds who fancy themselves heroes," one of the men smirked as Apolline and Nadine curled their lips in disgust.
"You pigs are disgusting, the world would be better without you," Nadine snarled.
"Oh, French Veela at that! I can't wait to show you your place. You Veela are nothing but whores for real wizards to play with," another of the masked men declared.
A snarl came from Apolline and that man soon found himself without a head, the group that had previously been laughing and leering were shocked before they looked angry.
"You're going to pay for that bitch! Avada Kedavra!"
"I think not," Lauretta transfigured some rubble into a shield which intercepted the spell, the shield crumbled as the spell hit it.
Responding to her spell, Veronique shot forward and transfigured the broken shield pieces into knives while Nadine then banished them at the attackers.
Realizing they had a threat, the Death Eaters hastily put up their own shields and their men stopped attacking the alley and instead took focus on the group of five that were fighting them. Spells flung from both sides as the Devereaux's faced off against the Death Eaters. Clearly the Death Eaters were out matched as the French Sentinel Family had trained as a unit for combat and were in sync, making up for each other's shortcomings. They each had a role in this formation and they had downed a dozen death eaters with ease.
The Death Eaters were losing manpower quickly as the five pressed forwards, stepping over dead bodies without a care, they had backed up their now halved attacking group towards a wall.
"Fuck this, Fiendfyre!" One of the Death Eaters cast the demonic flames letting loose while the rest of his comrades escaped.
"Nadine! Apolline!" Lauretta shouted as she moved to combat the demonic flames.
Within moments Apolline and Nadine transformed into their true Veela avian forms, unleashing their passionfyre directly at the demonic flames in order to fend them off while Jean-Paul and Veronique worked on summoning a water elemental to quell the flames.
"Give us 30 more seconds!" Veronique called out while Lauretta, Apolline and Nadine struggled to stop the flames from destroying the entire alley.
"Now!" Jean-Paul called out, the two jabbed their wands into the ground while holding their hands out.
A bright blue runic circle appeared in front of them as thundering clouds formed, the clouds released the rain into the circle at rapid rate as a giant water elemental came forth to grab onto the demonic flames. As the flames met the elemental their two magics clashed causing both to die out in moments.
"What the hell is going on?" Nadine said stumbling to catch her breath.
"I don't know but we should head back to recover, father needs to know about what just happened," Lauretta groaned, she had a few burns on her body, nothing that couldn't be healed but she needed the time and their healer, her mother, to help.
When Harry came to, he was in a bed in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. He chuckled to himself as it seemed almost too nostalgic to once again grace the Hospital Wing, it seems like a yearly occurrence that he would somehow end up here with Poppy grumbling about how stupid he was.
"I don't know what you are laughing about, Mr. Peverell, but you just about exhausted yourself magically. Now sit, drink these," Poppy handed him a Pepper-Up Potion and a blood replenisher.
"Despite your impressive battlefield medical healing, you lost a fair amount of blood and your energy is low. While I wish to lecture you about how dangerous what you did was, I won't because you saved many lives today," Poppy's eyes softened and Harry looked around to see the hospital wing full of injured students.
In the bed lying next to him was an unconscious Bellatrix Black who had bandages on her leg and was breathing slowly. Harry looked at Poppy who sighed but explained.
"Headmaster Dumbledore brought Miss Black in, I gave her a blood-replenishing potion as well as a numbing potion and a dreamless sleep. When she was out I vanished all the wood from her leg, cleaned the wounds and healed them before wrapping her leg up. From what I understand, Miss Black killed her fair share of Death Eaters in order to destroy the Ward stones and allow the teachers to apparate to Hogsmeade. I'm also told that the evacuation of the students was mostly done by her on your orders."
"She did a good job, I'm proud of her," Harry replied.
"Try not to make this a habit, Mr. Peverell, and if you do, please refrain from doing it in Hogwarts. I would prefer the healers in St Mugo's dealing with you than myself," Poppy said but the teasing was clear in her voice.
"I'll try to remember that Madam Pomphrey."
"See that you do, now, back down and rest. I have other patients to tend to."
Harry didn't argue as he laid back down and closed his eyes, in his mind he was reorganizing his memories and analyzing his actions of the entire attack. He would have to watch a pensieve memory of the incident and identify his mistakes and make sure they aren't repeated while seeing if him enemy had any vulnerabilities he could exploit next time.
"Harry?" A gentle voice asked almost desperately.
"Bella?" Harry was brought out of his reflecting, he looked next to him to see the black-haired girl waking up.
It was hard to imagine the girl in front of him becoming the deranged serial killer who faithfully served Voldemort in his first life. Looking at Bellatrix Black, her dark hair messy, high cheek bones with a pale cream coloured skin. She was covered with a disgusting hospital gown and her leg was heavily bandaged but she looked… beautiful.
"Oh, thank merlin you're okay!" Bella said, shifting uncomfortably and hissing while clutching her leg.
"Likewise, did anybody see the Erumphant that ran over me?" Harry asked and Bella let out a giggle that seemed oddly fitting for her, he thought she should be laughing like that more often.
"No, but I did see the Dark Lord I saved you from," she said with a smirk, Harry rolled his eyes.
"Okay you did not save me, you distracted him for a few moments," Harry replied.
"Oh? Distracted him? I believe it was you who took that cutting curse and were fixing themselves when the Dark Lord was about to attack you again. Admit it Peverell, I saved you," her cocky smirk was permanently in place.
"Shut up Black," Harry grumbled and Bellatrix's giggle turned into a cackle.
"What's all the noise Miss Black?" Poppy asked appearing suddenly.
"Nothing Madam Pomphrey," Bella replied.
"I'm sure… alright time for me to check on the both of you," she waved her wand casting a diagnosis charm on the both of them, looking at them for a few moments.
"Mr. Peverell, you're all good to be discharged. I believe the Headmaster wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience. He said that he has quite the craving for acid pops. As for you Miss Black, you will be required to stay overnight for observation and to let your leg heal more," Poppy instructed, Bellatrix looked aghast at having to stay longer at which Harry poked his tongue out at her.
Harry felt a wave of nostalgia as he made his way to Headmaster Dumbledore's office, sure they had spoken politely when it came to asking him to teach the dueling class which he had no doubt would be very full given the Hogsmeade attack.
"Acid Pops" Harry said to the gargoyle which swung aside allowing him entry to the office.
"Ah, Harry, it's good to see you up and moving again. How are you?" Albus asked from behind his seat, he was currently looking over various papers.
"I'm alright Headmaster, you should see the other guy," he joked and Albus smiled at the humor.
"I wish to thank you for protecting the students when I could not, I hadn't thought Tom bold enough to attack Hogsmeade of all places. For that, I can only apologise and be grateful you and Miss Black were there to take the students to safety." Albus Dumbledore suddenly looked like he had aged many years as he slumped back in his chair.
"How many?" Harry asked quietly.
"Thirty-seven, thirty-seven of our students were killed in that attack. I have been writing to the parents of the victims to both apologise and invite them to come to collect their bodies or decide on whether or not to include them in the Hogwarts memorial. It's a dark day Harry, but I am glad there weren't any more casualties. It would appear that Diagon Alley was also attacked at the same time, this was clearly a coordinated attempt to instill fear into the people."
"How many were injured in Diagon Alley?"
"Strangely enough, almost none. It would seem that a group of very talented foreign magicals fought them off. Though I imagine that whatever country they are from, we can both thank them for protecting our own people but also expect their ministry to contact our own about the terrorist attack. I dare say Minister Bagnold will have quite the time trying to deal with an international incident," Albus said.
"I guess I'll be expected to be there when they send their ambassadors to question us," Harry mused and Albus nodded.
"Now I'm sorry to cut our conversation short but I have letters to send and calls to make, thank you again Harry for saving those you could."
Harry nodded and made his exit, heading back to the Slytherin common room where upon his entrance he was hit by three bodies, two blonde and one brunette.
"Thank you for saving us Harry!" Narcissa's voice registered.
"Thank you," came from Regina Parkinson and Ophelia Greengrass as well.
"No thanks needed, I would have done the same for anyone. I'm glad you three didn't get hurt," Harry said honestly.
While, back in his timeline, he had never had much interaction with Pansy Parkinson and barely a few words to Daphne Greengrass. The two girls in front of him looked like the two of them so he could only believe them to be their mothers. Narcissa Black for her part looked the most different from the cold, bored with life, woman he met at the Quidditch World Cup back in fourth year.
"Where's Bella?" Narcissa asked.
"She's still in the infirmary, she was injured a lot more than I was. But she did her job and took down the ward stones preventing the teachers from apparating to us," Harry replied.
He didn't miss the dirty look some of the pure-bloods were sending his way, most notably coming from Lucius Malfoy and his group of junior Death Eaters.
"We're going to come to your lessons, we need to be prepared for next time," Ophelia said and Narcissa and Regina nodded.
"I'd be happy to have you, now you four stay safe and look out for each other. Write back to your parents, I'm sure they're worried about you," Harry said kindly, they nodded and Harry continued on his way to his room to rest for the night.
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A nightmare, that's what Millicent Bagnold was pretty sure she was experiencing. The news of this Dark Lord attacking both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley was an absolute nightmare. These terrorists had hurt children and innocent lives, not only that, thirty-seven children were dead and if it weren't for Lord Peverell, many more may have perished. But what truly made it more of a nightmare came the next day when she got an unexpected call from the French Ministry of Magic. It turns out the group of foreigners who protected Diagon Alley were from the Devereaux Family who had come to Britain in order to meet with Lord Peverell, in fact the French Minister Alain Ducasse had informed her that many of the Sentinel Families would likely be in Britain to meet with the newly emerged Lord Peverell. Something that would both alarm her but also quite possibly would embarrass her and the British Ministry of Magic as a whole, especially if the foreign families step in to aid Lord Peverell against this terrorist threat. No, the Ministry needed to be doing something to stop this damned Dark Lord and his erratic followers.
"I assure you Minister Ducasse, we are doing everything we can to make sure every magical life is safe," she said into the floo.
"Then why is it that my citizens not only had to defend your own. But the terrorists had even planned to rape the women of the Devereaux Family seeing them as nothing but half-breeds. Though they have the protection and training as well as diplomatic immunity of a Sentinel Family, if they were just regular half-human international visitors. What would your government have done if our citizens were attacked and harmed in such a manor?"
"We would not allow that to happen, the Aurors…" she began.
"Weren't even present at the attack. The Devereaux's saw no sign of Auror presence when the attack happened whatsoever. After a conversation with Michel Devereaux, we have decided to give you two weeks to fix your police force presence. If Michel and his family do not find the measures put in place suitable, we will have you brought before the ICW to discuss your lack of action towards another emerging Dark Lord. Much like your lack of action towards Grindelwald. I believe the British who fought Grindelwald did so after they left you country and fought under the banner of their own house or the ICW. It would cause all of the countries of the ICW to be concerned should you allow one to pop up in your own country and force us to clean up your mess," Ducasse sneered and Millicent paled.
"It will not come to that," she ground out.
"See to it that it doesn't, Michel will keep me updated on the daily about anything he considers worth reporting. Two weeks Minister, two weeks to fix your fucking mess before we, the French, do it for you," with the threat made, Minister Ducasse ended the conversation.
"Elaine, summon an emergency session of the Wizengamot. We are going to fix this, and we are going to fix this now!" She growled out, her poor assistant ran to do as told.
Her next stop was to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where Barty Crouch was frowning at his most recent reports, seeing her come in he went to stand.
"Minister Bagnold, what can I do for you?"
"Save the shit Barty, why the fuck didn't any Aurors respond to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. Don't give me dome bullshit excuse, Terrorist attacks have been happening for a while now. Why weren't our people and children protected!"
"There were Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey wards up in both attacks Minister, all floo travel was also taken down. We didn't even receive a notification of the attacks until after they were well over," he replied with a bitter look.
"Your fucking training Academy is down the road from Diagon Alley, why the fuck didn't they respond?"
"I'm told that many of the recruits had their training sessions in the mountains for that day, the only ones in the building were within their first week of training. It would have been a slaughter," he defended.
"The fucking French Minister just threatened me and the British Ministry of Magic! The people who protected Diagon Alley were the Devereaux's of France! They didn't see a single fucking Auror during the entire battle. Not even an off duty one trying to help. You have two days to organize your shit Barty, or I'm replacing you with someone who can do your fucking job."
She stormed out of the office heading back to her own, she didn't have much time as the emergency session of the Wizengamot would be starting as soon as all the Lords and Regents arrived.
Harry would like to say he was surprised when he received the summons to the emergency session of the Wizengamot. He didn't expect it to be happening immediately but he assumed that something had caused it to be done and he was thankful that it seemed Minister Bagnold was somewhat more competent than Fudge was.
Bellatrix was still in the hospital wing recovering so their sparring session was off, and given he was a Lord he could come and go as he pleased due to his Lordly and Sentinel duties.
When he arrived to the chambers there was already a discussion going on with angry voices hurling accusations towards one another. His presence quietened them down a fair bit when he took his seat and finally the last few Lords turned up and Minister Bagnold took her seat.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this emergency session of the Wizengamot is now in session. I have called you all here to talk about the incidents yesterday, Diagon Alley was attacked by terrorists of this Dark Lord's Regime, calling themselves Death Eaters and instilling fear and harm upon the innocents of Diagon Alley. Additionally, the Dark Lord attacked Hogsmeade himself and if it weren't for the efforts of Lord Peverell, there would be many of our children dead," she opened.
"Rabid dogs should be treated as such! I say kill them all! We should allow our Auror force to respond to their attacks with equal force," Lord Franklin Longbottom snarled.
"I agree! My niece and nephew barely survived the Hogsmeade attack!" Lord Diggory added.
"What is to be done about the filthy half-breeds that destroyed half the alley!" Lord Parkinson bit out.
"Lord Parkinson, those Half-humans were foreigners from France. They were also the Devereaux Family," Millicent informed and he paled at hearing their name, Harry for his part was surprised, he thought he would be meeting them next week but apparently they came a week early.
"I propose we declare this Voldemort as an official enemy of the state, all efforts are to be made to find him, his followers and to bring them to justice. Dead or Alive," Edgar Bones said, a chorus of agreements followed from most of the light and many of the neutral families.
"I second that motion!" Lord Longbottom said.
"Alright, it will be put to a vote. All in favor of declaring Voldemort an enemy of the state?" Just over two thirds of the room agreed, Harry made a mental note of the ones who abstained or voted no.
"It is decided then, from hence forth, the man known as Voldemort is an official enemy of the state. He and his followers are to be apprehended dead or alive. I'm declaring that Magical Britain is now in a state of War. Make no mistake, this is war."
"Lord Peverell, do you have anything to add?" Millicent turned to Harry who took a few moments to think.
"I will speak with the Goblins about getting a steady supply of Thieves' Downfall in order to prevent any spies or imperioused agents from infiltrating the Ministry. Additionally, I believe the Dark Mark should be made illegal and all members of staff in the Ministry should be checked or questioned with Veritaserum. I would like to know how the floos went down, along with how they got their hands-on Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey wards in addition to why no Auror response was made to prevent or lessen the impact of either attack," Harry said darkly.
"You can't go dosing employees with Veritaserum against their will! That's a violation of privacy," Lord Nott protested.
"We are in a state of war, who knows where these cowards hide and who they are. We need to make sure that everyone who works for the government isn't supporting Voldemort and sabotaging our efforts. I don't give a shit about your privacy Nott. If you're guilty you will be sentenced to Azkaban or worse," Harry replied.
"It will take us some time to implement these changes, but it will be done within the next two weeks," Millicent agreed, again an echo of agreement from many of the lords and ladies followed.
"Lord Peverell, the Devereaux family has requested a meeting with you after this. Do you have time?" She asked looking up at Harry who gave a short nod.
"Alright, without anything else to discuss I call this emergency meeting of the Wizengamot to a close.
Michel Devereaux was the Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Devereaux, he was also half Fae. Contrary to what many others believe, the Devereaux family are given their half-creature bloodline through a family ritual they go through on their 10th birthday. He had done his job to the best of his ability and his family were considered one of the more powerful Sentinel Families. Like many of the other families, he had heard of the return of the Peverell Family and had been curious as to what this young Lord was like. Additionally, he, like many of the other Lords, had a silent hope that this new Lord would become interested in one of the daughters of their House. It wasn't uncommon for Sentinel families to marry into one another with each House having a spousal ritual to initiate said spouse into the family magic. They still retain remnants of their original families magic but their primary magic becomes that of the family they marry into. His own wife in her youth used to be a member of the Hamilton family when they married she got her half-creature blood to match his own.
He had watched the emergency meeting of the British government with curiosity, particularly the young man known as Harry Peverell. He could see that the young man was powerful and commanded attention. His plan of using Thieves' Downfall to screen every Ministry worker as they entered the building was a good idea and from his experience he knew that the Goblins would provide whatever the Sentinel Families wished as per the ancient pacts, despite the various Goblin Rebellions throughout the centuries. This young man was certainly a force to be reckoned with, though he was unsure how trained he was. Perhaps he would consent to a friendly spar so that Michel could ascertain such information, though the Peverell Family were notorious for their combat skills.
Hearing that Lord Peverell consented to meeting him and his family after the Wizengamot concluded, he made his leave towards the international dignitary meeting room they had organized in advance.
"Well? Did he accept our request?" His son, Lancel asked.
"He did, I expect the young Lord to be along soon. Remember everyone, on your best behavior. Do not antagonize him, Lancel, that means you. While he is younger than all of the other Lords he is still a Peverell," Michel reminded, giving his only single son a glare while looking at Lauretta and her husband Enri and children: Jean-Paul and Veroniqua, as well as his other son Vincent, his wife Mirabelle and their daughters Nadine and Apolline.
"Why do you always assume I'll antagonize whoever I meet!" Lancel complained.
"Because you have a chip on your shoulder and are always trying to prove yourself, little brother," Lauretta sighed, Lancel just crossed his arms and frowned.
The four cousins looked at each other and began having quiet little conversations while waiting for Lord Peverell to be finished with the government meeting.
"I wonder what he's like?" Nadine said.
"Well, from the papers he seems like some kind of hero. Or some kind of monster if you believe the whole 'Murders noble Lord' bullshit. Not that we should consider the Malfoy's to be noble, I mean they ran from France mostly," Jean-Paul replied.
"I think Grandfather plans for one of us to catch his attention. I mean he is the youngest Lord from what was thought to be an extinct family. I overhead Grandfather talking with mother about how many of the other families will be making their play for a marriage or concubine contract with his family," Veroniqua said.
Apolline gave it some thought, she honestly wouldn't mind that sort of attention. From what she'd seen in the papers, he was a very attractive man and very powerful. Though she could be just as happy with Henri Delacour who out of all her idiotic classmates, was the best able to resist her allure. She appreciated that he only stared for a few minutes before controlling himself.
"As Veela, I'm sure Apolline and I have an advantage over you, cousin," Nadine teased and Veronique rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure Lord Peverell will not be like the simpering fools we go to school with," she retorted.
"Grandfather had the three of us wear our best outfits for a reason, we'll see what happens," Nadine challenged, Apolline and Jean-Paul looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't the first time that Nadine and Veroniqua had competed with each other in this kind of thing.
"As long as you don't antagonize him, you already heard Grandfather warn Uncle Lancel," Jean-Paul sighed.
Veroniqua was about to respond when the sound of footsteps approaching could be heard followed by the door opening. Nadine flared her Veela allure at full power much to the discomfort of the men in the room while Michel sighed followed by Lauretta and Mirabelle who also sighed at the girls' antics.
As Harry entered the room he immediately felt the effects of the allure, seeing the two Auror's who were outside the door go misty-eyed and start to drool he sighed. He closed the door behind him before turning to the occupants in the room. Eyeing each of them he saw four teenagers, two dark haired and two platinum blondes. The dark-haired teenagers were a male and female, clearly siblings, he noted their pointed ears and rather aristocratic elf-like features. As he looked at the girl he saw her blush briefly before his attention turned to the two platinum haired girls. He recognized Verla anywhere remembering Fleur Delacour and the Bulgarian Veela cheerleaders from his first life. Of the two, one looked slightly younger and strangely enough, looked like Fleur did but slightly different and younger. The older girl was fully developed and breathtakingly beautiful, she was also the one blasting her allure out at what he assumed to be full power judging by how uncomfortable the adults were.
"I would appreciate you reigning in your allure Miss Devereaux. It does not make for a good first impression, unless of course, you are unable to control it. In which I can offer you some insight into how to do that," he spoke calmly, the girl in question immediately looked shocked and embarrassed before her allure all but disappeared. The brunette snickered and gave the older blonde an elbow in the side while the other two simply rolled their eyes.
"I apologise for my granddaughters' antics, Lord Peverell. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lord Michel Devereaux of the Sentinel Devereaux Family. It's an honor to meet you, especially earlier than planned. These are my family members, my eldest son Vincent, his wife Mirabelle and their daughters Nadine and Apolline. My only daughter Lauretta, her husband Enri and their children Jean-Pail and Veroniqua and lastly my youngest son Lancel," Michel greeted. Harry looked at each of them as they were introduced and the name Apolline had him surprised. This must've been Fleur's mother, he had only met her once at Fleur and Bill's wedding but he could definitely see Fleur in this young girl.
"The honor is mine, Lord Devereaux. Harry Peverell, but you can call me Harry. I believe I owe you some gratitude for your help with Diagon Alley. I was unfortunately occupied with the Dark Lord's personal attack near the school," Harry sighed giving the family an appreciative nod.
"Michel then, please Harry. It was no problem, like yourself we have a duty to the people to protect them, though we were not within our jurisdiction. I believe self-defense is a suitable reason for my family members to intervene," Michel said.
"Indeed, where are you all staying currently? If you don't mind me asking?" Harry said.
"We are staying at a muggle hotel just around the corner from Diagon Alley," Michel replied.
"That won't do, for your help and with the meeting to be next weekend. You will stay in my manor as my guests until you need to leave back for France," Harry said without room for argument, Michel looked at the young man and nodded appreciatively.
"We thank you for your hospitality then, now, would you perhaps consent to discussing what you know of your current situation? Centuries ago your ancestors helped the Devereaux family with a Dark Lord during the Napoleonic War. I believe that it is time we repaid our debt and aid you with your Dark Lord problem," Michel said, Harry thought for a few moments before sitting down at the end of the table. Michel sat opposite him while the four teenagers sat next to Harry, with Nadine and Veronique on Harry's right and left, then Apolline next to Nadine and Jean-Paul next to Veroniqua.
Harry's wand flicked into his hand and he cast various silencing and privacy charms, just in case the ones in the room had already been tampered with. He then began to explain the information he had gathered and his current suspicions about this current Dark Lord.
He didn't miss, however unconscious it was, that his magic seemed to reach out to Apolline's own, finding it to be calming and familiar despite being a bit different. He noted how her cheeks were flushed and she didn't speak much, questions being asked by the adults, Nadine and Veroniqua mainly.