Told you chapters would be longer. ;) Welcome to the first official chapter of the story - told you I'd have it uploaded quickly. Second chapter might take more time, but I don't want to bore you with an author's note. Special thanks to , Raph Weasley, and HarryHermioneEdwardBella for reviewing just the prologue! I honestly didn't respect any response from just 400 measly words. But thank you for reading! Enjoy! (And please pardon any spelling or grammatical errors. Same disclaimer still applies to the story.)
Chapter One: Breath of Life
The library was not the most common place to find the eleven-year old Prince of Gryffindor, but today was a rather special occasion.
Young Prince Harry was hiding from his caretakers, not wanting to attend his daily lessons with Professor McGonagall, and the clever boy had decided to go to the place they would least expect to find him. Crouched among the shelves of books with his very best friend Ronald Weasley, the son of a popular lord, Harry couldn't help but marvel at his own genius.
Until, of course, a cascade of books fell over their heads, and the two boys yelped in both surprise and pain.
A tiny girl whipped around from behind the shelf, her patched and simple clothes a suggestion that she was a servant girl. Her brown hair was bushy beyond belief, as if it had never seen a comb, and her brown eyes were wide in terror as her hands clamped over her mouth. She was a tiny thing, about their age, or so Harry noted when he finally emerged from the mountain of books.
Upon seeing him, the girl gave a squeak of horror.
"Oh, Highness, I'm so sorry, I really am. I didn't hurt you did I? I was only trying to reach a book, but it was too high for me to get, so I tried to wish it down, and-"
"Blimey! Trying to kill us, are you?" bumbled Ron as he too finally managed to emerge. "I ought to have you reported and flogged, stupid."
The girl's eyes widened in fear as she began to shake. "Oh, please, sir, I didn't mean to, it was just an accident-"
"We're not going to report you," Harry said, feeling a bit of pity for the poor rambling servant girl. "What's your name?"
Still clearly terrified, the girl murmured, "H-Hermione, your Highness."
"You can call me Harry."
That smile was only the beginning of their friendship.
Harry knew he could always find Hermione in the library even when she wasn't working there.
Nineteen years old, the prince was quite the sight to behold for the wandering eyes of servant girls as he passed them in the corridors. Messy raven hair hung over sharp emerald green eyes that were truly the only reminder that he was an Evans as well as a Potter. His tall and leanly built frame loomed over most in the castle, and his reasonably tanned skin came from playing Quidditch outdoors and dueling with the other knights of the palace for sport.
However, today he was on a mission.
With All Hallow's Eve so close, there was a ball fast approaching the palace of Gryffindor and all its inhabitants, and lately planning for it had taken over Harry's time, as much as it pained him to admit. Planning for events like this had to be his least favorite part of his responsibilities as prince, and as soon as he turned twenty one and had the crown placed upon his head, Harry knew that all of the responsibilities for these kind of events truly would fall on his shoulders. Thankfully, however, that burden still rested with Remus Lupin, current ruler of Gryffindor and a substitute of sorts until Harry could become king.
And today, Harry needed some help with organizing the menus (which, as far as Remus had explained, would involve a good deal of food tasting and sounded like a decent job). Seeing as Ron, now Sir Ronald Weasley, was unavailable for the task, that left only one person that Harry would want to do this with.
Hermione was curled up in her usual corner, although to Harry's surprise, she was fast asleep with a book open on her lap. And sitting on the windowsill, watching him with malicious golden eyes, was that blasted palace cat that seemed to follow Hermione around everywhere. His orange fur was puffed out, and his tail twitched in irritation at the sight of Harry. The stupid thing hissed when Harry started to approach his sleeping friend, as if the cat was warning him not to wake her.
As usual, Harry just glared at it before gently putting a hand on Hermione's shoulder.
Her brown eyes flew open and she started, causing Harry to grin in both amusement and to mask the guilt, but as soon as she saw that it was the prince who'd woken her, she sighed and relaxed.
The palace cat hissed once more before leaping off the windowsill and racing away.
"Harry, you really ought to be more careful, sneaking up on me like that," Hermione said wearily, though they'd been through this at least a dozen times before. "You practically scared the wits out of me."
Recognizing the routine, Harry grinned at her. "Well, perhaps a servant girl like yourself shouldn't be taking naps in the palace library."
In the earlier years of their friendship, a statement like that would have normally been regarded as an insult, but that sentiment no longer applied to them. Both of them knew that, by now, Hermione was so much more to Harry than just a simple serving girl, and the remark hardly ever had any effect on either of them anymore. So she just smiled and rolled her eyes in return, and pushed herself to her feet before returning the book to the shelf it had come from.
"Duly noted, Highness," Hermione replied, eyeing him playfully. "What do you need?"
"I have to go arrange menus for the ball. Help me?"
Hermione's eyebrows shot up as she brushed imaginary dirt off her simple peasant's dress. "Right now? I really shouldn't be doing things like food tasting with the prince, Harry. Or helping you plan a ball. That's for nobles. Why can't Ron help you?"
"Ron's out on a scouting patrol at the base of the Forbidden Mountains. They left this morning."
"Oh." Hermione frowned, as though this information was new to her. "Why didn't he tell me?"
Harry shrugged. "I didn't know about it either until this morning. Seems like not a lot of people were supposed to know about it. I talked to Remus and he told me what was going on."
"Tell me."
"I don't want to worry you."
Her frown deepened, and he watched as she crossed her arms tightly across her chest. She was eyeing him in suspicion now. "Tell me, Harry. What's going on?"
"Remus told me… they were going to investigate possible Death Eater activity."
Hermione's eyes widened in horror as she clamped her hands to her mouth. "No," she breathed. "Harry, why did you let Ron go alone?"
"Remus would never let me go investigate that sort of thing, and you know that," Harry grumbled bitterly. "And Ron isn't alone. Kingsley's with him. They'll be back before tomorrow, I'm sure. Don't get worried over something that probably isn't true."
"But Harry, Death Eaters."
"I'm aware, 'Mione."
"Don't you know what this means?"
"I said I'm aware, Hermione."
"The kingdom… Hogwarts… all of the disappearances could be starting up again, you could be in danger…"
"Hermione." Harry was scowling now. He knew immediately, the second he'd said Death Eaters, he never should have brought it up in the first place. Hermione, out of his two closest friends, was always the one to worry first. Ron had been all smiles and joking when he'd left this morning, telling Harry not to worry about a thing, and that everything was probably just a big fuss the village at the base of the Mountains was making. Harry should have known that Hermione's first instinct would have been to panic. "Everything's fine. The village there is probably making a big fuss over nothing." He repeated Ron's words from this morning.
She looked unsure, her chocolate brown eyes full of anxiety now. "What exactly is happening in the village?"
From the look in her eyes, Harry knew that she wouldn't let him be until he told her the truth. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, he mumbled, "A group of muggleborns were kidnapped. And apparently it was the third kidnapping this month."
The gasp that came from Hermione was exactly what he'd expected. Suddenly she flew at him, and Harry was caught completely off guard when her arms wrapped around him and she gave him a hug that nearly knocked him flat. Not entirely sure of what to do, he patted her awkwardly on the back and waited for her to let go.
There were not many who thought good of Harry and Hermione's friendship, and most openly disapproved of it around the palace. Ever since the fateful day they'd met eight years ago, there were many who thought it strange that a prince and a nobleman's son would befriend a simple servant girl, and in the blooming days of their companionship, there were those that tried to prevent it. Mostly because of moments like this, where protocol was blatantly ignored, and a prince and a servant girl stood in an embrace as though they were equals.
Harry, of course, had never minded, and was often the one who had to tell Hermione to disregard the rumors. Hermione rarely lost control of herself like this, which made it all the more unnerving.
"You must be careful from now on," Hermione gushed, still clinging to him. "You know that Death Eater activity could possibly mean…"
"'Mione, Voldemort isn't back. Don't even start thinking it." Just the name of that murderer sent chills down Harry's spine. "There are these kind of kidnappings all the time. You know that."
"But, Harry, this one feels different."
"You're not even out there to make the distinction. Look, everything will be fine. Ron will be back before you know it, and you'll find out that all your worrying will have been for nothing," Harry reassured her, smiling almost in amusement. Hermione always had the need to fret over every little thing. "Now will you come help me arrange the menus?"
And they were back to where they'd started.
Hermione pulled away from him, eyeing him in slight disdain, as she said, "I really shouldn't."
"But I want you to."
"Harry, that's no place for me. I told you that planning out things for extravagant balls like this are for nobles. I've got no part in it," Hermione protested.
"Please, 'Mione?"
She eyed him for one more moment before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Alright. I'll help you," she said, but there was a warning laced in with her tone. "But I can't have it taking all afternoon - I've got chores to attend to in the kitchen before supper."
"Do you ever get tired of it?"
Hermione looked caught off-guard by the sudden inquiry. "Tired of what?"
"Being a servant? Having all these chores?"
It was a conversation that they had more often than Hermione was really comfortable with, it seemed. She looked down, as though to avoid meeting his gaze. "You know I wouldn't have it any other way," she said quietly.
"I could have you freed."
Hermione sighed. "And… where, exactly, do we need to go to arrange menus?"
Harry grinned, glad that she finally assented to help him. He really didn't understand her sometimes, why she seemingly had no desire to be free, to live in the outside world. It wasn't that the servants at the palace weren't treated well, and Harry often made sure of that for Hermione's sake, but there was something about the idea that no matter how close of a friend he considered Hermione to be… she was still considered by most to be underneath him. He had offered many times over the chance for her and her parents to be free. And yet, every time she opted to say no.
These were the thoughts that plagued him as he and Hermione went down to the kitchens. He didn't even notice all of the disapproving glares that were sent their way anymore as they walked together, side by side, prince and servant girl.
"Halt."
Sir Ronald Weasley, knight and son of Lord Arthur Weasley, reined his horse in as commanded by the leader of their search party, Sir Kingsley Shacklebolt.
They had been riding for hours, pausing only briefly a little over an hour ago to water their horses and eat a quick on-the-road meal of bread and cheese from the palace kitchens. Already Ron's belly was rumbling with the hints of hunger, but he did his best to ignore them.
"We're getting close," came the deep voice of Kingsley again. The elder knight was dressed in full mail, the flaming red insignia of Gryffindor on his shield. In the bleak, dark forests through which they were riding, it was a welcome sight. "Stay together, and keep a lookout for any movement. Something doesn't feel right."
The words were far from comforting, and Ron struggled to keep anxiety from taking a hold of his stomach. His horse nickered nervously, as though it sensed its rider's tense disposition. Gulping, he leaned down and patted the beast's neck, mumbling useless reassurances as he caught up to the other members of the scouting brigade.
Looking around, Ron could see that Kingsley was right. Something didn't feel right about the woods surrounding them. It was too quiet, too bleak. There was no hint of wildlife - not even a rodent racing across the path, or a bird twittering above them. The only sound that seemed to echo through the wooded space was the clopping of the horses' hooves on the dirt, and the heavy breathing of some of the older members of the company. No. Something didn't feel right at all.
There was a clearing up ahead, an end to the forest. Whispers spread through the group. Nobody knew what they were going to find in this quiet, gray place.
As Ron and the others made their way out from the forest, the view that greeted them was no less bleak, and far more disturbing than that of the quiet trees.
The village, which Ron had been told was a thriving mountain village, was completely and utterly deserted. There were no running and laughing children, no livestock, not even an echo coming from the thatched roof houses. The Forbidden Mountains, looming ahead, showed no signs that the village had fled into the pass. There were hardly any hints of life here. Like the forest, there weren't even any wild animals that seemed to be hiding in the shadows.
The group cautiously made their way through the throes of the outer village, and the horses began to toss their heads and snort, as though they could sense that something was wrong. Ron gulped, suddenly wishing that he hadn't left his bed this morning.
"Kingsley, what does this mean?" another member of the group asked quietly.
Ron looked to the senior knight, and was troubled to see that even Kingsley looked heavily unsettled. "I'm not sure," Kingsley said hesitantly, drawing his horse around as though to see something else. "Wands out, everyone. I don't want anything catching us by surprise."
Everyone did as commanded, slipping wands out from small holsters attached to their armor. Each knight was also armed with a sword, though oftentimes those were only used for tourneys and competitions these days, as Ron noted. But Kingsley was not done giving out orders.
"Blackstone, Moore, scout the surrounding area. See if there's any trace of the village people having left. Fremont, Weasley, stay with me. We're going to take a closer look around here. Nobody dismount. If there are any enemies around, I don't want them to catch us off-guard. I need something to tell King Remus when we return, something more than the village was completely deserted. Whoever gave us the information about the kidnapping either had an outdated report, or we were lured out here. Either way, I want to find out. Report back here in twenty minutes. If there's trouble, send out a warning flare with your wand. Understood?"
The glum and tense nods around the group were enough for Kingsley, who turned his mount once more and led Ron and Damien Fremont, another young knight, further into the village. The other two, Blackstone and Moore, moved away from them and back towards the forest.
"What do you think happened here, Kingsley?" Damien questioned as they moved as quietly as possible among the seemingly dead homes. "A raid?"
"I'm not sure," Kingsley said with a frown. "We would have seen traces of them leaving had it been a normal raid. Perhaps Blackstone and Moore will find something, but I doubt it. Whatever this was, I don't think it was natural."
Natural. Ron shuddered at the idea that something other than natural had happened to these people, and at the idea that whatever it was that was unnatural was waiting for them somewhere in this village. His grip tightened on his wand as he and his mount stuck close to the other two riders, his heart pounding.
"Don't be so tense, Weasley," Kingsley reprimanded him. "Just be ready for anything."
"Right, because those two things are so different," Ron grumbled to himself, though he was fairly sure that Kingsley heard when he saw the corner of the older man's mouth fold up.
It was then that the three knights were met with a rather disturbing sight.
They had rounded the corner into a small open space that looked to be something like a town square. Standing in the dead center of it was a woman, dressed in tattered clothes and filth and grime covering her from head to toe. She was staring blankly at them, as if she had been waiting for their arrival. Ron instinctively raised his wand to defend himself.
Kingsley grabbed his arm before he could even utter a spell. "Don't. She looks like a civilian."
Ron didn't lower his wand. Instead, he kept it close as he and the other two urged their steeds to move closer. The woman didn't move, and when the horses began to toss their heads in protest, Ron felt ice form at the pit of his stomach. Whatever this was, it wasn't normal, and the horses could sense it.
"Kingsley, I don't think we should get any closer," Damien said, echoing Ron's thoughts. "The horses might throw us, and I'm not entirely sure we want to be left without horses around this… this…" He, too, seemed to struggle with coming up for a name for the creature in front of them.
Kingsley grunted, and gently reined his horse in to a halt. Ron and Damien did the same, coming up on either side of the elder knight.
"What happened here?" he called out to the woman, who was continuing to stare at them with a glassy gaze.
"A warning." The voice was a hiss, unlike any voice the three knights had ever heard. Ron's mount whinnied in terror at the sound of it, tossing its head back and nearly smacking Ron in the face.
"Who are you? A warning for whom?"
"He is coming," the hiss continued. "He rises from the ashes, and his followers gather. This was only the beginning. You will see. He seeks the blood of the one who destroyed him."
Ron scowled, the words causing his stomach to clench up in terror. He had a vague idea as to what the woman could be referring to, but the idea was impossible. Terrible, horrifying, but impossible. And, yet, something about the woman's words and the state of this village brought chills to his heart, almost as though their surroundings were a reassurance that her words were true. And if they were true…
"Who?" Kingsley growled. His tone suggested that he was either getting impatient, or that the woman's words were just as troubling to him as they were to Ron. Ron guessed it was the latter, from the tightened expression on the older man's face.
"He who is the champion of magic and purity. He who is most powerful."
"Impossible," Ron heard Damien breath on the other side of Kingsley.
Kingsley was about to respond when the woman let out an unworldly scream. The horses whinnied in terror. Kingsley's jumped backwards, tossing its head, as Damien's bucked and nearly threw its rider. Ron's reared, and Ron clung to the saddle for dear life. Over the shoulder of his mount, he could see that the screaming woman had burst into flames, and suddenly she looked… well… dead. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head, and her skin was… melting? A horrid stench filled his nostrils, and in horror Ron hid his face in his horse's mane, trying not to panic or fall off the horse as it shrieked and flung its hooves in the air.
And just like that, it was over.
The horses were still horribly spooked, as their riders desperately tried to calm them down, though they felt no better. Moments later, the two others, Blackstone and Moor, came galloping in on their own horses.
"We heard a scream, and saw smoke-" Moore breathed.
Blackstone cut him off. "Came to make sure you were alright, sir."
Kingsley held up a hand to the pair of them. "We're in no danger here that I can see. But there was certainly something… disturbing… that must be reported to King Remus at once. There was an Inferius here… a charmed or cursed one, at that. Even if what the creature said wasn't true, someone's been practicing Dark Magic in the area."
"An Inferius?" Blackstone sounded incredulous. "But the likes of those haven't been seen since-"
"Since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was in power. I'm aware," Kingsley replied darkly. "Did you find anything?"
"Not a trace of any of the people, sir," Moore answered. "No footprints, or any signs of them. It's as if they all disappeared into thin air. Nothing even looks remotely disturbed."
Ron frowned. This scouting mission was getting stranger and more frightening by the minute, and he didn't like it one bit. The nervous snort his mount let out was enough to tell him that the horse didn't like it either.
"Er… sir?" Damien's voice came from nearby, and all of the knights turned to see that the young man had wandered off a ways on his horse. He was peering inside one of the homes, with a very perturbed expression on his face. "I think you'd better come see this. I think I know where the people are."
Clearing his throat and attempting to look indifferent, Kingsley drove his horse over to where the young knight was, and the others followed. When Damien moved back so that he could look inside, Kingsley did so and sucked in a breath.
"Sweet Merlin," he murmured.
When Ron got his chance to look, he almost lost his lunch.
Bodies littered all over the inside of the house. It looked as though a family had lived here, in the small one-room thatched house. Two children were still in bed, though their eyes were wide open and their faces disfigured into expressions of terror. A woman was stretched out on the ground, the dirt beneath her dark as though her blood had been spilt all over it. A man was down by the door, his head nearly completely detached from his body, a splotch of dark dirt beneath him very much like the one of the woman's. Ron's stomach tightened as he forced himself to look away.
He urged his mount to move away from the house, and Ron tried to erase the grisly image from his mind. He heard Kingsley briefly explaining what the Inferius had told them to Blackstone and Moore, who both looked incredibly distressed by the news. Damien had dismounted his horse, and was retching a few yards away. Hesitantly, Ron approached the others.
"We ride back to the palace immediately," Kingsley was saying. "I was going to stop and make camp at Moonpine Lake, but we can't afford any delay. There was Dark Magic performed here. An entire village wiped out, by the looks of it, and an Inferius to top that all off. Search for any survivors. Fremont, you and Weasley take a look near the back of the village, closest to the mountains. Blackstone, Moore, and I will finished looking around here. Report back when you've finished."
It took Damien and Ron nearly a half-hour to come to the conclusion that there were indeed no survivors. Every house they peered into, the reek of death met their nostrils and the horses would panic. It was a wonder neither of them had been thrown thus far, though Damien looked rather green. Ron prided himself on not being the one to show how sick he felt, though some of the more gruesome sights made his stomach roll. They would tap on windows or doors, but nobody ever responded. There was no movement anywhere, until finally they gave up and trotted back to the others.
"No luck?" Kingsley asked of them.
Both young knights shook their heads.
Kingsley scowled. "We couldn't seem to find any either. This must be reported to King Remus at once, and the other kingdoms have to be alerted. Whether this really was Death Eater activity or a powerful sorcerer with Dark Magic, it could be a very dangerous situation."
With this, he gently kicked his horse into a gallop, and the others followed. Ron, with a gulp, took one last look at the demolished village, before taking off after the other knights. Whatever had happened here, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that this was only the beginning of something terrible.
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Yes, I decided to make Harry and the trio a bit older than they would be in the books. Nineteen (if I did my math right). If you have any questions or comments, please do review! I would love to hear back from you what you think. And for those of you who might worry, "Damien" isn't a major OC. He's just... there. For right now. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Thank you so much for reading!
- Harp