Artorius Nero paced angrily in the board room of the Lyons Den Plaza. His day had started out well; he was hanging out with the Potter-Blacks, The Zabini's and the Longbottom-Lestranges. He had introduced them to his girlfriend of eight months, Li-Jen of house Chan. She had gotten along with them and them with her, swimmingly in fact.
The Malfoy's were with his mother and uncle, discussing how things differed for the American branch of the Black family compared to the original line. Apart from the pure blood agenda that some members spouted, the closeness in relations that some members shared, both branches weren't that different when it came to the power they held in the political arena.
Apart from Orion Black, all English Lords from the Black line dominated the Dark faction of the Wizengamot, wizarding Britain's high court of law and parliament. The most ruthless of them was Arcturus Black III, son of Sirius and Hesper, brother of Regulus and Lycoris, father of Orion and Lucretia.
Arcturus was very proud to be a pure blooded wizard. However, he was never blinded by his pride like some members of his family, including his son. While he led the dark faction he never felt the urge to join Voldemort. In his mind, the lord Black should never subjugate themselves to anyone, even someone who was more inclined towards pure blood beliefs. It also didn't help Voldemort's case that he was willing to end noble lines if they didn't support him.
Even though he passed the title of Lord Black to his son when he turned seventeen, as his father had done before, he still retained his position with the Wizengamot. While Orion was intelligent, he wasn't very politically inclined. It didn't help that his wife was always adding her opinion in the pot when he had discussion with his father. Arcturus had no problem with head strong women but he did have problems with someone butting in instead of waiting for their turn to speak. Something Walburga did repeatedly and without remorse.
With this new branch, Cassius Black had a lot of pull in the Tribunal, the American equivalent of the Wizengamot. He wasn't as ruthless as Arcturus; in fact he was far more subtle. The one thing they did have in common was that they never took bribes from anyone though they were offered some many times. They never took threats very well either.
For Arcturus, it was an offer by Desmond Crabbe, father of Vincent and grandfather of Vincent Jr. The offer was simple, if Arcturus supported Crabbe's proposed bill to ban muggle borns from attending Hogwarts, he would offer up his daughter as payment for Arcturus to do with as he pleased.
Desmond assumed that since Phineas Nigellus Black tried and failed to do so during his time as Headmaster of Hogwarts, that Arcturus would want to make up for it. He also assumed that since the Crabbe family had married into the Black family, Arcturus would have no problem mixing with their family again.
He was dead wrong on both counts.
Arcturus had no love for those of none magical birth but he never spurned them every chance he got like most pure bloods. He just treated them with cold indifference because Arcturus knew one thing that most pure bloods didn't or chose to ignore; muggle borns were a major source of income. Through them, the British pound/ Galleon exchange rate helped with the annual revenue. The purchases made by muggle borns were a great boon to the economy as well.
Despite knowing that, Arcturus often felt irritated that the majority of them felt the need to complain about tradition. Some of the main points of upholding pure blood traditions were because of sentimentality for the old ways and the protections they provided. Pure blooded wizards did not want to let go of that hence the idea to keep marrying those of pure blood because it helped strengthen that protection; even if they had to marry from minor houses or foreign families. While that eased the unnerved feelings that some families had for a few centuries, it also presented another problem that cropped up when no fresh blood was available; inbreeding.
While some families had no qualms about marrying their own cousins (Like with Orion and his wife Walburga for example though that was mainly because the offers made for both of them fell through and they were secret lovers for quite some time) or their siblings (In the case of the Gaunt family), some, like Arcturus, detested that notion. Despite that, he would never allow a muggle born to be apart of the Black family. He had no problem with letting one of the lesser lines that the Black family produced marry one before bringing their new blood into the fold but he never would let them into the main line right away. The Black family would never survive the fall out and social destruction though there was one muggle born that he was rather…intrigued by.
Her name was Lily Evans though when he had formally met her, she was Lady Potter. Arcturus couldn't help but marvel at her passion and her intelligence. While most pure bloods barely tolerated her existence, Arcturus held genuine respect for her, even if he didn't express it in a public setting.
For the second part of Crabbe's thought process, Arcturus basically told him that his father liked to have sex with trolls and he probably did too, though it took Desmond quite sometime to figure it out as Arcturus used his silver tongue to make a blunt statement sound like a complex riddle. The fact that Desmond took so long to catch on made the mental declaration that Arcturus made about the female members of the Crabbe possessing the intelligence as opposed to the men that much more real.
With Cassius, a newly appointed lord tried to bribe him with an obscene amount of money to get his backing for the idea of having armed guards at all the werewolf reservations across the country. He also proposed a restriction on werewolves having children; proposing that they be sterilized.
Cassius refused outright.
His reasoning was that the reservations were very secure and that he trusted those that were in charge. The werewolf reservations were a safe haven for those who had been infected by lycanthropy. Most of the reservations were near border towns or places with small populations, so in the event that any werewolf was to…stray from them, they would be lest likely to attack many people and get exposed.
He also refused on the issue of sterility because there was no way he would ever take away a man's right to father a child or a woman's right to carry one. He had no right to do that, no one did. True, there were people who abused children and if the abuse was discovered the authorities got involved. However, the right to give birth to a child or sire one was not something that should be taken away. Cassius felt that it was inhuman to do that let alone think about doing it.
The new lord had blustered and sputtered at the implied insult made against him until he did something that earned him a spot on Cassius' shit list forever; he threatened his wife and their son.
While Cassius was more subtle in the Tribunal, outside he was anything but, especially when his family was threatened. He had kicked the dumbass in the balls before grabbing him by his hair and slamming his face into a table. When Cassius told him that he would have him sterilized if he ever threatened his family again, the new lord left his office and left Cassius alone.
Wilfred White Sr. and Claudius Nero were hardly slouches themselves when it came to politics. They had made their fair share of allies as well as enemies. Claudius' biggest opponent was Giuseppe De Luca. The word rivalry would not be a very appropriate word to describe their antagonistic relationship. Simply put; they detested each other. Giuseppe was very harsh with his politics and felt that Claudius was too soft on restrictions for creatures living in the United States. Claudius felt that it was pointless to restrict them, stating that they handled all of their conflicts without drawing much attention to themselves, just like the wizarding community did. He also thought that they would have an uprising on their hands and that was something they could not afford.
De Luca brought this up again at a party that Claudius held for his son's first birthday. Claudius did not want to invite him there but he did so because his wife was friends with De Luca's wife and Claudius' distant cousin, Francesca. Octavia also felt that it would be good for the kids –Bertram, Artorius, and Wilfred- to get to know their kids, Fabrizio and Giorgio, who were around the same age.
All was going well until Giuseppe, who had a lot to drink, angrily demanded that Claudius change his view on the proposed restrictions for creatures in the supernatural community. Claudius told him to head home before he embarrassed himself. Giuseppe did not take too kindly to that and started to verbally attack him and his family. His wife tried to stop him but he threw her to the ground only for him to be lifted off the ground by his neck.
He turned to see the murderous face of Claudius Nero before he was dragged out of the room and into the front of the house. Claudius threw him to the ground and told him to leave. Giuseppe had gotten to his feet, drew his wand and shot a cutting curse at Claudius but Claudius just batted it away and hit Giuseppe with a stunner.
Francesca came out holding her two boys and apologizing profusely to Octavia and Claudius. Both of them waved her off saying that it wasn't her fault. She still apologized as she portkeyed her family out of there.
When word spread about what he did at the party, Giuseppe lost a lot of political support and his bill fell through. No one wanted to be associated with him because if he could act like that at a baby's first birthday party, what was to stop him from doing it somewhere else. To them, Giuseppe became a liability; one that none of them could afford. Giuseppe didn't blame himself for what happened and put the blame on Claudius. He even went so far to challenge him to an honor duel; saying that it was because of him that he lost the support and his pride took a hit.
Claudius wanted to refuse at first; citing that it really wasn't worth it and he also did it out of respect for Francesca and their kids. Despite his hesitance, he agreed only after Giuseppe had insulted his family honor along with his wife.
The duel barely lasted a minute until Claudius disarmed Giuseppe and threw him out of the ring. It was one of the terms of the duel; they either had to knock out their opponent, throw him out of the ring or kill him. Claudius felt that being disarmed and thrown out of the ring would have been punishment enough.
Giuseppe on the other hand had drawn a second wand and shot a cutting curse at Claudius when his back was turned. This proved to be a mistake because Claudius had turned around and erected a shield, causing the curse to bounce back to Giuseppe, and hit him in the neck. A large and deep gash appeared on his neck and massive amounts of blood spurted out of it.
Claudius had rushed over to him to try and heal the wound but it wouldn't seal up. Claudius watched as Giuseppe gasped for breath before the light left his eyes. Claudius had no qualms about killing someone; especially if they threatened his family. However, he didn't mean to kill Giuseppe and he didn't mean to leave his cousin as a widow and have her children grow up without their father. Little did he know that his actions that year lead the younger De Luca's to push themselves so they could one day have their revenge on the house of Nero.
Something that they almost succeeded in doing earlier today.
Artorius was furious when his cousin said that the De Luca's had their family scepter and planned to use it. He tried to leave the building to follow Bertram but his father and uncle held him back and took him home before coming back to get the others. He was angry that his father and uncle did that. So angry in fact that he changed into his other form and destroyed his father's study where they had locked him in. The only ones he would let approach him were his younger siblings, his girlfriend, and his mother.
He had a soft spot for his younger siblings especially his sister, Drusilla. He was only three years old when she was born but he was protective of her none the less. She was the only one besides his mother who could calm him down when he was angry and she was the only one besides Tiberius, his brother, who could not make him angry. He couldn't explain it other than that it was hard to be angry with them.
He stayed there for what felt like hours until he got the all clear from his cousin and best friend. He didn't get to go right away but when he did he gathered everyone into the board room and began to pace.
"Baby you need to calm down." Li Jen said, chiding her boyfriend who began to blush though he stopped pacing. "Oh don't blush; you know you love it." She teased him and he blushed even more.
"Jen!" He hissed at her, causing her, his sister, and his cousin Artemis to giggle. His mother grinned at him and his father smiled slightly. Tiberius merely snorted at his brother's discomfort. Artorius glared at him. "Traitor." He muttered and Tiberius snorted again.
"Calm down Mufasa." He said with an eye roll, much to the amusement to those who got the Lion King reference. "Pacing until there is a hole in the floor is not going to make Detective Stone and Detective Dale work any faster." He murmured then added, "And besides, you are making our guests rather anxious." He glanced sideways at the Potter-Blacks, The Malfoys, The Zabini's, and the Longbottom-Lestranges who were shifting slightly and eyeing Artorius with concern.
Artorius followed his line of sight before sighing and walking to a chair that was next to his girlfriend. With a huff he sat down and crossed his arms.
"Aw don't pout," Jen cooed to him and he blushed again as he saw his mother grin at him. "You'll see them soon." Jen told him and the second the last syllable left her mouth, Artorius felt his mirror vibrate in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and spoke into it.
"Go for Nemaeus," He said and an image of Bertram Black appeared. "Mustang! What's going on? Where are you?" Artorius demanded of his cousin as a feeling of relief rushed through him. Bertram's mother and father rushed over to Artorius to get a peak at their son. The others perked up and listened intently
"Sheesh calm down!" Bertram told him. "No need to play twenty questions. But to answer the ones you asked, Stone and Dale just finished with Thomas and we are about to portkey to the bunker to grab the others."
"Others?" Artorius frowned.
"Yeah," Bertram nodded slowly, staring at his cousin with a curious expression. "One part of Thomas' group came here to warn us. I took them to the bunker so they could portkey out but they were very adamant about staying behind." He made a face before continuing, "You have no idea how disconcerting it is to be threatened with bodily harm from a wolf vampire hybrid child. Especially five of them and especially when you know they can follow through with it."
There were several snorts of laughter on his end and Artorius snorted as well before he said, "I see. I wasn't here for the part where you said that so I didn't know. Is Mecha with you?" Wilfred's parents perked up, waiting to hear the answer.
"He is," Bertram nodded before he smirked and stage whispered, "That's part of the reason we took so long; he and Connie Dale were making eyes at each other." His snickering was followed up with a yelp. "Ow! What the fuck was that for Mecha?!" He yelled at his friend.
"Bertram!" His mother shrieked, snatching the mirror out of her nephew's hand. She glared into it. "What did I tell you about using that language?!"
Bertram didn't reply but his skin was as white as a sheet.
"Well?!" His mother snapped.
"What's that Thomas?" Bertram ignored his mother and looked away from the mirror. "The kids are getting restless you say? Well let's not keep waiting! By mom, love you!" He added hurriedly before turning off his mirror.
His mother huffed before glaring at her nephew who shrank back. She tossed the mirror to him and he caught it as she threw her hands up in the air.
"Honestly what is wrong with you boys?" She demanded. "Even when you were kids you would swear like sailors." She muttered before shaking her head in exasperation. She turned to glare at her grinning husband. "This is your fault." She declared and Cassius frowned slightly.
"How so?" He asked her and she scowled irritably at him. Octavia, Claudius, Wilfred White Sr and Flora looked at her curiously, wondering where she was going with this.
"You swore a lot in front of them and made rude hand gestures!" Lucretia snapped. "I swear Artemis gave me the bird when I told her to eat her vegetables when she was three!" She went on and her daughter looked at her with wide eyes while her cousins snickered.
Cassius opened his mouth, ready to protest when a robin patronus flew into the room. It landed on Artorius shoulder.
"It's Maddie's patronus." He murmured to those that didn't know. The patronus began to speak.
"Got the group and we're making our way up." It said. "Bertram and Embry suggested we have some lunch and chat. We'll discuss it when we get there though Thomas and Alice are pretty sure that we'll be eating."
Those who didn't know about what Thomas and Alice could do looked at the patronus in confusion while Artorius nodded.
"That sounds good." He muttered, mostly to himself. "Thank you for the message." He added to the robin which nodded and disappeared. "Dips!" He exclaimed and a healthy looking house elf appeared with a pop.
"You rang Artorius." Dips had been apart of the Nero house staff for awhile and his mother had looked out for the three boys –Artorius, Bertram, Wilfred- when they were younger. None of them treated her or the elves like slaves, they treated them like family.
"Is the food I asked for ready?" Artorius asked him with a smile. Dips bobbed his head up and down, his bat like ears flopping around with each bob.
"It is."
"Good." Artorius nodded. "Be ready to bring it in when I say so."
"I will Artorius."
"Thank you for your time…little brother." He murmured and Dips smiled before disappeared with a pop.
The British group, especially Hermione, stared at him with dumbfounded expressions. While she didn't agree with the way they were treated, she long gave up on trying to free them because she found out that house elves needed to be bound to a wizard or they would die. However, she and the others couldn't help but stare at Artorius. Most wizards in Britain treated house elves terribly and here was a wizard who called a house elf his brother. Artorius noticed their looks but he didn't comment on it.
"Now we just have to wait." He said to the room at large before turning to British group. "Oh and a word of warning, the wolves like to eat a lot, so do their children. The amount maybe a little…disconcerting but I can assure you that it is the norm for them."
The group gave him perplexed looks but nodded slowly. They thought it was odd that he mentioned that but just shook it off and waited for the others to arrive. They were very interested in meeting this group.
Roughly 10 minutes later, Artorius stood up when he heard foot steps and headed to the door. He held it open and gestured for everyone to come in. Bertram and Maddie cane in, hand in hand. They were followed by Wilfred then Thomas and his family filed in.
Thomas was holding his daughters left hand and Tanya held the other. Tristan was clinging to his mother while Erik clung to their father. Embry held his daughter who buried her face into his shoulder. He had one hand rubbing his son's back while he clung to his mother. The others shuffled behind them. They stood by the wall and looked at everyone else.
The British group marveled at the beauty the adults possessed. They even marveled at the children; thinking they were just as gorgeous as the adults.
The adults in Thomas' smiled slightly and Claudius stepped forward. Thomas bowed at the waist. The others followed his example and bowed as well.
"Lord Nero." Thomas said respectfully. He had only spoken to Claudius on the phone or on the two way mirror. They would have met sooner but Thomas and his family were busy. "My apologies for not meeting you sooner. My family and I had a lot to deal within the past year."
He was going to say more but Claudius pulled him into a hug. Thomas let go of his daughter's hand and Erik stepped back. Thomas returned the hug somewhat awkwardly.
"Thank you." Claudius said hoarsely. "All of you." He added to the group that blinked at him.
Artorius stared at his father with a somewhat startled expression. While Claudius was hardly a cold person, he never lost his composure, especially in front of guests.
"You don't need to thank me," Thomas said softly. "You've helped my family and I will help yours in anyway that I can."
His group murmured their agreement with his words.
"Sweetheart," Octavia murmured to her husband as she stepped forward to grasp his shoulders. She started to pull him away when she added, "You are hogging the guests; the rest of us wish to say thank you as well."
"There's no need." Thomas said quickly as he pulled away. "Really there is no need. I'm sure you would have done the same for us, Lady Nero."
"Please call me Octavia." She told him with a smile. "But you are correct; we would help you."
"Damn right we would." Bertram, Wilfred, and Artorius grunted in unison. Their mother's gave them looks but ignored them for now.
"Dips!" Artorius clapped his hands and the elf appeared. "Could you bring in the food please?" He asked and the elf nodded before snapping his fingers.
The boardroom table was replaced with a dinner table filled with massive quantities of food. Fried chicken, steak, brisket, loaves of bread, were just some of the dishes available.
Embry licked his lips as his eye roamed over the table and Thomas rolled his eyes at him before smacking him in the back of the head. Embry yelped before he rubbed the spot that was hit. He glared at Thomas.
"What was that for?!" He hissed.
"You were drooling," Thomas murmured. "Not to mention that you were a split second away from lunging towards the table and eating everything in sight. Let's finish with the introductions, and let them and the kids eat first. Then we can eat."
Thomas said all of that with a bit of exasperation but he was mostly quiet and patient. He was long used to his fellow Alpha's eating habits but they were in the presence of people who weren't. A bit of tact was in order.
Embry gave him an irritated look before he huffed out, "You didn't need to hit me!"
"There there," Thomas patted the top of his head, much to the amusement of people who were watching them. Embry looked more miffed but he just settled for glaring at Thomas again. Thomas ignored him and addressed the room. "Hello my name is Thomas Matthews."
The people who didn't know him murmured their greetings.
"This is my wife, Tanya and our children; my sons Tristan and Erik. And this is our daughter, Minerva." He gestured to each of them. Tanya smiled and waved, so did the boys. Minerva waved shyly as she fisted the back of her fathers coat as she half hid behind him.
"This is my brother and fellow Alpha; Embry Call and his fiancée Irina along with their children, Sasha and David."
The same thing happened just as before but the group was slightly startled when David said in a very clear voice, "Hello everyone." He waved cheerfully at everyone he didn't know. Thomas and the adults in his group agreed that it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't hide their nature but they also agreed not to over do it.
Thomas continued down the line and everyone politely greeted each other though there was some raised eyebrows when Poseidon and Aphrodite were introduced..
"Shall we dine?" Thomas asked rhetorically as he gestured to the food. Those who ate nodded and everyone took a seat. "Children first." He muttered to Embry who scowled at him but began to make a plate for Sasha. Thomas did the same for Minerva and helped his wife with making one for each of their boys. He paused in his task and turned to Claudius. "Your scepter is safe Lord Nero. Bertram placed it somewhere where you can retrieve it and place it where you think it should be kept."
"Please call me Claudius." The head of house Nero murmured before sighing in relief. He was going to ask about that but he was glad that it was safe.
Little David scanned the table quickly from his spot in his mother's arms. For the most part he like what he saw but he furrowed his little brow before shifting in his mother's arms. He placed his tiny feet on her thigh, pulled himself up, cupped his mother's ear and whispered, "Mama, can you ask them if they have bell peppers?" Those with very good hearing heard the question and smiled to themselves.
Irina smiled down at her son. Irina had eaten a lot of spicy food when she was pregnant with David and he loved bell peppers. He could eat two mixing bowls filled with them and not get tired of it.
"Sure," She placed her son's plate to the side and looked at Artorius, "Excuse me, would it be possible to get two mixing bowls filled with bell peppers?"
Some people paused in making their plates to look at her curiously. Artorius already heard what was said but called for Dips to bring in what she asked for anyway. The second they appeared on the table, David all but lunged at them but Irina held him firmly.
"Calm down," She admonished him but he pouted at her. She grabbed a pepper that was lime green but had a hint of orange to it. She handed it to him and he began to munch happily on it. Several people stared at Irina or David incredulously.
"My son enjoys bell peppers," Embry said without looking at anyone of them. David paused in his eating to look at his father before looking at those who were staring at him. He smiled at them and they smiled back, some what hesitantly. "He always has." He went on. He wanted to throw out that he and Irina would never let their children eat something that they shouldn't but he got a quick warning look from Thomas, telling him to back off.
Those who stared assumed that he was just answering one of the unanswered questions they had.
"Are you sure that's healthy for a boy so young?" Teddy blurted out before he could stop himself. Harry glanced at him sharply as did Hermione. The others stilled in anticipation; waiting to hear the answer. Embry had finished making Sasha's plate so he glanced over to the boy. Thomas gave Embry a sideways glance which was ignored.
"How much do you know about wolf shifters?" Embry asked Teddy who hesitated. He didn't want to speak out of turn. Mind you, this was hardly a formal meal but he still didn't want to offend anyone.
"Not much." Teddy admitted. "Back home, the only form of shape shifter over there is a boggart or a metamorphmagus, which is what I am." He changed his face to match Harry's though he kept the turquoise color hair. The younger kids clapped in glee at the change which caused Teddy to smile. He changed back and continued, "The closest thing to an animal shifter is an animagus but that hardly counts I suppose."
"No it doesn't." Thomas added. "Because animal shifters are born with the gift to change into an animal; they don't learn how to do it from a book."
"By that logic," Bertram began. "Mecha, Nemaeus and I are animal shifters as we are natural animagi."
"In that sense, it is true I suppose," Thomas conceded a little as he handed Erik his plate of food. "But it still wouldn't count as your parents are not natural animagi nor do they carry the gene that makes it possible for one to be a shifter."
Bertram nodded slowly. That made a lot of sense, he thought.
"A wolf shifters body temperature is 108 degrees," Embry went on as he began to make his plate of food. "Normally, we don't age if we phase, change into our other forms, regularly. However, some of us don't have to phase as often to stay young."
"Why is that Mr. Call?" Hermione asked him as she picked up a piece of steak with her fork. She, like Teddy, had been curious about the wolf shifters. The others were as well but they weren't as vocal as Hermione and Teddy.
"Please call me Embry," He murmured to her as he speared a piece of turkey and put it on his plate. "And to answer your question Lady Potter-"
"Hermione," She interjected quickly and quietly.
"To answer your question Hermione," Embry smiled. "Some of us have bonded to other supernatural beings." He would have said immortal but all of them were hardly immortal as they could be killed. True it was very difficult to kill them but that fact alone contradicted the very definition of immortal.
"Bonded?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Bonded how? Does it involve some sort of ritual?"
Embry and Thomas barked out a few laughs but shook their heads. Several people noted that they sounded like dogs when they did so.
"No Hermione it's nothing like that." Thomas grinned at her. "It's actually quite simple; when an animal shifter finds their soul mate, and when their eyes connect, the bond is established. We call it imprinting."
"Imprinting?" Hermione frowned, scrunching up her face in thought. "Isn't that what most young animals do when they fix their attention on the first object with which they have a visual, auditory, or tactile experience and thereafter follows that object? Like a parental figure?"
"Well we just use the term because the event is so similar." Thomas explained as he picked up a bread roll and broke it apart. He placed a few pieces of brisket inside before he continued. "Trust me; I do not see my wife as a motherly figure." He gave a mock shudder though he found the thought disturbing. He took a bite out of his make shift sandwich to clear his thoughts. He had to admit that it was very good; the brisket was very juicy and the bread practically melted in his mouth.
"I certainly hope not." Tanya wrinkled her nose at the thought as she ran a hand through her daughter's hair as she ate while sitting in her father's lap. Irina turned to Embry and raised and eyebrow at him. He gave her a real shudder but said nothing, opting to eat instead.
"You said that you had a lot to deal with in the past year," Narcissa began, staring at the opposite group intently. Most people would write them off as just being beautiful but a lot of people in the boardroom, Narcissa included, could see and feel the power they possessed. It wasn't anything like magic but it was still powerful. "What exactly did you mean by that if you don't mind my asking?"
Thomas swallowed the bite of food he just had before responding.
"To put it simply, Madam Malfoy; my family and I had to deal with the aftermath of the fall of vampire royalty." Thomas murmured. Narcissa arched her eyebrows at him, silently prompting him to go on. "The ruling force of the vampire community -at least the branch my wife, her siblings, and other members of our family are derived from- was the Italian Coven otherwise known as the Volturi. They were in power for over three thousand years.
"They weren't the oldest coven; that title goes to the likes of the Egyptians and Romanians, nearly all of whom have passed on."
"Nearly all of them have passed on?" Draco Malfoy inquired. He didn't have anything against magical creatures despite that his experiences with a few were not happy ones. He was very intrigued by this topic and wanted to know as much as he could. "Some of them are still around?"
"Yes," Thomas nodded as he grabbed a piece of fried corn on the cob. "Or some of the people they turned." He grinned at Benjamin who grinned back. "But for the most part the ancient covens have been…discontinued." He took a bite out of his corn on the cob but Garrett picked up the conversation.
"None of you seem to be afraid of us." He commented.
"Should we be?" Blaise Zabini asked somewhat jovially.
"That I will leave up for you to decide," Garrett told him. "But I find it slightly odd that none of you seem to be scared of us."
"Like wise," Jasper added. "You're here dining with people who could kill you yet display no out ward emotions." What was left unsaid by Jasper was that he did feel a spike of fear before lunch began but he didn't want to give anything away.
"Do you want us to be afraid?" Daphne Black asked coolly.
"Again that is up to you," Thomas jumped back in to the conversation. "But still we find it intriguing that you don't seem to be afraid. Most people either stare at us like idiots or look the other way; especially if we look angry."
"Like earlier today." David Call piped up as he reached for his fourth bell pepper. "They wouldn't stop making eyes at us!" He huffed but sighed in content when Irina handed him his bell pepper and a piece of brisket.
Some people snickered at his exclamation but the people in his group nodded in agreement.
"Embry and I had a debate on whether it would be a good idea to portkey into the building just so we would avoid all of that." Thomas sighed. "But I suppose it's a good thing that we didn't other wise we would not have stopped Razor and Sagittario." Though he kept his voice even for the most part, the others noticed that there was a hint of steel in his tone.
The others in the British group paused in their eating and looked at him questioningly.
"I will explain further after lunch." Thomas told them and they nodded. They all fell into a comfortable silence though Thomas knew that some people were bursting at the seams with questions. He also knew that the up coming conversation was not only going to get tense but interesting as well.