Confrontation
The Weasleys, Hermione and Dumbledore entered the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, bemused by what they had seen so far. Aries, still Harry to them, was now over six foot tall, was wearing a strange black uniform and armour, surrounded by similar guards with masks. Other men in white skeletal armour were also around in numbers, for the most part silent. They spot Aries sitting at the head of the table, still flanked by the two black guards standing either side of him. Aries simply gestures for them to take seats around the table, whilst a man enters the room from the basement, this one wearing a grey uniform and kepi with a badge on his chest with red squares on it.
Waiting for them all to be seated, Dumbledore clears his throat and asks the question on everyone's minds. "What is going on here Harry? I believe you have some explaining to do my boy, about a great many things."
Aries scowled slightly. "As I have already stated, Headmaster. My name is Aries Arcturus Black, and you would do well to remember it. After all, it was because of your meddling that I made the choice to change my name."
Dumbledore adopted a confused look, frowning slightly. "I have no idea what I may have done to cause you to take such an action my boy."
Aries' scowl deepened. "How about placing me with those filthy excuses of human beings after my parents death, away from the Wizarding world, without informing me of my heritage?! I was to be Lord Potter, and due to your negligence, the title has been rendered extinct!" He was shouting at this point, angry beyond anything he had felt in days.
The Headmaster looked stricken for a moment before attempting to recover, he opened his mouth to speak once more only to be cut off by Molly Weasley.
"Now you watch your tone young man! I shall not have you speaking to the Headmaster that way!"
"Mrs Weasley!" Aries roared, shocking everyone at the table into silence, before continuing to speak in a much calmer voice. "You have been very good to me over the years Mrs Weasley, however this is between myself and the Headmaster. He has knowingly caused the extinction of an Ancient and Noble House, and I shall have his reasons. He is lucky that I was still Heir to the House of Black, otherwise I would not be so civil."
Mrs Weasley gaped at the boy. Where had the shy boy that wouldn't say boo to anyone gone? Surely he wouldn't speak to her that way! She moved to speak again, however Dumbledore cut her off before she could anger Aries further.
"Har- I mean, Aries. I was afraid that if you were aware of your heritage you would not be the modest lad you are today, and other pureblood families could have taken advantage of your position."
Aries slammed a black gloved fist down onto the table, which much to the others surprise, was now a durasteel block with a strange device in the center. Aries growled. "That was not your decision to make! Because of you, the family is now extinct! We will have words on this eventually, Headmaster, however they will come after Voldemort has been dealt with. As of now I am Lord Black, and as you can see, I have much more power and resources at my disposal. Power and resources that I shall be making liberal use of in purging the country of Voldemort and his ilk." He almost hissed out the last few words.
The visitors were all visibly shocked by the vitriol in Aries voice, before Hermione spoke up.
"But Harry-" She was cut off by a raised hand from Aries, who remained silent until she corrected herself "Aries… you surely aren't talking about killing people?"
Aries looked baffled by the question. "Of course I am. How else would we deal with them? These people, if they can even be called that, torture, maim and kill people. If they cannot be arrested, they shall be dealt with accordingly. And yes, I mean they will be killed."
The visitors all looked very uncomfortable at this, whilst Dumbledore looked almost calculative in the way he watched Aries over his half moon glasses. "Har-Aries… you are treading down a very dangerous path my boy. Killing is not the way…"
Aries simply snorted. "No doubt you wish to arrest them all so that Voldemort can simply break them back out again to kill more innocents. We are not sitting at this table to talk about this anyway. I am formally inviting the Order Of The Phoenix to continue using number 12 Grimmauld Place as Headquarters, so long as they can deal with my… friends, being here."
Dumbledore sat up at this, speaking up once more. "Ah yes, I do wish you would tell us about these… friends of yours. They aren't wizards, this much I can see…"
Aries let out an almost feral smile at this, tapping a few buttons on a small communications device on his belt before the image of the Moff, still aboard the Star Destroyer, appeared above the device in the middle of the table. Most of the visitors drew back with shocked gasps, whilst Dumbledore adopted a look of plain curiosity on his wizened features, as if he was being shown a new book, as opposed to an unseen before on earth technology.
The Moff immediately turned to face Aries and bowed his head slightly. "My Lord, you called for me?"
Aries gestured to the Weasleys, Hermione and the Headmaster sat around the table. "Indeed, Moff Jeltran. Would you please give my guests here an overview of who you are, and who you represent? Do try to be concise with your words, we have a schedule to keep and I know that you are a busy man."
The miserable looking Moff cleared his throat, and began giving the room at large a brief explanation about the Empire, its goals and its origins. He purposefully kept out any mention of the Sith, as per the instruction of Lord Black. He also explained that the Imperial forces on and near Earth were at the sole disposal of Lord Black, to assist him in eliminating Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
At this Dumbledore frowned and asked why they had come all this way to assist Lord Black. At this the Moff hesitated and looked to Aries as if to ask permission, to which Aries gave a discreet shake of the head. Moff Jeltran simply nodded, turning to Dumbledore and stating that their reasons were their own.
Dumbledore's frown deepened at this, and gave out a dramatic sigh. "I see. In that case, I am afraid Mr. Potter-I mean, Black." He quickly corrected himself upon spotting the scowl on Aries face. "I am afraid Mr Black will have to either come with us, or you will all need to leave."
Aries' eyebrows rose up dramatically. "Headmaster, I have absolutely no inclination to leave my home, or to send away my new friends. They are here to stay now. I am emancipated as Lord Black, nobody has any say or control over what I do other than myself. Am I understood, or does the Order need to find a new Headquarters?"
The Headmaster blanched slightly at that, now putting a disappointed look on his face. "I do not like this… and I must say I am disappointed in you, my boy. However, so be it. We shall remain here for now, and I shall allow you to remain here as well"
Aries, looking unbothered, simply raised his hand in a dismissive gesture. "You allow nothing, Headmaster. This is the House Of Black, my home. My word here is law. Now, rooms have been prepared for everyone, I however, shall be in the library. Try not to disturb the troops living here, they will not appreciate it." With that, Aries rose to his feet and swiftly left the kitchen, accompanied by his guards and leaving everyone speechless.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Scene Break
In the library, Aries attempted in vain to study one of the many books available to him. The Black family surely knew their spells, if this book was anything to go by. But Aries simply could not focus. He was enraged by Dumbledore's apparent assumption that he could control what he did. Well, no more! He was the Lord Black, and commander of Imperial Forces on and around Earth. His Star Destroyer could sink the islands of Great Britain if he so chose! But he had other things to do, and quickly. He needed to build bridges with the other Noble families, he needed Alliances. Firepower could only get him so far, he needed people on his side, an information network and votes in his corner.
He had already penned out a few letters to a few families he knew that were not involved with either Voldemort or Dumbledore. So far, owls had been sent to the Noble Families of Turpin, Fawley and Greengrass. He knew the children of two of the Houses, Lisa Turpin and the Greengrass sisters, but the Fawley's didn't have any children at Hogwarts as far as he was aware. The Greengrass family were due to arrive shortly, in fact. Aries smiled slightly at the thought of Dumbledore's face when he realised that more people had been given access through the Fidelius.
As the time neared, he and his guards made their way to the smaller secondary sitting room that had yet to see any changes, and stood at one end of the room staring at the fireplace. Two minutes into waiting, the fireplace burst into green flames, and a short yet burly man stepped out, looking around wearily. Aries took in his appearance, seeing brown hair and bright blue and intelligent eyes. The man, whom Aries knew to be Cyrus Greengrass, immediately clocked on to the two black clad guards flanking him, and eyed them both wearily. Aries threw up a hand casually in a placating gesture.
"No need to panic, Lord Greengrass. My guards are simply here for my protection. A necessary precaution these days, would you not agree?"
Cyrus Greengrass simply nodded, and gave a short bow. "Might I say it is a pleasure to finally see the House of Black with a new figurehead, it has been much too long. Although I am quite surprised to see who it is… I half expected the Malfoy boy to take the mantle."
Aries nodded in understanding. "Yes, many assumed that was the case, however my godfather left me as the Lord Black in his will. Not to mention, I am also a Black by blood through my Grandmother, Dorea. Anyway, enough with my little history lesson, will anyone else be joining you?"
Cyrus nodded once more. "My daughter, Daphne shall be joining us momentarily. I hope you don't mind, however there is a reason for her presence, should all go well tonight."
Aries allowed a smile to show across his features. "Not at all, your daughter is a lovely young lady from what I know of in school." 'Which is fuck all' He thought to himself in amusement.
As if on cue, Daphne Greengrass stepped out of the fireplace, and Aries could only internally gasp at just how gorgeous this girl- No, young woman, looked. She had inherited her fathers bright blue eyes, yet had straight, beautiful blonde hair. Her body looked athletic from what he could tell under her formal dress robes, and it took a lot for Aries to not stare. It appeared however that Daphne did not have the same issue. She stared at him, her mouth slightly agape.
"Potter?!"
