"Ah so you're...you're not this great hunter of women that I've heard so much about?" she asked

"I only hunt wild game, I assure you, Miss Granger" the handsome blonde answered with a wink "My love life has been tragically empty. Actually, I've been looking for a woman of real substance"

The declaration seemed to pique her interest. She blushed, staring somewhere to her side, avoiding his gaze, whilst they strolled through the forest. She was dressed in a pale, green woollen coat and leather riding boots, her hair tamed into an elaborated braid.

"Wait!" he called

She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and almost fell into a large hole. It wasn't a natural happening, the thing had the shape of a foot and a trail of similar deepening's could be easily followed.

"An ogre" the young man said

The gruesome race of giants had been terrorising a bordering county not long ago. It was a threat to the wizards' land and way of living of late. Nobody knew where they came from but they were relentless and vicious, man-eating creatures only the strongest of wizards could take on. Defeating an ogre was a feat, trying on their army was suicide. Giants were menacing creatures but not very clever ones; these somehow had united under a structured regime and nobody had been able to win against their battalions and the wizarding world was bleeding for it.

"But they've never been this close to the manor before!" she cried

"War is closer than we thought. Come, let's go back" he said offering his arm

She grabbed it and hurried towards the old manor that had become her home. It was an old state owned by the family of her brand new betrothed. It had been a stroke of luck that a powerful and influential family as the McLaggen deemed her worthy of joining them, for she was but a nameless orphan with no family name nor savings. But she had something better, wit and lots of magic. A currency one could exchange to move up in society if willing to renounce some freedoms. She wasn't completely sure of marrying the young wizard yet, he had a reputation after all and didn't seem very smart himself. He seemed only interested in physical activities and his magical prowess wasn't something to be proud of. But he was a sole heir, no brothers or sisters. It was the reason why Lord McLaggen had chosen to look for a witch with the skills his son lacked instead of status, all in the pursuit of producing a better spawn to inherit his title. Her work at school had been praised since the day she stepped in and now, at seventeen, the brightest witch of her age was also one of the most sought-after young women.

Many faceless heirs like Cormac had approached her with the same offer but in the end, after long lists analysing each prospect pros and cons, she had deemed them all just as bland and chose him because of material things like the vast, seemingly unending library that his family had cultivated over the years, the beautiful land they owned or the fact that a dumb husband was easier to manage than an intelligent one. Cormac cared nothing for the library, but it had quickly become her favourite place of the manor. She pictured a quiet life ahead of her as Lady McLaggen, with time to get lost in her pursuit of knowledge and all the money in the world to seek it too. What she didn't expect was to be so suddenly thrown under the looming danger of the ogre wars. As they climbed the hill to the manor, she suddenly realised something.

"Wait! Did you notice the size of the footprints? It wasn't a full-grown ogre, probably a cub that got lost in the forest"

"And I should care about that because…?" he arched a single brow

"It's an innocent. It's not a sign nor a declaration of war. If we were to harm him in any way, we would be the ones declaring war" she explained

"That sounds really nice and all, but I'm going to tell father. He'll be the one who decides what we do or do not do"

She sighted and followed the young man into the manor. They found Lord McLaggen in his study, smoking from his pipe, a warm fire lit making the room liveable in the cold and humid Scottish spring. He, much like Cormac, believed the ogre should be hunted but conceded she had a point too and her idea on how to tackle it had merit. The enchanted mirror that was unknowingly used on her at their first meeting, to gauge her character, had the unique capability of discerning if a person was pure of heart or not. In her search though the manor she had stumbled upon the family's inventory of magical trinkets, both present and stored at their Gringotts' vault. Reading its pages, she'd realised that the mirror, hanging in one of the many sitting rooms used for meetings, was in fact this very thing. When she'd been shown into the room, she'd thought it one of many enchanted mirrors that judged on your looks, albeit a very kind one. After some argumentation and with the Lord's permission, she was finally able to take the mirror and join the search for the ogre's cub. Cormac and the men were ahead of her; she used a stacking spell on a handkerchief she'd taken from him before and followed it, riding her horse into the forest. Night was falling upon them when she found the men, closing in on the poor cub. They were throwing hexes at him while he tried to take cover behind some rocks.

"Cormac, stop!" she yelled

"Why?" he looked at her and she could see blood dripping from his temple "It tried to kill me"

The lad turned his head to put emphasis on his injury. She looked back and forth between the ogre and her betrothed clutching hard on the mirror.

"Look at him, he's hurt! That's why he's attacked you" the young ogre was covered in bruises and slashes

"Step aside" he demanded

"NO!" she cried

A slicing hex left Cormac's wand and all she could think to do in that split second was to put the mirror in the spell's way. It broke into a million tiny pieces, only a few shards still holding in the ornate frame, but the cub was unharmed. She wondered if the seven years of bad luck would be hers or Cormac's curse to bear. Looking at the smashed mirror she caught a glimpse of the young man's face in the remaining shards, his eyes reflecting a malicious red glow.

"It was you! You attacked him first and that's why he…defended himself!" she was furious

"You're delusional. Nobody needs an enchanted mirror to see a monster. I'm doing my job, I'm trying to protect this land and its people, Miss Granger"

"This creature isn't the monster" she said walking towards the boy, the small ogre still hiding scared behind a rock "You are, and if you want to kill this creature, you'll have to kill me first"

She spread her arms and with a defeated sight Cormac gave a signal to his men to lower their wands. A single nod of understanding was shared between her and the young ogre, who swifty left the scene.

"You've made a fateful decision tonight" he said looking deeply into her determined honey eyes "I just hope, for all our sake, it was the right one"

A shiver ran through her body head to toe. It was getting colder now that the spring night had fully settled in. If anything, this day had proven her intuition right. It was one of her least favourite skills to rely upon as it wasn't an easily understandable thing for those with clinical minds, but she'd always sensed something wasn't right with him; kind words never matching the emotion in his eyes. The lad wasn't a good person, that much was clear.

It was a few days later that she found herself brushing her horse in the stables when Lord Cormac approached her.

"It's happened, Miss Granger"

"What is?" she asked, putting away the brush

"The eastern regions had been breached, ogres are coming, it is war"

"And you blame me, Sir?" she asked, still not looking at him

"Blame is not important now"

"What I did-"

"It was foolish and petulant!" he yelled, cutting in

"No! I did what I had to live with myself" she explained "Sir, has it occurred to you that our mistreatment of their young could have caused this conflict, not my act of mercy?"

"The reasons why no longer matter, what does is that we must do what it takes to save our land…but our army is no match for theirs" he sounded weary, now resting on a stool

"I'm sorry that it's come to this" she said with genuine sentiment "what will we do?"

"My dear Belle, I'm afraid I find myself out of options. We must seek the help of the dark one if we're to win this war" he answered

"The dark one…But Sir, he's a legend, you're telling me that such a wizard exists and that he would help?"

"Oh no, not help my dear. Deal. He's known for asking the most wicked of things, playing with people's fears and love"

"…and you wish to bargain with such a man?"

"Rather need than wish, but yes. I can't even fathom what he'll ask for me in exchange but I'm willing to risk everything I have. I'd gladly give him all my gold" he avowed

"Then by all means, summon this wizard" her curiosity was aroused now, she couldn't not ask it "but would you mind telling me how you will accomplish such a feat, Sir?" she said batting her eyelashes

"That is something you mustn't concern yourself with, my dear"

She sighted, not amused by his refusal to share nor his implied lack of knowledge.

"Belle, has my Lord told you the news?" Cormac interrupted

She shared a look with both wizards, understanding drawing on her features. Cormac stepped up to her and bent on one knee.

"We'll defeat this threat so you will, one day, be sovereign too; we will rule side by side, if you will be my Lady" he said, taking her hand and presenting her with a gold ring topped by three green stones.

The ring was a magical binding contract. It was a logical step, there wasn't enough time or resources for a formal wedding and it wasn't necessary either. Accepting his offer would fully seal the deal. She would officially become a member of the McLaggen clan, her magic forever bound to that of her husband and his will while his title, status and riches would be truly hers as well. The reality of never being able to use her magic for her own desires was a forbidding thought, but the chance of losing everything she got now in the event of Cormac's death in the battlefield was very real too. And if he died, she would still inherit something and regain her independence, now as a wealthy widow. After running a few quick arithmancy equations in her mind she inhaled deeply and gulped, finally accepting his hand.

"I will" she said with a severe expression

His smile fully showed perfect teeth, one of the little things she could actually admire of the wizard. 'At least my children will be both handsome and clever' she thought while he put the ring in its place, the charm of the bond taking hold of her magical core 'or they could be ugly and stupid, Merlin forbids'.