Meeting At Grimmauld Place

The first few days in Grimmauld Place were spent either getting to know the men that had escorted him and had converted the house into a small headquarters, or in the library studying both the books of the black library and the holocrons left to him by his Grandfather. Whilst he had little trouble learning spells or understanding some of the darker aspects of magic, he still hesitated in using the darker spells, forever having to remind himself that it was his intent that made him who he was, not the tools he used.

He did not have much luck learning any of the force techniques that he was being taught through the holocrons either. The only success he had was when he lashed out in anger due to failing to push something using the force for the fifteenth time in a row. Having lashed out in anger, he had casually flicked his hand towards one of the books on a table causing it to fly off to the other side of the room, leaving Aries gobsmacked. He had yet to produce a similar result.

The Imperial Spell Casters, as he had taken to calling the men and women that knew a few spells and wards, having learned from Lord Kallig, had expanded the basement even further using expansion charms. This resulted in the basement now housing the Stormtrooper platoon and a shooting range, which was used liberally. The sound of blasters became quite annoying after a while, resulting in one of the Spell Casters using a silencing charm on the basement door.

One of the most important things Aries had discovered during a bit of light reading on the Lordships and politics of the wizarding world was that due to his ascension as Lord Black, he was no longer monitored by the trace, due to the need for said Lord to protect himself. This made things easier for him, even though the wards of Grimmauld Place blocked off any signs of magic from within to the outside world.

He had been quick to hand back the officers uniform he had borrowed when he had arrived on the Star Destroyer earlier on in the week, and had a modified version of the Black Guard uniform made for himself which looked more or less the same, but with the Black Family Crest painted on to the breastplate and shirt. The Stormtrooper platoons First Sergeant IC-672 or 'Garlan' when Aries had asked for his real name, had taken to teaching Aries the basics of hand to hand combat both unarmed and armed with an electrostaff. Nothing fancy of course, but it was enough that if they continued, Aries would feel rather confident in a fist fight.

He had also been communicating with his advisor who was still aboard the Star Destroyer which now lay some way off of the Moon, or Luna, as the troops with him called it. The advisor, one Moff Jeltran, was a miserable sod in Aries' opinion, but he knew his stuff, and he was loyal. From the get go he had been speaking of gathering support from other Imperials which were gathered around the region surrounding the Imperial Capital, Bastion. So far, the only support they had gathered was in the form of a single Tartan-Class Corvette, the Commander of which had abandoned the main fleet after one of the many pointless battles. Aries had made the decision to work on the Imperial Remnant at a later date. First of all, he needed to better himself. That meant finishing his education, learning to control the force, more spells, and most important of all in his opinion, Occlumency. He had begun meditating in an attempt to clear his mind, however so far he had no such luck.

On the sixth day in the house, an owl had flown in with a letter from one Albus Dumbledore. Aries was surprised it had taken this long, if he was honest. The letter then went on with the Headmaster going on about how disappointed he was that he had left the safety of his relatives, and that he would be by with the Weasleys the following day to collect him from Grimmauld Place.

Aries could not help but tear up the letter in anger. Who did the old man think he was?! He was certainly not his guardian, magical or otherwise. He seemed to think that the role of Headmaster extended his authority outside of school as well. Well, they were all in for a shock when they finally discover that he has been emancipated as Lord Black. He did, however, feel bad for hiding something this big from Ron and Hermione. They were his best friends after all, and other than Ron's occasional bout of jealousy, they had been there for him, especially at the Ministry.

He promised himself he would tell them everything when the time came, but for now he had to plan to welcome them into the House appropriately. It wouldn't do for them to start casting spells at his men after all. The Imperials in the house all had orders to not engage anyone entering the house, considering the only people who could enter the house were members of the Order, however they were told to set their rifles to stun anyway, in case things got out of hand. The Black Guard were ferried down to the surface and now stuck to Aries at all times, even taking it in shifts standing outside his door. Aries pondered as to what they looked like, considering he had never seen them take off their masks, even to eat. They were armed with electro staffs and E-11 Carbines, not to mention their sidearms and grenades. For the most part they were silent, other than when speaking in a strange mechanical voice to each other through their helmets.

Aries had also spent some time watching the Imperials work inside the converted living room slash command centre. He was amazed by some of the technology on display, and even more bamboozled when he had asked one of the men working at an especially complicated looking terminal what the man was doing, to receive the reply "Monitoring and diverting the Earth's satellites to assist the Star Destroyer in avoiding detection. Two hours in the room was enough to give Aries a headache, which led to him meditating for an hour. He had also read up on the total available forces he had at his disposal, which at first had staggered him, but he was quickly told that in the grand scheme of things, he controlled next to nothing compared to some of the powers in the galaxy. He had one full legion of Stormtroopers at his command, twelve Imperial Spell Casters, 20 AT-ST Walkers, 10 AT-AT Walkers, roughly one hundred Starfighters and bombers, mostly TIE/LN. Apparently, Lord Kallig did not feel the need to replenish Starfighter losses or upgrade them to the TIE/IN before his death.

Some of the best news he had received however was in the form of a holocall from Captain Talin informing him that they had discovered valuable alloys in Saturn's asteroid belt. This led to the Captain requesting permission to discreetly hire a small Imperial mining Company to begin mining operations, and begin construction of a small orbital base over Saturn. After being assured that it could be done undetected, Aries gave the go ahead. Construction would begin in two weeks.

The next day, Aries and the small garrison prepared for the arrival of the Weasleys and Dumbledore. Sentries were posted at every doorway, two of the Black Guard remained in the entrance hall at all times, whilst the other two were constantly at Aries' side, much to his chagrin. The command centre and communications centre were locked down, the doors having been replaced with durasteel sliding doors, with only Lieutenant Davril, First Sergeant Garlan and Aries knowing the password. Two minutes before the allotted time, Aries stood Imperiously at the end of the hallway facing the front door, flanked by his guards as always. When the clock struck the time specified in the letter from Dumbledore, the doorknob began to slowly turn and the door was opened, revealing the Headmaster, standing at his full height- although with a quick glance Aries could see his hand was blackened, looking dead. This made him frown. Behind the Headmaster, the Weasleys and Hermione were all gathered up together on the doorstep, save Mr. Weasley.

Dumbledore opened his mouth automatically to speak, however paused before he could utter a word. Seeing Aries flanked by the two men in black uniforms and armour, he called out.

"Harry! Move away from there now, run to us!"

To his shock and dismay, Aries simply stayed put, smirking slightly.

"Headmaster, I don't go by the name Harry anymore, and I haven't done so for a week. I am now Lord Aries Arcturus Black, and I formally welcome you to my home, and the Imperial Headquarters on Earth."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak again, but paused once more, adorning a confused look on his face.

"Imperial Headquarters? Earth? What are you talking about my boy?"

Aries' smirk seemed to widen at the question. "Please come through to the kitchen everyone, and I shall explain everything."

With that, Aries turned around and marched off into the kitchen, as always followed by his guards. Dumbledore and the Weasleys plus Hermione stood dumbfounded in the hallway for a moment before they were made aware of the presence of two more of the Black Guard, who were flanking either side of the front door. They both stood stock still, whilst Sergeant Garlan spoke up "Move it, my Lord should not be kept waiting."

This seemed to wake them up from their stupor, as they all rushed forwards, following Aries into the kitchen for what would be a very good explanation, or so they hoped.
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AUTHORS NOTE:

Another filler & explanation chapter - To be honest when I first concocted this, I underestimated the amount of explanation would be needed to make the two universes work. Luckily, I've been finding it fun to do.

On another note- We will be seeing Daphne in the next chapter, yay! However this chapter may take longer than usual, seeing that as of yet, I am unsure on how I shall write her personality. A lot of people go for the whole 'Ice Queen' but that's everyone else. Oh well, we will see.