Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Spartacus. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Sorry for the wait on this one. My attention and creative inclinations went in a different direction for a while. Plus real life got kind of hectic for a bit. That said, I am back, and I'm ready to let Harry run rampant through the Roman World. I hope you enjoy the adventure along with me.

Chapter Ten - Hello Capua

Albinius couldn't have stopped himself from shouting with triumph if he'd tried as he let the scroll he'd just finished reading fall to rest upon the surface of his desk. Thankfully no one else was present to see such an undignified outburst, but it was most certainly warranted as far as he was concerned. At long last his efforts, bribes, and struggles had been seen by the gods and rewarded with just position and advancement. However, that meant there was a great deal now that needed to be accomplished with haste.

Smoothing out the lines of his toga, Albinius rang a nearby bell to get the closest slave's attention. Moments later the door to his office creaked open, a collared head ducked inside, and he gave swift instructions to have his daughter brought in at once. Even with such clear instruction, it still took the sweet girl nearly twenty minutes to arrive. And based on the still delightful smile on her face she had likely either been trying on dresses or thinking about her recent marriage to Claudius Glaber. It was a marriage that he himself had been vehemently set against, seeing as the man was far beneath his daughter's station in both pedigree and financial worth, but his little girl had certainly inherited her mother's will when it came to getting the things she wanted, and she had worn him down to accepting the union in the end.

Of course the only proper course to undertake once the troublesome match had occurred was to arrange for greater standing for the man to be won if he was to be tied to their family, so he'd set things in motion for Glaber to be given a military command and sent on campaign. With a few proper field victories under his belt then surely his daughter wouldn't face any further sneers from their contemporaries as a result of her romantic leanings. Everyone who was anyone loved a victor. True to form, Ilithyia had spent her husband's absence… shopping. Well, he'd see about setting that straight now.

"Father," his golden haired angel curtsied to him lithely before scampering around his desk to give him a hug. "What is it that has you looking so uncommonly happy?"

"Uncommonly? I am always happy."

"All evidence to the contrary, father." Ilithyia chuckled lightly behind her hand before taking a step back and at last seeing the loosely rolled scroll lying in the center of his desk. With a quick intake of breath she scooped it up and began ravenously absorbing the contents held within.

As Albinius smirked with triumph he watched her delighted gasp before she dropped the same item, hugged him again, and began to literally hop in place from excitement. "You've done it! The votes were tallied in your favor!"

The elder man nodded happily and reclined deeper into his chair. "Aye, the results have proven favorable. After a year of hard campaign and investment I have at last been declared the Senator for Capua. It has been a long road, but at last our family has reached the pinnacle of prestige that it deserves." The smile grew a bit tight as he added, "A place more expediently achieved had you married Gracus' son as I had planned. My seat now had been promised by word, coin, and oath months ago if your part had been played."

Ilithyia groaned and shook her head sadly at the turn their conversation had taken. She'd known her father wouldn't exactly be happy with her declining his arranged marriage pact, but to still hold a grudge after so many months was just getting old. "We've been over this, father. The man was an absolute boor. Besides, he weighed thrice what I do."

"One could argue that is a good thing. After all, imagine the wealth it takes to fund such excess of bulk and diet?" Albinius' crooked smile showed the humor of his statement for the truth it was. "But long dead plans and wayward daughters aside, my new circumstance leads to a bit of a problem."

"Problem?" The blonde quirked her head with open curiosity.

"Yes, and you'll need to cancel your travel plans to the battlefront to help me deal with it." Seeing his daughter suddenly go pale at her machinations being discovered, he said, "Yes, I know about your intent to go visit your husband in the field, but obligation comes before pleasure, and obligation to your paterfamilia stands far above obligation to a recently wedded husband. Do you understand?"

"Yes, father." Ilithyia sulked, crossing her arms and resting her hip against the side of his desk. Though she decided in that moment that she'd still send a slave with a message for her husband at the front regardless of whatever task was put before her now. With or without her 'tender' touch, he needed to know how seriously her father expected a win from him on the battlefield. With just how badly the older man had disapproved of her husband from the start, paired with his current statements about how he still smoldered from her thwarting of his plans, she wouldn't put it past him to take the first negative opportunity available to annul their marriage.

"Good. Now, as that document makes clear, I am expected on the senate floor in two weeks to accept my official appointment. No doubt the different factions will desire to plant lips to ass to incite my vote to join them. It is remarkable how much hot air and rose words intertwine."

"Not much chance of swaying thought and deed, I assume?"

"None. Though wasted effort can be turned to rich opportunity in time. Capua is a wealthy province, and it will take more than puckered lips and veiled promises to earn its votes and trade." Albinius' smile turned bloodthirsty. "Oh the things our family will achieve once I get there. However, if I am to be a Senator of Capua, then my home must be established there as well."

Ilithyia frowned at that. "What's wrong with staying in Rome?"

"It is just the way of things, my dear. How can I represent our people if I do not live near them? I refuse to be another foreign tyrant like so many others. Men who put voice to grievance and claim public dissatisfaction without but even one word of corroboration from their constituents. Do you know the secret to a long political career, my dear? It is making the people believe you serve them while also serving yourself. The first step is making my face a common sight."

"That seems… a bit much."

"That's politics. Now, I must focus on my acceptance speech and declaration of policy. In the meantime, I require you to travel to Capua in my stead, set up our new House, and start putting a public face to our family."

Ilithyia blinked. "Surely the slaves could handle such mundane tasks."

Albinius waved a hand lazily through the air. "Were it simply just the travel and moving then perhaps it could be done with them alone. However, the image of our family must be put forward. And the gods have not yet let exist a one that can put perfection of face, kindness of intent, and light of soul to strangers' perceptions better than my beloved daughter. I trust none but you with this task." As expected, his truthful flattery was having the desired effect, based on his daughter's newly wistful features. Yes, she would do as he asked. Not that there had truly been any doubt in the matter to start.

And while she was away he'd continue to think on the political issues her marriage presented him. He'd given Glaber every possible advantage to start, and if the man returned a failure… then there would most assuredly be hell to pay for lowering such a beautiful light in his life to such a level by association….

He was brought back to the present when he realized his daughter had been asking him a question, and in his moment of rumination he'd missed the context behind it. "I'm sorry, dear, but what was that?"

Ilithyia shook her head, her heart full of fondness for her forgetful father, and repeated, "I asked, how will I begin to establish our family in Capua? I do not know anyone there that could introduce me to the social elite."

Albinius shifted a few items around on his desk and pulled yet another scroll free of his 'read' pile. For such a successful businessman and merchant, the man truly was horrendous at keeping his mail organized. Though, in the words of his own father, organized chaos truly was the only way to keep track of so much mail at once. Those that pretended cleanly pretense and organization in public were often the most truly slovenly and disorganized in private.

"I have already thought about that and come up with the perfect solution. An old friend of mine owns a ludus in Capua. The finest example in all of Rome if he is to be believed. Though he and his son are not of the noble class, they are certainly rich enough to be seen with us in public without any loss of face. Indeed, they have been so successful in the sport that one of their stock even achieved freedom and is coming close to matching their wealth."

"The Lion of Capua!" Ilithyia's former glee returned with a vengeance at the thought. "You know the proprietors of the Batiatus ludus!?"

Albinius' shoulders shook with mirth at his daughter's clear excitement. Ever since she was a little girl she had absolutely adored the Games. "Indeed I do. My friend's son is running the ludus now, and he has agreed to lend their family services to you that they might help see you established in Capua. They will set the house with the basics of furnishings until the main stock from this villa can be carted in to proper levels of grandeur, provide you with a comprehensive tour of the city, and the local Merchant Council has even arranged for a gladiatorial tournament in your honor to celebrate our new position."

"My honor? Why would games honor me?"

"Because in my absence you represent me. Please try to pay attention, darling. You will be my unofficial representative in the city while I am gone, and the locals all know it. Listen to Batiatus, show good face to good practices, and make me proud. I will return to join you within the month."

Clasping her hands together beneath her chin, Ilithyia proclaimed, "Oh, father, I cannot wait!" Though she'd started with a bit of annoyance that her former plans had been wrecked, all of that had been replaced with expectation. Grand expectation. A chance to see the Lion's famed abs for herself!

One Week Later

Ilithyia looked down at the view from her new home and couldn't help the delighted laughter that bubbled up from her throat if she'd tried. All of Capua was laid out on the rise below her and from the height of her new mansion it was almost as if she were Jupiter himself, looking down from the heavens upon her tiny subjects. The high was practically orgasmic.

Before she could lead herself further down that particular train of thought, the demure voice of the head house slave announced the arrival of a visitor requesting the presence of the domina of the house. It was a request that the blonde had been ready for since arriving that morning, so she was already dressed, perfumed, and manicured to make her public debut in the city. Of course she'd have to no doubt deal with the envious gawking of whatever old man was associated with her father, but that was to be expected.

However, all of her expectations went out the window when she arrived in the mansion foyer to find not an old man… not a man at all really… and instead waiting for her was perhaps the single most statuesque and beautiful woman she had ever seen. Her body, visible in every contour through the light silk of her dress, was svelte perfection with just the right hint of muscle; her hair glowing red as fire in the light of the windows, was bound up on top of her head in the latest Roman fashion; her features were angular and aristocratic in the best way, a fact that made it utterly impossible to accurately judge how old she was. In short, this was the image of a woman that Ilithyia had dreamed of someday becoming.

The Senator's daughter gulped, regained control of herself, and far more regally approached the stranger with her hands held before her. When the other woman grasped them in her own upon meeting they leaned in together and lightly kissed each other's cheeks in greeting. "My apologies, madam, I was not expecting…"

"A woman?" The stranger smirked knowingly and folded one of the host's hands into her arm before wheeling them both around to start heading for the door. "Quintus was called away on business a few days past and I was asked to take care of your needs in his stead. Apparently one of his local traders sailed into port with a fresh brig full of new fighting stock and he and his father wanted to go take a look before Solonius got wind of it."

"Solonius?" Ilithyia queried.

"The only real competitor to the house of Batiatus in the Game of Arenas. An enviable position many would kill for, I am sure. You'll learn quickly, I am sure, but everything in Capua revolves around the Arena. So he who controls the love of the crowd is the man that can get the most done."

"Fascinating. So you must be Batiatus' wife?"

The other woman rocked her head back and let loose with a laugh so loud it boomed around the large chamber quickly disappearing behind them from their swift passage. "Hardly. No, dear Lucretia is busy with other things…."

Meanwhile - Things -

Lucretia was lost to the world in a realm of pleasure far beyond anything she could ever recall, her tongue literally lolling out of her mouth in ecstasy as her lover, her heart, the owner of her very soul, held her head down into the pillows and plowed her from behind as if she were the single most important field in all of creation.

And all the while she could only wish for more, and more, and more, and for this experience to never end for as long as she held breath within her body! But more than that, for this to finally be the time that the seed of her love would finally spread and create the heir she knew he deserved. The heir that only she could give him. The heir that would inherit the world once his plans finally reached their fruition. Oh truly, was there any greater honor in this world than to be the eventual mother of a god?...

Meanwhile - The Ladies -

"Anyway, she'll be rather busy for at least another few hours if I were any guess. My name is Gaia."

Ilithyia gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand in a long since instinctual effort to hide the minute gap such an action normally revealed in her front teeth. "You are Gaia? 'The' Gaia? The First Lady of Capua? The wife of-"

"The wife of the Lion, yes." Gaia preened under the praise, but didn't say anything else until she and her cargo were outside the house, bundled onto the waiting cart, and quickly trundling off toward the city below. "I take it then that you have heard of me?"

"This is truth simpler than the sky is blue. Your name is whispered throughout all of Roman High Society. Every woman of means knows your name. They say you are the key to…" she trailed off, not sure if what she'd been about to say would offend. She needn't have worried.

"The key to the Lion's loins, yes, I've been called that and more." The smile hadn't left Gaia's face for one second. "I've facilitated more than a fair few liaisons with my husband and certain… ladies of merit. Why should I hog the delight that is my champion to myself? It would be the same as never sharing the purest elixir of life for want of singular immortality; a lonely existence if ever there was one in my opinion. Especially when other bitches are willing to put gold to lips… and other places… for a single night with him."

"And this fame, this… infamy, it does not bother you?" Ilithyia had been rather certain that to be famous for actions that would classify one as a glorified madame would be off-putting to the person in question. In contrast, Gaia seemed rather… normal, and at peace with the reputation she had gained.

Gaia laughed merrily and bumped her shoulder against the blonde's. "If all the price I pay for the hand of my love and our continued prosperity is but the foul murmurs of those jealous to not constantly have him between their legs as he is mine, then that is a small thing to be sure. Especially when I know that same implication has made me wealthy beyond any of their dreams. Women that spill foul words in frustration mean naught, for salacious deeds are still done as favors in the night at those same women's whims."

"I-I am sure." Ilithyia really wanted to ask more about how such arrangements were made. Purely to assuage her own curiosity of course, but the gates of Capua were coming into focus ahead of their cart and it was more pressing that she put all of attention into putting the best foot forward.

Meanwhile, Gaia was looking at the newly determined younger girl with a firm intensity that Lucretia would have said she 'knew well'. Oh yes, this little noble was going to be such fun to play with… once the groundwork had been laid, of course. Her family didn't have a blonde yet….

A Short Time Later

"What is with all of these shop signs?" Ilithyia asked with clear confusion written across her face, her eyes darting all over the place as she and Gaia traipsed congenially through the crowded market district arm in arm. And indeed, everywhere she looked, different stalls had banners painted of partially clothed men hanging from poles, and a multitude of signs stood outside varying shops painted one solid color or another. A surprising number were purple.

"Eh, whatever could you mean, dear Ilythia?" Gaia looked down curiously at the slightly shorter woman.

"Why do these places of business employ such strange items outside their shops. Were whit further from mind I'd think them advertising silk and jeweled baubles rather than" she gestured to one shop they passed, "weapons, and such."

"Ah." Gaia nodded as understanding set in. Gesturing to one pole with a canvas image hanging of a muscular male she stated, "That particular clothing shop is currently hanging a likeness of Crixus, the current Champion of Capua."

"I thought the Lion was the Champion?"

"Currently Harry is the Champion of Rome. He wasn't here for the last Capuan Primus and Crixus took home the laurels in his place. Regardless, that shop has his likeness because Crixus wears their clothes to the arena when he competes. They pay him a stipend to wear 'only' their clothes when he goes out in public, or when he walks the path to the arena, a road that Quintus has long since started sending his stock through this very district to advertise."

"Whyever would a free market purveyor pay a slave for such an act?"

"Because it is good business." Gaia practically had metaphorical denarii glowing through her eyelids at the thought of how such wealth had begun to flow through the ludus because of such actions. "It was Harry's idea. Marketing, he calls it. Gladiators are so famed, so renowned, and so loved by the people, that if the common folk see their idols wearing local items, then surely the common folk would want to buy the same. He shared the idea with Quintus Batiatus, as his manager, and Quintus approached every business owner in Capua to offer his slaves as 'marketers' of their brands. Of course Solonius was quick to copy the act, but the origins come from the house of Batiatus. Several of our other champions are involved as well. Should you spend more time in this district you'll be sure to find images for the likes of Gannicus, Oenomaus, and others."

Nodding back to the post, she said, "Local businesses make a killing, literally, depending on how well their sponsored fighter does on the sands. And the fighters make a pretty denari as well towards paying off their contracts, or supplying themselves with their baser desires, depending on the want of the slave."

As they passed a blacksmither with a wooden sign painted purple, she added, "The same goes for smiths. Purple is my husband's color. The color of his waist wraps and cloaks. The shop has his color out front to show that he either makes or repairs the Lion's weapons and armor. As you can see, the size is matched nearly by the Lion's prominence."

And indeed, Ilithyia could see that very well. Now that she was looking closer at the business in question, she saw that instead of one mere shop as she'd expected, the forge was instead a series of forges that extended down the street near to the end of the entire market district! There must have been a dozen different blacksmiths working under the same elongated roof at once, a fact that explained why one smithy had so many of the purple signs displayed. "That is quite the business model."

"Especially so when you consider every major fight Harry partakes in requires a different sword. And every sword is sold after the match to the highest bidder. The buyer then has a direct example of master craftsmanship. Such a person might ask the maker to make them something similar. My husband gets a percentage of such business dealings as well."

"And it all comes back to the Lion." Ilithyia breathed with awe. "Gaia, just how wealthy are you?"

"More than enough for myself, but less than Harry should like. Now come along and I'll introduce you to the heads of the local guilds."

And that's just what she did. For the next two hours Gaia carted Ilithyia through Capua and played the go-between for all of the local influential figures and the representative of their newest Senator. Most were ecstatic to have the chance to meet her, and some even came with gifts. However, there were also the few that made pointed statements about what was 'expected' of Albinius when he claimed his office officially. Ilithyia expected they were some of the people her father owed favors to for helping him claim his seat in Rome. She elected to keep a special eye on their activities until the man could arrive and deal with them himself.

Though the highlight of the blonde's day came after all those wrinkly old men finally took their leave of the street, leaving a single solitary figure waiting in their wake. A figure whose features were hidden in the shadow of a hooded purple cloak. Ilithyia had one moment to think that she was sure someone had mentioned something about a purple cloak and skirt before her guide shed all of her former composure and squeed like an ecstatic child before breaking free of her charge and leaping into the stranger's arms.

For her part, Ilithyia was blushing scarlet at the wanton way Gaia was shoving her tongue down the mystery man's throat, and furthermore from the way that same action pushed back the coverings of the cloak to reveal an incredibly muscular and chiseled torso. Only the mental reminder that she was a married woman allowed her to come back to herself, but the noblewoman still managed to save an image of the sight to her memory for… personal time later. After all, being home alone while her husband was off to war was a lonely endeavor, and some warmth, even by her own hands, was surely justified.

After a few moments the couple finally split apart, and the blonde had just enough time to take note of a pointed goatee sticking out from the shadows of the hood and a pair of luminous, deep, and… entrancing green eyes before her redheaded companion took her hand and pulled her forward.

"Dear Ilithyia, you are fortunate. My husband has put swift will to habitually long tasks and made his way to us before the day was through. Allow me to introduce you to the Lion of Capua."