Chapter Three: A Mother's Plan
Lord Voldemort stormed into the hall and his Death Eaters fell silent. He was again not in a good mood. He had lost another battle to the man who was threatening his reign, Harry Potter and he had a thorn in his side called the Slytherin Queen.
"Leave me!" he shouted out and his Death Eater's scurried out of the room. "Except you, Snape," he said and the lone Death Eater reluctantly stayed behind.
"What news have you?" he asked.
"It was a boy, milord," Snape answered. "But he is too well protected by a powerful witch."
"Of course they would take a precaution like that," Voldemort snapped. "He's heir to the Slytherin throne! Is there anything else?" he asked and Snape shook his head. "Then why are you still STANDING HERE YOU USELESS LUMP OF FLESH!!" Snape scrambled to his feet and fled the room.
Voldemort paced and massaged his temples. He was going to make her pay, he was going to wring her little neck, torture her in the worst ways he could think of. He just had to draw her out from behind her husband, for she hid behind her powerful King.
The Slytherin Queen murdered his best Death Eater and favorite whore, Bellatrix. She then convinced her husband to cut off all ties with him. He now had no control over Slytherin. On top of that he was losing battles in the borders of Hufflepuff, this Harry Potter was sweeping across the countryside picking up loyal followers. A few of his own soldiers abandoned the Shadowlands and now fought under the banner of Gryffindor.
But he did have one golden ray of light, he had armies that still surrounded Rowena, slowly he had been building up their numbers to retake the city. He would find a way to make that pretty little Queen fall on her knees before him and beg.
~*~
The sound of music filled the air adding to the festive atmosphere. The sun was warm and there was not a cloud in the sky. The courtyard was filled with the sweet fragrance of flowers in bloom. Sirius dodged a couple of little girls, giggling as they made their way to a table piled with sweet cakes. They wore pretty white dresses and had streaming ribbons in their hair. He sat down next to Dumbledore and watched the party in front of them. Dancers filled the rectangle created by tables that guests sat at. The entire village was invited and half of them were dancing. In the middle of the melee, he spotted the beautiful bride, flowers in her long blond hair and laughing as she danced with the raven haired King. Her groom looked on clapping in rhythm and laughing good naturedly.
"It's good to see him happy like this," he said to the old man next to him.
"It is so rare that we see a smile on his face," the old man replied.
"We need all the smiles we can get," Sirius said. "We have a tough battle ahead of us."
"And a surprising one," Dumbledore looked a little troubled.
"I know," Sirius sighed. "I don't know what his motives are for this battle. It is such a bold move."
"My guess is that he wants to make a powerful statement to Voldemort," Dumbledore shrugged.
Sirius watched as Harry relinquished his dancing partner back to her husband. "Harry told me that the couple had bound themselves to each other when Ronald first came to us."
"Did they?" Dumbledore asked, smiling. "Ah, young love. Although, I always find that little ritual a bit redundant in cases like these."
"How so?"
"Well, the binding ceremony used to be the wedding ceremony back in the age when Godric was King of all the lands." Dumbledore explained. "The couple would draw blood from each other, bind the wounded hands together then say their vows. They did this in front of the King who would make it official with his blessing." Dumbledore then let out a sad sigh. "Of course, when the King was murdered there were no True Kings to officiate or preside over these bindings so new ceremonies popped up. "
"Wow, I didn't know that," Sirius said softly. "I wonder if Harry knows about this? I'm sure he would like to bring that ceremony back."
"Yes, well, it is an old tradition. I image that young lovers such as those two use it to proclaim their undying love for each other. I wonder what trouble it would cause if it were found that they only needed Harry's consent to make it official." Sirius chuckled at this, the image of flighty young women and their terrified paramours filled his head.
"But it is an idea," Dumbledore said. "I should bring it up to Harry sometime to see if he wants to bring some of the old traditions back."
Sirius turned his attention back to Harry who was now dancing with the lovely red-haired sister of Ron.
~*~
Hermione paced back and forth across the room holding James in her arms. "And you're sure it won't harm the baby?" she asked.
"I'm positive it won't. The spell will cloak his eye color, keep them the deep blue that they were," McGonagall explained.
"And my husband won't suspect a thing?"
"Unless you say something about it, no, he will not."
Hermione paused. "Very well. Let's get it done with." She placed him in his cradle against his wishes and he let out a small wail of protest.
With motherly apprehension she watched the witch draw out her wand, murmur a few words and a soft glow appeared briefly around the baby. Hermione picked James up when she was done, his eyes were still the deep blue from at birth.
"They can change back?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, you only need to say the word and I'll reverse the spell."
Hermione had to do this. James' eyes had slowly been turning the emerald green shade of his father's eyes. Draco need only to take one look at him and know that the child was not his, that it was the True King's. He would murder the child at once.
She took James out with her into the gardens. She had Draco create a nice one for her, the castle was in a dreary gothic style and this place was her own haven. Hermione plucked a flower and sat down on a bench with James in her lap. She twirled the flower slowly back and forth between her thumb and forefinger and James cooed in delight. Hermione smiled and looked out at the view in front of her. To the North was Rowena, to the North was freedom. She had a plan. She would convince her husband to let her go to Rowena on the pretense of wanting to visit her subjects. She would then flee in the middle of the night with the child. She would send word to Jason somehow and have him meet her just outside the city walls. Together they would flee to Hufflepuff. It would be tricky after that, they would be right under Harry's nose and she needed to avoid him. Even though Harry thought that James was Draco's, he was looking like his father more and more every day. Harry would start asking questions if a smaller version of himself was running around Hufflepuff. Hermione didn't know what to do from there, she hadn't planned that far, her main goal was to take James as far away from Draco and the False King.
But how to get a message to Jason?
The answer appeared in front of her. McGonagall was strolling across the courtyard to the castle walls and into the village.
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