Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING BUT THE PLOT!!
~Hope you like this new chapter! Hermione finally appears in this story! :P Thought I'd update due to all of the great reviews!!
I'd just like to send a huge THANX to all who had reviewed! Ur the greatest guys!
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Chapter Five: Chats and Attacks
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Knock. Knock.
"Yes? Who is it?" came a voice from within the room. A young girl, no more than 12, had just entered the bed chambers.
"Good morning, Princess Hermione," squeaked the little girl. "I was sent to tell you that your father wishes to speak to you in his study, immediately." Princess Hermione sighed from her place upon her window seat. She gently placed her bookmark neatly within her old, tattered, book Hogwarts: A History. It was her favorite schoolbook. Silly as it was, it somehow seemed to calm her as she tried to deal with bothersome events in her life.
"Yes, thank you," she told the child. Hermione stood and stretched her arms above her head gracefully and began to look within her wardrobe for something suitable to wear. She wasn't too thrilled at having to go see her father. She knew exactly what he wanted from her, and she was sick of talking about the arrangement! Sure she had agreed to the marriage, but not happily, on the contrary, she felt forced and obligated - not to her father but to her people. Merging with Gryffindor could do wonders to Ravenclaw's declining economy.
Ravenclaw had never fully recovered from it's almost destruction. Had it not been for Gryffindor's help and the revenue coming in from Beaubatons, Ravenclaw would have been reduced to nothing by now. Ironically, in fact, Ravenclaw owed a little something to Gryffindor. Pheh! She thought as she pulled her slightly bushy hair out of her face and into a delicate half-ponytail. Ravenclaw owes Gryffindor nothing! Though truly she knew she didn't mean it.
When she was fully dressed, she made her way down the familiar corridor to her father's infamous library/study. It was her favorite place to be within the castle walls. Knocking gently, she heard her fathers weary voice call through the door.
"You may enter." Upon entering, Hermione found her father standing near the large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the great ocean beyond. His hands were held behind his back and she could tell he was in deep thought. Sitting in an armchair regally was her mother, Queen Charlotte Helen, a strikingly charming muggle-born witch with sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes.
"You called for me father?" Hermione wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.
"Yes," said King Richard. "Hermione, I hear you have agreed to the contract. As a King I am very pleased to hear that," he told her. "But as a father, I must say I am left with uneasy nights and worrisome days. I understand this news came to you as quite a shock, and I understand fully the fury you felt as well, but…" he paused. He didn't want to hurt her, and he hated having thrown this upon her, but the economy was plummeting into nothing and Gryffindor was their only help. It was a hefty sacrifice - his kingdom or his daughter!
"Yes father? You were saying?" Hermione had awaited an ending to his sentence but received none. He just looked at her, sadness filled his eyes. Hermione sighed. "Father, it is ok. I have made my decision and I don't plan on backing out of it." She told him reassuringly. "I understand that Ravenclaw needs this, even depends on this, and I am ready to sacrifice a little for the greater good. I am fine with it." It was true; she had grown a little used to the idea the past few days, although still not too happy about it either. She noticed her father smile slightly.
"You have no idea how proud of you I am to hear that. I'm confident you shall make a great Queen to Ravenclaw and to Gryffindor as well." Hermione forced a smile.
"Father, I just have one request," she told her father.
"Which is?"
"That Ravenclaw not merge with Gryffindor, but remain as Ravenclaw… just under Gryffindor jurisdiction." She stood firm on this. "Ravenclaw must retain her identity! I will not allow Gryffindor strip her of that right." Again she saw the proud look upon her father's face as she said this.
"I completely agree with you, Hermione. That was actually one of the requests I had included within the contract with Gryffindor. It appears King James has no objections to this either," said King Richard. Hermione relaxed a bit at the news. That had been one of her bigger concerns and hearing the news lifted a slight weight off of her shoulders. The king smiled at his daughter before speaking once more. "Hermione, I believe we have spoken enough on this matter for the time being, perhaps you would enjoy greeting your friend in the welcoming hall instead." He gestured to the window to where a fancy powder-blue carriage, smaller but similar to those of the Beauxbatonsschool, pulled by two large white horses, make its way over the bridge and up the graveled path toward the Castle. Hermione lightened up immensely as she noticed to whom the carriage belonged.
"Thank you father. Excuse me." And with that Hermione disappeared behind the doors and quickly made her way towards the opposite end of the castle. "Cho!" she exclaimed as she watched the girl emerge from the carriage. The two girls exchanged hugs quickly before turning towards the castle. "Cho, I need to talk to you."
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"Harry! Finally decide to grace us with your presence I see," came a voice from the dining table. Harry had just entered the dining hall after what seemed like an eternity of pondering. Harry looked over to the man behind the voice. It was Sirius!
"Hey! Where have you been? I heard you arrived yesterday, why didn't anyone tell me?" he asked. Sirius chuckled walking up to Harry.
"Because, m'boy, you disappeared from the time of breakfast to midnight or so. When did you expect me to tell you?" he smiled at Harry fondly. "Come, its time to eat." He led Harry over towards the table where Serenity, her mother Lady Sapphire, Ron, the Weasley family, and his parents were already seated.
"What's all this? What's going on?" he asked skeptically. Serenity laughed at this.
"Oh Harry, sit down and eat!" she said. "We have waited for you, so would you please?" She gestured with her hand towards his usual seat on his father's right hand side, she herself sitting upon Harry's right. Harry sat down hesitantly. Serenity continued to smile and shook her head. After a couple of minutes she looked back up at him, giving him a meaningful look as if asking him if he had thought over any of the information she had just given him. She seemed pleased after a couple of minutes and began to joke around as she always did, a trait she had obviously received from her witty father.
After everyone had had their full and was satisfied, James made to get up. As he did so, he called on Harry, Sirius and Mr. Weasley to join him in his study. When Harry stood to leave, so did Serenity. King James made no objection to her coming. As they were making their way out of the hall, Harry and Serenity glanced back at Ron who was still immersed within his pile of food, obviously not interested in anything but the eggs, toast and others upon his plate. Serenity left the hall giggling at his antics.
When they had arrived, King James resumed his seat behind his large desk and Sirius took a seat before his desk. James sat down with a hefty sigh and peered over his desk at Harry.
"Harry son, we need to talk." He started.
"Yes we do, father." Harry said.
Serenity went over to the large coved window and hoisted herself upon a window sill and summoned a spell book to her. Due to her maternal heritage, wand-less magic was a synch to her, and she had spent a great deal of time during their school years at Hogwarts trying to assist Harry and Ron perfect this sort of magic. Unfortunately, the two didn't seem to have the ability to manipulate magic without their wands as well; Harry was able to summon smaller objects at variable distances to himself, but sadly all Ron was able to manage was to blow up anything in sight.
"Well, I have spoken to King Richard of Ravenclaw, and it was brought to my attention that Princess Hermione has agreed to the arrangement between our kingdoms." James told Harry.
"Yes father, I know," said Harry. James looked shocked for a moment.
"How did you know, for I just heard of this news early this morning?" Harry glanced quickly over to Serenity, who herself smiled guiltily. James too looked towards Serenity. "Ah, I see." King James said finally. "Snitch," he said under his breath.
Serenity chuckled at this. "Still bitter I knew this information before you I see." King James scoffed. "No worries, no matter how immature you act you're still my favorite king!" The king sputtered at this.
"Milady," he started. "I could have you be-headed for such talk!" Serenity rolled her eyes and shut the spell book in her hands. She made to say something, but suddenly there was a loud knock on the double oak study doors and a young guard entered the room. He bowed in respect and cleared his throat.
"Your Majesty, a Mister Remus Lupin and a Miss Nympha-" he began but was abruptly interrupted by a loud voice.
"For the thousandth time, it's TONKS!! NOT NYMPHADORA!! TONKS. T.O. N. K. S!" Pushing past the startled door guard was a young witch no older than 28. She had bright bubble-gum pink hair that now reached the small of her back, and a pair of big blue eyes to match. She was dressed in the normal attire as any Auror would wear - deep purple robes and cloak with the coat of arms of all four kingdoms forming one large emblem with two large wands crossing in front of it. Behind her entered an amused-looking man. This man seemed totally opposite of Tonks. With dark shadows encasing his face and uncountable gray hairs spread throughout his head of brown hair, the man looked as if he were at least a few decades older than the girl he stood behind.
"Moony!" called James. The one called Moony smiled and walked briskly up to the King.
"Prongs," he said friendly. He smiled wearily at the King before adding, "We have trouble."
James suddenly went serious. "What do you mean?" He and Remus waked back towards his desk and James took his seat while Remus handed him a scroll of some sort.
"There has been an attack," Remus told him. Everyone in the study seemed shocked. He pointed to the map of the kingdom that was lying on James' desk. "Right here, where the three trade roads meet, next to the border." James froze for a moment. That can't be! Sirius had quickly gotten to his feet and Serenity gasped. He looked up at Remus and Remus confirmed his suspicions. "It was quite obvious something malicious was at work. This was no ordinary attack. There was also a small attack, right here," he pointed. "Fortunately no one was harmed, but the attacker got away."
James looked over the scroll report of the incident. Harry, who had become quite alarmed at the news, stood up and went over to his father's desk and leaned in. There's been an attack! How did this happen? Harry had heard of a possible regrouping of Death Eaters in the past few years or so, actually he was positive they were regrouping, ever since the Malfoy clan had inherited the throne a little over a decade ago.
Unfortunately for the Four Kingdoms, when the Steward of the Slytherin Kingdom was assassinated mysteriously, the Count of Knockturn, Lord Lucius Malfoy, ascended the throne as the rightful heir of Slytherin. Since then, Slytherin had become shadier than it had ever been since the downfall of Voldemort. Withdrawing from many outside negotiations, King Lucius preferred to govern his kingdom from deep within his halls, banishing all thought of possible outside help. Suddenly, Serenity's voice and Hermione's written words began to stir within the back of Harry's head… The needs of the people outweigh my own…
"How many are dead?" James asked and Harry was thrown back into reality. Remus looked solemn.
"Six," answered Tonks. She had just walked up next to Harry at the front of the desk. "Four caravans, two individual carriages, and an entertainment caravan were attacked. Everything was destroyed; the livestock, merchandise, everything."
"We got there just in time to help them, but the six victims were already beyond our help or-" Remus paused. James sighed, running his hand through his hair. He checked the map and went silent for a few minutes.
"So, the victims, who were they?" he asked.
"Umm, two merchants and a family by the name we know not of yet - two adults, a teen, and an infant."
"Have their families been informed yet?" James asked, not looking up from the map.
"Yes, Frank and Alice are on that as we speak. So are the Bones'," replied Remus. "Prongs, I think it would be best if we set up security patrols around the borders of the other kingdoms. You never know the different paths these menaces may take."
"It'd also be wise if we warn the others as well. Hufflepuff shares its borders with Slytherin as well as us. And Ravenclaw needs to be informed; their defenses are weak, although their tactics are amazing," added Sirius.
"Yes, yes," said James. "Remus, I need you to return to Headquarters with Tonks and prepare the men. Assign them with posts along all of the main roads, back roads and borderlines. Recruit as many as you need. We need to protect our borders." The two nodded. James turned to Sirius then. "Sirius, go with them, rally up a group of our best men and make your way to Ravenclaw. I am going to send King Richard a letter informing him of what's happening. He needs the back-up. I don't want to take any risks, not like last time…"
"Wait, what risks? What is going on? One attack doesn't mean to put the whole Kingdom on alert!" asked Harry. He was confused. Why was this so serious?
"One attack," chimed in Serenity. "One attack to start off a hundred attacks. This is serious Harry. If I remember correctly, wasn't that the same place the first attack begun 17 years ago?" Harry was shocked.
"Yes Serenity. It was the very same spot," Remus told her.
"Quite a sentimental one, that Malfoy, isn't he?" added Sirius angrily.
"Serenity, may I ask you a favor?" asked the King. Serenity quickly nodded.
"Of course, Sire. You can ask me anything."
"Would it be possible to recruit a group of your own people? Their magic is extraordinary and their skill unmatchable. Their assistance would help influence the direction of this war immensely!" James looked to Serenity and saw the hesitancy in her eyes. "As their princess, you could explain our situation to them. They know of what we went through during the last war, perhaps they would reconsider," asked the King. Serenity hesitated for a moment. She knew her people. If it were up to her, she would have recruited them immediately, but due to differences between the two races, she knew they would disagree. The rift between the two races was similar to the rift between muggles and wizards.
"Sire, I'll try, I give you my sincerest word. But I warn you, don't depend on them to agree. I have a feeling they may not be as moved as you would hope." She looked to the King and then to her father. "They aren't too happy with wizards at the moment."
James looked to Sirius. Sirius had a look of annoyance spread upon his face. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you another time, Prongs." Sirius told him. "Serenity, get ready, I'll take you and your mother tonight." Serenity nodded.
James sighed and reclined back into his cushioned chair. What was it he had wanted to speak about before? James sat up, remembering, and looked to Harry.
"Harry, son," James started, but Harry beat him to it.
"Father, I've decided," Harry said, "I'll agree to this marriage."
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Omig!! This was 7 pages!!!! Well I am done, and I hope you all like it!!! I am beginning the next chapter as soon as I can tomorrow!! Luv ya….Ciao!!