Three Marks of Power

A/N: trying to figure out how to turn off the stupid add chapter feature! Enjoy and please review and let me know what you think!

Chapter 2

As it turned out, they had to wait in the hallway for ten minutes while Albus was barricaded in the library with a very angry looking Black, a sulky Potter and a furious Molly who had been apparently been informed of the reasons behind the falling out of the Golden Trio as she looked to be in the middle of pinning Black’s ears back. Severus was tempted to undo the silencing charm on the open doorway so that he could have the pleasure of hearing Molly give what looked to be a scathing lecture to both Black and the Headmaster, but ultimately decided against it.

As if she was using Legilimancy, Alex voiced his thoughts, “Do you think they would notice if we brought down the silencing charm?” She said curiously.

She pouted slightly as Granger and Draco both said that Albus was likely to notice. Severus wanted nothing more than to lean forward and suck that delicious bottom lip of hers into his mouth but valiantly resisted the urge. His mind continued to swim at the fact that he had never before been this attracted to a woman. He had had lovers sure, but this was more about claiming than lust in his mind.

Once Black and the brat had stormed out with both of them giving Alex a glower, which she returned with a smirk, they entered the library. Albus seated himself behind the desk as Molly fussed around Granger.

When Molly had gotten of the point of demanding to know why Granger had not told her, Alex cut in with a cool voice, “She told me, just as she should have thank you.”

“Well—she should have said something to me when it happened and I would have taken care of it.” Molly insisted with her hands on her hips, not used to anyone taking on the mothering role that she had always seen as her divine right.

Alex gave the woman a disdainful look as she said, “Mrs. Weasley, while I appreciate that you care for Hermione,” Alex’s expression displayed her doubt that this was entirely true, “do not forget that Hermione is not a child…to be more precise, she is not your child. You have absolutely no right to demand any explanations from her whatsoever. She told me, just as she should have because her protection and well being falls strictly to my family and soon the Malfoy family and believe me, we take care of our own. You should be more wary of your own daughter’s welfare than Hermione’s. After all, if Black was so brazen as to try something like that with Hermione, what would really stop him from trying the same thing with your daughter? Hermione, to be blunt, is not your business, and it would be more prudent to look to your own affairs before you start to stick your nose where it most decidedly does not belong. So stop trying to berate her for something that you have no say in.” And with that, she waved a hand to the door dismissively.

Molly, obviously unused to being so effectively put in her place, was so flabbergasted that she allowed Albus to hustle her out the door without a word and the shock still on her face. Granger turned towards her cousin and said exasperated, “Alex, do you have to be so mean?”

“Mio?” Alex asked with raised eyebrows and an innocent ‘Who Me?’ expression, “I am never nice to people I don’t like sweetie, and I definitely don’t like people like that Weasley cow. She talks a good game but if it came right down to it, she would happily see you married and miserable to that pathetic excuse of a son of hers’, just so that at least he would get what he wants. Don’t ever think she cares enough about you to sacrifice your happiness for her own children’s. If it came down to it, she would throw you under the thestral herself if it meant it would benefit her family.”

“She would not!” Granger said even though she didn’t look as if she was too sure of the truth of that statement.

Alex merely snorted in response.

After closing the door and placing locking and silencing spells, Albus sat back behind the desk and sighed before saying, “Now, I need to talk to all of you about the situation with Sirius.” Turning to Granger, Albus said with the utmost sincerity, “You have my deepest apologies Miss Granger.”

“It wasn’t your fault Professor Dumbledore.” She said earnestly.

“Yes it was.” Alex disagreed angrily as she turned to Albus and hissed venomously, “You should have known something like this would happen.”

“How could he have known?” Hermione gasped in defense of the Headmaster.

“Because Black had been in prison for a long time Hermione, and when a man gets set free, the first thing he is going to do is try to satisfy his urges and he won’t be particular about who provides him relief!”

Granger stubbornly insisted, “But that is still not Professor Dumbledore’s fault.” Privately, both Lucius and Severus agreed with Alex.

Albus held up a hand to silence her as he shook his head, “No, if there was a place other than Hogwarts that was supposed to be safe for you, it should have been here at Headquarters. As of now, Sirius will be under house arrest. He will be allowed at the meetings but never alone in the presence of any female member of the Order. I myself will be warding him in his room at night so that he can not enter another young woman’s chambers, and once Tom is finally defeated, he will be made to answer for what he has done.” Albus finished grimly, “Just because he has spent so many years in Azkaban already for a crime he did not commit, that does not mean he will be given a free pass to do what he wants without fear of repercussions. Once the war is over, which I hope will be soon now with the influx of new members, he will be charged.”

Granger sat on the edge of her seat as she implored the Headmaster, “Please sir, I would rather just forget this mess. Even though Harry and I are hardly friends anymore, I still don’t want to hurt him by taking away what he has come to see as his father figure.”

Alex interrupted scathingly, “Hermione, if you do not press charges, what about the next girl if he figures out a way to undo the hex I cast on him? By letting him get away with this, it encourages him to do it again and the next time, he may very well succeed in raping someone! Do you really want that to happen just because you don’t make him face what he tried to do to you?”

“But Harry—“, Granger squeaked with tears in her eyes.

“Harry has nothing to do with it. He may love Black as a father, but what kind of role model will a rapist be?” Alex hissed before turning to Albus and stating, “If Hermione does not press charges, my Uncle Edverard will as the Patriarch of the Marcellus’s.”

“But he can’t do that!” exclaimed an agitated Granger.

“Yes he can.” Alex informed her. “If you knew anything about wizarding law Hermione, you would know that in the case of the attempted rape of a half-blood female, they automatically fall under the jurisdiction of Patriarch of their pureblood family. Sexist yes, but effective. Uncle Edverard will not hesitate to have the mongrel prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and beyond. As for Potter, he can just be thankful that he will be able to visit his godfather in Azkaban because if your cousins find out about this, they would never find the body!” she finished sharply with a scowl.

Severus took a moment to happily envision Black’s demise at the hands of the Marcellus’s with a wistful expression while Lucius nodded and said, “Listen to your cousin Miss Granger. I would do the same if it had happened to any daughter of mine or after you wed Draco. Do you really want him to go free so he would be able to cause irreparable damage to some other young woman who may not have the kind of protection that you do?”

As her shoulders slumped dejectedly, Draco held her hand and whispered, “They are right Hermione. We can’t let him do this to someone else. What if it was Ginny next time?”

At the mention of her friend, Hermione stiffened her back and said, “You are all right.” Turning to Albus, she said determinedly, “I will do whatever you think is best Headmaster, and if Harry doesn’t like it, then too bad.”

“What I do not understand is how you were able to fend him off.” Snape said, “Wasn’t there anyone else here in the house?” Snape knew that Headquarters was rarely without at least three other people in residence at any given time.

“Yes Professor.” Granger answered, “Bill and Charlie were here and when they heard me scream, they came running into my room and threw him out. He had not put up a silencing charm, thankfully, because they had just arrived and he thought the house was empty.”

Snape nodded glad that there had been witnesses. If no one had been there, it would have been harder to prosecute Black for attempted rape. Unlike the muggle world, the wizarding courts still tended to favor the pureblood in a case of he said/she said. William and Charlie Weasley were honest men and they would not lie to save Black’s skin no matter what he offered them.

Lucius clearly wanted to get everyone’s mind off of such a serious subject as he said, “So, have you two decided when and where to perform the bonding ceremony? I know that Cissy had been envisioning Draco’s marriage since he was born. She even had a scrapbook of flowers and decorations if you would like to look at it to gain any ideas.”

Granger smiled at her future father-in-law as she said sincerely, “I would like that. As for when to hold the ceremony, we were talking about after graduation but with this law, it seems it will have to be sooner rather than later.”

“I hate to bring this up, but what about the prophecy?” Draco asked Albus quietly.

“What prophecy?” Alex asked with a confused frown.

Albus explained the prophecy made concerning the three men as Severus watched for her reaction. She looked very uncomfortable for a moment as her eyes darted once again to the Potions Master before a white faced Granger claimed her attention by whispering in her ear. Shaking her head negatively at her young relative, Granger bit her lip and shut up.

Severus and Lucius exchanged glances as Albus peered at his goddaughter with a significant look. After a moment of silent communication, she let out a huff and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling before standing up and dropping her robes, revealing a pair of tight jeans and a purple t-shirt.

For a split second, both men thought she was going to strip right there in front of them, but just when Severus’s hand twitched, reaching to cover Lucius’s eyes, Alex turned around and had pulled up her t-shirt to reveal her lower back.

Before realizing what they were doing, both Lucius and Severus had leaned forward to see what looked to be a strawberry colored blemish at the base of her spine.

Severus smirked gleefully as Lucius gasped. It wasn’t a blemish at all. It was a birthmark in the shape of a rune, a rune that meant power.

As Alex lowered her shirt and donned her robes, Severus and Lucius exchanged another look and it did not take a Legimins to read the expression on Severus’s face. It was a look that plainly said ‘Hands off! She’s mine!’ Lucius smirked at his friend’s reaction. Severus had always teased Lucius about his jealousy whenever another wizard had so much as held Narcissa’s hand. Now it looked as if his friend was going to get a dose of his own medicine. Friends or not, Lucius had no problem giving Severus a run for his money and his expression told the other man as much.

Draco interrupted the silent battle of wills, “How is this possible?” This sufficiently distracted his father and godfather as they wondered the same thing.

Alex explained, “That birthmark is common to the women of the Marcellus family. Every woman born to the family in the last thousand years or so has had this mark on various places on her body. It was what told us that Hermione was definitely related to us.”

“I’ve never seen a birthmark like that on her.” Draco said bewildered without noticing that he pretty much just stated that he had seen enough of Granger’s body to know.

“It’s on her head. Just under her hairline. You would not see it unless you were looking very closely.” Alex answered.

“But isn’t there supposed to be three of you?” Severus asked this time with the hope that there would be some other woman to draw Lucius’s attention from her, thereby avoiding the duel he would likely have to challenge his old friend to. Lucius was a stuck-up snot, but he was also a good friend to Severus, so he would hate to have to kill the man.

Alex smirked as she eyed Lucius, “I believe that you have already met my cousin, who goes by the name Crystal Brown in public?” As the light of understanding lit Lucius’s grey eyes, she tacked on, “I for one know she is looking forward to becoming…reacquainted.”

Lucius grinned as he remembered when he and Cissy had attended a ball in America a few months before Cissy’s death and met a wonderfully vivacious brunette that they had both immediately liked. The three of them had spent most of the ball chatting and laughing. Yes, she would make a fine Malfoy wife. As lovely as Alex was, she struck Lucius as not the kind to tolerate the circles of society that Malfoy’s frequented. That and her strong will. He almost chuckled as he thought that Severus was welcome to the power struggle that marriage to such a woman would entail. Severus was much too dominant to bow to any woman, including a wife, but he had a feeling his friend would eventually get wrapped around those pretty little fingers of hers in no time.

“So you see,” interjected Albus in the conversation, “It works out perfectly for both the prophecy and the new marriage law. As a pureblood, Alex is eligible to petition for a half-blood like Severus and as half-bloods, Chrystal and Hermione are eligible to accept petitions from purebloods like Lucius and Draco.” He smiled at the group widely as if the prophecy and the law were his doing. And he was now offering them perfect answers.

Satisfied that the prophecy would be fulfilled, Severus was therefore a little surprised when Alex put a damper on the proceedings by saying, “Albus, you know how I feel about prophecies and Divination. I am not going to get married simply because some crackpot says it’s written in the stars.”

“Do you have something against marriage Miss Marcellus?” Severus asked silkily. If he had to brew a love potion, which he abhorred, or use Imperio, she would be his wife.

Alex met his gaze challengingly as she answered, “It is Alex and no, I don’t. Marriage is an old and honorable institution, yet I have no intention of being institutionalized. Quite frankly, if I wanted yet another man trying to tell me what to do, I would simply move back in with my father and put a permanent end to all the peace and quiet I currently enjoy.” She finished tartly.

On one hand, he wanted to laugh out loud, but on the other, he considerable brain power bent itself to thinking of ways to get her to marry him. Love Potions were sounding better by the minute. He had immediately dismissed using Imperio, it would cause her to be in a daze and the last thing he would want would be a wedding night with a movable mannequin. He could sense that she would be a passionate lover and he had every intention of tasting that passion while driving it higher. He ruthlessly squashed the thoughts of other men that may have tasted her. She would be his and she would have no others after him, he vowed to himself. If anything, he was a jealous and possessive man. Once she was his, he would make damn sure that she knew who she belonged to.

Alex blushed as she saw the look on his face and fought the blush stealing up her neck. Tension fairly crackled between the two of them as Dumbledore fought to dim his twinkling eyes. Oh this was going to be fun, he thought.

As Severus devoured her cousin with his intense gaze, Hermione turned to Draco for something to say and asked wildly, “So, what kind of things did your mother have in mind for your binding ceremony?” At Draco’s smirk, she narrowed her eyes at him and his father in silent warning.

Lucius chuckled out loud and said, “I have the scrapbook Narcissa has kept at the Manor. Would you care to accompany Draco and I to our home and see it?” Lucius knew a lost cause when he saw one. He would not interfere with what his best friend had so clearly marked as his and decided to help him along the way by getting Alex separated from her cousin so that Severus would be able to push his suit without too much outside interference. The gods knew that nothing would keep Dumbledore from meddling as he saw fit.