The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 25 November 2009

Chapter 51: Things Start Heating Up

“Mother,” Regulus inquired to get her attention, “do you think it would be alright to use some of the information here to write another book; a book that could reference where some of these ideas and sights come from?”

"You realize that some of this information could be a catalyst for our family to get targeted. You would have to be very careful to make vague references as to who exactly has this information. We don't want our home under siege from the Dark Lord's followers, although I have a feeling he doesn't have as many as he thinks."

"I would be extremely careful, Mother. I don't want anything to happen to you." Regulus assured her.

“Before we go into that, I want you to read a particular journal that had something in it I believe relates to these people. I found it on Boxing Day after I read the book you sent me. I was looking for conformation of some of the things written in the book.” His mother was rooting around in the closet searching for the journal.

“Aha, here it is,” she said as she pulled out an old journal. Regulus looked at the date on the book, 1381 July. Almost six hundred years ago. He sent up a thankful prayer to Merlin for preserving charms. His mother started turning the pages carefully to get to a specific entry in the book.

“Here it is, Regulus.” Her older hand was shaking slightly as she pointed to the reference she wanted to show him.

“There will be a time when war will wreak havoc in our world
Deceivers will rule on both sides of the conflict
Each foe of remarkable confidence and power
Both will forcibly acquire our heritage and magic for their own
In this time, when the world is at its darkest, The Seven will appear
The Royals will have command of The Seven and will bring peace
Join forces with these for they are sent by the Great Powers of old.”

"Remember what your Grandfather always said, 'if a prophecy is truly real there will be conformation of it somewhere else. We need to find out if any other seers have predicted this as well. It will be our final confirmation that this is indeed a real prophecy. The circumstances are strange though, this implies there is another on the light side that is a fraud."

Regulus didn't say anything; he was shocked at how accurate the prophecy truely was.

“Now, Reg, I have never heard of The Seven, but the Royals sound like they could be interpreted as the Prince family since we don’t really have royalty in our world, and the Prince pureblood line has all but disappeared until now.” Walburga Black turned to her son to get an answer only to see him still looking at the book and staring at the words.

“Regulus, what’s wrong?” she asked as she watched the blood slowly leave his face. “Regulus!” she shook his arm to bring him out of his stupor.

“Huh? Oh yes Mother I am fine. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Do you want to tell me why you look like a house just fell on top of you?”

“Well, if the people I work for are the ‘Royals’ that are prophesied in this book from almost six hundred years ago, how is it I was chosen to train with them? Next week we begin training and I will be gone for two months while I study for my NEWT’s and Mastery Degrees in what ever I would like to learn.”

“Salazar mentioned something about you going into training, when do you start?”

“Next Monday. It will take only a few months. They have a t... an accelerated program and they have several portraits to help.”

“I am assuming they have the portraits of the founders? They didn’t exactly hide Salazar’s portrait and so they must have the others as well.” Regulus didn't answer his mother, he was under oath. He was still in shock about The Seven, the way it was written you would think it was a group of people. He now knew The Seven were the snakes. They were referred as such often enough in his presence. He would have to alert Severus and Harry about this.

“I will be having that young lady, Becca, over here for tea soon. Are all these people pureblood? We still want to keep our race pure.” Walburga Black asked in her austere manner.

“I don’t know exactly. Severus had a muggle father I think, but his father could have been a squib. He embraces the pureblood ways and is a very powerful dark wizard. Harry had two magical parents, but was raised by muggles when his parents died. He was just a baby; I think it was to hide him. He embraces our ways just as much. He is a light wizard. Becca was born almost a squib and is the reason the healers know so much about how to regenerate a magical core and about the Dark Lord’s draining of power. I believe she is a light witch, but is extremely knowledgeable in blood wards, Runic Magic and Arithmancy. She also has muggle information about how to set up and maintain businesses through muggle means, so their Conglomerate cannot be found until they want it to be.” Regulus stopped there as he felt a pull on his magic. “I'm sorry; I don’t believe I can say any more Mother. I have taken an oath not to reveal their secrets.”

“I understand son, and I do believe that I will end up taking a similar oath, in the not too distant future, if I am to help Becca with some of the other Ladies of the pureblood lines. We will see if she is pureblood material or not.”

After visiting with each other for another hour or so, Regulus bid his mother good night and took his portkey back to his own set of rooms at Prince Stronghold Manor.

When Regulus left, Walburga Black sat in the library looking at the hidden door. She was a shrewd woman of considerable means and magic. Something about that prophecy shocked her son, and she didn't think it was because these people 'chose' him. It was something more, something he couldn't speak about because of the oath. Perhaps he already knew who The Seven were, that might explain his strange behavior.

When Regulus arrived home, he wrote down as much of the long forgotten prophecy as he could remember. He wanted to warn Harry and Severus that there may be another one out there.

In the Potter household...

"Lily, are you sure we should be doing this? Blood magic is considered dark and we don't want the ministry finding out about this."

"James, I told you the Goblin said it would save our son. I don't know about us but I have a bad feeling about this war and want to protect him as much as possible. The ritual can't be that bad, it came from Rowena Ravenclaw!" Really, she thought, men can be so dense sometimes.

"Maybe we should call Dumbledore, in case anything goes wrong." He didn't want to use dark magic and the ministry considered blood magic as dark, although that was a recent development and he could remember his parents talking about using blood magic spells.

"No, I don't want him to know what we are doing. If the child has extra powers we will be sure Sirius knows, we will put it in our will. This should be kept secret for now." Lily insisted; she was in full blown mother instinct now.

James agreed about the secrecy part so he allowed that he would be alright with it. He just didn't know why she was against telling Dumbledore. It's not like he would tell anyone else. There were a few things now that she didn't want known or told to the Headmaster. It was as if she didn't quite trust him. But then again, perhaps she just didn't want to bother the man with her life's details. Merlin knew the man had enough to do without hearing from them everyday.

James and Lily were reading the book that was given to her from Gringotts. The ritual would be simple enough. A few runes for power transference and the spell that went with it to make sure the parents' powers would remain intact when transferred. This would assure that the power transfer went straight to Harry if something happened to them. The book said it was best to perform at winter solstice or summer solstice but that was past, so they decided to do it at midnight on New Years Eve as this was the sign of a new beginning.

They first had to brew a simple potion and add their blood to it. Then they had to use the liquid to draw the runes on Lily's stomach, where the fetus was. They lit candles around the room in the star points of the pentagram. James as the father helped Lily lay in the middle of the pentagram then drew the runes on Lily's skin. He drew them exactly as the book's diagram showed and watched them glow purple as the last one was drawn.

They had practiced the incantation together earlier until it was memorized. Each of them having a part and then chanting together at the end.

I as the mother, place the inheritance of my magic upon my first born child (Lily)

I as the father, place the inheritance of my magic upon my first born child (James)

We as the parents place the inheritance of our magic, body, soul and spirit, that upon our death, our unborn child will obtain all to keep and protect his heritage. (both)
We as the parents ask the ancients to protect our unborn child and give him strength to carry our magic he obtains upon our death (both)
We as the parents of the unborn child ask the ancients to test and prove him worthy to keep our magic for his future and heritage. (both)
So mote it be (both)
So mote it be (both)

They repeated the incantation twice more.

As they were enchanting this three times the room took on an eerie blue glow as three strands of light proceeded to pull from Lily, James and the unborn babe. Strands of green, gold and red flowing in and out of the three beings involved tying their hearts together. When the magic settled, James nearly collapsed on the floor next to Lily to rest for a few minutes.

After a short time, Lily started to get up and looked to James. “We did it!" she cried in jubilation. "It worked better than I could have hoped!"

James just sat on the floor grinning. He knew his son was protected and Lily was happy. All was right with his world.

In Paris France ...

Remus was with the French Ministry of Magic Minister and three Alpha werewolves at a splendid buffet of escargot, lamb chops, succulent roast beef, and a dozen other different entrees with another two dozen different pastries. He bit into a croissant and the buttery pastry was so flakey and so good, it just melted in his mouth. He wondered how it was that in such a short amount of time he went from impoverished to this fancy New Years Eve celebration at the French Ministry of Magic.

The men and women wore their fancy dress robes of the latest French fashions. It was surreal to him as if he was somehow dreaming the whole thing. Even the robes he had on were of the finest quality and the company had provided them without hesitation although he knew they would have cost him more than what he used to make in a year.

As he stood there with the other Alphas, he marveled that they had a relationship with the ministry and they were treated as a member of the magical community. Remus had been treated as an outcast almost his entire life, except when Dumbledore allowed him to go to Hogwarts. The French Ministry was even putting together the funds to finance the whole process. For the first time Remus was actually selling the potion outright and at a very good price.

The Ministry was not only buying the potions, they were also putting together the funds to help rehabilitate the werewolves that needed it. France already provided schools for the werewolves, but they still had some that did not go or could not easily get there. They were also still separated from the others during the week of the full moon for the safety of the community.

The full moon would be in two days and Remus could tell the Alphas were feeling it. He actually still felt a slight pull, but it no longer controlled him. The French werewolves had been quite leery about the unheard of cure, but one of their pack members (he didn't remember which pack) had been visiting one of the locations Remus just happened to be administering the cure to. When she realized what was happening, she immediately, upon her return, told her Alpha about it. He in turn told the Ministry, who in turn contacted two other Alphas the minister knew.

Remus was awed by the quick way word had traveled among the packs without using the media. He at first thought Prince Pharmaceuticals should just put an article in the paper, but he could now appreciate the subtly of doing things this way. There was not a large rush of crowds and he had a chance to meet everyone and help them without being overwhelmed with a large volume at one time. When he had been told they were going to start training so soon, he had contact the Minister immediately and changed their meeting from next week after the full moon to today.

The added bonus was seeing Paris on New Years Eve. The lights on the Eiffel Tower at midnight were spectacular. They would twinkle; stop, flash, then light up completely and then sparkle all over. It made the French monument light up like a Christmas tree. It was a beautiful sight and from the top of the building they were located, they had a wonderful view.

Remus had brought with him a large supply of the cure; however the Alphas would not take it until their pack took it first. He could understand that, if the Alphas took it first, they would lose some of the werewolf and another Alpha might try to take over the pack before they could get the cure to everyone. That was one of the reasons Remus was so careful to administer the cure to one pack at a time and then move them into a safer location.

With the contracts signed and everyone looking forward to the next year, Remus had time to reflect how his life had changed the past month. He could honestly say that life was looking better and for the first time, he could look forward to the upcoming year.


In an underground magical hospital...

Doc and Shashi (the Light Elf that came with Becca to the past) were in a conference room going over the day's success. Since they now had infants that were drained of power to try their treatment on, they were encouraged with the day’s findings. Now all they had to do was see if it would stay or if other treatments were needed. Fairy light dust was very expensive in the magical world. Fortunately for them, they had the fairies within the company and an almost unlimited supply of the needed ingredient.

"How many others do you think have the same problem?" The Elf asked the physician.

"It could be dozens or even more. It happened mostly in the pureblood families because they were the ones who joined Voldemort in the first place. These children were kept secret and there are never any records of squibs. Most families would never acknowledge that they even had a squib. In pureblood families, the child is not even seen until it is a year old. If the child does not exhibit any magical ability or does not test to have any power, it is easier to hide the child no one sees and then turn it over for adoption. The Ministry would destroy the birth records as soon as a child was determined to not have magic. A muggle birth certificate would be processed and the child put up for adoption. Such a shame really, so many children have been ripped from their families because the magical community would not accept them." Doc replied.

"I really don't know how they could do that. For me it would be like giving up a part of myself." the Light Elf said with a perplexed look on his face.

"The Ministry really forced them into it by not giving them a way to raise their children and providing the education they needed to function. If they had allowed some muggle type schools or devices and would support getting some electricity into this world, we would not have so many problems keeping them here. Life is made very difficult for these children. They are unappreciated and unaccepted and in some circles it is sacrilege to give birth to such a child, as if the parents are to blame. I am sure that is the only reason the parents agree to let them be sent into the muggle world."

"But the mothers, how can they do that?" Shashi asked the Doc

"They are not given the choice. There is no place for them in our world. These children are not even allowed to inherit from their magical families. Some of the inheritances are Lordships and seats in the Wizengamot. Their heritage lays dormant until the next witch or wizard can claim it. That is why some of the muggleborn or squib born have vaults now." Doc gave Shashi a sly grin, "How much do you want to bet Becca is going to change that?"

"I am not going there, my friend," the Elf replied with a chuckle. "Perhaps we should warn Harry and Severus? That girl loves to make waves and finally has the wherewithal to do an unlimited amount. Things are going to get really interesting in the next few years."

Doc laughed and pored them both a glass of champagne. "Of that, I have no doubt. I think I will let Harry and Severus find out on their own. We can be entertained with the fireworks ahead."

They toasted to the New Year and of surprises yet to come before leaving for their respective homes.



In the Prince household...

Two men were getting ready for bed. It was a little cool in the room so the older of the two lit the fireplace and watched as The Seven slid to the hearth to keep warm. The men climbed into the bed and snuggled down into the covers holding each other as was their habit since they started sleeping together.

The younger of the two with his head over the older man's heart listening to the beat that was so familiar and such a comfort to him. "Sev?" the younger man asked.

"What is it Harry?" came the reply.

"Are you really sleepy?" Harry really didn't want to sleep at the moment, but he didn't want to keep his partner awake either.

"Not really, I was just thinking about today. Aren't you tired?" Severus spoke into the night.

In a wordless answer Harry moaned and gradually slid his leg over Severus' thigh so he could press into the warm flesh of the man next to him.

"Ah, yes I can see you are not really tired," the older man said as he felt the hard flesh of his lover. "I wonder what you would like to do instead of sleep." Severus shifted his weight and then moved in one quick easy flip to bring Harry straddled across his lap so he was sitting on his own erection that he wanted the young man to do something about.

The former Gryffindor squealed at the sudden movement, but quickly recovered his balance and brought his head slowly in to kiss his life mate deeply. At first it was slow and easy, but soon developed to a battle of tongues, each one trying to dominate over the other. As they broke apart the older man then attacked the neck of his lover. Biting and sucking as Harry gasped and whined and started to move his hips in a rhythm all his own.

"Tell me what you want Harry," Severus told him. "I need to know what you want so I can fulfill you’re every wish." He whispered into the ear of the younger man.

"Please," whimpered Harry. It seemed to be all he was capable of doing.

"Please what, my Harry." the man whispered into his ear. "What do you want me to do to you?" The seductive lowered voice of the older man made his partner even more wanton and needy. Harry felt like he was a puddle of goo as he lay on top of the larger man underneath him.

"Harry" came the seductive sultry voice again, "do you want me to fill you?" he asked but only received the whimpered response. "Do you want me to stretch you so I can slam into your firm arse, hitting that secret spot over and over again?" more whimpering from Harry. "My Harry," Severus took the young man's head in his hands and made him look into the eye. "Do you know how much I love you?" He watched as a tear escaped his young lover's eyes and then kissed his lips with a reverence that showed he truly cared for the young Gryffindor.

With his arms wrapped around the torso of the green eyed beauty, he rolled them over so he was on top. After he summoned the silky lubricant that they liked to use, he started to prepare his lover slowly and pressed the pad of his thumb gently to the circle of muscle to gain access to the channel that was his to command. When Harry tried to buck to make him move faster, Severus shushed him and whispered to him, "Sssshhhhh, my love. We are not in a hurry. Let's take this slow and let me show you how much I love you." Severus watched Harry's face to be sure he was listening.

Harry looked into Severus' eyes and said, "I love you too."

Severus didn't understand why he was so emotional. It could be the New Year coming on and he suddenly was reminded that he almost lost Harry. He would not have been celebrating anything if Becca hadn't come to help. I could also be that he was just thankful for every day he got to spend with the young man in his arms. Or that for the first time, in almost twenty years, he was free of that idiot that had him chained to misery and pain. He was sure about one thing, he loved Harry and knew Harry loved him back and he was going to celebrate by slowly taking him. No games, no tricks just the two of them and the sweet slow touch of each other.

He finished preparing Harry then shifted so that he was lined up to enter him. While looking into each other's eyes they slowly joined. One giving and one receiving, each reveling in the ability to accept what the other was doing.

Severus raised one of Harry's legs to open him further and to give himself some leverage. He wanted to continue to gaze at the love shining from the verdant eyes before him. One arm holding him up from the bed and the other pressed under Harry's knee as he slowly sank into the depths of the warmth that welcomed him time and time again.

Harry could see the strain of the bulging biceps as Severus held himself up. He loved the way the older man was so much lean sinewy muscle and definition. He slid one hand up Severus' arm and the other on his chest, reveling in the feel of the skin that had started to sweat and the slow pumping into his body.

"Oh Sev," the young man moaned. "I could do this forever.

Severus bent down to reach the soft red lips before him and slid his tongue over them before plunging back into that sinful mouth. He then slid his hand from Harry's knee and started to pull on the stone hard erection. He pulled back his lips from Harry to whisper in his ear, "Forever, Harry? I don't think you can last that long." Then he started the friction that would bring his lover to completion.

Harry closed his eyes and arched his back in pure pleasure. He started to move with Severus as their thrusting got stronger and faster. Almost to a fever pitch until Harry exploded, then as his body tightened and grabbed Severs', the older man came right behind him and collapsed on the bed out of breath.

Harry did one quick cleaning charm on them both and Severus pulled up the covers before wrapping his arms around the smaller man and they both went to sleep.


A/N Next chapter will be up by Saturday, we get to meet the women.