Summary:
Three of Cups
This card depicts three people standing under an ancient Witch-Elm, its roots wrapped around each of their feet's, one is a boy with miss-matched eyes in dark blacks and warm browns, the second is a girl with blonde hair and Purple eyes wearing silvers and greens, and the last, whos back is facing the viewer wears a silver jacket. Above each of the three twisted up in the branches of the Witch-Elm are three cups, two silver, one with red gems and one with green, the third cup is gold with glowing moonstones.
Notes:
Welcome back to The Heir and The Champions, I just got to say I loved everyone's reaction to Theodore and how he is about to get his shit kicked in, it's great.
But in this chapter, I do a little world-building and we have an encounter with the pale steed.
Harry Potter
It all happened in a flash, after Theodore had said something about a blood debt Hermione had pulled her wand and pointed it at Theodore, which caused Blaise to point his wand that he had hidden out of sight at Hermione, that in turn had caused both Ron and Harry to point their wands at Blaise, Rons at Blaise's throat and Harry leveled with his head. But still, Harry doesn't take his eyes off of Theodore who looks unbothered by everything that was unfolding in the compartment, he hadn't moved an inch as his eyes remained locked with Harry's.
"Stultus in capite asini, Theo," Blaise hiss out through clenched teeth, "I told you this was a stupid idea, I told you to wait till tomorrow," He says with a thin accent.
"Suaimhneas tú féin, Blaise, everything is under control," Theodore says, the smirk never leaving his lips nor looking away from Harry, though Harry's eyes do narrow at the words Theodore speaks.
"Yeah?" Blaise says looking over at Theodore with eyes wide sounding incredulous, "Would love to hear you say that when you have Harry fucking Potter's wand leveled at your head, Insanus stultus," Blaise mutters the last part under his breath.
Theodore finally leans back against the seat, his hands still in sight, fingers still interlocked, before crossing one leg over the other looking the picture of calm and composed, "Then maybe you shouldn't have pointed your wand at Miss Granger," Theodore states calmly.
"Brilliant idea, because next time I'll just let her curse you," Blaise snaps back.
"Oh, I doubt she would do that," Theodore says, finally breaking eye contact with Harry and looking over at Hermione, "She's not the type to jump to violence, prepared for it, sure, but it's never her first course of action," He says tilting his head slightly as he does, "So, Blaise, Maybe point your wand elsewhere?" Theodore says looking over at Blaise.
Blaise looks around the compartment before he slowly lowers his wand, and Ron does the same, and just when Blaise's wand is halfway pointing to the floor and Ron's wand is off his neck, Blaise smacks Ron's wand arm away before turning to throw his weight into the redhead knocking him back down into the seat before pointing his wand at Ron. Hermione quickly snaps her wand to Blaise before Ron points his at Theodore, Harry's own wand tracks Blaise's head with unnerving accuracy.
"Honestly, Mate," Harry says, "That was probably the worst move you could have done, you had your wand trained on the most dangerous person in this compartment and had the drop on her," Harry says shaking his head, "Foolish thing that."
Blaise curses again before glaring at Theodore, before Theodore speaks again, "You don't consider yourself the most dangerous person in the compartment?" He asks, sounding amused with a raised brow.
Harry just shrugs, "Nope," he says popping the P like Dora normally does with her one-word answers, "I'm good in a fight, sure, but I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the nasty curses that we've learned over the last three years and probably a lot more she looked into," Harry says, smirking himself as poisonous green sparks start shooting from the end of Hermione's wand in a warning.
Theodore tilts his head back in thought, frowning a bit, "That's a good point," he says before looking over at Blaise, "Didn't consider that, Sorry mate," Theodore says before smiling again as Blaise starts cursing at him again in another language.
"But we digress, Mister Potter," Theodore says looking back to Harry, "To get back to the topic at hand, that of the blood debt, I'm guessing from the three of your reactions that you have no idea what I'm talking about, while Miss Granger and Mister Weasley either know what it is or have a very good guess at what it is," he states evenly before Ron nods, Hermione opens her mouth saying nothing before closing it, and Harry just shrugs.
"No clue honestly," Harry says with a shrug.
"How much do you know of the customs and traditions of the Noble and Ancient houses?" Theodore inquires.
"I was raised Muggle, so,..." Harry trails off as he watches the boy across from him nod as if was expecting the answer.
"To explain Harry, may I call you Harry?" Theodore asks, gesturing to him with a hand, to which Harry just shrugs, "Then please, call me Theodore," he says with a polite smile, "Well to explain it simply Harry, your house, the Noble House of Potter has struck a blow against my house, The Most Noble and The Most Ancient House of Nott-" but before Theodore could continue Harry cuts him off.
"Like the House of Black?" Harry asks, causing Theodore to pause before nodding.
"Yes, the House of Nott and the House of Black are of equal standing in the Wizengamot and are a part of the eight Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses," Theodore admits, "The other six are Bones, Longbottom, Ollivander, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Peverell, of the eight only five remain," Theodore says.
"What? No Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?" Harry asks with a raised brow, and Theodore snorts.
"You should really pay more attention to History of Magic, Harry," Theodore says with a shake of his head, "If you did, you would know that, while at the time, Ravenclaw was offered a Noble title for her contributions to Hogwarts she had turned it down, and the house of magical lords never offered one to Hufflepuff on the principle of her being a descendant of the Saxon invaders at the time," Theodore says as if Harry should know this, to which Harry shrugs.
"I use History of Magic to nap," Harry says, and Theodore snorts again.
"Yes, Binns has a way of sucking the life out of everything, doesn't he?" Theodore asks, but Blaise cuts Harry off before he could answer.
"Excuse me, but this no time for jokes, Theo," Blaise snaps at him, "Get what you need to do to done, so we can Leave, Nunc antequam maledictus sum!" The tall foreign boy says.
"Alright, calm down Blaise," Theodore says to him before turning back to Harry, "Thankfully the Saxon invasions are a pretty good segway in the blood debt seeing they were the ones that brought the idea over with them," He says letting out a sigh, "The idea of the blood debt is not based in anything magical, just honor of the houses, the premise is this, Your house, the Noble House of Potter," Theodore says gesturing to Harry, "Has struck a blow against my house, The Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Nott," he continues, gesturing to himself, "That has drawn blood, or in this case, you killing my father, the honor of my house demands I repay this debt to you in kind, in either blood or agreement to settle this with me coming out on top," Theodore says, pausing for Harry to say something, which he does.
"Well, I don't know if you know this, but my dad is already dead," Harry says, quirking a brow at the boy across from him.
"I'm well aware of what happened Samhain of '81, Harry," Theodore says, "As I'm also aware that you have a Godfather and there is more than one way of collecting on a blood debt, like say, Azkab-," he starts to say before Harry Moves.
Harry had crossed the aisle in a blink of an eye and wrapped his free hand around Theodore's throat, slamming his head into the seat while squeezing, Harry could feel the Hunt pump through him answering the challenge that Theodore had just made, Harry could feel his eyes become vertical slits as he looks down into Nott's eyes which were wide with surprise, while still keeping his wand trained on Blaise.
"If you even think I'd let you do that to anyone I care about," Harry hisses into Theodore's face, "You are in for a world of Hurt," he says with clenched teeth.
Blaise swings his wand to point at Harry, as both He and Hermione start to yell, "Let him go!"
"Now, Potter!" Blaise says with heat to his tone as Ron points his wand back at Him.
"Harry, stop! Please!" Hermione says, pleading with Harry.
Theodore merely looks up passively at Harry as his face starts to turn blue from Harry's grip, "If you have a problem with me, you take it out on ME, am I perfectly clear?" Harry growls out, and Theodore, still calm, just nods once, before he lets go of Theodore's throat and sits back down as both Hermione and Blaise sigh in relief.
Theodore takes a few deep breaths before he clears his throat and speaks again, "Excellent, I was hoping to avoid dragging anyone else into the blood debt," He says as he straightens his collar, "Now that I know you'd rather me settle this debt with your own blood I will happily do so," the mismatched eye boy says before, slowly, reaching into his coat and begins to pull out a wand, but stops as soon as Harry's wand is leveled at his head. He tilts his head before pulling it the rest of the way out just as slowly, making sure to keep the point of his wand from either pointing at Hermione and Ron or Harry before laying it out flat on his lap.
"Now, there are two ways we can do this," Theodora says, all businesslike, "We can either have it out like two gentleman wizards in an honor duel to the death, which to be perfectly honest with you, I don't like my chances in," Theodore says, as Harry sees the first real look of fear in his eyes before he takes a breath and it clears away, "Or we basically cheat the system, and I make you bleed to repay the debt and we call it even," he tells Harry.
Harry blinks, "Not looking to avenge your father properly?" Harry asks, "Then why come here at all? It's not binding magic, you don't need to do this," Harry points out.
"Somethings go beyond magic, Harry," Theodore says, "My family is old, Harry, very old, we were here before the Saxons invaded, we were here before Hadrian's Wall went up and the Roman Legions moved in, hell, my family helped with Buddug's rebellion against them," Theodore says, fire and passion finally entering his voice for the first time, "My family worshiped older things than what the muggleborn have tried to poison our society with, or what the new bloods call the Witch-Father and Mother Magic, we were servants of stone and wood and spirits as old as the islands themselves, if my family doesn't uphold our oldest honors and traditions, then who will?" He finishes his speech by letting out a breath.
"And to be completely honest with you Harry, my father was a cruel man who deserved a death a thousand times more horrible than an arrow to the chest, Go ndiúltóidh Banríon na Scáthanna é óna hallaí, but that doesn't change the fact that he was my father, as much as he and grandfather rejected the old ways," Theodore says, his face still passive as he spoke, "But I do not intend to disrespect from where my family comes from, and to be completely frank, you scare the ever-living shit out of me Harry, and I would rather not have my family line die out with me," Theodore says before leaning back in his seat, looking Harry in the eye, his face remaining passive.
The compartment was quiet after Theodore's speech, Harry didn't say a word, but slowly lowered his wand, still looking Theodore in the eye, he does the only thing he could think of to test him, "Voldemort," Harry says, and as the other three people in the compartment flinch, Theodore doesn't even blink before leaning forward once more and says, just as clearly as Harry did.
"Fuck Voldemort,"
And Harry smiled.
Harry Potter, Hogsmeade station.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione step off the Hogwarts Express several hours after Theodore Nott had used a simple Severing Charm to cut Harry's palm to make him bleed in revenge for Theodore's father's death by his hand and calling the blood debt filled with the audience of two pure-blood Wixen with knowledge of the old ways, Harry was just glad that the drama was over. Even if Hermione wouldn't stop telling him to head directly to the Hospital Wing when they got to the castle, which Harry WASN'T going to do, he didn't want to get stuck to a mattress for the school year thank you very much.
"I still don't understand why you let him do it, Harry," Hermione says, "If it was just some stupid honor thing, you both could have just ignored it," She says as they make their way through the crowd of students, dressed in the black robes and scarlet and gold ties of Gryffindor.
Harry shrugs, "A few reasons," Harry says as it explains everything, and Hermione sighs.
"Boys," she mutters with a roll of her eyes, and Harry chuckles in return.
"Keep that up 'Mione, and you'll sound just like my sisters," Harry says with a smile to Hermione as she shakes her own head with a smile.
"What I'm more interested in is what Nott said back in the compartment," Ron says, "That his family worship "Spirits as old as the islands", Sounds like the Dé Danann to me," he says, scratching at his chin in thought.
Hermione pauses her lips and narrows her eyes, "Scáthanna," she says slowly.
"What about it?" Ron asks, looking at Hermione who was walking in between him and Harry.
"I could be wrong…" Hermione says
"But you never are," both Ron and Harry echo together, making their friend blush.
"But I think it means "Queen of Shadows"," Hermione says carefully and looks at Harry as he stiffens and pauses mid-step before continuing on, "What?" She asks with a raised brow, "What is it?" she says nudging Harry before he tilts his head to the left.
"We've got a fourth for the carriage, mind your head," Harry says just before his snowy white owl lands on his shoulder and gives a soft hoot.
"Oh!" Hermione exclaims, barely dodging the owl's wing that had almost smacked her, "Hello Hedwig, you got here fast," she says as she reaches up to pet Hedwig on her head, which the owl hoots in appreciation and Harry scoffs.
"What are you talking about? I pet you all the time," Harry says as he looks up at the owl on his shoulder who berks back at him, "I don't do it enough? I spent the last two weeks spoiling you, don't give me that," Harry says with a shake of his head and a smile as Hermione giggles at the pair's antics.
Passing through the gates of Hogsmeade station, Harry catches his first glimpse of the carriages, and stops dead. He knew they were going to be there, He knew he would most likely be going to see them this time around, but nothing could prepare him for What they looked like, The Thestrals.
They were gunt, Harry couldn't make out an ounce of meat on them as if they were just skin and bones, no muscle or organs. They had pale coats, if one could call scales a coat, that seemed to reflect the light of the waning moon off of it, their long emaciated forms were as big as a draft horse, if not a bit bigger, and their mains hung thin and sickly white. Harry couldn't see their tail because they were covered in large pale bat-like wings that ran from their shoulders to their hind quarters and the tips of them curling around their back sides. But as Harry started to draw slowly closer to them, the six he could see, all at once turn their heads to look at him, there were no scales or skin or anything that could be confused for it, it was bare white bone. There was flesh and scale connected to the lower jaw, but it stops at the base of the lower jaw and the rest from that point up was nothing but bone, but as weird as the heads looked, it was the Fathomless Black Eye's set inside the skulls that drew Harry in as he slowing walks up to the ones that drew the carriage that Ron and Hermione were climbing in.
Harry approaches them slowly as the two in front of him watch him closely, he raises his hand slowly and carefully, to the first one by him, the Thestral lowers its snout, or what would be its snout, to Harry's extended hand and takes a sniff or two, just before it bows its head to allow Harry to pet it. Harry runs his hands over the bone of its skull petting the top of it as he puts his bandage hand on its lower jaw to keep its head still as he pets the large creature, treating it with the respect that a creature of its size deserves. They were ice cold to the touch, the bone, the hair, the scales, everything, not an ounce of warmth in them, but Harry didn't mind as he continued to stroke it face-skull-thing in fascination as he looked into its eyes, and they looked back.
"Harrry, ..."something whispers, like a half remember voice.
"Pott-"
"Harrry, ..." there it was again, like a voice on the wind at his back.
"-tter?"
"Do you reme-"
"Potter!" a voice screams behind him, making Harry jump and spin around to meet purple eyes and blond hair.
"Greengrass!" Harry says, clutching his heart with one hand while keeping his other hand on the Thestral's lower jaw, "You scared the shit out of me," He says, he didn't even hear her walk up behind her, let alone feel her through his extra senses.
Daphne Greengrass crosses her arms over her school robes, looking decidedly unimpressed by him, "I called your name four times before you jumped out of your skin, Have you finally gone completely around the bend, Potter?" She asks, cocking her hip.
"No?" Harry says as if he was questioning it himself, "Why do you ask?" he asks her.
"Because you've been standing here petting the Air for the last few minutes like you were high on muggle magical mushrooms," Daphne says deadpanned.
"I was petting the Thestrals," Harry says, pointing at said horse who currently had its muzzle pressed into the palm of his hand sniffing the conjured bandage.
"The what?" The purple-eyed Slytherin asked with a look of confusion on her face.
"They're these big, skeletal, horse, bat…things," Harry says, watching Daphne's face twist from one of confusion to one of shock and surprise, and as she turns her head a bit and opens her mouth to ask a question, another voice cuts her off from the next carriage down.
"See!" Astoria Greengrass yells from the rolled-down window that she was half hanging out of, "I told you! I told you spooky horses were pulling the carriages!" she yells in what sounds like triumph.
Daphne turns around to look at her little sister, "Tori, don't hang out of the windows like that!" she says, putting her hands on her hips to glare at Astoria, but the little girl just yells right back.
"You're not the boss of me!" Astoria yells right before an arm from the inside the carriage loops around her midsection and pulls her back inside as Daphne sighs and turns back to Harry.
"Little sisters," Daphne says with a sigh and a shake of her head as Harry chuckles.
"She seems like a hand-Hey!" Harry shouts in shock before jumping back from the Thestral, pulling his hand to his chest, the Thestral had licked his wounded hand, and Daphne looks at him oddly as he does, "Sorry, the Thestral licked me," he explains as Daphne's eye narrow at his bandaged hand and opens her mouth to say something but is caught off by Ron's voice.
"Oi, Harry! Come on mate, I'm starving here," He says as he pokes his head out of the window before seeing Daphne, "Stop playing with the snake's mate and let's go," he says as he slaps the side of the carriage.
Harry shakes his head before looking back at Daphne, "See you around, Greengrass," he says before moving to the steps of the carriage starting to climb them.
"See you around, Potter, and tell Granger she's going down this year," Daphne says right before Hermione yells out from the carriage.
"I heard that, and just like last year, you're welcome to try Greengrass!" She says as Harry looks at Hermione to see her grinning
"Bloody mental, the both of you," Ron mutters as Harry takes a seat from across from him before shutting the door and looking out the window to see Daphne inspecting the space Harry was petting for something she couldn't see, she leans forward squinting her eyes before the Thestral leans it's head down before licking her face from top to bottom. Daphne screams, making a face of horror and disgust before turning around and running off as Harry starts to laugh in his seat.
Hogwarts, The Great Hall.
Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, head laying down on the ancient wooden table letting out a slight groan with his arms wrapped around his head and Hermione rubbing his back trying to soothe him and the pounding headache that had started to build as soon as he walked into the cacophony of screaming students that composed the Great Hall. Harry really hated feasts, the whole student body needed to be presented in the hall during them and Harry always, always got a splitting headache during them and he hated it.
Did he mention how much he hated feasts?
And with the late arrival of their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, no other than Mad-Eye Moody himself, the man who had trained Dora, slammed open the bloody door as loud as he could, which didn't help the headache either. Harry wanted to eat and get the hell out of the hall as fast as possible, but the Doors of the Great Hall open once more, much more quietly this time, to reveal Professor McGonagall leading the line of first year's down the middle of the hall to get sorted, all who were looking around in wonder, Harry finally picks his head up off the table and rests his chin on his cross arms to at least watch who would be joining the house of the brave and the bold this year, and no sooner did McGonagall place the stool and the hat in the middle of the stage and move to the side, did the hat start to sing.
"A thousand years or more ago,
When I was newly sewn,
There lived four wizards of renown,
Whose names are still well known:
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,
They hatched a daring plan
To educate young sorcerers
Thus, on Dún Scáth's old bones
Did Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders
Formed their own house, for each
Did value different virtues
In the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide
Their favorites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones
When they were dead and gone?
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
The founders put some brains in me
So I could choose instead!
Now slip me snug about your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell where you belong!"
Harry's stomach clenched and turned to ice as his head pops up, eyes wide with fright as he grip the edge of the bench he was sitting on, looking at the weathered and beaten witches hat, what had the Sorting Hat just sang? Hogwarts was built on what?!
The rest of the feast passed without any other incidents, with thoughts of the sorting hat song swirling in his head, and Hermione's inquisitive look burning into the back of his head, Harry had escaped to his dormitory as quickly as he could to crawl into bed, hoping his headache would go away and the song was just a song.
He would never notice that the wound on his hand was healed, not even leaving a scar.
Notes:
Chapter Done!
And it's a short one, the last one was a bridging chapter but this one, this one is rather tasty.
Theodore Nott was originally created to be this bigger, more cunning, and meaner bully than Draco Malfoy, but was basically scrapped by JKR because it defeated the purpose of Draco. So in this story, Theodore is the descendant of the original Celtic druid that worshiped the Dé Danann thousands of years ago before they were sealed away and belongs to one of the mNmA houses. He and his father didn't get along at all for reasons I'll reveal later on, so he lost himself in the history of his house, and from that, he takes great pride in it. While his father and grandfather had abandoned the old ways in favor of basically worshiping Voldemort, Theodore embraced his heritage to escape from what he saw his grandfather and father did.
He 100% used mind magic to keep his cool while talking to Harry, because as he said, he is scared of Harry something fierce, but he is also someone of honor and was raised all his life with due courtesy, respect, manners, and etiquette beat into him.
And because I don't know if we will ever touch upon it, Blaise is a legacy of Venus.