The "Princess of France"
In the earliest morning, with the sun barely starting to rise those in charge of the tournament gather together in Dumbledore's office and finish putting the final pieces of the plans that are still needed for the tournaments to begin.
The tournament, of course, was split into three as the usual round goes and the scoring was depending on how well and place the champions result in at the end of each round. Although as perfect the preparation was - there was still some concern over "favoritism" towards a certain witch.
"I'm just saying that we should change the first tournament to be something else. Something everyone has a fair chance of competing!" the Headmaster of Durmstrang, Reid Ferguson complained.
"Are you saying you have a lack of faith in the champions, Ferguson, especially your own?" Professor McGonagall's eyebrows raised as she questioned him.
"No! I am just saying that Miss Belmont has a higher advantage in fighting dragons due to her lineage and that could cause an issue for the other competitors. I just don't want them to think we are favoriting one student over the others." Ferguson stutters trying to ease away the attention from him.
"No you're right, this does cause a problem," Leonard says taking a sip of bourbon as he remains seated in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"I can assure you, prime minister," Henrik leans off the wall and speaks confidently to all of them, "This will be a fair trial for all three contestants."
"How can you be sure?" Leonard questioned him with a disbelieving tone.
The rest of the remaining people in the room, Olivia, Alastor, McGonagall, and Dumbledore remained quiet listening tentatively to where the wheel of fortune was spinning and in whose favor it was going to land.
Henrik smiles showing off his white teeth as he responds, "Because the dragon that Miss Belmont will have is new. A dragon she hasn't met unlike the others we have under our care, so that will mean that it will be difficult for her to communicate easily or control the dragon under her will and believe me..." He then smirks slyly, "This dragon is extremely stubborn and most definitely doesn't like being told what to do."
Olivia shakes her head annoyed-looking away from the newspaper she was reading finding this bickering to be completely useless, "There that settles it! Everything is all set and we can now tell the champions to be ready for next week that's coming. Is there anything else we need to speak about?"
Her matter of tone was urgent and eager to get out of the room, but knowing she can't because her focus of attention also needs to be on this topic of conversation. Alastor looked towards her, eyeing the energy surrounding her and taking notice of how she clenched onto the newspaper she is holding. Playing with the edges of the paper with her fingers.
"Of course," the Minister of Britain agreed with her, "If you may Headmasters and..." He nods in respect to Olivia and continues, "Headmistress please do inform your respectable competitors to be prepared, for next week will be the start of the games."
They all nodded toward him in a sign of respect and Olivia was the first one to exist out of the room, followed by Henrik, and everyone else soon follow leaving only the Minister with Dumbledore in the office.
Finding her behavior suspicious Alastor follows after Olivia wanting to see what happened to her. His search ends when he finds her at the wooden bridge leaning her arms onto the rails, the newspaper still in her possession. His soft footsteps can still be heard creaking as he approached her calmly hearing her small sniffs.
"Hey," he places a palm on her shoulder feeling her tense under his touch. His heart sunk the moment he felt that and quickly pulled his hand away thinking that he did something wrong. Alastor moves to stand against her better following her gaze of seeing the view of the land field before them. He stays silent waiting for her to speak first as she shakingly hands him the newspaper she had been reading in the office. Grabbing the newspaper he unfolds it thoroughly reading the main headlines and somewhat understanding why she is reacting this way. In the short article it says in bold words:
"THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE IS THE THIRD CHAMPION!!"
Today we have just received news that the Princess of France, the richest heiress, of all of the Wizardry World has decided to place her name on the Goblet of Fire. Now many may be wondering "Princess of France"? Who on earth may that be? Well, my dear readers! This "Princess" is none other than the last dragonlord alive in this generation, Aurora LaRue Belmont.
Despite being born from the wealthiest pureblood family, The Belmonts, that is not the only reason why the young Belmont is crowned Princess of France by the prestigious classic pureblood families worldwide. No, the young witch is titled that way due to the secretive lineage from the LaRue family.
Although sadly my lovely readers, with all my heart I wish I can tell you the history of the LaRue family, as many reporters such as myself realize when writing these newspapers that there is zero information we can gain from that family itself.
But don't worry!
We did get thoughts and opinions on the matter and although it can't be backed up with evidence, we have been told that the reason why the LaRue family history was stripped from any records in the Ministries around the world, is that one member of the family was once a famous hunter in the past.
How exciting is that rumor!!
Although, now that only leads us to some questions.
Why is there no background history report on the LaRue family?
What are they hiding?
Alastor stops reading the end of the article folding it back to the way it was handed to him and places his attention back on the other celestial witch. "Why are you so worried about this article?" he questions as he waves the paper around slightly. Olivia sighs as she explains quietly afraid that someone may overhear them, "I haven't told her about it..." she trails off at the end. Alastor looks at her carefully repeating back what she said as a question, "Told her about what?" Olivia finally looks away from the view, the breeze moves a piece of her hair in front of her chest and as always Alastor is trapped by the way a part of her iris glows in the sunlight.
"She doesn't know anything about the LaRue family as far as I am concerned. She only knows about the Belmont's." She whispers out nervously playing with some rings she has on her fingers.
He places a hand on her arm carefully, testing to see if she will pull away. She didn't she only leaned more into his touch making his heart flutter a bit. "Why haven't you told her?" he asks kindly trying to ease down her worries. "Because....because I didn't think I will have to bring it up, you know. I thought," she sighs her eyes grew weary and she looked down.
Just sensing the sadness from her was breaking his heart slowly, "I thought that bringing up 'that' will never have to be, but now that these nosey reporters are forcing it into the light, it's for the best if I tell her before anyone else does." He sighs leaning in closer to her the air between them gets warmer in comparison to the cold air of the early morning. "It's best you go wake her up then."
"Yeah...," she breathes out, "You're right."
It takes her a moment but she manages to pull away from him trying to ignore the way her stomach was fluttering a bit and how her heart was wanting to beat faster. 'No, keep the focus on the matter at hand. I don't have time for this.' She shakes her head and takes a few steps away heading towards the castle. Before completely leaving she moves her head to the side glancing at him and with a small smile she says, "Thank you for being there for me."
Hearing the gratitude from her Alastor blushed deeply feeling shy already and to hide away how flustered he was he quickly responded with, "Yeah no problem, I am always happy to help." His British accent came out deeper making Olivia giggle knowing how embarrassed he was feeling on his attempt to act cool isn't working.
"Goodbye, Moody," Olivia says cheerfully with a small giggle at the end.
"Goodbye, Lavigne," Alastor responds quickly with a warming smile on his face.
From there he watches as she walks away with the breeze making the end tail of her blue dress sway gently with the wind and he sighs away as he begins to walk back to the Headmaster's office and have a word with Dumbledore in private with a helpless smile on his face.
~**∞**~
Soft footsteps can be heard in the room that the Beauxbaton girls were staying in and each one was getting dressed up and ready to go. All but one who lays asleep surrounded by books that she had taken from her now personal vault. The books she had with her were mainly about Merlin's magic spells and adventures around the world. Some new knowledge she gains from the journals that she kept perfectly hidden was about the lifestyle Merlin went through when he attended Hogwarts as one of the first students.
How he was placed in the House of Slytherin and was the only one besides Salazar to know the whereabouts of the so-called "Chamber of Secrets". By the way, he describes his bond with one of the Founding of the school appeared that they had a very close relationship of some sort together.
The rest of the girls were now dressed and decided to leave the champion behind feeling that she may need to rest a little bit more due to the amount of reading and training she was doing to be prepared. When they were exiting out their Headmistress Lavigne was about to knock, chuckling softly at the small awkward moment the girls stepped aside to allow their Headmistress in and made their way out to the Great Hall closing the door behind them.
Olivia sighs in relief when she hears the door click behind her and heads to the bed she knows the young Belmont is habiting for the time being. She sits carefully on the right side of the bed to have one last good look at how at ease her goddaughter appears in her sleep. Her white golden tip hair was spread on the pillow and the way her pale skin shine beautifully under the sunlight. From her view, Aurora looked like sleeping beauty and all she needed was a prince to wake her up.
Though it does only feel like yesterday when they both met each other in the Ballroom that changed their lives.
Sighing once more preparing herself mentally for what's to come she shakes Aurora's arm gently and whispers to her, "It's time to wake up little cygnet."
Aurora grunts in her sleep as a response making Olivia chuckle, but before she attempts to awaken her fully Aurora's eyes flutter open. She yawns softly rubbing her eyes till they become accustomed to the light.
"Hello, godmother."
"Hello, my love."
Now fully awake Aurora was puzzled about why she was here and so she questioned, "Is there something wrong? Something I need to worry about?"
Olivia rises from her spot moving to stand on the bed across from the room as Aurora removes the warm blanket to get dressed for the day. "There is something I need to speak to you about before the reporters from the Daily Prophet get here and before anyone else comes to ask you some questions."
Aurora takes off her sleeping attire and puts on the school uniform she had laid on the bed. "And what is it that you wish to speak to me about?" She says as she finishes buttoning the last button of her blue-collar shirt and tying a silk bow under the collar. Olivia sighs again her heart beating faster as the nerves coursing through her make it difficult for her to get the words out her mouth. Not knowing how to even start she spits out, "How much do you know about your mother's side of the family?"
Clipping the last piece of the outfit, her cloak, she turns to her godmother completely lost and confused about where this conversation was going. Her interest highly peeked. "Umm, I know more about my father's family, The Belmont's, than I know about the LaRue family..." she gives her godmother a worried look as she heads to the mirror in the room to fix her bed hair issue.
"You need to know about both sides of the family, not one," Olivia says disapprovingly.
Aurora brushes her wavy hair as she responds in a shrugging manner, "It's not like the LaRue family is helpful or important anyways."
"Both sides are very important, Aurora! Never forget that." She says sternly making Aurora drop her attitude down and lower her head as a sense of apology.
"Of course, godmother. My apologies..."
Olivia sighs rubbing her face with her hand as she says tiredly, "No, I should be the one apologizing. This - isn't how I wanted the conversation to go."
Aurora looks at her godmother from the mirror, sees the stress that was covering her, and places the brush down to approach her. Seating down on the spot next to her she fidgets with the sleeves of her coat biting on the bottom of her lip. She reaches out and grabs Olivia's hand squeezing it as a sense of reassurance.
"Tell me...from the beginning..."
Feeling the pressure back, Olivia slowly spoke out to her and Aurora listen intensively, "Centuries ago, during the beginning of many dark times for our kind, we were all hunted down for our abilities by muggles. Schools and organizations such as the Ministry of Magic didn't exist at the time so we were all to fend for ourselves. But when the time came, when powerful wizards and witches came together like for example the four Founders of Hogwarts, certain family groups fend off the muggles, allowing many of our kind to escape into this world of ours. In other words, these certain family groups were our assassins. It was their job to kill any muggle and if needed witches and wizards, without question."
Aurora stayed quiet for a few minutes allowing herself to process the information, "...Was my mother's family lineage one of them?"
Olivia looks toward her and as she reaches for her pocket she answers her goddaughter's question, "Yes, but they weren't known as the LaRue family at the beginning of our time."
Aurora's eyebrow furrowed confused by the information given to her. Tilting her head she questions onwards, "And what name did they originally go by?"
Olivia sighs pulling out a small wooden box with an easy lock on it. Flipping the lock she opens it and pulls out gently from inside a silver necklace, the same necklace Aurora took from the vault the first time she went there all those years ago. She reaches out for Aurora's right hand, flipping it so that her palm is upwards, and places the necklace on the top of her open palm.
Only once the necklace was in her goddaughter's possession did she continue her story, "At first, I didn't recognize the insignia on the pendant of the necklace... After all...," she trails off at the end and looks deep into her eyes, "...it has been centuries since anyone had seen any hunters' insignia."
The silver of the necklace shimmered in the sun's rays of light from the glass windows of the bedroom. Aurora touches the long piece of forgotten history with her fingertips. The cursive letter of a "V" with a sword running through the middle of the letter is shown on the front of the pendant necklace. Its surroundings are covered in the design of red gem roses and vines. Even the chain was a twirl, twisted design. Moving the small oval shape pendant to its side, she sees a small switch and presses it.
A small click sound came from the object.
A locket customizable, the necklace was.
A pendant of the legendary hunter.
There inside was a very faded picture but she can vaguely make out a young couple, smiling at Aurora, but she didn't know who they were. Olivia presses onwards with the tale of the LaRue family, "The insignia represents Van Helsing-"
"Your kidding!" Aurora shouts in shock and her eyes narrow at her godmother, she scoffs in disbelief rising from her seat and starting to pace back and forth around the room. She snaps the silver locket pendant shut, stretching it out in front of her in anger the pendant sways from her sudden movement, "You must be lying to me because this isn't funny-"
"I am not telling you a joke!" Purple eyes glared into the young witch's soul a sense of dominance battles between them. "It's important you know both of your family's full histories and not just only one!"
"So wait!! You're telling me that my mother came from a family with a history of not only hunting our kind and monsters but also killing muggles as well!!"
"Yes," Olivia says straightforwardly with a solemn expression on her face.
Aurora loosens the tension on her body and she slumps back down to the spot she sat previously in disbelief. She doesn't sense any lie from her godmother in this tale of information as she puts the pendant down on her lap, looking at it again. "B-but how? Why...did Van Helsing change his last name?"
"Helsing was known at the time as a famous hunter back in the old days I am sure you remember from your history classes right?" Aurora nods in response, "He did kill countless witches, warlocks/wizards, werewolves, everything you can think of - but you know what changed him?" Aurora shakes her head.
"During his fight with Dracula, he was stopped by a wizard...most specifically...a sorcerer." Olivia eyes her as a sense of understanding hits Aurora full force, "Who was known to be the greatest sorcerer to walk the earth -"
"Merlin," Aurora says in awe, and Olivia nods in her response.
"Merlin intervenes in their fight in an attempt to save his old friend, Vlad Tepes, and it was there that somehow they both managed to get Helsing to befriend them. Then years follow, and Van Helsing fell in love with a royal pureblood witch. Together with his knowledge of the other hunters' plan to kill us and his skills, we managed to create the Wizardry World. It took a lot for our people to trust him, but that single heroic act of being our protector was the key to saving our dying kind. He then married the royal witch and decided it was for the best to take her last name, LaRue, and leave behind his name since the hunters were now the ones being haunted upon."
"He found shelter with our people and lived his days here in the Wizardry World and died in France where his body is buried in the Belmont's vault." Aurora's eyebrow furrow in confusion and she shakes her head wondering, "Why is he buried there and not in a cemetery?" Olivia takes a moment to recollect her breath from speaking for a long period and explains, "Van Helsing has sealed many dangerous things, monsters, beyond our understanding coming from hell itself and he did so with his blood. And it's only by his blood that those monsters may roam free again."
Olivia's finger pointer onto Aurora's heart as she presses on to it word for word, "Blood that runs in your veins."
A shiver of fear cloaks Aurora's form even when the heat of the sun's gaze is illuminated her form. The necklace shimmered brightly and perfectly under her touch.
"That's why you want me to know about the LaRue family...", she whispers out.
"Yes," Olivia rises from her seat walking towards the window overlooking the view of the lake below. "I want you to be extra careful, especially when your blood is very special in the Wizardry World."
Aurora chuckles lightly and shakes her head, "That makes so much sense - that is why everyone keeps wanting to get inside the Belmont's vault." A dark gaze cover Aurora's face, an emotion Olivia had never seen her express. Just by the look of it sends a wave of pain in her eyes again - another vision was forcing through. "Because of all the items that Merlin locked away in the vault during the birth of the Ministries of Magic and of Gringotts."
Olivia nods.
Aurora rises from her seat with a happy smile on her face. She was very much glad her godmother approached her first before anyone asked her a question she was not prepared to answer.
Oliva shows her the newspaper she kept hidden from view the entire time. Aurora grabs onto it and takes a moment to herself to read the section mentioning her. 'Princess of France...huh...', she will have to admit that she is surprised by the sudden nickname she is receiving but then she remembers how the purebloods behaved on her tenth birthday and shivers in disgust crumbling the newspaper and casting a small "Incendio" on it. Aurora quickly puts a small tray underneath to capture the ashes falling.
Aurora approaches her placing gently her hand on her arm in comfort, "Don't worry godmother, I will be very careful." She then hands over the necklace and turns around putting her back towards Olivia with a cheerful smile she moves her head to the side and asks, "May you please put it on me?"
Olivia's heart swells in pride, she then places the necklaces over her goddaughter's head and grabs onto the chains to clip them into place.
Feeling the added weight on her neck brought comfort to her.
Especially since now the Belmont key, once owned by her father and passed down from his family's generation and the new addition the Van Helsing pendant laid itself comfortable slightly above the other. Both of them grounded her in reality and wearing it made her feel safe and loved. Knowing that the two people that cared for her deeply since the day she was created will be by her side and look after her during the dark times that will come.
But it also felt like an enormous boulder of burden and responsibility landed on her shoulder.
"If you wish to know more about Van Helsing," Olivia approaches the door of the room opening it, "you can always read the journals your mother mentioned to me in the vault. Also before I forget the competition will begin next week on Monday so be prepared, but till then..." And just before she leaves she says in a singing mocking tone with a mischieve smirk, "~Good luck with the reporters, cygent~"
Aurora cries out annoyed blocking her ears, "Why did you have to remind me?!"
Laughter is all she hears as the door closes and she laughs to herself as she lays back down to her bed. She grabs onto the Van Helsing and Belmont necklace taking a moment to see them shimmer in the light to hold them so preciously in her hands with care and she says to herself almost in awe,
"...Merlin and Van Helsing..."
She then looks at an old withered journal sitting innocently next to her own journal and asks herself...
...I wonder...