Chapter Text
Over the years, the cursed dragon had ventured north, and had found a series of caves near the magical village of Hogsmeade. It seemed that no muggles had lived in it for centuries. And the Scottish wilderness seemed to soothe the curse a tiny bit.
Twenty years had passed since Albion violently took power in the Kingdom of Hogwarts. High taxes and a ruthless army helped in maintaining a delicate peace on the British Isles. The citizens had learned that defiance was meant with brutal force. Anyone who dared to riot would see their whole family pay a gruesome price. Muggles would be turned into slaves or killed on the spot – but for wixen, things were much worse. This, of course, ensured that the mood of the sheeple was dark…even if they no longer dared to oppose the false king.
Albion had eventually been murdered by his ex-lover Gellert. Now Gellert and Albion’s nephew, Albus – the multicoloured peacock, ruled over the British Isles with an iron fist. Albus was even more ruthless and dangerous than his uncle had been. He even looked almost identical to his late uncle. The main difference was his coppery red hair and baby blue eyes, while Albion had had white hair and a long beard.
No longer would anyone dare to oppose the imposters. Gellert often led groups of soldiers to investigate the cold tracks of the cursed dragon – for the king had promised a high reward for whoever brought him the head of the beast. After all, there was no way that Gellert, Albus, or their minions could afford to wait for a chance that the curse might someday be broken and for the rightful king to return to the throne. They didn’t want to take any chances even though the possibility of the curse being broken was slim. After all, how possible could it be that the cursed monarch would be able to find his destined mate…which was the only way for him to be freed from the curse?
While things were more or less moving along elsewhere, the people of Hogsmeade had other problems to deal with. A group of bored noblemen calling themselves - the Marauders – had set their eyes on the picturesque village and had started to harass the villagers, especially the young half-blood apothecary, Severus Snape. The harassment had started int their childhood as they’d all attended Hogwarts. The feud began after they had been sorted into their houses – Gryffindor and Slytherin. Severus’ friendship with a young muggleborn girl and her family irked James Potter – one of the ringleaders. But alas, Lily Evans was a loyal friend – a firebrand, and she was not willing to give up on the boy who had opened the doors of knowledge for her, regarding magic.
Of course, it helped that her family looked on Severus like he was another family member. For it was only due to his potions knowledge that her family survived a dangerous pandemic. The Evans family fully supported Severus and his mother after his muggle sire – Tobias, had been killed in an accident in the local mill in Cokeworth. Tobias’ death had been the reason that both families left Cokeworth and moved to Scotland. An incident with one of the children and accidental magic ensured that the blocked magical core of the Evans family was freed. Eileen Prince loved to teach them about magical culture, traditions and laws, while the Evans family helped Eileen understand the strange customs of the muggle world.
To avoid additional grievances with the bored nobles, Severus decided to apprentice with a local apothecary – Mr. Solomon Merryweather, after the school agreed to let him take his OWLS and NEWTS during his 5th year. Mr. Merryweather was not only one of the most famous Scottish Potions Masters, but he was also an excellent wards-smith, which was another skill he enjoyed teaching his young apprentice. No one with malicious intent was able to step over the threshold of the apothecary. It was one of the few places that offered sanctuary to Severus, where he could study in peace and quiet without having to fear any trouble caused by the Marauders.
Mr. Merryweather was also Severus’ stepfather. He had begun to court Eileen even before Severus started his schooling at Hogwarts and he had decided to offer his stepson advanced lessons. Merryweather knew that he wanted to keep the apothecary within then family, and he intended that Severus be prepared. Io and behold he was not disappointed as at 17 years old, Severus became the youngest Potions Master in centuries.
The Evans family had opened an inn. However, due to their problems with the Marauders, they – along with many other shop owners, had to set up new wards to keep them out. Things weren’t always easy but luckily the staff members helped them establish new, stronger wards. Hogsmeade was viewed as part of the school, therefore the villagers’ safety and neutrality were paramount.
The Marauders harassment was all for nothing as Severus had never even been interested in girls. He viewed Petunia and Lily as cousins – overbearing busybodies for sure, but beloved cousins. They each even call the others’ parents ‘aunt’ & ‘uncle’. Unfortunately, it seemed as if James Potter and his goons were too thick to see the truth.
The Marauders should have had something other than harassing the villagers of Hogsmeade occupying their minds. For one thing, Sirius Black had managed to be kicked out of his own family due to his immaturity and poor behaviour and had been moved to the Potter estate. He was only able to inherit a small portion of the fortune from his late uncle Alphard. The majority of that fortune had ended up as a dowry for Andromeda Tonks née Black and her future daughters. Andromeda had married a muggleborn who had served in the Royal Guard before being honourably discharged after returning from the war. Active soldiers were not allowed to marry however, the Crown saw fit to gift him with a small estate near Hogsmeade and helped him study to become a healer after his discharge. Andromeda had specialised in midwifery and infants, while her husband became one of the most famous wizard surgeons.
Sirius’ grandfather – Lord Arcturus Black, had generously allowed Sirius to keep his legal name and his trust vault along with all his clothing and personal items that had been obtained before his majority. Nothing more. The vaults of his family and the family estates and all heirlooms were forever out of his reach. His offspring would also be unable to claim anything that belonged to the Ancient and Noble House of Black. In yet another scandal, Sirius refused to enlist in the military in service to the Crown as was usual for the nobility.
Lord Potter’s family had long since broken their ties to the Crown and had no problem accepting Sirius as a foster son. They even gave him a job as groundskeeper for their main estate – though the majority of the duties still rested on the shoulders of the senior groundskeeper and would likely remain that way for the next two decades or so. Time which the bored nobles used to make nuisances of themselves.
The Marauders had – unsuccessfully, tried to gain admittance to the exclusive Auror Academy, but they were denied entry. This only fuelled their anger which they then took out on the locals. Had the Marauders been paying attention instead of causing mischief and mayhem, they might have noticed that one of their number was making plans for bigger and better things and intended to win the best prize. And their friend had no intention of sharing the spoils.
Peter Pettigrew was the only son of a poor noble family, who had lost the majority of their wealth due to an ancestor with a gambling addiction. This ancestor had made the mistake of trying to hook up with the betrothed maiden of a powerful local duke. This resulted in the entire family line being cursed for the next ten generations. The curse was meant to enhance all of their flaws…including greed and paired these flaws with bad luck. The curse could only be broken if a member of the family found the courage to make amends to both families and was willing to go on a quest for the Goblins that would restore their family honour. Only then would their inheritance be returned to the family line along with their family grimoire which had been entrusted to the Gringotts Goblins. Needless to say, the curse was still in force and was quite powerful as most of the Pettigrew family had no desire to deal with the Goblins.
Peter — who had yearned for recognition, a huge fortune and vast lands, had been surprisingly lucky in his young life. He had, after all, been invited to become a part of the notorious Marauders. Even more surprising was how easily he could influence the other three members of the group without them having a clue. He had even become quite an accomplished spy using his animagus form – a brown gutter rat, to sniff out information which he used for his personal gain. He was in his form when he uncovered an astonishing secret.
Peter could not believe what he had learned when he discovered that Severus wore a glamour to hide his true looks and his gender, and that Severus was in fact a male bearer. After being fortunate enough to see Severus without his glamour, the rat was determined that this beautiful prince would be his…no matter what it took. Peter thought that his being triumphant in a quest for the Goblins should be helpful in accomplishing this. Especially when he got his friends to accompany him. Of course, Peter planned that he would be the only Marauder that was alive at the end of the quest. It should be quite easy to get the others drunk and have them sign a document – using a blood quill, making Peter their only heir.
Peter had decided to locate a legendary pendant that was rumoured to force a male bearer to submit to the holder of the pendant. The male bearer would be unable to refuse or reject the holder of the pendant, and this was exactly what Peter would need to finally stake his claim on his prize. Peter was extremely keen to succeed in his quest. He knew for certain that he would never be able to keep Severus for himself if any of the other Marauders were to learn the truth, and he would do everything in his power to prevent them from doing so. James and Sirius were much too arrogant to allow such a temptation to escape their clutches and Lupin’s werewolf would be able to recognise a fertile male who was able to give him babies that would not be affected by his curse.
Remus Lupin was the son of an infamous werewolf hunter and Defence Against the Dark Arts Master – John Lyall Lupin. Remus had been bitten by the ruthless Alpha werewolf, Fenrir Greyback when he was a small boy - not yet five years old. The attack had been an act of vengeance against Remus’ father. Greyback had once saved John Lupin’s life during an extremely dangerous storm, however, John refused to accept that he owed a life debt to a filthy dark creature. John used his tracking skills to find Greyback’s lair and brutally slaughtered every single soul within the camp – but that wasn’t the worst of his crimes. Unfortunately, he encountered Greyback’s beautiful mate and their small son, and tortured and raped them both before impaling them to the ground with silver stakes and chains and burning them alive.
It had been said that this was the reason why Greyback turned into an insane beast. The shock and horror of losing his mate and his child - along with the rest of his pack, sent him out of his mind. He tracked down Lupin’s family and abducted Remus before turning him. As a small act of mercy, he first fed Remus an herbal tea to sedate him. Greyback also marked him with his claws signifying that Remus was his heir. The Alpha had been able to smell that Remus had been infected with a deadly illness which could only be defeated by the Lycanthropy virus. It was the reason why Greyback started to hunt children, as the strange illness had appeared out of the blue – but for unknown reasons, it only infected children. Those few who survived lost any will to stand up against bullies and became mindless sycophants. The only exception was if they were turned into werewolves as very young children. Then the disease couldn’t take root in their young minds. Greyback then prepared to take his new heir and cross the Channel with his precious cargo, Lupin’s hunters caught up with them and forced Greyback to run lest he risk Remus’ life.
The strange illness had actually been intentionally spread. It had been another of Albion’s favourite methods to weaken the citizens of his future realms. Any survivors of the illness would be 100% loyal to Albion and his family. They would never realise that they were nothing more than sleeper agents just waiting on the signal to attack.
John had never forgiven Remus for messing up his life, and from the day of his infection forward, he treated the boy as an unwanted bastard. Beatings were common, and Remus was given only meagre rations and rags for clothing. Remus’ mother – a beautiful painter known as Hope Lowell, was no longer allowed to interact with her son. Married to a pureblood wizard, Hope was totally dependent on John, and his wards made her a prisoner on the small estate.
For years, Remus had been forced to act like the family dog. A strong glamour and warding charms ensured that nobody would even remember that John had a son. Circumstances only changed once the boy had received an invitation to attend Hogwarts after the resident Potions Master – Damocles Belby, created the Wolfsbane Potion. Belby was interested in teaching young Remus how to harvest potion ingredients.
John became an insane and violent drunk who often raged about how much he would enjoy exterminating all werewolves on the British Isles, and have their pelts turned into winter clothes for those in high society. Life was so hard for him that Remus had started to believe that he had been condemned to hell. But just like all boys, he continued to grow and develop and soon enough, he experienced puberty. When he dared to explore his sexual urges, he was faced with yet another cruel beating from his father, who he was forced to call Master Lupin – he called his mother, Mistress Lupin.
Remus’ parents had died during his 5th year at Hogwarts, and he became a ward of the school. But he still spent most of his holidays with the Marauders. He and Peter lost their virginity to James and Sirius who enjoyed using them as constant stress relievers. The two boys had long ago learned to just accept it since – as long as they didn’t fight against it, James and Sirius would allow them to be properly stretched and lubed instead of being taken dry and risking tearing and infections.
This was one of the reasons that Remus hadn’t dared to try and stop the two malicious nobles from sexually harassing Severus on the day of their DADA OWL. It just wasn’t worth the punishment. He had later consoled his guilty conscious with the thought that at least they hadn’t gone the whole way. They had only removed his trousers and pants…nothing more. Besides, Lily ‘Firebrand’ Evans had put an early stop to their fun and hexed them without mercy. She punished them with the testicle twister, blue balls and a babbling spell. And they were unable to use their wands without confessing their latest crime to the headmaster and the staff.
But why did Remus think that Severus smelled like ripe peaches and make him want to explore the naked, trembling body that had been in front of him? He could not explain it, but since it was the last time Severus was seen at school and since the apothecary had been warded against them, he hadn’t been able to figure it out.
And now this – rumours of a dangerous rogue dragon being sighted near Hogsmeade. It was obvious that James and Sirius thought it all sounded like a daring adventure, but the dragon had burned their amours to a crisp and people had been badly injured with scars that would not heal. Fear began to take root within the area. Some of the more cowardly groups even suggested that they attempt to appease the dragon with virgin sacrifices. After all, didn’t those muggle myths confirm that this worked every time? At the very least, perhaps it would help to distract the dragon so that there was time to try and figure out a way to execute him. Even if the virgin that was sacrificed did not survive the ordeal – it was all for the Greater Good.
Some suggested that a delegation be sent to the Royal Court to request assistance. Alas, the distance between Hogsmeade and London was too much. Apparition into the fortified capital had become impossible over the last twenty years. Those who had managed to land in Oxford would not be able to enter the town or receive an audience at the Royal Palace without the proper documents.
Peter suggested that they not poke a sleeping dragon and offered another option for adventure instead. He knew that any hint of an adventure would quickly gain their attention. He suggested that they go on a quest for Goblins. Goblins were known for returning favours…and also knowing how to tame dragons.
Of course, what no one knew was that the Royal Court already knew about their predicament, and that an elite team of the King’s personal guard was on the way to Hogsmeade, led by King Albus I and his advisor, Gellert. A Vision had terrified them. It showed that the cursed king could be freed from the curse if they did not reach Hogsmeade before Samhain. A submissive male bearer was living in the village, and he was the key to breaking the curse. That could not be allowed to happen.
But nothing spoke against claiming this precious treasure for the Royal Harem, and finally killing the dragon. Twenty years should have been more than enough time to enjoy his suffering, and the dead dragon’s head could be mounted in the audience hall to serve as a clear warning to any rebellious group. The dragon’s skin would be used for new armour to protect the king and advisor against any assassination attempts.