Preparing for the Banquet

Pain, anguish, despair.

Throughout all of his lives, Alaric has become intimately familiar with the dark parts of being human, he has felt true pain, sorrow, and anger.

Despite this fact, he still was being run ragged to the point of wanting to just cut his losses and wait for the next reincarnation.

'How the hell can this she-devil keep a fucking smile on her face as she tortures us day in and day out!' screamed Alaric in his mind as he was learning how to stand with the proper posture and how to do the perfect bow and how to dance perfectly and blah blah blah.

*Whack*

"Gah! what now!" yelled Aalric pain

"Your shoulders are sagging, and you have this rubbish look on your face."

"you as the heir to one of, if not, the most powerful wizarding houses in Britain must always maintain a prim and proper facade," explained Helen with her usual impassive look

'you can go shove prim and proper down your arse-

*pop*

"Helen, give the boy a break, he is only seven years old, let him live a little first." exclaimed the man who just apparated into the grand hall of the manor.

Standing in front of Alaric was a tall well groomed man with broad shoulders and a professional air to him. He wore the generic butler outfit and stood with a perfect posture. the man had dark hair that was greying with age, and a similar dark grey beard to match.

One thing that Alaric quickly noticed, was the man carried with him a walking cane but seemed to be of ample health, that was when he realized that from within the cane, he could feel a strong condensed core of magic

'Ah, I see, the cane acts as his magical focus.'

The man who just appeared to relieve Alaric of his hellish training was the family's head butler, Daniel Mcleod. a Scottish man who was around the same age as Alaric's grandfather.

(Picture of Daniel --->)

Daniel and Theodoric were both friends and housemates during their time in

Hogwarts, both of them were sorted into Slytherin and quickly became friends.

At first, Daniel had a hard time fitting into Slytherin due to him being a muggle-born, but with the help of Theodoric, he quickly acclimated to the life of a wizard.

Over the years they developed a brotherly bond, after Theodoric learned of his father and brothers' deaths at the hands of Grindelwald supporters, Daniel was right by his side when he declared his support for dumbledore's side.

Ever since then, the two have stayed close and Daniel even became not only the head butler of the Reinhardt Estate but also Theodoric's personal assistant, Daniel even runs multiple businesses for the family on the muggle side of things.

Besides Theodoric, Daniel has the most power within the family, even more power and influence than Osric.

Even those blood-supremacist idiots have to give him the well-earned respect he deserves due to not only his business savvy but also his dueling capabilities.

"What brings you here Daniel?" asked Helen with a tad annoyed tone at being interrupted during her "teaching"

"Theo had asked me to bring young Alaric here to him." replied the butler with a curt nod

'It seems these two don't exactly like each other, hmm, how can I use this to my advantage?' thought Alaric while scheming how to permanently escape from the monstrous housekeeper Helen

a few moments of uncomfortable silence played out as the two head servants stared at each other, one with a stern look and the other with an amused smile.

"Fine." was all Helen said before she disapparated away to get back to her duties as the head housekeeper

*pop*

"Sigh, I swear that woman is sometimes too serious for her own good," Daniel said while shaking his head

"What did my grandfather call me for?" asked Alaric curiously

"Ah, he wanted to speak to you about some of the children who would be in attendance as well as to warn you about who you should be wary of and who you should try your best to completely avoid." replied the butler with a war smile towards the young heir

--Theodoric's Study--

*pop*

"I've brought Alaric." bowed Daniel

"Thank you, Daniel."

"My pleasure."

*pop*

"Alaric, come, have a seat, my boy." Theodric gestured to Alaric with his hand toward one of the chairs in front of his desk

"What is it grandfather?" asked Alaric with a feigned nervous expression

"Well, as you know in a couple of months your sister will be having her coming-of-age ball since she turns eleven soon and will officially enter Hogwarts and become a witch."

'Ah, a Debutante Ball huh, it seems the custom has changed somewhat through the years.' thought Alaric

"With that being said there will be many people there who only wish to further their standing in society and to do that they will send their children to mingle with you and might even approach you themselves."

"Although I would like to avoid that happening, I know that it is practically impossible unless you just don't go, which as the heir will not be an option," Theodric said with a difficult expression

"Um, grandfather, may I ask, why am I the heir when Sofia is older than me?"

"And what about uncle Osric?" asked Alaric

Although Alaric already knew the answer to these questions, he wanted to see if the custom had changed any since it was put in place or if it has stayed the same since he created it over two millennia ago

"Well, the second one is an easy question, your uncle Osric has foregone his right to becoming the heir, he would rather live his life as he sees fit."

"The reason why Sofia was passed up as the heir in favor of you however, I'm afraid is due to customs that had been set way before either you or even my time."

"Usually yes, regardless of gender the eldest Child would succeed the head of the house, but your situation is a special one. you see when a child like you is born and inherits the name of Alaric, that usually is all they need to be the undisputed heir, however. hence why you were named the heir directly after your birth, meaning even your own father was passed up in favor of you, something he was completely fine with." said Theodirc with a smile while reminiscing about his fallen son

'hm, so the custom still remains the same, good to know.' though Alaric

This custom of succession was something he set up during his life as Alaric I, he created this custom due to the off chance of if he was ever born as the younger child of the current head, similar to his situation now.

Alaric had grown tired of the constant fighting that came with being the younger son of a powerful tribe and clan, so to counteract that, he made the current rules of succession.

"Enough about that,m what I called you here for was t tell you that in light of the situation you will face, I have decided to have you begin learning occlumency."

When Alaric heard this he couldn't help but perk up.

"I see you've read about the mind arts haven't you?" chuckled Theodoric

"Haha, yes grandfather," Alaric said with a weak laugh

"So who will be my teacher then?"

*pop*

"That would be my job, young Alaric," replied Daniel as he just apparated back into the study as if he was waiting to make a grand entrance

'Anyone is better than Helen.' Alaric thought while a shiver went down his spine

--Reinhardt Manor, three weeks later--

'I was so fucking wrong!'

Although it had only been a few weeks since the training started, Daniel had been like an instructor from hell towards Alaric.

sometimes he was even worse than Helen and yet he never laid a physical hand on Alaric in contrast to Helen's way of teaching, no, instead he opted for more of a mental punishment.

Daniel didn't subject Alaric to mental torture or anything bad like that, all he did was use his gifts as a natural legilimens, to constantly play the most annoying sound known to man in Alaric's head during his training to help him protect his mind.

The sound? why, what would be worse than the sounds of nails being dragged across a chalkboard?

"Alright, that has been enough rest, now, let's get back to it."

"Noooooooooooo!"

The sounds of a distressed child were all that could be heard throughout the manor for hours on end.

--Two months later, a few hours before the beginning of the party--

Alaric was currently being dressed in his new suit and tie in preparation for the banquet that was about to be held in honor of his sister.

'I have to admit, although his training methods are atrocious, Daniel sure does get the job done though Alaric

'Although I'm nowhere near proficient enough to completely hold out from a mental attack from more experienced wizards, I at least would be able to tell when someone is trying t probe my mind, along with the benefit of now being able to sort through and organize all of my past memories.'

As Alaric was awoken from his thoughts, the two maids who were tasked with getting him dressed were finished.

"The young master sure does clean up well," whispered one of the maids to the other

"Yes, he sure does, shh he's coming this way."

As Alaric walked out of the room, he acted like he couldn't hear the two brief conversations but due to the naturally enhanced characteristics of his bloodline, he could easily make out what they were saying.

'You're damn right I clean up well'

As Alaric was walking toward his sister's room to go mess with her for a bit with his magic, he heard the distinctive sound of the front doors bell going off.

Before any of the servants could get the door, he decided to do it himself.

Once he opened the door, Alaric caught sight of the two people on the other side of the door, a man who looked to be in his late thirties and a young boy around two years younger than Alaric.

"Well hello there young man, I'm assuming you're Alaric going off of your looks and age?" asked the man

The man who asked Alaric the question was a man of average build, he stood around 180 cm tall, a good 9 cm shorter than Alaric's grandfather.

The man sported dark hair and steel blue eyes, and standing next to him was a boy who had the same dark hair as the man, which Alaric assumed meant they were father and son, but one peculiarity was the boy's eye color.

Instead of having the same steel blue eyes as his father, the boy had a pair of dark golden eyes that were on the verge of being amber-colored.

(Picture of the man --->)

(Picture of the boy --->)

'Hm, the boy must be related to me somehow.' thought Alaric

"Alaric who is at the door- oh, hello Louis, and this must be Silas, it sure has been a while since I've seen you," said Theodric as he came to the door to see who it was.

"It's good to see you again sir." said the man now identified as Louis

"h-hello g-grandpa," Silas said meekly towards Theodoric

"Hello, Silas," replied Theodoric with a soft smile

"It's nice to meet you, uncle Louis," said Alaric who by now had realized who the father-son duo was.

The man and child in front of him were Louis Duval Jr and Alaric's cousin through his aunt Alyson Reinhardt who passed away a few years ago, Silas Duval, Hence the golden, almost amber-colored eyes.

--A few hours later in the living room of the Manor--

Alaric during the past few hours had come to know more about the Duval duo, for starters they are the last of a relatively ancient norman Wizarding House who, like the Malfoys, their apparent rivals, came to the British isles along with the Norman invaders in the mid 11th century.

During the conversation, Louis and Alaric's grandfather were having, he remembered something from a long time ago.

In his past life as Alaric III, towards the end of his time when he brought his family to the Isles during the war of the roses, one of the men who welcomed them, was a wizard in the service of King Henry Tudor, by the name of Charles Duval.

'He was quite the kind fellow, it's nice to see he still has descendants running around, as limited in number they may be.'

Shortly after Theodric and Louis's conversation was over, the doorbell rang out and the guests of the banquet started filling the grand hall, where Alaric's grandfather coupled with Daniel led them to.

As the banquet was in full swing, Aalric was off minding his own business when a certain pompous, blonde-haired, brat came up to him.

"Hello, my name is Draco, Draco Malfoy." said the seven-year-old brat with his chest puffed out.

'For fuck sake' thought Alaric while mentally banging his head against the wall

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Authors note:

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