A/N: DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ ANY OF MY OTHER HARRY POTTER STORIES OR HAVE READ MY PROFILE. THE AU THEME IS EXPLAINED IN MY PROFILE. BEFORE READING THIS YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT MOST OF THE CHARACTERS ARE NOT HUMAN. IT HAS ALL BEEN EXPLAINED IN MY OTHER HARRY POTTER STORIES AND IN MY PROFILE. I WILL NOT BE EXPLAINING IT AGAIN. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ME REVIEWS TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON. I WILL NOT ANSWER THEM.
For everyone else, thank you for clicking on my new story and please enjoy!
Just Another Brick in the Wall
Chapter One
It is common place in a Royal Pagan family for the father to be distant and at times cruel. This goes back to the very beginning of the Juarez clan. Ivan Ward had little time to spare for his eldest son James. The time Ivan did spend with his son he used to criticize James. As James grew and had children of his own he became the same cold and distant father that his father was.
This characteristic traveled down from father to son, mother to daughter until it came to Richard and his youngest son, James. James was the youngest of his four siblings. He should not have had to deal with his father's cruelty. Had it not been for his eldest brother Joseph he would not have. Joseph was everything that Richard wanted his heir to be: clever, strong, handsome, and kind. But Joseph fell in love with the High Queen. While Richard was happy that the Juarez's would finally be High Royalty, he was still upset that Joseph would not be taking his throne.
So Richard looked to the second eldest, Tina Juarez. But Tina was a judge. In fact she was the first Pagan in history to be a judge and princess at the same time. She loved her job and refused the crown, much to her father's chagrin. Richard then looked to the oldest of his twin sons, Arthur. Arthur was the Dien Representative in the House. With a sad shake of his head, Arthur refused the crown, stating the fact that his position was for life. Richard asked the other of the twins, Mario, but he refused as well. He said that a life in politics did not suit him, all he wanted was peace and quiet with his young wife. The last of Richard's children was the one son he openly disliked the most.
James.
Richard was one of three children. He was the middle child. His older brother was Prince James the 17th. James was ripe and ready to take the crown, when quite unexpectedly he fell in love with a faerie girl. He had to choose between the crown and his lover. He chose his lover. With great reluctance, James let Richard take the crown. Richard had always wanted to be king and was very happy when his brother was unable to take the crown. You see, James Juarez the 17th was not allowed to break the High Law, and High Law dictated that all royalty must marry within their species to keep the line pure. That did not keep James from being jealous of his younger brother, and certainly did not keep him from being unusually cruel to Richard either.
Naming his youngest son James was not Richard's idea, but his wife's. Desdemona Bloom was a general in Richard's army when he met her. They fell in love and she left her position to become his wife. Desdemona was a smart Dien and quickly noticed the tension between Richard and his brother. She hoped to relieve some of that tension by naming her youngest son James. She never thought that James would be king and hoped that Richard would not be as hard on him because James was his son. She hoped in vain.
Richard was just as cold and indifferent to his son as he was to his brother, while poor little James only wanted to please his father. He tried everything to be good enough for him, but nothing was good enough. By the age of five, James stopped trying. In his search for something to please his father he found his true passion.
The military.
James loved everything about the military. He felt battle was an art that few people see the right way. James thought that battle was a carefully organized dance, where the main objective is to destroy one's partner. He realized that battle was deadly, bloody and down right bad, but he just could not keep himself from thinking about it. In James' young mind all battles were fought for some greater purpose. He had dreams of glory, glory so great that his father would have to be proud of him. He wanted not just glory, but to somehow make the lives of the people better.
In a purposefully malicious act, Richard gave over his crown to James when his son was only eleven years old. He hoped that James would be overwhelmed by the position. He was wrong.
James excelled immediately. He gained the trust and love of his people within the first five years of his reign. He improved the standard of living so vastly that when he raised the taxes, people hardly noticed.
When asked where the extra money was going, James just smiled. In fact, he was building up the army. Though he had grown and learned that not all battles were fought for some greater good, he would not stop hoping he could make the lives of all the Dien better.
For some reason, James did not make his move into battle until after he was married, one hundred thirty-nine years after he was crowned. It may seem like a long time, and it is, but it must be understood that James' father was a bachelor king for four hundred years. By all accounts he was rather young when he got married.
--
When Mrs. Claire Donelly found herself pregnant, she panicked. The father of her illegitimate child had been a human, Cormac Evans, and he was not her husband. More importantly, she had not waited to get the Appeal before having intercourse with her mortal lover. So far they had gone unnoticed, but that could only last so long.
Claire had one daughter with her husband, Petunia Donelly. She was afraid for herself, her lover, and her children. Taking all of these things into account, Claire hid her pregnancy from everyone and once her daughter was born, she gave the child up for adoption. Not a month after that, Claire and Cormac were found out. Cormac was put to death and Claire died in jail shortly after that from a broken heart. Claire had named her daughter Lily Claire Evans.
Lily was a beautiful baby. She did not cry or fuss. Her angelic face was surrounded by soft red curls, and her porcelain skin was peppered ever so lightly with freckles. It was all of these traits that enticed a lonely old Dien, named Auberon Belden, to adopt her at the young age of nine months.
Adelaide Black was a single Siren woman. When she found herself pregnant, to say she was surprised was an understatement. For fear of her father's wrath, she gave up the child, but not before naming him after her favorite star, Sirius.
Sirius had a handsome face, even as a baby. He was not what one would call a good child though. Unlike Lily, he cried all the time. But most of all he fussed for more food. It was the mischievous glint in Sirius' eye that drew Auberon to him. Sirius was adopted the same day as Lily.
Alice Clowes was the runt of her Lycan pack. She was well looked after by her mate, but she knew that he could not protect her and the child growing in her womb. She wanted her child to be born with a clean slate and she knew that would never happen if he were born within her pack. To give her son the chance he deserved, she left her only child on the door step of an orphanage with a letter indicating the child's name. The agony of losing her only child caused Alice to lose her footing and fall off a cliff with no real effort to save her life. She named her son Remus Lupin.
Remus was a lively baby. With pale complexion and intelligent eyes. Remus was a baby that only cried when necessary. It was his endearing laugh and generous hugs that drove Auberon to take him home.
Auberon Belden owned a small apartment building that he managed alone. It was not his intention to remain unmarried, life just sort of happened that way. But Auberon was not one to settle for something that he did not like, and he did not like being alone. So he decided that if he could not have a wife, he would have a child. Upon entering the orphanage he had not intended to leave with three babies in his arms. But once he gazed upon Lily's gorgeous green orbs, Sirius' chubby pink cheeks, and Remus' delicate demeanor he could not resist them. That day the lonely apartment manager became the father of three very different, very special, very young little babies.
--
James had been king for one hundred and thirty-nine years and had fallen into a familiar rhythm. If he slept he would wake very early in the morning, take a refreshing walk through the indoor garden, perhaps have something to eat, and then take on whatever problem faced him that day.
It seemed to the people of Tunisia that no female could possibly fit perfectly with their perfect king. But James knew that somewhere there was someone who was just right for him.
His father pressured him to find a wife and have some children. In his constant effort to be worthy of his father's love, James searched high and low for his match. But she was no where to be found. Little did James know that this was because she had not been born yet.
When James realized why his father was so adamant that he marry, he pulled even farther away from his cold father. James comprehended that his father only wanted him to marry and have children so that James would no longer be king. James had already dwarfed his father. The people of Tunisia would only remember Richard as being the father of their great King James. In hopes of preserving the tenderness his mother had instilled in him, James no longer listened to his father. Instead he focused on improving the kingdom and building the army.
It was not one week after James made that decision that a beautiful, red haired orphan walked straight into her king.