Chapter 166: Marquis

Suddenly one of the walls opposite to Harry crumbled in and dust flew into the air, Harry acted more on reflects as he jumped back while something came galloping in.

Harry had to avoid that massive horn like spear that came at him as he took in what stood before him.

Harry had to crane his neck up and them up some more before he took in that single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from the creature's forehead, those massive wings that were folded in, those powerful cloven hooves that struck down on the earth, that long flowing grey silky mane and that goat's beard, and those fearsome eyes that stared at him.

Harry knew right away what the creature that stood before him was... an Alicorn.

Alicorns were a legendary creature that had great magical powers, they were sometimes confused with their lesser descendants the unicorn which were much more popular and prevalent in folklore.

"I knew I sensed someone here within the family palace," the Alicorn spoke up and that was when Harry knew that creature must be very old.

Only magical creatures that have lived for so long are able to develop human speech. So Harry concluded this creature was also wise and that meant he could come to an understanding with it.

But before he could do that, the creature let loose a puff of smoke from its nostril and shouted, "Die intruder!"

Suddenly magical light began to gather at the horn tip of the alicorn and then as suddenly as it started coalescing the pure bright light shot out in a large wide beam out of Alicorn's horn.

"Fuck," Harry swore, what was it with him and getting attacked when he came upon his new estates. Shaking his head wryly, Harry dodged the beam, and kicked himself off the wall and landed on the Alicorn's back.

That was when the Alicorn started panicking, but Harry held on tightly while shouted, "Woah, woah, calm down, calm down. Do you know who I am?"

The Alicorn was having none of that as it kept on shooting beans from its horn, making long furrows on the wall and ground it struck. Sighing, Harry saw he was left with no choice, with one single motion Harry karate chopped the Alicorn right in its head making it go down bonelessly.

Getting off the mythical creature, Harry stood over it waiting for it to come through and when it finally did, he asked. "Are you done now?"

"Who are you?" the Alicorn asked as it tried to get up, but Harry brought out his wand and held it before its face.

"Try anything and you will go night-night again. Am I clear?" Harry asked. Slowly the Alicorn nodded its head, and Harry put away his wand. "The name is Harry Potter, Lord of House Potter."

"Potter?" the Alicorn muttered to itself as it clearly recognized that name. "Oh…" it said as it hung its head, "I… I didn't mean to act so haste. The Potters have always been very close."

"Yeah, and did I forget to add I am also the new Lord of House Peverell!" Harry chuckled softly as he enjoyed very much that look that passed through the Alicorn's face.

"I should get you to the Matriarch, fast. We have thought the Peverell line was extinct, but a new lord, that is some very good news!" the Alicorn said all at once as he tried to calm down but failed spectacularly. "Let me tell them about your arrival," he said as with his Magic Sight Harry could see the Alicorn sent out a pulse wave from his horn tip.

Once he was down he said as he spread its wings wide, "Come on hop aboard."

"The Matriarch," Harry muttered as he jumped on the Alicorn's back as it took to the air. "I take it she is the leader of the Alicorns."

"One of," the Alicorn classified. "There are two Matriarchs, and let's just say that they do not really get along."

"Interesting," Harry said as they darted high up into the sky. Looking about, Harry wondered out loud, "Where exactly is this Alicorn sanctuary?" He knew every family of note had a safe haven for their family beasts and creatures where they could safely breed and call home.

Along the way he saw none of that, there was no great herd of Unicorns or Thestrals that the Peverell family was known for. Harry heard the Alicorn chuckle, "We are going up!"

Pushing forward, they broke through the clouds high above and Harry gaped with what he saw.

There was a actual cloud city before him, cascading rainbow waterfall on the side and the golden rays of the sun shining down. He could see some Alicorns swooping high in the sky and some unicorn racing across the clouds. This was indeed a very great working by the Peverell family!

"Welcome to Cloudsdale," the Alicorn declared as he flew towards the city. He passed by the many landmarks that dotted the city which was more of a open communal place then a human city with open fields of clouds and flowing streams of rainbows.

The only human like structure was at the center which was basically a miniature replica of the Peverell palace. That was where the male Alicorn set him down, in a large balcony which a entourage of a mix of Alicorns and Unicorns came to stand.

Then the biggest Alicorn that harry had seen of yet stepped out into the balcony, she was flanked by Alicorns in armor and the one at the lead shouted. "Introducing, Queen Celestia!"

The Alicorn smiled down at Harry as her long silky rainbow mane flowed in the wind and with her tiara set firmly on her head. "I heard from Bojack that he was bringing up the new Lord of House Peverell."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Harry inclined his head, but didn't bow since they stood at equal footing. "My name is Harry Potter, Lord of House Potter and Peverell!" he declared as he flashed his Lordship ring.

"Of course, I see now, there have been many marriages between both houses. It is obvious now that a Potter would inherit," the Alicorn nodded her head.

"Yes, but everything is in ruins. The palace and this sanctuary is all that remains and some gold, but other than that everything is gone down stream of time."

"I do have some good news," the Alicorn queen uttered with a wane smile. "The family grimoire was left to me for safekeeping."

Staring at her, Harry wondered how old that made her; centuries upon centuries old clearly.

"Well then," Harry said as he was about to hold out his hand for the grimoire until the skies started to darken. It was as if a thunderstorm came rolling in from nowhere, but very quickly Harry was able to spot who was the cause of the sudden meteorology shift.

Where as Queen Celestia was a pure white Alicorn with golden horn and multi colored mane, this Alicorn was pure dark with black wings and purple mane. There was an entourage of Alicorns and Thestral with her that came swooping down crowding the balcony.

"Sister," the dark Alicorn smiled.

"Luna," Celestia briskly nodded her head. "What brings you here," she asked in a icily tone which was very different the polite and courteous tone she had with him.

"Well I am here to meet our new lord just like you, sister," Luna answered.

"Alright," Harry said as he held out both hands, "this, whatever it is, ends now! There will no feuding among my own people!" Turning to face the dark alicorn, Harry uttered, "Well meet, Queen Luna, I take it! Now Queen Celestia," Harry turned back to the white alicorn, "if you have the grimoire I thank you for safekeeping it for all those years. But now I require it if I want any chance to rebuild this House!"

"I like a human who takes charge and knows what he is about," Queen Luna chuckled softly.

"I can't do that," Celestia said with a shake of her massive head.

"Why?" Harry asked as he narrowed his eyes, the grimoire was of no use to the Alicorn Queen. How wizards and magical beasts use magic is different, while wizards and witches learn how to use and apply magic, for magical beasts it comes to them naturally. It depends on their bloodline what sort of magic they could use.

"It is not that I am refusing you the Grimoire, but the ancestors of House Peverell put in certain conditions. Only with their acknowledgment could you obtain the grimoire."

"So its a test of sorts," Harry connected the dots.

"Correct, we can not just hand over the grimiore to whoever says they are the Lord of House Peverell. No they must prove themselves," Queen Luna smiled.

"Alright I am running on a busy schedule so let do this thing right now," Harry said. He wasn't really worried about this being a life a death situation. The ancestors of House Peverell clearly would like someone to bring their family back to glory so they wouldn't make this a death trap, but they would of course test his metal.

There were plenty of inheritances of great wizards and witches of the past, ancient houses that have fallen long ago, or powerful wizarding civilizations like Babylon, Camelot, or Atlantis littered throughout the world all ripe for the picking if only you could claim it. And inheritances tend to be either nefarious or righteous in purpose.

Those that are nefarious are either trying to bring down as many people as they could with those wizards or witches entombed, or are haunted with creatures twisted with ambient magic, or are trying to resurrect the practitioner aforementioned with blood sacrifice or some sort of nasty rituals.

Those that are righteous on the other hand are trying to pass down the legacy of the aforementioned practitioner or are testing grounds for descendants and disciples.

"Come with me," Queen Celestia said.

Flying high over the palace surrounded by the lake, everyone came to a stop there with Harry on Bojack's back.

"You see that lake," Queen Celestia uttered, "deep in its depths you will find the Peverell family grimoire, but be careful it is guarded by something very dangerous and vicious, a past experiment of a old family head so it doesn't take kindly to any Peverell family member or for that matter anyone at all."

"Now this will be fun to watch," Luna smiled.

Looking down at the murky depth, Harry sighed and then begin to remove his shirt and kick off his shoes, storing them in his Lordship ring. "I will see you back in the top then," Harry saluted to them as h jumped off Bojack back while they were hundreds of feet in the air. Mid leap he took up a diving pose and dipped into the lake with barely a splash.

It took a while for Harry's eyes to adjust in the dark waters, the lake was freezing cold but with all the physical enchantments spells he cast on himself he was able to weather through it.

Suddenly Harry felt something move on his left, he spun around as quickly as he could but all he was able to catch was a flash of a luminescent afterglow. It didn't take a genius to know that something was with in in the lake.

Pulling out his brand new wand and the spellblade of House Gryffindor, Harry stood at the ready. Let whatever was in the water come to him instead of wasting his time on chasing it and getting ambushed from out of nowhere.

With a burst of bubbly water something reared its ugly head up, it was green oily scaled with a mouthful of jagged sharp teeth with a narrow body that seemed to stretch on forever with long dorsal and anal fins. Its pale large eyes turned on him as it opened its mouth to let loose a loud roar.

Harry looked like a tiny dot right next to the monster, but still he grinned savagely and shouted or at least tried to, "Come on you ugly montherfucker!"

High above in the sky the Alicorns bore witness to a strange sight indeed. All they could see was the water roiling down below and the occasional roar that broke through the surface. All of them shared a look with each other unsure what to say until finally something broke through the surface of the water.

It was the massive carcass of the eel which large gashes criss crossing all over its body that spilled galleons of blood into the lake. Soon a much smaller figure soon broke through the surface and in their hand was a massive tome that was bound by chains in his hand.

"Care to give me a hand," Harry shouted as he wiped back his hair from his eyes.

[A/N: Yawn, at this point you know Harry is OP, but if you want to see a interesting and more intricate inheritance let me know. I will pull up all my wuxia and cultivation knowledge!]

"I see that you defeated the guardian," Celestia finally spoke up.

"Oh this thing," Harry poked the giant eel, "yeah it wasn't that tough!"

"Now," Harry said as he looked down at the grimoire, "Why don't we get started on fixing up this place, and maybe bring this house back to its former glory."

***

In a old narrow and shabby shop filled with thousands of narrow boxes containing wands that were piled right up to the ceiling of the tiny shop, and with a thin layer of dust about it that filled  the whole place.

The shop's display consisted of a solitary wand lying on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. The shop was tiny, empty except for a single, spindly chair in the corner.

Outside was a peeling gold letters over the door of the shop that read: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. Inside sat an old white haired man with pale silvery eyes and white skin who was peering over a wand.

Suddenly he stopped whatever he was doing and looked up far away as if he was staring at something only he could see. Slowly a smile spread across his face and he muttered to himself, "I see!"

Getting up and walking to the fire, the old white haired man called out a name. Then before long a face appeared in the flames, "Ollivander, what do you want?" a suave spoke up.

"Rosebery, did you feel that?" Ollivander cut right to the chase.

"Yes, who do you think that could be? I hope not the Gaunt, so long I say."

"I know who it was, but we will need to tread very carefully. We do not want Azkaban to find out."

"You got to be kidding me," the head in the flames wryly chuckled.

"No I kid you not," Ollivander said. "The Peverell have risen up once again, and I think I might know who the new Lord of the House is."

***

Cloud City: https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Cloudsdale

Alicorn: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KLkd9

Unicorn art: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9eg10a

Thestral: https://manoelacosta.com/post/610962422526771200/luna-and-the-thestral-prints-available-click

Giant Sea Monster Eel: https://br.pinterest.com/pin/589971619912614295/