Foresight

Reading Time: 8 Minutes

Title: Foresight
Author: Keira Marcos
Series: Small Magic
Series Order: 6
Fandom: The Hobbit/Harry Potter
Genre: Adventure, Crossover, Mpreg, Potential Cabbage Patch Babies, Alternate Universe, Dimensional Travel
Relationships: Ragnok Windrider/Lenore Feyborn
Warnings: Character deaths (from HP world), canon level violence, surprise babies (no really), discussion of the death of children in the distant past, author has no respect for anyone’s canon or timelines in general, magic is abused, Smaug is killed in the most undignified manner, magic is baffling but super convenient, and dwarrow fucking love portkeys.
Word Count: 1,884
Author’s Note: Just a little interlude.
Summary: Lenore Feyborn is uniquely gifted with foresight, and her visions have led her husband to make a choice for his clan that precious few on Earth will ever understand. She knew the moment she’d set eyes on Harry Potter that the boy would be both a savior and a harbinger of death. Some things are a matter of fate, and she’d know that better than most.

* * * * *

Ragnok watched his wife rise gracefully from the floor, magic flowing through the mithril ritual robe he’d made decades before for her. His agreement to migrate to Arda had rippled through his clan and he was grateful for the eager agreement of his own. Guilt and fury stirred in his gut, however, for those he would be leaving behind.

Lenore shook her head. “Not a single clan leader amongst them will follow us to Arda and take a knee for Thorin Oakenshield. They have no trust to offer as most of them never even set eyes on Hadrian. They can’t take his faith for their own as we have.”

Ragnok exhaled slowly. “So, we leave them all behind? Their leaders might not be willing to swear loyalty to an…alien king but what about the common dverger?”

“We couldn’t contain the secret of it—no magic we have would protect it,” Lenore said. “We cannot allow the wizards to know that we have the ability to follow Hadrian to Arda. Even the leaders of other nations would do a great deal to get their hands on the de facto King of Avalon, Ragnok. Hadrian was not and never will be safe on this world. If his parents had lived, if he’d had a family built on blood and familial magic…then the circumstances would’ve been vastly different.

“On many worlds, that is exactly what happened. He grew up here in the embrace of a rich family magic surrounded by those he could trust, and Avalon was reborn in his crowning. A magical renaissance swept over those worlds creating a beautiful society for those lucky enough to know of magic. Other ancient magical societies were revived, and a unique web of protection was created that served magic and all magical species.”

“But that’s not possible on this world.”

“No,” she said and grimaced as they left her ritual room, moved their quarters and into the bedroom. She shed the robe and walked into the bathroom. “Moreover, Zirnitra has declared he will monitor the migration personally and absolutely no one will be allowed to go to Arda if they’re of dubious moral fiber. The magic there will be fragile and open too influence. It must be protected as it integrates with us.”

Ragnok stared. “You spoke to the Black Dragon in ritual?” He paused. “Just now? You didn’t think I should know that was happening as it happened?”

Lenore quirked an eyebrow as she entered the shower stall and activated the water rune. “Had he wished to speak with you, husband, he would’ve let you know.”

Ragnok huffed. “Lenore.”

She started washing her hair instead of responding which was par for her course. If there was a more stubborn dverger alive than his wife, he’d rather not ever meet them.

“What will happen to the other clans?”

“Within the month, the other clan leaders are going to gather and vote to replace you without challenge. It will eventually be declared illegal by the International Judiciary, but the damage done to the position of chieftain will be insurmountable. Not a single one of them thinks they can defeat you in single combat and they also know that anyone that could defeat you wouldn’t challenge you begin with.

“They’ve discussed asking Bane Fireheart’s oldest nephew to stand as proxy in his place in challenge, but a bit of investigation has already confirmed that absolutely none of Brol Wildheart’s sons would willing challenge you, least of all the oldest. Cain Fury is far too loyal to you and to his own father. Brol’s loyalty to you is the reason he wasn’t made the clan leader in Paris, as you already know.”

“Yes, well, their father hated my guts because of you,” Ragnok said wryly and glanced over his wife as she started to wash her hair. “He never got over your very public rejection of his interest. He only married when he did because his own father required it and barely managed to father two children with his wife.”

Lenore made a face. “Herold Ironfist didn’t have a single hope of garnering my interest and I rejected him before I met you. The fact that he drank himself to death and pretended it was fading because of that rejection was never your fault. At least his younger son recognized that even if Bane does not.”

“I can’t fault Bane for his loyalty to his own father,” Ragnok said roughly. “But I regret what will happen after we’re gone.”

“Civil war is likely amongst the clans,” Lenore admitted and Ragnok grimaced. “But not guaranteed because the leaders might be willing to fight out if you’re out of the way, but their people will balk at killing our own kind in what amounts to a power game. Most of those bastards think they’re in great positions of influence and have failed to recognize that in the current system they’re basically glorified administrators. They have no idea what it takes to manage the enclave system that protects the Horde.”

“It’s galling that I can’t….” Ragnok swallowed hard and leaned on the bathroom counter. “Oakenshield is offering us the kind of freedom we’ll never know on this world, Lenore. It feels deeply selfish to leave the rest of the Horde behind in the wake of knowing that. Moreover, considering the circumstances on Arda the more able-bodied dverger I can bring to the situation the safer we’ll all be.”

“The other leaders blame you for the ugly political situation developing between the Horde and the wizards,” Lenore said and used her wand to dry then braid her hair. She twisted the braid into a bun and focused on him. “Those bastards would kill us all—every single one of us no matter our age—to get their hands on the magic of Avalon. It is the key to a deeply magical circumstance they can see but cannot achieve on their own.”

“And the moment someone outside of our clan knows about my connection to Arda, I’ll be risking Hadrian and Avalon itself.”

“Yes,” Lenore said. “And the lives of the entire Horde because the wizards would attack en masse. There are honorable people amongst them, don’t get me wrong, but not a single one of them could stand against the selfish mob that is gathering in Britain and in other parts of the world. Had we to do it all over again, I would’ve closed the portal to Arda when Hadrian was a baby and left the wizards to fix their own problem.”

He nodded, because he agreed. “They didn’t deserve his time or the sacrifices he made when he was here. Lily Potter made the best decision she could’ve made for her son, and I’m ashamed to have not honored it the way I should’ve.”

“So, we’ll migrate—just our clan and leave the rest to the circumstances of their own making. The other clan leaders are only in positions of power in those clans because it’s allowed. I don’t know what it would take for Bane Fireheart to be replaced, Ragnok, and he’s the center of the discontent regarding your position as chieftain.”

“I’ve had over 200 applications for migration in the last two weeks,” Ragnok said roughly. “Do I reject them out of hand?”

“I’ll look at each application and make those decisions for you,” she said and he nodded. “I think the magic I’m already building will tell me who can be trusted and who can’t. Many of them are being influenced by that magic and are seeking to join us because…they no longer belong to this world. Arda is calling to them even if they don’t understand it.”

“And your mother?”

“I don’t think she’s robust enough to do well in the migration,” Lenore admitted. “But she wants to try so she will. I’ve already told her that she’ll not be participating in the ritual itself and she cursed me out. Though, she’s relieved to have migrated here after my brother’s death so she has no close relations in Rome to miss. Even if she still can’t stand you.”

Ragnok shrugged as she hooked her fingers into the front of his belt and pulled him close. “Fortunately, I’ve never let that bother me.” He cupped her face with one hand and kissed her. “But let me know how I can ease the burden of travel for her.”

“We just won’t tell her,” Lenore said in amusement but then she stilled in his arms, gaze going distant in a way he’d rarely seen outside of ritual circumstances.

“Wife?” Ragnok questioned gently.

She blinked and tears welled in her eyes. “Danger is gathering around us even as we stand here.”

“I’ll activate the war wards,” Ragnok murmured and she nodded. “How long do you think?”

“I don’t know—maybe just a few days. It’s very uncertain. We should increase the rate of preparations.”

“I’ll have to run four shifts for packing and resource gathering,” Ragnok said. “We can’t risk exhausting those doing the preservation magic by overworking them.”

“Yes, I’ll…go through the applications while you start that work,” Lenore said. “That feels very important.”

“How?”

“Maybe one of the dverger migrating is important to our success in either the migration or on Arda,” she said. “The whole situation feels very flimsy right now magically in way that is deeply uncomfortable.”

He started to move away from her, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him close. “What?”

“I knew the moment I set eyes on you that you were going to be my husband,” she said quietly. “I would’ve accepted no one but you—even if it meant spending my life alone. I know you’re worried that some part of me resents the situation we’re in now and what it might cost me when it comes to my mother, but you needn’t. I saw your destiny spread out before you the day we met and I’m honored to be part of it.”

He stared for a moment and cleared his throat. “Remind me later to throw you on the nearest surface and thank you properly for that.”

She grinned. “Oh, don’t worry. I will.”

He gave her bare arse a little pat then went off to ruin people’s schedules for their own good.

The End