Chapter Text
Queen Lily of the West Kingdom of Griffin stared across the land, her land. She was the daughter of King and Queen Evans, who had unfortunately passed away the previous year. Her sister, Princess Petunia had long ago married into the wealthy family of Dursley in the east and paid no matter of attention to Griffin at the present time. She was alone, left with the weight of an entire kingdom on her shoulders far too early for her liking.
While she did have the full respect a queen should have, it did not spare her from criticism. Everywhere she went she heard the whispers of how she was ill-prepared for the crown and how the downfall of the kingdom would be on her. The judging eyes followed her everywhere, studying every move she made, ready to jump at any hint of a mistake. No one dared to sympathize with an eighteen year old girl who had never imagined taking the crown before the age of 21.
The kingdom was vast; growing up, she had never thought it would be her to take the crown. She was the younger child, the one destined to be married off to a distant place where she would bring some other family prosperity. However, years ago her sister, Petunia, had run off with Prince Dursley of Muggleton. There were no complaints from her family as Petunia was never one to be interested in politics and the power needed to run a kingdom.
Lily, on the other hand, was never far from kingdom politics. She was always keen on letting her father hear her two cents on the topic. She was never one to keep her opinion to herself.
A knock resounded on her chamber doors interrupting Lily’s thoughts.
“Enter,” she called out, remaining in her position staring out the window.
“Your Royal Majesty, there has been another village set afire,” her advisor, Snape, announced.
Lily sighed before turning to the guard, “Prepare the horses, we shall ride toward the village at once.”
“Of course, Your Royal Majesty,” Snape replied, bowing and exiting the room.
This had King Riddle written all over it, and everybody knew it. He had risen to power a few years ago and had been wreaking havoc ever since. He held a disdain for the peasants living in the lowly villages. Only the nobles and those of royalty were worth his time. Anyone who dared to have a different opinion, was regarded as a traitor.
Lily made her way outside into the courtyard, where a horse was waiting for her along with a handful of knights who were prepared to accompany her to the village of Eldenridge. The village was an hours ride, an hour that went by quickly as Lily worried about the state of her kingdom.
When Lily and her entourage arrived to the village, all of the fires had been put out. People were all over and much of their property had been burned down. Many of the families were left displaced with most of their possessions destroyed. The landscape, once beautiful, was now ashen and void of peace. Luckily, not many looked badly injured.
“Are you all okay?” Lily asked a group of villagers who were passing in front of her.
“Yes, thanks to those young men over there,” an elderly woman said, pointing to a group of four men who were helping a family salvage items from their former home. They looked young and certainly could not have been much older than herself.
“They also fought off some of King Riddle’s men. I’ve never seen so much bravery and skill with a sword before,” a man next to the elderly woman added on.
Lily had never heard of anyone willingly standing up to King Riddle’s men before, especially not anyone who was not a knight. The situation with King Riddle was becoming more dire by the minute and Lily knew that she could not pass off the four men who had taken care of the situation in the village.
“Your Majesty, you should make your presence known to the village now,” one of her knights informed her.
“Your Majesty? You must be Queen Lily!” the elderly woman called out and proceeded to do a small bow.
The knight helped Lily onto a crate where she would be able to project her voice to the people of the small village.
“Hello, I am Queen Lily and I wanted to inform the Village of Eldenridge that I will do everything in my power to aid you all. If there is anybody who needs medical attention, we will attend to it. Also, the castle is open to anyone who needs to seek refuge. I have made it my priority to deal with King Riddle and his men and I assure you that King Riddle will pay for this.”
“Long live Queen Lily!” one of the villagers shouted, followed by the rest of the villagers repeating the phrase and bowing.
Lily then stepped off of the platform and began making her way towards the four men that had been pointed out to her previously. The four looked surprised to be approached by the queen, their conversation coming to a halt as soon as they spotted her making her way towards them.
“I would like to extend my thanks to you four for your acts of bravery in the face of King Riddle’s attacks. It is people like you four that we really need when facing this adversary,” Lily informed them.
“It was no problem at all, Your Majesty,” one of the boys said.
“May I get your names?”
“Sirius, at your service!” the young man with long, black hair cheerfully answered.
“Remus, Your Majesty.” This man’s voice was calmer and he looked a bit more shabby-looking than the others.
“I’m Peter,” a small voice said, slightly behind the other three.
“James,” the man with messy black hair and hazel eyes said. He had been staring at Lily’s wrist where her unusually shaped birthmark had been sticking out from under her cloak. When Lily turned to him, he quickly made eye contact with her while saying his name, before turning to face the floor and giving Lily a quick bow out of respect.
“How would you four feel about becoming knights for the kingdom of Griffin to help fight off King Riddle? We could use fighters like the four of you,” Lily asked.
The four young men exchanged glances for a few seconds before James looked up and said, “It would be our honor, Your Majesty.”
“Excellent. We will make arrangements to have the four of you brought to my castle in 2 days time where you will train to become Knights. I must warn you that you will have to complete the training successfully in order to become full-fledged knights, but if what I have heard of the four of you today is correct you all should have no problem succeeding,” Lily informed them. “I look forward to seeing the four of you soon.” With that, Lily set off back towards her horse to make the journey back home.