Bloodlines. They were considered by some to be the most important thing. Something that came before power, money or fame. Bloodlines were to be preserved at all costs.
The figure in the portrait released a sigh. The portrait itself was of a library. The library in Grimmald Place to be exact. The portrait was extremely detailed, right down to the tapestry on the wall that the occupant stared at. Most importantly however was that the portrait was soon to have a second occupant. The image of a young man entered from the left side of the portrait and walked up to the back of the armchair before resting a hand on the primary occupants shoulder. Both men stared at the image of a tapestry in silence. Hours past before the man in the chair spoke.
"You've died then I take it?" Adromerde Black stated softly. "Do I even want to know what state this has left the family in?"
The younger man tensed before responding. "Probally not, although I didn't have much choice in the matter. The geas prevented me from stopping it but..." The young male seemed to cringe as he stopped speaking.
The first patriarch of the Black family turned his head to look at the newly deceased heir to his bloodline. "Tell me everything Sirius."
The cloth covering the portrait that was buried in a hidden alcove at the back of the darkest section of the attic in Grimmauld Place continued to ripple as if touched by an invisible breeze as the image of Sirius Orion Black began to tell the story of his life from the time two hiers met on a train until his fall through a Veil in the Department of Mysteries.
"Er-Lord Potter;
As per the instructions in the will of one Sirius Orion Black, your presence is requested at the London branch of Gringotts on Thursday July 3rd, 1996 at 1PM for its reading.
-Garagk Steelstrike
Black Account Manager"
The most famous teen of the wizarding world crumpled the missive in his fist before glaring at the aged wizard who was in front of him. Brilliant green eyes narrowed in anger and grief over the loss of the closest thing he had to a parent. He was fighting the urge to break something as he spoke.
"You sent me back here and now deliver this? Exactly why the hell should I go?" Harry's words were sharp and biting as he continued to glare at the Headmaster.
Albus sighed, "I wish I could go in your place but the goblins will not read the will unless you are there and we need to know if Bellatrix or Narcissa get control of Grimmauld. I'm sorry my dear boy, however it would be a disaster if they get control of Headquarters without us knowing."
Harry nodded sharply. A part of him couldn't help but wonder at the way the letter was addressed or why the Headmaster hand delivered it only 15 minutes before the meeting was due to take place. Harry glanced at the clock noting that there was only seven minutes before the reading. "We'd best get going then Headmaster. Wouldn't want to be late" Harry grimaced before placing a finger on the old sock that Albus pulled out of his robes. The world swirled around the two as the portkey activated and dropped them off in the portkey receiving area of the Bank.
The Goblin frowned as he shuffled through the papers in front of him. There was only seven minutes before the main will reading and no sign of the Er-Lord. Even the muggleborn girl had been prompt and shown up an hour early as her letter had requested. He glanced up at the girl as she sat on the other side of his desk. It was rather amazing how patiently she sat there. Admittedly her eyes were constantly roving around his office but all in all she hadn't said a single word in over fourty minutes. Nothing since she had been shown in and he had stated they were only waiting on the Er-Lord.
The door opened and the Er-Lord finally entered. Upon seeing him the girl lept out of her chair and gave the boy a hug. The goblin grimaced and then cleared his throat.
"Sorry." The girl dragged the boy to the chairs in front of the desk. "We'd best hurry with this. I know for a fact that Harry would have never deliberately kept us waiting."
The boys eyes widened in appearant shock over the girls words as the meaning of them quickly dawned on him. Garagk hadn't gotten to his position in the Goblin world by being stupid and silently resloved to check into why the Er-Lord was late after the reading was done.
"Since we only have five minutes left before the reading I'll skip the jargon and just tell you point blank what is happening." The boy quickly nodded as the Goblin continued talking. "Basically the late Sirius Black has left it in his will that you can either be placed with Albus Dumbledore or submit to the guardianship he has written into his will. You have exactly four minutes to decide which you prefer. Miss Granger can quickly fill you in on what submitting to the guardianship means for you." Garagk nodded once and went back to looking through the papers in front of him.
Hermione quickly turned to Harry and started talking as fast as she could. "Submitting to the guardianship means that whoever Sirius left in charge of you will make all the decisions for you until you turn seventeen unless he specified a specific age in the guardianship."
Harry's eyes widened. "By making decisions you mean that they would be able to tell me what to do?" Harry did not like the thought of that one bit. But then again the alternative was Dumbledore.
Hermione nodded. "The guardian could also put you straight into an arranged marriage if they wanted..." Hermione paused and then continued to speak, "The guardian could also keep you from going back to the Dursleys. Dumbledore couldn't interfere the way he did when your parents died."
The Goblin coughed. "I'm afraid I need your choice now Er-Lord Potter. The will is being read in just a moment." He watched the boy and allowed himself a hidden smirk as Harry Potter showed that his trust in Sirius Black was untarnished by any of Dumbledores manipulations.
"I choose the guardian. Sirius would have never left me to anyone bad."
Narcissa Malfoy barely glanced at the three who entered the room. Sirius was dead and with him had gone her last chance to escape her husband. Due to the fact that Sirius had never had any children her son Draco would inherit the title of Lord Black and she knew that it would die with him. Her son was far too much a Malfoy to ever wear the title or produce a heir for the bloodline. Worse was the fact that her son would never break the marriage contract she was under for he adored his father.
"Welcome to the reading of the will of Er-Lord Sirius Orion Black. It has been confirmed as legitimate and binding. By being present in this room you will be unable to contest any of its contents. I ask you to leave now if you do not wish to be bound by the terms of this will." Garagk Steelstrike paused for a moment to see if anyone moved but no one so much as shifted. "Very well. The will is as follows."
Slightly glowing words appeared in the air above the Goblin as he read the will.
I Sirius Orion Black being of sound mind and body do hereby state my will. This will is legal and magically binding. As such it cannot be contested for any reason.
To my friend Remus John Lupin: Moony, you are the last of us left. Hopefully I went down fighting and not still confined to that damn house. I'm leaving you all my clothes cause you need to dress better and look hotter like I did. Also going to leave you ummmm... yeah yeah, stop being impaitient. Geeze you guys, there are alot of papers in front of me. AHA! I found the money page! I also leave you the sum of three hundred thousand galleons and no you can't give it back.
To Arthur Weasley: Arthur you've been under appreciated by so many in your life but always worked hard. I leave you the sum of one hundred thousand galleons.
To Molly Weasley: Molly you are an overbearing bitch at times and need to learn to stick to parenting your own damn children and leave the rest of them to their guardians and parents. You get one knut simply because I needed to give you something so that what I think of you is recorded in my will.
To Ginervra Weasley: I'm hoping that you decide to do something other then become a stay at home wife which is why i'm leaving you the sum of fifty thousand galleons with the following condition; You must score at least six OWLS and apprentice to Filius Flitwick for your sixth year at Hogwarts.
To Fredrick and George Weasley: You pranksters get seventy-five thousand galleons with the following condition: Twenty thousand galleons must be spent on the joke shop. We truely need laughter in these times.
To Ronald, Percy, William and Charley Weasley: I leave the sum of twenty-five galleons each.
To Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick: I learned alot more then you may have realized from you two over my years at Hogwarts. I leave you fifty thousand galleons each.
To Draco Lucius Malfoy: I leave you one knut and the realization that you will not be a lord until your father dies and you inherit the Malfoy mantle. Oh and I also leave you a boot to the head.
To Narcissa Leasia Black-Malfoy: I leave you two thousand galleons and the knowledge that the person inheriting the Black mantle knows what you would have asked from me.
To Andromeda Syania Tonks, Theodore Samuel Tonks and Nymphadora Milara Tonks: I leave fifty thousand galleons each.
To Hermione Granger: I hope you were able to explain and leave you twenty-five thousand galleons.
Now for the good part. Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. Now I have a feeling that Albus tried to make you miss the pre-meeting Harry but hopefully you made it in time to make your choice. If you were unable to make your choice before the will was read then I am sorry but you will have to remain with the guardian I picked for you even if you would have preferred to be with Dumbledore.
I Sirius Orion Black do hereby leave the remainder of my estate to my wife Ophelia Ariania Black as well as leaving her full guardianship of my godson Harry James Potter. I further pass on the head of house rights to my wife until such time as she dies or passes the rights on to one of our sons.
Garagk grinned at the stunned looks that were giving way to anger or in one case pain as a leather boot fell to the floor after hitting a blonde head. "And this concludes the reading of the will of Er-Lord Sirius Orion Black. The funds have been transfered into the appropriate vaults and in the cases of those who did not have vaults, new vaults have been crafted and the keys will be available upon your request. Lady Black should be here shortly to collect you Er-Lord Potter. Please do not leave the bank before she arrives." Garagk exited the room as fast as his legs could take him. He entered his office where a aid had already turned on the viewing charms for the meeting room and sat back to watch the show.
"How dare he!" Molly spluttered and shrieked. Ignoring her husband who was trying to calm her down. The irate redhead was simply louder then anyone else as she ranted. "Bad enough he came from a dark family that wasn't worth the time of day but he dares to insult me?"
Draco jumped up. "Insult you? When my father hears about this hes going to... mmmmrphh!" The blonde glared at his mother who had just nailed him with a silencing spell.
The Tonks on the other hand were just shaking their heads over the reactions of some of those in the room. Remus was clutching onto Nymphadora and silently laughing. Ronald was sitting there trying to figure out what to buy first and the rest were just looking somewhat stunned. However when Dumbledore spoke every head in the room turned to look at him in surprise.
"Well that was interesting. Come along Harry, time to get you back to your relatives." Albus started pulling Harry towards the door. "We'll sort everything out later."
Harry dug in his heels and was shaking his head, while Narcissa and Remus both pulled their wands and followed Dumbledore out to the lobby as he was dragging Harry off. The situation may have gotten worse had a voice not interrupted them.
"I would suggest that you unhand my charge immediately Dumbledore unless you wish to be spending the night in a Ministry holding cell."
Dumbledore's head snapped around as he looked for the person who spoke. The woman was wearing a beautiful robe of what appeared to be midnight blue silk. The Robe clung to her upper body and hips before pooling around her feet. Loose only below the hips and lower arms the robe was designed to cling to hips, waist and chest defining the fact that the woman had a decent figure. More importantly was the signet ring on the ring finger of her right hand and the circlet resting on her brow. For those that were familiar with the crests of the Pureblood families, the Black jewellery and signet were easily reconized.
"Ari? Is it really you?" Remus couldn't believe his eyes. He hadn't seen the woman in front of him in over fourteen years. Not since a year after Sirius was arrested and he supplied the last of the items needed for a certain set of potions.
Ophelia Black smiled softly at the wizard who had introduced her to Sirius Black. "Yes Remy, its really me. And I have someone new to introduce to you." Her eyes hardened as she turned her gaze back to Dumbledore. "However that will wait until this incompitent old fool releases my charge."
Dumbledore knew that he was beat temporarily. Making a larger scene here would not be a good idea. Especially not when the woman in front of him was wearing the circlet which he knew was a cursed heirloom of the Black Bloodline. "Of course Lady Black." He released Harrys arm. "I just wanted to make sure nothing happened to him before you arrived."
"I'm sure. Now if the following people would move back into the conference room. I believe we can finish todays business. Narcissa, Andromeda, Remus, Harry and Albus" The people she named followed her back into the room. "I'm sure there are alot of questions that need to be answered as well as some family business to attend to."
Once in the room Ophelia turned her attention to Narcissa. "Has he broken any of the contract clauses?"
Narcissa nodded and then spoke softly. "Thirteen B. Multiple times." Narcissa refused to lower her eyes and show shame despite knowing that everyone in the room would soon find out exactly what Lucius had done to her.
Ophelia narrowed her eyes. "The marriage contract between The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black and the Lesser House of Malfoy." She snapped her fingers and a scroll appeared in front of her floating in the air as she perused it. "Thirteen B..." She looked at Narcissa before swallowing and beginning to read from the contract. "The groom, one Lucius Abraxis Malfoy shall not gift the body of one Narcissa Leasia Black to any without her consent. I take it he demanded you service Voldemort and refused to take no for an answer?" Upon seeing Narcissa's nod there was one thing to do. "As the head of The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black I do hereby state that the contract between the House of Black and the House of Malfoy to be broken. All possessions and properties obtained from the House of Black by the House of Malfoy shall immediately be returned and Narcissa Leasia Black shall no longer be claimed nor bound to Lucius Abraxis Malfoy. So I have stated, so mote it."
A loud crack echoed throughout the room as the marriage was broken and the wedding band on Narcissa's hand shattered. Narcissa slumped down into a chair before burying her face in her hands and sobbing in relief.
Ophelia smirked. "A few other things as well. Andromeda Syania Tonks as the head of The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black I do hereby reinstate you to the family tree. We hear, we see, we know. So I have stated, so mote it." A tinkling sound greeted this announcement as Andromeda collapsed on the floor beside Narcissa and started sobbing into her sister's robes. "Now as for the remaining things, as head of The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black I do hereby lay claim to the Lestrange Vaults as the closest relative of Bellatrix Deira Black-Lestrange who murdered the Er-Lord of the House of Black and failed to produce a heir to the line of Lestrange that could lay claim to the vaults. So I have stated, so mote it."
The two men stared at Ophelia like she had gone nuts, the two weeping women looked up in shock and poor Harry just watched confused. In the wizarding world laying claim to another families vaults was a serious thing. If the spells that governed account access and lineage in Gringotts did not approve the claim the vaults of the Black Family would be forfit and given to Bellatrix. The magics of Gringotts began to pulse around Ophelia, lifting her from the ground as Goblin spells older then Merlin determinded the outcome of the claim. Finally a bright flash filled the room and a new signet appeared on Ophelia's hand. Gringotts had determined the claim valid and the Lestrange vaults now belonged only to the Black line.
"For the murder of the Er-Lord Sirius Orion Black I hereby cast out Bellatrix Diera Black-Lestrange from the line of the House of Black. We do not hear, we do not see, we do not know, she does not exist. So I have stated, so mote it!" There was a silence before a high pitched wail was heard and then the silence returned as Ophelia sat down at the table. "Now I believe there are some questions?"
Albus Dumbledore could not believe his ears. Not only had Remus and Sirius found a way around the spells that he had been layering on the Black Heir since he was eleven and first met James Potter, but they had also managed to tell Sirius' wife everything about Voldemort. Worse was that Harry now knew about the horcruxes and that Albus was planning on him willingly sacrificing himself to destroy the one that was in him.
Somehow a mere muggle had succeeded in unravelling all his plans and schemes. She was having the Goblins remove the horcrux from Harry and even going so far as to pull him out of Hogwarts. Albus rested his head in his hands. How could it all have gone wrong so fast.
Ophelia grinned at the defeated pose that Dumbledore was displaying. She had promised Sirius that Harry would have a shot at surviving this war and she intended to follow through with that promise. She continued to answer Harrys question about the geas that had been placed on Sirius when he was eleven and how over the years Dumbledore had added to the spells until Sirius was stuck in his own home as a prisoner.
"In fact if it wasn't for the fact that Dumbledore specified that Sirius couldn't get a witch pregnant or tell anyone from the Wizarding world about the spells and everything else there would have been no way to get you out from under his thumb. Being a muggle, Sirius could tell me everything that was going on and I could bear his children without any issue. Admittedly that last bit would have been harder if it wasn't for the fact that the wizarding world has a potion that can get a woman pregnant with a mans child just by using a bit of his hair since Sirius was sent to prison. Thankfully that potion meant that Remus was able to bring me Sirius' hair after he was in Azkaban and I was able to get pregnant with his children." Ophelia glanced at an ornate clock on the wall. "Looks like we should be heading out though. We can get some rest and then look into finishing this war."
And with that the world began to change.
June 2014
It was a warm day but not too hot at Hogwarts. Perfect weather for the students that were now graduating. Sitting in the audience with a smile on her face, Ophelia Black looked beyond proud as her second magical offspring finally graduated from Hogwarts. Cassiopia Niana Black was the spitting image of her father. Conceived only a few weeks before her father had fallen through the Veil she had inherited not only his looks but also his enjoyment of pranks. Thankfully her love of pranks had served her well as she grew up with not only three older brothers but also a godbrother in the form of Harry Potter. And now it was her turn to make a speech as the last duty of a graduating Head Girl.
"My Godbrother told me many stories about Hogwarts when I was growing up. I heard tales of the war and how it affected the school and people. I was very excited when it was my turn to come but I was also scared. These walls have housed some of the greatest people in the history of our world and that was scary as an eleven year old. What if I couldn't live up to the examples of those who came before? In the end though, as I grew and lived in these halls I realized that while the school and its memories help shape us, its what we do after we leave that determine our place in history. And in leaving here I know that I and all of my classmates will make our own place and someday other children will feel as we did, before they grow and live the way we will." Cassie smiled at her fellow classmates before turning back to the audience. "We don't have to live up to those who came before. We only need to leave inspiration for those who come after us. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your life, Class of Two Thousand and Fourteen!"
Cheers rang out across the grounds as Cassie finished her speech. Ophelia only wished that Sirius had survived to see it. Harry had defeated Voldemort in his Seventh year and gone on to marry little Ginny Weasley. He'd also been taught much of the Pureblood traditions and behaviours that came with the title of Lord Potter. Ophelia headed off to visit Dumbledores tomb. After he had been killed by young Draco Malfoy back in Nineteen Ninety-seven, the wizarding world had placed him in a marble tomb on the grounds of Hogwarts. It was far more then he deserved in her opinion.
"Well Dumbledore it looks like its all finally over." Ophelia smirked at the tomb. "I bet when you first started putting spells on Sirius so you could control the heir of the Black family you never expected it to go this far. Lets see, you spelled him so he couldn't tell anyone with magic what was going on. Tried to end his bloodline by putting a spell on him so he couldn't sleep with or get a witch pregnant. But we got past that didn't we? You must have been shocked when you saw a muggle wearing the Black circlet that day in the bank. I never did explain that one did I? You see, there is a portrait that was in Grimmauld Place. A portait of the very first Black. And that portrait has the power to deactivate the curse on the circlet so that it could be worn by a non-pureblood. Nifty thing magic. It makes almost everything possible." She paused for a second and gasped in pain before continuing. "You know that potion we used so that I could get pregnant just by adding Sirius' hair to it while he was in Azkaban? Well it had a side effect. Its making my body shut down. I'll be seeing Sirius again very soon. I felt that I had to let you know exactly how well the Black line is doing now though. My two oldest boys turned out to be squibs, but that didn't matter in the end. They both married witches ironically enough. My youngest boy has finally taken up the Mantle of Lord Black. And hes adjusted the inheritance clauses so that if he dies without issue the line can be inherited through females or squibs. Means that we have three heirs for the Black line as well as any children they have. You failed old man. Not only did you fail to wipe out the Blacks but the Potters survived as well. The Dumbledore line inherits nothing from us. Your son doesn't get a single knut let alone the titles you wanted him to have. I hope you enjoy the rest of your afterlife old man."
There was a bark behind her. She slowly turned only to see what looked like a grim waiting patiently. There was a mans laughter in the air as she reached out. With one hand on the grims shoulder, Ophelia Black walked off to reunite with the man whos bloodline she had saved. If she had looked back she would have seen her body resting in the shade leaned against the white marble tomb of Albus Dumbledore. She would have seen her family gathered round as they mourned her passing. She never looked back though because Sirius was waiting.