Harry had to owl every florist in a fifty mile radius, but finally he found one which dealt with roses the exact shade that Daphne had chosen for the boulevard from the gates to the doors of Black manor. After all this effort Harry was more than a little apprehensive about giving them to her, what if she did not like them?
Fortunately those thoughts had to be pushed out of his brain as Lady Greengrass gave him a knowing smile and led him out to the fountain in her garden, were Daphne was sketching coats of arms.
"Hello Harry," she called without looking round. "I'm pretty much finished with these designs for your coat of arms; I've tried to make each house equally represented on them."
"Thanks Daphne I'm sure any one of them would be perfect," he replied.
"With my drawing skills I highly doubt tha-" Daphne turned and her eyes immediately widened at his gift. "Oh."
"I brought you these," he said, scuffing his shoe along the paving. "As a thank you, for all the hard work you've been doing… I really appreciate it."
"Are those magic dragons and tradescants?" she asked, her blues eyes not moving from the roses.
"Yes," he said unsurely. Before he could comprehend what was happening a pair of arms had been wrapped around him. Her embrace only lasted a second but Harry could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks.
"Sorry," she said quickly, straightening her hair and dress and breaking eye contact. "What I meant to say was thank you, very much… let me go and find a vase."
"A Miss Narcissa to see you," an elf squeaked as a tall, aristocratic blonde woman followed him through the door of the study.
"It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, my lord," Narcissa greeted, lowering herself elegantly into a bow. "I grew up here you know and I think I like your renovations a lot better." Her large grey-blue eyes appreciatively survey the décor.
"Please Lady Malfoy," Harry said, bowing himself. "You need not bow or offer me any titles, we are family after all. May I introduce my fiancée, Miss Daphne Greengrass," he held out his arms toward his bride to be.
"Lovely to see you again, how is your mother?"
"She is very well ma'am, thank you for your enquiry," Daphne replied cordially.
"Now I must insist we are on first name terms," Narcissa said firmly, fixing them both her icy stare. "As I am sure you are aware, family is the most important thing."
"I quite agree Narcissa," he said calmly, Narcissa's gaze softened into a pleasant smile. "Please, take a seat, I shall call for an elf, tea, coffee? I am sure we can rustle up something stronger should you prefer. I am sure I saw some brandy somewhere… I'm afraid I do not know the Black etiquette on the drinks appropriate for such an occasion."
Narcissa laughed delicately. "As a Black one would usually drink only the finest elven red wine, or you are correct perhaps brandy or whiskey, of the same impeccable quality of course. However, I am not one for that particular tradition in present company especially, I would much prefer a cup of weak tea."
Of course Harry and the elf he called were very obliging to this request and within a minute a steaming hot sweet tea was served in a pretty tea set Daphne had sourced from Indian antique dealers. Daphne accepted all Narcissa's compliments over the branch and flower design and it was ten minutes before Harry believed they had conversed enough about wallpaper for the time being and coughed politely, to regain their attention.
After the ladies had apologised profusely they returned to the matter at hand.
"I have come into Black inheritance very early in my life Narcissa, is it correct to assume there are not very many of us Blacks left?" Harry asked.
"Oh not at all!" she exclaimed. "You must get in touch with our family immediately, they will be most discontent if they are not issued with wedding invitations and trust me, the Blacks are not ones you want discontented." She reached into her leather handbag and removed a little black book.
"Let me see," she said as she flipped through to B. "Arcturus and his wife Melania, are still alive and well, I am quite fond of them both I shall admit. He did not inherit the lordship due to his father Sirius, previously Lord Black… having an illiegimate child who, how to put this delicately… was not content with staying illegitimate. Huge scandal, they had to ensure the next Lord was not any of his three sons, the wound was too fresh in the public's mind, they would never be respected. Cassiopeia… spinster- don't get her on bad side. Oh and of course Pollux and Irma…"
After Narcissa had seemed to tell them all she about her relatives something tugged in Harry's mind.
"Are there no children or grandchildren bar you?" He asked.
At this Narcissa looked mighty embarrassed.
"They have been exiled from the family for a range of misdeeds," she replied tactfully.
"As Head of the ancient and noble house of Black, I wish you to start from the beginning, spare no detail," instructed Harry, his voice unusually firm. Daphne had to supress a smile, perhaps he had been learning how to be a lord after all, her tuition had sunk in.
"Well, the eldest is my sister Bellatrix, she is still part of the family, but in her last year of school things went a bit downhill. She became wilder, crueller, it was as if my admittedly audacious sister had become a woman possessed. She entered into the Dark Lord's service- the only woman ever rise through his ranks. She was his right hand, on his orders she married a wealthy French Lord- Lestrange, petulant man, she was never happy. After the Dark Lord's vanquish they were caught red handed torturing two aurors in order to gain information as to his whereabouts."
"You say it happened all of a sudden? This change in her?" Harry asked, shaking off the shiver that ran down his spine at this story.
"I know my sister," Narcissa sighed. "She was not a madwoman, I suppose I did not know her as well as I thought."
"I'll look into it," Harry said cryptically, to which Narcissa just gave him an unhopeful smile, she was humouring him.
"Who's next?" Harry asked.
"Andromeda, my other sister, abandoned the family without a second's thought, to marry. She would not tell us anything about the man, we assumed muggleborn, that's why she would not say. But she broke mine and Bella's hearts, we struggled to make respectable marriages after her flight. It is hard to overlook a fallen sister after all. But we managed."
"Regulus is dead and his older brother Sirius, he is Azkaban- death eater."
Nestled into the crags of the Welsh-English Border a castle stood. Usually, the castle only had two inhabitants of the human variety, but on this overcast and blustery summer's evening, many more people were gathered in the dining room, sipping red wine at the mahogany table and waiting for their youngest member to arrive, so they could begin their meeting.
At the head of table was the head of the household. Pollux was an elderly, yet robust man with a shock of silver hair and a strong chin; he possessed the demeanour that commanded the attention of everyone in the room. Next to him was his wife Irma, a strange looking woman- her eyes were always so oddly vacant, as if she were constantly looking beyond everyone else's reality. At the other end of the table sat Arcturus, his cousin, distinguishable from him only by his crooked nose and perpetually tanned skin- both earned from a life of Quidditch.
Between them sat his sister, Arcturus's wife, Melania, his own sister, Cassiopeia and two men with platinum blonde hair. All the trusted family who were available that night.
"What do you think of him Cissa?" Pollux Black called as the blonde woman they were waiting on swept through the double doors.
"He will serve us well Grandfather, we need not worry, he shall grow to be a fine Lord with the right guidance," she said, accepting a glass of deep red wine from an elf and seating herself next to her husband.
"And the girl?" an older, but undoubtedly striking woman said, her dark hair was pulled tightly into a bun her eyes were intelligent but piercing.
"The eldest of Lord Greengrass indeed," she replied. "She has all the qualities necessary to be Lady Black, she is intelligent, beautiful and has a wonderful sense of duty. Malcolm and Jacqueline have taught her well, she knows exactly how a Lady of her standing should carry herself and what is expected of her."
"And as a Greengrass her blood is pure," Arcturus pointed out with a smile, raising his own wine in toast. "Worthy of our house."
There was a murmur of agreement and every other glass rose.
"It pleases me greatly to learn that he will serve us well in the tumultuous times ahead," Pollux sighed contented after taking a deep swig.
"We are sure that war is imminent?" Abraxas Malfoy asked in concern, his slick white blonde hair shining in the candlelight.
"If both Irma and Narcissa have seen it, it must be. They have never been wrong before," Pollux replied, glancing at his wife, who nodded regretfully.
"Indeed," Narcissa replied, locking eyes with her father-in-law. "Grandma has always had the inner eye, and though mine is foggier… taken together, I am sure it is fast approaching."
"We have two years at the most," Irma sighed, as though her premonition had pained her greatly.
"No," Abraxas said, banging his fist on the table. "My grandson will still be at Hogwarts! He shall not be safe!"
"Calm yourself Abraxas, that is why the first thing we secure is Hogwarts," Pollux said calmly. "After Harry's emancipation, Dumbledore has no choice but to finally allow him to see his family, I am sure he and Draco will discuss things about being related and agree that working together is the best option. Your Draco is intelligent enough to join us, therefore he will be safe."
"I have good news about the taking of Hogwarts," Cassiopeia said, smiling self-importantly. Dumbledore has failed to find a Defence teacher this year.
"How does that help us at all?" Arcturus snapped at his cousin.
"The governors get three weeks to find a replacement teacher, before the ministry steps in. I owled your delightful daughter Arcturus," she explained.
"Lucretia can't even cast a patronus, neither Dumbledore nor the ministry will allow it," he scoffed.
"You think I do not know that?" Cassiopeia sighed, shaking her head. "She is however a dab hand at potions. My fellow governors think it is an excellent idea appoint dear Lucretia as the potions mistress and shuffle Snape to the Defence position."
"Well done Cassie," Pollux said, beaming at his sister. "How wonderful. That's two Black professors, with Aurora." Aurora had been reinstated to the family, despite her squib father Marius after marrying into the illustrious and foreign Sinstra family. Currently she held the position of Astronomy mistress and was a confidant and adviser to Minerva McGonagall, Pomona Sprout and the matron, Poppy Pomfrey. Three ladies at Hogwarts one would not want to be enemies against.
"Please save your praise until have finished dear brother," she reprimanded with a smirk. "Severus Snape is now indebted to the Blacks for getting him the job he has been coveting since he first applied to become Hogwarts staff and I have not hesitated to let him know. Also a governor's spot has come available and I have already paid for it in the Black name… one of our number must fill the spot and although dear Callidora cannot be here tonight, it shall be her. Dumbledore has already heartily agreed."
"How have you managed to get so many Blacks in without Dumbledore raising the alarm," Lucius asked, the first time he had spoken up. "I tried to get father to join us on the governors but he said no, too many of one family on the board would be biased."
"You forget Lucius, Lucretia is a Prewett and Callidora a Longbottom now. Both of them married into light families that have been faithful to the old codger, he believes they lay outside our influence."
"And not that our influence has infiltrated his lapdogs!" Arcturus exclaimed, banging his goblet on the table. "Good show Cassie, good show!"
"It is agreed then," Pollux said from his throne like chair at the head of the table. "Harry is to be welcomed into our family and taught to be the perfect lord. Cassie, you shall teach the Dark Arts, Lucius, the ministry, Irma my love, you shall be in charge of etiquette, Melania should of course teach the girl everything she would ever need to know about running a Black home, Arcturus you shall teach him history, Abraxas, duelling and I shall teach him everything I know about everything. I am his great uncle of course."
"So am I!" Arcturus stated, banging his fist on the table in protest.
"Yes but through his mother's side," Pollux scoffed. "That is hardly the same."
"Hush!" Cassiopeia instructed. "It is the same Pollux and you know it. This is not the time for your petty squabbles. Cissa dear, how did Harry take to receiving you?"
"He was very hospitable and obliging, he seemed keen to learn all he could about our family," she replied, over the rim of her goblet.
"That is strange," Irma commented. "He offered you no ill will for being the sister of the witch who murdered his godparents."
The table fell to silence.
"You know… I am quite sure he does not know about Bellatrix," Narcissa replied in a small voice, replacing her goblet on the table and lacing her fingers. "He asked about why he was the heir and not someone older. I just said Bellatrix and Sirius were death eaters, he must not know."
"We must break her out of Azkaban," Arcturus stated after a moment's thought. "Even if it is just on a technicality- we shall explain it to Harry, to gain his trust and then we shall tell him she didn't do it and he will believe us because we shall say the ministry were trying to cover up their blunder of wrongly imprisoning her."
"Callidora will never allow it," Cassiopeia warned.
"Cousin Callie will in time," Pollux said, waving away the statement. "For the good of the family."
"Bellatrix murdered her grandson, she will not take kindly to us removing her from Azkaban, now I love Bella as much as the rest of us, but our cousin is not someone with an addled mind. We get Bellatrix out of prison and we gain a madwoman, her brain addled by the dementors and in very poor state of physical health and we lose Callidora, who I have only just convinced to join the board of governors and who has more trusted connections to Dumbledore's minions then any of us can dream."
"I have paid for every luxury Azkaban offers to be given to my granddaughter," Pollux said glaring at his sister. "She will be in good health and sound mind."
"Good health perhaps but sound mind I highly doubt, ever since-"
"Silence!" Pollux shouted as he rose to his feet, hands planted to the table surface, his voice taking on a roaring quality which made everyone at the fall deathly silent. He was an imposing and sometimes frightening man when he was riled. "We. Do. Not. Speak. Of. That. Night," he spat, punctuating every word with a jab of his index finger at his sister.
Cassiopeia looked mutinous, but held her tongue- respectful of whose house she was in. Pollux took a calming breath and reseated himself, before forcing himself to continue in a quieter, but still commanding tone.
"I want you all to scour any legislation regarding Azkaban, we shall tell Callidora the same we tell Harry," he said firmly. The table was silent, hanging on to his every word. "I want my granddaughter out of that hell hole in a fortnight. There is a war coming and whether you like it or not, we need her."
He raised his gaze from the table, his gaze daring anyone to contest his will.
"Any questions?"
The room stayed silent.
"We shall meet with Harry before the wedding, I want every aspect of his fiancée scrutinized, I will not have someone improper take up the ladyship of our house," he continued. "Test her."
"I shall owl him this evening," Cassiopeia said softly, her gaze lowered.
"I want a list made, the pros and cons of every single witch between the ages of 13 and 25, our lord shall need further wives and we will be there to assist," he said, snapping his head to Narcissa, who nodded once. "Including the mudbloods Cissa."
"Surely not the mudbloods, Pollux," Cassiopeia hissed.
But Pollux remained firm.
"Harry must gain support from every walk of life in the wizarding community, to do this he cannot be seen as a blood supremacist," he said.
"Pollux is right," Abraxas agreed. "I shall help Cissy, if it is not the Black line that is tainted by the filth it will do us no grievous harm. The Black heirs will be pure but we shall have a strong hold to see us through the war intact."
Cassiopeia grudgingly nodded.
"As long as the Black blood is pure and I don't have to babysit any half-bloods, I will accept this," she seethed. "I am not so close-minded that I cannot see the advantages."
"It's all politics Cassie, politics that will see our family through the war," Pollux said gravely.
