The only reason this happened was because Lily kept me on the straight and narrow. So seriously, thank Lady Lily Anne for making me stay focused. As it stands, enjoy, read, review, and as always, have fun!
Draco Malfoy and I had always had a weird relationship after the Second Blood War. When we graduated and took up our respective seats in the Wizangamot we kind of just threw away the past and decided fuck it all, we are not going to worry about the shite we did as kids and be adults about all this political back stabbing idiocy and actually get something done.
This worked to an extent, as long as Ron wasn't in the fucking room at least. Seriously to this day I have no idea why the hell he couldn't just let our school days go but the man never accepted it. He never trusted Draco despite the signed alliance he had with me and my god was it irritating, it wasn't like it was his daughter who was getting shagged by the gits sprog so what the fuck did he have to complain about?
Ugh...what was I talking about? Right right...
So my idea to make sure Harriet's school days were relatively free from Harry's common annoyances was fairly simple. Arcturus would offer a Contract of Friendship between myself and Draco. These Contract's were old school, archaic even for the Blacks but it fit right up our alley so no one would ask questions.
They were, technically, pre-betrothal agreements that necessitated both parties being civil with each other and doing their best to accommodate one and other. This was beyond acceptable in my books, really if I could have legal documentation stating Draco Malfoy had to behave like a real boy for seven years whilst stuck in an isolated castle in Scotland, I was sold.
Seriously, I don't give a flying fuck if he spent all his Hogwart's years thinking he was going to be my husband, all while waiting for the sudden let down at the end that, nope, I was my own and he had to earn it if he wanted it. It was, literally, a near decade of guaranteed peace, and having the prying eyes of all pubescent wizards deflected away from my likely to be rather sexy visage as they feared my AND Draco's families retaliation?
The feeling of freedom was delicious.
Never once, ever, have I stated that I was Light, or Dark, I'm far too pragmatic for that sort of thing.
I'm A Grey Witch, and I am free to do as I wish even if it is a bit cruel and self serving, though at this point I think I earned the right to be a bit selfish.
Belladonna rolled her eyes at Draco and Harriet as the pair whooped loudly racing each other on their training brooms attempting to catch a practice snitch, she was fairly certain that both nine year old's could handle the real thing but she wasn't taking chances with her sisters being about. Huffing as her breath fogged about her Bella shifted uncomfortably while toeing the frozen turf of the Quiditch pitch, her sisters...now was that ever a loaded subject.
"Almost got it!" Draco shouted out in gleeful tones as his broom automatically corrected its course pulling the boy out of a near successful Wronski Feint, the boy did have some natural talent it would seem.
She yelled a few words of encouragement to the pair before falling back into her own thoughts, wondering if she could ever regain the relationship with her sisters that she had so cherished in the past. She couldn't let them know who she really was though, not after everything Sirius told her she had done when she had been forced to be that bloody bastard LeStrange's psychotic little whore.
Gritting her teeth, closing her eyes, and clenching her fists tightly enough that her nails nearly drew blood from her palms, she forced these thoughts away. She couldn't remember them, mostly, so forced herself not to dwell what had passed, she only had so much sanity to go around after all.
Unclenching her jaw and releasing her fists she turned to face back towards the kids when, as if by magic, Narcissa and Andromeda appeared standing before her. Gulping she was about to speak when she was rushed by her older, younger sisters and engulfed in a group hug, eyes wide, brain freezing she could only melt into the embrace for a few moments before clearing her throat.
Disetangling herself from her sisters she coughed into her hand before muttering, "I'm s-sorry my dear Au-Aunts but wh-what was that hug for?" She inwardly winced at her unintentional stutter, amateur mistake there.
"Cut the act Bella," Andi stated with a wry grin.
"Did you honestly think we wouldn't recognize our older sister?" Cissy finished with a flip of her hair.
Bella just stared at the pair a moment before smirking wryly, "Should have known...I missed you too..."
"Is this real though? Is what Grandfather said true? This is really you?" Narcissa asked with daunting trepidation heavy in her voice.
Bella stepped back letting out a sigh as she ran a hand through her hair, "Yes?" She asked this, more than stating it. "I...I don't remember anything past my seventeenth birthday...father ordered me to come to his study which...was nothing new really, and that's where things get hazy."
Her sisters let out a noise similar to a growl but Belladonna waved it off, "I was use to his abuse at that point my dears, no worries I am a big girl and I can cope. Regardless he brought a contract out and upon reading it I was half way through casting the killing curse on him when I was hit with a stunner from behind. After that...I remember waking up to Harriet nursing me back to health."
Narcissa took her left hand, as Andromeda took her right, and her sisters openly cried as they stared at her for several charged moments. Before either could say anything a broom crashed into the ground beside them and a small form performed a rather admirable roll before popping back to her feet.
Raising her right fist triumphantly presenting the freshly caught snitch Harriet shook her head sending ebony tresses flying, a moment later she met Bella's gaze while grinning widely, "I won."
"And the award for ruining the most moments in a single day goes to Harri Potter," Bella told the girl dryly, somewhat annoyed at the interruption but accepting it as one of Harri's quirks regardless.
Harri was not to be outdone though.
"Oh dear cousin, did I cut off your sisterly reunion? My apologies, do so strive through the discomfiting fields of now being the youngest Black daughter who can no longer acknowledge her hallowed and pure-blood rights as befits her station. I shall leave you to your tidings and continue entertaining young Draco, by your leave."
With that Harriet snatched up her broom, threw the snitch into the air while yelling "Round two blondie!" and took off with Draco following in her wake laughing the whole while.
There was dead silence for nearly a minute before Narcissa spoke up, "Does she rather disturbingly remind you of Aunt Dorea? Because I'm getting a severe Aunt Dorea vibe from her and I don't find that comforting."
"Thank Merlin, I thought it was just me," Andi stated with a huff.
"You're not the only one, I hate it when she does that," agreed Bella.
The three sisters looked at each other, memories resurfacing of their Aunt Dorea and all the mayhem she caused via her sharp tongue and quick wit and the trio visibly shuddered upon this reflection.
"So the next two decades are going to be hell, especially once she starts going through puberty. I vote for using them as meat-shields," Andi said, pointing at the four men approaching the pitch tailed by Dora.
"Agreed." The other two spoke as one.
"Glad that's settled. Now, where were we?"
They were interrupted a moment later before they could resume their conversation.
"Ladies," Lord Arcturus stated as he came to a stop before them, hands resting atop his cane as he leaned forward, "Dinner is soon to be served."
Nodding, Belladonna cupped her hands around her mouth while yelling, "BRAT ONE! BRAT TWO! DINNER TIME!"
Rather surprisingly the two kids quickly twirled their brooms about and landed before their elder cousin, Draco glared up at the adults a moment though before seething out, "I am not a brat."
Harri giggled while gently smacking him on the back of the head before grabbing his hand walking forward, "No you're a prat, but that is neither here nor there. Come on lets go!"
Draco glared at her a moment before it quickly shifted into a grin, and he followed her lead back to the manor.
"She is being surprisingly acquiescing," Bella stated watching the small retreating forms as her brows furrowed, Sirius cleared that up a moment later.
"Treacle tart for dessert, I let her know beforehand."
Smirking Bella patted his head gently as she took her sisters in arm prowling towards the manor, "Good dog, you get a biscuit."
"Woof..." Sirius stated dryly while rolling his eyes, really the things he put up with for family.
The shock of entering the manor's welcoming warmth after the bitter cold of the quidditch pitch stung Harri's cheeks as they quickly turned a ruddy red causing her to wince slightly. Heating charms were nice and all, but as it turned out they did absolutely jackshit when you were flitting about on a broom going fifty kilometers per hour.
Still, a fun little jaunt and it certainly helped to endear Draco to her, not that it would have been hard to do that regardless considering his current constant compatriots. In the future that would never be he had confided in Harry that half the reason he was such a spoiled little shit was simply because his only exposure to other children before Hogwarts had been Crabbe and Goyle. By his father's insistence of course.
It had explained so much of Draco's mentality at Hogwarts, since thanks to Lucius's control issues his son simply automatically assumed that he was the smartest person in the room by default. Thankfully, Harri had managed to disabuse him of this notion, which hopefully would be enough to get the boy to start acting less like a Malfoy and more like a Black, for all their benefits.
"So cousin, outside of quidditch what interests you?" Well, she hadn't expected the boy to ask that, intriguing really that he had interest in anyone but himself. Exactly how much damage had Lucius done in the two years before Draco's initial meeting with Harry? Something to think on later.
"Ah Draco, I like playing the violin, and tinkering with ancient runes. I have a Grimoire written by my mum that I've found incredibly intriguing, it has given me access to runic arrays that allows muggle electronics to work in a magical household for instance. So I've been rather busy with that."
Bella approached the pair grinning widely, "Her Christmas present to me was actually a television and VCR that have been enchanted to distribute ambient magic around them and manages to use it as a power source. A clever little witch our Harri."
Said little witch turned her head slightly to wink at her older cousin before turning back to Draco who looked slightly impressed and confused as he stated, "I don't know much about muggle electronics but I do know that the violin is something one must be dedicated to in order to master. How good are you?"
Harri felt a brief pang of regret as she remembered the reason why Harry had learned to play a violin. His first born, James Sirius had come to him in the dead of the night telling him that Lily Luna was having nightmares, being the dutiful father he was he had gone to her room to try and comfort her.
It didn't work, nothing really did aside from playing some music in the background. That was when little Al had shown Harry a youtube video of Lindsey Stirling and he'd gotten the idea in his head to learn to play the violin.
As it turned out, not one of his worse decisions, he was no Stirling by any standards be he had picked up on how to play well enough. At least to get his daughter to sleep that is, and Arcturus had gotten her a fiddle for Christmas so maybe it was time to embrace the past a bit. Better than running from it at the very least
"Good enough, I'll play a song for you after dinner ok?" He smirked that annoying as fuck Malfoy smirk while nodding lightly in reply.
"I look forward to a perfect performance," he stated snidely.
Friend or not, Draco was always going to annoy the fuck out of her, she had no delusions this would change any time soon, that being said the desire to curse the arrogant little shit was stronger than she liked it to be.
As the group settled around the table Kreacher popped in thankfully wearing the doublet and trousers Arcturus had demanded were necessary for tonight, bowing lightly the elf spoke up in his gravely manner.
"Dinner is served, most noble Lords Black," With that he popped out of existence as the tables were soon lined with food.
Taking a seat between Bella and Draco Harri idly reflected she needed to go after that damn locket soon and began nibbling at her meal. For some reason she really had no appetite and it didn't take much time before Arcturus interrupted her thoughts.
"Is the meal not to your liking my heiress?" Oh, fuck, he was pulling that out now? Dick move you old fucker, especially since she was still forced to play a part and... Oh you son of a bitch! She glared at her bestie who was smirking behind his bridged gloved fingers waiting for her to make a response that wasn't composed of swear words and hatred.
"Well played," she seethed out earning looks of confusion from her family and a nod of respect from Arty, "Dinner is just fine I was simply wondering exactly when you were going to make the offer to Lord Malfoy."
There, put that bullshit squarely on his plate and thus making it his problem by phrasing the entire proposal in a way that made it seem to be his idea. Fuck you Arty, two could play at this game!
Arcturus for his part frowned as he speared a candied yam with his fork and took the time necessary to chew it to develop a response. The glare he sent Harri was indicative of the fact he had caught on and didn't see a way out other than to follow through.
Hahahahahaha. Don't fuck with a Marauder, you're off the map now laddie, and here there be monsters.
"Lord Malfoy, I have a proposal for you, one that will have long stretching benefits to your house as well as my own."
The way Lucius perked up had Harri rolling her eyes, bastard probably thought a marriage contract was on the table, the way Andi grimaced, Cissy frowned, and Bella stabbed through her plate into the table made it clear they thought the same.
"Oh, is that so Lord Black?"
Arcturus did his best to keep his composure as he tilted his head to the side, "Yes, I was thinking of offering a Contracted Friendship between my heiress and your heir. It is a bit old fashioned I admit but it would do wonders for both the children's sake, and for your own...reputation."
Sick burn, Harri had to resist snickering as Lucius's brows furrowed at the slight inferring his willing assistance to Voldemort, rock on Arty!
"I see...a Contract of Friendship is often times seen as a first step to a betrothal though, it could have people talking."
"But of course," Arcturus demurred as he sipped his wine.
What followed was, frankly, two hours of two men masturbating to their own power as they hammered out the details to a done deal. In the end Draco and Harriet were now legally obligated to be friends, which solved multiple problems and made the future utterly fucking hilarious since Harri fully intended on making sure Hermione was still her best friend this time around.
Ah, irony, you fickle, stubborn, magnificent bitch, you keep riding on you.
As it ended up, after dinner Harri played a few simple pieces on her violin proving she could in fact play the damn thing, and sent the now contractually obligated friendly family home a few hours later.
She was...exhausted in the end though, her direct Black family was permanently living at the manor now, at least until Sirius was fully healed, and she was at a bit of a lose as to what to do. Schemes and plans were all well and good but still...
Her thoughts were broken off by a pair of warm arms wrapping around her as a beautiful face rested next to her own, sending a cascade of wavy black ringlets down her shoulders.
"Hello love," Belladona stated as she pulled the child closer to herself.
"Hello love," she replied in kind as she leaned into the embrace, "What's the occasion?"
"It's getting cold out, I was worried about you."
"Am I not old enough to care for myself?"
Bella snorted, "Certainly, but you're also easily distracted and I thought it best I interfere with your thoughts to keep you healthy."
Harri smiled at that, "You aren't wrong my wicked witch. Ok, take me prisoner my dear Bella, but I ask you now, be gentle."
Bella laughed as she snaked an arm around the girls shoulders guiding her towards the lifts.
"No promises, now want to watch 'The Princess Bride'?"
Harri grinned up to her cousin in a winning manner at that, "Oh I am so glad I made you into a nerd."
"A nerd?" Bella asked in response, Harri could only grin in return.
"What are we watching after that?" The non sequitur had Belladonna shaking her head slightly before she replied.
"Labyrinth I believe," Harri grinned in return.
"Marry me woman," Bella raised a brow in confusion before drawling out her response.
"Ok?"
Harry smirked as she gripped her hand and dragged Bella back to the manor, "Excellent! Now, let us watch Princess Bride while drinking wine coolers!"
Bellatrix was completely lost, but also highly amused, so she did exactly what the nine year old girl told her to.
Personally, I love Harri and Arty, along with Harri and Bella, they're both jaded and fucked up enough to really get her.
Sorry for the late update this was a bitch to get through, please review!