Black Heir [R]
By Hawk
Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...
Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.
Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.
Chapter Eight:
"Hello, Aunt Narcissa." Tonks greeted the woman in question as she Apparated into the living room with a faint pop.
Narcissa looked up from the book she was reading and nodded at her niece.
"Nymphadora." she greeted her niece from her seat in the reading corner and delicately placed a bookmark in the shape of a dancing couple into the book before she closed it and put it down on the table. "What can I do for you?" she inquired with a polite expression, though she was seething inside the privacy of her own mind. While she had at first resented Harry for getting such a small home for the two of them, she had taken a liking to the place as she decorated it and turned it from a barren wasteland to a pleasant oasis.
An oasis which Nymphadora had now been granted unrestricted access to, from the looks of things.
Having a trusting whiny cry-baby like Potter around was but a minor annoyment and the perks of being married to him more then compensated for his occasional immature behaviour and those blasted nightmares he appeared to suffer from.
The worst part of that was that she couldn't use or even have any major contact with magic during the night, as that would negatively affect some of the cosmetic charms she cast every morning and creams she applied before going to sleep, so even something as minor as casting a Silencing Charm was out of the question. Shielding her bedroom from the magical fields emitted by the Goblin Wards around the apartment had cost nearly two thousand of the eleven thousand Galleons she spent in getting the apartment to her liking.
Had Narcissa been more knowledgeable about Muggles and their ways, she could have used ear plugs, but as she had no idea that such things existed, all she could use to block out the sounds of Potters sobbing, crying and screaming was her hands and pillow, none of which worked very well.
She did sort of regret slapping him, but she'd finally grown so tired of having her sleep disturbed by his pathetic behaviour that she'd taken action without really thinking it over first.
"A firewhiskey would be nice." Tonks replied and slumped down into the couch with a tired groan.
"Of course." Narcissa responded and sedately poured her niece a glass of firewhiskey on her own instead of calling for one of the elves, taking the opportunity to refill her own glass of wine from the remains of the bottle of Australian red she and Harry had been drinking from at supper. "Here you go." she said as she handed Tonks her glass, then seated herself at the end of the couch.
"Thanks." Tonks responded and took a hearty gulp from her drink, letting out a puff of smoke from her mouth and then sipped from her drink again.
"I'm assuming you've spoken with the Order?" Narcissa inquired.
"I have." Tonks agreed with a wry expression. "There were quite a bit of arguments against you joining, but the news that Harry is the only one who can defeat you-know-who was seen as important enough to ignore them. There are a few conditions, however."
"Oh?" Narcissa commented as one of her eyebrows reached for the skies. She took a small sip from her wine. "Such as?"
"A Magical Oath that you'll be loyal to the Order and Moody wants to ask you a couple of questions under Veritaserum." Tonks replied.
"The Oath is out of the question in that form. I would be willing to swear one to be loyal to my husband, but not to the Order. Give me a list of the questions and give me an Oath in return that only those questions I approve of will be asked while I'm affected by the Veritaserum and I will agree to that." Narcissa countered.
"I'll consider it." Tonks agreed with a faint nod.
"'You'?" Narcissa commented and offered a faint smile. "You've realized that as you were the first to take charge, the others now automatically defer to you?"
"Yeah... When I returned after meeting with you guys, I got a few looks that made me wonder if Dumbledore wasn't standing behind my back or I'd accidentally morphed myself to look like him." Tonks responded and shook her head.
"It will pass. Once things have settled a bit, your leadership will likely be challenged by the ambitious amongst you. But as long as confusion reigns, they'll follow your lead." Narcissa advised. "At that time, you will have to decide if you wish to keep on being a leader and fight for your position, or step down and support another candidate."
"Oh, I'll step down. No doubt about it. I'm not cut out for this kind of shit." Tonks groused.
"We shall have to see. Many who get a taste of leadership are reluctant to give it up." her aunt responded and sipped from her wine again.
"It's nice to have a talk with you without Lucius present." Tonks suddenly admitted, completely changing the subject.
"Likewise." Narcissa agreed and looked somewhat longingly at Tonks. "How has your mother been?" she asked with a faintly wistful expression.
"Well enough, I suppose. Things settled down some after the war and without that old bint Walburga throwing her weight around, she was finally able to get a job in the Wizarding World. Pops too." Tonks replied.
"I saw him a couple of years ago. He works at the Ministry, doesn't he? Something in Magical Transportation?" Narcissa asked.
"Yeah. He's a desk jockey there and does the occasional Apparition Exam." Tonks answered.
"And your mother?" Narcissa asked.
"She's an editor. Most of the newly published magical books have been edited by her." she responded and Narcissa nodded. "There's nothing to prevent you from seeing her now, you know?" she hinted. "She doesn't talk about you two often, but I think she does miss her sisters."
"I guess you're right." Narcissa agreed with a sigh. While she'd never agreed with Andromeda's decision to simply abandon her prior obligations in order to marry that Muggleborn slob she'd wound up with, she'd never really had anything against Andromeda herself. But while she was still a Black, it had been out of the question to meet or even speak over the Floo with a traitor to the family. When she became a Malfoy, it had been likewise out of the question to have any contact with a blood traitor like Andromeda.
But like her niece had just reminded her, things were different now.
As long as she wasn't openly seeing her, there was nothing really preventing her from finally speaking and perhaps even meeting with her sister again. Being seen with her in public had both advantages and disadvantages, so before making any such radical moves, she'd have to carefully consider what she could benefit from most. But if it was done discreetly, nothing prevented her from a little sisterly reunion any longer.
"I think I will speak with her." Narcissa decided out loud. "I've missed her too." she admitted and allowed herself to display a faintly wistful expression, before a notion struck her and she looked consideringly at Tonks. "Has she kept up with her duelling skills?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. I still can't get past her defences, no matter how hard I try." Tonks snorted.
"And your father?" Narcissa asked.
"I was hit by one of his Bludgeoning spells shortly after I graduated from Auror School. Every Healer I've ever seen since has tried to do something about it, but unless I morph it, there's still a mark from it." the younger woman ruefully admitted.
"If they and you are willing, I believe Harry might have job offerings for all three of you." Narcissa mused with a contemplative expression.
"Job offerings?" Tonks blurted out with a look of utter confusion.
"I haven't spoken with him yet about just what exactly the Prophecy entails, but if he's the only one who can defeat you-know-who, he'll likely find himself in the frontlines of the upcoming struggle against the Dark Lord. I should very much like for him to pull through it all still in one piece. If your mother could improve his defensive abilities, you father teach him offensive magic and you provide him with skills otherwise restricted to Aurors, he'd be more likely to survive." Narcissa explained and leaned back, taking another sip from her wine. "I can teach him the basic and intermediate skills he's currently lacking, but the three of you are far more skilled then me in your respective specialities." she admitted.
"Look, Aunt Narcissa. Why are you doing all of this? Why marry Harry Potter of all people?" Tonks asked and Narcissa contemplated her young niece for a few moments.
"Do you swear not to tell anyone?" Narcissa asked and Tonks squirmed in her seat for a few moments.
"Unless what you tell me becomes necessary to reveal for Harry's safety, I swear on my magic not to tell anyone what you're about to reveal to me. So mote it be." Tonks said in an unusually serious manner.
"So mote it be." Narcissa agreed after a few moments and cleared her throat before she started talking again. "He used my Oath of Loyalty to compel me to marry him." she revealed and Tonks gasped in shock. "He desired freedom from the old coot's manipulations and due to his inexperience I surmise that the only way he came up with to achieve that was marriage. For some reason, likely through some action of Sirius, he came into possession of that particular document and used it somewhat successfully to compel my obedience. Through his foolish and naive actions, such is no longer the case and I am once again a free woman. I must admit that this little marriage of ours is not entirely to my liking, mostly due to Potters occasional outbursts of childishness. But the advantages it holds are far too large for me to ignore, so I am still going along with it and doing my utmost to ensure that it will be a lasting one even without Potters haphazard attempts at manipulative mind control."
"What was that moron thinking?!" Tonks exclaimed, shaking her head in dismay. Oaths of Loyalty were one of the larger grey zones of Magical Legislation out there and as such, were used only sparingly. Due to the targets willing participation, it was basically a free-for-all Imperious that anyone capable of writing could use against them for all eternity, or at least for as long as the document remained intact. After they were first signed, they were usually kept locked up in a family vault at Gringotts or some untold location that only the family head was aware of.
The dangers of them had been made pretty much apparent in 1864, when the Morton family had been forced to leave their home during the American civil war and a Squib had gotten his hands on Lady Jane Mortons Oath of Loyalty as the Morton manse was plundered. Until then, it had always been assumed that one needed an active magical core to use an Oath of Loyalty.
Such was not the case.
After some frenzied experimentation in the years that followed after that whole Morton mess, it quickly became apparent that anyone, magical or not, human or not, could use and abuse the Oath of Loyalty. As far as she knew, there was still two full-time research seats in the Department of Mysteries that were devoted exclusively to trying to figure out a more secure Oath of Loyalty.
"I surmise that his Muggle upbringing and the relatively short time he's spent in the Wizarding World has been woefully incapable to adequately prepare him for living in our world. He's dreadfully ignorant of the inner workings of the Wizarding World. I am in the process of amending that, but it is likely a long-term project, considering that nobody seemed to have bothered with it in the past. He was for instance not aware of the consummation requirement inherent in Wizarding Marriages until I told him about it. Likely, he imagined marriage to me would simply involve living together for the sake of appearances and then he would have divorced me when he became of age. He might very well still try to do that as I doubt that I was what he had in mind when he imagined his future wife. But if he does try, I will be fighting him every step of the way and do my utmost to prevent him from succeeding." Narcissa said.
"Why are you telling me all this extra stuff?" Tonks whispered.
"Because it amuses me to have you aware of everything, yet be unable to tell anyone. At the moment, there's *nobody* more interested in his safety and victory over the Dark Lord then I am. As his wife, I'm just as big a target as Potter is, if not even bigger. So I'll stand by his side and guard his back to the very end and to the utmost of my abilities. So you telling somebody about this might actually be detrimental to his safety, as it could jeopardize our marriage and the assistance I'd otherwise grant him." Narcissa stated with a pleased smile.
"He's young enough to be your son." Tonks accused her Aunt.
"Indeed. I had some issues with that too in the beginning, but I've changed my mind since then." Narcissa admitted with a faint smile, secretly pondering just how she quite literally 'changed her mind' by using the Oath of Loyalty to do so. She had been dreadfully uncomfortable around Harry, which was a very odd feeling as she was also feeling quite happy about the marriage itself.
But after she had arranged so that she saw nothing wrong with having a husband so much younger then she was, she now felt quite comfortable around him. Comfortable enough to indulge in some sexual teasing and even somewhat look forward to some further teasing. Before, she never would have dared to wear what she went to breakfast in earlier this morning. Before, she had been feeling horribly intimidated by the prospect of consummating the marriage with such a young husband. But it now felt like just another minor chore that had to be done, instead of something dreadful lurking in the near future.
In fact, she was sort of looking forward to it. Lucius had been an adequate lover, but even when they first did get married, passionate was not one of the words she would have used to describe him. Potter might be young and inexperienced, but she was fairly certain that with a bit of training and experience, he'd be a much more satisfying lover then Lucius ever had been.
"If you hurt him..." Tonks warned with a threatening tone of voice.
"Now why ever would I do that for?" Narcissa asked with a shake of her head. "Like I said earlier, I'll do my utmost to support him."
"Where is he, by the way?" Tonks asked and looked around.
"He took the Knight Bus and went to see that Muggleborn friend of his, that Granger girl." Narcissa replied.
"Oh... That ought to be an interesting encounter." Tonks commented with a faint smile.
"From what I've heard of her, quite." Narcissa agreed with a tiny smile. She had contemplated going along with him, but figured that he had earned a bit of freedom. Besides, the chances of that bumbling fool managing to arrange some sort of catastrophic upset in their current relationship and power structure were likely as close to zero as they could get, so she had instead elected to spend a peaceful evening at home.
+Knock+ +Knock+ +Knock+
Harry squirmed and nervously looked around the area, row upon row of fair-sized houses. It reminded him a great deal of Privet Drive and for a few moments, he wondered what it would have been like to grow up in this area instead. While similar to Privet Drive, the area seemed more individualistic then the almost uniformly coherent Privet Drive, which made it more pleasant to his mind. He had been greeted by various people as he walked through the area and the general mood of the neighbourhood also seemed more pleasant then what he was used to.
Would he and Hermione have been friends as children if he had lived here or would Dudley have scared her off, as he had done to so many others?
"Yes?" Hermione asked questioningly as she opened the door and Harry turned around to face her with a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. "Harry!" she exclaimed in shock and Harry nodded.
"Hello, Hermione." he greeted her. "How's your summer been?" he asked, not quite knowing what to say, so he asked the first thing that came to mind.
"How's my... Harry!" she started, shook her head and took a deep breath. "How's my summer? How's yours, Harry?! Leaving Privet Drive and getting married to Narcissa Malfoy of all people? Are you all right? Have you been controlled in any way? And if not, have you taken leave of all your senses? Do you have any idea just how much trouble you're in? Have you heard what happened to Headmaster Dumbledore? Did you know that the Aurors caught Professor Snape? I heard the older Weasley's are in some sort of trouble as well, do you know what's going on with that?" she ranted, peppering him with questions without taking a single break to breathe between any of them.
"It's good to see you too, Hermione. Can I come in?" he asked and nodded at the doorway.
"Oh, of course. Come on in." she said and stepped out of the way, gesturing for him to enter. "But seriously, what's up with you and this whole marriage nonsense?" she demanded to know as she guided him into the living room, taking a seat at the end of a plushy white sofa and gesturing for him to take a seat as well.
"It was one of my less bright and least well thought out ideas." Harry sighed with a shake of his head as he seated himself. "But I wasn't controlled in any way, shape or manner. It was my decision from start to finish, the only way I could come up with to win my freedom and get away from the Dursley hellhole." he explained. "Since I married an adult woman, I could get Emancipated in both Muggle and Wizarding society."
"But Malfoys mother?! Why her?" Hermione asked.
"Have you ever heard of something called an 'Oath of Loyalty', Hermione?" Harry asked after a few moments.
"Can't say that I have." she reluctantly admitted after a few seconds to ponder his question. If it was one thing she really loathed, it was having to confess to being ignorant about something. "What is an Oath of Loyalty?" she curiously asked, eager to correct her earlier ignorance.
"It's a magically binding contract, used by some of the older families to ensure that those that leave the family due to marriage doesn't turn against their family at some later point. It works like a sort of permanent Imperious, ensuring the complete and utter loyalty of the one bound by it." Harry revealed and Hermione nodded with a distasteful expression. "Sirius left me a letter that I got when I came back to Privet Drive and he included Narcissa's Oath of Loyalty with it. He wanted me to use it to prevent Voldemort through Lucius Malfoy from getting control over the Black inheritance."
Harry took a deep breath.
"I'm not proud of what I did, but I didn't only use it to do that. Sirius had asked a lawyer from Gringotts to come see me and arrange for Narcissa to be divorced from Lucius, one of the things he said made me realize that I could become Emancipated if I had an adult wife." he continued and looked uncomfortable for a few moments. "I used the Oath to force Narcissa to marry me so that I could get Emancipated." he finally confessed.
"Harry, that's horrible! How could you?!" Hermione shrieked. "Do you realize what you've done? You could wind up in Azkaban for this!"
"Actually not, as it turns out. I spoke with Fistfang, he's the lawyer I talked about, before coming here. While the Imperious is one of the Unforgivables, using an Oath of Loyalty is perfectly legal as long as it's not used to get the one being controlled to do some sort of crime. It's apparently got something to do with the fact that the one bound by the Oath has to agree to sign it of their own free will." Harry replied. "So I won't be in trouble with the law for what I did, even if it was a disgusting thing to do."
"Damn straight it is!" Hermione ranted and Harry blinked at the unexpected curse. "It's awful! Horrible! Despicable! It's like raping her! Heck, it *is* raping her!" she gasped and shied away from him.
"I didn't know that Wizarding marriages had to be consummated and that there was somebody checking it to make sure that they had." Harry admitted. "I figured that we'd just live together for the sake of appearances until I became of age, then we'd divorce each other."
"Oh, Harry. When will you ever learn to check the depth before diving headfirst into the water?" Hermione sighed with a disappointed expression.
"We haven't, by the way." he added.
"Haven't what?" Hermione asked.
"Uh... Not... Eh... Consummated..." Harry mumbled with an acutely embarrassed expression.
"Oh." Hermione responded with a faint blush, looking away from him.
"And I made something of a mistake with the Oath. She got her hands on it and removed everything I'd used it for." Harry sighed. "Then she destroyed it."
"Oh. So you're not married anymore?" Hermione asked with a somewhat relieved expression.
"No. Still married." Harry sighed and flashed his engagement and wedding rings. "She's gung-ho about staying married to me and doesn't want to divorce me. Ever!" he moaned. "I don't know what to do, Hermione. This was just supposed to be a sham until I became of age, but now I have to... Hrm... Consummate..."
"Then don't. Your marriage will be over and all your problems solved." Hermione shrugged.
"I don't think Narcissa will go for that and I'm sure that I won't like whatever she does to ensure that... Consummation... Does occur." he sighed. "Besides, I can't divorce her yet. Not until I become of age. I *will* not be controlled and manipulated again." he declared with a firm expression. /Well, other then by my wife, it seems.../ he added mentally and directed a pleading expression at Hermione. "You're my last hope, Hermione. Can you think of any way to fake the Bond between a married couple?" he pleaded.
"You could become Bonded to somebody else, which'll show you as having a Bond. Narcissa likely has one to Lucius already, even if it's probably fading away now that he's dead. But the Ritual will check if the two of you are Bonded to each other. It may be possible to create a Bond in some other way or transfer existing Bonds to other people, but I don't know how." she explained and Harry groaned with disappointment.
That was not what he wanted to hear.
"I'm sorry. I'll look and see what I can find, but I don't think there's a way to fool the Ritual. But I'll check and see if it's possible to establish the Bond in some other way." Hermione promised.
"Thank you, Hermione. You're the best." Harry gushed gratefully.
"Well..." Hermione murmured and cleared her throat before changing the subject. "Did you hear what happened to Dumbledore?" she asked.
"Yeah, Narcissa happened." Harry sighed and shook his head. "Apparently it's illegal to use Legimency on children and Dumbledore has been doing it ever since Narcissa went to Hogwarts. Perhaps even before that, though there's no evidence of it yet, so she reported him to the MLE."
"What?! It was Narcissa who turned him in?" Hermione exclaimed, then shuddered.
"Apparently." Harry agreed with a shake of his head.
"But that's... I mean, what he did was very bad, using Legimency on students and all that. But he could go to Azkaban for it! Without him, V-Voldemort will win." Hermione declared. "How are we supposed to fight him off without Dumbledore? It's unthinkable."
"I just don't know. Narcissa tells me not to worry and that things will work out for the best, but I don't know how that can be. I think she'll pull some sort of stunt at the trial, but she won't tell me what she's got planned." Harry admitted and shook his head again.
"You talk with each other?" Hermione asked with a certain amount of surprise. "What's she like?" she curiously inquired.
"Calculating. Somewhat distant and extremely polite, but completely relentless in spite of her polite speech. She's smart as a whip and almost as much of a know-it-all as you are." Harry revealed with a little smile at the end, observing how Hermione bristled at that little dig at her. "If what she said didn't have a tendency to upset me, I might actually enjoy speaking with her. We had a little talk before I went to Gringotts and another before I came here which was almost... Nice. Nice and surprisingly normal." he admitted after a few seconds consideration. "Had everything gone according to plan, sharing an apartment with her might not have been so bad." he finished.
"What are you going to do?" she asked him.
"Hopefully, you'll find something which can solve that whole Bonded thing. I'll go to school as usual and when it's time to go home for the summer, I'll go to the apartment instead of Privet Drive. Then when I become of age, I'll hand in the divorce papers. I already arranged for them with Fistfang today after Narcissa left. He'll hold on to them until I come of age, then he'll turn them in for me." Harry replied.
"What about the Weasley's? Was that Narcissa's doing too?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. She turned them in for not reporting that Snape and Dumbledore were using Legimency on minors and for not notifying the proper authorities about how bad things were for me at the Dursley's. They're suspected for being accomplishes in the abuse of a minor now." Harry replied and Hermione paled. "She hasn't reported your parents, probably because she sees them as 'just Muggles'. I'm not sure what she's up to, but for some reason she wanted Dumbledore and the Weasley's out of the way for a while."
"Was she behind those other things as well? All those raids, Lucius execution and Professor Snape's arrest?" she asked.
"Yes. If it wasn't for the fact that she went after the Order as well and caused almost more confusion there then for the Death Eaters, things would be looking up." Harry responded and shook his head. "I just don't understand her. She struck hard against the Death Eaters, but she also got Dumbledore arrested. She ensured that Lucius was convicted, but she set the MLE onto the Weasley's. She got me an official apology from Minister Fudge, but turned in Snape as well. I just don't know what to think or do about her. It's like trying to stay on your feet in an avalanche, fighting against the inevitable without a chance of succeeding." he sighed despondently.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Hermione asked. "Isn't there some sort of obedience clause or something in your wedding contract?" she asked after a few moments of consideration and with a great deal of reluctance. Unlike Harry, she had read up on Wizarding marriages and there were quite a few things she had learned that utterly disgusted her, one of them was such clauses.
"I didn't think I'd ever need one, so no." Harry responded with a shrug. "Fistfang did suggest one, but I asked him to leave it out."
"Well, it might be inconvenient now, but you did the right thing." Hermione commented and Harry wisely refrained from responding that the only reason he'd left it out, was that he had the OoL at the time and figured it wasn't necessary to have another hold over Narcissa, a weaker one then the OoL offered. "Something else, then? Hasn't she done anything she could be arrested for?"
"Not that I know of and I doubt she'd tell me even if she had." Harry sighed.
"Then we can't even blackmail her." Hermione mumbled and Harry was briefly surprised at that, until he remembered the Rita Skeeter solution Hermione had employed and recalled that she could be surprisingly ruthless at times. He wasn't quite as quick to rule out blackmail as she was however. He would have to give that one some serious consideration. "I'll see if I can come up with anything to deal with her, but promise me that you'll be careful in the meantime. She was married to Lucius for years, so I strongly doubt that she's all that innocent."
"I will." Harry agreed.
"What are we going to do about the Weasley's?" Hermione asked and Harry let out yet another sigh, something he'd come to do quite often lately.
"I dunno." he admitted. "I was the one affected, so perhaps I can get the charges dropped? I should have asked Fistfang, but I was kinda distracted by other stuff." he suggested.
"Come on, I've got some law books in my room. We'll see what we can find out." she suggested and Harry's lips quirked into a wry smile as Hermione practically skipped up the stairs towards her room, with him slowly following in her wake.
She might be, as Ron often claimed, a bit mental. But she was a terrific friend none the less and he'd never regret getting to know this fantastic young woman.
"Welcome home, dear." Narcissa greeted Harry as he returned to the apartment after another uncomfortable ride with the Knight Bus. "Did you have a nice time playing with your little friend?" she asked him teasingly and Harry bristled for a moment, before he forced himself to remain calm and not to rise to her taunt.
"Hello, sugarquill. And yes, I did." Harry responded with an annoyed expression and Narcissa smirked at him.
"'Sugarquill'?" she repeated with an oddly bemused facial expression.
"It might need a bit of work." Harry agreed with a tired sigh.
"Well, while you're thinking about pet names for me, my niece was here earlier and had a suggestion that I happen to agree with." Narcissa announced.
"Tonks was here?" Harry asked, for a moment feeling somewhat relieved as that likely meant that Narcissa had been at the apartment ever since he left and thus likely hadn't been up to something devious in his absence. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle any more major-league surprises like Dumbledore's arrest, the problems the Weasley's were having or something along those lines.
"Indeed. She suggested that we test you for Talents and I'm inclined to agree with her. After everything else, I wouldn't be all that surprised to find out that you're in possession of some rare Talents thought lost since the time of the Founders." Narcissa stated and shook her head. "Perhaps you're a Runemaster like Slytherin, seeing as you're a Parseltoungue. Or perhaps a True Seer like Ravenclaw. Or heck, why not a Dragonwhisperer like Hufflepuff since we're on the subject of lost Talents."
"You seem to know a lot about them." Harry commented, feeling more comfortable now when she was actually being informative and pleasant instead of intimidating and taunting.
"It always was an interest of mine and my life has left me with more time then most to pursue my various interests." Narcissa admitted. "Lucius wanted a male Heir and a pretty wife to trot about at social functions, but didn't much care what I did with the rest of my time. So I socialized, studied and spent as much time with Draco as I was allowed. That wasn't a lot, so most of it was spent making connections or studying whatever had caught my fancy at the time. So I probably know more about the Founders then any non-historian do."
"Can you tell me a little about them?" Harry requested, always having had a certain fondness for hearing about the Founders.
"The Founders always were the odd men and women out in the Wizarding world, you might say." Narcissa mused as she tried to recall something interesting to tell about them. "Godric Gryffindor was raised as a knight, you know. Back then, there wasn't any sort of formal magic education and no way to accurately predict when and in whom The Gift might manifest, so he didn't know that he was a wizard until his mid-twenties. Helga Hufflepuff was a village wise woman, treating the sick and injured with herbal remedies and folklore, occasionally sprinkled with the odd bit of accidental magic. Rowena Ravenclaw was the daughter of Godrics seneschal, helping out around the castle and spending whatever free time she had in the Gryffindor library. Salazar Slytherin was the only one of the four who knew about magic and was taught about it from a young age, having a wizard father and a witch mother. Helga had a witch mother, but suffered from a late magical maturity, so she was believed to be a Squib and didn't receive proper training growing up. One Pureblood, one Half-blood and two Muggleborns."
"Gryffindor was a horrible student to begin with, only dedicating himself to learn offensive magic in the beginning and only later on in his life turning to other areas of study. Hufflepuff took to the arts of Healing and Potions like a fish to water, but unlike Gryffindor, never neglected other areas of study. Ravenclaw was a natural, all strengths and no weaknesses. Had Rowena Ravenclaw received a magic education from a young age, she could have been the greatest magical being to ever walk the earth. Salazar was a fiercely devoted student of all the arts, a masterly Transfigurator and the greatest Potion Master of their generation. All of them were terribly powerful and became good friends over the years, a force of nature that couldn't be stopped. The four of them hit the Wizarding world of the time like a ton of bricks." she explained and let out a wistful sigh tainted with envy.
"By the time they retired and went into seclusion, they had completely reformed the Wizarding World. They left us with the beginnings of a Ministry of Magic as we know it today, to govern our world. They left us with the seed for the Wizengamot, to decide and uphold the laws we live by. They also left us with Hogwarts, the first of the great European schools of magic and the base upon which nearly every European Wizarding school is modelled after today. Only the Ascending Dragon Academy of Magic in China is older." Narcissa finished.
"Retired?" Harry asked.
"They were old at that point, all four of them past their two-hundredth year of age. Their powers were waning and their health fading." she explained. "It is said that their last cooperative effort was when they hid their families. Sometime after that, the rift which eventually divided them was formed and the four of them parted ways, never again to be seen by the Wizarding public."
"I though they had a fight." Harry interjected.
"Many believe so, but there's little historical evidence to back it up. We do know that Gryffindor and Slytherin had very spirited and very public debates over Blood Purity before the Wizengamot was formed. Gryffindor eventually had to step down and admit that Slytherin had a point after Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw argued against him." Narcissa explained.
"Blood Purity? That ruddy nonsense." Harry snorted and shook his head.
"Nonsense?" Narcissa asked with a faintly offended expression. "Blood Purity isn't nonsense, Potter. It's grossly misunderstood because so few chose to really study it, that much is true. But there are indeed inherent magical differences between Purebloods, Halfbloods and Muggleborn."
"What?" Harry asked, blinking in surprise. "Isn't that just because Purebloods and some Halfbloods are taught more about magic as they grow up?"
"There is some of that, of course. That part of it all is a bit of a double-edged sword and not always the blessing it might seem to be, however." Narcissa replied. "Purebloods are raised around magic, learn to expect it and subsequently have little innate fear of it. To them, it's the natural state of things. This usually, not always, but usually, means that Purebloods have an easier time learning how to do magic at first as they don't fear it. Muggleborn, having little to no contact with magic growing up, other then perhaps some cases of accidental magic, are different. While most find magic a marvellous and wondrous new thing, it's also something unknown and humans fears the unknown. Without being used to it, Muggleborns also have little knowledge about the Theory of Magic to begin with, which is a big drawback when it comes to learning the basics about some branches of magic. On the other hand, Muggleborns tend to be more innovative then Purebloods, not really knowing what is possible and what isn't supposed to be possible. Muggleborn often push the boundaries and what is thought possible to do with magic. Halfbloods differ pending on if they've had a mostly Muggle upbringing or a mostly Magical upbringing." she explained and took a deep breath.
"However, I was talking about the inherent difference in the actual magical core. Most people have completely misunderstood everything and use the various theories of blood purity to 'prove' that Purebloods are more powerful then Halfbloods who are more powerful then Muggleborns, or vice versa. Power plays very little part of it, however. While it is true to a degree that Purebloods in general are more powerful then Halfbloods, the difference is fairly insignificant, as is the difference between Halfbloods and Muggleborn. There's always the occasional exception, and those tend to be huge exceptions!" Narcissa started, glancing at Harry for a few moments, giving him an odd considering look.
"No, the real difference lies in the Talents. That is where the statistics and differences become impossible to ignore as mere coincidences. Purebloods have more Talents, that is a statistical fact. Muggleborns have fewer Talents, that's also a fact. Halfbloods fall somewhere in between." Narcissa started. "However, here's one interesting little tidbit that few people know about. While Talents are more common in Purebloods, it's becoming more and more rare for them to be full-blown Talents. They're diluting with every new generation. Many Muggleborn have no Talent at all and those few that do, often have only one Talent, while Purebloods have been found to possess as many as eight Talents. However, when a Muggleborn has a Talent, it's rarely a partial one. Most Muggleborn with a Talent, have the full Talent and not some partial diluted version of it. Once again, Halfbloods comes somewhere in between, one known case, a witch in Hungary having two full Talents and three partial Talents."
"Now, my niece mentioned that your hair seems to have a will of it's own from time to time and that you haven't cut it in years. Usually, that's a sign of at least a partial Metamorphmagus Talent. Since it's highly probable that you have at least one Talent other then Parseltoungue, she suggested to test for other Talents. For this, I would require some of your Hearts Blood, willingly given." Narcissa finished.
For a few moments, Harry struggled with the impulse to make some sort of comment about vampirism and blood-sucking in regards to his wife, but he managed to refrain from it.
He wasn't all that comfortable with handing his blood to Narcissa, however.
But this whole Talent business sounded awfully intriguing...
"I'll need an oath that you won't do something weird with it." he informed her, being done with just letting her walk all over him and land him in even more trouble then he already was.
"I swear on my magic that the blood about to be given to me by my husband will only be used to test him for Talents, nothing more, nothing less. It will be done in his presence and I'll destroy the blood after the testing is done. So mote it be." Narcissa easily responded after taking a few seconds to consider the wording of her oath and Harry slowly nodded his acceptance.
"So mote it be." he agreed and wished that it didn't feel as if he'd just made a deal with the devil.
The End! ( For now... )
