Disclaimer: This is Flickaxe. As a powerful account manager, I have decided that the author of this story is dangerously close to revealing closely held Goblin secrets. Therefore I have removed him as a threat. I have locked his vault, sent him to St. Mungos as a mental case and am now snacking on his account manager. Oops, I did not mean to say that. You will forget this conversation, only remembering that the Potterverse is owned by JKR and her lackeys and minions in the printing and entertainment industries.
Chapter 11
Hostile Allies and Friendly Enemies
You-Know-Who Attacks Noble Families!
Guilt of Dark Families now in Doubt
Exclusive to The Daily Prophet
Miranda MacDugall, Staff Writer
Several Dark families, long suspected to be supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, were attacke,d the family Heads murdered in a most gruesome method last night. The bodies of the Heads of the Malfoy, Nott, Greengrass, Goyle, Avery, Crabbe, and Parkinson families were discovered in front of the Ministry of Magic by a passing muggle policeman. Their bodies had been dismembered and body parts were missing. Prior to being obliviated, the policeman stated that it was the worse massacre he had ever seen.
The fact that You-Know-Who killed these influential members of wizarding society brings into doubt recent charges that they were willing servants of the Dark Lord. It is the opinion of this reporter that the defense put forward several years ago that they had been under the Unforgivable Imperious curse may have been legitimate. The recent sightings of these men at Death Eater raids probably were the result of the same curse.
Since these men were so gruesomely slain probably means that they had bravely fought off the influence of the spell and were working toward the downfall of the Dark Lord. There will be a mass funeral on Friday with the Minister of Magic awarding the Order of Merlin, Second Class posthumously to their families. The new heads of the families are;
Draco Malfoy
Pansy Parkinson
Daphne Greengrass
Theodore Nott
Vincent Crabbe
Gregory Goyle
Robert Avery
These young wizards and witches are the future of the wizarding world. We should all follow the lead of their classmate and former rival, Lord Harry Potter-Black in extending the hand of friendship and support in their time of mourning. This reporter has been informed that the new young nobles are in seclusion at the home of Lord Potter-Black
12 Grimmauld Place
"Malfoy, just what in the hell happened out there? And why are your bookends and Avery here? I thought that they wanted to be marked!"
"I can't explain it either! One minute we were all with our fathers at the apparition point, the next We are all waking up here. I don't know who did it, but we were all stunned and apparently Crabbe, Goyle and Avery piggybacked on the portkeys somehow. I was waiting for the Aurors to arrive before portkeying, but I never got the chance to activate it myself. We just woke up in a tangle in the room here. And I thought that they were just supposed to be arrested, not murdered!"
"I have no idea what happened there, but the Aurors never arrived before your parents were killed and the bodies taken away. Maybe Voldemort had an idea that something was up and decided to thin out his ranks some. Either that, or there is another force out there who is working against Voldemort. I will say that this changes a lot in the equation. You aren't poor, you are heirs of your estates. All in all, considering that your fathers would have probably been put to death anyway, you may have come out way on top of the game. You will have to somehow convince your mates who wanted to serve Voldemort that this is actually a good thing."
"I shouldn't think that it would be a problem with Goyle and Crabbe. Avery may be a completely different story. He actually has a few brain cells that are still joined together. I think that the best way will be to speak to his Slytherin side. He can be as big a thug as the apes, but I think that I can get him to see reason. If I can get him to believe that the Dark Lord was the one who killed everyone, then he will have to either join with us or run for cover. The Dark Lord has lost the majority of his funding in the past few hours."
"I hadn't thought of that. He is going to be majorly pissed when he figures it out. Why don't you call in the others and we can start laying down a plan of action."
Draco left the room and returned with his fellow Slytherins. Harry called for Blinky and had him take drink orders all around. Once the teens were seated, Draco took the floor.
"We're not sure just what happened out there, who killed our fathers or why. I do know that if Potter-Black had not helped us, we would all be wearing the Dark Mark and be bowing and scraping before the Dark Lord."
"And this is bad, how?" asked Avery.
"Avery, four of us decided that we were not going to suck up to that half blood monstrosity. If everything had gone to the original plan, our fathers would be under arrest and we would be poor, but free. You three," he pointed at Crabbe, Goyle and Avery. "would have gone and gotten your dark marks and spent the rest of your lives, and I mean, the rest of your lives, being house elves to the Dark Lord and kissing his boots. Whenever you screwed up, you would be tortured. I have seen my father come home looking like an old man because he was bent over in so much pain. I know that you all have seen the same. The other thing that you need to know is this; when he dies, so will anyone else with the mark. I did some research on this. Potter-Black will probably kill him in a few years, and that would mean the end of you too. Whoever killed our parents actually did us a favor. We have attained a measure of power and influence. What we do with it is up to us. Do we use it to attain our goals, or do we throw it away following some maniac. Mark my words, if you throw in with this Dark Lord, you will die, and die soon."
"So, now we have to become a bunch of muggle and mudblood lovers?" Avery sneered.
"Don't be an idiot. No one has asked me to change my basic beliefs. But there is a place for mudbloods and mixed bloods in our society. If we did away with purebloods, we would have to dissolve the Wizengamot, since it requires the heads of Noble families to be pureblood. Whether that changes in the future, I don't know. Our inbreeding has begun producing more squibs and weak magical people. The Pureblood squib rate is over twice what the halfblood squib rate. But that is a battle for a different day. By working for the betterment of all of wizarding society, we will ensure our power and influence for many more generations to come. Our fathers gave up their political power when they were identified as Death Eaters. We can now take it back ourselves, make alliances where necessary and form a bloc of votes. We are young, we can stand in the Wizengamot for many decades."
"What kind of alliances?" asked Pansy.
Harry broke in. "When the Minister passes one of his idiotic laws or regulations, we have the ultimate veto over it. We do have to have enough votes to do that though. This is not an easy thing to do. The Minister is subject to political pressure not just from us, but from the entire wizarding world. With the correct alliances, we can head a lot of this off at the pass, making it easier to keep the idiot from stepping in it before hand. You guys ally with the Dark families, the Light families can ally with the commoners, and I can work with both of you. Between the Wizengamot and the commoners, we can keep the Minister on a short leash and actually make him work to all of our advantages. You don't have to grind other people down to rise yourself."
"Well," Avery said. "I'm willing to give it a try. Goyle, Crabbe, How about you?" The two thugs, who had been watching, not speaking, nodded.
"Good deal," said Malfoy. "If it doesn't work out for you, you can always throw away your power and become Voldemort's house elf. Now you guys really need to try some of Lord Potter-Black's cognac. This stuff is unreal!"
Gringotts Bank
Chairman Goldblood, Flickaxe and Griphook were sitting in the conference room watching the monitoring feed from Grimmauld Place. At the end of the teen's meeting, Goldblood reached over and shut down the monitor screen. He then turned to his underlings.
"You two pulled the bank out of a very embarrassing situation and saved six ancient accounts from being distributed to unworthy creatures. Your bold action bespeaks well of both of you. Griphook, Flickaxe has recommended that you become the new account manager for the Malfoy account. With your initiative, I find myself in agreement. I am going a step farther and also making you the account manager for the Parkinson account. Their fathers filed an intent to betroth the children soon after their births. I do not know if they will go through with it since they are now their own House Heads, but if they do, it will be an active set of accounts. I will also be replacing the account managers on the other accounts of the former Death Eaters. Should you have anyone who you would like to put forward for these positions, send me a memo. Let me be the first to congratulate you, Griphook, on your promotion, and to say to both of you, job well done!"
"Thank you, your Bloodiness!" Griphook and Flickaxe bowed before the Chairman, extending their necks in the traditional sign of obedience in the event that Goldblood should want to behead them. Griphook had grown almost 6 inches, making him only 4 or 5 inches shorter than Flickaxe. "May you slay your enemies and bathe in their gold!"
Goldblood motioned for them to rise, then gave each a bone crushing pat on the back. "Back to work, good goblins! I will see you at Griphook's promotion feast. It looks like there will be plenty of food this time."
The Burrow
Hermione was visiting the Weasleys this evening, hearing about their trip to Romania and discussing the shocking events of the past few weeks. Since the end of the last term, their lives and everything that they believed had been turned on its head. The betrayal by Albus Dumbledore had affected everyone greatly. They had just started in a very lively debate on reasons for and against transferring from Hogwarts when the fireplace glowed green and Harry's head appeared.
"May I come through?"
"Of course, Harry!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed.
A moment later, Harry appeared in the fireplace and gracefully stepped out. This surprised everyone since they had all moved out of the way for Harry's normal rolling entrance.
"Bloody hell, Harry. When did you learn how to do that?"
"Just a few days ago. A nice young lady told me that using the floo is not a full contact sport." Just then, Harry disappeared into the embrace of a weeping Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh, Harry. I'm so sorry that you had to deal with all of this. Can you ever forgive us?"
"Mrs. Weasley, there is nothing to forgive. You were hurt as much as I was. For all of those years, you thought my mother was someone else, that your cousins were dead. Dumbledore fooled a lot of people, put the blame where it belongs."
"Please, Harry, call me Molly. We are relatives, after all." Molly finally let Harry go. "This is the first time that you have come here looking like you have actually eaten."
"That is probably because I have. I have a wonderful cooking staff that is almost as good as you. But it takes all 8 of them in the kitchen to even come close. They, of course, cannot do as good a job as you, but I eke by."
"Flattery will get you everywhere." Molly blushed. "Let me put on a fresh pot of tea. Would you like something to eat? Maybe some nice chocolate biscuits?"
"Sounds wonderful."
Hermione had been processing what Harry had been saying. "Harry, please don't tell me that you have enslaved elves."
"'Mione, don't start. I have elves as part of my household. They are treated well, have days off, and I buy them whatever they tell me they need or even want. Should any of them want freedom, I would grant it immediately. But they are part of my family. They may be better looking in some cases, but they have been a great help. I have 2 huge properties that have to be tended at all times, plus the house at Grimmauld Place. And the biggest surprise is Kreacher. He is not insane, although he does have a really warped set of values and sense of humour. He is my head elf, he is now neat and tidy, and he has been invaluable in helping me keep everything running. Much better than the 'house muggle' experiment that I tried." At their quizzical look, Harry told them the tale of Vernon and Dudley.
"Oh, gawd! That is just too good! Blinky's reaction was precious." This was from Ginny, who had come downstairs just as Harry was beginning to relate the tale.
"Yes, but the funniest thing is that Mrs. Black thinks that I should try the experiment again, this time using a better class of muggles. I don't think I could get something like that through the Wizengamot though. The Light wizards would be against it on moral grounds, and the Dark families would be jealous that they hadn't thought of it first."
Molly Weasley came back into the room with the tea and biscuits, and they all dug in. After a few minutes of small talk, Harry cleared his throat.
"One of the things that I think we need to talk about is Percy." Harry swore that he felt the room drop several degrees in temperature.
"That prat!" Ron exploded.
"Yes, that 'prat, who happens to be your brother. Look, he was wrong about me, and he is still trying to fit inside Fudge's pocket, but he was absolutely right about Dumbledore. Whether it was his opinion or Fudge's that he was parroting, he was right. And he was brave enough to risk his place in the family to try to warn all of you." Turning to Arthur and Molly, Harry continued. "I know that he hurt you deeply, but I believe he had your best interest at heart. I am willing to forgive him what he said about me, and I don't really know him that well. Arthur, he is your son, and although I don't know my father, one thing that I have always believed is that a father never really rejects his son, no matter how far off the track that child goes. And Molly, you carried him for 9 months, then fed him at your breast for a long time after that. I remember how proud you were of him when he got his high O.W.L. scores and then when he made Head Boy. Can either one of you continue turning your back to him when he was, in his own way, looking out for your best interests? He only struck out when he was frustrated."
Molly was openly crying. "H-harry, I want him back, but he doesn't want to come back."
"Harry, he doesn't deserve it. He talked to Dad like he was a dog." Ron was furious. "How dare you come in and make Mum and Dad feel worse about it than they already do."
"Ron, now you are being the arse! The reason that Percy has not made amends with your parents is that you and your brothers have made it clear that he is not welcome! Because you won't forgive your own brother, your blood, he has stayed away and it has hurt your parents worse than the original problem. Ginny, would you forgive Percy?"
"Of course. Percy is the only brother who ever really understood me. He helped me with my school work, he was a friend in my first year when Ron, you and Hermione ignored me and treated me like I was not even there. I miss him terribly, and I am the only one who he has kept in contact with."
"You kept in contact with him after all he did?" Ron was aghast.
"Of course I did, you idiot! He is my brother, no matter what he has done. Harry is right. He would have come back here to set things right with Dad and Mum if he hadn't thought that you and the twins would murder him when he came in the door. Or at least seriously injure him. You five boys are the most pig-headed, stubborn, unforgiving prats that ever wore the name Weasley! And I would rather spend an hour with Percy than five minutes with you, Ronald Bilius Weasley! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Harry grabbed her hand just as she was getting ready to pull out her wand for some serious brother-hexing.
"Whoa, Ginny. Calm down. Look," Harry addressed the whole family. "You guys are my only real family. Now that I know you really are family, I don't want to lose any of you, especially due to something as stupid as this whole thing. I know that Percy owes apologies all the way around, but he was not completely in the wrong. I would bet that if you guys can see past your own wounded pride, so can he. After all, he is a Weasley, through and through. And by the way, Hermione, I also consider you family… my informally adopted sister." Hermione, who had been feeling a bit left out, hugged Harry.
"I'm willing to try, if only for Dad and Mum's sake," said Ron. "I will also talk to the twins, but they are going to be a lot harder sell."
"Good. I want to have all of you over to the Manor house for dinner tomorrow. It can be considered neutral territory. We don't have much time before we leave for school, so be as persuasive as you can. You might want to tell the twins that.." Harry snickered, "The Might Lord Potter-Black, their main, and only investor and cousin to both sides of the Weasley family, really wants them to at least try to bury the hatchet."
The whole family laughed at that. "I'll do that, but I think that I had better phrase the request a bit differently or they will bring along real hatchets, and I would hate to think of where they would try to bury them."
When Harry was getting ready to say his good-nights, Ginny took him aside. "Harry, may I speak with you privately?"
"Of course, Ginny. Should we go out to the garden?" At her nod, Harry escorted her out.
"Harry, that was a wonderful thing that you did." Ginny turned and gave Harry a kiss, surprising him.
"Uh, Ginny, I heard that you were pretty upset about this whole thing, finding out that we were relatives."
"Yes, I was. Harry, I have had a crush on you from before we even met. But I just had to realize that you never returned the feeling. This is actually liberating, but it still hurts. On one hand, I don't have to try to impress you and maybe get my heart broken. On the other, I can't think of anything sweeter than being your girlfriend. I try to say that I will miss trying to woo you, but you can't really miss what you never had."
Harry took Ginny's hands in his and looked her in the eyes. "Ginny, I admit that I have felt attraction to you, and even jealousy when you were dating other guys. Under any other circumstances, I can't think of anyone who I would like to be with more. But I have to admit that I have never really had the romantic feelings for you or the crush on you that you had for me. I have never really dated, you can't count Cho bawling all over me a real relationship. Given time, I may have ended up loving you that way, but under the circumstances, it would lead to disaster. I can't help but feel that the guy who wins the heart of Ginny Weasley will be the luckiest guy in the world. And if he upsets you too much, the most endangered guy in the world. Six brothers and a cousin who adore you, along with a wicked bat bogey hex, would keep any guy in line."
Ginny laughed, a high, clear musical sound that brought joy to Harry. "Now, cousin Lord Potter-Black, terror of evildoers and puppetmaster of the Wizengamot, shall we rejoin the family before they report us as missing in action?"
"Miss Weasley, cousin to the Great and Terrible Lord Black, master of house muggles and pushover for Quiddich loving, butterbeer drinking elves, I believe that would be a grand idea.
Giggling insanely, the pair went back in the house, Harry to floo home and Ginny to dream of what might have been.