Chapter 7: Divorce & Custody
Tuesday, December 9, 1980
It had been just a few days since he had performed the blood adoption upon Dudley Dursley with the aid of his elder brother, Pollux, and his cousin, Arcturus. He supposed that not enough time had passed yet for him to become used to the changes that the ritual had brought. He found himself here in the nursery again, night after night, and sometimes during the day he liked to poke his head in and watch Antares and Harry being tended to by their elves.
The name change was something that he and Petunia were still arguing over. She had named her son Dudley and insisted upon calling him that still. Marius had relented enough to her desire to leave it as their son's middle name but for a first name, no. He had chosen Antares to honor his family. Whether Antares would ever exhibit magic like the majority of the family didn't matter to him. Though, a small part of him hoped that he would. Harry was clearly already showing all of the hallmarks of being a powerful little Wizard. He was performing magic, such as bringing his favorite stuffed toys near to him at night when they were on a shelf across the room, placed there by Petunia when she tucked the boys in at night. Marius hoped that Antares showed signs someday of being a Wizard so that he would never feel left apart from Harry.
Marius knew from personal experience what it felt like to be "other" than the members of the family.
He found himself staring down at the sleeping form of his son and smiling in contentment. There were no signs of Vernon Dursley to the boy's features. He now favored the good looks of the Black family except for his eyes. Antares' blue eyes were the same as Petunia's. That the boy had Petunia's eyes had disappointed Arcturus, who had hoped that they would turn to the traditional gray eyes of the Black family. So, few in the Black family had gray eyes these days. Marius had been secretly delighted that Antares had Petunia's eyes. He was beginning to have a weakness for those eyes whether it was Petunia he was dealing with or a whiny sleepy Antares.
"Rest well, my son," he whispered to the baby boy before he went to Harry's crib and smiled down at his great-nephew, his sister's grandson. "Rest well, dear Harry. You are safe here."
He felt a small pang of sadness as he stared down at the boy. The lad had the look of his father about him and James had always resembled Dorea more than he had Charlus. Harry's coloring, the slight tan complexion came from Charlus, from his Potter heritage. Yet the black hair, the straight nose, stubborn chin, and brow were purely from Dorea. The green eyes, now hidden behind sleep closed lids, were purely the contribution of Lily Potter née Evans.
'Dorea, how you would have adored your grandson,' he thought as he continued to smile softly down at Harry. His sister had longed for a large family and had held such high hopes for one when she married Charlus Potter. Yet year after year no child appeared. She despaired for some time before finding a calm acceptance that she would never become a mother. She and Charlus fostered two children and this gave his sister a sort of peace, he knew. Then, it was like her earlier prayers were at last answered. She became pregnant and carried the babe to term. James was a family surprise, a blessing.
He glanced back once more to his new son, his Antares Dudley Black. He hadn't realized that he had wanted a son. He had adored his nephews and nieces, well most of them anyway. He had contemplated marriage and a family rarely in his life. He had not felt the longing before, not until he stood in the Dursley's living room and Petunia Dursley stared at him with eyes full of disgust tinged with anger. He had couched the proposal as a business deal and it was one, it truly was one that would give Petunia comfort, security, and she wouldn't have to give up her son or her nephew and in turn, the House of Black had custody of Dorea's grandson and they had gained a new child for their growing lineage. The Black family had certainly come out ahead with this deal.
However, when Marius was willing to be completely honest with himself he knew that he had proposed the deal because he had wanted to possess Petunia Dursley. It made little sense. She wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever taken as a lover, far from it. Her looks, while not ugly, were mostly plain. He was sure that his great-niece, Narcissa, saw Petunia as a delightful makeover challenge. So no, he had not been won over by Petunia's non-existent beauty. It was her fierce spirit that had so enraptured him. She had stood there, eyes alight and hissing at him and he was charmed. Had Vernon Dursley not turned out to be such a horrid brute as to hit his wife, then he doubted that Petunia would have called him. He would have then come up with other schemes to win Petunia to his side. He wanted the woman as much as he had wanted to see Harry safe.
He had won both and Petunia had agreed to let him blood adopt her son. She had given him her son. He didn't know if that was due to her growing trust in him to keep them safe and happy or if she was that frightened of Vernon Dursley taking the boy away from her, but either way, Marius was delighted.
He shook himself from these thoughts and looked to Rathty and Dobby. "Good night," he bid the loyal Elves. He very much believed that Dobby would bond with Harry in time. Both of the House-Elves acted as though the boys belonged to them. It was that possessive behavior that usually preluded a bonding of Elf to a specific master or mistress.
Marius was happy to go to bed. He had a meeting the next morning with Vernon Dursley and the man's solicitor. He was quite looking forward to explaining to the man that Dudley was not his son.
December 10, 1980
Getty and Rothchild, London, England
Marius relaxed in the leather chair and stared at the man across from him. Vernon Dursley was forty years younger than him. He was young, full of bluster, and completely lacking in the experience that Marius had obtained during his years of business. Vernon was a heavy-set man, to put it politely, and he had beady eyes that were glaring at him even as Marius appraised him. A small smirk curved his lips. This was the man who had raised his hand to Petunia. He was looking forward to destroying his world piece by little piece. Starting of course with taking his woman and his son from him.
"Well, shall we get started?" Mr. Getty, Vernon Dursley's Solicitor began.
"Yes," Mr. Alexander West, Marius's Solicitor, agreed. "In the hopes of settling this divorce of Mr. Dursley from Mrs. Petunia Dursley and the custody of young Dudley as swiftly as possible, my client, Mr. Black, is willing to be generous enough to pay all of the legal fees for both himself and your client provided he agrees to a swift divorce."
Mr. Getty frowned. "And why should Mr. Dursley agree to a swift divorce?"
"Divorce is a messy business and for a man on the up and up in his company like Mr. Dursley having to be dragged through a long and messy divorce can only be detrimental to his career. Since my client feels a responsibility in the destabilization of Mr. Dursley's marriage he felt honor-bound to make the offer."
Vernon glared at Marius and snarled "You can take the lying little," he was cut off by Marius.
"I would not finish that sentence, Mr. Dursley. This is an ugly enough situation, let us act like adults and not make things worse," Marius said.
Mr. Getty and Mr. West nodded along in agreement. "In that case, Mr. Dursley shall accept Mr. Black paying his legal expenses," Mr. Getty said. "Now that my client has agreed to a swift divorce there is the question of custody of Dudley Dursley. My client demands his son be returned to him and that he shall maintain full custody. He refuses to allow visitation rights to Petunia," Getty proclaimed even as Vernon nodded in smug satisfaction at the thought of taking Dudley away from Petunia.
Marius knew it would make Petunia miserable. The loss of her child would devastate her. Vernon Dursley was doing this to hurt her, perhaps even as a means of luring Petunia back to him. Fortunately for Marius, the blood adoption had gone well and so the boy would never return to Vernon Dursley.
"Yes, about that," West began, and then he opened the file folder containing the recent muggle performed blood testing on Dudley. He passed the folder over to Getty who swiftly read over the paperwork.
"What, what is it?" Vernon demanded to know.
Getty's head whipped up and he stared hard at West. "This is conclusive?"
"What's conclusive?" Vernon growled.
West smiled. "Yes, it is, though of course, your client is welcome to pay to have the test done again to prove paternity."
"Paternity?" Vernon frowned in confusion.
"Vernon," Getty began, "according to the DNA test done on Dudley Dursley it would appear that you are not his father."
"What?" Vernon growled in anger and shock. "If I am not the father then who is?"
"That would be me," Marius said simply as a smirk curved his lips upward. "To put it simply Vernon, I seduced your wife while you were busy away for one of your company trips, one of the same trips where you likewise cheated on Petunia." Marius was satisfied to watch Vernon's face turn a strange shade of puce.
"So, the whiny brat isn't mine. I should have known," Vernon spat. "He was too weak and ugly to be my child anyway," he glared at Marius.
Marius rather thought the babe had highly resembled Vernon before the blood adoption changed his looks. Now the child was a handsome baby, and he would no doubt grow up to be a handsome young man.
"Then Mr. Dursley is in agreement that custody of Dudley shall remain with his mother?" West asked.
Getty looked carefully at Vernon who nodded and crossed his arms in a petulant angry display. "Yes," Getty said. "Mr. Dursley no longer wants anything to do with Petunia Evans and Dudley."
"He'll never get a dime from me," Vernon hissed out.
Marius nodded. "He's my son, I shall take care of him," Marius said, and he meant it. Dudley was his now. Dudley, and Harry, and Petunia were all his.
"Excellent," West stated. "Now that Mr. Dursley does not wish to have anything to do with Petunia and Dudley, we can actually rush the divorce and custody forward, and then Mr. Dursley shall be free."
Getty nodded his agreement. "We shall file a state of no contest this afternoon to the demands of Petunia Dursley for a divorce and for her to have full custody of her child Dudley Dursley."
Marius smiled in satisfaction at how good things went, "Thank you. The sooner this is done the sooner both Mr. Dursley and I can move on with our lives."
Vernon gruffed at that, "Well I'll tell you one thing, the next woman I marry will be a great deal more beautiful than Petunia was. Congratulations Black, you have taken sloppy seconds and she's a hag."
Marius had to close his eyes and clench his fists tight to keep from striking the man for his statement. Let the man say what he will, it did not matter. Vernon Dursley had made all the wrong decisions and he had lost Petunia and Dudley in the process. Marius had won. He let the feeling of victory infuse him as he left the offices of Getty and Rothchild.
So here is a short chapter as I get back into the flow of writing again. Posts might be intermittent throughout the holidays, you know how it is. I moved back in May. It was quite the transition. I hired people to pack most of my things and had to trust them to move them into a storage unit until I had bought a house and was ready for them to bring me my things. I bought my house in July and they delivered my things in August. A lot of things were broken, including my computer. I have moved plenty of times before, across country, even across the Atlantis Ocean twice and never has this sort of thing happened to me before. It was really disheartening. I have a new computer now so I hope to get back into the swing of things with my writing projects and posting more chapters to the ones I have been posting online. I guess that is it from me. Thank you for everyone who has waited patiently for me to post again on one of my works.