Chapter 9
It was late morning when Andromeda left Greengrass Manor. She had a list of things to do before they could move to the castle, as requested by Lily. It was agreed that morning that they would all go to the Castle of Serpents as per their plan and would raise and educate the children there. Magnus would maintain his position in the Wizengamot and Ted would maintain his law firm open. They would travel to work and from it by the especial portkeys she would be arranging with the goblins. No one would know that they would be doing this. No one was going to intervene in their lives.
As she made her way to Gringottes, she noted the signs of the past night celebrations and feels a pain in her heart. "Peter will pay for his betrayal." she thinks to herself.
As she reaches for the banks door, she nearly falls backwards after hitting someone else. When she looks up to see who toppled her she freezes. In front of her is her younger sister, Narcissa Malloy. However, that's not what makes her pause. What affected her so much was the amount of Concealment Charms clear to those who knew what to look for to see.
"Cissy" Andromeda reaches with her hands to make Narcissa come closer to her. "What happened?" There is not as much as a tremble in her voice and her tone is that of a calming healer.
"I don't know what you are referring to, Andi." Her aloof expression screams to be left alone, but Andromeda knows her well enough to see through her eyes that she is in great distress.
"Of course you don't, dear sister." Andi watches as her sister's eyes lose their hope at her response and she knows she must do something.
"Perhaps you would like to visit your son's godmother. Clarissa was telling me the other week how much she misses your company and that of her godson, Cissy." Andromeda can see by the twitch of her sister's mouth that she understands.
Yes. It has been some time since I took my little dragon to his godmother. Perhaps I should visit her soon." She raises one pale eyebrow in a silent question.
"Perhaps you should. The sooner the better, wouldn't you say?
"Perhaps. I have to go now, Andi. I have much to do before I have to have tea with a friend." With a small grin on her face, Andromeda enters the bank in search for the Potters and Slytherins account.
She goes to the first empty teller "Good morning goblin, may your gold always flow"
The goblin looks slightly startled but answers with a glare "May it flow forever."
Andi expecting such treatment, after all, she only learned to treat them with respect after years of barely polite request because of Lily just nods before requesting a meeting room for security measures. The goblin looks at her with such contempt before agreeing that she thought it would be for nothing. Sighing in relieve she follows him.
"Now, what can Gringottes do for you, Mrs Tonks?"
"I need a meeting with Master Nagnok and with Master Ragnok, please. They will want to talk to me." She bows her head slightly, but bows nonetheless.
"I will collect them. You may sit." The goblin grudgingly offers. By the names of the goblins she wants to talk to, he might guess to what she is here for.
She paces while she waits for their arrival. She thinks of Narcissa and wonders what might have happened to leave her with so many bruises. Lucius wouldn't do it, the marriage contracts written by House Black always had clauses to protect their own. If he did not read their contract, he is more of a fool than she ever took him for.
The opening of the heavy door makes her focus her attention at the problem at hand.
"Masters Nagnok, Ragnok" she bows to them before sitting herself again.
"What can we do for you, Mrs Tonks? I'm not aware of any dealing between myself or Nagnok and House Tonks" Ragnok questioned her.
She grins and reaches for an envelope in her purse. "You might want to read this. Check for the magical seal and the signatures in blood at the end."
The goblins do as told and by the end, each of them have a smirk that would terrified the wick of heart.
Nagnok lets a loud laugh out and shakes his head. "She was my favourite costumer. Bright and cunning."
If not for her pureblood mask, Andromeda would be gaping like fish. She never knew of a wizard or witch being praised by a goblin. It was unheard-of. She regain her senses as they started talking.
"As you know, I'm Nagnok, manager of the Slytherin account. In this will, Lily asked that lordship be given to Hadrian, but that can only be done when he turns eleven. He can be given the heirship ring and access to his vault and the Slytherin Ledge with all the information about his properties, but that's it. Lordship only at eleven." Here he presents her with the box containing the Heir ring and steps back.
"For the Potters that might happen." Ragnok speaks right after his kin. "As the last male Potter, by the Potters Charter he may receive his Lordship with all that entails. His position in the House of Lords would have presented a problem if the one assigned to be his guardian had being appointed by someone other than his parents, as it is, you ma'am, may appoint a proxy that will have all the documents to prove his position is in fact valid. We don't even have to name you on the papers as per request of the Older Potters will." His wolfish grin shows how much he approves of the Potters will.
"No one can know that I'm the Potters guardian. That being said. Would it be possible for Revna to wear the heirship ring? After her brother, she is the last Potter alive."
Ragnok thinks for a second, his long finger tapping on the desk before he gives a decided nod.
"That won't be a problem. No one will know you are they guardian. As for the Potter girl, she can have the heir ring. She is his heir for the foreseeable future." With that, he presents Andromeda with two boxes, one containing the Lord ring and the other the Heir ring.
She bows to them before speaking lowly. She thought about not saying anything, but the goblins could be great allies in the coming years. "I don't know if the Goblin Nation is aware, but as a proof of my worth and willingness to work with you for the betterment of the Slytherin and the Potters, I must warn you. The Dark Lord is not dead. He went through an abhorrent ritual and made several anchors for himself." The goblins' expressions turns into raged and disgust at the thought of the only thing that would allow such thing.
"I can see by your attitudes that you know of what such rituals would entail." She breathes a sigh and continues, "I am not particularly aware of how many he made. I only know that the piece I found was too small to be the only one. In fact, I strongly believe that it was too small to be even a third or even a fourth." Andromeda internally winces as she looks at them.
Their faces couldn't show more revulsion and loathing than they already did. The permanent sneer on their faces would scare anyone from a mile distance.
"We thank you for your information. The Goblin Nation despises that kind of magic more than anything does. With that new knowledge, we will inform our king and make sure nothing of that sort is being kept inside Goblin land." The contempt in which is spoken has Andromeda wincing and for the first time in years her purebood mask is broken.
"Would it be possible for you to keep me informed in case you do find such an object?" She asks, voice quivering slightly.
"Why would you be interested in such information?"
The seriousness in Nagnok's voice has her thinking before answering, after all, information is power and she already showed some of her cards to them without gaining anything but their grudgingly respect.
She straights her back in the chair, the perfect picture of the pureblood, her mask falls in place again and she smiles an overbearing and sickly smile.
"As the one who gave you the information on such matter, shouldn't you extend the same courtesy?" She raises a perfect eyebrow smile still in place.
Nagnok looks at her with barely concealed amusement while Ragnok, younger and easy to anger, wants to rip her apart.
"Are you suggesting an exchange of information between The Nation and yourself?" Ragnok rages.
Andromeda stilled herself before laughing. "Don't be so naive, master Ragnok. The goblins are battle thirst, be it in finance or in an actual battlefield, but you also need information. You may not have been a part in this recent war, but even so you also bled, you also died and you also lost gold." Nagnok was practically oozing amusement at her putting his kin in his place with only one thought in his head as he watches 'The younglings have much to learn.'
"What is your proposal, ma'am?" Nagnok asks
"I believe that when the Dark Lord returns we must be ready. I have a, shall we say, feeling, that it won't be for a long time, but we must ready ourselves anyway we can. As you know, Magical Britain is broken, at the moment. I know many were killed, be it human or creature. I know many families are ruined, financially speaking, and bad business doesn't help you." She smirks at him and continues "I want to protect and help my family as much as possible. And if to do that I have to share a few secrets I know along the way, so be it. I want information of the Horcruxes, in case you find any. In return, I do the same. And perhaps more." Her grin is positively worth of the Black's famous madness.
Nagnok laughs loudly. "You, madam, have made this a spectacular meeting. As the oldest Goblin Master, my rank is lower only to our king. I must say, Lily chose well. As I said before, she was my favourite costumer. I will keep you informed in the matters of these issues, but you will relay every important information pertaining to the betterment of The Goblin Nation to me. Is that an acceptable deal?" The ancient goblin asks her with an amused voice.
"That's more than acceptable, master goblin Nagnok. Thank you." She bows her head and finishes her business before leaving the bank.
-MLNO-
She finds herself at the Ministry in search of her auror friend Amelia Bones. She needs to ask her about the whereabouts of the Longbottoms and as the sister in law of Augusta's late niece, she might know. When she finds her, she is shocked to see how broken the women looks.
"Amy, what happened?" Her concern showing as clear as a summer day for all to see.
"Sirius. He sold the Potters to the Dark Lord and killed Peter Pettigrew in plain sight last night. They will cart him to Azkaban next morning." She cries.
"He did what?" She shakes her head finally understanding the situation. She composes herself before touching her friends shoulder. "He didn't do it. At least he did not betrayed the Potters."
"How is that possible? There were witnesses. They all heard Pettigrew blaming Sirius for the Potters death. Dumbledore confirmed he was their secret keeper."
"He didn't do it, Amy. Sirius was not their secret keeper. Pettigrew was. He betrayed the Potters, not Sirius. Furthermore, he was Harrison sworn godfather. He went through the rites. He couldn't betray them even if he wanted to."
The are so many emotions on Amelia's face that one could not distinguish between them. That's it, until she finally regain herself and her face showed her stone cold fury.
"That man was going to throw him in Azkaban without as much as a trial, Andi. Crouch signed the order twenty minutes ago. We must do something."
"Send a Patronus to Ted, he will know what to do. I can find people to testify on his behalf."
Amelia shakes her head. "That won't be necessary. With the information, you just gave me I can search the Ministry archives and find evidence enough to prove he went through the ancient rites. I will send for Ted though. Sirius will need a representative for his defence." The woman looks positively murderous by the time Andromeda floos to Greengrass Manor.
-MLNO-
By the time Andromeda walked through the floo she knew she had forgotten something. She used her occulmency to review her day and finally found it. She pinches her nose in annoyance and sighs.
"There is nothing to it now. I will have to try and write Augusta." She mumbles to herself.
"You still mumbles when something annoys you then." She hears the amusement in the voice but pretends she doesn't.
"Well, dear sister, somethings never change, do they?" Andromeda turns and sees Narcissa by the parlour door with a baby in her arms. "Will you introduce me to my nephew or shall I pretend you aren't here full of badly concealed bruises?" The sharpness of her voice shows how much she hates that her sister has being hurt but also that she won't tolerate be treated as less than she deserves, and that is with respect.
Narcissa may be a Malfoy now but she understands that as the youngest of the Blacks sisters, she should respect and cherish her older sisters. Even if Andromeda was kicked out of the family in a shameful way, she was still that. Family. And she knew that if she needed anything, Andi was the one to look for, she always was. Narcissa takes a long breath before walking to Andromeda, she bows her head low and waits for her sister's acceptance of her wordless apology.
Andromeda stills and her mask vanishes. She touches Narcissa's head, slidind her hand through her platinum blond hair and cupped her chin. Narcissa has tears in her eyes but she doesn't stops her as she takes her wand out. As Andromeda cancels the charms, they hear a gasp from behind them.
"Dear Morgana, what happened to you, Cissy?" Claire comes to join them, eyes looking at Narcissa like she never saw her before.
And in a way, she never did.
There she was, staring at them, a black and blue and all the colours in between, Narcissa Malfoy.
"I may have a problem. I need you to heal me, sister, as I can't do it to myself. I don't understand what happened, but my magic won't let me heal through my own or anyone's magic. It must be a Black curse. I'm not sure." She explains it as if she is talking about the weather.
"Since when?" Andi asks and Narcissa understands she isn't talking about her healing problems.
"Since he was cursed in a raid this past Yule." She grins and her eyes are dark with satisfaction and hatred. "Dear cousin Siri made him sterile. He can't have children anymore. He will only ever have Draco. And since the Malfoy Charter prohibits blood adoption by the Head of House, Draco is the one and only Heir of Malfoy."
Andromeda laughs. A loud and joyous laugh.
Clarissa looks lost, but being the perfect host, she leads them to the parlour so they can sit and chat properly.
"He is such an idiot. What a fool!" Andromeda can hold it in, still laughing lightly.
Narcissa has as satisfied grin as she watches her sister.
"I'm sorry. Am I missing something?" Claire asks looking more lost than before.
"Yes. You see, dear Claire, Cissy here married Lucius through an agreement. A contract." Her smile full of mirth turns into a grin positively vicious. "The fool probably didn't read it to its completion. The Blacks always take care of their own. Even though they sell their daughters to the highest bidder, they always put a clause or two about their safety and the consequences are always the worst possible if they are broken." Andromeda looks at Narcissa expectantly and she doesn't disappoint.
"And my dear husband just broke the two clauses that were on our contract. The first was that he couldn't intentionally physically or emotionally hurt me, he has being doing both since Yule." She stops for a moment collecting herself before looking straight into grey eyes like her own. "The second was that he couldn't intentionally hurt anyone of Black blood. As of early this morning, he told me in his drunk stupor that he was one of the Death Eaters that killed the Prewitt twins. Our cousins." Andi's blood runs cold. "If Molly hears about this, you and your son will be in great danger."
"I know." Narcissa says. The resentment is her voice as strong as Andromeda has ever heard. "I need Siri. I was at Gringottes trying to find out who was the Black family Head of House, and guess what? Our grandfather didn't disown Sirius. He made him Head."
'Bloody fucking hell' was all Andromeda could think as she closed her eyes tightly and pinched her nose in annoyance.
"Pardon my language, but you, dear Cissy, are fucked."
There is a wary silence after Andromeda's proclamation.
"I think... I think I never heard you curse before." Narcissa whispers, her eyes slowly overflows with desperate tears. "Andi, am I doomed? Am I to live my life through beatings? Am I to expect being raped as a normal thing in life?" The contempt and disgust is clear and resounding.
Andi sits next to Narcissa and baby Draco and gently touches her bruised cheek.
"Do you think, sister of mine, that I would let that happen to you?" She whispers back, eyes borrowed on her younger sister's eyes. "You may have forgotten about me, you may have left me suffer, you may have wished for my death, but I would never ever let you be harmed. I am proud of myself for holding my beliefs and for protecting my family. Father wanting or not, I am a Black."
Narcissa gives her sleeping son to Claire and hugs Andromeda. She can't hold herself and she cries, loud sobs are throughout the house. Her older sister holds her firmly as she cries. Years of resentment and longing. She cries.
She is finally with family.