As you've probably worked out from the title, this chapter is a little Quidditch centric, but it also has a number of the Blacks and the Malfoys being destroyed, and a few others being given a chance to change their life path.
And for the few who don't know the phrase, 'It isn't Cricket!' is commonly used in the ex British Empire to say that something is unfair or wrong, this is my take of a magical version of that.
Refer Chapter 1 for disclaimers.
Minerva was a trifle miffed with how mysterious Pomona was being when she asked her to come down to the Quidditch pitches before lunch on the second Saturday in September.. She had no idea what was going on but she went down there as requested, because her curiosity wouldn't let her stay away.
Whatever she was expecting to find down there, it certainly wasn't what looked like all of Hufflepuff and half of Ravenclaw, and some Gryffindors too she noted, with half of them playing something like Quidditch, but not what she was used to, and the other half cheering them on.
But that wasn't the most shocking part of what she was seeing… No, that was the horde of students on advanced brooms taking up all five pitches, plus two extra temporary pitches and a practice area that she hadn't seen before… She could also see sixteen sets of Quidditch Practice Balls in use (where twelve of them had come from she had no idea, because the school only had four sets) and Rolanda Hooch looking like she was having the time of her life as she orchestrated the hive of activity up there.
Minerva spied Pomona Sprout sitting in the stands with Filius, Septima, William Tofty and some of the Hogwarts Board, plus another wizard who looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't put a name to, so she stormed over to get an explanation for what was going on… She tried to tell herself that her sharp tone could be excused because of her perturbed state as she barked…
"What in the Seven Hells is going on here Pomona?"
Pomona beamed at her. "Oh Minerva, isn't it wonderful? I've never seen my Badgers so excited about Quidditch before!"
Minerva didn't realise it, but she sounded rather like a Malfoy as she drawled... "Yes… Just Wonderful… Now what the Hell is going on here?"
Nothing could dampen Pomona's mood that morning, so she just laughed. "Oh stop getting your bloomers in a bunch Minerva! One of our new Third Years' Uncles apparently wholeheartedly supports his and his best friend's love of playing Quidditch, and he has supplied them with everything they might need to do well… Up to and including all the brooms and kit needed for the two of them to start and train up their own teams for Junior and then Senior level games, and hold practice games between their teams... They very generously offered to share what he gave them with the Hufflepuff teams to improve our chances in the Cup… Until one of our other Preppies, as I'm told the Prep School students are called, told them about why most of the Preppies at Hogwarts don't play Quidditch here, and that developed into my Preppy Badgers, along with some of Filius' Ravens and your Lions, and a few ex students who were Preppies putting on a demonstration today of the version of Quidditch that they played at the Prep Schools, and giving our other students a chance to try it for themselves… And the Preppies who have their own brooms and kit got them sent from home so that we'd have enough for everyone who wanted to try out the Prep League style Quidditch."
"What new Third…" Minerva stopped as she suddenly realised who Pomona was talking about… "Potter."
Pomona nodded happily. "That's the one! Did you know that the Magical Preparatory Schools have their own Quidditch League that they call the Prep League? James says that it is a watered down 'Kiddy Quidditch' version of what he calls proper Quidditch to make it safer for the younger children, but if what I've seen from him, Miss Evans and the ones who played on their teams, whom the kids call the Rayton Eight, is anything to go by, they're more than a match for any of the Hogwarts teams…"
Minerva shook her head as she looked up at all the students flying about…
"Did they buy out Cleansweep? There must be over a hundred and fifty brooms up there…. Morgana and Nimue! Is that a Nimbus?"
Pomona laughed delightedly. "In a way, yes, apparently Mister Potter's Uncle has majority holdings in both Cleansweep and Nimbus so he can get the brooms at cost, and the Prep League players were given the opportunity to buy them through the Prep League at a significant discount… And yes, there are actually eighteen Nimbuses up there somewhere… To save you straining your eyes too much Minerva... There are forty eight Cleansweep Threes and a hundred and four Cleansweep Fives and Sixes, which belong to the Rayton Eight and seventy odd other students and ex students… Plus eighteen Nimbus One Thousands that were given to Mister Potter and Miss Evans because they apparently had some irregularities which for some reason stopped Nimbus selling them…"
"It was so disappointing to hear that many of them had loved playing in the Prep League so much that they bought their own brooms and kit to play there, but they won't play at Hogwarts because they don't like the way Quidditch is played here, so many of them are only willing to play in the Prep League games, but the rest of the Badgers and quite a few of the Ravens and Lions are keen to try their version of Quidditch too..."
"Hufflepuff will have two Quidditch Cup teams starting this year. Given that I just discovered that my best Quidditch players don't want to play at Hogwarts because they don't like the violence and lack of control in the games here however... I have agreed with my players and informed Rolanda and William that either or both of our teams may be withdrawing from the competition at any time."
"While they do not like Hogwarts style Quidditch though, many of the Preppies apparently got a great deal of enjoyment out of playing in the Prep League, so with Headmaster Tofty and the Board's permission and Rolanda's agreement, we will be running a Prep League competition in parallel with the Quidditch Cup. Following the Prep League rules, the students have enough of the approved Cleansweep brooms between them to field eighteen teams, but it has been decided that that would be unworkable, so the competition will be restricted to twelve teams, with most of them having up to three subsitute players to give more students a chance to play. Mister Potter and Miss Evans also have twelve full sets of Practice Balls and the two sets of Goal Rings and Practice Rings in use on the extra pitches and practice area between them, so we won't have to use the School's Practice Balls for the Prep League games… Hufflepuff's two Quidditch Cup teams will also be playing in the Prep League, but they'll have to use their Cleansweeps for that, not the Nimbuses they will be using in the Quidditch Cup…"
That caught Minerva's attention. "Did you just say that everyone in the two Hufflepuff teams in the Cup will be playing on Nimbuses Pomona?"
Pomona gave her an unrepentant grin. "Yes Minerva, as I said, Mister Potter and Miss Evans have eighteen One Thousands between them and they are letting the other players on our teams borrow them… And to be frank, being on brooms that are fast enough to keep out of reach of overly rough players is the only way they and most of our other Preppies are willing to play in Hogwarts Quidditch Cup… If they aren't driven to pull out of the Cup by excessive rough play, I'd be willing to wager that between their skill and teamwork and the speed of their Nimbuses, our two teams will have a good chance of beating your and the other houses' three teams… And their being driven to pull out would be a damning indictment of the fact that the other houses' Quidditch teams can't win without resorting to violence to overcome superior ability."
Filius Flitwick piped up from the other side of Pomona. "Hear, hear! My father's people are primarily known for their violent contests, but even they concede that there is a place for contests to be tests of skill over violence… How my Preppy Ravens explained it to me was that Hogwarts Quidditch is like Mundane Rugby, while Prep League Quidditch is more like Mundane Football… Rugby style Quidditch is focused on dominating the other team and knocking them out of the way, or out of the game, while Football style Quidditch is more about using skill and teamwork to get past the opposing players and score. They have also imposed time limits for games so that children aren't forced to keep playing for hours until the snitch is caught, and cut the value of catching the snitch to fifty points, so it doesn't make a mockery of the rest of the team's efforts. Catching the snitch still finishes the game, but it is no longer the primary focus of the game, which in turn has changed the role of the Seeker into a fourth Chaser who keeps an eye out for the snitch as something to end the game early with a bonus… The Beaters and Keeper are also a little different, in that the Beaters are more involved with keeping opposing players and the quaffle away from the Rings than knocking players off their brooms, and they can exchange roles in the game. So the Prep League teams are basically made up of a team of three Beater/Keepers, and a team of four Chasers, one of whom also serves as the Seeker..."
"From what I've seen so far this morning, the Prep League's Football style Quidditch is a fairer and more enjoyable game for the players, and with the exception of those who just want to see blood, it's more enjoyable for the spectators too, because we've been rewarded with the sight of some thrilling flying up there. For that matter, I'm looking forward to seeing some Football games too, because playing Football to improve their fitness and stamina and teamwork is apparently the other half of their training…"
Pomona laughed. "You should get out of the castle more often then Filius, because the students from the Muggle World, and apparently the Prep Schools, are quite often out playing football on weekends, and sometimes after class as well, in the warmer months."
William Tofty spoke up then. "After speaking to Pomona, Filius, Rolanda and several of the students and ex students helping out today, the Board and I have agreed to implement some of the safety measures of the Prep Schools' Quidditch League for this year's Quidditch Cup Minerva… We have decided to forego the mandatory requirement for at least one spare broom per team in every game, for this year at least, because it isn't viable with the wide variety of brooms used in most teams, but time outs for broom and player substitution will be allowed if they have them... All of the Goal Rings on the practice pitches, including Mister Potter and Miss Evans', are padded to reduce the chance of unnecessary injury, and Rolanda has informed us that she has the padding for the main pitch's Goal Rings in storage, so it will be pulled out and fitted to the main pitch's Goal Rings before this year's Cup games start… We will also be purchasing new sets of Practice Balls to be used for the Quidditch Cup games through Baron Peverell before the season starts, because we agree that tradition is not a good enough excuse to justify risking unnecessary injury to the underage students whose care is our responsibility…"
That's who that wizard was! Charlus Potter's younger son and Heir Primary to the House of Peverell. The one who'd been thumbing his nose at Magical Britain since the War just because some of the Wizengamot had tried to make him attend Hogwarts… But Tofty was continuing…
"You and your house probably won't like the next safety measure we have decided to adopt Minerva, but I do hope that you don't make as damning a statement as Septima did… Because she said that Slytherin may as well pull out now if it was implemented, as there was no way of stopping her players doing the things that would have them banned…"
That was worrying. What could have possibly prompted that reaction?
"What I and the Board have decided to implement, and Rolanda has agreed to enforce, is that unnecessary rough play and fouling other players will be far more harshly punished. A minor first incident will see the player grounded for at least half an hour and their team being docked any points they had earned in the game. A more severe first incident and subsequent incidents in the same or later games, especially if it results in the injury of another player, will result in the loss of points earned and being banned from the game, possibly suspended from playing for weeks to months... And if there was clear intent to cause serious injury, being permanently banned from playing at Hogwarts and possibly suspended or expelled from Hogwarts and/or handed over to the DMLE to face criminal charges… Quidditch is supposed to be a sport, not a breeding ground for homicidal behaviour!"
"We have also decided to adopt the change that Filius mentioned earlier, imposing a time limit on the games and reducing the value of catching the snitch to fifty points, because it is a far more sensible approach that results in a closer and more exciting game. We have floo called the Department of Magical Sports and Games and major teams to advise them of our decisions this morning, and while some were outraged and accused us of destroying Quidditch... Just as many agreed that it was a much better approach for school games… Some actually said that they were expecting and looking forward to these changes improving the quality of the players coming out of Hogwarts. They conceded that they'd have put more effort into 'toughening up' new players when they joined their teams, but said that it was far easier to toughen up a good player than it was to improve one with more limited skills… Apparently some of the the teams have been watching the Prep League games for years and adopting some of their training methods to improve their players."
Yes, that would explain Septima's response, and unfortunately it would probably apply to half of her players as well. Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw generally got the majority of the traditional Pure-Blood students, and many of them had been taught from birth that they were above rules that applied to others and that change was bad, so they were quite dogmatic about resisting it. From what she could see, Ravenclaw would have an advantage over Gryffindor and Slytherin because they seemed to have received the highest numbers of these 'Preppies' after Hufflepuff, so Filius could get them to help re-educate their house mates…
Scanning the students in the air above them, she couldn't see many of her Lions, the only one who really stood out was the Fifth Year Miss Rakepick, her star Seeker, which was a problem. While she was an exceptional student and player, Minerva had generally dismissed her as a trouble maker since her First Year when she was arguing with both herself and Rolanda about teaching their students the wrong way… Minerva had to admit that, like Rolanda, she had been quite affronted that a First Year Muggle-Born would have the gall to do this and hadn't bothered giving her any attention since then… Perhaps if she had she would have found that Miss Rakepick had been one of the standout students at the Prep school she attended before Hogwarts… And now she would have to eat humble pie and try to solicit the girl's help…
Minerva shook her head again as she realised that it wasn't only Miss Rakepick who would be making her eat humble pie, and turned to Pomona...
"I must congratulate you Pomona, if the rest of us don't find some way to seriously up our games in a hurry, we will all be eating an awful lot of humble pie this year… But I must admit that it's nothing less than we deserve… We've been rather less than kind to your Badgers over the years, but in one fell swoop, with Mister Potter and Miss Evans assistance you appear to have leapfrogged right over the lot of us… If you will excuse me, I think I will go drown my sorrows, and then sit down and try to come up with some way to ensure that my Lions aren't quite as badly embarrassed by your Badgers as Filius' Ravens and Septima's Snakes are…"
Pomona laughed again, because there was a lot of truth in what Minerva had just said, and truth be told, she was rather looking forward to making her fellow House Mistresses and House Master eat humble pie.
When she got back to her office, Minerva had a few stiff whiskeys to brace herself and then called for Miss Rakepick… To find out just how much trouble they were going to be in in this year's Quidditch Cup.
After the girl left, Minerva needed a few more whiskeys, because it was even worse than she'd thought. Apparently the Rayton Eight had all been playing in the Prep League for the last six years… But while Potter may have called it 'Kiddy Quidditch' because they used Practice Balls (replacing the Bludgers with Muggle Footballs and reducing the height of the Goal Rings by two thirds for the Junior games), required the players' brooms be swapped out if there was any inkling of anything being wrong with them and swapping out players if they were tired or hurt to make the games safer… They'd essentially been playing 'real' Quidditch against students up to fourteen years old since they were eight... And thanks to Potter's Uncle, for the ranked teams like Potter and Evans', the Prep League Junior games had been primarily played on Cleansweep Fives since they were released in 1950... While the Senior games were almost exclusively played on Cleansweep Fives from 1950 to Sixty Eight when the Cleansweep Sixes came out, and Sixes from then on... So they would have been a lot faster and more challenging games than most at Hogwarts, if not as rough…
Apparently the teams that Potter and Evans formed with their friends in Sixty Five had been well known in the Prep League because they were the top Junior teams for the Sixty Five, Sixty Six and Sixty Seven school years, and the top Senior teams for the last three years… And apparently according rumours, they had all been doing a fair bit of their training on the faster Nimbuses ever since they came out in early Sixty Seven to further hone their skills…
The Rayton Eight would be making up one of Hufflepuff's two teams this year, and the players on other team would have much the same training and experience, though hopefully less skill… And going by what some of her Lions had heard, which in hindsight was all but confirmed by Pomona's careful wording, they'd all be effectively mounted on Nimbus Thousand and Ones… She couldn't believe that Pomona would deliberately mislead her about those 'Nimbus One Thousands' like that... They had 'irregularities' alright! They weren't bloody One Thousands at all!... So her Lions were going to have to really step up their game if they wanted to have any chance against Pomona's Badgers this year…
When she took a moment to think about what she'd learned, Minerva had to concede that the Prep League had the right of it… For a start, restricting student games to Practice Balls (with football 'bludgers' and lower Goal Rings for the Junior games), mandating the removal of any broom suspected of being faulty and swapping out players if they were tired or hurt had reduced the chance of injury to the underage players and made it possible for them to enjoy themselves without substantially altering the game, as did the harsher penalties imposed for overly rough play… Which apparently made the students not only willing, but eager to play, so they tried harder.
And mandating that all brooms used in their games had to be Cleansweep Threes or Fives for Junior games and Cleansweep Fives or Sixes for Senior games levelled the playing field. It changed the focus of the games to the players' skills and teamwork, and even that was a more level playing field when the students were all taught to fly on the agile Cleansweep Threes… Then progressed to the faster Cleansweep Fives and Sixes in the Quidditch training and games that they used, along with Muggle Football, to develop the children's fitness, stamina and skills… Whereas at Hogwarts they been forced to use a mix of brooms with vastly different properties for the students to learn on to avoid giving any one broom maker an unfair advantage, and had been prevented requiring physical fitness programs to develop the students' fitness and stamina, which was proven to improve magical ability, unless they were on the Quidditch teams… So she resolved to see how many of these 'Preppies' she had available to draw back some of Pomona's advantage.
It didn't take Minerva long to confirm that of her Lions, Miss Rakepick and Messrs Longbottom and Coote were the only ones who had played in the Prep League's more serious inter-school games, but she hadn't had any luck in talking Longbottom, Coote or any of the other four Preppies Gryffindor had into playing… So she was quite surprised when Rakepick told her the next day that they had all agreed to play on 'her' team... (Minerva wasn't going to risk fighting the volatile girl over putting all her 'Preppy' Lions into one team, declaring that that team was 'hers' or adding the First Year Sirius Black as a substitute player… Because Rakepick was likely to just tell her where to go and walk away, and they'd probably go with her because she had obviously won their loyalty.)
As she couldn't do much to pull back Pomona's player advantage, she tried a different tack, the brooms…
At least Rakepick's team had Roberts and Jones on Cleansweep Sixes and the rest of them on upgraded Cleansweep Five/Sixes (another case of Pomona withholding information and letting her think that the Cleansweep Threes and Fives she mentioned were just that), because Black was using Roberts' old broom and the rest had taken advantage of the Prep League discounts and upgrade program to get themselves good brooms… So they'd be pretty well mounted, but that was only one team out of three, and the other two had a mishmash of generally lower level brooms.
It galled her to go begging, but that was what she was forced to do, contacting a dozen of the wealthier families of her Lions to try and convince them to buy their children Cleansweep Six or Nimbus brooms so that Gryffindor's house teams would have some chance of avoiding being thoroughly disgraced by the Badgers… Luckily, most of the parents and grandparents had attended Hogwarts before the War, so house pride was far more important to them than it was to the current students… She was in two minds about that, on one hand she missed the fierce house pride of her days as a student, but she had to concede that the learning environment was much better with the spirit of cooperation that was promoted nowadays… So the thought of Gryffindor being thoroughly trounced by Hufflepuff, of all houses, was enough to have many of them reaching for their quills to write out promissory notes to buy brooms for their family's children…
There was one notable instance where this plan had gone awry, and that had had disastrous consequences for Sirius Black's parents… Minerva had taken a long shot and contacted Arcturus Black, because she was fairly sure that he'd be more likely to outlay money on his grandson and Heir Secondary than the boy's parents would be… Given that his mother had very publicly sent the boy a Howler for having the gall to be being sorted into Gryffindor, screeching that he'd shamed the House of Black, so it was obvious she would vehemently oppose doing anything for him…
While as a proud Slytherin, Arcturus didn't like the idea of supporting Gryffindor, the pride of the Blacks won out and he authorised payment for a Nimbus 1001 for Sirius, instructing his parents to make arrangements for someone trustworthy at Hogwarts to serve as the owner of record of the broom and hold it for him… Because the old rule about First Years not being allowed to bring their brooms to Hogwarts had been left in place to prevent the children of wealthy magical families causing friction by flaunting the fact that they had brooms when no other First Years did... However Sirius' mother had stupidly decided to thumb her nose at the Head of the House of Black and put her son in his place by signing the broom over to her niece Narcissa, who in turn did as her betrothed, Lucius Malfoy, ordered her to do, and signed it over to him…
Needless to say, Arcturus was furious with his daughter-in-law for her childish (and very expensive) act of rebellion, and with his son Orion for yet again refusing to make the effort to control his wife, who was making a laughing stock of the House of Black. In an act that many believed to be a knee jerk reaction, but had in fact been the inevitable result of the problems that had been steadily growing ever since Orion and Walburga were wed... Arcturus completely removed Orion from the line of succession of the House of Black, demoting him to a minor member of the House of Black and elevating Sirius to Heir Primary, with his younger brother Regulus becoming Heir Secondary.
All allowances and assets associated with position of Heir Primary to the House of Black were henceforth transferred to Sirius... So Orion and Walburga were evicted from the Black Heir's Residence in London and banished to a derelict minor estate in the West Midlands which had been reclaimed from one of those who were disowned after the War… And their Uncle Alphard was officially installed in the Heir's Residence as Sirius and Regulus' guardian, with full legal responsibility for their care and managing their estates.
Narcissa's part in this wasn't ignored either, as the Barony and most of the dowry that her father had wheedled Arcturus into granting her upon her marriage to Lucius Malfoy were summarily cancelled, so what had been promising to be a very advantageous union for the Minor Ancient House of Malfoy would now gain them very little. Arcturus just laughed at her father Cygnus and Abraxus Malfoy when they tried to tell him that he couldn't do that, because those provisions had been part of the betrothal contract that he had approved…
And told them that if they'd actually read the contract, they would have seen that he had the right to alter the conditions and bequests as he saw fit if Narcissa's status as a valued daughter of the House of Black was impinged in any way. The intent of this provision had been to allow the House of Black to cut her off if she shamed her house by getting pregnant out of wedlock or other unacceptable behaviour… And wilfully going against what she knew to be the Head of the House of Black's instructions and stealing a valuable asset from the House of Black… In the form of a very expensive racing broom… To gift to the Heir to the House of Malfoy was most definitely unacceptable behaviour in his eyes.
When they kept blustering, he informed them that if they persisted, Narcissa Black would be henceforth formally disowned and cast out of the House of Black, and she would not be the only one. That was enough to make her father drop the matter and run off before Arcturus could carry out his implied threat to him, and Arcturus dismissed Malfoy the moment he left.
Abraxus Malfoy was furious about the way he'd been treated, but consoled himself with the fact that, as Black had said, the broom Lucius made his betrothed sign over to him was very expensive. So much so that this was the only way that Lucius would get one before he had control of the Malfoy fortune and could do as he pleased. Abraxus' smug enjoyment of that fact was abruptly terminated two days later after a squad of DMLE Magical Law Enforcement Officers marched into the Great Hall in the middle of dinner and headed straight for where Lucius Malfoy was lording it over his cronies and minions at the Slytherin table. Malfoy's attempted dismissal of the MLE Officer was abruptly cut off by the loudly and clearly delivered declaration that could be easily heard by everyone in the Great Hall, and quite a few people outside too.
"Lucius Malfoy. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been advised by a reliable source that you are in illegal possession of valuable property rightfully belonging to the House of Black… Namely one stolen Nimbus One Thousand and One Racing Broom, which was in new, unused and pristine condition when it was stolen… You are hereby ordered to immediately escort us to the location of this stolen property and surrender it to us… If this property has been damaged or marred in any way, the House of Malfoy will be charged for the cost of repairing or replacing the stolen object… At the sole discretion of Lord Black, Head of the House of Black, who is the rightful owner of said property. Once we have taken custody of the stolen property, we will be escorting you to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, where you will be formally charged with receiving and possessing stolen property of considerable value and questioned about this matter. Do you understand what I have just told you?"
Malfoy started shouting at him. "I'll have your job for this you cretin! Addressing me, the Heir to the House of Malfoy, as if I was a common criminal! As you are obviously mentally impaired, I will use small words… The broom was not stolen, it was legally gifted to me by my betrothed and I have the parchment to prove it! Did you understand what I have just told you, or do I need to use smaller words?"
A sensible person would have backed away from the wolfish smile the MLE Officer was giving him, but this was a Malfoy, so he just sat there sneering at him.
"So what you are saying is that the stolen property was legally signed over to you by your betrothed, not her father, but your betrothed herself?"
"How many times do I have to tell you that it wasn't stolen? And yes, the property was legally signed over to me by my betrothed, Narcissa Black! So go away and try to make yourself useful for the very short remainder of your career!"
"Your sixteen year old betrothed."
A lot of people in the Great Hall looked at each other and smiled as where the MLE Officer was going with this dawned on them, but not Malfoy.
"Yes! Someone get this cretin away from me!"
The MLE Officer looked at his team and carried on in the same loud voice so everyone heard.
"What are they teaching the kids here?"
Then he suddenly turned to face the bulk of the Great Hall and asked. "Can a sixteen year old minor legally sign property over to someone else? Even if said property is rightfully theirs?"
At least sixty to eighty voices shouted out a resounding. "No!"
He made a show of looking very relieved. "Well that's a relief, it appears that a reasonable number of them actually do know the law…"
He stopped and looked up at the High Table, calling out. "Sorry Professors, I just had a frightening vision of an entire generation of students going out into the world without any understanding of our laws."
William Tofty waved his apology away with a smile. He'd been very dubious when Arcturus requested permission for the DMLE to put on a show in the Great Hall and publicly humiliate Malfoy, but he had to admit that this was very entertaining.
The MLE Officer then turned his attention to Narcissa, who was sitting next to Malfoy, but looking as if she was wishing that she wasn't even in the same country as him.
"Narcissa Black, you will also be required to provide evidence in regard to your part in this affair, but as you are a minor, a legal representative of the House of Black will be coming here soon to collect you and escort you to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement offices… This representative will be present for the entire time you are presenting your evidence. To avoid your having to present yourself to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement more than once, I suggest that you make the effort to ensure that you can recall every incident and conversation involving the stolen property that we will be recovering from Mister Malfoy, and bring any written evidence relating to it that may exist with you to our offices… As your betrothal to Mister Malfoy appears to be a key element of this situation, I would also suggest that you attempt to recall every relevant detail and bring any and all written evidence that applies to your betrothal…"
While she may pretend to be a vapid bitch because it suited her, Narcissa Black was no fool, and she could clearly see the points he was emphasising, which appeared to add up to someone, most probably Lord Black, wanting to set it up so that she threw Lucius, her Father and Aunt Walburga under the Hogwarts Express… Which she wasn't at all adverse to doing...
She originally hadn't minded the idea of marrying Lucius Malfoy when her father informed her over summer that he'd arranged a betrothal for her that would benefit their family greatly, as he was much younger and less disgusting than the pig Father had tried to marry Andi off to… Not that he'd had any choice about which daughter to offer to the Malfoys after Bella ran off to the Continent to get herself apprenticed to a Master and pursue the Masteries their parents didn't approve of her getting, and Andi married that Mudblood as soon as they left Hogwarts... But it didn't take long for her to work out that that what he'd said was exactly what he meant… Her family would benefit from the deal he'd struck with the House of Malfoy... Not her…
And the more she got to know Lucius Malfoy, the less she wanted to do with him, because he was an uncouth and uneducated pig, not to mention a self centred and self important peacock with delusions of adequacy... And the bastard had tried to ruin her reputation by making her have sex with him before they were married! It had been drummed into her sisters and herself by Great Aunt Cassie as they were growing up that they were proud daughters of the House of Black and it was their duty to uphold both its and their own honour, and going into marriage impure would have shamed her house and ruined her… She couldn't really blame Andi for deliberately ruining herself to get out of being married off to that pig who was older than their father, but she would be wed with her purity intact! The Malfoys had wealth, though nowhere near as much as they made out and no real standing or influence, and they were a mere Minor House, which was a key element of the deal her father had struck with Abraxus Malfoy, somehow convincing Lord Black to grant a Barony to her upon her marriage so that the Minor House of Malfoy would become a Noble House… Of course the Barony was almost worthless, which was probably the only reason Lord Black had agreed, but it was a Barony and that was enough to give the House of Malfoy what it had been lusting after for nigh on nine hundred years, a Noble Title…
And then there was dear Aunt Walburga, getting her father to force her to take part in her childish act of rebellion to stop Cousin Sirius getting the Nimbus broom that Lord Black had bought for him… She had been planning on holding onto the broom for a while to let the family forget about it and then quietly hand it over to Sirius and tell him to find someone to hold it for him… But Lucius had heard about the broom from his father, who her father had told all about Aunt Walburga's plan, and used the compulsions built into the betrothal contract (which her father had most definitely not told her about) to force her to sign it over to him. Being the vain peacock that he was, he'd had his name boldly emblazoned on the broom, so she couldn't give it to Sirius as it was now, even if she could get it off Lucius… She suddenly stopped and smiled as she realised…
Someone obviously knew that he'd done that! That was why the MLE Officer had specifically said 'damaged or marred' when he told Malfoy that the House of Malfoy could (and almost certainly would) be made to pay to have it replaced, because such an expensive broom with its thief's name boldly emblazoned across it would most definitely qualify as 'marred'… And while the Head of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House might be offered preferential pricing on brooms at that level, thieves were sure to be charged as much as was allowable to replace the 'defaced' broom, even though she was almost certain that said defacement could be removed quite simply so that it could be handed over to Sirius. Narcissa was beginning to look forward to seeing where this was going, but she stopped her musing as the MLE Officer was speaking to her again.
"I must admit that I am a little disappointed with you Miss Black… How could a young lady from such a venerable house as yours allow herself to be dragged into such a sordid business by a mere Minor House that has long been known for bad faith?"
He was keeping a straight face, but the twinkle in his eye almost set her off. They obviously knew quite a lot about Lucius, including the fact he'd never even tried to learn French or anything about the origins of his family… And right on cue, Lucius started ranting.
"How dare you slander a noble house as venerated as the House of Malfoy with such a vile, baseless accusation? I swear the House of Malfoy will eradicate you and your entire family and take everything you own!"
Ooh, she never would have bet on him being that stupid… Stupid, yes, but he'd gone far further than she'd expected… The 'slander' was easy, because he'd never bother looking up what his name meant in English… Falsely claiming that the House of Malfoy was noble though? That would hurt him... But coming out and formally and publicly declaring a blood feud on an MLE Officer in the course of his duties and his family? That went way past his previous acts of stupidity…
She was a little disappointed that the MLE Officer looked more amused than angry. "Do you know what slander is, Mister Malfoy?"
"Of course I do! What do you think I am, stupid?"
"I'd rather not answer that if you don't mind… But just to make sure that we share the same understanding, what do you think it is?"
"Making a false statement about us that may damage our reputation."
"That's close enough to what I understand it to be, we'll get back to that… Next… Did you just claim noble status for the House of Malfoy?"
"What, N… Damnit! I didn't mean to say that but yes, the House of Malfoy is a house of great nobility!"
"We will get back to that as well… But to your third point… Do you, Lucius Abraxus Malfoy, Heir Apparent to the Minor Ancient House of Malfoy, confirm that you have just formally declared a blood feud between the House of Malfoy and me and my family? To clarify, the precise words you used were 'I swear the House of Malfoy will eradicate you and your entire family and take everything you own'. Do you formally confirm these words and your status as Heir Apparent to the Minor Ancient House of Malfoy?"
"What?"
His father was going to kill him! How in the Seven Hells was he supposed to get out of this? There was no way of getting around the fact that his wording could be taken as the formal declaration of a blood feud…. But maybe he could get out of this after all… He was certain he could defeat this mousy little Mudblood, especially if he used some of the tricks his father had taught him… And once he'd killed him, they could just hire someone to get rid of the rest of his family and then they could take whatever they owned, that obviously wouldn't be much, but with any luck it would be enough to cover whatever it cost to have them killed off…
"Yes, I confirm my status as the Heir Apparent of the House of Malfoy and that I have declared a blood feud on you and your pathetic family!"
"Very well. I, Baron Henry Washton, Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Washton, hereby accept the Blood Feud declared by Lucius Abraxus Malfoy, Heir Apparent of the Minor Ancient House of Malfoy between the Minor Ancient House of House of Malfoy and Noble and Ancient House of Washton. So mote it be!"
There was a flash as his acceptance of the Blood Feud was magically accepted and he turned and bowed to the Head Table… "Headmaster Tofty, will you formally testify that you have witnessed the declaration and acceptance of a Blood Feud between the Houses of Malfoy and Washton?"
William sighed. "I wish I could refuse your request Lord Washton, but I am well aware that convention forbids it…Very well... I, William Tofty, Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hereby testify that I have this day witnessed Lucius Abraxus Malfoy, Heir Apparent of the Minor Ancient House of Malfoy declare a blood feud between the House of Malfoy and the Noble and Ancient House of Washton…. Baron Henry Washton, Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Washton, accepting his declaration of Blood Feud… And Baron Washton's acceptance of the declaration of a Blood Feud between the Houses of Malfoy and Washton being accepted by magic."
Washton bowed to him again as Malfoy got to his feet self importantly.
"We will settle this with a duel to the death here and now!"
He was infuriated when this… Well he obviously wasn't a Mudblood if he was the Head of a Noble and Ancient House, but from the way he dressed and behaved made it clear that he was more Muggle than Wizard… Snorted and shook his head.
"That's not how this works Mister Malfoy. Even if this was a duel, which it is not, as the one who was challenged it would be I who chose the time, place and conditions for the duel… And that is a moot point anyway, because I am here on official DMLE business to take you and the House of Black's stolen property into custody and escort you to the Ministry to be formally questioned about your part in the theft of the House of Black's property… So any and all personal business, such as duels and Blood Feuds, will have to wait until after I have carried out my official duties for the DMLE. Now come along, we have to collect the House of Black's stolen property and return to the Ministry."
Malfoy screamed out "How dare you?" as he grabbed his wand, but he didn't have time to get out more than "Avada…" or raise the wand halfway before Washton… Who was in fact Harry in a different form… Blasted the wand apart and blew two of his fingers and half his thumb off.
Washton continued in a mild tone. "That was a very foolish thing to do Mister Malfoy, because you have now added attempting to murder an Authorised Officer of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement engaged in the pursuance of his official duties to the list of offences you must answer… And I feel honour bound to tell you that that is by far the most serious of the offences you will be answering…"
"Oh, and by the way, the reasons that your claim that I slandered the House of Malfoy by saying that they are a Minor House that has long been known for bad faith was totally ludicrous are that A... The House of Malfoy is, and has been for nigh on nine centuries… Which, I'm sure you will agree, is a long time… A Minor House… And B… As the Heir Apparent of the House of Malfoy, you should be well aware that the very name Malfoy means... Bad. Faith... In English... Which proves that nothing I said was false, and therefore your charge of slander is baseless…"
"Now come along, you have wasted too much of the DMLE's time already, any more and we'll have to start charging the House of Malfoy to recover the costs…"
"Are you mad? I need to go to the infirmary immediately, you've blasted half my hand off!"
"And yet, you somehow haven't noticed that the pain's gone."
Malfoy looked at his hand in confusion, to find that it had been magically cleaned and bandaged at some point while Washton was ridiculing him.
"This is obviously just temporary, and I need to have my fingers reattached before it's too late!"
Washton snorted again. "Have what reattached? Do you see any fingers laying about? They are now in hundreds, if not thousands of pieces all over the floor… So your fingers and thumb will have to be regrown if you live long enough… Because in case you've forgotten, you have just attempted to murder an Authorised Officer of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement engaged in the pursuance of his official duties, and unless I plead for a lesser penalty, which is quite unlikely, the penalty for your actions is death. Which actually works out quite well for me, because it will make one less Malfoy for me and mine to have to eliminate in the Blood Feud that you just declared…"
'Washton' nodded to one of the others to grab Malfoy… Who was doing a goldfish impression as the ramifications of declaring a Blood Feud and letting his temper run away with him were finally starting to dawn on him… And drag him off to the Slytherin dorms to collect the broom.
The fact that Washton showed no surprise when they pulled the Nimbus 1001 out of Malfoy's trunk and saw his name boldly emblazoned across it told the others that he'd known what he was going to find… Which was reinforced when he chuckled…
"Oh dear, I'm afraid that Lord Black will almost certainly regard his property to have been damaged or marred with that carved into it, and he is not at all happy with the House of Malfoy at the moment, even less than me, so he'll almost certainly be demanding full payment of the value of the broom in new and unmolested state from you… Damnit! That will cut into what I get after I eradicate your house quite a bit, but I suppose I can't complain as Lord Black does have first dibs, as the kids say…"
Septima was chilled by the casual way he was discussing wiping out everyone in the House of Malfoy and taking everything they owned. She didn't disagree with the sentiment, because they were a stain on the character of Magical Britain, but hearing it discussed as if it were no more than a minor business deal was rather disturbing.
After the MLE Officers had left with Lucius Malfoy and the stolen broom, she had another unpleasant duty to perform that she would rather avoid, but couldn't… Floo calling Abraxus Malfoy to advise him that his son and heir had just been arrested and taken to the Ministry of Magic for receiving and possessing stolen property and attacking an MLE Officer… She was duty bound to inform him of the facts of the matter, not to tell him every little detail, and the more she thought about it, the more she was looking forward to this Baron Washton erasing the Malfoy family from existence…
That was another thing, there was something about that name Washton that was tugging at the edges of her memory and she knew it was important for some reason, but she just couldn't put her finger on it…
At the DMLE offices, Harry (or rather Henry Robards as he was officially known there) pulled his usual stunt, having Malfoy put in an Interrogation Room laced with the rune based compulsions to speak freely and truthfully and recording crystals activated… But with notice-me-nots over the brightly lit crystals indicating that they were active and prominent signs explaining the lit crystals… By Hermione portraying a plain young very obviously Muggle-Born Witch, so that he would ignore everything she said, because they were duty bound to explain the compulsions and recording and indicate the signs that they were active.
Then when a furious Abraxus Malfoy arrived soon after, she answered truthfully when he demanded to know where his son was… And the ensuing father and son discussion in the Interrogation Room provided a wealth of information.
Harry was surprised that Abraxus knew about the Washtons, but perhaps the Malfoys had had cause to believe that they were on the Washtons' list. Whatever the reason, his knowing proved useful, because some key points came out because of it.
"What do you mean, you inadvertently declared a blood feud with a noble house? What house and how did it happen?"
Lucius' whining got worse as he cowered away from his father. "I didn't mean to… It just came out… This pathetic little MLE Officer who looked like a common Mudblood was trying to arrest me for stealing Black's broom and when I told him that it wasn't stolen and to leave me alone, he started taunting me and making fun of me… But the last straw was when he slandered our house and I inadvertently used wording which could be taken as a declaration of a blood feud when I challenged him… I might have also called the House of Malfoy a Noble House…"
"You What? Tell me exactly what you said, and more importantly, tell me who in the Seven Hells you've apparently gotten us into a blood feud with!"
"I can't remember the name! Anyway, we do't have time to worry about that, you need to get me out of here so I can get to Saint Mungo's and get my fingers grown back before its too late!"
"Damn your fingers and Damn you! Tell me who the House of Malfoy is in a Blood Feud with due to your stupidity!"
"He said that he was the Baron and Head of the Noble and Ancient House of… Watson? No… Worton… Washburn… That's it, Washton! He said he was Baron Washton, Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Washton… But don't you see Father? This fixes the problem of old man Black withdrawing the Barony for Narcissa… We can get Washton and the rest of his family wiped out and claim his titles and whatever gold they have… I'd rather be shot of Narcissa anyway, because even with the compulsions we put in the betrothal contract she's refusing to have sex with me until we're married and with old man Black withdrawing the Barony and most of the dowry, there's nothing in the marriage for us. I think we should cancel the betrothal and reclaim that ridiculous bride price her father got you to pay to have Narcissa come with a Barony…"
Abraxus finally reclaimed the power of speech and he sneered at his son. "That last was probably the only thing you've ever said that made any sense boy, and I shall indeed be doing that, but first... I have the pleasure of informing you that you have just declared a Blood Feud with the house that did more to make them feared than anyone else in centuries! The Washtons are in fact a cadet line of the House of Rosier, the line was started by a minor son who objected to missing out on all the titles and wealth his older brothers got, so he swore that if his family wouldn't give him what he was due, he'd get it some other way, and he did…"
"He took his wife's family name, because she was the last surviving member of her family, and in less than a decade the Washton family had become an extremely wealthy Noble and Ancient House by wiping out over a dozen wealthy Minor and Noble Houses in Blood Feuds… And destroying several more by claiming exorbitant compensation or demanding everything they owned by right of conquest after they defeated their Heads and Heirs in the Honour Duels that they'd goaded them into challenging them to… So congratulations son, you've fallen into the same trap they goaded so many other stupid and cocky heirs into…"
"I had hoped that the spectre of the Washtons was gone for good, because like everyone else I thought that they had been wiped out in the War when they disappeared afterwards, but they had obviously just gone to ground, waiting for the next fool to rise to their bait… Damnit! This means that I'll have to pay Sotherby treble the usual fee to get the Ministry records amended to show that I disowned you after that broom business, to invalidate your including the House of Malfoy in your stupid Blood Feud before it can be officially registered…"
At this point Harry (AKA Henry Washton and Henry Robards) spoke up from the doorway. "It's too late for that I'm afraid Mister Malfoy, because your Heir's declaration and my and Magic's acceptance of the Blood Feud were formally witnessed by Hogwarts' Headmaster in front of hundreds of students, several staff and a dozen MLE Officers."
Abraxus fell into standard Malfoy mode, blustering. "How dare you intrude into a private conversation between me and my Heir?"
Harry chuckled. "A formal DMLE Interrogation Room where everything is recorded is a strange place to go to have a private conversation, isn't it?"
"What do you mean, recorded? This is an outrage! Get your supervisor… No! Get the Head of the Department here right now!"
"I'll get my supervisor here if you insist, but you really don't have a leg to stand on because the notice is on the wall there…" He cancelled the notice-me-nots as he waved to the signs. "And you would have been informed of recordings and other controls when you were escorted here… Speaking of which, what are you doing here? Your son was brought in for questioning but no one else was authorised to be in here without a DMLE escort…"
"I wasn't escorted here, the witch at the front desk told me where my son was, and you have no right to deny me access to my son and Heir."
Harry turned to look at one of the Officers. "Could you get Officer Jones here please? She better have a good explanation for this breach of procedure…'
The officer nodded and went to get Jones (Hermione).
When he returned with the pensive looking young Officer, Harry put a stern look on his face.
"Officer Jones. Why didn't you inform Mister Malfoy that no one was allowed to talk to his son until we'd finished his questioning, and why didn't you get an Officer to stop him doing so?"
Hermione was doing a good job of holding back her laughter as she played a frightened young Officer.
"I'm sorry Sir, but he didn't give me a chance to tell him he wasn't allowed to see his son because he stormed off the moment I said his son was in Interrogation Room Three. I was trying to find an Officer to stop him but there was no one in the office, and I stopped looking when I saw you heading back here because I thought that you'd have everything under control. I'm sorry, I know I should have done more but I couldn't leave the front desk unattended and I couldn't find anyone to help."
"Very well Officer Jones. We will look into why no one was available to assist you, which is a clear breach of the rules… And I can see that Mister Malfoy isn't the type to stop or listen to anyone when he wants something… I am disappointed with you for your part of what happened, but I will accept that the circumstances were out of your control."
Hermione nodded. "Thank you Sir."
Harry nodded as well. "You can return to the front desk."
Hermione curtsied and promptly left the room, only to be replaced in the doorway by Arcturus Black.
Harry made a show of groaning. "I'm sorry Lord Black, I had hoped to have this out of the way before you arrived, but Mister Malfoy Senior was apparently informed that we had brought his son in and stormed in to… Well I'm not quite sure what he was planning to do, but the point is that he has delayed us… Can I arrange for refreshments to be served to you in another room while you wait for us to finish here?… Or seeing that it is your stolen property that this relates to, would you like to observe Mister Malfoy's questioning? I must warn you though that in this room you are not Lord Black, you are merely the aggrieved party, and as such you may observe the questioning but will not be allowed to ask questions, make statements or otherwise interfere with the questioning. Do you accept these conditions?"
Arcturus was amused, as it had been decades since anyone had had the nerve to put him in his place like that… And being spoken to man to man was quite refreshing, truth be told. He nodded.
"Yes, I accept and agree to abide by these conditions Officer."
Harry nodded, then looked at Abraxus Malfoy. "The same obviously applies to you Mister Malfoy. Agree to and abide by the conditions or you will be escorted from the room." Malfoy was furious, but agreed to the conditions because he needed to know what was going on, as it was obviously far more than Lucius had told him.
Abraxus grew more and more horrified by his son's stupidity as the story came out. He cancelled the betrothal and demanded the return of the bride price in full more out of spite than anything else when he was forced to pay an exorbitant amount to replace the broom that his stupid son had defaced by having his name boldly emblazoned across it, and then was told that the defaced broom was still Black's property. Strangely enough, Lord Black didn't seem at all bothered about signing the agreement to have the bride price returned in full, probably because it was the girl's father who was returning it, not him.
He didn't bother waiting around after his business with Black was done, because unlike his son, he understood that Lucius wouldn't be leaving the DMLE alive, not after trying to murder a DMLE Officer in an unprovoked attack while he was performing his official duties… And he had to get things set up so that he could get the drop on Washton. With the DMLE getting rid of Lucius for Washton, he would be the last surviving member of the House of Malfoy, and he'd seen from the memories of what happened in the Great Hall that Washton was formidable with a wand, so his best chance of dealing with him would be by ambushing him before he had prepared himself… He just hoped that there weren't any others as dangerous as him left in the Washton family.
Back in the DMLE offices, Harry filled Arcturus in on what the Malfoys had revealed when they thought that they were having a private conversation, so arrangements were made for Narcissa's betrothal contract and parents to be brought in when she was brought in by the House of Black's legal representative for questioning. Narcissa left the DMLE considerably happier than her parents, because among other things, she was cleared of wrongdoing in regard to Sirius' broom because she was compelled to obey Lucius, her Uncle Alphard had been made her legal guardian and she was being moved into the Heir's Residence with him, Sirius and Regulus… Partly for her protection and well being, but also so that she could take on the role of woman of the house and help give Sirius and Regulus a more balanced upbringing… Whereas her parents were both cast out of the House of Black with nothing, because everything they owned had been seized and divided equally between their three daughters, the only major inequality being that Bellatrix, as the eldest, got their father's Barony
Unfortunately for Abraxus Malfoy, Harry had gotten more and more paranoid as he grew older, so as he neared fifty he was rather hard to ambush, especially when he had prior warning and was wearing Alastor Moody's magical eye as a pendent, so he could see Malfoy Senior readying himself to attack from the alcove he'd just passed. Unfortunately, Harry still couldn't afford to let people see what happened when a magical attack hit him but luckily there was no-one in the path of the Killing Curse Malfoy cast at him, so he just sidestepped it as he turned to respond with a blasting hex that exploded his head…. Which he immediately followed by formally claiming everything belonging to the House of Malfoy by right of conquest.
While he was showing a worried and remorseful look about what had happened, Harry was smiling inside, because getting rid of the Malfoys had quite high on his to-do list after he came back in time, and it was good to be able to cross that one off.
With the situation with the Malfoys addressed, Arcturus' next step was to reach out to his cousin Callidora, who had been Callidora Longbottom, the Lady Longbottom, for the last thirty odd years... As Callidora's grandson Francis (who apparently went by the name Frank), Heir Secondary to the House of Longbottom, was two years ahead of Sirius in Gryffindor… So Arcturus asked Callidora to ascertain whether Frank would be willing to serve as the owner of record for Sirius' broom and hold it for him while he was a First Year. Arcturus was relieved and grateful when Callidora came back almost immediately with word that Frank would be quite happy to serve as the owner of record of Sirius' broom for him so that he could have it at Hogwarts, and amended his plans again…
He had originally planned to draw the cost of a new Nimbus 1001 for Sirius from Orion and Walburga's depleted vaults to teach them a lesson. That plan had been put aside when Dorea's agent recovered Sirius' 1001 from Malfoy, along with the full price of a new 1001, because the refurbishing process had left the broom looking as if Malfoy's name had never existed for a nominal fee, and the broom was certified to be unused and unmolested… But after Callidora's grandson was so ready to agree to help Sirius with no thought of reward, Arcturus decided to go back to his original plan and draw the full price of a new 1001 for Sirius from his parents' vaults, and give the refurbished broom to Callidora's grandson in thanks for his willing assistance... And when nearly half of the money for Sirius' broom was returned as a 'family discount', he had it deposited into Sirius' vault.
So Frank was quite surprised to open the parcel that he thought contained Sirius' new broom, only to find two Nimbus 1001s, and a note to say that the second one was his, in appreciation of his willing assistance to the House of Black. Minerva was delighted to hear that Gryffindor would now have two players mounted on Nimbus 1001s… And that Longbottom had loaned Rakepick the Nimbus 1001 he'd received from Lord Black (because while a Cleansweep Five/Six was fine for a Beater, it wasn't up to the job for a Seeker, not when opposing Seekers were on Nimbuses), so all her team was now mounted on Nimbus 1001s or the equivalent of Cleansweep Sixes … This brought the broom tally for Gryffindor's three Quidditch Cup teams up to two Nimbus 1001s, two Nimbus 1000s, ten Cleansweep Sixes, four Five/Sixes and four Fives… Well short of the two Hufflepuff teams' standard, but still better than Ravenclaw's and Slytherin's teams' from what she'd heard, and hopefully that would be enough to cinch them second place in the Cup at least…
Minerva hadn't been the only one to be scrabbling to find some way to improve her teams' chances of course… But Filius was hampered by the Pure-Bloods' deep seated prejudices against his part-Goblin ancestry, while Septima was hampered by the fact that the majority of the Pure-Blood supremacists whose children made up most of her house had lost much of their gold and influence after the War… So they were having even less luck than Minerva.
The biggest gains Filius made had come from the fact that Ravenclaw tended to attract the highest numbers of Preppies after Hufflepuff, and he had managed to talk ten more of them into joining the three who were currently playing on Ravenclaw's teams… So that they could make use of the better flying skills the Prep League's training program and participation in in-school games at least had given them.
Septima hadn't managed to make any significant gains at all though. Things had been looking a little better for a week after Malfoy told everyone that he had a Nimbus 1001 and would be playing on it in the Cup, but then both Malfoy and the Nimbus were removed, lowering morale in her house even further… And the few Preppies she had flat out refused to play with or loan their personal brooms to the ones currently on Slytherin's teams... So Slytherin's chances that year were looking rather poor, especially after Headmaster Tofty and the Board told the complainers categorically that their decisions would stand for the year at least… And if the changes reaped the benefits that they were expecting, they would almost certainly become permanent.
Minerva managed to restrain herself for a couple of weeks before she confronted Pomona about misleading her like that…
"How are your teams working out with their Nimbus Thousand and Three Quarters Pomona?"
Pomona's smirk to totally unrepentant. "Oh, you heard about that, did you?"
"Yes! And the fact that those Cleansweep Fives you were talking about are effectively Cleansweep Sixes! You lied to me!"
"I did no such thing! I merely let you come to your own conclusions about what I was telling you… I specifically told you that the Nimbuses apparently couldn't be sold because of some irregularities, though I will admit that I may have forgotten to mention that the Cleansweeps had been upgraded.."
"When did you become so bloody Slytherin? From what I hear you knew damned well that there weren't any apparent irregularities, the bloody things were banned because they are Thousand and Ones deliberately made to look like One Thousands."
"They're only banned in the Professional Leagues, which unless someone forgot to tell me, doesn't apply to Hogwarts… And as Mister Potter has reminded me, there's nothing wrong with being Slytherin, as his Grandmother Dorea is a fine, upstanding Lady, and she was a proud Slytherin when she attended Hogwarts as Dorea Black…"
"I will admit that I was of two minds at first about 'letting my inner Slytherin out' as Mister Potter puts it… But when you came storming up to me being so high and mighty like that, I just decided to go with it… Don't pout Minerva, it's unbecoming in a witch of your age."
Minerva bit out. "I'm not bloody pouting, I'm scowling, and you damned well know it!…"
She stopped and sighed. "But you do have a point, I had no right to be acting so high and mighty, and then get offended when I discovered how well you'd played me… I'm sorry Pomona."
"So am I Minerva. I shouldn't have taken it that far, but I was angry with you for acting as if you had every right to demand that I tell you everything… And truth be told, it was rather fun, getting you to react the way I wanted you to… I can see why the Slytherins enjoy their little power games..."
Minerva shook her head with a smile, knowing that she'd earned that poke. "I already knew the answer to my question anyway, because I've been watching your teams' practice games… Gryffindor is lucky that Miss Rakepick's team at least has some hope of matching your second team's results, because there's no one at Hogwarts who has any chance of coming close to Potter and Evans' team… I'm just glad that Filius and Septima's teams don't have the brooms and skill to take second place away from us…"
She didn't want to ask, but she knew that it would eat away at her if she didn't find out why Pomona suddenly looked a little guilty. "What else don't I know about?"
"I thought you already knew… You are aware that Filius managed to get another ten of his Preppy Ravens to join the three already playing for Ravenclaw, I presume?"
Minerva nodded.
"And it didn't occur to you that they would have years of experience playing on their own Cleansweep Six or equivalent brooms like your own?"
Minerva went to respond but she wasn't finished yet.
"Well they do, and what's more, Mister Potter and Miss Evans apparently became friends with two of Filius' Preppies through the Prep League competitions over the years… So when Sirius Black received his own Nimbus Thousand and One from Lord Black and Narcissa Black graciously turned down the offer of the loan of one their two 'spare' Thousand and Three Quarters on the grounds that she had no interest in playing Quidditch, they offered the loan of their two spare brooms to their friends, who gratefully accepted…"
"So what I'm saying is, don't count your chickens before they're hatched Minerva. I realise that Miss Rakepick's team has both her and young Sirius mounted on Thousand and Ones, everyone on the team but Sirius has played in the Prep League for years on Cleansweep Sixes or their equivalents and she is an exceptional Seeker, but her team is the only one you have which has any real chance of defeating either of Filius' two Preppy teams… Because aside from perhaps lacking Miss Rakepick's particular abilities as a Seeker, they are at much the same level as her team... And to be brutally honest, while young Sirius is developing very nicely from what I hear, a Chaser with years of experience playing on their Cleansweep Six or equivalent broom will be more value to the team than him on his new Thousand and One, so I expect that Miss Rakepick will only be putting him into the game once they have a decent lead to give him a chance to play."
Minerva shook her head, smiling ruefully. "Don't hold back Pomona, tell it to me straight… You are quite right though, through wishful thinking or blocking it out because I didn't want to accept it, I had completely forgotten that Filius' Preppies would have all the same advantages as my own, and that Potter and Evans had two 'spare' Thousand and Three Quarters… But what does that have to do with Sirius Black, and why would they offer one of them to Narcissa Black, of all people?"
"Because they are family… Really Minerva, you need to open your eyes and see what's going on around you. James and Sirius Black openly call each other 'Cousin' and are obviously on good terms. When poor Sirius got that awful Howler from his mother, James and Alfred Black were among the first to be at his side supporting him… In fact I believe that James reached out to his grandmother to ask her to approach Lord Black to get him to do something about it… And while Narcissa may not have been on the best of terms with the rest of her family here at the beginning of the year… After that business with Lucius Malfoy, it was confirmed that she had been planning on giving Sirius his broom up until the illegal compulsions in her betrothal contract forced her to obey Malfoy's orders to sign it over to him… And she is now the ward of Alphard Black like Sirius and Regulus, so she will be living in the Black Heir's residence with them…"
"She may not on as good terms with the three boys as they are each other, but that's to be expected with her being both five years older and a young lady, and their relationship is obviously improving… In fact Lily Evans is working on getting her to join their team in the Prep League competition as another substitute player, to show her that Quidditch can be enjoyable and give her a chance to get to know James and Alfred better… They would have liked to have Sirius and Frank Longbottom join them too, but there is a limit of three substitutes per team and Miss Rakepick has already entered her whole team in the competition to develop their teamwork, however I'm sure that they will be including Sirius and Frank in their family interactions."
As much as Minerva was hoping that Pomona had been exaggerating about Filius' two Preppy teams' abilities, she really knew that that was a vain hope… So while disappointed, she wasn't overly surprised to find that her other two teams couldn't prevail against their experience, teamwork and better brooms… And the main reason Miss Rakepick's team was maintaining a slightly higher ranking than them was her ability as a Seeker... Potter and Evans' team had a clear lead over Pomona's second team, which was in turn marginally ahead of Miss Rakepick's team, then Filius' two Preppy teams rounded out the serious contenders… The only joy to be found in the Quidditch Cup results was the fact that her other two teams were managing to stay ahead of Filius' third team, and Septima's three teams were falling ever further behind everyone else.
Minerva discovered another interesting and useful aspect of Prep League Quidditch as she watched the various teams training to gauge their prospects in the Quidditch Cup, the fact that the Preppy teams were using their Prep League games for most of their training, which had the added advantage of focusing their efforts on the best ways to score and prevent the other team from scoring… When she asked Miss Rakepick about this, she confirmed that that was what the in-school games had mostly been used for, with specific training sessions added to address any problem areas that may be identified… But generally they'd go just through a few warm up exercises, have a practice game, cool down, get cleaned up and go on with their day, usually with more energy to face the day… Minerva was beginning to see that there was a lot more to Prep League Quidditch than she'd initially thought.
A/N: For our American brethren and sistren, English Football is what you call Soccer, while Rugby is basically what Gridiron came from, so it has rather more physical contact in it.
Yes, I am giving Narcissa and Bellatrix a chance to change in this one. As you would have noted, Narcissa hasn't done a 180 so that everything's sunshine and rainbows, she's still a bit of a Pure-Blood bigot and mainly interested in what benefits her due to her upbringing and coming from the shallow end of the Black gene pool, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that… But I'm giving her a chance to step back and take a wider view of the world, taking on the woman of the house's duties at Grimmauld Place and helping raise Sirius and Regulus will hopefully help mature and mellow her, and 'Uncle Alphard' was supposed to be one of the more enlightened Blacks… So hopefully he'll help steer her away from the traditional Black path and get her to embrace the new direction Arcturus has been trying to turn the House of Black in since he took over as Head of House in 1952. (He was capable of seeing which way the wind was blowing after the War and accepting that they needed to change if they wanted to regain their standing in the Wizarding World, but he couldn't do anything until he took over, for hear of being struck off the way he did Orion.)
For the sake of argument, while Riddle isn't around this time, their father was still trying to marry his daughters off to benefit him, and Bella had no interest in having nothing but becoming some old man's brood mare to look forward to. So due to a few people whispering in her ear at Hogwarts in her Fifth Year, she quietly reached out to some of the masters in Europe and got a tentative commitment from one of them to take her on as his apprentice if she did well in her NEWTs. That gave her the impetus she needed to become one of her year's top students from her OWLs on and she didn't even go home when she finished her Seventh Year, she jumped straight on a boat to Europe… And has been happily pursuing her masteries over there ever since.