Another Harry Potter story. I basically wrote this after I tried to understand the Black family tree which is pretty confusing, some of them were having children when they were thirteen! I have altered some of the dates of some of the members of the Black family to suit, if at any point clarification is needed of the familial relations comment and I can put a family tree of sorts up. Most of this information came from the Harry Potter Wikia anyways, please excuse any mix ups, the family tree is so convoluted and varied according to which website used it can be confusing.

This is set five years after the defeat of Voldermort so Harry has just had his sixth birthday. I am not quite sure which school Harry will go to yet, I was thinking Durmstrang, but comment and tell me what you think.

As usual I don't own Harry Potter and I write for fun

Chapter 1:

The reputation of the Black family was stained beyond belief, their House shamed and ruined to the point it would seem of no redemption. Of the youngest generation there was only one who survived outside of Azkaban and even Narcissa Malfoy, nee Black, had not escaped with a reputation untarnished. Two more were in Azkaban, including the heir Sirius Black whilst his brother, Regulus, remained unaccounted for, although everyone knew he was dead.

Of the older generation the same could be said, Walburga had died two years after the defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort, Orion, her husband, predeceasing her. Alphard was dead too again from unknown circumstances. Even the lordship of the family floated around unclaimed as Arcturus III had died only a few months after Voldemort's death, already knowing that his dynasty was at an end. Not that he was a good Paterfamilias

for the House, his decisions had driven his family members to their knees through marriage contracts and political support of unsuitable figures.

Indeed, the only surviving members of the Black family who remained free were scattered across Europe, holed up in various manors and estates trying to gather what little dignity they felt. Cassiopeia remained in France, in the Black Chateau urgently examining her 'black book' for anything that may assist in the family's rejuvenation. Phineas Black, named after his father, the onetime headmaster of Hogwarts, had left for Greece, blasted off the family tree for his support of Muggle Rights. Marius Black, disowned for being a Squib, lived somewhere in Wales, although none of his family could bring themselves to care about him.

Sitting in her Chateau in the Alps, Cassiopeia could almost weep at the disgrace her family had become. When she had been born the Black family with their magical ancestry dating back almost seventeen generations had been one of the strongest in Britain as well as Europe. Unlike the Potter family that chose to remain mostly in England and the Malfoy family who had been forced to flee France for England, forsaking any connections there, the Black family had realised the strength of their continental connections.

That was at least until Arcturus. Blind fool that he was, he choose to throw his weight behind a man who would not even tell his followers his own family name. Ordering his son, her nephew, to marry his cousin, his cousin's daughter to marry a Malfoy whilst the other was left to marry a Lestrange. Idiot. Misguided, pompous idiot. And now, now there was so little she could do. Cassiopeia knew that when Draco Lucius Malfoy turned seventeen, he would be frogmarched, or he would run eagerly to Gringots himself, have a blood test done and name himself Paterfamilias of the Most Ancient and Noble House Black, quite a few steps up from the status of the Malfoy house which only became a Noble house due to their strategic bribes, although Lucius would surely call them 'offerings'.

Granted there was a chance that the Malfoy boy would turn out of decent sort, but Narcissa was a rather vain creature and Lucius was likely to turn the poor boy into a mini him, that did not bode well for her house.

What in Merlin's name could she do?

Whilst there were many who were related to the Black's through various marriages, the rules and magics of inheriting a Most Ancient and Noble House were complicated. Draco was the closest relative, other than Andromeda who was older than Narcissa. However, unlike some members of the family she was disowned, rather than just burned off the tapestry by that vapid cow Walburga (despite being her aunt, Cassiopeia found her to be a cross between a harpy and a toad of some sort). Well, if you do burn down an entire rose garden with a very effective Fiendfire when told you had to marry someone you didn't like, in front of both your own family and his, then it is difficult to say that it wasn't an obvious choice. Apparently the Flint's still hadn't worked out a way to restore that part of their grounds to its former glory.

Cassiopeia chuckled at the memory. There are ways to leave in style and that certainly ranked highly.

However, now there were bigger fish to fry. If there was a way to restore her family, Cassiopeia would find it. In her study she had the largest family tree she could find, covered with annotations about their magics and status. Aside from this, Cassiopeia had her golden ticket, her 'black book'. Kept in a vault under the study and guarded by the strongest wards there were, the 'black book' held secrets past and present about people from the Minister to the owners of Honeydukes, from Ollivander to the driver of the Knight Bus. Built up over her lifetime of nearly a century, it she could destroy the entire Ministry in Britain and other countries in Europe too. However, like all great Black's and Slytherin's, she knew when to play her hand with this information. Knowing that the Head of the Department for Transport was having an affair with his cousin's husband was only useful when you needed something in return after all. And now was a definite time to play her cards.

Moving back up the generational tree she reached Orion's generation, where few useful marriages occurred to solve her problem, a marriage to a Goyle would hardly give her a scion she needed. So up another generation, her brothers Pollux and Marius, well Marius was a squib and Pollux was dead, irritating moron, after all Walburga's temperament had to come from somewhere, idiot who had his first child whilst only thirteen. Anyway, no luck there.

There had to be someone, someone who wasn't a moron who strove for blood purity but was not a blood traitor either who dismissed the customs of a millennia. Someone who could be suitable or even crafted to be the next Paterfamilias, not an idiot like the last two heads of House Black but someone who would be able to treat the tricky path back to glory, without being distracted by the boggarts and Red Caps that would surely see an opportunity.

Cassiopeia was about to move further along the family when she stopped and looked to her own sister, Dorea Black. Dorea and she had always been close, it had been difficult not to be. However, she had died in her fifties with her husband in a Death Eater raid. A husband with whom she bore a son, who married and was murdered. However, before their deaths, her great nephew had sired a child, a son known to the world as Harry Potter. Well that, that might just work.

Next chapter: meet the allies!