"Oh, they got Sirius Black."
Dudley, having just been reading the same article as Draco, lets out a noise of agreement. The two young wizards sit at the Slytherin Table side by side, each with their own copy of the Daily Prophet in their hands.
Indeed, the article is very celebratory in nature. Sirius Black, dangerous Death Eater, presumed right-hand to the Dark Lord, and escaped convict from Azkaban Prison, had finally been caught and given the Dementor's Kiss. Terrible way to go from what Dudley understood. It was one thing to die, that alone wasn't something Dudley was looking forward to one day experiencing. But having your soul sucked out of your body, to lie eternally inside a Dementor's stomach?
For one, the confirmation that souls were real and ghosts were real meant there actually WAS an afterlife waiting for them after death in some capacity. So yeah, not getting to experience it and instead ending up in the belly of some dark creature… that was patently awful.
There was one other thing though, something niggling at the back of Dudley's mind as he reads through the article. Wasn't… wasn't Sirius Black innocent?
He vaguely remembered something from the original timeline about Harry getting a dangerous criminal of a godfather at a certain point. Harry had even had the audacity to threaten the Dursley Family with his dangerous godfather once or twice. And then, at a certain point, Sirius Black had died.
Dudley remembered that most distinctly because one of his parents had made a comment about how no good criminals always got what was coming to them… and Harry had blown up at them, saying Sirius was innocent and a good man. A better person than the two of them combined, that was what Harry had said.
Truth be told, Dudley hadn't had the context back then to put all the pieces together, but after spending a few years in the Wizarding World and learning so much more about the life his cousin was supposed to have had, he could connect the dots pretty easily. Dudley couldn't imagine a world in which Harry would have loved his godfather so much if Sirius actually WAS the Dark Lord's right-hand man.
Rather, it seemed clear now that somehow Sirius had been unjustly imprisoned at some point before breaking out. With Harry's help, Sirius had managed to escape the Ministry for several long years before finally being killed at some point later down the road.
But there was no Harry to assist Sirius Black in any way in this timeline. And Dudley certainly hadn't known anything was going on, really. He vaguely recalled reading about Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban at the start of this year, but it hadn't registered in his mind enough for it to really matter in the end.
Now… well, no use crying over spilt milk. Not that Dudley was even slightly beat up over Sirius' death. The man might have been innocent, but that just meant he was in Harry's camp. If Black had ever found out what Dudley had done to Harry and Lily, how he'd taken their magic… well, that would have been very bad indeed. Worse than if Sirius actually HAD been the Dark Lord's right-hand, Dudley supposed.
There's also a note at the end of the article about Peter Pettigrew miraculously surviving his original death… one of the murders Sirius Black was apparently originally convicted on even. However, while the man had been in hiding all this time for reasons no one could quite explain, he'd ultimately been killed by Sirius Black before the latter had been captured by the aurors.
All's well that ended well, Dudley supposed. Though he doesn't say that out loud. Instead, he glances over at Draco to gauge the other young man's reaction. In the end, he decides to just ask honestly. He and Draco are best friends at this point after all.
"Are we happy about this or…?"
He trails off, even as Draco hums for a moment before folding up the Daily Prophet and setting it down. He turns to Dudley… and gives him a wide grin.
"Oh, we're VERY happy about this, Dudley."
Leaning in closely, Draco drops his voice to a whisper.
"Father confided in me at the start of the year that Sirius Black was not to be trusted. There are rumors that the man was never even a Death Eater at all."
Ah, that made sense. The actual Death Eaters WOULD know who their comrades were. Or at least, the Inner Circle would. For Sirius to be Voldemort's right hand man and they not know it was… unconscionable Dudley supposed. But that's not the true cause of Draco's happiness as the blond boy goes on to explain a moment later.
"Sirius Black died without heirs. And my mother was a Black. Ergo… I'm in line to inherit the Black Lordship and the Black Vault. Probably going to get a letter any day now from home. Likely handle it over the Easter Holidays."
Oh. Oh, that was exciting. Dudley can't help but smile and nod for Draco, even as he folds up his own copy of the Daily Prophet and sets it aside to begin properly tucking into breakfast. It's been hard over the years, watching his weight. But if there's one thing Dudley knew he wasn't going to be with this second shot at living his life, it was fat. And so he eats carefully like always, maintaining a much slimmer figure as a result. Hell, even Crabbe and Goyle have lost their boyhood fat by this point, another mark of the good influence Hermione had on them while they had the inverse on her.
Still, it seemed that in the end, Sirius Black's death was a net positive in general for Dudley. He wouldn't have to worry about a man with nothing to lose coming after him for what he'd done to the man's godson, and on top of that his closest ally and friend in this new timeline was going to come out all the better for it.
What was there to be worried about, really?
-x-X-x-
"It's not fair, mother. He must have known. And he didn't say anything!"
Not for the first time, Narcissa Malfoy finds herself having to hold back the urge to roll her eyes. Draco has been… in a state ever since he arrived home for the Easter Holidays and she told him they'd be going over to Gringotts for a meeting. At first, he'd been over the moon, thrilled at knowing they were likely to inherit from the Black Estate. But when Narcissa had informed him of what Gringotts had told her… that the Dursley Family were also inheritors of the Black Vault, Draco had been less than enthused.
The thing was… Narcissa and Petunia Dursley had been pen pals ever since their first meeting. The other witch was clearly very, VERY new to the Wizarding World, and Narcissa had found herself obligated to take Petunia under her wing. At first, it was merely because of the friendship Dudley and Draco had, but by this point she'd discovered that she and Petunia actually had quite a lot in common. Petunia had actually sent Narcissa a letter a week ago about this, and Narcissa had given the other woman quite a few recommendations.
… Perhaps it was time for Draco to understand a little more how the world worked. Seeing as they had just entered Gringotts itself, the Lady Malfoy grabs her young son by the wrist and pulls him to the side. While they're still under the watchful eyes of the goblin guards, they should be out of earshot of pretty much everyone.
"He didn't know, Draco."
His mother's tone leaves no room for argument, and Draco falls silent as he looks at her with wide eyes. Narcissa sighs.
"I know he didn't know because Petunia Dursley sent me a letter just last week on Dudley's behalf, offering to forfeit the claim to the Black Vault in its entirety to keep the peace between our two families."
Draco's mouth opens and closes at that for a few moments before he finally finds his words.
"T-Then why didn't you take that offer?!"
As brilliant as her son is, as well as he's done building all sorts of connections at Hogwarts… he's still a long way from being ready to take the reins on anything. But that's alright. He has her and his father to help him.
"Think for a moment, Draco. What is more important to you? The contents of the Black Vault, or your friendship with Dudley Dursley?"
She doesn't let him answer that. Rather, she just puts the question in Draco's head before continuing on with the reasons WHY it should obviously be the friendship.
"House Dursley might be brand new to our world, but they are backed by old, old money. All of the Potter Holdings belong to them, making them quite close to just as powerful as us. Not AS powerful mind you, because the Potter Holdings did diminish greatly in the time since the Dark Lord was defeated. But think about that for a second. Even after diminishing as they did, the defunct House Potter was barely second to us."
She watches her son process all of this, even as Narcissa thinks to herself that this is confirmation the Dursleys were a former squib branch of the Potter Family. The goblins had been very… circumspect about how the relationships on the Dursley side of things led to Dudley being an heir to the Black Vault. But it wasn't exactly hard for Narcissa to figure out.
Sirius Black hadn't actually been a servant of the Dark Lord, clearly. He'd been friends with James Potter their entire time at Hogwarts. More than likely, when he'd inherited the Black Fortune right near the end of the war, he'd had it written into his Will or something that the Potter Family inherited. Now, his criminal status meant Narcissa COULD have fought that and likely made sure everything went to Draco… but there was very good reasons she had not.
"If they offered it to us though…"
"They offered it because Dudley doesn't want to lose you as a friend, and Petunia was panicking. But Draco… House Dursley is not a vassal to House Malfoy. They aren't like House Crabbe and House Goyle. They are not beholden to us in that way. And while they might have given us everything now, there would have come a time down the road where they would have come to resent feeling strong armed into doing so. Even if it was their idea."
Draco's mouth clicks shut and Narcissa is gratified to see that he's actually giving her words the consideration they deserve. Finally, he slowly nods.
"I understand now, mother. By including them, by treating them well… we engender them to us further."
Narcissa smiles and nods.
"Yes Draco, well done. House Potter and House Black were two of the longest living, wealthiest, and most powerful Wizarding Houses in all of Britain's history. In their absence, House Dursley and House Malfoy will rise. You and Dudley have done well to become friends in truth and not just name. Do not ruin that now because of your own greed."
Flushing at the admonishment, Draco bows his head.
"Yes, mother."
With that out of the way, Narcissa feels a lot better as she leads Draco deeper into the bank. Eventually, they're taken to the meeting room, where they find the Dursleys already awaiting them. Curiously enough, Lily Evans is with them, though the woman doesn't look to be all that present mentally.
Representing the 'Potter' side of things, aka the Dursley side of things, is a goblin who introduces himself as Griphook. Meanwhile, representing the Malfoy side of things is their long-time account manager, Ricbert.
Petunia looks nervous, while Dudley looks as uncertain as Narcissa has ever seen the young man. They both seem to understand that this whole situation… well, it could make or break their relationship with House Malfoy. It's good to see such a… new family to the Wizarding World understanding how the game is played. That instinctive drive for politics in Petunia is part of what has made Narcissa take the other woman under her wing.
As they enter the room, Narcissa nods in Dudley's direction as she nudges Draco.
"Go speak with your friend, Draco."
"… Yes mother."
As the two young men break off, Narcissa moves forward with a reassuring smile for Petunia. She has every intention of splitting the Black Family properties and assorted belongings in the Vault equally between their two families. There are some sentimental things that the Lady Malfoy, originally a Black Witch, will want of course… but everything else can be split up. Though, Narcissa might argue for leaving the actual coins for Bellatrix, if she ever gets out of Azkaban. Who's to say what the future could hold, now that their two families were on the rise?
-x-X-x-
To say Dudley had been surprised when they received the letter from Gringotts regarding his inheritance would be an understatement. He'd been ready to give it all up, knowing how much it would piss Draco off if he tried to fight the other boy for what Draco considered 'rightfully his'. But the letter he'd had Petunia send to Narcissa in hopes of defusing the situation had received a startling response.
The Lady Malfoy had refused their offer to withdraw their claim on the Black Fortune and demanded they all go to the meeting to determine a fair split of everything between them. Dudley and Petunia had been surprised by that… but, well, here they were now. Dudley still wasn't too sure about all of this but seeing as Draco didn't look angry as he was walking over to him, Dudley was hopeful things could still be salvaged.
"… Are we good?"
Looking over to where their mothers are discussing things for a moment, Draco looks thoughtful. Then, he nods.
"We're good."
He gives Dudley a small but genuine smile at that.
"Our families are going places together, Dudley. Something like this… we aren't going to let it tear apart all we've built over the years, are we?"
Dudley slowly shakes his head, signaling his agreement with the Malfoy Scion.
"No, we aren't."
Chuckling, Draco shrugs.
"Besides, we're both too young to be proper Lords yet anyways. We can decide who gets the title of Lord Black once we've come of age."
He's surprised at how chill about all of this Draco is being. But Dudley is more than happy to take it. That said, he doesn't imagine he'll fight very hard for the title of Lord Black when the time comes. He can already tell how much Draco wanted it, especially since it'll distinguish him from his father, the current Lord Malfoy, as soon as Draco comes of age. In comparison, there's nothing that will stop Dudley from being Lord Dursley the moment he comes of age, mostly because his father is still a muggle and thus can't be a wizarding Lord in the first place.
With that in mind, it would only make sense for Dudley to let Draco have the title Lord Black to keep the peace between them. But like Draco said… that was further down the road anyways.
-x-X-x-
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