Chapter 21: Revenge

November 20, 1980

Marius Black sat back at his desk in his office at Longview Manor and smiled as he mulled over the latest report. Phase one of his revenge had been satisfied. When he had dined with Petunia her first night in his home he had been enraged to see the purple mottled bruise upon her cheek. If Vernon Dursley had been before him he would have thrashed the man and then he might well have ordered one of his staff to cast a long lingering curse upon the man. Instead he had to satisfy himself with tending to Petunia's injury and plotting his revenge against the man who would dare to cause harm to those he was supposed to protect. If he would harm Petunia in this manner, what would he do to the two defenseless infant boys?

The following morning, he had met with his solicitor and told him to buy Grunnings Drills. He had then met with his barrister who had informed him that while he was within his rights to house Petunia until the divorce, the court might very well rule that Dudley had to be returned to Vernon until the matter of the divorce and the child's custody could truly be settled. Such could take years and after seeing the bruise upon Petunia's cheek, Marius was unwilling to send Dudley back to the man. That aside, the three of them were a package deal. Petunia had said so. Handing Dudley back to Vernon Dursley would break the rules and he would lose her and Harry. He could not stomach the thought of handing a helpless infant to a man like Dursley anyway.

It had taken two weeks of back and forth negotiations but he was now the owner of Grunnings Drills. It felt good to hold that power over Vernon's head. It was like he was silently saying, "be a good boy Vernon or else…" Oh yes. He liked this very much.

His last dinner with Arcturus had gone better than he had hoped. When he had first reported to Arcturus that he intended to assist Petunia Dursley in divorcing her husband only so he could marry the woman himself, Arcturus thought he had gone mad. He had finally made Arcturus understand his thoughts on the matter. She would always want to be a part of Harry's life and she would be unrelenting. Thanks to Dumbledore's meddling, most of Wizarding Europe would champion her cause whether they liked it or not. However, by marrying Petunia then she would be a member of the Black family and have no reason to keep Harry from the rest of his house.

Marius saw his marriage as a business arrangement. As such it was no different than the majority of the marriages of the House of Black. His older brother Pollux had married Irma Crabbe not for love but for the benefit of the House of Black. Irma had not loved and adored Pollux when they married. She had rather disliked him, but she had married him to serve the interests of her own family. Walburga's marriage to Orion was not a love match either, but rather Walburga's greed to someday become Lady Black. Orion was five years her junior and more malleable, at the time, to her wishes. Arcturus might be one of the few people in the family who had married for love and he still would not have married Melania of House Macmillan if the alliance could not be of benefit to the family. Marius had been brought up the second son and with the knowledge that he would have to marry well to assist his family. Even after learning he was a Squib this idea never left his psyche. He had been spared the fate of most Squibs by the Lord Black because he saw promise in him. Marius would always remember that and always strive to do all he could to benefit the Black family.

Despite having dated muggle women and taking some as lovers over the years he had never yearned to settle down with any of them. He had simply decided that he was not truly the marrying kind. Furthermore, while he was not a Wizard nor was he a Muggle. He was a Squib. He had a magical core, unlike Muggles. Unfortunately, he could not access it like a Wizard could. He could feel magic, whereas Muggles could not. All Squibs could feel magic, but few Squibs were now raised in the Wizarding World. Most Squibs were cast out into the Muggle World and due to this they did not understand what it was that they were feeling when magic had been cast near them or when a Werewolf was nearby in a dark forest. Marius might not be as grand as his Wizarding kin, but he was far better than a mere Muggle. He would never have been able to stand marriage to one of their ignorant kind.

Marriage to Petunia would serve the House of Black. It would give them swift and complete access to Harry Potter "The Boy Who Lived." They would be able to protect him from Death Eaters and from the adoring, sycophantic public. Dumbledore would have no access to the boy until he was at least eleven. Perhaps not even then if the Lord Black chose to send Harry to a different Wizarding School. Petunia was a Squib instead of a Muggle, but she was as ignorant as most Squibs who had been raised as a Muggle. Petunia was young, in her early twenties. She was too young for him in truth, but she was also young and naïve and no match for the likes of Dumbledore. It was no courtesy that Dumbledore left Harry with Petunia. It was due to Lily's sacrifice. It was Old Magic, powerful magic, and had James been the one to invoke it instead of Lily, then Petunia never would have held her nephew. She might never have been informed of Lily's death. Petunia needed as much protection as her boys did; which made her desperate enough to marry him.

Arcturus had decided after much thought that the plan was inspired. When Marius had shown photos of Petunia's hurt cheek to Arcturus he could feel the other man's anger on the woman's behalf. Marius told Arcturus then and there that he wished to speed up the divorce. "The best way to accomplish that would be with Vernon Dursley's compliance. To that end, I intend to claim Dudley is my son, that Petunia had an affair with me."

Arcturus had frowned then. "Don't Muggles have means of discovering if you are lying about the boy?"

"Yes," Marius had agreed. "They do. To that end, I need your help. I want to do a full blood adoption of Dudley," he had informed the Lord Black.

The Lord Black had eyed him critically. "This will make him your son and your heir," Arcturus had warned him.

"Yes, that is fine," Marius had agreed. He was relieved when Arcturus had agreed to the Blood Adoption before he left Marius's company.

Marius still had not discussed the Blood Adoption ritual with Petunia. He rather hoped that he could just do the ritual and tell her after the fact. Better to ask her for forgiveness later than to risk her saying no when it really was so very important that he do this. The divorce would go more swiftly and little Dudley would be forever safe from Vernon Dursley's legacy.

He decided that he would not ask for Petunia's blessing, but he would inform her of the Blood Adoption and the reasons that Marius wished to undertake it. She was the boy's mother after all and it was quite likely that the boy's appearance would change drastically since Marius was exchanging the blood of Vernon Dursley with his own.

It was the first of December when Timothy Stanley informed him that the Blood Adoption Potion was finished and the servants were awaiting his word on when to perform the ritual. Marius thought carefully of what he intended to do to Dudley and then decisively chose that Sunday, the seventh of December as the day that Vernon Dursley's blood would be replaced with his own. It was the second day of the New Moon on the seventh and that was a good time for such magic as they needed to be cast for it would obliterate Vernon's hold on little Dudley and allow Marius blood to renew him.

He found Petunia in the sitting room of her suite. She was flipping through a magazine of baby items and jotting down notes in a notebook. He watched her for a few minutes, taking in the way she pursed her lips as she pondered over an item before shaking her head in the negative and moving on to look at the next. He thought again on how Petunia was not the typical beauty. Marius had his fair share of past lovers and each of them had been truly beautiful specimens of human art. Petunia was plain in comparison to every woman he had ever dated. Yet, none of the other women would have compelled him to propose marriage even if they had been in the same situation as Petunia and her boys. He would have protected them, helped them to divorce their abusive spouse and set them up in some house somewhere with a nice allowance, and insisted on custody of Harry in exchange. He never would have offered marriage though. He still did not know what made him so willing to marry Petunia. There was a strength and a vulnerability to the woman that rather enchanted him. He wanted to own it, and that meant marriage. That he won himself a son and he won his nephew away from Dumbledore's control were bonuses.

"Oh. Marius," Petunia's voice broke through his thoughts. A blush suffused her cheeks and she looked lovely when she blushed, he realized. "Is there something you wished to speak with me about?"

"Actually yes, there is. May I enter?" he asked of her. Marius had been very good about honoring her space, never entering her suite of rooms without her permission. Vernon had cowed her for the entire time of their relationship and Marius did not want to become another Vernon Dursley in her eyes.

"Please do," Petunia invited. "Shall I ring for tea?" she asked him.

"No, that will not be necessary, unless you wish it for yourself," Marius was swift to assure her even as he settled himself into the lounge chair across from her own seat on the sofa.

She smiled slightly at that and then raised the water bottle that she had settled on the floor beside her feet. "No, I have this," she admitted. "What troubles have you brought to me today, Marius Black?" she asked of him and there was a slight teasing lilt to her voice that charmed him.

He chuckled. "I do seem to only bring troubles to you when I visit your suite, don't I?" he smiled charmingly. She merely nodded in response to his rhetorical question. "Dursley is going to dig his heels in about the divorce," he began. "He does not want you to get away with leaving him easily, but also there is the fact that he wants his child back."

Petunia's hands shook as they came to rest in her lap. "No," she said to him. It was an echo of those days when she was still with Vernon and he wanted to get rid of Harry.

"No?" Marius asked of her, thrown by her sudden demeanor.

"No, I refuse to give Dudley back to that man. I won't do it. I won't!" she cried out the last with such vehemence that Marius was truly taken aback.

"Petunia, calm yourself," he demanded. "I have said nothing of sending Dudley back to that man. I would never send a child into such danger," he said with a firm tone.

She searched his eyes, her blue eyes watching his carefully before she finally deflated. "Oh, I see. I am sorry. I thought that surely you would have been advised to send Dudley away and I would not be able to," she paused then said, "I would not be able to live without Dudley and Harry."

In that moment, staring into his fiancé's blue eyes, he believed her. He did think that Petunia would die without the boys. So much of her energy seemed to go into keeping them together and keeping them safe.

Marius smiled at her. "Petunia, even if I did not fear your wrath, I certainly would fear Rathty's if I attempted to take Dudley from Longview."

That had the desired effect of making her laugh. He smiled indulgently as he watched her and prayed that she would like his solution to the Dursley problem. "The biggest reason that Dursley is dragging this out is Dudley," Marius reiterated and he watched the smile leave Petunia's countenance. "If Dudley were not actually Vernon's son then Vernon would agree to a swift divorce, particularly if I were willing to give him a pay off."

"But Dudley is Vernon's son," Petunia argued. "I have never been with anyone but Vernon."

"Yes, but Vernon doesn't need to know that you have been oh so faithful," Marius informed her. He watched in amusement as she sputtered in righteous indignation. "Come now Petunia, is Dudley worth more than your reputation?"

She glared at him then, blue eyes full of icy fury. He loved her eyes. "Yes of course he is!" she exclaimed.

"Good! Then you agree with me that the right course of action is for me to do the Blood Adoption Ritual," Marius said and then at her questioning look he explained. "It is a magic ritual that involves a potion. I place my blood into the potion and then Dudley is forced to ingest it. The end result is that my blood will purge Vernon Dursley's from Dudley forever. All tests, be they muggle or magical will state that Dudley is the son of Marius Black."

She stared at him in silence for several minutes taking in what he had just told her. "Would it hurt Dudley?" was her first question.

"No. Well, not terribly. He will experience discomfort during the purge, and his appearance will change somewhat. Characteristics he received from Vernon will fade away over the course of a few days and be replaced by physical traits that will have come from me," he admitted.

"Yet, no permanent damage? No child has ever received permanent harm from this?" she persisted to question.

"No child has ever been permanently damaged by this Petunia," he promised her.

"I," she paused again then began again, "You will have to claim Dudley completely as yours. He would be your successor, your heir."

"I am well aware of that," Marius assured her. "He will be my son, my heir, and receive my fortune and all that is mine when I am left as but a memory in this world."

"When do you intend to do this ritual?" she asked.

"This Sunday," he informed her.

"Very well," was her answer and Marius left her soon after with a kiss to her brow. He was relieved that she had not refused him. Though he was not there to ask her permission, he knew that it would have gone a lot worse for him if Petunia had chosen to dissent.


Tuesday, December 9, 1980

It had been two days since the blood adoption and once again Marius found himself late at night looking in on his son and his nephew. He found himself staring down into Dudley's crib and smiling. There were no traces of Vernon Dursley left upon the babe. He now favored the good looks of the Black's except for his eyes. Dudley's blue eyes were Petunia's eyes. That the boy had his mother's eyes had disappointed Arcturus, who had hoped that they would turn to the traditional gray eyes of the Black family. So few in the Black family had the gray eyes anymore. Marius had been secretly delighted that Dudley had Petunia's eyes. He was beginning to have a weakness for those eyes whether it was Petunia he was dealing with or a whiny sleepy Dudley.

"Rest well, my son," he whispered to the baby boy before he went to Harry's crib and smiled down at his great-nephew, his sister's grandson. "Rest well dear Harry. You are safe here."

He then looked at Rathty and Dobby. "Good night," he bid the loyal Elves. He very much believed that Dobby would bond with Harry. Both of the House-Elves acted as though the boys belonged to them. It was that possessive behavior that usually preluded a bonding of Elf to a specific master or mistress.

Marius was happy to go to bed. He had a meeting the next morning with Vernon Dursley and the man's solicitor. He was quite looking forward to explaining to the man that Dudley was not actually his son.


December 10, 1980

Getty and Rothchild, London, England

Marius relaxed in the leather chair and stared at the man across from him. Vernon Dursley was forty years younger than him. He was young, full of bluster and completely lacking in the experience that Marius had obtained during his years of business. Vernon was a heavy-set man, to put it politely, and he had beady eyes that were glaring at him even as Marius appraised him. A small smirk curved his lips. This was the man who had raised his hand to Petunia. He was looking forward to destroying his world piece by little piece. Starting of course with taking his woman and his son from him.

"Well, shall we get started?" Mr. Getty, Vernon Dursley's Solictor began.

"Yes," Mr. Alexander West, Marius's Solicitor, agreed. "In the hopes of settling this divorce of Mr. Dursley from Mrs. Petunia Dursley and the custody of young Dudley as swiftly as possible, my client, Mr. Black, is willing to be generous enough to pay all of the legal fees for both himself and your client provided he agree to a swift divorce."

Mr. Getty frowned. "And why should Mr. Dursley agree to a swift divorce?"

"Divorce is a messy business and for a man on the up and up in his company like Mr. Dursley having to be dragged through a long and messy divorce can only be detrimental to his career. Since my client feels a responsibility in the destabilization of Mr. Dursley's marriage he felt honor bound to make the offer."

Vernon glared at Marius and snarled "You can take the lying little," he was cut off by Marius.

"I would not finish that sentence Mr. Dursley. This is an ugly enough situation, let us act as adults and not make things worse," Marius said.

Mr. Getty and Mr. West nodded along in agreement. "In that case Mr. Dursley shall accept Mr. Black paying his legal expenses," Mr. Getty said. "Now that my client has agreed to a swift divorce there is the question of custody of Dudley Dursley. My client demands his son be returned to him and that he shall maintain full custody. He refuses to allow visitation rights to Petunia," Getty proclaimed even as Vernon nodded in smug satisfaction at the thought of taking Dudley away from Petunia.

Marius knew it would make Petunia miserable. The loss of her child would devastate her. Vernon Dursley was doing this in order to hurt her, perhaps even as a means of luring Petunia back to him. Fortunately for Marius, the blood adoption had gone well and so the boy would never return to Vernon Dursley.

"Yes, about that," West began and then he opened the file folder containing the recent muggle performed blood testing on Dudley. He passed the folder over to Getty who swiftly read over the paperwork.

"What, what is it?" Vernon demanded to know.

Getty's head whipped up and he stared hard at West. "This is conclusive?"

"What's conclusive?" Vernon growled.

West smiled. "Yes, it is, though of course, your client is welcome to pay to have the test done again to prove paternity."

"Paternity?" Vernon frowned in confusion.

"Vernon," Getty began, "according to the DNA test done on Dudley Dursley it would appear that you are not actually his father."

"What?" Vernon growled in anger and shock. "If I am not the father then who is?"

"That would be me," Marius said simply as a smirk curved his lips upward. "To put it simply Vernon, I seduced your wife while you were busy away for one of your company trips, one of the same trips where you likewise cheated on Petunia." Marius was satisfied to watch Vernon's face turn a strange shade of puce.

"So the whiny brat isn't mine. I should have known," Vernon spat. "He was too weak and ugly to be my child anyway," he glared at Marius.

Marius rather thought the babe had highly resembled Vernon before the blood adoption changed his looks. Now the child was a handsome baby and he would no doubt grow up to be a handsome young man.

"Then Mr. Dursley is in agreement that custody of Dudley shall remain with his mother?" West asked.

Getty looked carefully at Vernon who nodded and crossed his arms in a petulant angry display. "Yes," Getty said. "Mr. Dursley no longer wants anything to do with Petunia Evans and Dudley."

"He'll never get a dime from me," Vernon hissed out.

Marius nodded. "He's my son, I shall take care of him," Marius said and he meant it. Dudley was his now. Dudley, and Harry, and Petunia were all his.

"Excellent," West stated. "Now that Mr. Dursley does not wish to have anything to do with Petunia and Dudley, we can actually rush the divorce and custody forward and then Mr. Dursley shall be free."

Getty nodded his agreement. "We shall file a state of no contest this afternoon to the demands of Petunia Dursley for a divorce and for her to have full custody of her child Dudley Dursley."

Marius smiled in satisfaction at how good things went, "Thank you. The sooner this is done the sooner both Mr. Dursley and I can move on with our lives."

Vernon gruffed at that, "Well I'll tell you one thing, the next woman I marry will be a great deal more beautiful than Petunia was. Congratulations Black, you have taken sloppy seconds and she's a hag."

Marius had to close his eyes and clench his fists tight to keep from striking the man for his statement. Let the man say what he will, it did not matter. Vernon Dursley had made all the wrong decisions and he had lost Petunia and Dudley in the process. Marius had won. He let the feeling of victory infuse him as he left the offices of Getty and Rothchild.


January 1981

Petunia's divorce from Vernon Dursley was finalized on December 28, 1980. When the second of January came, she found herself standing in a gorgeous pale cream wedding gown in Winchester Cathedral before a large crowd of elegantly dressed people. She exchanged wedding vows for a second time, this time with the incredibly handsome, exceedingly wealthy man who was also old enough to be her father. The very thought had mad her blush on more than one occasion.

Though Marius was forty years older than she was, he did not look it. He looked to be a man in his early forties rather than a man in his sixties. His black hair was slicked back with only a few traces of silver at the sides lending him a distinguished air. His tall lean muscled frame was encased in a handsome black suit with a pale ice blue tie.

She felt butterflies flutter to life in her stomach when Marius kissed her, sealing their pact as man and wife. She had never felt such for Vernon, not even in the first blossom of their romance when Vernon had first kissed her. She let Marius lead her from the church and to the elegant black car that she was now used to riding in.

"That was not so bad, was it?" Marius teased her.

She hummed her agreement and then said, "We'll see how well I hold up for the second wedding." As Marius had informed her there would be two weddings. The first was to appease the Muggle World and keep up appearances. The second wedding would be a magical ceremony. She did not know why he felt magic was necessary when they were Squibs but she had chosen not to argue with him about the matter. Marius had grown up surrounded by magic and he understood it in ways that Petunia doubted she ever would. She was sure part of that was due to her own fear of magic. She would have to place her trust in Marius when it came to magic of any kind.

She spent many hours at her wedding reception playing a perfect hostess to her new relatives and to the many men and women that were associated in some way or other with her husband. She tried not to feel awkward and ugly in front of the truly glamorous women who made it a point to greet her and proclaim themselves as old lovers of Marius and in shock that he would ever settle down. Despite how beautifully made up Petunia had been for the wedding, these women made her feel like a hag.

"Do not let their petty jealousy get to you," came the voice of the truly beautiful Narcissa Malfoy. It took Petunia a moment to try to remember just how Narcissa was related to Marius. She was his Great-Niece, the granddaughter of his older brother Pollux.

"Thank you," Petunia said and she meant it. She disliked the vulnerability she felt around those women.

Narcissa smiled. "None of those women could entice Uncle Marius to marry them, and believe me they did try. They did not have the right combination to intrigue him and keep him wanting more."

Petunia nodded her head along with Narcissa though she was not the least confident that Marius actually wanted her. He had wanted to get custody of Harry swiftly and marrying her was a way to do that. Still, she did not bother to explain that to Narcissa.

"It's good to see the family gathered for a wedding," Narcissa then said to Petunia. "For too long it seemed we were always gathering together to share our grief over the loss of another loved one."

Petunia smiled encouragingly at Narcissa then. "I hope that it shall be happy events from now on. Weddings and Babies."

Narcissa smiled at the thought. "You have named my heart's own longing," she said.

Marius had joined them then and taken Petunia onto the dance floor for a dance. Lucius Malfoy soon had his wife spinning about on the floor as well. She engaged in small talk with her husband. She told him she liked Narcissa and he received the news with pleasure. He then informed her that Narcissa had a little boy that was Harry and Dudley's age and perhaps the boys should have play dates with young Draco in the future. Petunia consented immediately to the idea.

Petunia and Marius left their own party a half an hour before midnight. Petunia repeatedly kissed Dudley and Harry farewell. The boys were going to spend the night at Ivy Hall in the care of Marius's older sister Cassiopeia Black and her infant charge Leonis Black.

At Midnight, Petunia found herself naked in the freezing January cold, her body painted with strange runic symbols, wondering if she had lost her mind to have ever agreed to this. Marius was equally naked and she could not disguise the hunger and awe that were in her eyes at the sight of him. For a man of his years he had taken extremely good care of himself. When he held out his hands she placed her own in his and then he began to speak the words of an ancient wedding ceremony. The vows were not that dissimilar to the ones she had sworn in West Minister cathedral. When their vows were so sworn he kissed her deeply and then pulled her up onto the stone altar. She gasped in surprise due to the tender assault but met him with equal enthusiasm. It was there that their wedding vows were first consummated. Afterward they were apparated home by their witnesses, Arcturus Black and Callidora Longbottom. Petunia had not noticed that the two had remained there to witness the event. She was unsure if she would ever look either of the two people in the eye ever again.

One week after her marriage to Marius Black, Petunia's name was put on the deed of Longview alongside Marius's own. That day they raised strong blood wards around the estate in order to better protect Harry.


I do apologize if some think I rushed through this part, but I felt that it was best to not dwell too long on Marius and Petunia so that we could then focus more on Leonis and some of children when they are a little bit older. I am considering writing a little side story that will take place in the Renewal Universe that will follow Marius, Petunia, Dudley, and Harry and their family life to better help flesh out Harry's side of the story, but for now Renewal is more of a priority.

Next chapter we shall follow Leonis Black! Thank you for reading and reviewing and also following and favoriting this story. I appreciate all of your feedback!