Title: Diverging Reality
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Harry, Goblins, Lucius, Marvolo
Chapter: 17
Word Count: 2283
Warnings: talk about things
Edited by: eiliagh
AN: NaNo is over! *cries in happy* Unfortunately I have much to do and little time to do it, so here's hoping that today's post makes you all happy.
Also, bet you thought that you were going to see the wedding. Not yet!
Enjoy!
Adjusting the cufflink on his shirt sleeve, Harry took a moment to take a deep breath. Lucius looked him over with a critical eye before nodding.
"Are you ready?" he asked softly after a moment. Harry took another breath but nodded.
"Yes. Let's just get this over with," he said. Lucius nodded to the two goblins who had been stationed to stand guard at the door. One of them pushed it open and allowed them to step inside before they closed it behind the two. Inside of the conference room, the Black and Potter family managers were waiting alongside the Slytherin family manager and Marvolo himself. The three goblins and Marvolo stood, bowing in greeting. Harry and Lucius returned the gesture.
"You are right on time, Heir Black-Potter," Riptide greeted. Silverhook had decided to retire to run his family after the Christmas holidays and Harry had approved of his grandson taking over seeing as the Goblin had trained at his grandfather's knee from the first day he could work.
"Master Riptide, Master Griphook, a pleasure," Harry greeted. He sat down across from Marvolo and his goblin manager. Lucius joined him as the rest of the room took a seat. "Lord Slytherin. It is...I'm not sure what it is, but thank you for waiting for the meeting."
"I understand that sometimes life makes you push meetings to later dates than what others may want," Marvolo replied smiling. Harry noticed that he was looking like a human beyond his blood red eyes, which he had long ago learned was a family thing. When a Slytherin got to a certain point in their magical growth and learning, their eyes turned a shade of red and pink. Most of them wore glamours, keeping their eye color from before in public.
Hermione thought that like the Potters who had been blessed by a Water Spirit at one time and thus tended to have various shades of blue eyes but wore a glamour themselves, the line of Slytherin had been blessed by a Spirit.
Marvolo shifted to look over to his manager. "This is Master Creasedown. He is the fourth manager of my family vaults since the original line of managers turned traitors to the nation. They have worked very hard on making sure that the Slytherin Estate has been well cared-for along with the other three estates."
"I have heard that the various vaults for the Lines have started to become active," Harry said. Creasedow smirked and nodded.
"They have. With the way things are going, the Heirs have all taken the needed genetic tests, and they claimed the estate if they fit the criteria for the charters. I do believe that your sister has awakened the Ravenclaw line," he said.
Harry smiled at that and nodded. "Indeed she did. I was just as surprised as she was when she was able to claim the estate, but she has been working hard to figure out things since. She had to have her marriage contract that she wanted to present to Heir Longbottom to include the fact that she will need two children. One for her husband's line and one for the Ravenclaw line," he admitted. "Poor Neville doesn't even know about this yet though." He brushed his robes down slightly as he shifted. "Let us get to business though. Lord Slytherin, you wished to tell me what had happened to send you on a murderous rampage?"
Marvolo nodded his head and held out his wandt. "The words that I shall speak, I vow in this moment, are as what I remember, what I know, and what I know is fact. So mote it be," he vowed, the magic floating around the tip of his wand. He twitched it and the magic fell to the table into a wash of silver, blue and beige, forming into a contract.
Harry held out his own wand as Lucius pulled out his own, both males pointing their wands to the contract. "I have heard Lord Slytherin's vow and accept it as truth," he stated, twitching his wand and allowing his own magic to fall onto the contract in a shower of blue and gold. Lucius witnessed it and they tucked away their wands.
With the vow done, Marvolo settled in and started to talk about how his childhood hadn't been the best of childhoods.
Between the bullies at the orphanage, the fact that the workers there often sneered about him being a 'bastard child' and no information about his mother, it had been very lonely. Never mind the fact that his parents had been married, no matter what the status of it had been at the time of his mother's passing. And despite what people like Dumbledore thought, it had been a good match between them until his uncle had interfered with them.
His mother hadn't used love potions, but instead had used fertility potions to become pregnant with him and had been planning on trying again when things had gone down. Marvolo had learned that the first Tom Riddle had been trying to hunt down both his wife and his son before stopping suddenly. He figured either his grandfather or uncle had used an obliviate on him.
Harry wrote out a few notes to look into that as Marvolo continued on with his story, moving onto being accepted to Hogwarts and how he had been treated with disdain until his eyes had changed. Then the Slytherins had accepted him, his then Head of House, Horace Slughorn, having taken him to Gringotts for a genetic testing part way into his first year. A Slytherin tradition for those students who had no known family apparently.
He had been accepted by his house from then and he had shown himself more than able to protect himself after he had found the small cottage that his ancestor had built on the grounds.
In that cottage, he had found letters between Slytherin and Gryffindor, journals from both men and learned of their truth. The two men had been lovers, even after having been forced to find wives to carry on their lines.
Seeing as they had been lovers during a time where not even the Wizarding half of the world accepted same sex relationships due to no children coming from them and some of the potions they used now hadn't been discovered, it hadn't been surprising they had kept it secret..
Marvolo continued to talk about how he seemed to slowly lose the grip on his sanity as potions were slipped to him and charms attached to his very mind. He still didn't know who for sure, but he had a feeling he knew. Either way, he had changed, even more so when he had been pushed head first into the Dark Arts.
He talked about his travels and returning to England after a time and how he had gone insane more and more and fallen into a hole of insanity. He didn't speak about the attack before he moved on to after the tournament. He moved on to talk about how Narcissa had forced him to absorb a part of his soul and break the potions and charms on him. He explained that most of the parts of his soul had been absorbed except for a bit that sat in something in Harry's scar, and another item.
Harry promised to have the piece of whatever it was removed and returned to him.
He even spoke about Bellatrix's mind and how she had been on a careful line, using her as an example of what the mark had done to his followers.
Marvolo finished everything off with, "I wish to reclaim the proper Slytherin line. We are not a bad family. But so many have started to take the Light and Dark lines as Good and Evil and Grey as Neutral. Not a bit of that is true but it colors the perception of the still living Lines line."
Harry looked over at Lucius before he blew out a breath, sitting back and rubbing at his nose. "Okay, well then. This is just all sorts of a clusterfuck, isn't it?" he asked. He snorted before taking a deep breath. "Very well. I'm thinking that once you have come out on the political scale of things, I will throw my backing behind you. There are several old alliances and treaties between various families that are coming out. There are some that include the Potter and Black families. I think that I did see one between Peverell and Slytherin, too, when the original brothers of that line still lived."
Marvolo nodded as he took the offered scroll, an obvious copy of one that was a much older scroll, from his manager, handing it to Lucius. "This is the copy of the treaty that was between one of the first official Potters and my own five times great-grandfather. It says that we are to help each other. At the time there was a great upheaval and turmoil in our world," he said. Harry took it from Lucius once the man had tested it and opened it.
Harry read over the original treaty, finding it as Marvolo had said it was. It was a 'we help you, you help us, we don't attack each other' basic contract.
"I'm surprised that it's not voided after everything that has happened between us?" Harry asked.
"If I had been in my right mind, it would have been so. Down near the bottom there, there are a few parts that go over exceptions to a voided contract should one of the families break it," Marvolo stated. Harry made an understanding sound, going lower on the contract.
"In the case of potions, curses, hexes, charms, and anything that should unbalance a mind or fog the ability to consent, the contract shall not void should the action be of something that is not done normally," Harry read over. He smirked. "I will have to find my copy and make sure that it's put out there when you rejoin us as a Lord I suppose. When are you taking your seat and Lordship?" he asked as he handed the copy back to Lucius who placed it into his specialized satchel.
"I believe that the plan is for the day before your...wedding," Marvolo told him, barely stopping himself from sneering. That was not for their current meeting and current level of alliance. "I thought I would upset Dumbledore even more a little before the big day."
Harry snorted and smirked. "I'm just hoping that she won't cause any issue during the balls," he stated, shaking his head. "Will you be opening the Slytherin homes after?" he asked, curious.
"Yes," Marvolo replied as he dipped his head. "I have had the main mansion already under renovation for the last six months, seeing as I could open that one while I underwent the various trials. They are almost done refreshing the wards, replacing warding stones, and checking over the many various parts of the mansion. My plan is to throw my first ball a week after your wedding. Please expect an invitation for yourself and your...wife. If you are unable to come, it will, of course, be understandable considering the time."
"Do not worry, I will be there. And I will make sure that Ginevra is dressed properly for the first ball for a new Lord," Harry drawled as he stood. "Masters Riptide, Griphook, I have the last of the paperwork for my updated Will Orb ready to be sent to you," he told them as he smoothed his robes down. "Now, if you do not mind, for now, I do have a few things that I need to do to prepare for tomorrow seeing as I am spending Easter day with Regent Longbottom and Heir Longbottom."
Marvolo then stood and walked around the table. He grasped the offered hand, and, instead of shaking it, he kissed the back of it, watching as pink spread over Harry's cheeks. "Thank you for taking time out of your day to meet with me," he said.
Harry cleared his throat and nodded. "Thank you, once more, for waiting for me to have time," he replied before he pulled out his pocket watch to check. "I will be sending you a letter should I find anything beyond the contract."
"I will do the same," Marvolo said, watching as Harry left with his two managers, talking about the updated Will Orb. Lucius smirked at his friend with some amusement, remembering times Marvolo had flirted with Heirs of other families. "Really? Going back to your flirtatious ways?" he asked teasingly.
Marvolo smirked as they left once Marvolo's manager left with a short bow. "It is not my fault that he is rather delightful to look upon. And we both know that an age gap like ours is nothing in the wizarding world. I also know that his marriage really won't last beyond the three years and he'll wish to find someone then. If anything, I can hope that he wants to find someone for some fun. And what better fun is there to have then with someone who knows what they are doing," he said.
"Ah, you mean like what I did when I had come into my majority and wanted to know what it was like with an experienced lover instead of being the experienced lover?" Lucius drawled as they stepped into the floo room of Malfoy Manor from Gringotts.
"Don't think I don't remember that you used what you learned with me on Severus in return," Marvolo teased before he turned and left via floo to his own home, leaving a blushing Lucius behind.
