A/N: I've returned from the death! Or more like graduation exams... Oh what's the difference haha. May has been a busy month for me, learning and doing my exams. Participating in a contest for a scholarship and winning one. I just hadn't had the time to write. And I apologize for that! This summer I should have a lot more time free to start writing again, so expect more episodes to appear. Now let's start the show!
Thanks to Kyouki no kitsune for helping write this story.
It was a smirking Hadrian that walked into the Great Hall at dinner time, that very same day of his trial. His eyes darted quickly across the table belonging to the Hufflepuff's; finding and meeting the ones belonging to a certain 7th year pink haired witch.
The nod Hadrian gave Tonks filled her heart with elation. Everything had gone according to plan and another lost sheep had returned to the Black family. She didn't know what had become of Lucius, and she honestly didn't care if he was dead or alive. Normally she would rather avoid the killing of someone but the return of Narcissa Malfoy, or rather Narcissa Black now, was way more important to her. Or rather, to her mother Andromeda Black.
Her mother had been very distraught at the breaking up of the infamous Black Sisters. The once tight and infamous unit at Hogwarts had overcome many trials, yet arranged marriages by their parents had been one hill that was too large to climb.
Andromeda had, once the contracts were announced, immediately fled the Black household and had run away with her secret boyfriend of the time; Ted Tonks. Her actions had, she learned later on, led to Walburga and Orion using more enforcing measures on her sisters to make sure that they did fulfil their contracts.
Guilt and shame had torn Andromeda apart for a very long time, as she had learned that they had blackmailed Narcissa and Bellatrix in their respective contracts. She didn't know that those contracts were in fact blood contracts. That was revealed to her shortly after the fall of Voldemort, when Arcturus Black had appeared on her doorstep.
He had explained the situations of Narcissa and Bellatrix and their contracts. He had pleaded for Andromeda's help. She had been very reluctant and suspicious at first, fearing that it was some kind of plot of Arcturus for Merlin knows what. But the sincere sadness, shame, and guilt that had taken hold of his voice and body language convinced her that it was real and not some kind of devious Black Family plot.
He had there and then revealed that Andromeda had never been cast out of the Black family. It was a mere lie to hopefully discourage her reaching out to Arcturus for help and thus having Arcturus possibly interfere in the business of Orion and Walburga. As it was widely known that the casting out of someone had to run through the Head of House of the family.
A new fire had taken hold in Andromeda, something that hadn't been there since she ran away. Even the six year old little Nymphadora had noticed it.
Arcturus's eyes had filled with happiness when Nymphadora's existence had been revealed to him by the Tonks. Those eyes had filled with a lot of pride and wonder when revealed that she had the Metamorphmagus gift; that gift had run dormant for a very long time in the Black blood. He had returned that following day bringing with him a stack of books containing information about Metamorphmagi, all from the Black library.
The fact that she was a half-blood and that her father a Muggleborn was of absolute no importance to Arcturus. Blacks don't care about blood purity. They care about power and connection. They married not for blood purity, but for gain. That gain was mostly found in marriages with other old "pureblood" families was a mere coincidence.
The fact that most if not all important marriages found in the main line of the Blacks were between 'pureblood' wizards or witches had unjustly led to the conclusion that the Blacks are blood purists, and that some Black family wizards had fought alongside 'pureblood' fanatic Dark Lords had not helped prevent this image at all.
The facts of Blacks fighting and helping anti-'pureblood' causes were quickly shoved to the background and forgotten; it was in the human nature to deliberately or purposefully forget about arguments against their beliefs and statements.
Hadrian had continued his way to the Slytherin table. That more and more students had noticed his appearance was not lost on him. The students that were part of important families were watching him intently; word had not yet reached them about the outcome of the trial. Their best bet of information on which plan to follow was ironically in the hands of the very person that many of those plans were about.
Somehow he managed to plop down in the empty space beside Daphne with an air of fake innocence. He just casually greeted his friends and started to load food on his plate before he began to eat in silence.
If he did noticed the slightly hesitant and quiet greetings back from his friends, he gave no show of it all.
The silence crept onwards; 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes.
Finally, Daphne snapped. The person next to her had information about the Malfoys and if that information proved positive; she never had to worry again about a marriage contract between her and the Malfoy brat with her becoming a trophy-wife. Yet he was willingly prolonging her suffering. Even if he didn't know the extent of her suffering he was still willingly prolonging it.
She did something that was a big no-no in the pureblood etiquette; she slapped him… hard… luckily on the arm.
Hadrian of course knew that he was playing on the nerves of many people; yet still he was taken by a little surprise. Being hit by the white-blonde haired girl beside of him was something he hadn't really expected.
"Hey! What was that for!?" Hadrian hissed.
Daphne's eyes just widened in shock. She slapped him! Oh dear Merlin! She slapped him! Not a playful slap, no a full slap in anger and annoyance. Her father would throw a fit till next week if he ever learned about this. This was not becoming of an heiress.
"I just… I... Sorry Hadrian" she pleaded and quickly laid down her hand on where she had hit him. "I was annoyed and emotions got the better of me… Please forgive me Heir Black."
Daphne shot down her face to the table unwilling to meet those green eyes of him out of shame. To her massive surprise she felt a hand under her chin softly raising her head up again. The first thing she saw was those bright green eyes, almost flickering with light. As if those eyes were a fire in the dark, pulling you towards it.
Hadrian didn't like what he saw at all. He had gotten to know Daphne as a strong person this last week, and something right now caused her to snap back into some kind of submissive pose. As if she was afraid of something.
He moved his head closer to her and placed his mouth by her ear and whispered something the others couldn't hear. Moving his head back Hadrian stared into her eyes again. He received a small nod from her and he gave her a little smile, content with the result.
She inwardly smiled when Hadrian diverted the attention away from her by broaching the subject of the trial. Her eyes met those of Tracey, and the questionable gaze she received from her made it very clear that they would talk later about this in private.
"So just to let the cat out of the bag already, I won the trial." Hadrian loud and clearly said. It seemed like he was mostly talking to his three friends, but the message was clear that it was for everybody's attention.
"My grand-uncle came to the trial and acted on behalf of my defence," he continued. "He presented documentation to the Wizemgamot that showed them that without a doubt, I am heir Black."
Blaise popped up. "Grand-Uncle? I thought you're the only Potter left Hadrian?"
His face darkened for just a moment before it returned to his normal neutral facade. The demise of the Potter family during the war was still a sore topic for him.
"Yes my grand-uncle. Arcturus Black III, Head of House Black. But he prefers grandfather though. The old coot." Hadrian teased.
Daphne gasped beside him, connection the dots immediately. "That's why you were so confident that you would win the trial! You knew he would come and if he did the trial was already a lost case for the Malfoys!"
Hadrian smiled as he turned to Daphne "Nothing gets passed you does it?"
"And don't you forget it." She teased him back, completely forgetting the incident that had not happened five minutes ago.
His smile grew bigger for a moment before his face turned back serious. "But yes, indeed. The trial was all but decided already when Lucius Malfoy wanted me in front of the Wizemgamot."
Conversation rose throughout the Great Hall as Hadrian revealed the fact that Lucius Malfoy had lost the trial. None held the illusion that the Malfoy family would survive this unscratched. Heir business of old families is a subject best tended to very very carefully. Trailing the heir of such an old family, especially the Blacks, and then claim him for not being the heir could cause very explosive situations. And as they heard that Arcturus Black III had entered the Wizemgamot after 11 years of silence on his part and joined sides with the accused; most shuddered at the thought of being Lucius Malfoy.
"So... What did House Black win with this grand scheme?" Tracey asked genuine curious. She might be a half-blood with no part to play in the political and/or House business, but that doesn't mean she isn't interested in it.
Hadrian face took on a vicious smirk and a dangerous; almost murderous glint appeared in his eyes, that gave many students with a view on his face, awful chills.
"House Black wanted something Lucius Malfoy had, something that should have never been a part of House Malfoy."
That piqued the interest of many students around them, knowledge is power and the knowledge of what belongs to the interest of house Black could prove valuable in any interaction with said house.
"And what might that object be heir Black?" a male voice asked from his left, further up on the table.
Hadrian's emerald coloured shifted to look at the owner. A brown haired boy with hazel eyes and a very aristocratic face watched Hadrian with interest, not hiding the fact that the answer to his question meant a great deal to him, And probably his family.
The brown hair, hazel eyes, and his other face traits gave him away. He was certain the boy was a Rosier. Hadrian's brain quickly shifted through the list of Hogwarts students belonging to important families that was drilled into his head by grandfather and came up with the name of the boy.
Vincent Rosier… Of course, the only Rosier left at Hogwarts. Most definitely playing the part of the mouthpiece in Hogwarts for that family. The Rosiers have a long history shared with the Blacks. Marriages, partnerships, alliances on both the political and battlefields.
The Blacks and Rosiers had profited from each other for many centuries. It seemed that the Rosiers, now that the Blacks have returned in the front picture, want to reinstate the bonds with each other.
"Not an object Rosier, but a person." Hadrian answered, with a dangerous glint. "Lucius Malfoy obtained Narcissa Black through questionable means, just like the Lestranges did with dear Bellatrix. My grandfather wanted her back."
Silence stretched in the Great Hall. Nobody dared to speak in the fear that they would miss a spoken word.
"Couldn't Lord Black just dissolve the contract, just like he did with Bellatrix Black and not risk a trail?" Blaise wondered.
The answer he received alongside the dark chuckle was at the very least unsettling. For any enemy or possible enemy of House Black at least. "He could have Blaise, but he wanted to send a message in public…. House Black doesn't grovel to any lesser houses… Nor to any Dark Lords anymore." Hadrian stated coldly.
"House Black as of now has only one interest and that is House Black. Everything done is to protect House Black and its members." Hadrian paused to let the message sink in. "Lucius Malfoy was in the way of House Black and my grandfather made sure that he would never be… in the way of House Black again." As his sentence progressed his voice became more and more quiet, yet never losing the dangerous message entwined in the words.
Daphne's mind was in overdrive, processing Hadrian's words. Narcissa Black under blood contract, trial, Lucius Malfoy, returning Black members under Black banner, contract never dissolved, Lucius Malfoy out of the way.
She gasped as she connected the dots. Apparently her gasp was quite loud as she saw the attention of many students shift. Her first instinct was to settle down quietly, to lose the attention. But then she remembered the words Hadrian whispered to her. "Do not back down Daphne, show them who Daphne Greengrass is!"
She sat a little higher, held her head up and looked at Hadrian face on. She saw Hadrian smiling encouragingly and if she looked closely enough she could see a hint of pride.
"The trial, it was a diversion." She stated boldly. Using a calm voice that surprised her deeply.
"It was." Hadrian admitted.
Daphne hesitated, she expected Hadrian to step in and explain the actions himself. But he didn't, so she continued.
"It was never about the heirship of House Black. You wanted to catch Lucius Malfoy in the open."
"Indeed."
"You used the trial to accuse him of slander and challenge him for a Family Honour Duel."
"We did."
"Lord Malfoy accepted."
"He did. He had little choice in the matter, to be fair."
"Lord Black killed him."
Hadrian took a little longer in answering. You could practically hear everybody move and scuttle forwards in his seat, waiting for his answer. Daphne saw his eyes glaze over for a short while, as if he was in deep thought. The rest of his face was graced with a small smile.
FLASHBACK
Hadrian was seated comfortably in his seat in the stands.
Who would have thought that the Ministry actually possessed a duelling stage specifically meant for the dealings of Houses.
He saw his grand uncle, or as he just saw him; his grandfather, standing on the right edge of the duelling stage. On the left stood Lucius Malfoy, easily identifiable with his silky long 'muggle' blond hair.
Hadrian couldn't resist it but chuckle silently as he thought back to that night that started the events that he and his grandfather were now caught up in.
They say plans rarely survived first contact with the enemy, yet this plan went perfectly.
'Was it the stupidity of the Malfoys or just the perfect planning?' he wondered.
He gave a mental shrug, must be a little bit of both. Although he had to admit, their plan was pretty failsafe, either way House Malfoy would end up worse.
He had effectively destroyed House Malfoy's reputation amongst their allies that night during dinner. If Lucius didn't throw him in front of the Wizemgamot then grandfather would just dissolve the contract; House Malfoy loses allies, Bridal dowry, and Narcissa Black. If Lucius Malfoy did take him to trial then he would lose everything; Lucius Malfoy gets killed, Draco Malfoy ends up in grandfather's hands.
For the last plan, grandfather would have to win the duel and kill Malfoy. No small feat, but a Black could do it.
The life of the children of House Black is hard, their magical duelling training starts when they are seven. Well… They don't actually duel, more like dodge and jump to avoid actual spells. Bone fracturing curses, mild cutting curses, bludgeoning curses, whatever you can name that is damaging but not life or limb threatening is shot at you.
It's cruel, but you do get to learn one of the first lessons you want someone to know when duelling or fighting; make sure you don't get hit.
The fact that you already start to recognize which spell is shot at you and how said spell feels and affects you is only a 'bonus'.
When they are nine they get their wand, no Ollivander or other official wand maker product of course, and they start their lessons in magic.
It might sound not that all too great of a possible advantage, four years of spell dodging and two years of wand magic before Hogwarts, but the Blacks train hard. Very hard.
Sun rise to dawn is spent in magical training, no other house is known to train their children so hard. The other dark pureblood houses state their case that with their 'superior' blood they didn't need to train their children ahead of blood traitors or mudbloods. The Blacks never deigned to correct their flawed logic… Keeping your allies and possible enemies flawed can be an advantage after all.
The "light" houses would gasp in horror of training children like they were Spartans and well, Muggleborns obviously wouldn't train before their Hogwarts entry.
Hadrian wasn't worried that his grandfather would lose, not at all.
The duel official stepped onto the stage, brought his wand to his throat and casted the sonorus-charm. "Today Lord Arcturus III Black will duel Lord Lucius Malfoy in a Family Honour Duel on the grounds of slander against Heir Black. The duel will follow the Old Pureblood Ways, meaning that everything is allowed except the Unforgivables. The duel is decided either through yielding or death of one or either parties. If one of the duellers yields, the winner of the duel can kill the yielder or request something of him or her."
As if on cue Malfoy and grandfather walked up to each other, bowed yet never shifting their gaze from each other. They walked back to their former spot and turned back to each other.
His grandfather stood relaxed, yet Hadrian could clearly see that his body was ready to react in a split second. Malfoy took on a very elaborate duelling pose, his knees bend and his right foot behind his left, pointing in such a way that a 90 degree angle was created. His body angled in such a way that it formed an as small as possible target.
"The duel will begin when I say 'Begin'." the duel official announced.
The tension in the room was tangible, stakes on this match were high. Will House Black fall yet again with the death of Arcturus Black III? Or will House Malfoy be the first victim in the rebirth of House Black?
"BEGIN!"
Movement started at the left of the stage as Malfoy started sprouting of curses, trying to surprise his grandfather in a quick fury of violence. Silent casting was intertwined with vocal casting, trying to confuse grandfather and prevent him from learning any patterns to his casting.
A good strategy… against any other dueller that isn't a Black or a professional dueller. Remember the dodging training? It doesn't matter to a Black what you cast, as he will make sure to never get hit by it. And grandfather showed why the Blacks trained the art of dodging to perfection.
He leaped, spun, crouched, bent and shifted out of the way of any spell casted by Malfoy. People once again got a front view seat at what the Black devotion to dodging and duelling in general produced. Grandfather dodged every spell in such a way that it would cost him the lowest amount of movements, and thus energy.
A war of attrition would crown the dodger the victor in this way. Spell casting is tiring, much more tiring than simple moving a foot away to allow a curse to inch past your body. Or to twist your body so that the curse inches past you.
After two minutes of duelling, Hadrian already spotted the first signs of exhaustion. A normal wizard wouldn't spot it, but the movements of Malfoy in his casting became less graceful, his flicks became a little more forceful, is swipes a little more like he was dragging his wand.
If he spotted him, surely grandfather would spot it. And just as Hadrian called it, a change of tactics appeared on the Black side of the duelling podium.
Grandfather stopped dodging for the most part and started flicking them away.
Why flicking them away now and not from the start you would ask.
The answer is simple; Physics.
A fresh wizard puts a lot more energy in the casting of his spells, simple physics tells us that objects, or in this case spells, that have more energy put into them should/could move faster. Luckily it is wide spread knowledge that indeed spells casted with more energy move faster. Spells that move faster are harder to flick away. A little more fatigued wizards cast spells containing less energy, thus the spells move slower and are easier to parry away. Simple right? *
Hadrian couldn't contain the ironic snort on the thought that a widely known anti-muggle bigot as Malfoy would get defeated in a duel with tactics based on muggle science.
Malfoy started to show clear external signs of exhaustion now, his mouth was open and he was panting. This was the go sign for grandfather to start unleashing his own spells.
The plan was for Malfoy to never walk of that stage alive, so spells were being cast that were so dark and deadly that they made Hadrian wonder why they were never named an Unforgivable.
He watched with clear interest as a sickly looking orange spell left the wand of his grandfather, to only narrowly miss Malfoys left shoulder as he turned away from it on the last second. If hit by that orange spell, Malfoys body would actually turn on self-destruction, his body cells would start to target and destroy themselves. It was dubbed, very unoriginally, the 'messier Avada Kedavra' among those who knew the spell. Very few did of course.
The tide of the duel slowly shifted as Malfoy started to become the one that had to do most dodging. Curses flew about and around, all luckily prevented from going into the stands around the stage by strong wards.
Hadrian watched as his grandfather bent under a curse and replied evenly by conjuring many small steel spikes to banish at Malfoy.
Malfoy reacted by swiping his wand to his right and the steel spikes were batted aside, however it left him in the position with his wand and his wand-arm stretched away from his body.
Hadrian already smiled as he knew that Malfoy just caused himself to lose the match.
With a quick intricate movement his grandfather unleashed Black Family magic, out of the podium shot a dead looking decayed hand. It moved very quickly and snagged the wand from Malfoy's hand and shot back into the ground, leaving the spot as if nothing ever happened.
The fact that the stage was hollow underneath and made out of wood, made it all the creepier for the watchers.
Hadrian muttered the words that came along with the spell. "From the dead, you rise, to claim the weapon of my enemy".
The Blacks aren't necromancers, 'we don't kill our enemies just to have them return to the world of the living.' His grandfather had told him when he asked about Necromancy. Yet some Necromancy spell and rituals are foolish not to use, just like this particular disarming necromancy spell.
Malfoy looked at his hand in shock, where only a second before his wand was, clearly dazzled on what had just happened. Not only Malfoy was looking on in shock though, many in the crowd stared in fear on what happened in front of them. Necromancy is viewed as deep dark magic, feared by many wizards.
Well, can't blame them… An army of inferi scares even the most proficient and strongest wizard, as you can only win for so long against an endless stream of dead corpses that want to rip you apart.
Malfoy dropped to the ground, coming to the conclusion many already had; he can't win. Not without his wand, and even if he still had it his loss was inevitable many believed.
"I yield!" Malfoy shouted. "I yield! Please spare me!"
Hadrian watched as his grandfather walked over to him. His wand went to his throat and his amplified voice carried through the hall and across the stands. "You plotted and stole something of House Black, Malfoy. Let it be a lesson to all, that stealing of my house is done at the risk of your own life. Let it be known, that House Black cares for only one thing; and that is House Black. With you dead Narcissa Black returns to her rightful place. Back into the fold of House Black."
A flash of light, a dull thud and many gasps in the audience were followed by Arcturus Black III walking off the stage with a cruel smirk stretched on his face, leaving a beheaded Lucius Malfoy in his wake.
House Black has returned….
END FLASHBACK
"He did."
A gasps ripped through the Great Hall. It wasn't too often that a Lord of an important wizardry house dies at the hand of another Lord. Adding onto it that House Malfoy possessed a prominent place in society and in the Wizemgamot for many years now since the defeat of Lord Voldemort and that the lord that killed Lucius Malfoy had just returned to society on the same day. It made for a quite surprising day.
A high pitch screams erupted from somewhere along the Slytherin table. "Poor Draco! Ohh poor Draco, what will become of him without his father." Everybody turned to the owner of that annoyingly high pitched voice, Pansy Parkinson.
Nobody was surprised that she only cared for Draco, having been attached to his hip from day one. Her loud claiming of her greatest wish was to marry him as he was such an 'outstanding pureblood'.
"Ohh yes Miss Parkinson, what a poor boy he is." Hadrian laughed darkly. "Especially now that his care befalls in the hands of my granduncle."
Pansy's eyes widened. "That! That! His guardian is the man who murdered his father!?" she shrilled.
A vicious expression reappeared on his face; "More like executed his father, dear Miss Parkinson." He chuckled. "I hope 'poor Draco' learns to adjust from his 'Malfoy' behaviour or I fear grandfather will do something 'unfortunate' to him."
The 'unfortunate' was said in such a manner that it could only be interpreted in one way.
Pansy blanched on that veiled message.
"While I do love talking about politics and fantastic 'entertainment' stories, I will have to beg you all my leave. A busy day it has been for me." Hadrian said as he rose to his feet.
Silence was his only answer as he walked out of the Great Hall in confident strides, his appearance, just as always, one of utmost perfection and grace.
Everybody watched him leave again, just like the day he disgraced the Malfoy House in front of them all, all thinking that changes were on the horizon. Well those changes have arrived.
The ball has been played by House Black, and it was now their turn to react. Busy times are coming just as winter is.
*A/N: The physics behind this little thought process of mine is based on the laws of conservation of energy. Google it if you're interested in it
