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AN: A lot of readers requested Marvolo's POV. I have tried to include a little of his perspective in this chapter.
I woke up with my first ever hangover. I swear I am never going to drink again. That is, until I find a vial of hangover potion on side table and a note from Marvolo telling me to drink it. Thank Merlin for magic. Rita has put Marvolo and me on the front page of the Daily Prophet again. This time with news of the bill for the orphanage, but the article is less of a news report and more of gossip piece singing our praises; me, for my selfishness and Marvolo, for his love for me and for fighting for what I wanted. I want to gag reading this piece of rubbish.
"What happened pretty, do you not like your praises sung to the whole wide world." Marvolo teases me.
I blush, "I still insist you are pretty." I tell him stubbornly trying to cover my embarrassment. He laughs at me, bastard.
"So are you visiting the orphanage site today?" he sobers after seeing my scowl.
"Yes, and I need to find a contractor for renovation."
"Take Rudolphus and Rabastan with you." He orders as usual.
Remus arrives soon, after greeting him Marvolo leaves and I am left with my studies. Remus is adamant at teaching me everything and that includes Ancient Runes and Arithmency as well. Arithmency is okay, I was good at mathematics in muggle school, also it is often used in spell crafting so it is a good incentive to learn. Ancient runes, on the other hand, is my new worst subject. Runes are complex and very difficult to draw and memorise. Runes can be used as an alternative to wands, but due to their complexity, I think they are useless. Remus has been scolding me to change my attitude as runes can be very powerful when used properly. But why I should learn runes when I can do the same thing with my wand, I think petulantly. Remus leaves me to my lunch with two pages worth of runes to memorise before the week is over.
I call for the Lestrange brothers; we floo to The Three Broomsticks, from there we walk to the outskirts of the town. I need to learn apparition sometime soon, I think as I walk. The property has some pretty good wards, but I will still need to add to them to ensure the safety of the children. The grounds are vast, but the gardens had been ruined after not being looked after in a long time. The house looks adequate in size from the outside. It is a four story building with twenty bedrooms as the goblins informed me. It will need to be expanded as the war has left a lot of children orphaned. I also want to accommodate abused muggleborns.
I open front door of the house but am stopped before I can step inside.
"Let me have a look inside first my Lord." Rabastan says, sometimes I forget that he can talk at all.
"Have you been to the Potter Manor, my Lord?" Rudolphus asks while we wait for Rabastan to return.
"No, it is still in lockdown. I have not gotten the chance yet, and I am not in hurry as I am not going to be living there anyway." I only got access to my inheritance when I married Marvolo and I had been pretty busy since then.
"It is said to be one of the most beautiful wizarding homes my Lord. You may want to open it to host large gatherings. No offence to Lord Slytherin, but Slytherin Manor is a new house and it does not have the magic of an ancient house."
"Do the houses collect magic over time?" I ask him curiously.
"Yes my Lord, most of the ancient manors contain large amounts of magic which is used to protect the family. Each family member living in the house contributes some magic to it in their life time. That is what gives the house an aura, you may have noticed it at the Malfoy Manor." Now that I think about it, Malfoy Manor felt a bit standoffish, at the time I thought it may just be the guests that made me uncomfortable. The Black house also has a dark gloomy aura that used to give me goosebumps before the blood adoption.
"Should not there be an ancient Slytherin manor then?"
"Slytherin Lordship was lost when last female of Slytherin line had no spare heir to pass the Slytherin name to and the manor was passed onto that family, eventually it fell into hands of the Gaunts, who lost everything in just a few generations.
"Does that happen often? Loss of a Lordship I mean." Sirius has never told me all this, but then again he had been busy to ensure that I learnt enough magic to survive; maybe I should dig out those genealogy books that I had seen in the Black library once.
"It happens often enough, as a wizard can hold only one Lordship. You are Lord Potter and Black heir, but you cannot be Lord Black. You can pass that title onto your son. However, Slytherin and Potter Lordships will take precedence and if you do not have another son to pass the Black Lordship to, then it will be lost. Also it is rumoured that Potter Manor was Gryffindor manor at one time, but if it is true then the family has kept it a secret." Why did not Sirius tell me about all this? Then again he never cared for the Black name. But I don't want my godfather's name to be lost. Merlin, I need to give birth to three sons. Suddenly facing an insane Dark Lord seems like the easier path.
"It is safe to enter now my Lord." Rabastan is back.
"Found anything dangerous inside?" I ask looking at his dishevelled appearance.
"Couple of ghouls my Lord, easily taken care of." He informs me in his usual nonchalant manner. I swear the man can remain cool as cucumber in face of a dragon.
Everything inside is covered in layers of dust, but nothing seems to need much repair. The house also seems to contain a fair amount of magic as I can feel it welcoming me home. The ground floor will need remodelling but the upper floor bedrooms can be used as they are. But I want at least twenty more bedrooms. A quidditch pitch outside will be a great addition as well. Now I just need to find a contractor. Rudolphus asks me to contact Gringotts as they retain several contractors.
I let Rudolphus apparate me to the Diagon Alley and we make our way to the Gringotts. We are quickly ushered to a private room as a goblin rushes to fetch a contractor for me. I have never seen the goblins so polite. Being consort of the overlord of the wizarding world certainly has its perks.
Contractor Martin Clayworth is a professional man seems skilled enough. After seeing the model of the house which Rabastan conjured, he immediately set to draw expansion plans with my input. The ground floor will contain large kitchen and a fairly large dining hall. On first floor, three bedrooms will be combined into a nursery for infants. But the rest of the structure will be left untouched with the addition of two more floors on the top. The grounds will need extensive restoration work and the quidditch pitch is affordable. Overall it will need three weeks of time and 120,000 galleons of money to have a fully functional orphanage building.
By the time I return home, I am tired. As I still have some time before Marvolo returns home so I decide to write Fleur a letter. I write in detail what Bill and his family had done to me and urge her to rethink her opinion of Bill as I did not want to see her hurt. Fleur may seem bit shallow on surface but she is a fierce protector of people she cares about. In my fourth year, we became good friends so I hope she will heed my warnings. I send the letter with Dobby as I do not want my letter to be intercepted.
Marvolo is telling me about his life today. When I asked why he says that he knows about my life so it is only fair that he tells me about his.
"I was born in an orphanage, my mother died after giving birth to me and named me Tom after my father and Marvolo after her father. I was very intelligent and learnt to read very early. The children in orphanage were jealous of my intelligence and looks. I became target of bullies, the matron did not care. So I found a way to defend myself. Parselmagic is Slytherin family magic, it is easy to use and control even without a wand. As I began to defend myself, I was labelled as a freak."
"When Dumbledore arrived with my Hogwarts letter, I foolishly told him about parselmagic. He never trusted me after that. And no it was not because of any prejudice against Parseltongue, that prejudice was cultivated by Dumbledore. I think he was scared of the magic that he could not learn. After Dumbledore's reaction I did not want to tell anyone about my parselmagic, so I was outcast in the Slytherin house as everyone assumed I was a muggleborn. No one outside of Slytherin wanted to befriend a Slytherin outcast either."
"It was in fourth year, I learnt that Parseltongue was a Slytherin family trait. Slytherins changed attitude overnight and began worshipping me. In my sixth year, I found the Chamber of Secrets and its library. There I learnt how to make a horcrux. I had wanted to change the world, to remove prejudice against various magical races and against dark magic. I knew I will make many enemies, not having security of family and friends to defend me I created a horcrux as security net."
"After that it was one mistake after another and a downward spiral into insanity. Even in my madness, I could not let the desire to have my own family go; I wanted a strong child who will be able to defend himself against all my enemies and so I chose Bellatrix to bear me an heir. When I fell, she foolishly ran after the Longbottoms instead of protecting my child, she lost him in Azkaban."
"When I regained my sanity, having my own family was my top priority but I could not find a partner. I still wanted to have an heir of Black blood, but I would never again trust Bellatrix with the safety of my child. A lot of purebloods would do anything for me, but none of them were worthy of bearing my child. Then I saw your glamour drop in the Ministry and I knew you had black blood in your veins."
"You are powerful and someone who will not fear to stand up to me. I know you are fiercely protective of your loved ones and you will do everything in your power to ensure safety of your child. I also hoped you will be able to understand my desire to have a family. After our Ministry encounter, I was trying to come up with some way to get you on my side, when Dumbledore provided me with the opportunity on a silver platter."
"I know you were forced into this, but I hope you will be able to put it behind us. I promise to always protect and love our child. I cannot say yet if I will be able to love you, but I will always protect you and try to give you the happiest home, I can provide."
I am absolutely stunned; I never thought I will hear something like this from him. I don't know what to say, so I simply move into his arms and kiss him tenderly.