Chapter 9:

It was not often that Cassiopeia Black found herself completely unsure of how to precede. She was not one to doubt herself nor second guess her choices yet in this incidence she seemed to be going around in circles examining and reexamining motives and responses. Upon receiving the missive from her great niece, Narcissa, her first response had been to snort (elegantly) in derision and throw the parchment in the fire but the more she thought about it the more she found herself rethinking this reaction. As far as she could remember and indeed, was concerned, Narcissa was a vapid creature, thinking more about her appearance and status that anything else but the last time she had seen the girl was at her wedding to the mincing peacock, Malfoy.

Indeed however, as Cassiopeia saw it, it was entirely possible that the war and having a child had altered Narcissa's outlook on life. After all, her husband had been among the inner circle of Voldemort and then had to pay a huge amount of money to avoid spending a very long amount of time in Azkaban. Aware as she was that people could change, Cassiopeia did not want to miss the opportunity to bring members of the House Black back into the fold, whether they were still called that now or not, Andromeda and Narcissa could be a valuable start if they were treated correctly.

But at the same time Cassiopeia could not deny the fact that Narcissa could well be pushing for her son to become Lord Black in time. And if Narcissa was so inclined then that suggested that Lucius was involved too. Any way she looked at it she seemed to draw blank after blank and Cassiopeia did not like those situations. Sure she could blackmail nearly every member of the Wizengamot if necessary but what did it matter at the moment, naturally she had dirt on Narcissa but that meant nothing if used at the wrong time. If the girl was honest in her overtures of friendship then blackmailing her would only cause further rifts and likely cause her to revoke her assistance. If the chit had written for more nefarious purposes then it was not going to help anyway.

"Cassiopeia? Cassi?" Came Phineas' voice from the other side of the room as he entered the door, "Are you alright?"

"I am fine cousin. Just wrangling with a problem."

Phineas sighed as he came further into the room and seated himself on a large wing-back chair by the fire, "Is this to do with the Narcissa letter." Hearing no reply he continued, "What are you stuck with, surely the answer is simple?"

"Simple!" Cassiopeia exclaimed as she looked at her cousin, "This is a huge matter. What if she wants to garner favour so that we would support her son's claim? What if she is gathering information for that clot, Lucius? What if..."

Here Phineas interrupted sharply, "And what if she was being honest? Likely her married life hasn't been the fairytale lifestyle that the girl imagined when she was thirteen, you know as well as I that she has not had any other children, likely that has put a strain on her marriage. She had to deal with Voldemort for the first years of her married life. The chances are that the girl that you remember is gone. You and I know that Cygnus and Druella spoiled her as she was the only one of their children who wasn't crazy nor married a muggleborn, she was supposed to be the perfect daughter, the one who marries a damn Malfoy, bringing together the two most powerful dark houses in Britain. Well, I believe that girl will have vanished as quickly as her innocence. For Hecate's sake Cassiopeia! What does it matter if she is gathering information or trying to get her son to be Lord Black, how much harm can she do? Even with her husband's support we are legally in the right and no amount of money will change that. And what if she actually wants to see her House restored? Would you deny her that based on suppositions about her character from ten years ago? If I did that do you think I would have ever left Greece to come here? Get over your damn need to micromanage everything Cassi and use this to your advantage. The family oaths would stop her from airing our dirty laundry and the skeletons in the closet and we may well gain another supporter who is in the best place to reintroduce House Black to it's rightful state. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go and see Marius. Good morning Cassiopeia."

With that, Phineas stood and quickly left the room leaving a thoroughly chastised Cassiopeia behind him. With a sigh Cassiopeia reflected upon her cousin's words, it was not often that the man raised his voice yet when he did it was clear to all that a Black he was. House Oaths were among the strongest oaths in magic and the older the family the stronger the oaths tended to be as the generations of people bound by them swelled the magic. For House Black it was relatively simple, House secrets were just that, secrets, to all but the family. Originally intended to avoid knowledge of family scandals slipping into the public domain they bound all members of House Black, protecting them from mind magics at the same time. No member of House Black could now speak or communicate the family secrets without the permission of the paterfamilias and now that there wasn't one, there was little chance of anything being revealed until a new one ascended the title. Reflecting on his words, she could find no fault in his argument nor the telling-off he gave and so with a second sigh, Cassiopeia Black walked over to her writing desk and picked up a quill.

Dear Narcissa,

I will admit that your letter caused a considerable quandary for me as I had reason to doubt both your intentions and desires in picking up your quill. I write now, not to Narcissa Malfoy but to Narcissa Black, daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black. As you are well aware our House has fallen and it is my wish to see it restored to the point when sharing our surname does not cause fear nor anger. You are right, I cannot intimate the plans that we have formed here in France to you, at least not in a letter. Bound as you are by the House Oaths we request that you travel over to Chateau Black to visit with us so that we can meet with you in person and discuss your motives and beliefs. I am sure that you can find a reason to travel to Paris in the near future, upon arrival there go to the 'émeraude étoiles' cafe and ask to speak to me, as I own it, it will be easy to discreetly floo to and from. Owl me with the date you intend to arrive.

I hope that you are in good health, we do not need another member of the family to die.

Cassiopeia Black

Toujours le Cœur Pur

In a large Elizabethan country house in England, Narcissa Malfoy, nee Black stood by a large window reading the missive from her great aunt once, twice, thrice and sighed. It was as good as she could ever have hoped or expected, they were prepared to trust cautiously and they would have been fools not to do so.

"Cissa? Are you alright?" Came the voice of her husband from the door to her study behind her.

Narcissa turned rolling the stiff parchment back up as she faced her husband. She formed her face into a smile, "Fine, just a reply from Lady Parkinson about the St Mungo's gala. She feels we should widen the invitation list."

"Who else could we invite? Half of Britain is invited already. Just ignore the damn thing, if they are worried about not raising enough money then I am sure that we can make a bigger public donation, positive press is never a bad thing."

"Indeed husband." Narcissa said, tucking the letter into a drawer of her desk. "Should we head through for tea, I believe that Strawberry tarts were made for Draco?"

"A good idea." With that Narcissa Malfoy took the arm of her husband and left the room and the letter behind.

Sirius Black found himself once more in bed, a fact that pleased him about as much as Dumbledore when faced with the prospect of wearing only plain black robes. After his collapse the man had been confined to bed with strict instructions to Mipsy that if he were to put so much as one foot outside his bed without assistance he was to be put under a sleeping spell. A sleeping spell usually used for teething toddlers, that wasn't degrading at all. The only good thing about the whole thing was that it ensured that he got to spend more time with his adorable little godson who was more than a little annoyed at him. Harry's face when he was apparated back to his bed that morning was likely supposed to be incredibly vexed and upset, the reality was that it was a pout that could break McGonagall's heart. And so the raven haired little boy had taken it upon himself to ensure that his newly found godfather did not so ill again.

At present Sirius was busy explaining the rules of Quidditch to an enthralled Harry. It seemed that in their explanation and education on the magical world to Harry, the three old Blacks' had failed to explain the important things in life, like Quidditch, Chocolate Frogs' and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans'. It seemed to Sirius that the topics of wizarding sport and wizarding sweets worked well together, Mipsy had therefore been sent to fetch a large collection of wizarding sweets, these were then used as part of a diagram to explain the complexities of a game of Quidditch.

"...and so if the Quaffle drops below this height" The elder invalid pointed to a suspiciously vomit coloured Bertie Bean then most players leave it to fall to the ground and if it does it is out of play and the referee..." Here Sirius pointed to a pumpkin pasty "...places it back in the centre of the field. All good so far?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically, enthralled by this game with broomsticks, "Can only the chasers throw the quaffle? Or can the searcher?"

"Seeker, is that what you mean?" Sirius continued seeing Harry's slight blush and nod, "Yes, now that is called a 'Stoge game' after a Seeker who got so bored looking for the snitch that he started playing as a fourth chaser. It is not used so much now...or at least I don't think it is... brooms got so much faster that games tend to be much quicker now so the matches tend to be shorter..." And so Sirius continued his rather rambling monologue about the finer points of Quidditch to the enthralled boy, both of them tucked up in the large canopy bed with a floating model of a Qudditch game in front of them made out of sweets.

Bagnold and Crouch to stand trial under ICW

In a very quick turnaround, the British Ministry has agreed to hand over the disgraced Bagnold and Crouch for trial. Under increased international pressures it was perhaps unsurprising that this decision was reached however the change in their decisions has led many to suspect a coverup by the British Ministry. Bagnold has been succeeded by Cornelius Fudge, a relatively young man who has promised that the mistakes and oversights of his predecessor shall be reversed and that "under his leadership there would be trials for all those in Azkaban [the British Wizarding prison] and inquires into all departments of government."

If Bagnold and Crouch are found guilty, they could be sentenced to life sentences in the Bemuda Jail. Constructed in 1853, the Bemuda Jail is the strongest prison in the world, with wards so tight that they have been known to disrupt Muggle or Mundane technology, it serves as the official prison for the ICW. The trial will be held in Switzerland in four days time, presided over by an international jury. As can be expected, this trial will be of particular interest to many and will be well covered across the world.

"Phineas?" Cassiopeia called to her cousin who was sitting at a desk in the Drawing Room examining a very long piece of parchment. "What has you so engrossed? I have been calling you for the past few minutes."

Phineas sighed before smirking slightly as he contemplated the reaction that his explanation would cause to his two cousins who stood behind him. "I have just finished a rather large piece of research and was considering what to do with it."

Marius sat down with a huff on one of the large wingback armchairs that were dotted around the room, "Care to explain the research?"

Phineas face turned devious once more, "It is a rather long study on why magic occurs in certain people and not in others. So in essence why their are squibs in pureblood families and wizards in muggle ones."

The two siblings both raised an eyebrow, "Oh?" Marius asked, "Care to elaborate?"

"You are aware of course that most squibs in pureblood families are...encouraged into the muggle world. Well, Magic is what muggles would term a 'recessive gene'. If a squib starts a family with another muggle then there is a chance that that recessive gene would be passed down to any children, but they themselves would not have Magic because it is a recessive characteristic. Now, further down the family tree, what would happen if a descendant of a squib married the descendant of another squib? You would end up with two recessive genes and therefore a child with Magic. This was part of what we discovered that every single so called 'muggleborn' can trace their ancestry eventually back to two squibs."

"B...but..." Cassiopeia stuttered slightly, eyes wide with shock as she considered the revelation, "but that means that there is no such thing as 'muggleborns', they are simply very distant purebloods."

"Exactly..."

"Oh lord..." Marius muttered as he rubbed his face with his hands, "Please say your name won't be on the paper when it is published? The aristocracy of wizarding Britain are going to adore you. "

Phineas snorted whilst Cassiopeia looked rather horrified. "It gets better" Phineas stated as he riffled through a few pages of parchment, "As I have mentioned the existence of squibs was the other thing I was looking at."

"And?" Marius asked, naturally more than a little interested in this particular piece of research.

"This is slightly more complicated. Imagine Magic as lots of little strands, with each family's magic then when two families intermarry then their child has a mixture of those particular strands. Continuing with our metaphor, over time the Magic behind each family becomes a plait of sorts, this is fine and natural. However, when a family marries someone of close blood then the Magic behind any child resulting from this union has to sort of fight itself as it it too close and so the Magic is almost a knot, a disorganised mess that means that a child is no longer attuned with Magic or at least has a weak core as they are not so inter-tuned with it. Marius. Each of us three here is the product of years and centuries of this intermarrying between our own families, you being a Squib was as likely as Cassiopeia being a Squib, but misfortune would have it that you were not able to access your core."

Marius was silent as he heard the reasons for his lack of magic and eventual expulsion from the magical world, his sister looked at him with sad eyes and, in a rather uncharacteristic move lent over and, grasping his hand, squeezed it slightly to show that she was there for him.

"You said that they could have 'weak cores' from this intermarrying?" Cassiopeia asked, trying to give Marius a moment to gather himself and his thoughts.

Phineas, glad for the distraction continued his discussion, "Yes. I think the best example in Britain would be the Crabbe and Goyle families, they have had a long history of marrying into families like the Parkinsons and Bulstrodes every couple of generations and indeed each other. Their Magic is weak and with each generation it will decline, eventually until they are all Squibs and the line likely dying out."

Marius visibly seemed to shake himself from his thoughts, deciding to reflect upon everything later when he had more time, "What can be done about it? Surely we were doomed from the start as eventually all the lines will intermarry?"

"Theoretically yes. But you have to remember that that is a long time away. Think of all the lines that have apparently died out through the centuries, if even half of them had a Squib descendant at some point then it is likely that eventually that line would return to the Magical world. At any rate, Britain is the worst in terms of marrying within the family. It would only take someone from Britain marrying a French witch to introduce a whole other Magic line. It would only take a law that no-one could marry into a family that is related as closely as fourth cousins then it would all be fine. If you look at our family tree at the moment then we have to ensure that Harry marries a witch from a different country or at least someone who is a muggleborn then it is fine. Our research also suggests, but this is a more tenuous link, that Magic is stronger in a child when the maternal and paternal lines are completely unrelated. Look at the Nymphodora girl, she is a metamorphmagus, is it by chance that she is the result of a marriage between a muggleborn and a pureblood?"

Cassiopeia groaned, "Where is that damn bottle of Firewhiskey?"

"I think we finished the last one." Marius stated as he stood and wandered off to find one of the many drinks cabinets that seemed to populate every room of the castle. Eventually finding one he pulled out an optimistically full bottle and a trio of glasses before returning to the table and distributing the amber liquid in large measures.

Taking a gulp he asked Phineas, "Who commissioned this study?"

"No-one really. I started the initial research as part of my work for the Greek Ministry and then after some interesting results it became the pilot study and I was allowed funding for a larger study. I am the only person who has really seen all the data and results."

"And what, pray tell, do you plan to do with it?" Cassiopeia asked rubbing her temples slightly to ease the headache she was sure was about to erupt within her head.

"If you recall, cousin mine, that was where this discussion originally came from."

"No need to be snarky." Marius muttered, "Shock does that to people, particularly the elderly."

"I am not old brother." Cassiopeia growled.

Keen to avoid the potential fight of wits about to erupt between his cousins, Phineas continued in a loud voice, "Anyway...as I was saying. There are several options. First, I publish it anonymously. Second, I give it to the ICW who would, I am sure, formally commission a much larger study. Third, I do nothing but try to spread the idea."

Marius considered the options, "They all have positives, if you, as a member of House Black, were to publish this then it will likely cause half the great families of Europe to drop dead from shock. The ICW bureaucracy would cause problems I am sure and publishing it anonymously would cause people to question the legitimacy of it."

"Marius is right." Cassiopeia considered, "

"What if...?" Marius started before stopping and sitting back in his chair.

"What if what?" Cassiopeia

"No, it was a fool's thought... I was just wondering whether it would not be good to approach the goblins with your study. Whilst they care not for the affairs of the wizarding world, they care for its gold. All those vaults of the lost families sit deep within London without being opened, full of artifacts, knowledge and gold. A muggleborn, could potentially be able to access them, your study gives them a reason. The goblins have much to gain if they use this information astutely. Apart from anything else, the goblins love nothing better than seeing wizards running around like a headless chicken..."

"That...that isn't a bad idea." Cassiopeia mused, getting more excited as she talked, "The goblins would make a fortune out of the deal. What is the deal with the Grecian government, Phineas?"

"There isn't one, we are given money for research work but the work remains ours unless explicitly stated otherwise, I have all rights to the research at the moment."

"So many possibilities..." Cassiopeia stated as she stood from her chair, "Excuse me a minute, I need to go and find some books on goblin etiquette, it seems a visit to Gringotts is in order." With that Cassiopeia marched out of the room, followed by the eyes of her brother and cousin.

"I worry about Cassi." Marius mused, "Some day all this power is going to get to her and then, boom, the Dark Lady arises in a swathe of silk."

"And what would her goals be?" Phineas responded, "Etiquette lessons for all children under the age of seventeen?"

"Enunciation lessons?"

"Instruction in blackmailing?"

"Banning any music by that group 'The Weird Sisters'?"

"Everyone sitting down for a formal tea at 4.15 every afternoon?"

"Removing the ban on flying carpets?"

"Really life would be so much better if she was just the Dark Lady..."

Marius sighed, "I agree. I don't suppose there is any point trying to nudge her in that direction?"

Phineas echoed his cousin with another sigh, "Probably not. Maybe we should start calling her Napoleon or Attila the Hun."

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please do say if you have any ideas or comments. F200x