Last time: "Good," Narcissa said, "You remembered what was probably the most important lecture Lucius gave you. Now, I will be sending feelers out. You can go play Quidditch or something with Draco. I will inform you when we have success. Now, do you wish for an active marriage contract that will require immediate consummation or an inactive one that will become active when you reach majority?"
"If it is possible, I would like it to be active. Getting an anxiety-inducing activity over with gives one much less overall stress, I've heard a psychologist mention," Nicci replied. At the nod from Narcissa, she left the room.
Narcissa drew her wand and tapped the desk in the study, muttering "I solemnly swear that my blood is pure." A hidden drawer popped out
Abraxas Malfoy had set the password for the compartment, and Lucius feared his father too much to change it. Even though Abraxas was dead, his dark enchantments were legendary for their permanence and their safeguards. Narcissa was here for the protean-charmed signet ring that sat in the drawer. Lucius never wore it. Instead, he wore a modernized replica, as most heads of the Elder houses did. Narcissa wore it on occasion, whensoever she needed it.
After putting on the ring, she took out a blood quill, charmed to blacken the blood so that Muggles wouldn't notice the difference, and a roll of parchment. She then began writing:
Dear: Lord Cyrus Greengrass
As the Matriarch of the Elder House of Malfoy, and as your friend, I beseech you for help. My eleven-year old daughter, Narcissa 'Nicci' Victoria Malfoy, needs a marriage contract. I cannot very well send her into Hogwarts, and most likely into the Snake Pit, without one. She needs a young witch in one of the Elder Houses, as marrying down would not do, and she finds herself repulsed by the notion of any man touching her. That is understandable, witch's witches generally are. I don't see a problem in her finding a wife, since most witches are at least bisexual. I am, for one. I know that your wife is. I don't know about the next generation, but if either of your daughters are interested then let me know. If not, I beseech you to head out in my stead to find one for her, as I am currently fairly busy.
Sincerely,
Narcissa Malfoy Neé Black
Narcissa rolled up the parchment and tied it to the family owl's leg with a cutting of the enchanted ribbon that was in the drawer. There, even if we weren't best friends since we were in our nappies, Lord Greengrass would still be unable to ignore this, Narcissa thought with satisfaction. Of course, Cyrus and Narcissa had been best friends for that long.
She knew that Cyrus would come through for her, one way or another. He always had. He was like the brother she never had.
Besides, these contracts were just a formal protection. It would be as easy as cauldron cakes for someone in an Elder House to get out of one if he or she was ever not satisfied with their future partner.
For now, however, she disapparated. She would have to set up a vault for her daughter at Gringotts, go shopping for the essentials, and go to the ministry to get Narcissa 'Nicci' Victoria Malfoy on the list of people not to mess with. In most cases, the Malfoy name would be enough, but there were some practices that had been outlawed for commoners so long that most people in the ministry forgot that they were legal at all! An innocent Auror could loose his or her job that way by just trying to uphold the law!
888
Draco took Nicci to the Quidditch pitch after she had retrieved her fusion-bolt from her trunk. She had read an entire series of books on broom-flying and was confident that she could teach a class on it, even though she herself had never been on broom before the testing in the shop. To be contrary, she ignored the typical racing style and chose the atypical style that happened to have been invented by Byron Malfoy in the early twentieth century. The grip was the most physically lax of any, but the most mentally taxing. It would take most of her focus not to lose control of the broom, at least until she got the hang of it.
Draco and Nicci raced around the Quidditch pitch, making a combination out of who could pull off the most bizarre moves. Nicci was the first to pull off the Wronski Feint, but Draco managed it just after she did. Needing something different, she went for a more obscure trick, invented by former Gryffindor chaser, James Potter, called the Thunderbolt.
The Thunderbolt was a dare devil move where the rider would grip both ends of the broom and kick their legs out, pulling the broom in a sweeping motion downward, only re-mounting their broom the moment before they would have hit the ground.
After seeing his sister perform the Thunderbolt, Draco shook his head. There was no way that he was going to top THAT, or even match it, without getting himself killed. Nodding towards Nicci, he took off back towards the Manor, landing on the main balcony. As soon as he heard his sister land behind him, Draco walked into the manor and chucked the Nimbus he was using into the broom-closet.
888-time skip-888
Lucius was in his study reading the small pile of marriage contracts that his wife had used her connection with Cyrus to procure for their young daughter.
Suzan Bones
Heir of the Elder House of Bones
Connections: Amelia Bones- director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, through blood
Lord Abbott – Head of the Elder House of Abbot, through pact between houses
Likely House: Hufflepuff
Age: 11
Bride Price: a half million galleons
Contract Activation requirements: signed by the heads of both houses
Tracey Davis
Heir of the Elder House of Davis
Connections: Lord Davis – Head of the Elder House of Davis, through blood
Lord Greengrass – Head of the Elder House of Greengrass, through pact between houses
Likely House: Slytherin
Age: 11
Bride Price: a million galleons
Contract Activation requirements: signed by both parties and consummated
Ginevra Molly Weasley
Daughter of the Disgraced yet Elder House of Weasley
Connections: Lord Weasley – Head of the Disgraced yet Elder House of Weasley, Head of the Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts – through blood
Lord Diggory – Head of the Elder House of Diggory, Department head at the ministry – through pact between houses
Lord Lovegood – Head of the Disgraced yet Elder House of Lovegood, Chief Editor of The Quibbler – through pact between houses
Lord Dumbledore – Head of the Elder and Mystical House of Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin First Class – through alliance
Likely House: Gryffindor
Contract Activation Reguirements: none, this is an active contract by order of the Chief Warlock
Lucius stared at the last contract. His first thought was to murder the meddling old fool that ordered the contract to be active. Then he took a deep breath and began to look at it objectively.
Point one: the rift between the Malfoy's and the Weasley's was still very much a problem, despite all of Lucius' efforts to mend it.
Point two: The Weasley girl's connections were nearly unprecedented for a marriage contract. The average person only made the effort to call in one contact other than their Head of House.
Point three: The Weasley girl had no bride-price. Of course, he'd still be obligated by ancient laws to pay a minimum of 50k galleons to her family, but it was negligible compared to the regular pure-blood premiums.
All-in all, Lucius just decided to sign the contract to save face. It would not be immediately evident that the situation was forced. Taking out a blood-quill, he signed the contract stating that Narcissa 'Nicci' Victoria Malfoy was now betrothed to Ginevra Molly Weasley
888
A/N
Yes, I decided for Nicci/Ginny. It will be key to mending the broken relations between the House of Malfoy and the House of Weasley.
Hee, hee, hee! Even though Dumbledore is not evil in this fic, he is still up to his old manipulations. He is hoping to bring the Malfoy family over to the light, while in reality, his actions will make the Weasley family more grey.