All characters belong to J.K. Rowling


Sirius ordered Kreacher to make lunch, Andromeda sat with a very weary Ted and an exhausted Remus in front of them. Sirius paced around. – "Where are they Moony?"

Remus concentrated. —"The Weasley stayed in the living room. Lucretia moved to the tea parlor. Malfoys are in the library and Callidora with Cassie are in the dining room. Many of them are putting silencing charms right now."

"Do you think they will agree?"— Ted asked.

"The Weasleys will, too much of an opportunity."

"You might have scared Molly with the killing thing."

Sirius shrugged. —"I had to scare Lucius somehow. Maybe this way Molly will also take the warning."

Callidora looked up at Cassie. — "Are you going to accept?"

"Of course, It's a good offer, Remus's invitation might be tricky, but I'll probably mix him with a few Muggles. My sister loved those boys as her own she will rise from the dead if I say no. Plus, I do miss home."

"You don't use your own name?"

Cassie smiled sadly. —"No, I made up a story about being the last one of my family. Cassiopeia Alarcon. My muggle contacts won't care when I start using the Black name again. And the wizarding ones …I'll just say I was ashamed of What my house had become. I won't be the first or last one. Are you going to accept?"

"My part, yes. This House used to be grand, and I don't like the fact that Lucius will be the bigger shark if we don't act. But I can't accept Augustus' part."

"She won't?"

"She remembers Sirius from Frank's Stories; she was quite surprised when the news came out of him accepting the Lordship, she was even more surprised when I received the invitation. I expect her to be waiting for me, she'll make him squirm, but I feel he's prepared for that."

"He's admitting the mistakes of the house and he's offering Augusta a good deal."

"Yes, the boy isn't as dumb as I believed him to be. Augusta will agree eventually, if not for him, for Harry. The Potters and the Longbottoms have an alliance. And as much as we try Cassie, she… She hasn't truly grieved her son."—Callidora said leaning into the table.

"Her son's not dead."

"Oh, Frank is... Dead. Not because he's there means he's Frank. He's a shell he drools and doesn't talk. He doesn't recognize anyone. Augusta hasn't mourned that her son is no longer there, that her daughter-in-law is this person that is just existing. She loves Neville, but she was ready to be a grandmother, not a mother, and raise a child again. He gets on her nerves. He's a shy little thing, and she's trying to use him as a substitute for Frank, and that's not... She takes him to see them every couple of months."

Cassie locked up with sympathy if felt like Callidora hadn't been able to talk to someone about her discomforts. —"So, he knows. That can't be good for the boy."

"It's not. I've told her many times. Neville was there when they were being tortured, after a few days Neville stopped talking. The mind healer said he doesn't understand what happened exactly, but his little mind comprehended that something bad happened."

Cassie frowned— "So she thinks taking him to St Mungo's will help?"

"He comes back from Saint Mungo's Pale and Sad and he just goes back to being quiet all over again, I've told her once a year is alright, but every couple of months is not good, it's just too much for his little mind. So, I really hope she agrees because if she does, I'm going to encourage her to give me Neville, to bring him here, perhaps playing with Harry or with the Weasley children will change him."

Cassie just nodded at her cousins' words. —"This war took a lot, it destroyed this family, it destroyed your family. How many noble houses died? It's shit."

"Do you think it's true? Do you think he will kill if necessary?"

"Perhaps. I don't know much of him; I remember seeing him as a baby and the few pictures Dorea would send me, him, and James. She always complained of his temper, though. I think if you anger him enough, he might."

"Narcissa looked like she believed him and so did Molly."

Cassie shrugged puffing smoke. —"We will have to see."—She smiled at Cheekly. "Do you think they're fucking."

"Who?"—Callidora said confused at the change of subject.

Cassie rolled her eyes. —"Remus and Sirius, obviously."

Callidora laughed out loud. She had missed her cousin.

Lucretia was enraged she felt the hot tears on her cheeks, she was embarrassed, the stupid horrible man of her husband hadn't been able to keep his impulses to himself. Now they were one step away from being ruined. She wanted to rage at Sirius, scream at him for embarrassing her, she wanted to curse that filthy werewolf, but she couldn't, whether she liked it or not, they had given her the out she had been hoping for years. She would do as they asked her, she would leave the house, she would move to her ancestral home, remodel it and she would find a nice lover, and enjoy her day's painting, only resurfacing when needed.

She would no longer have to worry about her husband. She would leave that in the capable hands of Sirius. She will go back to the perfect image of blissful marriage. —She signed the papers— Ignatius would rage when she explained but there was no way around it not for him at least. She needed to start planning a story for the Weasleys, she knew it would be difficult, Ignatius hated his family but making amends with Molly was necessary, once the oldest Weasley child came of age, she would ask Sirius to Kill Ignatius and she will be free.

Narcissa sat down and Lucius started to pace, he was talking about the strategy she was thinking about survival.

"We have to make sure that we can secure your vault."

"Lucius, is the Dark Lord really dead?"

Lucius stopped to look at his wife. —"Not that I'm aware of."

"Then why haven't you gone looking for him?"

"I didn't know you wanted me to."

Narcissus smiled prettily. —"Answer me, Lucius."

"Because what good would it do Narcissa, we are in a good position, we are powerful, and rich, not because I can kill means that I want to, The Dark Lord is gone love but that doesn't mean the light won."

She stared at her husband, they had many options, she could go on her way and watch from the sidelines, she could stand next to her husband and pretend everything was alright, they could leave England and go to France, reestablish the Malfoy name in France society. She turned to Lucius who was looking at the papers and talking to himself. She scrunched her face; she hated Paris unless it was for shopping. No, she knew what her option was, she was a Black and sometimes Lucius forgot that. – "Sign the papers, Lucius."

He looked up at her in outraged—"What! And align to Black"

"Yes, and securing our existence, you can play the role and you won't have to talk to him. I don't want to go back to war, Lucius, and apparently neither do you. You can keep your powerful position, your seat in the Wizengamot, and add more money to our vaults."

Lucius looked at his wife in disbelief. —"The Dark Lord will come back, Narcissa. And he will kill us if he believes there was disloyalty."

"Perhaps, perhaps he will just kill you or both but what I'm certain is he will not touch my son, and the only way I can secure my son, your legacy is by aligning ourselves to Sirius."

Lucius looked at his wife with suspicion, he knew very well what he had married, Narcissa was beautiful as intelligent and if Sirius gave her power he would be in danger. –"I don't understand what you want to accomplish with that Narcissa, we're fine, you think they're going to let Sirius come and "fix" everything. He doesn't have the contacts or the friends I have."

Narcissa glared at him— "Don't talk to me in that tone, Lucius, think. I might not have his beliefs and I don't want to submit to his will, but you will keep your role with the Dark house, I will keep mine as the Lady of society and the Malfoy name well move alongside the Black new allies."

Lucius moved closer to his wife, he put a finger down her chin and made her look at him in the eyes—"You are afraid of him"

"No, I'm on guard. He's as crazy as his mother, he tried to kill Bella during the war, and didn't he kill Jason Rosier? We underestimated him because we thought he was sick, your friends and contacts in the ministry fucked up. Now look where we are, do you think that I'm going to sit down and watch someone else enjoy what it's rightfully mine? I have more right to enjoy my house's success than the Weasleys or that old hag of Cassiopeia. I know that you don't like to lose, Lucius. But he will destroy you if he shows those memories, Fudge might be in your pocket, but not the Wizengamot."

Lucius pressed his lips together, his wife wasn't wrong, he had to move carefully from now on, The Black Family might have lost their contacts but not their money. He turned to look at the papers on the table, if he managed those businesses correctly, he could make enough for himself.

"What about the people we are going to associate with?"—Lucius sneered.

Narcissa rolled her eyes— "We can cope, how much interaction are we going to actually have with them? A few family dinners, parties full of other people, any meeting that is needed I can do it for you, or they can be done here"—she gestured around.

"I don't want that beast in my home."

Narcissa nodded in approval, but she didn't voice out loud, that Remus might not want to go to their home either. – "You know I'm right, Lucy. It's better if we have him as a friend than as an enemy."

"Very well, but I'll put my clauses."

"Sign Arthur"—Cedrella said from her seat, Arthur had moved closer to the table to read the paper, and Molly was looking out the window.

"Cedrella, you can't be Serious, he was talking about…"

"He was talking like a Black. Molly dear, I love you but shut up. You won't get another offer like this one, Arthur and you are too fucking proud for your own good, this house was grand…"

Molly accused—"You walked out on this family and now you want to talk about how grand it was?"

Cedrella smiled. —"Not everyone in my family was a pureblood supremacist Molly, some of us knew when to keep our mouth shut, I left because I fell in love and Septimus would never be approved, I knew what I was giving up, but Septimus gave me everything I wanted and deserve until he didn't. Do you believe I enjoy my life now? When Septimus got sick my calm, comfortable life went out the window."

Molly pressed her lips, Cedrella chuckled—"You can look at me like that all you want but when Arthur announced your engagement I was Happy, you had your brothers and they adored Arthur and for that, I'm grateful to them, but when they died I cried, I knew how complicated your life was going to get"

"We both knew the repercussion, we knew it was going to be hard and we prepared"—Molly defended herself and turned to her husband, but he was still reading, ignoring both women.

"Yes, I remember the fight, Molly. Do you want that for your children?"

"I want my children to be raised with good morality. He was talking about murdering, and we have to coexist with death eaters."—She said going to sit near Arthur.

Cedrella stood up with a scoffed—"Think Molly, do you think everyone is of good moral, those boys fought in a war, alongside your brothers. Do you think they didn't have to kill? He is raising the so-called savior of the wizarding world, have you stopped to think how many people want to get their hands on that child?"

Molly turned to Arthur—"Arthur, stop ignoring us."

Arthur let out a breath— "Sirius has to be ready for anything, I'm not happy we have to coexist with Malfoy, I would rather see him in prison but I'm sure Sirius will have him controlled."

"We don't even know if they're going to sign"— Molly said stubbornly. She knew she had lost, between her mother's approval and Arthur looking at the papers with wistful longing. She had no one to back her up. She understood the appeal, she wanted her children to have a good life, but she also wanted them away from this obvious power move. She knew how easy it was to get lost in the unwritten rules of the Ancient and Noble houses.

Arthur looked at his wife sadly. —"Molly I Will have more recognition, ill be able to do laws, ill earn more, our children's opportunities will triple, and they won't make fun of them. All I must do is show Sirius my support. I know you are worried about a few things he said. I will speak to him. I won't force you to do something you don't want to, but I must choose this for our children. He's giving us two Lordships. He's given us back what is rightfully ours."—he looked at her begging her to understand.

Molly gave him a resigned look and nodded she just hoped it wouldn't backfire.

….

Sirius Walked back to the main room and ordered Kreacher to guide everyone else to the dining room. – "So, what have we agreed?"

Arthur extended the Folders. – "I agree."

Sirius smiled Widley—"Very well, welcome to the family". —he pulled Arthur into a hug, Molly and Cedrella smiled but Sirius noticed the trepidation from the younger Mrs. Weasley.

Narcissa walked up to her cousin— "The Malfoys will support you"—she said hugging him— "I'm sure dear".

The rest gave Remus their papers and Sirius clapped— "Good, so I need a vow of secrecy for the family secrets from now on."—Molly gave her husband an I told you so look, but everyone else got their wands out and Molly swore her oath.

The lunch turned out to be brief, Sirius wasn't one for making many plans just yet and since he would be meeting with them one or one the next couple of days, he didn't talk business, in exchange he asked Molly to talk about her children, Andy spoke about Tonks and the rest of what they were going to do on the holidays, Once everyone was done, he asked for a picture to be taken so it could be posted in the Prophet.

The Malfoys were the first to leave, soon after Lucretia and Callidora said their goodbyes.

The Weasleys were accompanied to the door— "I wish to meet soon Arthur, there are a few things we need to talk about."

Once the Weasley was gone he went back to the parlor where Cassiopeia was chatting away with Remus. – "Aunt Cassi, anything you wish to speak about?"

Cassie smiled wide— "No not right now, I have to think, I have been invited to stay in England with an old friend, in case you need to see me soon."—She stood up, kissed him, and left.

Remus burst out laughing once she was gone and Sirius turned to him in question— "She stayed behind to tell me she doesn't mind and will support our union."

Sirius looked confused and then he laughed— "Oh hell she thinks…"

"Yep, she was quite disappointed when I told her we weren't dating."

Sirius laughed— "Come on moony love, Harry is waiting."

Hello guys, sorry for not updating, been very busy and I had writer's block with this story, I really don't know where this is going and I have thousands of ideas for it, I'm working on the chapter with Dumbledore but it's a slow process but don't worry ill update probably halfway through the month.

Please Review and remember I do this for fun.