Don't Mess With Blacks

(_)(_)(_)

1955

Cedrella had been a bit startled and more than a bit impressed by the plan Charlus had come up with. Not for the first time did she wonder whether or not Slytherin had been a possibility the Sorting Hat had contemplated for him and Septimus, as both men had shown more than a little cunning and ambition over the years – far more of those traits than the typical 'pure' Gryffindor, at any rate.

The best part of it was that their idea had more of a likelihood to work than either man realized. This was mostly because Cedrella had been far more involved with Sirius and Arcturus than either man quite realized. Oh, Septimus knew she'd been learning the political scene of course, but he still (much to her amusement) hadn't realized how much she'd been taught or why. He didn't know that she'd spent a lot of time in Arcturus' company, as he had to learn and keep abreast of things in the Wizengamot as future Head of Family Black, and Sirius had merely added her to Arcturus' lessons once she'd caught up.

As a result, Cedrella had become quite close with Arcturus. They had fairly similar outlooks on a number of subjects, though Arcturus tended to be Neutral verging on Dark, whereas Cedrella was almost dead-center of Neutral. If anything, much to her amused chagrin, she leaned towards the Light rather than the Dark.

Because of that history, Arcturus would be far more likely to not only hear her out, but to actually act on 'her' idea. Actually, even more than that, he'd be willing to permit her to approach him at all, since he'd become understandably paranoid in the aftermath of Sirius' rather suspicious illness and death.

She wrote Arcturus the day after Septimus told her about the talk he'd had with Charlus and Harfang. She got a letter that same evening granting her an audience the next day.

She dressed simply but elegantly for the meeting, opting for a semi-formal midnight blue robe with minimal embellishments – only slender silver piping on sleeves and collar. She flooed to the Manor precisely on time. Arcturus was waiting for her when she stepped out of the fireplace, looking pleased to see her. He greeted her with a hug.

"It's been too long, Cedrella. How are things?"

"Quite well." Cedrella said. "The children are a delight – you really should come by sometime. You haven't met the two youngest yet."

Their third child - and by mutual agreement their last - had been born only a few months previously. Cedrella's three pregnancies had all been ridiculously easy, for which she gave continual thanks. Better yet, only Arthur had had a difficult birth. The other two had been born with a minimal amount of fuss and bother. At least on her end. Septimus hadn't really improved much in his performance at either birth, something she teased him about fairly frequently.

"Hmmm, no, I haven't." Arcturus said as he led her into his office. "So, you wrote telling me you needed to speak to me?"

"Yes, it's about the situation in the Wizengamot." Cedrella said as she settled into the chair he'd indicated.

A few seconds later a house elf popped in with a tray of tea and sandwiches, then popped out. Cedrella automatically began to pour and serve, having become accustomed to doing so in her own home. Arcturus gave her an amused look but did not demure, though he did tap his wand against the lip of the cup, murmuring a detection spell as an automatic precaution. Cedrella made no comment. Again, after Sirius, it was only common sense to take such a precaution.

"It is also about the situation the Family finds itself in." Cedrella continued once they both had cups and plates. "Both situations dovetail a bit."

"Indeed." Arcturus agreed. "There is no way that Orion will ever make Head. I can't prove it, but … "

"The odds on what happened to Sirius being natural are very, very, very long." Cedrella finished.

"Precisely. I have no idea what exactly they did, but the maneuvering became rather obvious." Arcturus said.

"No subtlety at all." Cedrella agreed, making a moue of distaste. "The problem lies in the fact that while Orion will never make Head, his children, if they have any, will be the next in line. And he and Walburga will have the raising of that heir."

Arcturus made a disgusted face. "Quite. Unfortunately, I am at a loss as to what I can do to mitigate circumstances."

"I believe there is an old custom that might serve." Cedrella said. "I remember a decree that said that an heir should be raised by the current Head – even if the Heir is not the current Head's child. The decree allowed for the Head of the Family to bring said Heir into their home and raise them. After all, the heir must learn their duties, and where better to learn them than from the current Head?"

Arcturus blinked. "I had forgotten about that old bit of trivia." He admitted. "It will serve admirably when the time comes – if it comes. If they produce no children, I'll have to figure out who to name as heir."

"At this point." Cedrella said. "That would mean either Alphard, Phillip or Marcus. There are no other male heirs to be had."

Alphard was of an age with Orion, and a full Black, which really made him the better choice than her own two younger sons, though they would be the next in line if something happened to Alphard. There were, of course, other sons born to Black women, but they were all heirs to other families, which made them nonviable as potential future Heads for Family Black.

Arcturus nodded. "I will speak with Alphard and appoint him back-up Heir in the event Orion and Walburga either don't spawn, don't spawn a boy, or don't spawn a sane boy. With one of your two younger boys, whichever one seems more viable, as a double backup." He took a sip of his tea. "And the other issue at hand?"

"The Wizengamot is out of control, from what Septimus is saying. There are a half a hundred factions all fighting for their slice and nothing at all is getting done. I know the Wizengamot has always been contentious and had factions, but this is ridiculous." Cedrella said.

"I tend to agree with you and your husband." Arcturus said. "I don't know for sure what's been going on, but it's definitely getting out of hand."

"Septimus was talking about the situation with Charlus and Harfang when Charlus reminded him of Family Black's status, and the fact we have primacy over pretty much every family save the Potters and Longbottoms themselves." And one or two other families, but that was it.

Arcturus was not slow to figure out where this was going. "He wants me to use the family influence on the married members of the family, and drag the various Families into alignment with each other."

Cedrella nodded. "They're aware that not everyone will go Light, or even Dark, but it will serve to eliminate a lot of the smaller factions if the families are forced to take definite sides, and we're really the only ones who can do it."

"And hopefully with fewer factions, the arguing will lessen and something might be accomplished." Arcturus said with a nod. "I'll start figuring out how to apply the heat and hopefully put it into action before Samhain. With any luck the winter sessions will be less antagonistic."

"Have you any plans in mind with which to deal with Orion and Walburga?" Cedrella asked, meaning punishing them for their rather obvious guilt in the matter of Sirius' death.

"I've been running options through my mind." Arcturus admitted. "I'm half tempted to force them to remain in their home at all times. Given the custom for heirs, I can potentially remove all their children, if they have them, and raise them myself, to spare them. Though I imagine Orion and Walburga will object if that becomes the case."

Cedrella laughed. "Let them. Condemned to their home, there is little they can do about anything."

They spent the next hour or so gossiping, catching up on all the doings that Arcturus had missed for having kept to himself so much since his ascendance to Head of House. Eventually, Cedrella took her leave, well pleased with her day's work.

She had managed to not only convince Arcturus to move against Orion and Walburga, and put pressure on the other families, she'd made him more aware of the fact that he was, in essence, allowing Orion and Walburga to win in their gambit to control and/or become the Head of the Family. After all, Arcturus had all but become a hermit since his ascendance three years ago, losing no small amount of influence in the Wizengamot and weakening the Black Family's power and ties to the other families. It would take time and effort to repair that damage, but nowhere near as much as it could have if things had remained the way they were.

Arcturus was as good as his word. Better, actually. It became clear that he had begun to move on Cedrella's suggestions by the end of September, never mind Samhain. The politically weakest Families began to better align themselves with the major players, reducing the number of factions by two or three just in that couple of weeks.

Better still, a letter was circulated to the family members, indicating that Orion and Walburga were being forcibly secluded and bound to their home until Arcturus said otherwise for acting against the Family, and that all communications with them were to be stopped immediately. Arcturus included a note in Cedrella's letter saying that he had assigned one of the Black Family elves to do all of Orion and Walburga's shopping, and that he'd had their floo cut off so they had no contact with anyone. He'd also gotten into contact with Alphard, who had then moved in with Arcturus and his wife to learn what he needed to know in case he ended up becoming the future Head of the family.

In short, Family Black was back in the game after nearly five years' absence, Since Sirius had become a less than effective Head long before his death. From Septimus' reports about the changes this brought in the Wizengamot, it was clear to Cedrella that a lot of people were not happy about the return. Especially Dumbledore. Evidently, Dumbledore had begun to look very sour as people began to align more and more. Cedrella didn't know what that man was up to, but she sincerely hoped that the Blacks putting pressure on the families put a massive spanner in the works.

Cedrella didn't get too much time to contemplate the hellery that Arcturus was instigating by exercising his rightful influence. Raising three young boys was rather time consuming. Not that she minded.

Of the three, Arthur had definitely inherited his father's fairly phlegmatic temperament. He'd rarely fussed without reason as an infant, and toddler tantrums had been equally rare. Phillip, at three, was far more cantankerous than Arthur had been on his worst day, showing early signs of having a more typically Weasley temper. Marcus was far too young yet to know where he would fall in the temperament stakes.

It was rather early to be thinking such things, but Cedrella was quietly of the opinion that Arthur would make nearly as ideal a future Head as Septimus had. Aside from a more even temper, Arthur had inherited his father's work ethic, applying himself surprisingly industriously for a five year old to his lessons.

Cedrella and Septimus both had been taking great care to present certain things neutrally. Traditionally, the familial Sorting, if one House predominated, was presented as the only acceptable Sorting, and the qualities of the other Houses vilified to varying degrees. Cedrella and Septimus were consciously trying to avoid that, trying to instill in Arthur and Phillip (Marcus would learn this as well when he was old enough to absorb such lessons) that the qualities of the Houses were neither bad nor good, and that whatever House would be fine. She sincerely doubted it would alter the Weasley heritage of Sorting Gryffindor, but at the very least, their boys would be more inclined to not look down their noses at the members of the other Houses, which could only help them.

Or, well, it would help them if things could get straightened out. The way things were at the moment, making friends outside of one's House at Hogwarts was probably a quick route to becoming a pariah. It had certainly been heading that route even when she'd been attending, and it hadn't seemed to get any better from what they'd been hearing from younger family members.