Vil had to admit, Regina Potter was nothing like the rumors he had heard about her. She was surprisingly intelligent and soaked up information like a sponge. She was also rather cunning, and had openly admitted she had nearly been sorted into Slytherin had she not argued against it.

To be fair, he had been entirely unaware that Draco had so spectacularly ruined his only chance at befriending her by mocking the person who rescued her from the care of her mundane relatives.

The fact he didn't automatically dismiss mundanes and was actually a gentleman around her earned him a far more favorable impression than Draco had apparently managed. Learning his idiot cousin had unsuccessfully attempted to introduce himself the same way a certain super spy did was hilarious in his opinion...especially as Draco had never read Fleming's work or seen any of the movies.

Vil was all too happy to hear about how poorly Draco represented himself as an heir to the family. It was giving him plenty of ammunition to challenge the twit later.

And then, after an idle comment he made to Regina regarding the silly club Lucius insisted on joining he was given the holy grail of blackmail against his least favorite cousins.

Vil knew that this sort of information was gold, and he would need Regina's help to obtain maximum impact because if used incorrectly it could result in ruin for not just him personally, but the entire family.

The second Hogwarts let out (oddly enough at the same time as Night Raven did), Vil was at the train station waiting outside the mundane entrance of the platform. He didn't want to ruin the moment of seeing Draco's expression the second he realized both sets of cousins had set up his downfall, and that Regina had been collaborating with Vil this entire time.

Regina's expression was shocked to say the least when she saw him.

Vil eyed the repugnant man he had sent away muttering about 'freaks'. He didn't know who that...thing...was, but his very existence offended Vil on a personal level. He didn't envy whatever witch or wizard had to deal with that. Besides, something told him that the fool deserved the poison Vil had jabbed him with, though he couldn't rightly remember which ones he had on hand today.

"Not to be offensive, but why are you..." said Regina confused.

Vil raised an eyebrow.

"You really think I'm going to let the most valuable source of information regarding that ridiculous club my idiot cousin joined disappear on me?" said Vil.

"Wait...are you kidnapping me?" she blurted out in shock.

"Kidnapping implies manhandling you. I'm...coercing...you to spend the summer so I can learn as much as possible to use against Lucius," said Vil. "Unless you object of course."

Regina...couldn't agree fast enough.

"I'm somewhat surprised Vernon isn't here yet. He must be in traffic."

"Vernon?" said Vil.

"My uncle. Or rather the walrus masquerading as a human being that will undoubtedly die from a heart attack sooner rather than later that my mother's sister unfortunately married and produced with," said Regina making a face.

Vil thought back to that repugnant creature he poisoned not thirty minutes ago.

The second he gave a general description, Regina's eyes went wide with shock.

"Oh Merlin, what did you do to him?" she asked.

"He was irritating me, so I jabbed him with one of my special needles I always carry. I'm not sure what poison I laced it with, but it won't be pleasant. From what I saw he was barely able to avoid throwing up in public," said Vil. "Is that a problem?"

Regina's expression was hard to define.

"Is it a bad thing I almost wish to have seen you do it, and that I hope it was something lethal but not easily traced?" said Regina.

"Considering he evidently dislikes magic, not in the least," said Vil firmly, and his silent estimation of her character went up.

"Good. I hope he dies in the most undignified way possible and makes the local news to humiliate my mother's sister," said Regina darkly.

Vil held out his arm.

"Shall we, milady?"

"Let us be off," she said cheerfully. She had already sent Hedwig off with another letter, mostly so Vernon couldn't lock her up again. She hadn't expected Vil to pick her up at the station though.

Vil knew that Regina would require a little bit of work before she was ready to face the viper pit that was pure blood society. To that end, he decided to focus on building up her confidence level to the point she wouldn't back down from the inevitable headache that would follow.

It was during one of these sessions that he learned something that would be absolute gold over his cousins.

"Wait...you're the next head of the Black family?"

"Yes?" she said confused as to his reaction. "I mean Sirius mentioned it at some point that he had named me his heir and last I checked he was the head of the family since he was thrown into Azkaban without actually being given a proper trial or proven guilty of betraying his oath as Godfather."

Vil stared at her in disbelief.

"What?"

"You do realize that we can oust Draco out of pureblood society completely in one fell swoop, right?"

Her confusion was almost painful to Vil. In so many ways.

Vil sighed.

"Look, the main reason Draco has so much power is because Lucius used the backing of the Black faction to raise his own status by marrying Narcissa. Right now the Potter name is mostly in the gutter due to dreadful mismanagement, but the Black name is still strong. You've commented on how Draco often says 'wait till my father hears this', right?"

She nodded.

"This is because Lucius has built up a large number of powerful connections through both himself and the social network his wife has built up. However...if his son loses his position as heir, and his wife has her marriage annulled because of what an embarrassment his bloodline has produced, then it will result in both father and son being upended from pureblood society...Draco more than Lucius, as he will have lost the family name as well as the back-up of his mother's name if her marriage is annulled."

"I think I get it," said Regina. "So in the eyes of the purebloods, he'll just be a nameless wizard?"

"Exactly," said Vil.

"So how would we go about that?" she asked, eyes glinting.

Vil smirked. Sure it meant a night trip to a main Gringotts branch in another country, but it was worth it when she walked out with not just the rings for the Potter family, but also the Black and for some reason the Slytherin line.

He looked at the third ring confused.

"I can understand the first two, but how on earth did you become head of the Slytherin line?"

Regina looked like she had a headache.

"Apparently, the dark tosser accidentally named me his heir when I inherited his ability to speak snake, and the fact that I survived that bloody basilisk and managed to adapt to it's venom caused the blood magic to attach to me instead. Since he's not technically alive anymore in any proper sense of the word, I was made the new head of the family. Something about how the really old lines have a habit of attaching to the first available vessel or something," said Regina.

Vil looked thoughtful.

"It probably doesn't help Blacks specialize in the older blood magic and that their lineage is highly compatible with the sort of magics Slytherin himself was well known for."

"So what does this mean?" asked Regina.

"Not much really. We're already working on improving your personal self-image so you can hold your head high in proper circles. Slytherin wasn't a noble line, and most pure blood etiquette is similar enough to noble etiquette anyway. Just keep it quiet, because people in magical society get rather annoying when it comes to the founders."

Regina's expression said volumes.

"Trust me, I know all about that. During my second year the dark twat set the basilisk loose on the school and everyone turned on me claiming I was the 'heir of Slytherin' because I hadn't known people were so pissy about being able to talk to snakes," she deadpanned. "The irony was I never once said I WAS the heir and everyone just assumed it was truth because of one minor thing."

Vil shook his head.

"Well, that part of the magical society isn't known for common sense or logic," he said.

A few hours later...

"Does it seem ironic to you that I'm the one in the dress suit and you're the one in a flowing outfit, rather than the reverse?" asked Regina amused. Seriously, the fact Vil put her in a formal suit rather than a dress was amusing on more than a few levels.

"One, you clearly favor pants over skirts, and we need to paint you in a strong, resolute image. You trying to learn how to walk with skirts would take too much time considering what we need to do," said Vil. "While it is unusual, warrior women are an accepted image in society as a proper image if done right."

"Fair enough. So in other words instead of trying to embrace traditional 'views' on gender roles, we're going with more of a crossplay approach?"

"Crossplay?"

"Male and female gender views are reversed, where the men dress up as women and women wear suits," she explained.

"Hmm... That sounds about right," agreed Vil.

He adjusted her lapel, and after a brief moment, fixed her hair and make-up.

"There. Much better. If we are to dethrone those idiots, we need to use a united approach," said Vil pleased. "You certainly clean up better than I expected."

"Well it helps actually having access to the needed materials and being away from all that stress. You do realize he's probably going to assume we're dating once we set things in motion, right? A lot of people will."

"And?" said Vil. "I have no objections to the idea, not when the benefits are lucrative enough. It doesn't hurt that you're one of the rare females who hasn't tried to use me for my connections or abuse my skills."

Regina considered this.

"Honestly, I could do far worse. You're the first male who's treated me like an equal without trying to paw over me like a cat in heat. Besides, you at least take the time to explain to me things no one else has, even when it could have helped in the long term."

Vil raised an eyebrow, mostly because she made no mention of his looks. That was a nice change of pace.

"It seems to me that we could both benefit from becoming the newest power couple," said Vil evenly.

"Agreed," smiled Regina. "Besides, didn't you say that a chunk of Lucius' power came from his connections to the Black family? I think it would really grate on them both if the power he previously enjoyed went to the next head of the family because he was so incompetent in training his son correctly."

Not only would their dating shore up Vil's position as the next head of the family, but it would benefit both of them long term. For one thing, Regina was out of her depth when it came to politics and pure blood society. Vil thrived in it. On the other hand, Vil was barely passable at magical combat. He preferred the silken knife approach to fighting. It wasn't to say he was terrible, just that it wasn't his thing in the least. Regina was a powerhouse who favored the blunt approach, and would happily back up Vil if asked.

In short, they covered each other's weaknesses.