Marked as His Equal Chapter 6

It was a couple of days before the children were due to return to Hogwarts and Mrs. Weasley was getting everyone ready to go to Diagon Alley. Sirius had arranged a meeting with Ted, Andromeda, Narcissa, and Lucius at Number 12 while everyone was out of the house. Arthur asked, "Do you think this is a good idea, Sirius?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I do know this is the safest place for me. Lucius may be a piece of work, but he won't violate guest rites. His lot is pretty big on the old ways. Besides, the wards on the house will prevent him from harming myself or my guest."

"I do hope you're right. I hope you can make progress," Arthur said.

Sirius nodded. "So do I. Dumbledore thinks it will be worth a shot. He says he wouldn't be able to bring up legislation as chief warlock, or he would have pushed for a trial. And without much physical evidence, he isn't sure if he has anyone in the right position to help us. At least if we get Lucy on our side, we'll have someone with connections in the right places. I'm still wary of him. I feel as if this will come to bite me in the ass one day."

"Good luck, Sirius. I'm off to work."

"Thanks, Arthur."

Ted and Andromeda arrived as Arthur was leaving. After they exchanged greetings, Arthur went on his way to the ministry for work. Sirius ordered Kreacher to have tea and biscuits waiting in the sitting room. When the Malfoys arrived, Sirius greeted them. "Lord and Lady Malfoy thank you for agreeing to see me. Please come inside. I have tea prepared in the sitting room. Kreacher will take your coat if you'd like." At the mention of his name Kreacher arrived and took the guests coats and popped away.

"Lord Black, thank you for the invitation and the hospitality," Lucius replied formally.

After the greetings were finished and with that the establishment of guest rites, Sirius led the group to the sitting room, and they all took a seat. "Thank you all again for agreeing to see me. Lucius, if you'll allow me to be informal," Sirius said and received a nod from Lucius, "I know we never saw eye to eye when I was younger, and many of our interactions were quite hostile, I would like to either disregard our differences, or table them for another time when they can be peacefully and productively resolved."

Lucius nodded at Sirius and said, "That sounds reasonable."

Narcissa smiled at her cousin and said, "Sirius, it's good to see you again. You're looking a well for a man on the run."

"Thank you. It's good to see you too, Cissy." Sirius poured everyone some tea. "Now to get to the reason I asked you all here. I wish things could have gone differently; I wish I never went after Peter. I should never have given Harry to Hagrid that night."

"We have all done things we regret," Lucius started. "I never would have guessed Pettigrew was a traitor. I was a trusted Death Eater, but I never heard a whisper. There were rumors the Dark Lord had a spy, but we never were told for sure. After Halloween in 1981 it made sense that somehow, he had got to you. Not many of us ever saw Pettigrew as a threat."

"He was always good at hiding in the background. He was always the best lookout of all of us. I wonder when he changed from the boy we knew to the man that sold out his friends. I never would have believed he would do that. He was like our brother. I doubt we'll ever know for sure." Sirius paused. "Back on topic. My goal here today is to try and establish a plan to get myself a trial. I was hoping that between your political clout and Ted's legal expertise that we would be able to identify a path forward."

"If I may interject," started Ted, "But I find it difficult to believe that you were not afforded a trial. You were the heir of the Black family. That does not make sense. I would imagine that the old families would be most upset if they found out that the heir of one of the Sacred Twenty-eight was put away without due process."

Sirius grimaced at that. "There wasn't a trial. I was arrested and booked per normal procedures. I spent some time in holding cell. A few hours later, I was stunned, and I woke up in Azkaban."

Narcissa frowned at that. "Why were you stunned?"

"It's pretty common procedure to stun and disable violent suspects. It makes moving them around easier and it's less likely they will try anything stupid unconscious."

"It is highly irregular for anyone to not be afforded a trial. Even Bellatrix got a trial," Lucius replied. "The aurors found her unconscious at the Longbottoms. It was assumed that she Frank or Alice took her out, but during her questioning she revealed that it was her husband that stunned her because she refused to bring the Longbottom boy out from where he was hidden after they finished with his parents. This is the type of thing that disgusted me. The Longbottoms are an old and well-respected family. Now they are reduced to an old bat and a pudgy kid afraid of his own shadow. They were not blood traitors or mudbloods. It wasn't muggles or muggleborn filth that nearly ended their line. It was the ones who were supposed to be fighting to preserve our way of life. That was the reason I signed up to follow the Dark Lord. We were supposed to change the world."

Sirius laughed humorlessly. "You did change the world alright, just not the way you intended."

"There was a time when the Potters, Longbottoms, Blacks, Bones, and my own house were a very powerful voting bloc. We didn't always agree or vote the same, but there was a level of respect and kinship among us."
"It's hard to believe Fleamont and my grandfather on the same side." Sirius said.

"It wasn't so much as on the same side; it was more mutual interest and the common good of the wizarding world. They could put aside their differing views on muggleborn and halfboods to address the issues that affected us all. When I started following the Dark Lord, that's what I thought I was doing. I thought I was protecting our way of life. By the time I realized my mistake, I was not in a position to do much about it. The Dark Lord does not accept resignations."

Ted spoke up, "Back on topic, it seems to me that someone saw an opportunity to put Sirius away and took it. We need to see if we can find out who would benefit the most from Sirius being unable to claim the Black lordship. I'm not aware of anyone outside of this room who has a strong enough claim to the lordship to matter, and I don't think you would agree to help him if you were trying to see him put away."

Narcissa added, "You're right about that. Another thought, Sirius was supposed to be the guardian of the Potter boy. If Sirius were out of the picture, someone could have control of the Potter boy and the Potter's wealth."

"That does raise an interesting point. Dumbledore became Harry's magical guardian. He sent him to live with his muggle relatives," Sirius started. "He used the fact that they were a blood relation, and blood matters in our world. After speaking with him, I was unable to get much out of him. He did mention that Harry would be safer in their world. There were a lot of unsavory people looking to use him for their own end. I hate that he was raised with the muggles, ignorant of our way of life, but I see the argument. Especially if it's as Ted and Cissy say, that someone took advantage of an opportunity to see me put away to take control of the Black and Potter families." Sirius stood up and started towards the door, "Excuse me for a moment. I think I may have something that would help us in my grandfather's study."

Sirius returned with a large scroll and unrolled it. "This is the Black Family Tree. I believe this is what the tapestry is based on. This may help us shed some light on who would benefit from me being out of the picture. If anyone who is a close enough relation to be in the line of succession, either themselves or their parents should be on this."

"This is a good place to start, "said Ted as he walked over to the scroll. "What about the descendants of squibs, Like your Uncle Marius? Lily Evans was his granddaughter. Would that make the Potter Boy next in line after you?"

"Squibs are an unusual case," started Lucius. "They are not normally acknowledged. If there were no other heir, it's possible for the descendants of squibs to be named the heir, providing that there's a direct line and there hasn't been a terribly long time since that family had active magic. With the Potter boy being descended from the oldest brother Marius, one could argue that he has the strongest claim to the black Lordship, Sirius included in this case. It's highly unusual, and cases like this could get ugly. The precedent for this type of situation is that once a line has squibbed, it becomes junior to the next eligible line. Arcturus' line is now the senior line. After Sirius, it would be the Potter boy then Draco for the line of succession. With Sirius out of the picture, if someone were to have control of The Boy Who Lived, they could control both lines. That would be a lot of political capital."

"I can see one person on here that would stand to gain a lot in the right situation," Ted said. "Dolores Umbridge. If Sirius were out of the picture, could she have a claim? She is descended from one of Arcturus' aunts."

Sirius shook his head. "She wouldn't be able to claim lordship. The black family is patriarchal. The most she could get is regency, and as far as I'm aware, she does not have children."

"I wasn't aware of that. No wonder we haven't seen any female heads of our family," Narcissa said.

"It isn't exactly well known," Sirius replied. "It's not the case for every family, but the Black family by laws state that the head of the Black family must be male and in the line of succession and be accepted by the family magic. The line of succession is kind of a grey area. With Harry being the grandson of Marius, he had no problem with the family magic."

"What if she were regent and named Potter's guardian?" asked Andromeda.

Sirius shook his head. "It would definitely help her case. She would be regent for both the Potter and Black families, as well as the Peverell family. Though she may not be aware of the Peverell connection. I wasn't until I was named Harry's godfather."

Ted looked over and asked, "Are you his magically sworn godfather or just the legal title of godfather?"

"The Potters were very traditional. We did the sworn ritual."

"We may be able to use that to get you a trial. Magic has a price. If you magically swore an oath to be Harry's godfather, you could not knowingly take action that would be detrimental without serious consequences."

"I would rather die a thousand times than see him come to any harm."

"I thought as much," Ted replied. "This doesn't necessarily point us to a guilty party, it's just who would have the most to gain. I doubt there would be much we could do without a direct admission of guilt, but we could get an idea of how your lack of trial came to be. I think we could push for a trial just for the fact that you're a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight alone. I believe many of those in power would not like to think of the same thing happening to themselves or their heirs."

"That will not sit well with any of my peers," stated Lucius.

"I think we may have a path going forward," Ted started. "I will start looking into the trial paperwork. I can say that my services have been retained by Harry to investigate the trial to see if that sheds any light on what led his father's best mate to turn on him, you know, closure and all that. I will check Gringotts for the sworn godfather's statements, that should be listed in the Potter's belongings, and will if they had one."

"I doubt they had a will," Sirius started. "If anything, their will just listed the distribution of wealth that didn't go to Harry. Most magicals don't have in depth wills like the muggle world. Our laws of inheritance cover most things."

"That makes sense. I will still investigate it. Once I gather enough information, I will take this to Madam Bones to start making waves about a lack of trial."

Lucius interrupted, "You may wish to take this to Lords Macmillan and Abbot. While the Bones family is old and respected, they are not a member of the Twenty-Eight."

"Perhaps Lord Fawley," said Narcissa. "They are more of a neutral house. They would be closer to the traditional families than the Abbots or Macmillans. They are a bit too progressive for most of our peers."

"That's a good point," acknowledged Ted. "That would give us an opportunity to approach Lord Malfoy, since a fellow member of the Twenty-Eight and a family member is affected by a lack of trial. I believe that at the very least the kiss on sight order would be removed, and we could push for a trial. If for nothing else, to inquire as to how he escaped Azkaban."

Sirius stood, "Thank you so much. I really appreciate this." He turned to Lucius and bowed, "Thank you Lord Malfoy. House Black will remember this favor."

Lucius returned the bow. "Think nothing of it Lord Black. You are my wife's family, and family matters to us."

Sirius watched as his guest left, and for the first time in a long time he felt as if things were finally looking up. 'I'm still going to have to sit down with Lucius,' he thought. 'That tattoo on his arm is going to be problematic. When the dark bastard returns, how are we going to play this? Is he going to go crawling back, will he run, will he spy? I just hope I can count on him to keep Cissy out of the bastard's line of fire.'

Unknown to him, Lucius was having similar thoughts. 'How am I going to stay alive and keep my family safe? I'm not strong enough to fight, I can't run; there's nowhere on this earth to hide. I'm not sure if I can spy, there isn't anyone besides Dumbledore that can stand against him, and I refuse to bow to him as well. I feel as if I am truly fucked.'