Chapter 6:

I met with Lord Nott. Draco had talked with his son, Theodore Junior, so he would already know some of my basic argumnets.

"Theodore." I gave him some firewhiskey. I noticed that he glanced at his ring when he accepted the glass, checking if it was poisoned.

He drank and said, "Lucius. It would seem we have some catching up to do."

I answered, "The Dark Lord is not coming back. There will be evidence soon, but for now I have none to share."

Nott said, "That is dangerous talk if you were wrong."

I said, "If so, we need to find our own way. Consider this quote from the Dark Lord; There is not good nor evil, only power and the will to use it."

Nott answered, "If you are talking about leadership while we await the Dark Lord's return, whether or not we believe that will happen. I have been in his service far longer than you. Your father is in fragile health and incapable of handling that leadership. If what you say is true, you should help gather our associates to follow me."

I answered, "None of us have the Dark Lord's power. None of us have that ability to get people to pledge their lives for a greater goal. It would be a fool's errand to make that attempt.

I am planning something else. First, to have mutually beneficial arrangements rather than pledges of loyalty. That might seem messier, but none of us have that ability to acquire loyalty, not me and not you.

The next is to plan how we can prosper over generations. You are a smart man. I will lay out the facts for you and see if you disagree.

As I am sure your son has relayed to you, the Dark Lord, while a descendant of Slytherin, and therefore likely his heir, also had a muggle father, Tom Marvolo Riddle Senior. Don't get outraged over this, you were in his close circle when he applied to be a professor at Hogwarts, you know this to be true.

What does that show? That we follow power. Two half-bloods, the most powerful wizards to live in the last 46 years. The remaining one, Dumbledore can be contained. The circumstances in which he would use his magical power, rather than political power, are limited, and we can avoid crossing those lines.

You say nothing. You are thinking about options including if the Dark Lord returns. I admire your cunning, a true Slytherin. I'll continue with a power analysis and our way forward.

Those of us not imprisoned are the more practical within our ranks. We know how to adapt to changing circumstances. While we sympathize with those of us in Azkaban we also realize that they are likely quite resentful of us, and might consider revenge if they got out. We have made our choices, now we must try to continue to live with those choices.

There aren't many of us purebloods. Our numbers suffered considerably during the recent war, and the war before that. We want a future of leadership by Draco and Theodore Junior and the rest of that generation. Risky wars endanger them. How many families have been mostly or completely wiped out by the previous wars?

There are other trends. Muggleborn and half-bloods. I no longer use the term mudblood. I have a little project to show that guiding them to part of our culture rather than trying to wipe them out, or simply being hostile to them, or trying to encourage them to return to being muggles, is the best path forward.

First consider all out war with the Muggles. The muggles have atomic bombs which can destroy even the most powerful wards. This is much more powerful than the aerial bombardment you might have been familiar with during Grindelwald's war. They have networks of cameras that make keeping track of magic possible, if they knew what they were looking for.

If muggleborn who return to the muggle world decided to help them, they could use their weapons and tools against us in ways we are not prepared for. In the last 300 years, their ability to attack precisely over long distances has advanced considerably.

If we tried to wipe out muggles, we might well lose, or might have some survivors living in hidden places. It would not be a good outcome.

If we tried to wipe out muggleborn, we would not succeed globally and only push them towards helping the muggles.

If we remain hostile to muggleborn, it would only push more of them to return to the muggle world and be hostile to the wizarding world.

If we welcomed them, but guided them, taught them, we can have a wizarding world that can endure for the long term. We remain in charge, but let a few of the most promising ones into our leadership after making sure that they do not want to impose muggle ways. The rest learn their role in our society, that role being an acceptable one to them and to us."

Nott said, "So you don't want them to grovel at our feet, but want them to be persuaded by us?"

I said, "I think we can achieve more with persuasion, mutual benefit, politeness, ruthless action only when needed, than by all out war. I am not convinced that we would win an all out war."

Nott said, "It sounds promising. I'll need to be convinced one way or the other about the Dark Lord's return before having a public response."

I was convinced that Nott would not move against me for now.

I talked to Draco, "There are some secrets that I am only gradually going to tell you. I need to be certain that you will not brag or inadvertently reveal them."

Draco was outraged and said, "I would never tell family secrets!"

I said, "I know that is your intention, but we need to work on your ability to avoid revealing without intending to.

One item I will tell you know, is while you have been studying occlumency, certain magic has been applied to you to make it absolute. Your mind cannot be read, not even by potion or by imperio, except when you allow it, such as you did for the sorting hat.

That out of the way, I need to tell you about something that will be happening soon so you do not react incorrectly to it.

There was a muggle fighter over 100 years ago in a place in America called the Old West. The weapon of choice was a handheld firearm, which could be as effective as a wand if a wizard was caught by surprise. He survived in a violent environment, not by having superior dueling skills, but by knowing that someone was going to fight him before they themselves did, and striking first.

There is a certain former associates of mine that will eventually oppose us, and I do not mean by writing letters or trying to vote in laws. He and anyone else who appears to have the same plan, might suffer some unfortunate events before being able to be a threat."

I hired the Wizard-Ninjas. They were far away from local loyalties and very effective at their jobs. Many assume that ninjas dress in black and attack at night. While sometimes they do that, most often they try to blend in with the scenery, often as ordinary people that one would not assume to be a threat.

This team of ninjas arrived in Britain as sales representatives for a Japanese electronics company. They used magic to get that role, but studied it thoroughly.

Corban Yaxley was invited to a meeting in a muggle bar to discuss trading some artifacts that he had expressed interest in. He was suspicious, but it was business he wanted to conduct, and he carefully observed the environment before entering it.

There was a boisterous group of Japanese at a table with three locals, all dressed in expensive muggle clothing. One said, "Fred-san, our picture tube is superior due to precise masking." He drew a diagram. "Each color, red, green, and blue goes precisely to the correct phosphor. Tomorrow we'll show you a comparison, you'll be convinced why it is worth a premium price."

Another of the group said in a slurred voice, "Enough business talk! Another round!" When it arrived, "Kanpai!". Another in the Japanese group said to one of the English executives, "Great pronunciation. In English it might sound like kampai or kanpai, it means empty your cup."

Yaxley ignored them and continued with his business. When he left the bar to find a place to apparate from, another Japanese man, dressed like the others, stumbled up to him and asked in a slurred way with an accent, "Where is the piss place? The pissy place!" Then he started laughing and repeating that phrase.

Yaxley was starting to say "Moron", when he was hit from behind by a spell. He was never seen again.

I sent Amelia Bones precise information on how to catch Barty Crouch Junior. She was skeptical that Barty Crouch Junior was alive, but followed up anyway and arrested both Barty Crouch Junior and Senior.

Walden Macnair didn't seem the type to hire hitwizards. I could see him attacking in a bezerk way, but I think I could handle that if needed, and he could be useful if he could see the way the wind was blowing and decided to work with me. He was on the watch list. The Carrows were similarly on the watch list. The watch list meant that I had agents keeping tabs on them, and seeing if they were plotting against me, or saying things that would indicate that they might decide to do so.

Avery Junior was probably persuadable. I would need to wait until there was better assurance that he wouldn't need to worry about Voldemort's return before I would approach him.

At another lesson for Draco I said, "House elves can be helpful or can sabotage within their limits, depending on how you treat them. Do not look down on Dobby. Treat him like your favorite Abraxan horse.

We are going to invite the Grangers and Harry Potter over before the end of Yule break. We are going to teach them about house elves. This is going to be very important on how well we can adapt Lady Dagworth-Granger to our ways. To a lesser extent we will also have to teach Harry Potter.

If we fail, Lady Dagworth-Granger will think of house elves as she would human slaves and perhaps start some sort of crusade to free them. It will be mostly up to you to explain to her the bond of elves. Kreacher might be a better example to show her, but Dobby has a private fondness for Harry Potter which we can exploit."