Chapter 131: Black Mirror
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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7 June 1993, Black Manor
Harry expected that being a ward of Arcturus Black would have changed things. Oddly enough, he didn't feel any different. If he was perfectly honest, this wouldn't have been his main choice. Harry would have rather remained alone, without any kind of adult supervision, practising magic in Diagon Alley, and buying whatever he wanted from there.
However, Dumbledore tried his hands. He knew that the moment he went after the Heir of Slytherin, the headmaster would try to do his best to assert his control over him. Getting himself adopted pretty much removed any authority the man could have over Harry, outside the castle that is. In Hogwarts, he would still need to obey the headmaster, but now he had options. He could fight back if the man went too far, unlike previously where he could literally get the ministry to drop any complaint he had.
Nothing involving him will be buried under the carpet with one single word of him.
And the price for all of that was trusting Arcturus Black. Honestly, Harry still didn't know what to make of the man. He hadn't even spoken to Harry once since the man took over his guardianship, and the last Potter was waiting for the shoe to drop.
The man didn't even come to pick up Harry and just sent a house elf with a portkey. He was shown his room and that was it. He went to the dining room to eat, alone, he sometimes used the floo to get to Diagon Alley without any problems. No one said anything about the rules that he had to follow in the manor. Nothing.
He didn't even know if Arcturus was in the manor. The building was large enough that Harry would need days to find him, without magic that is. So, he had given up on doing so. He was perfectly fine with the arrangement. As long as he was not stifled, he had no reason to complain.
So, after five days of silence, when Harry found a small piece of paper telling him that the Black Patriarch invited him to eat lunch with him in his office, he felt a mixture of worry and puzzlement.
Why did the Black Patriarch wait so long?
Was this when Arcturus was going to start restricting him?
Was this the moment Harry would lose his freedom once more?
Still, after living in the man's home, Harry had to respect his wishes. Arcturus Black always seemed like a reasonable man, but the last Potter knew for a fact that things were not always what they appeared. He had taken a risk with Arcturus Black; this was simply the first of the consequences that awaited that decision.
And so, the last Potter readied himself and walked towards the man's office. As usual, the corridors of the Black family manor were dimly lit and had many secrets that Harry wanted to unravel. He couldn't shake the feeling that this lunch meeting would mark a turning point in his life, for better or worse. His footsteps echoed softly against the polished marble floor, creating an eerie sense of solitude.
As Harry approached the door to Arcturus Black's office, he took a deep breath and knocked politely. The door opened with a slight creak, revealing a spacious room adorned with dark wood furniture and ancient tapestries. Arcturus Black, seated behind an ornate desk, looked up from his paperwork with a small, but not unfriendly, smile.
"Ah, Harry Potter," Arcturus said in a deep, commanding voice that seemed to resonate with authority. "I'm pleased you could join me. Please, have a seat."
Harry nodded and took a seat across from Arcturus, who gestured to a sumptuous spread of food on a nearby table. Harry's stomach rumbled at the sight and smell of the delicious dishes laid out before him. Harry was hungry and helped himself to a small platter of dishes. He had missed Breakfast while he was working on a particularly troublesome spell. Specifically, the Patronus Charm.
The spell had fascinated Harry for years, but he never really had the time to study it properly. In his first year, he was too inexperienced and focused on other spells. His second year was consumed with his game with Riddle. This summer was the first time Harry had some real free time on his side to focus on something as arbitrary as the Patronus Charm.
Well, the charm itself was simple enough. Using an emotion as a catalyst, the spell itself tried to create some kind of manifestation of that emotion. The reason why the charm was so effective against dementors was because it overwhelmed them. It took some research, but Dementors did not feed on the hopes and happiness of their victims. They fed on the misery, in fact, they didn't really understand the concept of happiness. What the dementors did was bring out the feeling of despair in their victims, however, conscious people always have that emotion connected to some kind of memories, and their mind immediately uses that connection to relive their worst memories.
It was horrifying. The mind arts couldn't do anything because this wasn't a mental attack in any way, just an emotional one. Just like an empath could theoretically see the emotions of a person proficient in Occlumency, dementors find the small part of the spectrum that holds their despair, and they enhance it as much as possible, which would inevitably overwhelm all other emotions after years, practically guaranteeing the madness of any long-term prisoner in Azkaban.
The Patronus Charm is a manifestation of pure happiness, which is something that Dementor try to snuff out as much as possible. They're repulsed by it. It's in their nature. Technically speaking, any emotion other than despair could work, but happiness was by far, the most effective solution.
Harry still had issues casting the spell, still being left with mist. He was using a few memories of his friends as the catalyst, but he knew that it wasn't enough. No, what he was trying to do was modify it to work with other emotions, mainly hope, or willpower, that is. Perhaps doing it with the entire emotional spectrum could lead to a lot of interesting interactions with certain spells or magical creatures. It was interesting yet very complex, but it should be theoretically possible. It was one of the most difficult challenges he faced in a while.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a cough. He suppressed a blush when he realized that he had ignored his new guardians, being distracted by possible arithmetic formulas in his head, "Sorry about that."
The older man chuckled, "Who am I to interrupt a mage in the middle of his project? I've been monitoring your work. Well, Kreacher has. He's been quite taken with you, ever since you destroyed Regulus' Locket. But modifying the Patronus Charm. I have to say that you don't take things slow, do you?"
"If things were easy, then they wouldn't be worth doing."
"I couldn't have said so myself. I wanted to wait until you were settled in before we had this talk. I wanted to talk to you today about your future and your place within the Black family."
Harry shook his head, "I'm your ward, I know that. The human body cannot handle more than one activated magical crest."
"Yes, I know how family crests work, boy. I don't want to get you killed needlessly. You're already the last of your line and I won't risk it. We already agreed in your letter that one of your children will bear the Black crest. No, what I meant is that as my ward, you're expected to appear in certain political functions, talk with your peers during certain events, and make a few connections, especially with what's happened recently."
Harry frowned in confusion, "What are you talking about?"
The man frowned and threw an issue of the Daily Prophet onto the desk. Harry leaned in and took a look at the first page:
LUCIUS MALFOY FOUND DEAD IN HIS HOME: THE SMILING KILLER STRIKES AGAIN. ARE WE SAFE?
The headline sent a chill down Harry's spine. Lucius Malfoy, a prominent figure in the wizarding world and the unspoken leader of the traditionalist faction of the Wizengamot, "Who's this smiling killer?"
"No one knows. Hell, no one even has the slightest clue. They just call him that because of the way his victim's cheeks are cut like they were smiling or something. The DMLE thinks that it's some kind of serial killer, but no one knows how he got through the wards. They weren't damaged in any way, and there was no trace of magic on the corpses. They didn't even fight back. No signs of potions, spellfire, nothing. They don't even know if it's a man or a woman. It's like this killer is some kind of ghost that goes through wards as if they weren't there and leaves without a single trace."
"You said he was a serial killer," Harry stated with an intrigued expression on his face, "so, he did kill before."
"Yes, but not people as high profile as Lucius Malfoy. The ministry was trying to bury it as much as possible."
"Other death eaters?"
"No. They thought so when Alecto Carrow and Walden Macnair were found dead with the same wounds. But He also killed Sturgis Podmore, and Emmeline Vance, who are very well known to be on Dumbledore's side."
Harry frowned, "So, everyone who participated in the war…"
"Harry, everyone participated in the war. Well, every old family. That fake Dark Lord sent an invitation to every family to follow him. If you didn't agree, he took it as a declaration of being his enemy. Everyone fought. The killer could have been going after old families or hunting their artefacts. And with the war being over for over a decade, the killer would have started long ago. The truth is that no one really knows what's going on, and Fudge panicking over it doesn't help matters."
The last Potter wasn't convinced. This was different. He could feel it in his bones. This had to do with the war. Someone wasn't happy with how it went and was going after both sides. The question was why now? Why wait for a decade to target people? Unless he couldn't. Unless he was too young to do anything about it before.
Still, there were too many unknown variables to make a conclusion. Harry needed more data.
The Black Patriarch continued with his speech, "You see, Lucius' death opens a lot of doors, but also presents a lot of danger. He ruled the traditional faction with an iron fist and with him gone, they'll be looking for a new leader."
"And you want to take the helm…"
"Oh, by the powers no. I'm too old for something like this. No, what I want is for someone somewhat reasonable to take over. Someone patient enough not to screw up the delicate balance in the Wizengamot."
"What about Narcissa? She could take over," Harry stated.
"No, they'll never accept her," the Black Patriarch denied, "Lucius did a good job at defanging her the moment they were married. The leader has to be a Death Eater, and Narcissa was also never one, just a sympathizer and supporter of her husband. I think Avery or Rosier are the most likely contenders. Nott being elected would be a disaster. No, what I want to do is present you as a potential candidate after your graduation as the representative of the Black family. It would make the hold of the new leader to be unstable. You'll be an unspoken candidate for the future. Narcissa would probably do the same with her son, but she won't succeed. Also, it would help you garner more support from a third of the Wizengamot. Especially considering what's coming."
"And what is coming?" Harry asked.
The man took out a piece of paper, "Dumbledore. He's protesting my appointment as your guardian. He managed to get a hearing in front of the Wizengamot. If you somehow portray yourself as a possible competent heir of the Black family legacy, you'll have half the Wizengamot in the palm of your hands. You'll hit two birds with just one stone."
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.