CHAPTER - 12 : Meeting Malfoys

(Sorry for the long delay. Whatever reason I give, I cannot justify the 2 year long hiatus. I have nearly done six more chapters, but I lost interest in writing. Hence I didn't update before. Again don't expect regular updates, just bookmark it, or fav the story to get notifications.)

May 20th, 1998, Malfoy Manor.

Lucius was enjoying the summer having tea in his garden. He looked up to see an eagle-owl flying towards him with a letter in its talons. He removed the letter and waved his wand over the letter to check for hidden charms and curses. When he was sure it was safe, he opened the letter to read.

As he finished reading the letter, Lucius Malfoy couldn't stop himself from showing some kind of surprise on his face. 

When he read the letter from Lord Black, he thought it was some kind of prank. More likely a joke. His son was named as heir to the black family by the previous lord black himself. But here was a letter claiming to be from Lord Black. The letter was addressed from Harry Bloody Potter to Lucius Malfoy. Not his son Draco or his wife Narcissa who was once a Black.

Potter wanted to discuss the finances of the Black family with him. Lucius could not comprehend the situation. Clearly, Potter somehow took hold of Black family Lordship. 

How? He didn't know.

He initially wanted to file a complaint at DMLE. But will the department really take his situation seriously?

As soon as they see the name Harry Potter, his complaints would most probably turn to deaf ears. He can use some galleons. But where will he give them, to whom, who would support him over the boy-who-lived. The Wizengamot. They don't really take part in the heritage issues. If it was bloodline theft, they would help, but this….NO.

Last he heard from his friends those who escaped with him told him that the ministry was trying to apprehend everyone that was remotely attached to Death Eaters. Most inner circle had escaped somehow even after getting caught, most probably bribed to some degree, but still, he didn't want to try anything with ministry at present. So ministry is out. Appealing in the Wizengamot or judiciary will also return the case to the Gringotts Bank or DMLE.

Gringotts is the one responsible for all the paperwork to assign any Lordship by reading the wills of the previous heads. So Lucius demanded an explanation from Goblins which resulted in this meeting.

…....

June 8th, 1998.

The meeting took place in neutral ground. Gringotts Bank. 

Initially, when Malfoy Sr. suggested for a meeting, Harry wanted to have the meeting at Malfoy Manor. He was powerful enough to overcome all three Malfoys magically and powerful enough to break out of their wards if anything unexpected happened. 

He can't welcome them directly into Grimmauld Place, even if he did they wouldn't be willing to come inside his house. Because no wizard would trust their enemy to willingly go under a foreign ward. Especially Black family wards. And the Malfoys demanded it to be conducted at Gringotts. So Gringotts was made the final decision.

As Harry walked into the bank, a teller was waiting for him readily to take him to the private/meeting room. Apparently among the services they offer, they also act as a mediator between two parties so that they both can be relieved that the other didn't suddenly kill them. And also since, Gringotts is responsible for vouching for the selection of him being head of the house of two families (black family in this case) was not an oversight on their on their part.

The door to the private room opened. There was a conference table in the middle of the room. One side was occupied by the Malfoys and a goblin most likely the Malfoy family accountant and on the other side was Ironclaw. Gringotts head goblin was sitting at the head of the table. 

Harry didn't know the issue was so big that the presence of Gringotts head goblin was necessary. He just assumed Ragnok was here only because of Harry being here.

Harry was wearing a complete black suit and a hooded robe with silver linings. He got his wardrobe done the previous day which Kreacher retrieved from Madam Malkins.

Malfoys were surprised by the change in Harry's physical appearance. While the elder Malfoys managed to show little to no emotion on their face except for their raised eyebrows, on the other hand, Draco was seething fire through his nostrils. Harry could feel the anger through his empathic senses. 

'I thought the picture in the Daily Prophet was a little exaggerated, but it looks like they were the real deal', Narcissa Malfoy thought to herself. It had been only one month since she had last seen him, a boy who was a step away from death...no he died and woke up from death, now he appeared to be a different person. He looked refined, walked with elegance and there was some cockiness in his action. And his eyes were glowing at times. She could feel the invisible pressure increasing in the room. Well everyone felt it except for her son.

She turned to look at her son Draco and sighed. Oh…how she expected her son to turn out to be, but what she got in the end was this impertinent man-child. 

While Lucius' thoughts were also along the lines of his wife, Draco on the other hand was in great fury. Just an hour ago he had been told by his father that Harry Potter had become the head of the Black Family. 'MY BLACK FAMILY'. He seethed inside.

Lucius sensed Draco was about to burst out. 

"Calm down boy, I will handle the talking", Lucius hushed at Draco from the side. On the other side Narcissa placed her hand on Draco's applying pressure to show her displeasure of his demeanor.

Sitting on the edge of the table Ragnok looked at harry and said, "Please have a seat Mr.Potter".

Harry obliged. Sitting on the opposite side of Malfoys.

"Lord Potter" Ironclaw greeted and sat beside Harry.

It was Ragnok, who started the discussion. "Mr. Potter I am are here because the Malfoys has made a claim that you deceived them of lordship of Black Family. You are here because, you and Mr. Draco Malfoy will both be taking the test to determine the rightful ruler of the Black Family"

Harry narrowed his brows and looked between the Malfoys and Ragnok. 

'What game are these two playing. It was the goblins that allowed me to take the vault test, which resulted in me getting Lord rings of two families. Is the goblins turning sides now. No way…the deal with Ragnok just finalized and I still owe him a favour….'

He took a deep breath and skimmed over the thoughts of the Malfoys and Ironclaw. Well, he couldn't get anything from both Lucius and Narcissa. It took him nearly 20 seconds to gather the necessary information about the discussion.

It seems there were two lord rings. A ring passed through the patriarch to their heir and another ring obtained through passing the vaults of the Black family. And Arcturus Black provided a Lord ring to the Malfoys before his passing.

Seeing Harry Potter not speaking for half-a-minute Lucius thought he won the dispute without opening his mouth. 

'Harry Potter may have been the boy-who-lived, but he is still naive in political arena and other matters. Just because Sirius gave him Grimmauld place doesn't mean he would become the head of the family'

Harry turned to Ragnok with a blooming smile and asked, "Who will be conducting the test?"

"It will be Black Family Vault of course. If you can gain access to the Family vault then you will be decided as next head of the Black Family", Ragnok replied to Harry.

As soon as Narcissa heard that the family vault will determine the next family head, she became frightened. She had heard stories from her mother saying things about the family vault. How only someone worthy can gain permission from the vaults. Her grandfather had gained the Lordship through that method. That was why her uncle Orion could never become the head of the family despite her aunt Walburgha's constant tantrums.

Apparently there were some deaths which resulted in no one else trying vault trial thereafter.

When everyone got up from their seats she panicked.

"Isn't there some other ways to determine the Lordship", Narcissa asked Ragnok suddenly.

"i believe there are no other ways Mrs. Malfoy. There was an exactly similar case that happened in the Black family before. Once a Black patriarch chose a younger sibling instead of the heir to become the next family head, but the heir protested and went through the vault trial to become the Lord. You must have known the story, have you not Lady Malfoy. Because it was your grandfather Lord Arcturus Black, who won the Lordship through this ordeal", Ragnok replied to Narcissa Malfoy.

As soon as this issue about Black Family Lordship was brought to the goblins, Ragnok knew how it was going to end. Because when the goblin nation came to know about Harry's eligibility for the Lord status in the Black Family, they planned to make him the Lord through vault trial. If by chance he passed the trial and became the Lord, then they can demand the materials in the vault as compensation for his break-in. 

Ragnok knew that since Harry has passed the trial then he must be the actual Lord. Hence he came forward to handle the issue directly.

"Mother, grandfather Arcturus gave me the heir and lord ring. There is no way for him to beat the trial. Hn….", Already asking him to take a trial to become the lord, made him upset. And now his mother is asking for other ways to settle the issue. The Black Family was destined to be his, Draco monologuing to himself in his mind. 

Lucius knew something was wrong when he saw Narcissa panicking. He turned to look at Potter. Potter looked confident that the issue would end up in his favour. So he moved towards his wife to ask what was the problem.

Narcissa used muffilato charm so that no one can overhear them. 

"Lucius, can't you see? Potter must have gone through the trial already, that is why he looks confident. Moreover the other person who took the trial with my grandfather, was my grand-uncle. He died soon after the trial. Cursed by the vault, or that was the reason I was told. I don't want my son to die", Narcissa said to Lucius. 

Harry too heard everything through thought reading. She was coming up with another plan using ministry to make him hand over the family. That option too won't end up in her favor. But she didn't need to know that. So harry spoke before they can delay or set-off this issue.

"Come on little Draco, are you afraid of a little test" Harry goaded Draco.

Draco had enough of the banter. He took out his wand and fired a bone breaker curse at Harry. Harry side stepped as the curse flew straight towards Ragnok. 

A goblin soldier with a shield appeared in the line of curse in front of Ragnok. Another goblin darted towards Draco as soon as the other fired the curse and knocked him down and proceeded to remove Draco's wand.

Everything happened so fast for both the elder Malfoys to react.

Ragnok turned anger to Lucius and asked "Should I take this as an assault against goblin nation" Well, not really against the Goblin nation, but he wanted to show his support to Harry, so he gave the theatrical words to the Malfoys.

Lucius cursed Draco in his mind, 'A fool with no self-control. I don't know how he is going to survive politics'

"I very sorry for the trouble my son has caused you, Head Goblin. Shall we discuss our issue on other date. As you can see my son is not in anyway proceed now" Lucius apologized to Ragnok and asked him to postpone the vault trial. Even if he has no respect for Goblins in general this was a Head Goblin so he showed some respect.

"You either retract your statement you have made on Mr.Potter or we can do the trial now and be done with it. I don't have time to deal with this problem everyday" Ragnok replied to them.

Based on his wife's words the trial will probably result in Draco's death or his incapacitation. And if he withdraws the compliant now, he could not appeal it in the Wizengamot. Lucius knew it was his defeat.

"We will retract the complaint and give up on the qualification of my son's right to the heir's status", Lucius said his decision to Ragnok and proceeded to leave the room with Narcissa levitating knocked out Draco behind. 

"Excuse me Mr and Mrs. Malfoy, we still have our business to deal with" Harry called them out before they can leave the room.

It was now Lucius remembered the rest of the contents of the letter potter had written to him. 

With Draco taken to the Gringotts infirmary, both the Malfoys, Harry and both their account managers seated themselves for the next discussion.

Harry straight up demanded 1 million in galleons, two of malfoys shops present in horizon alley and his Corci island. Harry had investigated all the properties in Malfoys name. The shops in horizon alley are the ones that brings him more income and among all the islands he owns, this was the one far away from Britain. Of course the over all value he asked for does not equate to the total damage done by Lucius to the Black family businesses. But since these are the most valuable things possessed by the Malfoys, he demanded them of these things.

For the next ten minutes the talk went on with out any result.

"Lets take a look at your situation Lucy. Do you think anybody will question me if I were to forcefully take all of these properties...." Harry let the words digest in their minds and continued.

Harry's improper speech did startle them a bit. Harry continued as if he did not care.

"No one will care about it. Your Lord is dead. In regards to magical power not one wizard in Britain can match me. Even in the Wizengamot I hold a significant amount of power now that I am the Lord Black and I am sure I will be receiving Order of Merlin - First Class too. And last of all, I am not asking too much from you is it. The amount I demanded is half of the total value you stole from Black Family" 

Harry knew even the amount he is asking for compensation does not equate the loss of black family, most of Malfoy's assets were used up in the last war. So squeezing Malfoy would only backfire on him. What he demanded was the amount that Malfoy can pay without going broke. And he didn't want Malfoys broke. Lucius is a necessary enemy who can keep his old pals in line.

After that Malfoy gave in without much resistance. From there the account managers talked about the further transference procedures themselves.

Since the beginning to the end Narcissa didn't open her mouth in the discussion. But she was coming up with various number of plans regain their losses in her mind. From this harry came to know that it was Narcissa was the one who helped Lucius in any matter of politics and business.

Obviously she was the brains of the Malfoy family. Even when Voldemort ordered Draco to kill Dumbledore, it was Narcissa who made the back up plan and made Snape to swear an oath, to help Draco in killing Dumbledore. If Draco died, her value will plummet in the Malfoy family without her son being the heir to the Malfoys. 

Even after the first war it was her who used money and power to ensure the Malfoy family to stand tall, helped Lucius to escape his prison sentence. 

Harry had planned to bring her under his crowd. He had observed and seen in her thoughts that Narcissa was not that deeply attached to the Malfoys, maybe a little bit for Draco. Because she didn't have much other options, she stayed with the Malfoys. If Harry was to offer a better deal she was bound to take it. 

Plus her body looked like a ripened fruit with that big breasts and plump ass that was ready to burst with a simple squeeze was just a bonus.

…....

Harry went straight to Andromeda's house after his work in the Bank was over. She was reading a witch weekly magazine on the couch in the living room. She looked up to see harry watching her with lust filled in his eyes.

"What got you to so stirred up now?" Andromeda patted the seat next to her and smiled at harry.

Harry went near the couch lifted Andromeda and sat her on his laps. Andromeda let out a short gasp.

"Your sister", Harry replied.

"What!" At first she couldn't understand his answer, then she remembered that harry should have met Narcissa during his meeting with Malfoys. 

"Ohh…How was she? My sister", Andromeda spoke in a husky to Harry.

"She …..is a total stunner" Harry searched for a word to describe her.

"Not like that you idiot" Andromeda gave a sigh. 

Harry took a second to think.

"She is the brains behind the Malfoy family it seems. And also an excellent witch. If it wasn't for her, Malfoys would be in a dump somewhere in knockturn alley. She is already making plans to recover the losses that occurred because of me and the war", he said in a calculative tone.

Andromeda didn't look surprised. 

"She was the one who spent most of her free time with either my grandfather and with aunt Walburgha. My grandfather was a strong wizard ,requires a strict discipline. He would chastise any family member for their mistakes openly, whether it was his son or grandson or in-laws. He does not care about others feelings. 

My aunt Walburgha..... was a complete lunatic but had a shrewd mind. Narcissa survived both of them and learnt everything she could from them", Andromeda explained slowly.

"Even when we were children, she was the intelligent one of all the three of us. We three were real close. It was when marriage contracts were being drawn by our aunt, we went separate ways. She fell in love with Lucius….. not really love…at least she found a path with Lucius. Me, I broke away from the family". Andromeda spoke with a lot of grief in her voice. She refused to speak about Bellatrix.

When Harry read Narcissa's mind, he did not delve in deeply to make out an outline of her character clearly. He knew she had a shrewd mind and he guessed the rest. That was all.

Andromeda turned to look harry being in deep thought. She leaned towards him.

"I don't think she will be falling for your charms harry, she always had a calculative mind. For her everything condenses to personal benefit", then Andromeda started kissing harry slowly.

"Well, we will see about that", soon they both began a passionate round of sex.

…....

In Grimmauld Place, Hermione did not go out of her room till the next day. 

As Kreacher did not bring dinner for her last night, she was very hungry now. It was already late in the morning, she came down the stairs slowly searching whether harry was present in the living room or kitchen.

"What are you doing?", a voice came from her side. 

"Kyahh…." She turned suddenly to see harry standing there with his arms crossed.

"HARRY….it's you…don't frighten me like that" hermione said to Harry.

"What did I do, I just came out of my room and saw you searching for….something?", he knew that she was checking for his presence but didn't point it out.

"Hmph…..come let us have dinner. I am starving" hermione walked to the kitchen, without answering his question.

Hermione soon returned to her room after breakfast, without speaking much.