A Bone to Pick

Destiny sliced Merope's palm and held it over the goblet she was holding in her hand. Merope hissed in pain when Destiny sliced her hand and she wanted to scream when Destiny forcefully held her hand over the goblet. Merope knew that she couldn't fight or protest, so she simply decided to go with the flow as there was nothing she could do to get out of this predicament.

Destiny was finally done collecting Merope's blood, so she moved the goblet using a Wandless Levitation Charm. She traced a finger over Merope's wounded palm and the wound on Merope's palm disappeared like it was never there. After that, Destiny snapped her fingers and vanished all the blood outside the goblet. 

Once again Destiny Wandlessly levitated the goblet filled with blood and she slowly approached Tom who was kneeling on the ground in between a ritual matrix. Destiny levitated the goblet over the kneeling man. She slowly tipped the goblet and poured the contents of the goblet over Tom's head. Tom was placed under Destiny's Imperius Curse, so he didn't even complain. 

Destiny flicked her hand and vanished the goblet. She pulled out her Wand and placed it on the ritual matrix. Without wasting any more time, Destiny started to channel her Magic into the ritual matrix. The matrix started to glow brightly and a glowing ring formed around Tom's neck. Moments later, the ritual matrix disappeared. Now, instead of a glowing ring, there was a black band around Tom's neck. That was the mark of a slave…

"Well… that's that" Destiny cheered as she clapped her hands. She turned around towards Ambika.

"Ambika, why don't you show Merope and her slave where they are going to stay" Destiny said and Merope was already making her way towards her Tom. Destiny finally dismissed the Imperious Curse and Tom slumped over and passed out.

"Of course, my lady" Ambika said in a respectful tone and she turned towards Merope and Tom. With a flick of her Wand, Ambika levitated the man. She started to lead the two of them without giving Merope a chance to say anything.

"Merope…" Destiny called out, making Ambika and Merope stop. "It goes without saying that if you try anything then I will bury you along with your toy" Destiny said in a neutral tone with her eyes glowing eerily. Even if Merope was planning something, all of that left her mind in an instant. It just wasn't Merope, everyone who witnessed the sight, shuddered in fear.

None of them except for Ambika and Cassiopeia had ever sensed the Raw Magical Power of this Magnitude. Sirius cursed inside his mind and he was really glad that he had decided to join their cause. Sirius' respect for Destiny increased by several folds. He looked at his family members and they were also staring at Destiny with awe and respect on their faces.

Merope could only nod her head… Ambika finally led Merope and her slave towards the quarter. The ritual Destiny had used was quite flexible… She could have transformed Tom's whole personality if she wanted, but she decided not to do that just for the sake of it. If she had done that then Tom would have served Merope willingly, but where is the fun in that.

Tom was a Muggle, so his opinion didn't matter and if Merope was smart, she would learn how to keep her dog on a leash and Destiny wasn't a fool, so she had added a couple of security measures in the ritual. If Tom tried to hurt anyone Magical, then he would die due to cardiac arrest and the same will happen if Tom tries to leave the Ward line with the intention of running away. 

After that, Destiny turned towards Sirius. "Sirius, how quickly can you arrange a meeting between Families who are likely to join our cause?" Destiny asked in a chirpy tone, changing her whole personality.

"I could arrange that meeting in a week" Sirius answered and Destiny hummed with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Then do so, but be careful not to make too much noise. I don't want the Aurors realizing anything" Destiny said in a firm tone and Sirius gave her a respectful bow. After bidding farewell, Sirius finally left along with his Family, leaving behind only Cassiopeia. 

"The ritual was quite impressive… I am sure that everyone was quite impressed, especially when you decided to release your raw Magical Power" Cassiopeia said with a soft smile on her face. Destiny simply smirked after hearing her words.

"Then I am glad…" Destiny trailed off. "Cassiopeia, I might not be able to join you tonight, so don't wait for me… I have something important to do" Destiny said and Cassiopeia wasn't happy after hearing Destiny's words, but she could only nod her head in understanding, even if reluctantly. 

Destiny smiled softly and leaned down. She gently captured Cassiopeia's lips and the green-eyed Witch simply melted into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around Destiny's back and pulled her closer. Destiny smiled in the kiss as she continued to make out with Cassiopeia. After a couple of minutes, Destiny and Cassiopeia finally separated from each.

Both Destiny and Cassiopeia had flushed looks on their faces when they separated. Cassiopeia's eyes were clouded with lust, but she knew that Destiny had to leave, so she could only release a longing sigh. Destiny chuckled and caressed Cassiopeia's cheek. She knew how the other girl was feeling because she was feeling it too, but she really did have something to do. 

"Ah… there was something else I wanted to talk about, it would only take a couple of minutes maybe" Cassiopeia requested with an almost pleading look on her face. 

"Yeah, sure. I still have some time to spare" Destiny said softly. 

"Can you put my house under the Fidelius Charm?" Cassiopeia asked and Destiny simply raised one of her delicate eyebrows as she gave Cassiopeia a questioning look. After Cassiopeia saw the questioning look on Destiny's face, she decided to elaborate. 

"Well, I have been thinking a lot. You see, I want my house to be perfectly safe. I am not asking you this because I have decided to join your cause. I want my house to be a secret retreat or something like that… a place where nobody could find" Cassiopeia explained and Destiny tapped her chin. 

The idea did have some merit… Having a house hidden under the Fidelius Charm might come in handy and since Destiny was already planning to use the Spell, a bit of practice wasn't going to hurt her. Destiny had already used the modified version of Fidelius Charm to hide something, but it wasn't anything big like a house and Cassiopeia's house was quite big. She had emptied a bit more than a quarter of her Magical Core to cast the Spell. 

Destiny was planning to hide her identity, so obviously it was going to consume a lot more Magic. So before attempting to hide her identity, she decided that attempting to hide something else like Cassiopeia's house would be a good practice. She had no idea how her identity was supposed to be compared with a house, but she guessed that a house would at least require more Magic than the initial thing she has used the Charm to hide. 

"Sure… if that is what you want, but I won't be able to do it this week… maybe next week?" Destiny suggested and Cassiopeia nodded her head with a beaming smile on her face. 

"Ok… good night" Destiny pecked Cassiopeia on her lips and Apparated away. Destiny appeared inside Ambika's tent and found the white-haired Witch brushing her hair while sitting in front of a mirror. Ambika had already noticed Destiny's arrival in the mirror. 

"Ambika, I am finally starting the last stage of giving my Magic a will. Do you want to accompany me?" Destiny asked and Ambika immediately shot up from her seat and whirled around on her feet. 

"Really? I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world" Ambika cheered loudly. Currently, Ambika was wearing a see-through nightie, with a flick of her Wand, Ambika took off her nightie and with another flick of her Wand, she summoned some casual robes from her wardrobe. Destiny licked her lips when Ambika decided to flash Destiny with her natural beauty. Internally Ambika giggled as she didn't miss Destiny's reaction.

Without wasting much time, Ambika quickly put on her robes. Destiny might have agreed to make Cassiopeia a Coven member, but that didn't mean that she trusted Cassiopeia blindly like she trusted Ambika. The final stage of the whole process was a very complicated process… it would leave her pretty vulnerable to any attacks and she only trusted Ambika to watch over her when she was in a state like that. 

"I am done, let's go" Ambika called out as she strode towards Destiny. As soon as Ambika arrived in front of Destiny, she extended her hand toward the crimson-haired woman. Destiny accepted the offered limb and after only a moment, both of them Disapparated with a soft crack. 

Destiny and Ambika landed in front of the Bank of Scotland. The bank was obviously closed, but Unspeakables had a way of entering the bank without raising any alarms. Obviously, the Unspeakables needed such a way because this was their backup library, people only needed backups in case of an emergency and you can't predict when an emergency might pop up. 

"Why are we in front of a Muggle Bank?" Ambika questioned as Destiny started to walk towards the bank. 

"You see, I decided to pick an idea from the Unspeakables. You have read about the Unspeakables, right?" Destiny asked and Ambika simply gave her a nod, so Destiny decided to continue her explanation. "The Unspeakables have set up a few backup locations for their research and library around the continent and this is one of those locations" Destiny explained and Ambika's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"You are telling me that this bank is a backup archive for the Unspeakables?" Ambika questioned and Destiny couldn't stop herself from chuckling after hearing Ambika's question.

"No. Not, the whole bank at least. There is a secret door protected by the strongest Muggle Repelling Wards and you need a specific code to open the door. Inside the door, there is a lone vault. The vault is booby-trapped with various types of lethal Curses, though the Curses won't activate if you are opening the vault using the correct method"

"Inside the vault, there is a staircase leading to three massive basement floors hidden under the bank" Destiny explained, and Ambika seemed to be pretty intrigued with this whole cloak and dagger business.

"So, are we going to take over that vault?" Ambika questioned, but Destiny shook her head with a grin.

"No, we are going somewhere else" Destiny said and led Ambika towards the storage vault section. Destiny led Ambika towards the end of the hall, which was a dead end. Ambika turned towards Destiny and gave her a questioning look. "What do you see?" Destiny asked with a grin and Ambika gave her a blank look.

"A dead-end… something I have never seen before" Ambika said in a sarcastic tone as she rolled her eyes. Ambika knew that Destiny's Notice-Me-Not Charms were extremely strong compared to the Mundane Wizarding Population, but there was nothing on the wall and if there was a secret entrance, then she would have sensed it too. 

Even if she couldn't have looked past the Notice-Me-Not Charm, she could have easily sensed if something was wrong with the wall or not, especially when she was standing so close to the wall. The wall was a completely normal and Mundane wall and Ambika had no idea why Destiny had brought her here.

"Come on, Ambika. You shouldn't be so dismissive" Destiny almost whined with an amused glint in her eyes. 

Ambika released a tired sigh as she rolled her eyes. 'Sometimes Destiny can be such a child' Ambika thought internally and decided to humour Destiny. She might get to learn something new if there was really something in front of her… well, except for the wall. 

"Well… there are no traces of Magic on the wall, so you haven't used Notice-Me-Not Charm on the wall, and I presumed that there are no secret entrances behind the wall due to the lack of any type of Wards" Ambika explained and Destiny gave her a curt nod.

"And what about Muggle secret entrances?" Destiny asked. Ambika opened her mouth to retort, but her retort died before it could even leave her mouth. Destiny was right, there was a possibility that Muggles have created a secret entrance behind the wall. 

Such things were pretty common during the Muggle War. Ambika stepped forward and touched the wall, she wasn't an expert so she wasn't expecting to discover anything by touching the wall, but she decided to see if the wall was an illusion or not. It wasn't an illusion. Ambika pulled out her Wand and cast several types of Detection Charms on the wall and once again, the results came out to be negative.

She turned back towards Destiny, who had a smug grin on her face. "That is just the wall" Ambika growled as she started to glare at Destiny, but before Ambika could continue her rant, Destiny decided to speak up. 

"Vault 217 belongs to Destiny Grindelwald" Destiny said and all of a sudden, a circular vault door shimmered into existence from thin air. Ambika gaped like a fish out of water. She frantically shook her head to see if the vault door was an illusion or not. All of a sudden she realized that the Detection Charms she had used had come back positive, but she was damn sure that they came as negative, but now her mind was thinking that those Charms came back as positive. How? Why? 

"What the fuck?!!" Ambika cursed loudly and Destiny started to snicker in amusement. "How did you do that?" Ambika blurted out with a bewildered look on her face.

"...Tell me, Ambika, have you ever heard of the Fidelius Charm?" Destiny asked and after thinking for a bit, Ambika shook her head. Since Ambika had never heard o Fidelius Charm, Destiny decided to give her a brief description of the Spell.

"You can't be serious!!" Ambika gasped in surprise. "Is there truly a Spell like that? There is no way to break the Spell?" Ambika asked with an astonished look on her face. She couldn't believe that there was such an amazing Spell.

"Yes, but there is a tiny problem. I emptied more than a quarter of my Magical Core to cast the Spell on this vault" Destiny pointed out and Ambika was taken aback with a disbelieving look on her face. If Destiny had to use a quarter of her Magical Core to cast the Spell on a simple vault, then the Spell was out of her capabilities. 

"Wow… That is pretty understandable I suppose. From your description, the Spell is amazing as hell, so its cost must be high too" Ambika said with a thoughtful look on her face, and Destiny gave her a solemn nod. "But you forgot to mention that the Spell can also manipulate minds" Ambika added and Destiny simply raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What do you mean by manipulating minds?" Destiny questioned with a curious look on her face. She hasn't read anything about this.

"Well, the Detection Charms I cast came out as negative, but as soon as you revealed the Secret to me, I knew that the Detection Charms I had cast came out as positive" Ambika explained and Destiny finally understood what Ambika meant.

"That's not it. Even if you accidentally stumble upon something hidden by the Fidelius Charm you won't realize what it is because you don't even know what it is. That is how the Fidelius Charm is supposed to work. When you touched the wall, you clearly touched the vault door, but you felt like it was still a simple wall. Your mind couldn't comprehend the existence of the vault, since you didn't know the Secret"

"Now, the Detection Charms you have used must have come out as positive, but since you didn't know the Secret, your mind couldn't comprehend, but as soon as you learned the Secret, you realized that the Detection Charms must have come positive" Destiny explained with a smile on her face.

"I suppose… that is what might have happened" Ambika said with a nod of her head. Nonetheless, it was still the most impressive Charm Ambika had witnessed. 

"Well, let's go in" Destiny said, and then she opened the vault by turning the dial on the vault door Wandlessly. The vault door opened with a loud clang and the inside of the vault was completely bare. Since it was a storage vault, the inside of the vault was quite large.

"I am not an expert, but I think your secret retreat is kind of empty" Ambika said dryly and Destiny simply shrugged.

"It has been only two days since I have used the Spell on the vault" Destiny said in a dismissive manner. "I don't need any furniture for the time being" Destiny added and with a flick of her hand, she Conjured a cloth stand. The unclasped her cape and Wandlessly levitated it to the stand. After hanging her cape on the stand, she started ti unzip her leather bodysuit.

"Why are you taking off your clothes, not that I mind" Ambika muttered with a sly grin and Destiny gave her a saucy smirk.

"I am happy to please, but I am not trying to seduce you, at least, not now. The final stage of the process needs me to bathe in my own Magic until I can give it a colour. You see, normally our raw Magic is colourless, that is why you don't see anything around me even when I am releasing my raw Magic" Destiny explained and Ambika nodded her head in understanding.

"But what does it have to do with you taking off your clothes?" Ambika questioned as Destiny finally took off her leather and metal plating bodysuit. Right now, Destiny was only covered by a pair of brassiere and a pair of provocative knickers.

"Raw Magic is chaotic in nature. It would destroy my clothes if I go over a certain limit. I don't want to ruin my clothes and my unmentionables during the process and with the way you are staring at my ass, I can say that you like my knickers" Destiny said with a soft chuckle and unclasped her brassiere. 

"That I do" Ambika admitted without any shame, Since only the two of them were there, Ambika wasn't bothered by the shameless flirting. In fact, she was happy to return the favour. Destiny finally took off her knickers and with a wave of her hand, she Conjured a small bed at the side.

"That is yours, you can Conjure the bedding" Destiny said, and then she started to wave her hands as she started to Conjure a marble tub for herself. It took her only a few seconds to Conjure the tub. As soon as she was done, she climbed into the tub and turned toward Ambika. "Don't come near the tub. You might get hurt. Good night, Ambika" Destiny said with a soft smile as she slowly lay down inside the tub. 

"Good night, Destiny and be careful please" Ambika added in a worried tone. 

"Sure… I am going to be sore as fuck tomorrow morning" Destiny growled the last part. She slightly shifted inside the tub to make herself more comfortable, but it didn't work. She was lying inside a marble tub, it wasn't supposed to be comfortable or anything. It might have been if it was filled with warm water and she was taking a bath. 

Destiny took a deep breath and she finally started to release her Magical Power. Her eyes started to glow eerily while her hair started to blow like it was blowing in the wind. Slowly Destiny started to increase the output and she could feel the heaviness increasing. Ambika who was standing in her initial spot winced as Destiny started to increase the intensity of her raw Magical Power. 

Ambika was a smart woman, so she decided to be a good girl and backed away several steps, just like Destiny had suggested. Ambika wanted to stay up and witness the whole session. She wanted to feel Destiny's Magic washing over her body, but she was extremely tired. She was barely standing right now. It has been a long day, they have only arrived today and after helping around to set up the tents, Destiny had decided to abduct her and have her way with her. Well, Ambika wasn't complaining, since she did enjoy herself throughout the whole thing. 

Then she accompanied Destiny to the Black Tower, where they had dinner before grabbing Merope and her Muggle toy. So, yes Ambika was extremely tired. She pulled out her Wand and started to Conjure the bedding for herself. Ambika plopped down on the bed and she didn't even notice when she fell asleep. 

Meanwhile, Destiny was gritting her teeth inside the marble tub. This was much harder than she had imagined. She had never anticipated that channelling her Magic in such a way was going to be so hard. She grabbed the edges of the tub, and she could feel that the tub was starting to get corroded due to her immense Magic. Destiny started to use her Occlumency to increase her concentration. She finally felt herself drifting away as she finally started to get a hang over the whole procedure. 

It wasn't getting any easier all of a sudden, but it was surely becoming somewhat comfortable for her. She finally stopped gritting her teeth as she continued to release her Magic. Now that she was comfortable with her current magnitude, she decided to increase the output even more. Cracks started to form around the marble tab, and Destiny realized that it was probably going to break. 

She wasn't disappointed when the tub crumbled into small pieces of marble, but she didn't stop the process. Destiny continued to release her Magic for a couple of hours in that manner. Destiny realized that she was practically running on fumes and she was going to empty her immense Magical Core in the next couple of minutes. So, she finally stopped releasing her Magic. She finally opened her eyes to see how much devastation she had caused around her and she gaped in shock when she found herself lying inside a crater filled with dust. 

Destiny would have liked to care more, but she was dead tired. So, she used the last bit of Magic present in her Magical Core to Transfigure the dust into a comfortable bed and sheet. This was a good way to exhaust her Magical Core. After reaching the Crystalized Magical Core state, she had been unable to exhaust her Magical Core. She knew that her Core wasn't going to get any bigger, but she might have a chance to move on to the next Magical Core state. 

From Gellert, Destiny knew that there were two more Magical Core States and she had also found several ancient texts hinting toward those states. She also had a few books in her collection where those States were described in detail, but unfortunately for Destiny, she never had the time to read them. She had other important things to do. She had been quite busy lately and she knew that she was going to get busier in the coming months. Though Destiny vowed that she was going to read about the next Magical Core states tomorrow… as soon as she woke up. 

Destiny finally released a sigh and decided to close her eyes. She didn't even realize when she fell asleep due to her exhaustion… 

<Line Break>

The next day Destiny woke up with a loud groan. She tried to stretch her hands, but she found herself in the arms of her white-haired lover. She wondered when Ambika slipped into her bed. Well… Destiny decided that she could snuggle some more. So, she simply snuggled into Ambika's bosom. Moments later, once again she drifted away to dreamland. 

The two Witches finally woke up after another hour. Ambika was the first one who woke up and she immediately woke up Destiny after casting the Tempus Charm. It was almost noon… even though Destiny wanted to have her way with Ambika after waking up, she decided to return to their temporary base. Destiny was yet to show up at their base since yesterday evening. 

So, after getting dressed, they quickly left the bank and Disapparated to their temporary base. As soon as Destiny returned she found that the construction of her new base had already started. So, after having a nice and filling lunch, courtesy of Bibly, she decided to help with the construction. Right now, she didn't have any better things to do, except for reading more books. 

She could read them anytime since they weren't going anywhere, so she decided to help Vladimir and his men with the construction. Vladimir had asked for more helpers from all the other Lieutenants and all of them had happily obliged. Everyone knew that as soon as they could get their new base ready, they would be able to leave the tent and move into the building. Nobody liked living in tents, no matter how luxurious they were.

Meanwhile, Ambika decided to help around the base with the rest of her team. They also need to continue training the new recruits. Destiny didn't want them getting into a fight with Aurors or Hit-Wizards half-trained. She might be younger than some of the recruits, but she had shown them their place. So, some from Quinton's team and some from Ambika's team were helping with the training…

<Line Break>

"Lord Black, how may I help you?" Claiborne Bones asked politely as he kneeled in front of the fireplace. 

"May I come over, there is something important I have to discuss with you" Sirius said in a similar tone. Claiborne Bones was confused, but he still allowed Sirius to come over. He started to wonder, what could Lord Black want from him.

"Of course, though I wonder what someone of your station might need from someone like me" Claiborne said as Sirius finally walked out of the Floor covered in green flames. Sirius waved his Wand over his head to remove the soot from his expensive robes. Sirius looked around the room and internally sighed. Where the mighty have fallen.

Claiborne Bones lived in a run-down rundown manor along with his Family… or at least, his branch of the family. The manor was barely standing due to the application of Magic. "Can't I visit you just to meet my old friend?" Sirius asked and Claiborne could only give him a longing smile.

"You could, but don't expect any sort of luxurious hospitality from me" Claiborne said and Sirius simply snorted in amusement after hearing his old friend's words. 

Sirius and Claiborne were in the same year in Slytherin. Both of them had graduated in the same year from Hogwarts and that is when everything had gone downhill for Claiborne. Sirius went off to live a completely different life since he was Heir Black while Claiborne wasn't that lucky. Even after graduating, the two of them had stayed in contact and Sirius never stopped inviting his old friend and family for dinner from time to time.

"Welcome to my humble abode" Claiborne said as he led Sirius towards the couch. Even though Claiborne was trying to act completely normal, Sirius didn't miss the hint of shame in Claiborne's voice when he welcome Sirius into his house. It has been a couple of years since he had visited this house and it was still the same, barely holding up. Both of them sat down on the other side of the couch.

"Rax!" Claiborne called out and an old-looking house-elf popped beside the couch. "Bring some tea and snacks for me and my guest" Claiborne ordered, the house-elf bowed his head and popped away. 

"So, how have you been, Clai?" Sirius asked softly, but from his relaxed stature and form of address, Claiborne concluded that Sirius wanted the conversation to be informal.

"As good as I can be…" Claiborne answered with a sigh. "I am still creating Wards… Nowadays, the business has kind of gone down" Claiborne said with a thin smile on his face.

"I see, but you Wards are pretty good from what I know. That is why I use your Wards on all of my properties except for the Black Tower" Sirius said with a confused look on his face. He already knew why Claiborne's business has gone down, but he wanted to hear it from Claiborne's mouth. Sirius only knew the reason because he was on the Wizengamot.

Claiborne gave his friend an unimpressed look. He knew that Sirius was on Wizengamot, so there was no way that he didn't know anything about his ban, but since Sirius had decided to play innocent, Claiborne had to give an answer. Claiborne released a deep sigh… 

"Lord Bones, I mean my bastard twin had made selling Wards illegal if they aren't reviewed by the Ministry and then he put a ban on me" Claiborne said in an exasperated tone, and his voice was laced with quite a bit of venom.

Clifford Bones was Claiborne's brother. In Hogwarts, Clifford was sorted in Gryffindor, while he was sorted into Slytherin. Clifford was born a few minutes before Claiborne, so Clifford was supposed to become the Lord Bones. Due to Clifford's association with Gryffindor, he decided to become a paragon of light, who wanted nothing to do with their traditions, Family Magiks, or anything considered dark.

Usually, trying to do something like that would have gotten Clifford disowned and banished from the Family, but their Father who was actually Lord Bones died in their second year. Since Clifford was still a minor, he couldn't pick up the mantle of Lord Bones and when the truth about Clifford's intention finally came out, nothing could be done. Regent Bones, their mother, didn't have the power to disown him.

So, the title of Lord Bones went to Clifford like it was supposed to, and then he turned the Family upside down. After realizing Clifford's intentions, Claiborne made copies of all the books in their library, and with the help of his mother, he secretly smuggled them out. Unfortunately, they were unable to squirrel away gold as the main Bones Family vault had gone into lockdown after his father's death and his mother could only use the regent vault, which didn't contain much.

Copying the books and smuggling them out of the house turned out to be an extremely good idea as after claiming the Title of Lord Bones, he decided to burn down all the dark books in their library. All the dark books, which meant their whole library and he felt proud about it. Then he destroyed all the artefacts in the vaults. Their mother was sure that their father was rolling his grave.

His mother was so heartbroken that she wasted away a few weeks after that incident. Since Claiborne wanted to continue his Family legacy, he was thrown out of the Bones manor by Clifford. Before attending Hogwarts, Clifford could have never considered betraying his Family in such a manner, Claiborne was sure something had happened in school. He blamed the Gryffindor House for destroying his Family.

With the gold they had on their hands, they bought this run-down manor in a Muggle area. Claiborne was extremely good with Wards, so he started selling Wards. At least, he was fortunate enough to pay the bride price for his wife. He was always smitten with Dorothy Pyrites since he was in school. Dorothy was in Hufflepuff, but Claiborne was never bothered by her house. Others might call them leftovers, but they are at least very hard working.

Claiborne had a bright future, that is why the Pyrites Family allowed Claiborne to marry Dorothy even though Claiborne could no longer be called a member of the House of Bones, even though he still carried the last name Bones. Dorothy was also a Hufflepuff, which helped Claiborne's case. Within a couple of months, Dorothy became pregnant. Life was turning out quite good for Claiborne even after Clifford's treachery.

But, every good thing must come to an end and that is what happened with Claiborne. His blood traitor of a brother decided to introduce a bill to the Wizengamot, making it illegal to sell Wards that were not reviewed by the Ministry. Of course, Clifford's bill seemed to be completely sound and impartial, but Clifford used this chance to ban Claiborne from selling Wards under the guise of vulgar behaviour and illegal Runes.

After that, Claiborne could only sell his Wards to Gringotts, and those greedy goblins only paid the bare minimum for his Wards. The goblins knew that he couldn't sell his Wards due to the Ministry ban and since Golbin Nation didn't come under the Ministry of Magic, the Ministry couldn't stop them from buying his Wards. Goblins would only buy a single Ward from him and they would use their Curse Breakers to copy those Wards.

There was nothing Claiborne could do… The Pyrites Family tried to help Claiborne even if they didn't want to, but once again Clifford decided to intervene. He said that if any Family tried to help Claiborne then he would disown him from the Bones Family. Claiborne and his family would become No-Names and No-Names were considered to be lower than Mudbloods in their society.

During that time, Sirius had subtly helped them, but Claiborne didn't want someone's pity, so he only accepted the gold from Sirius when he said the gold was for the sake of their child. Claiborne accepted the gold, reluctantly and it turned out to be a good idea. Finally, their daughter was born and they decided to keep the gold for their daughter's Hogwarts' education.

Dorothy also started to brew Potions for St. Mungo's, the pay was enough to keep their family afloat and Claiborne continued to create Wards, but he stopped selling them to the greedy goblins in hope that someday he might be able to sell them at the right price. They taught their daughter everything their Family was supposed to be. Once again, Dorothy became pregnant and in the last months, she had to stop brewing, not to exert herself.

So once again, Claiborne had to sell a couple of his Wards to the goblins to keep their Family afloat. The years had been extremely hard for them, but they withheld. Their daughter turned out to be an extremely brilliant Witch, well versed in their Family Magiks and all, and once against Clifford decided to strike again. He wanted Claiborne and his part of the Bones Family to go extinct without any progeny.

Their daughter, Imogen Bones was denied a job in the Ministry. Clifford had greased some palms to stop Imogen from getting a job in the Ministry, which she deserved. She was also denied getting married as Clifford had warned them that if she married anyone then their whole Family would be disowned. Their only hope was if their daughter married a Muggleborn, they were the only ones who would marry a no-name, but no Muggleborn could come close to them due to their reputation as Dark Family.

So, Claiborne finally confronted Clifford wanting to know if he really hated them that much, and Clifford had said that he didn't hate them, he hated the fact that they were continuing their Family's dark legacy. Clifford wanted to remove the dark stint from their Family and as long as Claiborne and his family live, he couldn't remove that stint. 

Finally, Clifford said that all of this injustice and unfairness could stop if Claiborne and his Family agreed to destroy all their knowledge related to Dark Magic and if they can swear that they won't be using any form of Dark Magic, he also decided to add a clause that he would be the judge of what's Dark Magic and whats not. 

Obviously, Claiborne denied it, if he swore the oath, then if Clifford said that the Levitation Charm was dark, then they wouldn't be able to cast even the simplest Charm, the Levitation Charm. Claiborne left the Bones Manor fuming wondering how a person like Clifford could call himself a light person. If Claiborne knew that his brother was going to turn out like this man, then he would have killed him long ago.

Since Imogen was unable to get a job at the Ministry, she could only do something else. Imogen was quite good with Charms, it wasn't her speciality, but it was still one of her better subjects. So she got a job in a toy story… There she spent most of the day charming toys. When she was still at Hogwarts, she never imagined that she would find herself working in a toy store. Keeping a bit of money for herself, she used the rest of her money for her siblings' education.

"Hmm… Clai, I think it is about time that you did something to fight back" Sirius said and Claiborne simply raised one of his eyebrows in question. 

"And, how am I supposed to do that?" Claiborne questioned and Sirius simply leaned back on the couch as Rax finally popped inside the room. The ancient house-elf placed two teacups and two plates filled with snacks on the table and popped away. 

"Our world is going to change… I can't give you all the details right now, but the House of Black had sworn allegiance with someone extremely powerful" Sirius said in a neutral tone as he picked up his teacup.

"You want us to swear our allegiance to this person too?" Claiborne asked curiously and Sirius started to chuckle.

"What I want doesn't matter, if you want to join then you can, but if you don't want to then nobody is going to force you" Sirius said while chuckling. "Though, I assure you that the Skills of your Family would be highly appreciated. You are a Ward Crafter and your wife is quite good with Potions and the House of Black would be making quite a few moves in the upcoming months" Sirius explained with a smile.

Claiborne didn't say anything and rubbed his chin for a few seconds. "If I decide to join anyone then that bastard would disown all of us, making us No-Names" Claiborne countered. The offer was quite tempting. If the House of Black had decided to swear allegiance to someone then the said person must be extraordinary. Blacks were a shrew bunch, they would never throw their whole lot into something like a gamble.

"True… but, what if I bring your children into my Family as wards?" Sirius suggested, once again a tempting offer. He and his wife were quite old, and neither of them had any fixed jobs. True, his wife brewed Potions for St. Mungo's, but it was not a job. She simply brewed Potions and the St. Mungo's bought the Potions from her.

"But my children would lose the Family name if you took them in as wards of your Family" Claiborne argued back. Yes, as long as his children had the Bones name, they couldn't be accepted as wards of another family. If his children agreed to become wards of the Black Family, then they would have to take up the last name Black or something else.

Even though his Family was in ruins, he wanted his children to carry over the Bones name proudly. That is why the whole idea was kind of becoming untempting to him, but if he accepted the offer then his children would be able to live happily. What kind of father he would be if he put his Family pride over his children's happiness. His 26 year old daughter was still unmarried and his sons would be facing the same problem as soon as they graduated.

"They could no longer carry the Bones name…" Claiborne muttered with a complicated look on his face. 

"No… not exactly. True, they couldn't carry the 'Bones' name, but nobody can stop them from taking up the name 'Bone'. So, only you and your wife would remain No-Names, but if your daughter, Imogen adopts the two of you into the newly created Bone Family, then you have successfully separated yourself from your bastard brother and you are no longer under his control" Sirius explained and Claiborne couldn't believe that he had been so stupid.

"True… you would be leaving behind your Family Legacy, but if you stayed like this then the Legacy of your Family is already going to be destroyed. Your brother had already destroyed everything your Family stood for… If you decide to establish a new Family, then you would be able to create a new Legacy. I am sure that your Father and Mother would have been delighted even if you were to abandon the Bones name" Sirius finished his explanation with a grin on his face.

Right now, Sirius was like a Devil, whispering sweet words into Claiborne's ears. Sirius didn't need to use Legilimency to know that Claiborne was already sold on his idea. Claiborne had already bought the idea. He knew that his Family couldn't survive like this, but if he decided to take the Bone name, then they could establish their own Family. True, they would no longer have the power of Bones Family name, but it has been years since he had lost that power…

"Ok… we will establish a new Family" Claiborne said with a small smile on his face. Yes, he had faced hardships for a lot of years, he was sure that he could face hardships for a few more years. Sirius grinned and started to pat Claiborne's shoulder…

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