where it all started
Rocked. The world had been utterly rocked - and not in a good way - the day 18 years old Regulus Black, youngest son of Duke Orion Black, had died. No one knew how, where, or even the exact date of his death. All they knew was that one day the Royal news-teller declared he had found death during an unplanned expedition.
The people hadn't loved Regulus. The had barely tolerated him, barely acknowledged him as the Balck Heir. And they only reason they did was because his brother had disappeared and therefore wasn't an option anymore.
As King Riddle's Hand, the Black Family was like poison to the lower classes of the Crown. For some reason, each time one of them was a bit too good to the people, they disappeared. It had started with Alfard, who had apparently killed himself even though he breathed joy and happiness. A handful of years later, his niece Andromeda had been killed by a thief on her way out of the capital. Her father Cygnus had said they weren't able to protect her because she hadn't told anyone she was leaving. And then, to years prior Regulus's death, his older brother Sirius simply vanished from the surface of the Earth.
The people weren't happy. They loved Sirius, just as they loved Andromeda and their uncle. But they didn't love Regulus, ever. He was a bittersweet child, who very clearly was his patents' son. Thus, they never worried for him.
Not even when they started warming up to him.
And next thing they knew, he was found dead. A beast, they had said. No one believed it. Regulus' death had been the one too much.
There had been riots. Many riots. Bloody ones, nonetheless. The Blacks were supposed to be the line between the people and their King. They were supposed to speak in their favour, pass down messages and tell about their needs to the King, not kill their own when they were too close to having some empathy.
It took the people three years. With the help of pirate Captain James Fleamont Potter and his ships, Advisor to the King Albus Dumbledore had managed to overthrow King Riddle. In a last, meager hope to save himself, King Tom Marvolo Riddle had gone against the Potters - the Captain, his wife Lily, and their newborn son Harry.
No one could quite explain what had happened that day, but when Dumbledore arrived at the scene, James Potter and Riddle were gone. As in, gone gone. Disappeared. Faded.
Lily had gone unconscious, in such a state that she had never awakened. She was alive, but just barely. Dumbledore had practically lost all hopes until he realised the boy was alive and well. Wounded, but fine.
Since the Crown had fallen, it came to the heir to have it. Riddle didn't have an heir, which meant the Blacks inherited it. With Regulus and Andromeda dead, Sirius gone, and Bellatrix (one of Andromeda's sister) locked in by no one other than Dumbledore himself, it was for Narcissa Malfoy (born Black) to have.
This is how Draco Lucius Malfoy became Heir to the Crown. However, this story isn't about him. At least, not entirely.