The Rest of Winter Break
A not-so-small note before we go on. This isn’t essential to the story, but will help you understand this chapter and possibly be referred to in other chapters. The way heirships work in this story is slightly different from what normally happens in other stories. The way it works is that if the head of the house has claimed their title (ex: Hadrian being Lord Peverell or Amiela Bones being Lady Bones) only they can give another member of the house a title, for example, if Hadrian had a brother, (which he doesn’t in this story) only he would be able to give him a title like Heir Perevell. If there is no head of the house, then the heirship can be claimed by members of the house with the closest relation. In other words, if Hadrian died, the closest family member would get any titles not included in a will. So, Draco or Narcissa would get the titles because Narcissa is Sirius’ cousin and Sirius is Hadrian’s blood-adopted father making Narcissa his aunt and Draco his cousin. Hadrian did this which was how he got so many lordships.
Now, to the story!
Draco Malfoy’s POV -
It was about a week after the start of Winter break and Draco was heading to Gringotts to claim his Black heirship.
“Father, why are we doing this now?” Draco asked.
“We are doing it now because the Black seat has gone dormant, meaning that anyone who could claim the heirship ahead of you is most likely dead or unable to claim the seats. - AN: remember, Dumbledore was using the seat illegally before Hadrian put the seat into a dormant state, which was during the school year. Lucius thinks that Dumbledore was controlling the seats via Sirius who was heir before he got sent to Azkaban. While he is right on that account, he doesn’t know that once someone is sent to prison, they lose the right to any title, including heirship. Lucius thinks that Dumbledore got caught using the Black seats illegally which is why they went dormant. Yes, Narcissa could claim the title if it was still available, but she wants Draco to claim it. So we are taking advantage of the opportunities presented to us like true Slytherins would,” Father explained. Draco nodded. They walked into the bank and stood in line for the teller.
When they got up to the teller, Father said “May your gold ever flow. I would like to speak to Ragtooth, the Black account manager.” Father always said to be respectful to goblins since they control all money. Wouldn’t want to have to deal with vicious little creatures who know how to hold a grudge when you can avoid it. They followed the teller to Ragtooth’s office. He was sitting at his desk when they entered the room.
“Lord Malfoy, Heir Malfoy, may your gold ever flow. What can I do for you?” Ragtooth asked.
“May your coffers never empty. I wish to get an inheritance test for my son,” Father said. The goblin looked confused.
“And you are not doing this with your account manager because?” Ragtooth asked.
“As you know, my wife’s maiden name is Black. Since the Black seats in the Wizengamot have gone dormant, I assumed that the heir position was open,” Father explained. Ragtooth nodded. - AN: Generally speaking, when you claim titles, you try to do them all in one go. In this case, though, they thought Sirius was still the heir and thus just claimed the Malfoy heirship for Draco.
“3 drops of blood,” Ragtooth said. Draco nicked the tip of his pointer and 3 drops of blood fell onto the paper. Father cleaned the knife while words on the page appeared.
Inheritance Test -
True Name - Draconis Lucius Malfoy
Common Name - Draco Lucius Malfoy
Date of Birth - June 5, 1980
Father - Lucius Abraxas Malfoy
Mother - Narcissa Priscilla Malfoy (née Black)
Godfather(s) - Severus Tobias Snape
Godmother(s) - Cristina Carol Zanbini
Title(s)-
Malfoy (1 seat)
Eligible Title(s)-
Black (heirship)
Total Number of Seat(s)/Vote(s) - 1 seat
Property(s) - See separate folder
Vault(s) -
Malfoy Main Vault
Malfoy Heir Vault
Malfoy Trust Vault
Potion(s)/Spell(s) - None
Block(s) - None
“Why is Draco only eligible for the Black heirship? Is there a Black lord? Can you disclose who the lord is?” Father asked after seeing Draco’s inheritance test.
“Yes, there is someone who is holding the Black title. No, I cannot tell you who holds the titles. But I will say that simply addressing a letter to “Lord Black” should send the letter to the Lord,” Ragtooth said.
“Of course, thank you Ragtooth. May your coffers never empty,” Father said.
“And may gold ever flow,” Ragtooth replied.
The father and son duo flooed home and Father immediately went to his office. Probably writing a letter to the new lord.
~1 Day later~
~Hadrian’s POV~
Hadrian set up a meeting with the Malfoys under the impression that they were meeting a new Lord Black. They were wrong but probably weren’t expecting that Hadrian was the new lord. I can’t wait to see Draco's face . Hadrian was sitting in a private room in the Leaky Caldron reserved under the name Troy waiting for the Malfoys.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Hadrian called out. The older and younger Malfoys entered the room.
“Hadrian? Are we in the wrong room?” Draco asked.
Hadrian shook his head. “Nope,” he said, popping the P. “I’m also Lord Black.”
“Lord Peverell-Black-Potter, I apologize, I was expecting someone else,” Lord Malfoy explained.
“No worries,” Hadrian replied. “So, you came here to ask for the Black heirship, right?”
“Yes,” Lord Malfoy replied.
“In that case, I, Hadrian James Peverell-Potter grant the Black heirship to Draco Lucius Malfoy. So mote it be,” Hadrian declared.
“Oh, well thanks, Hadrian. Speaking of which, who is your proxy in the Wizengamot?” Draco asked.
“Someone in the neutral party,” Hadrian answered.
“Really? All of them swear up and down that they aren’t the proxy,” Lord Malfoy commented.
“Oh, that’s because they don’t know they are the proxy,” Hadrian said.
“What do you mean?” Lord Malfoy asked.
“When you assign a proxy, it doesn’t say anywhere that you must tell the proxy holder that they have your seats. So I just didn’t,” Hadrian explained.
“Hadrian, why didn’t you just assign them to my father?” Draco asked.
“Oh, I didn’t want to deal with the public backlash,” Hadrian explained.
“I thought you didn’t care about what the general public believes,” Draco commented.
“I don’t, but if the public is on my side, who am I to complain? I thought you would have learned that by now,” Hadrian said. Draco had a questioning look on his face.
“I would?”
“The troll incident,” Hadrian starts.
“Wait,” Lord Malfoy butts in, “You two were behind the troll story by Skeeter?” Hadrian and Draco smile.
~Flashback to the day two days after the Malfoy Yule Ball.~
Draco and Hadrian are eating lunch at the Leaky Caldron.
“Hey Draco, why hasn’t the troll incident been in the Daily Prophet?” Hadrian asks.
“I don’t know," Draco answers.
“Hey guys, can I talk to you for a minute” A voice asks. The duo turns around and sees none other than Cedric Diggory approaching them.
“Sure, what's up?” Hadrian asks.
“I just realized I never said thank you for keeping us in the Great Hall, if there’s anything you need, feel free to let me know!” Diggory exclaims.
“Actually, could you…” Hadrian starts.
~Time skip to the next day~
Daily Prophet comes in via Kreacher.
Troll Breaks through Hogwarts Wards: 2 MONTHS AGO!
By Rita Skeeter.
As the headline stated, a troll got into Hogwarts. I'm sure we are all thankful no students or staff have been injured. But that's now what I’m writing to you about. I’m writing about how this happened 2 MONTHS AGO and a student had to write me a letter asking why this wasn’t in the Prophet when they expected it would be for me to find out. Now my question is, why hasn’t Headmaster Dumbledore told us about this? Is it not our job as parents to worry for our child’s safety? Why did a student have to tell me? Have any other incidents at Hogwarts happened, and we as the parents have not been alerted? Also, reportedly, Dumbledore sent all students to their common rooms when it had been made known there was a troll located in the dungeons. That's right, the DUNGEONS. In case you, my readers didn’t go to Hogwarts, the Hufflepuff and Slytherin common rooms are both located in the dungeons. Thankfully, a Slytherin who was not named by my source, convinced both Houses to stay in the Great Hall until the teachers came back. We are all very grateful to the anonymous Slytherin who probably saved many of their fellow students’ lives. The entire story is on page 2.
Rita Skeeter, signing off.
~End of Flashback~
~Fast forward to the end of Winter Break~
The rest of the break was spent with Hadrian practically living in the library, only coming out when he wanted to test a new spell or create a new potion. Hadrian heard Kreacher say that he “swears that if Lord Black could, he would stay in the library forever.”
The great thing about the Black Library was that it had all types of books, including dark, light, and neutral magic. There were also a few books about parselmagic, which was magic done in parseltongue. The dark mark was also a parsel spell, but since parseltongue was an almost extinct gift in Magical England, no one knew. Now I know why the Black Library is so infamous in pureblood circles.
One day, Hadrian started to make a pro and con list for joining each side of the war.
Another day, Hadrian started to test out Spell crafting, in the dueling room of course, wouldn’t want to blow the house up. Hadrian started with spells like Accio, but without words, and a wand movement. Why you might ask? Because that's complicated stuff. The summer before Hogwarts, Hadrian learned that magic is limited by your imagination. Hadrian’s goal that day was to create an Accio that didn’t involve things flying towards you. After about 3 hours of testing, he managed to make one, which was nice.
So he kept making more and more and more spells. He also created a few new potions, because why not? After reading a few potions books, Hadrian realized that potions were a lot easier than they seemed. There were set things you need to do to get a result. It was kind of like chemistry. You don’t mix certain ingredients because they’ll blow up. Hadrian suddenly understood why they had half of the class period dedicated to the theory part of Potions. I suppose it's an attempt by Professor Snape to not let things go up in smoke in his class. Smart. Now, if only Finnigan would learn that lesson.
Eventually, the break had to end. Hadrian packed everything up, pulled some two hundred books from the Black Library, and flooed to Platform 9 ¾. Hadrian spotted Blaise, Draco, Greg, and Vincent all talking on the platform. He also saw the redhead brigade.
“Ah, Harry dear. It's such a shame you chose not to stay with us during Winter Break with us!” Lady Weasly exclaimed loudly. Everyone on the platform stared at her. I feel bad for her kids, listening to her all day.
“Lady Weasley, my name is Hadrian Peverell-Potter. If you cannot remember that or proper decorum for the matter, then do not speak to me at all,” Hadrian said coldly. He could see out of the corner of his eye, Draco, Greg, and Vincent approaching.
“Come now Harry, my Ronkinns would have had so much fun with you over the break. Did you at least have a good time with your Aunt and Uncle?” Lady Wealsy asked. Hadrian scowled.
“What I do with my time is none of your concern Lady Weasly. I will remind you again that my name is Hadrian Peverell-Potter,” Hadrian replied.
“Now, now, Harry. You and my Ronkinns are best friends. There is no need for full names or proper titles,” Lady Weasley said. Hadrian sighed.
“Yeah, Harry!” Ron commented.
“If you mean by friends that he constantly bullies me and my friends,” Hadrian started to say but was swiftly cut off.
“Harry dear, no need to be so cold to me. Anyway, it's almost time for the train to leave. Why don’t you and your friends go find a compartment,” Lady Weasley said. Hadrian then followed his friends to a train compartment and mentally prepared himself for the annoying redhead and know-it-all who would definitely be stopping by.