Rise of House Black

A meeting between two lords or Heads of Houses is not an odd sight to see at fine dining establishments. Most private rooms can be secured or the area immediately around the table could be secured with privacy and secrecy spells. These are normal venues for the Lords to discuss various businesses. Be the business monetary or familial decisions are normally made over a meal before contracts are signed or vows taken. To be invited to a meal with a High ranking Lord is a great honor and should not be turned down lightly as it could be seen as you believe yourself to be better than them or rival them in power. Best to use the meeting to see what is to be discussed before politely informing them that no such agreement can be made for the topic and carefully offering to pay if possible before leaving the establishment.
----Excerpt from Wizengamot and You by Francis Silverling---

Orion got ready for the meeting the next day. He was dressed in slightly formal robes that had protections against stray spells. He was nearly ready to pull out the battle robes to wear if the rebellious faction of Voldermort’s forces didn’t calm down and stop attacking purebloods that didn’t bow down to their wishes. He was ready to call the House of Black back and lock the family down but right now, he was not ready to start filling in Black Manor or Black Castle.

He thought about the options that were still available and that he could call a family meeting and address the possible implications that any of House Black joining this rebellion would cause. He needed to be sure that House Black was ready for war if it truly broke out. He could not have his family falling to rogue wands. It might be time to enact some of the family rules for times of war, such as children and Daughters of House Black always having champions there to help defend. He would have to call in some of the oath-bound houses to help protect all the daughters of his house and the children.

Orion shook his head. There were too many things going on right now but first he had a meeting with Fleamont at noon that he had to be on time for. He put the thoughts of war aside for now. It did not matter that these days, the words that those attacking the families were saying were the things they wanted to have happen in laws. It didn’t matter if they went about it violently. He knew that there was a vote coming up soon on what to do about the radicals. It was not easy to think about Aurors having permission to attack at will and use any means necessary, not when you had some Aurors like Mad Eye Moody on the force. They would use lethal means more often than not since the ones they would be tasked to apprehend would be those they didn’t like or get along with regardless. No, House Black would not be voting to enact fire at will laws for the Aurors, not until the state of this civil war got worse. Right now catching and charging the miscreants was working keeping a few of the key players out of the loop.

Smoothing out his robe, Orion finally took a look at the mirror with battle robes on and nodded as it passed inspection. It was time to go as he looked at the clock. It was half an hour til noon. He had to be there early enough to set a few privacy spells within the room he had booked. He looked at Lucretia and nodded as he passed the study and saw all three of his heirs working diligently on their books. It made his heart full seeing them work so hard while he went to secure an ally and more connections to his youngest heirs’ family lines.

Orion stepped into the floo and arrived at the receiving space of the restaurant. He stepped out of the Floo lounge as he cleared his clothes of the soot. He walked to the podium and nodded to the Host.

“Honored Lord Black, your room is ready for your groundwork,” the host said as they grabbed up two menus and led the way.

Orion followed quietly as he let his eyes wander about. Some of the less expensive alcoves did not hide who was within their confines. He saw a few lesser ministry workers trying to get ahead working as he passed. He was glad that House Black had a room on reserve with this establishment and did not have to settle for a less secure area. He nodded to the host as he was allowed to enter the room that he had booked to use.

As Orion stepped in, he felt the charms of the doorway scan him for any lethal potions or such matter as that. He knew that being early was one thing, but plotting assassination was not his style. He looked about the medium sized room and looked at the set up. On the far back wall there was a staff entrance that they would be able to use to bring out the food they would order. He saw the table which normally held at least 6 settings was replaced with a table that could comfortably hold 4 but was set for 2. The chairs were not normal dining chairs but more office-like comfortable chairs that would allow both parties to remain comfortable if the talks went long. He had booked the room for the rest of the afternoon knowing that this would take time.

Orion went and placed his back to the servants entrance. All of the chairs had charms to detect when someone approached. He took out his wand and began to set the privacy bubble. He would leave one half of the table free so that food and drinks could be delivered as needed without dropping the privacy for their talks or interrupting the flow. That paired with the alerts, the setting would give those meeting to allow them to pause their talks and accept food and drink.

Orion took his seat when he finished what he was doing except for fully raising the privacy bubble. He had one that could be raised and lowered more like a ward. He enjoyed using this skill as it was a good bit of wand work to get it to cooperate. It did not take long for Fleamont to finally arrive after he set the spells up. He looked at the entry way when he felt the checking spells activate.

“Lord Potter,” Orion said, standing to greet his friend.

“How many times have I told you to call me Monty or Fleamont, Lord Black?” Fleamont said as he smiled at his senior Lord.

“Many times but this is not a social visit yet, we have many things to discuss before we can relax. I have the room for the rest of the day so we can go over everything I wanted to cover and see if we could come to an agreement,” Orion said as he motioned for the second Lord to take a seat.

“As you wish Lord Black,” Fleamont said as he moved to the table and carefully took his seat across from Orion.

“Let me raise the privacy spell,” Orion said as he saw Fleamont get comfortable. He took a moment and flicked his wand through a few distinct movements and a bubble of muffled sound rose around them. He placed his wand back into his holster.

“Now that the privacy has been set in place, I have a small favor to ask of you Lord Potter, would you mind taking a vow of secrecy to not reveal what I am about to tell you until such time as I close the vow around the information to protect one of the members of my house?” Orion started as he looked at Fleamont.

This would set the tone of the meeting. Making it about family and a secret he was willing to share about a member of House Black. It had Fleamont’s attention. He didn’t believe that Orion would use the vow to say anything that would be harmful. He took a moment to seem like he was thinking about it then nodded.

“Of course old friend, I would be willing to do such,” Fleamont said, and watched Orion draw his wand again. Thus began the magic to settle and make the vow hold the memories that would be required to be tightly concealed behind spelled walls that would not be easily breached.

“Now Orion, what is it that has got you pulling out vows and vague letters to an old acquaintance?” Fleamont asked as he watched Orion return to his seat and return his wand to his wrist holster.

“I have a certified paper from the goblins I want to share with you before I answer too many questions.” Orion said as he pulled the file out that had the redacted test and results. He slid it over to Fleamont and then waited for him to read.

What Fleamont read was a redacted version of Hadrian’s Heritage test that marked out the mother’s lines but showed that he did have inheritance from his mother’s side. It kept who his parents were secure as well.

“Who is this?” Fleamont asked as he thought about what was going on. How could someone be both of the Potter Main line and have all the inheritances and of the Black Line as well.

“I can only reveal the name in a moment. Read the next line to show what was going on after I came to have the member in question in my custody,” Orion said motioning to the file again.

It took a little time for Fleamont to read through the injuries and the magic that had been upon this person. He hoped that they were not going to be in the situation any longer.

“Please tell me they are safe now and away from whomever took it upon themselves to try and strangle their magical core,” Fleamont said as he looked at Orion.

“Yes they are safe and I have been able to secure their safety away from those that would have caused them harm. Now as for who it is, please lay the first page down.” He said as he watched Fleamont do as he was told.

With small coin-like pieces Orion placed the items that could be revealed. He shared the name, age, and birthdate of the child. He saw Fleamont’s eyes widen.

“Accidental Magic to a safe place?” Fleamont asked, eyes wide.

“Yes my friend, Hadrian came from a point in time where he was not safe nor was he being treated as an Heir to so many lines. Regardless, he is safe now and has House Black as his primary house for now to support him, as I have a feeling it would possibly cause issues for your house to take in a new younger heir especially with how late in life James was born,” Orion said.

“Very true, Thank you for taking in a ward of House Potter. If the need were to arise in the future, the same would happen between House Potter and Black then as well,” Fleamont said.

Orion waved that away. “Do not worry, He is a ward of both houses. I just was in a position to take him in publicly and not hide him away. I have been training him as an heir of House Black which should cover most of what you would be teaching James I do believe yes?” Orion asked.

“You are right my friend. Maybe we should try to introduce our sons together sometime soon. I know that with Hadrian getting lessons from House Black, he will be prepared for anything in the future that he might need help with or need the rules of society about,” Fleamont said as he took a moment to look at Orion.

“I agree, he will get a good benefit from being raised in House Black, I just fear that when he comes to Hogwarts age he will return to his time which will throw many in our society into chaos. Thinking about the implications of that, I will need a reason to state that Mother Magic deemed him ready to return to his proper place in time,” Orion started as he took a moment to order two glasses of water for now. He showed the order to Fleamont who nodded his agreement and set it outside the bubble for a waiter to fill.

“Now that we have discussed Hadrian, is there more you would like to reveal to me?” Fleamont asked curiously.

“I will reveal one last piece of information now,” Orion said as he went to reveal the last part that would show James as the father.

“No need friend, I have concluded that Hadrian is my future grandson, I know that means that James married someone and had a lovely young boy, but something in the future took both myself and Effie as well as James and his partner away from young Hadrian by the injury list that you shared with me,” Fleamont said taking a breath not sure what to do about what was going on.

“I can only figure that the war will get worse before it will get better,” Orion states as he thinks about what else there is to say.

“I would like permission to talk to Effie about Hadrian after the boys all meet, I think once she meets him, she will understand a bit better why we are going to be trying to keep the information that he used Ley Lines and Accidental magic to get away from something so horrible,” Fleamont said as he put the papers back into the folder and pushed them back across the table.

“I will add her to the vow as the only exception to talking about Hadrian’s situation. I know Euphemia will guard the information like a dragoness guards her nest.” Orion said as he noticed the waters were in place now and carefully reached out and grabbed them inside for the two of them.

“Thank you for your vote of confidence in her Orion,” Fleamont said as he accepted the drink and let his lords ring judge if it was safe or not. Once he got the safe response Fleamont took a healthy drink from the cup.

“Why hide his maternal lines?” Fleamont asked after he set the water down.

“It is not for me to reveal the lineage of his mother, besides I think it would be interesting to see how you react when the time comes and Hadrian returns to us in the future,” Orion said not thinking that what could be happening to Fleamont might not be avoidable.

“As you wish old friend, just no rubbing it in,” Fleamont said in good nature.

After they were finished with the sensitive discussion of Hadrian and who he is, Orion closed the vow to keep it all safe.

“Now on to general matters, when would be a good time for all of us to meet together?” Orion started.

“Why not next week that way we can let those around us shuffle things around if need be?” Fleamont asked. He smiled as he saw Orion nod. It would give Euphemia time to reschedule her tea for another day if need be.

“Would Tuesday be too much of an inconvenience? Maybe around 11am?” Orion asked.

“I think that would be lovely, a small brunch for the families to meet then the boys. They can run around the grounds with the elves watching after them, and we adults can talk about the situation?” Fleamont asked.

“That sounds agreeable, it would give your lovely wife time to get to know my sons and understand why we are being so careful about everything around their presentation to society.” Orion said so as to not trigger the vow into taking more information and blocking it.

“All I can say is that it will be interesting to see how you handle that, now shall we eat then go our separate ways?” Fleamont asked as he smiled at his friend.

With that the Lords went about eating their meal and figuring out what other business adventures they would embark on together to support their time-displaced grandson. It was a good lunch that ended in both parties having something to look forward to now as they went back home.