Chapter 7
“This will and testament invalidates all wills made before and after it, and this one is dated July 31, 1997. Draco and I have been married for a year now, and it’s been the happiest year I’ve ever had. The Malfoys have been wonderful to me, and to them I leave the entirety of the Black inheritance. Narcissa is a Black by blood, and should have never been excluded from her legacy. She may do with it what she will; I don’t care as long as none if it goes to the reparations of the wizarding world. My only condition to this is that Hogwarts will receive a donation as soon as the old man is buried six feet under. Mum Cissa knows what I mean, and since she is the executrix of the Black estate, she will be more than happy to abide by my wishes.
“Now, on to the Potter holdings and monies. For Neville Longbottom, I leave the Potter Rare Plants Herbarium. It’s location will be revealed to you after the reading, Nev. Gotta make sure that the unworthy can’t get their greedy mitts on it. For darling Luna, I leave the deed to the Evans Magical/Muggle Endangered Species Preserve. It was something that my mum started when she saw how magical creatures were being treated in the wizarding world. She was able to develop environments that would support both magical and non-magical endangered wildlife. The address will be given to you at the same time that Neville receives his. See Barrister Stone after all is said and done.
“For Fred and George Longbottom,” the pensieve was paused as the twins gasped in shock, looking at Neville pleadingly.
“When Harry started planning all this out, he knew that you would break ties with your family, and that I would want you to be ‘adopted’ into my family. We’d talked about it in Hogwarts over the years; he seemed to know that he wouldn’t survive the war and was preparing to take care of those he loved that he’d be leaving behind.”
“I bequeath,” the recording continued when Stone touched a rune on the bowl of the pensieve, “the joke shop in Diagon Alley as well as a second location to be set up in Fantastik Alley. You didn’t know it, but my dad had invested in a number of properties in Diagon, and those were left to me when he passed. When you picked out the location of your shop, it was all I could do not to crow happily, and I’d always planned on giving it to you free and clear. When Fantastik Alley was built, I saw the perfect shopfront that would be a successful second shop and I snapped it up.
“You were the best brothers a bloke could ever have and I will love you forever.” Sniffling could be heard from the direction of the identical redheads, and Harry’s true family understood the emotions. “To Charles Mulciber.” Another gasp rang out as Charlie stared at the still display with wide eyes. Stone indicated for Charlie to remain behind before he restarted the recording. “I bequeath five hundred thousand galleons so that you can pursue the career you really want. I know that you love dragons, Charlie, but I also know that you’d rather be part of the exclusive research program that’s looking into exploring whether or not dragons have intelligence. I learned from you that they live in families, in a primarily matriarchal society. They are fiercely devoted and protective of their kin, and have, at times, shown an intelligence that exceeds that of mere mindless beasts.
“I want you to study them, Charlie, and if your research pans out, I want you to help discover alternate ingredients to replace the dragon parts now being used in potions, clothing and battle gear. Find a way to utilize cast-offs, rather than butchering those beautiful creatures just to use a very limited amount of their bodies and leaving the rest to rot in the sun. I want you to change the way that the wizarding world views magical creatures, and it will start with the dragons.
“As for the rest of my riches, I assign Lucius and Narcissa the role of conservators of my estate, to be held in trust until my sons reach their majority and can take over as the next Potter and Malfoy lords.” Once again gasps erupted, interrupting the will reading yet again.
“NO!” Ginny shouted angrily. “That’s not possible. I’m the only one to give Harry children; no one else.”
“Unfortunately,” Ben Stone said, tone bored, “you would be wrong. Caelum Auriga and Cygnus Ophiuchus Potter-Malfoy have been recognized as the true Potter and Malfoy Heir-Lords and they will receive their inheritance when they reach wizarding majority.” Stone tapped the rune once again and started the recording where it had stopped.
“To Hermione Granger, I leave a bit of advice. Never talk about your plans in public and always make sure that there’s no one who can overhear what you say. The Slytherins are represented by a snake for a reason. No matter where you went, there was always someone from the snakepit close by to record every word you said, as well as to whom you said it. It saddens me that saving your life didn’t earn your regard, respect or loyalty. It left me wondering if that whole troll fiasco was engineered by Dumblefuck to make sure that I’d befriend you. You are the rudest, most obnoxious person I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something, considering I was raised by the Dursleys. You always have to be absolutely right about everything, and your need to be head bitch is overwhelming. I guess I couldn’t expect anything more from a mudblood like you. And yes, you are the epitome of what that word truly means.
“To Ronald Weasley,” the will continued. Stone had cast a silencing charm at both Granger and the Weasleys to prevent them from interrupting as soon as Harry started in on his backstabbing friends. The young man had informed his attorney that Granger and Weasley would try to argue, justify and assert their superiority as soon as they heard Harry’s words, and the lawyer appreciated the heads-up. “I leave...a knut. Call someone who cares. I had to sit and listen to you bitch and bitch and bitch about your horrible lot in life and yet, when I tried to talk to you about how I was feeling, you started talking about quidditch or what adventures we’d get up to or chess. I have lived through so much and would have liked someone to listen to me as I unloaded all of that stress, terror and loneliness. But noooooo, it had to be all about you, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
“I honestly don’t know how Granger can stand you...oh, but wait. I know why she stays with you. It’s because you’ll never, ever be smarter than she is. She will always have the upper hand in everything you do, and when she’s proven right, she’ll lord it over you and call you everything but stupid to prove how absolutely brilliant she is. Honestly, Weasel, you’d be better off marrying Lavender Brown. At least she has the same low IQ that you do.
“To Ginevra Molly Weasley I bequeath my utter contempt and revulsion. You chased me for seven years, and not once did you ever attempt to get to know Harry Potter. For you, I was always the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, the Savior of the wizarding world. I could hear you, you know, fangasming all over the idea of being Lady Boy Who Lived. All the parties you would go to, all the important people you would meet, the wealth and status you would attain if you were married to me. I was never a person to you; I was always a means to an end. A bank account, and nothing more. The idea of being anywhere near you made me shudder with disgust. Fortunately, your actions chased me into the arms of the man of my dreams, and we packed as much love and life into those few short months as we could.
“I heard you and your dimwitted brother and the beaver plotting with the other Gryffindors on how to get me away from my soulmate. I knew that our time together would be short; however, I made sure to record all of your ‘secret’ meetings, and if I couldn’t do it, my friends in Slytherin did, or Neville did. So you can guarantee that those recordings are now in the hands of the Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly, Die Silberne Fledermaus, the Hogwarts Times, the Le Cri De La Gargouille, the Wizard’s Voice, the Wizarding World News, The Quibbler, Spellbound, Wizard Enquirer...well, you get the point. Needless to say, before you leave here today your reputations, and those of the Gryffindors who helped you assassinate innocent people, will be ruined. Don’t expect to be able to get anywhere in the wizarding world. But hey, Granger is a muggleborn; she could teach you all how to live like muggles. Of course, you’ll have to be current on your A-Levels if you expect to get halfway decent jobs. Sucks to be you!
“To Molly and Arthur Weasley I bequeath my deepest hatred. I thought of you as the parents I never had, and up until some rather horrifying revelations, I thought you felt the same way. Since you don’t, I have just one thing to say; on the Potter family magics, I curse you to never rise above the level of poverty you now experience. This curse will be visited upon your family for ten generations, and a blood feud will exist between all Weasleys, Prewetts and Potters for as long as those family lines exist. So mote it be.
“Last, but certainly not least, I bequeath to Albus too many names Dumbledore a big fat NEENER NEENER NEEEENERRRR! I was able to collect all three Deathly Hallows, and mastered them all. They don’t promise immortality or mastery over death itself. They are, however, imbued with some rather special magics that, when the Hallows are all together, will bless their master with a special gift. What that is, I’ve no idea. I suppose I’ll find out when I meet him in Limbo.
“I would love to say it’s been a blast, but honestly, it hasn’t. Other than a scant few people, I’ve had absolutely no one in my life, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Even Voldemort deserved kind and loving support. That he didn’t get it rests solely at the feet of the benevolent headmaster. Expect things to be a bit rocky over the next few years as truth after truth is revealed to the wizarding world. Relish your power and adulation whilst you can, Dumbledore, because it’s quickly coming to an end. I’m outta here.”
As soon as the room was cleared of all but Neville, Luna, the twins and Charlie, Barrister Stone pulled out a stack of parchment. The others were very reluctant to leave; angry at having been condescended to by a nearly dead man, they wanted to stay and protest the inheritances. Expecting such a crude display, Ben had a couple of goblins in the room and they roughly ushered out the unwanted guests. "Here are the deeds to the Herbarium, the sanctuary and the two shops," he said as he handed out papers to the four recipients. He turned to Charlie and held out a bank draft, made out to his new name. "Lord Potter-Malfoy had looked into your family tree and found the distant relationship to the Mulcibers. He went and talked to Matthew Mulciber, the new Lord of the family, and got the green light to have Lord Longbottom give you some vague hints as to where you could find extended family. You were the only people there for him, according to Lord Potter-Malfoy, so he sought to help his family in any way he could."
"How has the will been activated if Harry's still alive, even though he's in a coma right now?" Fred asked curiously.
"The Healers at St. Mungo's hold out no hope for Lord Potter-Malfoy's recovery," the solicitor replied neutrally. "According to them, he has no brainwave activity, and it's only a matter of time before his body starts to shut down. At this point, the only thing keeping him going is his magic."
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The fallout from the will reading was epic. The twins and Charlie submitted their memories to a variety of magazines and newspapers, which augmented the articles revealing all of Dumbledore’s secret plans and schemes, as well as those of the people that Harry Potter once called friends. This resulted in them being shunned by the magical populace wherever they went. Things became difficult in Great Britain, so quite a few of them decided to try their luck abroad. Some went to the States, some to Australia. A few tried Africa, and still more tried South America. Some even went to places that very few people visited. Yet at every stop they were bullied, harassed and chased out of the country, with some barely escaping with their lives.
“I guess we’re stuck living like muggles,” Ron grumbled. The Weasleys and Granger were hiding in the Rocky Mountain National Forest, trying to avoid the park rangers who patrolled regularly to keep squatters from setting up residence within the woods. Hermione’s parents had received many of the papers and magazines that contained the damning articles and had promptly packed up everything Hermione owned and put it out on the lawn. When she returned home to ask if the Weasleys could stay with them for a bit, she was stunned to find the locks changed and the door barricaded. Though she was a witch, she was loath to use her magic to storm her parents’ house. Hanging her head, she shrunk all of her belongings and put them in her pockets, apparating back to the Burrow to tell everyone that they were on their own.
“There could be worse things,” the bushy haired girl snapped angrily. “We could be merrily burning at the stake, the way that the wizarding world feels about us at the moment. I just hope professor Dumbledore is all right. Last time we saw him, he was being run out of Hogwarts.”