The former Death Eater nodded, before shifting a tad in his chair, "You will be left alone, and no further action taken towards you."
"That's it!? "
"Of course, this is a kindness towards you Mr. Delacour, we can just as easily take everything you have and leave you out on the streets or worse."
Jean stood immediately, rage filling his eyes at the threat, " Get out ! Go and tell your Lord that he will regret the day he ever chose to deceive me. I will have my vengeance soon enough, and then we will see who ends up the victor!"
Gibbon gave a slight shrug, before standing as well, "A pity, my Lord knew you were going to go down this route, that you would be too prideful and stupid to take the offer but… well at least we can assure your daughters that we tried to give you a last chance."
He departed, leaving the Frenchman to stew in his anger and hatred.
...
"As you can see my Lord, with a few subtle changes to these three laws and trade agreements our profits will increase at a rate of three percent every year" The man explained, gesturing to, yet another, piece of parchment he had placed upon the teen's desk. Thus far the former Death Eater had spent the better part of three hours trying to convince the Potter heir that an incredibly intricate, and political, scheme would yield enough benefits for them both.
Harry knew this was a lie, obviously, but had simply used the time to do a bit of daydreaming and planning of his own, especially in regard to what the former Lestrange had brought him days prior.
"If you look at this statistic, my Lord, you will see that…" Any further conversation was interrupted as Bellatrix Black practically kicked the door to the room open, before swiftly walking in, grabbing the boy's arm and starting to drag him away.
"Now see here Bellatrix, we were in the middle of…"
The woman spun to face the man, her eyes promising a rather painful response if he finished his statement and causing his own to die before it left his throat, "Don't care, you're boring. besides it is raining outside, and my Lord promised me an evening before end of the summer like he gave Cissa. I choose this one starting right now, outside, and shagging ."
Letting out a 'defeated' sigh the raven-haired boy gave a shrug before allowing himself to be pulled from the room, calling back an order for them to give their proposal to Lucius Malfoy in his absence.
...
The door was slammed open as a man stormed into the Malfoy study only to find Narcissa rather than her husband sitting behind the desk, the irritation obvious in her eyes.
"Can I help you Nott?"
"Where is Po… I mean our Lord?"
Her frown deepened, easily catching the near-slip from the Wizard, "He is currently out, what is the problem?"
"Out where ?"
Her mood now effectively ruined, the Witch set down the parchment she had been reading over to focus her attention, and now anger, on the man. "He is currently out with my sister on an errand."
Nott scoffed in irritation, "So he is wasting his time with frivolous activities and pleasures. He should be investing into the future, growing his wealth and political power, and optimizing his time."
Narcissa rolled her eyes, secretly wondering if men realized how utterly dull they were when talking like that.
The other individual, however, continued on, not realizing the woman's thoughts towards the situation, or him, "I need to speak with him concerning my son's future and his own influences. I have been planning for my son Theodore to have Daphne Greengrass as his future bride and if our Lord were to…"
"Harry doesn't like arranged marriages, so I wouldn't bring that up to him." the mother interrupted, earning a confused look from the man.
"What exactly do you mean by 'doesn't like them'? They are tradition and a cornerstone of our society!"
The Malfoy matron shrugged, "I don't think he cares. He does not appreciate the mentality of selling people to others in anyway shape or form. He understands betrothals that are accepted by both parties but the type of contract you are talking about is something he is opposed to."
"Eventually he will have to…" the man attempted to argue, earning a snort from the woman instead.
"Will have to what? Be married off by his godfathers? Neither Sirius nor Remus are going to do that, and no one else is stupid enough to even suggest it. He 'bought' the Delacour sisters as a way to free them and it is my understanding that any attempts to enforce such a thing on anyone else he knows will be met with rather unpleasant consequences. Consider this a friendly warning, from what I have heard Daphne Greengrass does not seem interested in your son and unless she is it would be very unwise to force them into a relationship of any sort."
Giving a growl in response the elder Nott turned and left as angry as he entered, muttering to himself that his family legacy would be continued no matter what anyone else thought.
...
It had been years since Draco Malfoy truly felt this level of dread. Sure, there was a moment back in their third year, due to the Dementors, and even when he had been dealing with his father's betrayals, but this time it was different. This time it felt as if he was betraying his Lord.
The blonde-haired Pureblood stared down at the letter he had just received from Hogwarts, one declaring his status as Prefect .
There could only be one prefect per year, per House, per gender. That meant that Harry wasn't one of them. Perhaps his Lord had been elevated to Head Boy instead? Usually that meant he would be Prefect as well, but it wasn't always the case, especially when said individual was younger.
Draco took a deep breath before exhaling. His best friend was taking care of some last-minute projects, which meant there was still time to figure out exactly what the bloody hell just happened . He would approach his own godfather about potential options and reach out to his classmates to see what they knew.
...
"Gotta ask, you sure about this Albus?" the former Auror inquired as he made his way into the man's office and fell back into the chair offered. "I see where you are going with it, 'sew dissention amongst the enemy' and all but I mean… a Malfoy really? Coulda swore I heard someone tell me once that the kid's father was a bad guy ."
Dumbledore let out a slight chuckle, "Yes my old friend, I have heard similar things. Luckily at such an age being a Prefect does not give young Draco very much power or influence."
Moody snorted, "Course not, isn't like we are working on dethroning a fifteen-year-old Dark Lord or anything…"
The Headmaster waved off the argument, "Harry is different, you know that. This will create mistrust and further weaken Harry's power base, slowing down his growth while we continue working towards other goals."
"And what would those be Albus?" the scarred man inquired gruffly, "I am all for stopping the next Dark Lord but are you prepared to murder a teenager to do it? If so where does it end, do we kill Malfoy because people follow him around and he's got a dark history?"
Shaking his head, the eldest of the two rose and made his way to the window so he could look out onto the terrain. "No, no of course not. I am trying to avoid that Alastor. Contrary to what you may think I don't want to kill Harry, I want to find a way to divert him from this path, to show him there are other options rather than death and violence."
"By causing him to mistrust his followers? By targeting the boy's friends?"
"No, by reminding him of what he cares about . I want to show him how much good there is in the world, how much happiness he could have by simply walking away and staying with those he cares about."
Moody shook his head, "This isn't going to end the way you think it is Albus, and we both know it."
...
"We all know why we are here, so let's just get right down to it shall we? What do we know?"
"I received a Prefect badge in the mail along with you Draco." Pansy answered, sliding out the shiny object she had unwrapped a day prior.
"I believe you two are the only ones who received them for those following Harry." Hermione noted as she gazed around the room.
A snort from nearby, however, drew everyone's attention, "It is way worse than that. Some moron decided that my brother should be named Gryffindor Prefect for his year."
The silence was deafening, along with the incredulous stares, "Y-you're joking… I have to spend more time with Ron Weasley!? Who in the hell thought he would make a good authority figure!?"
"Probably the same people who decided not to choose Harry, we all knew there was going to be fallout once Dumbledore realized the truth." Luna wisely put in, forcing a smile onto her face to hide the anger currently swirling in her chest.
"What can we do? I mean professor Snape is no longer in charge of Slytherin and we can't exactly petition the Headmaster…"
Draco shook his head, "There isn't anything we can do Daphne. We just have to endure this for now. Hopefully Harry won't be too upset by this… I call not being the one to tell him though."
The room exploded into exclamations and curses from those also trying to get out of telling their Lord the bad news.
....
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