***
Narcissa smiled as she looked at the baby sleeping peacefully in his cradle. "The spitting image of Lucius as a child," she thought. Her second and long-awaited son, Draco, who was born two months ago, filled her heart with tenderness and love. He was weaker than Cassius, but according to Hippocrates Smetwick, the senior healer at St. Mungo's Hospital, he would be fine. The only thing that clouded Narcissa's excellent mood was that she would have to part with Cassius for a long time, sending him to a distant country at such a tender age. On the other hand, Lucius promised that they would be able to take him home for holidays and celebrations.
Draco stirred in his cradle, and Narcissa's thoughts immediately turned to her younger son. She had to decide which of her children would head the darkest and most noble Black family, and which would head the Malfoy family. The Malfoys had never been saints either, but they couldn't be compared to the Blacks, whose rather fearsome reputation dated back centuries. Narcissa was therefore more inclined to let her eldest son head the Black family in the future.
Today, the entire Malfoy family was gathered in the living room, along with Valburga Black, who had been invited for the occasion. It was decided to discuss the issue of succession in the family in light of the current situation.
"Valburga," said Abraxas Malfoy, "isn't it a bit early to bring this up? Your son Sirius may still change his mind and return to the family. Has Dumbledore really brainwashed him so much that he doesn't even understand what he stands to lose by renouncing his family? Not only will he effectively become a blood traitor, but he will also lose the opportunity to benefit from the family fortune!"
Walburga sighed heavily — problems with her son gave her migraines. "Yes, you can't change your breed, and for the Malfoys, there is nothing worse than losing access to wealth," the woman thought to herself, but said aloud:
"I have decided, like Lady Black, that if Sirius does not want to become head of the family, then so be it. You cannot force someone to be kind. And since, with your help, I now have hope of preserving the family line, it would be a crime not to take advantage of this opportunity. As you know, Cassius often visits me at my mansion at 12 Grimmauld Place, and the aura of the house welcomes him very favourably. His darkness blends well with the Black magic, and you can feel the blood of our family in him — this will help him easily connect to the altar.
"I believe the binding to the altar should be carried out as soon as possible, as should the arrangements at Gringotts," said Lucius Malfoy. "I have decided to send Cassius to Africa to his new teacher of dark magic, and we need to discuss all the details before he leaves.
"Then tomorrow we'll apparate to Gringotts to settle all the formalities, and in a week I'll go to the Ministry of Magic to inform them that there is a new heir to the Black family," Lady Black concluded, getting ready to go home.After a hearty breakfast, Narcissa and Cassius also travelled by fireplace to 12 Grimmauld Place, where Walburga was already waiting for them, sitting in her favourite armchair with a cup of tea.
"Well, my dears," she said with a smile, "are you ready to visit Gringotts? Or would you like some tea first?
"Thank you, auntie," replied Narcissa. "We've just finished eating. So we're ready to go to the bank with you right away.
"Then take hold of the portkey, and we'll go to Gringotts," said Walburga with a smile. After that, everyone present immediately touched the portkey and instantly disappeared in a flash of light.
Like many of England's oldest and most noble families, the Blacks had their own portkey that allowed them to travel directly to Gringotts. Using this artefact, which was shaped like a small black dog statue, Narcissa, her son, and Valburga found themselves in a spacious hall for important clients, from which they could access both the general hall for ordinary wizards and a corridor with the offices of all the well-known families.
A goblin in a formal suit approached them and bowed respectfully:
"Greetings, Lady Black, the manager of your family's affairs is waiting for you in his office.
Valburga and Narcissa, holding Cassius by the hand, slowly followed the attendant.
Upon entering the office, they saw an elderly goblin sitting at a desk who, noticing them, said quietly:
"I am pleased to welcome the lady of the ancient and noble Black family. May your wealth multiply over the centuries.
"Greetings to you too, esteemed Bargok. May your profits grow ever greater, and may your enemies die in torment," Valburga nodded to the goblin. "I am here today to name the new heir to the ancient and noble Black family. This boy," she placed her hand on the child's shoulder, "is my grandson, Cassius Malfoy. He will become the future head of the Black family, and I want to perform all the rituals today. I also ask you to make the appropriate changes to all documents. Unfortunately, my son Sirius Black did not live up to the family's expectations," sighed the old lady. "Therefore, he is stripped of his status as heir and access to all Black property, except for what he inherited from his uncle Alphard. This is the money and the house given to Sirius when he was sixteen, when he left us of his own free will."
Bargoc merely nodded and, rising from his chair, invited Walburga and Cassius to follow him into the ceremonial hall. Narcissa remained behind to wait for them in the study.
The hall was large and gloomy. The walls were made of smoothly carved stone, with a ritual bowl standing in the centre and dimly lit by magical lamps. The whole atmosphere of this place was filled with ancient magic, which seemed to breathe in its own rhythm. Cassius was greatly impressed by his surroundings, but he was not frightened; on the contrary, he found them calm and peaceful.
First, they took a little blood from him and splashed it into a sacrificial bowl, after which the goblin sang a quatrain invoking the ancestral magic in his rough voice. It responded immediately and swirled around those standing in the hall with a cool breeze. Next, Valburga spoke the words of initiation into the clan and recognised Cassius as heir, after which the lights flashed brighter and it was all over.
Then Bargok performed several more rituals necessary to protect the future owner of the family safes. Cassius was not afraid of anything, he was not bored. On the contrary, all these magical actions and the special effects that accompanied them kindled in his heart a lively interest in what was happening. The rituals passed quickly, and Valburga placed the heir's ring on Cassius's finger and an earring against mental influences in his ear, and they returned to the study, also accompanied by the goblin.
Bargok took a small golden key out of the cabinet and handed it to Cassius with an air of importance.
"Prick your finger on this protrusion, young heir," he hissed. "This will bind the key to the Black family's safe to your aura, and no one but you will be able to use it without your consent.
Cassius took the key, smiled, and immediately put it in his inside pocket.
After that, they all went out into the common room, where Narcissa and Cassius said goodbye to Lady Black and moved through the fireplace to Malfoy Manor. Walburga wanted to take a walk along Diagon Alley after visiting Gringotts.
Descending the steps of the bank, Walburga headed to Fortescue's ice cream parlour to rest a little and collect herself. She hadn't been out in public for quite some time, and the crowd of wizards swarming Diagon Alley irritated her somewhat.
Suddenly, a pair of Aurors in silver robes with Auror badges emerged from the stream of wizards, and Valburga unexpectedly recognised her eldest son in one of them. They were apparently in a hurry to go to a café for a cold cocktail, but upon entering, Sirius immediately caught Valburga's eye.
"Hello, mother," her son said coldly, "I didn't expect to see you here at this time of day."I was at Gringotts on business," she replied. "Today is a good day: the Black family has an heir again. I hope he will lead us to prosperity."
Sirius smiled crookedly.
"Yes. I haven't lived up to your expectations. I don't support your beloved Voldemort, I don't call everyone I meet a mudblood, and I'm not into dark magic.
Walburga looked at him coldly.
"Unfortunately, my son, the influence of your mudblood friends is too great for you to hear the voice of reason. But I think that when they betray you, you will either run back to your family or die. I did not cut you off from the family altar, but you are currently stripped of all your rights. Your children will not be able to inherit the family name, and your property is limited to what my good-for-nothing brother Alfard left you. I simply took pity on you, my son. Otherwise, the power of magic would have already dragged you down to the level of your dirty-blooded friends.
"My best friend James is not a mudblood," Sirius hissed maliciously.
"He's a Muggle-lover!" said Walburga contemptuously. "That's even worse. If Mudbloods are just stupid savages trying to change our world according to their own ideas, then Muggle-lovers and blood traitors are the mould that is destroying our civilisation with their delusional ideas.
Sirius stormed out of the café in anger. "Damn pure-blood snobs," he thought angrily. "With their outdated traditions, they can't see reality. Their attempts to prevent our relationships and cooperation with Muggles from developing are simply disgusting."
Sirius Black pushed his way through the crowd, catching up with his waiting partner, and did not see the hot tears streaming down Walburga's cold face.
"It's all right, son, I hope one day you'll realise how wrong you were," she thought bitterly, and leaving the café, she apparated to Grimmauld Place, number 12.
Sitting in her favourite armchair, Walburga absent-mindedly held a delicate glass of fine French wine in her hand and thought about her children. Regulus, her youngest son, had shown such promise and delighted his mother with his successes. Yes, he was not as brilliant as Sirius, but he was a good son. He was kind and obedient to his parents. When Regulus became involved with Voldemort's movement after school, whom Walburga remembered from Hogwarts, she took it quite positively.
After all, she had always been impressed by the ideas of Thomas Riddle, Lord Voldemort's real name. Walburga also believed that Muggle-born children should be taken away from Muggles at an early age, after their first outbursts. This would greatly improve their adaptation to the magical world. Otherwise, at the age of eleven, when they all find themselves in the magical world, the children think they have landed in some kind of silly fairy tale. And so they do not perceive their surroundings as reality.
Moreover, different rules of life and a different attitude towards the world as a whole make them feel that the magical world and native wizards are backward. It seems to them that wizards have not yet emerged from the Middle Ages. All these lords, ladies, altars, rituals.
To Muggle-borns, all this seems like a wild past, and they want to bring the light of enlightenment and culture to the magical world. Fools do not understand that magical civilisation is much older than their own, because Muggle civilisations develop and fade away from some kind of technological or natural cataclysms with enviable regularity.
Even in the Black family library, there are books describing at least the last three civilisations of Muggles. And yet every Muggle considers himself the pinnacle of the world's development and tries to remake it. Wizards live on the same planet as Muggles, but in a slightly different dimension. Where else in London, which has been considered one of the most densely populated cities since the beginning of the twentieth century, would there be room for Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, other magical streets, the Ministry of Magic itself, and the many mansions where wizards live?
So comparing wizards and Muggles and trying to unite both civilisations, as that old half-blood Dumbledore so actively advocates, is very foolish and dangerous. It is dangerous for Muggles in the first place. What a pity that her eldest son Sirius has been fascinated by this nonsense since childhood and now, with all the ferocity of the Black family, supports it wholeheartedly. What a pity...
A few stingy tears rolled down Walburga's cheeks, but she quickly wiped them away with her lace handkerchief.
"I have Cassius now," she thought bitterly. "He may be half Malfoy, but I can feel the blood of our family in him. The blood of the kings of England."
About a week after these events, the elder Malfoy was summoned to Lord Voldemort.
"Hello, Abraxas," he said, "sit down. I have a task for you that I can only entrust to my most loyal supporters. This notebook must be hidden as carefully as possible until further notice. Of course, you don't need to take it to Gringotts, but find a more secure hiding place at home.
"What is it, my lord?" asked Malfoy.
"It's my diary, Abraxas, which I kept when I was young, at Hogwarts," Voldemort replied calmly. "It's useless, but very valuable to me. A little dark magic to protect it from age and damage. Nothing special, really. It's a sign of my trust in your family, Abraxas. A symbol that I trust you more than the others. Don't let me down.
"Yes, my lord," Abraxas carefully took the black notebook and hid it in a richly inlaid box with good protective properties. "I will keep it safe.
"Go, Abraxas, and remember my trust." Voldemort's eyes flashed red, and Malfoy hurried to take his leave. Rumour had it that Voldemort had discovered where the Potters were hiding and was now considering when best to pay them a visit.
The next day, Lucius Malfoy contacted Chibuzo Inu through a two-way mirror and informed him that his eldest son, Cassius, had developed a strong connection to dark magic and, for his own safety, needed to learn to control his gift. He said that Narcissa was worried that, in the heat of the moment, his childish outbursts could harm his family, especially little Draco, and that even though Cassius was only five, not seven, it would be better if Chibuzo agreed to take him on as a student right away.
"I told you then, Lucius, and I'll say it again. For the help you gave my daughter, I am willing to take your son as a student and simply support your family. Your business activities in England are also very beneficial to me. Of course, you don't forget about yourself, but that's what good business relationships are built on. When both partners profit, there is no stronger friendship," Chibuzo flashed a white-toothed, slightly predatory smile. "Anyway, I sent you the portal by owl and look forward to seeing you and your family in Kinshasa. The weather is always beautiful and cool on our side of the Congo. It's a wonderful estate, ready to welcome friends with open arms. My hometown, I think, will be no smaller than London in terms of population, and you may find it too noisy, but you will see that civilisation and all its benefits exist on the dark continent too.
The mirror darkened, and Lucius went to Narcissa to tell her about the imminent departure of their eldest son. On the one hand, it was scary to let a little boy go to a foreign country, but on the other hand, it would at least protect their family from Voldemort's possible discontent.
He was becoming more nervous and unpredictable with each passing year. Even his appearance was changing. He was starting to look more and more like a reptile. Perhaps this was a reflection of his awakened Slytherin heritage, but Lucius did not know.
The struggle for power was entering its final stages. According to the predictions of Rukwood, Avery and other Death Eaters working in the Ministry of Magic, by Halloween all the important figures would be in Voldemort's party. Then it would be much easier to strip Dumbledore of his power. Clouds were gathering over England, and Malfoy had a sixth sense that this could affect his family, so he tried to do everything he could to protect them.
***
patreon.com/posts/dark-lord-malfoy-137771654