FicWad

A Battle of subtlety and Manipulation
Chapter Two
----Harry----
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Harry woke up to a bucket of cold water being dumped on his head causing him to shoot up in his seat and look around in shock. Blinking owlishly for a moment he turned to the grinning goblin holding a bucket and asked “What just happened?”.
“You fainted when you met your new wife which I can understand. Apparently by your human standards she is quite beautiful.” the goblin laughed.
Groaning he replied “I had hoped that I had just dreamed that part.”.
“You’re not the only one who is upset here.” a female voice grumbled on his right. Turning he saw Narcissa Mal… Black in a chair wearing a black sleeveless dress that showed the tops of her breasts and stopped midway down her thigh. Her cheeks were still slightly sallowed but her hair had curls towards the bottom instead of the straight somewhat stiff looking hair she had at the world cup. Her grey eyes seemed dull and lifeless as they gazed at him. “I finally get free of my marriage to that bastard Lucius but now I have to be married again to a boy the same age as my son who I know probably hates me.”.
“I don’t hate you,” he said surprising even himself as everyone turned to stare at him “I hate your ex-husband for supporting the bastard that killed my parents. I dislike your son because he is always insulting my friends and my dead parents. You I know nothing about really so I have no reason to hate you. Plus we’re stuck together so we might as well try to make the most of it.”, at these words she nodded and seemed to at least have a neutral viewpoint about the marriage.
“Well not just her.” Ragnok said nervously tapping a finger on the desk while he and Narcissa’s heads snapped towards him.
“What do you mean?” he asked worried.
“Well the Wizenagamot passed a law a few months ago that only activated yesterday,” Ragnok began clearly nervous “If a Wizard is the Head of multiple houses then he must take a wife for each house. Each wife can only be the wife for one line unless they are giving an heir for their birth lines and then they can have the double name.”.
Groaning he slammed his head onto the desk “Who passed the law?” he asked planning on vetoing every law he suggested from now on.
“Lucius Malfoy did Harry,” Ragnok grimaced “he believed that his son Draco was the only person remaining with Black blood and wanted to make sure his son would have as much power possible when he gains his lordships. Just be grateful that he was arrested before he could get the second and third laws in his plan passed.”.
“What laws would they be?” he asked worried that he would not want to know.
“Well the second law was that a pureblood could start minor houses if they have enough gold to purchase the new name. By doing this he would have been able to get as many wives for Draco as possible.” Ragnok said but hesitated as if scared of his reaction to the third law.
“And the third law?” Narcissa asked.
Sighing Ragnok said “The third law he would have tried to pass would be that any pure-blood could declare any unmarried muggle-born, half-blood, or pure-blood from a lesser house as their betrothed or as a concubine.”.
“Well that law will never be passed as long as I’m alive.” he growled getting a confused look from Narcissa.
“While I know you are the Head of Houses Peverell and Potter and you have one of the Great Council seats there aren’t anybody left for the others so it is useless for vetoing.” Narcissa stated confused.
“You haven’t told her yet?” he asked Ragnok surprised while said Goblin winced.
“We thought it would be better if you told her.” Ragnok said apologetically.
“Tell me what?” Narcissa demanded.
“Ragnok here was too scared,” said goblin let out an indignant huff “that my full name is Lord Harry James Potter-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Emrys. I have two Great Council seats so I all but control the Wizenagamot. I do have full control of Hogwarts though. But it also means that along with you I am now required to get four more wives.”.
Eyes widening Narcissa reached down and pinched her arm, “Ouch! Okay not dreaming, I really am about to be married to the most politically powerful wizard in Britain.”.
“Not to mention the fact that he has a magical core rating of 500.” Ragnok piped up making Narcissa’s eyes widen even further.
“Well I will allow you to get more accustomed to each other.” Ragnok muttered before literally running out of the office with the goblin guards in tow.
“For a goblin he is quite the chicken.” he said bemused while from behind the door he heard a muffled “AM NOT!”.
Chuckling he turned to Narcissa and said “Well now what?”.
“I honestly have no idea.” Narcissa admitted “Well let’s start out with you telling me about your Hogwarts years. It would be helpful to know what happened instead of what I could gather from Draco’s rants.”.
And so he began with his first year and left nothing out, apart from the Polyjuice, as he went through the past three years of his schooling. Narcissa’s emotions throughout the story ranged from amused, to elated, to angry, to sympathetic. When he was finished she looked at him in a new light and he could tell she was trying to fully reassess him. “I noticed that you never talked about your relatives.” Narcissa said after a minute, “Why is that?”.
“I don’t like them and they don’t like me. Enough said.” he muttered reflexively gripping a scar on his upper arm where his Uncle had cut him with a kitchen Knife when he was five and first learning how to cook.
“What’s wrong with your arm?” Narcissa demanded.
Panicking he replied “Nothing…” but she ignored him and ripped his sleeve up to show the scar.
Stumbling back she asked “That’s a knife scar… they abused you?”.
Sighing resignedly he told her in a quiet voice about his home life and what had happened to him. When he finished he looked up expecting to see her disgusted at him for being weak. What he did not expect was to see the eyes of Narcissa Black filled with tears as she ran forward and hugged him, crying into his shoulder while she sat in his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist as he gingerly patted her back.
“How can anyone treat their own Nephew like that?” Narcissa demanded once she regained control of herself “ My family were always strict with myself, my cousins, and my sisters but they never physically abused us even if they didn’t care about us.”.
“They see magic like your ex-husband saw Muggles,” he said quietly as her eyes widened “they consider it unnatural… a gift from Satan. They did what they did because, in their mind, they might be able to ‘beat it’ out of me. I’m sorry for you though.” he finished making her look at him confused.
“What do you mean?” Narcissa asked as she leaned back up but did not move from his lap.
“Here you are a beautiful woman who after years finally got out of what was likely a terrible marriage and instead of the right to find a man you actually love you are stuck with me. A scrawny teenager with glasses and nothing really going for me.” he said quietly. After a few moments of silence he looked up expecting to see her agreeing with him but instead the second his head was level with hers she shot forward and kissed him completely taking him by surprise.
After a minute or so of him not moving she leaned back blushing and he asked “What was that for?”.
“To show you that you were wrong.” Narcissa said firmly “You are thin because you were never allowed to eat much food but I will be fixing that with nutrient potions. You have glasses but we can fix your eyes with magic should you wish to. And as for not having anything going for you? I am guessing that your Aunt and Uncle punished you for doing better than your cousin?” he nodded glumly remembering the one and only time he had done better than his cousin on a test, “Well you had it ingrained to do badly. You are smart, handsome, and powerful but most importantly you are more concerned with how I am feeling than being disgusted that you are marrying a woman older than your mother who birthed your school rival. If anything you should be upset marrying a woman more than twice your age.”.
At that his eyes widened in surprise before he leaned in and kissed her like she had him and after a moment of surprise she began kissing back with fervor. After a few minutes the two parted for air as they panted and placed their foreheads together. “Let’s call in Ragnok so he can give a list of properties I asked him to assemble and we can look through them.” he said giving her a quick peck on the lips before setting her down on the chair and walking to the door. Opening it he looked at the goblins assembled just outside the door, and those who had fallen down when the door they had been listening against had been opened. “Really?” he asked exasperated “Listening at the keyhole?”.
“Yes well,” Ragnok said getting up and straitening his clothes “let’s continue shall we?”.
Rolling his eyes he followed the slightly blushing goblin into the office and sat next to Narcissa on the couch she had transfigured while he had been collecting the goblins. “Ragnok do you have the listing of my properties yet?” he asked.
Latching onto the change of topic the director of Gringotts said “Yes we have. I would recommend this one which belonged to the Peverell family. They were the wealthiest of your families and have the nicest manor.”.
Looking over the folder that Ragnok handed them the two betrothed nodded and he asked “Is it fit to move into?”.
“yes it has a population of House Elves that manage the property and keep it in shape.” Ragnok said before handing him a block of wood and a silver potion. When they looked at him confused he said “The wood is a portkey to the Manor and the potion is a secret of the black family that only the current head and the goblins now about.”.
“What does it do?” he asked curious as he held it up to eye level.
“The women of the Black family have a special magical trait,” Ragnok said slowly “they all have trace amounts of the Metamorphomagus talent in them but usually it only slows down their ageing more so than a normal witch or wizard. Lucius Malfoy, like many men who married into the Black family, did not want his wife looking better than he did so he used the option at the start of their marriage of feeding her a potion that made her age at the rate of a normal witch but had the knowledge obliviated from his mind. This potion puts her age back to what it would normally have been should she had not taken the potion.”.
Before he could react Narcissa’s hand had shot forward and grabbed the vial before she downed it in one gulp. Suddenly she began to glow brightly, once the light faded she sat there looking somewhat different. Her hair had lost most of its curl although it was still the same length, he cheeks seemed fuller and lost their sallowed appearance, and the rest of her features had softened. She now looked like she was eighteen or nineteen instead of in her thirties. “Now I look like the right age to be you wife.” she said happily before kissing his cheek.
“I see you too are more positive about the marriage now.” Ragnok said relieved.
“Yes, Harry told me his story and I realized that his life was worse than anything I have ever been through and I found myself falling for the heroic man beside me.” Narcissa said happily.
Nodding Ragnok said “Well to activate the Portkey all you have to do is count to three aloud.”.
“Can you bring me the files on my sisters?” Narcissa asked quietly, “I want to check for something.”.
“I thought you might so I had them prepared just in case.” Ragnok said nodding as he handed two folders over, “Will there be anything else?”.
“Yes does the contract say when we have to Marry?” he asked “And does that new law say when I have to marry again?”.
“Well most pureblood families simply sign the contract even if it is just between the two people marrying and they are considered married. It is usually only the muggle-borns and muggle-raised that want a classic wedding. Plus if you wish to keep your status a secret until the Wizenagamot meeting next Saturday it would be wise to wait if you want an actual wedding. You are already legally married though. As for the other wives you simply have to be married or betrothed by or on your twenty fifth birthday, if you do not have anyone then the Wizenagamot will vote on who will marry you.” Ragnok said calmly.
“Thank you director that will be all.” Narcissa said as she touched the portkey he was holding and continued “One…two…three.” and he felt the tell-tale tug on his gut as they vanished.
When they landed he was on his back with Narcissa laying on top of him, “Well you move quick,” she teased him “not even married a day and you already have me all over you.” which made him blush furiously.
Suddenly a crack was heard and a bouncy little house elf appeared “Are you new Master Peverell?” she asked in her squeaky voice.
“I am Harry James Potter-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Emrys…” he said only for Narcissa to interrupt.
“With our marriage you are also Lord Black.” she said chuckling at his grimace.
“Are you Lady Peverell?” the excitable little elf asked Narcissa.
“I am Narcissa Peverell-Black and Harry’s wife.” she stated happily “I have been married to him for only a few hours but it is already far better than my last marriage.”, this statement made him blush again.
“I being Mipsy!” the little elf said happily “Is there anything Mipsy can do for you?”.
“Can you and some other elves get my posesions from the Burrow and Narcissa’s from her old home?” he asked and with a crack Mipsy vanished only to reappear a few seconds later with his trunk and Hedwig followed a few minutes later by all of Narcissa’s possesions.
Nudging Narcissa off of him he grabbed some parchment and a quill and wrote out two letters before folding them up and handing them to Mipsy, “Can you take these to Director Ragnok Mipsy?”.
“Yes sir Master Peverell sir!” Mipsy said happily saluting before vanishing with a crack.
“What were in the letters?” Narcissa asked linking her arms with his as they walked over to a nearby couch.
“The one to Ragnok was simply a note asking him to give the second one to Bill Weasley, who brought me to Gringotts today, and tell him to give it to his family. The second letter is for the Weasley family and my friend Hermione and explains to them that I gained Headship to my houses as I was descended from a thought to be extinct house but a marriage contract was activated and I would be spending the rest of the Summer getting to know my wonderful new wife.”. Blushing she pecked him on the lips before pulling out the two files she got from Ragnok, “Why did you ask for those?” he asked curious.
“Well for Andromeda I just wanted to feel closer to my sister who I haven’t seen or talked to since she married the Muggle-born Ted Tonks. As for Bellatrix well…”.
“Well what?” he asked “You also have to remember I know nothing of either of them.”.
“Well Andromeda was the oldest child and when she married Ted Tonks who was Muggle-born and after that my family prevented me from ever seeing her again, that job was taken over by Lucius after our marriage.” she said softly as he placed a comforting arm around her, “But Bellatrix I’m not sure about. She was a year behind your parents at Hogwarts and was always a firecracker, much like Sirius was but too scared to go against the family like Sirius did. She was married off to Rodolphus Lestrange. I was wondering if she was under a control potion or something similar and these files, which can only be requested by the head of House or his wife, should inform me. She became a Death Eater and was given life in Azkaban like her husband which broke their marriage contract much like mine did.”.
With that she opened the folder and quickly started looking through it before yelling out in elation “Here it is! She was given a potion that tied her viewpoints to whomever she was married to. Even though she is divorced her views will remain like that until either Rodolphus dies or she remarries.”.
Eyes widening he asked “You want me to marry her don’t you?”.
Looking up at him he was shocked to see her eyes filled with tears, “Please Harry,” she begged “you are going to need to marry four more times anyway. Please, she’s my sister!”.
Sighing he wiped away her tears before saying “Alright, I’ll do it for you and for the Black family. Besides it’s not her fault that she was given that potion.”.
Crying out in joy she jumped at him and began kissing him with abandon before she stuck her tongue in his mouth. After several minutes of French Kissing she pulled back and said “You sir are going to get very lucky tonight.” before she grabbed his hand and dragged him to a different room, him grinning all the way.