In the time leading up to the Wizengamot meeting to decide the rights to Harry, Narcissa had finally prevailed upon Sirius to continue their relationship.
She knew that he didn't love her, not yet anyway, but they still enjoyed many days and nights filled with passion.
The day before however as he lay on his bed next to Narcissa he once again began to have second thoughts.
"Do you really think I made the right decision with Amelia?" He asked.
"Of course you did Sirius." She reassured, "This is a great opportunity. We already have everything we need against Lucius to get him thrown in prison and now that you're with me you can even see Harry during the summers and over the Christmas holidays."
"I tried sending another letter to Amelia..." He confessed, "She wrote back saying that she still hadn't forgiven me and that she still didn't trust you, like you're evil or something."
"I already told you, I had to act like that around Lucius and other people, you don't really think I"m evil do you?" She asked.
"No," He admitted, "you've been really amazing Narcissa, in more than one way. I don't know what I would do without you."
"Thanks Sirius, and as long as you stay with me you can keep me on the straight and narrow and make sure I do the right thing." She said.
"You should know though that if I have a chance to get Amelia back I'm always going to choose her." He admitted, "Perhaps if I were to break the contract and give guardianship over to her then..."
"You would lose your magic, and she would likely still not have you back." She pointed out, "Just stick with me and the plan and you'll have everything."
While it was still tough losing Amelia, he had to admit, he rather liked being with Narcissa and he supposed he could learn to love her and be happy with her.
"Besides, you can't leave now," She informed him suddenly, "I'm pregnant Sirius."
"You're pregnant!" He asked incredulously.
"I suppose we forgot to cast the contraception charm at least one time." She said.
"I'm going to be a father?" He wondered aloud.
"Are you upset?" She asked nervously.
"No, I'm just surprised that's all." He admitted. "I was under the impression I was sterile after all that time with the Dementors. Never actually had that checked out though, so I'm not sure why I thought that."
The idea that he had gotten Narcissa pregnant with his child was a big thing for him. He now realized he couldn't try and get Amelia back even if he had a chance, he couldn't simply leave his unborn child like that. Like it or not he would need to be with Narcissa now.
"I won't ever leave you Cissy, I'll stay and help raise him or her." He announced.
She smiled and kissed him again.
DUELDUELDUEL
A few hours later though and Narcissa still couldn't get what Sirius had said about Amelia out of her head, which annoyed her to no end.
She had finally won, and gotten Sirius and everything else she could ever possibly want. The money, power, and potential that most had only dreamed of along with his child.
Despite commonly held belief, she didn't see herself as evil, nor was she the Muggle hating bigot like everyone thought. In fact, her plans would include actually making an alliance with the Muggles and Muggleborns, there was a huge amount of money and business that could be made by using magic to manufacture items, especially since she could use very cheap raw materials to transfigure or create things much more easily than muggles could.
Having studied Muggle manufacturing extensively, she had already made contact with several Muggleborns or Squibs who also recognized the potential.
In return she could integrate various Muggle technologies with magic that could serve useful to wizards.
However, despite the rather stagnant wizarding economy, the Wizengamot had continually blocked any pro-Muggle laws that would allow her to legally do so. With her new power in that area she could push those laws forward.
It really would be beneficial to everyone and once they saw just how valuable it could be, they would suddenly see things differently. As money was made and Muggles, Squibs, and Muggleborns would be suddenly valued as trading partners, and perhaps the bigotry and Pureblood superiority might diminish or even die altogether. So she didn't feel guilty at all about her ultimate goal.
What did concern her was that she was manipulating the man that she loved into getting it for her.
By the time this day was over she would finally have her husband in prison and she could start a new life with Sirius and their unborn child.
Getting pregnant had not actually been part of the plan, but it had been a welcome surprise and had certainly obligated Sirius to stay with her.
Yet there was that gnawing realization that she had actually manipulated Sirius and lost any chances he had with Amelia. With her pregnancy, he likely wouldn't ever try to get Amelia back again and he would lose his magic if he tried giving her what she wanted, but that didn't mean that she was under the same obligation.
From what she knew of Harry, he seemed to be the perfect son, the son that she had always wished she had instead of Draco.
She loved her son, but she also didn't like what he was becoming, and the sooner she could get him away from Lucius' influence the better.
Hopefully with having to live with Harry as she planned to outright adopt him, he would be influenced for good as Harry seemed to be the poster boy for what was right.
Yet she also felt guilty taking a boy away from a woman and a family that he already loved and was happy with just so she could effectively use him as an example for her own son.
She supposed that she could still take guardianship of Harry and claim his Wizengamot seats and still be able to enact her plan but allow Amelia to retain custody of him.
If it had been just her she would have likely done nothing as she still felt some resentment towards Amelia for getting Sirius to fall in love with her and also since she felt that his relationship with Amelia had actually helped cause Sirius to run out on her and leave her with having to marry Lucius.
However she decided right then and there that she would at least offer it to Amelia as it would be the right thing to do, even if Sirius wouldn't ask it of her.
Apparating to the Ministry, she walked directly to where she knew Amelia's office to be and ignored the secretary's protests for her to stop as she knew that Amelia wouldn't let her in otherwise.
When Amelia glanced up and saw her however, she said coldly, "What do you want?"
"Can we talk privately?" She asked as she shut the door to the office behind her, not even waiting for a response.
"I don't expect you to like, or even trust me, but I do want you to know that I have Sirius, Harry, and the rest of the Wizarding World's best interest at heart." She admitted, "Nor am I anything like what people say about me. I may have ulterior motives but I am absolutely nothing like my husband."
"Forgive me but I still can't simply take your word for it." Amelia argued.
"Then let me prove it to you." Narcissa stated, not backing down from the intimidating woman. "Sirius was going to give up his own magic just so that you could retain custody of Harry."
"He would really have done that?" Amelia asked incredulously.
"I kept trying my best to talk him out of it and I ultimately succeeded but I want you to know that Sirius loves you and he loves Harry and it bothers me that you don't seem to realize that he felt he was doing the right thing." She said.
"I know Sirius loves me but if he is going to lie to me about everything..." Amelia replied.
"He knew that he would lose you once he did, and he was proven correct. He had no idea that you had custody of him, otherwise he might never have made that deal with me." Narcissa answered, "He was put into an impossible situation and you only made it worse."
"What would you have me do?" Amelia asked.
"You could forgive him for one, and second of all I'm going to give you at least part of what you want and allow you to retain custody of Harry, even while I retain guardianship status of him."
"Why would you do that?" Amelia wondered.
"I know that it's the right thing to do." Narcissa responded, "Although it would be under the condition that you at least go talk with Sirius and try to work things out between you two."
"...I guess I could do that." Amelia finally said before admitting, "Perhaps I really did misjudge you, Narcissa."
"I'm really not the person you think I am." She insisted, "I'd also like to know if you are the woman I think you are."
She put down her stack of papers and files that she had brought with her that contained evidence against Lucius.
"It's all there, more than enough to convict him and put him away from the rest of his miserable life." She stated.
Amelia looked them over and said, "You know, if you're still trying to win points with me, getting me this certainly is a good way to do it. I've been trying for years to get him on something, how did you ever do it?"
"I have my ways," Narcissa claimed, "believe me it was quite difficult but well worth it. I've been wanting to see him in prison for a very long time. That would be just the tip of the iceberg as well. While I know that we've had our differences I'd really like us to work together, as together I feel we could put a lot of criminals away and improve magical society."
"You know when I first heard what Sirius had to say about your plan I thought it sounded too good to be true coming from you," Amelia said, "but I'm not about to pass up opportunities like the ones you keep giving me. Besides it'll give me a chance to keep an eye on you."
"I would expect nothing less." Narcissa agreed.
DUELDUELDUEL
After coming home, Narcissa admitted just what she had said to Amelia to Sirius, to his great surprise and that Amelia would be talking to him after the meeting.
"What about us though?" He asked her.
"I realized that if I really do love you, I wouldn't hold you back from the one that you truly love." Narcissa admitted.
He looked at her in absolute amazement before saying, "Just because I love Amelia doesn't mean I can't love you too Cissy."
"Well you'll have to talk to Amelia about it, but I wouldn't mind sharing if it's an option." She said slowly.
"Are you sure it isn't just because with her help you'd have even greater control of the Wizengamot?" He asked.
"I won't deny that the thought hadn't crossed my mind, but really it's just because I want you to be happy." She answered.
He gave her a kiss, and they began to get ready for the meeting.
DUELDUELDUEL
At the Wizengamot meeting, Dumbledore had Guardianship stripped from him after some debate and it was given to Narcissa Malfoy instead, who immediately passed on custody and gave it to Amelia, although it was done by secretly passing Fudge a note as to her wishes, so as to keep where Harry would be staying over the summer a secret.
Afterwards Amelia immediately went up with several of her Aurors in front of Lucius and declared, "I'm afraid I'm going to have put you under arrest."
"What for?" Lucius demanded.
"Just about everything I can pin on you." She said boldly, "The better question is what can'tI get you convicted on. I do believe I already have enough, even with your connections and money to get you in prison for a very, very long time."
"How dare you!" Lucius demanded before looking over at Narcissa.
"Narcissa, get my lawyers and do whatever else you need to do to get me out of this. You know what to do." He ordered.
She grinned, having waited for this moment for a long time before finally saying, "I'm afraid I haven't the faintest idea what I'm doing. I'm just your dumb, bimbo wife remember?"
He made a cry of rage and leaped at her, but one of the Aurors held him back and Amelia Stunned him.
"Looks like another charge for that. If you could please take him away to prison, I'll be there later." Amelia told the Auror gleefully.
"Don't you want to escort him there personally?" The Auror asked incredulously.
Amelia glanced over at Sirius and then said, "No, I've got something else I've got to do."
The Aurors took Lucius away and Sirius and Amelia went to go talk privately.
Narcissa couldn't tell what they were saying, but she still had hopes for them, yet as she patted her belly, she had hopes for herself as well.
DUELDUELDUEL
As Harry and the girls all rode the Hogwarts Express back home for Christmas, with Tonks having made herself so incredibly small so she could sit on Harry's lap as there would be no room for her otherwise, they chose to discuss a few things.
"Is it just me or is all of this crazy?" Susan asked, "We find out that Harry's godfather Sirius Black actually was framed and Peter Pettigrew is actually alive, hiding as Weasley's rat, then he decides to take guardianship of Harry away from Dumbledore, and he starts dating my aunt, and we all think he is going to give it to her, only for us to find out that he's actually struck a secret deal with Narcissa Malfoy who we are told not to trust, and she breaks up with him, only for Narcissa to actually not be an evil monster and give custody back to my aunt, and Lucius Malfoy gets thrown in prison. Now they are apparently back together again even though Black is still with Narcissa and he apparently got her pregnant."
"Yeah that about sums it up." Su concurred.
"She didn't actually say that they were back together again, just that they were trying to work things out." Pansy reminded.
"She invited Narcissa and Sirius to stay with us over Christmas so I think that's kind of a big step to getting back together." Susan pointed out.
"It is a rather awkward situation," Harry said optimistically, "but as long as Amelia is happy I won't bother her about it."
"I'm still kind of worried about the whole thing though." Susan confessed.
Harry didn't blame her, it was a rather difficult thing to go through for any child to see their parent or person they were raised by start dating someone, much less if you added everything else that was going on to it.
"It could be worse, your aunt could have run off with a centaur like one of my friends did." Tonks said.
"That is true, but from what I've heard you have some pretty weird friends though." Fleur concluded.
"Aren't you still supposed to be pretending to be a doll?" Gabrielle asked of Tonks.
"I'm a witches' doll, they can still talk and say a few things." Tonks reminded her.
"Well then why would Harry be the one to have you in a compartment full of girls?" Pansy pointed out.
"Since I like having an excuse to sit on his lap." Tonks cheekily answered causing most of them to roll their eyes.
"Or you just get some sort of enjoyment out of pretending to be a doll?" Su said.
"I can suddenly see why she gets along so well with all of her weird friends..." Fleur admitted causing them all to laugh.
DUELDUELDUEL
When they finally got off the train, Amelia, Sirius, Narcissa, and Mr. Delacour were all waiting for them.
While Susan, Fleur, and Gabrielle went to go give their family members hugs, Sirius greeted him.
"We haven't officially met before, but I'm your godfather." He said cautiously.
"I know." Harry replied.
Since he didn't feel ready to hug him as it appeared Sirius wanted to, he stuck out his hand and Sirius shook it with a rapidly forming smile.
"I know that I haven't exactly been there for you and you may hate me by now but I'd really like for us to get acquainted." Sirius told him.
"I suppose that would be fine." He agreed, not entirely sure just what to say.
"Aren't you going to greet your mother?" He heard Narcissa say.
Looking over at her, he then noticed Draco standing nearby, looking even more stoic and upset than usual. "How could you put my father in prison?" He demanded of her as a way of greeting.
"It's like I told you in my letters, it was necessary, he was a very bad man and was a very bad example for you." She countered.
"Father was far greater than you'll ever be." He spat. Draco then began cursing profusely at her, causing several parents nearby to cover their little kids' ears.
"That's no way to treat me Draco." She said primly.
"I don't care, you're nothing to me!" Draco yelled.
She sighed and said, "I know you are upset now, but in time I hope you'll understand."
"Once father gets out of prison, he's going to make you pay." Draco told her.
"Your father won't be getting out of prison, not this time, you're just going to have to make do without him." She said.
He let another stream of profanities loose.
"Do I need to put you in time out?" She asked him.
"You wouldn't dare give me such a childish punishment, father wouldn't let you punish me." Draco answered.
"Your father isn't here but I'm still your mother and I'm going to be doing things differently now that he isn't around. You need to learn how to better behave yourself." Narcissa said.
Without another word, she cast a spell on him causing him to turn into a newt.
Picking him up, she put him into a small box, making sure that he had some air holes.
"It should bother me that I had to turn him into a newt, but he really did deserve it. Hopefully as an animal he'll manage to calm down." She informed them all before looking at them, "And I'm also sorry for my son's behavior."
"Don't be, we deal with it all the time." Su said.
"That makes it worse. Hopefully I can teach him to be better, I only hope I'm not too late. His father left a deep impression on him." She said with a sigh.
Harry expected them to return to Amelia's house but apparently Narcissa had decided to invite them to her house as there was a lot more room.
As he entered the house he couldn't help but stare in awe at just how huge it was, if ever there was a mansion this was it, the entryway alone was easily the size of the entire Dursley's house at Privet Drive.
"It sure is huge." Gabrielle admitted as she also looked around.
"It's entirely pointless having such a huge house all to myself." Narcissa said, "Over 100 rooms. It used to be much smaller but Lucius kept adding on more and more to it, like we really needed to when there was only 3 of us living in it. It has also been a nightmare keeping it all clean, especially since we lost our house elf. I've been having to hire servants to do it and they don't do it nearly as well or quickly."
"I can see why Dobby didn't like living here." Su said before she realized that what she had said was actually an insult.
"It's all right, I'm in full agreement with the sentiment." Narcissa agreed, "I'm ashamed to say I never really treated the little elf very kindly either. I have a lot to atone for."
"You've already done a lot." Sirius answered, giving Narcissa a kiss.
"Well you can all simply find a bedroom you like. As you can see there should be more than enough for everybody to have their own." Narcissa recommended.
They all hurried to find one while Narcissa went to go turn Draco back into a human and see if he was ready to behave himself.
As he was putting away his stuff however, having already picked out a bedroom, he heard a knock on the door and Tonks entered.
"You already getting our room ready?" She asked.
"Our?" He asked.
"Of course, the room and bed is big enough to share." She concluded.
"Hah hah very funny but I'm sure that nobody would appreciate that, especially Amelia." He pointed out.
She pretended to pout, "If you were older I might actually still consider it."
As Tonks was constantly teasing him in this way he couldn't always be sure just when she was being serious and when she was kidding or not but he still got the impression that she rather liked him regardless, and in truth so did he. He would miss her when she finally had to end her mission in protecting him, and what with Lucius Malfoy now in prison, Sirius Black declared innocent, Pettigrew dead, and Dumbledore no longer his magical guardian he still worried that that time would be soon. All that she had left to do now was find out what Dumbledore was planning and that might not be enough to give reason for her to stay long term.
"I'm going to miss you." He said without realizing it.
"What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere." She said, tilting her head.
"When your mission finishes." He clarified.
She frowned and said, "Well Amelia asked me if I thought it would be worth it for me to stay and I told her yes. I don't know what Dumbledore is up to but he's been very, very secretive and my gut tells me it's something really bad. He's been using the portraits and suits of armor to watch everything I do so it has been slow going. The Weasley twins recently gave me a magic map of Hogwarts that details a lot of the school, its secret passageways and stuff as well as the people inside it and where they are currently located."
She pulled out a map and he stared at it, amazed that such a map even existed.
Currently there were only a dozen dots of people inside the castle as it was the Christmas holidays but Dumbledore was still there, currently in his office.
"He mainly stays in his office but a lot of the time he simply disappears off the map, which would mean he is either in an area that the map doesn't know about, or he's phoenix traveling to wherever he keeps going to."
Harry had some mixed feelings about this, as he wanted her to find out what Dumbledore was up to, but he also wanted her to stay.
"Could you maybe show me what you really look like?" He asked of her.
"I don't normally do so, but I guess I could for you." She replied with a fond look.
He watched as she changed from the Atlantean girl as she got taller, her hips narrowed, and her bust got smaller.
In addition her skin turned white, but her hair stayed about the same length, staying just below her butt even though it was now black.
As he gazed into her now turquoise eyes, she asked, "What do you think?"
"You look beautiful Tonks." He declared.
She blushed but argued, "I'm really just plain and average but thank you anyway Harry. I prefer to take on a better looking form except when I need to look otherwise for a mission."
"I still think you look good." He insisted.
In response, she gave him a kiss on the lips.
"We weren't in a romance lesson and you didn't have to maintain your cover." He reminded her.
She grinned and said, "I know, I just wanted to kiss you. Sometimes I kiss you just because I like you."
After returning back to her Atlantean form, she got up and left, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
DUELDUELDUEL
During the holidays most of them had a good time with the exception of Draco, who stayed in his room the entire time sulking.
Over that time however, Harry got to know Sirius and he grudgingly realized that he liked him, even though Sirius appeared to be trying extra hard to impress him.
That seemed to pale in comparison to his efforts to impress Amelia.
Amelia still seemed to be rather hesitant towards him but he could see things were steadily improving, especially since he had caught them kissing on Christmas eve.
For Christmas itself Sirius got her a diamond the size of a small fruit, which she insisted was way too much.
She privately confided to him later that she was planning to sell it and donate the proceeds to charity. He'd just have to deal with that.
Of course, he also got a ridiculously expensive and unnecessary gift as he opened up his present from him to find a Firebolt.
While it was a fantastic gift, he thought that since he would only use it for recreational purposes it wouldn't be as valuable to him as it would for an actual Quidditch player.
Thus later on, he decided to go talk with Susan in private in her room.
As he brought in the Firebolt with him, she couldn't help looking at it again.
"I can't believe that Sirius got you this." She tried to refrain from gushing as she examined the handle.
"Neither can I, and honestly I think it's kind of a waste since I doubt I'll get too much use out of it." He said.
"You still like to fly occasionally." She pointed out.
"I figure that an actual Quidditch player could use it more." He insisted, "Which is why I'd like to offer to swap brooms with you."
She looked at him in shock as she said, "Are you sure Harry? This is the best broom ever, and you're giving it to me? What will Sirius say?"
"I just want to help you and your team out," He told her, "and Sirius will just have to learn to live with it. I appreciate the gesture, but he should have looked into what I liked and do for my hobbies before getting me something."
"You do realize that I'll love you forever for giving me this right?" She asked.
"I had a pretty good idea." He answered, grinning.
She gave him a huge kiss on the lips and he quickly began responding back.
Soon they were making out on her bed, and in the process he accidentally touched her bum.
Quickly drawing his hand away, he apologized.
"It's all right Harry, you could have kept it there if you wanted." She told him.
"I, uh, I'll think about it." He said unsurely. The offer was incredibly tempting, Susan had an amazing bum that most people ignored in favour of what was on top, but he was hesitant to take that step forward.
She shrugged her shoulders and leaned in and went back to kissing him.
DUELDUELDUEL
He also noticed that Amelia and Narcissa seemed to be getting along, as they were usually found in some room plotting.
On Christmas day, after enjoying the many festivities Narcissa finally agreed to take Draco to see his father in Azkaban.
She opted to stay with the guards however as she really didn't want to see him and she was sure that Lucius didn't want to see her, leaving Draco to meet with him alone.
After slipping the guard assigned to watch him while he was there a few galleons to leave him alone while he talked with his father, Draco went up to the bars of his father's cell.
"Hello father." Draco said.
As his father got up to speak with him, he noticed that the man had never looked worse. His hair was unkempt and he was starting to grow a beard, his clothes looked worn and dirty, and his face looked gaunt.
"Draco." His father said as he tried to straighten himself out.
"What have they done to you father?" Draco asked in anger, "I'll get them all fired and get you out of this ghastly place."
No Draco, you would only get yourself caught." His father claimed.
"I can do it, though." Draco insisted, "You shouldn't be in here."
It bothered him that his father now appeared so weak and helpless, and he would make sure that as a Malfoy he was restored to his rightful place.
"Your mother did too well in taking me down, I'm told that the evidence is too strong, and she's taken control of most of my finances." The older blond informed him.
"What about the secret and overseas accounts?" Draco asked.
"She somehow managed to find out about those too." His father shook his head.
"I'll break you out of here then, surely you must have people I can contact?" Draco said, getting desperate.
"Your mother has already started working with that Mudblood loving Bones to get them thrown in prison as well, I'm told that most of them are having to go into hiding now." Lucius said.
"Surely there must be something we can do father?" Draco said.
Lucius seemed to pause for a second before he said, "There is. One person who can still return us to our former glory and beyond. He can break me and everyone else out of prison and get revenge on those who have wronged us."
"Who is it father? I'll contact him," Draco insisted.
"I'm afraid you'll have to find him first." His father explained, "I'm talking about the Dark Lord."
"He's dead though father," Draco stated.
"He's still alive, just in hiding." Lucius confirmed, "I've held back on trying to find him as I felt that we could conquer magical Britain on our own but now we need his help. I've heard reports that he might be in Albania. I need you to contact Goyle, he's in hiding but I'm betting that he's at the Dumonton house. Make sure that you aren't followed or suspected, especially by your mother."
"I will father, I won't let you down." Draco told him earnestly.
"Good boy, you really are a Malfoy." His father praised.
As he left his father alone, he promised himself that his mother and everyone else would pay for this. He would bring back the Dark Lord and he would break his father out of prison. The Malfoy's weren't finished yet.