Chapter 41

Dumbledore sneezed as he grabbed another ancient tome from his bookshelf. He rubbed his nose while idly wondering who was talking about him. As he perused the tome a muffled groan came from his couch.

"Where am I?" a groggy voice uttered before exclaiming "Why can't I move?!"

"Because I will you not to Sirius," Albus responded before humming in approval as he found the ritual he needed.

"You bloody stuck me to the couch!" Sirius exclaimed, clearly offended.

"That couldn't be helped, my boy. You were after all quite erratic." Albus responded calmly and then sighed. "I still had some use for you until this morning,"

"Do you know what this is?" The Headmaster held up an opened letter bearing the Gringott's seal. When Sirius didn't answer Albus continued "It's an official missive from Gringotts to all immediate family announcing the new Lord of their House." Dumbledore's voice hardened. "Now imagine my surprise when this came while you were having your little episode. A new Lord Black has been ordained and all the work I put into keeping you out of Ministry clutches is now moot and void!"

Sirius's eyes widened upon hearing the news. "Who?!"

"You tell me, Sirius!" Albus growled. "Malfoy is still a minor so he couldn't have inherited the title. Did you have a child out of wedlock? Did Regulus?!" The Headmaster's voice rose as he crumbled the letter in his hand. "All my carefully laid plans to get the Horcrux from the Black vault and proxy of the Black seats foiled!"

Dumbledore started pacing furiously. His meticulous plans were beginning to fall apart. There were reasons why he had kept himself from proving Sirius's innocence a year ago. He'd have too much influence over young Harry. He needed Harry to stay at the Dursleys to remain meek. Once he had Black cleared he'd get the Horcrux to hold over Voldemort. Maybe even have Black declared mentally incompetent so that he could swoop in as a proxy if Sirius wasn't willing to part with the seat willingly. The man had never been interested in politics but just had to poke his nose into things when Albus nearly had James Potter convinced to make him a proxy should anything occur to the couple that fateful year.

Never in his mind had Albus considered Sirius too far gone from his stint in Azkaban to mistake Harry for James and kill him when the boy didn't perform to his godfather's wishes. When walking in on the scene he had debated to let Snape simply kill the man for that deplorable act. At that time he still believed Sirius might be an asset. If he had let Snape kill the man he could simply frame Snape for it all as the man was practically useless now since he blew his cover. But Potion Masters were hard to come by. Slughorn had gone MIA for years now and the one exceptional Potion Mistress he'd hoped to recruit, a former alumnus, Ms. Haywood. She had refused on the grounds of liking her former professor too much to do him dirty like that. Albus had always known she was a bright student and should have realized she'd deduced that Snape wouldn't be leaving voluntarily.

He would deal with Snape later. When, not if, he would find the man. Albus frowned. He'd have to deal with Harry too at some point and now this new Lord Black. The next Wizengamot session was planned for next week. It would only be then that he'd know this mysterious Lord's identity. Perhaps he could persuade him to join the Light faction. The Malfoys leading the Dark faction would surely try to get their hands on him as well.

"Al....."

"Albus!" Dumbledore was snapped out of his musings by Sirius's voice. When turning to the still stuck man the other uttered "My nose itches. Think you can unstick me now?"

"No Sirius I can't," Albus stated as he looked back towards the alchemical text he had the tome page open to. "You went behind my back, tried to blackmail me when I was generous enough to help you. I funded you, depended on you, and what do you do? You killed my best pawn, you kidnapped Poppy when I could have shut her up without any harm, you let the teens escape after they found out, and now I am pretty sure that the Weasleys, my most loyal, are moving against me."

"I have prophecies I need to be fulfilled and now Harry is dead due to your delusions, my backup Harry absconded with my Potion master who, at least had more use than you. The Weasleys have locked down their home, Moody is being evasive, Minerva and Lupin have stated that they are leaving the Order, I have yet to find a wand as powerful as the one I had, Hogwarts is being audited and I have been implicated in a sordid scandal with FUDGE! I may like to bed men but Fudge is the furthest from what strikes my fancy!"

"So no Sirius, I have no intention of releasing you. In fact, I will be making sure that you will never implicate me in anything,"

At Malfoy Manor, Draco met his parents in their bedroom. "Is everything taken care of?" Lucius asked his son.

"I sent Hermes off yesterday with the portkeys and instructions to everyone I knew to have concerns. Don't worry father. Hermes is a careful bird. He's been instructed to deliver the letters when the recipient is alone."

"We best get on with this then," Narcissa stated. "I've heard from Peter that our Lord is planning a mass prison break. I feel for my sister but she is bat-shit crazy and I don't want her in this house,"

"The house elves have packed up the entire library and any important heirlooms we've had around the house. The elves and the items will go to our villas in Italy and France while I lock down the wards." Lucius stated as Draco produced one of the coins his godfather had given him. Narcissa said not a word but nodded solemnly. This house had become her home over the years. It was not as oppressive as the Black estates, less dark magic wafting about and much less fearful house elves. She would miss her greenhouse and her collection of exotic roses but her son's life and wellbeing was more important. If her husband hadn't agreed with her on this once their Lord's decree was made she would have hexed his balls off and absconded with her son to Merlin knows where.

Lucius used his wand to draw several complex runes while muttering an incantation in Latin. The family could feel the wards closing as their family magic was connected to the house. The three gripped the golden coin tightly as Draco uttered "Camelot" and off they went.

What none of the Malfoys saw, but would have been a glorious sight indeed was that once the wards closed Voldemort and Peter along with any belongings they had were unceremoniously yeeted out of the Malfoy estate and grounds. The Dark Lord who was just about to take a bath had landed on the damp grass with only a black towel covering him while Peter had landed in a nearby tree with Nagini. The serpent was less than happy about being sent flying and voiced her discontent to her Master.

While the Malfoys landed at the gates of the Prince estate and were greeted by Tibsby, Voldemort had transfigured his towel into a robe as he watched the wards fully close and make the Malfoy estate vanish from sight. Enraged he called Wormtail to him and used his mark to call his followers. What the Dark Lord had not counted on was Draco and his classmates' coordinated efforts. Once their parents had been summoned the Slytherins grabbed their siblings and activated their own portkeys. He would only later come to learn, and take it out on his current followers, that the children had vanished.