cloudy with a Chance of freedom

chapter 20

Arcturus was beginning to look decidedly worse for wear. His body and magic were wearing down, but for the first time since that fool Riddle started recruiting for his little group, he felt hope that the Family would not only survive, but come out stronger than it had in recent decades.

Even if the heir was an annoying little bastard who refused to respect his elders and pissed him off something fierce.

Arcturus had a wide grin on his face whenever he considered Harry Black, aka Skull Nighthallow the Midnight Marauder.

The family was in good hands. The brat might act like an arrogant twat who didn't know the meaning of subtlety, but he had almost as much brains as he did balls and was a vicious little bastard who wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who threatened the Family or turn him into a puppet that they could use to control the lesser wizards of the enclave.

Arcturus passed on to the next great adventure with a wide grin on his face as he couldn't wait to see how far his heir took the family after his passing. With any luck he'd be able to see it as it happened in the afterlife.

Dumbledore was not having a good day. Upon learning of Arcturus' passing, he fully expected young Sirius to take the mantle of Family Head, as he was still the heir even after his mother threw him out of the house.

So he was very surprised when Sirius instead took the seat belonging to the Steward of the Black family, rather than the head.

The fact none of the older pure blood families looked remotely surprised by this was more than a little worrying.

Augusta took one look at the confusion on Dumbledore's face before she enlightened him.

"Honestly Dumbledore, it's like you don't bother to pay attention to your students anymore. It's not like it wasn't common knowledge by last Christmas that Arcturus made young Harry his heir instead of Sirius," said Lady Longbottom.

"I see," said Albus frowning.

"I highly doubt that," said Sirius dryly. "Harry will be the family head once he passes his O.W.L.'s with high enough marks, or failing that once he turns seventeen."

"And you're alright with this?" asked Dumbledore. This was rather disquieting news, as the Blacks were notoriously a dark family and it wouldn't do for the Savior to adopt some of their more unpleasant practices.

"Why would I have a problem with it? Harry might be more Black than Potter, but he's nothing like Bellatrix and her ilk," said Sirius in open confusion.

Most of the older pure blood society only needed one meeting with Harry Black (with the death of Arcturus he had legally changed his name) before they decided whether they liked him or hated him.

The dark faction either liked him or agreed to remain relatively neutral until they had a chance to explore their options if another Dark Lord showed up, or worse, if Riddle somehow managed to make a comeback. Those that were neutral towards him were semi-favorable towards him because he was willing to accept that neutrality unless circumstances changed.

The neutrals were more or less on his side, give or take a few who were ardent supporters of either Riddle's nonsense or Dumbledore's sanctimonious bullshit.

The light faction had been his main supporters and would likely remain that way until it became clear that he wasn't going to blindly follow Dumbledore's unspoken rules and behavior, and then their real loyalty would be exposed relatively quickly.

The irony was that Harry actually had more support without even leaving school than Dumbledore had managed after Grindlewald's defeat and Tom's rise to power. All without giving a single damn about politics or "polite behavior".