A Different Halloween

Chapter 41

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Still Tuesday 28th August 1990. Potter Manor.

The group had gotten together at the Potters, originally to offer support to Sirius over the death of his mother. They were now listening to an entirely different tale.

Emma just had to interrupt. "Sirius, he's a child. How could you leave him there?"

"Yes Emma, Draco is the same age as most of our lot. I can assure you that's where all similarities end. Draco has been raised by a vile, possibly even deranged, woman who was my mother. Had I known at the time, then you can be certain I would have taken action. No child deserves to be raised in an environment like that, I'm speaking from personal experience here. Without my father's influence, my mother was apparently even worse in her later years. Draco is a boy who wouldn't last five minutes with our kids."

Emma wasn't convinced. "How could you possibly know that Sirius? Yes, ours are certainly a tight knit bunch but they do have other friends at school."

"Emma, you don't have to be a genius to work out what would happen seconds after Draco called Hermione a filthy mudblood."

The gasps of shock from the magical people there let Emma know this was a bad insult. "Can I assume that's not something I want my daughter to hear?"

It was Lily who answered. "That is something I've not heard in many years, the last person to say that to me ended up leading Voldemort to Privet Drive. I had hoped never to hear those words uttered again. It's probably the most insulting thing you can say to someone like Hermione or I. It refers to their blood being dirty, as opposed to pure."

Sirius nodded. "Lily, you know that's a phrase I would never use. My mother suffered from no such compunction. The boy Draco Malfoy is like a throwback to the bad old days. He still believes that one day purebloods like him will rule and he'll be the head of the Black family, my mother apparently spoke of little else. If you ignore the fact that I banished his mother from the family, after she got sentenced to Azkaban, Harry, Joy and I would all need to die before it could even become a possibility. Draco has been taught these deaths are mere problems that can and should be overcome."

Sirius leaned over his wife to kiss his beautiful baby daughter, needing the comfort that action gave him before he could continue. "When I ran away from home to live with James, I was disinherited in favour of my younger brother. He willingly joined the death eaters and was the apple of my mother's eye. Regulus apparently got on the wrong side of Voldemort over something and paid the ultimate price. My mother's heart was so corrupted, she still supported the dark wanker after he murdered her son. Never let it be said that pure blood supremacists made any sense, I thought though we'd seen the last of them."

Alice then asked the question that they all wanted to know the answer to. "What's going to happen to Draco now Sirius?"

"I approached Barty Crouch and leaned on him a little, he wasn't unreasonable. The ministry should never have awarded custody of the child to my mother, they would have been better dropping Draco off on some random doorstep. I got my way and the proposal will be discussed in the Wizengamot chamber tomorrow morning. I've asked for Narcissa to be freed from Azkaban early on compassionate grounds, she's the best person to look after Draco now. I will allow them both to live at Grimmauld and continue the stipend I paid to my mother, this should allow her to at least undo some of the damage my mother has inflicted on the child."

This satisfied all of them. Sirius was attempting to get the boy's mother out of prison while keeping a roof over their heads and paying for their upkeep. He really couldn't do much more.

His wife though asked the really awkward question. "Sirius, what happens if they don't let Draco's mother out of Azkaban?"

"Love, the boy is no legal relation to me. His mother being disowned from the House of Black automatically applied to him as well. I suppose Andi might step in but he would be handed over to the ministry child welfare services. I know that's not the answer most of you wanted to hear but that's the way it has to be. Everyone in this room totally rejects the pureblood supremacists' way of life, we put our own lives on the line to do so. Draco Malfoy will find out the hard way that those days my mother harked back to are long gone, it's not our job to teach him. We've each played our part in shaping the magical community but we can't personally save everyone. I did the best I could but I will not have that boy anywhere near Joy."

Emma wanted to say more but Lily's hand on her arm held her back. There were clearly things going on under the surface that she did not appreciate. She trusted Lily to explain it to her later and was much heartened by Xeno's take on the situation.

"The Wizengamot hasn't changed that much over the years. There is more chance of that imbecile Cornelius Fudge becoming the next minister than there is of them keeping a pureblood mother in Azkaban. Especially when they have a perfect excuse to set her free presented to them on a plate."

Amelia agreed with the newspaperman's assessment. "Barty is a political animal, the ministry have undoubtedly made a bad mistake here. He'll use this opportunity to turn a negative into a positive, show the caring face of the ministry to the public."

Further discussion was halted as the sound of engines got progressively louder, Dan had returned with the kids and their quad bikes. Lily, Alice and Maia left to perform cleaning charms on their laughing children and a beaming Dan Granger. The dentist loved his quad as much as any of the children did. Having to sit and watch while Remus, Sirius and James taught the kids how to fly brooms had left him wanting something he could teach them on his own. The quad bikes had been love at first sight for all of them, their brood were rapidly becoming a bunch of speed freaks.

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