Black Fortunes

Chapter 26

10 June 1977

Harrigan strolled quietly through Malfoy Manor, leaving behind him the conversation between his husband, Abraxas, and young Lucius on some political topic. While Harrigan enjoyed politics and the Wizengamot somewhat, it did get rather dull after the first couple of hours. There were certainly a few major battles left, but Harrigan felt safe leaving the topic alone for a while, instead searching out the recent graduates.

He found Sirius, James, Regulus, and Remus in a small sitting room on the second floor, adjacent to the suite set aside for the Heir and his new Consort. Sirius had settled in well to his new life over the past six months, clearly enjoying normal life after the finish of his school career on the 1st of June, graduating students being allowed to leave before the end of the actual term.

In Sirius' arms as he sat and talked to his friends was a small bundle wrapped in a very soft silver and blue blanket, a truly tiny hand visible over the edge of the fabric. The babe was five days old, born a full two weeks early just a few days after Sirius had graduated. Despite his early arrival, the littlest Malfoy heir was healthy and strong, doted on by his entire family. Abandoning the usual route with godparents this little boy had two godfathers, James and Severus had both been surprised but honored with the position.

Sirius had promised to let his spouse name the baby, so the little one was officially Draco Lucius Malfoy. The first name had pleased his grandsire Orion but not so much Sirius, who thought his family tradition was overly used. As a compromise Sirius had been firm in adding Lucius as the middle name, wanting to honor his beloved husband. Lucius had conceded the point with admirable grace (he had wanted to name the babe Draco Sirius).

Harrigan walked into the room and sat next to his stepson, wriggling his fingers and getting a small chuckle from Sirius, who obligingly handed over little Draco, who was surprisingly heavy for all that he'd weighed only six and a half pounds at birth. The little boy had pale hair which was getting paler by the day and at the moment the typical bright cornflower blue eyes of a newborn. Draco was capable of being quite demanding, but at the moment he was content to sleep in Harrigan's arms, bright eyes fluttering closed and his small fist wrapped tightly around the edge of his blanket.

Harrigan stared quietly at Draco, mind wandering as he held the comfortable weight of the little babe in his arms. He could not have hoped for a better result from the meeting with the Board of Governors, they had voted unanimously to remove Albus Dumbledore from the school. Along with three Aurors, the Board had gone to Hogwarts and quietly but firmly informed the former Headmaster that he had a week to vacate the premises or risk losing his retirement stipend from the Board entirely.

Originally they had thought to remove the stipend anyway, but some of the Board had reasonably pointed out that the man was going to be annoyed enough at losing his job if they took the stipend away as well he was more likely to cause trouble for the school later on down the road or even immediately, what's to say he wouldn't curse one of the positions like the Defense position seemed to be?

Jumping on the mentioned position, Harrigan had politely suggested that some restructuring was needed for the school and the faculty as well. Binns, for example, had the lowest rate of passing students in the entire history of the faculty, even when alive. Not to mention the ghost was a dismal teacher, making what could be a very interesting subject a school-wide 'nap time'.

The newly installed Sybil Trelawney as well. How the woman had gotten the position of Divination was beyond Harrigan, but really the whole class needed to be revamped or removed entirely, with tutoring offered through the Education Department to those who showed beyond normal talent for one of the arcane gifts.

Something physical besides Quidditch wouldn't go amiss either, it would even tie in with Defense. After all, how could one expect to survive a duel with an opponent if they were badly out of shape, or if their opponent used a weapon, like magically-enhanced swords or daggers? Some of the Board had sneered at him originally for mentioning the idea, but they had been more thoughtful at the end, after all, it was known that some preferred to use physical weapons aside from their magic.