When Harry met Wednesday

Chapter 10: Blacks, Snakes, and Rodents

WARNING: Do l even need to bother with the warnings here? Seriously, it's chapter ten. You can't have possibly made it this far if I can offend you with my writing.

As always, I appreciate everyone who reads my story, and special thanks to those who review.
Reading your reviews is my favorite part of writing, so please let me know what you think.

Now we return you to the thrilling conclusion of the Black family reunion, already in progress.

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Chapter 10:
Blacks, Snakes, and Rodents

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"This is heartwarming and all, but can we just get on with this?" Draco grumbled.

Harry walked over to his schoolyard antagonist, and leaned over to be at eye level, a wide smile on his face. "Come now Draco, why the attitude? We should all be one big happy family here."

Harry's smile grew even wider as he realized how uncomfortable he was making the other teenager. "Years ago, you offered to shake my hand in friendship. I'm offering you something greater than that"

Draco was awash with thoughts and emotions.
His first thought was that he was a Malfoy, and inherently superior to Potter.

That thought was tempered by the knowledge that his hated rival had literally ended the Potter line, and taken up the name Black.

He seethed in anger, by all expectations, he should have been the one to inherit, not Scarhead.

The grinning idiot in front of him had no right to be lording over him.

Before he could open his mouth to tell off the Gryffindor fool, he saw his mother's face at the edge of his vision. His mother was white as a ghost, and was subtly shaking her head no.

There was a look of terror in her eyes, the likes of which he'd never seen before. That confused him, until he actually looked at the new Black pater familias, and locked eyes with him.

Those green eyes were completely devoid of sanity. Instead, they held a madness that surpassed his Aunt Bellatrix's.

The smile no longer seemed insulting. No, now it was downright frightening. His mind blanked, and he had no idea what to do or say.

Almost disappointed that Draco didn't say anything, Harry spun back around, and walked to where everyone could easily see him. "We are the last of the Blacks. The once mighty House of Black has fallen far, but it has not yet succumbed to the bittersweet embrace of Death. I want to rebuild. I've learned quite a bit about the family I've inherited, and I believe I know what went wrong. More importantly, I know how to fix it."

"What went wrong is the stupidity of pure-blood dogma." Tonks said under her breath, but loud enough to be heard by everyone.

A little louder, she boldly clarified, happy that she was obviously upsetting her aunts and her cousin. "Marrying your cousin is a great way to have screwed up kids. Muggles have known this for ages."

Before an argument could break out, Harry loudly agreed with a flat voice. "She's not wrong, but it's also not that simple. That is only half of the problem."

Making sure all eyes were on him, Harry explained. "Toujours pur has been the Black family motto for centuries, but it's actually a poor french translation from the original Latin. Now my Latin sucks, but I'm almost positive I know where the translation screwed up. It's supposed to be always holy, not pure, holy."