Being reborn in Harry Potter

Chapter 08

Chapter Eight - Friends or Foes?

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Azrael stared at his aunt-cousin, Narcissa Black. After she reminded him of his forgotten name, which was rather embarrassing, he began to think about how he could bring her back into the family in a good way, after all, a good relationship with trust was the best option so that there was no risk of betrayal, though while he preferred to have his underlings under his foot well submissive and loyal, it was different when it came to family.

But there was a problem with trying to bring Narcissa back in a good way, for as far as he knew, she loved Draco and Lucius, so even if he would try to bring her back in a good way, he shouldn't trust her at all at the moment.

Well, not that he knew much about a family. The closest he came to one was a drug-addicted mother who taught him the hard way of a life full of shit and how to survive, which was why his grandmother Walburga was a self-respecting woman in his eyes, an exemplary mother who wasn't afraid of anything and wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty when it came to his upbringing. For him, she was what he would have wished for a real mother, but sadly he was past that stage and didn't need one. He learned everything he needed to learn in the crudest way possible and knew that the world was governed by five rules. Power, money, family, rules, and subordinates.

The power he was getting, but he needed more. Money was not lacking, but there was always room for more money. The family he had was scattered and diminished, so he had to bring it back together. The rules or codes had to be set by him as the current leader of House Black. And what he lacked were reliable, submissive, and loyal subordinates. So yes, he had a lot of work to do.

Narcissa, on the other hand, thought about how she should proceed with the current meeting. Apparently, the young Lord Azrael had taken precautions in having these two figures at his side, both of whom seemed to work for him, for what real reason did he have them at his side, she could think of a few things. One was a very dangerous assassin, which is why he placed him as Azrael's bodyguard. While the woman seemed to be a wild card, from what she could remember of the sightings of the exotic woman, she could think of her as some sort of Azrael's secretary or personal assistant. So given these two people along with Azrael, she could be sure that using some form of deception, obvious manipulation or legilimency would be dangerous and counterproductive, so she decided to pace carefully.

- "Please take a seat," - Azrael gestured to her and she nodded and took the place rather elegantly, - "I'm glad you accepted my invitation, I hope it didn't cause you any scheduling problems or anything like that."

- "Not at all, Lord Azrael. To tell you the truth, I am glad to see my cousin's son in good health. It is good to know that you are doing well even after Aunt Walburga's death," - Narcissa replied with a smile.

'Polite, serious, firm, calm, definitely Walburga taught him well' - Narcissa thought - 'I can see that he is ready for an adult talk, so treating him like a child is not a good option. There's also the fact that he's prepared, I can tell he doesn't trust me because I'm Malfoy, which is why he has these two people by his side. He's prepared for any kind of manipulation, even Legilimency, which even if I'm an expert, I wouldn't risk using on these two people who are obviously dangerous, even if one is more discreet than the other.'

'She seems to have a lot of plans up her sleeve, she's also quite observant' - Thought Azrael - 'I can tell she's analyzing the planted baits, that's worrying, maybe she figured out that they are transfigurations of Poppy and Tristana, no, can't be, but she watched them as if deciphering a riddle and has her guard up. She is quite dangerous as I thought.'

- "Lord Azrael, if I may, I would like to speak first to start this conversation," - Narcissa asked, - 'With my plan in mind, I have to show him that I am determined and I need his help. I don't want to manipulate him even if I wanted to and that was my original plan, I underestimated Azrael. I'm talking to an adult in the form of a child, it's better to deal with him and form a bond of trust and friendship as a family, after all, what will I be trying to manipulate my cousin-nephew after I hate and loathe how Lucius did the same with Draco and is trying the same with Cassandra? No, I can manipulate and use anyone, but I won't do it to my own family as Lucius does to his. The Black family comes first.'