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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 137: Alliances and Lords
"James…" His mother, Euphemia, glanced at him. "You look concerned about something."
James saw one of the house-elves closing the doors of the hall.
Their guests had just left, and his father went to accompany them to the fireplace so they could use the Floo to get home.
Only his mother and he remained in the room, along with Loory, the house-elf.
"I just don't want you to feel pressured to agree with this. You are still so young…" she said.
"It's okay, Mother. I know this is important for our family." At the very least, he understood the importance of alliances. And this marriage contract would cement their union with the House of Black.
This may also help bring to their side other houses that were currently keeping themselves neutral, like the Greengrass or the Zabini.
"James, you know that your father never cared all that much about that kind of thing. We always said that, in the future, you would be free to choose whoever you wanted. Something must have occurred…"
The doors opened again.
"Of course, something has occurred," his father made his entrance.
"Dear, what is going on?" Euphemia asked. "You've been away for so long, and then you came back and immediately put this meeting together with Lord Black."
Fleamont sighed as he sat back down. "Look…" He glanced at them for a moment before he continued to speak. "What I am going to reveal to you must remain a secret. You cannot tell anyone." His eyes moved to James. "Not even your best friends. Do you understand?"
'Sirius already knows,' James thought. 'And now I have to look surprised.'
"I understand, Father."
"Go on, Fleamont, stop with the suspense. What in Merlin's name happened to make you act like this?." Euphemia was losing her patience. She could not imagine what could have happened to make her husband behave like this.
"Very well… I'll get directly to it. We may be in the midst of an upheaval caused by the appearance of a new Dark Lord."
"A new Dark Lord?!" Euphemia exclaimed. "You mean like that Grindelwald?... We're not going to suffer another war like that one, are we?" Her voice was filled with concern and fear.
"It is still too early to tell. Perhaps this one can be stopped before it gets that far," Fleamont said. "We are lacking too much information about this wizard. We don't know how powerful he is or how many allies he already has. We have a list of confirmed houses that have tied themselves to him already. But this is the best time to try to form an alliance that will oppose him when he tries to take over our country."
"That's why you insisted on this union with the House of Black…" Euphemia now understood.
The Blacks were known to be on the anti-Muggle side when it came to politics.
This always placed them opposite the Potters, Longbottoms, Diggorys, and many other old houses.
But now, things had changed, and this powerful, ancient house was willing to make an alliance with them instead.
"I still don't understand why though. Why is the House of Black suddenly changing sides?" Euphemia asked. "They have always been set in their ways."
"It is because of Lord Pollux. He had a disagreement with the Malfoy, Lestrange, and Rosier families. This led him to search for alliances elsewhere." Fleamont looked at his son. "Do you understand the importance of the meeting we had today?"
'Does he think that I'm an idiot?' James wondered. "I do."
Fleamont nodded. "And are you okay with this union? You seem to have shown interest in the girls from that house before. This is why I agreed to have this meeting in the first place when Pollux sent me a message."
"I have no issues with it," James responded.
As far as he was concerned, it was just a contract for an engagement to justify an alliance.
Bella and he would not have to get married anytime soon, as they were still underage and in school. And when the war was over and Voldemort was defeated, there would be no more need for that contract, and it could be broken then.
He may have grown a bit fond of this version of Bellatrix, but it's not like he had any intention of actually getting married to anyone.
This was just another thing he had to do in order to win. This was the only matter in his head at the moment...to get rid of Voldemort and his allies before they caused all the damage they originally caused even before he was born.
"Mmm… he did show interest in that girl before, didn't he?" Euphemia now recalled. "He brushed it off when I asked though."
"If there is nothing else to discuss… I would like to retire to my bedroom," James said. "I still have… homework to finish."
His father made a gesture with his hand. "That's fine. You can go. Remember that in a few days, Lord Pollux will return with the proper contract to sign. This will have to be done before you all return to school."
James nodded. "I understand."
As he was leaving, he heard his mother ask about what his father had been doing in France for the past days.
He only caught a few bits of the conversation as he went through the doors.
As he had suspected, his father and his department had been called by the French Magical Ministry to aid in their investigation of the attacks on several secret enclaves where criminals had been hiding.
James went back to his room, as he told his father. Although, he had no intentions of staying here for long.
Tonight, he had one more trip to do.
He changed his clothes into something more comfortable and checked the time.
'Good, the shops should still be open for one more hour, and there will be plenty of people in Diagon Alley since we are in the midst of Spring Break.'
His next plan was going to require him to be seen in public.
He needed to catch a few individuals, and for that, he would need to be the bait.
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