"I'm sure that given the chance they would still interact. They are in different houses. I believe that Xenophilius' daughter was sorted into Ravenclaw and she has never reacted normally or with the general masses. I don't believe that such a thing as a mere adoption would faze her and it might help to remind our Harry that he does still have friends if he cares to look for them a little harder."
Narcissa nodded and filled out the owl subscription form.
"Did Harry seem settled when you last saw him? I hate what Draco is telling us is happening to him in that school."
"He seemed settled and well adjusted, Dear. Just angry. I have no idea where such crippling anger comes from within him. It doesn't seem natural how he flares up so quickly and easily and it certainly doesn't seem to be within his character."
"His mother was always fiery-tempered." Narcissa pointed out.
"She was and I'm not saying that Harry might not have inherited that fiery temper, but this anger he carries seems to swallow him, it blinds him with fury until he can't even think straight. Such a thing is terrifying to consider, but all the same, I do not believe that it is normal."
"Perhaps we should have him tested by a healer then, especially after this revelation about his…previous guardians."
Lucius' lips pulled into a sneer, as they always did these days when Harry's mistreatment by mere muggles was brought up. He hadn't had the chance to talk to Harry about it while he was at the school, he'd only been there for a short time and Harry had been upset and angry already, but winter was rapidly approaching and he'd have both boys home for the holidays, he would speak to Harry about it then. He would not allow any mistreatment of his sons to stand. It was why he had taken out the vile Madam Umbridge at the very first opportunity that arose. Her trial would be happening as soon as the statements of all the students involved had been collected as evidence and he couldn't wait until he could destroy her indefinitely.
Of course, it helped that he had regained his position as a Hogwarts governor and chairman of the board as well. He'd seen to it that Dumbledore was kicked out of the Ministry, which could only be credited to Harry himself for claiming his rightful lordships. He, himself, had the Minister's ear and now he had considerable control over Hogwarts too. He would ruin Dumbledore and he was sure that once he was ruined and not trusted by the wizarding public anymore, his Lord would destroy him once and for all, leaving their path completely clear with only the odd bump due to the remaining Order of the Phoenix members.
The Ministry was now being cleaned out. Madam Umbridge was currently in a Ministry holding cell, waiting for a trial that would see the unpalatable woman stripped of all dignity and prestige and sent to Azkaban to rot where she belonged. Lucius knew that others would soon follow.
Harry had set in motion a series of events that would see a new reform blossom, much sooner than they ever would have been able to implement without him.
He was personally very pleased with the way things were progressing and he knew that his Lord was too. There had been a few, very subtle, assassinations over the last month, a disappearance here, an 'accidental' death there and everything was falling into place. They were swiftly and smoothly moving into the place that they needed to be and it was all because he had had the forethought to put aside his own thoughts and feelings and adopt a neglected and, according to recent information, abused boy who was clueless, lost, and alone.
He had snatched up the Boy-Who-Lived and he had worked and worked on the boy to bring his, rather sharp and analytical, mind around to his way of thinking and it had worked. Only now, after getting to know Harry personally and not through books, rumours, scathing reports or through the jealous gossip of his own son, he found that Harry was completely different to how he had once believed him to be. Surprisingly sharp and adept, he was more intelligent than he had thought, and definitely more open-minded too.
He had expected a fuss, the boy had had his world turned upside down and he had lost his beloved godfather on top of everything that he had learnt at Gringotts, but the things that Harry had chosen to kick up a fuss over hadn't been the things that he had expected him to have reacted to.
He had had a harder time managing Harry's day-to-day behaviour than he had over the betrothal contract. He had had more of a challenge getting Harry to respond to receiving gifts, mere trivial things like books and clothes, than he had over being a Death Eater loyal to the Dark Lord. It was very strange and he had to wonder if it all stemmed from the revelation of abuse by those muggles that Harry had been forced to live with just because Dumbledore didn't want to raise the boy himself, yet couldn't risk anyone else becoming Harry's magical guardian because then he would lose all of his power and prestige with the Ministry. Most notably, he would have lost the Wizengamot seats he held for Lord Potter and Lord Black, and he had needed those seats, especially after he had been stripped of his title of Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards the previous year. The Wizengamot seats had been all that he'd had left by the way of power in the Ministry and, thanks to Harry, he had lost those too and as a result of that, he'd also lost his title of Chief Warlock as well, as such a title could only go to someone who sat on the Wizengamot.
He was worried about Harry being in Hogwarts. He'd talked it over with the Lestranges and his Lord, but with all the other upheavals that Harry had faced lately, removing him from Hogwarts was probably not the best way to go. Yet, with Dumbledore's loss of influence in the Ministry, and now that he was once again a governor of Hogwarts and the chairman of the board, Dumbledore was going to start losing influence at the school as well and once the public turned against him, then he would be nothing and he worried that Harry would be in danger because of that, especially if Severus was right and Dumbledore was insistent on forcing Harry to fight by any means necessary. He had been, they had all been, charged with protecting Harry. He had gone from a priority target to their primary mission, and it wasn't to capture him, but to protect him and because of Harry's cooperation and his open-mindedness in dealing with everything that had happened to him, everything was moving along that much more smoothly. It made a wonderful contrast to a few months ago when they were hitting snags in most of their plans and the boy himself had blockaded their way in the Ministry itself. He had to admit, even with Dumbledore still in the picture and the Order of the Phoenix still active, with Harry out of the way everything was falling into place and he felt more relaxed and confident that his life views would soon become law and, as an added bonus, he finally had a second child to care for.
He loved Draco. His son was the embodiment of his love and care and he had always done and would always do his all for him, despite the few hiccups they had experienced over the years. But he and Narcissa had tried for a second child four or five years after Draco's birth, but after all the necessary tests, he had found that he had a very low sperm count that was getting lower with his increasing age and thus, at just thirty-one he would be unable to conceive another child and it would be unlikely that Draco would have more than one or two children himself.
This opportunity had been a blessing to his family really, not only because of Harry's social standing, his rare bearing abilities, and his two lordships but because he and Narcissa had always wanted a second child and now they had that opportunity.
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