High Stakes and Dark Marks

Narcissa Malfoy almost choked on her breakfast as she read the letter that had been delivered by an unknown owl. Lucius couldn't help but notice his normally cultivated and cultured wife spraying coffee over the table, he enquired who the letter was from.

"It's from the head of the Black family. He's citing you belonging to an organisation that murdered his brother as breaking the contract of our marriage. Death eaters killing the heir to the house of Black is more than enough legal justification for this to be quickly passed."

It was now Licius's turn to do a spit take at the breakfast table, "What? He can't do that! I was under the Imperius curse, everyone knows that."

Narcissa hated pointing out the obvious, a task that she supposed she should be used to by now with the Malfoy males. "It would appear neither Sirius Black nor the goblins believe that claim, the fact that you never stood trial under veritaserum doesn't help your case either. He's already dissolved Bella's marriage and then banished her from the Black family, he's only writing to me in the hope I don't have the dark mark. He's given me two days to meet him and prove this is not the case otherwise I will suffer the same fate. The goblins have also been instructed that, since you broke the contract, the Black family is reclaiming my dowry, plus interest."

Lucius was feeling sick, it was bad enough they were becoming social pariahs but this on top would finish them for good. His wife would have no name, he would have no money and their son would be a bastard. Lucius had to take action and fast, this situation could not be allowed to happen.

"Write to him at once and arrange a meeting, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement." Lucius had his hand on the ever present cane with the snake motif, yes they would soon reach an agreement.

Narcissa knew her husband well enough to guess what was going through his mind, "He's not stupid, Sirius will be in a private room at Gringotts between one and two o'clock today and tomorrow. How bad would this be for us financially?"

Lucius was so far into shock he couldn't even lie to his wife, "Disastrous would not be too strong a word. We would have to sell anything we could and flee the country, there would be nothing left for us here."

The rest of Narcissa's breakfast was forgotten about, she'd become accustomed to this way of life and didn't want to see it go. Lording over some peasants in a god forsaken backwater was not her idea of a pleasant future. "Then I suppose I'll have to meet him and beg for mercy!"

Lucius wore a truly evil grin, "No my dear, I will. By the end of the week Draco could be the new Lord Black and all our financial worries will be over. Sirius is going to discover just what it means to cross a Malfoy, a Slytherin will always outsmart a Gryffindor!"

Narcissa hoped her husband was correct, she really didn't want to be starting over with a lot less than she had now. She always thought the dark mark on her beautiful alabaster skin was a massive mistake, if Sirius laid eyes on it she'd neither be a Malfoy or a Black. Narcissa couldn't abide the shame of being a penniless, nameless single mother with a bastard son. She would have to place her faith in her husband and pray he could handle Sirius.

.....

In Little Whining a similar scene was being played out at number four Privet Drive, but for an entirely different reason.

Vernon was wiping off the fruit juice his wife had just spat all over him, his growl demanded an explanation from the clearly excited woman.

"Vernon, you won't believe this but after spending all those years entering my 'stupid' competitions, we finally hit the jackpot! I've just won an all expenses paid around the world cruise for two."

Vernon stared at his wife, awaiting the punch line of this very bad taste joke. Instead she handed him the letter to read for himself. The walrus started to become as excited as his wife as everything looked to be the genuine article, an all inclusive five star cruise around the world. Spending the coming winter cruising sunnier climes for free was certainly appealing., in his mind Vernon was already picturing the both of them on the deck of the cruise liner.

He would have to take unpaid leave as his holidays wouldn't stretch to this, Dudley would have to either spend Christmas at Smeltings or with Marge. He intended to investigate this strenuously before saying a word to anyone. When it proved to be genuine then Vernon would soon ensure that everyone heard that he and his wife would be cruising around the world.

Petunia was daydreaming of finally being able to mix with the kind of people she was supposed to be amongst, her bridge club would be green with envy when they heard of her good fortune. Like her husband, Petunia would ensure they heard about it, oh how they would hear about it!

Jessie Wallace managed to mention her trip to Rome at least every third sentence she spoke, Petunia would be dining at the captain's table while visiting exotic places like Cape Town, Hong Kong and Singapore. She wouldn't have to keep mentioning the Rome Coliseum, Petunia would have enough memories and stories never to have to repeat herself for years.

She was going to have to acquire a new wardrobe though, meeting a better class of people would require the clothes to match. Vernon's credit cards would soon take care of that, shopping followed by a luxury cruise. Could it get any better?

.....

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