CH29

He had only managed to silence Sirius by promising him that he could tell Harry about his lordships and responsibilities on his seventeenth birthday, when he was legally a man in the wizarding world, and they'd then let him decide for himself if he wanted to claim his lordships in his seventh year of Hogwarts or leave it in his care. Naturally, he would have spun it in such a way that he'd have had a strong chance of getting Harry to name him as his proxy and leave the lordships in his care, just as James had done, though he would have preferred that Harry had not known of the lordships at all. He was still the Potter's proxy as James, the last Lord Potter, had named him as such. He'd had two seats and votes on the Wizengamot and he'd been the Chief Warlock with all the power and influence that came with it. But it had been such a relief when Sirius had died without telling the boy about the lordships or the responsibilities he had to the wizarding world. He had breathed much easier.

Yet, something had happened this summer. Something had changed and Harry had chosen to disobey him and he had gone to Diagon Alley. Someone there had clearly told him about his claim to his lordships and Harry had then gone to Gringotts and he had claimed his rightful position. He had claimed both of the lordships that he had been entitled to, seeing as he was the rightful Black lord as well, now that Sirius was dead and, from one day to the next, he had lost both of the seats he'd had on the Wizengamot and his position as the Chief Warlock too, a position of esteemed power and influence that he had used to control the dark-affiliated purebloods, to prevent them from passing laws that only benefitted them and their culture.

He'd tried to do some damage control by offering up a selection of wizards who he believed were 'suitable' for the position of Chief Warlock. Of those people, Albert Runcorn, the new Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation after the death of Bartemius Crouch senior almost two years ago now, had not been one of them. One move from the boy and everything had changed and had come tumbling down around him and his carefully laid out path had taken a right angle from the direction he had wanted it to go in.

He had lost more than he cared to count when Harry had claimed both of his lordships. He now had very little influence within the Ministry and with Lucius Malfoy giving more and more subtle advice to Minister Fudge, whispering into his ear, he was getting fewer and fewer owls asking for his opinion or advice on things that he'd much rathered have had a say in.

His grip on the Ministry was weakening and he had to find a way to change that, to reaffirm his hold on the Ministry and get some power back from it. The Potter and the Black lordships had been perfect, becoming the Chief Warlock had been even more perfect, but now that was all gone in an instant and there was nothing that he could do to get it back…unless the boy died. Yet, he still needed the boy to die at the right moment. It had to be Voldemort who delivered the killing curse to destroy the Horcrux; Harry would not survive a second direct curse, of that he was sure.

The first time had been a fluke…he had told the boy that love had saved him, and really it had in a way, but not because his mother had sacrificed herself for him, but because Voldemort had killed her at all. The Dark Lord's soul had splintered with the death of James Potter and the unstable, fragile fragment had broken free without permission, or the use of the dark magic which would have seen it sealed in an inanimate object, with the death of Lily Potter and it had latched onto the nearest living thing that wasn't its original host…Harry. So that when Voldemort had then turned his wand on the year-old boy, the Horcrux had lashed back at its former home and though Harry had vanquished the Dark Lord that night with the help of the magical backlash that the new soul fragment had given him, he had also kept him anchored to life, no matter how flimsily, by harbouring that piece of soul within his own body.

A second curse from its host now would destroy the Horcrux and would more than likely kill Harry in the process too. It had only been strong enough to rebound the killing curse the first time because of the overwhelming magic it had taken for the soul fragment to fuse to the baby Harry after it had broken free of its host. It was a once in a millennia occurrence and the timing had fallen perfectly for Harry, as Voldemort had cast the killing curse just as the soul fragment was establishing itself in his body. It was unlikely to ever happen again.

From what he had managed to find out and theorise by himself then there would be a very slim chance of Harry's survival if he willingly offered himself, and the Horcrux, up as a sacrifice, but if he twisted that a little and never told the boy of that little possibility, then it was likely that the boy would die and he could take over the lordships once again. It would be a struggle to win back the position of Chief Warlock, but it was all for the greater good in the end.

He needed to have some clout in the Ministry to ensure that it was being governed properly. It just wouldn't do to have the pureblood lords taking over and passing unfavourable and unsavoury laws without his veto. He dreaded to think what those lords were plotting and what laws they were passing in his absence and Albert Runcorn would not oppose those lords or their proclamations as he had done when he was the Chief Warlock.

It would take him an age to correct and reverse all of the new laws they were going to be passing in his absence. He needed to find a way to get himself back onto the Wizengamot or, at the very least, he needed someone on the Wizengamot that he could trust to relay all the laws being passed and to tell him who was voting for what. Such a thing was illegal, so he would need to pick this person carefully, but he hoped that that person could still be Harry. He hoped that he could still influence the boy and then he could get his votes heard by going through Harry, but he had to get back onto the Wizengamot by any means necessary. He needed to have the laws he wanted passed to be passed and those he didn't want to be passed to be heavily opposed. He dreaded to think what would happen to the wizarding world that he had patiently moulded over the last eighty years otherwise.

It would take longer than he was prepared to wait, but this couldn't be rushed. If this was not planned thoroughly then things could go very wrong and if someone other than Voldemort hit Harry with the killing curse, then everything would be ruined and the Horcrux would survive to latch onto another host and Voldemort would live on. It had to be Voldemort; otherwise, he would have dispatched the boy himself and then gone after Voldemort himself.

No, it had to be planned with precision. It had to be done properly and this had to go smoothly, otherwise, years' worth of planning and preparation to get rid of Voldemort for good would go down the drain and without Harry to fulfil the prophecy, the world would fall to Voldemort and he couldn't allow that to happen.

Lucius Malfoy had thrown a huge spanner into the works by adopting Harry as his own son. He had tried to speak to Harry recently, but the boy hadn't spoken to him until Lucius had given his permission. Harry had changed so much in a short amount of time and he was now under Lucius' thumb, completely it seemed from his personal interaction with him, but he'd have to test the boy at school to see how far Lucius' influence on him ran.

Harry had ignored all of his letters and those of almost everyone else that had written to him. He'd sent a small letter to Ron Weasley and a longer, more detailed letter to Hermione Granger, but the only difference between the two was that the letter to Miss Granger contained a list of what books the boy was reading, books which he had rathered the boy had never known existed, let alone read. But the boy talked of how excited he was to be learning so much and he had informed the girl that he had picked up Ancient Runes and Arithmancy as electives for this year. That had come as a huge shock to him as well, even more so when Harry had actually scraped two A's in the subjects at the Ministry in just five weeks, subjects that he had never taken or shown even the slightest bit of interest in before. He suspected foul play on Lucius' part, perhaps a large bribe to the examiners, but he had no proof of any cheating or bribery to throw at him.