Chapter 49 - Black Heir

I said "Even after all that effort you only found 8 people left in the family. That must have been very disappointing. Now can you get to the part where you explain your reason for calling me here? I don't have much time since I must be inside my room in the Hogwarts Castle before curfew. Are you planning a family reunion?"

Black "A family Reunion for us will be disastrous and may reduce the numbers even more. So no family reunion. I called you here to discuss about the Black Heirship."

I asked "How does that concern me? The ones with strong claim are Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. My claim to the Black Lordship is very weak and the only when they both are dead can I claim the Lordship."

Black "That would have been true if not for the current scenario. The previous Heir, Regulus Black died without any child to pass on the Heir ship to. The next in line should have been someone from the main family but the only one remaining in that family is me. Both Potter and Malfoy belong to the Branch family. According to the Black charter, when there is no suitable Heir in the main family, the Head of the family has the power to choose an appropriate Heir and the only requirement is that the person must belong to the Black family and the family magic of the Heir ring should accept that person. So I can make you the Heir if I want to. If I had died without choosing an Heir, the Heir-ship would have fallen to either Potter or Malfoy with Potter having the better claim. If Potter does not claim the Heirship in time, it will fall into Malfoy's hands."

This was an interesting turn of events. I was shocked but the opportunity was good for me. If I become the Lord Black, then I will be very strong politically and I will not have to depend on Harry for anything in the future. That was good because after seeing no positive change in his behaviour even after all the help that I gave him, I did not like the idea of depending on him. The Lordship will also make it very easy for me to collect all of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

I asked "Why do you want to make me the Black Heir anyway? Both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are strong and are well known in the magical society. They would make good Heirs"

Black "I have spent a lot of time looking into those two and from what I found, I am sure that Black family will be ruined under their control.

Consider Harry Potter first. He was hidden from the magical world after his parent's deaths and comes to Hogwarts with no knowledge about the magical world. He is clueless about everything. It will be very easy to coach him about these subjects even now but from what I have seen of his life till now, I can tell that Dumbledore is trying to manipulate his life and has big plans for him. There is no way for me to get him out of Dumbledore's control. Under Dumbledore, I am sure that Potter will start thinking like Sirius in a few years.

Let's turn to Draco Malfoy next. I thought he would be like his father, cunning, resourceful and powerful but what I found was a whiny, bigoted and spoiled child who did not have even an ounce of cunning inside him. He is dependent on his father for everything since he is using his father's name even for raising his status in the Slytherin house. He may improve in the future but I cannot risk the future of the family on the slight hope that he grows up.

There is also another reason I cannot choose them."

I don't know how he got all this accurate information in such a short time. His information network was very good. My guess is that he uses elves to gather information. The way he treats Elgar tells me that he knows the advantages the elves can provide.

I said "I don't know how you got all this accurate information in such a short time but I am impressed. What is the other reason?"

Black "I know that the Dark Lord is not dead just weakened and he will be resurrected in the future. I don't know how he is alive but many of my sources have confirmed this to be true. So giving the Lordship to either of them would lead to the destruction of the Black family. They would drain the Black family fortunes to aid their side in the war and I do not want that to happen. I want the fortunes to be used for the betterment of the family and not for war. So you are the only option left for me even though I don't know much about you other than the fact that you grew up in muggle world but adapted to the magical world quickly.

If you did not exist like everyone believed till you showed up at Hogwarts, I would not have tried anything and would have left the future of Black family to whoever survives the war between those two boys."

I said "Without knowing anything about my beleifs, you are ready to pass the Lordship to me? What if I am like Sirius? Are you sure you want to make me the Black heir? My relation is also very distant so I lack the Black family traits. There is very little chance that my descendants will become metamorphagous."

If I married Nymphadora Tonks, then my descendants would gain the Black family traits as well but there was no way I was going to tell him that. He would rush to draw a marriage contract between us if he heard about this.

Black "I know that your descendants won't have the black family traits but at least the Black family name will live on and through the family Grimoire, the family magic will live on. That is enough for me at this stage. Your behaviour at Hogwarts tells me that you belong to neither Dark or the Light side which is good considering the fact that another war is coming. You are on the weaker side magically but your high intelligence makes up for it. In any case you are the better option among my choices. So are willing?"

I sighed "I am willing. What should I do to accept the Heirship? Do we have to go to Gringotts to acquire the Heir ring? Can we avoid that? I cannot be seen outside Hogwarts. It would lead to a lot of trouble."

Lord Black smiled and replied, "You don't need to go to Gringotts. I already acquired Heir ring from Gringotts on the day I wrote you that letter. I wanted this to be secretive so as to give you some time to prepare. Many people will come after you when they get to know about you inheriting the Black Heirship. Let's begin."

He took out his wand and said "I, Arcturus Aries Black, Lord of Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, pass the Heirship of the House to Charles Daniel Falken-Black, Heir of Most Ancient and Noble House of Falken."

I took out my wand and continued "I, Charles Daniel Falken-Black, Heir of Most Ancient and Noble House of Falken, accept the Heirship of Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. So mote be it."

Black "So mote be it."

A blinding white light appeared and vanished in a few seconds.

Black "Now for the important part. Wear this ring. I hope the family magic accepts you as the new Black Heir."

He opened a small bejewelled ring box passed the ring inside it to me. The ring had the miniature version of the Black family crest inscribed on it along with the family motto 'Toujours Pur' meaning 'Always Pure'.

I put the ring on and it flashed with light for some time until the light dimmed and vanished.

Black happily said "Congratulations Charles. You are the now the new Heir Black. I hope you can meet my expectations."