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Chapter 6 – Shock

While Bellatrix had a new reason for living and Snape had to use all of his self-control not to be seen dancing around in joy at the demise of his worst living enemy, Dumbledore was, for the first time in his long, eventful life, shocked.

Amelia Bones had contacted Dumbledore in his capacity as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot to give him the sad news about the demise of all the Knights of the Light in their quest for the new Dark Lord. She didn't tell him about Sirius Black she merely showed him the condition of the once proud wizard. She had to control herself upon seeing the look of horror on the face of the old coot as for once things hadn't gone his way.

She felt no sympathy for Black. He had always been wild but since the death of James Potter and the unexplained escape of Severus Snape, he had become uncontrollable. He was more trouble than he was worth and he was still "pranking" just like he and James had done at Hogwarts. Most of his pranks were cruel and as it had been at Hogwarts, Dumbledore allowed him to get away with anything short of murder.

Nobody went against Dumbledore as his fame, power and popularity since he had defeated another Dark Lord, thus saving Britain and, naturally, the rest of the world, had increased to dizzying heights. Black had become his…enforcer, shall we say…and for a regular Auror, he acted like he was the Head of the DMLE.

On more than one occasion Amelia had called him into her office to chastise him about his conduct and the various complaints received concerning his improper behavior. All he had ever done was to smile at her, turning on the 'old charm' of Sirius Black, yawning at her rants and then would usually leave her office before she finished the chastisement or had given him permission to go.

Even though she was Head of the DMLE, he was Dumbledore's "dear boy" and hence untouchable. Minister Bagnold sided with Sirius and Dumbledore and every time Amelia tried to report negatively on Sirius' behavior, Bagnold had stated that "Dumbledore is grooming him to be the eventual Head of the DMLE so if you don't stop 'vilifying' his reputation, it will be sooner rather than later that he becomes the new Head.

Bagnold was also in Dumbledore's pocket and everyone knew she was just waiting for the end of her current term of office so she could retire with dignity and honor – as well as all of those galleons earned for this and that. She would then leave the country ASAP because Dumbledore had been insinuating that lately she had been displeasing him, and she knew what happened to people who displeased or disappointed the Great and Powerful Wizard of O…er…the Light.

With Black's death, Amelia hoped she would be able to keep her job a bit longer. As usual, it all depended on who Dumbledore allowed to become the new Minister of Magic. A new regime always meant changes and as far as she knew the leading candidates – all Dumbledore's choices – were not promising, at least to her and those she trusted and/or called friends. There was a dreadful rumor going around that now that Black was dead, Dumbledore was considering appointing Arthur Weasley, of all people, as the new Head of the DMLE.

Although she always thought of Arthur Weasley as the proverbial 'nice guy' he was completely under Dumbles' control due to his wife Molly's influence. Her brothers had died as heroes in the war giving not only their lives but fortunes (what was left of it anyway) to the Order. So had many others, but Dumbles rarely cared (in private at least).

However, the Weasleys had something that Dumbledore needed – offspring! There were six boys and one girl, all Purebloods and dedicated by their mother to Dumbledore's service. He planned to marry them all to certain Purebloods who, despite being neutral in the last war were not "on the side of the Light" or in other words, didn't follow Dumbledore.

Arthur had been promoted after the war to a rather lucrative position as the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. His salary as the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department was tripled with his new appointment. It was also possible to make a lot of money doing favors for people, such as getting great seats at sporting events, etc. However, Arthur was such a nice chap that he usually gave them away – for free – much to the disgust of his wife.

Poor Arthur had been happy in his old job as he adored all things Muggles. He even had a collection of Muggle things, which he kept in a shed in his back yard as Molly refused to have them in the house. But his life and opinions were not his own and never would be as long as Molly and/or Dumbledore lived.

Although Arthur had no experience in law or had never had any Auror training (plus he only received an Acceptable on his NEWT Defense scores), he would do whatever Dumbledore told him to do. There would be no deviating any of Dumbledore's plans on Arthur's part, which was why Amelia was hoping that Arthur would become Minister of Magic when Bagnold's term was up. In her opinion he would do less harm as Minister than he would do in the DMLE.

All she could do was wait and hope for the lesser of two evils to happen and perhaps with Sirius and his cronies dead (Sirius had "mercifully" been put down) things would be peaceful no matter who Dumbledore appointed to the Ministry.

It wasn't going to happen as Sirius was still causing trouble from the grave.

It had been Lord Arcturus Black who made the decision to end the painful and useless existence of his last grandson. As Narcissa Malfoy gently mentioned during the memorial service "Everyone is gone. The only one to have the pure blood of the Blacks running in their veins and to inherit the Lordship is my son Draco."

Arcturus was her third cousin but no one of her generation had offspring except her. She didn't count her sister Andromeda's Half-blood daughter as she was not pure since her foolish mother had eloped with a Muggleborn. Sirius and Regulus both died childless, Bellatrix had a serious miscarriage and couldn't conceive again plus she was a wanted criminal.

Had the Potter brat lived, he would still be a Half-blood and the Longbottom line had been wiped out as Lucius had seen to the deaths of Frank, his then pregnant wife and his son. Ergo, only Draco was left and must be named as heir and given the heir ring if the House of Black was to continue.

Arcturus had only smiled at her logical request before replying "You know I despise Lucius and have officially disinherited any child from your body if it was sired by Lucius."

"But Draco is the ONLY possible heir and…."

"And you are incorrect. There are several other heirs that you do not know about and I will be choosing one when I make out my new Will. I will leave now and be retiring from life so that I can live longer as between Dumbledore's manipulations – he wants me to make a Weasley my heir – and Lucius with his schemes to acquire as many Lordships as possible for his son, I will be signing my own death warrant as well as the deaths of my heirs after my Will is signed."

Before a shocked Narcissa could respond Lord Black apparated away. It would be the last time she ever saw him. Not that she cared as he had only one duty left in his life, namely, to name Draco his heir. He had been correct that as soon as he signed the Will "he'd catch dragon pox" which was a euphemism for "Die old man die and do it now as we want your wealth."

She left immediately as she had to alert Lucius to the fact that there were other heirs. She was also going to chastise him for sloppy work as he had sworn to her their precious boy was the only heir. That would have to be "corrected" as soon as possible.

Narcissa wasn't the only one annoyed with Lord Arcturus, Dumbledore was furious. Cedrella Black had married Septimus Weasley and was promptly disowned for many reasons. The disownment had been ironclad and could not be reversed. However, now that Sirius was dead and only Draco Malfoy was left, Dumbledore was positive that he could "convince" Arcturus of the "wisdom" of reinstating Arthur, and thus his offspring, back into the family.

Arcturus had not spoken to Dumbledore in years. He had gone so far as to appoint a proxy for when he was summoned to the Wizengamot because he knew that if he was ever again in Dumbledore's presence one of them wouldn't come out alive. Unfortunately it would probably be Arcturus.

After he defeated Grindelwald, the world was Dumbledore's oyster. He even seemed to increase in power, health and stamina. Arcturus had heard the rumors that Grindelwald possessed the mythical Elder Wand and, according to legend, when Dumbles defeated him the wand had been passed onto him. That would explain all of Dumbles' increased powers.

Like many Purebloods, Arcturus did not like the way Dumbles had taken over Magical Britain and had the unlimited power to declare perfectly good magic as "Dark and therefore evil" so that much magic was forbidden. Arcturus had been furious to learn how many courses had been banned at Hogwarts as "Dark" and by the time Sirius' generation went to school, the curriculum had been reduced by two-thirds.

But the proverbial "straw that broke the house elf's back" was when Dumbledore changed the names of sacred holidays such as Samhein being called Halloween and then completely changed the sacred rites to please Muggleborn sensitivity. The correct rites were outlawed at Hogwarts and Dumbledore was encouraging the Ministry to out and out ban other sacred holidays because, yes again they were Dark, and thus must be outlawed.

With so many people complaining, a compromise of sorts was made, which really pleased no one. People were able to practice sacred rites in the privacy of their own homes but there would be no public celebrations authorized by the Ministry. Yule survived as Christmas and was the only holiday that was celebrated publically – just as long as it was called Christmas and no "pagan rites" were done so as not to offend the Muggleborns.

However at Hogwarts Dumbledore ruled and he forbade any "pagan celebrations" being observed at HIS school. Anyone caught doing so was severely punished. Instead of "helping Muggleborns assimilate in their new world" it did the opposite especially after the "Introduction to the World of Magic" course was done away with. In its place was now the ridiculous Muggle Studies course, which was so inaccurate that the Muggleborns said some of it was totally wrong and/or out-of-date.

Several people ran for public office in an attempt to overthrow Dumbledore, but to no avail. He was just too powerful and had an efficient publicity machine. If someone showed promise the rumors began. There had been one young fellow who had been at Hogwarts when Orion and other family members were there. He was the most interesting wizard Arcturus ever met and was rumored to be the heir of Slytherin. However, even then Dumbledore disliked the boy as he was beating Dumbledore's old records and it was predicted he would go far despite being poor.

Dumbledore made certain the brilliant Tom Riddle couldn't get a decent job despite his high scores, intelligence, magical power, good looks and remarkable charm. Instead he worked in a shop of all things until it was said that he had inherited some money and left to do further study abroad.

He returned to run for political office and was doing very well until Dumbledore slandered him going so far as to accuse him of murder – including his own father! Arcturus had generously contributed to Riddle's campaign fund, but Dumbledore's slander was too much and the old #*#$&#&&# had arranged to frame him and drive him away.

But Riddle did return a decade later with a new persona – Lord Voldemort.

In the end it was said (by Dumbledore as there were no other witnesses) that Dumbledore had defeated yet another Dark Lord and his fame, power and crushing hold on Magical Britain increased.

The Dark Lord was dead and some of his family members were lost to him, including his beloved grandson Regulus. Oh and Bellatrix was accused of being a Death Eater, escaped and was now a wanted criminal. He didn't know if she was still alive.

But like Arcturus, Britain would soon find out that she was alive – as well as other people.

Dumbledore's reign was again about to be challenged and he would have a lot of explaining to do to many, many people.