The next day I sat in the large living room of our manor. The Gaunt family was not even close to as destitute as it had been in the books. That was thanks to my grandfather who was able to get a total of fifteen women in his Coven. Unfortunately he still prescribed to old Gaunt family traditions to keep the bloodline small so that the blood of Salazar Slytherin was kept in tight control. So he only ever had three children in total. It led to three divorces and him getting cheated on twice.

I shook my head at the ridiculousness of that.

Then there was Merope, she had been cast out of the family quickly for refusing to be betrothed to another house. My great-grandfather decided it was fine as he had two sons, as men were much more sought after in pure-blood households.

Then my aunt had given birth to one of the strongest wizards in history, who died of unknown causes.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around that one. What was Harry Potter without Voldemort? The country had been shaped by the man, even if it was in the darkest ways imaginable.

My half-sister hugged me tightly, Lissy had been a cry baby for as long as old Reigis could remember. So when I had left my room early in the morning she had latched onto me for the rest of the day.

Thankfully there was no weird relationship between the two. I didn’t think I could handle that.

My mother sat with her other sister wives, Iris, Katie and Jess, a muggleborn who was pregnant with her first child.

The fire inside the fireplace burned green and a man and woman walked out. Percivil Gaunt was a handsome man, and thanks to magic looked to only be around forty despite being almost ninety years old. He had grown up in the Global Wizarding War, and carried himself like he wore a military uniform.

My grandmother, the one I was actually related to, was a thin stern looking woman that looked to be carved out of stone. She was beautiful, yes, hard to find a non-attractive witch or wizard, but the severity of her features created some distance between her and others. I was one of the few people who knew how kind she was over her perpetually cold eyes. She had originally been a Malfoy before marrying into the family. As the third child of the Malfoys she had no need to send a child back to the family to act as heir.

A second blaze of green fire alerted me to someone else joining us. A tall man with blond hair and deep blue eyes stepped out of the fire. Unlike the robes of my grandfather and grandmother he wore a snug three piece suit.

“Ah, I see I am just in time.”

Leovon Greengrass, the father of my fiance. I only met him a handful of times. Once my grandfather found out about my lack of magical ability he had kept me out of the social circles. Unluckily for him I was already betrothed to the heiress of the Greengrass family.

“Yes it is good to see you Lord Greengrass,” my grandfather said, his voice more rough than the smooth lilt of Leovon’s.

We had all stood when my grandfather entered and he gave us a quick nod for us to relax. Three of my fathers wives along with Lissy sat back down while me, father and mother continued to stand.

“Ah young Reigis, its been a long time,” Leovon said pleasantly, stretching out his hand to me. “I am terribly sorry for this business, I’m not even sure you remember me its been so long.”

I didn’t I only knew him from articles of The Daily Prophet. I had apparently met him when I was one and three, but nothing after my magic power had come out.

“Its great to see you again Lord Greengrass,” I said giving his hand a firm shake.

His eyebrow rose, maybe I had put in too much strength. The ritual had done more than alter my magical powers.

While he greeted my parents in turn my grandmother, Teris Gaunt, came up to me.

“How are you Reigis?” she asked, her voice cool.

I smiled warmly at her. 

“I’m doing fine grandma.”

“No,” she glanced to Leovon. “Illnesses recently?”

I knew she was actually asking if there were aftereffects from the ritual.

“No I’m doing great.”

“Good, if anything changes just send me an owl.”

“I will.”

A quick flicker of a smile graced her lips and she squeezed my hand before moving back to Percivil.

I looked into my palm to see a little candy she had slipped me. She really was too kind.

Once they were done greeting one another and giving compliments Leovon turned back to me and my grandfather.

“I won’t beat around the bush. Rumors have been circulating that your grandson is a squib. As you know squibs cannot form Covens, and near squibs can barely get a single wife. I myself do not care for those things, as long as my daughter is happy. However my daughter is the one who brought up the concern. She does not want to be married to someone who cannot form a proper Coven.”

That sounded so odd to someone born in a modern world. A woman not wanting her husband to only have one wife?

“I respect my daughter’s wishes and have agreed that should young Reigis here not pass the crystal ball test I will annul their engagement.”

I saw my grandfather's jaw tighten, but he nodded stiffly, sending me and my parents a quick glance.

“Iris dear can you grab the orb?” my father asked.

“No need, I brought my own,” Leovon said, and from a pocket came a familiar crystal orb that in no way would have normally fit.

I saw several faces from my family grimace. I understood why they felt that way. For Leovon to bring his own crystal ball meant he didn’t trust us not to have tampered with ours.

Because of me being locked away in the manor my entire life I didn’t know the political landscape surrounding my family. Were the Gaunts known to be untrustworthy? Or was this Leovon slighting us? Or just taking precautions?

The man in question walked up to me, a sheepish smile on hisface.

“I know this must be embarrassing. However I hope the results are good for the both of us,” he said quietly.

“Thank you Lord Greengrass.”

He nodded to me and I placed my hand on the ball with swirling blue clouds. Immediately I felt the flow of magic run through me unbidden. The crystal orb began to glow, the blue becoming blindging.

With my squinted eyes I could see the shocked expression of Leovon Greengrass. Then a loud CRACK echoed out and the crystal orb fell into two pieces on the carpeted ground.

“Bloody hell,” Leovon murmured. “I can understand why you kept him locked up all this time. This boy is the next Dumbledore. Didn’t your sisters son do something similar when he was tested?”

Thankfully the Greengrass Patriarch was still staring at the broken orb on the ground so he couldn’t see the looks of absolute shock on everyone in the room.

“Y-yes, Tom did.”

“Thats a shame then, imagine two boys of Dumbledore’s caliber in your household.”

“Aye, but Reigis is enough. Now would you like something to drink Leovon?” My grandfather said, finally getting ahold of himself.

“I think I would, care to join us Reigis? I would like to get to know my future son-in-law.”

Without looking for clues of my grandfather I nodded.

The three men of the Gaunt household and the Greengrass Lord entered my grandfathers study. Lissy made sure to give me a strong hug and kiss on the cheek before scampering off with her mother.

“Richard its been quite some time,” Leovon said shaking my fathers hand with a wide smile.

“Yes it has Leo, I still remember when you took me onto the Quidditch team in my second-year. No one else believed in skinny ole me.”

“Best damn beater Slytherin ever had.”

“And you were only an average Chaser if I remember correctly.”

Leovon barked out a laugh and the three older men began to talk casually with one another.

I sipped on the rum and coke my grandfather had reluctantly handed me. The older man peered at me as though seeing me for the first time.

“Good job boy,” was all he said.

I silently watched for several minutes before Leovon pulled me into the conversation.

“I am sorry about all this mess Reigis. My Daphne is known to act a bit… odd at times, love her to death of course. Truth be told I think this is her being a bit rebellious.”

He sent proud smiles to each of us before continuing.

“My sixth wife has just given birth to a boy. We’re keeping it under wraps for now, but because of that she won’t be the main inheritor any longer.”

Ah, I understood now. Due to the rarity of males whenever one was born they were made heir to their house. At least for the Sacred Twenty-Eight. A family with several generations of no male heirs could see them become destitute. The dowrys of all the women brought in from noble magical houses could also bring a destitute family to prosperity once again like with my grandfather.

“I am hoping that you will come to this years Yuletide Party at the Ministry. I will be there and of couse so will Daphne. Then there is the fact that with your level of power you do not have to be as cautious when choosing Coven members. Plenty of young flowers to pick from on the dance floor of these things,” he said with a suggestive smile.

“Uh, yes sir.”

I was feeling very awkward at the moment.

“You will begin Hogwarts in a couple of years. Have you already begun to study? Anything you are interested in?”

“Of course. I think Ritual magic is extremely interesting, as well as potions and transfiguration, and with the choke hold the ministry has on Ritual magic beginning to loosen I am hoping that we will be able to have it more in our coursework.”

All of that was true, despite Reigis being a near squib he was extremely interested in magic. Being cooped up inside all the time let him study as much as he wished. In fact there was a hidden drawer filled with potions Reigis had made himself.

“Are you looking to get into Alchemy then?”

“I am, Alchemy is one of the most complex magics out there, taking several branches of magic and putting them in one.”

“Well if you ever wish to visit our home we have a pretty extensive library on the subject, hasn’t been touched in ages though.”

“I might have to take you up on that. Not to mention the benefit of being able to see my fiance more often,” I said with a chuckle.

“I’m sure she would love to hear that, and if any of my other daughters catch your eye just ask, as long as they are not spoken for I am sure we can arrange something.”

This man was giving away daughters like a street vendor selling kebabs. I didn’t currently have plans to just start picking up random attractive women though. Instead with my knowledge of the world I was going to make a list.

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