Protection: The Sword and the Shield

Prima Potentia House of Black

       His Grace, Lord Sirius Black, Head of the Prima Potentia House of Black

                Duke of Gallotero, Earl of Cunningphrey, Baron of Blancaster

                          and Knight Magicae of the Custodians of Shadow.

...Black Manor, Grimmauld Place, Grimmauld Commons, London, UK

Sirius waited in his manor's office. For so many years he had hated the ancestral home of the Blacks and even built himself a place at the top of his hotel casino to avoid having to live in it. But things had changed, and he had finally truly accepted his family. Not what it was but what he would build it to be. Harry had left for Hogwarts that morning and this year was shaping up to be the most exciting of all of them since his godson's return to magical Britain. His family would be ready to support their newly allied House and he would be ready to protect his godson.

Sirius Black had made peace with Harry and struck a bargain between his House and the House of Potter. Harry Potter would assuredly achieve his goal of raising the House of Potter beyond even the Prima Potentia Houses. But his own Prima Potentia House, the House of Black, would be right there. He doubted his family could surpass the House of Potter in the current generation or the next few, but when it came time for someone to overtake their position, it would be his House positioned to make that move.

He had discussed it with his godson and Harry Potter had made it clear that maintaining the status he would raise his family to would be the responsibility of the future generations. He would do his part and it would be up to them to hold on to it. Both of them only agreed to set up their families to maintain the alliance they had forged for as long as possible. If the Blacks surpassed the Potters one day, they both hoped it would be done in a rivalry sort of way and not with the Blacks and Potters at war.

Sirius shook himself from his thoughts. It was not time to think of the future, it was time to make his dreams for the future possible. Harry had a head start and in truth his focus on his godson had allowed both the Longbottoms and the Notts to get ahead of him as well, though he doubted they realized that fact. "The Notts, for Merlin's sake" Sirius thought ruefully at the information the Lycan intelligence agency had gathered on Theo Nott's response to Harry's challenge.

The Lycans had been a good place for the marauder to start his pondering on the future of his family. His family interests were too dependent on the Lycans and the Lycans were loyal to the Potters not the Blacks. He had no intention of cutting them out of their lucrative partnership in the Grimmauld commons, but like Theo Nott, he had realized, that the Potters had the Lycans, the Longbottoms had the Berserks and he and the Notts had no force to compare.

"At least they didn't. The Notts now have the Shadow Guard" the man thought, begrudgingly admitting that both the name and capabilities of the force Nott was building was impressive. Fortunately for Sirius Black, his force was ready made for him. He might not have been thinking about the future, but the girls and women that he had invited into his family had been. And they were motivated.

The lives for squibs, especially squib women was harrowing. Almost every one of the women under his protection had a story of someone, most time family members, trying to kill them to either prevent their "contagion" from spreading or hide the "family shame" from the rest of the world. Some of them had stories of atrocities committed against them that Sirius thought was worse than death.

He had sought some justice for all of them, but he had a feeling if his plan worked that many of them would be seeking out their own revenge. He knew that many of them had not told him all the things that happened to them because they knew what his reaction would be and he had let them be only telling them that if they ever needed him to do something or help them to do something he would be there. Some had come to him, but most hadn't.