Sirius threw down a pile of papers with a muttered oath, he hadn't realized quite how many pies the Blacks had their fingers in. Sure he was one of the richest wizards in Britain, but billions of galleons were not much help while he was stuck on Black Island, and neither was the fact he had a controlling interest in the potions business in Britain. The only useful fact was that he owned nearly 60% of the Prophet; that could be used to his advantage later but wouldn't help much with his current predicament.
With a sigh he picked up another pile, this one concerning the various debts that were owed to the Black family, perhaps there would be something more useful here. He wasn't holding out much hope but he swore to himself they would find a solution eventually, failure was not an option if he was to rescue Harry, his godson whom he had regarded as virtually his own child ever since he had first held him.
He tapped a quill against the desk as his eyes perused the document, slowly the tapping stopped, then started again as he stared at the parchment sheet in front of him. "Moony, who would you say has that idiot Fudge in their pocket?" Remus glanced up from his own pile of parchment,
"Probably Lucius Malfoy, why do you ask?" Sirius didn't reply, he just beckoned Remus over and gestured to the wording in front of him,
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Debts Malfoy Family 800,000,000 Galleons 364,000 Galleons 4,500,000 Galleons Interest Outstanding 2,789,523 Galleons
Total Owed 807653523 Galleons
Remus whistled. "That is a lot, I imagine if you decided to call that in you would bankrupt him or at the very least remove virtually all his holdings, who knows he might even have to sell his precious manor."
A slow grin spread across Sirius's face, reminding Remus of a shark when there was blood in the water, "So you could say I have dear old Lucius in my pocket then. He would have to do whatever I told him or face me calling in the loan, not to mention I could annul his marriage making his heir a bastard and as such unable to inherit." A grin just as evil lit up Remus's face.
"It would be the ultimate prank, get the Death Eater that escaped Azkaban to clear one of his stanch opponents."
"That might actually work Sirius, with Fudge in Malfoy's pocket we could force him to get a review of your case, maybe dropping the actual work to a trustworthy member of the Ministry, say Amelia Bones, and we know a thorough investigation, actually interviewing those who saw Pettigrew would have no choice but to clear you, especially with Malfoy and by extension Fudge behind it."
Sirius laughed, "I'll send Malfoy a letter threatening to call in the debt, faced with losing all his money and as such his political influence he will do whatever I want." He frowned thoughtfully, "I suppose I ought to add a time provision as well, give him say 1 month to have an investigation nearing completion."
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The two men exchanged grins, "Why don't you write that letter Sirius?"
Lucius Malfoy was currently enjoying a glass of vintage wine. Ever since he had bribed his way out of trouble (after all the Imperius defence was a complete lie, you had to take the mark willingly) after the Dark Lord had fallen he had greatly enjoyed the benefits of his wealth and the considerable political influence it gave him, he was virtually controlling the government, without having to bother with the tedium that the actual Minister had to deal with. He had to admit though the Minister was a complete incompetent, they had let Black slip away again, of course he knew Black was innocent, it was rather amusing thinking about the time he had spent in Azkaban. It would be even more amusing when he finally got the Kiss, although it was a pity such an illustrious pureblood line had been reduced to a single blood traitor as heir.
A majestic eagle owl soared through the open window and presented a single scroll to the Head of the Malfoy Family. With barely concealed impatience Lucius freed the letter, he had specifically told Fudge he was not to be bothered by the Ministry today. He had not made generous 'donations' to St Mungo's to buy favour only to be pestered by owls.
He placed the letter on the desk, he would not give the Minister his time today but something caught his eye. Turning his head his gaze raked across the letter again and he soon noticed what was different, instead of the usual Ministry Seal this letter was affixed with the Crest of House Black. Quickly he placed the glass to one side, a sense of foreboding bubbled up inside him, he suddenly had a strong feeling that whatever this letter contained it would not be good for the Head of the Malfoy Family. Practiced fingers slit the letter open.
Head of the Malfoy Family
It has come to the attention of the House of Black that the House of Malfoy has debts outstanding of the value of 807653523 Galleons.
The House of Black has decided such debts are unacceptable for a prominent pureblood line and as such will call in the debt unless the House of Malfoy provide services that will render some of the debt paid.
The debt will be called in on the twelfth hour of the morrow unless a service can be rendered.
Head of House Black.
Malfoy stared at the letter for several seconds incredulously, he had no debts that he was aware of but as he glanced at the figure written on the parchment he knew that if this was true the amount was large enough to bankrupt him and leave him in debt. It couldn't be true but Malfoy also knew that if it was than House Black were well within their rights to demand payment. He had to get to the bottom of this and quickly.
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The house-elves responded quickly, pitiful creatures that they were. Almost instantly, the finance papers for the last 300 years were in front of him. Quickly he scanned the older records searching for the evidence that the debt was false. Contrary to all his expectations the older records revealed that not only was the debt true, House Malfoy owed the House of Black millions of galleons but there were mentions of older debts that also were yet to be called in, belonging to the previous name of the line. His anger boiled over, as he cursed his ancestors who had managed to run up such a spectacularly large debt. He knew he had no choice. If the debt was called in he would lose everything in a matter of minutes and the moment he stopped feeding Fudge bribes there was a fairly large chance all his illegal dealings would be revealed, but the debt was to that bastard of a blood traitor and Lucius had a suspicion of what the 'services' might be. If he didn't know that Black was a Gryffindor he would have thought he was a Slytherin. The calling in of the debt was certainly a Slytherin move, especially as Black invoked old pureblood formality. Gritting his teeth Malfoy Senior was forced to concede that despite Black's status as a blood traitor he had received all the schooling in pureblood formality and he had the advantage of a much older and richer name than Malfoy.
Locking his rage away beneath his usual sneering mask he began to pen a letter enquiring about the potential 'services' he could provide.