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In The Blood | ||||||
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Category: The Noble and Most Ancient House Challenge (2012-1), The Noble And Most Ancient House Challenge (2012-1) Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure Warnings: None Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 78 Summary: *** Winner of Best Historical, 3-way tie, in the Noble and Most Ancient House Challenge *** A strange owl delivers a summons to Harry on December 1, 1995, telling him he is to be at a meeting on the Isle of Avalon in just 21 days. The parchment sets events in motion which give Harry an unexpected teacher and the knowledge he needs to comfortably assume his title as Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter. Hitcount: Story Total: 61955; Chapter Total: 6711 Author's Notes: I know you'll have questions regarding the plot after this chapter. They will be answered in the story, eventually. Thanks for reading and reviewing, MNF |
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Chapter 6: “Being Black” Harry was sitting alone in his room at Grimmauld Place. He'd arrived not long ago with the Weasleys. He had seen Mr. Weasley being attacked. His dream had been real. The thrill of the last few weeks; learning about his heritage, getting Umbridge sacked, even studying Welsh, was lost tonight. He wasn't sure what was bothering him more, the sight of Mr. Weasley being bitten by the huge snake, or knowing Voldemort had everything to do with it. A knock at the door and Sirius pushing it open caused Harry to look up. "I'm not really in the mood for company, Sirius." "Neither was I, but my house is full of people, so neither of us are getting what we want tonight. I'm not going to make you talk about what happened, enough people have done that with you. I've got something to show you." "Really?" Harry said sceptically. "Really," Sirius deadpanned back. "Come on, it's upstairs." Harry reluctantly got up off his bed and followed his godfather, moving at the slowest pace he could. "I know you can move faster, kiddo." "Fine," Harry grumbled and jogged the few steps to catch up with Sirius. Together they climbed all the way to the attic. "You know, Buckbeak isn't a surprise." Sirius guffawed. "No, he's not. But, I think this will be." Sirius walked through the empty attic, petting the hippogriff as he went. He’d already destroyed what was Sirius’s mother’s bedroom. There was less up here to destroy. When he reached the far side, he placed his wand against the wall, which dissolved. Behind where the wall had been, there was now a large telescope, star charts posted on the walls, and an intricate mobile showing the planets, which seemed to be moving in the appropriate orbits around the sun. "Cool," Harry said as he followed Sirius. "Yeah, cool," Sirius said, sounding as if it was anything but. “The Blacks are known for their skill in Astronomy. This is where I spent most nights as a child, usually with my Uncle Alphard, but sometimes others. Did you know I took my Astronomy NEWT without taking the classes? Only other O I received..” “What was your other one in?” “Charms. I’m a very charming fellow,” Sirius replied slickly. Harry groaned. “You used to pick up girls with lines like that?” “Never had a problem,” Sirius confidently replied and then took to the lesson he wanted to impart. “Harry, look up at the mobile. Notice anything?” Harry glanced to the mobile. He stared for minute longer, furrowing his brow as he did. While he wasn’t in the mood to have lessons right now, he didn’t want to disappoint Sirius. “The planets seem very close to each other,” Harry finally answered. “Very good,” Sirius commended him with a pat on his shoulder. “While they really aren’t any closer together, they are clustering. Tomorrow, they’re going to converge in the constellation of Capricorn. Do you know what else tomorrow is?” “Besides this meeting we need to go to?” “Obviously.” “The Winter Solstice?” Harry asked, unsure. Astronomy wasn’t his favourite subject. “Correct, although it sounds like we should spend some time up here during break. You shouldn’t have had to think about that, Harry,” Sirius sternly told him. “Harry, how much has Myrddin covered with you regarding the old religion?” “Some, but I don’t really get it. Things they believed we know aren’t true now. Days will get longer again, even if there isn’t a sacrifice to the goddess,” Harry replied. Sirius transfigured a pair of comfortable chairs from the decrepit ones which were already there and indicated they should sit down. “You’re right, Harry, but you are also wrong. Intellectually we know a sacrifice won’t keep the earth spinning on its axis; however, the faith has much more to it. Practicing the old ways is a path to remembering the interconnected relationship we have with magic. We take from somewhere, we need to give back elsewhere. Everything is about balance. When we become unbalanced, we are not the people we should be.” Harry pondered what his godfather was saying. He certainly understood balance; his whole life felt like it was an experiment in maintaining balance. How much of him was Muggle and how much wizard? Was he destined to always be the “Boy who Lived” or could he simply become Harry? “Tomorrow is a day the old priests and priestesses told us would come,” Sirius went on to explain. “It’s not only the promise of light returning, that the darkness has been defeated; the confluence indicates a shift in our world.” “What kind of shift?” Harry asked. “The ancient scrolls don’t say. All we know is the whole of the worlds – magical, Muggle, animal, bird, fish – all will be affected by this shift,” Sirius cryptically replied. “Many of us are worried. I’ve gone so far as to look in my families astronomical registers to see what happened when this last occurred.” “What did you see?” “Nothing, there isn’t a record of something like this, at least not as long as the Blacks have been keeping their logs. Last year we had an alignment of the planets which was unprecedented, and it occurred just before the solstice. That it happened as the sunlight was fading, days were getting shorter made many afraid. Such things can be portents of doom. I don’t think Voldemort rising only months later was a coincidence.” “You believe this stuff?” Harry asked, surprised. He thought of his godfather as an exceptionally rational and almost cynical man. “Harry, I was raised with this. My family didn’t go to worship in a church, we gathered with other magical families and celebrated the druidic holidays. Our prayers were to the earth and sky and other living things. I don’t know if I believe all of it anymore, but I still believe there is something larger than us. I also believe we need to be vigilant to see the messages we can receive.” “Huh,” Harry muttered, pondering what was said. “Maybe the Binding Circle is intended to bring down Voldemort?” Sirius took a deep steadying breath. He knew he needed to speak of this with Harry, but he wasn’t looking forward to it. “Well, that isn’t exactly what the Yn caethiwo Amgarn is about. While excluding families is within their purview, it’s not something which should be undertaken lightly. I heard about your dispatching of Umbridge. Ingenious, if not a bit heavy handed,” Sirius explained. “What do you mean? Myrddin thought it was a great idea and McGonagall and the other professors joined in,” Harry protested. “They did, but Harry because of your actions it wasn’t just the head which was ejected,” Sirius explained. “The entire Selwyn line has been removed. They can’t ever be re-entitled. It’s only happened one other time in the last hundred years and it affected my family deeply.” “Is this about the Malfoy’s?” “Ah, I see the old wizard really can’t keep his mouth shut any better than he did when I had my lessons,” Sirius sighed tiredly. “What do you mean? It’s awesome,” Harry proclaimed. “He’s all high and mighty pure-blood, but he can’t be part of this Noble and Most Ancient stuff? This is great!” “Harry, stop it,” Sirius harshly reprimanded him. “This isn’t about some schoolboy rivalry. His family lost their standing, part of their fortune, their titles. The Malfoys lost several homes and their business because of what my grandfather did. I may not like my cousin or her family, but what happened to them was wrong. I don’t doubt some of that horrid attitude of Lucius and Draco is due to what was done to their family.” “What happened?” “You know my family was rather awful, right?” Sirius asked and Harry nodded. “My grandfathers are Acturus and Pollux Black, and they were first cousins,” Sirius began to explain. “Wait, your grandfathers were cousins, that makes your parents –” “Second cousins, yes. I try not to think about it. It wasn’t the first questionably close marriage which was made the Black family. Anyway, they were very close, ran the family business together. My family has never liked Muggles, but they were more than willing to have them work in their factories and pay them next to nothing. They both had daughters born in the same year. My dear mother, Walburga, and her cousin Lucretia. “In the early nineteen forties, my grandfather, Pollux, arranged for my mother to be wed to Abraxas Malfoy, Draco’s grandfather. The Muggle second world war and the defeat of Grindelwald in forty-five were not good for the family financially. The cousins cooked up a plan to have my mother marry my father, Orion, thus consolidating the family fortune. The thing was, they needed to break the engagement of my mother and Abraxas first, preferably without having to pay the dowry. “At first, they were going to swap one cousin for another, Lucretia for Walburga. Her engagement was set to a Prewett, but the dowry was nowhere near as high. It was considered a less desirable match. It would have worked if it wasn’t that Lucretia and Ignatius were in love. They went and married in secret to thwart the plan. Grandfather Pollux was going to drop the whole thing, let Mum marry Abraxas and be done with it. Arcturus had other ideas. “The family company produced cheaply made metal goods for both Muggles and similar charmed ones for Wizarding folks. Late one night, he snuck into the Malfoy’s company, which made similar goods. He planted plans for a new item Black enterprises was about to roll out. Grandfather accused Abraxas’s father, Cabochon Malfoy, of stealing and a trial date was set. Cabochon knew he was being set up and came to confront Arcturus. They had a duel and a house-elf was killed. “The Binding Circle met a few weeks later. My grandfather had bullied enough other families into having the Malfoys removed. They were one of the oldest and most powerful families and they lost so much because of my grandfather’s greed. “Abraxas married a French princess, restoring the family fortune and credibility, but their entitlements were gone. Grandfather Pollux attempted to put it right a generation later by having his granddaughter, my cousin Narcissa, marry Lucius with an overly large dowry, but he couldn’t do more.” “Wow,” Harry said. “I didn’t realise.” “I’m sure you didn’t,” Sirius replied. “The Selwyn family has become questionable as of late, however, they’re never going to be the same after this. When we go tomorrow, remember the Malfoys, and consider the long term affects of any actions taken.” Harry nodded, now feeling badly for Draco and his family. It was a rotten thing which was done to them. While he didn’t really regret what had happened to his former professor, Harry did now wonder about other members of the Selwyn family and what he might have done to them. “Come on, it’s well past two,” Sirius said as he stood. “We’ve got to be leaving here by half nine.” Harry followed his godfather’s lead, even if he was a tad confused. “Why so early?” “We’re Disapparating to Dublin,” Sirius explained. “Neither you nor I have proper robes for the ceremony tomorrow night. A friend of mine from Hogwarts is an Auror there and she’s going to take us shopping.” “You’re meeting with an Auror? Won’t she send you to Azkaban?” Harry questioned as they stopped briefly at Buckbeak’s paddock to feed and pet him. Sirius chuckled at Harry’s concern. “Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, is a separate country, and they have no diplomatic ties with our Ministry. I’ll be safe as houses. Off to bed, kiddo,” Sirius told Harry with a ruffle to his hair. Harry headed down the stairs alone, and went into his room. Sirius meanwhile sat down on the floor of the attic with Buckbeak, pulled out a bottle of Fire Whisky he’d hidden amongst the hay, and decided to help himself forget his despicable family. |
| Reviews 78 |
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