Warning: There is a pretty explicit description of the birth of a child that can be a bit shocking.
A/N: I originally planned this as the beginning of a multi-chaptered story telling Regulus' life but now I'm not sure if I want to continue it. Perhaps there will be a series of one-shots but for now it's this. I hope you like it!
Bion Burke sighed heavily as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. His upper arms were already quivering with exhaustion but his hands were perfectly precise as he handled the familiar tools. He was still young but his strong will had ensured he had the hardest and most demanding training there was. He hadn't slept in the last forty-eight hours but he wasn't going to show any weakness in front of one of the most powerful families in Britain.
His short, wavy, dark-blond hair was usually immaculate but extreme circumstances had broken the spells that kept it in place and now several sweaty and bloody locks were glued to his forehead. He was fairly tall and slender and his brown eyes showed the quickness of his wit and the sharp intelligence that had guided him to this day.
Seven months earlier he had been contacted by the famous Orion Black, head of the powerful pureblood family and asked to assist on his second son's birth and act as the main healer during the pregnancy and the birth itself.
Bion had been surprised and delighted. It was a very rare and exclusive honour to be asked such a thing and usually only very experienced Healers got it. He had finished Healer training only two years before but he had already won two high prices for his discoveries in blood power and it's inheritance. His uncle, the great healer Dorieus Burke had assisted the first birth of this branch of the Blacks, the main branch, but he had died last year of old age.
A second birth was not as important as the first one but it was still something that would get his carrier speeding, if he did it right.
Pureblood births were a delicate thing and normally required years of studying before being able to do it right but Bion had managed to learn everything in only six months of continuous studying. There were very strict rules regarding the birth of a pureblood baby and each family had it's own rituals around it. The Black Ritual was by far the most awe-inspiring and complicated of them all. But what made this birth particularly difficult was not the Ritual itself but the fact that the labour had already lasted 45 hours and still the baby didn't come out. It was against pureblood principles to rush the baby out of the mother in anyway as it could harm the magic of both of them but Bion was starting to seriously fear for the life of them both if the baby didn't come out soon.
The mother, Walburga Black, was done screaming 10 hours ago now she just stared into the starry sky with a worrying lost look in her eyes. Contractions were coming more often now, finally, but she wasn't reacting too much to them anymore, she just pushed, her face turning red but her eyes still fixed on the sky.
They were out in the forest surrounding one of the Black houses, in a small clearing were a bed had been transfigured to hold the mother. All around them people were watching from their designed spots. Each sit was carefully planned depending on the importance and closeness to the Family.
The closest was, of course, Orion Black with his sleek black hair pulled up in a high ponytail with four delicate braids going loosely from the forehead to the black ribbon that held the ponytail. His aristocratic features were a bit marred by the wide, big almond-shaped silver eyes that betrayed the lurking madness, or at least the latent eccentricity of the man. Beside him was a golden crib with his first son, Sirius, that was being taken care of by two house elves.
Lucrecia Black was standing not far behind him, seemingly needing to stretch her muscles with a walk around her chair, the most movement the Ritual allowed her. She was by no means a beautiful woman but definitely a powerful one. Her power and influence in the wizarding world had awarded her with this place of honour at her nephew's birth even if her name ought to have kept her several rows back. In fact, her husband, the quiet and reserved Ignatius Prewett was sitting on the forth row petting softly the blond curls of a small girl whose head had ended up on his lap.
Bion had needed some time to remember the name of the girl but in the end it had come to him, along with the understanding of why she was sitting on the forth row and not the third as her parents and sisters were. Her name was Narcissa Black. Definitely the most delightful child of Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier with bouncy golden curls, sapphire-blue eyes and a princess's air that was lacking from both her sisters.
But no matter how charming for a child, she was still named Narcissa, a name that stood out for what it was not: it was not a star or a constellation, but just a flower. Something like that wouldn't have mattered in other families but for the Black it was a sign of defeat. Blacks didn't name their children, they were named by the magic of the stars, very old magic, but sometimes the magic refused to acknowledge a child and name it. In those cases the mother had the right to choose a name with the only restriction of it not being after a star.
But those children were stigmatized and always viewed as a shame for the couple that bore them. Normally the only way for them to redeem was to give birth or sir a child recognised by the stars. Lucrecia was the exception to that rule. She hadn't produced an heir to be recognised but her magic was incredibly powerful and thus was forgiven for her crime.
The little blond girl on the other hand was in no age to produce an heir and her powers hadn't reach maturity yet so she was confined to the forth row with a man known by his affiliation to the light. It was, to say the least, insulting, but apparently she wasn't bothered by it at her short age. Bion doubted she would be so relaxed a few years from now when she realized what it truly meant to be separated from her family on important occasions.
The third row was the most crowed after the fifth as it held Alphard Black, Cygnus Black, Druella Black, née Rosier and Bellatrix and Andromeda Black. Alphard, brother of the mother was running his hands repeatedly through his curly brown hair, short and messy as always. His rounded face was nothing like her sister's, with a wide red mouth, dimples and shinny eyes. He was known for his alarming collection of clocks and the astronomical amount of money in his bank account resulting from the invention of family clocks, a strange contraption that could point out the situation of any member of the family it was charmed to follow and highly customizable for each family's needs. The invention had resulted in a high-speed development of new and better monitoring charms that had changed the Ministry of Magic's methods quite drastically. On top of that, with the help of Lucrecia and Cygnus they had managed to attach the rights to profit of the clocks and the resulting charms to the Black family name, ensuring a regular source of income for as long as they were used.
Cygnus Black had blond hair so fair he had often been teased as a child for it's contrast with his last name. But that was when he was a child, these days no one would ever dare to tease The Cygnus Black. He was known for his absolutely astonishing capacity to convince people of whatever suited him best. As such he was considered by the whole family as the defender and legal advisor of the family's interests. He was studied in Wizard Law and knew it all by heart, word for word and was perfectly capable of finding all the loopholes in the laws. He was the main reason why people didn't try to go against the Black Family as they would always end up in Azkaban. Besides that, he was, by far, the most handsome of the Black men. His straight and shinny hair reached his waist like a veil of silver, his face was oval and aristocratic, with pointed nose and high cheekbones and his eyes were dark blue and shone with lights like the starry sky above them. Many rumours had been heard regarding the remarkable differences between the three siblings, many of them pointed towards them having different fathers and the same mother. Irma Crabbe had indeed been known for the varied assortment of men that visited her bed, even at the short age of thirteen. No one had ever doubted the children of having Black blood, the question really was, whose Black blood?
Beside Cygnus was his wife, Druella Black, née Rosier, a thin and tall woman with thick wavy black hair and heavy lidded eyes, her black eyes barely visible under her eyelids. She had olive skin that seemed darker next to her pale husband. Druella had done three important things in her life. The first was marrying Cygnus, who had all the pureblood women waiting for him to pick them. The Second was giving him three daughters and the Third was cursing Achima Crouch out of Cygnus' bed so viciously that ten years later the girl was still in a heavy-guarded ward of St. Mungo's hospital completely disfigured and dangerously mad. Healers from there had told Bion about the woman and how she screamed every night in fear of Druella Black, née Rosier, ever coming back to kill her. It was the first and last time Cygnus Black had tried to be unfaithful.
Bellatrix and Andromeda, the first two girls of the couple were bickering in whispered voices about Merlin-knew-what. They were often mistaken for twins as they were extremely alike and had only a nine-months difference of age. They were both very similar to their mother in face and character and presumably that resemblance was what made a peaceful relationship between the two of them impossible. They liked the same things but hated that the other had them too. Jealousy and rage were the main feelings towards each other.
On the fifth row were everyone else, friends, distant family members, other pureblood families and everyone important enough to be invited. All of them were, quite understandably, tired and grumpy but it was extremely rude to leave before the baby was born and named. Which, fortunately for all of them, seemed not to be very far away in the future. The contractions were getting nearer and nearer and the mother was pushing harder and harder. She seemed determined not to scream anymore but on a particularly painful contraction she let out a loud moan of distress that brought everyone's attention back to her.
Narcissa, the blond little princess on the forth row sat up as if pinched and with wide blue eyes, sitting on the edge of her seat she watched as the first signs of a head appeared between the bloody folds of skin of her aunt. A year ago she had been absolutely horrified to be forced to watch the vagina of her aunt for hours, even if Sirius' birth had only lasted two hours, but her father had explained that it was necessary for them to watch to make sure the baby wasn't changed or hurt by anyone. He had even convinced her it was an honour to give birth to a child that way and that she should admire her aunt for it and aspire to do the same herself.
Narcissa had understood then, knowing how important tradition was for the Family but she had been absolutely convinced when she had witnessed Sirius' birth. It had been beautiful and worthy of her family. She was quite sure that nothing in the whole world could compare to the beauty of a Black birth. She had seen the previously delicate and innocent looking folds grow and ooze blood. She had seen the impossibly large head begin to stretch the tiny hole she knew was way to small to allow that. But somehow, by some mysterious miracle, it had worked and the head had pushed it's way through, accompanied by the animalistic growls of her aunt and the faint, but clear sound of the bones moving to provide the necessary space. She was looking forward to see it again, even after two days of stiff wait. She had followed her aunt's pregnancy with the obsessive determination only a child was capable of, learning all she could of how to properly take care of a pureblood child. She had sneaked to her aunt's room at night to talk to the rounded belly, under the cold eyes of Walburga, telling the baby about all the things she had learned about family and tradition in the books her father gave to her. She didn't think Aunt Walburga really disapproved of her behaviour, as she never told anyone about it, but her aunt had never been the warmest person, or the most talkative.
A frown set on her pretty face as she heard Bellatrix and Andromeda bickering again, not paying any attention to the wonderful miracle that was happening in front of them. She blocked out the sounds of their voices and focused only on what she wanted to see. Her father had taught her to do that after a massive fight between the two of them that had resulted in Narcissa's first magical accident, breaking all the windows of the room.
The world around her turned darker and a heavy sensation gripped her limbs. She was bursting with excitement, knowing the baby was very near. Would it be a boy or a girl? What would his name be?
It was suddenly very fast. Walburga screamed properly for the first time in hours, a white jet of light fell from the sky to a small form on the Healer's hands and it started crying in earnest. There was a collective sigh of awe as feelings of immense rejoice and happiness set over all of them. The healer presented the baby to the stars, chanting the words in an ancient language Narcissa had yet to learn. Her Latin was quite good but the language of the stars was still too difficult for her.
She could already hear it though, the whispers, the voices of thousand of spirits. Her father called them the ones behind the veil, she didn't know what it meant but she knew that not many people could hear them. It ran in her family, in her blood. The Black Family, those who guard the veil, those who always had guarded the veil. Someday, her father had whispered to her in the dead of night, someday you'll hear them too, you'll talk to them. Someday you will guard the veil too.
Narcissa squinted to the sky trying to see which star was shining down on the baby but the light was too bright and deemed the other stars she used as reference. A fresh wind caught her hair and she turned to face it.
"Here is Regulus Black, second son of Orion Black and Walburga Black. He will be a king for the loved ones." said a voice in her head and she beamed. Regulus. Her cousin. A pureblood child.
He would have another name, a middle name chosen by Uncle Orion, but Regulus was his real name, the name chosen by the stars.
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