Confederation of Blacks
Halloween, 1981
Bellatrix Lestrange, born Bella Black, had never felt so conflicted in her life. If someone had sat her down and said 'Bella, this strange thing that you're feeling is doubt.' She would have Crucio'd then into insanity. Bellatrix Lestrange didn't feel doubt. Except deep down where it truly mattered, doubt was exactly what she was feeling.
The conflicted woman was walking down a dark and empty street flanked by her husband, Rodolphus, and her arrogant brother-in-law, Rabastan. The two idiots were eagerly bouncing along as the three highly dangerous Death Eaters followed their great leader to slay his most dangerous enemy. And it was here that, deep inside Bellatrix where she no longer looked, there was conflict.
Bella's family had been torn apart by the war currently raging throughout Wizarding and Muggle Britain. The glorious Dark Lord and his loyal followers on one side, the nasty Mud-blood Lovers and Blood Traitors on the other. As the war raged, Bella had thrown herself ever deeper into the conflict and her Master's view of the world in order to keep herself sane.
Her younger sister had been thrown out of the family for marrying a Muggle-born and she dreaded the day her Master would order her to face off against sweet Andromeda. Their baby sister was married to a powerful Death Eater, a fellow Inner Circle member, and she was sure the arrogant bastard was too free with his hands when it came to Narcissa. She had already faced against cousins Jamie and Sirius too many times to count. And even though Sirius' smarter brother, Regulus, had joined her on their glorious crusade, he had already fallen. Reportedly by her Master's own hand.
As more of her family fell or broke away from the beliefs her Dark Lord promoted, the more Bellatrix Lestrange threw herself deeper into worshipping him. It was the only way she could remain sane. The only way she could prove everything she had done was right.
Until the dreaded prophecy had been overheard.
Bellatrix didn't believe in seeing the future or divining her fate beyond the games she used to play with her sisters. But her Master believed and that was enough for her. Until it was understood that the spawn her cousin Sirius had slipped into the Mud-blood bitch of cousin James had been born exactly when the prophecy had declared.
She had laughed hysterically when she had heard about smooth Siri dipping his wand into the pond of his best friend and cousin. She didn't know nor care if it was a seduction or a drunken tussle from the stresses of war. Morgana, Bella had enjoyed both in her time and would no doubt again. When the news came of James kicking the randy dog and bitch out of his house, she had only laughed and said it was what the Casanova deserved.
As the three dangerous men, one incredibly dangerous woman, and a traitorous rat taking up the flank, came to a stop at the ward boundary of their target's home, Bellatrix Lestrange née Black was finding it harder to fight back against the inner doubts.
Her Master took from within his wondrous cloak a circular disk. They had each been shown the note that shared the Fidelius' secret but a Black never put all their eggs in one basket. Sirius had placed wards up around his property that required a special key to keep from any 'visitor' from dying horribly. He was a paranoid bastard when it came to protecting his family. Protecting Black blood.
Family. The word echoed around what little there was of sanity inside Bella's mind. The older generation of Blacks were dying out, James was a Potter, and her sister took on that horrible Muggle name. With the mysterious death of Regulus - and still her Master wouldn't answer her pleas to tell her something about that - there remained only one person to carry the name of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. A House Bella was proud to be born into. A House whose only potential heir was about to be slaughtered by the man she had given her soul to.
The Dark Lord pushed the special key against the wards and magic crackled in the air where energy met physical touch. Bellatrix's Dark Mark, the glorious gift from her Master that showed someone they were a piece of his plan, burned furiously at her disloyal thoughts. She knew her loyalty towards House Black was the reason why she was on this mission. And that if she failed, it would fall to her no-good husband and his brother to kill her. Or try to. She wasn't the most feared of all Death Eaters for nothing.
"The ward is down, my loyal servants." The Dark Lord announced in his seductively dark voice. "Let us proceeded and find glory in the night."
Glory. Bella snarled behind her mask. Could she truly find glory standing atop of the bones of her family? What good was proving the greatness of House Black if there was no House Black capable of being great?
The four destroyers of happiness stepped over the ward's boundary and it flickered to life behind them. Bella felt familiar Family Magic in the power surrounded them and it only added to her moroseness. Her Master had placed an anti-Apparition ward around the area and knew those inside the innocent house before them were trapped. Apparently they knew it too as the door was flung open.
"Wormtail, you bastard!" Sirius Orion Black III screamed. The heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black sent a stream of Deprimos at the five bringers of death. "I'll rip you apart for this."
Her Master's hastily erected shield shuddered and threatened to collapse under the ferocity of her cousin's barrage, something that not many could ever claim to be capable of doing. Over and over the blasting spell slammed into the shield or the ground around it to shower them with painful shrapnel. The three Lestranges responded with a series of Crucios and Killing Curses, all of which failed to even connect as objects were transfigured or banished into the way of their spells.
Bellatrix grinned behind her white mask. The Mud-blood bitch was helping her cousin the way a true fighting team should work. Sirius was keeping himself tight in the doorway, not stepping a foot out of the house, and refused to let up with his attacks while the woman played defence from somewhere inside.
The plan would have been perfect if Sirius' anger hadn't kept taking control. Her cousin threw far too many spells at the frantically evading Pettigrew than at the real threats.
"You think you're a match for me?" The Dark Lord laughed, stepping forward as he battered away some of the spells before they could hit his Protego. "You think you can stop me, Black?"
Black. The word slammed through Bellatrix's mind and pulled her bloodlust into hard neutral. This was a Black she was fighting, a Black's magic turned on another Black. Suddenly the situation seemed all too familiar to the smart woman and she looked frantically at the ground around her, desperate to find what she knew was hidden.
There.
Subtle carvings and dark etchings hidden beneath a glamour whose magic was failing with all the spell-fire. She had a moment to look towards her cousin with both shock and pride at what he had set up before his trademark barking laughter filled the air.
"No, but my daughter will." He screamed with defiance. "Burn in hell, bitches. Maeror Morte!"
Sirius pressed the tip of his wand hard into a part of the door's frame and the world exploded in agony.
The Sorrowful Death was nothing like its name. An ancient part of the Black's defences, it forced its victims to suffer through every mental and physical anguish they had ever felt or caused others to feel. Teenage pains merged seamlessly into countless bouts of Cruciatus Curses, bone-breaking hexes and more. Screams filled the night air and Bella sobbed. The tears broke free of Bellatrix Black as a core part of her family's legacy was turned against her. Somehow her mind was still able to pick up the rat's cries of agony.
"Forgive me! Sirius, please. Forgive me!"
Not even the magically changed body of Lord Voldemort could withstand decades of pain being thrust upon it and the Dark Lord had crumpled to his knees just the same as his followers. The spell worked harder, magic crackling wildly around and through them as it began to turn the mental into the physical. Blood poured from Pettigrew's nose, Bellatrix cried crimson tears and Rodolphus' arm wrenched itself out of its joint with the ferocity of his seizure. Voldemort raised his head, crimson eyes blazing with fury and he lifted his wand against the intense tremors.
"Bombarda!" The overpowered spell hit the door-frame and half of the front part of the house exploded from the Dark Lord's anger. The Maeror Morte died as soon as the control ruins were no longer and those still human breath a heavy sigh of relief.
"You and I, Bella, will be having a long talk about your failure in sharing." Voldemort dangerously hissed as he forced himself to rise. That he needed more than one try before he was to his feet was a testament to the spell. "To your feet, my followers, and watch me skin that insolent brat of every inch of his flesh."
The quartet struggled and groaned. There were no magical augmentations for the Death Eaters. They slowly followed the Dark Lord into the destroyed building. Bella, for the first time, wondered about not returning at all.
"Reducto!" The spell hit the pile of rubble Pettigrew had just stepped over and the traitor was sent flying into a wall with a hard crunch. The man didn't stir though whether dead or unconscious was hard to tell.
"'ello, my Lovelies. Miss me?" Sirius smirked from the top of the stairs, his wand pointed at Voldemort's heart.
Bella frowned as she looked up at her cousin. Something was wrong, something was deathly wrong. The Dark Lord and the man who turned down being Head of House Black had a short, furious duel and throughout it she watched her cousin's eyes. Just like with outside, the answer came too late for her to do anything but experience the result.
Sirius' grey eyes held acceptance, a deep sense of resignation. As his shield was blasted away, Bellatrix swore she saw him open his arms just a little, as though welcoming the Avada that took his life. And before he fell, before the man who could have been great, crumbled to the floor of his home, Voldemort did as he had sworn to do and flayed his corpse.
There were no words said as the group trooped up the stairs that had only marginally been damaged by the Bombarda. The Dark Lord stepped over the fleshless body with merely a sneer of victory while the Lestranges lifted their masks to spit on Sirius' face and kick him hard for the Maeror Morte. Bella stopped to stare at what remained of her fallen cousin and wished desperately that she could cover those empty grey eyes.
Sirius Black's eyes did not deserve to be empty. The were supposed to be filled with passion and laughter. A light within the dark world.
"Bellatrix." Voldemort's cold voice cut through her thoughts and turned away from Sirius to quickly follow.
"Forgive me, master." She pleaded, the words sounding hollow to her ears.
"Perhaps." Was his only reply.
The hallway was large with many doors. Yet they didn't need to worry which one their target was in. Lily Evans, once Lily Potter and engaged to become Lily Black, stood next to the open door of the nursery and glared defiantly at the four murderers. Nowhere could a wand be seen.
Rabastan made to step forward to kill her with a swish only to be stopped by the hand of his Master.
"I have not come for you, girl." Voldemort announced, stepping closer to the frightened woman. "Stand aside and I will spare you as I promised Severus."
Both Bella and Lily were startled at that. The redhead did what the dark-haired woman ached to do, and laughed.
"Then Severus is a fool for believing you." Lily Evans stated simply and took a deep, shuddering breath. "I beg you, please don't do this. She's just a little girl."
"Stand aside woman!" The Dark Lord snapped, his legendary temper quickly roused after all he had experienced.
"No. Please. Have mercy." Lily looked deep into the crimson eyes and her Avada ones were filled with a depth of love that took Bella's breath away. "Kill me instead. Kill me but leave my little Cassi. Leave Cassi, please..."
"Avada Kedavra." The Dark Lord violently hissed and the lethal green curse instantly struck the woman down. Bella had been watching her carefully and once again there had been almost an acceptance of the coming spell.
Just what the hell was going on here? Her thoughts demanded as something began to tickle the back of her mind. Something she should be remembering.
"You all heard me offer her mercy." Voldemort declared as he stepped over his goal's other parent. Three agreements sounded behind him. "And now, my target. Such a small thing to cause such big problems."
The four were standing in the open nursery staring down at the Half-blood Daughter of Black. At one point such a statement would have sent Bellatrix into a fury. But not that night. Not when she had seen the noble death of her cousin and was looking down at a baby who possessed the same blood as she. Bella could see Sirius in the little girl's face and there was even a hint of her own features at that age.
The Dark Lord, the monster that had once been Bella's Master, raised his wand to aim it at the quiet child's head. Bella's heart thundered in her breast at what she was witnessing and her breathing fought against the build up of Black Family Magic in the air. The little girl stared back at her parents' killer with laurel-green eyes beneath a dark mop of hair and then turned her head to look at Bella.
And that was when she caught a flash of a blood-drawn Sowilo rune above the left eye.
Bella's eyes widened behind her mask in finally understanding of the night's events. As Lord Voldemort began the incantation that would end the baby's life, Bellatrix Black ducked down and, for the first time since she was a teenager, prayed to Morgana for safety.
The room exploded at the backlash of the most powerful protections House of Black had ever created. The force caused the wall nearest the baby to explode outward while sending the Lestranges flying into the one opposite. The Dark Lord's body erupted from the power of the rebounding curse mixing with the power of the protections, ripped apart by magic the arrogant monster had not considered worthy.
A father, fighting to the last while he accepts his fate, and a mother, defenceless bar the power of her love. A story as old as House Black. Detailing the strength of mere force of will to keep the family alive even if sacrifices had to be made.
Bellatrix looked up and was shocked to see a dark nimbus where her former master had stood. A piece of it appeared to be desperately reaching for the baby, her niece, and she snarled in defiance.
"Accio baby Cassi." She snapped and rolled with the impact of the flying toddler hitting her chest. The dark sliver snapped back into the mass and the soul-chilling thing drifted away into the night.
"He'll come back." She told the quiet baby. "Monsters like him always do."
Sounds of groaning broke Bella's focus on the retreating remnants of Lord Voldemort and she looked towards the burnt and dazed bodies of the Lestranges. She calmly walked up to the nearest one, not caring who was behind the mask, and pointed her wand at his head. A soft Avada was followed by a thud and she repeated the action with the second brother.
Bella was filled with disgust as she took off her mask and looked around the destroyed room. The baby stirred in her arm and reached up to cup her blood-stained cheek in its small palm.
"Born in blood, little one." She whispered down to it, her long hair falling loose from her hood to brush against the soft face and cause Cassiopeia Lilith Black to giggle. For the first time in too long, Bella's smile had nothing to do with someone else's pain. "Time to face the piper and hope granddaddy Arcturus doesn't kill aunty Bella."
A spin and crack of Apparition was followed by the sound of a Death Eater mask falling to the floor. So remained the tomb of Sirius Black and Lily Evens until members of the Order of the Phoenix and DMLE appeared to disturb its heavy silence.
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Arcturus Black, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, spent his time alone in the summer mansion of his family while the world tore itself apart. He had done all he could for House Black and still it attempted to destroy itself by following the aims of a madman while forgetting the true meaning of the family motto. Toujours Pur was a legacy. A staying true to the foundations of what House Black stood for. Not some stupid ideals over where one's blood came from.
His dark musings were disturbed by sharp pain lashing through his body and the glass of brandy slipped from his fingers. The ring on his finger, a ring that had opened doors and brought down rulers, pulsed intensely and Arcturus felt like roaring in pain and anguish at the knowledge of yet another of his blood having fallen.
"Kreacher get the glass, Master." His personal elf promised. Officially the elf belonged to his daughter-in-law Walburga but the elf had always prided itself on playing both sides of the game. A true Black if there ever was one.
"Pour a strong one, Kreacher, and bow your head in respect." The still powerful wizard announced as the pain eased to a background burn. "The last of my grandsons has breathed his last."
"Little Master Sirius?" Kreacher asked, going ashen faced at the news. "Nasty little Master joins Master Regulus?"
"He does." Arcturus confirmed as he took the offered glass and slammed the potent liquid back. He pretended not to see the tears forming in the elf's eyes. "And now there is none to carry on my name."
Before the faithful elf had a chance to reply, the wards of the mansion activated at an unscheduled attempt to Apparate in.
"And so it begins." He snarled, drawing his wand. His eyes blazed with fury at family coming to kill him as they killed his heir. "Tonight may be the very end of my House, Kreacher, but I shall not fall when it needs me the most."
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Black Wards were very specific. Anyone not of family blood, regardless of if they came with someone who was, would be immediately incinerated on the spot. Those with the required blood would be held in a type of status until they released by whoever was home.
"Well we aren't dead, little one." Bella said to the bundle in her arm. The holding ward appeared like a ring of harsh light while the outside world was nothing but eternal darkness. She had wrapped Cassi in her robe to keep the baby from becoming disturbed by the painful glare.
"No surprise that he sent you." Came the angry snarl of her grandfather. Technically he was her Grandfather's cousin but such distinctions were meaningless in a family tree as theirs. "Tell me, Lestrange, do you know what your master has done?"
Bella winced as her Head of House emphasised her change in name. She fought against the pressure of the field and held her head high.
"Sirius Black is dead, grandfather."
"I KNOW!" The powerful voice roared from all directions and Bella cursed herself for forgetting the Black ring's abilities. "And I know the signs of Maeror Morte, girl. You were there. Did you kill the boy? Did you kill your own kin?"
The booming voice pounded at Bella and the magic holding her pressed down harder until she collapsed to her knees. She knew her grandfather's wand would be pointed at her head in order to look into her eyes as he killed her and make sure. So she did the only thing she could do and pulled back her robe to reveal baby Cassi. The girl winced and whined at the pain from the light and Bella quickly drew her back beneath the cloak.
"What is this?" A more subdued Arcturus demanded. "What plan of your master is this?"
"The Dark Lord has been vanquished." She announced quickly, knowing that the presence of a baby wouldn't hold off a marksman the skill of her grandfather. "His soul flounders free because of..."
"Black magic." He interrupted and she imagined him lowering his wand. Hoped it was so. "Sirius came to me with that Firebrand of his. Told me the baby had to be protected above all else."
"I was there." She confessed, cringing at the threatening growl that followed her words. "Sirius used the Maeror Morte and then accepted the Killing Curse."
"I told him he had to prove his love for the child with fire and blood." Lord Black explained, pain tarring his words. "Prove the love then take the inevitable blow."
"He did, Grandfather." She promised the older man. The tears in her voice matched those she cried. "The Dark Lord disrespected him after but he was able to do it."
"The girl? The Firebrand?"
"Pleaded without a weapon." Bella answered, hope blossoming in her chest at how much he seemed to be aware of. "Stood strong like a Black, the way the story was always told to me."
"And your master killed her too. Cut her down without mercy."
"HE'S NO MASTER OF MINE!" Bellatrix Black screamed defiantly back into the shadows. Baby Cassi cried in unison and Arcturus watched in disbelief as the most dangerous women in the country took care to calm the little one.
"It burned away the madness." He guessed and Bella shrugged as though it didn't matter. It didn't. "You said his spirit is still out there?"
"It tried to latch onto the girl." She tried to explained, only to be cut off by her grandfather's swearing.
"Soul magic. Beast most foul. I should have roasted that boy alive when Orion brought him to the Manor!"
The rant continued and then dangerously cut off into silence. Before Bella could wonder what her grandfather was doing she felt a stirring in her blood and gasped. The pull was intense, almost driving her to attempt to break free so that she could go to his side. He's calling the family together. She realised.
A crack of Apparition sounded somewhere in the darkness followed by another and another. They echoed around Bella until she didn't know how many had been caught in their own trap of amber.
"Uncle?" The penetrating and painful to listen to voice of Walburga Black sounded from somewhere to Bella's left. "What are you doing, you crazy old man? Why can't you die already so this House could live the way it should?"
"Die, Walburga?" Arcturus cooed and Bella's skin crawled at the sound of his voice. "You want me to die? Well if I did, at least I'd be able to see your beloved sons."
"Don't you dare mention Regulus!" The woman screeched in fury. "Don't you dare, you crazy old bastard. He was a good boy, he died for the cause!"
Sure he did. Bella painfully thought, remembering the last time she had seen her cousin.
"Not like that waste of space...you said sons...Plural. Why did you say sons, Uncle? Why sons?"
The foul tempered harridan's voice cracked and broke as her twisted mind caught up with what Arcturus was suggesting. The demand for answers continued without any reply until eventually The Black spoke.
"Tell her. Tell them all." The commanding voice demanded of Bella and it was laced with a promise of pain if she didn't. For a moment Bella shivered at how alike the situation was to the courts held by the Dark Lord. "Tell them how Regulus died, Bellatrix."
"What about my Sirius?!" Walburga screamed in impotent rage. The concept of losing both her children threatened to finally break the woman's sanity. Beneath the cries, Bella was sure she hard a soft gasp.
"The Dark Lord wanted him to do something." She explained loudly to the listening darkness. "Something that scared Regulus. I've never seen Reggie so afraid. He looked like when we were children, when he missed Siri. He asked too many questions. The Dark Lord never told us what he did but we knew it had to be bad."
"Bella?" Narcissa asked from somewhere to Bellatrix's right. Her sister's usually calm voice shaking at the situation. "Why are you here, Bella?"
"Ah, yes. Your husband would know of her mission tonight, wouldn't he, little Cissy?"
"What about my Sirius?" Walburga demanded and now Bella could hear the broken heart of a mother. She had no doubt that tears were flowing from the usually stern woman and snorted. The tears wouldn't repay her cousin for all the years of abuse she put him through.
"Your firstborn, your prodigal son, is dead. He died tonight at the wand of the same Dark Lord you promised my family to."
A cry rose up in the dark that wretched at Bella's heart. She knew that sob, had comforted the little girl it belonged to. Bella didn't know why her middle sister had been called. All she knew was that Bellatrix had cost Andi the one member of the family that had never turned her back on her.
A heavy thud came from the same direction of Walburga's rants, announcing the collapse of the older woman.
"Bella." Narcissa pushed on, fear breaking into her Slytherin control. "Bella, why are you here?"
"First, it's you who shall answer a question, Narcissa Malfoy." Arcturus Black growled and the air pulsed thickly with his rage. "Did you know? Did you know your own cousin was scheduled to die tonight?"
The heavy pause was accompanied by the low sobs coming from two heartbroken women.
"I suspected, grandfather." Narcissa admitted and Bella knew her sister would be standing tall and proud, waiting for the killing blow. "Lucius was exceptionally happy when he came home this evening."
"Did. You. Know?"
Bella knew the tone. His grey eyes, so very like Sirius', would be alive with fury and the wand moments from being used. She prayed that her sister hadn't known, that her bastard of a husband hadn't shared the news. Not that she'd lie about it, Cissy couldn't lie to family for squat, but that she actually hadn't know.
"I didn't." Bella sagged with relief, blowing out a shuddering breath at the admission.
"But your husband knew." Arcturus stated and Narcissa had no need to confirm the accusation. "I will be speaking to Abraxas. House Malfoy now owes House Black a Death Debt."
Gasps filled the shadows at the declaration. Not only for the seriousness of what Lord Black had declared but what it meant. By law, House Malfoy could be destroyed for aiding in the death of a member of House Black but only if House Black, and by extension Lord Arcturus Black, was active within the political realm enough to call the marker in. The angry man that roared from the shadows had not been active in years.
"Pollux, my cousin." Lord Black greeted one of the quiet pillars of light. "Cassiopeia, my darling girl. Our House has fallen far."
"Cousin." The even deeper voice of Pollux responded while the melodic Cassiopeia spoke from her heart.
"Is it true? Are the boys no more?"
"It's true." Arcturus confirmed, ignoring the continual tears of his daughter-in-law.
"I should disown you, Walburga." Pollux stated to his broke daughter. The man rarely showed his emotions, it was debated by all if he had actually had them, but it was clear how disappointed he was in her. "Thrown you to the wolves the way you did your own boy."
"Be grateful Orion isn't hear to see tonight, you stupid cow." The stern Lucretia, aunt to the fallen boys, spat. "He would gut you and leave you to the rats. Enough with this pantomime, Father. You wouldn't have called the family together if you didn't have a plan."
"And be quick about it." Callidora Longbottom demanded. "I have yet to convince that demon daughter-in-law of mine to tell me where my great grandchild hides."
"You must!" Bella urgently screamed into the shadows. "You must, before they're betrayed. They're a target to the Dark Lord's followers."
"Like you, granddaughter." Pollux spat with as much disgust as he could verbalise. "You think I can't sniff out what's going on here? You helped that monster kill my boys and now you've come running to the family for sanctuary. Why shouldn't I tear your head off and stick it on a pike so this family learns what happens to those who betray its own?"
"Because of her story." Arcturus explained to his enraged cousin. "Her story, my story, and the story of what she holds."
"Morgana!" Narcissa gasped, knowing enough of the pieces to put it all together. The rest waited, knowing they would learn soon enough.
"It began when little Sirius came to me much as you, Bella, have done tonight. He explained his mistake in tearing apart the marriage of Dorea's boy with that Firebrand."
"That Mud..."
"Finish that word, Walburga and I send you to the Maker!" Lord Black roared and no one doubted he would do it. "Well? Shall I request the urn for your remains?"
"Do it." Pollux demanded. "Or I shall as soon as you let me free."
"Daddy, please." The great and terrible Walburga Black pleaded.
"One more word, girl, and you'll face the both of us. You've done enough to this family with your beliefs." Lord Black threatened, his voice calming as he continued the story. "Sirius may have spread his seed around but it's not unusual in this family."
"Uncle was exactly the same." Pollux sniffed, referencing Sirius Black II, Arcturus' own father.
"Unlike daddy-dearest, our grandson stepped up to his responsibilities." Lord Black corrected. "He wanted to be in the child's life but had decided not to force it. He came to me in order to put her under House Black's protection. Regardless of how the relationship between her parents turned out."
"You accepted, of course." Cassiopeia demanded to hear and Lord Black actually chuckled.
"Of course, Cassi. After a very passionate meeting with the Firebrand in question. Regardless of her blood, she was a strong woman and would have made a powerful Black."
"Father." Lucretia interrupted as she realised his use of past tense. "They're both dead? What of the babe?"
"Yes. The babe." Arcturus chuckled again, only this time it was a dark, dangerous sound. "Later on, the two came back here with a story. A fantastical, nonsensical story. A story about an overheard prophecy. Tell the family what it said, Bellatrix."
"I only know the beginning." Bella pleaded to the family. Somehow the magic of the containment had lulled the baby to sleep and she hoped it would remain so. "Please, grandfather. I only know the first part."
"More than Sirius knew. Now tell it!"
"The One with the Power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches." She spoke aloud the dreaded words that had set off the events leading her to this moment. "Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..."
"When was the boy's child born?" Cassiopeia demanded to know and it was Narcissa who answered.
"The end of July."
"My great-grandson. That's when my Neville was born." Callidora gasped and House Black froze in fury.
"Then we must protect them both." Lord Black declared with burning rage. "No more shall Black blood fall to this war."
"Both?" Walburga spoke up for the first time since finding out about Sirius' death. "The baby lives? My boy's little girl lives?"
"Your story, Bellatrix."
And so it was that Bellatrix Black explained the battle between Lord Voldemort and Sirius Black and how her cousin had manipulated the entire event into making sure the sacrificial ritual was completed.
"My baby died a true Black." Walburga whispered in awe.
"What of you, my silent blood?" Arcturus asked pillars of light and many frowned at his turn of phrase. "Have you no thoughts to share?"
"Why am I here, cousin?" A voice spoke up that Bellatrix had never heard though the older generation did. "What use do you have of me?"
"Brother?" Cassiopeia asked in awe, unsure of what she had heard. "Pollux, am I hearing things?"
"Marius." Pollux's clipped tone announced to all who the mysterious speaker was.
"Pol." The Black Squib answered.
"You are here, Marius, for the same reason the rest are." Arcturus declared. "The reason Cedrella is here glaring at me."
"I'm glarin' because I want to get my 'ands on that cow." Cedrella Weasley snapped, her years of living away from the Pure-blood society showing through. "Sirius was a good boy, Artie. He ne'er deserved anything that 'appened to 'im."
The majority of the Blacks were stunned speechless at hearing the voices of two members of the family who had been cast out. As Bella stared into the darkness she realised that one voice had yet to speak up.
"Daddy...?" She called out softly and both Narcissa and Andromeda gasped as they too realised Cygnus Black III, their father, had listened to everything.
"So you're finally going to do it, uncle?" Cygnus asked Arcturus, ignoring his daughters. The rest of the family sighed at the familiar routine.
"I am, boy. It's time to put all our hard work to practice. I call House Black together once more." Lord Arcturus Black declared. The ritual words caused the holding lights to vanish and the darkness lift to reveal the arrival room of the mansion.
The members of the Noble House of Black stared at each other. Pure-bloods, Squib and Blood Traitors all were glowing a soft silver that was the same colour as their Lord's eyes.
"Those lost to madness have recovered and those taken in by falsehoods have seen the truth." Lord Black continued, his harsh gaze boring into each of his family. "Those thrown out and those who walked away are welcomed back. House Black will stand united to defend itself and defeat its enemies. You will all stand together and defend my heir, Cassiopeia Lilith Black, from both the Light and the Dark or you will not leave this room alive."
No one doubted his word. It wasn't going to be easy - old habits and beliefs died hard after all – but they each swore upon the Black Family Magic and it eagerly and greedily accepted their oaths.
Sirius Orion Black might never see it but Arcturus Black was determined to rebuild his House into one his grandson would have been willing to call his own. And Merlin help those who tried to stop him.
It was a new dawn in Magical Britain and only partially because of the fall of Lord Voldemort.
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