Harry kissed Ginny on the forehead, sat up to go to the loo, and grabbed his glasses.
She was sleeping peacefully on his bed in the refreshing morning light, which made him smile. After his nineteenth birthday party at the Burrow, he and Ginny had apparated back to Grimmauld Place, felt guilty remembering the puzzled look on Mrs. Weasley just before they vanished in front of the fridge in the kitchen. But he told to himself opportunities like this were few and far between for himself and Ginny. She had to go back to the Quidditch life, where she would play against local teams all over Britain, and he would be assigned the next task to get something on Lestrange. Ginny was very eager to spend time with him after she found out he would work together with a daughter of Druid, a beautiful witch, Dara Cadwagan. This time he didn't want to cause the misunderstanding between them like before, when Dara lured him using Love Potions, so he agreed to go back to Grimmauld Place.
He thought they did well unknown by other Weasleys except Mrs. Weasley, who noticed them leaving until he jerked up to hear Hermione's voice. The voice was coming from the downstairs, and he noticed the door of his bedroom was half-opened. Damn, she must have broken his locking charm. What on Merlin's world was she going to do? Did Ron let her do it to protect his sister? He crept the flight of stairs quietly to see what she was up to, only to find Hermione chatting with someone.
"Kreacher, please tell us your story," Hermione asked to the house-elf, clad in her night gown. To Harry's surprise, Kreacher was fully clothed in a neat blue linen cardigan: He supposed Hermione had given it to Kreacher. Ron was there, too. He was wearing striped pajamas rubbing his eyes near her. Harry felt a little anger as he imagined them peeping through his bedroom door.
He whispered behind them,"Oi, what on the earth are you doing here?"
Ron glanced back and said grinning, "Hermione was right. Ginny did make you bring her here."
Harry raised his brows, 'Two of you followed us?"
Hermione made an apologetic smile, "Harry, we wanted you to be happy this time. We don't want you to be messed up again."
Harry rolled his eyes, said, "Thank you so much, mum."
"Harry, we really care about you," Hermione tried to say more but her words were interrupted.
"Master Harry, shall Kreacher bring a cup of tea?" Kreacher croaked.
"No, thanks. Let's go to the kitchen. Ginny is still sleeping." Harry turned to Hermione, "What's his story?"
Hermione ignored him and spoke to Kreacher again, "We'll listen to your story in the downstairs. Your master, Harry will be happy to know about his grandparents, too."
Ron whispered to Hermione, "You gave him clothes, so is Kreacher free?"
She answered, "No, he isn't yet. If Harry gave his clothes to Kreacher, Kreacher will be free. But we know Kreacher doesn't want Harry to do that."
Kreacher bowed deeply and said, "It's my great pleasure to tell the story about frabjous grandparents of Master and Great Cygnus Black. Master's friends want to know about the noble house of Black. Kreacher will be busy to set the morning tea and breakfast," and he rhapsodically led the way to the kitchen.
Ron looked happy, "Remembering how rude he had been two years ago, it's miracle that I can't think of the other dishes except Hogwarts dining table and mum's after I tasted his delicious cooking meals. I envy you, Harry. You have dinner he cooks here every day." he said going down the stairs.
Harry couldn't guess what she was up to, said, "Hermione, explain! What story are you going to get from him?"
She halted in the middle of the stairs, and stared at him, "I need to end my war."
Harry had a perplexed look on his face, "What do you mean, your war?"
"I still have nightmares of.. her. Bellatrix. In my dream, she tortures me," she shuddered a little, said, "I have to overcome this." There was a glint of enthusiasm in her eyes. She looked determined. "I asked Kreacher to tell us about Cygnus Black III and his three daughters. I think understanding the house of Black is the way to move past my trauma. And you may find the story about your grandparents. You know, your grandmother was.. "
"Yeah, I know. She was from House of Black," he got curious a little, agreed with her.
Cygnus Black was sick. He beckoned to his most obedient servant, the house-elf, Kreacher, to come to the four-poster. He tried to say something, but couldn't. The house-elf croaked, "Master, please don't speak. You need a rest. If you don't recover, Mistress will punish Kreacher."
His sister Walburga offered the guest room to him and his wife Druella. They were taken out from their old castle which stood on a low red clay hill in the outskirts of Edinburgh by their third daughter, Narcissa to the Grimmauld Place a year ago. He felt shocked when his favorite daughter, Bellatrix gave the castle to the Dark Lord as the base of the Death Eaters. She didn't ask him to leave there but Cygnus couldn't bear to see his castle invaded by the Dark Lord. Narcissa understood both sides, she offered Cygnus the guest room of Malfoy Manor, but he couldn't stand staying in another Death Eater's residence. The Auror Headquarters couldn't function any more. His father, Pollux Black handed the Headquarters to the Death Eaters. There was a rumor that two skilled Aurors, Rufus Scrimgeour and Kingsley Shackbolt had been hiding. It was said that they were guarding the Muggle Prime Minister in secret. Death Eaters had been frantic for hunting Mad Eye Moody who was a member of the underground organization, the Order of Phoenix that Dumbledore at Hogwarts supported. Young Potters and Walburga's two sons were missing. Her first son, Sirius was a trainee Auror with James Potter. Her second son Regulus, who had entered the Death Eaters, hadn't come back to Grimmauld Place.
The night before Lord Voldemort arrived at the Castle of Black, Cygnus had been packing up his things when his first daughter entered without polite knocking on the door,
"Father, do you know where the trainees are hiding?" she asked in her high-pitched irritating voice, her thick black hair was shining under the moonlight cast from outside the window. She was beautiful, but inside her was morally contaminated through and through by the Dark Lord. He hated that.
"How should I know?" he said as he grimaced with pain. The internal injury he had got during Hit Wizards days ached horribly. He missed the potions Andromeda used to give him. His second daughter was good at making potions. He walked near the window rubbing his chest, looked up the sky out there. He couldn't find his own star, Cygnus, in the dark sky. It was rare to see the Northern Cross in the constantly cloudy sky. He remembered the rare moment with his second daughter, Five years old Andromeda, found the constellation Swan in the northern sky. He used to tell her the origin of her name, Charlus Potter named her after the constellation Andromeda. Potter was amused that most of her relatives had the names of the constellation, he suggested Cygnus to name his second daughter after the constellation. The memory was a gem for now.
"Father, look at me!" Bellatrix tut-tutted.
Cygnus turned to her slowly. He didn't know where the young Gryffindors were hiding. Even if his daughter had mastered Legilimency and Occlumency by Lord Vodlemort, he had nothing to hide. He stared at his daughters eyes. Her brown eyes were blood-shot with madness.
He said quietly, "Why are you suddenly interested in your cousin's whereabouts?"
His first daughter averted her eyes. "Dark Lord wants to know. You must obey him," she demanded.
From when had she demanded her own father?
Bellatrix used to be his favorite daughter. Her hair was lustrous black hair like him, though she resembled her mother in her wavy hair part. She inherited not only his heavy, lidded eyes and his jet-black hair but also his stubbornness. The stubbornness equaled to a firm faith in each sense of values. Cygnus had an ideal as a real gentle man from Pure-Bloods though his ideal would be broken apart after he lost true love with Augusta. His daughter's ideal became too drastic after her graduation from Hogwarts, associated with inner circle of Lord Voldemort, Her extreme act was fostered by her unusual devotion to dissection of animals and insects. That part was inherited from her grandfather rather than Cygnus. Or..he wondered. That part must be accelerated by Dark Lord.
In her younger days, she inclined to be cruel to animals and insects. She was initiated into Dark magic by Pollux who was a coroner. Pollux should have taught her how precious each life was. But he didn't. Cygnus found out the fact later when Dark Lord had arisen. Before the inner circle of Dark Lord raised his army, "Death Eaters" Cygnus Black persuaded himself that her cruelty towards them was a necessary process to be a great witch though his wife disliked behavior of their first born daughter. She treated the second and the third daughter with much more affection than she did for Bellatrix. With less affection from her mother, the first daughter left the Castle every summer when she came back home from Hogwarts. Cygnus wanted a son but he and his wife weren't blessed with a son. He trained his first daughter like his son whom he couldn't get. Bella was delighted to be taught Defence against the Dark Arts directly from her father as a Hit Wizard, that he would regret later, too.
It was true that he envied his sister Walburga, who had got two sons. But he was very proud that Bellatrix was nominated as the most beautiful witch by the peers of the Slytherin House in her Hogwarts years. And her score of Defence against the Dark Arts came out on top of other students in Hogwarts at that time. He was possessed with the idea that she had made efforts following her father's teaching, but it was just imagination. She didn't enter the Ministry like he had hoped.
Recently Cygnus felt more strongly that she resembled her grandfather over him. Cygnus was attentive to women, children and the old to protect as a gentleman from Pure-Blood. But Pollux Black was different. He paid more attention to fame or reputation as Pure-Blood. He had worked hard to get political power as a spokesman of Pure-Blood in the Ministry. His father had winked at the mysterious murders in which Death Eaters were involved. Bella had been obsessed with the crazed thought like her grandfather, Pollux. She swore her loyalty to Lord Voldemort. She became his famulus forever. They had a common point: abnormal obsession about Pure-Bloods religion.
He couldn't stop feeling sorry for Rodolphus Lestrange- he did know his wife was deeply in love with Dark Lord. Cygnus couldn't understand how Rodolphus could love his daughter even after he found out she was unfaithful. That's why they weren't blessed with a child.
When Cygnus threw out a question whether there would be a possibility that he could see his grandchild, Rodolphus just answered, "Both of us are servants of Dark Lord", and they disliked children.
Now Cygnus hated his first daughter. He hated the Dark Lord who stole his favorite daughter from him, but he couldn't raise his voice. He had to follow the Black line, his own father's decision: Pure-Bloods dominance over Muggles and Muggle-Borns. He had expected Bellatrix to take care of him and his wife after her marriage with Rodolphus. But her final treatment was this: she deprived them of the place of their residence, Black Castle.
Bellatrix said arrogantly, "I'll tell my Lord that you'll go to Grimmauld Place which is nearer to St. Mungo's. Grandfather and I will feast the Dark Lord. Narcissa will send you and Mother there. If Sirius goes back there, you must send the Owl it to me immediately!" and she stomped away. She didn't say a word to care about his health. She must have thought it was a good ploy to let her parents go as a spy against her cousin, Sirius Black.
Narcissa as always, was attentive. She cared for both Bellatrix and Andromeda in her childhood. She always waited and watched if Bellatrix was in good or bad mood and she was afraid that Adromeda sometimes incurred odium of her parents. The second daughter was in the Slytherin House, but sometimes she was inclined to behave like a Gryffindor. Narcissa never protested when she was announced to be wed with Malfoy either. Though Malfoy's having faith in Lord Voldemort weighed on his mind, the fact that Narcissa and Lucius had seemed to love each other, which made them the exact opposite of Bellatrix and Rodolphus. But Cygnus wouldn't be able to see his first grandson. Before he was born, Cygnus wouldn't be here any longer. He was still suffering instead from an old injury he got during his Hit Wizards days.
Before his death, he wanted to meet his granddaughter that most of his blood relatives denied. He and his wife had refused to acknowledge their marriage, Andromeda and Tonks, who was a Muggle-born. They regretted sending their second daughter to Hogwarts. There she found her future husband. Cygnus had only one choice to disown her. The Noble House of Black wouldn't have a Blood-Traitor forever and a day.
Then his reminiscence was broken. His wife Druella, with blonde hair mixed with grey, came into the dark room, stooped down, and spoke to him,
"Andromeda sent the Owl mail requesting to see you. I have right to see my granddaguther. I rekon you also want to see her, this is your last chance," she whispered like she was afraid of being listened in.
Cygnus tried to answer but he coughed hard.
Kreacher ran up to him. "Master, will you communicate in writing?" Kreacher asked and he handed a quill to his master.
Druella helped him sit up and spread a sheet of parchment and whispered, "Bella isn't here. Nymphadora will be safe here."
Her words broke his heart. Their first daughter had a desire to kill her niece. He had to prevent the tragedy. How could she wish to kill such a young girl like Nymphadora, only six years-old? Even if her father was a Muggle-Born, a witch from a noble family shouldn't do such an evil act. The thought made him cough hard, vomiting blood on the sheet of parchment. The words of Muggle-born dramatist flashed in his mind.
More sinned against than sinning *
He had dedicated half of his life to Hit Wizard work. He had taken pride in his job, but Voldemort's uprising and Death Eaters hurt his pride badly. The Auror Headquarters was falling apart. Death Eaters had begun controlling the office of Hit Wizard office. It was too late for him and his fellow officers to resist the high waves of the massive murders and corruption set by Death Eaters. He couldn't stop uttering the name, 'Augusta', smeared the surface of his white clothes with his own blood.
The face of his wife went pale, she left there, shouting, "Walburga! Walburga!" she seemed to mishear the name, 'Augusta'.
Augusta Burke was his hope before he wed Druella Rosier, the marriage was for political reasons. His father, Pollux, became a high-level Ministry official, after his coroner career with political aid by the Noble House of Rosier ended. Augusta was the first female trainee Auror in British history. She was a young, beautiful witch and skilled duelist when he first met her. Cygnus himself had been a proficient Hit Wizard. He had unrequited love for her. When he proposed to Augusta, she didn't choose him. She chose another man. The distracted thought that she would marry Longbottom, invited the injury during the mission. The internal injury had kept giving bad effect on Cygnus's health.
Imagine that lost love, inseparable from my thought **
His thoughts jumped back into the past.
Thunder, heavy rain and the rolling water struck the vessel, and the big wave was going to gulp it. Young Cygnus Black kept his feet, standing on the wooden floor of the ship. He cast a Shield Charm over the refugees on the ship from the turbulent waves. The war the Muggles started was insane. The holocaust reminded him of the era of the witch-hunt. He glanced back the refugees who huddled up each other. Some of them were Muggles and others were Half-Blood wizards and witches, most of them were children. An elder sister cared her younger brother, who looked to be five or six years old, by pulling a quilt over him. Sitting next to them, Augusta Burke watched over them. She was staring back at Cygnus triumphantly. Her face was full of pride and her eyes shone brilliantly, which mesmerized him.
She had insisted that it was their duty to rescue the victims of the holocaust, she came to the office before that severe rescue journey started and said, "Don't forget the real pride of Pure-Blood. Real Pure-Blood gentlemen save the weak."
She was the only female Auror in the British Magical Ministry. Cygnus had been always conscious of her as a woman. He loved her frankness and her spirit which were rare to be seen in any other witches. Their mission was to end the frantic war in the background. Muggle war has always destroyed nature. Nature is the origin that produces magic.
Their fellow Aurors had been hunting the evil wizards who assisted the Muggle war criminals. But they didn't need to rescue the victims. Only hunting the criminals was their task.
If they could get back to their country safe, he was going to propose to her. But she answered, "I'm sure you think you love me because I'm a Pure-Blood. But I already have a future husband."
Augusta married Longbottom who was her fellow Auror, popular in the Ministry for his sense of humor.
Because I have no other youth, can make me pine;
For how should I forget the wisdom that you brought**
Cygnus hid his real feeling deep inside his heart. His real ideal, generosity of Pure-Bloods vanished with his unrequited love when Augusta left him. His broken heart let him abandon his belief which had been influenced by Augusta. He started behaving like his father, Pollux who was a fanatical believer in Pure-Bloods superiority. His sister, Walburga and his two daughters followed the Pure-Blood way, too. Only his second daughter was the exception. He couldn't protect his second daughter from the blame of his relatives when she eloped with Ted Tonks. A part of him wanted to assist her but Pollux had power in the family. If he aided Andromeda, he might have been removed from the Noble House of Black, too. Besides, the young Muggle-Born, Tonks was very similar to Longbottom in the humorous character, which reminded him of his bitter memory, provoked him into removing his youngest daughter. Longbottom stole Augusta from him. Tonks stole his youngest daughter from him.
He had been saturnine. His life was going to end. What a glum life he had had.
Then the loyal house-elf wiped his face with white clean cotton cloth, said, "Master, Mistresss second son didn't come back. Her husband has been staying inside his room shocked. She has been crying. Your wife is comforting her. So I came to you instead of them. I heard the rumor that he was killed. Do you think the Dark Lord killed him? I can't believe it." Kreacher went out of the room to care Orion Black who got sick grieving over his second son.
Cygnus Black had nightmare that night. Centaurs were cantering around the Saturn in the space. Was this a bad omen? He heard the low voice, Bellatrix whispered in his ear,
"Father, you don't have to watch my cousin, anymore. I captured the coward Gryffindor. The Dark Lord and I will torture the rat. He'll confess where the Potters are hiding!"
He woke up and tried hard to see her leaving, but he could only hear the door bang shut. He felt he needed to contact the Order of Phoenix. He had heard Dumbledore invented the Pensieve in which he could watch the other's thoughts. He now realized only the Order could stop the violence of the Dark Lord and Bellatrix. He mustered his last strength, summoned his wand, extracted the thought about half of his life pointing at the temple with his wand. The grey coiled gas was saved in the small flask with his trembling hands. He barely attached the note to the flask, felt utterly feeble, and went back to sleep. He hoped the house-elf could deliver it to Dumbledore before it would be too late.
At peep of day, Kreacher found Cygnus Black had gone beyond the veil.
Hermione heaved a big sigh and asked, "Kreacher, could you deliver his thought to Dumbledore in time?"
Kreacher started crying hard. He blew his nose with a rag. Harry said quietly, "Hermione, I doubt that knowing too much helps you. If he was in time, my parents hadn't died. I repeated the sad memory of my parents listening to his story. Do you feel better now?"
"I'm very sorry, Harry. But to know this is important to me to overcome my problem," she was in a gloomy mood.
Ron coughed lightly, "Well, I'm hungry. Kreacher, what did you make for us? I reckon you cook a big dinner for Harry every day. I envy him."
Soon Kreacher recovered, started making breakfast like he was a blue bouncing ball, the hem of the blue cardigan dancing together with his every move. Harry felt thankful that Ron was with them. He was in a bright mood, and said to Hermione, "Well, It feels great to know my grandfather named Teddy's grandma after the constellation".
Hermione smiled back brightly. Harry cared for his best friend. He blamed himself for how he had been indifferent toward her as an after-effect of the war. He felt the necessity to talk about that with her and Ron.
Author's Note: * More sinned against than sinning (King Lear by Shakespeare)
** Do not because this day I have grown saturnine
Imagine that lost love, inseparable from my thought
Because I have no other youth, can make me pine;
For how should I forget the wisdom that you brought
(Under Saturn by W. B. Yeats)