Author's Note: I would like to thank my beta, davros fan, for always encouraging me to improve my stories even after I've finished them. I would also like to thank him for giving me a lot of insightful discussions into the world of FF writing. Please read and review if you have anything to say!
Please keep in mind that Marius Black was the first known squib in the Black family. Also, what I've written below is the sleazy version of poetry. I was never good at it, but I tried :D Assume that the poem is what the crystal gazer told Marius and his parents when they visited her.
Warning for slight themes of violence and negligence.
Suffering of the Heart by ValkyrieAce
"His joy will know no bounds,
His innocence remains untainted,
The murky sea of life roars,
As tragedy infects his soul unbridled."
Marius Black was born a normal baby.
He did what every child did. He cried, he fussed, he ate and he slept. He toddled, then walked, and later, he ran. He learned how to say simpler words, how to laugh and how to tell different people from the mesh of faces. He discovered what it meant to be joyful, and he learned that the people he recognized most were called his family.
It was then that he discovered a precious phenomenon called magic.
His parents had magic, and so did the rest of his family. His eyes were always filled with wonder and innocence as he watched his family use magic. Sometimes, there were shades of reds and whites, but behind closed doors, he would be able to see a shadow of green. Marius thought the colors were dazzling, and was the happiest when he could see it shoot towards its destination with a shower of sparks.
Though his family might be dark, his innocence made him kind and loving. He had never been witness to torture or death, whether natural or otherwise. He had never taken it personally when he got hurt, preferring to think about it as an accident. But because of this, he became the black sheep of the family. And to him, there was nothing wrong with that.
All he wanted was to be able to use magic soon, to be able to create his own sparkles and colors. It didn't matter what he was called.
This was why it was catastrophic when Marius was placed on the darker side of that dream.
"Blinding as light does,
The shimmer of family bonds fades,
Bitterness attempts to swallow him whole,
But only kindness remains."
By the time he turned five, his parents were distancing themselves from him. They feared the worst of him, and he had no idea what that was. The little boy had done no wrong at such an age.
Still, he watched as his parents whispered about him when they thought he wasn't there, and he felt the loneliness when it was obvious that the rest of his family was isolating him as well.
Even through all the suffering in isolation, Marius was still kind. It was the only way of life he knew.
One day, his parents had dragged him off to a scryer to find out what was wrong with him. He found himself feeling the happiest he had in a long time. For once, his parents weren't neglecting him. Finally, his parents could get the answer to their questions after all this time.
As soon as they had walked into the dinky crevice in which the crystal gazer conducted her scrying, a few things happened that were still unexplained to him. She turned to him sharply, as if she felt a disturbing presence beside her.
When she began telling his future, he clasped the hands of his parents, squeezing them out of fear. She had scared him at first glance. He could tell there wouldn't be anything good coming out of her mouth. But in the middle of the scrying, he had fallen asleep against his mother. Now he knew nothing of what was said, even though his parents had reacted quite negatively.
By the time they had to leave, they were all confused, but his parents knew two things.
He might be a great child, but his body will be stripped of light and overshadowed by the darkness.
It took a few more months and a physical injury to figure out exactly what was wrong with him.
He wasn't magical.
The realization shook Marius to his core, shattering his heart and his dreams in one fell swoop. He could hear the rest of his family calling him a "filthy Squib." He could hear the joy in their voices as they performed magic, and the bitterness that would overcome him when he couldn't cast even a scintilla of magic.
His mother hadn't been too pleased to hear of this, but gripped at her hands tightly. He could tell since her hands had turned a ghastly white.
He realized then that the revelation would bring about more.
He watched as his father stormed into the room, his wand and a belt in each of his hands. The belt had a few sharp spikes at its end, and it was made out of leather. He didn't know what it was for, but it definitely looked as though it was for beating.
His father dragged him over to the room where the dark green lights came from. At the first lash of the belting, he had already given up on his love for his family. His kindness towards his family had brought him nothing but agony. But, he would never give up on his right to be kind to others.
As he began to lose consciousness, he watched as his father used a red spell to remove his name from the tapestry. A tear slipped down Marius' face, knowing how lonely he would be now that he was stripped of family.
He woke up lying on a puddle of rain in muggle London, in front of a dusty house. He didn't know how he got here, but he knew that it was because his parents didn't want him anymore.
"And though he might be the first,
He will bring about light in an abyss of despair,
And the world shalt not claim another,
Such as Marius Black."
Marius Black ended up being one of the first known squibs in the Black family.
He grew up with the lady who lived at that dusty house, in pain and fighting starvation. He had gained a Muggle education, despite the lack of money, and used this knowledge to build bigger and better things for himself and the lady who cared for him in all those years. He had found work after work until a proper occupation gave him the opportunity to shine. Even through all these hardships, he did end up bringing light to people at the darkest of their times, choosing to help as many people as he could and live a measly man's life, rather than use his intelligence to survive in a high class environment.
And yet, until the day of his death, he would always wonder if he was ever good enough for anyone.
Fin
Word Count: 1088
Additional Prompts:
The Golden Snitch - Through the Universe - (object) 199. Van Allen Belts - belt
The Golden Snitch - Ollivander's Wand Shop - Blackthorn: Write about a character's reputation being ruined.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry – Term #9: Assignment #1 – Divination: Scrying, Task #2 - Write about someone trying to learn about their future via scrying.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - The Return of the Chocolate Frog Cards Club - (Bronze) Marius Black
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - The 365 Prompts Challenge - 358. Word - Precious
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - The Insane House Challenge - 447. Word - Scintilla
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - Holmes Mystery Challenge - (word) light