How hard was it to be the heir and only child to the infamous Lestranges?
Only Phoenix Cygnus Rodolphus Lestrange knew the answer to that question and would have the worst last name ever.
Phoenix Lestrange was born on May 2, 1974, and ironically his name predicted the fate of what would happen on his 24th birthday.
He was born out of the estranged marriage of Bellatrix and Rodhoulpus, and the only reason why he was born was so his mother could one-up her blood traitor sister. She felt furious that her sister had given birth to a halfblood child before she could even produce an heir. Although Bella paid no maternal affection to her child once he turned 1, and therefore it was mainly her parents taking care of the boy when his parents were fighting for Lord Voldemort.
Honestly, he was robbed of a normal childhood with his parents' constant raids to kill any who defied the "dark lord."
He never recalled meeting his uncle Sirius until he was much older, because his uncle met him when he was just a baby. On the other hand, he did recall a Regulus Black and was disappointed when everyone told him that his favorite uncle was dead. The young teen and Phoenix would play games until the end of Regulus' life where he stated to his young nephew that it was important to help the light and that the dark would make the world horrid for everyone. Those words lingered in his thoughts and always reminded him to choose the right path of virtue instead of the dark path of thievery.
His aunt Narcissa and uncle Lucius were horribly the worst couples he thought he had ever seen. It was obvious that the two weren't a match, besides they had too many different interests which made her joyous when their son was more like her. Great Aunt Walburga and Great Uncle Orion were the vilest people he had ever met, plus they made his parents seem to be like the cherry to ice cream. It was rather unfortunate that his great uncle died before his youngest son which led rumors to think that Walburga drove her youngest mad for the loss of his father. In some ways, he is grateful that he didn't grow as insane as his mother was. Finally, his Aunt Andromeda and her husband were quite at least to say were the ones that helped make him a better person.
Sometimes his grandmother, Druella Rosier, would take him to meet with his aunt Andromeda for she wasn't merely disowned at all. Perhaps to the whole house of Black, but not to her dear parents at all. They took pride when their daughter had a child which they affectionately loved, but secretly met up with since Andromeda understood the dire situation of her parents. At first, she was unsure about Phoenix, judging that he might be like his mother, yet she realized after meeting him that he grew up without maternal or paternal love. Of course his grandparents also cared for him, nonetheless, they had a different relationship with him since he was their grandchild. As soon as Phoenix and Nymphadora are placed in the same room when one was 3 and the other 4, they make an everlasting connection which made them the best of friends.
Phoenix was perhaps the only child in the whole world to be happy that his parents were put in Azkaban when he was seven. His parents just expected the young boy to be familiar with the pureblood etiquette. His grandparents had made sure that young Phoenix should never become a death eater because his light worshipping uncle Sirius got himself locked into the famous Wizarding Prison. This meant that most likely Phoenix would be heir Black unless Sirius got out or somehow he died which leads into Draco as the heir. Although when Narcissa Malfoy learned of this, she made sure that her son was just on the intent of just leading the House of Malfoy since she was afraid of Draco being like his father, and would just somehow lead the House of Black into ruins.
When he turned eleven, he was overjoyed that he got accepted to Hogwarts, and he would be joining his favorite cousin the following school year. Nymphadora or as Phoenix liked to call her, Nora, was the only true cousin he considered as his favorite. He despised Draco on the other hand, for the toddler's arrogance and constant repeats of what the little boy learned that day. For a four-year-old, he was the most annoying kid he ever met, and even whiny brats could compare to the brat. Although he was forced to pretend to be a role model to Draco whenever Phoenix visited the Malfoy mansion, he found it amusing to frighten the child with a scary grin like his own mother's. That made the prat listen to him and not dare annoy him until his aunt or uncle was nearby.
His grandmother and he were buying supplies at Diagon Alley and he found it quite hard to not stare back at everyone who whispered behind his back. They all murmured about the son of some of the cruelest wizards in Britain. Thankfully, Druella helped him keep a polite smile and he made it throughout the whole day without a brutal fight that day. A week later after the visit to Diagon Alley, he asked his grandparents if it was okay to be in a different house other than Slytherin. They told him to aim for Ravenclaw since that would be the only acceptable house for the Blacks, and he could have more flexible choices. Two weeks later, his horrid great-aunt had died from natural causes. It became a day to rejoice that the devil was finally out and there was no need to listen to an old cranky witch curse about the outcome of the previous war.
He was pretty nervous for his sorting as he climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express with his grandparents' warning stuck in his head on repeat. Luckily he avoided all the whispers of his last name when Nora grabbed him to show her good friends. Their names were Penny Haywood, Ben Copper, Rowan Khanna, Charlie Weasley, and Jenny Woods(aka Jacob's Sibling). Although they were a year older than him, they seemed like a lively bunch as two Hufflepuffs, two Slytherins, and two Gryffindors. Nora told him that there were two Ravenclaws but they were preparing for the school year instead of enjoying it. He told them that anything but Slytherin was good enough for him to prove that he wasn't his parents.
"Lestrange, Phoenix," McGonagall spoke which made the whole room turn quiet to have a close look at him. The only people who didn't know him were most of the muggleborns and a handful of the half-bloods. There was a lump in his throat as the sorting hat was placed on top of his head.
"Well, what do we have here? A Lestrange? Haven't sorted one in over three decades!"
"Three decades? That must be my uncle Rabastan or also known as a convict in prison. Unless my distant French cousins ever set foot into England, I seriously doubt they been sorted into Hogwarts in awhile."
"Interesting, it seems that your mind doesn't reflect upon your mother's at all. I saw one second of her horrid mind and then I immediately sorted her into Slytherin. Your father, on the other hand, could have been in Ravenclaw, as you see your family crest has a raven. Only a few Lestranges do get into Ravenclaw, and they turned out to be good people."
"That's my logic, hat. Yet I want to be something even more than a smart person. Although Hufflepuff isn't an option, or else my parents might as well just break out of prison and strangle you."
"What a nice vivid image, I see that there was only one other Black who was like you and so you better be in GRYFFINDOR!"
The whole room was more shocked then when his uncle Sirius was sorted into that house. A son of two death eaters ending up in the second best house(of course Hufflepuff comes first). McGonagall was honestly in shock, yet she knew that she shouldn't judge a student by his parents at all. Even Severus Snape couldn't help but admit that he thought the boy was a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin. This was one step to prove that he is just Phoenix, not some evil incarnation of a Black + Lestrange.
It was hard to make his first few friends, even if he became a Gryffindor. In some retrospects, it seemed to make both Slytherins and Gryffindors dislike him more. His only friends at the beginning other than Nora's group were one Hufflepuff named Estelle Zhou, one Ravenclaw named Amara Gonzalez, one Slytherin named Gordon Chen and one Gryffindor named, Lilac Travers. They all had their differences yet they were friends to the end.
His life was pretty much normal for the average Hogwarts student, and he was very friendly with all muggleborns since one of his best friends was a muggleborn. Although the Slytherins never dared to bully him from the incident of Phoenix accidentally hexing a Slytherin who teased him for being a Gryffindor. He helped Jenny Woods in her search for the cursed vaults and found it odd that a Slytherin could be like a Hufflepuff in disguise. However, he did earn himself careful glances while he was around Jenny for she was known to be breaking tons of rules.
For instance, Phoenix got himself a week worth of detention just for searching for clues with Jenny and he did forgive her after they scored detention with McGonagall instead of Snape.
When his great-grandfather, Pollux dies, he is overjoyed that the old wizard is knocked off his socks. His friends try to remind him that he should respect the dead, but Phoenix hated the man with a burning passion. The old geezer did nothing but tell him pureblood laws all day long to the point that Phoenix learned to keep his eyes open while he took a brief nap. Although his other great-great-grandfather who technically was some sort of third or second cousin had died in the summer of 1990. He was a good man who was the Head of the Black clan and since his Uncle Sirius hadn't died yet, nobody out of a prison would be controlling the house affairs such as the Wizamagot. If his uncle died, then it would be up to his nearly ill grandfather to take the rein unless the unfortunate happens which makes Phoenix the prime spot. This, of course, upset him and wished that he didn't have the power to juggle both dark houses at the same time when he could barely be top in his own house.