Chapter One: Beginnings
"Kreature!" Sirius barked out in a harsh voice. The short elf appeared with a pop, half glaring at the last member of the Black's.
"Master Sirius, why are you calling on Kreature?" The elf asked, bowing mockingly, then muttered under his breath, "No good brat. If my Mistress could see him now."
"Shut up Kreature," Sirius said as he rubbed his dirty hands over his face. Kreature stood straight again, casting his large eyes around the destroyed house they stood in front of. "Kreature, go to my hideout. You will find Marlene and my daughter Ariadna there, I want you to take them to my mothers house and keep them safe. Tell her… tell her the Potter's are… gone. And tell her I'll be there soon," Sirius said, his voice breaking. Kreature's eyes grew even wider.
"The blood traitor son wishes Kreature to take care of his dirty blooded offspring, befouling the house of my Mistress, oh, if only she knew…" Kreature uttered, a sneer on his face. Sirius growled and swung his arm at the elf.
"I gave you an order, Kreature. You are bound to my blood, you must obey me," Sirius yelled at the elf, who bowed in return.
"As Master wishes," he said, then disappeared with a small pop. Sirius sighed again, running his hands through his shaggy hair, then he drew his wand and disapperated to find the traitor whom he had once called a friend, that had turned Lily and James over to the dark lord.
Kreature was still muttering under his breath when he landed in the tiny hide out house that Sirius had been using for the last two years. The elf let out a long sigh as he heard a child crying somewhere upstairs. The house was dark and quiet, as it was many house past when most people went to bed. Kreature took in his surrounding, noting the table that had two unused place settings put out, and frowned, cutting off his muttering. He made his way through the dining room, stumbling slightly as his foot got caught on what he assumed to be the edge of the carpet. He snapped his fingers, causing a small but bright light to fill the room so he wouldn't trip again. It took him a few moments to understand what he was looking at, and when he did, he immediately let his light go out and rushed toward the wall. The living room had been completely destroyed, the far wall had been blasted out letting a soft breeze flow through the room. Kreature shook his head, listening for anyone who could still be remaining in the house that meant to cause him harm. After a few moments of silence except for the crying child, he snapped his fingers again, relighting the room.
The woman was dead, he was sure of it, but he checked for breathing anyway. The elf was sure that this was the woman Sirius had told him to take to safety, but it was too late for that now. Kreature left her where she was, making his way up the stairs to the crying child. When he entered the room, the crying broke off, and he looked up to see the small girl, about as tall as he was, standing in her crib, tears falling down her face.
"Mama!" She screamed, beginning to cry again as she realized that Kreature wasn't who she had been crying for.
"Quiet," Kreature said, shocking the girl into silence again. He had no experience raising children, when Sirius and Regulus had been children, the other Black house elf, Tilly, had been in charge of taking care of them. Tilly was old now, and Kreature doubted she would be up to taking care of children again, but it was only until Sirius returned, so Kreature decided it would be okay.
Kreature walked over to the crib, grabbing onto the basin front of the child, then disappearing with a pop, taking the entire crib as well as the child with him.
He landed in the front room of number 12 Grimmuld Place, the child crying again now, making Tilly come into the room in a hurry.
"Kreature, what is this girl doing here?" Tilly asked, shaking dust from the thick gray hair that sprouted from her tall ears.
"Master Sirius called for Kreature," Kreature said, grumbling about blood traitors under his breath as he told the full story to Tilly, who nodded her head, eyes wide as he spoke.
"The poor child, without a mother, we must take care of her," Tilly said, standing on her toes to peer at the crying child who looked to be about a year and a half old. Tilly stared at her for a moment, then reached her small arms into the crib, picking up the girl and cradling her as she had the other Black children many years ago.
"Kreature must return to the child's house, we will need her clothes and things from her room. Put them into Master Sirius's room, that will be where we keep her until Master Sirius returns," Tilly said, rocking the child as her cries faded away. Kreature tumbled more, but disapperated with a pop, going back to Sirius's hiding place, appearing in the child's room. He looked around for a few moments, not knowing what Tilly had wanted him to bring back. After a few moments, he began apperating everything out of the room until it was empty.
Tilly spent the next four days trying to keep the child from crying. The old elf talked to the girl continually, telling her stories as the girl followed her around the house on unsteady feet. Kreature was assigned to the kitchen after Tilly has shown him how to mash up food so the small girl could eat it. Tilly did her best to move all of the various things in the house to higher shelves so the girl wouldn't accidentally pick up anything dangerous. At night, Tilly would carry the small girl up the stairs to the bedroom that Kreature had filled with her furniture. As Sirius's old things were still there as well, it was a very crowded room that Tilly could only navigate because she was small.
As the days wore on with no appearance of Sirius, Tilly began to fear that he had been killed as well. After the first week, Tilly sent Kreature back to the 'safe house' with orders to retrieve everything left in it and place it all into one of the empty spare rooms upstairs so that no one outside the Black family was able to get into Sirius's things.
Finally, Kreature reported back that the house was now empty, and that Auror's had been there the day before, discovering the woman's decaying body. They had searched the house, but found that most of the rooms were completely empty, and the walls were all bare of any personal affects. They determined that Death Eaters must have cleaned the place out when they killed the woman. Kreature also heard the Auror's say that Black must have ordered them to do so after he killed the Potters. When he repeated this to Tilly, the old elf gasped, saying that Master Sirius was the last of the family she had expected to join the dark side. Kreature relayed the news to the portrait of his Mistress, and she had laughed harshly, saying that there was no way her good for nothing son had changed sides, there must have been a mistake.
After nearly two weeks of waiting, Kreature was ordered to watch over the child while Tilly went to Diagon Alley for news and to restock on food for the child. She returned to tell the portrait of her old Mistress and Kreature that the young Master Sirius had been sent to Azkaban on charges of Death Eater activity. While her old Mistress laughed madly, Tilly returned to the living room where the young girl was playing with a dusty box she had grabbed off one of the bookshelves. Tilly pulled the box from her grasp, then led the child into the kitchen to wipe the dirt off her hands and arms.
"Kreature and Tilly must keep the child," Tilly said when Kreature had returned to the kitchen.
"Master Sirius ordered Kreature to keep her safe, and Kreature must obey orders," Kreature said, the mumbled something unintelligible.
"The child needs a name," Tilly said, frowning at the girl who was sat on the floor gurgling happily as she pulled various cooking things off their low shelves. Tilly raised her hand, sending the pots and pans back to their shelves, then waved her hand again to cleanse the dirt off of them and the child. The girl giggles as she watched the dust shake itself off of her clothing. "Kreature and Tilly must clean," the old elf said, waving her long fingers at the rest of the kitchen that had collected a good layer of dust in the last five years or so that the house had been uninhabited.
"Master Sirius called her Ariadne," Kreature said, glaring at the streams of dirt that were filtering their way off of his clothes. "The blood traitor names his offspring with the traditions of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black," he muttered, disgust evident in his voice.
"Clean the upstairs Kreature," Tilly ordered, scowling at the elf. "You is a house elf in service to the Black's. It is Kreature's duty to clean the house and take care of the Black family," Tilly waved her hand, gesturing to the little girl who was now the only remaining Black Family member. Kreature said nothing, but turned to the stairs and trudged up them slowly, muttering under his breath the entire way up.
Within the next month or so, Tilly had managed to go through the things Kreature had brought from Sirius's old house, storing what was needed in Ariadne's new bedroom. She removed the extra furniture from the room, leaving the child with a wide area to play with her toys in. When the weather wasn't too cold out, Tilly would bundle the child up and let her play in the small back yard in the snow. They would build snowmen and snow forts, just as Tilly had done with the Black brothers when they had been young. Ara could sometimes hear the neighboring children playing as well, but as their yard was fenced in, she could not see them, and as the house was protected against anyone else seeing it, they could not see her.
As a few more months passed, Ariadne grew more steady on her feet, beginning to run around the house in pursuit of the two elves, and though Kreature continued to mutter under his breath, Tilly could tell that the other elf liked the child a great deal, and it was not hard to see why. At almost two years of age, Ariadne's hair was long and black, her eyes were grey, and her features closely resembled the rest of the Black family's traits. The girl looked just like a miniature Regulus and Sirius, and Kreature had always been close to Regulus, even when he was younger. Regulus's death was what caused Kreature to go mad, but now, as Kreature grew to like the girl more, he started acting more like a house elf should act. He slowly stopped muttering under his breath, he kept up on the cleaning of the house, and even took over some of the cooking.
The first year passed by in a flash. The two elves decided to celebrate her birthday on the day she had been brought there, even though she was at least a year and a half old when she arrived. Tilly baked a cake, which Ariadne promptly shoved into her face, making a mess of her clothes, the table in front of her, and the chair she stood on to reach the table. The three of them spent the day playing hide and seek in the bottom floor of the house, Ariadne screeching with laughter ever time she was found, or found one to the elves. Her hair had grown extremely long as the elves felt it unsafe to let her leave the house to get it cut. The black curls fell halfway down her tiny back, and were constantly matted with some goo or food that she had been playing with.
By the time Ariadne turned five, Tilly was getting quite sore from moving around so much, and she was unsure that she would be around much longer. The old elf had hung the pictures of Ariadne's parents and their friends around the walls of her room, and continually told her stories about her father growing up. Ariadne's favorite story was the one about Sirius coming home with a stray elk that had taken to following him around. Tilly didn't mention that Sirius had run away from him only hours after he had come home that time, and he hadn't returned to the house since. When the boys were younger, Tilly had made sure that she taught both of them about the things their parents believed and how she, as an elf, thought they were wrong to believe so, and she made sure to do the same with Ariadne once the elf realized that she had been spending time talking to her grandmothers portrait. The woman, even from beyond the grave, was determined that no one else in her family defect to the light side. She had spent hours telling Ariadne stories about the dark lord and his followers, twisting them to sound like heroic tales that the young girl would like. After ever story the young girl listened to, Tilly would take her up to her room and tell her stories of the people the dark lord hurt and the bad things he did. The elf wasn't sure how much of this the child would remember or believe, but she did her best to make sure the girl knew about both sides of the war, rather than just the dark side her grandmother always told her about.
"Tilly?" Ariadne asked, poking her head around the corner of the living room where the old elf was using a duster to chase away the dirt that had gathered on the mantle place. The seven year old repeated the old elf's name three more times before the elf turned around and jumped in surprise at how floes Ariadne was to her.
"Goodness, child, you gave me a fright. Did you need something?" Tilly asked, waving her hand at the duster which vanished with a pop.
"I was wondering…" Ariadne said, then cleared her throat and tucked her hands behind her back as she had seen the other children do when they wanted something the few ties she had been allowed out of the house to play with them. "Where are my parents? All the other kids have parents and they all think I'm weird because I don't have any."
"What did you tell them? Did you say anything about-"
"I didn't tell them about magic, or you, I just said the people who I live with aren't my parents," Ariadne said before the old elf could go off on a lecture about what not to tell the muggles.
"Your parents were part of the war seven years ago. Your mother was killed. And your father was sent to prison," Tilly said softly, leading the girl who was now almost twice as tall as the elf, over to the couch.
"Grandmother said he's in jail because he was bad and left the family," Ariadne said, her sentence sounding more like a question.
"No, dear," Till said, shaking her head. "Your grandmother thinks he is bad because he fought on the good side of the war and the rest of the family fought on the bad side. She said your father must have been set up to go to jail because there is no way he did what the ministry said he did."
"What did they say he did?" The seven year old asked, tilting her head to the side.
"They said he killed a lot of people, but I don't think he did. He was always the nicest little boy. A bit mischievous, but nothing like the rest of the family," Tilly said, smiling slightly as she remembered.
"So if he isn't bad, how come he is still gone?" Ariadne asked, still confused.
"Because no one believes he isn't bad," Tilly said, sighing. She straightened the corner of the worn rug in front of the couch.
"Well I can tell them! Then he can come home," Ariadne said, grinning as she hopped off the couch and bounced a little with excitement.
"No you can't honey," the elf said, smiling sadly at her.
"Why not?" She said, sticking her lip out in a small pout.
"Well first, you are too young for them to listen to you. Second, the papers said the ministry had proof he killed all those people. And third, we don't think the ministry knows about you. If they did, they would have taken you away a long time ago. You don't want them to take you away do you?" Tilly asked. The girl shook her head vigorously, making some of her long black hair fall out of its ponytail. "I didn't think so. Now fix your hair before you go back outside with the muggles. And remember-"
"Don't mention magic, or talk about my family, or talk about the house because they can't see it," Ariadne finished for the elf having heard the same thing every time she went outside. The girl rolled her eyes, then used her hands to brush all the loose hair back and tucked it into the hair tie before she ran back out the front door and across the square to one of the neighboring houses where the nearby children liked to play.
Tilly shook her head and returned to her dusting. She could hear Kreature in the kitchen, cooking something for dinner and muttering under his breath about something or other. She checked the thick black drapes over her Mistress's portrait, making sure they were tightly shut so the woman wouldn't begin yelling about the child going out to play with muggles as she had taken to doing the last four months that Tilly had allowed her to go out.
Tilly finally passed away a week before Ariadne turned nine. The girl and Kreature dug a hole in the back yard under a short oak tree that Tilly had loved to look at, and they buried her in silence with a few tears. The week leading up to her birthday was solemn and quiet, Ariadne spent a lot of time locked in her room crying as Kreature wandered around the house muttering.
The morning of her birthday, Kreature had baked a cake and cut up pieces of it for their breakfast, which prompted a small smile from the girl at last.
"Kreature, aren't we supposed to have cake after we eat dinner?" Ariadne asked as she sat at the table and picked up her fork. She scooped up a bite of cake as the elf shrugged from where he stood on the chair.
"Kreature thought you needed something good to cheer you up," he said under his breath, then went on the mutter some other things which she ignored. Kreature could be nice, if she ignored the other things he said under his breath, which she had gotten very used to doing over the last nine or so years. She smiled as the elf ate his cake in silence.
"I'm going to look through my parents old things," she said when they had both finished eating and Kreature had taken the dirty plates to wash. Kreature continued to mutter under his breath, so she took that to mean he had heard her and she dashed up the stairs to the room that Tilly had always in sited she leave alone until her father came back since those were his things. She had tried to sneak in there multiple times, but the old elf had always caught her.
Ariadne hesitated outside the door, wondering if it was disrespectful to the old elf to go into the room against her wishes, but then she drew in a breath and pushed the door open. These were her parent's things and she had a right to look at them if she wanted to, since she was their child. The room was dusty, apparently neither elf had cleaned it since it had been brought here, and everything inside was haphazardly placed. Ariadne sneezed twice then pulled her shirt over her nose and mouth to keep most of the dust out. She lit a branch of candles near the door and recognized the closest object to her as her old crib that had been replaced with a bed when she was old enough to stop using it. She brushed her hand along the light colored wood, leaving a streak of clean where she brushed the dust off. She sighed and looked around the room again, then made her way between the stacks of books and other objects to the window on the other side of the room and grew open the heavy drapes to let more light into the room.
Ariadne turned to survey the room now that it was brighter and decided to start with the books. She put all the ones that looked too boring into her old crib, keeping the ones that looked easier to read through near the door. Tilly had told her about Hogwarts, but had said she might not get a letter since the ministry was never told that she had been born. If that were the case she would have to teach herself magic from books. She wasn't sure what she would do about a wand, but maybe she could convince Kreature to take her to Diagon Alley if she didn't get invited to study at Hogwarts when she turned eleven. Kreature was much less over protective of her than Tilly had been, so she supposed she would be able to convince him.
At the end of the piles of books, Ariadne discovered a few thin, black leather covered books. She flipped throng one of them, starting at the back, and frowned, seeing only blank pages. As she went to set the book down, it fell open to a page near the front that was covered in cramped handwritten words. She glanced over the first few lines, then her eyes widened as she realized what she held. It was a diary. She flipped eagerly to the front page and smiled when she saw the name Marlene McKinnon-Black and the date scribbled underneath it said the journal was about ten years old. This must have been her mothers journal, and probably the other two similar looking books as well. Ariadne settled back to read the journal, her smile slowly dropping as Marlene wrote about the war and being in hiding and about her family being killed by Death Eaters, and how she worried that they would come after her and her baby next. The third entry, dated March 21st talked about how Ariadne had just turned one, and she felt a jolt of surprise at finding out her actual birthday after years of celebrating it on the first of November. She was also surprised to notice in the writing, that her mother had called her Aria for short. Ariadne spoke the nick name out loud a few time, testing it, then she continued reading. The last entry, which was only about twenty pages in, was dated on Halloween of that year, and it was a short entry about how the Dark Lord had been gaining more and more power the last few weeks, and how Marlene felt uneasy about their hiding place, thinking that too many people had been told where it was. Ariadne flipped a few more pages over when she had finished reading before realizing that her mother must have been killed that same day. She frowned, wondering why she too hadn't been killed. She reached for the next journal, which was dated almost two years before the one she had just read. Ariadne smiled as she read this one. Her mother had written about falling in love with her father, and how good it was that when so many people were loosing loved ones, she was able to gain a loved one. That journal documented their first year in hiding together, and ended with her mother's excited writing that she had just discovered she was pregnant. The other journal walked through her mothers pregnancy and fears about the future and bringing a child into this dangerous world. At one point she wrote that maybe the child would be safe since it would be a pureblood baby. At another point she wrote that perhaps she should give the baby to a muggle orphanage, just to ensure that the Dark Lord would be unable to find it, but her mother had also written about how heartbroken she would be to be separated from her baby. Eventually, near the end of the journal, she had written that since they were in hiding, she would have the baby at home, and keep her there without telling anyone that she was expecting, so no one would know the baby existed. The final few pages were written several months after the others, and her mother wrote about how tired she was, looking after the baby, but how happy she was to have a beautiful daughter. Tucked behind the last page of the journal was a photograph of a blond woman holding a squirming baby in her arms. She had her head thrown back in laughter at something the other occupant of the photo had said. The man had his back towards the camera, but after she laughed, he turned around and grinned at Ariadne. She knew from the pictures on her wall above her bed that these were her parents, but she had never seen a picture of them with her. She smiled softly down at them as her father turned back to her mother to say something and her mother laughed again, bouncing the baby in her arms slightly. She watched as Sirius smoothed down the black tufts of hair on the baby's head in a sec on nature kind of move, and she placed the photograph on top of the stack of books she wanted to move to her room.
A glance out the window told her she had spent most of the morning reading her mothers journals, but she felt happy with what she had learned about her parents. Now that she was finally able to put a personality to the faces she had seen in pictures, she felt like she was closer to them somehow. Then Ariadne had a sudden realization that since she would turn 11 in March, and Tilly had told her thats when children were told they could go to school, that meant she would only have to wait a few more months before she could start learning magic, one way or another. She grinned with excitement at the idea of learning magic. She could making things disappear like Tilly did! Ariadne frowned and let out a sad sigh when she thought of the old elf that had taught her to speak and read and write. Tilly had told her stories of Wizard history, and House Elf history, and had taught her about how to treat other people with kindness. When Ariadne had been younger, she had listened with rapt attention to the stories her grandmothers portrait had told her, but as she got older and spent time with the other muggle children in the neighborhood, Ariadne had come to realize that her grandmother was wrong about muggles. The children were only mean to her if she was mean first, and they certainly didn't act how her grandmother had said muggles did. Ariadne had stopped talking to the portrait when she had turned eight after her grandmother had screamed that she was a blood traitor and just as bad as her father.
Ariadne leaned back against a pile of boxes filled with her parent's old clothes and sighed. After all the years here, her father was one thing she was unsure of. She knew he had been sent to prison for being a death eater and murdering muggles on the same day that she had been brought here and her mother had died. But Tilly, and even her grandmother, had said over and over that they didn't believe Sirius to be guilty. But if he was innocent, he wouldn't have been sent to prison, in Ariadne's mind. She let out another sigh, then decided not to think about her father anymore for the day. She slowly sifted through the contents of the room, deciding to skip lunch. Most of the boxes had been filled with old clothes or linens. A pile of china dishes sat in the corner of the room, surrounded by glass vases and cooking utensils. Finally the room grew dark as the sun set, and Ariadne gathered up the things she wanted to bring to her room, including a photo album she had found, multiple books, and a long thin box that contained a wand. She was unsure whether it was her mothers or fathers, and she didn't know how to use it, but she wanted to look over it more carefully in the light of her own room.
Ariadne ate the dinner that Kreature had left out for her in a hurry, then rushed back up to her room to try out the wand. She picked it up and waved it around like she had seen muggles do in their muggle movies when she went to the neighbors house to watch. A few books flew off her shelf, falling into a pile in front of the shelf. Ariadne giggled, then waved the wand again, towards her bed. The sheets jumped off the bed, flopping onto the floor. She tossed the wand onto her bed, then bent to retrieve the spell books she had taken from her parents things. She flipped through one of them, looking for something easy to try. One of the books had a diagram of how to wave the wand and pronounce the spell words, and she studied it for a few moments, speaking the words aloud slowly to make sure she knew them, then she tried waving the wand in the pattern the book demonstrated, a gently curving line up and then a harsh flick out to the front. She tried the spell a few times, waving the wand at various things around her room, but nothing happened. She grew steadily anger in her actions until, finally, she accidentally upended her bookshelf. She put the wand back into its box and went to straighten the shelf and replace the books on it, frowning as she did. She couldn't understand why the spell hadn't worked. She had said the words how the book said to, and waved her wand the way the wizard in the picture did. She flopped angrily down onto her bed after putting out her candles, and drifted quickly off to sleep.
The months leading up to March seemed to drag by. Ariadne stopped spending time with the muggles in the neighborhood. When she was younger, they thought it was funny that she said she lived in number 12, though there was no number 12 in the square. Now that they were all older though, they thought she was being stupid on purpose, and that she just didn't want to tell them where she lived, and they had started to ignore her when she came out to play in the square with them. After a few weeks of this, she had stopped going out to see them, though she would watch them from the window in the sitting room sometimes. Kreature was not as good at keeping the house clean as Tilly had been, and Ariadne took to dusting and cleaning to keep herself busy when she wasn't reading over the spell books she had taken from her parents things. She had begun to memorize as koch as she could from the books, sure that even if she was accepted to Hogwarts, the other kids would know way more than she did, since they were raised by parents, not house elves. She had tried a few more spells with the wand she had found, but none of them had worked, and Ariadne was beginning to doubt that she could even do magic. Maybe she was born as a squib, like the uncle who's name had been burned out of the family tree tapestry on the walls of her favorite room. She had always liked the tree tapestry, when she was younger she would drag chairs into the room to read the names that were higher up, and now that she was older she still occasionally peeked into the room. She liked the way the leaves on the tree between the names seemed to flutter and move, and she liked to look at the pictures that accompanied the names on the tree. Her fathers name was barely visible at the bottom of a black scorch mark and Ariadne traced her fingers over it often.
That was where she was on the morning of March 21st, her real birthday, the day she turned eleven. She let her fingers follow the branches of the tree from her father's burnt name to his brothers picture. She had to admit that her uncle Regulus looked very much like her father, and she noticed that she had many of their features. The eyes and nose were the same, and the hair color, though she got the curls from her mother, as well as her mouth and high cheek bones. She was drawn from her staring by a tapping on the front door and her head whipped up in surprise. Never in the entire time she had lived there had anyone ever knocked on the door. Tilly had told her that no one could see the house at all, so she had no idea what someone could be doing a the door. She made her way into the hall, her hand clenched around the borrowed wand she had taken to carrying around with her. Kreature had also poked his head into the hall at the knocking, and he glanced between the door and Ariadne with wide eyes, muttering under his breath.
"Kreature, can you please answer the door? Tell them you are here alone, and don't tell them anything about me, please. I'll be in here," Ariadne said, gesturing to the sitting room across the hall. "Try to get them to leave, whoever they are."
Ariadne's heart was beating hard, and her palm was slick against the wood of the wand she didn't know how to use, but she took a deep breath and his herself in the small space between the wall and one of the couches in the sitting room, then listened intently as Kreature padded up the hallway and pulled the door open.
"Hello," she heard a deep voice say when the door had been pulled open. "I was hoping that I may speak to Ms. Black, if possible." She let out a small gasp when she heard her name, she was so sure that no one else had ever heard of her.
"Kreature is alone. Kreature is alone many years," she heard the elf say, then heard him continue to mutter unintelligibly. "Kreature likes to be alone. Kreature does not like wizards meddling in his home."
"I do apologize if I am intruding," the man said, and Ariadne thought his voice seemed amused. "But isn't it polite to offer guests tea when the arrive after a long journey?" Kreature was silent for a moment, and Ariadne could just imagine him glaring up at the man.
"Please come in, I will bring you a cup of tea," the elf said, and Ariadne nearly let out a groan, but muffled her voice as she heard the door close and footsteps come down the short hall, then turn into the very room she was hidden in. She heard Kreature in the kitchen, putting a kettle onto the stove to heat water for some tea. After nearly five long minutes, the elf returned, setting a tray with cups and the teapot on the low table in front of the armchair the mad had taken. Keeping her head low, Ariadne poked her head around the corner of the couch, just getting a glimpse of the man before plying her head back in. The man was old, judging by his long white hair, nearly as long as her own, which hadn't been cut since she was brought here. His long white beard was nearly as long as his hair. He wore half circle glasses on his long nose, and he was wearing long dark blue wizard robes.
"Now, I was hoping I could speak to Ms. Black about attending my school next fall. Do you know where she is?" The man asked, and this time Ariadne did gasp, then clapped her hands over her mouth.
"Kreature does not know of Ms. Black. Kreature is alone," Kreature began to say, but Ariadne crawled out from behind the couch, then stood quickly and leveled her wand at the man who had continued to calmly sip his tea, not in the least surprised to see the girl.
"Who are you?" She asked, her hand shaking slightly as she pointed the wand at him. She brought her free hand up to the wand as well, using both hands to keep it steady.
"My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am the headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Ms. Black," he said, smiling slightly at her.
"How do you know who I am?" She asked, still frowning at him. She kept the wand raised at him, just in case he tried anything funny.
"Ms. Black, when a wizarding child is born we have ways of knowing," he said simply, taking another sip of tea.
"But, if you knew I was born, why didn't you take me away? Tilly said that if anyone knew I was here, they would come to take me away," she said, forgetting to hold her wand out at him. She frowned in confusion.
"Ah, well, to my regret, I personally did not know of your existence until earlier this month," he said, his brow twitching down momentarily, but then his face adopted a small smile again as he looked her over. "And who, may I ask, is Tilly?"
"She was my house elf. She died last year," Ariadne said, sitting on the edge of the couch she had hidden behind. "Are you here to take me away?"
"Not unless you wish it my dear. While we usually do not allow underage witches to live without a guardian, I think in this case we can allow it. No, I am nearly hear to invite you to attend my school next year," he said, running a hand along his beard.
"Why would I be an exception?" She asked, frowning again.
"It's of no matter to you," he said, smiling again. "I would like to take you to Diagon Alley though, if you agree to attend my school that is. We would need to get you proper school supplies, and also a wand of your own, as I assume that one is a borrowed wand."
Ariadne stared blankly at him for a few moments, then nodded.
"I want to go to school. But I don't have any money for books and things," she said, worried now that they wouldn't allow her to go to school if she couldn't pay for it.
"But you do have money, my dear. Your family was quite well off, and as you are the last of the Black family, you have inherited not only this house, but also their vaults at Gringotts as well," the wizard said, setting his cup down and standing.
"Wait, I don't know what Grin- uh- whatever is, and I don't know how to get to Diagon Alley," she said, jumping to her feet as he began to walk out of the room.
"I will show you of course," he said, holding his arm out to her. She hesitated, then wrapped her hand around his elbow. "Hold on tight," he said, a gleam in his eyes. She gripped his arm, then gasped as she felt herself squeezing through a tight place, and she gasped as her lungs expanded again, then she looked around, seeing the back of a building that reeked up alcohol, and a brick wall surrounding the tiny yard they had landed in. She pulled her shoes out of the mud that was a result of some of the snow around them beginning to melt. She shivered and pulled her thin sweater tighter around her shoulders, then she turned to watch as Dumbledore used his wand to tap the brick wall. Her mouth fell open as the wall melted away, forming an archway through which she could see more people walking the streets than she had ever seen in one place before. Her hair fell into her face as a wind followed them through the archway, and she pushed it back impatiently, looking around at the many shops lining the street. She followed Dumbledore down the middle of the street, falling behind has she peered through various shop windows, then raining to catch up.
Finally they came to a stop in front of the tall building at the end of the street, and Ariadne looked up with a wide eyes at the glistening sculptures and sides of the building.
"This is Gringotts Bank," Dumbledore told her, leading her inside. She looked around the bustling room they entered, watching goblins and wizards wandering to and fro, all talking or counting heaps of gems or coins. Dumbledore approached one of the goblins and spoke quietly to him.
"Key please," she heard the goblin say as she approached the old wizard.
"The Black vault needs no key," she heard Dumbledore reply.
"You wish to visit the Black vault? You must be of direct relation to do so," the goblin said, finally lifting his head from the paper.
"Ariadne Black is the last remaining Black. She would like to make a withdrawal," Dumbledore said patiently, waving his hand over Ariadne. The goblin turned his gaze to her for a long moment, and she suddenly realized that her hair was probably tangled hopelessly and her clothes were probably not as clean as they should have been. She used her palms to brush off her jeans and looked down to the floor as the goblin finally turned back to Dumbledore and nodded.
"Follow me," he said, and Ariadne followed the two of them through the wide room and through a side door. Seeing the cart, she realized that they would be riding to the vault and she quickly twisted her hair up behind her head and secured it with the hair tie she wore around her wrist at all times, before climbing in.
"Hold on tight," the goblin said shortly, then without waiting to make sure the passengers were secure, he pulled a lever at the front of the cart and they began zooming down the twisting tracks. Ariadne let out a shriek of glee as they whipped around corners and down large drops, picking up speed as they went. Finally, the cart came to a sudden stop causing the girl to fall forward to her knees, not expecting the change of movement. She stood and clamored out of the cart after the other two, grinning widely.
The goblin led them toward the large, ornately carved doors they had stopped in front of, and Ariadne nearly collided with him, she was so busy staring up at the doors.
"Oh," she said, finally looking down when she bumped into the goblin. She took a step back. "I'm sorry, sir," she continued, bowing her goblin looked surprised at being addressed as 'sir' but he shook his head and stepped up to the door, setting his hands against the middle, which glowed for a moment, then faded.
"You girl, put your hands on the door here. If you are truly of the Black family, the vault will open for you. If not, well, there will be consequences," he said, stepping back from the door. Ariadne glanced up at Dumbledore, who nodded her toward the door with a smile. She walked forward hesitantly, then lifted her hands so that one hand was on each door. The crack between them flared bright white for a moment, then she stepped back as she heard loud clinking and the turning of gears from the other side of the door. After a few moments, the doors swung inward and the three of them walked forward into the vault.
Ariadne looked around in surprise. The vault was much bigger than she expected it to be, and it was filled with towering piles of coins and jewelry and other treasures, all glittering in the torches that had sprung to life when the doors had opened.
"Here, I suggest you use this. You will not need much for school supplies," Dumbledore said, holding out a small coin purse for her to use. She scooped up a few handfuls of the gold coins, tying the bag shut when it was full. She tucked it into the pocket of her sweater, then looked around again. The goblin had walked back to the cart, and Dumbledore was at the door. He turned to look over his shoulder just as she reached toward a small statue on a low table, intending to pick it up for a better look.
"Many of the things in the vault could be considered as dark artifacts, and some of them could contain curses. It would not be wise to touch anything if you are unsure of what it will do," the old man said, then turned to join the goblin. Ariadne drew her hand back, but then her eye caught a small ring on the table in front of the statue. She glanced back at the others to see if they were watching, then she quickly pulled her sleeve down over her hand, snatched up the ring, and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans, then she ran out of the vault to catch up to the others. The cart ride back was just as wild as the one down, but now Ariadne was thinking about the ring she had taken. She wasn't sure why exactly she had felt the need to take it, but as soon as Dumbledore had told her not to touch anything, she had felt an overwhelming desire to do just that. She touched the ring through her pants, making sure it was still there, then climbed out of the cart when it came to a stop.
Dumbledore spent the rest of the morning taking her to shops to get her school things, starting with a wand, since that was what she was most excited to buy. The old man who sold wands seemed only a little surprised when she entered the shop, but he rushed around, taking measurements and pulling boxes down from the shelf for her to try, finally settling on one that looked very similar to her borrowed wand at home. When she pointed out the similarity, the old man god her that she must have her mothers wand, then launched into the story of her parents's first wands. She smiled politely through the talking, not sure if she really liked the strange man, but she thanked him anyway and told him it was nice to meet him before she left.
"You are quite polite for a child who hasn't spent much time around other people," Dumbledore observed as they left the book shop, laden with bags of her class things.
"Well I never know when I'm going to need something, so being nice to everyone means that if I ever do need something, I will have a lot of people to ask for it," Ariadne said, smiling. Her grandmothers portrait had told her a lot of thing int he past, one of them being 'the only reason you should ever be kind to someone is if you want something from them' and while Ariadne didn't listen to much of what the portrait said, this one thing had stuck with her. Wanting something from someone wasn't the only reason she was nice, she did like being kind, but the time might come when she needed something from someone, and she was more likely to get it if she had been kind to them in the past. Dumbledore didn't comment on her reasoning, but simply led her to the front of another shop.
"Hogwarts school permits you to bring a pet with you if you would like. An owl, a cat, or a toad are permissible if you would like one. If not, we are done getting your school things and we should return to your home," Dumbledore said, gazing at the array of owls in cages that could be seen through the front window of the shop. Ariadne wasn't sure if she wanted a pet, but she definitely knew she didn't want to return home yet. This had been the best birthday she'd ever had, she was in Diagon Alley for heavens sake. She didn't want to rush back to the dark house she had spent her life locked inside.
"I'd like to look at the animals, if you don't mind," she said, smiling up at the headmaster.
"Very well. You may leave your bags out here with me, I would prefer not to go into the shop with you, it is much too crowded for my liking," he said, setting the bags he carried on a nearby bench. Ariadne set hers there as well, then watched as he waved his wand over them and they all shrunk. He tucked the miniature bags into his cloak, then turned to see her still watching him. "Go on then, I need to be getting back to the school soon."
Ariadne nodded and hopped up the front steps to the shop and pulling the door open. The shop was much darker than the street, and it took her a few moments to adjust to the change in lighting, but when she did she could see why Dumbledore might not like the shop. There were many narrow isles with hundreds of cages staked from the floor to the ceiling, and every single animal was making noise. She saw all the owl cages toward the front of the store, full of hooting occupants and stray feathers. The next few isles held tanks with frogs, lizards of all colors, rats, and fish. Behind them, she could just make out cages with cats, and behind them, larger cages that, from the sound of them, held dogs. She walked through the isle of lizards, smiling at the bright colors, then made her way through the multitude of fish.
Ariadne turned down the next isle, which was full of cages of cats, this isle was definitely one of the quietest ones in the shop, besides the fish of course. Most of the cats were curled up in their cages, sleeping, or lazing about. There was every color of cat Ariadne had ever thought there could be, and many more. She walked past a cage of bright white kittens that were hopping over each other and using their tiny paws to knock each other over, then past a cage that held one large orange cat that watched her from the far corner where it had curled into a fluffily ball. A loud mew drew her attention to a cage on the bottom of a stack that held one tiny light grey cat with dark round markings along its back and dark stripes on its head and legs. Inside each dark circle was a patch or reddish brown fur, and when the kitten realized it had her attention, it flopped over, showing her a white belly and neck. She smiled at it, crouching down in front of the cage. She poked her fingers through the cage and the kitten batted at them with its tiny paws.
"That's a Bengal cat," a voice said from behind her, making her fall forward slightly in surprise. She looked up to see a middle aged woman wearing an apron that was covered with scratches and odd stains. Ariadne assumed she worked here, and turned back to the cage that held the kitten without commenting. She continued to poke her fingers through the cage. "She usually tries to savage anyone that gets too close. Bengal cats used to be wild, they have only been domesticated within the last hundred years of so. The muggles breed them with better calmer cats so that their temperament is less wild. This one is probably a bit to energetic for them though, but Bengal cats are very smart, and very loyal once they like you. They take a lot of training though, but she seems to like you."
"I like her too, she's beautiful," Ariadne said, standing at last.
"Bengals grow to be quite large, about twice the size of a normal house cat," the woman said, squatting down to open the cage. She handled the kitten briskly as it tried to twist around to bite her fingers. "But they are very good about feeding themselves, if you let them outside."
"May I hold her please?" Ariadne asked, holding her hands out. The woman placed the kitten into her hands, and it immediately stopped wriggling to peer up at the new human with bright blue eyes.
"Well, she seems to like you well enough," the woman said as the kitten wriggled slightly in the young girls grip.
"How much is she?" Ariadne asked, rubbing a finger over the kittens tiny head. It mewed at her, bring it's paw up to bat at her. Ariadne patted the paw away with her finger, promptly starting a game of batting at each other with the kitten.
"30 Galleons and 4 Sickles will buy you the cat, her carrier, and the standard starter kits we give to all our new cat owners which includes a small bed, a collar, some food, and a scratching post," the woman said walking back to the front counter of the store. "If you already have any of those things we can subtract from the price."
"I don't have anything yet," Ariadne said, carrying the kitten to the counter as well. She put it down gently, then watched as she sniffed a tank on the counter filled with bright purple fish. The kitten jumped so both her paws were in the side of the tank, and Ariadne pushed her down gently.
"Very well, let me gather some things for you, and I can shrink them so you can carry everything home, just have you parents return to their normal size," the woman said, placing multiple objects into a large box behind the counter. Ariadne ran her hand over the kittens back and smiled as it arched up and turned toward her for more attention. Ariadne pulled her coin bag from her pocket, and was glad to find that she still and enough coins with her to make the purchase. She would have to try to convince Kreature to bring her back here before school started so she could look around more and get more coins. She also wanted to look around at the other things in the vault without having to hurry for Dumbledore.
Finally the woman waved her wand to shrink the box, and handed the miniature things to Ariadne who tucked them into her pocked beside her now nearly empty coin bag. The woman scooped up the piles of coins and counted through them quickly, then pushed a button on the counter causing a sheet of paper to sprout out of a slit in the desk. She pushed it towards Ariadne with a quill.
"Sign you name there please. We like to keep track of who buys our animals, in case something goes wrong," the woman said. Ariadne glanced over the paper before signing it, just to make sure it wasn't a contract for anything, then she wrote her name at the bottom in slightly messy handwriting.
"Thank you, ma'am," Ariadne said, scooping up the kitten who mewled in protest of the rough handling. She soothed it into quite with a couple of pats, then walked back to the bench where Dumbledore waited, reading a scroll. When she approached, the scroll vanished and he stood.
"A cat," he said, taking in the small creature who was blinking in the sudden light. "Very fitting. Come now, we must return you to your home."
Ariadne made sure the kitten was secure in her grasp before trotting after Dumbledore.
The two of them arrived on her front porch with a pop, and she pushed the door open for them, waiting until it was firmly closed before letting the kitten down to smell the furniture and wander around its new house.
"Alright Ariadne," Dumbledore said, pulling the miniaturized bags of things from his pockets and setting them on the floor of the living room. "I'll return these to their normal size and then I'll leave you to your lunch."
"Wait," Ariadne said as he lifted his wand. "Can you do these too? They are from the pet shop." He nodded and she set the small box on the floor, then watched as he waved his wand and the items began to grow to a normal size again.
"Oh, before I go," Dumbledore said, turning toward her. "Here is your official letter, and your ticket to the Hogwarts Express. It will leave from Kings Cross Station at 11 o'clock on September the first. I think your elf will be able to bring you and your things to the station." She nodded, accepting the papers from him. "Now, I will be off. And please, I must tell you that if you feel the need to wander the wizarding world, be careful of whom you tell your name to. Not everyone will be happy to know you are of the Black family."
"Okay," Ariadne said, frowning in confusion as Dumbledore walked back to the front door, passing the kitten who was sniffing at the doorway to the kitchen. She lifted a hand as he walked through the door, letting it fall shut behind him bait loudly.
"BLOOD TRAITOR SCUM INFECTING MY HOUSE-" the portrait of her grandmother screamed at her, making the tiny kitten hiss in fright and disappear into the kitchen.
"Just because I don't want to kill all the muggles doesn't make me a blood traitor, grandmother," Ariadne said crossly to the portrait. "And it's not your house anymore, your dead."
"Insolent child! You would do better to respect your superiors, and see that your blood makes you superior to those filthy elves you spend so much time with," the woman snarled glaring down at the child who's shoulders barely cleared the bottom frame of the portrait. Ariadne stuck her tongue out at her grandmother, then quickly pulled the think black drapes over the picture before she could begin to howl about disrespect again.
Ariadne went to find the kitten, who was huddling under a chair in the kitchen with its tail tucked between her legs and her ears flattened. She hissed as Ariadne approached, but the girl ignored her and picked her up anyway.
"I'm sorry little one. She doesn't like me very much," Ariadne said, stroking the kitten to calm it. Finally the small creature let out a tiny rumbling purr, and Ariadne smiled down at it. "I think you need a name. What do you think?" The girl asked, waling over to set the kitten down on the table. The kitten washed a paw unconcernedly.
The girl thought for a few moments, pausing to find Kreature and let him know that she was home and would like a sandwich for lunch. As the elf clattered around the kitchen, Ariadne sat at the table, staring at the kitten, who stared back with unblinking blue eyes. After a few moments, the kitten reached a paw up to bat at a piece of hair that had fallen out of the haphazard ponytail Ariadne had put it up in earlier.
"You'd better stop that, or I'm going to name you something stupid," Ariadne said, pulling the lock of hair from the kittens grasp. The kitten tilted her head at the girl, then crouched down and launched herself onto Ariadne's shoulder, then promptly attacked more locks of hair.
"I think I'll call you Marley. Thats what my mom called herself. Do you like that name?" Ariadne asked, picking the kitten up and holding her in front of her face. The kitten lifted a paw to pat Ariadne's nose and the girl laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. What do you think, Kreature?" She held the kitten out to the elf as he approached the table, setting a plate in front of her.
"Very good young Mistress," the elf said, the disappeared into his cupboard. She shrugged, setting Marley down next to her plate. She ended up feeding half of the sandwich to the kitten before finally making her way back to the living room to go through her new things.