Grimmauld Place, London, February 6th 1982:
It had been a gruelling four months since Herakles had arrived at Grimmauld Place. The very next day the Dark Lord fell at the hands of Harry Potter. Pollux Black sadly lost his life three days later as he and his wife Irma were ambushed in their home by their own granddaughter Bellatrix, her husband and brother in law as well as to everyone's surprise Barty Crouch junior. Irma escaped badly wounded but with the exception of some scarring would make a full recovery.
To Arcturus' disgust he was for once in his life in full agreement with Barty Crouch, the trial lasted a whole of eight minutes before they were sentenced to Azkaban for the rest of their life. It was sad however that Sirius proved himself to be a secret follower of Voldemort. Just the day after Pollux murder he was imprisoned after killing his friend Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles, and after Bellatrix's heinous actions had been revealed the day before Sirius found himself carted directly to Azkaban.
One after the other Death Eaters were brought in and to Arcturus' rage most of them managed to find their freedom. He had worked with Barty to have the Minister watched at all times to prevent a deal being made, with gold exchanging hands for pardons, they had however ignored the Wizengamot, yet from what he could see from the surly looks on Abraxus' face, as well as the faces of many other family members of so called 'bewitched' Death Eaters their freedom had not come cheap, as they had to buy off near half of the Wizengamot. The only real triumph Arturus felt from the arrests, and subsequent release of Malfoy, Gallaghan, Carrow, Yaxley, Nott, Avery, Crabbe and Goyle was that he had managed to convince the Wizengamot to remove their families from their respective seats, after all when several members of the same family shows such a…susceptibility for being controlled by others, how could the Wizengamot in good conscience keep them in their midst. The look of unrestrained fury on Abraxus' face was almost enough to warm his shrivelled black soul, and while he, Arcturus Black considered himself above such things as petty insults, he was not above subtly encouraging others to remind Abraxus that if Lucius had only held out for a decade and a half more the Malfoy family would finally had been given their permanent seat as well as attained the status of 'Most Noble and Ancient'. Alas the Malfoy family would have to ask to be reconsidered after another five generations had been born…such a shame.
'Yes' Arcturus thought. 'Life is good'. Abraxus Malfoy humbled and humiliated, while everyone called his son either a murderer or a weak minded fool. His wealth reduced by nearly three fifths, nearly all of his political assets lost as they were all implicated in Death Eater activities or close ties to those who were. While the death of his cousin Pollux and the imprisonment of his grandson was regrettable it was not the end of his House.
While not done officially, 'everyone' had known about Sirius being disowned. The news that Andromeda and her husband and daughter being welcomed back into the family as well as Narcissa, her husband and son and Bellatrix and her husband being disowned, as well as his, if he said so himself rather masterful performance during the following Death Eater Trials had entrenched the Black Family more than ever as just and respectable. Several of the 'darker' elements of both the permanent as well as elected members of the Wizengamot had swiftly removed themselves from Malfoy and his 'friends' and back to his side.
On the home front things were going well too. Herakles and Nymphadora both showed that they were worthy of the name Black. Expertly, if not eagerly absorbing Cassiopeia and Walburga's lessons. Nymphadora had at first pitched a very unladylike fit once she was informed that her parents had basically sold her like cattle and subsequently broke her mother's heart for a full two weeks by ignoring her existence with perfect Pureblood poise…at least until Cassiopeia had taken the girl for a private…chat. He neither knew or cared just what had been said, but Nymphadora had come out of Cassiopeia's study pale and shivering and buried herself in her mother's embrace to Andromeda's delight, after that day no more tantrums came from the young girl who stepped up her studies.
The true delight though was Herakles. While it was painfully clear that the boy had been brought up by muggles he adapted like a true Black. He drank in his lessons, showed his remarkable intelligence by asking the right questions. Walburga was at first furious at what she deemed obstinate behaviour, seeing him as questioning his betters. Arcturus had then spent some time in his next lessons, hidden under a disillusionment charm of course.
The boy was very sceptic true, and questioned anything told to him by his grandmother and aunt, but Arcturus could see it for what it was. The boy was making his own observations and questioning the established. He had already infuriated Cassiopeia beyond belief as he forced her to admit that purity of blood could not be everything. After all, Albus Dumbledore was a halfblood yet far superior to herself. Helga Hufflepuff and Godric Gryffindor, two of the founders of Hogwarts had been halfbloods. The art of apparating was first discovered by a muggleborn and the WWN was first invented and started by a muggleborn who still owned it. After that lesson Arcturus ordered Walburga and Cassiopeia to lay off the boy and let him ask his questions, after all, if given a sufficient explanation he at least let the subject lie (he doubted the boy accepted some of them).
Herakles had also managed to somehow sneak himself a wand somehow, and no doubt he and Nymphadora thought themselves ever so clever as they shared the wand in secret while practicing magic. The only reason Arcturus had not seized the wand and given both children a very harsh punishment was due to the fact that when he had first come across them he had almost collapsed in shock. How on earth could a barely five-year-old boy cast a patronus charm, and silently at that? It belied belief, and not only that he was able to effectively teach his five years older cousin magic as well, giving clear and concise explanations on wand movements, pronunciation of incantations as well as theory behind the spells. While not a bad witch Nymphadora was still only nine years old so the spells he knew that she were able to perform could still be counted on two hands, while he had no idea on how many Herakles could perform.
Over the next two years, shadowing Herakles proved to be his favourite pastime. The boy showed himself able time and again to perform spells non verbally. Once a week, long after the adults had gone to bed Herakles had made it a habit to sneak out of his room and into the library to lift books while placing back the ones he had already finished, and Arcturus was even more impressed at how short a time it had taken Herakles to find the true Black Library, hidden behind a non descript wall that was protected through both blood magic and an age-line. The age-line was what confused him the most. He had personally checked the boy with a variety of spells that determined paternity, health status and most importantly age. Even the blasted goblins agreed that the boy's age was true. He would soon however get answers. The boy was now seven years old and more than ready to start learning more about how the family ran, and he knew just how to get the boy to open up. As soon as Herakles entered his study he spun about in threw a killing curse that he aimed about three feet over the boy.
Grimmauld Place, London, April 15th 1984:
Herakles had both looked forward to and at the same time dreaded his future lessons with his Grandfather. Sirius' complaints about his family held more than a kernel of truth to them. Walburga and Cassiopeia spent hours with him and Dora every day, cramming lessons of etiquette, family history (their own and other Pureblood families) down their throats. Fortunately they laid off on the 'Purebloods are superior' spiel for the most part as he shot down their dogmatic belief through cool use of logic.
Not that he didn't learn, or that Purebloods didn't have some amount of truth to their beliefs. Pureblood families had centuries if not millennia (like the Blacks) of magic running through their veins. As such their magic was often more…perhaps potent was the wrong word, but certainly more…refined. It was true he knew that most muggleborns, and quite a lot of halfbloods (like his past self) had more troubles with delicate magic like Transfiguration. Divination too (apparently Divination was a whole lot more than the rubbish they taught at Hogwarts, the only reason Hogwart's divination studies were the way they were was apparently to find the ones who had not only the drive but mental fortitude to actually learn the art).
The magic of muggleborns on the other hand started off as a clean slate, and most of the time yielded itself best for more hands on practical magic like charms or martial magic (including the Dark Arts). This, they told him is why they didn't want muggleborns to marry into old wizarding families as the children born from the union would most of the time at least inherit the wilder magic of the muggleborn parent, thereby looing the inherited affinities that their centuries of magical blood gave them. For one, there had yet to be found a single instance of a muggleborn animagus. The mind arts also were for the most part beyond muggleborns and often halfbloods, an exception for the most part were the halfbloods who had a muggle parent, which explained a lot about how a halfblood with like Minerva McGonagall who had a muggle father could be an animagus, while Albus Dumbledore whose mother was a muggleborn witch was not capable of that achievement, Dumbledore was however still an amazingly accomplished transfigurer, despite his muggleborn mother, and Herakles knew that Hermione herself had been more than just talented in that field.
His internal musings were cut short as he closed the door behind him and looked at his great grandfather who stood with his back turned to him. To his shock Arcturus spun around and threw a killing curse against him. He didn't even have time to think on what had just happened as instinct, forged through decades of pain and learning took charge. As soon as he heard the first syllable he had dodged to the left, drawn his wand and launched his so far favourite spell combination.
A conjured block of stone roughly the size of his head against the incoming curse, a banisher to throw the debris against his attacker, a stunner followed by a lacerating curse the wand movement which immediately turned into a curse that turned a bone into molten lead and finished with a magical precision banisher which focused all its energy on a point of impact 2 two inches high and wide.
Arcturus was however a skilled dueller himself, and even his advanced age of eighty-three was no hindrance as he skilfully dodged, shielded and deflected the oncoming spells. "An unusual combination young Herakles", Arcturus chuckled as he lowered his wand and smiled triumphantly at Herakles who still held his wand in an outstretched hand.
"Oh bugger", Herakles said as he slowly lowered his own wand that he was…technically not supposed to have for another six years.
Arcturus just raised an eyebrow at Herakles words while taking his seat again while motioning for Herakles to do the same. "So, you have one chance to tell me how you got the wand, and learnt those spells", he said as he stared Herakles in the eye with a stormy glare.
"You may find yourself disappointed grandfather", Herakles said as he sat down and returned the stare, almost letting loose a smile as Arcturus tried to glimpse into his mind only to be rebuffed.
"Impressive", Arcturus said as he was unable to penetrate his mind. "Still I'd like to hear the tale before I confiscate the wand".
Herakles gulped slightly as he gripped the wand, his wand tighter. "Then we have to go back over two years, so try to follow me", he said as he went into his explanation.
Flashback. Grimmauld Place
Herakles was fuming, nearly every Death Eater had managed to buy their way out of prison just like last time, and even worse was that his great grandfather seemed to be in a good mood, despite his rants about Lucius Malfoy and his fellow Death Eaters. Despite his own pleas there was nothing to do for Sirius who had still been arrested for the same crimes he had been incarcerated for in his last life, and worse he couldn't exactly tell Arcturus about how Sirius was innocent or the like, nor how he had never received a trial. His family knew he was smart, but not that smart.
Also both he and Dora were dreadfully bored at Grimmauld Place, locked in as they were due to the possible threat of Death Eaters, a threat that seemed all the more real after Pollux and Irma had been attacked by Bellatrix and her companions. The only thing positive about the whole situation in Herakles' mind was that Neville would now grow up with parents, and hopefully siblings…the fact that Bellatrix was permanently scarred and her husband unable to ever walk again in his life was a nice bonus.
Getting to know Dora was nice at least. True he was more mature than her ( his past life made sure of that) she was still a very delightful companion who at the very least did not blame him for the fact that they would be forced to marry later. That fact was still a shock to him, and worse was that neither he nor Dora could get out of it thanks to both of them signing a binding magical contract (oh how he hated those blasted things). With only the two of them against the rest of the house (in their minds) it was easy to fall into an early camaraderie and he had managed to get Kreacher over onto his side, an act which was easier than he'd thought.
He hadn't been in Grimmauld Place for more than a week before he 'stumbled' over the Locket of Slytherin. A private meeting later where he ordered Kreacher to tell him the truth led to him swearing to Kreacher that he would see the locket destroyed, 'for Master Regulus, Kreacher', he had told the old House Elf, which had led the sobbing Kreacher to swear undying loyalty to him, loyalty which he was going to make good use of.
This day his grandmother Walburga, aunts Cassie and Dromeda were out to purchase dresses for the upcoming Yule Ball at the Ministry and they had taken Dora with them, Herakles fortunately was still considered too young to come to said ball, and Arcturus and Ted were playing their games in the Wizengamot and working on some case respectively, leaving Herakles to himself for the day.
As soon as the women (and girl) left he had pilfered together all the coins he had managed to secret away (which was quite a lot since Arcturus prided himself in always having at least a thousand galleons on his person, money that lay unsupervised at night).
"Kreacher", he called for the house elf which appeared with a slight pop.
"What can Kreacher do for young Master Black", he asked while bowing low.
Herakles handed over his money pouch. "I need you to procure me a dose of Polyjuice potion and return here…and find me the hair of a muggle man as well".
Kreacher frowned at the muggle bit yet acquiesced to the order without complaint. It took slightly more than an hour before Kreacher returned with a flask of polyjuice, a fistful of dirty blonde hair and a 'very' impressive shiner, gleefully he handed over the items along with the, surprisingly unopened money pouch.
"How on earth did you get the potion without paying"? he asked Kreacher with surprise.
"Master never said Kreacher had to pay the filthy man who had potion. Oh no Kreacher gets what Master Black wants, and Kreacher don't pay nasty shopkeeper when potion is freely available on the shelf…nasty shopkeeper didn't like that very much. He punch Kreacher but Kreacher got last laugh, yes he did. Let's see filthy man walk to Mungo's with knees backwards", Kreacher grinned nastily, which was quite admittedly an adorable look on the ancient elf and Herakles shook his head fondly…he'd have to be careful when giving Kreacher orders in the future.
Adding the hairs to the potion he drank it and grimaced at both the taste, and the feeling of his form stretching to a respectable form of six feet even. Dirty blond hair ran down to his shoulders and he had a slight but well-groomed beard and brown eyes, all in all he looked completely unremarkable which was what he aimed for. Dressing up in some of Sirius' old clothes he held out his hand towards Kreacher. "Take me to just inside Diagon Alley".
He'd apparate if it wasn't for the fact that Arcturus was a paranoid bastard who had layered Grimmauld Place, and who knows how much of the surrounding neighbourhood that he'd know at the very instance that something as small as a tick would apparate or portkey into or out of the property or neighbourhood…the exception of course were house elves which everyone, even goblins constantly underestimated if not even outright ignored, and as Kreacher left him in Diagon Alley a truly sinister smile spread across his features as an idea struck him, an idea he'd save for later.
Walking over to Ollivander's he focused on his Occlumency to fool the static alert ward on the property into believeing him to be twenty-nine years old.
"I don't believe I've ever seen you before", Ollivander said as he handed over a wand holster to an auror who seemed remarkably bored.
"I not come from dis country", Herakles said with a faked accent, trying to mimic Victor Krum's Slavic accent. "I haff heard dat Ollivander's is de best. My former wand vas a Gregorovich one, I need new wand now".
Ollivander frowned at that, while Gregorovitch was talented the style was never something he himself liked. "What happened to your old wand mr…."? he asked as he fished for a name.
"I was caught up celebrations after de downfall of your Dark Lord when I got into…what is de vord? Scuffle? Yes I got into scuffle with many drunk men. Vas good fight", he shared a chuckle with Ollivander who had received more than one person lately for the same reason.
"Hmm, then lets see what we can find for you shall we"? Ollivander quickly went to work, coming back with this and that wand for Herakles to try. As if history repeated itself the pile of wands grew ever larger until Ollivander handed over a medium brown wand with an ever so slight curve to it. "Try this one, Aspen and dragon heartstring, 8 and ¾ inches, relentless".
As soon as Herakles took the wand in hand he knew it was the right one as warmth flooded him and the wand shout out a fountain of lilac and gold sparks.
"A most curious wand that one", Ollivander said as he accepted a hundred galleons for the wand and a spring loaded holster (only a witch or wizard's first wand cost seven galleons, the rest sponsored by the Ministry.
"Curious"? Herakles said as once more the feeling of deja-vu filled him.
"Yes, aspen wands are famous for being perfect duelling wands, actually back in the eighteen hundreds there was a duelling company called The Silver Spears, all of them carried aspen wands. This wand though, it is a brawler's wand, good for fine work like transfiguration but perfect for pulling heavy duty punches…I expect I will hear tales of you soon enough in the duelling circuits", Ollivander said as he bowed him out of the door.
Saying his goodbyes Herakles let Kreacher take him back to Grimmauld Place, and luck was with him once again as a mere minute after he returned the polyjuice ran out. "Kreacher I have a task for you", Herakles said as he used his new wand to vanish the clothes he had borrowed from his father.
"What does Great Master Herakles desire of Kreacher", the house elf asked.
"I need you to keep an eye on Gringotts whenever you can".
"Gringotts Master"? Kreacher questioned.
"Aye- "Herakles said as he quickly jotted down the names of the sixteen Death Eaters who had bought their way out of Azkaban. "- when one of the people on this list comes to Gringotts to go to their vault I want you to follow him or her so we can find out where their vault is, and most importantly you must not be seen", he stressed those last four words.
"Is Master going to steal from them"? Kreacher asked with wide hopeful eyes.
"Oh yes- ", Herakles said with a grin. "-All of these witches and wizards are bad blood traitors who have shamed the names of their once great families and worse they have done harm against the house. They are partly responsible for the death of Master Regulus".
Those last two words were all that was needed to make this Kreacher's highest priority. "Kreacher will not rest until he knows where their vaults are".
"Now, now Kreacher- ", Herakles said as he tried to calm the elf down some. "- You must make sure that you get enough food and sleep, and not to forget your duties in the house, no one must suspect".
Apparently Kreacher was more devious than he'd suspected. Having learnt from Herakles how many orders could be interpreted in different ways, the ancient house elf with a grudge had reached out to the elves of all the families on the list…elves that had been treated very poorly by their abusive Masters, and were more than willing to make sure that their Masters were…punished, so it took Kreacher barely a week to find out the exact location of every vault, and as soon as Herakles could get his hand on a trunk similar to Moody's he would rob those Death Eaters blind…sadly it appeared that Moody's trunk was unique. Oh you could cast an expansion charm on a trunk easily enough, but the art of creating multiple enlarged compartments in layers like the one on Moody's trunk was apparently a secret known only to the old auror himself and who (if any) he had acquired it from, and from his deductions he'd need a hundred trunks with the standard expansion charms on to empty just the Yaxley vault, let alone the Malfoy one, and he wanted to lower the risk as much as possible by hitting every vault in one go, with as few trunks as possible.
At first he'd thought of a 'bottomless bag' yet further research showed that such bags were not in fact bottomless, the best and most expensive ones (nearly eighty-thousand galleons) could contain two hundred times more than their appearance would suggest. Fortunately however, he had access to the oldest library in magical Britain, its size surpassed only by the one at Hogwarts. Even more fortunate was the 'Hidden Library'. He had stumbled over it on accident on one of his weekly night trips to the Library, he's stumbled over a book and fallen forward and cut his hand as it broke a vase. He'd tried to support himself on the wall as he got up only for the wall to sink away like the wall in the Horcrux cave had done. In addition to the blood ward it was protected by an age-line which was easily avoided trough occlumency.
That library was far better in his opinion. There were books on every subject, each and every one either written by a Black, or had footnotes from a Black who had added his/her own observations and best of all, every single one of the texts had been translated. As he spent hours every night pouring over magic that had for the most part been forgotten or never taught to others he understood Hermione's love for reading. There were enough books on the Dark Arts to give Voldemort a permanent erection, every single one of the spells had been explained in full, from ways to utilize them, to the best spells to stop them.
Just a single one of the books on wards would probably be enough to make a curse breaker commit murder in order to acquire it. There was tome after tome on enchanting, alchemy, runes, arithmancy, transfiguration…you name it. If it was a magical discipline it was there, and as he looked over some of the books on enchanting he knew that he'd have to learn runes and arithmancy as well as charms. A standard Hogwarts education would be far from enough, but he considered himself fortunate that the books explained the subject so much better than any schoolbook he'd ever read, and he found himself learning at a truly astonishing rate (helped no doubt from the imprints of three extremely talented wizards had left in his soul).
Flashback end.
"So that is how I got my wand and how I've continued my self-study grandfather", Herakles said as he finished his story.
Arcturus shook his head in astonishment. "You're telling me that a dose polyjuice and the application of Occlumency is enough to get you a wand that is technically…off the books"?
Herakles nodded with a satisfied smile.
"You- ", he pointed a finger at Herakles. "- wait here, I'll be back". With that Arcturus disappeared with the tell-tale crack of apparition, returning over an hour later with a new wand in his hand. "Never a bad idea to have another wand".
Herakles nodded as he waited for his grandfather to ask him more questions. Arcturus was in a good mood now, and he rather his grandfather continue that way.
"So, you plan to steal from Gringotts", he said in a tone of voice one would normally use when discussing the weather.
"No Grandfather – ", Herakles said. "- I intend to steal from sixteen murders who despite their boasts and claims of power didn't have the conviction to stand up for their beliefs. Some of those traitors murdered my mother and grandparents…and if the Ministry doesn't intend to make them face justice then I will…a Black always pays his debts".
"Hmm…determination…and a lust for vengeance. You truly are a Black Herakles", Arcturus said with a pleased nod. "But no one said you had to do this alone, I've lost my cousin, my son, two of my grandsons and several others of the family due to the Dark Lord's ambitions. I am just as hungry for vengeance as you, and as you said…a Black Always pays his debts".
A silence hung in the air before Herakles leant forward eagerly. "Tell me grandfather- ", he said as he handed over a piece of parchment that held the current calculations for his future enchanted trunk. "- what do you know about trunks? And more specifically how to enchant them"?
Sorry about how short this piece was. It was mostly meant to be a piece that showed the beginning of the Blacks future dominance and how Herakles vengeance against Voldemort's followers would be a long and painful experience.
Anywho, I'm hoping to update 'Dragon' either tomorrow or Sunday, same with this one. Hammer will take some time as that is on the backburner for now at least.
Read and review
Tellie571
