Chapter Three
Raven made sure Corey was in bed and settled in his new bedroom before she left the flat.
"We'll look after the squirt," Reg said with a smile, and Seth nodded reassuringly. "You just go and make sure Carl's not worrying or running out of blood." Reg laughed as he spoke, and Raven smiled in amusement. Carl wasn't likely to show worry on his features but after raising Raven from a two-year-old up to the nineteen-year-old she was at present he did tend to fuss if something happened. And today was her designated 'donation' day, the last Friday of the month, so she headed to the fireplace to Floo to Sangre. Sangre was Carl's business, and it had rapidly evolved with the times until today it resembled a Muggle nightclub, including the Muggle music. Raven threw the Floo powder into the fire and shouted 'Sangre, Owner's Office', and when she emerged Carl was waiting for her.
"Hello Raven," the vampire said to her, and Raven smiled and nodded back. "How is young Corey settling in?"
"Very well, actually. Reg and Seth are helping immensely, and Corey was delighted with your gifts, although he's planning on thanking everyone when we come to see you in a few days." Raven told him, and Carl nodded and had a faint smile on his lips.
"After you," he told Raven, and she dipped her head and left Carl's office, a large room with dark wood panelling and a large black desk. They entered a long hallway with one side covered completely in windows. These windows looked down on the main portion or the club, and Raven could see a bar along one wall, with tables to the right and a large dance floor to the left. The bar stocked blood as well as alcohol, Muggle and Magical, and had to be manned by at least four bartenders at a time to cope with the amount of people who came to club every night. There were coloured strobe lights and when Raven put her hand to the windows she could feel the glass pulsing with the beat of the music, but Carl had put Silencing Charms over every window to block the noise from disturbing the offices and those that worked in them.
"How much are you taking today?" Raven asked Carl as they walked. The 'donation room' was directly across the club from the main office and the hallway ran in an oval shape above the club, so they had to walk quite a way.
"At the last check we only had slightly more than a litre and a half left of your blood," Carl told her. "I would like to take another two litres, and I have a Blood Replenisher on hand in case of consequences." A normal human could take a loss of about 1.68 litres of blood before they felt the effects, usually paleness and the beginning of shock, and a loss of anything above 2.24 litres and the body would begin to shut down. But seeing as Raven was part Shadow Demon she had increased healing abilities past that of a regular human and experiments from two years ago (when she turned 17) showed that she could afford to lose nearly two and a half litres (of the 5.6 litres in an average body) before she felt faint, and it only became critical if she lost over 3.2 litres, then even her quickened healing couldn't help her. "As you age the Shadow Demon shows in your blood, and it has become somewhat of a delicacy in Sangre. If we send you off to be trained in your Demon heritage as we had planned I fear we may need to offer your blood in shot glasses rather than wine glasses for the effects would be quite dizzying." There was a smirk on Carl's lips, and Raven nearly smiled.
"So how much has the price gone up then?" She asked him, and Carl's smirk widened.
"Nearly fifteen sickles a glass," he replied smugly, and Raven merely rolled her eyes as they neared the sterilised room set aside only for blood extraction. Since over forty percent of the beings living in Oblitus Alley were either vampires, incubi, succubae or shifters, and most of which need an intake of blood to survive, the Elders had asked about three centuries ago that any beings who could donate blood would volunteer to, to keep the inhabitants from hunting outside of the Alley and thereby risk getting caught. They reached the room and Carl held the door open and let Raven enter first, dipping into a mock-bow as she passed, his lips quirked into a small smirk. The room was long, with five reclining chairs and all the necessary equipment needed to extract the blood. The equipment was looked after by a very perky Succubus, who upon seeing Raven bounced over and hugged the half-demoness.
"Hello again Raven," she said happily. Amy, which was short for Amelia but she hated her real name, was short at five foot four inches with spiky blonde hair and frost-blue highlights. She was very slim and Fey-like, which according to her meant she had no shortage of partners willing to feed her. She also physically looked to be in her mid-twenties, although Raven had in on good authority (Carl) that she was approaching forty but, being a Succubus, they stopped aging at their peak to increase the number of partners they could get.
Amy led Raven over to the first chair and turned to one of the Muggle contraptions. Carl had said that extracting blood the Muggle way was much better than using magic because there was less contamination; if magic is used then the user's magical signature mixes with the blood making it less pure and therefore putting down the price. Raven cringed and turned away as Amy slid the needle under Raven's skin and into a vein, and Carl and Amy shared a smirk and Amy gave a small laugh at Raven's squeamishness. Raven refused to look at the tubes as her blood made its way through them from the needle and into bottles waiting to be filled. The time passed slowly as Raven studiously avoided looking at the needle or the slowly-filling bottles and Carl and Amy were too busy enjoying Raven's discomfort to make distracting small-talk.
Raven breathed a sigh of relief when Carl finally decided that she had given enough blood, and Carl's eyes glowed with amusement as he motioned for Amy to take the needle out, and Raven then laid in the chair and waited as Carl handed over a Blood Replenishing Potion, and Raven could tell it was one of hers from the black raven inked into the cork of the vial. She downed it quickly and grinned as Carl threw her a bar of Honeydukes' Finest Chocolate to erase the taste of the Potion.
"Shane and Isa tell me that you have been avoiding them and postponing appointments," Carl said in a smooth, purring voice, and Raven hunched up as she heard the amusement in the vampire's tone. "What have we told you about giving them enough blood to make sure you can be found at any time?"
"Erm," Raven said intelligibly, and Carl raised an eyebrow in both question and amusement. Vampires had a throwback from the Middle Ages that they were able to find any of their blood donors and so when Raven was about to begin Hogwarts Carl and the other Elders had approached a pair of vampires to allow Raven to donate to them in return for providing assistance in locating Raven if anything went wrong.
"Raven," Carl said in consternation. "Why haven't you fed them in nearly three months?" Raven looked at him gapingly, trying to find the words, and then blushed.
"They made overtures?" Raven said in a small voice, and she heard Amy snort in laughter in the background. Raven stuck her tongue out childishly at the Succubus. Amy just grinned back, and Raven turned away and tried to hide in her seat. Carl still looked unimpressed. "They made me uncomfortable?" Raven added in a squeak as he stared at her. Carl didn't let up.
"Shall I get Ash to tell them to stop?" He said eventually, and Raven nearly pouted at the mocking tone in his voice. Then she realised what he had said and she shook her head frantically from side to side. Ash was very over-protective of her since he nearly burned her when she was six, and so Raven knew that he was likely to blow up if he found out about this. She looking pleadingly at the nine-hundred-year-old vampire and he rolled his eyes and smirked, to Raven's annoyance.
"You'll come and feed them on Monday," he told her, and Amy giggled as Raven's eyes widened. "I'll make sure they keep their... overtures," he drawled slowly, and Amy nearly broke out into hysterical laughter at the scene, "to a minimum." Raven nodded in defeat, and Carl clapped a hand on her shoulder and tried to smile reassuring. "If you want, I'll even chaperone," he said as the reassuring smile morphed into a smirk, and Raven merely slapped his hand away and left the room pouting, at which point Amy couldn't hold back and even Carl started laughing as he followed his pseudo-daughter to his office.
Corey woke up slowly on the morning of December 26th, and he smiled up at his new charmed ceiling in remembrance. Last night Raven had put him to bed, a new experience for him, and she had even read him a story from The Tales of Beedle the Bard ('Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump', Raven's favourite apparently) and she said she'd read another tonight if Corey wanted. The young boy took a moment to compare his bedroom now to the bedroom he woke up in the morning before and sighed happily at the changes. It looked much nicer than the hideous thing James Potter had forced on Russell, and he felt a stab of guilt that he was here and Russell was still there. He pushed the feeling away and looked at the new addition to his bedroom. The Elders, in the boxes given to him yesterday, had included a shrunken trunk for all his new toys. Corey then remembered a present given to him yesterday so he grinned, grabbed the item and raced outside. Raven was sat in the armchair with a book and a cup of steaming liquid, and when Corey ran in Raven looked up and smiled.
"Good morning Corey," she greeted, and before she could say another word Corey excitedly interrupted her.
"Can I do one of these?" He asked her, holding out the child's potions kit gently. "Please, please, please?" Raven chuckled.
"Of course," she said with a lingering grin. "But I think that pyjamas aren't really adequate for brewing potions in, do you?" Corey looked down and saw that he was indeed still in his pale blue pyjamas so he blushed, put the box carefully on the sofa, and ran back into his room to get dressed. Seven minutes later he was back out and Raven had finished her cup of hot chocolate and put away her book so now she was waiting in front of the lab with Corey's box in her hands. Seeing Corey ready she waved her hand in front of the door and the lock cleared open. "I have quite a few wards up so always wait until I give you the okay to go inside, okay?" At Corey's nod Raven opened the door and let her little brother in.
The lab was Raven's pride and joy. The lab itself was a decent size, no windows in order to regulate the light for photosensitive potions. The light was instead provided by spell-orbs, little pieces of magic stabilised with a few runes in order to keep the ambient magic to itself so that it didn't interfere with any potions. There was a large workbench in the centre of the room and the walls were covered in shelves and shelving units filled with many different potions ingredients. On the workbench was a rack of stirring rods and ladles in all manner of materials including steel, silver, iron, wood and more, and three cauldrons; one was silver, one was pewter for those potions where silver would cause harm to the recipients, and the last was simple steel. They were all self-cleaning, and there were more in a cupboard in the far left hand corner in all sizes and materials. One of the cupboards was spelled with cooling charms which Raven used to store her potions (the ones she didn't sell or make to order) and several volatile ingredients that needed to be kept cool so that they didn't lose potency.
"I have a couple of rules for the lab," Raven warned her younger brother. "Firstly, don't touch anything unless I tell you that it is okay. Many of the ingredients I handle are poisonous so I don't want you to get hurt. Secondly, don't run in the lab. The reasons for that one are fairly self-explanatory. Thirdly, if you want to tell me something wait until I'm not putting anything in the cauldron or stirring the potion; any distractions could mean the potion might explode. Have you got all that?" Corey nodded and repeated the rules back to her. "Good. Now, I want you to read through the booklet in the box and pick out a potion to make whilst I clear some of this away and get you some safe things to use." Corey nodded and quickly withdrew the little book from the box and sat on a stool that Raven had pulled out from underneath the workbench. Raven then put away the three cauldrons and pulled out a little pewter one for Corey and stood there deciding what she was going to brew. Carl had told her that they were running low on the blood replenishing potions and Raven had no orders from paying customers so she picked a large gold cauldron and floated it over to the bench to begin. By then Corey had found a potion that he wanted to make and Raven looked it over.
"A temporary Hair Colour-Changing potion?" Corey nodded excitedly. "And which colour hair have you decided you wanted?"
"Blue," Corey told her with a grin, looking at a table on one page telling which colours were available using which ingredients. "Dark blue." Raven gestured for him to get the ingredients out of his kit.
"Have you made any potions before?" Corey shook his head in the negative. "Handled ingredients?" Another shake of the head. Corey's cheeks were starting to redden in embarrassment but Raven took it all in stride. She picked up the booklet and opened it to the page she wanted. "Okay then, on this page you have a list of all the ingredients supplied and what they look like." Corey looked over the pictures and started comparing them to the various jars and boxes in the kit box. "I want you to read through the ingredients list for the potion and, using this list, pick them out so that we can prepare them. And don't forget the extra ingredient for the colour, refer back to that colour chart." As Corey started doing that Raven moved around the lab and gathered her own ingredients. She lit a flame under her own cauldron and started cutting up various leaves in preparation for the Blood Replenisher. Once Corey had finished Raven showed him how to prepare the ingredients, and the two brewed for the rest of the afternoon.
The next day Raven woke before Corey and started making pancakes for breakfast. Before she had fled Sangre Carl had told her that the Council of Elders would be expecting them at three o'clock on the twenty-seventh of December. They usually met with people in the late afternoon to early evening because most of the Alley's inhabitants were able to leave the house at that point; newbie vampires hate the noonday sun and the human members weren't about to go to bed anytime soon. So since they had the morning and early afternoon to kill Raven decided to take Corey into Diagon Alley.
She separated the batter into two bowls and into one she squeezed the juice of half a lemon and tipped in a load of raisins. She made her own pancakes and started eating them before the sound of shuffling alerted her to the fact that Corey was awake and heading to the kitchen.
"What's your favourite pancake flavour?" She asked the boy, and he looked at her whilst blinking rapidly.
"Chocolate chip?" He murmured, and Raven nodded and started to make her younger brother's pancake whilst eating bites of her own. When Corey was sat down at the table eating his breakfast Raven grabbed an apple and went into her room to get changed.
An hour later and they were in Diagon Alley, Corey marvelling at the bright colours and noisiness of the Alley. Opposite the entrance to Knockturn was Gringotts Wizarding Bank, so Raven decided to bring Corey with her to get him added to her account. They approached the building, which was made from white stone and looked to Corey like it would fall over at any point because it looked so tilted and unsteady. They walked up to the bronze outer doors, and Corey's eyes widened at his first sight of a goblin. He had a pointy face and long fingers and toes, and Corey hid a scowl at the sight of his red and gold uniform. Did everyone wear Gryffindor colours? He thought with a pout, and he jogged a bit to catch up to Raven. She had reached the inner doors, and Corey caught sight of words etched on the silver doors and squinted to try and read them;
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take. but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn,
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware,
Of finding more than treasure there.
"You'd be mad to try and rob Gringotts," Raven told him conversationally as they walked through the now open doors, a pair of goblins bowing as they passed. "Goblins are a rather tricky species. I doubt even Merlin knows what traps and tricks they've used to protect the vaults." The main room had a long counter in the middle, manned by nearly a hundred goblins. Raven must have spotted an empty booth because she suddenly strode up to the counter, Corey following eagerly.
"Many greetings Account Manager Crackjaw," Raven said with a small bow of her head. "I have come to make changes to my vault. May we speak in private?" The goblin behind the desk, a rather stout older goblin with a scraggly beard and moustache, nodded and hopped down from a chair before leading the two around the desk and through one of many doors in the wall behind the desks. They walked down a hallway and entered another door and into a room containing merely a desk and three seats; one behind the desk and two in front. The goblin settled behind the desk before speaking in a deep gravelly tone, almost like two rocks sliding together slowly.
"Many greetings to you Miss Blake," he said with a nod to Raven. "What business do you have with us today?" Raven paused before biting her lip nervously.
"I have need of lots of things, Crackjaw," she said haltingly. "I wouldn't insult you by asking for a vow of silence but I would hope that what is said here stays here." At the goblin's nod Raven took a deep breath in and began. "This is my brother Corey Blake, but he was previously known as Harry James Potter. The Lord Potter left him in a sidestreet of Knockturn Alley, probably in the hope that he would die. I found him and have promptly adopted him as my family. The Elder Council are getting us Muggle papers such as a birth certificate, but we were hoping that you might help me as you would a Muggleborn graduate trying to bring her little brother into the Wizarding World after he has shown signs of accidental magic." Crackjaw stared at them for over a minute before nodding slowly.
"I believe we can help," he told them. "When a Muggleborn student gets their Hogwarts letter, they are automatically issued with a set of papers that define them as a Wizarding Citizen. It wouldn't be unusual for you to apply for them now as his older sister. Once the Council have produced the required Muggle documentation we will only need approximately an hour to complete the Wizarding papers." Raven nodded in understanding.
"The documents should be ready later today so would tomorrow be appropriate?" She asked the Goblin.
"It would indeed," he replied, and Raven smiled. "Is half past ten an agreeable time for you?"
"It is, thank you." Raven looked down at Corey. "I would also like to open a second vault with an amount of 10 Galleons transferred into it every month starting from today. I would like it only to be accessible only by me through the means of this bank and by Corey by whatever means would be appropriate for a seven-year-old." Crackjaw nodded.
"We can do that," he told her. "We would advise a pouch linked magically to the vault. The young Mr Blake need only put his hand in and pull out the needed coins and they will be automatically pulled from his vault. Would the statements be addressed to you?"
"No, address them to Corey," Raven told him, and Corey's mouth dropped. "I won't be monitoring it at all. This money will be Corey's, to spend or save as he will." Crackjaw nodded and wrote everything down as Raven talked.
"Everything shall be ready in two days, bring us the papers and once Mr Blake is officially a citizen his account with us will be activated. Good day to you Miss Blake, Mr Blake." Raven nodded and stood, Corey quickly following.
"Good day to you too, Manager Crackjaw," she replied, and they left the room and the bank.
Corey was winding his way around Flourish and Blotts Bookshop, looking at every single book they were selling. After Gringott's they went to Mr Mulpeppers's Apothecary who, according to Raven, stocked better quality plant-based ingredients such as leaves and roots as opposed to Slugs and Jiggers, who stocked animal-based ingredients such as Boomslang skin, flobberworm mucus and dragon liver. After that Raven let Corey marvel at the jokes in Gambol and Japes before treating him to an ice cream from Fortescue's, then she'd ushered him to the bookstore and told him he had a limit of ten books before she disappeared into the Fiction section of the shop. Corey had been here for nearly twenty minutes and had decided on three books; one on basic Potions theory, Wizarding traditions and Hogwarts: A History. He looked over at the children's fiction and found a few Wizarding Fairy Tales before looking over at the teen and adult and laughing at Raven sitting cross-legged on the floor with a pile of about fifteen books by her side. She was reading the first chapter of each before deciding whether she wanted them or not. Corey went back to the children's section and then moved to the primary school textbooks.
The siblings spent nearly an hour and a half in the shelves of the bookshop, and it was nearing one o'clock in the afternoon when they emerged and paid for their books. Keeping an eye on the time Raven let Corey loose in Scrivenshaft's Stationary Shop, Diagon Branch for twenty minutes to pick out a quill, ink and a few note-taking journals before buying lunch in the Leaky Cauldron, and then they walked back to Oblitus to meet with the Elder Council.
They were all gathered when Raven and Corey were allowed into the chamber. Corey picked out the four who spoke to them the first time, but the other five he had no idea of their names or species. On the far left sat a woman with nut-brown skin, hair a darker shade of mahogany and moss-green eyes. "Earth demoness," Raven told him quietly. "Her name's Adana." Next to her was Chase, and the tiger shifter winked at the two guests before turning away and talking to the man on his right. This man wasn't as tall as Chase or Carl, maybe about Raven's height. He had fluffy white hair and eyes that looked like a clear blue sky on a sunny day. As Corey watched him, his hair seemed to be ruffled by an imaginary wind. "Amon, a demon who can control air. He's also a submissive who hasn't found his mate yet, so he tends to get babied a bit by the others. He was quite glad that they were asked to look after me because he wasn't the youngest anymore." The next three were sat in the centre of the semi-circle of chairs, and they also looked to be physically the eldest, late twenties or early thirties. Corey recognised Seren and Carl, and looked to Raven for the third. "Rhys, an Incubus." He was tanned and with a stronger jaw and a hint of a beard, but looking between Seren and Rhys he noticed the similarities between them. They had identical coloured hair, although of different lengths since Seren's was mid-back and Rhys' was shoulder-length, and their faces were almost the same shape. "Yes, they are related; Rhys is Seren's older brother, born about 5 years apart." Raven whispered to him, and Corey nodded in understanding. After them sat Ash the Fire Demon, and then next to him sat a man who watched them with amber eyes. They reminded Corey of his Uncle Moony, and he mouthed as such to Raven. She merely nodded and told him the werewolf's name. "Rafe, short for Rafael. He doesn't like to be called it though. And lastly there's Alina, a Demoness of Light." The last person in the chairs looked taller than Raven but not as tall as Seren, and she had a very aristocratic face and features. There was no expression on her face as she surveyed them with pale yellow eyes, whereas the other Council Members had all smiled warmly at Raven when they saw her enter. Maybe it was something to do with Raven being half Shadow Demon? Corey couldn't think on it because Carl then stood up and started speaking.
"We are here to decide what to do with the child now called Corey Damien Blake, formerly Harry James Potter," he said slowly, his voice ringing around the circular room. "Firstly, we will return this to you." Seren lifted up a half-empty vial of red liquid. "Young Corey has now been entered into the Wards. Secondly, we have obtained the relevant paperwork proclaiming him to be born to Muggles, and have confirmed the change of name on the Hogwarts Register." Raven looked relieved at that information, and Seren stood up and passed the vial to her. Raven had explained earlier to Corey that them giving the blood back was to show Raven that they weren't going to keep it for anything bad but when Corey looked up at her wanting to know what the Hogwarts Register was she merely shook her head slightly, and Corey reminded himself to ask when they left the hall. "Have you procured the necessary documentation for the Wizarding World?" Carl asked the half-demoness, and she shook her head.
"The Muggle documents are needed first," she told him, and Carl handed her a blue file.
"Everything is in there," he told her. "A birth certificate, a passport and a rewritten will from your fictitious parents which includes your brother in it." Raven nodded and Carl sat back down. "We have spoken and we believe that young Mr Blake would benefit from tutoring before leaving for Hogwarts. As you are seven years of age we have four years to teach you all that we want before Hogwarts." He addressed Corey directly, and the boy nodded in interest. "Well then." He sat down and waved his hand, causing two armchairs to appear in front of the two standing guests. Raven walked over to them and sat, and Corey quickly did the same. "We wanted to start with the basics," Carl told Corey. "Firstly you will be learning the Wizarding History and Traditions with a Master in Wales, then International Customs with several different tutors around the world. They will teach you the language, beliefs and traditions of the most common colonies today. Does that sound suitable?" Corey's eyes were wide at the things that he might be taught and nodded quickly. "The tutors have given their consent to teach Raven a slightly different course which will include less Wizarding Customs and more etiquette behind meetings of Beings." Raven rolled her eyes; Carl, Ash and Rhys had been trying to get her to learn all that since she was fifteen, but she preferred brewing to social chitchat. Ash caught her look and smirked at her. "There will be many things to teach Corey that you Raven will not need, so we've found someone who is willing to teach you how to use your demon abilities." At this Raven's eyes widened.
"You said that Shadow Demons were rare, even rarer than Light Demons," here she gave a respectful nod to Alina who inclined her head slightly in response.
"It is true that the only Shadow demon we know of is your father," Amon said in a clear, breezy voice. "But recently we have heard of a group who have managed to harness the elements, including Shadow. Since your father isn't here to tell you what you need to know we have looked for other alternatives." Corey watched as Raven's eyes lit up at the prospect of learning more. Raven had told him that at the moment she could only talk to the Shadows and occasionally she could send them out to listen to conversations then come back and whisper the conversation back to her, so Corey knew she'd be ecstatic to learn more.
"You will spend four months with Master Vaughn in Wales, learning about Pureblooded beliefs as well as Muggleborn ones, to learn why the rift appeared between the Light and Dark families and us. You will learn the history of the British Wizarding World, as Raven has complained that the Hogwarts Professor doesn't cover much of that." Raven just chuckled and shook her head. "Then you will travel to France and to Norway for one month each to learn about the history and customs of the Magicals there. Then you will proceed to Egypt for another month, to Russia and lastly to China, again spending a month at each. You will, of course, have breaks in the middle and for birthdays and Yule." Raven looked impressed at the places they'd be going, and Corey felt a growing excitement at the plans being made. "We would also ask permission to place a misdirection charm on Corey, so that those who knew Harry Potter would not make a connection between him and Corey without being told the truth." Raven looked at Corey.
"It's your call," she told him. "The charm won't make you look any different, it will just mean that anyone who looks at you won't compare you to Harry and realise you are one and the same." Corey thought for a moment, surprised that they were letting him make a big decision when he was only seven but he made up his mind quickly.
"It would make this all for nothing if someone knew Corey was Harry," he said simply, and Carl nodded as the two Elders either side of him stood up.
"We're the best to attempt this magic," Seren told them. "Incubi and Succubae are naturally skilled at manipulation, and no counter-spell exists for Incubi magic." Seren and Rhys grasped each other's hand which started to glow white, and it grew brighter until they put their free hands on either side of his head, and the room flashed white. When the spots disappeared from his vision the two were sat down on their chairs (or maybe thrones was closer, he thought with a childish giggle) and Raven was covered in inky-black strands. The Shadows then moved slightly, uncovering one of Raven's eyes, before they all left her and dissolved into nothing. Corey stared in amazement after his first encounter with the Shadows. Raven blushed.
"Extreme light hurts my eyes," she said with a dismissive shrug, and they turned to the Elders to discuss the future travels.
Regulus Black was hunched over his desk, trying to figure out how to write a letter. This letter had been a long time in the making so he wanted to make sure it said everything he wanted it to say and in a way that would insure the recipient didn't blow up in anger. So far he had started the letter with 'Dear Sirius', 'To Sirius Black', and he even started out as 'My Lord Black' out of nervousness when he had first begun to compose the letter. Eventually he stopped looking at the letter as an introduction to a business deal and instead wrote as the letter was intended; a missive to his older brother.
Dear Brother,
He wrote.
I know that you're probably surprised to get this letter. As far as you knew I'd joined the Death Eaters and died in Voldemort's service. Well, I didn't do either, although I agree with most of them on their views. How much do you know about them, and not what the Light Wizards have told you?
The reason I let everyone believe I was dead was simple; I found my SoulMate, and he's a vampire. So I couldn't turn to the Light like you because they hate Dark Creatures, and I couldn't stay Dark because Voldemort has slipped into insanity. So my Mate took to me to a safe place, and we've been here for nearly eight years.
There is a reason why I'm writing other than to inform you of my being alive. My Mate wishes to speak to you, to ask my Lord's permission for something. I have my suspicions as to what it is but I'll hold my tongue.
The enclosed picture of me and my Mate is also a Portkey; it will activate to bring you to our home when you say your middle name. We'll be eating around seven in the evening tonight if you wish to join us, though don't take that to mean that you can't appear before then; we'd love to spend the afternoon talking to you. I only hope that you're staying at Grimmauld Place and not at Black Manor but if you are at the Manor then feel free to join us on the day you receive this letter, we tend to make more food than we can eat anyway.
Your loving younger brother,
Regulus
Reg decided he babbled a bit at the end but he just hoped and wished that his brother would come today; he'd missed Sirius more than he'd imagined. Reg looked up at the window and smiled when he saw his little barn owl Archie (short for Archimedes) waiting with his leg out. Reg tied the scroll to his seemingly-psychic owl's leg and watched him fly away.
