A/N: Thanks everyone for your continued support. I try to reply to every review with a private message, so if you'd like a response to your review please log in and ensure messages are enabled! p.s. look! This update didn't take months!
Chapter 10: August
Eleven-year-old Jamie Potter laid on his back staring up discontentedly at the ceiling. If one did not know better they might think that the ceiling had done him some great insult or disservice. But the ceiling was not to blame for Jamie's frustrations, not this time at least. No, his father was the source of this particular moment's problem.
His parents had always been very cagey when discussing Jamie's brother. Jamie didn't even know he had a brother until he was old enough to read and saw a picture of the boy, who did share quite a bit of resemblance to him, when scanning the daily prophet for the Quidditch scores. The picture was captioned saying that the boy's name was Noctis. He didn't immediately ask his parents about it, but eventually, it caved away at him and he had asked.
They were not very forthcoming with information. While his mother's face instantly went dark and her focus slipped, his father's grew angry. "That boy is no brother of yours Jamie, he is dark, that son of a b-..." he remembered his father pausing, looking a bit sheepish, before finally finishing his sentence "Black."
Every other attempt Jamie had made to learn more about his brother was met with stony silence or dismissal. He did not really understand why his parents hated him so much. And he didn't understand why the boy didn't live with them. He understood that the boy was dark, but he didn't grasp why that meant he had to be a secret, why Jamie could never meet him even once, why that trumped family. He huffed in frustration and threw the last of his many pillows at the wall in frustration. It impacted the wall with a heavy thud, knocked a quaffle off the nearby shelf, and then promptly landed on top of the quaffle.
Jamie was particularly annoyed today because he had seen Noctis in person for the first time in his life, but before he got the chance to even consider how to approach the other boy his father was pulling him and his mother, who had frozen in spot, by the arm in the opposite direction. He knew that there was no way Noctis had noticed him, and somehow that made it even worse. He let out a long frustrated groan.
As soon as they flooed back to their home, immediately after they had spotted Noctis in Ollivander's, his father had marched him home and sent him to his room, where he had remained ever since.
Lily, however, had walked, or more accurately wandered, into the kitchen and sat at the table. It did not take long for a house elf to appear with a cup of tea; Lily accepted it with none of her usual kindness, just a slight smile of thanks.
Jamie also had no idea why his mother had gotten so upset, he was just confused. Young Jamie Potter turned over so he was face down against his mattresses and he screamed into it, slamming his fists down into it, a tantrum quickly approaching. At least this tantrum would be in private.
Meanwhile downstairs a similar situation was developing.
James sat at the table with a glass of firewhiskey while Lily sat polishing off her second cup of tea. "The nerve of them to dress him in such a way. Who do they think they are?! They are no better than us!" James was completely incensed for no apparent reason, and was ranting his frustrations out at Lily, who did not seem to particularly care or even to hear him.
"We should have known before we even got close to the shop, I could feel their dark magic even from outside but I just never took notice." The angry dark-haired man took a large mouthful of whiskey and swallowed it without taking the time to even taste it. "We should have paid better attention! What if they had stolen Jamie too like they stole Noctis!" James continued to rant, his voice was booming by now.
If James had been paying any attention to his wife he probably would have noticed Lily flinch at the word stolen, but as it was the man was too caught up in himself to notice.
"And to think, they are going to be at Hogwarts together this year! The thought makes me sick to my stomach, but at least we know Jamie will not have to share a house with that… that dark beast." James nearly spat the new title he had assigned his "stolen" progeny; somewhat confusingly he couldn't seem to decide between being disgusted with the boy for being dark, or disgusted with the Black family for being dark and "stealing" him. "There is no way that it will be sorted into Gryffindor like our Jamie, so at least they will be separated and protected."
Lily's didn't break her silence, or even actually listen to James' tirade. She had heard it all before and had very different opinions than her husband, arguing with him only made him... worse. She also seemed to remember the circumstances of Har-... Noctis' birth much better than her husband. Their dear friend Minister Dumbledore had cast their child away, proclaiming that he was dark. The Blacks had not stolen him like her husband seemed to believe. She had no idea how the babe had ended up in their care, but if anything, they had rescued the baby from one of the most barbaric practices she had ever seen. 'Godric's rights' her arse, there was nothing brave, noble, or even compassionate about sacrificing a newborn to the elements, regardless of the child's nature.
She missed her child. He dreams were haunted by the child, Harry, that the strangers had named Noctis. She wasn't haunted by his memory, his birth would never be enough to haunt her despite the pain and trauma of having him ripped away from her. No, the imagination of all the possibilities that would never be is what haunted her. Futures that could never be because Albus had made them reject their child. That is what haunted her. She would wake up in the night in a cold sweat fighting back tears because of a dream of reading both her children bedtime stories, of the two of them playing by the lake, of sending them off to Hogwarts together.
Lily hadn't been able to look at Jamie for months after his birth without sobbing. She had felt near paralyzing guilt ever since that night; she had never been the same. Something her husband, of course, blamed on birthing such dark magic into the world; he claimed it had scarred her, left some taint. They consulted Dumbledore and he had only affirmed James' suspicions. Madam Pomfrey had been in the room at the time, Lily had intended to have the matron assess her but James had intervened and called Dumbledore claiming 'only the best for my wife!' or some such chivalrous claim. The matron only stared at Lily with sad eyes the entire time; not needing words to diagnose and communicate what she believed to be the issue. Lily knew that she was right.
Seeing Noctis today had dredged up all of these feelings. Feelings she would have preferred not to feel, to have left locked away, inaccessible in her past. She had to be present for Jamie, she had to be a good mother for him, and a good wife for her husband. But it was hard. Normally her only recourse was to throw herself into her work with the department of mysteries; since the birth of her children, she had progressed from being an entry-level researcher to the assistant director for the study of time.
Over the last few years she had begin to feel like herself again more and more. Seeing mentions of Noctis in the newspaper no longer hurt as much as they once did, and her secret hatred for Dumbledore was manageable. She could pretend not to notice either of them, pretend not to be in agony at the thought of them. She had even considered having another child, something her husband had never stopped begging her for. And that's when it came to her, that was the answer. If there was a hole in her heart, all she needed to do was fill it.
Lily's body went rigid for a moment as she snapped back into the moment, James' words actually making their way into her head now. She still didn't pay them any heed though.
"James" Lily began, he tone even but volume still muted.
James' stopped his rant, his booming voice fading away into an inquisitive look directed at his wife.
"I think it is time." Lily began. "I think I'm ready to have another child."
-o-O-o-
It had been over two weeks since Noctis' birthday, and the boy could barely contain his excitement as each day passed, in weeks he would be a Hogwarts student… in just a few short weeks he would start the greatest journey he had ever dreamed of.
He had just woken up, it was still early in the morning and he could hear birds singing in the distance. His windows were open and his curtains were drawn open around them already, likely Dobby's doing. The elf had to have been in the room not long ago, he had left some sliced strawberries and a glass of water for his young charge.
Noctis had introduced a new tradition to his morning routine since getting his wand. Every morning he would wake up, and after taking care of his typical morning needs and washing, he would sit try his hardest to cast a simple fire charm. His grandmother had taught him the basics of the spell, saying that it would be better to be able to cast magic with his wand before going to Hogwarts, so he had a better idea what to expect. She had also said something about the importance of discovering it for himself, instead of being shown how to do it, but he wasn't exactly sure what she had meant by that. Luckily for him, Blackweald was completely inaccessible to the ministry and all of their forms of surveillance just as the homes of the other ancient families were, so they had no idea what magic was being performed anywhere near the ancestral home of the Blacks.
Noctis wasn't sure what to make of his grandmother telling them that this practice would give him an idea of what to expect of learning magic at Hogwarts. Judging from his experience thus far, what he could expect was frustration! After two weeks of trying to cast the spell for a least an hour every day he had only succeeded in singeing a piece parchment in a couple places, and he had produced a spark two mornings ago - but it had quickly petered out. Despite that, the spark had burnt the tiniest of holes in the far corner of the parchment, and Noctis treated that hole like it was a gold medal. Unfortunately, since then he had not been able to replicate the results.
But not one to be deterred by failure, Noctis carried on. And this morning, like every other morning, he would try again.
The young boy sat down at his desk, he was wearing light blue summer robes, they flowed freely and the fabric was pretty thin and smooth; his hair was still damp from showering, but it fell loosely around his face. He munched on a few strawberries as he sorted through the small amount of mail he had gotten from his friends. Aimus had sent him a letter that had arrived through the night, but that was no surprise, they had been exchanging letters every other day for years now, despite seeing each other regularly. Whatever the two could be talking about all this time their guardians had no idea, but they saw no reason to discourage it. Flipping through the rest he noticed he also had letters from Aimus' sister Susan, and a letter address to him by a hand he did not recognize. He frowned but set it aside for later, he had more important things to worry about.
Noctis picked up his wand that he had left next to the parchment yesterday morning, like every morning, and drew in a deep breath. Ever so carefully and deliberately Noctis jabbed his wand at the parchment and spoke the words his grandmother had taught him: "Parvus Inflamare!" he declared, you could hear the dedication in his tone, almost as if he was daring the parchment to defy him.
The parchment darkened noticeably around the spot he had been focusing on, but there was no ignition. The boy bit his lip and tried again, and again, and again. At least half an hour had passed before he looked up from the parchment, a frown showing on his face now. He set his wand down with both hands and leaned back in his chair. Noctis knew that he just had to focus, he knew that, both his grandparents had repeated the words to him countless times over the last two weeks. Getting frustrated like he was beginning to would not help him now.
Noctis took a few moments and polished off the last of his strawberries and most of the water Dobby had brought him before turning to focus on the parchment full and proper again. The sun was finally starting to come fully above the horizon and cast bright light directly into his bedchambers, including over the desk he was working at. Noctis didn't mind, the feeling of the hot sun on his skin was relaxing.
With determination, he launched back into the spellcasting, with a renewed sense of determination. "Parvus Inflamare!" he intoned again, his words as careful and clipped as ever. Only this time his words were met with the tiniest spark that jumped onto the parchment and burnt a second, tiny hole into the centre of the parchment.
A wide grin spread over his face, but unlike last time when he had made a spark he stayed seated. Taking another deep breath he steadied his hand and tried again. "Parvus Inflamare!" he declared, jabbing his wand at the parchment again, only to be met with a second spark a bit larger than the first, that burned another, slightly larger hole into the parchment.
His grin widened and his reserve intensified. Noctis took one more deep, steadying breath and prodded his wand at the parchment once more. "Parvus Inflamarre!" he declared. This time, unlike every other, he watched as a small ball of flames leapt onto the parchment. The flames grew and flowed across the surface of the parchment, and before he even realized it the parchment was consumed.
Actually, Noctis wasn't realizing much of anything at the moment. He had just performed magic, real intentional magic, for the first time and it was unlike anything he had ever expected. No one had told him what to expect, and to be fair he had not asked, but it was incredible. He felt almost as if he had gathered up all the light around him, taken all the morning sun rays shining in through his window, and focused them on the parchment.
He was knocked out of his frozen stupor by the smell of smoke, the parchment was entire gone, consumed by the flames, but unfortunately, the flames had spread to his mail. Noctis shot forward and beat his hands against the burning corner of the letter he had gotten from Noctis. Thankfully he had noticed in time and suffocated the flames before much more than a corner of the letter was consumed.
He didn't waste time though going from panic mode to celebration. He whooped loudly and scooped up a handful of ashes from his desk before running out of his room as fast as he could toward the airy kitchen of Blackweald.
He tore through the halls and barely made it around several corners, but he had made it to the large airy room in record time. "I DID IT! I DID IT!" he cried excitedly to the entire room. Both his grandparents were there as well as Krasus, the oldest of the Black family's house elves. Strangely, Sirius was there too. He had not been to a family breakfast for months now. Noctis ran up to the small round table that they normally used for breakfasts like this one, and unthinking in his excitement, he threw the ashes from his hand onto the white tablecloth. "Look! Look! I finally did it! I cast the fire charm!" The boy's grin was brighter than the morning sun.
Noctis' smile was only matched by that of his grandparents. It was a momentous occasion, their grandchild and heir, the light of their lives, had cast his first spell.
"We're so proud of you darling! We knew it would not take long after you managed those sparks the other morning." Analise' smiled warmly at the boy and extended her hand over to hold Noctis' ash-covered hand while she spoke.
"Congratulations Noctis my boy, congratulations!" Arcturus' warm pride-filled smile made Noctis fill with warmth.
Sirius didn't say anything. Instead, the man got up from his chair and picked the boy up and into a tight hug, and whooped for joy.
But before Noctis even had a chance to reply, the room was interrupted by the voice of a newcomer.
"Oh Sirius! You told them without me? You promised you would wait for me before you announced the news!" Marlene McKinnon was standing in the doorway to the family kitchen and dining area. She was wearing a sundress decorated with summer flowers in brilliant reds, yellows and oranges. Her chestnut brown hair and pale heart-shaped face were brightly lit from the morning sunlight filtering in from the tall windows.
Sirius set Noctis down carefully and turned to face his girlfriend. "No dear, I hadn't just yet, we were just celebrating Noct-"
"Oh good! Because I wanted to do it!" Marlene said, she clearly did not care enough, or perhaps was just too excited, to listen to the rest of Sirius' sentence. Before anyone in the room could interject to ask exactly what news it was they were talking about, Marlene was speaking again. "We're engaged!" she exclaimed loudly, flapping her hands and jumping up and down a little, almost imperceptibly.
Analise and Arcturus sat frozen in their chairs, speechless at the news, and Sirius' new fiance's behaviour. Sirius had not consulted them on the decision at all, or even said that he was considering it. It was a total breach of family protocol, but they had reluctantly come to expect that from Sirius.
A few moments went by and the elderly couple still sat in astonished silence. Analise was the first to break, and carefully coached her face into a wide smile. "Wow, how unexpected! Sirius, Marlene! We are so happy for you dears! Aren't we Arcturus dear?" Analise's hand extended over to husband's and she squeezed it tightly, probably to force him out of his shock, but it just as easily could have been her telling him to comply.
"Yes of course! This is wonderful news!" Arcturus' tone echoed the cheerful happiness of his wife, it was almost too perfect - if there was any displeasure in his voice no one present could find it.
Noctis however, did not bother to feign excitement like his grandparents. "Congratulations Sirius, Marlene" he muttered, before politely excusing himself and quickly leaving the room. He had never liked the woman, she was always taking Sirius away from him and since they had started seeing each other he had begun to see Sirius less and less. It was at the point that the man was barely at Blackweald once a week. He couldn't help but be angry and upset, she was stealing him away - probably for good this time.
Noctis didn't go back to his room, he descended down several flights of stairs and made a beeline for the nearest exit. He wasted no time weaving through the many gardens surrounding his family's home until he reached a gazebo that bordered the edge of a small lily-pond on the edge of the forest. He sat in the gazebo and stared angrily into the pond. He still had his wand with him, he had been too excited at first to leave it in his room. He fingered it for a few minutes while continuing to stare angrily at the pond. How dare she take Sirius away from him? Who did she think she was? Noctis came to his feet again and pointed his wand at the pond and casting the fire charm again, this time at a lily-pad instead of parchment. He was angry sure, but he didn't want to accidentally burn down his favourite hiding place. Noctis cast several fire charms, a few of them even worked and hit the lily-pads, leaving black scorch marks but never actually succeeding in burning the aquatic plant.
A large black raven was perched nearby watching the young wizard casting spells at the lily-pads. It tilted its head, as if it were confused, before finally deciding to let out a loud croak, almost as if he approved of the action. If Noctis noticed he didn't react, instead he just kept on shooting spells at the lily-pads.
He had been torn up about missing Sirius most of the summer, hell, most of the last few years really. But now it just seemed it would get worse, now there was no hope for things to return to the way they were before.
-o-O-o-
It was just after dinner on a late August evening when Arcturus found himself in his study, gazing down at the artifacts he had pulled from his family's ancient vault. Everything he had withdrawn was considerably more complicated than he had imagined, he had spent most of this month pouring over the items and texts, ensuring that they were what he thought they were. In the case of the tome he had gotten for Noctis, it had taken him much longer than he anticipated to translate it, though not for a lack of trying. He was just fascinated by the material in the tome and he kept getting lost actually reading and analyzing the tome, pondering its contents, instead of simply translating it. But he had finally finished translating the text, and so a newer edition sat atop the old one.
But that is not what brought him to his study tonight. He had finally finished reading the scroll that accompanied the ancient chest he had withdrawn from the vault - what had led him on the journey to begin with. The scroll was written in an incredibly old language and it took Arcturus much longer to translate it than he was comfortable admitting to anyone but himself. He had had to ask his wife to assist him in identifying the language at first - which they did, as a very uncommon written form of an early indo-european language from the steps of the caucasus mountains. The script itself was not that old and its origin was still eluding him, but he hoped that with time he would begin to understand the mystery.
What was important was that he was finally able to translate the scroll, and that now he knew exactly what was inside the chest, and how to access it. After all this time he would finally have what he believed to be one of his family's most valuable treasures.
With decisive actions Arcturus spun his ring around on his finger so that the stone faced the same direction as his palm. With no grander ceremony than that, Arcturus pressed his cut hand against the top of the chest, carefully making sure that the ring contacted the middle of the chest's top.
He was not met with a fancy light show, an explosion of power, or anything of the sort. Instead, he simply felt something inside the chest click, though he had expected this. Cautiously he withdrew his hand from the chest and took a moment to carefully wipe the cut on his hand with a cloth he had prepared and soaked in some essence of dittany.
Finally, and cautiously, he examined the chest. A thin seam now ran around the chest, allowing for the top to be taken off. The old man carefully gripped the cover with both hands and carefully lifted it off of the box, revealing the three items inside.
The first looked like a finger sculpted out of clay, the second was a very small scroll, and the third and final was the treasure Arcturus had been looking for, a palm-sized slab of crystal that was roughly circular. Twelve smaller beads of coloured crystalline stones had somehow been embedded along the circumference of the large clear crystal stone. The four largest of them were blue, red, green and purple. Because of his time spent researching this artifact, Arcturus knew that these represented north, south, east and west. Hesitant to touch the artifact, the magical compass his ancient ancestors had crafted, he reached stead for the small scroll.
Arcturus unraveled it quickly as was relieved to see it was written in a script he was much more familiar with, old saxon. The scroll simply read, "Dearest descendant, within this chest you will find one of our family's dearest treasures, the use of which has been largely forgotten. Within the sculpted finger is a memory that I recovered from an ancient fortress in what is now called Alans, a region north of the easternmost edges of the Roman empire. The memory does not detail the origin of the device, but it does instruct one on how to use it, and what it is capable of. I have recorded the contents of this memory on a scroll similar to this one, in fear that the language spoken by those in the memory will one day be forgotten. I hope this will be of service to you and our great family, ancestor, it was very helpful to me, even before I knew its true power." The scroll was marked with a very familiar seal, that of his ancestor Canis Blæk.
Arcturus leaned back in his chair and exhaled slowly, the small scrap of unrolled paper still between his fingers, though now hanging from the side of his chair. After a few moments he sat up and took the device out of the chest, holding it flat in the palm of his hand. This device would have been so helpful when he was younger, it likely could have turned the tides of the war. If only they ha-
His ruminations were interrupted when Noctis opened the door and walked into the study.
"Noctis my boy! What a welcome surprise!" Arcturus smiled warmly at his great-grandson as he always did in private. What worried him though, is that the boy was not smiling back as he normally did. "Is everything okay Noctis? You don't seem yourself" he asked in a quiet tone.
Noctis simply nodded and slipped into this favourite armchair in the corner of his grandfather's office. After sitting quietly for a few moments fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve, Noctis finally spoke, "I'm okay grandfather, just worried." Noctis didn't look up from his sleeve while he spoke.
It was moments like these that really reminded Arcturus that Noctis was still a child, despite his normally very mature and bookish behaviour. Arcturus rose up from his chair and placed the ancient artifact carefully on the desk before walking over and taking the chair opposite to Noctis. "Tell me Noctis, what is bothering you?" His tone was soft and delicate.
"I am just worried that my sorting might disappoint you or grandmother, or Sirius…" Noctis's voice grew quieter with every word.
"Noctis, you know that your grandmother and I would not think less of you for your house, even if you are sorted into Gryffindor, we will treat you no differently" he reassured the boy. "Though we might just mount bars on your window if you are sorted in with the lions like Sirius was." Arcturus' fake serious tone did not fool Noctis for a moment, and the boy's frown gave way to a smile.
"Besides, your grandmother did not even go to Hogwarts, Noctis, so you know she should care least of all. But I will love and support you no matter what house you are sorted into. Just because I was in Slytherin does not mean I demand that of you." Arcturus' words were punctuated with a kind smile.
"But, on a happier note, I have a late birthday present for you!" Noctis' face lit up at the news, causing the older man to smile in response. Arcturus walked back over to his desk and sat in his chair, signaling for Noctis to come over.
"I brought this" Arcturus tapped the ancient book that sat on his desk "up from one of the family's Gringotts vaults the day after your birthday. I had hoped to give it to you earlier, but time has gotten away from me I am afraid, and translating it took a bit longer than expected."
Noctis stared at the ancient book, he had no idea what was inside and he could not see the spine or cover of the book to see what the title was.
Arcturus picked up the translated volume and handed it to Noctis with a smile. "Happy eleventh birthday grandson. I hope you will enjoy this special present."
Noctis took the book and opened it slowly to the first page. Scrawled across the top in his grandfather's elegant script were simply the words "My Kingdom, My Castle." Underneath those words, however, in small text, read the words "my memories and history, in service of my loved ones and ancestors. - Canis Blæk."
Noctis starred at the book in shock before getting up and running around the desk to hug his grandfather. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the small boy cried. "I'm going to start reading it right away!" he chimed, while already on his way back to his favourite chair in his grandfather's study.
Arcturus chucked and sat back at his desk, he leaned back in his chair and picked up a teacup, forgotten by the evening activities. Thankfully, a house elf had popped in at some point with fresh tea, if the steam coming from his cup was any indication. Arcturus turned his head and saw Noctis already deeply engrossed in the book. "As if there is any chance of you being anything but a Ravenclaw anyway my child."
-o-O-o-
A/N: Hope you enjoyed, please review! I try to reply to all reviews so make sure you're logged in! What do you think the device does? It will be very important in future chapters! Big thanks to Sakura Lisel for pointing out a mistake!