Epilogue

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Where children grow

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Alphard cursed silently because the pale pink concoction he painstakingly prepared, stirred counter-clockwise and left to simmer for hours, manifestly did not work.

It was even worse than that, the cauldron started to fume suspiciously in thick puffs of ugly pink and green. Uglier than the voice of the old fat witch Mum didn't like, the one who made frequent appearances on Wizarding Wireless as a chef of the prisoners' kitchen in Azkaban. Azkaban had become a different place than it was when his Dad was imprisoned there for 12 years. It was clean and warm in winter, guarded by magically enhanced bars and walls (almost) impossible to escape from. The prisoners had to do useful work for the wizarding community, such as gardening of more dangerous magical plants, or helping in the wand production. The idea for the revolutionary reform came from someone called the Muggle Prime Minister, long time ago, right after Alphard was born. It was rumoured among pure-bloods that the new regime made the greedier among wizards turn to thievery only to get a vacation free of charge. The Dementors, who still haunted his father's dreams from time to time, founded their own colony at the farthest north of Scotland. They had not been seen bothering anyone for almost 12 years.

The cauldron cracked. And there was no one he could ask for help this time. The portrait of his name sake, great-great-great-grandfather Phineas Nigellus, was taken for restoration works to the Rita Skeeter's famous Atelier for Fixing the Magical Smears and Old Dirty Canvases in Diagon Alley, after Alphard's latest experiment with potions resulted in a blast damaging the frame and burning off one of the old Phineas's legs. The painted victim took it stoically and concluded that Alphard was a Black through and through, in the end. As if that was a good thing. Alphard's blue eyes, brighter than the summer sky, twinkled wildly when he thought that maybe Uncle Severus was right and all first years in Hogwarts were dunderheads when it came to potions. It was only good that he didn't teach the subject any more, busy as he was with playing his trumpet in Muggle world, and doing some other intelligent stuff concerning potions and healing with Aunt Val. Alphard didn't think he would survive those lessons, judging by how Uncle Harry had described them, the famous musician-wizard's nephew or not. Uncle Snive...Severus, of course, wore his legendary greasy hair tied since the end of the war against Voldemort, but it was still best to get out of his way when he would get mean for no reason. Nonetheless, Alphard found Snape's playing tremendously fascinating. It was the only moment when you could discern the wildly emotional nature of his beloved uncle, who was otherwise a true pain in the ass.

When father took Alphard to Rita Skeeter's with the damaged portrait, mother and father gossiped about why a once famous reporter of the Daily Prophet left her profession and turned to the conservation and restoration of magical paintings. Mother recalled, laughing the way it made her particularly beautiful, how the Quibbler issued an article about the dangerous tropical lizard poisoning Miss Skeeter had allegedly suffered, shortly after publishing her sensational second by second detailed recollections with real time magical footage of how a Dementor kissed Uncle Snape in the Wizengamot 12 years ago, breaking Aunt Val's heart. Father grinned like crazy, and snogged mother the way it always made her blush. Miss Skeeter's hands shook, and almost, almost reached for the magical quill, which jumped merrily above the paint infested counter.

Now, the rattling sound on the wooden stairs leading to the attic of the Grimmauld Place 12 was more than welcome.

"What took you so long?" Alphard grumbled, stirring further the unsuccessful mixture with rekindled hope, not even turning around to greet his visitors. He knew who they were.

"Will you blow up your own leg this time, cousin?" cousin Eileen asked with venom. "Do you want a hand with that?"

"Thanks a lot!," Alphard said enthusiastically, ignoring Eileen's attitude, letting her have the cauldron immediately. She was all right when one got to know here, and she was lucky to inherit only her father's character and natural brightness, but neither his nose nor his hair. Her skin, on the other hand, was extremely pale, much more so than any of the other Black descendants, and her hand wildly curly, changing colours with the light. Ignotus, her twin, was as open hearted as she was nasty despite that his hooked nose and sharp black eyes would make other children cringe before they would realize that his dangerous attitude was only a big joke. The real joke was that he had to cut his curls weekly if he didn't want to look like a cave wizard, or a little girl.

Eileen fixed the potion in no time, obviously.

"Mother and father are going to Edinburgh," Ignotus said, "they'll give a concert there tonight. They dropped us hear thinking Uncle Sirius and Aunt Ariana were at home."

"Sorry, mate," Alphard said, "mother is pregnant again, imagine, in her age. It's appalling, really. And with our twins being only five and a complete pest. One would expect more investment from Aunt Val to make her use some birth control for witches. My parents went to see some healer because mom doesn't feel all that well."

"I guess it's only good that our parents didn't bother to stay and check it all out," Ignotus said, smearing the hideous green coloured mixture Eileen had masterfully finished over the handle bars of Alphard's first two wheel bicycle. Sirius bought him the bike when he was 7; it was now stretched to maximum height of the seat and the steering wheel, because Alphard had grown like a young tree since that time. "D'you still reckon this will work?" Iggy mumbled.

"Of course it will," Alphard said, when a smell of burning spread in the attic, and the pink layer of dust at the bottom of the abandoned cauldron changed colour to ominous red.

"Oops," Ignotus said and added a fast warning "-don't do that, mother told us we should never, Eileen, stop it!"

In a second the cauldron was gone and Eileen fainted in Alphard's arms. "What now?" Alphard said, somewhat afraid for the first time since he started a new experiment. His raven black hair almost stood upright when he heard the crack of apparition in front of the house entrance, followed by the gentle pressing of the door handle, in a shape of a golden winged griffin hugging the old, withered, copper green snake. "Oh no, they are back home!"

He could only imagine what his mother would do when she found Eileen fainted from attempting a too strong Dimension Shift, or when the bloody cauldron finally appeared and exploded, taking the better part of the attic with them. When mother got, well, mad, she demolished entire rooms in the house as if an earthquake or a tornado had passed, not needing a wand. Father comforted her tenderly every time it happened, even when she nearly killed him in some kind of lovers' fight. After the outbursts, she always sobbed in his arms. Alphard hated them and envied them at the same time for the kind of love they shared. Sparkling and alive. And he always paid good attention to do his magic only with the wand, since he got one a year ago, not particularly wanting to know if he inherited or not his mother's capacity for total destruction.

At any rate, there must have been a reason why Alphard was sorted in Ravenclaw, the first perfectly normal member in a completely extraordinary family. He expected to make friends for life in Hogwarts, like his father did, but he only met insipid boys and girls. After a year, his best friend was still cousin Teddy, of the same age, but lucky to be sorted into a much more exciting Gryffindor. Alphard sometimes thought that even Slytherin would be much better, despite that he disliked how the arrogance, own or inherited, of some of the members of that house obscured everything, including the normal human propensity to reason. Well, what was normal depended on who was talking. Maybe Alphard was abnormal with his appetite to devour books and scrolls about almost any topic, from wizard to Muggle. His parents both ensured him they loved reading, but the explanation did not sit well with their son. It was widely known that his parents were remarkable and cool wizards. And Alphard was only an ordinary, overgrown, dull boy who couldn't even benefit from the classy look of the Blacks. A pair of moon-shaped glasses adorned his nose, uglier than what Uncle Harry used, hiding his aristocratic features. And Harry's glasses were already awful to start with.

Ignotus fumbled nervously in his pocket until he found a small vial. "There," he said, "a salve against dragon burns. Father told me it should quench most fires, except Fiendfyre, and I don't think you are talented enough, cousin, to start something like that with you amateur work."

Yes, Alphard thought, sometimes you can see Iggy is also Uncle Snape's son.

"Take it and pour it over fast when you see the damn thing back!" Iggy commanded, good-natured again.

Alphard lay Eileen aside on the floor, as carefully as a careless boy of almost 12 was able to. He took the magical cream from his cousin, caught it gingerly in his left hand, and concentrated as hard as he could to the place where the cauldron should have been. Ignotus closed his eyes and drew a black ebony wand he was not supposed to have, since technically he would only start his schooling in Hogwarts in the next two weeks. "Dimensio," he muttered and a glowing red metal recipient did not show where Alphard was waiting for it, but high up in the air above their heads. Alphard climbed on a chair as fast as on the occasions when his father taught him to run away; if mother got upset and things started moving. Aiming well, Sirius's and Ariana's son smashed a vial of salve into the burning mass of melted metal in the air.

The red ball of heat flying in the air turned into pink, into brown, and then it faded and it fell, the old cauldron appearing normal on the ancient wooden floor. The bicycle handle bars shone in bright green, as Phineas told him they should.

Alphard let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin," he said. "It worked! Look!"

Ignotus didn't look, trying hard to revive Eileen, whom Alphard had almost forgotten in contemplation of the success of his many months of hard work. Instantly, he was ashamed of it. I am an arrogant moron, he thought, just like Uncle Severus sometimes calls my father. Alphard sat on the floor next to the twins, not having the vaguest idea of how to help Eileen. She was breathing, so that must have been good at least.

The door of the attic open with a slam and a girlish voice called petulantly. "Cousins! Is there no one to welcome a guest from Romania?!"

"You Apparated!" Alphard turned to the newcomer in anger. "Even your mother told you you should not! You are not even seven yet, Cassiopeia!"

"Mother has done worse things than that when she was seven, I'm sure," said the beautiful girl child, with innocent looking orange curls flowing down her perfectly arranged light green summer dress. Her peeping words smelled of mischief and reminded Alphard of the summer holiday when they made illegal pumpkin juice together.

Alphard remembered he was a son of wizards, so the Ministry would not be able to detect illegal underage magic in his house, filled up with more spells than anyone would ever be able to understand. The second-hand realisation struck him as well.

"You came by yourself," he stated

"Of course!" Cassiopeia said, "I'm almost seven, not a three year old baby. We live only two streets away when we visit London. I told father I would walk and he believed me. Mother didn't believe me, but that's why she loves father, she always says. Because he trusts her even when he should not. Mother went to her sister Andromeda for a cup of tea. We will only stay for two days. One of father's dragons is about to hatch in Romania, and Mum never likes staying in London for two long. She says that the place gives her creeps. And her process is still not over, so if she is found around here, they could send her to Azkaban."

"It's not such a bad place, the worst thing that could happen to her there is that she gets fat," Iggy commented.

"Mum is not one for being locked up," Cassiopeia said. "She says she'd rather die. I cannot understand why someone would die because they didn't want to lose their good figure if that's the only danger in that place..."

"Well," Alphard said to change the topic, remembering his father's nightmares, more than certain that his godmother had her own, "it's still two weeks until the school year starts, and our mother wants to send me and my twin brothers to spend a weekend with my godmother in Romania..."

"That would be great!" Cassiopeia exclaimed.

"We can't come, I'm afraid," Eileen said, lucky to come to her senses on her own, looking all dizzy and as if she was about to puke. Alphard helpfully lifted a cauldron and put it in front of her mouth.

"Thanks, Al," she said flatly, appearing more indifferent than she truly was, before she emptied the most recent contents of her stomach neatly into it. "Mother says this will get better when we learn how to control this malediction she calls a gift."

"You are not coming!" Cassiopeia was disappointed.

"Uncle Regulus is getting engaged in Brazil," Ignotus explained, "mother wants to go there, and to see Norma as well. We are going with her, and so does Uncle Sirius. Aunt Ariana is too sick to travel, I hear."

"Tell me about it," Alphard added with disgust at the thought of the new baby, hearing at the same time the prominent noise of the five year old Black twins, Arneb and Asterion, from the floor below, mixed with helpless cries of old Kreacher who tried to control some nasty game they were playing.

"But we will then all go to Brazil for the wedding, during Yule holidays," Ignotus told Cassiopeia. "Seriously, I wonder if Uncle Regulus's latest girlfriend knows what she is getting into with this family."

"Will Teddy Lupin also go to the wedding?" the little red hair asked. "Aunt Nymphadora is Uncle Regulus's niece twice removed as well. We are all family."

"Possibly," Eileen said. "Probably," Ignotus repeated, and Alphard's head started to hurt because when they did that, they became indistinguishable one from another as only twins could be.

"Cassiopeia," Alphard scolded his youngest cousin in an almost teacher like voice. "Teddy doesn't like you. Not that way. You are a little girl. You are more lovely than even my godmother, who is still one of the best looking and best dressed witches alive. You have to grow up some and wait. Don't read crappy romance novels when your mother doesn't see you. It's almost better that you read the dark magic scrolls she's hiding from Uncle Charlie if you want to keep up your reading skills. My mother says that love can be the most destructive force that there is. But only if we let it."

Alphard regretted having spoken because Cassiopeia gave him a look which clearly indicated that he was also very high on her list of boys she adored, maybe right after Teddy. "Erm..." he said, blushing, diverting the attention to his bike, "let's see if this thing can fly!"

"What do we do?" Ignotus said, all business again, and easy smiles. "What can we do?" Eileen mirrored his phrase. "Can I ride it?" Cassiopeia asked with healthy curiosity, outweighing her silly little girl fantasies.

"You all can," Alphard said. "But after I give it a first try. I wouldn't want to hurt any of you if this doesn't work properly... You could all just push me a bit in the direction of that chimney opening..."

The pedals were worn and used but they felt good under his feet, which were growing on a daily basis and slowly gaining the size of his father's. Alphard pedalled forward, both hands firmly on the steering wheel. They hurt a bit, but he paid them no attention. His cousins pushed the back wheel, fighting about who would be the first one in the row. Cassiopeia prevailed despite being the smallest, and her surreptitious smile at her victory could have melted anyone's heart. Alphard remembered that marriage among cousins was common in the Black family, albeit it increased the factor of madness...

Chasing the uncomfortable thought away, because babies and girls were clearly the most horrendous things in existence, he focused on a distant star he frequently saw in his dreams. He hoped, and prayed, and hoped again that this was going to work. His father had a flying motorcycle hidden in the garden shed, but he, Alphard Phineas Black, was going to have a bike able to travel into the outer space... To the far corner of their galaxy, and farther than that if he could.

He thought he could hear the turning of the stars, and with an incredulous smile on his thin lips he was gone.

"Where is he?" Cassiopeia asked when the bicycle disappeared through the roof. "He'll be back," Ignotus commented. "You think," Eileen added cynically.

Before they had time to panic, or to call Kreacher, or to do anything sensible, a projectile of swirling metal came back down the chimney with a thunderous thud. All three children jumped aside. "Don't try it again," Ignotus told his sister with fear that she would try to help him using dimension shifting and hurt herself. "Alphard will be fine. He has to be."

Alphard sat up amidst rather deprecated bicycle remnants. He appeared dizzy and disorientated. Eileen handed him the stinky cauldron for vomiting, but he politely refused it. Only one wheel, loose handle bars and the chain made it back from wherever he went. But Alphard's eyes were twinkling brighter than all the stars in the known universe, when he told them what he saw, excited, showing them a pair of blackened palms, impervious to his obvious state of injury.

"It was brilliant," he said, "this odd Crystal Sphere and an old fashioned motorbike, a model my father would adore, they were circling a star... I have to see it again!"

"Maybe you should still work a bit on this before you try it again," Eileen said in a tone that meant it was hopeless; Alphard would kill himself next time, and she would laugh at it when it happened

"You are right," Alphard said dreamily, not even noticing the irony in her voice, "the potion still has to be somewhat refined... And the destination better thought over..."

Cassiopeia and Ignotus looked at each other and smirked.

The attic door swung open again. Alphard's mother stood tall in the frame, his father peered shyly from behind. The expression in Sirius's eyes was between worried, impressed and totally amazed, full of understanding of what had happened.

"Oh no," Ariana said. "And I thought with him being sorted in Ravenclaw he would be more prudent than us."

"Here the adventure begins again," Sirius said giddily, his voice filled with fatherly pride. "He is our son, you know."

The cloud of black smoke descended to the attic through the roof, following Alphard's earlier trajectory. Val materialised first. Uncle Snape took his time to regain his more usual body shape around her, paying particular attention to quickly replace the fiercely caring look he reserved only for his wife by a more characteristic evil glare.

But Alphard knew better. The cheerful bitterness of Snape's stare told that his uncle was quite pleased about seeing them all. In his way, at least. One day Sirius's son was going to be brave enough to ask Uncle Snivelly to teach him that flight spell... But not for many years.

"I'm bringing my wife for the ladies' tea," Snape said. "I trust dear Bella will not be late. We wouldn't want to miss our concert despite the ground-breaking news that her trial might finally be over..."

"It took them only 12 years to figure things out," Val said, "and let her go."

"It's not certain yet," Ariana said, taking Val's hand. "It might take another year before the final sentence is passed. But at least they established beyond doubt that it was she and not Gilderoy Lockheart who revived the Longbottoms... There is evidence not even the Ministry will be able to tamper with."

Val chuckled darkly, in a way that indicated she wasn't so confident about that. "Let's leave the men to their duelling games," she told Ariana. "We can wait for Bella downstairs. She didn't turn any more patient with time so she should be here any minute."

"Oh I'm sure that Albus's new portrait in the hallway can keep her company," Ariana said, "I hope that they will remain civil to each other. "

A powerful new crack of Apparition confirmed Val's words about the imminent arrival, followed by an unspecified burst of light, illuminating the entire house, from top to bottom. Cassiopeia shivered and re-arranged her dress in haste, as if her mother could trace back the illegal magic she performed from the way the exuberant green folds were hanging loose on one side.

"Civil is too demanding," Val commented, pushing Ariana rapidly out of the attic.

When the ladies left, Sirius fixated his son with a knowledgeable look of his pale grey eyes, waiting.

"Dad," Alphard started, "I can explain..."

At least there was a glimpse of hope that Alphard would not be such an ordinary wizard after all.

THE END

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A/N Thank you for reading. Thank you once again to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed. Thank you :-))