Growing Up Black

Disclaimer - Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, not to myself. I have written this story for sheer pleasure, not out of any pecuniary interest.

Summary: What if Harry had been taken from the Dursleys to live with a different aunt and uncle? AU.

A/N: Many thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I apologise for my tardiness. The next chapter ought to be posted on Tuesday, May 17. Enjoy!


Chapter 26

Just before sunrise that next morning, when Draco woke up back in his bed in Gryffindor Tower, the blond boy's eyes darted instantly to his brother's bed. It was still empty, and had clearly not been slept in all night. Draco frowned. He knew that Aries had not been in bed when he himself had retired, and Draco had stayed up in the Common Room until midnight playing chess with Dean Thomas. This couldn't be good.

Draco slipped out of bed, splashed water on his face and quickly brushed his hair before throwing on some casual robes and running off to find his adoptive father. A thousand horrible scenarios flashed through his mind on the way. He knew his brother all too well, and suspected Aries of doing something rash. Draco wasn't sure which made him angrier: the fact that Aries might have got himself hurt or killed, or the fact that he hadn't invited Draco to go along with him.

The corridors of the castle were empty this early on a Sunday morning, and Draco made exceptionally good time - so good, in fact, that he had run past the painting of Athena before he had realised it was there. He backtracked a few steps, then uttered the password. The painting swung open.

Inside, curled up together on the sofa, lay Sirius and Aries. Neither one had even changed into their pyjamas, and empty bottles of butterbeer sat on the coffee table in front of them. They didn't look particularly comfortable. Sirius's head lay on his left shoulder, his long hair hanging in front of his eyes, and Aries' face was squashed up against Sirius's chest. Sirius was drooling a bit. Draco thought about taking a photograph and sending it into Witch Weekly, but that would have been unnecessarily cruel. He decided instead simply to take one and send it to his mum. He thought she might appreciate it.

He retrieved his dad's camera from the desk and took several pictures in rapid succession. He took out the film and slipped it into his pocket, then quietly left the room. There were countless other pranks he could have played on them, of course, but Draco thought it a shame to disturb them. Squashed and drooling as they were, it was still a cute father-and-son scene, so Draco thought it best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Once he had deposited the film back in his trunk – he would have the photographs developed later – Draco went searching for something to do. No one else in Gryffindor Tower was awake. (Daring and chivalry, for some odd reason, seemed not often to correspond with promptness in waking, especially on the weekend.) Draco left the Tower and made his way to Professor Lupin's quarters. Remus Lupin was another early riser, and Draco thought he might share an early breakfast with the Transfiguration master before the others woke up.

He gave the password and made his way into the professor's quarters, only to find the werewolf snoring loudly. Remus, at least, had made it into his bed, but he had also fallen asleep fully dressed. He was even wearing his boots. Draco frowned as he left Remus's quarters and headed downstairs to the Great Hall. Something very strange was going on, and Draco had the unpleasant sense that his family had been on some adventure or another the night before, and he alone had been left out.

The Great Hall was empty except for one first-year girl at the Slytherin table who was eating a buttered croissant and sipping a cup of cocoa. Draco smiled when he saw her: it was Astoria Greengrass.

Draco sat down across from the younger girl. She didn't notice him, being still very interested in her croissant.

'Good morning, Astoria,' Draco said, and smiled when she jumped in surprise.

'Draco!' she exclaimed, then turned a delicate shade of rose.

'Do you mind if I join you for breakfast?' Draco asked.

Astoria's eyes went wide. 'A-aren't you supposed to be sitting with your Housemates?' she stammered.

Draco chuckled and waved one arm at the empty hall.

'There's no one else here, Astoria,' he pointed out. 'And it's much more pleasant to eat in the presence of pleasant company, wouldn't you agree?'

The girl nodded meekly, a bit overwhelmed at having such a wealthy third-year Gryffindor speaking to her, not to mention the fact that said third-year was the adopted son of the infamous Sirius Black, who for all that he was supposedly innocent and now teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, still managed to inspire fear in the hearts of many of his pupils, especially the Slytherins.

As soon as Draco had sat down at the table, additional trays appeared. Astoria Greengrass might have been satisfied with a bit of pastry, but Draco preferred a substantial breakfast, and evidently the elves knew this. Draco piled his plate high with bacon and eggs, along with a couple of pieces of hot buttered toast spread thickly with marmalade, and put three heaping teaspoons of sugar into his very strong tea.

Astoria watched him with an admixture of horror and fascination.

'How can you eat all that?' she asked him. 'Mummy says that one ought always to watch what one eats very carefully, lest one lose one's girlish figure and not be able to wear fashionable dress robes.'

Draco raised an eyebrow.

'I'm a boy,' he replied, as though that settled everything.

Astoria nodded thoughtfully. 'I suppose that does make some sense. Mummy makes Daddy eat exactly what we do when he eats at home, but he often chooses to dine at his club, and I know that there he eats whatever he likes.'

'And how often does he dine at the club?' Draco asked.

'Five or six nights a week,' Astoria replied nonchalantly, then took another dainty nibble of her croissant.

Draco laughed. Astoria looked surprised at first, but then she smiled a bit.

'I suppose it is rather amusing,' she admitted. She took a sip of tea, then fixed Draco in her sights. She leaned forward over the table. 'Tell me, Draco,' she whispered, glancing back and forth to make sure they were still quite alone. 'Do you happen to know anything about...cooking?'

Draco laughed again, and began to regale the girl with stories of Granny Black and her kitchen of wonders. Astoria listened with wide-eyed amazement, her croissant forgotten.

'Perhaps this summer you and your sister could come stay with us at the chateau,' Draco suggested. 'Granny loves to play hostess, and I think Aries would be particularly delighted to have Daphne visit.' He leaned forward confidentially, until their foreheads were almost touching. 'I think he fancies her,' he said quietly, and Astoria giggled.

'Do you really think so?' she asked.

Draco nodded confidently. 'I'm pretty sure about it,' he replied. 'But don't say anything. I don't think even Aries has realised it yet.'

'My lips are sealed,' Astoria promised.

After breakfast, just as a few of the other students and a couple of professors were beginning to drift in one by one, Draco escorted Astoria back to the dungeons, then returned to Gryffindor Tower to collect his books. The day was fine, and unseasonably warm, so he decided to do his homework outside by the lake. When he came back inside just before lunch, he thought he'd drop by Sirius's quarters and see if his dad and brother were up yet.

Indeed they were. Still dressed in the clothes they had worn the day before, and looking rather beleaguered and battle-weary, Aries and Sirius were nonetheless both very much awake, sitting at the table in Sirius's dining room and staring silently at their cups of tea. Remus was there too, looking a bit fresher than the others, but wearing an expression of grave concern that sent chills down Draco's spine. Most surprising, however, for the young wizard, were the other family members who had arrived: his mum, Aunt Cassie, Granddad and Aunt Clytemnestra.

'Are you certain?' Draco's mother asked Aunt Cassie. Her face was very pale, and she sat beside Sirius, gently squeezing his arm.

Cassiopeia nodded once. Her grey eyes looked empty, and even a bit guilty, which was not an emotion Draco associated with his fierce great-aunt, who tended to chastise the other members of the family for being overly scrupulous. In the Black family, that was saying something.

Granddad winced, and laid a heavy hand on Aries's shoulder.

'Good God,' he whispered. 'I'm so sorry, Aries.'

'It's not your fault, Granddad,' Aries replied, his voice cracking.

'But I encouraged you to use the powers it gave you,' Granddad insisted. 'If I hadn't...well, perhaps it would be easier to remove.'

'We all encouraged him, Abraxas,' Sirius said. His voice was hollow, and he was staring blankly at the wall. 'We're all at fault.'

Aries shook his head. 'I got just as much a thrill out of it as anyone,' he said adamantly. 'Besides, there's no evidence to suggest that it made any difference, right, Aunt Cassie?'

'I don't think so,' Aunt Cassie replied, looking more uncertain than Draco had ever seen her. 'So far as I am aware, there is only one way to remove it, and that would be true regardless of how attached you were to it.'

'What the devil's going on?' Draco demanded, stepping fully into the room. All eyes turned to glance at him mournfully, but no one said anything.

Aries looked back down at his cup, then spoke very quietly.

'I'm the last Horcrux, Draco,' he said.

'Very funny, Aries,' Draco snapped, but he noticed that there was not even a glint of humour in the eyes of any of his relatives.

'It's true,' his mum said sadly, and Sirius continued to glare at the wall, saying nothing.

'No!' Draco shouted, and ran to his brother's side, grabbing him firmly by the shoulders. 'It can't be!'

'It is,' Aries replied with resignation. 'I have a piece of Lord Voldemort's soul inside me. That's what makes me a Parselmouth, and that's what gives me a special link to Riddle's mind.'

'That filthy son of a Squib!' Clytemnestra spat, and all eyes turned to look at her in shock. The magically-impaired witch blushed scarlet. 'It's only an expression,' she muttered apologetically.

'What are we going to do?' Draco asked, not much caring who answered.

'I have to die,' Aries said quietly. 'That's the only way to destroy the Horcrux.'

'Screw that,' Sirius snarled, but did not shift his eyes from the wall for a second.

'Perhaps Dumbledore...,' Remus suggested, but shut up quickly at the others' withering glare. 'Well, there has to be some other way to destroy the Horcrux without killing Harry.'

'Professor Lupin,' Cassiopeia drawled in her very haughtiest tone, 'I am an expert in the Dark Arts. I have pored through countless forbidden manuscripts and ancient tomes. I have devoted my life to learning all that can be known, and many things that ought not to be known. I assure you: there is no other way.'

'You were talking about injecting basilisk venom into the other Horcruxes as a way to preserve their vessels,' Remus pointed out. 'Mightn't such an injection be a way to destroy the Horcrux without hurting Aries?'

'I have contemplated that possibility all night,' Cassiopeia assured him. 'But there is no way it will work. Basilisk venom is fatal, causing death to human tissue within forty-seven seconds. The Horcruxes, based on my calculations, need to be exposed to the venom for at least fifty-two seconds in order to guarantee their destruction. My method might have worked on the other Horcruxes' – here she glared accusingly at Sirius – 'but there is no way it would work on a living human being, especially a child.' She sniffed. 'Even if we had ready access to phoenix tears, it would do us no good, as saving Aries would also preserve the Horcrux.'

Draco sat pensively, painfully aware of the defeated expression on his brother's face. He hated to see Aries looking so weak, so helpless. And Sirius... Sirius looked as though he might snap at any moment.

'Then we have no choice,' Mum said. 'We must allow the Dark Lord to survive. We can fight him and do our best to keep him from returning to power, but there is no way to destroy him completely.'

Granddad snorted. 'It is very disappointing, is it not? To think that we, with all our knowledge of the occult arts, can do nothing to overcome that ridiculous half-blood.'

'It's because he knows everything we do,' Harry said quietly. 'If we fight Riddle on his own turf, he'll win.'

An idea suddenly appeared in Draco's mind.

'Then we'll just have to fight him another way, shan't we?' he said.

Sirius slowly turned his gaze from the wall and looked at the blonder of his sons, hope glistening in his eyes for the first time that morning.

'What are you thinking of, Draco?' he asked.

The boy squirmed nervously. He hadn't really thought of an actual plan yet.

'Well,' he said. 'If there's no way to beat Riddle with the Dark Arts, then we'll have to try something else. Something he doesn't know anything about.'

'White magic,' Sirius mused, and Draco nodded.

'Don't be stupid,' Granddad snapped. 'As though we could defeat the Dark Lord with the Disarming Charm!'

'Not neutral magic, Abraxas,' Remus interjected. 'White magic. The sort of magic that Voldemort could never master.'

'The power the Dark Lord knows not,' Aries mumbled, realisation dawning on his face.

'I beg your pardon?' Cassiopeia asked.

'Just something I saw in the Pool,' he said. 'The rest of the prophecy. It said that I should have "a power the Dark Lord knows not." It could have been talking about white magic.'

'There's healing magic,' Remus suggested. 'Perhaps Andromeda could help look into that.'

'There's phoenixes, of course,' Mum added, 'and the power of self-sacrificial love. But I have a hard time seeing how any of those could defeat the Dark Lord on their own.'

'I suppose I could examine the Hogwarts Library,' Cassiopeia observed. 'We might be able to find something. I'm afraid that my own researches into this field have been rather...perfunctory.'

Remus shook his head. 'I'm afraid you won't find much,' he said. 'One can learn a great deal of Dark magic and neutral magic by studying and experimentation, but to plumb the full profundities of white magic requires absolute purity of heart and intention. Such knowledge is gained through contemplation and direct apprehension. Few have been able even to undertake the journey, and fewer still have found what they sought. They left few writings, and what they did leave is usually incomprehensible to those who have not also begun the process of purification.'

Cassiopeia looked impressed. Draco noted that this was yet another uncharacteristic emotion he had seen on his great-aunt's face that day.

'You seem to have studied the subject thoroughly, Professor Lupin,' she observed.

Remus shrugged. 'I've looked into it a bit. At one point I hoped that we could turn white magic into a weapon against the Dark Arts, but I found out rather quickly that it doesn't work that way. White wizards seem usually to be rather unconcerned with Dark wizards.'

A funny smile appeared on Sirius's face, and he suddenly looked very pleased with himself.

'Like Nicolas Flamel, right, Moony?'

Aries and Draco grinned at each other, instantly catching on to their father's train of thought.

'That's exactly right, Padfoot,' Remus said, not realising immediately what Sirius was thinking. 'He was an immensely powerful wizard, but he didn't lift a finger to interfere in the war with Grindelwald or the war with Voldemort. Dumbledore always said that Flamel thought that Dark wizards didn't matter much in the long run.'

'I wonder if we might find something useful in his papers,' Cassiopeia wondered aloud. 'Dumbledore's been going through them for over a year. Perhaps we might find a way to slip in to Flamel's old cottage and steal a peek.'

Draco smirked. 'Somehow, Aunt Cassie, I think that would be a waste of our time.'

'You're right,' Abraxas agreed. 'Dumbledore's probably already stolen or destroyed anything of value.'

Sirius rolled his eyes, and Aries laughed.

'You lot are so dense!' Sirius said. 'Why should we rifle through Flamel's papers when we have the very source of his power?'

Clytemnestra squeaked in delight. 'Oh, of course!' she exclaimed. 'I'd quite forgotten.'

Cassiopeia, for her part, looked rather confused, but after a moment she too had understood what her nephew was on about.

'Naturally,' she said proudly. 'It's the most logical course of action.'

'Will someone tell me what the devil is going on here?' Granddad demanded.

Clytemnestra smiled at him. 'Didn't you wonder where that marvellous Elixir had come from, Brax?' she asked him.

Granddad's eyes widened in utter shock. He turned slowly towards Aries and stared directly at him, bright blue eyes into bright blue eyes.

'Is it true?' he asked in a whisper.

Aries nodded.

'Sirius told me that he'd got the Elixir as part of the blackmail deal,' Granddad sighed in wonderment. 'I'd no idea that you actually had one of your own. How did you get it?'

Aries shrugged. 'Nicked it. Draco and I, during our first year.'

Mum and Remus exchanged confused glances.

'Wait a minute,' Remus said quietly. 'Are you telling me...?'

Aries nodded. 'That's right, Uncle Moony,' he said. 'We've got our own Philosopher's Stone.'