Chapter 7: Bright Silver
The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was called Professor Hiker, a Mudblood and reasonably grumpy. Wasn't too bad, Sylvia must admit, at least nowhere near as bad as Professor Afstin, the teacher they got in their second year who taught them like training soldiers. Professor Hiker was a Hufflepuff in his time of Hogwarts and taught them mostly about defence spells.
Quidditch season began in November, Gryffindor won against Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw team's training was going well. She wasn't too satisfied with their new Chasers that replaced Alnia Lilium and Dorcas Mollis, but they could do with some time. Mora Viehe, Sylvia's dorm-mate, had stepped up from relief Chaser while Alnia's younger sister, Lily-Rose Lilium had got into the team.
As their fifth-year, or O.W.L.s year, the teachers had all started the first lesson by talking about how important the Ordinary Wizard Level test is, before throwing masses of homework to them and starting to reverse nearly every single subject they've learned.
It was after their last class when it happened. The thing that changed her life. The students streamed out of the Potions classroom just like any other Fridays.
"Sylvia." Tim cornered her on the way to the library.
"What is it?" Sylvia turned to face him.
He took a deep breath as if trying to say something very important, "Will you go out with me on the next Hogsmeade weekend?"
"Come again?" She heard exactly what he said but had to check. Tim repeated what he had said, looking very serious.
"I..." Sylvia blushed, not sure what to say. She couldn't just go off with a mortal if she was really Asgardian, and if she was in for space wars, then he would most definitely be in danger because of her... "I – I can't... I'm really sorry, Tim, but it's a no."
"Are you -?" Tim looked as if he wanted to ask something, but stopped himself, "Fine."
"I'm not having feelings with Rodfort or any of the Slytherins, if that's what you wanted to ask." Sylvia sighed, "I know it's not illegal in the Wizarding World, but it's not that. We can still be friends, but I just – "
"- Don't want to go out with a half-blood?" He narrowed his eyes.
"No. It's nothing about blood status, nor about Slytherin and hate for Muggles." She cleared.
"Then why?" Tim questioned.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you." Sylvia looked down.
"I thought we share secrets at the very least?" He raised his eyebrows.
"This is not the childish kind of secrets." She replied.
His eyes suddenly widened, and Sylvia prepared for the rant, but it never came, "You are a Metamorphmagus and hid for five years?"
"WHAT?!" She stared at him before looking at her own hair.
Pitch black. Not dark brown.
"Excuse me." She rushed to the nearest bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.
The girl in the mirror stared back at her. She had pitch black hair that was longer than before but still wavy, and her skin paler. And the eyes...
Silver.
Not Blacks' steel silver, but softer. She had seen those eyes before. Not in the old family photos from Kreacher. It was more like Uncle Cius', Draco's, and Scorpius'.
Definitely a Black and Malfoy child, then.
"Of all the stupid things!" Sylvia hissed and went for the Headmistress' office.
"Miss Black." Professor McGonagall appeared from the corridor, "What brings you here?"
"What do you think brings me here?" She questioned, outranged, "You murdered my mother, changed my appearance into the most non-Black you could come up with, threw me into a Muggle orphanage and into the most neutral wizarding family you could find! I swear in Odin's name, when Thor comes back from space and finds a new Asgard, this will be settled!"
"Calm down, Miss Black." Professor McGonagall suddenly looked old and tired, "Let's discuss this in my office."
"What is left to be discussed?" Sylvia muttered but followed up to the circular office anyways.
"Miss Black, there are many reasons for the attack on your family – "
"Reason." She laughed coldly, "It's tradition and religion, not reason. If any of them had any reason, I wouldn't be an orphan right now. Even Albus had said it, I saw, even Albus Potter had said that Slytherin is a house of evil and of Dark Wizards, no need to mention loads of the others. For decades Slytherin and pure blood became the representations of evil, of dark. It hasn't changed and it never will."
"That's the fine makings of Lady Black." The portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black murmured.
Portraits. That reminded her of something. "Dumbledore told you to do this, didn't he?" Sylvia accessed.
"Miss Black, I believe I have told you to calm down." Professor McGonagall said coolly.
"Only a Gryffindor would be so obsessed with Slytherin." She muttered and thought she saw Professor Snape's lips twitch slightly.
"I must admit I did." The portrait of Dumbledore said rather cheerfully.
"Kreacher... that little traitor told you the location, correct? Curse him for being around the Order for so long." She continued, "Should have never let him come in and out of Hogwarts freely. Why in Merlin's name is Slytherin so unpopular? Muggle-borns and half-bloods. Why are they so dark? People forced them to. No one would ever believe a nice Slytherin exists.
"You are all blinded by the Wizarding Wars to see things properly, and now you are teaching your children to be the same! You didn't notice the changes of Hufflepuff because you are all concentrating on the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry." Sylvia said darkly.
"There are points in that." Professor Dippet's portrait said thoughtfully.
"The four houses of Hogwarts must unite, or they'll be divided forever, and countess people will be blinded." She seethed and strode out of the door. She didn't even bother walking up close to open it, and banged it open with air force.
Sylvia had no idea how to explain this to everyone. Her appearance change was the most obvious. But she had one thing to do first.
"Matilda." Sylvia found her in the dormitory. Thankfully, they were alone.
"You haven't talked to me in the last three months, why start now?" Matilda Potter looked up, "Did you have an accident in human Transfiguration?"
"No, this is my real look. Did the Potters say anything about your past?" She asked, serious.
"They treated me like one of them, why?" Matilda narrowed her bright green eyes.
"Didn't you realize?" Sylvia sighed, "They're probably your parents."
"Wait, what?" Matilda glared at her.
"You've got Harry Potter's eyes and his grandmother's hair." She pointed out, "Feel free to find Lily." At that, Matilda rushed off.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do." Davina came in right after.
"Yep, I know." Sylvia avoided her friend's gaze, "Look, you know I'm Sylvia Black about a year ago, but I didn't look like one." Davina nodded slowly, "And now, for some reason, the spell broke and now I'm who I'm meant to be again. Malfoy's eyes and Black's hair."
"Why would they do that?" Davina frowned.
"To keep me from the truth, but they forgot one thing." She grinned, "I'm the brightest witch of my age, I'm bond to figure it all out someday. Even Dumbledore miss-calculated."
"Wait, Dumbledore's involved?"
"Exactly! His portrait's poking his nose – even though it's broken - into everything he can reach just like when he was alive." Sylvia rolled her eyes, "He told them to attack – perhaps not the killing bit – and Kreacher gave them the address, then wiped my memory and got me raised in the Ollivanders. A horrible choice though, putting me into a Ravenclaw family kind of helped me to discover it. Found out I was Obliviated in first-year."
"True. I can't believe they did that... especially Dumbledore!" Davina stared at the starry ceiling.
"Not everyone grew up hearing about all the great things about Dumbledore, and he's not a God."
Rodfort was the next.
"Have I not told not to mess with stuff beyond our level?" He frowned at her.
"Have I not told you to use your brain?" Sylvia retorted, "Think, Rodfort, think. I'm Sylvia Black now."
"Oh!" Rodfort breathed, "They charmed your appearance?"
"Good thing to know you've got a brain after all." She smirked.
"How do you think I got prefect then?" He rolled his eyes, "Do we need Scorpion King?"
"Better get him. What's the password again?" Sylvia asked.
"Salazar." Rodfort replied and went into the wall, followed by her. The Slytherin students inside looked up when they saw her, but they were used to it by now.
"Your passwords are very easy to guess, you know? Just think of every word about Slytherin and snakes and pure-blood." She smirked, "Gryffindor's are much harder, they're totally random."
"And Ravenclaw's is just an open studying area for anyone who's smart enough to answer the riddles." He responded.
"Yeah, but Hufflepuff's never changes." Sylvia replied, "Hi, Scorpius."
"Merlin's beard, what happened to you?" The Head Boy nearly chocked in the butterbeer he was drinking.
"Look into my eyes and guess." She sat next to him.
"Malfoy's eyes." He breathed.
"Correct. This is me." Sylvia looked into his eyes and it was almost a reflection of her own, "Where's Al?"
"He's snogging Eudora." Scorpius gave a chuckle.
"Eudora Ferretfern?" Rodfort looked surprised.
"Pure-blood, in case you ask." Sylvia glared at him sharply.
"I wasn't going to." He glared back.
"You were. Don't think you can lie to me." She smirked, "Good thing Aunt Bella didn't teach you Occlumency." Rodfort groaned.
The rest of the term was busy, and Sylvia decided to go to Grimmauld for Christmas for the first time. Matilda wasn't talking to her still and accepted the truth about her parents quietly.
Sylvia had gotten used to it. She was used to Matilda not talking to her and became distant, she was used to Tim shooting hurt and hopeful gazes at her every time they passed each other, she was used to her appearance change, she was used to being in the big dark house on her own. She was used to this life.
The time of lone didn't go wasted. She spent more time caring for the creatures in her trunk. Toothfull, the Vipertooth, was nearly full-grown and she planned on releasing him into the wild in Easter. Scorch, the phoenix, had his wound from the Fiendfyre healed and, seeing he was so close to Toothfull, was going to find where he belonged with the dragon. Hermia, the Chimaera, and Northey, the Nundu, were still a while away from being adults, but they would stay there anyways for they were too dangerous to be wandering around on Earth. Tanisha, the Basilisk, was going to stay as well for Sylvia didn't want any more killings in Hogwarts, Mudbloods or not. Sherell was the most loyal and tamed of them all, and the Swooping Evil chose to stay by Sylvia's side until her last moment.
Apart from being inside the trunk, Sylvia spend some time exploring the house. She wasn't that bored to count the bedrooms, but she did find a lot of interesting things. Grandmother and Grandfather's study was one of the darkest places around the whole building, Uncle's Siri's was the brightest (the most rebellious), the room that Buckbeak the Hippogriff was kept was a mess, while Father's room still had his Death Eater mask in the cupboard. She found that Father played Seeker for Slytherin in his time at Hogwarts and found his notes on the Horcruxes of the Dark Lord. The Black Library she found a year ago still had tons of books for her which Hogwarts banned.
When she finally made her way to the basement, there was a shocking discovery. By the light from her wand-tip, she narrowed her eyes at ag big cardboard-like figure covered in dust.
It turned out to be a portrait, but nearly forty years' worth of dust had blurred the face of the person that was painted. Sylvia wiped away the dust at the bottom edge and saw the name that nearly gave her a heart-attack.
Regulus Arcturus Black.
"Father?" She breathed in disbelief.
"Who's there? For thieves, you're rather noisy." The voice sounded young. It was probably painted before he died, which was about seventeen or eighteen.
She quickly wiped away all the dust with a flick of her wand and stared at her Father. The young man and sitting up straight in front of a wooden desk with his hands together on the table. His had short, pitch black hair shining in a shade of dark blue, with steel silver eyes.
"I do not know of a daughter." He continued, not aware of the vanished dust, "Define yourself!"
"I, Sylvia Nymphadora Black, daughter of Martha Malfoy and... you." She replied softly.
"Martha..." That seemed to click something, "Is she well?"
"Mother... died." Sylvia answered with slight difficulty, "Killed – murdered during an attack on the house. I was raised by the Ollivanders until last summer."
"What about Sirius?" Father frowned.
"Uncle Siri was killed in the Department of Mysteries fighting for the Order of Phoenix." She began listing people from his time because portraits wouldn't have the memory of what happened after it was painted, "Aunt Narcissa had Draco with Uncle Lucius and Draco had Scorpius with Astoria Greengrass, Aunt Bellatrix had Delphini with the Dark Lord and Rodfort with Uncle Rodolphus, Professor Snape – he became the Potions Master then Headmaster - was killed by the Dark Lord's snake, Nymphadora married Remus Lupin and gave birth to Teddy Lupin before the couple was killed in the Battle of Hogwarts, and most of the Death Eaters were still alive. You died in 1979 while exchanging the Horcrux in the cave and got pulled into the water by Inferis. Harry Potter – Lily and James Potter's son – destroyed all of the Horcruxes and defeated the Dark Lord."
"What year is it?" Father asked after taking it all in.
"It's 22nd December 2023 today." Sylvia replied, "This was probably painted in 1978. I was born in 2007 and Mother died in 2013."
"And Kreacher?" It was obvious he cared about the house-elf.
"He's still around but is mainly working for Hogwarts, ordered by Harry Potter." She sighed, "He was the one that gave away the cottage's location to the Order. Hayley does all the work in the house now."
"How's Hogwarts?" He changed the subject.
"Well, I'm in Ravenclaw because my memory was wiped when the Order attacked, and I was raised in a Ravenclaw family. In first year, I found out I was Obliviated, became an Animagus, used Polyjuice Potion to revenge for a friend, got Sherell – the Swooping Evil – and Greyback's werewolf pack attacked the school, Professor Bowen was killed, and a student was turned.
"In second-year, I got into the Quidditch team as Seeker, Delphi – Dark Lord's daughter – attempted to mess with time and bring Dark Lord back but kind of failed, then during the search of Scorpius Malfoy – Aunt Cissy's grandson – and Albus Potter – Harry Potter's son who went off with Delphi and believed they were saving a boy named Cedric Diggory, I found the Chamber of Secrets and discovered a chicken's egg in it. It hatched and Tanisha, the Basilisk, is in my 'zoo'. I also found a Chimaera and a Nundu in Forbidden Forest.
"Then, in third year, I managed Legimancy and Occlumency, retrieved my memory and found out who I truly am, then it's the journey of finding out about my childhood and stuff.
"Not much has happened in fourth year, I became Quidditch team captain and explored this house and got to know my relatives.
"Last summer I joined the Avengers and found I was of Asgard – that place it real and so is Thor, Loki, Odin, Frigga and so on – before helping out on saving the world and fighting a mad purple alien from Titan called Thanos. Me being from Asgard is the source of my elemental powers – Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. Matilda Potter – the other girl who was taken from her family and adopted by Ollivanders, we've been together for ten years in total – broke up with me for she couldn't take the shock of being a Goddess. Then I became prefect and found out they changed my appearance as well as my memory, then my real appearance showed up when I had quite a big emotional shock." Sylvia finished and took a deep breath. She hadn't revealed so much to someone before.
There was silence. The two pairs of eyes locked gazes for a long time.
Bright silver and steel silver.