A third chapter before the end of the month? Wow, I sure am spoiling ya'll! But then again the chapters are fairly short compared to my usual 10 page (on my laptop) chapters.
Please leave a review, let me know where I can improve and what ya'll like so far.
~MJB~
Chapter 3 - Reflections
June 29th, 1992 - 2 days before Meissa's 12th birthday
Location: Nigri Sanctuarium
She has spent the past four days, since she discovered the tome, finishing up her summer homework and writing a letter. The letter itself took less than a few hours to finish and sent off with her godfather's owl, Hermes. With her homework completed and her letter written she knows she doesn't have much left to distract her from Rieger's book and the fact her birthday is only two days away is slowly starting to freak her out a bit.
Her birthdays have always been a source of tension for her. Her earliest memory of her birthday was with her Aunt Walburga. The embittered woman did nothing to celebrate her birthdays, often wallowing in her drinks and cursing her eldest while lamenting her youngest. She can recount the countless stories her aunt told of her two sons.
Sirius Orion and Regulus Arcturus Black.
She knows quite a lot about the eldest of the pair, not helped by the fact that he also happens to be part of the group responsible for making her godfather's years in Hogwarts miserable. One mention of Sirius' name would likely leave Uncle Severus in a dark mood for the entirety of the day if not the week. Meissa learned that fairly early on when she made the mistake of asking him about why Aunt Walburga kept ragging on about someone who has been disowned from the family.
In her opinion, her aunt shouldn't have been spending so much time tearing into a son she disowned.
"Meissa!"
She looks away from her desk, closing Rieger's book after marking her place.
"Meissa, come downstairs!"
It's her godfather.
She places the tome in a drawer before leaving the room, calling out to her uncle that she'll be there soon.
Navigating the manor always take a bit of effort since her room is on the second floor. The corridor her room is located in is locked behind a hidden door and to open the door she has to locate the constellation and tap the stars in the correct order. It's no different than the set up at the Malfoy Manor - it would be more accurate to say that her room at the Malfoy Manor was set up to be like her room in the Nigri Sanctuarium.
Once she has the door unlocked she shoulders it open enough for her to slip through before allowing it to shut behind her. Once she was past that obstacle she quickly walked over to the stairs, looking over the banister to peer down towards the floor below.
It does not take her long to locate her godfather and she sees that he is talking someone with long blonde hair.
"Aunt Cissy!" she calls down, recognizing the shade of blonde. Also, the only other adult she knows with blonde hair would be the Lord Malfoy and his hair is a few shades darker than her aunt's. She still finds it a bit amusing that someone from the Black family would have platinum blonde hair but she has learned early on not to make any comments about it.
Cygnus Black and Druella Black née Rosier
Grandfather Cygnus has black hair, according to the portraits she has seen of him, and Grandmother Druella has dark brown hair. She'll need to investigate the family tree, on both sides, to discover where the blonde hair came from.
"Meissa," Narcissa greets, looking up at her goddaughter. "I see you're not ready."
She blinks and looks at her aunt in confusion. "Ready for what?"
Her aunt sighs - she's too far to hear it but she can see the actual movement of her aunt's chest - and shakes her head in disappointment. Her godfather gestures for her to come downstairs so she takes the quick journey down, hopping the last two steps as she smiles brightly at her aunt.
"Meissa," her aunt sighs, reaching up to brush back her goddaughter's wild auburn hair. "We're going to Diagon Alley for your birthday present, remember?"
"Oh," she mutters. "I thought you were jesting about that." She doesn't want to admit that she completely forgot about the plan. She's been absorbed in studying the books on runes and taking notes. Remmy has been the one to remind her to eat as well as supplying her with migraine potions before they start to get really bad. Remmy has always been one to take care of her out of all the house elves in the manor.
"I never jest about shopping," her aunt remarks in an offended tone, as if such a thought shouldn't have even crossed her mind. "Now, go and get ready. We'll leave in ten minutes."
"Yes, Aunt Cissy," she answers dutifully, well aware she shouldn't attempt to argue with her aunt about shopping.
She hurries up the stairs and back into her room, calling for Remmy once she is inside. With a crack the house elf is there, standing on her school trunk she had left at the foot of her bed.
"Mistress Meissa call? Remmy help!"
"Yes. Please make up an outfit for me to wear to Diagon Alley," she requests, opening her the small silver star shaped jewelry box to retrieve the raven feather shaped earrings. Placing them is relatively simple, even without a mirror - not that she wanted one in her room at all. After her eighth birthday she broke every single mirror she saw until her godparents finally saw that there is no point on repairing the mirrors if all she was going to do is break them. After that they removed all the mirrors in her room and the bathrooms.
Her aunt hasn't quite removed the mirrors from the room in the Malfoy Manor - at least, she hadn't since her last visit. So far she hasn't decided if it'd be safe to return there.
"Remmy done!" she hears the house elf exclaim, drawing Meissa from her thoughts. She looks over to her bed to find that Remmy has chosen her outfit. It consists of a pair of black slacks, a white silk button up shirt - she hadn't been aware of owning this particular shirt - and a black vest. It's an outfit she would be proud to wear at any time.
"Thank you Remmy. You chose well," she praises, watching as the elf wiggles her ears in glee. "Just pick out a c-," she stops when she sees a light summer cloak floating out of her cabinet. She rolls her eyes in amusement before she starts to change out her casual clothes.
She chucks off her soft t-shirt and shorts before getting dressed, making sure to tuck in the tail ends before she zipped up the pants. She picks up the vest before noticing that there's a subtle trace of what appears to be a floral design. The stitching is done in a few shades darker than the actual fabric so it makes it almost hard to detect it.
Once the vest is on and cinched up she turns towards Remmy. "How do I look?" she asks, making minor adjustments to the sleeves, straightening them out until the shirt and vest were sitting right.
"Mistress Meissa look amazing!" Remmy cheers before, with a snap of her fingers, the cloak zoomed over to Meissa. Used to Remmy's antics she already has her arms stretched out so it was easy for the cloak to slip onto her. Her black traveling cloak looks plain but the lining of the cloak consists of a silver velvet material.
It's one of her favorites to wear, her Aunt Cissy had to get it replaced since she outgrown her old one. A lot of her clothes had to be replaced since she outgrown them by a few inches. The rest of them has gotten a bit threadbare in some places.
She makes a note to herself to get some muggle clothes to replace her old ones since they're the only ones that are more than a few years old. The chances of getting her aunt to replace them are slim and she'd have to bother her godfather into taking her out or buying her some. At least before she heads over to Hermione's home for the month.
Hermione told her, before the great feast, to bring casual clothes. When she asked her to elaborate on that she was told explicitly to bring jeans and shirts that do not involve buttons. Unfortunately, that eliminates a lot of her wardrobe for consideration.
"Mistress Meissa!" Remmy exclaims, snapping Meissa out of her thoughts. She looks at the house elf, noticing that she's nervously wringing her hands together. "Mistress Narcissa says shop now."
Meissa grimaces as she realizes that she may have unintentionally been stalling by thinking random things.
With a frown to herself she heads back downstairs, her wild mane bouncing over her shoulders as she takes the steps by twos until she's finally on the ground floor. She gives her aunt a bright smile before blinking at her when the woman sighed and brushed back a stray strand of Meissa's hair.
"Did you brush your hair at all?"
"Um…"
Her aunt sighs and motions for Meissa to walk out the front door, telling her uncle to not expect them back until late.
~MJB~
Meissa is feeling pretty nauseated when they finally arrive at Diagon Alley, apparitions always make her just about ready to empty her stomach into the nearest bin. Once her stomach finally started to settle she looks at her aunt, wondering if they are going shopping for clothes.
"What are we doing today?" she finally asks when her aunt is less than forthcoming with their agenda.
"We're here to buy you a birthday gift… And it's time we find you a familiar," Narcissa remarks as she walks, scarcely looking at her niece to ensure she's being followed.
At the mention of a 'familiar', Meissa's brain skipped a second before she hurries to catch up with the older witch. "Really?" she asks excitedly.
"Yes. You're old enough."
"Why didn't I get one last year?"
"It's a tradition in the family," Narcissa answered simply.
"Draco got an owl," she reminds her aunt.
"He's the heir to the Malfoy line, not the Black line," Narcissa remarks drily.
She arched an eyebrow at her aunt. "But you're trying to educate him."
"You've noticed how well that has gone."
Meissa hummed thoughtfully, thinking about her cousin's behavior over the last year. His behavior was unbefitting for a Black, or rather her ideal of the Black family. She hasn't actually lived with a relative other than her Aunt Walburga when she was a child. Everything she has learned about the Black family she was taught by her Aunt Cissy and she still can remember her great-grandfather's words.
So maybe she should start a new tradition.
She already completed the paper works and they've been submitted to the Wizengamot so she's waiting until Gringotts find the signet ring. She'll also need to review the laws and traditions regarding the Major families. Preferably before she accepts the ring. Being in charge of the family estates, finances, and political stance will require a lot of her time.
She has every intention of changing the Black family's stance on certain things. Blood statuses being one of them.