This is not a full chapter, but just a pretty long author's note with some bits and pieces at the end, Sorry.
Anyways, as for this story, I know how annoying this is, but it's getting put on hold. I know this was probably people's favorite story that wrote, but I can honestly say it's not my favorite. The marauders and their classmates are so hard to write because of the large controversy surrounding them. All we know about them are from adult Sirius and Remus, who don't talk about their school days a lot, and a few memories from Severus Snape, who depending on your opinion of him, can be two completely different people, and in my opinion, the adult Severus Snape's words or even memories can't be trusted at face value. He was a professional double agent spy or two master legilimens, for goodness sake! Anyway, these people are very hard to write. This story is NOT ABANDONED! I just have no inspiration and it is being put of temporarily However, the idea is very appealing to me. I have to say that writing AU of the canon time period turns out so much better for me. For those of you reading Dark Lady Pendragon, it is a bit confusing but I promise I will untangle all of those knots.
As for this story, I know I kind of left off on a bad spot, I do have the majority of a chapter written, so here it is. It is unedited and will probably be changed when I get back to this story. But here it is, anyways. I do have an idea for a similar story, just a slightly different situation. Kind of like what I did with Morrigan Returns, because that was too much of an information dump as well as too many overpowered and confusing characters. But for this chapter, also thanks to Kalllanit with the story reboot for the idea of Ara Black. I tweaked her a little, but then again, there is no copyright in fanfiction.
Also, I know this breaks my schedule but I feel a bit guilty about not posting for this story or a while, and since the first chapter of Plan Omega 2 will be up this Wednesday, here is what I have of this before then, one of my teachers cancelled class, so i'm using that time to post.
Sirius Black was freaking out. His baby sister, Ara had called him by their communication mirrors. She was holed up in Jane's apartment, Jane being the squib turned muggle girl he had dated (meaning escaped to her place then hooked up for a bit) over the summer. Ara's birthday was September second, and when she didn't receive a letter over the summer, Sirius had gotten their father to not let Walburga disown her because her letter should come on her birthday. Now it hadn't. And Ara was desperately trying to escape with her life.
So, not ending the mirror call, Sirius ran to the office of the following only professor he thought could help. Dumbledore wouldn't, Sirius wasn't as naive to his ways as James. McGonagall, his former Head of Gryffindor house would only go to Dumbledore, because Ara was not one of her cubs. But professor Gryffindor? Sirius could only hope.
Twenty minutes later, he was ensconced in the professor's office, Regulus there as well.
"Black, the Gryffindor, what is it?"
"Ara… my younger sister. She turned eleven but didn't get her letter. The bitch, sorry, the woman who gave birth to all three of us, is trying to kill Ara. Please professor?"
"And why, Mister Black, did you not go to the headmaster?"
"Because. He wouldn't do anything. I'm not as naive as James. Please, my animagus form is a bloody grim, I've seen death personified. And Remus trusts you. You know what he is and why I trust his intuition."
"And what the bloody fucking hell do you think I could do for in-house politics?"
Regulus spoke up, the calmer of the brothers. "Well, for one you can get rid of the parselmouth curse that's on Uncle Arcturus that stops him from interfering, courtesy of the Dark Lord."
"No wonder. Of course Riddle would use that. The Blood Thief."
The brothers gasped. A blood thief was infinitely worse than a blood traitor. If that came out… and that he had used stolen magic on the Head of House Black…. He would be in hell on Earth. "Alright." Harry acted reluctant, but inside he knew he would do it anyway. When was there a better time to leak information? He hissed, bring me Ara Black, of her own free will. He made a parselmagic portkey and flicked his hand at it. A minute later, Ara Black appeared in his office.
"Black, all three of you. Miss. Black, may I scan you for any other magic than wanded magic? My senses are exploding at me."
"Of course, Professor Gryffindor. If my bother trusts you, so do I."
He muttered of a chain of spells in parsel, Ara gasping at the legendary language. "I bloody well knew it, excuse my word choice. Miss Black, you are an elemental. It's an extremely rare form of magic only seen in Squibs with magical older siblings. Water, to be exact. If you will allow me to train and document you, me or my fiancee can adopt you into any of our families. Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Pendragon, Emrys, LeFay, Peverell, your choice. I can say I am descended from a disowned member of House Black, something about not choosing to side with yet another dark lord, so I have heard stories of your house's legendary disownment rates. Misters Black, go to your dormitories. Miss Black, are you good to complete the ritual today? I cannot have the first known water elemental in centuries be killed because of some pureblood bigots foolishness."
"Of course sir," all three Blacks chorused.
"Professor? What house will you be adopting me into?"
"Which one do you want?"
Ara's eyes widened. Then her face hardened. "Would Emrys be possible? That house's element was known to be water, and, well, I have a Thunderbird friend. Imagine Walburga. Her daughter, disowned from House Black, now a daughter of House Emrys, descendant of Merlin."
"Heiress. I do think the irony will be fitting. Welcome to our motley crew, Ara Emrys"
"Thank you, sir. But how are you so powerful?" the eleven year old girl asked, staring up wide-eyed at her savior.
"Ara, this is one thing I hope you never have to learn on your own. There is only so much magical power can do. In that aspect I am completely average. What I do have in knowledge, a lot of it. If your entire ex-family were to come in and try to kill you through sheer force of magic I don't know if I can stop them. I'm not saying this to scare you. Because I know they won't. What do all traditionalist purebloods value most?"
She smirked a smirk even her birth mother would be proud of. "Their reputations."
"Exactly. What I can't do with my wand, I can do with my words. And so can you."
"Oh, I can." She did not look like an innocent eleven year old for a second. She looked like a young woman who was knocked down, but stood back up again, stronger than she ever was. "And I have a little secret too, if you can help me?" And it was gone. Back was the fragile girl who had just gotten rejected but was doing her damn best to build herself up again. She pulled a black book out of her pocket. Harry's eyes widened. He had not seen that book in even the first timeline, he had only heard rumors of it after the war, when somehow it's owner had survived.
"I have the master copy of Cassiopeia Black's Little Black Book.."
"The legendary biggest book of Blackmail, passed down though generations of powerful, spinster, black family witches. Ara Emrys, you may as well have just defeated Voldemort."
"Riddle, you mean, Tom Riddle?"
"Yes, him. Him and everyone else who has committed atrocities yet still remain free."
The next morning, a new tired but invigorated, mostly due to large amounts of pepperup potion, private student of Professor Gryffindor's was announced. Ara Emrys, water elemental. The ravenclaws figured out she must be a Squib as well, but after Ara's Thunderbird appeared in a crack of thunder like Dumbledore's phoenix did with fire, they all backed off. This girl was powerful, there was snow doubt about that. And Slytherin, the only house with enough traditionalist pureblood to care about Ara not using wanded magic was still too busy figuring out who in their house had a born basilisk as a pet, too busy to worry about Severus Snape arriving late to his dormitory, or even the arrival of Ara Black. It was a Saturday, however, and Professor Gryffindor had some home visits to make.
First was Charlus Potter about his son's use, or rather misuse of his invisibility cloak. Then was Arcturus Black, to inform him of the self-disownment and adoption of a former daughter of his house. And after that, after that was the introduction of Ara to the meddling headmaster. Fun.
First off, Charlus Potter. Harry cast a Patronus, speaking into his Chimera. "Mister Charlus Potter, this is your son's Defense Professor. I am Hadrian Ignotus Peverell, more commonly known by the name of a different ancestor of mine, as Professor Gryffindor. Your son was caught attempting to sneak out of my first lecture on the first class day using an invisibility cloak he claimed was an heirloom from the Peverell line. I, of course, confiscated it until the cloak could be discussed with his father, yourself. Please Floo me at Gryffindor's Quarters, Hogwarts."
A minute later a floo call came through. The face in the fireplace was of a man who had aged well, considering he was in his late fifties. "Professor Gryffindor, if you would kindly return my family heirloom, that I was well within my rights for my son to use. I will step through to retrieve it." He stepped through, dressed in the deep crimson and gold robes of a proud Gryffindor.
Harry was sitting at his desk, waiting for the man to come through. He knew next to nothing about his grandfather, Charlus Potter, but he would have to find out all about the man now, instead from a history book. James had also not kept any journals he could find before the time jump, so other than his name, Charlus, and the fact that his brother, Fleamont, who had moved out of the country a few years back to expand on his Sleakeasy's hair potion, had been a Ravenclaw while he had been a Gryffindor, and his wife,, James' mother, had been born a Black but also a Ravenclaw, which was, although not encouraged, accepted in the Black family, although marrying Charlus Potter was not, she had not been disowned, just excommunicated. No contact, but no disownment. The man stood there much like Dumbledore and James did, like he owned the place, except without Dumbledore's strong magical aura to back it up.
"The cloak, if you please?" Charlus demanded.
Harry looked up from his grading. "Mister Potter, I have double checked all records of family heirlooms, and by the legal definition of a family heirloom that would ban me from confiscating this for your son's misuse, the Potter family does not have an invisibility cloak on the British Ministry's or ICW's heirlooms list. Therefore, I am very much allowed to confiscate it and go over why I am doing so with the student's, in this case you son James, parents, in this case yourself."
"It's not a Potter family heirloom, but it's still my family heirloom."
"Your wife was born a Black, was she not? The Black family, or your wife specifically, do not have an invisibility cloak registered either."
"Merlin's beard, of course I know that. We're descended from the Peverell family, so I am very much able to claim it as a family heirloom. The Peverell family was assimilated into the Potter family when Iolanthe Peverell married Hardwin Potter."
"That was only a branch family, surely you know that? The last time the Peverell family was all concentrated in one branch was around seven centuries ago, when Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell, three brothers, were the last heirs of the family. Ignotus' branch was assimilated into your family. Cadmus had only a daughter who married into the Guants, while Ignotus was hit by a curse that rendered him and his bloodline only able to have a single son, until it wore off on my father, who is a direct descendant. So as a direct descendant of the eldest brother, especially considering I was born bearing the Peverell name, I am the Head of House, therefore this family heirloom, if it is one of the Peverell family and not a simple invisibility cloak, then it is more rightfully mine than yours."
"Don't lie to me, little boy. First about being of Gryffinor, then of Peverell blood. Gryffindor had no heirs, and neither did Antioch Peverell. Stop trying to steal something that belongs to me and my family." Charlus Potter nearly snarled. So this is where James got his worst tendencies from, thought Harry.
"And why would I lie? I have no use for an invisibility cloak, especially one so littered with tracking charms as soon as it entered Dumbledore's area. But if you wish, for verification, so be it." Then he cast the unmodified version of the spell Riddle used in the Chamber of Secrets his first time there. Riddle''s spell was modified to cast falling letters in the air that could be moved. The original spell conjured flaming letters of the caster's full name. He was thankful, now more than ever, that Hermoine had insisted on a ritual to fully, magically, change who they were.
His spell said, Henry Antioch Peverell-Black-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Ravenclaw-Emrys-LeFay. "A lot of blood adoptions on my end," he commented to Charlus Potter's now unconscious form. Cause of fainting, not even surprise at seeing so many famous families' names in one person's name, but rather extremely close proximity to floating, flaming letters. Whoops.
After reviving him, the meeting continued much more easily, though he stuck a dead end when it came to James using his cloak. In the end, it was resolved that the cloak was to be sent home with Charlus, who walked away to Dumbledore's office to ask about the tracking charms.
That's done, now the Blacks, Harry noted to himself. He had a distinct feeling that these would be the only people not brought down to open-mouthed gaping with his uncanny knowledge.