The Heiress Black—Chapter 5
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to J. , KHR belongs to Akira Amano. I'm just using their characters. Don't dis me for ignoring cannon.
Happy New Year everyone! May 2021 not be as awful as 2020 was. Sorry for the delay in posting, I forgot to upload the chapter earlier.
Despite triple-checking this chapter, I found misspellings and a few grammar issues. But I quit caring as my ADHD meds wore off.
The Vongola conference room was filled. Rumors of an emerging Familigia which had already dominated the United Kingdom were flying, the family expanding to the Continent rapidly. Worried, Tsuna had called a full meeting of the Guardians, the VARIA and key members of CEDEF, as well as inviting the Arcobaleno and the ever-loyal Dino Cavallone. Despite the carefree atmosphere of the room, something Tsuna's fourteen-year-old self thought impossible, there was tension underneath the casual conversation.
Absent were Xanxus and Mammon, which had never occurred before. Xanxus was devoted to Vongola; for him to not be at the meeting boded ill. Odder still, Mammon had not appeared. For a man whose motto of "time is money, do not waste mine," to not be at a previously scheduled engagement escalated the tension.
As the door opened, Tsuna sighed when it was the appearance of the perpetually late Don Cavallone, Dino, and not his missing family. "Excuse me, Squalo?" He finally cut into the conversations, "where are Xanxus and Mammon?"
"VOI! I don't know! He disappeared earlier after Mammon left. He got a shitty owl yesterday and canceled his work for today, and left this morning. Boss trailed the Miser and hasn't checked in!" Squalo was panicked, the fear of his Sky being frozen again haunting him. "He isn't answering his phone, nor is the Miser."
"Well, let's keep calling. They cannot ignore us forever," Tsuna said determined, pulling out his own phone and dialing. As it rang, he was relieved at the appearance of Mammon's familiar Mist Corridor.
"Trash," drawled the VARIA Boss, "Why so scared?" He said as he moved to the side.
Squalo let out a sigh of relief. "VOI! BOSS! DON'T DO THAT! You're late! Where have you been?"
Before Xanxus could say anything, two more people stepped out of the Corridor. A young teenager, fifteen or sixteen estimated Squalo, was escorted by Mammon. An unhooded Mammon, which was rare. He was startled by the similarity of the duo; could this girl be a relative of the Mist?
Despite having relaxed at the familiarity of the Boss's flames, Squalo remained angry at his friend. "Where the fuck have you been? Who the hell is this?"
"Language Trash," Xanxus drawled, as he escorted the girl to the seat beside his, "there is a Lady present."
The room went silent. Xanxus was calling out someone's language? "Is it an UMA?" asked Hayoto, his voice hushed.
A soft giggle broke the eerily quiet room, "I'm sorry, but that language is nothing, Xanxus. I have spent the past five years in a boarding school where we were unsupervised the majority of the time, at times I was forced to live on the streets,and I have been trained by Slytherins in dueling and sword-fighting. I may be a Lady of the Black, but that language is extremely tame in comparison."
For some of those in the room, it had taken a few minutes to recognize Mammon without his hood. When it clicked, it was a challenge to hear over the cacophony as voices overlapped.
Unable to decipher exactly what was being said, Tsuna chose to speak over the mayhem. " Xanxus, Mammon, thanks for joining us," Tsuna pulled out his Reborn-taught and enforced manners, hoping to keep the meeting peaceful. "Will you introduce your companion for us?" Facing the lady, he gave a small bow. "Hello, I am Tsunayoshi Vongola, and this is my family. We are joined by members of the VARIA, the Arcobaleno elements, as well as longtime friend and ally, Dino Cavallone."
Xanxus watched, eagerly anticipating the coming chaos. With a smug look, the Miser Mist gestured to Jade. "This is my daughter."
Unsurprisingly, it was Reborn erupted first, unable to stick to one language in his rant. Finally settling on Italian, he said, "We were cursed into the bodies of babies for decades! There is no way you have a kid that old!"
Never breaking his pure blood mask, the Mist listened to his friend's rant for a few more minutes before he decided to cut in. "If you are done, I will explain," his accent slipped, regaining the cadence of his childhood. "This is my daughter, verified by the Goblins and our flame bond."
"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Mammon's still unnamed daughter greeted them in a slightly accented Italian. "I am Jade Black, heiress Black, Lady Peverell. It is a rather long explanation if you would like to hear."
Tsuna nodded, his guardians eager as always for new gossip. "Please, Lady Peverell, we are extremely curious. Our business can wait for now. Please, take a seat. Can we get you any refreshments?"
"Tea would be lovely," she said as she settled in the chair between her father and his Sky. "Before we begin the interrogation, may I know to whom I am addressing?"
"Of course Daughter," her father answered, slightly flushing from not having thought to do so. "From the left of Boss, we have VARIA officers Squalo and Lussuria, with Prince Belphegor to my right."
"Oh," Jade suddenly stood and curtsied to the Prince. "My apologies your highness, I did not recognize you immediately. It is an honor to meet the Lost Prince of Prussia," she said as she retook her seat after the Prince signaled. "You bear remarkable resemblance to your cousin Gabriel."
"Shishishsii, the Prince shall speak with the Lady later," the startled blond slowly said, a hint of the unique bronze eyes peeking through his bangs.
"Well," Regulus blinked, not having expected his daughter to identify a prince of the isolated magical nation so quickly. "Around the Decimo are the majority of his guardians, Kyouya Hibari in the back, Hayoto Gokudura to his left with Takeshi Yamato and Vongola lawyer Hana _, with his mists Mukuro and Chrome to the right." When each were named, they gave a small gesture of hello. "Lounging at the end of the table are my fellow Arcobaleno elements, Colonello, Lal Mirch, Skull, Verde and Reborn."
"Skull de Mort?" Jade sought clarification. At his nod, she smiled. "Hello cousin, it is a pleasure to meet you. Your line was thought to be lost after your disappearance into the mundane world."
Skull was startled, she knew his birth identity?
Leaving no room for any dramatic reaction, Regulus quickly introduced the last group present, the Cavallone. Dino, unable to resist, questioned Jade if she had any connection to Peverell Stables.
Surprised as very few even knew of the exclusive ranch, she answered in the positive. "I revamped the stables five years ago... we had been privatized for so long it was near forgotten. You are of the Cavallone Racing Stables? Your family have been patrons for decades. It was suggested I see you if I had trouble while in Italy."
Dino smiled, planning to speak more to the young lady at a later time, knowing the time was not right then.
"Well," drawled Reborn, fingering his faithful Leon gun, "she knows our names Viper. Explain how you have a twelve year old daughter when it should be impossible."
"It is a long story, Mister Reborn, and I am almost sixteen, not twelve. It begins with a false prophecy, a greedy wizard, and me being kidnapped almost immediately after I was born.
"Mere hours after I was born and registered as a Black, Albus Dumbledore arranged for my abduction and murdered my mother. He then placed me with the Potter family, as James was one of his most loyal, and charmed Lily to believe I was her daughter, replacing her stillborn son.
"Due to the close relation the Blacks have to the Fae Realm, as well as a bloodline curse, the men of the Black Family have always held a precarious grip on their sanity. The sudden severing of the marriage bond, as well as the interruption of the parental bond caused my father to snap.
"Records show a month after failing to find me, Dad chose to use a risky family heirloom with the intent of traveling back in time to the week before my birth, but it overshot and sent him back decades. When he arranged his life in his present, he consulted many different oracles and learned he would not be able to interfere because of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"Because of James' stupidity in calling me his daughter in public, after he and Lily were murdered, along with their unborn son, I was magically declared Lady Potter at fifteen months. I have suspicions from Lily's diaries and some things that Sirius had said to me that they suspected my true identity, but were unable to do anything.
"With the Potters dead, Sirius was thrown into Azkaban without a trial, and Grandfather Arcturus was never able to get him one before his suspicious death by my seventh birthday. As I had no guardian, Dumbledore chose to place me with Lily's Squib sister, claiming blood wards, as well as other protective wards. However, none were placed. Instead he erected multiple wards targeting me. The first examination uncovered magical suppression wards, and wards that would incite hatred and violence. When the Curse-Breakers examined the actual house they uncovered dozens of charms, all intending to make me submissive and a pawn for Dumbledore."
Jade took a sip of tea, and removed a stack of folders from her bag. "It was bad there for the first few years. After Dudley discovered his own magic, it got a bit better, but was still horrible. For the first three years, I lived in the cupboard under the stairs and wore rags. When Dudley turned four, he was able to convince Mrs. Dursley to get me clothes that at least fit, saying it was freakish"-flinching as she said the word- "to have me in his old clothes. He also managed to get me into the second bedroom then by saying he wanted the cupboard.
"He could not prevent them from beating me, he was able to lessen it by distracting his parents, but by the time I was seven we had an underground network organized between the neighborhood kids. We must have been the only suburb in the mundane world where everyone underage kept a diary. The old goat loves memory charms," Jade said, a sad look on her pretty face. "After anyone turned eighteen they immediately lost their memories and believed whatever the Dursley's said. We learned it was a targeted ward, and only were able to remove it this past summer."
The room was filled with disquieted muttering, Hana taking notes rapidly as she plotted legal vengeance for this sweet girl. "Thanks to the family tapestry, Lady Narcissa Malfoy and Madame Andromeda Tonks knew I was alive, despite being unable to locate me, not even through an elf. I later learned they would send a package everyday, hoping to make it through the mail wards. It usually took my magic about a week to break it whenever I was able to flee the Dursley house, but we were lucky if I made it longer than a month without winding back there. And I would always have false memories when I woke up.
"When social services were involved, it was never more than a week before I was returned. After the sixth time, I gave up that route and switched to just running away, living on the streets after escaping.
"It took months, as we learned nothing personal would make it to me, but Aunt Cissa managed to get a note directing 'a friend of this recipient' to Charming Street for a certain date and time when I was eight. That's when I was able to meet them in person and connected them to our network. Aunt 'Meda is magic-sensitive and could detect the blocks, and she took Lee and I to the Goblins within an hour of meeting us.
"That's when the Nation got involved. Even if I was a nobody and had no connections to anyone in the Wixen world, they would have treated me right away. As you know, Dad, when you first go to the bank you have to give a drop of blood to activate your key, and it detects if the Wixen has any blocks. With how we looked and at how furious Aunt Cissa was, the desk worker sent us immediately to a Healer. The amount of blocks Dumbledore had placed on me would have killed me by the time I came of age.
"I was in the healing chamber for three days before they even considered letting me leave, and the only reason they did was because if I didn't show up in Surrey in the next two days we knew Dumbledore would track me down. I had sessions with the goblins every week for three months before they declared I was out of danger.
"That didn't mean they had fixed or removed everything though." She winced and took a folder out of the stack. "It would be easier to let you read the initial list of damages than to say it, but there is more." She then removed a massive binder—at least three inches thick— and passed it to her father. "This is my current medical file. It is linked to the Healer's chart at the Bank."
Regulus paled at the size of the folder and quickly excused himself. The door to the room hadn't even closed when they heard massive explosions beginning. "There goes this month's damage count," Tsuna sighed, hoping to break the tension. "We were so close to beating our previous record."
Jade laughed, grateful for the distraction. "I should not have much more added to the file, thankfully," she said, embarrassed by the massive size. To her, the file showed her weaknesses; Jade could not see how her friends thought her strong after learning what she had suffered. "I have hopefully my last appointment with the Healer tomorrow afternoon. And it is to have two scars removed."
Knowing how scars were viewed as a sign of strength and were status symbols to the Nation, Jade defended her reason to the room of strangers. "I am not ashamed of my scars. I just need two removed. The whip marks, the burns and all the others I can handle. But I cannot have the lightning bolt branding my forehead anymore. And the one from the ritual I was used in to quote, resurrect the Dark Lord, it is filled with dark magics. Plus it looks like a suicide attempt... something that I am tired of being questioned on. The rest of the scars are something I earned. I got them because I survived. But those two," her voice broke, "those two scars are brands. They are symbols of the "girl-who-lived' and they are not me."
Lussuria nodded, "I know what you mean sweets. I have helped remove scars from others because of the placement or meaning. If you don't mind, I would like to see your medical file. I am a Sun, and Medical Officer of the VARIA.
Regulus had returned by the end of his daughter's explanation, "I trust Luss, Jade. It is your decision, but I recommend it."
The girl slowly nodded, she was drained from telling just the start of her story. "If my father trusts you Ma'am, then I will. Just, please, not now."
Lussuria smiled, understanding that there was only so much Jade would be able to handle publicly. "We know what has been released in public about your story, your Quibbler article was published here as well, in addition to the articles from the tournament two years ago. You don't need to relive those for us dearie."
She sighed with relief. "Thank you, there is just so much that I would need to say. But if I skip the school year adventures — really Dumbledore's tests— I can just tell you about the secret life I've lived.
"Aunt Cissa brought me into the dark pureblood circles when I turned ten, having spent the previous two years focused on my health and teaching me what I needed to know as Heiress Black. By the time she introduced me under a code of secrecy, Aunt Cissa, Uncle Lucius, and Cousin Draco had already established that I was not the golden girl and on the Light Side.
"As the Peverell Lady, I am magically bound to be neutral, and it has allowed everyone under twenty-one to be so as well. The youngest Lord Marvolo Slytherin has ever allowed someone to swear loyalty was while he was in school himself, at age fifteen. After that, he would not accept a vow to his side before the twenty-first birthday and final core maturation. He does not want to have someone swear loyalty to the Dark before then.
"So even before I was introduced, Lord Malfoy had circulated the coming of the Peverell-Black Heiress, which led to the resurgence of the Black Underground. As Goblin-Friend, the Nation has assisted to the purchase of almost all of available Magical Britain, and the plan to step out for my seventeenth birthday, sooner if you agree. They apparently were bored, and Gornip notified me of the Nation's decision to begin expanding after they had already begun dominating the Continent.
"With the entire dark-grey faction understanding my neutrality and their support, I control the Wixen world. Oddly, the dark side prefers it as they know I have to be neutral, so the courts are fair game. I work with Lord Slytherin a surprising amount for someone who is supposedly my nemesis, as he respects me and apparently admires my revenge plot."
The quiet apart from Jade's talking was broken by a groan from Lal Mirch and Tsuna. "You're the family that has the Underworld in a dizzy," sighed the Decimo. "No wonder we couldn't find out anything...you're protected by the goblins."
"Guilty," smirked Jade as she elegantly sipped her tea. "However, I need to make some calls or some of my protectors will raise hell. Apparently, I cannot take care of myself, or so the Slytherin Quidditch team thinks. Fall of a broom fifty feet up once and you get coddled for life," she ended in a mutter.
Tsuna stood, "I can show you to a room if you would like privacy to make the calls."
"That would be lovely. I know you are all just waiting to explode and plot vengeance."
Tsuna escorted her out of the room, and as the door shut, Regulus opened the folders Jade had left behind, and immediately paled.