Chapter 2: Life in the 1970s
Wow, people are like... actually reading this. Wild. Sure, a few of those views are just me, but still! Thanks for reading my thing. I'm still trying to figure out pacing and such so this chapter's a bit shorter than the last and I don't really know how long they might be in general. It just seemed like a good place to stop so I did. Hope you like it!
Living in Wizarding Britain in the 1970s was not an easy task. No one would ever claim that… no one of course other than the Purebloods who were making it so difficult for everyone else while following a man who was becoming less and less so with every ritual he underwent and wearing black robes… allegedly.
For the common witch and wizard, life was rough. Diagon Alley, normally a hub for activity, was becoming more and more empty every day. After a few attacks that the Aurors seemed almost helpless to stop, people had taken to only heading to the shopping district if absolutely necessary, rushing wherever they needed and quickly leaving.
For one family though, life was particularly trying. The Tonks-Blacks spent most of their days hiding out in their new home, helping their shapeshifting daughter work on getting her powers under better control and keeping an eye on their trilingual son.
After Leo's second birthday party Arcturus had started trying to track down sources on the language of cats, looking into history reports potentially of the Gryffindor line, however he hadn't managed to drum anything up. There were reports of Animagi being able to speak to the animal that they could turn into, but it had to be the specific one he could, so unless the two-year-old was somehow simultaneously a toy lion and toy snake animagus… that didn't seem likely.
Upon hearing this potential explanation, Sirius had confessed his, James, and their other friend Peter Pettigrew's abilities that they had learned during their time at Hogwarts, surprising Andromeda and Arcturus at the normally jocular Black's dedication.
With no real lead on where to turn, they had let it lie and made sure to keep as tight a grip on his talents as possible. Still, the attacks had seemed to pick up and Arcturus had mentioned that he had received several letters from Walburga and Bellatrix about just where their niece/sister had moved.
Still, there was some happiness. James Potter had finally gotten his act together and proposed to his girlfriend and they would be married in the spring of 1979.
"Hey Mommy, come look! Leo's eyes are like mine!" Dora's voice rang out through the house. Andromeda's eyes widened in shock and she quickly bolted up and rushed to her daughter's bedroom.
The now six-year-old girl was sitting on her bed with her younger brother and grinning, pointing to his face. Andromeda let out a gasp when she saw that one of his eyes was a bright green and the other an amber. However, the color alone hadn't changed. Both of his pupils were vertical.
Andromeda started breathing heavily as she lifted up her son "D-dora sweetie, have you seen Leo do something like this before?"
Dora blinked and scrunched up her face trying to remember "No Mommy, this is the first time"
Andromeda let out a long breath and nodded, heading back downstairs for the fireplace, Dora cautiously following. She kneeled down and grabbed some Floo Powder "Black Manor!"
The fire lit up green and parted slightly to reveal a foyer. With a small pop, the house elf Boppity appeared, wearing a dark gray pillowcase with the Black House crest on his breast "Hello's Missy Black. Is you's wanting to speak with Lord Black?"
Andromeda nodded "Yes please, Boppity, tell him that it's about Leo" The house elf nodded, his ears flapping gently before popping away once more. After a few minutes, Lord Arcturus Black entered the room and approached the fireplace from his side.
"Young Andromeda, Boppity informed me that you had some information on Leo? Has something else happened? He can't also speak bird or badger too can he?" Nymphadora giggled while Andromeda shook her head.
"No uncle, nothing like that thankfully. However his… his eyes have changed colors and are… well his pupils are vertical"
"Hmm… almost like say… a cat or a snake?"
Andromeda flinched "I would… say so. Still it's surely not possible that he can have been born an Animagus is it? And no one's ever had two animagus forms before!"
Arcturus sighed "I'm not sure how true that is. Would it be alright for me to speak with Minerva McGonagall about this? She is a master of Transfiguration and an Animagus herself as I'm sure you well know. There are a few other experts I might consider consulting as well. I know that the Lovegoods are well versed in the more… rare aspects of magical creatures."
This brought a snort from Andromeda "Yes, my lord, I have read a few Quibbler articles before. If you feel it would help then please feel free to. Just try to keep your discussions in as vague terms as possible"
Arcturus nodded and pulled back "I will of course maintain discretion as best I can. I will let you know what I discover" With that, both pulled their heads back and the Floo faded.
Time moved on. McGonagall had had no information on people who were born with the Animagus ability. Unlike Metamorphmagi, Animagi were always learned, not inborn, as far as she was aware. Apparently Xenophilius and Pandora Lovegood were out of the country so Arcturus had not heard back from them.
Winter rolled into Spring and James and Lily's wedding was upon them. The Auror candidate and Charms apprentice were both very happy despite Sirius' best man speech going in depth on how rocky they're relationship had started throughout Hogwarts.
In addition to James' aged parents, Lily's mother, and the Tonks-Blacks, several members of Dumbledore's resistance were in attendance, in addition to the old wizard himself. He had reached out to Ted and Andromeda a few times about joining but they had decided to focus on their children.
Scattered around the party were a bevvy of redheads that weren't related to the bride, the Weasleys and the Prewetts, with three young boys running around, and another two a bit younger than Leo held in the Matriarch's arms.
Bill and Charlie, three and one year older than Dora respectively had taken the young girl under their wings, getting a laugh when she turned her hair as red as theirs, with another girl named Hestia, a year older than Charlie also following them. Meanwhile, Percy, who was a year older than Leo, was mostly staying by his father, while the redheaded twins Fabian and Gideon Prewett, took each infant twin that was named after them from their slightly frazzled mother.
Alice Longbottom had stood beside Lily as her maid of honor just as she had for the older woman the year before and now she and her husband Frank were talking with Professors Flitwick and McGonagall.
Dumbledore himself had had to leave shortly after the ceremony was finished. Being the 'only man that the Dark Lord feared' led to quite a busy schedule.
Spring gave way to Summer and once again it was time for Leo's birthday party. After the past two years, Ted and Andromeda had both decided to just celebrate as a family. After a fun evening at a muggle pizza place, both let out a relieved sigh when they didn't discover anything else weird about their son on the day.
A few weeks later, Arcturus sent them a letter that he had finally gotten in touch with Xenophilius Lovegood and that he would be meeting with the man soon.
With a quiet pop, Lord Arcturus Black appeared before the chess-piece shaped house of the Lovegood couple. He approached the door and knocked quietly, a quiet crash echoed out and after a moment a tall, slender woman with long blonde hair and pale blue eyes opened the door.
"Good day to you Lord Black, please come in" Arcturus nodded and stepped past Pandora, glancing around at a very plant-filled foyer. "Xeno is in his study, just go down the stairwell then back up twice and it will be the second door on your right"
One eyebrow raised slightly as he glanced over the serene woman before nodding and walking past following her instructions. While not too common in the Wizarding World, there were some houses that didn't exactly follow a… sensible pattern, similar to Hogwarts.
After going downstairs, turning around and discovering a different stairwell and heading back up two floors, he walked down the hall and knocked on the second door. "Please come in!"
He pushed open the door and entered into a bit of a mess of a room. All over the wall were a mess of newspaper clippings and drawings of animals, some muggle, some magical, some… more interesting still. Sitting at a desk marred with ink blots and what looked like some claw marks was a man with slightly wavy pale blonde hair and currently attentive darker blue eyes.
Xenophilius stood and offered his hand "A pleasure to meet you Lord Black. I gathered from your letter that you have some… theoretical questions about rare magical talents related to animals."
Arcturus took the hand and nodded "Yes…" Both men took their seat "I was just wondering if you had ever heard any information about people being born with animagus abilities"
Xenophilius' eyes rose for a moment "Really… as a matter of fact I have heard of such, but they are mostly found more commonly in Slavic regions, Greece, or Rome." The blond stood and walked over to a bookshelf full of large tomes and glanced over it before pulling one off that the title had long since faded off of the spine.
He sat back down and looked through it for a bit before showing it to the Lord Black, with an image of a young child turning into a foal. "The main belief of these origins are considered to be descendants of the gods. Most gods from the Graeco-Roman pantheon had shapeshifting abilities and Loki was one of the most well known form changers from the Norse pantheon. The talent has rarely appeared in Britain. Though in most cases people that are natural-born Animagi are also related to Metamorphmagi for similar reasons. The blood of the gods is constantly shifting.
There have been theories that most of that blood of the gods has distilled into muggles at this point, so it would be more likely to find such cases in muggleborn. In fact, the last three metamorphmagi, including young Nymphadora Black have all had a muggleborn parent…"
Arcturus raised an eyebrow as Xenophilius trailed off and his eyes flicked over "It was quite a story when the Lord Black suddenly decided to welcome back a daughter of Black who had married a muggleborn" The blond continued
He let out a sigh before nodding "You Lovegoods. Hiding your intelligence behind your eccentricity. Your father was the same way" The blond's smile grew as he sat back in his chair "Yes we believe that Leo Black might be an Animagus. He… displayed the ability to speak to snakes on his first birthday… and the ability to speak to a lion on his second"
Xenophilius's eyes widen in shock "That is… new. I've never heard tale of someone with multiple Animagus forms… well, at least ones that are so wildly different. Some natural born Animagi actually have multiple similar forms, within the same species. There is no real agreed upon term since it's mostly just told in legends but the term that I've chosen to use is… Animagenus!"
Arcturus stared at Xenophilius for a few moments "Based on the muggles designations of animals…?"
The blond smiled, his blue eyes taking a slightly more dreamy expression "Yes I believe it fits well. Still, if he displayed the ability to speak to both animals so different… your young nephew could be the first example of a Dual Animagenus! He could potentially even combine both animals into… a kamadan or perhaps even a chimaera!"
Arcturus let out a long breath "So the child has the potential to turn into some of the deadliest animals known to our world?"
"Potentially. Hell, there are rumors that Salazar Slytherin could turn into various snakes himself, including a Basilisk towards the end of his life. These are just rumors of course but if he could, Leo Black has the potential of becoming a very dangerous person if he were to so choose."
Arcturus sat in silence for a few moments before nodding. I think it would be a good idea for you to meet with the boy, see if we can trigger any further transformation. This was all prompted by his eyes changing to two different colors, both with vertical slits."
"Fascinating. I would love the opportunity to observe him for a bit. I am by no means an expert on Animagi in general, but you're unlikely to find anyone else within the country except perhaps Dumbledore or I suppose You-Know-Who, depending on how they might've looked into such 'rumors.'"
Arcturus nodded. "I would have to swear you to secrecy for their sake, I'm sure you understand. If, when he's older, Leo would like to document his abilities, then that would be his prerogative, but right now, I'm sure the Dark Lord would either seek his death or to have his aunt take and raise him to his will."
Xenophilius nodded "Of course. Once you work out the wording, I will be more than happy to meet with the family and to see what we can learn."
Arcturus gave a final nod before rising and shaking the man's hand "Now then, just go down the stairwell you came down one flight, take the next two rights and the foyer will be through the third door on your left" Xeno instructed with a small smile.
Arcturus let out another small sigh before following the instructions and finding himself at the front door once more. Pandora was standing there idly controlling a feather duster as it floated around the room, a couple portraits sneezing as they were cleaned "I hope your meeting was helpful, Lord Black. Now that you're your own Lord once again you are welcome anytime."
"Thank you Mrs. Lovegood. Depending on how our followup meeting goes I might just take you up on that" He headed back outside and with another crack left the Rookery behind.
Ted's eyes widened in surprise after his wife had handed him the letter from Arcturus. "Y'know, come to think of it, my grandfather always did tell proud stories about how he could trace his roots back to the Vikings through his mum…" the muggleborn murmured.
Andromeda's eyebrow raised, unknowingly in a very similar way to her uncle's "So what, you really think you're a descendant of the god Loki?"
Ted shrugged "It wasn't too long ago that I believed magic in general was just as fake as the pantheons that Mr. Lovegood mentioned. It is an interesting statistic that the past three Metamorphmagi have been half bloods. So what do you think, should we invite him over to look over Leo?"
Andromeda let out a sigh "I'd really prefer our son not become some sort of experiment… then again, I'm sure if it became well known that is all he'd be to the Unspeakables…"
A shiver ran down Ted's spine. It was called the Department of Mysteries for a reason. Next to nothing was known outside of the Minister's office about just what went on down there, and even then, it sometimes felt like they had even more power than the minister. The most well known thing down there was The Veil because it was occasionally used for executions. When the most well known artifact was a mysterious doorway to… somewhere, it left one to wonder just what else was down there.
"Alright, so we avoid letting the Ministry know, we avoid letting the Dark Lord know…
"...so it's looking like our best bet is this relatively unknown man with a tabloid." Andromeda finished with a sigh. "If he can actually help us, I'm sure that we or Lord Black could work up a contract easily enough to ensure his discretion…"
"Right then… looks like I'm a demigod" Ted joked with a smirk. Andromeda scowled and shoved him gently before letting out a quiet laugh.
"Well, Mr. Demigod, you can look after the kids while I go out with some friends"
"Oh come on, Andi! Andi I was just joking! I'll make them love me more than you!" He called after the backside of his wife as she dashed from the room with a louder laugh.
Living in Wizarding Britain in the 1970s was not an easy task; no one would ever claim that. However, there were always ways to find moments of happiness, even if there was no sign of the end yet. A spark of hope might form in a few months in a small room above a dingy bar, but for now, those whom the Dark Lord considered his enemy took whatever solace they could.
Y'know, this looked a lot bigger when I was writing it versus uploading it. I doubt I'll spend too too much time on this pre-book stuff, since I'm basically just making it up as I go. I'll probably start going through the years even faster now that I've basically revealed just what Leo is. So yeah... Dual Animagenus... that's... that's a thing. That's the name of it. Don't at me. Next chapter will probably be the lead up to a certain Halloween but who knows. I sure don't! Anyway, see ya next time! Thanks again.