Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
Chapter II
Child of Black
Arcturus sat in his armchair near the fireplace with a glass of whiskey in his hands and his eyes on the crackling fire. He felt rather than heard Pollux and Sirius enter the wards with a third presence in their midst – one Harry Potter. Arcturus grimaced. He would not have a Potter in his house. Sirius wanted to keep the boy, but the closest Black relation Potter had was Dorea Black. He kept the company of Weasleys and Muggleborns. He idolised Albus Dumbledore. How could the boy possibly get any worse?
"You got the boy, did you?" Arcturus asked the two men.
Harry tensed. How foolish had he been to go with Sirius? The older man sensed his fear and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "Obviously," Sirius said.
"Petrified and Obliviated the Muggles," Pollux added.
Harry swayed dangerously as a sudden rush of dizziness hit him. He wasn't feeling well. He had even told Aunt Petunia, but she wouldn't listen. Pollux caught him by the forearms and steadied him.
"Careful there, lad. Are you well?"
Harry nodded slightly. "Fine," he muttered. "Just... got a bit dizzy."
The old wizard shook his head. "You'd best lie down somewhere. I'll get Cassiopeia to give you a check up.
Harry was led to a bedroom painted in dark greys and blues. He was placed on a bed reminiscent to the ones in Gryffindor Tower and before he knew it, darkness had taken over. He woke up again to the sight of a tall, intimidating woman with sleek black hair tied at the back of her neck, slate grey eyes and very pale skin. He shot up and his eyes darted around the room.
"Hold still," the woman snapped.
Harry weakly sat back down and allowed her to position him properly. "Sorry," he said, "but..."
"I'm Cassiopeia Black," she said knowingly. Sharp grey eyes looked down at him. "Quite the state you were given to me in... What happened?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly.
The woman sighed. "Very well. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you need anything at all?"
Harry shook his head. "I'm all right," he said quietly.
Cassiopeia nodded sharply. "If you need anything, you may ask a house elf. Call for Donny." She exited the room, leaving Harry alone.
The young boy sat up and tried to sort everything out. What did he know about the Black family? Nothing. Sirius opposed Voldemort, but what about the rest of them? Harry crept to the door and glanced through the staircase's bars. Cassiopeia was talking to Pollux and the old man in the armchair.
"I will not have a Potter in the house unless his Black blood dominates," the old man said.
"Sirius has made him his heir already," Cassiopeia countered. "He is a Black by name."
"But not by blood," the man growled.
"Shut up, Arcturus," Pollux said tiredly. "Cassiopeia – what did you find?"
The severe-looking woman regarded him with patronisation. "A rather... grand history of injuries," she said drily. "But this is not concerning; I had him healed in less than an hour. What I'm worried about is this."
She handed Pollux a scroll of parchment. Harry struggled to read the man's expression, but his face was blank. After a couple of seconds, he began chuckling. "Oh, well done, Sirius!" he laughed sarcastically. "Oh, this is priceless."
Harry nearly groaned in frustration. What had Sirius done? Cassiopeia pursed her lips. "What about the rest, brother?"
"Aries Arcturus," Pollux read, chuckling. "Why do I not see you smiling, Arcturus? This is very honouring, do you not agree?"
Arcturus grunted. "It would be, had Sirius not messed up so badly."
Harry furrowed his brow. Who was Aries? How did Sirius mess up? What was so honouring? He had to know!
"Wait till you hear this," Pollux said mirthfully. But he couldn't get the words out; he only threw his head back and laughed. "M-Merlin and Mordred!" he choked out.
Cassiopeia looked murderous. She grabbed the scroll from her brother and read aloud: "Leo Regulus – paternal half-brother. Elladora Bellatrix – paternal half-sister."
Harry raised an eyebrow. Who's siblings were they and why did it amuse Pollux so much? He wanted to go down to the drawing room and read everything on that scroll. He wanted to know. The young boy watched as Arcturus abruptly rose from his chair and glared murderously at his cousins.
"I beg your pardon?" he said icily.
"Ivy!" Cassiopeia barked. An elf immediately appeared before her and bowed lowly. "Get Sirius here. Now."
The elf shuddered and disappeared with an obedient "Yes, mistress".
Harry shifted in his place on the stairs. They creaked horribly, alerting the three Blacks of his presence. Harry winced and cursed his luck. Pollux looked gleeful – whether at the prospect of Harry eavesdropping or at being caught was unclear –, while his sister looked ready to kill and Arcturus looked utterly apathetic.
The Black woman was on the stairs in a flash. "You're lucky there are oaths preventing me from killing you," she hissed, grabbing him by the forearm.
Harry's breath hitched in his throat. "Look – I-I'm really sorry... I just... I didn't..."
Cassiopeia tightened her grip on his forearms and half-dragged him down the stairs. Pollux stared disapprovingly at her. "Now, love, let's not let our temper get the best of us. Leave the poor boy be."
His sister snarled at him and pushed Harry into an armchair. He didn't look at any of them, deciding instead to subtly check for escape routes. With a pang, he realised he had been foolish enough to leave his wand upstairs. Pollux patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"How much did you hear?" he asked calmly, kneeling in front of Harry.
"I – uh, I was – I heard you talking about Black and Potter blood and half-siblings and..." His voice failed him and he averted his gaze. The anger on Cassiopeia's face terrified him. It made him feel helpless. When Uncle Vernon got mad, Harry knew he wouldn't be able to hurt him too much in fear of 'freaks' breaking into his house and threatening him. When Snape got mad, Harry only thought that he was a professor and was forbidden to harm students. Now, he was helpless and vulnerable.
"All right," Pollux said soothingly. "That's fine, lad." He turned to his two companions. "Shall we tell him?"
Cassiopeia scowled. Arcturus sighed heavily and ran a calloused hand over his balding scalp. "We have to. He's got every right to now."
A different voice sounded from the doorway. "Can you tell me too? I'm afraid I'm a bit at loss as to what's going on."
Harry turned around to see Sirius leaning on the door frame. He sighed in relief.
"Sirius, my dear boy," Pollux began cheerfully, "care to explain why you've been sleeping around with your best mate's wife and your cousin?"
Sirius blinked. "Sorry?"
Cassiopeia passed him the scroll and Harry saw what it meant.
Aries Arcturus Black (alias: Harry Potter)
Mother: Lily Rose Evans
Father: Sirius Orion Black
Siblings: Leo Regulus Black (paternal half-brother; parents – Sirius Orion Black and Marlene Olivia McKinnon), Elladora Bellatrix Black (paternal half-sister; parents – Sirius Orion Black and Bellatrix Druella Black)
Sirius blushed. "I... I can explain."
"Please do," Arcturus said icily.
"Marlene was... my wife," Sirius began reluctantly, taking a seat. He sighed and fiddled with his wand, avoiding everyone's gazes. "This was my first little boy. My little lion... I left him with Marlene at home during the war to fight. I was on a mission with James, Fabian and Gideon Prewett and Charles McKinnon, her brother. When I came back –," He sighed heavily. "Lily told me... Marlene had been killed. Along with our little boy."
He took a deep breath and continued. "I was alone. James kept going on more and more missions alone, but Lily and Andromeda forbid me from leaving the house. They were afraid I'd do something rash. They knew I wanted to do something. Anything at all... Lily and I talked a lot. She wanted a son, but James had been turned sterile by a curse – Avery's curse, to be precise. They went to the wizarding orphanage to adopt a child, but they were refused; only pure-bloods were allowed to adopt. Dolohov's idea..."
Cassiopeia looked approving. One good thing that imbecile did, she thought.
"Then I don't remember much after that... James was away more time than ever and Lily and I spent more and more time together... I gave her the son she wanted. I wanted to take the boy and run; I was ashamed of what I had done to Lily. Of how I betrayed her and James. But I couldn't take him; he was Lily's. We constructed a complex glamour charm for him and Obliviated James of the sterility issue... We gave the boy the name he always wanted for a son – Harry."
Harry grimaced. He was a product of lust. This man had endangered his parents' love for his own satisfaction. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had been right – not even his parents had loved him. His own father had been ashamed of what he had done. The man he thought his father hadn't even known he was another man's son.
Harry felt disgust, shame, anger and guilt all at once. He wanted to run and hide, but Sirius kept talking.
"James and I... We both loved the boy more than life itself. I played the role of Harry's godfather. I wanted to come clean to James, but Lily begged me not to. He was so happy to have a child... She wanted to Obliviate me too; the guilt had been crushing me. But it was too late... The next day, Peter Pettigrew had given Voldemort access to Godric's Hollow."
Even Cassiopeia's expression softened. She placed a hand on Sirius's hair and stroked it gently.
"It was an ugly thing to do, Sirius. You took your best friend's wife for your own pleasure." Arcturus's voice was cold and angry.
The younger man didn't reply. He was lost in his own thoughts. His hands had tightened around the armrests and his eyes displayed guilt, horror, regret... Harry thought he even saw hatred.
"Sirius!" Pollux called sharply.
Sirius looked up at him with a miserable expression. "Yeah?"
"Continue. That explained the two sons, but what about your daughter? You know, the inbred one."
Sirius flinched violently. "Not here," he said. "Not in front of the child."
Pollux placed a hand on the back of Harry's neck. "Can you go upstairs for a couple of minutes? We'll call you when we're done."
Harry nodded obediently and left. Once he was gone, Cassiopeia wisely placed a silencing charm around the room.
"Well?" Arcturus said. "Go on."
"Remember in her third year, when Bellatrix went sort of... well, mad?"
At their nods, Sirius continued. "It got worse every year. By the time I was in sixth year, she was completely deranged. She'd scream at nothing in the middle of the night, she'd hallucinate, she had unexplainable and uncontrollable urges and she'd completely destroy anyone that got in her way."
He smiled bitterly and glanced at Arcturus's glass of whiskey. "Well, in the January of my seventh year, she got one of those urges. She was lustful. She wanted someone. Rodolphus tried to please her, he tried to calm her, he tried everything... Bellatrix was not impressed. During the Christmas holidays, she found me in an alley near Potter Manor."
Sirius ran a hand through his hair. This story was going to get very ugly. "She cornered me and held me at knifepoint. I think..." he swallowed audibly. "I think you know what happened. Nine months later, she contacted me again. I had my own home now. In Muggle London. She told me we had a daughter – Elladora Black."
Cassiopeia winced. "So your daughter is a product of incestuous molestation?"
"Pretty much," Sirius said. "Voldemort killed her himself. Bellatrix was his trusted lieutenant; he couldn't have her busying herself with a baby."
Arcturus rubbed his scalp. "I'm far too old for this," he muttered. "Whiskey, anyone?"
"I'll take the bottle," Sirius said drily.
"You drink yourselves to death," Cassiopeia said patronisingly. "I will go check up on Harry – I mean, Aries..."
"Harry," Sirius corrected. "You will call him that unless he corrects you."
Cassiopeia nodded and swiftly left the room.