Summary of last chapter:
- Fate messes with two lost souls and reincarnates them in the past
- Voldemort and his death eaters attack the Shafiq family, the entire family line goes extinct and the manor is destroyed
- Hogwarts Divinations Professor Philomena Bitterwood prophesizes a third side created by two lost souls
Chapter 2:
31st December 1973, England, Malfoy Manor:
Elsewhere in England, multiple Lords came together for a meeting to discuss the latest headline.
„Where are Lords Notts and Rosier?" asked Lord Reefelt Lestrange his fellow Lords.
„It seems like Lord Voldemort got his claws into the young Lords" said Lord Arcturus Black with a grimace.
„Argh and so again our group becomes smaller" said Lestrange in a tone that signaled his disappointment. And he was right. Other than house Nott and house Rosier, the houses of Crabbe, Goyle and Carrow had once been a part of their block in the wizengamot. There were more houses in their alliance of course: houses Flint, Bulstrode, Selwyn, Travers, Avery, Yaxley, Trembley, Orpington, Fudge, Max and (until their extinction 3 years ago) McTavish but they were only junior members and thus not represented at this meeting.
„What do you make of this?" asked Lord Marvin Macmillan into the group.
„This is a tragedy, no not a tragedy, this is an outright disaster" exclaimed Lord Burton Rubisheart with wild gesticulations. And it wasn't a surprise that Lord Rubisheart was distressed, House Rubisheart had been a long time ally of House Shafiq and now that their most important allied house was basically gone their own standing had been impacted. Additionally Burton Rubisheart had no siblings and only one son who had only a daughter so far himself. Being only a temporary house on the Wizengamot they were now likely to lose their seat after the current term which would leave house Rubisheart in a difficult position.
„I agree" muttered Lestrange „they could atleast have spared young Monteban to keep the family name alive"
„Well from what I have heard from my son, Monteban Shafiq was actually supposed to be left alive and brought to Lord Voldemort" said Lord Abraxas Malfoy who had only fairly recently become the Lord of his house and had already made a name for himself for being a level headed cunning businessman.
„What? Was this why my son was brutally tortured to death?" exclaimed Lord Eric Greengrass. The death of his son had thrown house Greengrass into an uproar and it remained to be seen if Voldemort had made an enemy of the grey family.
„Hmmm it seems like that but you have to keep in mind that young Qeldon went against Voldemort's wishes" said Black in a lecturing tone.
„It was an accident!" shouted Greengrass in fury.
„Even if it was, Voldemort naturally had to make an exemple of your son to make sure that there will not be another failure" Black continued.
„Regardless if the death of heir Shafiq was an accident or not this event is worrying enough, even if Voldemort intended to leave heir Shafiq alive." said MacMillan.
„Once again I have to agree. For all his posturing as the champion of the pureblood cause he seems to have no problems in killing off said purebloods." said Lestrange
„Mhm first the mysterious death of the late Lord Yaxley, then the murder of most of the Lovegoods and the outright extinction of house McTavish, then the attacks on the Prewetts and the Browns and now this. I wonder what his true goal is as it seems like he has no problems in killing his fellow purebloods" muttered Black.
„Don't forget the attacks on the Weasleys and the McKinnons or the two assasination attempts on Charlus Potter" threw MacMillian into the room.
„Hah perhaps he wants to clear out the bloodtraitors first before going after the mudbloods" said Malfoy sarcastically with a grin. His fellow Lords looked at him incredulously.
„Lord Malfoy, this is a bad time to joke about this. We have just lost a family of the sacred 28!" said Rubisheart.
„I hate to agree but he is right." said Lestrange „I do not want to order my sons to remove themselves from the Dark Lord's influence but as it is looking right now I am worried that they have joined a two faced man."
„Wait both of your sons have joined Voldemort?" asked Greengrass and (after getting a grim nod in return) gave his fellow Lord a sympathetic smile. „Well I am glad that my heir doesn't seem to want to join Voldemort atleast."
„It seems he has more brains than his late brother then. I cannot say the same about my granddaughter Bellatrix however. It seems like young Rodolphus has managed to pull his new wife into this mess" muttered Black.
„Well to be fair Bellatrix is crazy enough to have joined the Dark Lord herself. And before you ask my dear sister has seen enough of her granddaughter to tell me that" grinned MacMillan.
„I ask you not to speak ill of my granddaughter." said Black glaring at his brother in law.
„Stop bickering you two." said Malfoy with a grin, a grin that quickly turned into a grimace „As it stands my son Lucius unfortunately seems to insist on joining Lord Voldemort soon aswell."
„Ahh the foolishness of the youth" sighed Rubisheart sounding suspiciously like Dumbledore in that moment.
„One can only guess where the lot of us went wrong. As it is now I advise you to keep a close eye on your heirs or you might yourself in a similiar or even worse situation than house Greengrass" said Greengrass with a grim face.
„We'll have to see what the Dark Lord does next" said Lestrange, effectively ending that topic, before asking what the next point on their agenda for that day was. And so the meeting continued for quite a while.
1st January 1974, Scotland, Hogwarts:
Albus and Minerva had luckily managed to get Professor Albatross to swear an oath of secrecy regarding the prophecy earlier that day and (after sleeping over it) was now thinking about what it could mean. It was fortunate that the other professors especially Professor Yaxley weren't there to hear the prophecy as he wasn't sure if he could trust Yaxley.
Two souls have been linked, two souls that were astray,
The first line was pretty obvious and at the same didn't mean much,
but the two souls were fated to get together or so it seemed. Whether that was in friendship or even more that he didn't know.
Ignored by death, they became fate's chosen,
The second line flummoxed him, especially the first part. What did being ignored by death mean? Would they be immortal? Albus certainly hoped not, there was no way he would let two immortals lose on the world. The second part worried him a lot. If they were immortal and fate's chosen that would mean that they were likely to mess up everything he had worked for during the past few decades.
One will change the fate of the prophesized son,
Here he had no idea what that could mean... who would the prophesized son be? Voldemort? No Voldemort's fate was pretty much set in stone... unless... no he didn't want to think about it. Maybe Albus himself? Maybe but Albus was pretty sure that his fate was in his own hands. No it had to be someone young who didn't have their fate in their own hands yet and who could be
guided... he would have to get to this at a later point.
One born to darkness will set events in motion,
This one worried him the most. The darkness here could only mean one person and that was Voldemort. Voldemort didn't have any children that Albus knew of... perhaps Voldemort was hiding that he had a child? … no Albus was sure that Voldemort didn't have any kids... yet... yet! Albus came to a realisation. What if the two souls mentioned weren't born yet? This changed many things as they could still be guided to the light Albus was sure of it.
What things this child would set in motion was unknown, Albus had to wait to find this out. That also meant that the prophesized son might not be born aswell yet and that he might be born within the next few years.
And when an important event is done,
Albus hoped that it would mean the death of the dark lord... or atleast a terrible blow to his ambitions but if these two weren't even born yet there was little chance that this event would happen anytime soon.
The two will start to lead the third side's way
This in combination with the previous and the second line meant that he would likely have to intervene at some point. A third side in the war (because what else could it mean?) would mean no good. He wouldn't allow his progress to be destroyed. This line also implied something worrying however. Albus had hoped that Voldemort could be stopped within the next 3 to 5 years, but this likely meant that the war would go on for a while. He really hoped that this wasn't the case but he had a sinking feeling that Magical Britain would suffer for a long time.
5th January 1974, England, Black Manor:
Regulus Arcturus Black was currently home as it was the winter holidays.
It was almost time to go back to Hogwarts and Regulus wasn't sure if he could do it, he knew that he would have to but he didn't really want to. He had just lost his best friend a week ago for fuck sake. Eventually he had to get over Monteban's death and find a new best friend, Regulus knew that, but right now he just wanted to stay in his comfort zone. Regulus didn't know it yet but this trauma (while not stopping him on his road to become a Death Eater) along with a few other factors would lead to him eventually abandoning Voldemort without any guilt.
later
„Is he still not willing to come down?" asked Arcturus Black his son Orion Black who only sighed in response.
„Hmpf your lack of answer tells me enough, he has to go back to Hogwarts in 2 days but I want to speak to him before that. Tell him that Orion!"
„As you wish father, I will give him time until this evening, then I will take him to your study" replied his son dutifully. Arcturus sighed again, he could understand his grandson, really he could. He felt the same after the war against Grindelwald had cost him quite a few of his friends and he was a lot older back then than young Regulus was right now.
„By the way where has your heir gone to again? I haven't seen him all day"
said Arcturus and it was Orion's turn to sigh.
„Sirius has been locked in one of the abandoned rooms on the 5th floor for the past 11 hours as punishment" That this punishment was given by Walburga, Orion's cousin (and wife) didn't need to be said both knew that she was responsible.
„What? For what reason? When did I give my permission to give out such a punishment? Why have you not told me this earlier you foolish son? Where is your wife Orion, where is she?" raged Arcturus. Orion only sighed again.
„Walburga wanted to teach him a lesson for still hanging around with the Potter heir and his followers. She is at another tea party right now, this time with the Rosiers and the Yaxleys" replied Orion, letting the other two questions stay unanswered, hoping that his father wouldn't press him to answer them. Sure his wife's screaming could be unbearable but it was more annoying than scary, now his father on the other hand... there was a reason why most of the dark faction had rallied behind Arcturus Black, you did not want to anger Lord Black. Sure there were some genuine alliances, with the Lestranges, MacMillians and the Greengrass' for example, but most of the houses in the dark section of the Wizengamot voted with the Blacks either out of opportunity or out of fear.
A few seconds later and it seemed he was lucky today as his father merely dropped his face into his hands and said
„Argh that woman... remind me again why I ever let you marry her, Orion".
Orion merely grimaced „I wish I could remember father but I was too lovestruck at the time"
„Hmpf.. Get your heir out of his prison cell, might aswell have a talk with him aswell" muttered Arcturus.
„There is still one thing I wish to talk about with you father"
„Hmmm? What is it Orion?" muttered Arcturus looking up.
„Father I ask you to make Regulus your heir instead of Sirius"
„Now why would I ever do that Orion?"
„Sirius does not see reason and seems hellbent on staying on his path on becoming another blood traitor, Regulus is much more fitting to become Lord Black, he will even join the Dark Lord's cause upon his graduation!" said Orion picking his words carefully.
„And that is the exact reason why I won't make Regulus my heir you foolish son! He will only get himself killed! Sirius will likely live in 10 years where Regulus likely won't if he stays on this path! Honestly has the death of the Shafiq's not shown you how little Voldemort actually cares about the purebloods?" raged Arcturus.
„The Shafiq's were an exception father" said Orion trying to convince his father (and himself) that joining Voldemort in the future would be a good thing for Regulus. He regretted that sentence within 3 seconds as the air around him literally grew cold.
„Oh yes? Is that so? Then what about the Lovegoods? 2 family members remaining. The Prewetts? 5 family members remaining. The Browns? 3 family members remaining. Our former allies, house McTavish? Gone completely! And what about minor pureblood families like the Redbeavers, the Jamecks, the Pinescrews, the Dendlons? What about them? All gone thanks to this Dark Lord! And more will join them in extinction as it doesn't seem like Minister Jenkins or Dumbledore will be able to stop them anytime soon!" shouted Arcturus enraged and Orion (knowing a lost fight when he saw one) quitely retreated, walking to the room he knew his wayward son was in.
**End of Chapter**
Characters in this chapter (and the amount of chapters they have been in):
- Arcturus Black (1)
- Reefelt Lestrange (1)
- Abraxas Malfoy (1)
- Eric Greengrass (1)
- Marvin MacMillan (1)
- Burton Rubisheart (1)
- Regulus Black (1)
- Albus Dumbledore (2)
- Orion Black (1)