Haylan was nervous.
Haylan was more than nervous because he was inviting all of his extended family into his home, including his boyfriend, and telling them his secret.
Haylan thought he might throw up from nerves alone.
Haylan wasn't the only one nervous though, the Black cousins had argued with him a lot over the last week on if telling everyone that he was once Harry Potter was a truly intelligent decision. But Haylan didn't want to keep such a large secret away from the rest of his family. Better to handle the fallout before his coronation was upon them. He also needed a strong front to present to the public and having the entirety of his family behind him would provide the support he will need. It was wild that he now had a family. Something he only dreamed about having when he was starving in the dark of his cupboard. He used to wish and pray for a family to come to save him.
Haylan saved himself though, he got out of that hell hole on his own and found family along the way. He would take what Mother Magic had granted him and appreciate his blessings.
But for now, Haylan was sitting in the family parlor of Caliban Castle, sipping on his tea, and trying not to overthink the conversations he was about to have.
Sirius is waiting at the floo to direct everyone to the parlor and Haylan was practicing his breathing so he could stay calm through this meeting.
This would be fine. He hoped.
Narcissa was worried for Haylan. When she entered the parlor she knew that the others wouldn't be able to tell what a wreck Haylan was on the inside, but she knew this boy well now and she could tell that Haylan would be hyperventilating if he would allow himself to do something so undignified.
Haylan was dressed impeccably as always, in black and silver dress robes, the house colors of the House of Black. His bright red hair had been braided back along his head in several intricate braids giving the illusion of shorter hair. He looked amazing, spine straight, an easy but dangerous smile on his face, but fear in his eyes.
She wished things would get easier on Haylan, but instead, she stepped up to present a formal introduction of her family, even if she knew they didn't need one.
"Emperor Caliban, it is my honor to present to you, my family. My husband, Lord Lucius Malfoy of the House of Malfoy in Britain, and my son Draconis Malfoy, currently Heir to the House of Malfoy."
"Welcome, and Blessed Be House of Malfoy. It is my pleasure to welcome you to Castle Caliban and welcome you into my family. Narcissa has been a necessary and large part of my training since discovering my lineage. I do not know where I would be without her at this point. I look forward to improving relations between us as we move forward." Haylan's voice was even and calm, there was even a look of mischief on his face as he discussed improving relations between them. Narcissa knew that Haylan was expecting the worst responses from everyone once his true identity was announced, but she hoped her family would behave.
Andy's family was the next to arrive and Haylan was more relaxed with this group since Nymphadora already was in the know, Haylan didn't worry about Ted Tonks' reaction.
"Emperor Caliban, let me present to you my husband Ted Tonks, and you already know our daughter, Nymphadora Tonks," Andromeda said with a slight bow, having no family title to offer but her love was all that Haylan cared about.
"Welcome and Blessed Be Tonks family. I am grateful to you Ted for allowing me to steal your wife and daughter so often. Their voices have been important to me over the last few years. I look forward to getting to know you as well as I know them." Haylan smiled gently at the mild-mannered man, truly appreciating the man for not being upset at Haylan monopolizing the rest of his family for so long.
"My wife has told me much about her protege and I look forward to getting to know you as well Emperor Caliban. It is about time we had a larger family to fall back on in these uncertain times." Ted spoke with a quiet confidence and Haylan could see what had drawn Andromeda to the man.
Finally quickly following the Tonks' family was the Zabinis and Haylan was now nervous for more than one reason. Meeting his boyfriend's mother and introducing his boyfriend to the rest of his wild family while also dumping his greatest secret on top of them. Haylan was only imagining the worst kind of end to this meeting.
"Emperor Caliban, may I present to you Contessa Viviana Zabini of House Zabini of Italy as well as my dearest mother." Blaise's deep voice was comforting to Haylan as he kissed the hand of Contessa Zabini.
"It is an honor to meet the mother of my dearest Blaise. Welcome to Castle Caliban and Blessed Be," Haylan murmured with a shy smile.
"The honor is all mine, Emperor Caliban. You bring my Blaise such happiness in these last few weeks. I am looking forward to getting to know the one who has captured my Blaise's heart." Contessa Zabini spoke with a thick accent and a sly wink making Haylan laugh.
"Welcome everyone into Castle Caliban. You have all met Sirius Black already and I was going to have Bellatrix here as well but she is still in a delicate state of healing. I am pleased to have all of my extended family in one room. Please everyone grab a seat and some refreshments. We have much to talk about today as my coronation is fast approaching and I need all the support I can get from all of you." Haylan spoke with quiet confidence, his magic swirling around the room with nervous energy.
Now for the true test of this family.
"Today was more than just an invite to improve the relations between our family, although I am truly hoping for much of that as well. Today is also me placing my trust in all of you as my extended family with the secret of my upbringing and who I was before accepting the title of Heir Caliban. Narcissa, Andromeda, and Sirius all wanted me to wait longer to present this knowledge to all of you. But I do not want to do any of you the disservice of holding such an important piece of who I am back from the rest of you." Haylan took a deep breath, taking his seat before looking everyone in the eye. He wanted them to all know how serious it was that he was trusting them with this information.
"This knowledge will never be known at large if I have anything to say about it. So what I tell you will not be leaving this room. I am placing my trust and faith in all of you as my family because I am not even going to place any secrecy spells over any of you. That being said, there is a lot to go over so I would appreciate it if everyone would hold their questions until the end."
Haylan closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, before beginning his story.
"Several years ago now I was sent an urgent message from the goblins of Gringotts requesting my presence immediately or else they were going to freeze my accounts. I had to sneak out of the muggle household that I was raised in to make it to London and Diagon Alley. I was afraid of the goblins freezing my accounts. I needed that money because my muggle family would have never paid for anything I needed to keep going to school. They did not like magic and they did not like me, but the goblins cared for none of that and expected me to show up so I did.
That one meeting changed my life.
In this meeting, I learned I had a magical guardian that I previously knew nothing about that was hiding my titles and the full extent of my inheritance from me. I also took an inheritance test. Which held several surprises for me. A first name I had never heard of, godparents I didn't know about, as well as Lordships and Heirships that I had no idea were mine. One of these Lordships was of course the Caliban name that I had never heard of before but sent the goblins into a tizzy. It shouldn't be possible for me to be both Lord Black and Lord Caliban considering the lines were separated from each other. But we did eventually learn how that came to be. My mother thought to be a muggleborn, was adopted by a muggle family, but it turns out she was the lost heir of Caliban before me. My godfather who blood-adopted me gave me the Black Lordship, bringing the two family lines together once more.
To the best of our knowledge, when Grindelwald came for the Caliban family in 1944 they snuck one of the heirs out of the house and spirited them away into the muggle world. No one knows which heir it was, family tree tests are having a hard time breaking through an enchantment to hide the names, but it eventually resulted in my mother who then married a pureblood and had me.
The goblins knew that I was facing an impossible task being handed the Caliban title with a muggleborn background. So they called in two distant relatives that would hopefully be able to provide me the knowledge I needed to fully claim my titles and my position in the magical world. Andromeda and Narcissa were obviously quite shocked to be summoned so suddenly to the bank, but they took on the challenge of shaping me into a future leader beyond what anyone hoped they could pull off. I am forever grateful to both of you for everything you have done and sacrificed for me over the years. Nothing I do will ever repay what you have given me.
But I supposed I should stop skirting around the elephant in the room.
I was born on July 31, 1980, as Hadrian Jameson Sirius Potter, also known as Harry Potter. Thanks to the Triwizard Cup I was emancipated when I was 14 and deemed Lord Potter, Lord Black, Lord Caliban, Heir Peverell, and Heir Slytherin.
When I fully accepted my role and title as Emperor-to-be Caliban, Mother Magic renamed me Haylan Iacob Dacian Caliban and took off all of my glamors hiding my true identity. Harry Potter is dead and he will remain so, but he also shaped a lot of who I am and all of you deserve to know my past as my family. Something that I have never had before in the past but I want to build with all of you in the future as Haylan." He took a drink of tea, feeling parched after such a long story, and avoided looking anyone in the eye. This was the test for all of them. How they all reacted to such information would shape how everything went forward.
"What the actual fuck Potter." Draco burst out saying.
At least some things didn't change.