A brief update to help ease everyone back into the story! Updates for this should come out a bit more consistently now!

...

He had to admit, he hadn't seen that coming.

It took a few moments before he felt the beginning of the stunner's effect on him wearing off. Which was no small accomplishment. Yes, the boy was a Grindelwald. Yes, an exceptional amount of magical talent was to be expected.

All the same, he hadn't seen that coming.

He hadn't been entirely prepared for the level of... constriction he'd been hit with. Most stunners tended to affect one's limbs alone, yet when that spell had landed on him, for a brief moment, he'd felt his very lungs constrict. He'd felt his breathing freeze, his chest ache, and his heart dangerously slow.

...For a brief moment, he felt Gellert Grindelwald look down on him and call him out for his hubris.

He'd expected a child unaccustomed to the magical world. A child who should've and would've absolutely done his best to make sure he hadn't slighted the wrong person.

The child he'd momentarily seen, the image of him distorted as it was, had looked at him as if he were a worm standing in his way.

Had he been anyone else, anyone who hadn't known to expect a Grindelwald, anyone who hadn't come prepared- That boy would've likely killed them then and there. Accidental, or otherwise.

All of it painted a... Somewhat frightening image.

Either the boy was woefully ignorant of the magical power he held, or he was used to people shrugging it off.

Or at least, used to a certain someone shrugging it off. Used to watch his magic barely do anything against a master, and took it as the assumption that it would have a similar effect on everyone else.

And he very much doubted the boy was ignorant, given the fact he'd not only known of him to the point he'd thrown a disillusionment charm over himself on sight, but elected to treat him, Arcturus Black, as nothing more than another pureblood.

When the stunner fully wore off, he took in a deep breath, and simply let out a chuckle to the surprise of the ants around him.

It seemed Gellert Grindelwald had already warned his grandson about him.

A pity in truth, but not entirely a terrible hand to be dealt.

For a brief moment, he considered giving into his urges and ignoring the warnings the boy's grandfather had given him before he shook the thought off.

The best thing he could do right now was let things be and allow the boy the chance to come to him instead. It would not do to drive him further away, but more so avoid the potential wrath of his grandfather should he attempt to... convince the boy to go down a path, not of his choosing.

Gellert Grindelwald had wanted his grandson to have the freedom to make his own path.

Gellert Grindelwald always got what he wanted.

"Lord Black." Cyrus Greengrass's voice broke the sudden silence that filled the large room following his chuckle. "This is a rather unexpected-"

He interrupted him with a wave of his hand. "There's a private discussion to be had between us. Now."

He watched as a slight hint of anger, or perhaps merely an insulted look, filled the younger man's face at his words. Turning towards the rest in attendance, his eyes narrowed the slightest bit at them all before turning back towards the insulted young lord. "Protocol dictates you end this little gathering of yours at the urging of your better, particularly considering the sudden attack on myself, but I can't say I am all that caught up with what the youngins consider culture these days." He sniffed.

He let his words fill the rapidly silencing room once again, and took in the young lord's admittedly decent expressionless face- The man quickly sending a seemingly silent message to his wife before turning back to him. "This way, Lord Black." The man remarked, an ungraceful tone added to his voice.

He watched the man head off towards what he presumed was his office- which given the monocle vandalised onto the door only further proved of the disparity between a true noble and the purebloods running around these days.

How the mighty had fallen indeed.

Speaking of the fallen- On his way towards the disgraceful entrance to what should've been a Lord's personal quarters, he briefly stopped by his rather frozen stiff-looking blonde... relative.

Truthfully, he wasn't entirely sure just how complex his blood relation to the woman was- his cousin's granddaughter? It didn't particularly matter. He was however certain that she had been born with the name Black. That really was the only reason he even tolerated that moron of a Malfoy she'd married.

"Lord-"

"Save the platitudes." He cut her off with a stern look. "I do not know if it is ignorance or foolishness on your husband's behalf, nor do I particularly care which it is." He narrowed his eyes. "What I do know however is that there are only so many handouts one can receive." A beat passed as he watched the stiff expression on the woman's face turn tighter somehow as she lowered her gaze, embarrassment, and confusion filling her eyes. "Tell him the next I ask him to do something, he doesn't let the windfall of it fall onto someone else's doorstep."

He very much doubted the bombarded fool would understand his meaning, but there were only so many crumbs he was able to throw his way without risking Gellert Grindelwald's displeased attention.

Merlin's beard! He'd practically handed the idiot Grindelwald's heir and somehow Cyrus bloody Greengrass had managed to secure the better relationship of him? He shook the thoughts away and continued on towards the now confused Greengrass.

Still.

It could've been worse.

Grindelwald's heir could've fallen under a Prewett's nose.

And wouldn't that have been a difficult knot to undo?

Family, whether his own or another, always proved to make everything more difficult.

Cyrus Greengrass if nothing else had a vested interest in the Elder Grindelwald's teaching, if only because said teaching was the only thing that'd likely help his youngest, cursed, child.

Hm. In a way, he supposed this wasn't the worst scenario in truth. The Greengrass's had always been a neutral family... Perhaps...

The slightest hint of a smile filled his face- One that immediately fell as he walked through the door and took in the vandalized personal quarters of a Lord of the Wizangamot.

For a brief moment, he considered giving it all up then and there.

The culture and traditions he'd grown up with had all seemingly died out, in their entirety... And even if by some miracle his lifelong ambition was to come to fruition, Arcturus Black felt the distinct displeasure that it would be handed to these fools all the same.

...How the mighty have fallen.'

Such was the life of those at the top, he supposed. The sweat and tears of the old used to fuel the world of the ungrateful, foolish young.

With every passing day, he understood more and more why Gellert Grindelwald, when asked to help create a better world, had told him that in the end it truly wouldn't matter.

...

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