Perseus Alphard Black

Chapter 8

After christmas, Pollux took Percy and Rigel to number twelve, Grimmauld Place, leaving Cygnus and Arcturus to discuss their plans with the Tonks. They emerged from the grate to find a dusty old townhouse, similar in many respects to the ones in London, but far dirtier, and with somewhat of a darker feel to it. The Black Manor had its fair share of Dark objects on display – skulls, shrunken heads, vials of blood, and so on – but this house seemed to revel in its Dark heritage. The staircase was lined with the heads of dead house elves and a troll leg had been turned into an umbrella stand near the door. The portraits looked at Percy and Rigel suspiciously, and many of them wore sinister expressions. The cobwebs and thick layer of dust only served to enhance the house's spookiness.

Rigel nudged Percy nervously. 'Do you think it's haunted?' he whispered.

Percy shrugged. 'Even if it is, we've got Great-Granddad with us.'

Meanwhile, Pollux was scowling in utter disgust after his father's portrait informed him of the reason for this disgust.

'What has that blasted elf been up to since Walburga died?' he murmured angrily. 'KREACHER!'

The house-elf appeared instantly and bowed low when he saw Pollux, his eyes wide.

'Master Pollux has come to visit Mistress's house,' he croaked. 'Kreacher is honored to serve his Master.'

'Kreacher, Mistress Irma, and I are moving here in a few days,' Pollux said sternly. 'We had hoped to find the house fit to live in. How could you disgrace your Mistress in this way? What would she have said to find her home in such a state?'

Kreacher grabbed a poker and started hitting himself vigorously, but Pollux stopped him.

'You'll have plenty of time to punish yourself once the house is clean,' he said sharply. 'I want this place immaculate by the New Year. Every surface should shine.'

Kreacher bowed. 'Kreacher will do as Master has ordered. Kreacher lives to serve the House of Black.'

Pollux pulled Percy and Rigel over. 'Kreacher, these are my great-grandsons: Perseus Black and Rigel Malfoy. They will be coming to visit often, and I expect you to obey them fully. Do you understand?'

'Yes, Master,' Kreacher murmured.

'Perseus is Mistress's Cassopiea the second son,' Pollux went on. 'He will be your Master after Arcturus and I pass away, and I expect you to show him full respect and obedience.'

'Yes, master.' Kreacher murmured and looked at Percy with utmost reverence.

'Very well now get to your work.'

'Of course, Master,' Kreacher said, and disappeared.

Pollux turned to his great-grandsons. 'Wait for me in the parlor,' he said. 'I need to have a word with my daughter's portrait.'

Percy and Rigel went back into the parlor but did not sit down, neither one fancying the idea of wallowing in the dust. They wandered around a bit, looking at the various objects on display. Rigel stopped in front of a large tapestry that spread across an entire wall.

'Look over here, Percy,' he exclaimed. 'It's the Black family tree.'

Percy wandered over slowly to see what had his cousin so excited, and he had to admit that the tapestry was fascinating, showing every member of the Black family for centuries.

'There's Mum,' Rigel said, pointing to one of the names. 'And there I am.'

'There's Great-Granddad, and Aunt Cassiopeia,' Percy pointed out. His heart leaped when he saw Cassiopeia Black with one son, but frowned when his father wasn't mentioned. 'Aunt Dromeda isn't on here.'

'Oh? Let me see.' Rigel looked over where Percy was pointing. 'There's a funny black mark right there. Maybe that's where she ought to be. Do you think the tapestry is damaged?'

'Maybe,' Percy mused. 'There's another black mark like that over here where uncle Sirius should be.'

'There's a lot of them on here,' Rigel said. 'See? Here's another one right by your grandmother.'

'Found something interesting, boys?' Pollux asked, walking back into the room.

'We found the Black family tree,' Rigel said. 'But it's damaged.'

'Really?' Pollux came over to inspect it. 'I wonder how that happened.' He scanned over the tapestry. 'I don't see any damage.'

'Right here, Great-Granddad,' Percy pointed out. 'This funny black mark where my dad should be. And another one over here, where your son Alphard should be. And my dad isn't there

Percy thought Pollux looked a bit pale. The old man laughed weakly.

'Oh my,' he said, his voice shaking. 'The tapestry does seem to be damaged. Oh, well, it's easy enough to fix.' He raised his wand and muttered a spell. The black marks vanished, being replaced in each case by names.

The black mark by Narcissa's name had vanished, being replaced by the name Andromeda Black. A double line of gold thread connected her to Ted Tonks. Beneath their two names appeared yet another: Nymphadora Tonks. Then Sirius and Alphard Black appeared and around four more names came.

'I see.' Percy said quietly. 'Blood traitors, squibs, and aunt Dromeda married a muggle-born. It was damaged on purpose, wasn't it.' Pollux's wince was all the confirmation Percy needed. 'I suppose Dad's name was missing because he ran away from his wife'

'It's just a silly old tapestry,' Pollux said hastily. 'It doesn't mean anything come on, Perseus, let's go meet your grandmother.'

Both boys followed Pollux out of the room, none of them noticing an extra name that had appeared on the tapestry next to Cassopiea Black II; Poseidon.

The rest of the summer passed on well. Cassiopeia was not nearly as awful as Percy had feared. She continued to treat Percy well and managed even to treat Uncle Ted and Tonks somewhat civilly. She spent much of her time alone in her cottage, engrossed in her own studies. As for her lessons, Percy and Rigel both found them quite fascinating (Even for an ADHD kid).

'Most pureblood families nowadays,' she lectured them the first day of tutoring. 'leave intensive instruction in magic until Hogwarts, and so handicap their offspring. They claim that studying too much magic too soon can overwhelm children.' She spat in disgust. 'I do not hold with such new-fangled nonsense. I shall be teaching you the way I was taught as a girl.'

'If that's the way they used to do things, why did they change?' Percy asked.

Cassiopeia snarled. 'Dumbledore, that Muggle-loving old fool, persuaded the Wizengamot to pass a number of ridiculous statutes restricting what could be taught to children of various ages.' She sniggered. 'He claims, of course, that it's for their own protection, but everyone knows it's an underhanded attempt to put Mudbloods on the same footing as decent wizards.'

'So what we're doing is illegal?' Rigel looked positively thrilled at the prospect of breaking rules.

'Technically,' Cassiopeia admitted. 'But so is special magic. Laws and regulations are for lesser mortals, not for such as we, the noble descendants of great and powerful wizards. One must learn to manipulate such petty regulations to one's advantage, but one can never allow them to prevent one from doing whatever is necessary to achieve one's ends.'

Cassiopeia instructed them thoroughly in the basics of Astronomy, Herbology, and potion-making, as well as the theoretical foundations of Transfiguration and Charms. the end of the day was devoted to what she called 'special magic,' in other words, the Dark Arts. Rigel and Percy were both quite bright, and made steady progress, much to Cassiopeia's satisfaction.

After lessons, Rigel often stayed over for much of the afternoon, and the two cousins spent many exhilarating days flying their broomsticks in the garden, playing pranks on the Ted and Tonks(who didn't really mind) and Andromeda and Cassiopeia (who minded a great deal) as well as exploring the three large magical homes they had at their disposal. As time passed, Percy grew more and more accustomed to his new life, and the orphanage slowly became little more than a faintly remembered nightmare.