The Tree of Blacks (English version)

The Arcturus Black's Manor

July 1971. Cornwall.

Alya lay on her back on the grass, trying to shelter in the shade of the thick foliage of a big oak. The sky was clear and blue, not even a cloud obscured the strong rays of the sun which were hitting her skin.

Every summer, the Black family usually left their gloomy house in Grimmauld Place in London, to find refuge in the quiet of a place near the coast, lost among the rugged cliffs of Cornwall.

In this distant place, Orion Black had inherited a vast estate from his wealthy father, Arcturus Black, with a magnificent manor included, whose gray, imposing silhouette stood majestically in the midst of the verdant landscape. The building was huge, with several rooms inside, able to accommodate even more than one family.

Alya loved spending her summer there. It was a quiet place, surrounded by nature and by the smell of salty air from the coast.

Under the big oak of the inner courtyard, the little girl was browsing through a book, while her two brothers were outside the manor, probably practising at flying on their broomsticks, because of Quidditch. This was the most popular sport in the wizarding world. It consisted of six tall goalposts, four flying balls and a lot of difficult rules which Alya had never cared about to learn. And fourteen players flying on board broomsticks, of course.

In the Black House, all male family members seemed to consider Quidditch to be a sort of religion.

Orion Black was a very good player at school and he enjoyed talking about his sporting experiences of his youth every now and then.

"Quidditch teaches you discipline. It strengthens both the mind and the body" Mr. Black always repeated with proud.

Sirius and Regulus had inevitably inherited the father's passion about sport and Quidditch, therefore they loved playing together and practising with their broomsticks.

Ever since the Black family had come in Cornwall for summer holidays, Sirius and Regulus had spent more time flying in the air around the manor than on the ground.

Regulus had begged his big sister to join them several times, but Alya had always firmly refused. She totally hated flying and she hated brooms. There was no way to convince her to be stuck with a wobbly broomstick, floating in the air. It was much safer to stay on the ground, reading a good book.

Under the oak, with her back against the massive trunk, Alya sighed, as she imagined her brothers on board their broomsticks, flitting about who knows where.

However, this wasn't the only thing she was thinking about. As a matter of fact, Alya wasn't truly reading the pages of the huge book opened on her knees either. She was deeply and completely absorbed in her own thoughts. One in particular stood out from the rest, tormenting her.

In autumn, Alya and Sirius had celebrated their eleventh birthday and, as consequence, they had received a letter which had informed them about their birthright to study at the famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Within a month, Alya and her twin brother would leave for Hogwarts, where they would started their education about magical arts.

Sirius, of course, was very excited and he was looking forward to getting the train and going far away from his stern family - expecially from the austere Walburga.

But Alya didn't feel the same enthusiasm. Obviously, she was happy to go to Hogwarts. However, a part of her was gripped by a hidden fear: for the first time in her life, she would have lived away from her family, and especially from her brother Regulus (he would start the school of magic only the following year) who was her greatest friend and confidant. The idea of leaving her home made her feel strangely lonely.