Bab 28: Chapter 27: Family.
(Note: This one is for all the bored, tired people reading this fic to enjoy themselves. Uncle Sheo care about you guys, madness doesn't play favourites after all.)
Magnus wasn't happy.
Ever since he learned of his lineage, and subsequently assumed the responsibilities of heir apparent to one of the oldest, richest and most bigoted house in the Isles, he saw his otherwise idyllic lifestyle change for the worse.
Gone were the days of constant spell practice, magical research and arcane growth. No more could he sneak off in Knockturn alley to watch illegal duels and study the ruthless intricacies of magical conflict. He couldn't pull all-nighters high on pepper-up potions to finish his next big breakthrough in alchemy, or enchant yet another object.
No, he couldn't afford to be so carefree.
Not when he need to learn how to manage an absurd fortune, political networking, dealing with Lucy's future attempted assassinations and how to deal with the media, who soon learned of the possible rise of house Black through an unknown heir.
The vultures at the prophet, and even some other European papers, were quick to enquire on the whereabouts of the house. They didn't know if old Arcturus somehow survived long enough with his manhood functional to sire a new heir, and decided to keep him hidden for his safety. Or if Walburga kept a paramour in her closet, who somehow managed to knock up the older lady.
They even hinted at Regulus having an affair through the war, it was a particularly touching fiction weaved by Skitter. In Magnus humble opinion, if she decided that a life of endless slanders was tiring, she could achieve great things in the world of low quality romantic comedies.
But regardless of their colorful imagination, and utterly corrupted minds, the world was still oblivious. Many were pushing for this new heir to show himself, talks of future dark wizards and the sordid affair of Sirius Black were everywhere. Britain was entering a minor state of political turmoil, that much was clear to everyone involved.
House Black, beyond their prestige, wealth and overwhelming magical knowledge, was part of the highest spheres in the world of wizarding politics. Even with their alliances gone, most of their members alienated and them siding with the defeated dark lord in the recent war. The house of Black was due one of the fifty three seats in the Wizengamot and a place in Hogwarts's school board; a say on the parliament and highest court of magical Britain, and influence on the fate of it's children.
Their current Wizengamot has been sealed, for a lack of eligible representative; Narcissa being ineligible with her marriage in the Malfoy family, and her husband not being slippery enough to slide through one of the few harshly unfrocked procedures in Britain. The school board, however, was completely fair game for the elder ferret.
Needless to say, the inclinations of this new heir was the only thing capable of shifting the balance of power in wizarding politics, beyond the unlikely event of an influential family changing sides.
The Light faction, spearheaded by the many named Supreme Mugwump himself, were worried about the Dark faction retrieving one of their most ancient and fierce adherents. The mind-flaying old goat's self-righteous followers were doing their best to quell the more abject laws being passed, while pushing for more tolerance of muggleborn and maintaining harsh penalties on dark wizards. Hoping for a tamer Heir Black was too much for them, with the kind of reputations the family held, yet Dumbledore seemed oddly optimistic to those who saw him.
The Dark faction was largely ecstatic. The Blacks, one of the great pureblood house was rising again. It was almost too good to be true for those who saw muggle hunting, reckless practice of dark magic regardless of the possible consequences and incest as perfectly respectable occupations. There were discontent, namely Malfoy and his two lovers; Lord Crabbe and Goyle, who just went along with their Daddy.
The blonde haired, obviously homosexual Death Eater wasn't thrilled by the prospect of an unplanned resurgence of house Black. After he went through the pain of producing an heir with Narcissa, he was rightfully expecting his son to gain access to the Black fortune and lordship once he reached adulthood.
The Grey Faction did not care, all they saw in this are new business possibilities. They would maintain the status quo regardless of House Black political agenda, which they would be perfectly happy to see coincide with theirs.
They all wanted to uncover the identity of this Heir.
Magnus, the heir in question, had no direct knowledge of this. But he still expected as much from the wizarding world, it was hard not to. Yet the current political playing field was no concern of his, not with a genitor in prison, an aunt estranged, a major block on his advanced transfiguration work and not nearly enough time to deal with everything.
'How can dealing with a dark lord's soul shard be easier than this?' He lamented, slouching back into his chair as he rubbed his eyes. All over his desk were Gringotts statements, letters from important pureblood houses sent through the Gringotts postal service, which allowed protected houses from receiving messages through an enchanted box in which all safe letters were transported, while he received notes showing who exactly sent the cursed ones.
'Ball invitation, ball invitation, betrothal proposition, marriage proposition, introduction letter…' He went through the various letters, setting aside the relevant ones while burning the rest. 'Who in their right mind would want such a thing?'
He decided to temporarily forget that he was the one who caused himself such a plight, by seeking possible inheritances thinking about funds, privileges and a way-out of the detrimental muggleborn status.
After carefully reading, then signing an eightieth report from yet another business, one of House Black's most important magical herbs productions, he finally found something worth his time. A simple letter, written in high quality parchment yet not fitting the current trend pureblood adopted, and would change in a month after finding an obviously superior and not-at-all absurdly costly alternative.
"From Andromeda Tonks." He quickly read the entire letter, amber eyes gleaming with interest. He put down on the desk, a small smile on his face. "It seems that I shall meet my aunt, after all."
He had been rather disappointed not to receive an answer in the same day, after sending an introduction letter and attempting to contact his only family who wasn't in prison or infected with some ferret-transmitted virus.
He could see why Andromeda Tonks née Black, the wayward daughter who went ahed and married a muggleborn of all things, didn't want anything to do with him, the heir to the same family who cast her out.
But here he was, a day later, pleasantly surprised to see that she only needed time. A normal thing, he thought, but then again he was never good with people when manipulation wasn't involved. It was a funny thing, an eagle passing as a social butterfly when all he was truly good at is soaring high and hunting preys.
He could get in a woman's pants if it meant getting a roof for the night, but wouldn't manage to ask her for a coffee otherwise.
'Well, I don't think I could with this body.' He chuckled, as he prepared another letter for his aunt, 'Then again, the world is full of people with strange tastes.'
Andromeda had accepted to meet with him, yet instead of coming to their ancestral home as he proposed, she invited him to her own house for dinner. Anyone would see it as the sweet and proper thing to do when contacted by a young orphaned relative who wanted to reconnect, as opposed to locking him in a cupboard and turning him into a male who would assuredly vote for Beto if he was in Texas.
But Magnus wasn't just anyone. No, he was a transmigrated paranoid orphan with issues.
Lots of issues.
'It's test.' He concluded "She wants to gauge my reaction, and see if I would go as far as to dine with a muggleborn, in a muggle house, just to get to know her."
He wasn't bothered by this, it was a perfectly reasonable course of action. Especially when he presented himself as the heir of house Black, without giving much information on his stand on pureblood supremacy beyond his wish to meet her, a woman who married a 'mudblood'.
If anything, Magnus commended her prudence.
'Things are about to change.' he sighed, exhausted 'I just hope it's for the better..'
+E-S+
Andromeda Tonks was content.
She was born into one of the most bigoted house in magical Britain, was raised with tales of pureblood supremacy and powerful dark magics. As she grow up, she knew her only prospects in life would be a loveless marriage with a pureblood lord she'd despise, a life of idle comforts and opulence marred by the occasional birthings of her future husband's progeny while she slowly decay into a husk of what she truly was.
It was simply revolting.
So revolt she did, and what a resistance it was. Sneaking off Grimmauld place to visit muggle London, befriending muggleborns as soon as he went to Hogwarts. Disobeying just about any commend from her family, while taking their punishment without showing a sliver of repentance. She hoped that her action would inspire her sisters, like she once inspired her little cousin Sirius to free himself from his hag of a mother's clutches.
Sadly, they did not.
Bellatrix became wife to a lesser madman, and whore to a greater one. She devolved into a mere shell guided by wicked desire and filled with dark magic, a mere shadow of her former self. Then again, her sweet sister Bella has always been the most 'guided' and 'disciplined' of her sisters, always taking the full extent of their parents attention.
Perhaps she wished to spare her little sisters this pain? Such thought haunted Andromeda to this day.
Narcissa; her baby sister. The little darling of their family...to think that she would end up marrying a sodomite ferret. She lived the life of an idle pureblood lady, siring a scion of bad faith who soon proved himself to be a mere copy of his father. And if the rumors Dora heard of his...intense, for a lack of better word, relationship with the Boy-who-lived and the youngest Weasley boy; he might just share his sire's most peculiar tastes.
Little Regulus died doing his dark lord's bidding, while Sirius now lies in Azkaban for betraying his closest friends. Andromeda knows he would do no such thing, and that there was more to this story than what the prophet had published.
But she was now but a disgraced pureblood daughter, with no power to inquire on such things.
She married for love, her husband; Ted Tonks was all a woman could dream off and then some. He was kind, honest, loving and ever so gentle. The only muggleborn man brave enough to pursue a Black, and he happened to be a Hufflepuff.
Andromeda eloped for him, and he gave her the life she always wanted. A beautiful daughter, who inherited the gift of her ancestors despite her impure blood as if the fates wanted her to spite them one more time.
She regretted nothing.
Yet when she received that letter, written in the papers her family used, adorned with the Black signet. She knew everything was about to change, for the first time in decades, her family contacted her.
'For the better.' She hoped, squeezing the hand of her husband who was nothing but supportive. The young boy was due to arrive at any moment by now, and she couldn't help but worry. Nymphadora was busy with Auror training, and wouldn't be present for her first family reunion in years.
"I promise, honey, it looks absolutely delicious! Why wouldn't he like it?" Reassured Ted, a wide smile on his face.
"Yes, but what if he has allergies? Or doesn't like meat?" She ran all over the dining room, moving this and that dish to achieve a kind of symmetry beyond Ted's perception. "What if he's expecting a real pureblood reception? Why did I have to make lasagnas of all things?"
She truly didn't know what came upon her, making lasagnas and roasted chicken for a pureblood scion. Did she forget the kind of meals she used to enjoy? What do pure bloods even eat this days? She had a million doubt in her mind, and her husband's laughter was certainly not helping her.
"Relax, dear." He smiled adoringly "I think you forgot something."
"what?" Her neck almost snapped, grey eyes widening as she went over every single detail of her dinner. Every single word she would say, her expressions, her husband's words. She planned everything to immaculate perfection, and she would be damned if she forgot the smallest aspect.
"He might be some sort of pureblood nobility, and yes I don't know shit about their protocols and traditions." He massaged her shoulders the exact way she liked it, trying to relieve her of the tension "But from what I've seen, he's just a child who found himself in a rough spot, and want to reconnect with what little family he has left."
"Just a child…" She repeated, a heavy breath escaping her lungs "Yes, if he'd go as far as to come to a muggle household, he shouldn't be like the others."
"Yep." Ted chuckled, light hearted as ever "So why don't we forget all the protocol and pureblood nonsense, and try to enjoy a nice family dinner?"
"But he's a Black." She countered weakly, the shoulder massage was very effective.
"So are you."
A few moments later, the sound of someone ringing their bell was heard within the Tonks residence. All of Andromeda's worries came back in full, each step felt heavier than the last as she slowly reached for the door, her husband comforting presence was the only thing helping her get through these last moments.
She would soon meet a Black, meet her family. The family who has harmed her, oppressed her, forsaken her. The family who saw her husband as nothing more than cattle, and her daughter as tainted broodmare.
She opened the door with shaking hands, and came face to face with the Magnus.
A handsome boy, yet to celebrate his thirteenth birthday. He wore his black hair proudly, not bothered by their length. His face bore the noble aristocratic features her family boasted, the same 'haughty' looks her husband teased her about adorned his face. He was clad in a black muggle suit of the highest quality, clearly comfortable with his wealth, but nothing too extravagant.
Yet all those features were eclipsed by his eyes, the only feature alien to their house. A pair of intense amber eyes, like orbs of molten gold were staring through her, judging her for a value only he could see.
His eyes showed curiosity, prudence, recognition, wonder and a myriad of other emotions. She was thousand of plans, doubts and worries. But there was nothing clearer than the unbearable longing they betrayed.
The same longing her own eyes must show, she realized. Her husband was right, it wasn't some stuck up self-adoring pureblood noble knocking at her door. It was just a child, a lost, lonely child who longed for what he had left of family.
A child who shared none of their bigotry, yet would still suffer for their sin. She threw a meaningful look at her husband, bless his sweet heart, and he returned a knowing but loving smile.
This child was her family.
"Hello, aunt Andromeda." Her nephew offered her a small smile, which she returned in full. They reached a common understanding, and all their plans were thrown out the window so they could finally the enjoy the moment.
'Yes' They thought with a smile 'Things will change for the best.'
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Hey buds! It's Uncle Sheo!
I'm back with a new chapter, and it didn't take two months to make this one. This one is longer, better written, and overall superior to the last one. The plot was light as hell, however, as i focused on the characters and their relationships.
This arc is honestly a pain in the ass to write. Lordships and house politics are boring as hell, especially when you're the one writing them. Which is why i'll be focusing on character development, high quality writing and fluff.
Loads and loads of fluff everywhere.
Honestly, you guys are gonna feel good and make loads of embarrassing sounds after seeing the kind of sweets this mad prince shall throw at you. Sometimes you'll close the laptop out of embarrassment before coming back for more, you're warned.
There will be more action and magical focus once Magnus has more freedom and actual enemies to face. Then again, Harry Potter isn't that ripe with strategies and good fighting material. That's more up to Percy Jackson's alley, or the classic marvel universe.
Next chapter will be out in three days, earlier if i'm feeling generous.
Peace and Cheese!
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