chapter four
So far, she’d been living with her Grandfather for three weeks. After they’d apparated to Black Manor, which was indeed much much nicer than Grimmauld, Arcturus had taken her on a short tour before leading her to a bedroom that had obviously been prepared for a young girl. Her heart had clenched and tears had filled her eyes at the thoughtfulness the man displayed for a virtual stranger.
She’d then called Tippy to bring her things to her new room. Thanking the little elf profusely and promising that she wouldn’t abandon her, she’d followed her grandfather to the dining room where they’d made idle small talk before retiring for the night. Hedwig had also shown up sometime in the night, grumpy chips filling the space between them.
The next morning, they’d had had breakfast together and then Arcturus had begun her lesson. The weeks went on like that; breakfast, lessons, lunch, more lessons, dinner, sleep, repeat.
In preparation for the upcoming school year, Arcturus had been cramming her with all of the pureblood knowledge that she had missed over the last eleven years. She learned history, languages, dancing, etiquette, politics, rituals, everything she could possibly think of until her brain felt numb. Then he moved onto blood magic, mind magic, curses, and other more dangerous practices. She was completely absorbed in her lessons and Arcturus seemed to enjoy teaching her equally as much. She was like a sponge, soaking up knowledge as much as she could. She imagined the fact that she had lived a past life and she had an eidetic memory helped monumentally.
She was pretty sure it was criminal to start her first year at Hogwarts with all of the knowledge she’d suddenly acquired. What with the memories of ten years of exploring and learning not to mention the last weeks she’d been spending her time studying.
She’d also been practicing magic on her own, Arcturus not so willing to let an eleven year old fire her wand without enough background knowledge. While he knew she was smart, she was still just a little girl.
Privately, she was amazed at her abilities. Most spells came so naturally to her that she didn’t even need a wand or an incantation. Intent was all it took for spells to work so instead of practicing to actually do magic she was practicing how to tone down her magic.
Occlumency had been helping with this particular problem more than she could put into words. The more she organized her mind, the more she could control her magic. It also helped her put the visions of another world into the back of her mind so she didn’t have to deal with the images of thirty years of a life so terrible she didn’t even want to think about it. She wanted to be Dahlia… just Dahlia. At least for a little while.
She’d also found that she’d kept her animagus form, though she’d done her best to keep that a secret from Arcturus. She’d panicked when she first transformed and had ended up stuck as an owl for three hours. Luckily for her, her grandfather had slept through all of her screeching.
Life with Arcturus was much more pleasant than she’d been expecting. He was a stern but somehow still extremely warm old man. Practically a saint when you considered her last guardians.
He had been shocked and furious when faced with the results of her health scan, showing not only the abuse done by her relatives but also the blocks and potions placed on her by Dumbledore.
He had calmed only slightly when reassured that the goblins had promptly removed everything and healed her. He’d also been delighted when she proved this by shifting her hair through different colours and styles before settling on her chosen look, stating that there hadn’t been a metamorphmagus in the Black family in centuries, though Dahlia knew that to be false.
When picking her new appearance, she kept most of her natural features, the same face shape and soft emerald eyes. It was her hair that she experimented with, trying out different styles until deciding on a dark auburn color, keeping her natural curls, falling in ringlets to her waist.
She’d decided, with guidance from her grandfather, that she would keep this particular ability of hers a secret. Unlike a certain cousin of hers with the same gift, who flaunted it unapologetically. Dahlia felt an anxious anticipation anytime she thought of meeting the other shapeshifting witch and if what she remembered from her vision was true, Tonks had graduated the Hogwarts earlier this year, so she would have to find another way to meet the woman.
She was sure it wouldn’t be hard to convince Sirius to take her to meet his favorite cousin and her family once he was out of Azkaban. Perhaps she could even help him convince Arcturus to reinstate Andromeda into the family. Though, what with how quickly he’d taken a little half-blood girl into his home and embraced her as family, she wasn’t sure it would take very much convincing.
They had met with Amelia Bones a few days prior and though Dahlia had been excluded from most of the conversation on the principle of being too young she had gotten the impression that everything had gone smoothly. From what she’d heard, Sirius’ trial date was set for a month later, now only a week away and Dahlia couldn’t wait to meet her Godfather (to see Padfoot again).
After the meeting, Madame Bones had even gotten her in contact with her niece Susan who in turn got her into contact with her best friend Hannah Abbott. With the addition of Neville, who she’d taken to writing with since she’d bumped into him, Dahlia felt content with the friends she would be starting her year with.
She had thought a lot about Hogwarts and how she would approach attending the school while Dumbledore was in charge. She was lucky that she knew what to expect, at least in terms of his schemes but she had a feeling her Hogwarts experience was going to be very different from Harry’s.
For one, regardless of the fact that she’d told Neville she might end up in Hufflepuff, she was almost certain she was going to be a Slytherin and she was rather proud of it too.
Harry might’ve been too narrow minded to be in the house of ambition and cunning but Dahlia didn’t have that little handicap. She had a feeling she would thrive in those dungeons and even though she knew it would probably upset a lot of people, she wasn’t going to try to convince the hat or herself otherwise.
She’d already decided to avoid the Weasley’s at all costs, with minor exceptions being Fred and George. But besides that particular family, she’d made the decision to not let her past life influence who she became friends with too much. This new life would be a blank slate, not just for herself but for everyone else, even if they didn’t know it.
She thought that was a rather advantageous course of action to take, especially since she was aiming to be a snake. It would be interesting to see the rivalry from the other side and she hoped she would be able to change things at Hogwarts for the better. Restore the balance and all that. She’d learned in her time as Harry while on the run that Hogwarts was actually way behind in terms of teaching standards compared to other magical schools. Students were learning half as many subjects half as well and it was taking its toll on Magical Britain as a whole.
Death was right when he said that magic was dying, even now she could feel how much stronger it was now than it had been twenty years from now. But she refused to let that happen again, she promised herself and Mother Magic as she soaked up the ambient magic in the air.
Her mind continued to drift aimlessly, until she followed the errant thought regarding the reading of her parents will she had attended a few weeks prior.
Once they had arrived at Gringotts, Arcturus had requested that their presence at the reading be concealed from everyone else, for Dahlia’s safety. She appreciated this course of action when she noticed Albus Dumbledore sitting in one of the chairs, eyes twinkling merrily, though he looked rather tense from what she could see.
Slowly, people had drifted in, more people than she had imagined. The Longbottoms, Madame Bones, Remus, Professor McGonogall, an unfamiliar woman names Emmeline Vance, even the Tonks family was present as her parents last wishes were finally heard.
When the goblins finally played the last will and testament of James and Lily Potter, Dahlia felt tears spring to her eyes when apparitions of her parents floated in the air and began to speak.
Then she felt a spitting rage as they clearly stated that Sirius was not the secret keeper but Pettigrew. Not only that, but they’d emphatically stated that Dahlia was never to be put in the custody of Penunia Dursley.
The feeling bubbled under her skin and festered in her veins. Dumbledore had sealed their wills only hours after their deaths and it had ruined so many lives.
She listened with a deep sense of grief and longing as they went on to list the numerous, still alive people she could have grown up being raised by.
One being a certain Remus Lupin, who was staring at the images of James and Lily with a deep desperation in his eyes. His posture had been tense and he had slumped in relief and disbelief when they revealed the true secret keeper.
Dumbledore had been shaking with concealed anger and she swore she noticed a hint of fear in his gaze when Andromeda flew into a rage and Amelia revealed that Sirius was getting a trial before the end of the month, both women also being listed as preferred guardians for Dahlia.
Sirius would be free, she knew it. With the Potter’s will and the lack of evidence or a trial in 1981, the support of Amelia and Arcturus, be was bound to be released and compensated generously. Or at least, that’s what her grandfather said.
“What are you doing, dearest?” Arcturus’ cultured drawl broke into her meditative state.
“Meditating.” Dahlia answered sweetly, not bothering to open her eyes.
“Oh, how positively fascinating.” Her grandfather gave a theatric gasp and her eyes finally fluttered open to give him a narrow eyed glare.
“I’m practicing my occlumency, Grandfather!” Dahlia exclaimed earnestly, trying not to smile at his indulgent look. “It’s rather important.”
“Of course it is, dearest, of course. But it is time for bed, you can practice more tomorrow.” Arcturus said in his stern grandfather voice, ushering her off the floor and to her bed.
Dahlia pouted and crossed her arms with a stubborn look on her face. “But Grandfather-“
Arcturus gave a tsk and shook his head, “No buts, mon petit.”
“Ugh!” Dahlia grumbled, slumping into her comforter. “Fine. You promise I can practice tomorrow? My occlumency walls have to be perfect before I start Hogwarts.”
Arcturus cocked a brow at her statement but nodded. “And so they shall be, Dahlia. Now to sleep with you.”
“Goodnight.” She mumbled back, drowsiness taking over. “Love you.”
There was a pause before a hand gently combed through her hair. “I love you too, my dear. Sweet dreams.”
“Mhmmn.” Dahlia groaned back, falling deeper to sleep by the second. She leaned her head deeper into his hand, savoring the affectionate gesture as the world went dark.