Black Family Meeting
August 4, 1975. (Monday)
While the Potters were getting to know Petunia and help her, Sirius let out a breath when he finally was out of the teahouse. After a short moment to give his heart time to calm down, he set out on his right, following the two women he recognised walking past the teahouse. He caught up to them not long after, squeezing himself between them, an arm snaking pas their shoulders.
“Beautiful day, ladies, isn’t it?” He breathed, chuckling when they tensed under his arms.
“Sirius! Don’t do that!” The little blond one said, frowning, a hand on her fast-beating heart.
“Did I scare you, Cissy? My bad!” He replied, his eyes full of amusement.
“And don’t call me that! I have a perfectly good name, don’t shorten it!”
“Don’t bother, Narcissa. Little Sirius has not enough brain cell to remember our full names,” smirked the dark-haired one.
“You’re right, Bellatrix. That’s probably why he shortens everyone names. What a shame. Maybe aunt Walburga will finally push our Lord to disinherit him? That will be one less stain on our family name,” approved Narcissa, shrugging the arm her cousin still had on her shoulders. “Now, Sirius, we need to get going. Family meeting.”
“Hey!” Affronted, Sirius petulantly crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. “Family meeting? When? Where?”
“Right now, in our Ancestral Home,” replied Bellatrix, smirking to the pouting Gryffindor. “No doubt, Lord Black is going to remove you from the family tree, like he did for our traitorous sister.”
The trio were entering the Leaky Cauldron, and Sirius was frowning. There was not a family meeting every day. He recalled seeing only two, until now. While his cousins were betting it was to remove him from the family, he knew it was not the case. Maybe Lord Arcturus will be passing on the title to his son, Sirius’ father? He was not old, per se, only in his seventies. But Sirius knew his grandmother had some health problems, recently. Maybe he wanted to put all his attention on her?
Mechanically throwing some Floo powder in the hearth, Sirius called for “Ancestral Black Seat” and muttered the password “House Black will endure”. He closed his eyes when the magic of the green flames twirled him around, and he stepped flawlessly through the other side, brushing the soot on his robes.
“Finally! Come here, you disgrace! You will make us late!” Hissed his darling mother, the harpy Walburga Black.
Wisely keeping his mouth shut, Sirius followed her while rolling his eyes. When they stepped in the family meeting room, he was surprised to see that the usual long table was changed. It was now a large circular table, with a little raised dais for the Lord, his Lady and his Heir. No one was seating yet, but his grandfather and grandmother were already behind their seats.
“Welcome, now that everyone is here. Before you take your seats, I have some news, some changes. Firstly, Orion will not be my heir anymore.”
The heir ring materialised in the Lord’s hand, while Walburga was apoplectic with rage. Only the hand of Orion, her husband and Sirius’ father, stopped her from impersonating a banshee as she was prone to do.
“Why, father?” Asked the ex-heir.
“You very well know why, Orion. You couldn’t wear this ring anymore, don’t you? I think I can even bet that it was shortly after the birth of Sirius. Because you couldn’t be bothered to actually raise your heir or do your duty to your family yourself. You let your wife do so since then. You are unfit to be my heir anymore.”
Orion wisely keep his mouth shut, knowing very well that his father was right.
“In the name of House Black, I chose Sirius as my new Heir. Come here, grandson.”
Eyes wide, Sirius swallowed thickly and walked toward his grandfather. He did not expect that.
“While some, here, would say you are a disgrace to our House, you are not, Sirius. You are true to yourself, just like our family official motto says. Toujours Pur has nothing to do with blood purity, and a number of them have forgotten it. It signifies you must always be true to yourself. You must always own your decisions, and your actions. It means you do your utmost to keep your magic and soul pure. It doesn’t mean you need to marry your cousins, or only pureblood mages. Do you accept to be Heir Black, until my demise when you will become Lord Black?”
“I accept, Lord Black,” said the young man after clearing his throat.
A burst of magic came, starting at the base of his feet and culminating in the tip of his hair. Then, the ring in his grandfather’s hand glowed. The same glow started on his own finger. Finally, the ring disappeared from his grandfather's hand and appeared on his finger. Another burst of magic came, and Sirius’ eyes glowed briefly.
“Well met, Heir Black,” smiled Arcturus while he shook the hand of his grandson.
“Well met, Lord Black,” replied Sirius, smiling for the first time since he set foot in the room.
“Please, take place, my heir. On my right.”
Sirius took the seat offered and finally looked to the rest of the family. His mother was red in the face, refraining from shooting at him with great effort. His father was paler than a ghost. His cousins were pales too, shocked. Sirius smirked at them, winking.
“Now. There is some other news. Firstly, while our dear Walburga and Cygnus claimed otherwise, Andromeda never married without my consent.”
There was screeching. Bellatrix and Walburga, mostly. Arcturus raised his hand, and they were silenced. Then, coming from a door on the right, stepped Andromeda. His favourite cousin. And she wasn’t alone. Behind her, there was her husband, Edward “Ted” Tonks, and their daughter, the two years old Nymphadora Tonks.
“I would like to officially recognise the union of Andromeda Black, daughter of House Black, and Edward Tonks. I would also like to welcome their daughter, Nymphadora Tonks, in our family. The first metamorphmagus since Alexia Black, in the fourteenth century.”
“It can’t be! She’s the daughter of a mudblood, she can’t have our family talent!” Screeched Walburga, bypassing the silencing charm of Arcturus by sheer rage.
“It can, and it is. Now, be silent, or I disown you, like you claimed I did for Andromeda!” Were the calm words of the Lord Black. “Now, Andromeda, Edward, Nymphadora, please, take your seats, on the left of Melania.”
The family nodded and took their seats. Ted, directly on the left of Melania, with Nymphadora on his knees and Andromeda on his left.
“I would also like to welcome other family members that you so generously burned from our family tapestry in your home, Walburga. You will fix it after our meeting, or you will not like your punishment.”
From doors all around the room came men and women thought disowned. They took their seats on the right and the left of the lord, with their spouses. There was Alphard Black, the queer brother of Walburga and favourite uncle of Sirius. There was Lucretia Black, and her husband Ignatus Prewett. There was also Cedrella Black, and her husband Septimus Weasley.
“Now, everyone, take your seats.”
Arcturus let his wife sit first, before doing the same. Sirius was looking wide-eyed at all the member of House Black and their spouse. He never got to meet half of them! Exchanging a look with his brother, seated on his right, Sirius smiled.
“Welcome, everyone, to the Ancestral Black Home. You are all welcome here whenever you want. There is no “warding against mudblood and blood-traitor” as some have said in public. If I called this meeting, it was not only to accept you all formally in the family. I got a letter from our account manager, telling me a partially disowned squib of our line had three magical granddaughters.”
“No, it can’t be! Squibs are a stain; they have lost magic forever!” Screeched Bellatrix, furious.
“And yet, there it is. And, fortunately, my father never completed the disownment of Marius before his demise, so I can bring him back in our fold, if he accepts. But I have no way of contacting him, yet, and no idea if he had his memory wiped or not. Cassiopeia, cousin, can I count on you to locate him in the muggle world?”
“Of course, Archie. I will start when we are done here.”
“Good. Thank you. I would also like all of you to search you minds: Do you know who his granddaughters can be? I would like to meet them, and to bring them in.”
Sirius eyes were wide again. Slowly, under the weight of the looks from everyone, he turned to his grandfather.
“I er… I know them, grandfather. I… I met them a little bit after they left Gringotts the other day.”
“That is a good news, Sirius. Who are they? Are they willing to meet?”
“I… They don’t want anyone knowing for now, to have some time to assimilate the news. I… Er… Can I invoke the Family Secrecy on this?”
“Of course. And I second it. No one will be able to go blabbing who they are.”
The magic coursed through all of them at these words. Breathing a little easier, Sirius smiled.
“It’s the Evans’ girls. Only one of them is at Hogwarts. Lily Evans. Her little sister, Ivy, should have got a Hogwarts letter a few days ago, but Dumbledore did something and she never got it. And Petunia, the eldest, she is magical too, but not enough to go to Hogwarts. She could have gone to some other schools, but Dumbledore did something too; to make them think she was just a muggle. They… Er… They would probably like to meet you, but they wanted to talk to Marius first. And I know Petunia is trying to have information on our world. She is seventeen, so she is an adult here, but she has one more year of schooling in the muggle world before she is of age there.”
“Cassiopeia?”
“I’m on it, Archie, don’t fret.”
“Good. Anything else, Sirius?”
“Yeah. Petunia is the new Head of the Sayre Family. And there is squib in both her parents lineage. There is some Parkinson, Malfoy, Selwin, Peverell and Crouch blood in theirs.”
“Fascinating! Can you talk to them about a meeting? Maybe with their parents too, even if they are squibs? And Marius?”
“Yes, I can do that.”
“Thank you, Sirius. Already, you are more of an Heir than Orion.”
Sirius blushed while his grandfather gave a pointed look to his son.
“Great. Last subject of the meeting then. Our Dark Lord problem. I told you, when he started, that I wanted none of you involved in his circle. Some of you were too young to remember my words, I know. But you were not, Walburga. You neither, Cygnus. So, tell me. Why are one of my grand-niece wearing that man’s slavery mark? Why did you accept the union of Bellatrix and Narcissa to those who were his slaves already?”
“He is grander than you could possibly be, Arcturus!” Screeched Walburga while Cygnus was scowling. “Us Black, we recognised greatness, and power-“
“And we bow to no one, Walburga. I would disinherit you for your numerous blunders in the name of our family, if my Heir was not your son.” Thundered the Lord Black, his voice cold and biting. “Instead, you will not go into society anymore. You will be confined in your home, with no visitors apart from family. And, Cygnus, you will dissolve the union of Narcissa and Bellatrix if their husbands do not renounce this Dark Lord. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Lord Black.”
“You can’t do that! Our Lord is the Savior of our world, I will not renounce him, neither will my husband!”
“Then your marriage will be dissolved, your dowry returned, and you will be disinherited, Bellatrix.”
His cousin was scowling so hard, Sirius thought she would have already cursed anyone in the room if the magic of the Family Meeting was not actively blocking threats against the Lord and Heir.
“That is all. The Meeting is done. Everyone can go back to their lives. Thank you.”
Sirius couldn’t help but laugh when the oppressing magic lifted, and his dear family rushed to the Floo. He laughed and took Andromeda in his arms to spin her around, glad to have her back. He laughed and started to cry a little bit when he played with little Nymphadora who was enraptured with Melania’s long golden curls. He didn’t imagine, in his wildest dreams, that the family would take a turn like that. He needed to speak with the Evans’ girls, and soon. He couldn’t contain his glee at the idea of another family meeting, this time with the girls and their family in it. He couldn’t wait to tell them.
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