Chapter 3
Regulus initially had his doubts on whether or not he would be equipped to raise a baby as a single father at the age of nineteen, but he surprised himself. He was good at it, not just adequate. It didn't hurt that he was surrounded by family with young children. Recently, there had been a resurgence for the House of Black, in fact.
Cousin Andromeda and her husband, Gideon Prewett, had welcomed their second child, Atlas, in November 1978- having had their first, Nymphadora, in 1973. Cousin Bellatrix and her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, had welcomed their first child, Corvus, in December 1979. Cousin Narcissa and her husband, Lucius Malfoy, welcomed baby Draco in June 1980. Sirius and his husband, Rabastan Lestrange, had found a surrogate and were due to welcome a son, Alphard Orion, at the end of 1980.
Regulus' best friends, Evan Rosier and Barty Crouch, were also considering marriage, and Pandora had just gotten married to Xenophilius Lovegood, and was predicting (the bloody seer) that she'd soon fall pregnant with a daughter she planned to name Luna. It seemed that everything was going well.
Sirius' baby would be the new Heir black, as Bellatrix's son was already Heir Lestrange. It made Regulus all the more determined to keep an Heirship for baby Hydrus. The Potter one would be relinquished back to James in time, Regulus just wanted to make him sweat for a while, but the Peverell one was going to be Hydrus' no matter what. Regulus took to the Black family library with a vigour, looking for anything he could on the Peverells- a plausible link with the Blacks, an explanation on why the long lost Heirship had passed to his son, anything.
After several days of research, Regulus wasn't quite sure if he regretted looking into it or not.
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Regulus walked with determination through the halls of Black Castle, the seat of the family Lordship held by grandfather Arcturus. Steeling himself, he knocked on the door of the study.
"Enter, Regulus," came his grandfather's voice.
Arcturus Black did not look like the 80 year old man that he was. Blacks always aged gracefully, and Arcturus looked around sixty, the black of his hair merely peppered with grey. He was every bit the imposing figure he had cut in Regulus' own childhood.
"Grandfather," Regulus said, respectfully inclining his head, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."
"You said it was urgent, Regulus, I hope it is. I would have met with you regardless, but I do hope for both of our sake that this worry has not been undue."
"It is about Hydrus, grandfather. His birth certificate names him Heir Peverell."
Arcturus froze, eyes widened slightly, "The birth certificate, Regulus, if you would?"
Regulus had, thankfully, prepared for this. He had already been to Gringotts and had James' name as the partial donor hidden on the birth certificate until he said otherwise, along with Hydrus’ status as Heir Potter. He handed over the copy to his grandfather.
"Salazar, Regulus. This is the Gringotts copy, yes?"
"Yes grandfather. I did my research before coming to you- the last Lady Peverell, Sadhbh, married Rigel Black in 1803. Rigel Black is the father of Altair Black, who is the father of Phineus Nigellus, who is the father of Sirius Black II, your father."
"Lady Sadhbh’s heritage is not well documented, I had never came across her being a Peverell. Well done, Regulus."
"Thank you, grandfather, but I worry for Hydrus. I studied the Peverells in every piece of literature I could find, and every mention of the family gift or the requirements to fit the Heirship allude to being a Child of Death. A Necromancer."
"Then Hydrus will need to be trained in the gift the moment he presents it. I'll scour the library and call in favours to get as many books as I can, along with searching for Lady Sadhbh’s portrait, but I would like you to contact a member of the Potter family."
Regulus' heart sank, not that he showed any sign, "The Potters? Why?"
"The Potters are well-documented as being descended from a branch of the Peverells. No matter our connection to Lady Sadhbh, they are the keepers of the Peverell vaults and artefacts in the absence of a claimed Heirship. There is a chance that they hold some Grimoires in their vault. Hopefully you will be able to persuade them to part with them, as we will not be able to enter the Peverell vault ourselves until Hydrus is old enough to grant permission."
"Of course, grandfather. I'll do what I can."
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Regulus put off asking for another month after his meeting with his grandfather. Finally, in September, he wrote a short letter to James.
Meet me at the cottage. It's about Hydrus.
- R.A.B
He opened the wards to James, and settled down to wait. James arrived half an hour later, visibly suspicious. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Regulus saved him from the embarrassment.
"Hydrus' birth certificate shows him to be Heir Peverell. Do you know what this means?"
"Somewhat? I know they married into the Potters, I know an Heir hasn't been seen in well over a century. I just don't know why Hydrus is the Heir."
Well, the less James knew, the more Regulus could leave out.
"Myself and my grandfather, Lord Black, are of the belief that Hydrus must possess whatever the Peverell gift is. I come to you with an offer- give me whatever Peverell Grimoires or artefacts exist in the Potter vault, for Hydrus' benefit, and I will relinquish Hydrus' possession of the Potter Heirship immediately."
"What, now?"
"Yes. I will renounce his claim right here, on the condition that you send anything Peverell related to me as soon as you're physically able to."
James frowned slightly, lost in thought. After a few minutes, he sighed, "Alright. I'll visit the Potter vault today, and I'll send anything I find to you with a house elf when you’re alone, okay?"
Regulus nodded and stood from his seat, his right hand on his heart and his left hand on his wand, "I, Regulus Arcturus Black II, hereby offer to relinquish my son, Hydrus Arcturus Black's, claim on the Potter Heirship to Henry James Potter, under the witness of Lord James Fleamont Potter. So magic wills it, so shall it be."
James let out a breath he must have been holding, "Thank you, Regulus. So, how is he?"
"He's doing amazingly. He's a Metamorphmagus, changes his hair colour depending on his mood. Second one in the family this generation, my cousin Andromeda's eldest is the first. He doesn't cry much, I've worked out what each hair colour means so that I can tend to him before he gets upset, but he's very aware of things around him already. I brought another photo for you, here."
James nodded softly, looking down at the photo of a smiling Hydrus as his hair changed from black to blonde to match his Aunt Narcissa, "Thank you for telling me. I- I'll go get those books."
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Compared to Regulus, James was having a bad time. He loved his son, Henry, more than he ever thought it was possible to love, but with each passing day he grew more and more convinced that he had been wrong. He shouldn't have married Lily, should never have even dated her. He should have stuck with Regulus.
He loved Lily, of course he did, she was amazing. She was beautiful, incredibly intelligent, and just as kind. But James was getting very frustrated already. Baby Henry was two months old now, and himself and Lily had sat down to talk about his future. They didn't talk about how the war could factor in and change things, just their vision for their son. The issue was that they wanted very different things for Henry.
James was a Pureblood, it didn't matter if his son wasn't, he wanted his son to be raised fully as a wizard. He already had an educational tutor in mind for Henry, had planned out starting his Heirship lessons when he turned six, had allocated a house elf to him, had educated himself in how to use the Potter family hourglass so that he could find out his son's magical affinity when he has his first bout of accidental magic, and had even planned out how to introduce his son to Wizarding celebrations. Everything his parents had done for him, everything a family of his status would do for their Heir.
Lily, being a Muggleborn and thus raised very differently, had other ideas. She wanted Henry to go to a local Muggle primary school, just like she had herself- they could educate him on some magical things when he was far older, closer to Hogwarts. She didn't think Henry needed to start Heirship lessons until he was seventeen. She didn't want house elves at all in their home, never mind helping her care for her son. She didn't want to know Henry's magical affinity, and didn't think he should know either, because no one had tested hers as a child and she knew her strengths fine. She thought they should celebrate Muggle holidays, like Easter and Halloween and Christmas, as opposed to Ostara and Samhain and Yule.
As the days went by, James was getting more and more frustrated. Lily just didn't understand, no matter how much he explained to her what he wanted for his son.
The icing on the cake was the visit from Dumbledore when Henry was six months old, informing them of a Prophecy that heralded their infant son as the defeater of the Dark Lord. A Prophecy that he claimed the Dark Lord was already aware of. James didn't believe it, not for a minute. He always glamoured his Lordship ring, the one that protected him from compulsions, and it heated more and more on his hand as Dumbledore spoke. The man was trying to convince them to believe him, and Lily did. No matter what James tried to tell her, she brushed it off. She insisted that they made plans to go into hiding under the Fidelius charm soon, with Peter as their secret keeper- even though James wanted Remus, but Lily was in the war mentality now and didn’t want to risk trusting someone with a dark core. She insisted that James quit the Aurors. He refused, point blank. He had started to notice a lot of things more clearly now, noticing discrepancies.
The 'awful' Death Eater raids that Dumbledore wanted them to intercept, for one, weren’t actually a bad thing in James’ eyes when he investigated. James started doing his research, on both Muggles and Magical raids. The Muggles who were attacked were usually either actually Squibs or Muggles with magical children, and all of them had some sort of child abuse on file in either the Ministry or in the Muggle world. Dumbledore wanted them to protect these people, and James had a gut feeling that he was not unaware of their alleged crimes. The Magicals that were attacked had either attacked those from Darker families and claimed self defence (which the head of the DMLE, Bartemius Crouch Sr, had curiously decided that the Aurors were not to look into), or had some other variety of nefarious actions in their past. Caradoc Dearborn, for example, suspected of trafficking young werewolves for use in illegal potion and spell creation experimentation, was kidnapped soon after the allegations were reported to the DMLE.
James' private doubts reached a crescendo the moment he received a letter from his best friend.
Prongs,
I imagine Dumbledore hasn't informed you of my most recent mission. He sent me to try and recruit a notable werewolf pack to work against the Dark Lord some weeks ago.
Things are not at all like what he described. Even knowing what I was sent to do, I was not treated with hostility. I was welcomed into the pack, given a roof over my head, food and new clothes. I am treated like I have always been one of their own.
I hope you won't hate me for this, but I'm joining the pack. I'm not joining the Dark Lord, but I am leaving the Order. I'm abandoning my mission. I've never felt like I belong quite as much as I do here. Dumbledore told me the pack lived wild in the forest, savages, but that's not the case! It's a whole village in a forest for those with and without creature blood, not just werewolves. I can work here, actually earning a living, teaching children. Just as I always wanted to.
I'm sorry James, if this disappoints you. You're my closest friend and, so long as you'll have me, I want to keep in contact. I can visit you whenever you want, or you could even visit me at some point. Though, I must inform you that the village was set up by the Dark Lord as a safe heaven for those with creature blood and darker affinities- I understand if that would put you off visiting. Please write back to me, even if it’s only to cut me off. I trust that you won’t tell the Order, no matter what you decide.
- Moony
There was a whole village, somewhere in Britain, where Remus can live and work without fear. A whole village, set up by the Dark Lord, just for people to simply exist. He didn't blame Remus one bit, hell, he was over the moon for him!
He just had to wonder, question many a thing that he had previously accepted as fact.
Was he fighting on the wrong side of this war?