Heirlooms and plans
To the Wixen a birthday is a grand celebration, being able to celebrate a child’s birthday is always something special. While there are certain milestones that each child should hit at a given age some things can affect these milestones, Stress of sharing their magical moments with family can cause them to become fewer and miss special moments in their life. Some more talented members of society can have a mini milestone at year 5 which can just be a spike of magical growth.The year of the 7th birthdays are magical in their own right. It is when many magical cores become a bit more stabilized and can sometimes double in size and cause a little shower of magic that can be a cause of great celebration if a child has not yet shown accidental magic up until this point. This can also be a moment when the accepting of a magical artifact by the child that can help connect to their magic more readily and prepare the child for casting in the coming years. Not all of the moments of a child’s birthday are about the celebration it is also about allowing a child’s core to grow naturally this is also a critical time for immunizations as this is when booster potions must be applied to children to further ready them for their time around others of the magical world and going off to school.
----Excerpt from Wise Wizarding Lines by Edwin Roc---
Orion was thinking about what to do for his eldest’s birthday. This year was his seventh birthday so it would be the moment that his core would be settling into a more proper size for starting Hogwarts. He had been monitoring all his heirs' cores to be sure they were all growing properly for their age. Orion knew that his eldest was ready to pick a family heirloom for him to start to bond with and learn to use. He had gotten most of the cursed items cleansed and was now looking at what the Black family had available. He thought about his three nieces that had helped his heirs this past Yule and decided that he would reach out to see if they would like to look through the heirlooms at a later date for all that they did to help them.
As Orion looked down at his paperwork about his different properties, he had an idea of what to do for Sirius’s birthday this year he decided he would take his boys to a warmer area like Greece, he smiled at the thought of his boys enjoying the beaches of Santorini Island. He looked at the property there, Mávri Eiríni Spíti. As he thought about it he would have to work hard to get all the paperwork done so that they could travel together. He let himself start to work on the paperwork now as he thought about getting the house checked for safety by the goblins and making sure the wards were still intact.
Orion started to list the things he needed to get together before they could go to another country even if it was just for a week or two. He thought about the need to get warm clothes set aside for the trip and including swim trunks. He would have to get a little help settling what the children would be taking. He looked up as he thought about who would be available to go with him to help keep his heirs safe while traveling. He took a moment to write off a note to Cassiopeia as he stood up from his seat after sending off the owl to Cassiopeia and walked out to check on Lucretia who was teaching all four heirs now as they got deeper into their lessons since the Yule introduction.
“Now I want you four to think about the issues you were told about at the Yule Ball. Each topic that was discussed was about a loss of rights to practice our religion and loss of knowledge of our own culture as well as the divide between the non-magical and magical governments,” Lucretia started her lecture as she stood before the four desks.
“I have come to know that you four had a few good ideas about solutions about how we can fix or attempt to combat the issues that were raised. Can you tell me a bit about each of the problems you listened to and the idea you put forth and we can have a discussion about why or why not that idea would be good to put forth to adults that can take it and craft it into a more solid idea to bring before the Wizengamot.” She said as she watched the boys each think about the issues they had talked about at the Yule ball.
Hadrian sat up and raised his hand first. “Yes Hadrian,” Lucretia said as she gave the floor to him. “The issue that I was able to give input on was that the muggleborn students are coming in at age 11 and expected to learn our culture and ways without a guide. That they have a steep learning curve that Hogwarts isn’t trying to make any better without classes for them to take to bring them up to speed. That on top of the fact that when they come in they are getting culture shock and our governing body is making our own culture illegal to practice,” Hadrian started to summarize what he had heard about.
“So, what was your solution to this problem?” Lucretia asked Hadrian who looked up from his hands and said, “I suggested we change the rules. If our own laws are the problem they need to be repealed and classes added to Hogwarts to help Muggleborn and raised students have a better chance to succeed. Our learning should not have to be hampered by one group of students being behind and getting no help, we only get 9 months out of the year to learn when we go to Hogwarts. They should not be expected to accept the handicap that they are given not being able to learn some of the things we learn like how to write with a quill, how to sharpen a quill, how to properly prepare herbs for potions. But neither should we, the wixen raised, be required to review all year these things because they did not get the primers we got, there should be a balance where the muggleborns gain the knowledge they need and catch up and we have to review,” He said remembering as much of the information as possible.
“If we made the rules wrong then we should take them away, we should not lose our culture to make the muggleborns fit in better when we separated from the muggle world because they were killing us because of our beliefs.” Hadrian said as he looked at them and saw everyone nodding.
“Very well said,” Orion said as he stepped into the room and saw everyone look startled. “I am sorry to interrupt your debate but Kreature has lunch ready for these four if I can take a moment of your time Lucretia,” he stated, smiling at her.
“Go have your lunch and enjoy a break until I call you back to lessons alright,” Lucretia said as she watched Orion standing in the doorway.
Orion nodded as he saw the boys leave then led the way to a different room that he knew he could ward against prying ears. He just wanted to keep the secret a bit longer from the boys while the adults planned the getaway and birthday surprise.
“What did you need from me, Orion?” Lucretia asked as she looked him over. She could tell he was planning something since it was the same look that Sirius got when he wanted to go about pranking or just getting into trouble.
“I think I want to take the boys to Mávri Eiríni Spíti for Sirius’ birthday. It will be a good way to get them all away from the cold that Britain has that time of year and let them swim in some of the warmest waters that time of year,” he said looking up at Lucretia.
“Ah that’s a big endeavor with three young heirs, possibly even 4 if you take the Potter heir with you,” She said, not sure what he was going to really ask her about since he clearly had a plan and needed to talk to her.
“Well I was curious if you would be willing to join the boys and I on this trip, I know that I cannot take them to all the things that are going to interest each of them if I went alone and that’s to many little boys alone out of country without help, I would be committed for loss of my mind if I tried to do that,” He said chuckling a bit at the thought.
“I would love to assist in wrangling the boys while on vacation, regardless of the reason it is still a family vacation, so we shall take this opportunity to teach them about other cultures as well as how to conduct themselves befitting a traveling noble,” Lucretia said as she smiled ready to help and have their heirs grow.
“That sounds wonderful, I’ll add you to the request for passports I am waiting to hear about Cassieopia and if she would be able to get away for a bit of time around then, if she can that will be an adult an heir since we are going to invite House Potter to join us for the birthday celebration and to stay until the end of the weekend, A surprised for James and Sirius at that point,” Orion thought as he smirked and saw a similar idea in Lucretia’s eyes.
“Sounds like you have the information you need from me so I will go take my lunch and check on the boys” Lucretia said as she paused and added, “Your boys’ magic is giving them a good edge on learning right now, so this would be a good chance to start them on learning new languages as well. I can teach them Greek and we can also teach them Italian and French so that they have at least 4 languages for themselves to play with,” She smiled knowing that Orion would be in a house filled with polyglots at that point if she had her way.
“I agree, languages would be helpful for them, they can also learn spells from other languages too when they get proficient enough,” Orion said thinking about how he didn’t like languages but was willing to put his sons through that headache.
“I’ll see if I can get some Greek workbooks for you to work with them on,” he said as he dismantled the wards against spying and they parted ways so that Orion could work on getting work done for the surprise as well as the language course books.
It was two weeks after that discussion with Lucretia that Orion had the time to take Sirius to Castle Black to go down into the heirloom vaults. He knew that this would be something he would do with each child, it would be interesting to keep hold of the younger two when their time came but that was a few years off yet.
As they walked through the opulent halls of Castle Black Orion took in the state of awe that Sirius seemed to be in that they had a castle. He watched as his son wanted to take time to explore all the secrets that this castle held. Orion knew that if he let his son go about the castle he would inevitably find his grandfather, Arcturus, and he was not an easy man to deal with on a good day. Orion did not want his son to feel the sting of not being enough when it came to that man. So Orion had the house elves of Castle Black keep his father contained to his wing of the Castle, not that he was sure that his father would even notice that he was isolated from the rest of the Castle as he normally kept to his personal library to read most days while talking with the portraits that were about his wing as well.
Maybe it was time to bring all the boys to Castle Black, let them enjoy the privacy that this place allowed them to have. The room for them to run about was more a plus as they were always so active. He had started to look into other activities that they could add to their lessons and found that there were endurance lessons that would help them become better duelists. The castle would allow the room for them to start working on that endurance as well as give them a lot more space to enjoy the outside with. He regretted that Grimmauld Place did not have much of a yard where they could play or anything but the boys seemed content for now to just stay inside and wondered if that was because they had lessons so often with Lucretia.
Shaking his head Orion focused his thoughts on leading his heir to the heirloom vault. It was a right of passage for all heirs at the age of 7 to come and gain an item of their choosing. So he brought Sirius down to the vault within Castle Black so that he could see if anything called to him
“When we enter the vault Sirius, don’t touch anything but the item you want to take with you.” Orion warned as he looked at his son who looked at him and nodded.
“Once an item is touched, it is claimed by magic to belong to an heir and per the family rules I would not be allowed a second item unless my magic became unstable with only one item,” Sirius said remembering what he had read in the family Grimoire.
“Correct. So be careful I shall open the Vault now and you can take as long as you like within there,” He said as he moved to the vault. The door was solid black with silver etchings of their family crest, a wand laid horizontal across the middle of the door. Above the wand was a scattering of stars and below were the ravens that were more commonly known as the symbol of House Black. Orion stepped forward and presented the Lord’s Ring and tapped it to the tip of the etched wand and the door opened.
“Let’s go inside,” Orion said as he saw Sirius start to get more excited as he stood there waiting. He knew that his heir was going to take time to find the right item unless something just called to him. He was ready to spend all day here if they needed to for Sirius to find the right item. So as he stood there he thought about the owl that he had gotten back from Cassiopeia and how she had said yes to helping travel with his boys as well as making sure that the Potters would be able to get to them on the day of Sirius’ birthday without trouble.
As he watched Sirius walk into the vault he could only remember the time when he walked these stacks looking for his heirloom. He had found a charmed clasp to add to his cloaks. It had warned him of just about anyone trying to sneak up on him or even pickpockets when he went along the alleys. He still used it to this day when he was dressed to represent his lordship status. He watched as he wondered if the daughters of House Black had been taken to the jewelry vault when they came of age, at Seven or even eleven to get the first pieces of their jewelry collection.
As he watched Sirius walk slowly through each aisle, he saw how his son held his hand above the items, walking slowly to let his magic and hand glide over them to see if anything called to his magic or him. Orion found himself proud of his heir as he watched him take small steps that had no pattern to them except that he went through a pile and needed to step to the next.
As Sirius went through everything he wondered what he would actually try to claim from the vault. He knew there were so many items within this vault, some items had been here since their ancestors stepped foot into this castle. He knew that there was centuries of history within this vault and some items would not be allowed to leave with this castle with how they would react to outside magic. Watching, he saw Sirius start to be drawn somewhere. He walked far enough back to watch without interfering with the process.
Sirius could feel something was calling to his magic in the room but it was hard to concentrate to find the item in all the clutter. He knew this clutter was family history and items that many Blacks before him had gathered and collected but right now he could feel one item nearly screaming for him to find it within this mess. He understood why it was a mess since no wizard or witch could touch the items without them bonding and they were only allowed to bond with one item at a time.
With careful steps and keeping himself as much in the center of the aisle as possible, Sirius wound his way through the items to a small area where a few hand weapons lay. He paused here now as he let his hand hover above the weapons. As Sirius’s hand hovered above the weapons Orion watched his son, He would not interfere with the bonding; he just hoped that the weapon would be something his son could handle.
Sirius found himself drawn to a pair of daggers. They were a deep obsidian colored crystal dagger that had a hilt, was stylized as wings flaring out into the hand guard. The hilt went down into a smooth rounded shape that seemed like they were going to fit his hands perfectly. He took a deep breath and reached down to grab the hilt of the daggers. He felt his magic warm as he grabbed the daggers. He held them carefully in his hands and felt the weight of them as he took a moment to look and inspect the blades. He found himself noticing they had runes on them lightly etched into the blades and hilts.
Orion saw the blades and smiled. These blades had been in the vault for a while as he had felt a slight pull to them as well but it seemed that it was not meant for him to take them but his son. He was proud that they would see the light outside the vault now within Sirius’ hands. He nodded and said, “Let us go back out and we can discuss the blades and your responsibility to them now,”
Sirius nodded and followed his father out. He was feeling the thrum of magic that was flowing between the blades and him. It felt nice and calming. He wondered if these blades would be able to go to school with him because he had a feeling they would enjoy the magic that would be surrounding him at Hogwarts when he finally got to attend.
Once Orion and Sirius finished with the heirloom vault, they made their way back to Grimmauld place. Orion watched as his heir was excited to examine his heirloom more.
"Just do not use the daggers on your brothers as they will leave scars that they will not be able to heal, these daggers are bound to you and will not hurt you but that does not extend to your siblings so be careful, keep them safely in your room if you are not working with them," Orion instructed.
Sirius nodded then carefully walked to his room. He wanted to know more about his new blades but right now he was going to spend time with his brothers so he took time to put his blades away.