Harry Potter was tired,frustrated and covered in dust. While Hermione and Ron where planning the break in to the ministry he was cleaning through Sirius's old stuff. He was about to give up and go back down stairs and suffer through their heart eyes and Hermione's insistence they should double check everything in their plan until he found a small cardboard box with NOCTUA BLACK scribbled across in messy black handwriting with faded ink. "Who the hell is Noctua?" Inside the box was a few items, one was a very old picture, a locket and a battered old leather book. Harry picked up the picture first and had a look at it. It had four teenage girls on the front, one with bright, fiery red hair and icy blue eyes sparkling with mischief and intelligence, she looked the eldest of the four and was wearing Slytherin emerald green robes. The next in line was quiet obviously Bellatrix Lestrange her mop of inky black unruly curls her eyes were so dark green they were almost black and filled with the darkness of evil. The next was Andromeda her brunette hair straightened down to her shoulder. She looked mildly concerned and worried her eyes a lighter sage green. The final one was Narcissa Malfoy, she had wavy blonde hair and eyes that were like a foresty green, not to dark and not too light. He flipped the photo to the back and saw the writing on the back, it was in faded black ink so light it was practically invisible.
The Black Sisters (Left to right) Noctua, Bellatrix,Andromeda and Narcissa. He frowned, there was a fourth black sister? The locket was a silver heart with the letters N.H.B engraved on the front and it reminded him of R.A.B and while Harry wondered if they were linked he clicked it open he saw a different picture, of the same four girls but significantly younger. The redheaded one, Noctua, was a child and the other seemed like toddlers. On the inside of the locket were the words Better Days. Finally, the book. Harry opened it up to the first pages which were yellowing with age, the ink fading but still legible. Property of Noctua Hydra Black He frowned. "Noctua Black? Who is that?" He slipped the three items into his pocket before heading downstairs into the living room. Where Ron and Hermione were sat planning in the adjoining kitchen but before he joined them he looked up the black tapestry on the wall. "Hermione come here." The bushy haired girl came over "what is it Harry?" He pointed to something on the tapestry. "Does that look like a piece of the tapestry was cut out then sown back up together?" He pointed to the small silver scar like discrepancy. "Yeah It does. Why does it matter?" She asked.
"This is hand done...why would they leave the stitches?" Harry questioned and Hermione shrugged. "The black family was filled with ancient secrets ans this is probably one of them. However we have to run over the plan again" Harry sighed and nodded. 'I'll be there in a second" Hermione raised a brow but nodded and made her way back to Ron. Harry looked at the stitching. Noctua Black was a Black family secret, and one Harry would uncover without the help of the other if he could help it. Several hours of meticulous planning later Harry was laying on Sirius's bed Noctua's diary lying open on his lap. From what he had read Noctua Black was the eldest black sister, born 21st January 1948, was sorted into Slytherin and attended Hogwarts from years 1959 to 1965 and was a big troublemaker. She was the Fred and George and the Sirius and James in the 60s. The diary was filled randomly from her first year to her sixth year, the writing quick and scribbled like she was writing down her exact thoughts as she thought them and, she was a seer.
4th June 1964:
My family have been behaving extremely strangely. Mother and Father have been talking repeatedly about this man, Tom Riddle. He's like some extremist Muggle-Hater, Honestly I don't see the issue with muggles or muggle borns. In fact they seem like perfectly acceptable people. Mother and Father are a bit over the top sometimes like when they put the cruitatus curse on us. They don't do it to Bella or Cissy as much as me and Andy but I think that's because we have different views to them. They hate me. They believe I've put a bad impression on Andy and even young Sirius! The boy is only young, five years old, yet they already hurt him. That boy will do great things I'm sure of it, and the brother. Regulus. He'll be a great man one day, but not everyone will see it till it's too late. People ask how I know things, I can't explain it's because I see things. Like the future. It's a bit weird like I see stuff in flashes and dreams. I've seen many things, a boy with a lighting scar, the black brothers, Professor Dumbledore as an Old man and Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle will bring pain amongst many people and I must bring him down. Even if it kills me. I must consult Andromeda about this.
That was the last entry but Harry noticed several pages were missing, like they were torn out. Andromeda Black. She would have all the answers to this strange case. He tiptoed down the creaky stairs and saw Ron and Hermione sat awake running over the plans once again. It was a bit obsessive. "You guys still up? Want a cup of tea?" Hermione nodded eagerly "yes please mate" Ron agreed and Harry grinned. "You got it." He went over to the kettle and brewed the tea carefully. And as he slipped the odourless and tasteless sleeping draught into both their cups he made sure he was out of view and didn't put any in his own drink. It was harmless and they'd wake up thinking they just 'fell asleep' and by then Harry would be back. "Here you go guys. Ok Mione talk me through the plans once more" Hermione nodded taking a slurp of her tea, Ron following suit. "Right so we use the twins sweets and the polyjuice potion to get in..." she trailed off as she started yawning. "Go to sleep you two" Harry encouraged and Ron shrugged "A bit of shut eye cant hurt Hermione we've been doing this for days" and soon enough the lovebirds were fast asleep on the table, and they wouldn't be awake for hours.
Harry closed his eyes and pictured the Tonks's household, the one he visited with Hagrid. He felt a bit bad for not telling them of his sudden visit but he needed answers. The identity of Noctua Hydra Black was eating away at him, like a dog at a bone. He successfully apparated to the front door of the familiar house and knocked several times. "Who's knocking at this hour?" He heard a woman's voice question "Who is it?" She asked and before he could answer he heard the door swing open, a subtle gasp and Harry felt himself get yanked inside. "Harry? What are you doing here?" Ted Tonks asked as he saw Harry tight in Andromeda's grasps. "I'm here to ask about something I found in Grimmuald place, I want to know about Noctua" Andromeda let go of Harry and sighed. She indicated to one of the three armchairs around the fire. "Please, take a seat Harry me and Ted will be right back" he nodded and took a spot in the soft, plush velvet maroon armchair that was placed in front of the fire place, the fire dancing elegantly the oranges and golds casting shadows on the red brick walls. Above the fire place was a portrait of Ted, Andromeda and a teenage Tonks.
"I always knew Noctua would find a way to live on. She was crafty like that" Andromeda said taking a seat next to Harry, and Ted next to her. She had a cardboard box similar to the one under Sirius's bed but this one looked even more dust covered. "Noctua was my sister. She had shocking red hair and eyes so blue it was like staring into beautiful ice sculptures, she was clever and mischievous. A lot like Sirius if you will, she was adventurous and brave and so undoubtedly curious it ended up killing her" she pulled out a small framed portrait. "This was the only family portrait mother and father allowed to be painted that included Noctua. Even from a young age she was left out and hated by our parents because she was so different. Her red hair, blue eyes and happy carefree personality made our family look unsophisticated and childlike so she was banished from portraits and pictures. She's only in very few, she was 7 years Older then me"
The portrait included Druella and Cygnus Black, both sat on armchairs hands folded neatly and arms crossed their faces stern and dismissive. Noctua looked around seventeen in the picture, her hair waving neatly down to her waist and she was the only one who was smiling but it looked more forced then in the other picture Harry had seen. She had the dark mark burned into her porcelain skin. Bellatrix looked about thirteen and she looked just as annoyed as their parents did. Narcissa was only nine and had a sense of matureness a child shouldn't have to have at that age. "She was the first person to ever get the dark mark. An experiment if you will." "She was a death eater?" He asked looking at the girl again, from what she'd read she really didn't seem the type. "No. She was completely against everything our parents ever said, however she was curious and well curiosity is dangerous. She told mother and father she had heard about Tom Riddle and wanted to join, father was ecstatic and so was mother. Not long after they had this portrait done, finally something Noctua had done that they could be proud of" Ted looked solemnly into the fire. "But, she wanted to take it down from the inside because she was a seer and could see he would do terrible,terrible things" Andromeda lifted up another thing from the box. It was a picture, of A young Andromeda and Noctua, Noctua had her arms slung around her and Andromeda was smiling at the camera.
"This was taken not all that long before her death" she explained. "Noctua discovered Tom Riddle was creating Horcrux's and went and Told Dumbledore. In 1965. Long before Tom Riddle's rise to power even properly began. However he didn't do anything about it, he just said it would go away like all problems do eventually. Noctua didn't believe him, so she took matters into her own hands." Next Andromeda took a deep breath "she tried to kill him, but failed. They didn't figure out who did it but she was collecting documents to prove what the death eaters were doing. She even took the dark mark, the first person to have it, as a test of her loyalty. She was brave, the bravest person I know. And she delivered all the documents to Dumbledore and only then did he believe her. Without her Dumbledore would have found out too late and so much more death could have happened. Tom Riddle discovered it was her and tortured her to the brink of death to deliver enemy secrets and tell him the future. She said nothing. Only when he threatened to kill me and cissy and Bella did she fold, she told him lies upon lies. He believed her. Then he killed her" Harry felt a tear run down his cheek.
had done so much yet her memory hadn't lived on. "When Mother and Father found out they were outraged and banned every single item of Noctua's or to feature her to be burned to a crisp. Me and Sirius saved what we could, and I gather Sirius's stuff was never found since you learnt about her. Then Mother and Father got a memory charm put on all of us but the guy who did it wasn't very good. It didn't stick for very long for most people and for me, Cissy, Regulus and Sirius it didn't stick at all" she layed out some objects on the carpet. "These were all i managed to save" Harry added the locket, diary and picture to the floor. "Thats what Sirius got" before finally Andromeda pulled a final item from the box. It was a piece of tapestry. It was Noctuas. "Mother was so mad, she didn't even get Walburga burn it off she cut it out of the tapestry and sowed it back together by hand. She threw it in the fire. However she didn't know, that little eleven year old me had cast a charm on the fire, so anything that went in looked like it burned but it in fact landed on my bed. I was heartbroken and saved it. Noctua was never mentioned in the house again. Everyone remembered her, but no one dared speak her name. She was the biggest disappointment the Black family ever had"
Harry sighed. "I wish there was a way to keep her memories alive" and Andromeda shrugged. "Maybe, one day after this horrible war is over we can share her story to the masses"
19 Years Later:
Harry Potter sighed as his children screamed excitedly as he pushed open the door to flourish and blotts, they were getting their school supplies and honestly it was exhausting having kids. He looked around "All right kids. Off you pop go gets your stuff and meet me back here" he walked over to a section and looked around looking for a specific book about potions he was wanting when he saw something. It was a hardback book sat on top of a podium with a sign next to it saying Bestseller, New Release and Must Read! And other things. It was the Picture of Noctua Black, the one of her in the portrait but it was only her and the title was written in big bold writing.
THE FOURTH BLACK SISTER
The Story of Noctua Black
By: Andromeda Tonks
He hadn't told a soul about Noctua. He felt like it was Andromeda's story to tell, and now she was finally telling it. He smiled and turned the book over to the back to see a little picture of Andromeda in her chair, her hair grey with age, and at the bottom it said.
P.S thank you, to the boy who showed up at my door with curiosity and a desire to know more, a glint in his eye just like Noctua's.
He grinned. He pulled out an extra few galleons just as his children came up to him, books in hand. "Whatcha got there dad?" James Sirius Potter asked. "Just a Book I've wanted to read for a very long time"
THE END