Sirius Black IV
Foulest sort there is.
Sirius had a hard time accepting those words, his great aunt who lacked any moral compass whatsoever, condemned Lily’s actions. Condemned the magic she had used. Sirius knew that Blood magic was dark, and he had assumed that Blood rituals was just as dark, he would never have guessed that there it was so different utilising magic based on blood and doing rituals based on blood.
He had thought them the same thing.
But he shouldn’t be surprised that his knowledge regarding the finer aspects of the dark arts are weak, seeing as his mother made her best in making him stop listening to anything they said at the age of thirteen.
“But Harry is fine right? You said it yourself” Sirius asked shakingly, the thought of Harry being in any sort of danger made him sick to his stomach.
“Yes, thank morgana for that miracle. There are no other magic, but Harry’s own in him” The old witch said, and Sirius tried to shake of that uncomfortable feeling of knowing that his family favoured his godson.
“Does that mean that the protection Dumbledore spoke of is no longer there?”
Cassiopeia sighed. “Blood rituals are an obscure art, but there is no foreign magic in the boy right now. Any possible protection is well and gone now”
“Foreign magic…” Remus whispered so quietly that Sirius almost missed it.
“Remus” Sirius said with dread.
The werewolf looked up and meet the eyes of the young grey-eyes man.
“Don’t you see? The curse breaker must have rid him of the protection when he cleansed Harry from…” Remus faltered, and Sirius understood the other man’s hesitance. He had himself tried his best to no think about their time in St. Mungo’s. He was afraid that he would lose himself to the madness that would wrap itself around his mind every time he thought about those foul muggles and what had done to Harry or how James’s murderer had tainted his own son. A taint that would have forever haunted the boy if it had gone undiscovered.
Something that Albus fucking Dumbledore had almost made sure of.
“What are you talking about? A curse breaker attended my heir. When?” It was his grandfather who spoke. The old man was breathing heavily, and Sirius could feel the tendrils of his family magic hover in the air.
“At St. Mungo’s, I told you about it when you visited me there” Sirius said.
Arcturus Black stood up and walked up to Sirius, the old man made him shrink back a bit. The patriarch had always unnerved him in a way that his mother had never succeed to do.
“You spoke of having to give the lad you blood and claim him because of injuries done upon him after having been left with those filthy muggles. You said specifically that reason was because blood replenisher wouldn’t work” Lord Black’s said with a snarl. Sirius blinked while trying to recall his words that day, he may have forgotten to mention the curse breaker and what was behind his godson’s scar. He had still been delirious from blood loss, and he had not trusted his grandfather yet, scratch that. He still didn’t trust him.
But the old man did value Harry and that counted for something.
“The scar was tainted by Voldemort’s magic, the curse breaker removed it with blood magic. He needed the blood of a relative”
The room was quiet.
Cassiopeia was gaping with big eyes while his grandfather stood in front of him with a blank look upon his face.
“This is the kind of information that I need to know boy”
Sirius opened his mouth to refute but Remus interrupted him. “The curse breaker spoke of an essence of Voldemort, is it possible that it was Voldemort himself who paid the price for Lily’s ritual?” The scarred man had his eyes closed and Sirius could see that he was lost in his thoughts.
Sirius looked at his great aunt. The older witch looked at his friend with wide eyes and it was easy to see that her mind was on overdrive.
“His essence…” She muttered and her eyes became hooded while her eyebrows furrowed. It was a second later that she drew a deep breath.
“His essence. Capsuled within the scar, such a thing can only be done with blood rituals but I have never heard it be used on living beings. The Egyptians used it quite regularly, the pharaohs, that is. It’s foul and highly dangerous” Cassiopeia spoke softly and shook her head.
“What are you talking about sister?” Arcturus Black asked, Sirius could see that his grandfather had grown nervous.
Cassiopeia Black looked at her brother gravely. “You would know it better as soul pieces, that was what the Egyptians called it” The old man fell back against his seat and closed his eyes before mumbling.
“Horcruxes”
Sirius frowned at them and looked towards Remus to see if he knew what they were talking about. His friend seemed to be just as confused as he shook his head.
“What is it?”
The witch in the room shook her head. “It’s another evidence that the recent dark lord was more of a fool than we could have ever thought. You should have forbidden our house from ever taking his side, Arcturus” She said hotly while throwing her brother a glare. Said wizard huffed at the accusation. “I thought it prudent for them to make their own choices”
“That’s a load of horseshit and you know it, you wanted to have our family on both sides of the conflict while you yourself could sit back at the castle and wait” Cassiopeia said with fire. Sirius was astounded by her stance on the matter, he had assumed that she had hoped for death and destruction like the rest of his family.
“You almost doomed our family by your lack of action, I told you that the half-blood had tainted blood, but you wouldn’t listen”
Arcturus snarled at his sister.
“I thought that the mudblood was a bit unhinged not at blithering fool with horcruxes”
“A bit unhinged? You speak as if you never met a Gaunt. Shall I have to remind you of the lunatic that was Marvolo Gaunt”
Sirius felt exhausted, he had already been forced to endure the company of the bearded fossil and now he had learned that Harry had been touched by magic so foul that his two very dark and very morally corrupted family members was horrified.
It frankly frightened him.
Let’s not forget the mentioning of the Gaunts. An old family who had since long fallen from grace thanks to hubris. He didn’t know if he should laugh or not at the thought that Voldemort was a Gaunt and a half-blood. He wondered how that came to be.
The young man decided to filter that new piece of information as something to ponder on later.
“Explain what you are talking about right now or I’ll swear to merlin himself” Sirius growled out, his gaze alternating between the two.
His great aunt looked at him tiredly. “The mad man splintered himself, placing pieces of his own – essence - in objects. The Egyptians liked to call it soul pieces but it’s worse than that. It is pieces of your body, magic and mind, done by a blood ritual based on taking of an unwilling life” Cassiopeia paused and frowned. “I don’t know how he managed to get information about it, but it must have come from a very old one. I haven’t encountered one script that ever explained the more intricate details of the ritual”
Sirius gaped at the witch; it was hard to get his head around what she was saying. It was Remus who managed to speak next.
“How do you know that it was horcrux in Harry? And why do you think that he made several?”
Cassiopeia Black smiled humourlessly. “There is no other way to store an essence of someone and the boy would not be alive if it was his first one. The malignant magic would have twisted my pupil the moment it touched him; it is said that you are cut in half when creating a soul piece. Half of what the dark lord was would have destroyed the boy”
Sirius closed his eyes. “The curse breaker spoke of how it was good that it was taken care of in time, why didn’t he say something about it being a horcrux?” Sirius asked, feeling sick. “Curse breakers know magic and curses but many fail to recognise what they are or what they may have been called through history. Horcruxes are specific to Egypt, and it would be impossible for someone who haven’t been there and encountered a soul piece himself to be able to identify one. It’s likely that the one in St. mungo’s simply recognised the malignant presence” Cassiopeia answered.
Remus whimpered and buried his face in his hands, clearly distressed about the information that had been forced upon them. Sirius looked at his grandfather. “No one can know” he said. Arcturus glared at his grandson. “Of course not”
Sirius looked at his great aunt.
“Do you think that Dumbledore knows?”
The older witch nodded. “It would have been impossible to not know, I may not like the man but there is no denying that he’s powerful and knowledgeable. The boy must have oozed of dark magic, especially after it happened, he should have detected it as malignant at least”
Remus cleared his throat. “But why would Dumbledore say that Lily’s death gave him some sort of protection? There were no wards at the muggles residence” Sirius frowned yet again.
“It is possible that the witch managed to create some kind of protection that would have grown in the presence of blood relatives, he hadn’t been there for too long so it’s probable that it hadn’t had the chance to settle yet. It’s impossible to know what she created because it’s gone now, for good. Which is for the better, we don’t know what kind of influence it would have had on the boy in the long run” Cassiopeia said.
Sirius looked at his grandfather, the lord Black seemed to be deep in thought.
“Cassiopeia, I’ll need you to find out more about the half-blood. To find any horcruxes he may have created” Arcturus said while looking at his sister, his gaze then shifted to Sirius. “The old fool is not to be in our heir’s presence, do you understand boy?”
Sirius fought the urge to roll his eyes.
He didn’t need his grandfather’s orders to keep his godson away from that old coot, he would never need anyone’s orders to keep Harry safe.
Sirius would rather give his life than allow any harm to befall his pup.