The First Year

It was the custom of Orion Black to rise at 5 am to tend to some reading before the rest of the family woke up,and today was no exception. Orion cooked breakfast for himself to let Kreacher sleep:he'd been treating the elf with more respect lately since the incident with Walburga. She'd been on the warpath ever since,and you never wanted to mess with an angry Flint. They were an old,bold family with a ton of money,and like the Blacks they protected their own.

Orion sat down and leafed through some letters:one from Alfrid Bell regarding his son Sean being nominated for seventh year Ravenclaw boy prefect,one from the Danish ministry selling him new Kometa XIV broomsticks,and one from Folco Edgecombe going on and on and on about how perfect life was working for MACUSA as a court reporter,making 8000 dragots per hour of trial,and 940 dragots per hour every other workday.

Shut up already,Folco. You make too much money as it is,Orion thought as he folded up the letter. By the time he had powered his way through a crumbling copy of The Lies of the Greeks and one of The Decline of Pagan Magic,he could hear Walburga and the boys washing up downstairs. He had a busy day ahead of him. Daniel,Luanne,and Marlene McKinnon would be coming over for lunch,and he wanted to talk to Daniel regarding some changes in the curriculum at Hogwarts.

————

At about 9 am,Orion was idly flipping through Uagadou Speaks (the 1966 edition) when he heard Walburga's voice.

"What do you want,blood traitor?"

Orion hot-footed it to the door. Standing on the step was a tall woman with an oval face and fair hair. Besides her was an equally tall boy,with long,shiny black hair and a nose like a falcon.

"Who are these people,Walburga?"

"My blood traitor of a cousin Eileen and her reprehensible son Severus. Thinking they can parade their stinking half-blood selves all over Magical Britain..."

Walburga trailed off as Orion stared at her. He then turned to Eileen and Severus.

"Miss Eileen and Master Severus,you are welcome here. Walburga,do us all a favor and go to the Hog's Head for the afternoon. I'm sure Aberforth would appreciate the company. He gets little enough as it is.”

Walburga stalked off into the sitting room. Shortly,they heard the shout of "HOGSMEADE!" and the familiar whoosh of the fire.

———

Orion had Kreacher conduct Eileen and Severus to the sitting room while he waited for the McKinnons. It wasn't a long wait. At about noon,he saw a car parking on the side street. The McKinnons walked up the broad pathway towards 12 Grimmauld Place.

The luncheon was pleasant. Kreacher served them courses of Bripwn quail with cheese omelettes, roast capon doused in elderberry sauce, and Boursin cheese on crackers for the children. Severus sat between Marlene and Sirius,who he seemed quite taken with. As they ate,Orion and Daniel talked.

"What's Marlene so excited about?"

"She got her Hogwarts letter while we were having breakfast."

"I can't say I'm surprised. Sirius was beside himself when he got his. The only problem we've got is Walburga."

"What about her?"

"She's spewing bloodist nonsense day and night. About how Lord Voldemort will restore purity laws,when likely he'd just kill people when they weren't useful to him anymore,no matter their blood status, and most of the old laws are nonsense practically nobody believes anymore,if they ever did. I never even heard of Voldemort before 1969 or so. Who is he?"

"Some upjumped Slytherin by the name of Tom Riddle."

"The same Tom Riddle who killed that Ravenclaw girl in '43?”

"Yes. He's built himself quite a club. Call themselves the Knights of Walpurgis. Go around harassing Muggleborns,preaching about (and appealing to) old families. Old Lord Fittlesworth's been taken in by their nonsense,and Harys Spungen as well. Back in April,he spent an hour of the Wizengamot's time trying to convince them to implement a Muggleborn registry and restrictions on broomstick sizes for them. It got so bad that young Aegon Bulstrode,who was the session historian,threatened him with his walking stick,and Lord Johnson and Lord Cornfoot had to physically remove him. There's a rumor that O'Liathain's fallen as well. I'd believe in a risen Jesus before I believed that. The O'Liathains are old,but not the old family type that Voldemort would take interest in. He’d take an interest in you Blacks. You’re an old family,exactly his type. Mark my words,he’s going to court your family’s wealth at some point. There’s also a rumor spreading through the Goblin Nation that he’s made,or is making,Horcruxes.”

At that statement,Orion felt nauseous. Horcruxes were some of the darkest artifacts any wizard could make. They were fragments of a wizard’s soul. You literally had to kill a person to make a Horcrux. If Voldemort made one or more,what else could he do? It beggared thinking.

”What can we do to stop him?”

”For now? Not much. He and his followers aren’t doing much of importance,just proselytizing about a ‘perfect,pureblood future for Wizarding Britain’. The DMLE’s keeping an eye on some of the more aggressive Knights of Walpurgis. People like Carlos Macmillan,Lysander Thickey,Hugo Spinks,Aloysius Carrow,Abraxas Malfoy....known troublemakers in the past. But since they’ve broken no laws so far,the best we can do is watch and wait.”

“What else is going on?”

”The Spinnets and Vectors are talking some sort of marriage alliance between their cadet branches,the Edgecombes are adding a new wing to their house,and my family is redoing their sigil.”

The rest of the lunch was eaten in silence. Afterwards,Orion stalked off to read about the secrets of Etruscan magic.

———-

When 4:00 pm came around,the McKinnons left. Orion and Daniel had managed to get in some talk about the Divination curriculum,but not as much as Orion would’ve liked. They had at least agreed that Alchemy should be dropped from the curriculum as soon as possible.

Later on,Eileen and Severus left for Amersham,and still later Walburga came back from the Hog’s Head. She found Orion sleeping in his favorite chair in the library,levitated him to his bed,and proceeded to blast the Prince branch off the Black family tree. The next day,when he found out,Orion proceeded to use the Anapneo spell to restore that branch,and said no more of it.

He then summoned Sirius. When Sirius arrived,he said this:

”Sirius,here’s what I have to say about school.

The magic you'll learn at Hogwarts is of many different types. There's Charms,where you'll learn to make things different with spells. There's Defense Against the Dark Arts,where you'll learn how to defend yourself from Dark wizards and evil creatures. The Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures teachers will teach you about magical plants and animals. In Flying class,you'll learn how to ride a broom:important if you ever decide to play Quidditch. In Potions class,you'll learn how to brew and use potions for all kinds of things. In Transfiguration,you'll learn how to make one object into another-"

"Like with Polyjuice potion!"

"Kind of,but that involves changing people. In History of Magic,you'll learn the history of Wizarding communities the world over and how they interact with each other and Muggles. And in Astronomy,you'll track the stars and planets as they move around the sky. And that's just the core classes.

Beginning in third year,you'll get to choose some more classes. Care of Magical Creatures I've already mentioned. Arithmancy involves the use of numbers in magic:it's also where most spell-crafters learn the tricks of their trade. Muggles call it numerology. In Divination, you'll learn how to predict the future. And in Muggle Studies,you'll be studying how Muggles live and what they do.

Classes aren't the only things to do at Hogwarts. There's Quidditch:you already know what that is. There are many clubs,like the Astronomy club,the Chocolate Frog club,and the dance club. There's an excellent football team run by the Hufflepuffs. And in December,there's the Christmas dance. It's the Yule ball when you're a fourth year or higher,but the first through third years get the Christmas formal. And in third year,you'll get to go on your first Hogsmeade trip. Those are the best trips ever,except when we'll go to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies.

Remember what I told you and Regulus earlier,and stay as safe as you can”

”Alright,Dad”

With that,he dismissed Sirius,and got back to his books.