Black Family Tutelage Aftermath Ⅵ

Returning to the present, Dorea blinks her gray eyes and says, "Well, where are my manners, it is late, and you are most certainly tired, Rowan. I have a belated birthday gift for you, my dear." 

Reaching into her pocket, Dorea carefully withdraws a palm-sized glistening dark egg with a strange white spot on the eggshell from the small brocade satin bag. (The Reticules are useful small drawstring bags used to hold necessary objects such as a calling card, money, toiletries, a fan, etc.) Shutting the drawstring bag, she motions for her goddaughter to approach her.

In an uncharacteristic move, Rowan obediently approaches her godmother yet all the while carefully studying the unknown egg. The egg strangely resembled the Basilisk egg she had found in the hidden compartment inside the Chamber of Secrets. However, unlike that egg, this was tiny in comparison. Furthermore, the white spot either suggested that the egg was of an entirely different species or there was a serious birth defect to be aware of.

However, just how did Dorea Potter come into the possession of a Basilisk egg in the first place? Even if it wasn't a basilisk egg, the egg most certainly belonged to a rare creature. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had been fiercely cracking down on poaching and especially the illegal traffic of rare creatures especially those with a rating of XXX or more.

"Where did you get this, godmother?" Rowan pointedly asked, after coming to a halt before her godmother and looming over her diminutive figure.

"Kneel down, dear," Dorea promptly ordered ignoring the question, "you are much too tall child, and it hurts to crane my neck to look up at you."

With a sigh, Rowan, still somewhat disgruntled leans down on the carpet and takes a closer look at the shiny egg. It truly did look like a Basilisk egg and even had the same shading. Yet she couldn't be one hundred percent certain, since it was almost far too small to be a basilisk egg.

Glancing up at her godmother, Rowan is startled to see her godmother pushing the egg into her lap. She barely manages to catch it and is unable to stop herself from sending a fierce scowl at her godmother in annoyance. This merely causes Dorea to throw her head back and chuckle.

"Ah, you do look so much like, your aunt dear Georgine, when you scowl like that Rowan," Dorea said with great mirth. "And I am long immune to such glares from Georgine, dear child."

Minding her manners, Rowan composes her face and brings the egg up to face level. "You never did answer my question, godmother," she firmly reminded her godmother as she gazed at the small egg cradled in her palm.

"Ah, yes, well it is not a long story," Dorea confessed nonplussed whatsoever. "The egg was entrusted to us by our Cousin Eaton, but before then it was originally entrusted to his grandfather, the son of our direct kin, Eduardus Limette Black," she confessed. 

Rowan blinked at the names failing to recognize them. However, she did know according to Sirius ramblings that Eaton and his sister, Annis are squib descendants of Eduardus Limette Black. Though Sirius liked to gleefully brag that they finally had magical creature blood in the family, since the mother of Eaton and Annis was a hag. As a result, Eaton had two sons, and numerous descendants much to the envy of all the Black family elders.

"Cousin Eaton said that in his grandfather's time, the son of their cousin, Phineas Nigellus Black also named Phineas after his father, the young man in question came to seek shelter with them. I cannot personally speak much on the subject matter as my father (Cygnus Black) never spoke of his brother nor did my grandfather (Phineas Nigellus Black) ever speak of my uncle (Phineas)." Dorea quietly said pausing a moment to gather her thoughts.

The name of Phineas Nigellus Black was not unfamiliar to Rowan. It was a name she knew and had often seen in the magical portrait hanging in Dumbledore's office since Phineas Nigellus Black was a former headmaster of Hogwarts. She mused to herself in thought wondering just who his son was until the connection was made to Phineas Black (Jr.)!

Phineas Black attended Hogwarts during his father's tenure as Headmaster at Hogwarts alongside his older brother, Sirius Black, (Ⅱ) the second, who is the father of Arcturus Black (Ⅲ), Arcturus is the father of Orion Black, and Orion is the father of Sirius and Regulus Black. In other words, Phineas Black is Sirius and Regulus's great-great-uncle.

Strangely enough, Phineas was disowned for supporting muggle rights or, so rumor had it. Yet the magical portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black never spoke ill of his son and even more astonishingly neither did Bellatrix ever use his name as a slur or taunt. Even more peculiar, why was Phineas Black seeking sanctuary in the first place with kin who had been removed from the Black family tree?

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Rowan listens to her godmother as Dorea continues the tale. "Cousin Eaton said his father had been a mere child at the time, despite his age, Cousin Eaton's father remembered just how ill Uncle Phineas was when he arrived at their home and passed away shortly after only twenty-one-years old (in 1899)."

"Did Phineas by any chance know Professor Dumbledore?" Rowan abruptly interrupted wanting to confirm her suspicions. 

Dorea frowned upon being interrupted but genuinely considered the question. "Though the two of them would have attended Hogwarts at the same time, Uncle Phineas would have graduated Hogwarts while Professor Dumbledore would have only been a 3rd year at Hogwarts. Furthermore, both of them having been sorted into different houses, and with such an age difference, they would have even less of an opportunity to ever interact much less cross paths," she thoughtfully mused. "If they ever did cross paths, it would have only been in passing through hallways of Hogwarts."

"I must ask was Phineas ever the Slytherin Prefect or Head Boy?" Rowan did not back off the subject. She needed to rule out the possibility that they were related to each other in any form or manner.

"Not that I am aware of," Dorea pursed her lips and tactfully said. "However, as I previously stated if the two of them had met, Phineas would not have likely taken Dumbledore under his wing. I am given to understand that Dumbledore was quite a different character in his youth."

"Touche," Rowan thought to herself and decided to tactfully remain silent on the subject. 

Albus Dumbledore had not exactly been a humble teenager. Even then, Albus had been a powerful, charming, and brilliant young man much like Tom Riddle. Ironically, Albus shared uncanny similarities with Tom Riddle such as arrogance, a thirst for power, an interest in dark arts, and pureblood superiority. It is these characteristics what forged the initial friendship and exchange of ideas between Albus and Gellert Grindelwald. And what unfortunately resulted in the destruction of Albus and Gellert's friendship through the death of Ariana Dumbledore leaving Albus as a direct consequence ultimately and forever changed thereafter.