Childhood Part 4: Rufus's little ones
It was finally the day. Onyx had missed his friends recently and was glad that both Tove and Charlton would be in his class. There were several others of course but those were the two Onyx was looking forward to meeting. The classes were held in some building next to Gringotts so even though he had business there before school he knew he wouldn't be late.
His great grandpa Jasper was bringing him to Gringotts to get a ring today, it was said to be beautiful and protective. Onyx didn't care much for protection, he already had Rufus for that, but 'Who would say no to a nice ring?'. Speaking of Rufus, he was of course joining Onyx to school.
This was very comforting to Onyx as Diagon Alley would be something terribly new to him. He had lived a fairly sheltered life without much adventure outside the warded grounds. He did go to Sweden once to visit Tove but even then they didn't really leave the premises of her house.
This made Onyx a bit nervous but with Jasper holding his hand and Rufus strutting along with him, he dared to enter and boy was he glad he did. Diagon alley was filled with wonder.
There were all kinds of shops from brooms and trinkets to clothes and furniture. There was even some ice cream, a toy shop and a prank store! Jasper could clearly see the awe in the boy's eyes, it was the same look he once had at this sight. When an animated paper dragon spewed a little ink in Jasper's face however it was time to go. They had an appointment today. Maybe he could bring the boy another time.
They entered the magnificent Gringotts building. It was insanely white, almost blindingly so, and massive. It was almost humorous that the inhabitants were so small, Onyx thought.
He saw Jasper hand one specific goblin an envelope and pointed at him. The goblin was a rather vile creature, Onyx knew. But the male goblin was going to help him get a ring so he smiled shyly at it and bowed his head. The goblin introduced himself "Hello Onyx of house Grey. My name is Bruug and I'd be pleased if you would follow me." The goblin gestured for him to follow and so he did.
He was led down a dark tunnel and eventually reached a door with the name Bruug on it. Onyx stepped inside and sat down on an offered seat. Bruug placed a small box with intricate detail in front of Onyx and Jasper.
"Well go ahead, open it!" At Jasper's insistence, Onyx did as told. Inside he found two rings, both way too large for him. One with a massive owl with its wings spread and some strange symbols. The other was slightly smaller and only had an owl's head with the same symbols surrounding it.
Onyx looked questioning at Jasper "Well, place the smaller one on your finger for now. The bigger one is for when you're older." Onyx smiled and put the ring on. He never thought it'd stay on his finger though, but just as the thought went through his mind, the ring shrunk in size to perfectly fit his finger.
Onyx felt how something was different with the ring. He felt a calm he never felt before. However it wasn't a natural calm at all. He met Jasper's eyes as if waiting for an explanation.
"You'll be told everything in a few years, well before Hogwarts. Right now you only have to know that the ring shows who you are and it is important. You can make it appear and disappear. Only have it visible when I tell you to. Is that clear?"
Jasper had a stern voice today and Onyx couldn't simply refuse him. He agreed to what was said and stepped outside the room for a few minutes to let the adults talk finances. While Jasper was in there, Onyx examined the ring as closely as possible.
Why did he have a ring like this when his parents didn't? He simply couldn't figure it out but he soon realized that the first day of school had almost begun and so he ran in and dragged Jasper out. He wasn't going to be late for his first day!
Onyx showed up on time and was glad to see that Tove and Charlton were already sitting at the front of class talking. Jasper simply dropped him off and he ran towards his friends. They hadn't really met all that many times and they currently didn't have that much in common, but as young as they are that simply didn't matter. They had called each other friends and that was enough proof of that fact.
Perhaps they complemented each other. Tove was as fiery as her hair, the temper of a bee. She was fairly rowdy aswell, never keeping quiet and she didn't know much about showing respect.
Charlton on the other hand was fairly dry for a kid. He held himself as if he was more important and had an air of pride about him. Although he liked to joke with his friends, as soon as strangers were nearby, one would never see him bursting with laughter or jumping with joy.
Onyx was very much a middle ground. He was a perfect mediator between the two and kept calm in most situations. He pushed them to become friends and it's because of him they all stayed together. There was something about the way Onyx looked at you and something about his voice. People just tended to stick close to him once they experienced it once.
Half a year later something big happened. Rufus became a father. Onyx had stayed by Rufus and Roxy through the birth of their 7 (!) children. During his first half a year of school he had learned that the number seven holds a significance in magic, he hoped it would bring luck to the small cubs.
The cubs were all grey and brown and it wasn't very easy to tell them all apart but when Emma came to see the new little lives her eyes only fell on one of them. It was a small, slightly darker one with green eyes. Almost the same as her!
As Emma got closer to the cubs, Onyx could tell what Rufus was about to do. Agate walked into the room and saw the act. All Rufus did was first lick his little female cub and then lick Emma's hand but from the look of Onyx, Agate guessed there was another bond formed that day.
Agate now inspected the cubs. She just knew that those cubs could become something really great, the fact that there were exactly seven of them certainly confirmed some suspicions.
They'd grow up surrounded by magic and more importantly, People. They'd grow up as a part of the family. If her instinct was correct, her plan for breeding had just begun. Now she just had to see how trainable they were without a familiar bond to help out.
The years went by.