Farewell Plans

That afternoon, before he left for Hogwarts, Marius stopped by his wife's boudoir. Clytemnestra was doing needlepoint.

'I'm going over to see Aries,' he announced. 'I thought I'd say goodbye.'

His wife of fifty years looked up and gave him a smile. 'Give my love to him and Sirius,' she said. 'What time shall I expect you to return?'

Marius's face fell. 'I may be awhile.'

Clytemnestra glared at her husband. 'What are you up to, Marius?'

'Nothing you need to worry about, dear,' he replied, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

His wife sighed. 'I never could stay angry with you,' she said, giving Marius a wry smile.

'Hold that thought,' her husband replied, and gave her one more kiss. 'I'll see you later, Clytemnestra.'

His wife returned to her needlepoint. 'Goodbye, Marius.'

.....

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Marius Black walked into the infirmary to find Sirius and Draco both sitting next to Harry.

'Good afternoon, boys,' he said in a hearty voice that he did not feel. 'I ran into Professor McGonagall on the way here. She asked me to send you both over to her office to speak with her.'

'I can't leave Aries, Uncle Mar,' Sirius protested.

Marius rolled his eyes. 'I shall be here the whole time, Sirius, and she made it sound quite important.'

It took a great deal of persuading, but eventually the Squib managed to get his nephews out of the infirmary.

'Quick,' he hissed as soon as they were gone. 'We haven't much time.'

His sister lifted her Disillusionment Charm and appeared in the room. 'Lie down on the bed next to Aries,' she commanded.

Marius squeezed Harry's hand briefly before complying with Cassiopeia's orders.

'Goodbye, Cassie,' he said quietly. 'Tell Clytemnestra I'm sorry that I had to do this.'

'Goodbye, Mar,' his sister replied. 'Give my love to Pollux and Dorea.' She raised her wand and intoned the incantation: 'Transfero maledictionem.'

The Squib let out a gasp of pain before slipping into unconsciousness. Cassiopeia did not waste a second. She Disillusioned herself again and then clutched the emergency Portkey in the pocket of her robes, which instantly carried her back to her apartments at Windermere Court.

Moments after the witch vanished Sirius came barging through the infirmary doors, accompanied by Professor McGonagall and Draco. Madam Pomfrey stopped them.

'What is the meaning of this?' she scolded them. 'I won't have my patients' rest disturbed.'

'Hold on, Poppy,' McGonagall said. 'This may be very important.'

Sirius all but ran over to Harry's bed, and gasped when he saw his Squib uncle lying unconscious in the next bed. He was very pale, and perspired profusely.

Pomfrey cast some diagnostic spells. 'He's suffering from the same curse as Aries Black!'

'The curse is contagious?' McGonagall asked, her first concern, as always, being the students' welfare.

'Wait!' Draco exclaimed. 'Aries looks better.'

It was true. Colour had returned to Aries' cheeks, his face had relaxed and he looked much more peaceful. Pomfrey cast a diagnostic spell on him, and frowned.

'I find no trace of the curse,' she said. 'It will take him some time to recuperate fully, of course, but the curse itself appears to have been purged.'

'Perhaps it leapt from Aries to Mr Black,' McGonagall suggested.

Sirius said nothing, but he had turned very white. He thought he knew exactly what had happened, but he wouldn't say anything, not in front of McGonagall and Pomfrey.

...

When Clytemnestra learnt what had happened, she understood immediately what her husband had done, and gave her sister-in-law a good slap before Flooing to Hogwarts. It was a mark of Cassiopeia's own sense of guilt that she bore the blow without retaliation. As soon as the Squib reached the infirmary she ran to her husband's side and clutched his hand.

'You noble fool,' she said in a soft voice. 'Why didn't you tell me what you had in mind? Did you think I'd stop you? I'd have tried, of course, but you could always persuade me to agree to anything.' She began to cry. 'That way, at least, we could have had a proper goodbye.'

She sat there holding her husband's clammy hand until late that night. Sirius sat beside her with his hand on her shoulder. He didn't know whether it was a side effect of the transferral spell, or whether it perhaps had something to do with the fact that Marius was a rather elderly Squib, but the curse seemed to attack his body far more aggressively than it had Harry's. Marius died that very night, in the hospital wing of a school he had never been permitted to attend.

He was buried a couple of days later, in a plot not far from Pollux's. Sirius insisted that he be buried in the wizarding section of the churchyard with the rest of the family, not in the Squib section. Cassiopeia provided the epitaph:

Marius Alphard Black

June 27, 1917 – February 1, 1992

Here lies a true Black.

.....

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