House of Black

Walking into 12 Grimmauld place, we were immediately beset by loud screeching. Looking around the dingy house, I found the offending portrait of Walburga Black.

"FILTH! HALF-BLOOD AND BLOOD-TRAITOR SPAWN, HOW DARE YOU DEFILE THE NOBLE AND PURE HOUSE OF BLACK!" Walburga screeched. Sirius flinched before he took his wand and said, "Oh why don't you quiet down my harpy of a mother, Silencio!"

Walburga's mouth moved but no sound escaped, then a pop was heard and we all turned around to see a disgusting looking elf. Kreacher looked as disgusting as he did in the movie, his mouth is curled into a disgusted look to see Sirius. "Lord Black brings filthy Half-Blood into Mistress's home, oh Kreacher's poor Mistress be rolling in her grave. Bad Master even silence Mistress's portrait."

"That's enough of your vile. Away with you Kreacher!" Sirius shouts at the elf.

The elf looks down and says, "Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black." As he walks away. Sirius mumbles under his breath, "Never was pleasant, was he?"

After Kreacher leaves, we walk into the living room to see Mother reading a book on the couch. I smile and walk up and give her a big hug, "It's so good to see you Mother."

She smiled and gave me a tight hug, "I'm glad your here Ares. Come, I've made pastries for your arrival."

I sigh as I follow, deciding to get this out of the way. I make my way into the kitchen and see deformed brownies lying on the counter, I picked one up and felt the shells of eggs poking my hand. I shuddered but still bit into it and had to resist the urge to spit it out, it would seem that Mother left quite a few eggshells in them. I wouldn't be surprised that she had put the entire egg in them. On top of that they were way too sweet, I look over and see that she's watching me and trying not to look curious on whether I like them or not. I put on my best smile and finish the wretched treat before saying, "Delicious, thank you Mother."

A small smile came on her face before Harry walked in. Harry had followed behind me curious to why a sense of dread had filled my face at the thought of eating Mother's cooking. He looked at the brownies on the table and shrugged his shoulders and took a bite. Immediately he spat out the brownie bite and said, "Lady Black, what instructions did you use to make these?"

Mother face looked blank, but I could see she was quite sad that they weren't good. I shot Harry a venomous look as Mother said, "I used the instructions of this box that I found from a muggle store a couple of years ago. I've always wanted to try cooking them, but couldn't risk Lucius becoming irate at them being a muggle conception."

Harry looked over the normal looking recipe and thought about were she went wrong, "Did you add an entire 2 eggs, shell and all?"

She blinked and stared for a second before saying, "Yes, it says to put two eggs in it doesn't it? And call me Narcissa."

"Miss Narcissa, when they say put eggs in it, they mean the insides not the shell as well." Harry said in as gentle a tone as possible.

Mothers cheeks gain a tint of pink and says, "Well if that's what they meant then why didn't they say that?"

Harry shook his head and said, "It's kind of implied, also how much sugar did you use?"

"Two cups." Narcissa said pulling out a tall goblet that could easily house 5 cups of sugar. I groan and Harry looks amused, "Miss Narcissa, when they say two cups, they mean the muggle unit of measurement. Here let me show you how to make it."

They then descend into a cooking frenzy. Harry showing his cooking prowess that he got from cooking for his relatives. Mother soaked up the knowledge like a sponge, it was nice watching her have fun. Sirius was amused that the wife of a Death Eater would be learning cooking from Harry Potter, while also trying to sneak tastes of the new batch of brownies. All in all it was a welcome break and I could tell that Mother was loving being in her childhood home.

A couple of days of settling in pass and I find myself wandering the halls of the Black home. The Library was interesting but I've got enough spells that I need to master currently and I'm not looking for more. Down the hall, I find a room that's locked. I call out, "Kreacher!"

*POP*

The foul little being popped next to me and said, "What does blood-traitor ward want with poor Kreacher?"

Now I don't consider myself some spoiled child who punishes his elf at every turn, but I can only take so much, and with the past couple of days of insults that he's levied, my patience has dried up.

"Kreacher you will stop calling me such insulting names, or I will have Sirius free you. You know he's looking for an excuse to do it." I say with a cold voice. The little beast pales slightly before grunting in agreement. "Now what is this room?"

"Filthy Blood-Traitor dares ask Kreacher about Lord Blacks quarters. Oh how poor mistress-"

"Silence!" I yell out. Kreacher stops and I stare at him for a second, before saying, "What do you mean Lord Blacks quarters? Sirius's room is on the other side of the house."

"Kreacher not talking about mangy mutt master. Kreacher talks about true Lord Black, Arcturus Black." He says in a annoyed voice. I'm glad Sirius told Kreacher to follow our orders like his own, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the info out of him.

I perk up at that, the office of a man like the previous Lord Black must be filled with interesting things, "Open this door Kreacher!"

Kreacher looks furious but still opens the door. I walk in and see a large office lined with fine silk curtains, the room had hardwood floors that looked immaculate compared to the rest of the house. The walls where lined with bookshelf's except for one area that held a portrait that was currently glaring at me. He had dark black hair and a strong jawline that spoke of aging well in his later years.

"Who are you to enter Lord Blacks study?" He said in a fierce tone that would inspire fear in a lesser man. I wouldn't fear this man even if he was standing in front of me, much less a portrait.

"Greetings Lord Black, I am Ares Black son of Narcissa Black." I say with a bow.

"I thought Cissy married that Malfoy fellow, Luxard I believe." He said his face scrunched up in thought.

"Yes Lord Black, my mother was married to Lord Malfoy, but he has broken the marriage contract by becoming a servant." I say with a smirk. Just thinking about how we got one over on him gives me a smile.

He looked thoughtful at that before seeing me and chuckled. When I looked curious as to why he was laughing he said, "I've seen that face before in the mirror many times, why don't you pull up a chair and tell me who's day you ruined."

I do pull up a chair and the portrait finally introduces itself, "Arcturus Black the 22nd Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. I would be your great grand uncle."

"Grand uncle." I say in greeting with a dip of my head. I then go on describing the recent events at Hogwarts and what landed me in such a situation. Lord Black seemed to enjoy the Slytherin drama and nodded along at some points agreeing with how I handled certain situations. When I told him of me rejecting the pureblood movements agenda he looked at me with curiosity.

"So you don't believe that Pureblood are superior to Mudbloods and Half-Bloods?" He asked in a neutral tone. There was no anger in his voice so I answered honestly.

"I believe that someone's heritage doesn't mean a thing, the only means of measuring someone's worth is power. None of the pureblood would follow Voldemort unless he had power, same with Dumbledore." I say with a strong tone.

"Yes I quite agree, that's the reason I allowed my family to follow him, I would have done anything to benefit the family." Arcturus said with a bitter tone. "But look where it's gotten us, down to four people that still carry our name."

He then looked at me before saying, "So I guess your the new heir?"

I chuckle and say, "No I don't believe that I will be, Sirius hasn't said one way or the other but my bets on Harry since he is his godfather."

Arcturus snorts and says, "Sirius might have grown up to be a fine man, but he's a shot Lord Black. To be Lord Black you need to be ruthless to your enemies, you need to be able to sway a crowd with you words, and you need to be powerful. The Potter brat might fill in two of those things from what you've said, but he's not ruthless enough to be a Lord. Charlie would be laughing his head off that a Potter would be Lord Black."

He gave me a look I didn't recognize before saying, "Would you like to learn from me? I might not be able to duel with you but my one grievance in life was that my knowledge wouldn't be passed down since my son Orion was such a little prick that he wouldn't listen to a word I said."

I was taken aback, I'd love to learn from Arcturus, I readily agreed and he pointed out some books that would help in learning a proper dueling stances. He had me show him how I fought and shook his head and berated my amateurish movements. I took the books and took them to my room to read before i slept ready for tomorrows lessons.

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