Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
Chapter 56: The Beginning
"I can't hear anything!" Regulus had his ear pressed against the door leading to the main hall.
"Shh! You idiot. The door is enchanted, but they may still hear you scratching your face against the door." Sirius pulled his brother away.
"But I want to know what they're saying. Aren't you curious about why Grandpa told us to wait outside? Like… what could be more shocking than what he said before?" Regulus exclaimed.
Sirius didn't want to admit it in front of his little brother, but he also wanted to know what was going on in there.
After surprising the entire family with the news about his impending death, their grandfather...and Patriarch of the House of Black, demanded that all the children leave the hall. He claimed that the adults had to discuss some important matters that didn't concern them.
Sirius and Regulus turned around and saw Bellatrix approaching the door. Behind her were her two sisters, Narcissa and Andromeda.
"I thought you girls weren't interested in this," Sirius commented. After being asked to leave the hall, the three of them had gone directly upstairs.
"I just went to fetch something." Bella showed them the object in her hands. It was a large artificial ear, attached to a small box by means of a black cord.
"What is that?" Regulus had never seen a magical artifact like that.
"I think I saw something like that at Zonko's," Sirius pointed out.
"This is not one of those cheap prank items that you like so much," Andromeda said, looking offended by the mere comparison. "I made this one last year. It can bypass most anti-listening charms."
"Should we really be doing this? Mother will get angry if she finds us here," Narcissa glanced at her sisters with concern.
"What are you worried about? You never get in trouble. Mom's favorite…" Andromeda huffed.
"Hey! I do get in trouble… sometimes…" Narcissa complained.
"Shh! Shut up!" Bella said. "I can hear something!"
"I wanna hear too!" Regulus got closer and put his ear against the small box connected to the magical giant ear.
"You're going to have to narrate what they're saying because we can't all put our faces in there…" Sirius noted that the box was too small. And he didn't want to get that close to his cousin, so he let his little brother do the job. The girls never seemed to get mad at Regulus for some reason.
Bella threw him a deadly glare before turning her attention back to the conversation.
"Hold on… they're saying something about a new Dark Lord… wait… what?!" Regulus had to contain himself to not shout out loud.
"A Dark Lord? Are you sure you heard that right?" Andromeda narrowed her eyes.
"You mean like Grindelwald? Didn't he start a massive wa-"
"Shh!" Bella interrupted her little sister. "There's more… this Dark Lord wishes to have a formal meeting with our grandfather. They're arguing about accepting this meeting or not."
"Why would they want to meet a Dark Lord?! Nothing good could come out of that," Sirius said.
"Did they say his name or what he wants, other than having a meeting?" Andromeda asked.
Bella shook her head. "Not yet, but… Aunt Walburga seems to like the idea of talking with this person."
"Of course she does…" Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Our mother agrees…" Bella added.
"Of course she does…" Andromeda did the same.
"So… are they going to meet with this Dark Lord?" Narcissa asked.
"That seems probable. If our mothers like the idea, it won't take much effort to convince our fathers," Sirius pointed out.
"I'm not sure I ," Narcissa frowned. She just wanted to have a fun time at Hogwarts. She didn't want to think about Dark Lords and wars.
"Of course you don't! No one likes this," Andromeda commented. "The last thing we need is another wannabe magical dictator telling us what to do. The Slytherins are already getting bad enough…"
"Grandfather doesn't seem convinced yet," Bella told them. "But he has agreed to listen to this Dark Lord because the message he received was written by the hand of an old friend."
"Who?" Narcissa asked with curiosity. Their grandfather didn't get along with many people.
"He didn't mention it," Regulus added.
"Tsk… this sucks," Sirius frowned. He had little attachment to this family, but if they actually allied themselves with a Dark Lord, he would not hesitate to walk away from here, even if he had to live on the streets.
"Huh?… Wait, he's saying something else now," Regulus commented.
"What? Is there something else about the Dark Lord or his next heir?" Andromeda wanted to know more.
"No… Grandfather is saying… wait!" Bella looked shocked. "Are you serious?" She couldn't believe what she heard.
Her reaction got everyone else very curious.
"What is it? What did you hear?" Narcissa asked.
"Yes, don't leave us hanging here," Andromeda added.
"Grandfather is giving the family a heads-up. Tomorrow, we're going to have a guest at the Black Manor," Regulus looked at Sirius.
"A guest? Who?" The ones that came to Sirius's mind were the families already engaged to his cousins, the Malfoys and the Lestranges.
"The Potters," Regulus said.
"What?!" Sirius thought he must have misheard that.
'Now that I think about it… James did mention paying a visit during the break, but I was sure he was joking,' he thought.
"The Potters…" Bella repeated.
'Is he actually coming here because of what I said to him?… But I never thought he would really do it.' Bellatrix's thoughts were in turmoil.
On one hand, she was hopeful about James's visit to her house. But on the other hand, she was very worried about how the rest of her family was going to react to his presence.
"The Potters…" Andromeda looked at her sister Bella. She had not missed her strange reaction after hearing the news. Of course, she was also aware of the rumors that had been circulating Hogwarts for the past few weeks.
'This may be interesting,' a smile appeared on her face.
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