The Heirs of The Noble House of Black

Chapter 1

September 1st 1968:

"Promise me you'll take care of each other while I'm away" Lyra whispered to her brothers as tears threatened to leak from her eyes. She rarely cried, but as she stood on platform 9 and ¾, finally preparing to depart on the Hogwarts Express for the first time, dread was ripping her insides apart at the thought of leaving her brothers behind.

"Of course we will. We'll be fine, don't worry about us!" but Sirius' smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Regulus looked equally unconvinced.

"We can take care of ourselves, Lyra. Anyway, 3 more years and we'll both be coming with you". They were doing their best to distract her from her fears, but Lyra could tell that they were nervous of what life would be like without her. She wrapped them both up into a tight hug "I'll write to you, all the time, you'll be sick of me by Christmas!" she attempted a laugh but it got stuck in her throat and made a strange noise.

"Lyra, hurry up! Eva and Evan have already found us a carriage!" Bellatrix shouted to her impatiently from the door of the train. She had said her goodbyes quickly, eager to let her new adventures begin. But Lyra was much more hesitant. She was excited to leave, but was also terrified of the consequences of leaving her brothers behind. For as long as she remembered she had always looked out for them, protected them from harm, and she'd taken the blame wherever she could if one of them -usually Sirius- had slipped up and done something they weren't supposed to. Who's going to look out for them now? she thought to herself, chewing her bottom lip as her eyes drifted over to her parents. They had said their goodbyes to her already, if you could call it that. Her father had wrapped an arm around her in a swift attempt at a hug, and her mother had merely nodded in her direction, cold eyes looking her over without saying a word. They had sat her down the night before to remind her of their expectations for her whilst she was away.

"You are from the noble and most ancient house of Black and must conduct yourself as such. As I am the head of the family and you are my first born it is important that you set a good example to the younger generation of the Black bloodline. Your brothers and cousins look up to you, you know." her father had said, whilst her mother stood stoically behind him. To her surprise he had cracked a smile as he continued "Now go and show them exactly what the purest of blood is capable of!" Although a prideful man, that was the closest Orion Black had ever come to showing pride in any of his children, at least in Lyra's memory. It had stunned her into silence as she nodded and excused herself, completely bemused, to finish off her last-minute packing.

Lyra was brought out of her thoughts and back into the present moment by the sound of a whistle blowing, indicating the last warning for everybody to get on the train. She picked up her trunk and dragged it onto the train where Bella was still waiting for her, tapping her foot impatiently. Looking back at her family, she smiled as Sirius wrapped his arm around his younger brother's shoulder's. They'll be fine. She told herself for the thousandth time, willing herself to this time believe it.

With a final wave she allowed herself to be directed by Bellatrix towards the compartment that Eva and Evan had already picked out. The twins helped her lift her trunk into the luggage rack as the final whistle sounded and the train started to move out of the platform.

"Right, I'm off to find Lucius, I told him he could sit with us." Bella said before the train had even finished leaving the station "won't be long" she added, exiting the compartment.

***

Tom was nervous. Very nervous, although you would be unable to tell by looking at him. He stood tall and confident looking with a calm and unbothered, almost relaxed demeanour. Act like you already belong here he told himself, determined to keep up the façade. Until now he had never really cared for making friends, but then again, he had never actually met someone who he considered worthy of being friends with. Muggles, he thought to himself bitterly, every single one of them is a useless waste of space. He had only learnt of the term for non-magical people a month ago, but he had long known that he was different to the people that he had grown up with and had also held a long-standing disdain for them. They just weren't very capable, or at least so Tom thought. They weren't particularly smart or efficient, and they were also incredibly easy to manipulate. But yet many of them were drawn to him, especially the girls, and so he had spent his life smiling at them and charming them in order to get his way and get them to do what he wanted. It had so far been highly effective. But when Albus Dumbledore had visited him at the orphanage where he grew up, Tom felt as though the headmaster had not quite fallen for his charm the way that others around him always had, leaving him wondering if wizards were generally a tougher crowd than muggles.