A Twist In Time

A Discovery Of Hidden Magic

"What do you mean the Shelby's are related to the Black's?"

Phineas pulled out a thick black book that had the text Black written in gold script. He flipped it open and showed me a page that contained his family tree, his current line.

"Look, follow my father's line," he said, and the pages of the book flipped to the page he was talking about him. "His father was Cygnus Black and his grandfather was Nigellus Black." The book flipped over again coming to a halt on the page of his great-grandfather Nigellus Black. "Nigellus had three sisters, and his youngest sister, Anastasia ran off with a muggleborn called James Boswell." The pages flipped again until they settled on a page where the two names, Anatasia and James Boswell rested on the top of the page. "They had a son, Jimmy, who then went on to have a son, Carrick, who also had a son, Davy."

"Where are you getting at, Phineas," I snapped, getting bored of his long-winded explanation.

"Well Davy had a daughter," he said as if it was the most amazing thing ever. I stared at him as if he'd gone crazy. "His daughter, Birdie, married a man that went by the name Shelby."

"As in my Shelby's?"

"She had two children Arthur and Elizabeth. See here," he said, pointed at the page where their names were written in golden script. Underneath Arthur's name was his five children delicately written in the same script.

"Does this book update with every generation?" I asked, running my fingers over the names of John's children.

"It's supposed to, but you've messed the book up," he said, flipping the book to the middle of the page, it was at this point I realised there was some magic entwined in the book. "Look, just your's and Thomas-J's names in the middle of the page."

"Huh, that's strange," I muttered, running my fingers over our names. "Look, what am I supposed to do with this information? None of the Shelby's have shown signs of magic."

"Polly has, with her connection to ghosts, I wouldn't be surprised if she has a seer connection from the dead but it's been watered down by the dilation of Muggles in the family."

"So you're saying the Shelby's do have magic in them?"

"Finn excels with Newt's magical creatures. He's not eleven yet, he might have shown magic as a child and we wouldn't have known. It's something to look out for." Phineas saw the frown on my face arrested his hand lightly on my shoulder. "It's not a bad thing, Romy. It could be a good thing."

"I know," I muttered just worried about what this would mean for Tommy, John and Arthur.

November the eleventh.

Why did it seem so haunting as I wrote down the date in Newt's diary?

I knew that this time next year the war would be over and hopefully, I'd have the full collection of Shelby's home.

Was it haunting because I knew Tommy would be home and I was scared he wouldn't want me?

"What are you thinking about love?" Polly asked, setting a letter down on the table in front of me.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing," I said, taking up the letter and opening it. My heart dropped as I read over the words and thought that perhaps this was what was haunting me.

Perhaps I wouldn't even make it till the end of the war.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Polly said, stirring her tea and giving me a teasing smile. If only she knew. I slid the letter to her, my hand shaking as I let the paper slip from my fingers. "What it is, love? Is it Tommy?"