Make The Wizarding World A Better Place

Time Has A Surprise - For Better Or Worse?

Many years later, Sirius was sitting in the shadows of a white tent in the yard of Black Manor, applauding as he watched Arcturus Black kiss Melania Black neé MacMillan under the willow tree during their wedding ceremony.

He smiled sadly as he remembered how Melania had been taken away from Arcturus early, hopefully she would live a little longer this time around.

Only two years later was their first son born, unfortunately under severe complications and it was close that both the child and the new mother would die during the birth.

Sirius was perplexed by these events, as something about this seemed off to him. He had never heard of there being any complications during his father's birth and his father had been the first born... 'Unless the actual first born had been a squib and Father had to take his place!' Sirius thought to himself as he watched the new addition to the House of Black in curiosity. An emotion Sirius had become a near stranger to over the past centuries.

He let his magic reach out to the baby -Marius was his name- and felt his magical core. It was weak, very weak. But it was there.

Sirius felt something he hadn't felt in many centuries worth of time - he felt shocked.

He had never known of this uncle, never even heard of him ever being mentioned, but this child was his father's older brother and there was no denying it.

Because for the past centuries he has been here, the House of Black has always stuck to the same names as there had been in Sirius's original time. The same names he had learnt inside out on his parents request, as an Heir it had been very important, and these days he understood it much better than he had when he had originally learnt those names.

Sirius reigned in his magic again and sighed silently before looking back into the crib... And almost stumbled backwards in surprise when he noticed that the newborn was watching him with curiosity shining in his silver eyes.

After Sirius had recovered from the surprise, he smiled gently at the child before putting his finger against his lips as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him gently.

Once he reached the sitting room he joined Arcturus and Melania who were drinking tea and talking about the happenings of the world. He sat down with a frown on his lips, this was the first time in little over three centuries that a squib had been born to the House of Black, and he wasn't sure how to break the news to the parents. Melania saw his worried frown and paled.

   "Sirius, is something wrong with Marius?" She asked worriedly and Sirius shook his head no. She let out a relieved breath, but Arcturus frowned.

   "Then why do you look so down, Sirius? If nothing is wrong-" He trailed off at Sirius face, that was telling him what would come is not happy news and to not take his words lightly. Sirius sighed - something he had been doing more and more often since Arcturus was a child. Even if Arcturus was one of the few who could truly make Sirius laugh these days.

   "I'm afraid that the complications during Marius' birth left his magical core so exhausted that it could not recover completely. He is a squib, I'm afraid." Sirius explained carefully, wincing when he heard Melania choke back a sob. Arcturus had paled greatly and Sirius knew the reason.

The House of Black may be accepting of muggleborns, but a squib was still a mark of shame. A stain on the family name, not to mention that it's the first-born. The one who was supposed to be the next Heir.

They had the habit of drowning babies who are squibs, especially those who were meant to be the rightful heirs and that's what worried Arcturus. It wasn't the shame he would get from the family, oh no. It was the chances his son had surviving into adulthood that had him worried.

Sirius knew he could do nothing about this practice, because it was an Ancient Practice, one of the few that were still legal.

   "Arcturus, you could try convincing the family to leave him until it's safe to release him into the Muggle World at the age of eighteen." Sirius chose his words with great care, as he knew that the magic backlash that can come from a Black during their most extreme moments of emotion could be disastrous.

   "Let the boy grow up as muggle-ish as possible and try to keep him a secret from the outside world. I can try teach the boy as much as I can about the Muggle World and teach him the skills he's going to need there to blend in, and at the same time we teach him about the Wizarding World and it's creatures so he doesn't get surprised seeing them and try to point them out to muggles. How does that sound?" Sirius suggested carefully, waiting for his reaction.

Arcturus stared at the floor in thought, before he reluctantly nodded.

   "It's a good thing we usually wait to announce the new heir until after you've checked the magical core, Sirius. I don't know how he would survive without you here, I won't be able to convince my father to let him live but you can. You're highly respected in our family, please. Will you help me convince Father of this?" Arcturus asked, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice and Sirius locked eyes with his grandfather. Blood red meeting steely silver.

   "Of course I will help you, Arcturus. I want this child to survive to adulthood as much as you do." Sirius said honestly.

Melania was looking back and forth between her husband and the ancient vampire in bewilderment. She hadn't known that the House of Black still practised the drowning of squibs, so she was understandably shocked over this. They would kill innocent children?! Why?!

Sirius saw it and sent her a reassuring smile.

   "Melania, I think you should know that this only happens maybe once every three centuries, and sometimes the parents have actually broken tradition by faking the baby's death and instead sent them to a well-off muggle family to be raised. That only makes the death toll two babies in the past millennia. It would have been many more if the House of Black hadn't agreed to letting in muggle blood, which is one of the original reasons they do." Sirius explained to her gently and Melania calmed from hearing this.

   "Well, Arcturus, the sooner we convince your father of this the better. I don't think he will appreciate it if we keep him in the dark about something like this." Sirius said and stood, Arcturus followed his lead with a sigh.

   "I hope you can convince him." Melania said, with a worried tone in her voice, and the two nodded in agreement without saying anything.