Growing up Pureblooded

Aunt Cassie's Little Black Book

Remus found Sirius out on the terrace, leaning against the balustrade with a glass of firewhisky in one hand and a cigarette in the other. "I though you didn't smoke anymore after Azkaban," Remus commented. Sirius exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "I didn't. Tobacco's hard to come by in a wizarding prison. But with everything that's going on with Aries, I decided it was time to start up again." The werewolf coughed a bit. "Never could see what you and James saw in it, myself." Sirius shrugged. "It's relaxing." He grinned wryly. "And our mums hated it." "James always got on well with his mum," Remus protested. His friend chuckled. "That's the understatement of the century. Prongs adored his mum. That doesn't mean he didn't like to tweak her nose now and again," he said, and then let out a long sigh. "I'm so worried about Aries, Moony. I really hope he pulls through all right." "He will," Remus assured him. "If he could survive the Killing Curse he can survive this."

Sirius shook his head. "It's not his survival I'm worried about, at least not anymore. The Healer says he should be able to get out of bed in the next week or so." "What is it, then?" "He's so damn gloomy all the time," Sirius said. "We'll be playing or talking, but his heart just isn't in it." "He misses your Uncle Marius," Remus said. "It's worse than that. I think he blames himself for what happened." "That's not right," Remus said. "He's only a boy."

Sirius snorted. "Try telling him that." He took another drag on his cigarette. "Draco will be coming home for his Easter holidays soon. I think I shall ask Narcissa if he can stay here. He might be able to cheer Aries up. Then in the autumn we'll see about sending them both to Beauxbatons." Remus coughed slightly. "Actually that's the reason I came over," he said. "Dumbledore asked me to meet with him yesterday. He knows."

Sirius cursed colorfully. "How much?" "Just about everything," Remus said. "He said he's been piecing together clues for some time, but something you let slip when Harry was unconscious confirmed it." "Damn him!" Sirius exclaimed. "He would be watching." "You should have realized that," Remus said. "I think Dumbledore knows just about everything that goes on in Hogwarts." "He never figured out we were Animagi," Sirius shot back. "Besides, I was sleep-deprived and under a great deal of stress at the time." :No one's blaming you, Padfoot," Moony said. "What's done is done."

Sirius growled, and put out his cigarette with a vengeance. 'What does he plan to do with this information?' "The good news is that he doesn't want to take Harry away," Remus said. "What he saw of you in the infirmary was enough to convince him that you have only Harry's best interests at heart, and he said something about Marius's sacrifice protecting Harry so long as he lives with members of the Black family. He also doesn't plan on revealing Harry's true identity to the world. He thinks it's safer if everyone believes him to be dead." "That's a relief," Sirius replied. "What's the bad news?" "He asks that you cease your attempts to have him sacked by the Board of Governors, as well as your pending suit in the Wizengamot." Sirius frowned. "He really deserves to suffer for what he did, but I suppose that's a fair trade. It won't matter to the boys anyway. They'll be at Beauxbatons." "He also insists that you allow Aries to return to Hogwarts in the autumn so that he can be trained to resist Voldemort," Remus continued. "If you do not comply, he says he will bring charges against Clytemnestra for kidnapping and against Cassiopeia for Dark magic and the murder of Marius Black."

Sirius hurled his empty glass against the stone wall, shattering it into a thousand pieces. "That manipulative bastard!" he shouted. "I'll destroy him!" "How can you take down Albus Dumbledore?" "I'm not sure yet," Sirius admitted, "but I'm sure the family will have some ideas. That man will rue the day he ever made enemies of the House of Black."

Remus would never say it for fear of incurring his old friend's wrath, but at that moment Sirius's expression rather strongly resembled his mother's. The furious wizard marched into the drawing room, and Remus quietly followed. He owed a very great debt to Dumbledore, but he had decided to cast his lot with Sirius and Aries, come hell or high water. If war was at hand, the werewolf knew where his loyalties lay.

"Aunt Cassie, Aunt Clytemnestra," Sirius said as he entered the drawing room, where the witch sat perusing a well-worn copy of Magick Moste Evile whilst the Squib played the piano. "Professor Dumbledore has learnt our little secret and decided to blackmail us." There was a sudden dissonant chord. "The impudent half-blood!" Clytemnestra exclaimed. "How dare he?" "I intend to teach the old fool a lesson," Sirius went on. "I trust you'll have something that can help us, Aunt Cassie?"

The old witch smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." She raised her wand. "Accio Little Black Book!" she intoned. Moments later, an enormous tome bound in black leather soared through the door. Remus could have sworn that it was at least a yard tall and two feet wide. It hovered in front of Cassiopeia as she unlatched it and began to flip through pages and pages of tiny print in quadruple columns. "Aunt Cassie has been collecting dirt on every witch and wizard in Britain for decades," Sirius explained to Remus. "That explains why the book is so large," his friend replied.

"Don't be stupid," Cassiopeia snapped. "This is only the index." She turned several pages. "D...D...D...Dumbledore, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian. Let's see." She paused. "Father was a known Muggle-hater, sent to Azkaban for an attack on Muggle children." "You're kidding!" Remus exclaimed, but Cassiopeia ignored him. "Squib sister, died under mysterious circumstances. That might do, but I seem to recall there was something a bit better." She turned the page and cackled in triumph. "Ah yes," she said, a cruel smile spreading across her face. "Here we go. It seems that at some point I managed to obtain several love letters written by the Headmaster as a youth, as well as some rather embarrassing journal entries and poems from the same period."

"How did you do that?" Remus sputtered. "Never underestimate Cassiopeia Black," Sirius said wryly. "So who was the lucky girl?" Cassiopeia laughed. "Gellert Grindelwald."