Ascension 27

“It's because of puberty you foolish, overthinking child.”

“What?” Harry gasped as he faltered slightly, the piercing hex blasting through his shield and biting into his forearm. Ignoring the burst of stringing agony that lanced through his arm as blood welled up from the wound, he created a protego in front of him once again, gritting his teeth as Cassiopeia rolled her eyes—and shot a blasting hex at his wounded ass anyways.

“It is because of puberty you foolish, overthinking, deaf child,” she repeated slowly, the stress on the added adjective audible despite the sound of flames roaring out towards him. He defended himself with a shield made out of water, feeling the drain hit his whole body like a hippogryph. Hissing as the blowback of the generated steam heated his face up, Harry poured even more power into the water construct, willing it to stay up for a single extra moment as he jumped to the left. The water fell to the floor with a dull splash the next second as Cassieopeia’s incendio raced by his right arm, a quick clypeus saving him from the diffindo aimed at his front.

“Arcturus doesn’t mean to separate you as a punishment or something like that Harry,” she said, stopping her wand momentarily as he breathed in a much-needed gulp of air. “You both are just at an age where different rooms are needed. Going by your morose expression from the last two days, I gather that he failed to mention this to you.”

“No he di-did not,” he panted out, falling to his backside as he felt his calves spasm from pain. In the two days that had passed since the Black Lord had gifted him his grandfather’s diary, he had been gone from the Castle, something about supervising the exchange of properties and vaults that had been going on ever since Arcturus’ first appearance at the Wizengamot. In his absence, Harry’s possessions had been moved out of the room he and Persephone had been living in, and deposited in the room beside it. Evidently, his sister had also been informed about it by the man beforehand, and while she had not said anything in the time they had spent together since, Harry knew that she too was troubled by the sudden shift.

And while he could understand Arcturus’ reason on a level, owing to him and Persephone being a boy and a girl…they were siblings! They had been living in a cramped cupboard for eleven years straight. They had slept on the same mattress, bathed in the same bathtub, and worn the same clothes for as long as they could remember before Hogwarts. He knew it wasn’t normal. He knew that normal siblings didn’t spend this much time with each other, and neither did they live like he and Persephone did. Even now, he slept with his head tucked in beneath his sister’s, the scent of her hair and her hands on his back soothing him to sleep each night.

And yet, as much as he didn’t like it, Harry had no will to oppose Arcturus. The man was the first in their lives to show them kindness out of no ill will. The first to treat them like family. Even now, if somehow it was revealed that he had some hidden agenda up his sleeve, Harry didn’t think it would mean much in the face of what he had already done for them.

Saving them from Augusta, giving them a home, feeding them, clothing them, schooling them.

This was the first time Arcturus had ordered them, and from a third-person viewpoint, it wasn’t even a big thing to ask.

But it hurt, knowing that Persephone won’t be lulling him to sleep every night. Knowing that he won’t clean her hair in the shower anymore. Parting at the entrances to their rooms after dinner.

“We know that you both have lived very different lives till now owing to the animals you lived with,” she began, breaking him out of his thoughts as she came to a stop before him. Her wand glowed a dull golden as she touched it to the wound on his arm, kneeling down to ruffle his hair softly. “Understand that it gives us no pleasure to see you unhappy—however, it is time you and Persephone have different living spaces. It might seem unfair to you now, but it is a decision taken for your own good. After all, you wouldn’t want Persephone walking in on you while you are jerking off to some senior or a model, would you?”

The tips of his ears burned as Harry closed his eyes shut, burning the image she had conjured in his mind away as Cassiopeia let out a delighted laugh. Honestly, while he knew from the accounts and history recorded over decades that both Arcturus and Cassieopeia were considered batshit crazy by the wider wizarding world…his grand-aunt just seemed to take it to a whole nother level every now and then.

Maybe she was the reason Arcturus spent so much time away from Kastro Mavros?

“I…I am astounded, like, truly at a loss of words.”

“I am not much better right now, brother mine,“ Cassiopeia muttered, taking the parchment from Arcturus’ hands as the owl in front of them hooted softly, “Even the Himalayas don’t have ganja this pure.”

“Just what in the name of Merlin is Dumbledore and the Board doing to the children? This is probably worse than Arenius’ tenure,” he replied, shaking his head as he leaned back, his eyes turning towards her and Harry—and was that sympathy in them? He chuckled lightly as the breakfast arrived before them, while Cassieopeia just sighed heavily.

“Well, your second year is certainly going to be eventful,” she said, rolling up the parchment and placing it by the other lists and notices sent by Hogwarts. Petting the owl softly, she gave them a smirk and continued. “Do you think he will write another book this time? Maybe one featuring your best friend?”

“Just who are we talking about here?” Harry asked, his eyes flicking to the parchment as it floated over to him with a snap of Cassieopeia’s fingers. Unfurling it, he looked at the list of books and their authors, eyes moving along the titles and names before he arrived at the end of the list, where a note had been penned. “Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin-Third Class will be joining Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, commencing the 1992 session.”

“Is he some kind of torturer or child abuser?”

“We will let that be a surprise,” Arcturus smiled, sipping on his coffee, and Cassieopeia just laughed at their expressions, wiping a tear away from her eye. “In fact, why don’t you get your curriculum books and other supplies today itself, Cassieopeia can accompany you both to Diagon Alley.”

“And what shall you do in the meantime?”

“Go the Townhouse,” he answered, and just from the sheer tiredness in his words, she knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant affair for the man. “That place has been rotting for decades, it is time I get to righting it. And…I think I will go and meet Andromeda after that.”

“You are not going to invite her here?” The witch asked, a single eyebrow rising in her brother’s direction, and even she was surprised by Arcturus’ words. She definitely didn’t take him to be the type to go to Andromeda’s residence instead of summoning the woman here, especially since she had been the one to run away from the Black Family—and had been banished after that too.

“She will not come,” he shook his head, before he looked at his right hand, the ring of Lorship appearing upon his finger for a moment as he continued. “Besides, it is due to my mistakes she was banished from the House.”

“Awwww!” Cassiopeia cooed, pinching Arcturus’ cheeks as she leaned over, and all Persephone could do was look on, mortified and barely able to control her laughter. Besides her, she could see how Harry’s shoulders also shook from his effort to stay silent. Arcturus on the other hand, simply turned his face towards Cassiopeia, his expression seeming to be carved from stone for all the emotion it showed. However, the woman pinching his cheeks continued her antics, petting his head as if he were a child. “Mother would be so proud, Arcturus. You are finally admitting you are capable of making mistakes. I would say I told you so, but I think you have heard enough of that over the years, haven't you?”

“Quite,” he said after a moment, his voice flatter than ever before as he pushed one of her hands away from his face. “Now, get the children their books and things…and take over for their occlumency training in the evening. I might be late depending upon my conversation with Andromeda.”

Ten minutes later, Persephone was standing in the Diagon Alley, having directly been apparated at its entrance by Cassiopeia. Besides her, Harry cracked his knuckles—a new habit he had somehow picked up in the last week. “Well, let's get started with the clothes and uniforms. I’d rather avoid that zoo for as long as I can.”

“Zoo?” Harry asked, his eyes looking at the alley before them, before he winced and nodded. “That looks like a madhouse.”

As her eyes saw the way the people were pushing and outright jumping over each other to enter the bookstore—and was that an Auror on the stretcher?—Persephone silently agreed with her brother. “Is this Golderoy Lockhart a big deal?” She asked, looking up at her grand-aunt, “We would have heard about him in Hogwarts if he wa-”

“As I said, he is an experience,” Cassiopeia interrupted her with a smirk, pushing her toward the other side of the Alley. “Now, let's get to Twilfitt and Tattings, shall we? And don’t tell Arcturus, but I managed to snatch his vault key for the day, so…we can go wild!”

“Isn’t he already kind of angry?”

“He will get over it,” she waved it off, making Harry give her an uncertain nod as they pushed through the throng of witches crowding the whole right half of the Alley. As the shouts of ‘He is so dreamy’, ‘So handsome!’ and ‘Will you autograph my tits?!’ came from halfway-rabid women, Persephone shifted a little more to the left, sharing a look with her brother as he rolled his eyes. Giggling slightly, Cassiopeia smiled fondly and looked up at the sky, “Besides, his cheeks are too good not to pull on. Dorea and I always used to do that to irritate him. The great Arcturus Black, Heir to the House of Blacks, turned into a pet hippogryph for his sisters’ play time.”

“Was Grandmother more like you or like Grandfather?” he asked her after a moment, turning his head to look up at her as she did the same from the left, “She was a Healer right?”

“Amongst very best ones on this continent,” she nodded, sighing wistfully as she stepped around an unconscious witch before she looked down at her with a finger wagging in front of her face, “But don’t mistake that for her being a softy like that Pomfrey you have at Hogwarts. She might have been inclined more towards the Healer Corps, but she was as fearsome with her wand as the witches of House Black are known to be—well, all except Walburga and Narcissa, those two are wastes of space, to be honest.”

“Was she as good as you?” she asked her eyes flicking towards the banner of Madam Malkins are they walked by its front, remembering how she and Harry had bought their first uniforms and clothes a year ago—and just how their lives had changed over the subsequent months. Inside, she could see a redhead standing on the stool, and with a jolt, she realized it was Susan Bones. A flare of anger and hurt rose inside her, remembering the way the Bones Heiress and her sidekick had practically forgotten about her and Harry after the train ride once their names had been revealed at the sorting. It hadn’t mattered much once the whole reality of being a Potter had crashed down on them, but once things had settled down somewhat, it had surely hurt. After a lifetime of hurt and abuse by the muggles, they had finally experienced a shadow, a semblance of friendship on the Express…only to realize the truth of it the next morning as the whole Great Hall, and the entirety of Great Britain had spewed venom at them.

“She came close,” Cassiopeia spoke up with a shake of her head, bringing her out of her thoughts as Persephone looked up at her, “She was a fearsome fighter, but healing came naturally to her, and she was talented at it. So much so that she was deployed by the ICW Medical Corps during the Grindelwald War—and after that, she continued to roam all over the globe, learning and perfecting her skills. However, she had Charlus with her, and he certainly didn’t let her slack off in that regard.”

“And how good was Grandfather? Arcturus says that they never had a full-blown fight,” Harry asked, remembering the snippets and flashes of Charlus Potter they had seen in Arcturus’ memories—especially the one where Charlus had killed three dragons by himself in a couple of minutes.

“I fought him two times during my time under Grindelwald…the first time, we battled till the ICW ordered a retreat nearby Nurmengard.”

“And the second time?”

“He left me dying after blasting a hole in my stomach,” Cassiopeia smiled sadly, her fingers ghosting over the lower right of her abdomen as Persephone and Harry paused for a moment, both of their eyes blowing wide at that. Seeing their shocked expressions, the witch laughed and shook her head, waving a hand in the air absently as she closed her eyes, “Oh please, I don’t mind that much…except for the healing potions I had to drink for half a year. Plus, we were enemies at that time.”

“And did grandmother say anything about that?” she asked, her mind conjuring images of Dorea laying onto Charlus and Cassiopeia both, while both of them nodded meekly from hospital beds. Stifling a giggle at the thought, she blicked at the finger the tapped her forehead from above as her Grand-Aunt pulled them both to a stop.

“Oh believe me, Dorea had a lot to say about that, with her wand,” she sighed, and despite the smile on her face, Persephone could see the pain in her eyes. However, it was gone a moment later as Cassiopeia blinked and shook her head, nodding at the doors in front of them with a small smile, “Enough about the history now, we have some clothes to buy for you. Get inside you brats.”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This man fought a werewolf bare-handed? Defeated a Strigoi with the Sword of Gryffindor—while fighting off Acromantulas?” the girl breathed out, and Cassiopeia simply raised an eyebrow at Persephone’s incredulous words as she looked at the famed and celebrated Gilderoy Lockhart.

“Why do you think he hasn’t done any of that?” she laughed, silently erecting a ward to muffle their talk as a few witches and wizards glared at them before moving away. Squashing down the urge to rip their eyes out as she saw them mutter and mouth off about her charges, she instead turned towards the redhead and nodded in the direction of the various portraits and posters around them, “His exploits are quite well known my dear. What makes you doubt them?”

“His whole…character,” Persephone shook her head as she pointed at the grinning blonde, “Plus, no one would disapparate away from a troll attack of all things…Not if they can cast a Patronus strong enough to destroy Dementors and kill a dozen creatures in single combat without a single injury.”

“You would know about trolls, would you?” she chuckled, eyeing the scaly pattern upon the cloak they were wearing, remembering the way Arcturus himself had woven charms and wards upon Dumbledore’s gift. A part of her applauded the young sorcerers besides her for being able to distinguish reality from what was nothing more than documented fiction, but yet, she hadn’t lived through a war and hundreds of mortal fights by taking someone lightly. Eyes moving back towards the last son of the Lockharts, Cassiopeia sighed and shook her head, “As for his tales…they have always been accurate and supported by the locals of the area he has travelled through. The carcasses of the beasts he defeats have been examined by various magizoologists and curse-breakers over the years, and the results have always been in his favour.”

“So..our Defence Professor for this year is a laughing, narcissistic ladies man who is secretly capable of decimating a XXXX class creature?” Harry’s eyes were slightly wide by the end of his exclamation, and she hummed in agreement, looking at the skulls and trophies Lockhart had collected over his tenure as a monster hunter.

“That should tell you to not judge someone by their looks, shouldn’t it?” she nodded along, the sarcasm dripping from her voice plain for both fo them to hear as she dispelled the ward around them, “Now come on, lets get your books for the year before I die of my ears getting blown off by these Mandrakes!”

“Oh my! The Valkyrie of Death?” a nasally fake voice pitche din from her left, adn Cassiopeia sighed, lowering her hand from where it had risen up to grab one of Lockhart’s collection as she felt the hairs on her arm stand up. Before she could even begin to turn around, she felt the heat and flash of a camera go off behind her, and it took all of her mental strength to not rip the reporter and her cameraman a new one—and it seemed that her control was to be tested further, as out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Longbottom Matriarch enter her view.

“Cassiopeia Black, the third of the Black Trinity of Grindelwald’s war, the Dark Lord’s elusive General…and sister to Arcturus Black,” the spectacled woman completed as she turned around—and in the back of her mind, she silently celebrated the fact that she was quite a bit taller than the blonde. Eyeing the lime green quill squibbling upon a floating parchment for a moment, Cassiopeia met Skeeter’s eyes, who simply raised an eyebrow with a smile, “Did I forget anything, Lady Black?”

“I have not received anymore titles I am sure,” she said back, seeing Skeeter’s eyes flick towards Harry and Persephone before the reporter looked at her, and she knew that the glint in ehr eye didn’t mean anything well, “I am surprised you had the time to even look away from Mr.Lockhart this afternoon, it is a big day for the history of Magical Britain’s education.”

“Mr. Lockhart breaks headlines every now and then,” the blonde laughed demurely, before her eyes alighted on her with a smirk, and then moved towards her sister’s grandchildren, “But Cassiopeia Black walking out into the streets for a stroll, with the grandchildren of her dear sister holding her hands? That is something which doesn’t happen everyday.”

“And I fail to see how it matters to your readers what I decide to do with my free time,” she rolled her eyes, waving a hand in Lockhart’s direction, “Click pictures of celebrities Skeeter, and leave me and mine alone.”

“Are the Potters currently living with you, and presumably Lord Black?”

“Will you go away if I say yes?” Cassiopeia shook her head, feeling all of her occlumency and mental control go out of the window as she felt hiney positively pour down into her ears—and the fuck was Skeeter batting her eyelashes for?! She had standards for Merlin’s sake!

“Lord Black had a public…altercation with Lady Longbottom in Hogwarts when the Minister himself went with the Aurors to get her and the Boy-Who-Lived justice,” the oman paused her spiel for a moment, her voice taking an inquisitive tone as hte euill floating by her head seemed to get even faster, and Cassiopeia just sighed mentally as she saw a crown gather around them, “does this mean you support his views?”

“The one where he stopped two innocent children from being thrown at the Dementors like a quick meal in Azkaban?” she aske din turn, her fingers itching to squash the woman in front of her like a bug as she felt Persephone stiffen up behind her, “I hadn’t known we were back to sending children to Azkaban Skeeter, but then again, some people have walsy thought they were above the laws of society and basic common sense.”

“Bellatric Lestrange, formerly Black was rumored to be your protege, is that true?”

“This interv-”

“Bellatrix? The whole fucking family went insane at the wands of her and her twisted brother!”

‘Fucking hell!’ she groaned mentally as Skeeter’s eyes lit up with joy, the rough, strong voice cutting through her sentence like goblin silver through butter as Augusta gave her a silent stare, while besides her, Neville Longbottom simply looked at her children like he had seen a ghost.