allendalepharm Chapter 185 The Ominous Black
Chapter 185 The Ominous Black
Chapter 185 The Ominous Black
The house-elf Kreacher, unaware of Lockhart and the others' presence, muttered curses at the bustling Muggle streets outside the window. Upon hearing the Matron's call from afar, he quickly turned and ran deeper into the corridor.
After a while, only the noise of the Muggle street outside remained at the corner window, and the entire corridor became eerily quiet.
Tonks couldn't stand the eerie silence any longer and began to struggle against the wall.
"Do not move."
A deep voice came from beside my ear, strangely resonant as if it were resonating through the wall and my own ear bones, echoing in my ear.
The sound was unpleasant to hear, and Tonks instinctively twisted his body again in resistance.
Just then, the sound of bare feet on the wooden floor came from the corner of the stairs, and a girl who looked somewhat similar to her ran down the stairs lightly, gripping the handrail.
Soon after, two more girls of similar age followed closely behind, one looking gentle and the other looking noble.
"Mommy~"
Tonks fell silent, staring blankly at the girl who was running ahead, smiling as she turned back to call out to her two sisters.
Finally, after the three girls left, chatting and laughing, a faint, firefly-like light spread out before her eyes, pulling her vision back to the wall.
It was an extremely strange feeling, as if you were inside hard stone or wood, embedded in it yet able to move, sticky and sluggish.
"Let's go, we need to be careful. The Black family's ancestral home isn't so easy to break into."
Lockhart held up his wand, letting the light from its tip illuminate the path ahead, and led Tonks and Lady Mary slowly forward through the walls.
Finally, they arrived at the hall.
The Black family was still thriving at that time. The hall was brightly lit, and house-elves, carrying food and steaming coins, mingled among the crowd, serving each master.
An old man, drowsy and with a blanket draped over his knees, sat by the fireplace. Not far away, several adults were raising their glasses and talking loudly. Two young boys were playing by themselves, and three girls were frolicking and playing.
Lockhart's ability to manipulate magic was clearly at a certain level; as they moved to a corner of the hall wall, neither the Blacks nor the house-elves noticed them.
He didn't do anything extra; he just waited patiently.
Having traveled through Bella's memories to get here using the time converter and Apparition, this was clearly not an ordinary day. Something important must be about to happen, and he just needed to wait patiently.
Sure enough, not long after, the three girls went to play with their two cousins, and as they were chatting, they suddenly started arguing.
"I'm not going to learn!" a child shouted angrily, attracting the attention of the adults.
The child was dressed very appropriately, in the exquisite attire of a classical nobleman, with elegant and beautiful black hair, and was very handsome.
"It's Sirius," Tonks whispered to Lockhart.
Although her mother had been expelled from the family for marrying a Muggle before she was born, as a new Auror, she was often sent to Azkaban to perform routine inspections, so she was quite familiar with people like Sirius Black and Bellatrix, who had sided with the Dark Lord.
(P.S.: According to the Auror files, Sirius Black confessed to killing the Potters and a dozen Muggles on a street, and was imprisoned in Azkaban as a henchman of the Dark Lord. This is also the impression most people have of Sirius Black, believing him to be an undercover agent.)
Lohat nodded, carefully waving his wand to dispel the fluctuations caused by Tonks' voice.
"I refuse to learn dark magic!" Sirius pushed away his younger brother who was pulling at him, and glared angrily at the group of adults. "You all say that the Black family has the noblest pureblood blood, so I don't understand why the supposedly noblest Black would want to become a dark wizard?"
"Sirius!" His mother was furious. She yelled and threw down her wine glass, ready to pounce on him, but was stopped by Bella's mother.
The old man by the fireplace groggily raised his head, sighed, and closed his eyes sadly.
"Because that's not dark magic, and those who learn dark magic aren't dark wizards!" Sirius's father, Orion Black, said in a deep voice, striding forward and looking down coldly at his always-impulsive son. "I shouldn't have let you go to that shitty Hogwarts!"
His gaze was filled with rage. "That Hogwarts nonsense is always so absurd. What dark magic, what dark wizards! Child, remember this: all wizards throughout history have been evil, and all magic throughout history has been evil!"
Sirius was stunned, and the other children exclaimed in disbelief.
"Orion, my brother, you can't say that to children." Bella's father, Signas Black, shook his head, walked up, and looked at the group of Black's younger generation. "Children, magic has always been the same, it has never changed. What has changed is the times. This era has categorized a lot of magic into so-called dark magic and declared that those who master these magics are dark wizards."
He shrugged. "Our pure-blood family does not oppose the construction of such a modern magic system. In fact, we have worked with many other families to promote this reform that is relevant to our times."
"Because the laws of the Ministry of Magic will not allow most wizards to use these powerful and dangerous spells, but for us pure-blood families, for us noble Blacks, the laws of the Ministry of Magic cannot restrict us."
"This gives us a significant advantage."
He looked down at Sirius and smiled slightly. "I know I've been through the same struggles you've faced. I always think about justice and evil, but please remember, if we want to maintain the glory of the Blacks, we can't foolishly cut off our advantages and blindly follow the value judgments deliberately created by society, ultimately becoming just another face in the crowd."
Young Sirius clearly didn't understand this logic, nor would he listen. He simply retorted with a cold laugh, "Black's glory, through dark magic? I'd rather not have it!"
"I'm going to beat you to death, you beast!" Sirius's father roared in anger and lunged forward, but was grabbed by his younger brother, Signas.
"Hey, my brother, this won't solve anything," he advised and comforted, until his brother angrily shook off his hand and walked aside to calm down, then he turned back to look at the little ones.
He pointed to the family crest on the wall, "Black, meaning darkness, evil, and misfortune!"
"I know that everyone has good intentions and longs for beauty, so we always abhor darkness, evil, and misfortune. But there's no way around it; such blood flows in our veins—"
He looked into each child's eyes with a gentle light, "This ominous magical bloodline always causes us to have all sorts of accidents and die young. Children, perhaps when you grow up, you will never see us old folks again."
"Daddy!" His daughters were a little uneasy when they heard this description, and Narcissa clung tightly to her father's arm.
"This is true. His glory was short but powerful, and only the continuation of his bloodline can make him eternal."
He walked over, looked down at Sirius, whose expression was complicated, and smiled slightly. "Child, I know you can't listen to me now, but I hope you can remember what I'm saying. Maybe one day in the future you will suddenly understand this truth yourself."
"Why is it said that we, the Black family, are the noblest and oldest? Why do even the other families among the so-called Holy Twenty-Eight Pure-Blood Families acknowledge our innate noble magical bloodline?"
"That's because the oldest wizards were associated with darkness, evil, and misfortune."
"Wizards have always been like this, drawing great power from mystery, evil, and misfortune, appearing in ominous places, bringing ominous omens, and exuding an ominous aura. Muggles feel this deeply, and it has always been so throughout history."
"Wrong!" A sharp shout suddenly came from behind, causing everyone to turn around and see the old man by the fireplace.
That was Sirius's grandfather, Arcturus Black, who looked so sad. "Times are changing, children."
'
His voice was so aged, each syllable like a bellows about to burst, speaking with such difficulty, "My father, Phineas Black, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, whose name, in keeping with Black tradition, was written as Nigellus, meaning black, dark, ominous. ————"
"He told me he was desperate because he realized that his generation might be the end for Black, because the dark, ominous, and mysterious age of wizards had passed."
"He was powerless to do anything about it, and was in so much pain that he was going crazy."
Grandfather Arcturus looked at Sirius with a deep gaze, smiled slightly, and said, "If you don't want to learn dark magic, then don't. Perhaps you can forge a new path for Black."
"Bullshit!" Sirius's father roared angrily. "You're dead, you know that? Don't spout nonsense here. You're always like this, acting all enlightened, but the burden of the family is always borne by others!"
He forcefully pulled out his wand and waved it at the fireplace, instantly extinguishing the warm flames inside. The old man was nowhere to be seen on the chair beside the fireplace.
Having done all this, he stood up again, his gaze sharp, and strode forward, staring intently at Sirius Black. "You were born of Black, and the magical blood of Black flows in your veins. The power of this magical blood has permeated the long river of history, constantly drawing strength from the darkness, evil, and ominousness of wizarding!"
"This is your bloodline, an inseparable part of you, and also the mission you bear!"
"If you betray your bloodline, you will find that you will soon fall from your self-satisfied superiority into a weakling. You may even find that your bloodline begins to betray you, and you will be consumed by darkness and evil."
Ominous forces are devouring us!
"Darkness, evil, and ominousness are not inherently derogatory terms; they are definitions given by modern wizards, and have always been the case throughout the thousand-year history of wizards."
"It is your glory, and it is your curse!"
"You don't learn dark magic? Haha, let me tell you, you're extremely likely to be attacked by terrible dark magic. You'll be thrown into a freezing lake and swallowed, or thrown into a place like Azkaban where Dementors will strip you of everything, and ultimately you'll be killed by dark magic!"
"Because this is the bloodline of magic!"
He stared intently at Sirius. "Have I made myself clear enough?"
Sirius Black stared at him defiantly, his neck stiff. "Then I'd rather it be this way!"
"Very well!" Sirius's father was furious, as if he were about to explode. "Then I'd rather not have a son like you. The Black family doesn't need someone like you who betrays their bloodline and the Black family!"
"Now!"
He pointed forcefully at the door, "Leave our Black family gathering! You don't belong here!"
"Fine, I'm leaving!" Sirius Black retorted defiantly. "Evil blood makes me sick! Maintaining the glory of a sinful appearance is meaningless!"
Bang!
He kicked the door open and strode away angrily.
The other children around were stunned. They never expected that their argument would lead to Sirius being expelled from the family.
Because Sirius's father had angrily burned Sirius's name onto the family tree blanket on the wall with cigarette butts.