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(Enchanting Melodies) Chapter 466: Of Black Deeds
🕑 Added 2025-05-04 14:00:10 +0000 UTCChapter 466: Of Black Deeds
22 June 1995, Athens, Greece
Arcturus Black hadn’t wanted to be here, not really, in this safehouse in Greece. It was a nice sentiment on Harry’s part, a way to keep him safe from any reprisal from Dumbledore or Grindelwald. It was also a bit patronising to leave him with the non-combatant families while the boy and even his girlfriend stood there to fight. He was a war veteran for Merlin’s sake. Sure, he knew that he was far past his prime, and so was Sebastien, but hadn’t he shown that he could still massacre a small squad of Lycans when he was supposed to be the one being ambushed in the first place?
To be honest, Arcturus knew that the reason he felt so restless was because he didn’t have much to lose, not anymore. He was growing old and had seen most of his family wipe themselves out with their own stupidity. Only Andromeda, her daughter, Narcissa, and her idiotic son were left.
Andromeda frankly wanted nothing to do with him, and he respected that enough not to approach her or her daughter, even if he kept tabs on them, ready to intervene if something ended up happening. Narcissa, on the other hand, had thrived after her husband’s untimely death, something that he actually respected. She managed to use the sizeable stipend he gave her and invest it in a few fashion stores in France. She brushed up on her enchanting and managed to weave some very delicate spellwork into very impressive silk, enough to cater to the rich and famous in the country. Arcturus did help indirectly by having Sebastien help her out and getting his wife to talk about a few of her stores publicly. Soon enough, business was booming, and there was life back into her previously dull eyes, which had slowly withered away during her marriage.
Even her son, the brat, was getting better. Apparently, not have access to an endless vault of gold, mixed with half of his old friends in Hogwarts abandoning him after his father’s help had been a wake-up call, enough for the boy to learn a bit of responsibility and respect.
Arcturus had asked Harry to arrange for them to be at the safe house with him, and had expected some pushback, given the boy’s supposed rivalry with the Malfoy scion, but apparently, he hadn’t cared one bit and agreed. Then again, when facing the End of the World, these things didn’t matter much.
He had been nervous about Harry’s plan, despite how brilliant it was. He would have been fighting the Champions of the Light and Dark, for Merlin’s sake, and the Black Patriarch knew that even with all the preparations, the chances of victory were slim.
And so, when Harry emerged, victorious, and most of all, uninjured, Arcturus was the first to celebrate. He wanted to kill both Dumbledore and Grindelwald for decades, and in the end, it was a boy who hadn’t even taken his OWLS yet that did it.
Everyone had reasons to celebrate, whether it was their survival, their freedom, relief that their loved ones survived the battle of Nurmengard, and in Vlad’s case, regaining his humanity. It was a real shame about Marinakis, really. Arcturus was an expert on curses, and even he had no idea where to begin analysing this thing. It seemed to specifically tie itself in his magical circuits, and he knew that it was corrosive in nature. The Greengrass girl did a good job stabilising him, but for all his faults, Gellert Grindelwald was a genius when it came to magic.
Nevertheless, the night ended with them celebrating. Arcturus had even opened one of his most expensive bottles of Firewhiskey. He had saved it up for special occasions, expecting to open it when his grandson, Sirius, finally became the family head. Since that never happened and Arcturus had very little to celebrate in the last decade, it had remained there, untouched, in his manor, and what better time to open it than after the apocalypse was just averted, and that the Light and Dark were finally gone, freeing the magical world.
And as expected, Arcturus woke up the following morning hungover and hungry, and yet with a smile on his face. He had no idea what had happened to the others. Vlad was probably passed out somewhere. He had gone a bit overboard, forgetting that his body’s constitution wasn’t as strong anymore.
Still, Arcturus decided to have his breakfast and walk into the private dining room, after taking one of his hangover potions to freshen up. When he arrived, he saw Harry and Daphne murmuring to one another while eating a few omelettes with her parents glaring at them, while still looking at an issue of the Daily Prophet.
Oh, they must have figured out something about what happened, and they weren’t happy. Arcturus had no opinions on the Greengrass family in general, but Cyrus Greengrass was pretty frustrating to deal with. The man obviously wanted to advance his house’s influence at any cost and had no qualms doing some underhanded things to get his way. He’d avoided the man since they arrived at this safe house, but there was no avoiding him now.
Most of the guests in the mansion kept to themselves. Apparently, Marinakis had enchanted each wing for it to be separate. They hadn’t wanted any potential trouble between the guests. Unfortunately, the Greengrass girl wanted to spend time with her family and had used Arcturus’ presence to convince her father to go to the safehouse. It was a clever trick on her part, but it was also extremely irritating for him, since he couldn't exactly avoid the man.
Not wanting to deal with the annoyance so early in the morning, Arcturus pretended not to see him perk up when he entered, and sat down next to Harry. A cup of tea, just like he wanted, appeared right in front of him, and he took a deep sip. Merlin, bless House Elves. They were almost worth having to deal with Cyrus Greengrass.
Thankfully, his ward obviously had his back and kept glaring at the Greengrass Patriarch whenever he tried to say something, shutting him up. Eventually, Daphne ended up in a conversation with her sister, leaving them to speak with a bit of privacy.
Arcturus quickly put up some privacy wards and spoke up softly, “Trouble in paradise?”
The boy rolled his eyes. “Daphne’s family read the newspaper and didn’t like the world thinking that their daughter was dead.”
The Black Patriarch raised an eyebrow at that, “This is what they have a problem with? Not, her fighting off an army of vampires and having a body count in the thousands?”
“Well,” Harry answered awkwardly, “They don’t really know about that part. They just think we pretended that she was kidnapped and that she cut off communications for a day just to avoid her survival being leaked. God knows what they would do if they thought she was in any actual danger. We were hoping to speak to them first, but we got caught up celebrating.”
Arcturus snickered for a bit, then changed the subject slightly, “I’ll admit it; I had my doubts that this would have worked, but what you have achieved, Harry, is spectacular.”
The boy gave him a slight smile, “I can say it now, but it was close for a few moments.”
“And yet, you won. But that doesn’t explain why you’re so lost in your own head.”
Harry froze slightly before relaxing, “I suppose it just hit me all of a sudden. I feel like I did what I was always supposed to do. Everything, every moment in my life, led me to this moment, and I did it. I won. Is it weird that I feel a bit lost?”
“Not at all. I was much the same after the Great War. I fought for years, lost friends and comrades and just like that, one day, it was over. I went home, and people acted like it never happened. I fought on a battlefield for years, aching for the fighting to end, and yet when I came home, I felt like I didn’t belong, like I was empty. Melania was the person who filled that hole, and I believe young Miss Greengrass will do the same to you.”
Harry nodded absentmindedly, and Arcturus continued, “You’re not planning on telling anyone that you’re still alive, are you?”
The young man gave him a sad look, “Look, Arcturus, I know that I promised that one of my children would have the Black crest, but…”
The Black Patriarch waved him off, “Harry, you just arranged the deaths of two of the biggest threats to the magical world. You deserve a break, at the very least. I guess I’ll have to restart my search for an heir.”
Harry slumped in his seat in relief before retorting, “You don’t have to look far. Either choose Draco Malfoy’s or Nymphadora Tonks’s lines. They’re the real candidates here, even if you know it.”
“Andromeda would never allow me to speak to her daughter,” Arcturus replied sadly, “And have you met the Malfoy boy?”
“It’s not Andromeda you need to convince. It’s her daughter. She’s a talented witch, and she’ll take it seriously if you’re upfront with her. As for Draco, he was a right ponce when he was younger, but he has time to grow into your favoured heir. His father’s death and his family’s political and financial falls obviously shook him. The boy is looking for a mentor figure, now that he’s all alone. You could do a lot worse.”
Arcturus took a deep breath, “I suppose. Are you sure I can’t change your mind on the whole faking your death thing?”
“It's the only way, then they can all forget me. I got too big, Arcturus. Too noisy. Time to step back into the shadows.”
“And Daphne? What does she think about leaving her entire life behind?”
The boy looked sad for a fraction of a second, turning towards his girlfriend, “She made her decision. At least, we won’t be alone.”
“Ah, young love. So many secrets. I'll help you keep them, of course,” Arcturus joked, “I can only imagine how the two of you will be hounded if anyone ever finds out that you’re still alive. You did look rather dashing in that battle, a real angel of Death. You should see what they’re writing about you. Did you read anything other than the first page?”
The boy shook his head, “I think I got the gist of it. I can’t believe it barely took a day for them to try to turn me into a martyr and a political piece. It’s almost impressive in their greed.”
“What else were they supposed to do? Your battle wasn’t exactly subtle, and they needed to reassure everyone. Your divination trick would have let any amateur who knew a couple of spells figure out what happened. They needed to find an excuse for sending in the obliviators, too. What was it they blamed it on again?”
“A solar flare,” Harry replied dryly.
“Exactly, a solar flare. Anyway, the resources needed to clean up this whole thing were immense. They needed an upside, and your supposed death gave them one. They couldn’t exactly lie about what happened, so they leaned heavily on you as a martyr, essentially having sacrificed yourself for them, much like what the British Ministry did during the fire of Godric’s Hollow. They used Neville Longbottom and Tom Riddle’s death as an upside and just went with it.”
The older mage grinned as he saw the put-out expression on the boy’s face and heard him mutter, “I hate politics.”
Arcturus snorted in reply, “You might, but you’re powerful, and that means that you’ll forever be involved. I have to admit, this has to be the most ingenious way I’ve seen of anyone trying to avoid being pulled into politics. Faking your own death, ingenious. I assume that you handled the whole thing with the goblins?”
“Oh, yes. I told them that whoever holds the key can access the vault. Apparently, people tended to request their fortune be found in a treasure hunt instead of it being given directly to their descendants. The goblins mostly just go along with it since there’s a chance of the keys not being found and the vault eventually going into their control due to the inactivity clause. I didn’t have any investments ready, or any properties, really, so the ministry should find nothing in my name to take or distribute. I can almost imagine them turning my house into some sort of monument or something.”
“How else are they going to honour the mighty saviour of the magical world?”
The boy grabbed the back of his head awkwardly, “I can’t believe that this is how I’ll be remembered. At least they didn’t see the whole duel, only the ending, where I killed Grindelwald. I can only imagine what titles they’d come up with if they saw me actually fighting them.”
Arcturus started to snicker softly, which morphed into a chuckle, which quickly turned into hysterical laughter. Harry gave him a confused look, which made the Black Patriarch laugh even harder. It took a few minutes for him to calm down, with the boy giving him a dirty look, “What is it?”
“Do you seriously think that no one will see what happened in your fight?”
“How would they?”
The Black Patriarch sighed, “Sometimes I forget that you never dealt with mercenaries or soldiers. There’s a huge market for memories of battles. It’s a very requested thing. Mercenaries often earn a nice bit of gold by sending the memories to specialists that sort of keep them in crystallised containers, which are called memory crystals. I remember one of them from the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, from miles away, ending up costing thousands of Galleons. People will be scrambling to sell them, especially given the mystery involved. People will combine perspectives, even from muggles who had witnessed a fragment of the whole thing, to get a proper picture of what happened, and it will be worth a lot, to say the least. You’ll be surprised by how much they get. Trust me, in a few days, weeks at most, a bunch of memory crystals will appear all over Europe, and half the continent will know what happened, and a few days after, maybe even the entire world will know.”
Harry Potter, the last Peverell, defeater of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, destroyer of the Light and Dark, visibly pouted while slumping in his seat, and Arcturus burst into laughter once more. The history books will probably remember him as one of the greatest mages to ever exist, and he probably was, but now, all Arcturus saw was a brooding teenager.
The world might never truly know him.
But Arcturus Black would never forget.
AN: Sorry if this was a bit short, I wrote this chapter in a hurry, since a few things came up at once. I don’t know if this was a proper send-off for Arcturus Black. I might mention him in one of the Epilogues, but I probably won’t do a chapter on his own. As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
Comments
Afterdark230
Very good chapter, as always wish they were longer but all in all great chapter.
Afterdark230
Me too!!!
DoodleBopCheese
I remember Harry was called “The Raven of…” during the time travel arc. I’m curious as to what it is.
