Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or any other characters you may recognize
January 11th, 1970
I arrived at the front gates of Hogwarts just as breakfast was beginning in the Great Hall. The Headmaster and the staff had not been informed. In fact, everyone at at Hogwarts was under the impression that I wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Fortunately, I convinced Grandfather to allow me to make an entrance worthy of the Heir of the House of Black. He seemed to find the idea of pulling one over on the Headmaster rather delightful, and had placed a Dissolutionment Charm on me to allow me to enter Hogwarts unnoticed. He had called a meeting of the Board of Governors with the Headmaster for that morning. So while he headed to the Headmaster's office for the meeting, I snuck into the castle and opened the doors of the Great Hall.
As soon as I touched the door, the charm dissapated, making me visible. I strode through the entrance confidently. " Morning, everyone! Sorry I'm late. Getting hit by a Organ-Rupturing Curse is an exhausting experience. It's awful, wouldn't recommend it oof!" My grand entrance was interrupted by the crushing hugs of my cousins Narcissa and Andromeda. I barely managed to avoid being knocked over. And then someone -Eric Potter- started clapping. Pretty soon, the entire Great Hall was standing and applauding. I am certain that not all of them were sincere, but I was fairly certain the majority of them were.
To the Slytherins, I had prevented the extinction of one of the oldest and most distinguished pureblood lines with my quick thinking, and now I had secured an alliance with the Royal family as a result. To the Ravenclaws, I was a genius for being able to power a Portkey at age eleven under pressure and the threat of death. To the Hufflepuffs, I had risked my life and nearly was killed protecting my friends. And to the Gryffindors, I had risked my life to save the lives of others, one of them being a Princess. Slytherin or not, they were impressed and more than willing to applaud my heroism.
As the applause died down, my cousins led me to my seat at the Slytherin table and took the spots beside me, looking like mother hens shoving food in front of me. Eric and Cyrus came up beside me. "Hail the conquering hero!" they said in sync, grinning mischievously.
"Oh stuff it you two. They're just jealous that you got meet the Royal family and that your the center of attention now that people aren't asking them when you are coming back," Adrianne Zabini said from across the Slytherin table. Both of my friends started sputtering denials as our group burst into laughter. Kingsley and the Patil twins came up and sat with us once the laughter died down.
"Good to see you back mate. I have been meaning to confirm a rumor that I have been hearing. Is it true that the Princess of Russia is in love with you?" Eric asked with a wicked grin. I didn't need a mirror to know that my entire face was beet red. I groaned in disbelief.
"Sirius wrote you, didn't he?" I asked, putting my face in my hands.
"Yup. He seemed quite sure of it, you know. Apparently she ran in and hugged you with tears in her eyes upon seeing her savior alive and well, and even wrote you a letter before stammering a goodbye and running from the room with her face flushed and swooning with desire," Eric said. He was an excellent story teller much to my dismay at the moment. I was going to kill Sirius when I came home for the summer.
At this point, my friends and cousins were laughing uncontrollably at my obvious embarrassment. Kingsley had completely disappeared under the table, and Cyrus was pounding the table with his fists. Fortunately, another question was asked that changed the subject. "So, the inquiring minds in the House of Ravenclaw having been dying to know how you managed to make a Portkey as a first year student. And the three of us have been hounded all week for the answer," Ranek Patil informed me.
"Yeah, and it's starting to cut into our study time!" Shanti said indignantly. Eric snorted at her comment and muttered something about nerds. Unfortunately for him, Shanti heard his comment and shot a stinging hex at his leg, causing him to jerk his leg and hit his knee on the table. I laughed at his obvious pain. It was karma for sure.
"Well, I had read the spell in a book in the Black library on the history of Wizarding transportation. And it was the first thing I thought of when I heard them breaking down the doors. I was desperate, and I am honestly suprised it worked, considering the distance. I was really lucky that it did," I said, sticking to the story that my Grandfather and I had rehearsed.
"I thought that making an unregistered Portkey was illegal. Wasn't the Ministry upset about that?" the voice of Dolores Umbridge asked, causing Narcissa to scowl at her. It was a stupid question, as the Ministry was more concerned about my survival as the wealthy heir of Arcturus Black then any broken laws of underage magic.
"No, the Minister was just glad that the Heir of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black survived an assassination attempt. I did hear that an employee in the Department of Magical Transportation tried to fine us, but stopped at the combined request of the Head of Magical Transportation, the Minister of Magic, Lord Black, and Tsar Peter Romanov the Tenth. I believe he was transferred to Magical Maintenance for his disrespectful attitude towards my wellbeing. Maybe he'll be cleaning the floors of the Wizengamot with your father, Dolores," I said with an insincere smile.
There were a few snickers at the Slytherin table as the face of Dolores went white. She undoubtedly received the same subtle insult as the rest of the group within earshot had. "Messing with the House of Black will be your ruin. I am rich, powerful, and untouchable. Your father currently wipes the mud off my family's shoes in the Wizengamot. You are nothing next to me." Was it cruel? Undoubtedly. But she was an evil toad that is and will always be a pain to be around, so I didn't feel sorry in the slightest as she got up and stomped off in embarrassment.
I found myself a minor celebrity in Hogwarts for the rest of the year. The seventh year prefects had stood up with the rest of the seventh years and told everyone in Slytherin that I was the best thing to happen to Slytherin House in years, and that anyone who messed with me would have to deal with them. I have no doubt that this was Bellatrix's doing. I have no doubt that she told them to do that or else. And her classmates knew that despite the fact that she was in Russia, she would come for them if they didn't watch out for me. I had at least two or three upperclassmen shadowing me wherever I went. And every time Barnabus McLaggen saw me coming, he turned tail and ran the other direction.
The rest of the year was extremely quiet as a result. Slughorn invited me to his Slug Club, which I accepted the invitation with class. My father hadn't even managed to join until his fifth year, and even Bellatrix hadn't joined until her third year. It was considered an honor in my family. I managed to avoid being pestered with questions by my fellow students thanks to my friends and bodyguards.
Dumbledore didn't call me to his office, although I have no doubt that he is keeping an eye on me considering the loyalty that Slytherin House has shown me. I expect that will change once Lord Voldemort goes public. The House of Slytherin will try to present a united front to the rest of the school, but I have no doubt that it will be divided. My influence will likely have a lot to do with it, whether I like it or not.
The only really notable incident was the fate of our Defense against the Dark Arts Professor. The man had been hired at the beginning of the school year after the retirement of the previous professor that had taught the subject for twenty-three years. He was a top duelist in the professional dueling league after a impressive career as the Chaser for the Falmouth Falcons. He was an excellent teacher, and I was rather hoping that he would survive the curse that I was fairly certain had been placed on the position.
Sadly, he did not. He tripped over the new caretaker Argus Filch's cat, Mr. Norris and somehow managed to fall down all 142 staircases in the castle. I suspect that Voldemort somehow made sure that the first victim would suffer this fate. He seems like the type of guy that would be morbidly fascinated watching some fall down 142 staircases. Needless to say, our Professor was dead for at least the last one hundred or so staircases. He stopped screaming after the first dozen or so from what one of the portraits told me. And somehow, Mr. Norris fell down all those staircases with the Professor and survived with only bruises and a broken leg. How that is possible defies logic, and that is coming from someone that was reincarnated into a world of magic as the Heir of the House of Black.
But besides the tragic demise of our Professor two weeks before the end of the school year, I thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Hogwarts. While my experience at Hogwarts had been much less eventful than I had expected, I was grateful for that. Nearly dying saving a prince and princess over the winter holidays was more than enough excitement for me.
August 7th, 1970
The headlines of the Daily Prophet caught my attention as I came down for breakfast. "Lord Voldemort Declares War on the Ministry of Magic!" "It's official. The tentative peace in the Wizarding World is over. The war had begun," I thought to myself.
I had been doing some research on an old ritual in the Black family library that would strengthen my body and mind. My muscles, mind, stamina, and reflexes would be increased significantly. I wouldn't be able to preform the ritual properly before I returned to Hogwarts, as there was one thing I needed for it that was extremely hard to get. I was slightly suprised and disappointed that the Blacks didn't have Re'em blood in their storeroom. Fortunately, I knew someone who could get some. I would definitely be able to do the ritual next summer. I definitely didn't want to be defenseless like I was in Russia. Between the ritual and all the magic I have been learning in the Black library, I will have definitely taken a step towards that goal.
August 17th, 1970
My father had just finished shopping for the rest of my school supplies in Diagon Alley when my father informed me that he needed to make a business transaction at Borgin and Burke's in Knockturn Alley. "Stay close. There are those stupid enough to try something even with a family as powerful and prestigious as the House of Black down here," my father warned me. Unfortunately for him, I had no intention of doing so. I had a meeting with an old friend that just graduated from Hogwarts, Mundungus Fletcher. He had contacted me yesterday and informed me that he had managed to obtain the Re'em blood I had asked him to get for me.
It was rather easy to sneak away under an old invisibility cloak that I had found in Cygnus's place after he died. We met in an isolated nook in the alley where Mundungus loitered with a cigar in his mouth, smoking away. Mundungus had put up Notice-Me-Not and Silencing Charms up to avoid detection. Since I knew that he was going to be there, the Charm lost some of it's effect. Also, if one wants to have success with that charm, they should avoid smoking. The smell is a bit of a giveaway. While this wasn't an illegal transaction, the Ministry had been trying to keep tabs on him since he had been arrested over the summer. They had been rather baffled that all of his personal records from both his time at Hogwarts and at the Ministry of Magic had disappeared. It was if he had never exsisted in the first place. Fortunately, Dumbledore has gotten him out of trouble using his considerable influence in the Wizengamot.
What Dumbledore didn't realize was that he was being conned by myself and Mundungus, with the help of my grandfather. I had managed to convince my grandfather that Mundungus's skill set would be used to the House of Black. A thief and a black market specialist in both the Muggle and Wizarding World as talented as Mundungus was hard to find, after all. My grandfather agreed, and used a minor amount of political capital to make Mundungus a ghost in both worlds, complete with several fake IDs. Even the arrest of Mundungus had been planned, allowing Mundungus to pretend to be indebted to Dumbledore. We now had an informant in Dumbledore's Order that he was building to combat Voldemort. My grandfather and I both wanted to keep tabs on the old man. And Mundungus was skilled enough in Occlumency to know if Dumbledore was trying to get inside his head.
"Still smoking those awful things, Dung?" I asked him with a smirk, the sound of my voice making him jump as I pulled off my cloak.
"Yes, it helps me deal with the stress of dealing with people like you sneaking up on me," Dung retorted rather irritably. In his defense, he had dropped his cigar when I appeared out of nowhere, and it was his last one.
"Relax, Dung. If you have what I asked for, what I'm paying is enough to buy you cigars for the next couple of decades," I said with an eye roll. I had managed to liberate my Aunt Druella's silverware from her kitchen after she had been imprisoned in Grimmauld Place, along with several other valuables. Arcturus would notice if I spent too much of my trust vault, and I didn't want to have to tell him about all of my activities, even though he probably wouldn't care. It was a solid silver collection, and the set was worth more than what he was getting for me. But it would be all his if he had what I came for and kept silent on my purchase.
"It wasn't easy, but I managed to convince my cousin to part with a few vials for a favor in the future. And knowing my cousin and what he gets up to with his mentor, that's going to cost me," Mundungus told me, scowling slightly as he handed me the vials.
"I didn't know you had a cousin. I was under the impression that you were the last of your family after your parents passed in that attack last summer that the Aurors are still trying to figure out. They seem to think some sort of supernatural demonic being was involved, and are scrambling to try and cover it up," I said, handing him the box of silverware from my trunk and tucking the vials into a mokeskin pouch around my neck. For once, I agreed with the Ministry covering something up. Demons were extremely difficult to control once summoned. The Blacks had a few books on summoning them, despite the ICW banning and destroying any knowledge on them.
The attack on the Fletchers has shocked and terrified the Ministry. The last time a demon had been summoned, Grindelwald had managed to make a deal with it in exchange for his soul. The power he had ryeceived made his power unequalled until his duel with Dumbledore. And my Uncle Charlus has mentioned that he had help from someone that had managed to defeat the demon he had bargained with, which drained the power he had bargained for in a duel before Dumbledore stepped in and took him down. He wouldn't tell me anymore than that except that it was a man wearing a helmet and hadn't been seen since.
"Yeah, my mom had a sister who had a couple of kids before dying in childbirth. The oldest one, Cheryl, got the hell out of the country, wanted nothing to do with magic. Her brother John is rather impressive, despite the fact that he is an utter asshole. Only seventeen and probably knows more about demonology and the arcane magics than all but a few. My parents were killed when they tried to get involved in his business to help him. They knew the risks, so I can't really blame John. My father always cursed the fact that his sister-in-law married the Laughing Magician," Mundungus said, still scowling.
"Wait, your cousin is John Constantine?!" I asked in suprise. I had done some research both in the Hogwarts library and the Black library, as well as a library in the Muggle world after the hat had mentioned the Asgardians. I had been shocked to find some legends of the Laughing Magicians, the Helmet of Fate, and the Lords of Order and Chaos. Legends of a race of warrior women on a hidden island, hidden from mankind by choice. Gotham City and Metropolis both existed on the East Coast of America. Thomas and Martha Wayne had been murdered almost two years ago, leaving their eight year old son Bruce an orphan. Tales of gods and costumed heroes that had fought in America until they disappeared nearly two decades ago.
Wildcat, Obsidian, Starman, John Zatara, Black Canary, Doctor Mid-Nite, Hourman, Doctor Fate, Citizen Steel, and the Flash had formed the Justice Society of America. Wizarding Britain had ignored their exsistence and heroics over the decade and a half they were active, unsurprisingly. They had either retired and gone underground, been imprisoned, or been killed, as had the colorful gang of villains that had opposed them. The anti-vigilante laws that the federal governments had passed a few years after the end of the Second World War basically gave them the option of joining them or getting put down. Hourman, Obsidian, Citizen Steel, and Doctor Mid-Nite were killed on a mission shortly afterwards, and the Canary, Zatara, Starman, Wildcat, the Flash, and Fate had retired and disappeared back into civilian lives.
I had realized that this world was a whole lot bigger than I thought. I just really wished that aliens didn't exsist. I did not want to have to deal with beings like Darkseid, Superman, and all of the other space-based threats that were beyond me. There was enough trouble that was coming from Earth-based threats. Not having to deal with the problems coming from other planets would be really nice. But the existence of Metropolis and the fact that a certain Clark Kent was living in Kansas with Jonathan and Martha Kent made that hope a pipe dream. I was completely out of my league against the threats that were coming. Voldemort was an amateur in comparison.
My train of thought was broken by a snort from Mundungus. "Heard of him, huh? Not surprising, considering some of the things your family is into. John was actually interested in meeting your grandfather once he found out that he was my sponsor. How he found out, I have no idea. Bastard has always had a habit of knowing things he shouldn't. This pure silver, mate?" Mundungus asked, grinning at the sight of the silverware.
"Yeah, it was my Aunt Druella's. Liberated some valuables from their manor after they kicked it. Figured they didn't need their shiny valuables in hell," I responded with a devious grin.
Mundungus let out a bark of laughter. "Knew there was a reason I liked you, kid. Steals from his dead relatives and convinces his grandfather to sponsor my work. I suppose that I will have to refrain from stealing from such an outstanding citizen," Mundungus said with a grin.
"You keep remembering that and you'll never run out of work. And tell the Laughing Magician I would be interested in meeting him next summer," I responded.
"Can't guarantee he'll be able to make contact anytime soon considering he's abroad at the moment, but I'll pass the word along. Always a pleasure doing business with you, Krios," Mundungus said, giving me a handshake and a slight bow before vanishing into the alley. I managed to make my way back to Borgin and Burke's before my father had noticed I was gone. Not that it was a difficult task, as Orion Black had never been the attentive and loving father type. Which made me look forward to my second year at Hogwarts even more.