Chapter Text
Arcturus Black had never felt more annoyed than he did right now. More annoyed than when Walburga had driven off her son, the next Regent because no matter what she thought he would never give the Ladyship to that mad dog that was Bellatrix. Walburga may have been the Lady of the House of Black but it was up to him and his son Orion who decided the next Lady, not her. But now though, he was not just annoyed but enraged.
After getting young Aria’s Starter, a Duskull of all things, it was decided that he would take her home to the Cacklebone City Gym. The Professor of Pokémon Care had fought against it, while she did agree that there was no way in Giratina that Aria would be returning to Surreydawn, she didn’t like the thought of the child going into the home of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. Though in the end, she could not fight him on this, as Aria was in fact the Heiress, and she had no right on where she lived. Luckily the child had been exhausted and falling asleep in her feet during the argument, barely even clutching onto the Aura Stone that Ollivander had given her. So he had no arguments from her, summoning his Malamar to teleport them to the Cacklebone Gym and then having the Head Butler, Kendrick Farley take young Aria to the room he had set aside for her.
“How did it go?” turning his gaze, he sees the woman walking over to him. Her hair was parted at the side, with the longer section colored white and braided, laying on her right shoulder. The other shorter section of her hair, was a light brown. Underneath a black and white furry coat, she was wearing a black strapless dress with a green sash wrapped around her waist with some silver accents stitched into it. Like him, she had large, brown hyena ears on the top of her head, that matched the short hyena tail of the same color. It took all of Arcturus control to not bow to her.
“Terrible… Sirius was right,” Arcturus sighs, running a hand through his own hair, “He had been right to worry on where Albus had place Aria. The girl had no knowledge of her status, no knowledge of her parents,” Arcturus sighs, shaking his head, “what was Albus thinking I have no idea, but it will surely...what was it that your daughter said? Ah yes..bite him in the bottocks,”
“Arse, grandfather,” Andromeda chuckles, shaking her head, “So besides bringing Aria home, is there any other good news?”
At this, Arcturus brings up the folder, he could see the moment his niece’s gray eyes zone in on it, could see the way they shined with hope, “Is that…”
“Our proof. This is Aria’s inheritance test, showing that one Sirius Orion Black is none other than her father by Aura Bond. Which means my dear niece, is that the former Elite Four Bartemius Crouch had threw the next Regent into Azakaban,” he whispers, anger singing in his tone.
“Dumbledore must have known…” Andromeda whisper, hand going to her mouth, “For a child to be enrolled into Hogwarts, all the parents/guardians must...why? Sirius..he gave up everything for that man…”
“Control I suppose,” Arcturus grumbles, “Albus has always wanted connection to those who were from Gym Leader Families..He was a few years younger than me, and I remember him trying to buddy up with Septimus Weasley, Dionysus Lovegood, Lewis Longbottom, Bentley Diggory and Fleamont Potter,”
“He never tried with your sister, Roman Lestrange or Gabriel Greengrass?”
Arcturus shakes his head, “We were too like the boys who attacked his sister I think. The only ones he truly hung out with were Elphias Doge and Old Mad-Eye” he sighs shaking his head. Everyone knew the attack that had happen on the younger Dumbledore sibling, and how that attack and his father’s retaliation against the boys, was the cause for Dumbledore’s hatred for anything traditional and siding with the...new bloods.
Besides what people thought, Arcturus has no hatred for those who were the first in their family to take the path of a Pokemon, or those from other regions. He had met Samuel Oak during their summer travels, and he had seen the potential the new blood had, and he was correct in his assumption, with how he recreated the Pokedex with the few notes from Professor Lavender that were found, and even becoming the Champion of the Kanto Region. So no, he had no problem with the new bloods in taking the path of becoming Trainers, the problem he had was for those who tried to take tradition away. The Grimm Region was different from other regions because they worship Giratina instead of Arceus, much to their confusion and sometimes horror to the frantics. Some just didn’t understand that yes, they worship the brother to Arceus, giving him due respects as his right, and as the Legendary who helped the Hollow Three, especially the younger brother, hiding him away from the eldest when that one became mad.
“But some think we should get with the times….worship Arceus more...replace Hallow’s Night with Halloween...replace Yule with Christmas...I don’t care what people celebrate as long as they don’t try to force it down on others throat. Some of the new bloods, especially those who came from a different region have been trying to make us give up on what makes us the Grimm Region...and unfortunetly they have the backing of the Defeater of Grindlewald...as if Grindlewald hadn’t been spewing out the same sh*t during his rampage,” Arcturus couldn’t hold back the shiver at the reminder of that fae...the war that the former King of Sinnoh brought to the regions...he like his two siblings fought in the war...the reason why he was Regent was because of that, as his sister, Lycoris had died before she was married and had children, the same for their younger brother Regulas. The image of his two younger siblings, burning under the blue flames that spew from the dragon fae’s mouth, his pale blue eyes glowing in the darkness. Grindlewald, no matter what he thought, did not help at all with the divide between those of Pure-Blood and those of New-Blood. It was made even worse thanks to that of Voldemort and Team Purity…
“I’m going to give a call to Darcy Brown,” Arcturus holds up the folder, “And have her give this to Elite Four Bones, get them to start working on getting Sirius out. You, try to get in contact with that mutt, I know Aria would be please to know at least one of her parent’s friends before she heads to Hogwarts,” he watches as Andromeda nodded her head, turning down the hall towards the phone. With a sigh, Arcturus pulls out his own cell phone, speed dialing the number to get a head start on all the things they needed to do.
Aria groans, curling in on herself, her tail twitching in her half sleep state. Her ears were twitching as well, waiting to hear her Aunt Petunia bang on her cupboard door to shriek at her to wake up so she could start making breakfast..but it was odd...her bed was never this soft...and she was sure it had never been this big. Slowly, Aria’s eyes flutter open as she sat up, yawning wide showing her sharp fangs before she shook her head.
Looking around, Aria realize at once that she was not in her cupboard, but in a grand room, much bigger than both of Dudley’s rooms combine. The floor was a dark wooden brown, with a dark green rug while the walls were covered with a nice gray wallpaper. That was lit up by a chandelier that hung overhead. There was a fireplace, no flames in it as it was summer, and bookshelves filled with books that Aria had only dream of. There were shelves that were to hold trinkets but were bare. Aria herself was sitting in a four poster bed that sat across directly from a black wooden door, its headboard curved with the wall and its green drapes drawn open, revealing her under a mountain of black bedsheets and pillows. Next to the bed’s headboard on her left was a dark wooden nightstand, which her glasses lay upon, next to a small lamp. On the wall to the right, was a window, silver curtains drawn open, letting the sunlight in through the glass pane, shining down on a window nook with green plush cushions underneath. To the left wall, was a dark wooden desk, a chair tucked underneath
“Where in the name of Giratina am I” Aria whispers, her hand going to the bedside table to pick her glasses up. She couldn’t belive she was in a room that her Aunt Petunia could only dream of owning. Slipping her glasses on, Aria yelps as a Duskull appears before her. With a hiss, Aria tumbles out of the bed, groaning in pain as her head smack against the floor. Grimacing, she glares as the Duskull chuckles, “Very funny,” she mumbles sitting up as memories from the other day flash in her mind. Turning her head, she sees her new Trainer bag which held all her supplies easily due to the hammer space technoly sitting beside the desk. She frowns, looking down as reminder of Ruggie being gone but she shakes it off, looking at the Duskull, “Your...your mine...mine Pokemon,”
The Duskull makes a rattling sound of cheer, doing a back flip in the air before he floated in circles around her head. Not being able to hold back the smile of glee, Aria push herself up, “You know...you need a name,” she whispers, watching as he turns towards her, tilting his body at her. She ponder a bit before she smiles, “How about Hades?”
Another rattling groan was her answer, and with another backflip in the air, Aria could see that the Duskull agreed with the name, “Hades it is then,” she chuckles before she turns her gazr to the door. Licking her lips, wetting them slightly and grimacing at the taste, Aria slowly edge towards the door. Hades, sensing her unease, kept by her side, his red eye glowing menacingly. She brings her hand up, to turn the knob when the door suddenly. Aria took a step back, her eyes widen at what she first thought was a ghost… but instead she realizes it was just a very old man. His skin was very baggy with more folds than she could count, the top of his head bald but white hair grew along the side of his head. His yellow eyes, bloodshot, glare at her, “Half-Blood Heiress will follow me,”
Aria stares, confuse and shock for a second, looking over at Hades before she shrugs. Following the older man, the Duskull keeping close to her, trailing down the stairs and passing a large portrait of an older woman in black cap. A really bad one in Aria’s opinion, realistic and unpleasant, the woman was drooling, her eyes rolling and it seem that the yellowing skin on her face was stretched taunt as she sneers. Her hyena ears, one torn were pinned down to her head, almost hidden by the black cap.
But her attention of the portrait was turn away as she enters a cavernous room with rough stone walls. A long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, where behind a stove stood, where a woman stood before, pouring batter onto a frying pan. She turns, and she gave Aria a soft smile, “Ah! I see that you are awake now Aria, sit down, I’ll have some breakfast ready for you,” frowning at the black and white haired woman, she nodded her head, going over to one of the chairs, “You have my thanks Kendrick,”
“Of course Mistress,” Kendrick wheezes, bowing at her before turning, “Filthy blood disown bloodtraitor. Oh my mistress will be so upset to see her return, sullying the Family home,”
“Don’t mind Kendrick,” the woman gently said, “He had been alone inside the gym since my aunt’s death six years ago...we didn’t even know she had died,” Aria’s eyes widen at that and the woman chuckles, “She wasn’t well liked..and she had lock herself away… didn’t help that with the Everstar League not being run she didn’t need to show herself to the public...not that she would have,” she mutters in disgust, “But Aunt Wulburga was always Kendrick’s favorite out of all the Blacks...for some reason I don’t know why,”
Aria stares, her tail twitching while Hades floated beside her. The woman smiles placing a plate of pancakes in front of her, “Sorry...I seem to forgot to introduce myself. I’m Andromeda Tonks...but you can call me Aunti Andi,”
“Auntie Andi...right,” Aria whispers, eyes wide, “Can you tell me where I am exactly?”
“Well, your in the Cacklebone City, in the living quarters of the Gym,” Andromeda explained, before she gestures to the plate, and Aria quickly picks up the fork, “After your shopping trip yesterday you were quite exhausted so grandfather brought you home...which you should had always been,” Aria frowns at that, making Andromeda smile sadly at her, “Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, took you from the wreckage of your home, and without telling anyone, place you at the Durselys,” Aria stares at her with wide eyes, swallowing, her arms trembling in rage at this. “He explained that it was the best for you, to be away from the people’s eyes, espically since at the time Team Purity, even without their Master were still running around...no matter how much grandfather stated that Sirius had made you the Heiress, he would not give us your location…”
“He even said to me at one point,” Aria’s head snap over to see Grandfather walking into the kitchen, “That even if it was true, no one would allow the Girl-Who-Lived to be brought up by the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black...that we were too deep into the Dark Lord’s pockets,” he scoffs, “Maybe it is true that our family were loyal...but many of us still were not,”
“Grandfather even spat in his face, saying that the Blacks will truly never be his until all of us bow to him,” Andromeda laughs, “Which didn’t happen because of me and Sirius,” she grins at Aria, “You will find Aria, that Blacks are soaked in pure madness,”
“Its because of our patron, Darkrai,” Aria turns to Grandfather as he slips into a chair, sighing, “Many Most Ancient and Noble Families like us and the Potters,” he nods his head to Aria, “Have a patron Legendary...for the Black Family, our patron is Darkrai...which is why some of our family is plain mad...our aura is soaked in the legendary’s blessing, passed down from the Founder of our House who had been his Chosen,”
“Chosen?” Aria whispered as confusion ran through her. Grandfather smiles sadly at her, grabbing her by the hand.
“There is so much for you to learn,” he whispers, “A Chosen is a human who has gain favor of a Legendary..They are given a duty to listen to the orders of the Legendary in return of the gift they are given, as Legendaries are Gods in their right and are limited on how much they can interfere in mortal affairs. Its why they chose a mortal to represent them, giving them a boom that is even passed down through the generations,”
“The Black Family Madness they call it,” Andromeda whispers, “Some of us, we can’t control the gift we had been given, and thus have endless nightmares...some don’t make it out sane,” Aria’s eyes widen at this, many nights had she woken up to a silent scream, sweat soaking her skin from nightmares that never end. “A side effect from out ability, Cackle of Fear which when we laugh, loud like a hyena,” her ears twitched and her tail wags behind her, “a shiver of fear goes through people, freezing them in place…”
“What about the Potters,” Aria asked, turning towards Grandfather, “The inheritance test I had the ability of the Noble’s Heart,”
“The Potter’s ability,” Grandfather nodded his head, “It technically is two abilities.. The Potters are known empaths, they can sense the feeling of others, truthfully they can sense the feelings from a person’s soul. While the flesh can put on a mask, a soul can’t hide anything. When a Potter roars, they call upon the relatives of those who pass and those who have noble hearts to come forth from the Distortion Realm to fight alongside them and give them strength,” he smirks a bit, “Your grandfather, Fleamont used the ability on me during a match between us...even though I had the advantage, he still beat me,”
“Families having abilities are a gimmick here in Grimm,” Andromeda frowns, shaking her head and putting more pancakes onto Aria’s plate. By the look in her grey eyes, Aria quickly began to ear, “You will have enough time to learn the basics before the Ceremony,”
“Ceremony?” Aria mumbles around a mouthful of pancakes, swallowing them, “What Ceremony?”
“Our new esteem Minister,” Grandfather shakes his head in disgust, “Believes that with you going to Hogwarts is a good time to restart the Everstar League. We haven’t been able to do a league since the beginning of the War in 1970, when Voldemort killed Champion Eugenia Jenkins...he thought it was a sign that we were ready, in hopes of finding a new Champion for the League,”
“We won’t be finding a Champion anytime soon,” Andromeda sighs, “we’re still trying to resemble some normalcy...Trainers need more time to get stronger...and while I do think the new graduates from last year will do well...we need more than just Hogwarts Trainers to fill in the gap, no matter what some people say,” she shakes her head, taking pouring herself a cup of coffee, “And Aria, the Ceremony we are talking about is the Opening Ceremony of the Everstar League. Its a very important ceremony for not just because of the Everstar League but a sort of...debut for the Heirs and Heiress of the Gyms that had reached the age of 11. While there have been gatherings and galas, this one is much more important,”
“And even though the Potter Gym had been shut down after the death of your father, being replace by the Parkinson Gym in Lagoontock City, you,” Grandfather points at her, making her blink before she yelps when Hades snatches one of her pancakes. Chuckling he leans in the chair, “Are still the Heiress of Black Family...which means that even if the Potter Gym close down...you shall inherit the Black Gym...whether you rebuild it as the Potter Gym does not matter to me,” she waves a hand in thanks to Kendrick who brought forward bowls of Pokemon food. Hades, after gobbling up the pancake he had snitch makes a low rattling sound and floats over, but stops in his tracks when a Sableye emerges from underneath the table. The two stare at each other, before the Sableye quickly snatches one of the bowls, dragging it back into the shadows of the table. Hades tilted before ignoring it, going for the other bowl.
“Luckily for us...the Ceremony won’t be happening until August 26, so we got time to teach you the basics,” Andromeda smiles, a glimmer in her eyes that made Aria gulp. But at that moment, the door swings open, another woman, this one with bright pink hair came walking in. Her eyes were close, and she was bobbing her head up and down to the music that blared from her headphones, “Nymphadora,” she sighs, “I know you have a busy night last night, training under Mad-Eye...but can you please put some clothes on?”
“But I am wearing clothes,” she grins, pointing at the bra and boxers she wore, “And how many times do I have to tell you mum, don’t call me Nymphadora. Its Tonks,”
“Its the name I gave you where you were thirteen dear,” Andromeda smiles, “A new beginning for the both of us after grandfather brought us back into the Family,”
“They shouldn’t had disown you to begin with,” Tonks said, grabbing the coffee pot and pouring herself a mug, “Just because you ran off and married Da doesn’t mean they should had thrown you out,”
“Dear, they didn’t throw me out, I ran off as soon as I could,” Andromeda chuckles, “Best decision of my life,” she grins at Tonks.
Tonks smiles wide and was about to take a sip of her coffee, when the pink on her hair melted off. Aria watches with wide eyes, as the pink slowly turn into a gloop that dropped into the mug, “Morph! You little stinker!”
“Ditto!” the pink gloop pokes a little bit of itself out, two beady black eyes blinking up at them before it giggles, sliding out of the mug and up Tonks arm. Rolling her grey eyes, she turns around, leaning against the counter and snorting into her cup at see Aria’s eyes widen as her brown hair once more turns pink.
“Anyway, I’m going to be busy for the next couple of days,” she sighs, “Last night someone robbed into Gringott,”
“Somebody actually stole something from the Julian Family?” Grandfather mutters, raising an eyebrow but he frowns when Tonks shakes her head.
“Nothing was actually stolen really...from what the Julians have reported, the vault that was broken into was empty earlier that day,” Tonks sips at her coffee, shoulders slumping as she hums, “But they’re asking Elite Four Bones if they can have some Aurors to look into things, though,” she trails off a bit, “I think they are only doing so to get Minister Fudge off there backs...he doesn’t want any problems with the revival of the Everstar League,”
“Of course he does,” Andromdea whispers, “I feel sorry for Amelia..she is going to be busy for the next couple of days,”
“True...but I’m sure she knows it will be all worth it, in the end,”
“The next time I see Regent Black I’m going ask you to hit him with a thunderbolt,” Amelia Bones ranted, running her hands through her blue hair. Her Magazone, floating beside her, let out a few sparks in agreement, “Between the case he has me on, Cornelius urging me focus my attention on the Everstar League, trying to find time to get Susan her supplies for Hogwarts,” her eyes flicker to the photo of her and of a child, who had the same blue hair as her. Both having inherited the blue hair from Amelia’s mother, Jessica Jenny, “And now I have to deal with the Gringotts break in,” she brings her hand down, pinching the bridge of her nose, “This year is going so well,” she sighs, but looks up when the door open, shoulders slumping in relief at the sight of the man, “Barty...good your here,”
“When you said that my dad had f*cked up I came as quick as I could,” the man remarks with a grin. Amelia saw that his hair was still a strawberry blonde, but she could see the brown peeking from the roots of his hair, meaning he hadn’t have the time to redye his hair just yet. He wore a large black coat that when to the back of his knees and a blue suit underneath, a black tied around his neck. Walking beside him was a large Arcanine, whose black eyes were narrowed at Amelia. “So...what did he do this time?”
“Threw an heir of an Most Ancient and Noble into Azkaban without a trial,” Amelia said, placing down the copy of Aria Potter’s Inheritance Test in front of Barty.
His blue eyes widen at this, before he gently takes the copy in his hand, cursing under his breath at what he was reading, “f*ck it Dad..I know he hates the Black Family but to do this?” Barty brings a hand up, running his hand through his Arcanine’s fur, “Why are you telling me this?”
“So you won’t get hit with the backlash,” Amelia admitted, “I giving you this case Barty… because your father will be going to Azkaban once it is revealed what he did...if you were the one to discover it, the public won’t come after your head,”
“True,” he mutters to himself, “But even if they did come after my head, it will be worth it,” Amelia snorted, smiling softly at Barty. He smirks at her, “This is also so you and lift the load off of yourself isn’t it,” he chuckles when the smile turns into a frown, “Oh don’t be like that Amy...I don’t blame ya! Old Fudge is pushing a lot on your shoulders since your the highest rank of the Elite Four and still don’t have a Champion,”
“And we won’t be having a Champion even after the conference,” Amelia sighs, shaking her head, “It may been eleven years now but..we’re still not fully recovered from the War...it will be longer than three years for us any Trainer to be strong enough to take the mantle of Champion,” even though people said that the war with Team Purity ended on the day that Lily Potter defeated the Dark Lord, truth be told it wasn’t until recently. The Everstar League had been busy with not only trials, but trying to find the right people to replace the Lestrange Gym and Potter Gym...luckily they didn’t have to do the same with the Black Gym with Regent Black taking over the mantle after Lady Black’s death...and luckily Madam Malkin was kind enough to take the mantle, though to this day Amelia felt disgust that the Parkinsons were able to become Gym Leaders. Everyone knew it was a ploy for Lucius Malfoy to get his grubby hand on the title, now that his son was betrothed to Perseus Parkinson’s daughter.
“Don’t worry,” Barty’s voice drew Amelia out of her thoughts, “I’ll have it all handle...you just worry about keeping Fudge and his little toad off your back and mine,” Barty frowns, “We both know that if he gets word of this…”
“He’ll do anything in his power to stop it,” Amelia sighs, feeling a headache growing.
