Alya Merope Black, twin to Sirius, beloved sister to Regulus and daughter to Walburga and Orion Black.
The complete opposite to her twin Sirius, Alya is the typical pureblood Slytherin, full of ambition and arrogance.
But something strange is going...
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16 July, 1976. Arcturus Black Manor, Cornwall.
The next morning, Alya woke up at dawn, her heart in her throat. She didn't even have breakfast, so anxious was she. The idea of being punished by her mother scared her to death.
As she was getting dressed, Alya shuddered at the thought of what awaited her: her mother's punishments were far worse than any punishment she suffered at Hogwarts. Alya knew well what her mother was capable of, having witnessed the cruelty heaped upon Sirius for years. Nothing to do with a few evenings spent scrubbing dusty cruets.
When Alya entered the boudoir, her mother was already there waiting for her, standing in the middle of the room, haughty, wrapped in a long black cloth dress. She also wore a heavy silver locket with a depiction of an intricate branch engraved on its surface, the only jewellery Walburga proudly sported.
"Good morning, Alya Merope," the woman greeted her daughter in a cold tone. "Follow me, I wish to show you a room," she added without much preamble, signalling Alya to follow her. The girl obeyed without a word, but without understanding what her mother had in mind. What did Walburga want to show her? A torture room, perhaps? A second shiver of terror ran down her spine.
Mother and daughter passed a couple of rooms, which Alya had never seen - how little did she know of the manor that had belonged to her ancestors? They finally reached a third room, rectangular and very large, well furnished, though looking rather uncluttered. It was sparsely furnished, except for the presence of a small wooden table, overflowing with magical objects of various kinds, many of which appeared unfamiliar to Alya's eyes; there was also a cabinet and a pair of chairs, also wooden, carved with elegant motifs.
On the wall to the right of the entrance, a majestic marble fireplace jumped into view, flanked by two large windows overlooking the building's outer courtyard. Above the fireplace, stood a silver mirror gleaming opulently - Kreacher must have recently polished it. On the opposite wall, there was a painting of considerable size (it occupied almost the entire wall space), surrounded by a mighty gilded frame with intricate decoration. It was a gigantic portrait of Arcturus Black, Alya's paternal grandfather and the old master of the manor. The position of the painting proved to be strategically deliberate; the girl noticed how the mirror placed in front of the painting reflected her grandfather's figure in its entirety. In this way, it looked as if two mirrored and identical portraits had been hung on the two opposite walls.
Alya studied with admiration the figure of her ancestor that towered over the room: Arcturus Black must have been a vigorous and imposing man, judging by the painting; his eyes were awe-inspiring even from the smeared canvas; they seemed to be ready to examine with an iron, inquisitive gaze all those who entered the room: not everyone had the right to stand before him. Alya had no memories of her grandfather, since he had died before her birth, but she was sure he must have been a very hard and uncompromising man. Someone it wasn't convenient to antagonise.
