The Tree of Blacks (English version)

Somnia Videns

Backbiting would not be wasted in the face of an affair of such calibre. The presence of Orion Black (like that of his brother-in-law, Cygnus, at the time of Andromeda's elopement with a filthy and unworthy Mudblood) was of paramount importance, in order to somehow patch up the inevitable breach, which threatened to sink the ancient and noble lineage of the Blacks into the deep abysses of dishonour.

In Grimmauld Place number twelve, on the other hand, Walburga spent every spare moment giving order after order - very often contradictory - to poor Kreacher, who tried to juggle as much as he could to fulfil every impossible request of his beloved mistress. Alya watched with pity as her own house elf dragged himself resignedly from one room of the house to another, up and down the stairs, according to the dictates of the uncomplaining Mrs Black.

Apparently, without Sirius on whom to vent her cruelty, Walburga seemed to have lost a fixed point in her existence and was trying to ignore the absence of her inconsiderate first-born by turning on Kreacher.

Regulus, on the other hand, did nothing more than loiter in his room or drawing room, reading with maniacal attention all the articles that the Daily Prophet was peddling about the tragic events that had been turning the magical world upside down in recent weeks. What Regulus was really looking for avidly in those newspaper glimpses was information about Lord Voldemort, who seemed to have become his new idol.

Alya had already discovered him, on several occasions, cutting out photos and parts of articles that mentioned the Dark Lord, which he then jealously kept in his room, pasting them on a notebook or hanging them on the walls. Unlike the Muggle posters Sirius had adorned his room with, Regulus' display of this new and obsessive interest hadn't caused the slightest concern on the part of Orion and Walburga. In fact, they even seemed to rejoice in it. But Alya wasn't of the same opinion. She had turned up her nose several times, seeing her little brother so morbidly curious about Lord Voldemort. From time to time, she had even had the impression of catching a glimpse of the same spark of madness in Regulus' black pupils as her cousin Bellatrix, who had recently begun to keep up a dense network of correspondence with her young cousin, who had always felt boundless admiration for her.

For sure, behind that sudden and disproportionate interest in You-Know-Who was Bellatrix's hand: by now everyone in the family knew that she and her husband Rodolphus Lestrange had joined the Death Eaters. Neither of them had ever denied it or done anything to hide it, openly and with ruthless pride supporting the ideas the Dark Lord proclaimed about blood values and the purification of the magical race.

Alya was used to that kind of mentality and a part of her, although very small, still shared certain values; however, the idea that Regulus might actually join the Death Eaters gave her the creeps. It was one thing to declare oneself proud to be a pureblood, quite another to meddle so openly with the Dark Arts. It wouldn't do any good. Their family had already been through so much.

Alya took refuge in the kitchen, under the pretext of studying, so as to escape Walburga's ill-feeling. However, instead of one of her schoolbooks, the girl had brought with her the book her mother had given her for Christmas, The Serpent's Legacy, which told the life of Salazar Slytherin.

A thought had been nagging at her ever since she got out of bed, and Alya had a vague suspicion that the little book might contain some answers to her questions.

Safe in the solitude that the dreary kitchen afforded her - Kreacher was supposed to be on one of the upper floors of the mansion with his mistress - the young Black opened the small, green hardcover volume and leafed quickly through to the last few pages, where the intricate family tree of the famous and powerful founder of the silver-green House of Hogwarts was depicted.