Of Shadow, Shine, and Shades

Ch.6 Finding a Solution

Syl hissed against his throat and Caelum stopped at the open door. He already had a Disillusionment charm covering himself and it would be impossible for the people to see or sense him. He glided into the room, quiet as a ghost. The four were conversing in hushed tones and Caelum absently wondered where Kreacher was – the house elf would never miss a chance like this.

"Impossible, cousin," the silver haired woman with a confident aura replied to something Caelum had missed. "The Gringotts have made a mistake, it would be their first but still. You gave your status to Orion and Sirius inherited it. That some mudblood came and claimed it is atrocious and the goblins will pay for the insult."

"They were quite adamant," said the other silver haired woman though her hair still held some black streaks, betraying the characteristic Black hair. "I have never even heard of a letter from a prince and we all received one. Even for one of questionable parentage that speaks quite volumes." She sighed. "Haven't we gone through this already? Besides, the house was open. It has not been so since Alby's death."

The other two, both white haired and ancient looking, nodded. Caelum wanted to cuss. Instead he cancelled the Disillusionment charm.

"It is quite late for quests," he said coldly, surprising all four and causing them to draw their wands and the man to shoot a Stupefy in his direction. Caelum sidestepped it easily and raised his brow. "You are in my house and the only reason you still live is that you apparently are of Black blood. Explain yourselves."

The confident one scoffed. "As if I need to explain myself to a filthy-" She was suddenly silenced when Caelum hit her with an invisible silencing charm. Her eyes bulged out but the mage ignored her and turned his attention to the man while narrowing his eyes and raking his memory. The tapestry helped quite a bit when he now knew to pay attention to the dates.

"You are... Arcturus Black, I believe. Melania." He nodded to them and turned his attention to the others. Lucretia, Cassiopeia and Callidora were the only names he could come up with, assuming this dimension was the same as his. Unless they were glamoured... He cast several revealing spells in quick succession, only the light of the spells indicating he was doing anything at all. All four seemed wordless at his performance of wandless and silent casting.

"Names?" he prompted when the silence had gone on long enough in his opinion.

"I am Lucretia," Lucretia answered with a smile. "And this is Cassiopeia." She pointed at the silenced witch who now seemed to have opted for fuming in her forced silence.

"Pleasure." Caelum nodded, keeping the cold appearance. "I might have appreciated the visit more in the morning." Or never, he quietly added at the back of his mind.

"We apologise." Arcturus' voice was dry and raspy and Caelum vaguely recalled all four were to die within two years. He glanced again at the tapestry and sighed mentally.

"Would you like to come to the kitchen? Unfortunately that and my bedroom are the only rooms in habitable state at the moment and I can offer you some... midnight tea?" He turned his back on the people, calling up the family magic to protect him if one of them decided cursing him was their best option. However, nothing happened and he arrived downstairs unscathed for the moment. His mind was racing on high-speed and he was pretty sure if he didn't slow down, he'd end up crashing over a cliff. Okay, one: he couldn't kill them all because a Black massacre on Christmas would draw attention – not to mention he'd be the prime suspect – and two: what did they want that he could offer?

The four entered the kitchen just as he was spelling tea to brew itself and cups to float on the table. Everything with flicks of his wrists and fingers. Citala crooned from her nest and flapped on the table where she started to stare down the four guests that seemed disturbed by a blue-eyed White Hawk. Or then it was by the careless use of wandless and silent magic with no effect on the precision of the spell. The fidgeting increased as Caelum smiled at Citala, glad she'd already made it home.