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Chapter 362: The Noble Black Family
Chapter 362: The Noble Black Family (Request for Subscriptions, Favorites, and Votes)
After cleaning the kitchen, Lupin brought in a lot of ingredients and started organizing the kitchenware to prepare lunch. Hermione volunteered to stay and help. Meanwhile, Liam, led by Sirius Black, went upstairs to clean a few guest rooms to prepare for their stay and for the Weasley family who would arrive later that evening.
After cleaning the guest rooms, Liam realized that his supply of materials for drawing runes was running low. More importantly, he couldn't open a portal to the emporium to fetch more supplies, so he had to stop working.
"It's fine, we've accomplished far more than we expected today", Sirius Black said, not sharing Liam's frustration. He felt they had already exceeded their planned workload. "You don't need to push yourself this afternoon. Take a good rest. I'll go to Diagon Alley early tomorrow morning to get everything you need."
"Liam, Sirius Black, come down for lunch", Hermione called from the bottom of the stairs while they were talking upstairs.
"Ah, let's go down and eat quickly. Actually, Lupin and I bought a lot of vegetables and spices a few days ago, but we couldn't use them because the kitchen wasn't ready. We had to settle for that not-so-tasty curry paste with bread. I'm sure today's lunch will be much better."
Walking into the kitchen, they saw a long table already set with several gleaming silver platters filled with food. Two gilded candlesticks were placed at each end of the table, their candles providing enough light for the cavernous basement.
"Move over, this stew is quite hot", Lupin said, using his wand to levitate a large pot from one end of the table. "Unfortunately, Sirius Black and I aren't very skilled with household magic, so we had to do most of the cooking by hand. If someone like Mrs. Weasley, who is skilled in household magic, were here, this meal would have been ready in just a few minutes."
Once the final dish was served, the four of them sat down at the table. Since they had been busy all morning, everyone was quite hungry, and for the first few minutes, they all ate in silence. The only sounds were the clinking of plates and cutlery and the scraping of chairs.
After finishing a whole piece of roasted lamb, Sirius Black looked up and said, "It's been almost a week since we moved here, and this is the first proper meal I've had. Remus, your cooking is really good." Liam and Hermione nodded in agreement. While Lupin's cooking wasn't quite at the level of a professional chef, it was excellent for everyday meals. To be honest, neither Liam nor Hermione's mothers, who were professional women, cooked as well as Lupin.
"Ah, living alone for a long time naturally improves one's cooking skills", Lupin said with a hint of bitterness. "But today's quick preparation was thanks to Miss Granger's help. She used a few spells to clean the blood and bones from the meat and to tenderize it, making it much better."
"I got the idea when you improved the Death Withering Spell for household use this morning", Hermione said, leaning over to Liam. "I found that Blood Drain, Bone Extraction Spell, and Tendon Severing Spell from Blood Magic work really well for preparing meat. And wandless magic is undetectable by others."
After the meal, Lupin took on the task of washing the dishes, saying, "At least I can manage the dishwashing spell." Sirius Black looked at the empty plates on the table with surprise. "You two have quite the appetite. I thought there might be leftovers. Looking at you, I realize I'm getting old and can't eat as much."
"Maybe our constitutions are just better, so we eat more", Liam said. Since he had improved his physical attributes, his appetite had increased to the point where he now ate as much as a grown man. To avoid worrying his parents, he only ate until he was about 60% full and then snuck off to other worlds to finish his meals.
Hermione was the same, especially after acquiring certain traits from a dragon, which had increased her appetite to match that of an adult male. Fortunately, Liam had given her several vials of Nutrient Serum before they returned home, so she didn't go hungry.
"By the way, Sirius Black, could you show us around this house? I've never seen such an ancient Wizard residence before", Liam said to Sirius Black as they left the dining table.
"This house has nothing but the stench of Dark Magic and the Purity of Blood—" Despite his words, Sirius Black still led Liam and Hermione upstairs to tour the house. According to him, although there wasn't much to see, it could still be educational for the young people, and that was a good thing.
The ground floor didn't have much of interest. Sirius Black only pointed out the curtain near the entrance, which hid his mother's portrait. It would start yelling and cursing if disturbed, so it was best to be quiet when passing by.
Next, the three of them made their way to the second-floor living room, a long room with a high ceiling. The olive-green walls were still dirty due to lack of cleaning, and the tapestries hanging on them were no exception. Every time someone stepped on the carpet, a small cloud of dust would rise, and the long, yellow-green velvet curtains would hum as if filled with invisible bees.
"I think it will take at least three times the usual amount of cleaning supplies", Liam said, his face slightly grim as he listened to the humming from the curtains. "The Vixens must be infesting this place."
"No problem. I'll pick up some specialized spray when I go to Diagon Alley tomorrow morning", Sirius Black replied.
"Sirius Black, your family's history is so extensive", Hermione exclaimed, looking at the tapestry that covered an entire wall. The tapestry was very old and faded, with several spots damaged by dust mites, but the golden threads still shimmered. They could clearly see a sprawling family tree that traced back to the Medieval era. At the top of the tapestry were the words: The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black.
Hermione was amazed because in Europe, only the oldest nobility would record their history, and a family tree that traced back to the Medieval era was considered very precious in the Muggle world.
"Yes, but unfortunately, our family is full of Dark Wizards. Any decent person who occasionally emerges is usually driven out. For example—" Sirius Black pointed to a small, scorched circle on the tapestry, as if it had been burned by a cigarette.
"I used to be here, but after I ran away from home, my dear mother had me erased—Kreacher likes to mumble about this story."
"You ran away from home?"
"I was about sixteen at the time", Sirius Black said. "I had had enough. Fortunately, Harry's grandparents took me in. During school holidays, I stayed with them. After graduation, my uncle Alphard, who was also expelled, left me a considerable amount of gold, allowing me to find a place to live."
Liam examined the family tree closely and noticed that many of the golden threads representing marriages had mysteriously disappeared.
"It seems like a lot is missing from this chart", Liam said, pointing to the gaps.
"Indeed, the fanatics in the family were obsessed with maintaining the purity of Wizard blood. So they hid the marriages they deemed unworthy. It's a difficult situation. If you only want your children to marry Purebloods, your options are very limited. So, in desperate times, you have to marry into families you might look down upon, like the Weasley family. Molly is a cousin by marriage, and Arthur is probably a great-grandson of one of my great-uncles. But you won't see them here; the tapestry only lists the bloodlines they consider honorable, like the Malfoy family."
"It seems that Pureblood families are all related to each other", Hermione observed after studying the tapestry. "From what I know, Muggles who practice inbreeding often have offspring with various issues. Can Wizards solve this problem?"
"No", Sirius Black shook his head. "That's why there are so few of us left. If you observe closely, you'll notice that many descendants of families obsessed with extreme Pureblood purity have some issues. Unfortunately, they still try to maintain their so-called pure bloodlines. I think even without the war, the so-called noble Black family wouldn't have lasted much longer." Sirius Black sighed at the end.
(End of Chapter)
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