I sat in the living room and waited for the result, and so as not to waste time, I immersed myself in meditation. The way he walked through the spiritual planes was literally unmistakable. The way he walked through the spiritual planes, literally breaking boundaries, with his power and RIGHTEOUSNESS alone making his way along the thin line of Bellatrix's call, really shocked me.
Yes, I had seen Elder Spirits, Kami, even Amaterasu-sama herself come to me, but none of them had shown their full power at the moment of meeting. Amaterasu-sama was in the body of an avatar girl who was not yet ready to receive even a tenth of the power of the goddess.
The Egyptian gods were literally on the verge of extinction at the time of our meeting, and the Elder Spirits of Britannia are now too weakened by the general level of "curse" in those lands. There are doubts about the Elder Sister Spirit of the Indians, but she may simply have hidden her power to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Anyway, the level of Grimm that came at the call of the Lady of the Black Family really shocked me.
I can't say I wasn't afraid, but I was, and I was afraid, especially when he paused for a moment before the last boundary to reality and looked at me. It was like liquid nitrogen being sprayed in my face, honestly. I didn't listen to what he said to his charges; I was more interested in looking into the tunnel Grimm had broken through, to see where he really came from. But no matter how many times I tried, it was as if something was blocking me, preventing me from even approaching the gap to "there," gently but insistently stopping me.
Well, I understand clues, even if not from the first time, but I understand, so I just watched from the sidelines, looking at this being from a respectful distance. Later I tried to understand why I was drawn to the Guardian, but then it was as if something was driving me.
After about two hours, I came out of a meditative trance, clearly feeling how the magic in the magical mansion seemed to flow faster, barely noticeable, but faster, beginning to disperse the accumulated "sludge". After about twenty minutes, a ripple went straight down the empty wall in the living room, and there was a door, out of which came Bellatrix, subtly changed, and Sirius, dramatically changed, especially in his eyes.
The deep, witchy blue of his irises drew attention to their uniqueness. The sickly thinness, the not-so-healthy skin tone, the gray in his hair — all of that was gone, the man's entire appearance had changed dramatically. Now in the living room was not a former prisoner, a sick man with a disturbed psyche, but a self-confident, strong man in the prime of life. An amazing effect! I wonder if the firmware was tweaked? Did they remove "lags" and "glitches"?
The conversation that followed revealed that everything had been fixed. Bellatrix recounted a part (I'm sure she was holding something back) of the conversation with the Family Guardian, and he told her that Sirius was on the verge, just half a step away from getting the Seal of Blood Traitor, so he could no longer be a full-fledged Head of the Family, or even remain in the main branch of the Family.
However, the main branch must be, so this right and duty falls to Bella, even though the official recognition of the change of the main branch will happen at the moment the children are born, but already now Grimm recognized the woman as the one who will stand at the head of the family for a good two decades, until her son will no longer wear the ring of the head of the family.
Well, or the family will wither away and the Keeper will give it up. It's an either/or situation. In principle, this is what we, that is, I, have been striving for, so that everything is not only okay, but even better than expected, because I wanted to call the guardian only at the "end," that is, at the test, when it will be decided whether I have fulfilled my duties or not.
But since the Spirit had come in person, hadn't just been there (in the upper layer of the spiritual plane, where his presence could already be felt), but had incarnated in the real world and had talked to the Summoner and intervened fully in the family's affairs, it couldn't be a bad thing.
Especially since Sirius, having been transferred to the younger branch, got a kind of "re-flashing" of his brain: Grimm awakened the memory of the blood that had deformed the old personality due to the mismatch of values and psyche, and as a result he became... well, a classic ideal servant — quiet, executive, loyal, hardworking. That old Tramp is no longer in this world, but he's the one the Black family needs.
Yes, it's cruel, I admit, and if I had any other choice, I wouldn't have let it happen. But on the other hand, if Sirius had a stronger will and character, his personality wouldn't have changed so drastically, he would have become a new person. So his upbringing in the "light" style was not good for him, and the story of this man suggests the same, because he had so many chances to change the course of events, but no, he was a stray, and died the same stray, useless dog.
But in his place was born one who would revive his clan, one who would protect the lady of the clan and the heirs. Again, it's quite brutal, but very practical, and only benefits the Black Family.
And now for some more "light" information, although it's a little ridiculous to use the word "light" in reference to the Black Family. Well, it turns out that Sirius Orion Black, in his best years, i.e. the years he spent studying at Hogwarts, managed to "mess around" quite a bit, and the fruits of that "messing around" are studying at the same school. Four children. When I heard that, I first thought it was a cruel joke, but then, when I listened to my feelings and sensations, I realized, no, I wasn't being lied to, and Grimm certainly wasn't joking so... "trivial".
If the Keeper had decided to make a joke, I probably would have destroyed the Black Family Altar to get rid of the consequences of the joke, but as they say, I was lucky. Okay, enough talking, or even thinking, about such dangerous things as Grim jokes, and let's get back to the safer and more important subject of Sirius's children.
Two girls of seventeen, one of sixteen, and a boy of the same age. You'd think I'd made a fool of myself with the commitment I'd made, because the Black family, with so many people, certainly wouldn't disappear... I would say that if I didn't know what I know.
The thing is, there are several categories of people who are part of the magical family, and here are the main ones: those who are the official blood children of a couple who have performed the ritual of magical marriage on the family altar. Such children do not require a special, separate ritual of initiation into the clan, because the cycle is actually closed when an official marriage is performed on the clan altar, i.e. the parents have cemented the union — the children are part of the clan, then the children grow up and also cemented the union, and their children are also part of the clan.
Next — bastards, here for them need rituals of "acceptance" and "recognition", well, who are bastards, I will not explain — and so everyone knows the meaning of the word. Then there are those who are part of the clan, who are not at least partially members of the family, i.e. these people are not descendants of Squibs who once went to Muggles.
It's more complicated in terms of the energy content of the rituals, as well as the position in the family, because every clan has either a real clan code, or something like a "spirit", or a set of unspoken rules — customs, as valid as the magical code, approved on the clan altar by the guardian of clan magic and the clan. There are various exceptions, like me, but they are very rare, so let's not talk about that, but back to Sirius' children, who probably have no idea who their real father is.
Since they are almost all grown up and have never performed or even participated in any of the family rituals, even the simplest ones, they will not be able to become the head of the Black Family under any circumstances, except if one of the girls gives birth to a strong wizard, raises him in the rules of the Black Family Code, and he proves his right to be the regent of the family by accepting the family ring of the "head".
Such things are often left with goblins, and all curious people are fed the story that the ring is something like a crown for the head of the family, and if he accepted you, then you are already the head of the family, a lord, crowned in the office of the goblin bank, and not on the altar of the family. A real ring, or any other form of this regalia, is part of the family altar, and no decent magician would put it in the hands of such an aggressive and vile race as the goblins, especially since they have their own magic, so it is unknown what they could screw up there.
But it's easy to give them an artifact with powerful analysis-defense functionality, especially since it supports the legend of "foolish lords giving ancestral rings to goblins". But the child of the one who wears such a ring may well become a full-fledged lord of the family, again, if many conditions are met. Yes, it is difficult, but we should not forget that the conventions are the foundation of the magical world, filled with a lot of different laws and "rules", customs and so on. Okay, enough about that.
As for these four, there is a lot of work to be done: finding out their names, marital status, levels of strength and academic achievement, the degree of influence of the local "Will of Fire" on them, what their mothers told them about their origins, and much more. It wouldn't be hard to identify the four of them: take some blood from Sirius with a magical imprint, make some simple search amulets, and then just wander around Hogwarts, and within a few days the task would be done. Ч
As for the rest, it's not up to me, thank the spirits, it's up to Bellatrix — it's her diocese, so let her get on with it, especially since she now has access to one of the limited Black family accounts, and she can hire specialists to look into these matters. No, of course I'll keep an eye on her, or rather one of my people will. I already have a lot of things to do, besides, very soon, just the other day, I will have a meeting with someone who will probably buy Dolokhov from me, and I have other things to do.
Not to mention the fact that there are things that only I can produce for business, that is, crystals, and some of my ideas are interesting to realize, and it all takes time. Why is it always so short?