Chapter Text
Draco : November 1st 1991
Walking through the dungeons, Draco couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming nervousness due to last night's events. What had gone wrong? What had been going wrong? He was a Malfoy, he should have been in charge here, he always had been when it came to their friend group. But now Theo, Blaise, even Pansy had been turned against him by… that girl, (He refused to call her ‘Black’ she couldn’t possibly be a real Black, she just couldn’t.)
And now even the upper years were siding with her, Farley, Carrow, Rowle… In all of Slytherin House, only Flint, Crabbe, and Goyle seemed to side with him. Even after she stood up for that fat pig Longbottom. Even after Snape showed he hated her.
So why did everyone side with her and not him. What was happening… Draco was afraid, he had now been locked into a duel with her and now he was scared. He shouldn’t have been, he was a Malfoy, he should be confident enough here against that half-blood no-name… But how could he possibly beat someone who just fought a troll?
He had been forced to accept Pyxis’s terms for the duel in front of everyone so there was no getting himself out of this. Furthermore, nobody in his year wanted to be his second, Blaise had just laughed at him when he asked again, and Pansy just found an excuse to leave. Leaving him to have to ask Crabbe, someone who was absolutely awful at spell-work and only marginally better than Goyle.
‘Merlin… what do I do?’ He thought to himself as he made his way towards Snape’s office, hoping that just maybe the professor could help him. He seemed to favour Draco and detest Pyxis, so maybe he would help with this.
Reaching the entrance to the Potions Professor’s office, Draco knocked.
“Enter.” Came the drawling voice from inside.
Opening the door, Draco saw as Snape was working through paperwork and grading while brewing a potion on the side, “…Mister Malfoy, I was wondering when you would approach me today.” Snape said, not looking up from his work.
“You knew about what happened?” Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Nothing happens in Slytherin without my knowledge. Typical of that girl, considering her father I am not the least bit surprised by her arrogant actions. It will be her undoing.” Snape finally looked up straight at Draco, his analysing stare sending chills around Draco’s skin, “Tell me, what was your plan when asking for a duel?”
Draco bit his lips, “Well, I was not going to show. I was going to tell Filch about her going to the trophy room past curfew so she would get caught and punished.” He thought it was a good plan for something he came up with so quickly, he never imagined it to backfire so terribly.
Snape’s glare became fiercer, “An idiotic display, had it even worked you would have been entirely discredited in Slytherin for not even showing up to a duel you yourself called for. A mild inconvenience for Black and completely ruinous for you. But of course, that did not work because you foolishly forgot that it is the challenged who sets the terms, how you forgot this I do not know. Your father should have drilled that into your head.”
Draco sheepishly nodded, he had been taught this over and over, long forgotten memories had resurfaced of either his father or tutors explaining these concepts to him… But he had ignored or forgotten about them, “…Sir what do I do? I do not know if I can beat her…”
Snape snorted, “Black is pathetic, anyone with half a brain could swat her like a fly. She only beat the troll because your cousin threw dozens of blasting hexes at the beast, giving Black time to use some obscure blood burning curse, one only useful for creatures like trolls. It would be trivial for any wizard to escape the curse.”
This brightened Draco up a bit before he remembered how easily she had brought down Crabbe and Goyle, “But how do I beat her…And to get my heirship back?”
Snape rolled his eyes, not particularly interested in the petty drama of eleven-year-olds aside from the desire to see Black beaten down, “You must both defeat her in the duel and discredit her outside it. Do both and she will be too cowed to act against you again, fail to do both and she will continue to threaten your position and legitimacy.”
Draco lifted his hand to his chin as he thought, “So I should find some way for the others to be unable to see her as an alternative to me while also beating her.”
Snape nodded, “Indeed, I recommend finding an ally from the outside to tear Black’s name down some way. How you do so is up for you.”
“Okay… And how should I go about beating her in a duel?”
Snape returned to looking at his potion, “… Serpensortia, an enjoyable spell should you wish to see Black squirm. There should be a book containing the spell’s information in the library.”
Draco nodded in understanding, “…Thank you sir…”
Snape nodded, “Of course. Now leave, I must return to my work.”
Nodding, Draco exited the office and began making his way towards the library, his old confidence returning in force, ‘Get ready No-Name…’ He thought he idly felt his still blistered finger.
He now had a plan to beat her, all he needed now was to discredit her, ‘How though? Maybe… The line theft of course. I can expose her lie.’ No-Name had gotten her position because people foolishly believed she was Sirius Black’s daughter as ridiculous as that was. But how to expose her publicly, ‘… Of course… Skeeter.’
As a Malfoy he had access to Rita Skeeter’s mail priority, and that particular journalist would salivate over an opportunity to expose someone for a crime like line-theft. He could ruin No-Name not only in Hogwarts but all of Magical Britain.
Completely cheered up now, Draco rubbed his hands together and grinned wildly, why had he ever been so scared? He was a genius, and No-Name, well soon she’d understand her own mistake of challenging him.
Still though, even as he now made his way to the library to find a book and compose a letter, there was a small noise in the back of his head telling him that he was still in so much danger.
But why should he still be scared, ‘Afterall, how could she possibly counter either attack?’
Yeah, he had nothing to worry about with his upcoming triumph.
Pyxis
Pyxis didn’t want to be here right now. Really all she wanted was for Draco to get over himself, to just accept her as the Black Heir and move on. Then they could actually be family like she had wanted since she first saw him on the tapestry.
But no, he had to be a complete buffoon about everything. Thinking for some inane reason that he was the Black Heir, despite the simple and basic fact that the magic clearly did not accept him by way of the heir ring. She had thought that by now he would have been able to put the pieces together, but clearly his intelligence was severely lacking.
And so now she had to show her cousin her own superiority in much more concrete terms, hopefully by the end of Draco’s upcoming beatdown he might learn a modicum of humility for once in his life.
Right now, she was getting ready for that as she made small talk with Theo just outside the common room duelling arena, “Everything ready?” Theo asked.
Pyxis nodded, twirling her holly wand around her hand, “I am. I have a clear idea of what to do, so it is unlikely you will be doing much here.”
“Shame, I kind of wanted to knock Draco down a few pegs.” Theo looked up to some of the upper-years in the distance, in particular Rowle who had been taking bets, “By the way, you better win Pyxis, I put literally all of my monthly allowance plus some savings on you.”
Pyxis smiled, “Do not worry, you will have it all back plus some additional sickles as well… I wonder, why is Rowle even running this bet if almost everyone including himself expects me to win? Does that not just guarantee he will be out whatever small payout my victory brings?”
Theo shrugged, “Considering its 50 to 1, well it’s not like it would be a big payout anyway. And I think some people put a Galleon or two on Draco just on the off chance there is an upset or just as a joke. So Rowle will probably still make money off this, trust me he runs the betting rings in Slytherin for a reason.”
Pyxis nodded in understanding. Before either could continue chatting though, Drace and Crabbe finally showed up with overly smug grins plastered on their faces, “I see you didn’t runaway No-Name.”
“Funny, I was not the one who forgot about how term-setting worked and then tried to get out of it once you were told off.” Pyxis remarked, frankly at this point she was done trying to be gentle with Draco, he had come to a decision about her, now the best thing to do was to beat that decision out of him.
Draco sneered, though before he could bite back, Crabbe did so to Theo, “What got into you Nott? hanging out with this half-blood filth?”
Theo turned up his nose, “Better half-blood ‘filth’ than actual filth...” Theo began looking Crabbe up and down, “Though I suppose you are improving, you actually remembered how to use words today, good on you Crabbe…”
Crabbe turned red with fury, looking as though he was about to take a swipe at Theo. Before he could however, Snape arrived, “Enough childish bickering, I have little time to oversee the petty dramas of children. I would like to be done with making sure none of you light the arena on fire so that I may return to my actually important work.” Snape said as he beckoned the four forward in the duelling chamber.
Before they entered, Draco looked at Pyxis, “Might as well just give up now No-Name, soon you’ll have much bigger problems anyway.”
Pyxis raised her eyebrow questioningly, she did not really take this mystery threat seriously, but still it paid to not be complacent as Arcturus always told her.
Now standing in the chamber, Pyxis looked around. The room was circular though the actual arena was rectangular with a raised walk in the middle adorned with an emerald cloth showcasing a golden snake winding across the length of the walk.
The rest of the circular room meanwhile was made up of raised and purple-cushioned seating on the edges looking down at the arena. At the end of the chamber opposite to the entrance was a tall window looking out into the Black Lake like the rest of the windows in the common room.
“Now then” Snape began, “You are not to perform any fatal or permanent injuries and you are both to follow the set terms. Now then, unless you wish to switch with your seconds or stand down and forfeit, take your place. Seconds to the side, everyone else clear the arena space and seat yourself or leave.”
Before he left to a raised stand for the duel overseer, Snape briefly whispered something in Draco’s ear, who nodded in turn, causing the latter to smile he glanced at Pyxis.
‘Great, the duel overseer is cheating, does he really have so little shame?’ Pyxis thought to herself as she looked over at the seating, seeing her friends, Farley, Rowle, and a few other upper years who either wanted to gleam more information about the Black Heiress or who simply had nothing better to do right now. Seeing the witnesses calmed Pyxis somewhat, she imagined that Snape may wish to try and rig this in Draco’s favour, but that would be obvious and probably ruin Draco’s reputation even more, especially if Pyxis still managed to win.
Finally walking to the stand on the right-side seating area overlooking the arena, Snape raised his hand and began looking analytically at Pyxis, “Now, Take your bows.”
Pyxis bowed appropriately, her shoulders keeping level as she went to a thirty-degree angle, her eyes focused, her face neutral, and her wand in clear view.
Draco gave a rude short bow doing none of those things. ‘For such a high-ranking heir proud of his position, he sure doesn’t know the first thing about procedure…’ Pyxis thought.
“Wands at the ready.”
Facing each other, both Draco and Pyxis found themselves staring as they held their wands to their faces, “Scared No-Name?” Draco asked.
“I am not as prone to cowardice you Cousin.” Pyxis bit back, causing Draco to redden as he realized what she was calling back to.
“Black, it is improper to insult your opponent.” Snape chided at her, causing both Draco and Pyxis to grin, albeit for different reasons.
“Now, on my call, one, two three!”
“Aculeo!” Draco called, though Pyxis quickly curved to the side to allow the stinging hex to pass and levelled her own wand and shot out a small jet of blue-bell flames.
The blue-bell flames, although not particularly dangerous did do its job of disorientating Draco’s position as he moved to dodge in the narrow space, Pyxis pointed her wand forward again, “Aculeo”
The hex hit Draco dead on as the blond yelped in pain, though just barely did he remain standing, “*Huff*, Flipedo!”
“Protego” Draco’s spell dissolved at the impact of the flawlessly cast shield charm, the force only causing Pyxis to take a single step back, raising her wand across herself in swift motion, Pyxis fired two more spells in rapid succession, “Aculeo, Aculeo.”
“Ah! Protego” Draco quickly cast in a panic. Unfortunately for him, his shield was not nearly as strong. The first hex shattered the shield instantly, the force rattling Draco terribly right as the second hex again stuck true, causing Draco to stumble back in pain.
At this point it was clear to everyone watching that Pyxis was by far the superior duellist, being quite prodigal in her movements while Draco was at best, average. “Ready to submit cousin?”
“I-” Renewed fear spread across Draco’s pained face as he desperately looked up to Snape, who narrowed his eyes and nodded. Seeing this, Draco pushed forward, “You wish! Serpensortia!”
A burst of light was expelled from Draco’s wand as a clearly venomous snake was spewed onto the ground in front of Pyxis, clearly angling to strike.
Pyxis took a step back, recovering quickly though she saw Draco’s smug face, clearly now gloating over some perceived victory. Looking to the side, Snape himself was grinning, clearly happy at the chance to see Pyxis squirm.
“Who ought to submit now No-Name?” Draco asked.
Pyxis stayed silent as she looked at the snake, as a Parselmouth she did not suffer from ingrained Ophidiophobia humans naturally held, ‘But should I show that ability or just ignite it or push it away…’ Keep her hand or show it and make Draco and Snape squirm right back. It was ultimately the analysing looks from some of the upper-years that caused her to make her decision. Clout was always handy.
Snape stood up from his chair, clear satisfaction on his face, “Don’t worry Black, I’ll handle for you. Though of course we will have to call this duel for mist-”
Pyxis tilted her head and grinned, ~Ceassse~ Pyxis hissed to the Adder. Causing an otherworldly hiss to catch the ears of the spectators.
The Adder, hissing aggressively until now, stopped and looked at her, ~A sspeaker?~ For some of the more astute, the sound of the snake responding caused their eyes to widen.
Pyxis nodded, ~Indeed, I apologize for thiss, I was battling the one behind you and he summoned you to threaten me.~
The snake flicked his tongue and turned to see a now terror induced Draco. Pyxis doubted he would be regaining his composure anytime soon. ~How dare thiss mere hatchling attempt to use me against a sspeaker, how dare!~ The snake turned back to Pyxis, ~May I sstrike him for you o noble sspeaker, I wish to punissh hisss insolence!~
~’I would prefer you sscare him, he and I are related. I wish him no grievousss harm, but he needs taught a lessson in crosssing me.’~
~As you command ssspeaker…~ The snake nodded and turned its body around and slithered towards Draco, who immediately went into a panic spurred on by sheer terror.
“In-Inc-“
“Expelliarmus.” Pyxis’s quick strike caused Draco’s wand to fly out of his hand while the carrying force caused him to fall to the ground on his back.
Looking around at her audience, Pyxis saw the varying reactions. The few upper-years, previously chatting amongst themselves, (effectively using the duel as background noise) were suddenly glued to what was happening, even the slowest recognizing Pyxis’s unnerving hissing for what it was.
To the other side of the room, Pyxis saw as her friends were looking at her with faces filled with disbelief mixed with fear, Pansy especially looked horrified. Seeing that her parents had Death Eater connections, it would make sense that she especially would know the significance of what she was witnessing Pyxis do.
Down in the arena, she looked down at Theo, who seemed just as horrified as Pansy was, though that horror didn’t seem to stop him or anyone else from being glued to the sight of the snake slowly slithering towards Draco.
Crabbe meanwhile was cowering in the back, seeming as though he thought Pyxis would send the snake after him next.
Snape was stunned completely, for the first time it seemed like he was genuinely afraid of what he was seeing, only barely more capable of keeping his wits than his own students.
The adder reached a panicking Draco who had been incapable of pulling himself up, slowly the viper slithered onto Draco stomach, flicking its tongue at him as he continued to cry out, tears of fear filling his eyes, “Ah! Pl-Pl-p-p…. I… Ahhhh!”
~’Remember no biting’~ Pyxis began slowly walking forward, her hands close to her chest as the audience hanged on to every syllable as they tried to discern what she was telling the viper to do, ~’We just want to ssscare him…’~
~Of course ssspeaker, I shall bring no harm to your nesstmate, but he shall learn his place…’~ The Snake reached Draco’s head, its scales sliding uncomfortably on his neck as its tongue flicked at his nose and lips, The hissing scaring Draco even more.
“Pl-Pl-Please B-Black, I-I’m s-sor-sorry… pl-please you-y-you’re the H-Heir, I’m s-sorry….” Draco was visibly tearing up now while Pyxis strode over, her pupils constricted, wondering how long she wished to see her cousin squirm.
‘Honestly this is quite fun, I should do this more often to others…’ Pyxis thought with sadistic glee. She didn’t even feel bad about this, the peacock brought this on himself.
Unfortunately though, Snape finally broke through his shock and stepped forward, “…Vipera Evanesca…” A spell shot from Snape’s wand at the Adder, the snake was pushed from Draco’s chest and cried out as it was obliterated and vanished by black smoke.
Pyxis pouted, ‘He ruined my fun…’
Snape strode and helped a still shaken Draco off the ground, his eyes red from the tears. No doubt would today be a source of lasting trauma for Pyxis’s cousin.
Blankly did Draco and everyone else look at her, wondering if they had all just imagined that.
“So then…” Pyxis began, “You forfeit the duel and accept me as Heiress Black?”
She grinned widely like a shark, something that caused Draco to shudder, absently did he look over at Snape who looked at Pyxis in confusion before turning back, “I-I… I forfeit…”
“Annnddd…”
“And…” Draco looked around wildly before looking at the ground, “And I accept you as Heiress Black…”
“So, you’re soooo sorry about insulting me and claiming what’s not yours?” Pyxis happily questioned, something in the back of her head causing her to become high on victory right now, utterly clouding her usual refinement.
Draco winced badly, “Umm… Yes… I’m sorry…and…” Something struck his face as he clearly realized something, “And I… I have to go!” Draco yelled as he ran from the chamber.
Pyxis guessed this had something to do with what he had said earlier about her having ‘much bigger problems soon’ Eh, she would deal with it when it happens. Clearly whatever it is was causing Draco to become even more afraid when she finds out.
Snape looked like he wanted to say something to her, but after a long minute of him looking and Pyxis not making eye-contact, He left with no further word.
Pyxis stepped down from the stage and made for the exit as she heard furious whispering from the ranks of the upper-years, this would be spread to every corner of Slytherin within the hour, and by tomorrow every dark family of note would know of this and it would probably cause another round of chaos for them after they already learned of her existence.
Still Pyxis imagined that this would be kept under wraps from the other houses for now, though what Snape would say to that scoundrel Dumbledore remained to be seen. Still Pyxis was happy that she could unwind at least part of herself after so long, hiding her talents and identity was suffocating at points.
Behind her, Theo walked alongside her in silence, with Pansy, Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise catching up soon after. Though Pyxis couldn’t help but notice that they all were keeping a few more steps back than usual
The six walked back through the common room in relative silence, more than ever did Pyxis feel the stares on herself from all around her, (Not that she really blamed anyone for it.) Along the way Pyxis breathed and with it that sadistic high receded back to whatever dark part of her mind it came from, leaving her to return to her former clarity.
Reaching a somewhat quiet part of the common room, the six sat down on some chairs while everyone just looked at Pyxis.
Ann empty minute passed by before Pansy broke the silence, “You’re a Parselmouth?!”
Pyxis nodded, “Yeah, there are not a lot of snakes in Britain though, so I do not really use it much.”
Pyxis’s nonchalant attitude just bewildered everyone more, “B-But…. How?!” Tracey practically yelled. At this point the whole duel with Draco had become entirely secondary compared to the Parselmouth issue.
Pyxis held out her hand with the rings on them and willed the Gaunt ring into sight, the five watched as the ring appeared on her finger before their eyes.
Daphne looked over the ring, “That’s… the Gaunt heir ring… But… I thought they went extinct…”
“They did, expect for a squib line that had magic reappear in it for my mother.” Pyxis answered with a grin, “Keep that to yourselves though.”
After some shaken and half-hearted nods, Theo spoke up, “Why didn’t you tell us? I mean, if you’re a Gaunt, that literally means you are a descendant of Slytherin himself…”
Pyxis looked straight at him, “Have you told everything about yourself to me Theo?” She worded it in such a way to say to him that she knew his secret.
Theo caught her meaning quickly, “Fair…” He turned to look at Pansy who shook her head, the two clearly communicating something.
“Hey wait.” Blaise began, “If your Black ring is on your ring finger, and the Gaunt ring is on your index finger… you have another heirship on your middle finger, don’t you?”
Pyxis grinned but did not answer.
“Ugh… You’re impossible Pyxis…” Pansy groaned, thankfully injecting some levity back into the atmosphere, “I don’t even get you… Please, what is your third heirship, I have to know.”
“Well Pansy, it is no fun if I tell you outright.” Pyxis said to her playfully, “Tell you what, if you can find out, I will not deny it.”
Pansy brightened, looking excited at the challenge “You’re on Pyxis!”
Daphne smirked, “Good luck Pyxis, Pansy is unrelenting in her quest to know everything about everyone. It will take more than obscure inheritances to keep her back…”
Pyxis nodded and looked back at a beaming Pansy, “Oh… It will be more than that and well… it is not obvious…”
Pansy grinned a terrifying smile, honestly Pyxis had to admit she was a little scared that Pansy may actually figure it out… She really hoped for the good of the world that Pansy would never learn Legilimency. That would be a true doomsday scenario.
The next day Pyxis and everyone else were seated as they ate breakfast. She felt even more stares than usual from across the table, no doubt did the passive interest of the upper-years increase dramatically, many seemed either frightened or opportunistic. No doubt did many perhaps see an opportunity to get in good with who they may well have thought would be the next Dark Lady.
Pyxis didn’t really mind. If it meant she would be left alone or even given favour, well she was quite happy for the older students to be so cautious around her. The rest of the hall continued on as normal, that she wasn’t being looked intensely by the other houses proved that the Slytherins had the decency to be discreet about internal matters.
‘Good thing too, I can’t imagine how much more insufferable the Gryffindors would have become…’ Pyxis shuddered at Weasley and Granger making even bigger fools of themselves, and there was also the thought that Neville may become even more afraid of her.
And finally, and most worryingly, Dumbledore kept looking at her questioningly while Snape stared, dripping even more with disdain if that was even possible. The rest of the teachers carried on as usual, with Quirrell giving the same old jolt of pain to Pyxis’s scar, but she could tell that Snape told Dumbledore what had happened.
The old goat kept switching between looking at her with worry and suspicion, honestly it was infuriating to see, and Pyxis had no doubt that the headmaster would try to use this against her somehow.
But with Snape, Snape was just pathetic here. Frankly Pyxis never really saw why purebloods tended to dislike muggleborns as much as they did when people like Snape, snivelling to their masters whom they changed at the drop of the hat were the real trash of society.
Pyxis rolled her eyes and returned to breakfast, in front of her she couldn’t help but notice how Draco had barely touched his food as he fidgeted in his seat and looked up at the ceiling, sometimes looking at her with plain anxiety written on his face.
After a few moments of waiting, the owls finally arrived with today’s post, Selene landed with today’s Daily Prophet though unfortunately no letters from Andy or Ted.
“Thank you girl, here have some of Draco’s bacon since he won’t eat it…” Pyxis cooed to her prized owl, though Selene didn’t wait, as soon as she heard bacon she swiped several pieces from Draco’s plate and flew off, causing Pyxis to smile at her bird.
‘Now then…’ Pyxis unfurled the paper and began reading through some of the articles, aside from another fire going off in Knockturn alley and a continuing deadlock in the Ministry, there didn’t really seem to be much of note today.
Just as she was about to put the paper down, Pansy patted her shoulder, “Pyxis, look at the gossip column… Skeeter wrote an article.”
Pyxis rolled her eyes; Pansy would always go straight for the gossip columns in the Prophet and would act like Yule came early whenever Rita Skeeter wrote. Holding the paper back up, Pyxis began reading the small article half-heartedly, not noticing Draco looking like he wanted to just fade through the ground.
Her disinterest would soon disappear though as her eyes widened with what she was reading,
Line-Theft Allegations in Hogwarts!
Written by Rita Skeeter
That’s right my dear reader, we have reports about a major case of line-theft currently happening at Hogwarts with a student claiming to be the Heiress Black.
As we know, line-theft is one of the vilest crimes any wix can perform, the art of stealing away the legacy, magic, history, and treasure of a Noble Family. In this case we have reports that a so-called ‘Pyxis Black’ is indeed not even a Black.
Pyxis Black is the supposed heir apparent to the House of Black, one of three remaining Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses with a long history dating back to the days of King Arthur and by some accounts even predate the Roman arrival. They are one of the single richest and most influential wixen families in the world, and the single richest in Britain itself. Therefor it fits that some nefarious actors may salivate at usurping the title.
When Pyxis Black appeared in Hogwarts, it came as a surprise to the rest of the Magical community, she claims to be the daughter of Sirius Black, the infamous Death Eater currently serving a life sentence in Azkaban. Not until Pyxis arrived in Hogwarts did we have any knowledge of her existence and with Sirius Black not here to confirm or deny we must question whether or not we are being lied to.
Our reports come from one Draco Lucius Malfoy, Heir and scion to the esteemed House of Malfoy, he says that neither he nor the rest of his social circle which include other vaunted houses like the Parkinsons, Notts, Greengrasses, Crabbes, Goyles, and others had any idea of Pyxis Black’s existence.
This is especially odd as Heir Malfoy’s own mother is herself a Black and the cousin of Sirius Black. One would think she would know full well of her supposed niece’s existence, but alas she too seems ignorant.
Therefor I must ask you my reader, which seems more likely, that Sirius Black indeed had a secret daughter that no-one, not even his own family knew of that just so happened to appear right as Hogwarts began.
Or more likely, that ‘Pyxis Black’ isn’t who she says she is…
I leave that for my readers to decide.
Pyxis did not know how long she looked at the article, it made her wonder if the people who ran the Prophet had a deal with Skeeter that allowed the woman to do whatever she wanted, from how Pansy squealed at every article she imagined this to be the case.
After chewing a bit on her lip, she set the paper down, she felt the eyes of much of the hall looking at her questioningly, few in Slytherin seemed to believe what they had just read, but the rest of the hall had clearly all just made their minds up like the sheep they were. Unable to look past the clearly biased writing.
But of course, that wasn’t her main focus as she looked her cousin dead in the eyes as he fidgeted in his seat and refused to meet her eyes. Pyxis loved her family, and could scarcely imagine wishing them harm, but in this moment all she could imagine was Draco’s brutal murder at her hands.
“Draco…” Pyxis began with a totally neutral and even voice.
Draco continued looking down, hoping to make himself as small as possible.
“Draco look at me, the longer you look away the worse I will make this.”
Draco sucked in a breath and forced himself to look dead on at her piercing green eyes, “I’m… I tried to… st-stop it, but she didn’t… read my letter…”
Pyxis blinked and didn’t respond at first, only unnerving her cousin more in the process, “…Draco... I recommend you stay out of common room for the rest of the week, you can sleep outside it for a while.”
“Bu-“
“This is final, maybe it will give you time to think about your actions. And don’t go running to Snape, that will only make things worse.”
Draco flinched and looked down, clearly hoping to avoid any further punishment. Considering he was already entirely isolated and humiliated, well even he must have understood there was no getting out of this. The upper-years probably would have blocked him anyway just to earn a modicum of favour with Pyxis or just to torment a now very easy and deserving target.
Seeing that her retaliation was successful, Pyxis looked down briefly at the paper before standing up, “Now then, I have a letter to write, oh and Draco, you will be giving an apology in public later…”
Draco nodded furiously, hoping to avoid as much of her wrath as possible.
Seeing this, Pyxis strode out of the hall and made her way towards the owlery, deciding it was time to write a letter to Uncle Edward about this, it was time this Rita Skeeter learned that the House of Black was not an easy target for a trashy gossip rag.
Behind her Pansy looked at Draco, “… You really messed up…”
“P-Pansy I-“
“I tried to stay neutral in your dispute because you are my friend, but remember Draco, you brought this on yourself…” Pansy looked over as Pyxis left, “And now I don’t think she’s in a very forgiving mood at the moment. You ought to keep your head down and practice your grovelling, you’ll need it…”
Draco paled in fear, “May-Maybe my fath-“
Pansy shook her head, “I don’t think he will be able to help. Word of advice since I still consider us friends, play to the fact that she sees you as family, she might be willingly to eventually show mercy. But for now, you are out of luck.”
Draco found himself unable to respond, looking like he would be ill, unbeknownst to him, things would get worse as letter arrived in the office of one Edward Tonks.
Followed by three more arriving in the offices of the Prophet, the home of Rita Skeeter, and Malfoy Manor.
Narcissa
Reading through the Black Family records on deaths and births had been an exceedingly worthless task when it came learning more about Pyxis Black. As had sending letters to those with the barest hint of Black blood in their veins asking whether they knew anything. The only two actually useful bits of information she learned from these letters were the replies Cassiopeia and her father sent back, both essentially just telling her to speak to Andromeda.
But really finding anything out via these methods wasn’t the point, the longer Narcissa could pretend that she was trying to find out more, the longer she could put off begging Andromeda to tell her anything and actually having to confront her sister about this and the confused emotions going through her head.
She was distracted from these thoughts as two owls flew in, one was Draco’s owl, and the other was one she didn’t recognize, both dropped their letters off before roosting in the manor perches.
Before she could grab the letters, Lucius walked in, the barest hint of panic in his eyes, “Those letters… I know what they are about… Tell me did you read Skeeter’s article today?”
Narcissa raised her eyebrow, whatever it was it was serious based on Lucius’s reaction, “I have not, I usually do not read those articles until later in the day.”
Lucius sighed as he sat down on a nearby chair and placed his hand over his face, “Draco... he got into a duel with the Black girl, but apparently he went to further matters in taking her down… and it has made a mess of things…”
His words immediately made the gears in Narcissa’s head spin as he realized what was happening. Quickly she snatched Draco’s letter and began to read through it.
Mother
I messed up, I tried to duel Black as I said in a letter to Father. I wanted to show everyone in Slytherin why they should follow me and how I was the real Black Heir.
I lost bad; I barely stood a chance. Worse Professor Snape suggested I use the snake-summoning charm to win. But when I did, she started talking to it and commanded it to turn on me before disarming me and pushing me to the ground.
Black is a Parselmouth
I did not get hurt but it was still horrific. And now I feel more isolated than ever, no one, not even Flint wants to take my side and even Crabbe and Goyle are too scared of Black to help me.
Worse though, before the duel I wanted to try and ruin her reputation by sending my thoughts on her committing line-theft to Skeeter. I tried to call her off, but I was ignored and now there is an article claiming that Black committed line-theft.
She blamed me and effectively kicked me out of the common room for the week and nobody wants to help me and are even helping her enforce it. All I was able to do was to apologize to her and hope she doesn’t take too much of her anger out on me.
What do I do?
“What does it say?” Lucius hesitantly asked as he saw Narcissa’s paled face.
Narcissa didn’t even know how to explain it, how does one talk about their child being so thoroughly beaten and humiliated in such a way? And how was Pyxis a Parselmouth anyway? That didn’t make any sense at all, it had been centuries since there was a Parselmouth Black, so who in Salazar’s name was the girl’s mother.
“Just… read it for yourself…” Narcissa eventually said as she handed the letter to her husband.
One could see the point Lucius read about Pyxis being a Parselmouth the moment he paled dramatically and just looked at the letter and blinked. He more than most would have understood the sheer terror that those four words espoused.
Narcissa leaned back and picked up the other letter. The first thing she saw was even more headache inducing, the signature of one Edward Tonks.
Narcissa sighed and reluctantly opened the letter.
Tonks & Partners Law Firm.
To Lord and Lady Malfoy,
It has come to our attention that a member of your family has engaged in the spreading of malicious lies against a client of ours.
On the wishes of our client, we hope to settle this matter privately with a public apology currently being our only term as it so far stands.
Should this request not be headed we will unfortunately have to settle this matter in the courts of law, something that we feel would be to the detriment of all parties involved.
We wish to hear back no later than November 12th
Sincerely.
L.W Edward Tonks,
Narcissa sighed and handed this letter as well to her husband before cupping her head into her hands.
Lucius went over the letter quite quickly before setting it down and thinking, “... This is a losing battle I am not fighting… What was Skeeter thinking with article? What was Draco thinking when he sent that information?”
“…What are we going to do here?” Narcissa asked.
Lucius sighed, “… Give in and apologize, it’s an open and shut case, and everyone knows I was trying to gain a hold over the Black estate. If we fought back everyone would see it as a naked power grab. Fighting would just be a losing battle that would sap away valuable political and social capital. I shall go and begin drafting a dignified apology for the press.”
“Does this mean you are going to stop trying to have Draco inherit the Black Lordship?” Narcissa asked again, as much as she did love her family, she was always a bit unsettled by Lucius’s constant attempts at usurping her old family name.
Lucius leaned back, “…I suppose so, which is why we must redirect towards making amends and establishing a good relationship with your family.”
Narcissa nodded, a renewed Black family could crush the Malfoy name like an insect should they so wish, if Pyxis was the future, then they must be willing to act within that, “And Draco?”
Lucius bit his lip, “…I will have to talk with him, either over break or call him back for a day… I suppose that if he had to learn this lesson, it was best that he did so when he is still young. For now, I shall simply tell him to keep his head down, focus on his studies, and do as the Heiress Black says… within reason of course.”
Narcissa nodded, it was for the best, she loved her son, but they just couldn’t help him right now, hopefully though she could help him make up with Pyxis.
But to do that…
“I suppose I shall finally go talk with my sister… She is the only one who might answer our questions…”
Lucius nodded but did not respond, knowing better than to intrude on Black family dramas.
Pyxis
As soon as Ted’s letter hit the desk of the Prophet did nearly everyone fold immediately. Pyxis was reading though the front-page apology written on the next day’s newspaper. It was one’s typical corporate apology speaking on how they apologize ‘dearly’ for what took place and have disciplined those involved.
“I hear Skeeter got a yearlong suspension and will be subjected to much stronger review in the future.” Pansy said, looking a little solemn that her favourite columnist got defanged for the moment.
“Shows her what happens when you pick a fight with a Most Ancient and Most Noble house…” Daphne responded, “Should’ve been worst.”
“She’ll be back, Skeeter has suffered worst blows before, and she always gets back up.” Pansy commented back before turning to Pyxis, “Watch your back Pyxis, Skeeter’s been known to hold a grudge, and she always knows how to sink lower than the competition.”
Pyxis nodded in understanding, really, she was not looking forward to being the target of Skeeter’s ire, but that was an issue for future her, “Did you see Lord Malfoy’s apology?” She asked as she pointed to the small section just below the Prophet’s own apology.
“Never thought I would see the day Lord Malfoy gives an apology to the press.” Theo commented, “Its honestly bizarre to see. Anyway, has anyone seen Draco today?”
“He’s been cuddled up in some dusty old, abandoned classroom in the dungeons. I think he’s hoping that he can find a way to just disappear off the face of the earth… Honestly, I have never seen him so… pitiable.” Pansy explained.
“I imagine he will be in for a severe ‘talking to’ from his parents. Hopefully this will help him get over himself.” Theo said before looking off in the entrance of the hall, “Speaking of which…”
Pyxis and everyone else looked as Draco walked over to the table holding his own copy of the news and his eyes red from shed tears.
“B-Black?”
“Yes Draco?” Pyxis asked, knowing what was coming.
“…I would like to apologize for everything I did, I should not have made those comments or told Skeeter…”
Pyxis licked her lips, her spite receding somewhat at the pitying sight in front of her, “… Will you never make lies up about me or claim the Black Heirship again?”
“Yes…”
“Will you never harass Heir Longbottom or any other Slytherin again while also apologizing to them?”
“…If that’s what you wish…”
“And will you make a genuine effort at meeting our cousin Nymphadora?”
“… I will…”
“Then I forgive you Draco, tonight you will be allowed back in the common room provided you do everything I asked.” Pyxis responded happily, allowing any hostility to instantly recede. Yeah, she was cutting his punishment short, but hey they were family after all.
Draco brightened just a little bit at being let off so early, “Th-thank you… H-Heiress B-Black…”
Pyxis frowned, “You have permission to call me by my first name, in fact I insist that you do so.”
Draco nodded, “Okay… P-Pyxis…”
Hearing Draco actually call her by her name felt as though a weight was lifted off her shoulders, the previous anger she felt towards all but disappearing.
Perhaps now she could finally work towards having another cousin…