October 27, 1968: Castle Black -Kent- Melania Black (née Macmillan)
Melania was born in Scotland into the Macmillan clan, so a family of light. But her magic core was neutral, so the rest of the family was very reserved around her, but wore masks of kindness, idiots, even with a neutral core, she can still use the family magic Empathy. Empathy is very similar to legilimency, but it is a more personal form of understanding a person's thoughts and emotions. Melania is a born Empath, so she not only understands emotions and thoughts but feels them to a certain extent. So, so all her childhood and adolescence, she felt the duplicity hidden under the masks of the Macmillan family, and so she learned how to build her own mask. And when the opportunity to leave appeared, Melania seized it with all her might. The name of that opportunity was Arcturus Black, who needed a future Lady Black, one who could take care of a large family. So Melania started writing to her, and after half a year of three or four letters a week, they started going out together to dinner or the theatre. That's how they ended up getting married, and Melania became Laby Black, and now she wears masks of kindness and goodwill.
With her ability it's easy to find out secrets especially after she learned subtle legilimency, but family secrets are for her to know and that's it, she doesn't share them with anyone, very rarely with Arcturs, if there's something that needs to be addressed or resolved immediately, otherwise with anyone. Her biggest secret at the moment, the one that must be kept with the utmost care. That is Regulus' Metamorphmagus abilities and especially how complete they are. By law all Metamorphmagus must be registered and work for the Ministry of Magic, but the fact that Regulus can become a truly complete Metamorphmagus should not be left in their hands especially when Little Archy will most likely be taken by the Unspeakables to be analyzed, after all the last complete Metamorphmagus was Morgan le Fay, a thousand years ago. Even now, Melania can remember that day as if it were yesterday.
Flashback
Lughnasadh 1965, the day after Regulus's fourth birthday. Walburga emerged first from the floo, extraordinarily pleased with something. Melania needed only a glance to catch what she was thinking; that time, Arcturus would have to be informed. She didn't get more information from Orion, but then Sirius came along, whom she could read like a book. And when the main character of the accident arrived, the whole situation was clarified in Melania's eyes.
Normally, Regulus would have been harder to read, because the boy isn't much of a fan of showing his emotions through body language or facial cues, which are required to use Empathy, his eyes are a whole other story, Regulus' eyes are so expressive that Melania never needed legilimency to read them. But today is different. Today, little Reggie exudes smugness from every pore of his being. Regulus was dressed like a little prince, robes of a dark green, almost black with silver accents, and his ebony black curls reached halfway down his back, tied in a low ponytail with a silver ribbon. His hair was much longer than the last time they had seen each other a month ago, unnaturally longer, and his eyes, his beautiful silver-grey eyes, had a hint of green then too. He was pretty. Regulus was never cute, not even when he was a baby; he was a pretty baby, but then dressed like a prince, Reggie seemed even prettier than usual. All that day, Walburga tried to catch a moment alone with Arcturus, but hard luck, she didn't succeed, and luckily, no one realised it was Melania's hand.
But that night, Melania revealed a secret to her husband. She told her husband how Reggie had followed Sirius all day on his birthday. How, during his afternoon nap, Reggie had crept into his older brother's bed. How Sirius had woken up because Reggie's hair kept tickling his face. How when he tried to push him away, Reggie had burrowed deeper into him. How Sirius had gotten out of bed, and his little brother had burrowed deeper into the blankets. How Sirius had ordered Reggie to sleep in his bed or get his hair cut. How Reggie had pretended not to hear. How Sirius had tried to cut Regulus's hair while he was half asleep in bed. How Regulus burst into tears when he saw himself in the mirror. How Kreacher had tried to save as much of Regulus's hair as possible. How Reggie spent his fourth birthday dinner with puffy eyes and sobbing. How Kreacher woke Regulus up to get him ready. How his hair was longer than it had ever been. How after he got dressed and tied his hair, he looked in the mirror and his eyes took on a hint of green. How Sirius, Orion and Walburga were waiting for him in front of the fireplace. How Regulus came down the stairs with a huge smile on his face. How Sirius' jaw almost touched the floor.
And so Arcturus sent two letters, one to Grimmauld Place and one to Cassiopeia. So on August 2nd, a small family intervention took place. Walburga was screaming, Sirius was almost crying, Orion was keeping his poker face on, Regulus was staring at everyone with wide eyes, Melania was smiling as usual, Arcturus was staring at Walburga with disapproval, and Cassiopeia was watching the drama, hiding her smile behind a cup of tea.
And after an hour of pointless discussion, Orion and Walburga returned to Grimmauld with one child less, two unbreakable vows, and the child left with a mind lock. Cassiopeia magically analyses Reggie, discovering that he can become a true Metamorphmagus, but the only people who knew this were Lord and Lady Black and the two Metamorphmagi in the family.
End of Flashback
For the next three months, Regulus stayed at the castle, learning from his Great Aunt Cassy how to use his ability and from Melania's grandmother Occlumency. Since then, Regulus has always spent a week at the end of each month at the castle, and he is so talented that after only a year of training, he can already protect his thoughts from Melana's Empathy and slight Legilimency.
At six years old Regulus had already built a mindscape, which gave him perfect recall, and at seven he managed to make a complete body transformation, because here comes the question of what makes a Metamorphmagus a true Metamorphmagus, the answer is simpler than many realize, the more complete a Metamorphmagus' ability is, the easier it is to change into the opposite gender. Cassiopeia can transform into a man, but she does not have all the functions of a male body, so Melania and Cassiopeia tried to stabilise a sense of self in Regulus.
Not the shadow of Sirius, not the son of Walburga Black, just Regulus. Not how a brother wants to be or the son of the house of Black should be, how Regulus would like to be. This, this took a long time, the first thing they discovered was that he liked to have long hair because the curls bounce when he moves or uses magic and he likes the feeling, so the long hair stays regardless of the transformation, Arcturus was very pleased with this discovery after all it reminded him of his grandfather Phineas who in his old age let his hair grow long. He was also pleased when they discovered that Regulus' eyes change according to emotions, but if he keeps his mental shields up, they stay silvery grey.
It's not healthy for a child to be so dependent on shields, so they decided that the mask of indifference that comes naturally to Regulus and an Alarm Shield in case someone is using legilimency are enough mental protections. With this shield, Regulus' eyes stay grey, but the shade keeps changing.
The discovery that shocked everyone was that the mask of indifference is mostly due to the fact that Regulus is almost always bored; their baby Raggie is smart and very perceptive, which makes him lose interest quite quickly in things he already understands and makes him somewhat obsessive about those he doesn't fully understand. Melania is sure that Regulus got this characteristic from Arcturus, and since then, she has started addressing him as Archy. The newest discovery is that Regulus likes that he is short, because it is easier to hide and people tend to forget that you exist when you don't take up much space. But there are not many people that Regulus finds interesting enough for him to spend time with willingly. Melania has a list of the people in question in any case to make sure that Regulus doesn't get bored at the holidays and run away to hide in the library. Well, at least Archy sits between Sirius and Arcturus at formal gatherings, and they are both on the list, which makes the little one look left and right and sit well in his chair. Other people on the list of interests are Andromeda, Bellatrix and Melania herself. Alphard and Cassiopeia were on the list, but now he has lost interest in them, especially since Cassy can't teach him about other people. And from what Melania observes, Bella will have to be crossed off the list soon, that is, if she has the same type of behaviour as Walburga.
The latest discovery was that Archy loves their traditional holidays because magic feels different to each one. This shocked both Arcturus and Melania, and after some tests, they discovered that Regulus is very sensitive to magic and that his magic has a tendency to absorb the magic around him. Arcturus almost cried with happiness, since then he started teaching him how to control magic, and Lord Black created a journal in which he differentiates how different magical signatures feel to Reggie's pure magic and to the magic of the Black family. Thanks to that journal, the Lord and Lady came to be convinced that Regulus' core is dark, because light magic has will as a catalyst, grey magic has pure magic as a catalyst, but dark magic has emotions as a catalyst, and Regulus perceives magic signatures through emotions.
And today, Bellatrix will be tested by the family magic, and this will be Regulus's first prolonged contact with the Black family magic. Arcturus has tried to desensitise him to it a little so Regulus doesn't make a scene, and Melania can only hope that will be enough. Her thoughts are interrupted by a loud pop, and Fina, Malania's personal house elf, appears.
"Mistress, Lady Dorea has arrived" After she finished her message, Fina looked at Melania with wide eyes. "Does Mistress need Fina to do anything else?"
"No, Fina, you know what you're busy with today. I'll call you if I have anything extra for you to do." Melania dismissed the elf with a gesture, which disappeared with a pop. "Excuse me, it seems I have a cousin I haven't seen in a while to welcome." With that, Melania gets up from the couch and heads towards the greeting room.