Chapter 28 - Time passes, everything changes

Lately I've been thinking how close everything is and how fast time is passing. I have little time left before I have to apply everything I have been learning. A new internal war is coming and I still don't see how I can keep my family alive.

It's been 4 years since my aunt's family joined us. Many things have changed especially Nymphadora, despite being somewhat clumsy when she focuses on something she does not let it until she masters it and that has been shown in the way she has mastered her ability to change her appearance.

In some way, she develop the skill to not only imitate their appearance but also their gestures and movements, but also the way they speak, seeing people only once. Although my great grandfather does not say it when he sees Nymphadora you can see how his face fills with pride.

Regarding my uncle and my aunt they only come to the house to sleep. This is because when they were bringing their items from their old home they received a letter from Hogwards. More specifically from Dumbledore himself. Apparently what you have to pay to attend Hogwarts is really expensive, since the minimum that you get to pay is 6100 galleons or 43,000 dollars on muggle money and that price is only for a Muggle-born wizard.

And if we consider that the annual profit of an average wizard is 2800 galleons, we can say that the situation is very precarious. This makes me think about how it is possible that the Weaslys can send all their children with just Mr. Weasly's salary.

The only thing I can think of is that they must have a deal with Dumbledore. Speaking of him, his letter offered an alternative to the payment that my uncles would have to make. His letter only said that he had heard of Nymphadora's ability and that he would like to help her but that he would have to draw some blood from her.

When my great grandfather found out he went into a rage against Dumbledore and this caused him concern that he was so interested as to offer that. So he decided that it would be best if my uncles put a facade on their old house and not reveal that they had returned to the Black family. Once everything was ready they sent a letter rejecting Dumbledore's invitation, which was answered sooner than a person would expect from someone as busy as him.

We soon discovered why. My great grandfather decided that one day he would take me and Nymphadora to check out the neighborhood of her old house. As the 3 of us were disguised we could observe a suspicious wizard.

He was a short wizard with bandy legs and long, straggly ginger hair. He had bloodshot, baggy brown eyes and you could easily tell that he rarely shaved. His hands were quite grubby, and he was noted to have a particularly strong bodily odour of tobacco and alcohol nothing so out of place in this neighborhood.

If it weren't for the fact that it only seemed to look at my uncles' house, this wizard would record every time my uncles left and entered his house. One would think he was a thief and they would be correct in a way. By following him to a seedy inn. We find out his name was Mundungus Fletcher, between his drunkenness and the argument he had with another criminal in this place we discovered that he worked for Dumbledore.

Shortly after discovering that my uncles were being watched, an unexpected visitor arrived. Molly Weasly showed up one day to talk to them trying to put Dumbledore's deal as a good thing. Again my uncles rejected this offer and in a very obvious way Molly cut off any friendship that might have remained with my aunt. Even if they were cousins she no longer care.

That leaves us with another of the interactions that occurred shortly after Molly broke ties with my aunt. Finally the war ended. As it was destined to happen, Sirius was arrested. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to feel about him, since I never knew him. I guess I'm a little sad?

Also my uncle Orion died in that cave while trying to destroy one of the horcrux. Which led me to finally meet Kreacher. And you can say that it was not pleasant at least at the beginning.