when aurelia opened her eyes the next morning, she found herself again in the familiar room. the white walls and the bright light almost blinded her eyes and it took her a while to adjust her vision. on the chair besides her was the raven haired boy snoring softly while his head was placed on the little space left besides aurelia on the hospital bed. 

when the haunting memories of the past night rushed inside her head, aurelia immediately looked at her hands to check if she still had blood on them. aurelia tried to sit up straight but ended up disturbing harry's sleep who immediately engulfed her in a hug once he was awake.

"harry. . . what's wrong?" aurelia questioned, before whispering the last part,"with me?"

harry's throat fell dry, the words got stuck. he didn't know how to respond. 

"the healer said that you're suffering from hemoptysis. it's a lung infection." harry had a sympathetic smile on his face when he saw the terror in aurelia's eyes,"but you're going to be okay. i talked with zenith. . . the healer and he said it isn't hazardous."

aurelia just gave a small nod not knowing how to respond before she asked,"where is theodore?"

"he was just stressing a lot so i advised him to get back home." harry answered, not bothering to tell her that he almost scared the healer. 

just then zenith walked inside in his usual healer robes, greeting the twins with a small smile.
"don't worry miss potter,you're going to be okay." zenith tried to ease her worry.

 aurelia gave a slight nod of acknowledgement and sat up on the bed when she felt something wrapped around her fingers in her other hand which was still under the duvet. she lifted it up to find the pendant dangling from her fingers. when zenith's eyes fell on the mysterious pendant his eyes went in shock and horror. 

"the mysterious pendant? why do you have it with you?" 

the potter twins stared at him for a moment with a question bugging their mind. what does he knows about the pendant? 

"how do you know?" harry frowned. 

zenith without realising what he had just done went on further to answer harry's question,"dumbledore told me!"

"you knew dumbledore?" aurelia rasied one of her eyebrows in surpise and that's when it finally struck zenith. 

"uh. . . um. . . " the intimidating man stuttered, finding a way he can ditch the questions coming his way while the twins shared a worried look. 

"who are you?" harry asked, walking up to him so that he can face him properly. 

"zenith?" he answered which came more of a question much to his displeasure,"uh zenith. . ."

"zenith b? what does b stands for?" harry asked while reading the name tag on his robes. 

"it's just an initial." zenith shrugged, cracking an awkward smile to ease the dangerous tension. 

"but you know dumbledore, how?" harry wasn't going to give up any sooner and it seemed like zenith has guessed it too as he let out a tired sigh. 

"i just knew." zenith shrugged, his heart thumping loudly in his chest. 

"i just knew doesn't explains everything. tell us your true identity otherwise it won't end up being good for you." harry threatened, glaring at the frightened man in front of her. 

"uh. . ." zenith felt his throat going dry but still he managed to pushed the words out seeing that he has no other option left,"i am. . . zenith, zenith black."

"black?" the twins repeated, their lips parted in shock. 

"yes." nodded zenith, gulping the lump forming in his throat,"i am zenith black. son of regulus arcturus black. but i swear i wasn't a death eater or something if-"

"wait, sirius never told us about you?" harry questioned. 

"because he never knew about me. nobody knew except dumbledore." zenith admitted, still scared about what the twins would think of him. 

"no i don't understand." harry exclaimed, his mind twisting and turning to actually figure out what he was saying. 

"it's a long story." zenith whispered lowly. 

"i am sure we want to hear that." aurelia spoke up with a faint smile on her lips. 

"yeah." harry nodded in agreement, gesturing him to sit down on the stool besides the bed aurelia was sitting on while he made himself comfortable on the bed. 

zenith took a deep breath, extremely nervous about how they would react but nevertheless started telling them.

six year old zenith was playing around in the field which had the scorching sun falling it's ray on it, lighting the place up. far in the field zenith spotted a figure making its way towards him. when the old man with crescent moon glasses much closer to where he was standing, an instant smile made it's way on his lips.

"dumbledore!" zenith exclaimed happily.

"happy birthday zenith black." the old wizard smiled, ruffling his hair who was squinting his eyes to look up at him. dumbledore proceeded to hand him a box of chocolate frogs as zenith had a sweet tooth. 

"black?" zenith questioned, taking the box. 

"we'll talk about that. now please inform caroline about my visit will you? i would like some tea." dumbledore said earning a nod from zenith who hurried towards the small cottage filled with sweet aroma of apple pie which were zenith's favorite. 

caroline wallflower was like his mother who agreed upon dumbledore's request to take care of the little black. for the past six years, zenith was kept alien to his true identity.

"caroline." zenith sang, running inside the kitchen to find the middle-aged woman adding cream on the apple pie.

"yes zen?" the blonde asked, smiling at the way zenith was staring dreamily at the pie.

"uh. . ." when he was finally pulled back to reality he answered,"dumbledore is here. he said he would like to have tea."

"sure." caroline nodded.

with a last look at the luscious apple pie, zenith ran back in the living room to find dumbledore already settled on the rugged couch.

once caroline was back in the living room with the steaming tea, zenith settled on the chair while caroline took the chair next to him.

"what do we owe to have you here dumbledore?" caroline asked politely.

"i had something important to discuss." he said taking a sip of the tea before keeping it back on the table,"now, zenith. how old are you?"

"six." zenith replied happily.

"i think it's time i tell you why i referred you as zenith black today?" zenith's smile faltered away and a serious expression took over his face,"you are zenith black. son of regulus arcturus black and ophelia rosewood."

zenith frowned ; who were these two? and where were they?

"they are my parents?" zenith gasped, feeling caroline rubbing his back in comfort.

"were." zenith's eyes went wide when those words left dumbledore's mouth. even though he never really knew them, it pained him, killed him from inside to know that he'll never see them again.

"why did they leave me?" zenith gulped, trying to hold back the salty tears,"did they dislike me?"

"no bubba." caroline whispered, pulling him in a side hug. it broke her heart on hearing how painful his voice sounded.

"no zenith. they loved you. both of them did but sadly, they reaped what they sowed." dumbledore said without a single glint of sympathy reflecting on his face,"your father, regulus committed probably the biggest mistake to join voldemort." zenith flinched at the mention of the name,"and unfortunately he died."

"and my mother?"

"when she got the news that the death eaters were grabbing the half - bloods, she grew worried for her safety and yours. the death eaters were some of her school friends and they knew that she was a half-blood. she dropped you at an orphanage in london and afterwards wrote a letter to me explaining how the death eaters were practically hunting for her. she requested me to help you and keep you safe. fearing that the death eaters may find your whereabouts, i thought it was best to kept you hidden here in america. when i explained everything to caroline, she gladly accepted to take you in."

it was a lot for zenith to take in. he broke down sobbing and hugged caroline tightly. caroline blinked away her tears and kissed his forehead, trying to calm the little boy down.

"now that you know, you can come with me to london until you are of age to attend hogwarts." dumbledore offered, getting up on his feet.

zenith just shook his head before wiping his tears, he faced dumbledore,"i don't want to leave. i want to stay here with caroline."

dumbledore was surprised with his answer and with a small smile he walked outside.

"so why did you come back?" harry asked once he tried to fit everything in his brain,"what did you do in america?"

zenith sniffed a bit before clearing his throat to reply"i got accepted to ilvermony school of witchcraft and wizardry. i was selected in horned serpent, it's one of the four houses. i completed my education there and afterwards dumbledore asked me if i would like to join the order of the phoenix as voldemort was back. and trust me i wanted to. i wanted to show everybody that not all blacks are bad but i had other important things at that moment so i denied."

"all blacks are bad?" aurelia was still caught on that single sentence,"no. what do you mean?"

"my grandparents were probably the biggest supporters of voldemort, then my father, then his brother sirius. tell me one black that went right." zenith let out a hollow laugh.

"you're wrong there zenith." aurelia shook her head,"did dumbledore ever tell you about how sirius was innocent? how he wasn't the one to betray our parents?"

"no." zenith frowned.

"and about your father? he committed a mistake but when he realized what actually he got himself into, he decided to step back and undo the mistake but unfortunately, he had to loose his life." aurelia explained.

"i was so blinded by hatred to actually listen to what dumbledore wanted me to know about them. that was the main reason why i was afraid to tell others about my true identity." zenith admitted, feeling extremely guilty.

"so why did you come back?" harry asked again.

"after caroline passed away i had no reason to stay back there so i decided to come here. actually i got a letter from one of my lost long friend that he wanted me to visit him so that's why i came here." zenith explained with a small smile.

"and how do you know about the pendant?" aurelia inquired further.

"you two question a lot." zenith joked, trying to lighten up the intense atmosphere and it worked when the twins shot him a smile,"the friend who asked me to visit him wasn't at the location he asked me to come. i had nowhere else to go so i contacted dumbledore and he told me that he was visiting places. to hunt the horcruxes." aurelia and harry shared a look of surprise.

"yeah i know he might have asked you two not to tell anybody else but he did tell me. he trusted me." zenith smiled,"he told me about the mysterious pendant he got from james potter. apparently, james potter complained about how he had been feeling extremely sick after he had tried to wear the pendant for a day. when asked upon where he got it, james explained to dumbledore that the pendant belonged to his father. afterwards dumbledore told me about it and he wanted me to find every information about it. he advised me to visit burgin's and burke's from where james's father had bought the pendant as a dare. it was the day when dumbledore died."

"so did you succeed in getting the information?" harry asked. 

"no." zenith shook his head,"i got another letter from this friend of mine and i got distracted. when one day it finally came to my senses that dumbledore had asked me to collect information about the pendant, i immediately ventured on the mission. about that time, the war had officially begun. death eaters were roaming around, questioning everyone about their identity. i was terrified when they caught me at diagon alley and i apparated away."

everybody kept quiet for a while, not knowing what to say to each other. 

"i am sorry for your loss zenith." aurelia finally broke the silence, sending a sympathetic smile to the curly haired man who smiled in response. aurelia wanted to ask why he seemed so familiar to her but she knew that it wasn't the right time. 

"so where do you live now?" harry asked out of nowhere. 

"uh here. i have nowhere to go actually. it's been a year since I've been here." zenith responded. 

"you wanna move in with us?" harry spoke up, taking zenith by surprise who stared at him in disbelief,"in grimmauld place? because technically you're the last heir of the black family and before us, you have the right on it."

zenith was completely taken aback by the fact that harry trusted him so easily and was proposing to move in with him. zenith badly wanted to have a place he could call home, a place where he could finally relax and feel at peace after having a laborious day. 

"if you don't have any problem then I would love to."

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a/n: yeah ik you're laughing at zenith's backstory I created. 😏

- nora.