What pain the stars have,
HUMBERT WOLFE            The Fiddle and the Bow

𝕿𝖔𝖚𝖏𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖘 𝕻𝖚𝖗
Always Pure

Every time a Black is born, the God's flip a coin. One side greatness, the other madness.

Leo Black is teetering on the edge of both. Born from his Father's ancestral insanity and the esoteric blood of his Mothers, he has known one thing growing up: you either be brandished as a traitor and exiled to join a side who is falling in it's inadequacy, or serve your family and live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Leo knows the term villain is somewhat the loose, 2D version of what his family really is. He knows what they are, what they do—unsurprised that his classmates know too—but when his family's names are brandished in bold letters on the Daily Prophet you piece together what kind of threat you pose to people, and how far a name can really get you.

Black is a name tied to generations of violence and bloodshed—dominance held within its status and influence. The continuity of worship among the Black's has tethered Leo to where he is supposed to be right now. For he is their outcome, the tragic product of their actions and easily the root of their downfall. Leo Black could either bring them honour or failure. Glory or destruction.

Do they know that?

Possibly not.

He is not the first, nor the last. He sits in between, almost like a shadow; almost ignored. But the shadows are familiar, welcome. From here Leo can do whatever he pleases. He's not easily noticed—hidden by his older Brother's shadow, ignored by his Father and blinded by his cousins—not acknowledged, but he is something. He is a Black and Black's do not go unnoticed. Perhaps he knows that? Perhaps they know that?

Perhaps they think he is the resolution to all their disputes. (Could he?)

Who are they?

The Gods?

(Perhaps?)

The coin has been flipped and the Wizarding World holds it's breath to see how it will land.

Leo Black has been born from the shadows—he has known Black all his life. The coin is still spinning, perhaps it has been for some time now, but the time has come and the question is; if madness and greatness are both two sides of the same coin, as the God's say, who's to say he is either? Perhaps the coin won't land. Perhaps it will.

That is all the God's foresee, but here is what I can tell you.

Leo Black's coin is unjust, tipping at the scales and perhaps the future. They will have a hand in his fate. Whether or not he is born of the rot within his ancestry, they will slowly drive him deeper into their descent of madness. If he has not been born of it, it will surely catch up to him soon. They are all sure of it.

Again, who is flipping the coin?

Fate has tipped it so that the (?) are in favour of twisting his destiny in favour of their own, deciding what kind of fate he will pose and what side the coin should really land on. But if they are both made up of the same, both greatness and madness, then perhaps Leo Black's coin has been decided.

Madness or greatness.

Why not both?

Quickly, time is running out and the coin has landed.

(Was it ever flipped?)

No one truly knows, and Leo was born in Black—he knows the shadows better than anyone.

Hint: only those familiar with the shadows can see through the shadows.

Leonidas Phineas Black
╱
SERPENT MOUTH

Harry James Potter
╱
CHOSEN ONE

𓆙

EVIE ALLEN ╱ Cordelia Selwyn

AS DESCRIBED ╱ Inaya Shafiq

MARCEL RUIZ ╱ Cassius Travers

LEAH JEFFRIES ╱ Hermione Granger

LOLA TUNG ╱ Moira Ives

NICO PARKER ╱ Celene Oberon

𝕬𝖘 𝕯𝖊𝖘𝖈𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖊𝖉

Draco Malfoy ╱ Genevieve Flint ╱ Duke Avery ╱ Pollux Black ╱ Atticus Nott ╱ Orion Black II ╱ Liselotte Black (née Selwyn) ╱ Sirius Black III

AUTHORS NOTE

𓆗  oh hello.... i'm back hehe and with another (harry potter) fic! i'm so sorry to do this but For The Final Time (and for the sake of my sanity) i am bringing back Fallen Star, now renamed Serpentskirt, but with a better plot and better characters and just overall a better story because this time i have actually taken the time to plan everything out and carefully curate all my characters with the intention of actually 'using' them in the story.... + Finally writing chapters for once! its a well cemented story trust. NOW i know some of ya'll are getting sick of my obsession with the Blacks (i am too) & every OC of mine being one but i just love them too much + they're hella fun to use and points for power & backstory obvi.... soooo welcome to the birth of Leo Black ♡'･ᴗ･'♡ my sweet precious child. ok YES i know it looks like i'm bringing back the same character with a different name but Leo is a very different person compared to Atlas and they have veryyyyy different backstories. you'll see ;)

𓆗  anyways the summary is really shit but all rights to GOT for the coin flip summary/analogy - i have just taken it as inspiration because i felt like it fit for this story. anyways ik its like 😵‍💫confusing😵‍💫 the way ive written it & i honestly confused myself with it but i feel like thats the point, like the Blacks are pretty mysterious and the lack of info (ish) we have on them means i have some leeway in presenting them how i want (within reason) so for the sake of the HP audience not knowing them in detail, the Blacks will be perceived as a very secretive & mysterious family in the Wizarding World as well. however it is known that most pureblood families (especially the Blacks) are very powerful in ways where their power cannot be measured .... and it is best to leave them to their own devices so the world isn't left in ruins and war breaks out. but they do have very significant power over the Ministry & schools & the WW in general. so while this story is about the prophecy & Leo/Harry's relationship, i also wanted to delve deeper into the significant inequality & power inbalance between the purebloods and other magical beings + the extreme lengths they will go to to keep it..... ANYWAY back to the summary its basically just a very detailed and overdramatic notion on whether Leo will be good or bad, in simple terms, & how his fate is really only known by him. he's a very...morally grey character if we're going to put it like that. he does make mistakes(?) and decisions that will and do put people in danger and hurt them. especially Harry...so pretty angsty overall!

𓆗  Prisoner of Azkaban is where the book officially starts but i was thinking of writing a few 'pre-story' chapters that aren't really pre story but more like an introduction to Leo's dynamic /relationship with his peers, friends, the golden trio, family, etc etc. I was planning on doing this with a few one shots from years 1 & 2 of Leo at Hogwarts and the development of the dynamic between Harry & Leo so it looks like the relationship doesn't come out of nowhere. speaking of those two! their relationship is odd i guess...? they're not enemies and they're not friends but they're something in between ? they're kinda sitting in the grey area. they toe the line between allies/acquaintances at first but its all a bit complicated. as they are... but their relationship is not like the Malfoy/Potter one and Leo has never explicity hated Harry or physically expressed it ,,, bc he doesn't. however Leo is a slytherin and Harry is a gryffindor and yk the dynamic & prejudices between those two houses so their relation|friend ship is strained but when it starts to develop its an unspoken rule its supposed to be 'forbidden' and they never usually see eye to eye anyway due to Ron's influence on Harry about the Blacks & their reputation and how they're worse than the Malfoy's & Leo's own family & hatred of Harry + Draco's influence on Leo & sticking to him like a shadow which...causes problems later. its all just very complicated and makes a possible pariah out of Leo later on oops

𓆗  Trigger Warnings include—description of death, grief, implications of child abuse, graphic description of blood/gore, trauma, depiction of mental illness, drug usage, hallucination, torture, underage drinking, disassociation, ptsd, sexual innuendos, dark humour, violence

started: 23/9/2024
finished: tbd

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