Birthday Party
Next Sunday, in front of Grimmauld 12
"Is this the place?" Apolline asked her mother as they stood in front of a house overgrown with vines and a surprisingly nice front garden.
"It is." Her mother said and went forward to knock on the door.
After half a minute the door was opened by a kind looking man in a comfy looking black sweater. Said man had a mug in his hand and a smile on his face.
"Hello! The Delacours I presume?" He asked and took a sip from his mug.
"Yes. Charlotte Delacour, it's nice to meet you mister..." She said and extended her hand for a handshake.
"Remus, Remus Black. And the pleasure is mine." He answered as he shook the extended hand. Then he did the same with the others."Please come in, the others are in the ballroom."
Saying so he opened the door wider and let them in. Once they removed their shoes he led them towards the ballroom, that was on the third floor.
Meanwhile the Delacour family was looking around and taking in the decoration of the place. The silver and emerald-green wallpapers, the magical portraits of different magical creatures, and of course the casually displayed artifacts. That their host didn't seem one bit worried they might try to take. Not that they would.
All in all, the wealth and prestige of the family was displayed everywhere in the house, even if it looked well lived in by its inhabitants. As evident by the various small imperfections of the furniture and decoration. A small chipping here, a little stain there or an obviously out of place item here and there.
If you only judge the place by the surface that is. But if you try and sense it magically then you are in for a rude awakening.
For every item, furniture, simply everything in the house was oozing dark magic. The air too was heavy with it and made it difficult to breath. It felt like you would suffucate on the magic permeating the house it is so thick. In fact if one concentrates long enough then they could taste it even.
And because of that the house feel almost hostile for anyone and anything entering it, if they are not dark or grey aligned magicals that is.
"Don't worry too much. The house has this effect on everyone who comes here for the first time." Remus said as he noticed their somewhat wary expression.
"One can get used to this?" Apolline asked a little shocked.
"Well, it's just outsiders that are affected." Remus started with a shrug."To the Blacks it feels just like heaven as what you feel is the family magic that seeped into the walls and items. But most of the time it only takes an hour or so to get used to the atmosphere, as it takes approximately that much time for the family magic to determine your relationship with the family." He finished his explanation.
"I see. Any tips?" Mister Delacour asked, hopefully.
"None. But if by the end of the day Arcturus didn't bring out his zweihander then you are good. Probably." He said with a smirk.
"He doesn't really have a zweihander does he?" Fleur spoke up, for the first time.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Remus said with a mischievous smile. Which little to disperse their fears.
And all too soon, according to Apolline, they arrived at the ballroom. The ballroom followed the green and silver colour theme of the other parts of the house and was big enough to house at least five hundred people. Although the decoration inside were somewhat barebones. There was a table at the far wall where the presents were deposited, and a banner above the fireplace with a simple happy birthday written on it.
The remaining members of the Black family were in front of said fireplace chatting and drinking. Or in the case of children playing with a tabletop game. Although that ended when they noticed the newcomers.
Remus on his part left them to their fate and walked over to his husband, plopped down into his lap and himself comfortable.
"Kids, why don't you take Fleur and show her around?" Arcturus said with a smile. With a shrug they did so and dragged Fleur out of the room.
And the atmosphere changed the moment they left. The smiles of nearly everyone vanished and the air became tense. Although said atmosphere were broken quickly as Kreacher popped in with a horribly smelling sandwich which he gave to Regulus, then turned to the guests.
"Can Kreacher bring you anything?"
"Tea for everyone, please." At Charlotte's answer he just nodded and vanished.
"Reg! To all that is magic, what are you eating?!" Sirius complained while pinching his nose.
"Pickled griffin liver, mayo and some grilled shrimp. Why, want some?" The visibly pregnant Regulus asked his brother,
"No! Why would I?! It literally smells like shit!"
"Your loss, it's quite good."
"Did Cissy have a diet like this too, Lucy?" Remus asked, while spelling away his sense of smell.
"Not this extreme, but there were some...interesting combinations she tried out." Lucius answered as he was doing the same. And earning himself a glare from his wife.
"And this is one of the reasons I am happy to be single." Bella added with a cackle.
"You can lie to yourself as much as you want sister dear, but we all know how much you want to find your witch already." Andy retorted with a smirk.
"Ignore them. They will be going at it for a while. Check, by the way." Barty said as he looked up from his game of wizard's chess with Ted. As the voices of the others got louder and louder.
"I see. Mister?" Apolline hazarded.
"Bartemius Crouch, the younger. Call me Barty, everyone does." He said, pausing the game once again.
"Edward Tonks. Nice to meet you." His partner said and asked his knight to move.
"Apolline Delacour, my husband Francois and my mother Charlotte." She introduced themselves.
"You can sit down without worry. Kreacher already destroyed their plan to intimidate you." Barty said, which earned him a stinging hex from Bella.
But he just continued to play without giving any visible sign of even feeling it. They then spent the next ten or so minutes with talking the two of them, when the others finished their bickering and Arcturus asked Apolline to accompany him.
And that is how she found herself in front of the Black Family Tapestry and looking at her daughter's portrait on it.
"I know mine and my family's reputation, but I promise we are better than the papers make us out to be." Arcturus said as he sat down.
"Do forgive me if I don't take that at face value." Apolline bit back."My mother said your children were overtaken by the Black Madness. What is that?" She added quietly.
"Its forgiven." He said with a smirk."As for the Black Madness, that is a long story."
"We have time, no?" She said and sat down, opposite him.
"Few knows that we, the Blacks, are related to the strongest witch to ever exist Morgana Le Fay. Even fewer knows that Morgana didn't become insane out of the blue, but because an experiment that went wrong. And the resulting madness was something that she unfortunately passed down onto her descendants.
And every member of the family is infected with said madness. Although everyone is affected to a different degree. My children unfortunately got the short end of the stick. Anything else you wish to know?" He finished his explanation.
"Toujours Pur." Apolline said quietly.
"Ah, the family motto. What about it?" He said with a confused frown.
"Your family is well-known for only marrying other purebloods. Fleur is a veela." Apolline stated the obvious.
"Oh, that? It's a misunderstanding." He waved away her concerns."Originally it meant as purely magical. So any being with magical origins, although the pureblood part is important to the family too, but mostly because of our inheritance and marriage rules. I take it you are familiar with the blood purifying rituals?" At her hesitant nod he continued."We have been using those rituals to circumvent said rules.
Take Remus for example. He was a halfblood werewolf before his ritual. After that he became a pureblood, which was acceptable in the eyes of the family magic, because he became a being who both has magic in his veins and has a purely magical bloodline.
Not that Fleur would have to go through that, she is already a pureblood veela after all."
"I...see." She said with a sigh.
The rest of the after afternoon was spent by the two of them laying down the basics of Helia's and Fleur's courtship. Although it was just a draft and they agreed to revise it next week. They then went to eat dinner after which they left. Only after Helia opened her presents, of course.