The Lestrange Wedding
The rest of the school year was moving quickly and steadily. Exams were almost over, bringing everyone in the castle into high spirits.
Eryn and his friends had decided to go down to the lake to enjoy the outdoors after their final test. Though after a while Eryn had had to resort to sitting under a shade cast by a tree to keep his skin from burning.
He watched them walking around in the sun as he rubbed against a burn that had started forming on his arm. It didn’t hurt much, but he didn’t want his friends to worry about him. Or think much about him being a vampire in general. If they thought about it too much they would start being scared of him. It was better if they just forgot about it.
“Out here alone?”
Eryn looked up. It was Lucius. He sat down on the grass next to Eryn, who hugged his knees to his chest.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. It’s just the sun, my friends are over there”, he gestured across the grounds.
The two boys sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the breeze.
“I saw the burn marks on Crouch’s wall. He told me they marked yours too”.
“That’s right”.
“Do you know who did it?”
“Doesn’t matter. Why should I react more? They already got what they wanted”.
“Hm. That’s a way to look at it”.
Eryn crossed his legs and looked to Lucius.
“Do you want something or did you just come here to bother me?”
“I do want something, actually”, said Lucius. “Where can I find you over the summer? Narcissa mentioned some traveling”.
“Bellatrix is having her wedding, she’s probably going to invite loads of people so I might see you there. Apart from that we’re trying to visit our sister, she lives near the Secret Society.
“Why do you want to know, anyway?”
Lucius shrugged.
“I just want to see you”.
***
Before they knew it they were back home for the summer holidays. Bellatrix’s wedding was set for the end of June.
It was all Bella and their mother would talk about. Obviously, this was one of the most important events of the year, at least in their eyes. This united two of the most influential pureblood families.
But of course to Eryn it was all quite boring.
He supposed he was happy for his sister, this was what she’d always wanted after all. But he couldn’t help feeling the same way he always did about events like this, they only served to him as a painful reminder of the family he was never truly a part of.
The day arrived quickly. Eryn sat in Narcissa’s room while she combed his hair.
“I can’t wait for this to be over”, he said dully.
“Me too, this is all too much of a hassle in my opinion. I’d never want this much thought to go into my wedding, especially if it was someone I didn’t even love”.
“I hope Bella’s happy after all this”.
“Mhm. Your hair’s gotten quite long, hasn’t it?”
“I like it”, Eryn said, turning towards the mirror on Narcissa’s vanity and running his hand through his hair. It fell a few inches below his collarbone. “I think it suits me”.
“You look nice, but father’ll probably make you cut it soon”.
“Probably, but I’ll worry about that later”.
Narcissa smiled. “We better get going”, she said looking at the clock. “It’s going to start soon”.
As expected Eryn found the ceremony quite dull. He’d been to enough Black weddings to have any wonder taken out of them.
Afterward, though, he spotted Sirius and his brother Regulus against a wall away from all their relatives.
“Eryn!” Sirius exclaimed when he saw him.
“Sirius!”
They spent a few minutes catching up and being introduced to Regulus until someone else joined their group.
“Hey, Malfoy”.
“Eryn”.
Lucius looked between Sirius and Eryn.
“I still can’t believe how much you two look alike”.
“Been hearing that a lot recently. How are you?”
“Good. Did you and Narcissa get accepted for that program at the Secret Society?”
“Yeah, we’re leaving next week, why?”
“Just wondering. I might write to you, if I get the chance”.
They stuck together until the wedding celebrations were over; just talking and enjoying each other’s company.
Eryn laid awake that night thinking of Lucius. Why were they so drawn to each other? Eryn was still certain that Lucius wasn’t queer, and if he was, why would he go for him? What did Eryn have to offer that some pureblood wizard from a different family didn’t?
The thoughts weighed him down like a locket around his throat. He was beginning to realize that Pandora was right, and Eryn did fancy Lucius. But deep down he knew it would never happen, it would never work out how he wanted it to; no matter how hard he tried.