Chapter 5
Mom sighed and held me tighter for a moment before letting go. "We'll talk more in the morning, okay? Let's put you to bed. Draco, you're going to bed too," Mom said.
"Blaise, you too," Thema said and Mom took me to my room.
"Mommy? Promise you're not mad at me?" I asked in a small voice. Draco, Mom and Dad are the only ones who have ever made me feel insecure about anything. While Draco loves me, he struggles with processing his emotions a lot, so he lashes out at me as much as others. It's why he almost always does as I tell him. It's his way of making it up to me. At least, that's what he's told me. And Mom and Dad... Are my parents. Of course, I value their opinions more than everyone else, other than my Brothers. I value them the same amount.
"I promise, Star. I love you," Mom said as she helped me pick out my pyjamas. I got changed and she tried to tuck me in but I stopped her.
"Stay. Please," I quietly said.
"Ok, Baby," Mom said and she got in with me. I fell asleep in her arms. At one point, I woke up hearing Mom talking to Thema so I just whispered for them to please be quiet and for Thema to join us.
...
I woke up cuddled between Mom and Thema. Mom was awake and smiling at us. I blushed a little and quickly cuddled closer to her, hiding my face so she couldn't see my blush. I've always felt connected to Mom and Thema due to our Auras being the same colour. Mom and I talked about it on my tenth birthday. Her Sisters, Andromeda and Bellatrix, also have the same colour. There are a few others they know too. Mom said that Rita Skeeter, Alecto Carrow and Minerva McGonagall all have the same light blue as us. Alecto and Auntie Bella were together just like Mom and Thema. Her thoughts had told me that a few times Auntie Bella and Alecto would sleep with Rita Skeeter too. However, Mom and my Aunts were closest. They were inseparable and dated each other. A lot of people, including their Parents, weren't okay with this as they're Sisters. However, a lot of our family and the Sacred 28 were as incest is common, especially if your Magic is that compatible that you have the exact same Aura shade. "Morning, Baby," Mom whispered and I blushed more.
"Morning, Mom," I whispered back as Thema cuddled closer to me in her sleep. When I'd asked Mom why we were talking about it, she'd told me it was important as we had the same Aura colour and that it was possible in the future we'd be interested in dating each other. I'd refused to talk about the topic further than how people would react if that happened as she's my Mom. Apparently, since our Aura is the exact same shade, those who are proper members of society and follow the old traditions would be fine with it, happy even as exact shade matches are supposed to be rare (though they happen a lot for the Black Family according to Mom). However, those who don't may say some really horrible things about it, especially since Mom is married. Dad had told me that that's why his and Mom's real relationships (and Sev's spying) weren't announced. They didn't want anyone to say anything about it as they thought Draco and I were too young to know as they were supposed to be married.
"What's the time?" Thema groaned.
"About nine," Mom replied and Thema groaned again. Mom and I chuckled. Thema's not a morning person and she fully believes no one should be awake before eleven unless they have something important like school or work. A sudden thought popped into my head and I grinned.
"Mom..."
"Yeah, Baby?"
"I have a question for you."
"What is it, Star?" Mom asked.
"Well, I'm the Head of House for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black now, right?"
"Yes, Star."
"And before the reason you and Dad couldn't get divorced was because you were only Regent Black as my Mother after I was born and Regents can't do anything without permission from the Head of House other than sit in the Wizengamot Seats and the last Head of House was Regulus after Orion died and your Father convinced him not to let you get divorced just as he had convinced Orion to make you and Bellatrix get married and disown Andromeda, right?"
"Yes, Star, why?"
"Well, now I'm Head of House, can't I help you get divorced?" Mom froze for a moment.
"We should discuss this with your Father present, Star. Draco, Severus and Blaise too. This is important." I nodded and the three of us got up. Mom and Thema left for their room and I got changed into my black trousers, shoes, blazer and bowtie with a white shirt on and went to breakfast. Draco quickly joined me and groaned.
"Seriously? How many bowties do you own?"
"Oh, shut up, Draco. Bowties are cool."
"No, they're not." I stuck my tongue out at him and I smelt Mom's Magic getting closer. Draco was clearly paying less attention than me as he stuck his tongue out back.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy, if you do not put that tongue away right now, you won't have one!" Draco quickly put it away and glared at me before sitting down at the head of the table. I smirked at him as I sat on his right before realising Mom was looking at me and I gave her an innocent smile. She rolled her eyes and sat down next to me. Thema came in with Blaise and sat next to Mom with Blaise sitting opposite her. A few moments later, Uncle Sev and Dad came in. Dad sat on Draco's left and Uncle Sev sat between him and Blaise. "Cassie has something important for us to discuss after breakfast." They all nodded and we ate our breakfast before we went to Dad's office and sat in the same seats as last night. "Go ahead, Star."
"You've mentioned to us before that the reason you and Dad haven't gotten divorced is because your Marriage Contract needs the agreement of both the Malfoy Head of House and the Black Head of House. However, now that I've claimed my title as the Black Head of House and Draco is the Malfoy Head of House, we can grant your divorce... Right?" Draco, Blaise, Sev and Dad looked shocked while Mom and Thema looked happy, curious and nervous at the same time.
"Cassie, even if Draco would be willing just as you are--" Draco cut Mom off.
"I am. If that's what you and Dad want, I'd gladly help with this... As long as everyone continues to live here. I don't want anyone moving," Draco said in a small voice and Mom and Dad jumped to make him feel better.
"Of course, they'll stay here!" Dad exclaimed as he pulled Draco onto his lap and Mom hugged Draco before sitting on the arm of Dad's armchair and placing her hand on his shoulder.
"We're not going anywhere, Draco. I promise. Even if we got divorced, no one's going anywhere," Mom said.
"However, it's not that simple," Dad said. "Proper members of society will understand and very much support us getting divorced. Everyone else, however, would not and you'd face a lot of verbal abuse for it. Not everyone is okay with people getting divorced and children especially may try to use it against you."
"We don't want to put you through that, Dragon, Star," Mom said. "I know how strong you both are but I don't want you to go through something like this at such a young age..."
"Maybe in a few years, when your Father comes back, Cassie, and we can announce our true relationships, then we will get divorced. Unless you'd rather do it now, Cissy?"
"No, you're right. Besides, other than in public, in which we can get away with not having to be too affectionate as we're proper Purebloods, and in private everyone already knows so it doesn't really matter other than announcing our relationships and we agreed years ago that Thema and I would only announce our relationship when you, The Dark Lord and Severus could announce yours," Mom said.
"Okay, then," I said with a smile as I cuddled close to Thema and pulled Blaise over to cuddle with us too. I would try to get Uncle Sev to cuddle as well but I've only ever seen him cuddle with Dad... I'll try some other day. "So, are we going to talk more about Andromeda, her Daughter and my Seats now before going to The Daily Prophet to announce my titles, other than the ones I got from my Father?" Mom and Thema froze and Dad winced.
"I guess now's as good a time as ever and we do need to go to The Daily Prophet, especially since we didn't yesterday and you want to buy into it..." Mom reluctantly said.
"We don't have to if you don't want to, Mom," I said. "I can choose someone else to--"
"No. They're your Seats, it's your choice and you're right about them being family," Mom said. "It's just, Andy-" Mom sighed. "As you're well aware, Andy, Bella and I were together when we were younger. Bella and Andy started dating the summer before Andy's fifth year and Bella's seventh when Bella was 17 and Andy was 15. During my fourth year, only a few months after I turned 15, I joined their relationship. At that point, Andy had recently turned 17 and Bella was 19 and it was her first year out of Hogwarts. Because of it, Andy and I spent more time together than Bella did with either of us. However, during the Christmas holiday after that, when Andy was in her seventh year, we found out that Bella had started seeing Alecto too. We knew she and Alecto had slept together a few times, even with Rita as well, when she was in school and they'd both joined the Death Eaters but it had still come as a surprise to us since we were still together and she hadn't mentioned it before even though it had started only about a week after we went back to Hogwarts."
"Andromeda didn't take it well," Thema said and Mom snorted.
"That's an understatement," Mom said. "Thema and I had been getting closer, though we hadn't even kissed at that point and Andy... She went off on us claiming we were both cheating on her and that we were treating her horribly knowing she didn't have any connection with someone else other than us and it wasn't fair and-" Mom sighed again. "We felt bad but we couldn't help it. When your Magic connects with someone like that it's almost impossible to resist the pull, though some do manage it. She claimed we didn't love her, that we'd been using her and she ended things with us. We tried to tell her it wasn't like that but... Andy just wouldn't listen to us. She even tried requesting a Re-Sorting but because she was already a seventh year it wasn't allowed. She started spending less and less time in the Common Room to the point she even moved all of her stuff out, I don't know where she was sleeping..."
"Probably with Ted," Sev said and Mom looked hurt, pissed and heartbroken. "Sorry, Narcissa."
"Fucking Tonks!" Mom yelled. "About two months before the end of the school year, I caught them kissing in the library. You should've seen the look on Andy's face when she realised I saw. I've never seen Andy look so smug that she'd hurt someone before let alone me or Bella... It was just awful."