Pandora's Ring
Their engagement spread like a wildfire in a forest drenched with gasoline. And the one who ignited the fire was none other than Walburga Black. She sent the message to all the newspaper and magazine publishers. And after a day, Pandora and Regulus' engagement was the headline of every bewspaper, the cover of every magazine, and the talk of the town. Pandora knows that Mrs. Black did it to show their power, especially that the two most respectable pureblood families are uniting as one because of her engagement with Regulus, and it will strengthen more the power of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. A Rosier and a Black uniting as one, nobody saw it coming, and that makes Walburga happier than ever. She is beaming with pride, knowing that her useless son seems not to be that useless after all.
After everyone knew that Sirius had run away, not knowing the real reason why, everyone made their own speculations, tarnishing the House of Black. Walburga never really cared about the opinions of others, especially those who were lower than her.
And who is higher than the House of Black?
NO ONE.
So she really doesn't care about anyone, not even those who are members of the House of Black.
But when Sirius ran away from home, the perfect heir that she had perfected since the boy was born, it caused a little bit of a blow to her ego. She perfected him with curses and other painful ways to instill perfection and discipline. Because what's wrong with a little shed of blood and pain if you'll achieve perfection, right?
She made them learn other languages, musical instruments, and dances. Walburga paid attention to Sirius; she gave him her time, yet the boy ran away from her? Like he wasn't grateful for being perfect because of his mother.
And so she became stricter with Regulus, her spare. She hates him; he always stayed in his room reading a book about birds and stars when he was young. He got perfect grades in all of his subjects at Hogwarts, but he is nowhere near Sirius. After all, it was Sirius who raised Regulus. And if Sirius, whom Walburga raised, was able to defy her, then what more of Regulus, who was raised by his brother?
And to remove all the influence Sirius had on Regulus, she became more strict with him, and after a few years, Regulus is now the perfect heir of Black. And he is engaged to Pandora Rosier, a pureblood, making Walburga feel a little bit proud of her son.
Everything is now going according to her perfect plan.
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Pandora doesn't really like being the talk of the town, but she is hoping that her engagement with Regulus will reach James and Sirius. She can't wait to see their reaction, especially James'.
How would they react? Pandora was imagining the looks on the faces of Sirius and James when someone sat beside her.
"How are you, Mrs. Black?" It was Barty, he was late, and he was already teasing her.
"More than fine, Mr. Crouch," she leaned closer to him. "I couldn't call you Mr. Rosier since you're just my brother's best friend." Pandora grinned when Barty scowled at her. That's what you get from teasing me. "Anyways, look at my ring! My darling Reggie made it for me." She then proceeded to show Barty her ring.
"Looks plain to me," Barty commented.
She sighed. "That's why you will never be my brother's boyfriend, Crouch. You don't have a taste."
"Will you please stop saying that?" Barty said before looking around. "What if he'll hear you?" He whispered.
She just rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, please! My brother is stupid. And who cares if he hears me? We've been saying to him that you like him, yet look at him. He still thinks that you see him as a friend."
"Because I see him as a friend! It was only you and Dorcas who kept on saying that we like each other more than friends," Barty argued.
"Yeah, you're also stupid. Come on, Barty, just compliment my ring and stop saying nonsense things and lying to yourself, okay?" Pandora once again showed her ring to Barty. Her ring is so gorgeous that everyone should compliment it.
"Looks like trash to me, Rosier." It was Mulciber this time; he's with his 'gang'.
"Meh! Compared to you? My ring looks better compared to you Mulciber. And what do you even know about beautiful things? You can't even make yourself presentable, have you seen your face in the mirror today? You look like a dead rat, Mulciber." Pandora bites back. She hates Mulciber, a good-for-nothing man who keeps on pestering her fiance. An attention seeker.
Barty laughed at Pandora before glaring at his classmate. "You heard the lady Mulciber. Leave before she starts talking about your parents."
Mulciber was about to talk; his face was more red than usual when Snape whispered something to him, and they left immediately. And Evan and Regulus entered their compartment. They were currently on the train to Hogwarts. Evan and Regulus went to the comfort room, while Dorcas was somewhere on the train with her girlfriend.
"Why was Mulciber here?" Evan asked Pandora as he sat down beside Barty while Regulus sat down beside her. Barty changed seats when he saw Regulus and Evan. He figured out that Regulus may want to sit down beside Pandora since they are already engaged.
"Oh, he was just complimenting my ring because Barty can't do it," she answered before glaring at Barty.
"Yes! Your ring is so pretty! Are we okay now?" Barty rolled his eyes.
"Pretty? That's it? Don't you have eyes, Barty? Or you don't know any other adjectives to describe my ring?"
"Your ring is out of this world, twin, that's why Barty can't find the right words to describe it." Evan interjected to stop his sister's craziness.
"And he settled for 'pretty'? He—" Pandora stopped talking when she felt a head on her shoulder. Regulus fell asleep. "Okay, no more talking! My fiance must sleep peacefully."
Their journey to Hogwarts was somewhat peaceful since Barty decided to tease Pandora and her ring. Evan decided to just stay silent because he couldn't choose between his best mate and his twin sister. He can't choose because the two are both crazy; he'd rather die than come between the two when they are insulting one another. As for Regulus, he was asleep, and Pandora didn't bother waking him up since she knew that he was exhausted as hell.
Pandora was smiling from ear to ear when they were walking in the hallway to the great hall because everyone was complimenting her ring and her engagement with Regulus. However, she was still waiting to see James, and she wasn't disappointed when she saw James glaring at her when they arrived at the great hall. She waved her left hand at him, making sure that James could see her engagement ring.
She then smiled at him. Sucks to be you, Potter. She mouthed before smiling sweetly when she saw the hatred in Potter's eyes.