Did you hear the news?
“Who do you have your money on?”
“Merlin save me, could you not surprise me like that?”
“But I’ve been sitting right here this entire time.”
“You nearly made me drop the goat tongue.”
Diana shot Andrew a glare as she gestured to the goat tongue pieces that were carefully arrayed on the cutting board. They were making a potion that required a goat tongue, but one that was evenly cut into seventeen pieces and placed into the cauldron at intervals of five minutes and thirty-three seconds.
They were only three pieces in, and she had nearly dropped a piece in too early. By Merlin she was not about to repeat this ridiculous excuse of a potion. Intervals of five minutes and thirty-three seconds? What kind of arbitrary number was this? She wondered if wizards just made it up as they went along.
“Well don’t hold it over the cauldron until the timer goes off.”
“Andrew, I swear on Morgana, I will not fail at making this damn potion. The timing between the timer going off and the goat tongue entering the cauldron has to be as short as possible, thus holding it over the concoction.”
“Diana, you do know that this potion is for extra credit. We don’t actually need to do this.”
Diana intensified her glare at Andrew. To her consternation, the boy didn’t cower in fear. How the hell did Albert get the desired reaction, but she couldn’t?
“This, extra credit, will give me the edge I need in beating Albert’s score in this class.”
“You’re already top of the class Diana. Professor Slughorn gives you points every class we have. I don’t even think you can get your grade any higher than it already is.”
“Thankfully I don’t have that kind of mindset. If I say I will beat Albert’s score, I will beat it.”
“You know some might see this as unhealthy.”
“You can tell those people fuck off. They don’t know what’s at stake here.”
The timer went off and Diana instantly dropped the goat tongue into the cauldron. The timer instantly started another five minute and thirty-three second countdown. Diana grabbed another piece of goat tongue and held it over the cauldron.
Four down, thirteen to go.
“If you’re stressing about this, I could do this for you?” Andrew said as he leaned back in his chair. Where had he even got the chair from? And why was he sitting? You’re supposed to stand for all potion making.
“Your reaction times are slower than mine.”
“Hey! I’ll have you know I almost made seeker this year.”
“Yeah, almost. I’m pretty sure Derekson was just salivating at the chance to put you on the team.”
“That was rather harsh, I fear you may have just injured my fragile ego.”
“I thought Derekson did that when he made Ogden the seeker.”
“Ooh, nice one. Anyway, I was just letting Chloe have a go at the position. Don’t want to crush any dreams you know?”
“She’s not going to go out with you because you let her have the spot, one that she clearly earned.”
Andrew sputtered and blushed at Diana’s comment.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no intention of dating her.”
“So why do you keep staring at her arse?”
“I do not stare at her nether regions.”
Diana scrunched her nose at that.
“Please, never refer to a lady’s arse as ‘nether regions’ again. You’re making it sound one hundred times more perverted.”
“Okay, I might need to work on my posh upper-class English. But I don’t stare at her arse.”
“I have eyes Andrew. You think I don’t notice you looking at her every time she passes by no matter what class we’re in?”
“Well, I-”
“And it just so helps that when you sit down, you’re at eye level with her arse.”
“That is just pure coincidence. One that I thank the gods for blessing me with.”
“And you wonder why she won’t go out with you.”
“She just doesn’t like my American good looks.”
Diana raised an eyebrow at that.
“The same good looks that you claim are irresistible?”
“Damn, I walked right into that one.”
“Yes you did.”
The timer went off and another goat tongue into the abyss.
“Do you think it’s because I’m America?”
“Andrew, your family has been living here since the start of the 20th century. You’re more British than American at this point.”
“Still, could that be the reason why?”
Diana didn’t know nor did she care as to the reason why Andrew kept failing at courting Ogden. She wasn’t close with Chloe, they were still on a last name basis, but she did know for a fact that the girl still held on to a rather childish infatuation with Corvus Black.
As if she had any real chance.
Diana would sooner move to Australia than Ogden getting with Corvus.
She obviously didn’t say any of this to Andrew.
“You being of American decent has nothing to do with it.”
“It could be my accent?”
“You don’t have an accent. You sound like every other British person here.”
“Maybe it’s the hair?”
“If you bothered to style it then maybe.”
“What if she doesn’t like brown haired people?”
“Ogden herself has brown hair.”
“Its not brown. She has a light bronze color.”
“The fact that you’ve taken the time to decern the exact shade of hair color she has is concerning.”
“It’s not concerning at all. I’m just… overly observant.”
“Sure… overly observant.”
Timer went off and another goat tongue into the cauldron.
“Anyway, back to the original question. Who do you have your money on?”
“Andrew, I don’t know what you’re talking about. If its quidditch, I couldn’t care less.”
“I’m not talking about quidditch, I’m talking about the honor duel.”
Honor duel? She hadn’t heard anything about that. Had she missed something while reading the Daily Prophet?
“What honor duel?” She asked.
“You haven’t heard? There’s going to be an honor duel between Clearwater and Umbridge.”
That was news to her. An honor duel between a lord in the Wizengamot and a high ranked Ministry worker. That could be interesting.
“I didn’t know you focused on the Wizengamot so closely.”
“Diana, what are you talking about? I’m talking about Fiona Clearwater and Dolores Umbridge, not their fathers.”
Her brain may have stopped for a second. There was an honor duel that was going to be happening between two students. Two students at Hogwarts.
“Is that even legal?”
“There’s the interesting part. Clearwater invoked right of magic when she demanded the honor duel. Technically, it has to happen, and rumor has it that there’s only a month to do it in.”
“How do you know its only a month deadline. Did Clearwater say that as part of her demand?”
“Okay, I wasn’t there. But I heard from some of the ravens that were there that Professor Flitwick checked over both Clearwater and Umbridge after the fact and discovered the deadline. Apparently magic likes things to be done in a timely fashion.”
Magic itself has a sense of time realative to humans?
“Well, that is certainly interesting.”
“Interesting? This is the most exciting thing that has happened all year! There’s talk about the duel happening at the quidditch pitch, so we could all watch.”
“That’s probably wrong. They wouldn’t just let us watch an honor duel.”
“Well why not? It was initiated on school grounds. Might as well finish it on school grounds as well.”
“There are politics involved as well. House Clearwater has a seat on the Wizengamot and Umbridge’s father works for the Ministry. Several bills are coming up for debate and an honor duel could swing alliances for whoever wins.”
Andrew was silent for a moment. The timer went off and another goat tongue entered the mix.
“This is bigger than Hogwarts, isn’t it?”
“Unfortunately. The whole thing will probably be dragged before the Wizengamot as well. Honor duels between students is mostly unheard of. This is uncharted territory Andrew.”
“So, you’re not going to bet on it?”
“No, I am not.”
“Snape, have you heard?”
Severus didn’t look up from his potions essay. He couldn’t care less about what Avery was talking about.
“Snape, are you listening?”
He continued to scratch at his essay. No need to entertain the idiot.
“Have you really not heard about the honor duel?”
Honor duel? That was interesting, though knowing Avery, the kid might have made the whole thing up just to drag him into a conversation.
“Avery, for the love of everything that is holy, would you shut up.” Severus said in a not to kind voice. This kid never stopped bugging him. Always going on about Corvus Black. What was the obsession with Black anyway?
“There’s to be an honor duel Snape, Right here at Hogwarts!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. No way that anything like that is going to happen here.”
Only an idiot would allow an actual duel to take place in a school full of children.
“But this is really happening! I overheard it fro-”
A bag colliding with one of the empty chairs at his table interrupted Avery. Thankfully the chair didn’t fall over. Severus didn’t need Madame Pince breathing down his neck any more than she already was.
“Avery, piss off, I need to talk to Sev.”
Oh, that’s a familiar voice. A friendly voice. One much better than Avery and his constant prattling.
Lily came up to the table and crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Avery. The boy in turn stared back, though his wasn’t nearly as commanding.
“Y-you can’t talk to me like that.”
“Avery, I can talk to you however I like, now piss off.”
Avery looked towards Severus, as if Severus would lift a finger for this kid. Slytherin protocol be damned.
“You heard the lady; we’ll continue our conversation later.” That was a good way to put Avery down.
The kid took the signs of the dismissal and promptly left, though not without frowning at Lily. After he was gone, she took the seat next to him and grabbed both of his shoulders.
“You’ve heard the news, right?”
“Uh… no?”
“Sev, Clearwater has demanded satisfaction through an honor duel on Umbridge. Apparently, Umbridge insulted Clearwater’s family.” Lily said while not breaking eye contact. Their faces were mere inches form one another.
So maybe Avery was speaking the truth. Severus would have to apologies to the kid later. Maybe.
“What did, uh… what did Umbridge say to Clearwater that sparked an honor duel?” He was actually curious.
“I don’t know the exact details, but I heard from one of the Gryffindor prefects that it was about how Clearwater’s father was corrupt. Like, taking bribes in exchange for votes kind of corrupt.”
Severus hissed at that. Accusing a Lord of bribery and corruption was no small thing, a Lord with a seat in the Wizengamot even less so. Severus was a Slytherin, so he knew the basics of the Wizengamot. The common room had a whole bulletin board dedicated to the latest developments surrounding anything that was related to the Wizengamot.
Even if Umbridge was not openly saying it, slander was still slander.
“When did this happen?” He had been in the library for a couple hours at this point. He wanted to hammer out all his homework so he could relax for the weekend.
“It happened like an hour ago. In the Big Tree Courtyard.”
Severus frowned at that name.
“Don’t you mean the Eastern Courtyard?”
“That’s the one with the big tree, right?”
“Yes, and it’s called the Eastern Courtyard. Because the tree points east, it’s the only courtyard that does that Lily.”
“Alright, I haven’t had time to memorize all the different courtyards and their names. The first time I was there, I saw a big tree, so it became the Big Tree Courtyard.”
“There’s like a giant plaque that says the name of each courtyard at the entrance.”
“Well, no one reads those.”
“Clearly.” He said with a deadpan expression. Lily saw this and swatted him on the arm, causing him to crack a grin.
“Look, Big Tree or Eastern, it doesn’t matter. What does it the fact that an honor duel was called there, and it was demanded by right of magic.”
Right of magic? Severus didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive, the prefect said that he felt the wave of magic that burst from Clearwater himself.”
“You do know what that means right?”
Lily scratched her head at that, before she stopped and just shrugged.
“Not really, but I know that its important.”
“Clearwater invoked right of magic. It means that she asked magic for its opinion, and it agreed. The honor duel is going to happen and there’s nothing that can stop it. Breaking a magical pact can have severe repercussions.”
“Woah, like… death?” Lily asked in a hushed voice.
“That depends on how the pact was made, as well as the wording. This is an honor duel, so death is probably off the table.”
Lily sighed at that.
“But loss of magic is still on the table however.” Severus said and watched Lily’s face turn into one of shocked sadness.
“That’s horrible.”
“Hopefully neither Clearwater nor Umbridge back out of the duel, because if they do the consequences would be dire, in a magical sense. There’s also the political side to take into account.”
“What do you mean political?”
Shit. How was he supposed to explain the inner workings of the Wizengamot to someone who has been in the wizarding world for only a couple months?
“Do you know what the Wizengamot is?” He asked.
“No, is it important?”
“Alright, you might want to take some notes. We’re going to be here for a while.”
“Aunty, can we go to the garden?”
Isabella looked down at her niece next to her and was met by those bright brown eyes. Those intelligent brown eyes. Though, there was a hint of mischief and cunning behind them as well. It was one of the reasons why Angelica was her favorite niece.
“Not yet dear, you still need to finish with your last chapter.”
The girl pouted and turned back to her book. She wanted her niece to keep her wits with her and not turn out like Isabella’s sisters. Her dear sisters had let the Dugommier money go to their heads, and it showed. They had a disconnect with the real world and unfortunately it was mostly passed on to their children as well.
Isabella’s nieces and nephews were good kids, though if you had to describe them in one word, spoiled came up more often than not.
She shuddered as she thought about her niece Clarissa and her wedding. That was an ordeal and a half and something that she wouldn’t want to repeat. She loved her nieces and nephews, though even love had its limits.
Isabella was just glad that her son had turned out for the better. Her darling boy was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Even with all his quirks and eccentricities he was still kind and thoughtful. Being magically powerful and smart as well as being a Black certainly helped.
Though, not being the Black Heir still irked her. Her Corvus deserved the best in life, and she was more than a little put out that he had lost the heirship to that bitch Walburga’s spawn. Oh, she knows she shouldn’t call them that, but they honestly deserved the names.
She wouldn’t lose any sleep if Walburga died. That uptight shit needed to be knocked down a few pegs. Sirius was tolerable, though his pranks and stunts had gotten old quickly. Adding to that was the fact that he openly went against the rest of the Black family just made him a disappointment in her eyes.
Was that cruel of her?
Maybe.
She looked over towards her nephew sitting next to Angelica. Regulus was a good boy, smarter than his brother, and he was opening up more and more with every moment he spent with Angelica. It was the same for her niece, the two of them building each other up.
She really did have to give credit to her son for suggesting the pair. She would have never thought about it to be honest. It did surprise her that her son had though. Corvus didn’t spend as much time with Angelica as he did his other cousins.
Whenever they went to France it was always the same. The girls would pester Corvus for any piece of gossip that he had about Britain and its wizarding families. They would also drag into Paris and not so subtly show him off to the French boys, and if it bothered him, he didn’t show it.
Corvus’ male cousins weren’t any better. They would drag him away and pester him about the girls in Britain and the gossip surrounding them. He would also be dragged to Paris, but for the purpose of allowing his cousins to meet girls as Corvus apparently gave off the foreign mystique.
He was always tied up with his cousins that were of his age, so he didn’t have that much time to interact with the younger ones. Or so Isabella thought. She couldn’t watch her son at all hours of the day after all, so it wasn’t unrealistic for him to spend an hour or two with them. Isabella just didn’t expect the amount of progress he would make during those few hours.
Though, Angelica and Regulus was a pair that she didn’t know had fit so well until she had seen it with her own two eyes.
She didn’t consider her son a romantic, he himself denied as much, but he seemed to play matchmaker for quite a few of his cousins.
It brought a smile to her face, and she sipped her tea as she looked back at her copy of the Imperial Gazette. Mmm… it seems that Delacour got himself a new wife and a veela too. She hoped that the girl scratched the cunts’ eyes out.
“Honey! I just received a most peculiar letter from Lavinia Greengrass of all people.”
Her husband walked into the sitting room with a curious look on his face and an opened letter in his hand.
Alphard Black was pushing forty and still looked as handsome as the day she met him. His hair may be graying slightly, and his face might have a bit more wrinkles, but he still looked beautiful in her eyes. It also helped that he had been exercising regularly with their son.
“Oh? Has he finally proposed to Octavia?”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Angelica and Regulus’ heads shoot up.
“I fear we are still waiting for that letter. No, this is about a situation at Hogwarts.”
“Our son hasn’t done anything too disastrous I hope.” Isabella tilted her head as Alphard gave her a kiss on the cheek and then settled into the seat next to her.
“Surprisingly, this isn’t about Corvus. Its about Fiona Clearwater and Dolores Umbridge.” Alphard sneered at the last part of the sentence and handed her the letter.
Lavinia’s handwriting was beautiful, though tiring to read. All the flourishes and loops weren’t necessary for something as trivial as this. On wedding invitations? Sure. Oh, there’s a thought. She wondered if Corvus and Octavia had started planning for their wedding or not. She’d have to ask the next time she saw them.
Though, the happy thoughts of weddings were soon replaced by something more intriguing. Honor duels and Rights of Magic, how very interesting. Dolores Umbridge has insulted Fiona Clearwater and her family on rumors of corruption and bribery for the Clearwater Lord. Isabella could already picture the yelling and screaming at the next Wizengamot session.
Maybe they should attend that one. Just to see what would happen.
“Well, this is certainly peculiar.” She said and handed the letter off to Angelica. There was nothing harmful for children in the letter. Just the latest gossip and mentions of corruption and possible murder.
“I’m not sure if I believe the accusations leveled against Lord Clearwater. He’s firmly in the light faction and these claims that Umbridge is making sound preposterous.” Alphard said.
“There are always rumors floating around. Umbridge might be on to something, or there’s another motive here.”
“There is the Creature Rights Bill that Dumbledore is trying to push. Clearwater is a supporter of the bill, and if these accusations are true, it could delegitimize the entire thing.”
“Umbridge means to kill the bill before it reaches a vote?” Regulus asked.
The adults turned towards him, and the boy did shrink in on himself, but only just a little. More confident than he was a week ago, Isabella thought.
“Possibly, the Umbridges have no vote in the Wizengamot. So, this could be their way of influencing things.” Alphard said.
“But to fight an honor duel?” Angelica said as she looked at the letter.
“That might have been an unintended consequence on Umbridge’s part. Who could have known that Clearwater would demand satisfaction by right of magic?”
“Corvus would. He’s friends with Fiona.” Regulus said, confidence in his voice.
“He would, though I do have to wonder how he’s handling this. There is a conflict of interest here.” Alphard said.
“There is?”
“Aye. He’s best friends with Clearwater and in the same house as Umbridge. Slytherins stick together Reggie, though to hear Corvus tell it. There are exceptions to the rule.”
“I wonder how he’s handling it.” Isabella said.
Knowing her son, he was probably pacing around or breaking something.
Maybe both at the same time.