Corvus Black and the Timeline

Narcissa was just able to push Lucius away as the door to the room crashed open.

“Cissy! You’re not going to belie-er… uh, am I interrupting something?”

“We locked the door for a reason Andy.” Narcissa said to her sister as she went about straightening her clothes. Lucius had only been able to get her tie off as well as undoing three of the buttons on her shirt. Their robes were scattered along the floor and their shoes abandoned near the bed.

Shit.

This was worse than when Corvus caught her and Lucius in an actual broom closet. At least that time was just a snogging session, for which her cousin had given them both a verbal reprimand, and a lesson on the proper use of the locking ward.

This situation was worse.

They were in Andromeda’s room, and dammit she was jealous that the seventh-year Slytherin’s got their own rooms, on her bed and in the process of undressing. Lucius was on one side of the bed without his button shirt and undershirt. He was more lean than muscular, but just the way she liked it.

Narcissa herself was on the opposite side of the bed. She looked down and noticed that Lucius had not so much as unbuttoned her shirt as ripped it open in the heat of the moment. Her blonde hair must have looked rather out of order and her makeup would need some touching up. As evidence to the fact that Lucius had a surprising amount of red lipstick marks in the form of her lips on his face, she probably needed more than a touch up.

Well, at least this wasn’t as bad as the third-year incident. The less said about that the better.

“This is my room if you haven’t noticed.” Andromeda said.

“You were supposed to be in the library for another two hours at minimum.”

“How do you- no, that’s not the point. What I’m more concerned about is what I just walked in on. You said you needed to use my room to study.”

“Technically you could say I was studying Lu-”

“Stop! I’ve already heard a similar excuse used by both Corvus and Octavia. Though this is making me think about another point. How long have you two been doing this?”

“Studying together?” Lucius asked.

“What? No, that’s irrelevant. I want to know how long you two having been having sex on my bed!”

Both Narcissa and Lucius sputtered at that, and she was fairly sure that they were both blushing as well.

“That, is not what we were doing.” Narcissa said. Shit, she could feel the blush in the tips of her ears.

“Cissy, you’re as red as a tomato right now. Lucius isn’t any better.” Andromeda sighed with her hands on her hips.

“We-”

“Stop.” Andromeda held up a hand. “Before you continue. Do you at least change the sheets after you’re done?”

“Yes.” Narcissa and Lucius both said together. Come on, they weren’t barbarians.

Her sister sighed as she took the chair from her desk, flipped it around, sat down, and looked at them with a with a frown.

“I’m thankful for that as well as confirming the truth. But guys, do you have to do it on my bed?”

“Well, we can’t exactly do it in the dorms.” Lucius said.

“But my bed?!”

“You said I could use your room for anything I needed when you weren’t here.” Narcissa pointed out.

“And sex was the first thing that came to mind?!”

“Well, not at first, but after we finished studying, one thing led to another, and…” Narcissa mumbled the rest to hide her embarrassment.

“But my bed? There was nowhere else?”

“There aren’t that many private places at Hogwarts.”

Andromeda sighed and looked at Lucius.

“Would you put a shirt on already and Cissy, you could have used Corvus’ room.”

“What?! That’s a horrible idea. I’d rather not mentally scare my cousin.” Narcissa couldn’t think of a worst place to have sex at.

“Like you’ve mentally scared me?” Andromeda said with a raised eyebrow.

“You didn’t even see anything.” She looked down at herself again to make sure nothing was exposed.

“Could you guys help me find my buttons? I uh… seem to have lost them.” Lucius said as he had a nervous smile on.

Narcissa looked towards him, and she saw that he had his undershirt on already and his button shirt was in his hands. All of the buttons were ripped off and that made her blush again. Maybe she had been a little more forceful when she took the shirt off him.

Andromeda palmed her face as she took her wand out and waved it. several buttons came flying from where they were scattered on the floor to her.

“You two are starting to make me wonder how much time that is claimed for studying is actual studying.”

The buttons were deposited into blushing Lucius’ hand and Andromeda went to the nightstand and took out a bottle.

A bottle and a shot glass.

“Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?”

“Shut it you. I just walked in on my baby sister having sex, and I need to drink to cope with the oncoming mental scares.” Her sister poured a shot and threw it back at once, with only a slight grimace after.

“I’m only a year younger than you.” Narcissa pouted.

“Beside the point.”

“Is that Ogden’s Finest?” Lucius asked as he noticed the bottle.

“Yeah, and no, you can’t have any.” Andromeda said and poured herself another shot.

“Can I have some and how’d to you even get that? You’re too young to buy alcohol.” Narcissa asked.

“How’d you get it in the school?” Lucius asked.

“No, you can’t have some. No, I didn’t buy it. And no, I didn’t get it in the school.”

“But-”

“Corvus got me it and that’s all you need to know.”

Dammit, she should really ask Corvus to join his next Triumvirate meeting. Narcissa was willing to bet it had something to due with how he was able to smuggle alcohol into the school.

“Alright, well, what did you want to tell me before all this happened?” Narcissa thought that was a great way to change topics.

“Oh, don’t think this is the end of this conversation. But we have more pressing things at hand. Clearwater has forced an honor duel on Umbridge.” Andromeda said as she put the bottle and shot glass away.

Narcissa wrinkled her nose at mention of Umbridge.

“Forced into?” Lucius asked.

“Clearwater claimed right of magic.”

Both Narcissa and Lucius gasped at that. An honor duel called by right of magic. What in the name of Morgana did Umbridge do?

Apparently, the question was written on their faces as Andromeda provided the answer.

“Umbridge slandered the Clearwater family. She claimed that Lord Clearwater was taking bribes in exchange for votes. I also heard that Lord Clearwater had a mistress as well, but this is all hearsay.”

“It’s not like there isn’t corruption in the Wizengamot. That’s like saying the sky isn’t blue.” Lucius said.

“Well, whether or not its true, slander is still slander. Clearwater didn’t take that lightly and is using an honor duel to regain her family’s reputation.”

 “They won’t actually let this go through though, right?” Narcissa asked.

“Who’s they?”

“The professors.”

“They have no power in this.” Lucius said while shaking his head. “This honor duel was called through right of magic. I would guess that there is a time frame in which the duel must happen, and that can’t be longer than three months. Also, its more than likely that the Wizengamot will get involved.”

“Why would they bother? This is just an honor duel.” Andromeda said.

“An honor duel between two opposing sides of the political spectrum. The Clearwaters and Umbridges disagree on almost all political topics. There’s also the fact that the Clearwaters are a light family, while the Umbridges are officially grey, but lean more towards the dark. Also, they’re both still students, and thus children.”

“The press is going to have a field day with it.” Narcissa said. She could already imagine what the headline would look like. Light vs. Dark, or something along those lines.

“Wait, when did this happen?” Lucius asked.

“Like forty minutes ago.”

“Has the common room exploded yet?” Narcissa asked.

“Why would the common room explode?” Andromeda looked confused.

“Because… there might be several different plans that Corvus had going that are now effectively ruined.”

It dawned on Andromeda, and she ran a hand down her face as she sighed.

“Shit, it might be good to stay here for a while.”

Bellatrix swung with all her force. Her glove impacted the punching bag with a loud smack. It swayed back on the chain that attached it to the ceiling and as it swung back towards her, she swung again. This time she followed it up with two other swings, one right after the other.

Right hook. Left hook. Right hook again. Dodge to the side and another left hook. Back to starting position for another right hook.

She had momentum and she wasn’t going to lose it now.

“I don’t see the point in all this.”

Bellatrix ignored the accented voice and swung again. She kept her eyes on the bag and nothing else. It didn’t matter what the other girl was saying.

“It just seems so muggle.”

One last punch to the bag before Bellatrix completely lost the momentum. She caught the bag as it swung back and forth and sent the other girl a look.

One of Corvus’ cousins, Béatrice, or was this Brigitte, decided to come along and see what Bellatrix did every day for a couple hours.

Apparently, boxing wasn’t what was expected at all. Did they think she would be doing something girly all day?

“This is a form of exercise. That’s what I do here.” Bellatrix said as she used her magic to undo the laces of her gloves, because the other girl wouldn’t know the first thing to do.

“But this is a muggle form. I thought you didn’t like them?”

This was definitely Brigitte Dugommier. The girl’s twin sister was actually dating a muggle and the two of them lived together in Reims. Bellatrix frowned at the fact that she knew all of that. She was spending too much time around Corvus’ cousins.

“Yes, this is a muggle form of exercise. But it works and I enjoy it.”

“There is no elegance to it.”

“What kind of exercise is elegant?”

“Swimming is.

“No one in their right mind would swim in Britain during winter.”

“There are indoor pools.”

“Yeah, well, I rather prefer hitting something than swimming.”

“I guess that’s the British for you.”

Bellatrix rolled her eyes as she grabbed her water bottle for a drink. Why the hell did Corvus have so many cousins? Three uncles, three aunts, and twelve children between them all. That was a ridiculously large family.

All the cousins were interested in Corvus just because he was the British one among them. That was good an all, but have that interest extend to the rest of the Black family wasn’t. It probably didn’t help that Bellatrix went to France every summer to spend time with the French duelists.

Thus, she was now stuck with one of Corvus’ many cousins.

“Why are you even here?”

“Corvus said you are doing something interesting, and I wanted to see what it was.”

“Well, this isn’t interesting, and unless you’re going to exercise, you might as well wait outside.”

“But its cold outside.”

Bellatrix sighed as she made her way towards the dumbbells. The blonde girl followed her Bellatrix made her way towards a bench got ready to do some dumbbell chest presses.

She only got through two repetitions before Brigitte started talking again.

“I heard an interesting rumor going around at Diagon Alley.”

Bellatrix didn’t respond as she focused on her form. That was four repetitions now.

“Apparently the Clearwater Lord has a bastard brother.”

“So?”

“Well, apparently, there is some saying that he is the true head of House Clearwater.”

Bellatrix couldn’t care less about what Brigitte was talking about. Who cared what some Clearwater bastard was saying?

“Why are you telling me this?” She asked and the blonde girl perked up. Dammit, she should have just waited until the girl moved onto another topic.

“There are rumors that the bastard was bitten by a werewolf. So, he had to move to Canada, where that thing is more accepted.”

“Okay.”

“And, people are saying that is why Lord Clearwater is supporting the Creature Rights Bill, so his brother could come back to Britain.”

Bellatrix finished her set of repetitions and put the dumbbells on the ground before sitting up.

“Didn’t you just say that the bastard was the true head of House Clearwater? If he’s trying to get the claim on the family, why would Clearwater want bring his bastard brother to Britain?”

“Well, there are some who are saying that Lord Clearwater is using his brother as an example of why werewolves aren’t bad.”

“You think he’s using his bastard brother as a political tool?”

“Maybe.”

“So, what was all that talk about him being the true lord of the house?”

“They’re all rumors Bella. I just want to see if you know which are true and which aren’t.”

“And this is where you want to have that conversation?”

They were at Jerry’s Gym for Merlin’s sake. This wasn’t some tea party.

“This is the only time I could talk to you. You should really have more free time on your schedule.”

“I like to be active. No offense, but embroidery isn’t active enough for me.”

“But its calming and fun. You get to create such beautiful things, like these gloves.” Brigitte said and showed her gloved hands.

Merlin, Bellatrix almost forgot who she was talking to. Brigitte was one of those types of girls. The ones who liked to either sit around and gossip all day or go for a walk in the park and gossip or embroider and gossip. And right now, she was showing off her embroidered silk gloves.

Bellatrix was willing to bet money that it was arcomantula silk, Brigitte wouldn’t be seen in public with anything but the best materials and clothes that money could buy.

“Oi! Bella! Marvin’s just got in and needs a sparing partner, you game?” Jerry’s voice rang out from across the gym.

Perfect, something that could get her away from Brigitte and as well as something to hit.

“I’m game Jerry!” Bellatrix yelled back and then she turned to Brigitte with a smile. “Come on, I’ll show you something more interesting.”

“You can’t actually be thinking about agreeing to it.”

Arcturus looked up from his letter from Lord Deverell about some proposed changes to the upcoming Ministry Budget Proposal. Walburga standing in front of him and had her hands on her hips.

Did she not know how to knock?

“Well hello to you too Walburga. Please come and sit.”

Walburga took a seat in one of the two leather chairs facing his desk.

“Are you?” She asked.

This was just another point of conflict within the family. Something that everyone had an opinion on apparently. All the portraits just had to way in and speak their minds. Should Regulus be betrothed to Angelica Dugommier? That seemed to be a rather loaded question.

“Yes Arcturus. What are you going to do about it?”

Both Arcturus and Walburga looked towards the portrait hanging over the wine cabinet. Licorus Black was sitting in the leather chair that his portrait was painted with and was holding a glass of wine. The former Lord Black seemed to have made it his mission to annoy all future Lord Blacks and had never missed a day in doing so to Arcturus.

“What do you think I’m going to do?” Arcturus was genuinely interested what Licorus’ opinion was, and he knew the man had an opinion for everything.

“You’re going to say no. You can’t possibly agree with that harpy.” Walburga said.

“That harpy is your sister and a Black my marriage. Speak of her with some respect.” Arcturus said.

Walburga mumbled something that he didn’t quite hear, but he was pretty sure “harpy” was said again.

“Now I know the French aren’t seen in such a good light. Back in my day we all thought Napoleon was breaking the statue of secrecy. The Daily Prophet was going on and on about it. I mean, who could have explained how he was winning all those wars?” Licorus said.

“Napoleon Bonaparte wasn’t magical.” Arcturus said.

“Well, his uncle was, and so little Napoleon, the squib I should point out, should have known about the magical world. Now I’m not saying he did break the statue of secrecy. But I would bet money that he had some wizards in his employ.”

“The French Ministry denies all those accusations you know.”

“Aye, but they never provided any evidence to prove that. So, it’s still possible.”

“Alright, now can you get back to what you were saying about the French?”

“Oh, right. The French aren’t all that bad. They helped us during one of the Goblin Wars, as well as the time a couple of Austrian Whip Tails escaped and destroyed that muggle village. Now that is an interesting stor-”

“We’re talking about the French here.” Arcturus said.

“Yes, well the French are good people. Lady Isabella is no exception, she’s nice, beautiful, and smart. Her son Corvus is much the same.”

“Thank you, now-”

“I haven’t met this Angelica yet of course. Though from what I’ve heard from my fellow portraits, she does sound like a sweet little girl. Blonde haired and brown eyes. A little-”

“Okay! Thank you Licorus, now shut it. Walburga, Angelica is a nice girl. She is of age with Regulus and of good stock. Her family has a long line of venerable wizards and witches. They have the money to back them up and Lord Dugommier is willing to allow Angelica to attend Hogwarts so that she and Regulus can grow closer.”

“Good stock? Arcturus please, they’ve married with muggleborn!”

“And those members that did were disowned. I need not remind you that this family also has members who’ve in the past married muggleborn.”

Licorus coughed at that and muttered something. Arcturus was fairly sure he heard “timeline” in there.

“Lord Dugommier’s own brother married a muggleborn!” Walburga said.

“His brother was also disowned Walburga. They follow all the same procedures that we do. Now, Angelica is a nice and respectable girl. I would know, I’ve actually had a conversation with her.” Arcturus said.

“Well, I still don’t like it.”

Arcturus sighed. He didn’t really know why Walburga disliked the French.

“I see nothing but benefits when it comes to the betrothal. The Dugommiers are asking for nothing, in fact they are making concessions. This is a good agreement Walburga.”

Before Walburga could say anything the door to Arcturus’ office opened and in walked Cygnus, followed by his wife Druella.

Merlin help him, did no one in this family understand the concept of knocking?

“Arcturus! You need to read this!” Cygnus said and all but threw the letter onto his desk.

Arcturus just sighed and picked up the letter. Written by Andromeda, okay. Her grades are good, her classes are going fine, her sister is fine, and what in Morgana’s tits is this?!

“What the hell is Umbridge thinking?!” He yelled as he looked at the letter.

“I know right. That bitch must be an idiot if she thinks she can win against a Clearwater.” Cygnus said.

“You’re supporting a Clearwater? Have you hit your head Cygnus?” Walburga asked.

“Have you met any of the Umbridges Walburga? I’d support a Gryffindor if it meant an Umbridge got their arse handed to them” Druella said.

“What has the world come to? Such uncouth language from a lady.” Licorus said.

“Please Licorus, if you’ve heard half the things that Elladora has said your portrait might spontaneously combust.” Arcturus said.

“My sweet Granddaughter is a pure gem. She can do no wrong.”

“Hate to break it to you Licorus, she can be a bit of a bitch.” Cygnus said.

“How dare you! I am no longer speaking to you for slandering my little Elladora.” Licorus said and promptly turned away from Cygnus.

“Thankfully, none of our family is involved with this honor duel and the political mess that will follow it.” Arcturus said.

“Isn’t Corvus friends with the Clearwater girl?” Druella said.

“He is.” Licorus said.

Arcturus palmed his face and looked back at the letter. Okay, so they were involved in this problem. At least Corvus wasn’t named as the Clearwater girl’s second. That would have been bad. Slytherins stick together after all.

“When did you get this letter Cygnus?” Arcturus asked.

“Five minutes ago.”

“Merlin this happened today?!” Arcturus said and stood.

“Yes, and honestly I’m surprised the Daily Prophet hasn’t already written about it. That Skeeter girl has a way of getting the good stories.” Cygnus said.

“Who cares about that. What’s important is the political situation surrounding this. Clearwater invoked right of magic Arcturus.” Druella said.

“Morgana’s saggy tits I have to get to the Wizengamot!” Arcturus said as he grabbed his coat and robe from the coat hanger next to his desk.

“I’d rather think her tits were perky.” He heard Cygnus say as he made towards the door. He also heard man get a swat on the arm and Licorus’ laughter as he made his way towards the fireplace.

He grabbed a handful of floo powered, threw it at the flames, and stepped in.

“Ministry of Magic Atrium!”