Chapter 1
The party was in full swing. It was a lavish event, the Rosier-Burke engagement party. The grand ballroom was decorated to the nines with feathery red looking flowers bewitched with a dozen preservation charms and silver ribbons. The floor was polished so that it reflected the light from the guest’s glitter masks.
Witches and wizards wearing gowns and robes of red, black, and silver littered the sprawling manor of the Rosier household, a flute of champagne in most of their hands.
They weren’t like Bellatrix and Rodolphus who were promised to each other before they were even born, rather they were thrown into an arranged marriage to save face from the distrustful pureblood society. There wasn’t any love in the would-be married couple’s non-existent relationship. Just mere resignation to the fact that they were trapped with each other for their family’s sake. And that it would be like this for the rest of their lives.
It was a sort of compromise. Both parties weren’t too happy with what was happening with their lives but they simply didn’t have any better options. The circle that they ran on was big, family-wise, but everyone else was related to each other one way or another.
And as much as the young couple admired the tenacity of Walburga Black, they weren’t quite ready to marry their own cousins.
It would be a loveless marriage constructed from mutual benefits because purebloods simply never married for love alone, there was always talk about politics. Especially when drawing the marriage contracts.
The mother of the groom-to-be stood in her expensive silver gown, her grey hair speckled with a few blonde ones tucked in a well-arranged coiffed updo glittered with the tiny diamonds decorating her crowning glory. She was a thin woman with a tall, imposing stature. Her grey eyes meticulously looking around the ballroom, trying to figure out who’ll get arranged to be married next. Finding no other young couple of importance, she shifted her gaze to search for her only son. Letting out a sigh when he couldn’t find him.
“They grow up so fast.” Druella Black nee Rosier said with a thoughtful look on her face. Eudalia Rosier spun around to meet her sister-in-law, her husband’s elder sister. Just like any other Rosier, she inherited her grandmother Vinda Rosier’s high cheekbones and grey eyes. The same grey eyes that Eudalia always did envy since their childhood as her own was a boring shade of green which Evan luckily did not inherit. Evan inherited so many Rosier traits that he didn’t have any room left for Carrow traits.
Evan was the only pureblood with Carrow heritage in the past seven decades to not be born with a twin. He was supposed to have a twin sister but her brother’s magic killed her before she was born. Aloysius Rosier, Eudalia’s husband, was in the middle of being ecstatic from learning that he would have a strong and powerful heir and sorrowful of knowing that his daughter never had the chance to see the world.
Just like all pureblood couples, they tried again, to provide a spare heir for the Rosier bloodline but they were unsuccessful in all their attempts only to find out that Eudalia had inherited a bloodline curse, awoken by Evan’s birth, that took away her ability to have more than one child.
Still, she never blamed her son and pampered him so much that Aloysius couldn’t help but sigh exasperatedly everytime she bought their son a new gift for no reason. It was fairly common for aristocratic families to spoil their children but Eudalia Rosier went very much further compared to other parents. It was no surprise that the boy had grown so spoilt. Of course Eudalia knew what the other witches and wizards called her son, the Rosier Prince, but she never had the heart to be furious.
Some mother hens would have sprouted insults and hexes, left and right, but Eudalia wasn’t ashamed of the fact that her and her husband were able to give Evan anything that he could ask for.
He was a smart lad with a charming personality when in front of all the right people, why should he care for anyone who was dirt to him? It’s not as if he’ll have to marry someone like that. What was the use of being friendly to wizard folk who are ready to slander your family at any given moment?
“They do.” Eudalia answered.
“It’s as if only days ago we were arranging our children’s first play dates.” Druella hummed, before sipping on her flute of champagne. Her dark dress robes fitted her slender figure in many ways that other mothers wanted for themselves. It was obvious that she had hers specifically tailored for occasions as such. “I used to remember how much my Bella fussed about Rodolphus not liking quidditch. They fought a lot for four year olds.”
“That they did.” Eudalia nodded. “Evan didn’t like having any of the other pureblood children for games, only yours and Walburga’s daughter. He simply didn’t like the Black boys that much growing up or any pureblood boy at that. Used to say that they whine about not having a go at his prized brooms.”
“I thought that he got along with Regulus well?”
“Oh yes. Regulus.” Eudalia smiled. “Walburga didn’t let him visit the Manor growing up, remember? They only ever met at Hogwarts and Evan was already in his final year.”
“Oh!” Druella laughed behind her fan politely. “I’ve become so forgetful. It must be my age.”
While it was rude for some to talk about age, it was something that Eudalia and Druella often laughed about as sister-in-laws. That and the latest gossip in the rumour mill.
“I’ve become a bit forgetful myself too, dear. It really is the age. Just yesterday I ordered Flipsy to make me blueberry scones and I forgot that I was allergic to blueberries!” Eudalia frowned for a second before smiling brightly at her companion. “Evan and Bethany better hurry. I don’t think that I’ll be able to wait for my grandchildren. I want to see them off to Hogwarts before Evan confines me to bedrest.”
“Will they be staying in the Manor after the marriage or will you finally send Evan away?” Druella teased, grey eyes alight with mischief. “You always weep and moan too much whenever he’s at Hogwarts.”
“Ah.” Eudalia nodded sagely. “I often ask myself if that’s why he never asked to find someone to marry. He’s such a momma’s boy, my Evan. He promised to take care of me, you know. Every birthday of mine he would remind me that. Such a fine young man, my son is.”
Druella placed a hand on the other woman’s shoulder before saying. “He’ll be a good husband.”
“Definitely.” Eudalia answered. “And he’ll provide me with a dozen grandchildren to dote on.”
“Grandchildren. Little menaces aren't they?” Druella shook her hair. “Bellatrix has yet to want for her own dark haired brood. She said that with the upcoming revolution, there was absolutely no time to - you know.”
Eudalia laughed, the alcohol loosening her tongue a bit. “Why! Aloysius and I used to go about like rabbits in a heat!”
“Cygnus and I too!” Druella chimed. “Of course that made Walburga too happy. She was always saying things about the Black family forming connections through strong marriages.” She scoffed. “Connections, connections. The pureblood lines are dying out now. We’re already being outnumbered by those mudbloods and mudblood lovers.”
“There is too much inbreeding.” Eudalia commented, lightly. Even if she was comfortable with the other woman, she had to remember what family she belonged to now. The Blacks, after all, were known for their furious inbreeding tendencies.
“I never liked those.” Druella offhandedly replied. “Walburga was the one who loved inbreeding. Selena and I only humoured her, we never really shared the same ideas in how we should keep the bloodline pure.”
“Selena and Alphard’s son, Seren-”
“Will never marry Calytrix Black.” Druella’s lips curled into a scheming smile. “After Regulus, Seren is the only legitimate heir for the Blacks. You surely wouldn’t think that I wouldn’t back Selena’s plans, would you? I assure you, Seren inheriting the Lord title will do the family good. It would be a shame if his children turn up to be squibs. Regulus has been playing puppy with Him too much and there’s such a risk that he might get caught between a rogue killing curse and an auror. We can’t have all the good heirs dead.”
Eudalia fanned her face quickly. “You mean to say.”
“Regulus is working himself an early grave, darling. Soon enough Walburga’s clutches on the Blacks will disappear. Merlin knows that it’s high time for that old hag to pass on.” Druella said in a hushed tone. “I always did hate her. She was so proud that she was able to birth two boys and I, no matter how much I tried, could only have daughters.”
Druella rolled her eyes. “Soon I’ll have a hand in who should be casted out of the family. How dare she blast off my daughter? And now even my youngest is unhappy with her current predicament.” She huffed, furiously. “But please. Let’s talk about other things. Politics do tire me, Eudalia.”
Eudalia nodded. Knowing how harshly Andromeda Black’s disownment left Druella to be an empty shell of her past self, and now her youngest daughter is fighting against her own marriage with the heir of the Malfoy fortune, golden boy Lucius Malfoy. Still, Druella Black was a Rosier through and through. Rosiers held grudges and were always scheming. They do love getting their revenge.
“Don’t look now, darling, but Abraham is coming our way.” Druella said, her eyes laughing.
“Stall him for me, will you? I need some time to think.” Eudalia sighed. “I need to gather my thoughts together. I fear that I’m having cold feet.”
Druella nodded in understanding before flouncing off.
Eudalia Rosier watched in amusement as a gaggle of unmarried pureblood girls giggled at the sight of her sister’s sons. It was a surprise for many when her sister Euphrasia married the youngest Parkinson son when she was arranged to marry his eldest brother.
Their mother may have been disappointed at first but when she found out that Rowan Parkinson’s twelve older brothers as well as his older male cousins and eligible uncles suddenly dropped dead a year within their marriage she couldn’t be more delighted.
In a span of a year any Parkinson men with the right to claim the title as the Lord of the Parkinson House have died of bizarre accidents, food poisoning, misfired slashing spells, and a few even fell down the infamous Parkinson stairs. A grand spiral staircase in the large ballroom of the Parkinson Manor. Although it was seen as impractical by most, it has served its purpose very well over the decades.
The only Parkinson males that were still alive were the sons of his younger uncles whose claim to the title would come after Rowan and his would-be children.
Of course, the purebloods didn’t believe that everything was purely on accident. Everything was politics when it came to them. They merely turned a blind eye to what some called the Garden Story.
It was as amusing as any pureblood family story but it was nothing new to them. Families such as them built their foundations from merciless deaths and blood magic.
It was something that Eudalia predicted when Euphrasia immediately had numerous heirs within the early years of their marriage. A statement to ensure that the title will only ever be passed to a son that she birthed. It was Euphrasia’s jab at their father who always thought that Rowan was just as useless as a mudblood and that Euphrasia was a daft girl for ever falling in love with him.
If only their father could see her now. In her thirty-ninth year of marriage and still with a husband who only looked at her.
This was the life of a pureblood wife. A life full of hushed whispers, stolen kisses behind ancient tapestries. It was a life that Eudalia did not want to pass on to her only child.
“Dalia!” Abraham Rosier greeted with a jolly smile. He looked like a walrus wearing a suit with how he presented himself. Eudalia tried to refrain from scrunching her nose in dislike.
“Hello, Abraham.” Eudalia nodded. Druella smiled apologetically.
“And where is the young couple?” Abraham Rosier asked, clutching his new wife on the waist. A dark haired witch with bright blue eyes now. Something about her screamed of an illegitimate Bulstrode daughter but Eudalia wouldn’t say that in front of the man.
The man was hopeless. He didn’t even have the decency to introduce his latest bride, instead opting to humiliate himself further by being rude and improper.
“Evan had matters to attend to with a business partner of ours, the last I heard of him, and sweet Bethany must be with her lady friends.” Eudalia said, flashing him a forced smile.
“Oh?” Abraham replied. A malicious glint in his eyes. It was no secret why Evan was being forced into such a rushed engagement barely a year after his father’s death.
The young Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Rosier was still unmarried even as he was seven and twenty. The other purebloods were growing worried of having a young unwed man as the head of such an influential family, not when there are other candidates.
The man in front of her, clutching a timid witch like a piece of trophy, was not exactly a good candidate but he seemed to think that he was with how much he appeared like a peacock, preening with that smile of his.
Abraham Rosier. Aloysius Rosier’s younger cousin. The son of his father’s brother. The black sheep of the family. Born a few weeks shy after a wedding, to a halfblood witch nonetheless.
It was one thing to have a halfblood child in a family that believed in pureblood supremacy, it was another to risk even more slander for a woman who didn’t belong in their world. A woman with dirty blood running through her veins.
It caused quite a scandal in the pureblood community where people wagged tongues a bit too much. It was one of the reasons why Eudalia’s mother, Ysobel Carrow, was so adamant about not letting her marry into the prominent family. What was the use of a rich husband if his family was consorting with dirty blood.
It was a hushed affair. The truth behind his birth. Other than his mother being a woman from an affair, nothing much was known by the public. Only the purebloods with the most connections knew about such things. After all, who wouldn’t want to know the dirt of your potential enemies or allies?
It was important to know delicate information. It was a way to ensure which pureblood families are truly purebred and which of them are merely pretending to be.
Maude Shafiq, Abraham Rosier’s first wife, was not fortunate to know this certain information. It was only after she birthed him four daughters that she knew the truth about her husband’s impurity, not to mention his infidelity. The next course of action that she did was to beg her father, the Lord of the House of Shafiq, to revoke the marriage and take her back.
She was never able to remarry as people frowned on unmarried mothers and wives who broke off their marriages, no matter why. Thinking about it, Eudalia believed that it was better than to be married to a halfblood scum like Abraham, who had that magic thieving blood in his veins.
“Have they been getting along well?” Abraham asked.
“Very much, I suppose. They wouldn’t be engaged if they were at each other’s throat, would they?” Eudalia said with a forced smile.
“You never introduced us to your sweetheart.” Druella suddenly cutted in. She eyed the dark hair witch with obvious distrust that the girl couldn’t help but squirm. She looked even younger than Evan for Merlin’s sake!
“Eudalia, Druella, this is Wynnie Brown. Marius Bulstrode’s daughter. Wynnie, these are Eudalia Rosier and Druella Black. Eudalia’s the groom’s mother.” Abraham said.
Wynnie extended her hand towards Eudalia who simply stared at it. Druella looked down at the hand offered to her sister-in-law. Realizing that no one was about to shake her hand any time soon, Wynnie retracted it in embarrassment.
Druella gave Eudalia a wide eyed, thin lipped look that could be loosely translated as; ‘He married a bastard child?’. If anything, Abraham looked rather proud of his new wife. By Mother Magic’s name, she was young enough to be his daughter.
Dear Merlin, it was going to be a very long evening. Eudalia prayed for her patience and endurance. Walburga’s family and the Lestrange were yet to arrive!