Beta: PrimitiveParadox

June 5th, 1969

Frank Longbottom's POV

The sound of my fork clattering onto the plate could be heard throughout the dinner room. I stared at my father in disbelief as I tried to comprehend the information that had been handed to me. My eyes trail over to my mother, searching for an answer for this. He had to be joking, right? My bride was already picked and I was expected to marry her after completing my education at Hogwarts.

"Father, you can't be serious." I managed to speak, "You told me that we would not follow the old ways, and I would get to choose my wife. Somebody that I have fallen for."

"Times have changed son." He sighed, "I would be foolish to not realize that. This marriage will benefit both the families-"

"But Bellatrix?" I demanded, "Out of all the Black Sisters, you agreed to have me married to her? The woman is stuck in the ways of how this Dark Lord thinks. Who isn't to say that she wouldn't flee to him?"

"Frank those are strong assumptions." Baldwin said, "But I'm sure that Cgynus will keep an eye on her."

"Father, he watching her means nothing to me." I told him, "I refuse to marry her."

"You have no choice in the matter." He said coldly, "This has been already decided."

I turned to my mother, my last resort, "Surely you could do-"

She was already shaking her head; she glared at my father, "He decided this all behind my back, by the time I found out about it, the marriage contact with the Blacks was already signed."

My father was sneaky and also smart for this. My mother and father had a marriage where both women and men have an equal say in the marriage, but my mother took care of most things. So that would mean that she would have turned down the offer of the marriage, and I would have gotten to marry Alice.

Alice.

How was I to tell her that my father had signed a marriage contact? To Bellatrix Black at that. The eldest Black that was known for her dislike of blood-traitors, muggle-borns, half-bloods, squids, and halfbreeds. She may be the most brilliant witch in our year, but her ties to her emotions make it easy to provoke her. In a way she was like a ticking bomb that Arthur talks so much about. I didn't see any reason why we had to have an alliance marriage, this petty war would blow over quickly.

"You'll be meeting her tomorrow." My father continued, "And your engagement will be announced on the Summer Solstice. Before then, I would hope that you two will become acquainted with each other."

This was an open-close situation, with no 'buts' or 'what ifs'. It was final. I was destined to marry Bellatrix for the sake of our families. I felt numb at this resolution and couldn't believe that in a matter of minutes my free-will was stripped away from me.

I excused myself from the table, and headed to my room. It would be best if I told Alice this predicament, but not over a letter. No she deserved better than that. Instead I decided to write a letter to her to meet me somewhere so I could tell her the news. I proposed that we should see each other the day after tomorrow, to let her down.

I looked for a quill and a piece of parchment and wrote a short letter:

Dear Alice,

I have news that does not benefit either of us, and I'm free on June 7th to tell you this...

As soon as I wrote it, I quickly crumbled up the paper, and threw it into the bin. If I were to send her this, she would be worried for a whole full day, and that would be wrong of me to do that to her. I'll wait until tomorrow after my time with Bellatrix, to tell her.