Devon, England
June 1740
"Just because the Muggles are wearing it doesn't mean you have to wear it," said Druella Black to her daughter, and she pulled her traditional maroon robes more neatly about her.
"I rather like their gowns right now, Mother," Bellatrix said. She tried to take a deep breath, but her corset wouldn't allow it. She actually enjoyed the constricted feeling. She wasn't certain why, but she did. And if she was to be put before a dozen wizards tonight like some sort of prize to be won, then she was going to try and at least look lovely. "What are Cissy and Andromeda wearing?"
Druella scoffed softly, using her wand to Conjure a fan and then wisping it through the air. "Andromeda's being sour. She says she objects to this occasion on the grounds of a witch's right to fall properly in love, but your father and I just think she's jealous. She'll have her turn. Oh, and Cissy's got lovely gown robes in white and silver. I really wish I'd been able to convince you to wear a lighter colour."
"You know I prefer black, Mother," Bellatrix sighed. "And, anyway, they all know which witch they're vying for. Isn't this a bit awkward, having them all over at once? Shouldn't I receive them individually?"
"Well, you will receive them individually, darling, but tonight is just a chance for wizards from the Pureblood community to make themselves known as suitors, to declare their intention to court you to your father. This is how your father first made himself plain to my father, and -"
"Fathers before them. Yes. I'll just smile and nod and say thank you for coming, Master So-and-So," Bellatrix huffed. "Do you think my reputation will do much damage?"
Druella pinched her lips and said nothing. She moved around Bellatrix's combs and brushes on her boudoir table, and she cleared her throat a little. Bellatrix Black had a reputation in wizarding Britain for making trouble. She'd gotten herself into all sorts of hot water at Hogwarts, where she'd been single-handedly responsible for Slytherin losing the House Cup handily four years in a row. Bellatrix had been denied a place on the Slytherin Quidditch team owing to her gender - only wizards this term, she'd been told - and had Hexed all the members of the squad into losing the next match in retaliation. She was a lightning bolt, people said. She was explosive and volatile, full of crackling energy and anger. Would that harm her chances of landing a husband from the Pureblood community? Bellatrix chewed her lip and wondered.
"Madam Druella? Miss Bellatrix?" Banny the House-Elf appeared in the doorway of Bellatrix's bedchamber. "The guests are beginning to arrive downstairs. Banny has all the refreshments ready. The strings are waiting for their cue to play. Shall Banny tell the instruments to begin?"
"Yes, Banny. Start the music. We'll be down in a moment," Druella said breathlessly. The House-Elf vanished with a crack, and Druella took a look over Bellatrix. She smoothed her elegant black raw silk skirts, and she touched at the curls she'd piled atop her head in a careful style. Druella smiled weakly but said, "You look beautiful, dear. They'll all want you badly."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes and laughed a little, following her mother out of the bedchamber. The two witches walked past the flickering sconces in the upstairs corridor, then made their way carefully down the broad wooden staircase of Black House. This was an elegant Georgian country house. Cygnus Black III, being the eldest son in his family, had earned himself a sufficient allowance to purchase this place new upon his marriage to the highly desirable Druella Rosier. Together with his wife and three daughters, he now enjoyed life in the country, with frequent sojourns to Diagon and Knockturn Alleys in London. As for Druella, she often visited her family in France, and she had sometimes taken the girls along in their youths.
Now the eldest daughter, Bellatrix, was seventeen years of age and ready to be married. The ballroom of Black House had been set up for the occasion, with a wide open space in the centre of the cream-coloured room. Tables with puff pastries stuffed with sausages, with mushrooms and carrots, and with sumptuous desserts had been set up along one wall. Another wall had several tables with various wines and several summer punches.
Cygnus Black III, Andromeda, and Narcissa Black were already in the ballroom. Narcissa, who was thirteen, and Andromeda, who was fifteen, were huddled together near the food. Cygnus was laughing in a booming voice with his friend, Jedediah Avery. Madam Abstinence Avery, who had what Bellatrix considered to be the most unfortunate name in the wizarding world, stood nearby looking bored. And their son, a handsome twenty-two-year-old with sandy blond hair and sparkling blue eyes, was getting punch. Asher Avery, that handsome son, was here as a suitor, and Bellatrix's stomach quivered a little at the thought of that.
"Cygnus, dear!" called Druella, and Cygnus turned and held out his arm.
"My darling Bellatrix!" he bellowed. "My beloved daughter, come to receive her suitors! Where is Asher? Get him over here!"
"Oh, my." Bellatrix huffed out a breath as she realised just how real all of this was. She approached her father and smiled a little at Mr and Madam Avery. She curtsied to them, and then again to Asher Avery when he walked up. Asher bowed politely, and when he spoke, there was a certain tinge to his voice that made Bellatrix frown a little. It was almost as though he were… feminine? Just a bit feminine?
"My goodness," Asher said, sipping his punch, "Don't you look marvelous, Miss Black. Wearing the latest Muggle fashion. A daring choice. I admire your gumption. The robe shops haven't got anything like that on offer. Did you buy your gown from Muggles?"
Bellatrix scowled. "I made it."
"Oh, did you really?" Asher Avery actually reached out then and petted at Bellatrix's skirt. She was shocked by the touch until he said, "Raw silk. My goodness. It's lovely."
Suddenly Bellatrix had a very sneaking suspicion that Asher Avery might prefer wizards to witches, and her mouth fell open. She blinked and smiled at him.
"Thank you. I'd love your opinion on the other gowns I've made for summer. All black, of course. I don't really do colour."
"But you'd look marvelous in red, and it's still so dangerous," Asher laughed. Bellatrix giggled a little and watched him sip his punch. She sighed. No, she thought. He wouldn't make a good husband for her. But perhaps they could be friends. She might like to have Asher Avery as a friend, she thought.
"Well, thank you so very much for coming tonight, Mr Avery," she said to Asher. "I look forward to seeing you again soon. To look over all of the lace and ribbon and whatnot."
"Sounds divine, Miss Black." Asher winked at her, and Bellatrix nodded. She spent the next twenty minutes forcing conversation with Hamish Burke and Symon Crabbe. By then, the ballroom was crowded and loud, and the esteemed Lestrange family shuffled their way forward, eager for Bellatrix's attention.
"Mr Black," said Mr Lestrange, "I'm sure you remember my two sons, Rabastan and Rodolphus."
"Of course!" cried Cygnus Black over the din of the strings and the conversations in the ballroom. He clapped Rabastan and Rodolphus on their forearms and gestured to Bellatrix. "You both know my lovely eldest daughter, Bellatrix."
"Rabastan and I were in the same year at Hogwarts together," Bellatrix smiled, staring up at the brother wizards with their matching brown curls and chestnut eyes. Rabastan was just a little taller than his elder brother, Rodolphus, who had a sharper and more handsome face. Rabastan frowned a little and said,
"Yes, I'll never forget the way you Hexed me into falling off of my broom because we wouldn't let you on the Quidditch team, Miss Black."
"Rabastan," warned Mr Lestrange, but Rodolphus warmly suggested,
"Perhaps if the Quidditch captain had done the right thing and granted admission to the best players regardless of sex, Slytherin would have been more successful."
Bellatrix smirked at Rodolphus, and he curled up half his mouth at her. He was marvelously good-looking, Bellatrix thought. She couldn't help but think so. His nose was long and straight, and his lips were full, and he had a dusting of freckles across his cheeks. Her heart fluttered a little as she stared at him.
"Rodolphus has secured a position in the Ministry of Magic," said Mr Lestrange quite proudly. "He's doing very important work for the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
"Let's not overstate anything, Father," Rodolphus said in a placating sort of voice, and he admitted, "I am the British ambassador to the Russian Ministry. I'll be doing a fair bit of travel for the position."
"Russia," breathed Bellatrix. "But that sounds terribly important. They must keep you awfully busy."
"I'm new in the position, but I look forward to settling in," Rodolphus said. "As I said, there will be a good deal of travel involved."
She knew why he was saying that. It was a warning of sorts. Anyone who married Rodolphus Lestrange right now was signing up for a husband who would be away to St Petersburg half the time. Would Bellatrix mind that so very much, she wondered? Would she mind terribly if she were alone in a country house of her own? Perhaps she could work for the Ministry herself.
"Thank you both so very much for coming," Bellatrix said to Rabastan and Rodolphus. She flashed Rodolphus an extra smile, and as Rabastan grumbled that it had been a pleasure to see Miss Black, Rodolphus' light brown eyes locked on Bellatrix's, and his throat bobbed. She nodded, and he said quietly,
"Thank you for having us, Miss Black. Truly an honour."
Then he bowed, low and respectful, and smiled when he stood. As Rabastan and Rodolphus walked away, Bellatrix grabbed her mother's arm and hummed,
"I quite like him. Rodolphus."
"Oh, darling. I don't know. He'll be gone all the time in Russia," Druella complained. Bellatrix scowled, looking from her mother to her father.
"Let them all have their turns courting you as suitors," Cygnus suggested. "Give them time as individuals. You'll get to know them better, and then you can make a choice."
Bellatrix opened her mouth to say something, but then a voice said,
"Good evening, Mr Black. Madam Black. Miss Black."
Bellatrix turned toward the voice, and she frowned in confusion. She did not recognise the wizard before her; was he a friend of her father's? He looked to be in his forties or so, about the same age as Cygnus, and indeed Cygnus' face lit up when he saw the man.
"Tom!" he exclaimed. "Tom Riddle, by my very eyes! Well, it's been absolutely ages! I'd heard you'd gone to the Continent!"
Tom Riddle? Bellatrix was baffled. Who was this man? She was still holding her mother's arm, and Druella leaned over and whispered in Bellatrix's ear as Cygnus and Tom Riddle began to talk.
"Tom Riddle is a Half-Blood," Druella hissed. "His mother was a Gaunt, or so he said. Father was a Muggle. He was an orphan, an urchin in the streets when Dumbledore found him and brought him to Hogwarts. He and your father were… erm… friends… at school."
Bellatrix blinked a few times and listened to the talk between Cygnus and this mysterious man.
"I spent a good deal of time on the Continent," Mr Riddle was saying, "studying all manner of things. I should like, sometime, to get the old group of boys back together again. You, Avery, Nott, Goyle, Crabbe, Lestrange, Macnair… I've been talking to everyone tonight. Perhaps one of you might host a dinner party or something."
"Is that why you've come, Tom?" Druella asked, her voice a bit tight. "Have you come to plan a get-together of the old friends from Hogwarts now that you're back in England?"
"As it happens, Druella," said Mr Riddle with a little smile toward Bellatrix, "I have come to present myself."
"As a suitor?" Druella spat. She sounded scandalised, and Bellatrix knew why. The other suitors were young, handsome wizards of the purest blood. This man was her parents' age, a Half-Blood who had disappeared from the country for years. The idea that he would dare equate himself with Rodolphus Lestrange, Hamish Burke, Symon Crabbe, and Asher Avery was positively ludicrous. Who did this Tom Riddle think he was?
"Miss Black," said Tom Riddle, speaking directly to Bellatrix and bypassing her shocked parents as he moved to stand before her, "I would be honoured if you would consider a summer luncheon on the lawn one day. Just some bread and cheese and such on a sunny day. A bit of conversation. Would you be amenable?"
His eyes were very dark, she noticed, and his features were awfully sculpted despite his age. His hair, which he wore pulled back into a queue, had little threads of grey. She found him to be good-looking, in spite of herself. Bellatrix sighed, glancing at her mother and her father, and she gulped.
"I would love to have a luncheon with you, Mr Riddle," she said. "Perhaps you can tell me about your travels to the Continent."
"Perhaps," he nodded, curling up his lips, "and I should like to hear about the time you Exploded a Gryffindor's cauldron in Potions class and lost your House fifty points."
Bellatrix laughed a little and nodded.
"Yes, I'll tell you all about that, Mr Riddle," she agreed. He bowed to her, touching at his chest, and she noticed a strange black ring on his finger. When he stood, he said to Cygnus,
"I'll be in touch to make plans, Cygnus. As old friends, and as a suitor for your daughter's hand."
"Quite so," Cygnus said, sounding halfway between confusion and exasperation. He glanced at Druella, who curtsied and said to Tom Riddle,
"So good to see you again, Tom. So glad you're back in England."
"It is good to be home. Miss Black. I look forward to our next meeting," said Mr Riddle. Bellatrix dipped low into a curtsy, and he bowed again before turning and walking away. Once he'd gone, Druella gathered near Cygnus and Bellatrix, and she exclaimed in a shrill little voice,
"This is ridiculous. He can't make a move for Bellatrix! Who does he think he is? He's an orphaned Half-Blood! He's no one!"
"Druella, if you think that man is no one, you weren't paying attention all those years ago," said Cygnus, reaching up to adjust his wig on his head. Bellatrix felt anxiety ripple through her core. She glanced to where handsome young Rodolphus stood talking with his brother and father. She looked over to where the older, mysterious Mr Riddle was getting himself a glass of wine. And then, frantically, she looked to the very obviously unavailable Asher Avery. Bellatrix felt pulled in every direction. She swallowed hard and said firmly to her parents,
"I will receive Rodolphus Lestrange, Asher Avery, and Tom Riddle. Out of all the suitors who presented themselves tonight, those are the ones with whom I will meet in person. I'm not interested in the others."
"Choosing three is acceptable, Bellatrix," Druella mused, "but those three? Asher Avery clearly… well… he clearly…"
"I want to be his friend," Bellatrix huffed, and Druella shut her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she noted,
"Rodolphus Lestrange is going to be in Russia half the time. And Tom Riddle is a Half-Blood with no family and no estate. Really, Bellatrix. What about the Burke and Crabbe boys?"
"I will receive Rodolphus, Asher, and Mr Riddle," said Bellatrix firmly. "Father, please make arrangements for their visits."
"Of course, my dear," Cygnus said, sounding resigned. Bellatrix could tell that both her parents sincerely hoped that she chose to be abandoned half the time by an ambassador husband. Perhaps she would choose that, Bellatrix thought. She quite liked Rodolphus Lestrange. But she also wanted to talk about lace and buttons and silk with Asher, and she was sincerely looking forward to luncheon on the lawn with Tom Riddle.
Author's Note: Very much looking forward to exploring this Bellamort AU. For those following Blue Eyes and Brown, that will be finished in the next few days. Thank you so very much for reading and please do review if you get a chance!