Written For:

- QLFC Round 12: Out of the Ordinary - Write a FLUFFY story about THE BLACK FAMILY

- September Event: (object) Quill and Ink, (dialogue) "You have no sense of fashion." / "Well, I think that depends..." / "No, that wasn't a question."

W.C: 1,086

When Orion proposed marriage to Walburga, it was done properly. He bent down on one knee in the family drawing room, wearing his finest three-piece charcoal suit, clutching a small velvet box. It contained the most exquisite black diamond ring, which he had chosen years before to present to his future wife. They were surrounded by their family, all of whom knew that the engagement was coming, and Walburga, of course, accepted.

Orion pressed a chaste kiss to her pale cheek and slipped the ring onto her finger, and then both parties retired to their separate bedrooms. It was just the ghost of a prelude to what their marital life should be.

But Orion had other ideas.

The truth was, Orion had always adored his cousin. Walburga had been a solid formation in his life, a friend, a relative, and eventually, someone he had grown to love. He knew from an early age that he would be expected to marry her. They were of a similar age, from two branches of the exquisite family—their lives had been written to merge before they were born.

He wasn't expected to love her. He was convinced that his own parents didn't love each other; they just married out of convenience. That was the reason that most members of their family married and had children. Those who married out of love generally married the wrong people, and such were disowned from the family.

Walburga had no plans to be disowned, and she had accepted that she would marry Orion a long time ago. She didn't seem to care for love, whether it was real or convenient.

Several days after their engagement, Orion found himself standing outside the door to Walburga's study. "Enter," she called, after he had cleared his throat and knocked. He pushed open the door, finding his wife-to-be sitting at her desk, dipping her elegant black quill into a pot of ink. She didn't look up. "Orion," she greeted monotonously. "May I help you?"

"You may," he sat down opposite her desk, waiting for her to finish scrawling on the parchment. When she showed no signs of stopping, he continued speaking. "I wondered if I may have the pleasure of taking you out for dinner tonight?"

"The elves can make dinner, as they always do." He watched as she signed her name elaborately at the bottom of the parchment. "Was there something else?"

Orion prickled with embarrassment. He should have known it wouldn't be so easy. Walburga was a proud woman, far too proud to accept such an offer so easily. "I thought it might be nice to spend the night at a restaurant together."

"Why would that be fun?" her voice was condescending and full of humour. She was making fun of him.

"Well, because we were engaged just the other night."

Walburga released a low chuckle, and stood up from her seat and proceeded to walk a circle around Orion. He felt like she was a predator, examining her prey. "Why would I want to go out in public with you, Orion? For a start, you have no sense of fashion."

"Well, I think that depends…"

"No," interrupted Walburga. "That wasn't a question."

"Okay," Orion took a breath. He wasn't about to be defeated just yet. "In that case, we shall go to Diagon Alley first, and you can pick me out a new suit. How does that sound?"

A toothy smile spread across Walburga's face. "Much better."

oOo

Not three hours later, Walburga found herself actually enjoying the date.

She hadn't expected to. In fact, she had really only gone along with Orion under the promise of choosing him some new attire. However, Orion made her laugh harder than she'd ever laughed before. He was only part way into his story about Lucretia's unfortunate meeting with the Giant Squid, and she had collapsed into peals of laughter, sputtering a mouthful of red wine into her napkin. When her eyes were watering, she flapped her hand at Orion to stop, and he smiled across the table at her.

Walburga hadn't realised how nice it was to see him smiling. Small dimples appeared on his cheek whenever he gently smiled, and Walburga wanted to reach over and stroke her thumbs across those dimples.

So she did. When her hand touched his face, Orion turned and kissed her palm, before pulling her hand to draw her closer to him. They kissed across the table warmly, ignoring the stares and grumbles from the patrons around them.

oOo

Date night became a regular occurrence, and Orion began to look forward to their wedding day. Sometimes he would come home from work and find Walburga poring over wedding catalogues, and more often than not, he accidentally sat down on swatches of fabric that were placed on the settee. Just a week before the wedding, Orion made to enter the bedroom that they had recently begun to share, and Walburga's shriek from within told him to get out, as seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding was bad luck.

Orion had smiled as he stood outside the bedroom door, trying to imagine his wife in a lacy white gown. Walburga was a woman whose wardrobe was comprised only of dark shades: maroon, black, navy and grays. He wasn't entirely sure that Walburga even knew how to dress in light colours.

The wedding came around quicker than expected, and Orion was waiting patiently at the altar, with his father at his side, who would be acting as Best Man. It was a tradition within the Black family, that the groom's father would stand at his son's side.

When the soft tinkle of piano music began to play, Orion turned around to watch his wife walk down the aisle. The doors at the end of the church were pushed open, and her bridesmaids walked down first. Bellatrix, the youngest, walked solemnly ahead, clutching a small basket of flowers. Lucretia followed her, looking demure and elegant in a soft, grey gown.

But Walburga took Orion's breath away. She wasn't wearing white, and he chastised himself for ever thinking that she would. Instead, Walburga wore a narrow, pencil-drop gown made entirely of black chiffon, with a long, matching shawl draped loosely around her shoulders. Her mother's emerald tiara rested neatly on top of her elaborate up-do.

She was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen, and in that moment, Orion thanked every deity that had allowed him to make her his wife.