Being A Black
It was December twenty fourth, which meant one thing for the Black family; it was time for the annual ball. Cassiopeia and her sister, Dorea were in their mother's room waiting to see what kind of gown she got for them this year.
"I want both of you ready by the time everyone gets here, understand?" Their mother, Violetta said in her normal unfriendly tone.
"Yes mother," both girls said together and their mother nodded.
"Right then, your dresses are in the guest bedroom closet, the one with the walk in closet."
"You mean-" Dorea started but Cassiopeia cut her off, saying, "Come on, sis, let's go see our dresses," and dragged her away from their mother's bedroom.
"Cas..." Dorea started, wiping her eyes of the unshed tears, "Why aren't we allowed to talk about him?"
Cassiopeia looked at her sister with sympathy; she was only seven when their brother, Marius got left in Diagon Alley for being a squib. She didn't understand the importance of blood purity, or how pure blood wizards couldn't have a squib in their family. Now, four years later, she still didn't understand anything. Cassiopeia had to take her away from her parents whenever she decided she wanted to talk about Marius, in fear of what her mother and father might do if the young girl talked about the boy.
Cassiopeia didn't fully understand the importance of blood purity either, but being sixteen, she knew enough to never say anything around her parents, in fear of being kicked out. Dorea, on the other hand was confused and hadn't yet trained herself to keep quiet in front of her parents.
"Marius was a squib, Dor. That means he didn't have any magic, and you know how important that is to mother and father, right?" Cassiopeia said sadly to her younger sister.
Dorea nodded. "It isn't fair, Cas. He was only eleven and they just left him..."
Cassiopeia frowned. "I know honey."
"How could they do that?" Dorea asked, tears escaping from her eyes and running down her cheeks.
"Oh Dor..." Cassiopeia said trailing off, embracing her sister. The siblings never got any affection from their parents; the cold people were usually distant and cruel. Some would even question why they had children at all... It wasn't like their father had to have an heir to keep the family name going, Cygnus had four brothers and a sister. One of which was disowned for defending muggle rights, but the other four married and all had kids. Between all five of them, they had six boys and four girls, counting Marius.
"It'll never happen to you, Dor."
***BAB***
"Girls! Boys! The guests have arrived!" Cygnus yelled from downstairs, both girls ran down the stairs to meet their guests, who mostly consisted of their cousins, aunts, uncles, and their brother, Pollux and his daughter and wife. The other pureblood families wouldn't be there for a few hours.
"POLLY!" Dorea screamed hugging her brother around his waist, When Pollux had Walburga, and moved out, Dorea was only five.
"Hey Dor," Pollux said with a smile, hugging his sister back, "You look beautiful tonight."
"Thanks Polly," Dorea said with a smile.
"Dorea, please behave yourself in front of our guests!" Violetta scolded her daughter with a shake of her head, "Cassiopeia..."
"Yes, mother, I'll look after her," Cassiopeia said with no emotion in her voice, taking her sisters hand and going into the room where the ball was being held.
***BAB***
Hours later after both girls had danced and socialized with their family and other respective pureblood families, Cassiopeia found herself tucking her sister in bed, "Did you have fun dancing?"
Dorea nodded. "Yes, I love to dance."
Cassiopeia smiled and kissed her forehead. "Good, get to sleep now, yeah?"
"Okay," Dorea said with a yawn while her sister left for the party.
Cassiopeia went over to her brother, who was holding a sleeping Walburga and talking to their great aunt Elladora.
"She couldn't make it through the night, huh?" Cassiopeia said with a smile looking at her niece, "Great Aunt Elladora," she nodded at her aunt.
"Cassiopeia," the older women nodded back.
"She almost made it to midnight," Pollux said smiling at his younger sister, "I've been walking around with her since about eleven thirty."
"Let me take her upstairs with Dorea, I just tucked her in a few minutes ago," Cassiopeia offered.
"Tucked her in?" Elladora asked, appalled, "The girl is eleven years old, surely she can tuck herself in."
Cassiopeia ignored her, took her niece from her brother, and brought her upstairs. When she started to come back down she was pushed against the wall in the hallway from behind and she felt someone breathe down her neck. She froze in place, wondering who it could be, she started to struggle and the person hit her across the face.
"HEY!" Cassiopeia heard the voice of her brother yell, "Get away from her you filthy arsehole!"
"Why should I?" the voice of the newest addition of the Malfoy family, Abraxas said, Cassiopeia could tell he was smirking by the way he said it.
"Because she's my sister and if you do anything to her I'll cut your balls off!" Pollux shouted, hauling the guy off of his sister, who moved behind him almost immediately.
A few punches here and there and a few hexes later, Abraxas was put in a full body bind and Cassiopeia was told to go get his parents, Thoth and Nefertiti Malfoy. They apologized to Cassiopeia for what he had done, and departed, muttering something about Malfoy's never being caught.
"Are you okay?" Pollux asked, looking at his sister who looked like she was about to break down.
Cassiopeia shook her head, "No."
Pollux embraced her, picking her up with ease, and bringing her upstairs. The slightly younger girl stiffened at first but then relaxed in her brother's arms, trying to hold her tears back. He put her down in the bed with her little sister and niece and transfigured her dress into pajamas, "You're safe now, Cas." He whispered as he waved his wand over her face and she instantly felt her eyes get heavy.
"Thank you," she whispered, fighting against her heavy eyelids.
"Don't mention it, Cas. You're my sister, I'll always protect you," she whispered, giving her a kiss on her forehead and waiting until she fell asleep, which thanks to his spell, didn't take long.
This was written for the Brotherly Instinct competition with the prompt hallway
Character Diversity Boot Camp with the character; Dorea Black and the prompt; Dance
Family Boot Camp with the family; The Blacks and the prompt; Apology
