Chapter Nine – The Wedding
Finally in the depths of November, her best friend at Hogwarts was due to wed her muggle sweetheart, a plumber from down the road in a church. That combination of words horrified Eris more than she cared to admit. The once feisty and bright Cathy Morrell was succumbing to the calloused fingered charm of Wayne Mason.
Eris was draped in a taffeta and tulle nightmare, a garish muggle fabric itching every inch of her body and in a most unflattering shade of blush pink. Her friend was ignorant of the fact as she grinned cheek to cheek in her ivory wedding gown, some sort of meringue with the head of Cathy sticking out of the top. The ceremony was very confusing for Eris, involving declarations to God and Jesus with breaks for hymns.
Also, Cathy had blatantly lied about the number of wizarding folk attending her wedding. She sat on the wizarding table with six other guests not deviating from the tortuous topic of Quidditch. Her friend grinning with her groom and family at the top table behind a mountainous bouquet of pink roses and ivy. Not even realising that her friend Eris was glowering at her in anger and fantasying about hitting most of the wedding guests with a beater's bat.
Mary MacDonald was hiding her straw-like hair in an oversized hat. She prodded at Eris' shoulder, "You're Eris, right?"
"Yes?"
Mary suppressed a chuckle, "I heard about you at Hogwarts."
Eris growled, "What did you hear?"
Mary bit her lip, "Nothing, oh, ab-so-lutely nothing."
"If you don't tell me McDonald, I'll hex you worse than Mulciber did."
Mary's shoulders tensed and her brown eyes winced, "I'm sorry,"
Eris turned around and stared into Mary's eyes, "Tell me now, McDonald… what did you hear about me at Hogwarts?"
Mary nervously sipped at her white wine, "I-I…. It's a nasty rumour but-"
"Spit it out," Eris hissed.
"I heard you slept with a bunch of Slytherin boys."
Eris sighed and rolled her eyes, "So what?"
Mary coughed up some of her wine, "What?"
"I mean, we're all young once…"
"But, Eris, they're the bad ones," Mary placed down her wine glass, "you know in the war that's going on."
"That's like saying that all Hufflepuffs are stupid," Eris folded her arms, "I'm sure a lot of them are, but there's probably one Hufflepuff somewhere with outstandings on their exams."
Another wedding guest at the table turned, a middle-aged wizard in a baggy grey suit, "What did you say about Hufflepuff?"
"Nothing," Eris groaned as she poured herself more red wine.
The next few hours involved more Quidditch debate, Ministry politics and impolite quizzing about her job as an Unspeakable. Separated by courses of muggle food and acidic red wine to wash down overcooked chicken breast and Mary MacDonald's baby voice. Every time Eris looked at the bride, she was off talking to yet another muggle and completely ignorant of her existence. After several muggles asked her to dance, Eris locked herself in the ladies' toilets and apparated back home by her doorstep.
She slammed the door behind her and kicked out the pinchy heels to the wooden floor and sat down on a blue chaise longue. The pink taffeta dress pooled around her hips as she slumped down. Her silver clutch bag lay beside her.
"What on earth are you wearing?" she heard a booming voice and turned to find her red-faced father. "Why are you dressed in those vile clothes?"
"I-I…"
"You've been hanging out with muggles, haven't you girl? Just when I finally thought you'd come to your senses…" he sneered as he paced around her.
"I went to my friend's wedding, she was a friend at Hogwarts," Eris gulped.
Damocles grabbed at the hem at taffeta dress and shuddered as his fingers stroked the fabric. "Was it that blasted half-blood Cathy?"
Eris looked into her father's maroon eyes in silence, not daring to answer yes.
"I thought you were making such progress," Damocles stood still with his fists clenched, "a new job and better connections. Charming wizards like Rookwood and not revelling in the company of muggle lovers." He clenched his yellow teeth as he continued to hiss, "I thought that you had stopped embarrassing me. I thought that you could redeem the Belby name. But no, of course not. You're a disappointment as always."
"I can't do anything right, can I?"
"No, you can't."
"I'm doing everything you ask of me. I'm working in the Ministry, I'm not hanging out with any unsavoury characters that you disapprove of regularly and I'm even siding with you-know-who!"
"That's the least you can do," Damocles snarled, "If you wanted to please me, you'd be less of an embarrassment as a daughter."
Eris jumped out of her seat and stepped towards her short father, "I got good grades! I did everything I could! What more do you want, father?" She frowned as she stood an inch taller than her father with her hot breath blowing in his furious face.
Damocles yanked at his daughter's exposed shoulder and pulled her towards him, "Don't you dare raise your voice at me, brat!"
Eris pushed her father off her and he ungainly fell onto the polished wood floor. He yowled in pain. She kneeled to help him, only for him to hiss in return, "Get off, you bitch." Eris' hand edged away from him and he continued, "Come back when you're fit to be my daughter again."
Eris placed her final item of clothing into her leather suitcase on her bed. Four lots of wizarding robes surrounded by bottles of wine, books and miscellaneous items. She decided that it would be best not to enchant her bedroom door shut but to evacuate for a few days to the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade. The familiar chorus of her father stomping around the house while angrily ranting about his disappointing daughter was something she could evade at least for a few days. Especially now she had a decent salary to abscond with.
