Beta Love: fluffpanda (the poor lady has her hands full... FULL! So much love. SO MUCH!)

Chapter 26: A Weekend With the House of Black

Saturday, July 15th, 1972, Moon Waxing Crescent 24%

Hermione was having a moment.

It wasn't often she felt she needed to, but she woke up in the early morning gloom and proceeded to have a nervous breakdown. It wasn't a loud one. In fact, most people would have thought she just had an overly loud sniffle, but to Hermione, it was huge. Her mind was whirling with the extent of everything that had happened to her, what she had lost, what she had gained, and what she could lose if everything went pear-shaped.

It felt like she had more to lose now than when she was fighting Voldemort in her past. She felt like if she screwed things up that a horrible chain of events would happen. She would not only lose everything she had fought for the first time around, but all of the new things she never realised she missed until it became her life.

Her family, her friends… and not just the type of friends that thought you were a bossy know-it-all and won't give you a chance until a troll entered the picture either. Now, she had something that she felt if she lost it, she might as well gouge out her own heart and offer it up as an offering to the harvest gods.

Hermione padded out of her room, her bare feet touching the cold wooden floor of the house. She slipped down the hall to the master bedroom, shimmied into the doorway, and then crawled in between her mother and father by burrowing under the duvet. Within moments, her mother's arms were around her, pulling her close, and Hermione sniffled into Walburga's embrace.

Walburga was many things, and if Hermione were to list attributes of her mother, openly expressive of the most positive feelings was not one of those things that would sit at the top of the list. Usually, that was her father's area of expertise. Still, there was a depth of complexity to Walburga that no picture album or portrait could have conveyed. In this dark of the morning, tucked between the warmth of the down-stuffed duvet, Walburga drew her daughter to her body and offered silent comfort. As her hand gently stroked Hermione's hair, Hermione sobbed into her mother's chest, unable to stop the flow of tears. There was just so much to process, and it was all coming at once.

It was times like this when Hermione truly felt the love of her mother. Other times were always hampered by propriety and public image. Orion seemed more free to express himself in public though he did have his moments where his formal and sharpened manners rose in abundance. Walburga, however, was always on guard for what image she or her family was portraying. It was through her mother that Hermione had begun to understand a little more about Narcissa Malfoy. The woman had been quite brave to stand up for her son despite what could only be called "extreme peer pressure" would have her do. Whether her inspiration was truly altruistic or a selfish need to keep her son safe, Hermione didn't know, but her bravery was still there. It took a lot of it to put your life on the line for someone else.

At this moment, however, Hermione really didn't care about image or propriety. All she wanted was to feel safe. She felt her father pull in closer to both her and Walburga, his arm cradling around her even as her mother held her at the same time. It was comforting and safe. Just for now, the future didn't matter. Just for now, there was no Voldemort, lonely future, or world where the things she loved could be taken away.

She was safe in her parents' arms.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Orion had a secret weapon to get "all of his children" up for the day's activities, and the name of that secret weapon was Regulus Black. He slipped his young son an apricot pastry, made him all the more hyper with a glass of orange juice, and then threw him in the direction of the various bedrooms.

A few minutes later, his two eldest children shambled into the kitchen and grunted greetings. A few minutes after that, Severus walked in like the undead; his head thumped onto the counter next to his bowl of cereal. There was a cry of surprise that came from down the hall, and Orion smiled. The Lupin child was experiencing the first overenthusiastic pounces of Regulus. Regulus bounced back into the kitchen and affixed himself to Hermione and Severus as Orion knew he would. His sleepy daughter and Severus just eyed Regulus blearily in between bites of their breakfast.

Sirius seemed a little reluctant to join with the little "pile" effect that was happening between his daughter and her apprentice friends and Regulus. The apprentices seemed to have a hive mind, and they rose and fell together, and that included sharing each other's horrible morning manners.

"Regulus, my son," Orion purred. "Forget someone?"

Regulus looked up, his eyes going back and forth as he thought. His eyes grew wide as he remembered there was one more person to be woken up, and he dashed down the hallway.

Lily's terrified squeal came shortly after, startling Hermione, Severus, and Remus. Sirius poked his oatmeal as if it was nothing new to him.

"You act as though being woken by Miss Evan's screaming as a normal occurrence, my son," Orion said, taking a bite of his egg and toast.

Sirius speared a sausage with his fork. "The girls dormitory is across the walkway from the boys' dorm in Gryffindor Tower. Technically you cannot get there because the stairs are charmed to flatten out and tumble you backwards if you try to go up them, but you can still hear them carrying on just fine."

Hermione froze in mid-sip of her tea. How many times had Harry, Ron, Neville, and countless others hear her and Ginny giggling long into the night? She turned a few shades of red at the thought, mortified that they have heard other conversations that no male should be privy to. She made a mental note to learn telepathy and save herself the mortification of ever being overheard through a wall again.

Orion grabbed a mango from the fruit bowl, sliced it down one side and down the other, then scored it into cubes right on the peel. He placed half in front of each of his children, save Regulus. To Regulus, he gave the fruity pits and amused himself watching his young son attack the mango pits with enthusiasm, getting mango juice all over his face. It was probably good that Walburga was blissfully asleep with Denebola. Walburga would never admit it, but she had grown fond of the wayward Kneazle, and the one thing she indulged in was cuddling with the Kneazle in the early morning.

Severus and Remus seemed a little boggled at the mango half, unsure what to do. Regulus was no help at all, and Sirius was ignoring his slice for an egg and toast. Hermione picked hers up, bent the peel back, and popped the cubes of the peel, using her teeth to pluck them free.

Hermione eyed Severus and Remus with a sideways glance. "What?"

Severus and Remus picked up their mango half and attempted to eat it, with varying amounts of success. Both boys ended up with mango bits on their noses, and Hermione giggled, handing them napkins.

"Do not feel bad, children," Orion said with amusement. "Hermione has had many years of ardent practice in the art of mango wrangling, haven't you my daughter?"

Hermione grinned at him. "Yes, father."

Orion smiled, flipping through the Daily Prophet and catching up on the news. He lowered the paper to see Regulus dragging Lily by the sleeve to the breakfast counter. Smiling, he went back to the paper.

-o-o-o-o-

Muggle-born Witch Defies Apprenticeships By Opening Her Haircare Product Line After Her First Year at Hogwarts

Have you heard of Lily Evans? Perhaps you've been living under a rock the past few months!

Lily Evans and her friends from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have blasted off into their own business crafting a line of haircare products for the modern witch!

Lily Evans, Mary Macdonald, Marlene KcKinnon, and Alice Goodacre comprise this rising star of hair products for today's witch. They have big plans to expand their line of hand cremes, blemish removers, and other such useful products within the coming year.

Most people who are seeking licences and patents for products have the backing of a sponsor or Master, but the quartet seems convinced that they need neither to succeed. They plan to move forward with fund-raising for mass production by introducing small batches of their product to places such as Hogsmeade.

When interviewed, then First-Year Lily Evans proudly told us, "We don't need to be apprenticed to make products that are safe and beneficial for people. These products are made to be safe for us, our friends, and anyone that uses them. We've put painstaking research into every one, and all of them are labours of love."

There you have it, my friends. Imagine what they will do in the next six years at Hogwarts! Away with the Master and Apprentice system! These girls are telling us that they can succeed on their own gumption!

The Witch and Waverly product line can be found in at the hairdressing salon in Hogsmeade, directly across from Honeydukes.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Orion put the paper down, staring at the top of Lily Evan's head as she shovelled cereal into her mouth. Publicity such as that found in the Daily Prophet was hardly positive. She might get some increased activity from those curious about the products she and her friends had concocted. He had a feeling that there would be quite a bit of tension thanks to the Prophet's somewhat unflattering portrayal of Lily's opinion of the Master and Apprenticeship system. It was a system that currently three of her "close" friends were bonded to, yet she had inadvertently insulted it.

Apprenticeships were and had always been one of the most respectable ways to learn a trade in Wizarding culture. No one who was Apprentice was looked down upon. It never failed to bring honour to the family whose son or daughter was taken in an Apprentice. Orion and Walburga were more than happy to bless the apprenticeship of their daughter to Minerva McGonagall and, doubly so, when Master Barberry added his name to the list. The fact that her friends were also taken under wing by the same Masters only made their friendships with each other all the more approved.

Now, to publicly denounce apprenticeships not only insulted her friends but it also insulted a Wizarding tradition that went back to a time before written history. Orion had a feeling that the young witch did not intend to be a politician or spokesperson against the system. She had, unintentionally or no, put herself in front of the virtual Wizengamot of public scrutiny. It would either make her career or break it, and judging by his personal visceral reaction to the article, he had a feeling the young witch would be suffering a pile of owl'd letters. To top it off, his daughter and her chevaliers would be hard pressed to maintain decorum in public with their friend being mobbed with positive or negative publicity. He also knew Sirius would probably start punching first and asking questions later if Lily was his friend. Orion wasn't quite sure what the relationship was between his eldest son and the red-haired witch. He knew her from his House, apparently, but the boy did not seem to have feelings for her one way or another. That was, he decided, probably for the best.

Orion placed the paper down, downing the last of his juice and inhaling the last of his toast and eggs before his hungry elder son could get his fork into it. Orion was glad his son had a clean bill of health from Mungo's, and thanks to some tutoring and catch-up work, the boy was not going to be held back a year, which was a relief.

The Auror reports that had been given to the Wizengamot over the entire situation had been strangely clean on malicious intent. Orion and a few of the other seats at the Wizengamot, including Abraxas Malfoy and Charlus Potter, had found the reports disturbingly clean. Each report seemed to be devoid of anything other than the unsuspecting spread of some candies that had been tampered with. The report had, even more oddly, said that the candies had been tampered with some time before they had been purchased, and it had only been an unfortunate coincidence that they had affected the students of Hogwarts.

Orion's voice hadn't been the only voice that spoke out for the oddness of the entire situation. The fact that the Aurors that had been sent to Hogwarts seemed overly impressed by the helpfulness of the Headmaster of Hogwarts was even more strange. Albus Dumbledore had never been prone to being helpful to the Ministry or the Aurors in the past. If anything he had always said that Hogwarts took care of itself. There was something odd going on, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Charlus and Dorea Potter had been mortified to learn that their son had been one of the ones affected by the tampered chocolates. It was through the combined effort of the Potters, Blacks, Malfoys, Crouches, Lestranges, Longbottoms, and Notts that they passed a movement to place a jinx around the borders of Hogwarts. The jinx would detect Malevolent potion-tampered foods within Hogwarts and immediately make them turn to ash the moment they passed into the grounds. The potion was still allowed to be taught in the curriculum, as learning of the potion was still considered a basic lesson, but its use in foods would trigger the jinx.

Albus had argued that such extremes were hardly necessary. Once the word got out for the children to be more careful where they got their candy, he reasoned the jinx would be redundant. The Wizengamot, however, was adamant that something had to be done or movements to question the safety of Hogwarts would be called into play. Dumbledore had reluctantly agreed, stating that such paranoia was hardly necessary. Orion had argued that it had obviously been necessary seeing as children from multiple families were being drugged up by tampered foods under Dumbledore's very nose.

Orion had spoken with Professor McGonagall and Master Barberry over the safety of his daughter and her fellow apprentices. He had been happy to note that both masters seemed very keen on protecting their charges with whatever means they had at their disposal. Part of it, they said, would be teaching them a healthy dose of paranoia, but the rest would be in skills in the detection of harmful substances, basic healing, and counter-curses and jinxes. Each apprentice wore the mark of their combined masters, and the marks were charmed as emergency port-keys that would, if touched in combination with the proper power-word, take them directly to their master's side.

Barberry said he would ensure that each of his apprentices would begin work on learning mental shielding before they returned to Hogwarts for the next term, and it wouldn't be the only skills he would instill in them throughout their apprenticeship. It was enough to put his mind at ease, as least for the welfare of his daughter. His son, of course, he could only hope would be more careful after his experience with the Malevolent potion.

As for Regulus, who would be joining his other children at Hogwarts, he could only hope that both of his elder children looked out for him. He had a feeling though, in watching how Regulus attached himself to Severus as a big brother and Hermione as he always did, that his youngest would be covered under the blanket of their protection and mutual growing paranoia. Judging by the bond between the three apprentices, he had a good feeling Regulus would be in good hands.

Orion closed his eyes, extending his senses. The sense of the oldest magic was something he had always been sensitive to. His father said it was woven into his soul as a Black. Every Black, he said, had a gift from the Magic that had founded their family. The gifts were not always grandiose or flamboyant or even terribly useful, but every child of the House of Black had some magical talent that was uniquely theirs. Sensing the fabric and weave of Magic was his. Walburga's had been able to sense where every house-elf bound to their family was. Sirius had always known what direction north. Regulus had the gift of strengthening the magic being cast around him with a shared touch. Hermione, his chick and the fire of his universe, was born a phoenix. Only seconds from her mother's womb, the babe had been wreathed in fire. Phantom wings had flapped and folded around the newly born witch, marking her fate amongst the cosmos and her place in the Ancient and Noble House of Black.

Tendrils of magic wove around the trio, overlapping with each other, weaving together, and lying in various states of binding strength. The weave of the magic was reinforced by hundreds of smaller fibres that criss-crossed over each other like strands of silk. The cords were like the glowing bindings of an unbreakable vow slithering around their bodies and each other. It was Old Magic binding his daughter to her friends. Each little touch between them sent one more silken strand to weave between them, sealing their fates as surely as the bonds of family.

Orion opened his eyes, a small smile on his lips. Whatever fate belonged to his daughter, she would not be alone in her journey. That brought him no small measure of peace.

"Time to get ready, children," Orion said, watching all of them turn to stare at him with curious eyes. "Unless you wish to miss your riding lessons?"

"YES!" Regulus whooped, running down the hall to dress.

"But I," Lily protested. "I never 've —"

Hermione had her by the sleeve and was dragging her down the hallway. "I'll let you borrow some of my clothes and boots."

Severus and Remus exchanged a look of panic.

Sirius waved at them to follow. "Come on, I'll let you find something from my wardrobe. I'm sure we can resize whatever doesn't fit."

Orion smiled to himself as he watched the boys follow Sirius to his room. He hoped the boy had at least attempted to clean it. Otherwise he'd be spending the next few days trying to find them when Sirius' piles of random stuff fell over on them.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You three look like a posse," Lily said, leaning over to pat the neck of her horse. The older mare she was riding took that moment to graze, happy indulging in the freshly dewed grass.

Severus snorted, his breath huffed a cloud of vapour. He had taken to horsemanship with a natural ease that Remus and Lily did not, naturally being able to control his seat and communicate with his horse without conscious effort. Lily's mare was the tolerance sort, ignoring her flopping legs and mixed seat signals. Every so often the horse would flick her ears back in annoyance, but did nothing short of sidestep every so often and back into a bush or tree in the sneaky desire to scrape her off.

Remus, seemingly a bit nervous due to his moon-night alter-ego, found that the horses were utterly unimpressed by the werewolf. The gelding he was riding ironically shared the colour of his wolf shape, and both Severus and Hermione chuckled at him in their shared secret. Remus ended up taking to riding very well, and within a few hours of basic instruction, he was helping Lily trying to control her bombproof mare.

Lily became proficient enough to guide the horse where she wanted to go. She managed to stop being scraped off into the bushes and trees, but she seemed to enjoy loving on the horse more than riding on it, much to the trio's amusement.

Regulus, being the bee-charmer he was, led Lily around like a pied piper. Lily didn't seem to mind, and it didn't take long before Regulus so completely enthralled Lily that she followed him willingly anywhere he led.

As Regulus and Lily went gallivanting across the countryside, Orion trotted up next to the trio. "Are you letting my son lead her around on purpose?"

Severus, Remus, and Hermione put on their best halos.

Orion laughed. "You'll show her where the salt soaks are when we return home, won't you daughter?" he asked with a smile. "Before she starts realising she has muscles she didn't know she had?"

"Of course, father," Hermione said with a grin.

Orion shook his head. "Regulus is practically a centaur," he said with amusement. "Your friend will probably regret following him. He will be leading her around until the sun drops from the sky."

Severus gave a half smile. "This is the most time she's spent on one task in months."

"Oh?" Orion asked.

"The only thing she focuses on for long periods is her Witch and Waverly products," Remus said. "From what my Housemates tell me, she and her friends obsess over them. They leave vats of things brewing in their dorm making it hard for the house-elves to clean."

Orion raised his brow and looked skyward, watching the clouds. "She may experience some," he trailed off with a sigh, "aftershocks from her interview with the Prophet. You should be prepared to maintain decorum in the face of it."

"What interview, father?" Hermione asked.

"You did not know?" Orion asked with a frown.

Three sets of shaking heads answered him.

Orion sighed. "Your friend was interviewed with her friends about their growing business. She may have unintentionally insulted the Apprenticeship system in her eagerness to prove their products safe."

Remus and Severus simultaneously face-palmed, and Hermione let out the sigh the other two were holding back.

"Do you think she will have time to devote to an apprenticeship and keep her business going?" Orion asked.

"She honestly doesn't speak to us much about it," Hermione said, looking to Remus and Severus for contradictions. The two shook their heads in negative. "She likes to keep parts of her life separate."

Orion tilted his head and then shook it. "I suppose we all have our coping mechanisms." Regulus cantered by with Lily squealing as her mare followed. Regulus was whooping with excitement, and Sirius was chasing after them. Orion lifted a brow. "Perhaps, I should take you six to the hot springs," he said a sigh. "You can thank me for it later after you are done grooming the horses when we get back to the barn."

"We haven't been to the hot springs in over a year, father!" exclaimed Hermione with a burble of excitement.

"Well you have been at school, my chick," Orion defended himself. "Besides you know how hard it is to drag your mother out of the house."

"But, she loves the hot springs, father," Hermione pouted.

"And she wanted me just to put a hot springs into our house and be done with it," Orion said dryly.

The trio giggled and then suddenly stopped. They eyed each other with a sly grin.

Orion recognised the sight immediately and decided to curb it on the rump before he woke up his bedroom turned into the hot springs. "I tell you what, my young apprentices. Since your masters think so highly of you. We have a room on the bottom floor that is full of miscellaneous debris. It is a large room. Once all the old things were moved out, it could serve as an interesting place to transfigure into something more useful."

The trio perked up immediately.

"Could we, father?" Hermione asked, making sure her father wasn't yanking her chain to get her hopes up.

"Oh, I don't know," Orion said speculatively. "Maybe if you can beat me back to the tree!" He adjusted his seat, and his horse flew out from under him, carrying the wizard away in a flash.

Hermione whooped, adjusting her leg on her horse, and her horse took off after. She hugged her horse's back like a burr, keeping herself as flat as possible.

Remus and Severus exchanged glances, and Severus threw all caution to the wind, released the rein on his horse, and set his hip bones down on his seat.

Severus was off, leaving a Remus clinging to his horse as the horse decided he wasn't going to be left behind for no one!

Orion was laughing as he pulled his horse up, and Hermione was leaning up against the tree. Her horse was leaning against it as well as if to echo her feelings. Severus was trotting back to the oak after having overshot it by a few metres, and Remus pulled up last, panting as though he were the one that just ran the distance.

"You win, my chick," Orion laughed with enthusiasm. "The ground floor storeroom is yours to transform as you will."

Hermione looked up from where she was pretending to file her nails like Narcissa. She pointed her nail file at Orion. "You were holding back, father," she accused. "I have never once beaten you in a race."

"Me?" Orion replied, adjusting his halo. "Are you complaining?"

Hermione trotted over to parallel her father. She leaned over her saddle and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "No, father. I am not." She grinned at him.

Orion leaned over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Back to the barns with you lot," he commanded with a snicker. "Brush them down well, pick their feet, and be sure they have fresh water in their buckets."

Hermione grinned, clucking her tongue. Her horse was off at a brisk trot as she moved her body in time with her horse's movements. Severus was right behind her, and Remus muttered something about "not again."

Orion squeezed his leg again his horse, giving him a soft pat on the neck. "Come on, old man. Let's show the young folk that we aren't so old as they think." He slid his leg back to signal a canter, moved his posture down across his horse's neck, and engaged his seat.

As Orion and his horse went shooting by his daughter and her friends, as well as a startled Regulus, Sirius, and Lily, he couldn't help but laugh for the sheer joy of living.

Seems he wasn't so old after all.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sunday, July 16th, Nineteen hundred and Seventy-two

Dear Miss Evans,

I find myself at a bit of a conflict since last we spoke. It has been a long time since one such as you and your friends have wished to offer such a wonderful new line of products to the community, and I do find them absolutely enticing. I would like nothing more than to provide a place for them in our store in Hogsmeade, however; I feel I cannot do this at this time.

Many of our customers are ardent supporters of the apprenticeship system. We here at the store have fostered multiple apprentices throughout the hundreds of years our business has been settled here in Hogsmeade. Your interview with the Daily Prophet has cast a very unfavourable light upon your opinion of those who have made a lifetime of fostering young people such as yourself into the specialised occupations in the Wizarding community. We, at Gladrags Wizardwear, have always been ones to support the youth of our community. It was our intent to do so for your budding business, but we cannot stand by and support someone whose disregard for such an ancient and important part of our traditions. Too many of our clients come from families with whom such traditions are all too important. Had we known that this was your true opinion on our traditions, we could have saved ourselves much embarrassment in having to renege on our agreement to host your products at our store.

You have our sincere apologies. Perhaps, if the negative publicity becomes less heated, we may be able to renegotiate once more. Unfortunately, at this time, we can do nothing but refuse.

Sincerely,

Master Tailor Aileana Ballantyne (her seal, the needle and the sock)

-o-o-o-o-o-

Dear Lily Evans,

I can't wait to try out your products mentioned in Witch Weekly. When I'm old enough to go to Hogwarts, I'm going to be just like you!

Love,

Rose Winters

-o-o-o-o-o-

Dear Miss Evans,

I find your blatant disregard for our traditions to be a horrifying example of why Muggle-born students are a stain on our society. How can anyone with a modicum of respect speak so poorly of one of the foundations of the Wizarding World? You call yourself a witch? How can anyone such as you claim to care about the safety of your customers when you cannot even respect where they came from?

Perhaps, if you had a proper Master, you would realise the great honour they bestow upon us in taking us under wing. Masters take us on at a young age and give us guidance and direction during a time of our lives when much is uncertain. Perhaps, if they would even have you, because I, assuredly, would not.

With the greatest disdain,

Master Metalsmith Singeberry Kettleforge

-o-o-o-o-o-

Regulus poked his head into the guest room and frowned as he saw that one of his sister's friends was sobbing into a pillow. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, he sneaked into the room and sat down on the side of the mattress.

"Erm… want to talk about it?"

Sobs and sniffles answered him.

Regulus tugged at his collar and tried to remember all the things his sister said to him when he was sobbing into his pillow and came up empty. He hadn't exactly been paying attention when he was crying his eyes out. All he cared about at the time was his sister's arms comforting him.

Lily pushed out a piece of parchment towards him.

Regulus picked it up hesitantly, unwrinkled it, and read it.

"Oh," he said after a while. "Master Kettleforge tends to have the demeanour of an angry bull shark, but I did read that article in the Prophet. I know why he's all pissed."

Lily looked up from the pillow with red eyes. "I didn't say anything against the bloody apprenticeship system. Hell, three of my friends are apprentices." Her voice was angry and indignant.

Regulus frowned. "You basically said you didn't need to be apprenticed to succeed," he said softly. "Don't get me wrong. You don't have to be apprenticed to succeed. No one doubts that, but you singled out apprenticeship, which is like saying 'we don't need Aurors to find Dark wizards and witches.'"

Lily frowned at him.

"Look," Regulus said with a sigh. "You have to treat interviews like a social encounter in public. Me? I can't go anywhere without knowing who I'm greeting. I have to because if I forget things could get bad. I could be forgetting to add 'my Lord' to one of the Wizengamot founding families, and I wouldn't stop hearing about it for months. Years even."

Regulus scratched his ruffled black hair. "Once, when I was little, I got lost in a sea of legs when father took me to the Wizengamot because Mother was away visiting family in France. They all wear the same robes, you see? I grabbed a hold of what I thought was my father's leg. Someone picked me up, and I screamed because it wasn't my father and socked the head of the House of Nott right in the face."

Lily stared at him with wide eyes.

"That wasn't my shiniest moment," Regulus confessed. "To this day, Lord Nott calls me 'young Lord Black-eye,' and I can't get him to call me anything else. And Mother? Oh, boy. I was drilled on the who is who of the Wizengamot for years after that. I could recite the sacred twenty-eight in my sleep before I knew the rest of the alphabet, and I could probably point out a Carrow from across a courtyard. Malfoys are too easy, but not as easy as a Weasley."

Lily sniffed, but it seemed like she was recovering herself. "Why is there all this focus on niceties and proper behaviour? It's not like there is royalty around."

Regulus tilted his head. "Maybe that's why you're having a bad time of it? We don't strike you as being royal?"

"I don't understand why Slytherin students will come up to Hermione and treat her so differently, and she treats Malfoy like he's a bloody prince," Lily said with a scowl.

"Oh, well," Regulus cleared his throat. "The Malfoy family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Their pure-blood lineage traces back to the very first couple that was blessed by the Magic that founded their line."

Lily just stared at him.

Regulus pulled his feet up from the floor and crossed his legs on the mattress. "Okay, I'm not sure why they haven't taught you this stuff, since it's kinda important, but," he sighed and looked upward for guidance. "Pure-bloods trace their lineage back to a couple that were literally blessed with Magic back from the time before Merlin. It's not that they trace back to him, but a lot of people think the further you go back the better, but that's hogwash. It's that Magic founded their family. That is what is important. A witch and a wizard found each other, entered formal courtship and kissed. Kissing is kind of a big deal. There are four kinds, ok well that's kind of a misnomer. There are four kinds that matter in courtship: meeting of the minds, friendship, equality, and love. There is also the formal kiss to the hand that females get which implies fealty or loyalty, but now-a-days it's more of an acknowledgement of respect.

Regulus scratched his head. "This is kind of awkward. I mean," he sighed. "This is something your mother pulls you to the side and teaches you when you're, erm, eight."

Lily fidgeted. "I," she said. "Please continue."

Regulus let out his breath slowly. "Okay, way back when, one of my ancestors went into formal courtship. That is courtship started by the four sacred kisses, oh, please don't blush, you're making me really uncomfortable," Regulus protested.

Lily wrung her hands. "I'm sorry, please, go on."

"But, when that wizard kissed his witch the fourth time for love, Magic blessed them," Regulus explained.

Lily gave him a blank stare.

"Erm," Regulus scratched his head. "Magic bound them together as the heads of a magical family. It's Old Magic. It's as pure as you get. That's why the families are called pure-bloods. Their magic was pure, so Magic blessed their house and bound them together. Literally. The magic involved is undeniable. Now-a-days, though, you don't need that bond to get married, but if you do get it, it's like marriage the moment it happens. You also do not necessarily get the full Magic blessing even if you are bound in courtship. It's, erm, complicated," he said, scratching his head.

"No one from any of the pure-blood families will deny a Magic-bound courtship. Well, no one who is sane, anyway. There have been notable moments in history where some idiot tried because they were in love with a witch and tried to kill the wizard, and drama, and angst, and arrest, and the Wizengamot."

"How do you," Lily began. "How do you even know that entire magical bonding thing is real? It could just be a story. You said that you didn't need the bond to get married."

Regulus smiled. "My parents were bound. My mother and my father were both of the House of Black. Oh, don't look at me like that."

Lily cast her gaze to her lap. "Sorry."

"Mother and father were second cousins. They had no interest in each other at all," Regulus said. "But one day, at a Christmas party, they were caught under a magical mistletoe. You know, the ones that charm you so you can't leave until you've kissed? They stood there for hours asking someone to find the idiot that did the charm so they could get out of it, but no one fessed up to it. Finally, mother really had to use the loo, so they just kissed to get it over with. Well, let's just say the marriage contracts both of them had outside of the family were nullified after that night. Magic bound them so tight I think even Muggles could see them glowing for the next month. Uncle Cygnus said they glowed this emerald green colour for weeks."

"I thought you said they needed four kisses," Lily said, confused.

Regulus shook his head. "Normally, yes, well that is formal courtship. Mum and dad sort of skipped right over courtship and went directly to marriage."

Lily looked horrified. "They had no choice?"

Regulus looked at Lily like she'd grown a second head. "You'd argue with Old Magic? Mum and dad love each other if that's what you mean, but, I mean, you don't argue with Old Magic, Lily. It would be like Merlin walking into a room and saying 'hey can you do me a favour?' and you saying 'naw, I have plans today.'"

"But, a person should have a choice who they marry," Lily protested. "You don't just go marrying the first person you kiss."

Regulus scratched his head. "See, that's where I think where we're missing each other," he said. "Old Magic blessing your union is a good thing. It's rare as hell, and it's like the grail of magical bonds, Lily. It's like the entire love-at-first-sight thing you read about in books, only it's more like love-at-first-kiss. If you ask any witch who grew up in the Wizarding world, they were teethed on stories of the magical bond. They dream of Princes coming down and bestowing the kiss of courtship and having it be pure. Hell, when I grow up, I want to have that. I want to know that the person I am with was meant for me. I just hope it's not my cousin Narcissa because she's a bit old for me, and that would be awkward."

Lily blinked at him.

Regulus slapped his palm to his forehead and let it slide down his face. "Look, what I'm trying to say is, the reason for a lot of the traditions is magic. Bonds of Magic. Without them, we might not have had a Wizarding World. All this tradition? All of the hand kissing, bowing, and social prostrating? That is all a matter of respect, and it has less to do with respect of the person and everything to do with magic. Everything comes back to magic, somehow." Regulus ruffled his own hair. "Hermione knows better than anyone the dynamic of social balances that she must uphold as a member of this family. As an Apprentice, she is doubly in the spotlight. She must be proper in public lest someone take a candid shot and have her plastered in some very embarrassing tag line in the Prophet. This means she must curtsy to her superiors, extend her hand to the pure-bloods, masters, and superiors, and also watch what she says at all times."

"This—sitting here and talking to you like a normal person—is a gift. The fact that she can sit with you at Hogwarts and be herself where she isn't putting on that proper face? That is a great gift to her. It's why we value our friendships so highly. They are the only ones who get to see our true faces. Every friendship has a price. In being her friend, you must realise that she has duties she must perform. She has a face she must present, and it has nothing to do with her love for her friends."

"Sirius told me that it was a bunch of pure-blood rubbish," Lily said. "He said I didn't have to do any of that with him."

Regulus' face because serious, his normal boyish charm turned into something stoic and indifferent. "My brother has tried to rebel from his roots for as long as I can remember, and he unthinkingly insults in his haste to distance himself from the Old Ways. He thinks himself better because he acts out, but all he does it bring more attention to the rest of us that do not. It is because of him that my sister must take up the reins and be as proper as she is. If my brother tells you that you can ignore all propriety with him, then that is between the two of you, and that is yours to hash out. Do not take that as an invitation to think the rest of us can be so lax."

Lily hugged the pillow and stared at Regulus, perhaps trying to integrate the happy and joyful younger brother of Hermione Black to this serious looking Regulus.

"How do I make this right, Regulus?" Lily whispered.

Regulus stood up from the bed, swirling his shoulders in a stretch. An impish grin started to spread across his face as the boyish younger brother peaked out from his more mature, serious face. "Find someone other than my brother to teach you manners," Regulus said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

And with that, Regulus swept the room, leaving Lily alone in the room and wondering what had just happened.

Lily heard a loud series of tromping footsteps.

"Big sis!" she heard Regulus yell.

There was a thumping sound.

"Oof! Regulus! Where have you been?" Hermione's voice chuckled. "We've started to transfigure rocks for the hot springs. Do you want to help us plan the layout?"

"Does Denebola like stealing mum's chair?" Regulus answered.

A loud meow sounded in protest.

"Come on then, miscreant," Hermione laughed. "And you too, four-legged miscreant."

A loud meow sounded off again.

"Hey, Regulus, where's Lily?" Lily heard Sirius ask.

"She was taking a nap," Regulus answered. "Don't go bugging her unless she comes down herself, big brother."

"Psh," Sirius replied. "Girls. Such odd sleeping patterns."

"I heard that, Sirius Black!" Hermione's voice said.

There were the sounds of choking.

"Ahh! Let me go! Help! Abuse!" Sirius yelled.

Hermione shushed him. "Come on, let's get out of the hallway. If Lily is trying to sleep, we are horrible hosts."

As quiet descended upon the hallway, Lily Evans realised she had a lot to learn about the Ancient and Noble House of Black and the social dynamics that drove the pure-blood society.

She had already snubbed Severus every time he had offered to teach her basic manners around the pure-bloods. She had basically shoved his offers back at him and told him to stuff it, so she doubted asking him now would go well. Hermione, too, she had chewed out when she had offered to teach her, and she had told Remus to mind his damn business.

Great job, Lily, she scolded herself. Piss off the ones who were just trying to prevent exactly what just happened to you. Idiot.

Lily buried her head into the pillow she was holding and let out a ragged breath. First things first. She needed a teacher that didn't have every right to hex her for her hypocrisy, or at least someone who wouldn't hex her even if she deserved it.

Where to even start?

-o-o-o-o-o-

Orion Black lowered his newspaper as Lily Evans crept into the drawing room and went down into a full curtsy, lowering her head down to her knees to stare at his feet. His eyebrows shot into his hair immediately.

"May I," he started to say, "assist you, Miss Evans?" He expected her to be in the store room with the others.

Lily stared at his shoes. "Please, sir," she said softly. "If it pleases you, could you teach me how not to insult you?"

Orion very slowly placed his paper down on the side table, scraping his jaw off the floor in the most dignified manner possible. "Have a seat, Miss Evans," he said, gesturing with his hand to the nearby chair. "Tell me what is troubling you."

The red-haired witch sat in the chair with a little trepidation. "I'm not sure where to begin," the confessed.

Orion tilted his head. "Kreacher."

Pop.

"Yes, Master?" the house-elf said.

"Please fetch myself and my guest some tea," Orion said.

"Yes, Master," Kreacher said. "Kreacher is honoured to serve." The house-elf disappeared with a pop.

Orion turned his gaze back to Lily, who shrunk slightly under the power of his regard. "Start from the beginning, Miss Evans," he said softly.

Lily swallowed hard and gathered her courage.

As it turned out, it took her about as long as it took Kreacher to return with the tea for Lily to stop stammering.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Dear Cousin Hermione,

Hermione, have you heard?

My dear sister, Andromeda, has gone and done something awful. She found a job this last year working at a quaint little seamstress shop in London. She was really doing well with magical mending. She was spending so many hours there, we were starting to worry about her, so mother went to visit her in town and bring her some of her favourite pies to help keep her strength up.

When mother stepped into the shop she saw my sister with a wizard! It wasn't just any wizard either. They were being entirely inappropriate right there in the store where people could see them. Touching, petting, laughing… mother was absolutely mortified. None of us even knew she was interested in courtship, so to see her carrying on like some love-struck Muggle… Oh, Hermione, it was awful! Mother came home crying, wringing her hands, wailing that her daughter would be seen as some scarlet woman.

When Andromeda came home, everything went to pieces. Andromeda said she was in love and this Ted Tonks was the man she was going to marry. She just put it right out there in front of mother and father and in front of me! Bellatrix was home visiting too, and she went completely crazy. Mother was screaming that Andromeda hadn't even been in a courtship. Father was yelling that she wasn't going to marry any man that didn't have the common decency to ask him for permission to marry his daughter. Bellatrix started throwing curses, hexes, and all manner of things at her. They were dueling in the middle of the dining room!

When the smoke cleared, Andromeda was gone. Bellatrix had this crazy look about her, Hermione. She's always been a little off, but she looked murderous.

Mother was sobbing in the corner. Father started throwing things around the house and ripping pictures down from the walls. Mother was crying that she was going to have to make sure they found me a good match so nothing like this ever happened to our family again.

I got an owl from Andromeda the other week. She's been married. She said she was tired of waiting for Magic to decide who she was to love. She was in love, and she married him. She said she didn't need the kiss to know he was the right one for her. She said Ted is Muggle-born and brilliant. He makes her laugh, he doesn't have a clue about pure-blood customs, and she wants to grow old with him. She said if the rest of our family couldn't understand that, then she didn't care. It was her life.

Hermione, I'm so scared for her. She's turning her back on our entire family! She won't even come back and show father and mother that they have a true marriage bond. She says they are married, and she shouldn't have to show her parents some sort of magical bond to prove they are meant for each other. It's all she would have had to do, Hermione. Just that one thing, and my parents would have accepted it. Magic would have proven her case. It would have proven that they had a pure bond. She won't even do that.

I'm so scared, Hermione. What if I fall in love when I'm at Hogwarts? What if they don't know about formal courtship? It's not like we can teach a wizard how to do it. That's something the father teaches the son! I would be so mortified if I had to explain it!

Father disowned my sister last night. Apparently, he flooed over to see your father, got completely knackered, and burned her right off the family tree. Your father flooed in very late, and deposited my father in the armchair by the fire. Mother came in as he was leaving. He said there would come a time when they may come to regret what had happened that night, and he could only hope they treated their remaining daughter with more care.

Mother said she had never seen Orion so sombre.

We received an owl the next day. The charred remains of father's wand was in a box. He had apparently, in his drunken rage, broke his own wand and thrown it into the fireplace. Orion had saved what he could, but it was already too late. Mother is going to have to side-apparate him to Diagon Alley and suffer through the embarrassment of standing by as her husband has to pick out a replacement wand. He's had that wand since he was eleven.

I can't wait to see you again when term starts again. There is so much I want to talk to you about, and I don't feel like I have anyone else who would understand. I hope whatever luck was with you last year holds up, and you are still with that glorious room all to yourself.

Sincerely,

Narcissa Black (her seal, the daffodil)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: For those of you rooting for Regulus or Orion to give Lily a push in the right direction. Ta-dah! You had both! Zing!

Could you feel the awkwardness of poor 11-year-old Regulus trying to explain kissing to a girl? Poor Regulus. At least Severus didn't have to do it. I think Severus would have just crawled under a rock and died right there on the spot. I wonder... as Severus' surrogate pure-blood father role, would Orion have to pull the boy aside and teach him the birds and the hippogriffs? Aw, man. Awkward.