Chapter Three:
"Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm tired and need to get some sleep".
That was what she had said to them the last time she saw them all.
Now there they all were; looking fresher than she did, already eating breakfast this morning in the Great Hall.
At the Slytherin table sat Lestrange, dark hair brushed neatly to the side, his pale long fingers curling around a tiny tea cup, hunched over a pile of parchments - definitely not the ones from last night; he wouldn't risk it here. He was muttering here and there while taking small sips from his tea. He was as usual surrounded by the regular set of his closest friends; Hector Carrow, Nolan Selwyn and Hellebore Flint. Hector was next to Lestrange and had a textbook open against a jug of juice - it seemed the two of them were trying to work through some last minute homework. The Daily Prophet lay unopened in front of Nolan and Hellebore who were both engrossed in what appeared to be fierce gossip judging by Hellebore's tittering giggles.
The four of them were extreme blood purists and feared by many students in the school, even some of the teachers were afraid of them.
There was a large gap between them and the other Slytherin students at the table, everyone knew to stay out of their way.
Just as she was passing by, from the opposite side of the table, Lestrange looked up at her, his dark eyes boring into the side of her skull. She pretended to not notice as she kept walking by deciding to sit as far as possible from his group. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, but she kept her pace steady as she searched for a place to eat in silence.
Finally finding an empty spot at the edge of the table she dumped her book bag on the bench and sat down next to it.
Just as she was about to grab all the food closest to her, paper was thrust into her face accompanied by an excited squeal.
She pushed it away to see it was the Daily Prophet clutched in the hands of her younger sister; Charis who looked like Christmas was early and father had decided to spoil her as usual.
"What is it Charis? I'm, starving, and I don't have much time before the food's all taken away", she snapped irritably as she reached out for croissants and tea.
As she stuffed a large bite of croissant into her mouth she looked over to see her sister roll her eyes as she threw a leg over the bench to sit down facing her.
She once again held up the newspaper and jabbed at the front page impatiently.
"Look! It's Calli! She's on the front page!".
This time she looked further down the paper from where it stated 'Daily Prophet' in those large letters to the article that had managed to make the front page that day.
In bold letters it claimed that a Callidora Black had gotten engaged to one Harfang Longbottom last Sunday, with a picture underneath of Harfang on his knees sliding a ring onto her older sister's hand, the two of them smiling lovingly at each other while the crowd that surrounded them cheered.
"Doesn't she look beautiful?" Charis sighed placing the paper flat out on the table in front of her while she stared at the photograph.
She smiled as she turned her attention back to the photograph, even in black and white Callidora's beauty was clear to see. She has always been the most beautiful of the three of them, and the one her mother showed off most at parties. Her dark almond doe eyes that always seemed to exude kindness and her aristocratic features paired with her grace; she was the prettiest girl at school during her time here, she suspected even now if she were to come back, there wasn't a girl who could rival her beauty, although Charis might come close as the two shared many similar features, but there was just something about Callidora that had always made her seem ethereal.
And Callidora was just as kind and gentle as she looked, this had made her the target of many marriage proposals as soon as she had finished her last year at Hogwarts but to top it all off; Callidora wasn't the brightest and far too inclined to fall in love with any fool who showed her the slightest interest.
Therefore she had intervened, when Callidora had been at school she had always tried to get her to talk to Harfang - which wasn't easy as she wasn't acquainted at all with the popular Gryffindor boy, it had taken many schemes and well timed shoves in the middle of the hallways for the two to even notice each other let alone fall in love. But slowly they did become friends, and then more.
Unusual as it was for a Slytherin girl and a Gryffindor boy to be friends it wasn't totally unexpected or strange as the Longbottom family are well respected in the pureblood circles. It was this neutrality and Harfang's own kindness that made him such an upstanding gentlemen that had Cedrella so determined to match them. Callidora had to be saved from marrying into any of the pure blood extremist families that her own parents so frequently engaged with - she knew her sister would not be able to survive in such a household and she would never want her sister's innocence to be tainted in such a manner.
Now staring at the fruits of her years of labour she felt soaring satisfaction - this was a match worthy enough to be on the front page of the Prophet and ensured her sister of an elevated rank in society, which she was sure Calllidora would manage to maintain with her grace, diplomacy and beauty. But most importantly she was secured for a life of happiness with a man she loved and deserved.
"Do you think I would get to be on the front page some day"? Charis's chatter penetrated through her thoughts.
She looked up at Charis' young face. She was only fourteen but Cedrella thought Charis was very immature, impatient and cheeky, she was used to getting whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Cedrella would have to keep a lookout for a potential suitor for her as well - in case she suddenly decided to get married into some raving blood purist family.
"Perhaps, if you do something notable" she replied finishing off the croissant she had being chewing on.
"Like marrying well?" Charis looked at her older sister with a hint of uncertainty.
"Not neccessarily" she said firmly with a smile.
This seemed to make Charis light up and she bounced onto her feet, standing over her as she proclaimed she was going to head over to the stadium now.
"The Stadium"? she asked washing down the croissant with some tea.
"The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff match is today! Charis looked down at her in admonishment, quickly replaced by a cheeky grin, Oooh I'm so excited to watch Adam! Aren't you going to come to support him? You two are both heads after all, aren't you close?"
"I don't care for Quidditch, you know that" she replied rolling her eyes, her gaze landed on Septimus sitting at the Gryffindor table surrounded by his team and supporters. He was already dressed ready to go, chugging down breakfast while a younger boy was reciting from a tatty notebook of what seemed to be game strategies.
"Suit yourself" Charis shrugged, skipping away to go back to her group of quidditch obsessed friends with the newspaper left all forgotten in front of her.
With a last glance at her older sister's smiling face she ripped the front page out of the paper and folded it into the inside pocket of her cloak.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Hellebore and Nolan looking over to the Gryffindor table and saw they were looking at Septimus. Hector muttered something seemingly dark judging by the glint in his eye and the curl of his lip that made Hellebore positively cackle and Nolan smirk.
But it was Lestrange smirking that made her feel dread down to her toes.
What did they know about him?
Were they going to do something?
They didn't usually stay in the Great Hall this long during meals, were they really planning on going to the match?
While she tried to calm down by telling herself to stop overreacting, her questions were inevitably answered when they actually got up and started walking over in the direction most people were going that morning - to the stadium.
They never went to quidditch matches, not even when Slytherin played in the finals, just what were they planning?
She looked over to the Gryffindor table but Septimus had already gone.
It seemed her morning plans had been decided for her; she got up and rushed to catch up with her sister, anxiety pooling in her stomach with every step.
Septimus was nervous and despite what everyone thought he had absolutely no idea what he was doing but he was captain, so he stood up on top of the bench gripping his broom in the changing room, looking down at his team huddling around him and raised his broom in the air "Let's win this, team"!
A/N
Sorry for the late update, I hope you haven't given up on this yet Cath Black!
As you all can see I have introduced new characters into the mix, so the plot thickens...
The long lock-down in my country has given me some time to work on some writing so I hope you enjoyed this, and thank you for reading all the way!
~Smiley108
