I Write Tragedies
Chapter Three
"What did you and Fudge talk about tonight?" Joandra asked, stifling a yawn. She looked as lovely and as beautifully put together as she had at the beginning of the evening. And more than she realized, she was an incredible asset to her husband. Rather than being recognized as the man who invented her, Sirius was seen as Joandra Alvar Black's husband, and if he knew it, he never acknowledged it to Joandra.
"The Minister and I discussed something very interesting," Sirius said, looking vague, "I'll tell you about it when I'm free to talk about it."
"When will that be?" She asked with renewed interest. She was not only his wife, but had become a skilled listener.
"I'm not sure yet. I'm having lunch with him on Saturday at the Leaky Cauldron."
"It must be important." But it all was. Anything that involved the Minister was potentially a big story.
They drove a short distance, chatting about the party. And Sirius asked her if she'd seen Troy Novus.
"Only from a distance. I didn't realize he was back from Washington." He had been in seclusion for the past six months, after the death of his wife the year before. It had been a terrible story, which Joandra remembered all too clearly. She had been kidnapped by Death Eaters, and Troy Novus had handled the negotiations himself. After collecting the ransom, the Death Eaters had panicked and killed her. Troy had resigned from his position at the Ministry shortly after.
"He's a fool," Sirius said without preamble or pity for him. "He never should have tried to handle it himself. Anyone could have predicted that would happen."
"I don't suppose he believed that," Joandra said quietly, glancing out the window. And a moment later, they were home, and she and Sirius walked up the stairs to their room.
"I have to be in the Ministry early tomorrow," she said, as he started to take off his dress robe, and she slipped her dress off and stood before him in nothing more than pantyhose and her high-heeled silver sandals. She had a spectacular body which was never wasted on him, nor had it been in her previous life, though Michael Bobbyt was extraordinarily different. The one brutal and unkind and rough with her, indifferent to her feelings, or cries of pain when he hurt her, the other so smooth, so careful, so seemingly respectful of her. Michael Bobbyt had once broken her arms, and she had broken her leg when he pushed her down the stairs. That had been the night right after she met Sirius, and he had been in a jealous rage about him. She had sworn to him that she wasn't involved with Sirius, and she hadn't been then. He was her employer and they were just friends, the rest had come later, after she left Wales and moved to London to work for him at his newspaper company. Within a month of her arrival in London she and Sirius had become lovers, but her divorce was already in the works then.
"Why are you going in early?" Sirius asked over his shoulder as he disappeared into his black marble bathroom. They had bought the house five years before, from a wealthy Arab wizard. There was a full gym and a swimming pool downstairs, beautiful reception rooms Sirius liked to use to entertain, and all six of the house's bathrooms were marble. The house had four bedrooms, a master, and three guest rooms.
There was no plan to turn any of the guest rooms into a nursery. Sirius had made it clear to her right from the beginning that he didn't want any children. He hadn't enjoyed the two he had when they were growing up, and he had no desire to have more, in fact he absolutely forbade it. And after a brief period of mourning for the babies she would never have, at Sirius's insistence, Joandra went to a healer who gave her a potion that made it impossible to have children. She though it was better in some ways, she had half a dozen abortions during her years with Michael Bobbyt, and she wasn't sure if she could have a normal baby. It seemed easier to give in to Sirius's wish and not take any chances. He had given her so much, and wanted such great things for her, she could see his point that children would only be an obstacle she'd have to overcome, and a burden on her career. But there were still times when she regretted the irreversibility of her decision. At thirty-four, a lot of her friends were still having babies, and all she had was Sirius now. She wondered if she'd regret it even more when she grew older and had no grandchildren, or children of her own. But it was a small price to pay for the life she shared with Sirius Black. And it had been so important to Sirius. He had insisted on it.