A/N
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Chapter 9 – Let the Courting Commence [Pt.2]
Antares ate his breakfast in silence as he sat at the Slytherin house table. He was internally very nervous at what was about to happen within the next ten minutes. To his left sat his best friend Xavier Nott, and on his right sat Caroline Parkinson. Tristan and Jasper sat across from them, enjoying their hearty English breakfast. Sophia was nowhere to be seen.
Antares had no idea where his female best friend was. Having come straight to breakfast from the Owlery he had no way of knowing if she was still in her dorm or not. The others hadn't heard from her either.
"I have an announcement to make" declared Antares his friends, placing his knife and fork down upon his empty plate.
They turned to him with eyebrows raised. It was very unlike Antares to announce to them that he had something to say. He would usually just come outright and say what he was thinking.
"Over the holidays my father visited me in my bedroom. He informed me that he had something to tell me that would change my life dramatically. He informed me that he and my mother had seen fit to enter me into a . . marriage contract"
His friends (minus Jasper) all had looks of extreme shock written across their faces. They all looked like they wanted to ask him various questions, yet it was Caroline who was first to break the silence.
"Well don't keep us in suspense. Tell us who the future Lady Black is going to be"
"Helena Greengrass from Ravenclaw" replied Antares.
"She's quiet the looker Antares. At least you have that going for you" commented Tristan with a cheeky grin.
"How do you feel about all of this Ares?" asked Xavier, using his friends nickname for the first time in ages.
"Truthfully, I don't rightly know. I think that I've come to terms with it over the last few weeks, but only time will tell" replied Antares to his friend with a small smile, knowing that his best friend was only looking out for his interests.
"Have you told Sophia yet?" Caroline asked as she took a sip of her coffee, "She has the right to know that you are promised to another. You owe her that much at least.".
"I have not" admitted Antares in a small voice, "I was hoping she was here so that I could tell all of you at once. Perhaps it is better that she isn't here so that I can talk to her about it in private".
"I suspect that your family is doing things the traditional way. When does the Courting ceremony begin?" asked Jasper, who up until this point had remained silent.
"Today actually. By my calculations Aquila should be delivering the first gift to the Ravenclaw table any minute now" replied Antares.
As if by some form of divine intervention, seconds after Antares had finished speaking hundreds of owls flew through the open windows and into the great all. All of them carrying parcels and newspapers of various shapes and sizes.
Antares (and his friends) attention turned towards the Ravenclaw table, where Aquila could be seen landing right beside Helena Greengrass.
Helena's POV
Helena Greengrass had been having a rather pleasant time enjoying the peace and quiet (most of her housemates were already occupying the library), when her breakfast had been interrupted by a black eagle owl landing right beside her.
The eagle owl bowed its head towards her, before sticking out its left leg where a black letter and a parcel where attached.
"Is that for me?" Helena asked of the bird with a puzzled expression on her face.
Aquila nodded his head.
Placing her knife and fork down, she stroked the owl behind ear before untying both the letter and gift from the owl's leg.
Seeing as his job was done, Aquila grabbed a piece of bacon from Helena's plate with his beak and flew off towards the exit along with the other owls.
Moving her plate to the side, she placed the gift and letter in front of her. She decided to read the letter first so that she could find out who the gift and letter where from. Picking up the black envelope, she marvelled at the beauty and simplicity of it. The envelope was a rich black colour made of a thick card-like parchment that had her name written elegantly in silver ink. Turning it over revealed who the sender was.
The Black Family crest (three black ravens, a flexed arm wielding a wand and the words 'toujurs pur' upon a shield of red, blue and white) was embossed upon silver candle wax, holding the envelope closed from prying eyes.
Helena's heart began to beat faster and a light blush rose to her cheeks as she realised what the contents of the letter most likely contained.
With slightly trembling fingers she broke the wax seal and opened the envelope. Inside contained a single sheet of thick white parchment that was folded in two.
Placing the envelope off to the side, she opened the folded parchment.
Written in silver ink was half a page of beautifully written handwriting. The writing curled this way and that in an effortless display of penmanship and stayed in neat straight lines despite the lack of ruled lines.
Yet the writing whilst beautiful wasn't what she was interested in. It was the meaning behind the words that she really wanted to hear. So she composed herself and began to read.
Dear Lady Greengrass,
May I say that I am truly sorry that you have found yourself in such a situation due to the machinations of our parents. I am unaware if you knew about our arranged marriage before the summer holidays, or that you agreed to it, but I can assure you that I did not. When my father informed me that he and my mother had entered me into a marriage contract with yourself I was quiet taken aback. Growing up in a traditional pureblood home I knew it was a distinct possibility that I may one day be entered into a marriage contract, but until recently I had never thought that it would actually come to pass. Over the last few weeks I have come to terms with the fact that you and I will one day raise a family together. I hope that you too have thought about this as long and hard as I have. If we are to be forced together because our magic and by extension our life depends on it, then I want to give our relationship all the dedication it deserves. I don't want to wake up in 80 years from now as a vindictive old man because we didn't give it our best to fall in love with one another. What I'm saying is that I am willing to give us a chance if you are willing to do the same. I want to spend the rest of my life with someone I love and someone who loves me in return, and I hope that person will one day be you. Seeing as we haven't exactly met, let me be the first to introduce myself. My name is Antares Orion Black. I am 16 years old and am a pureblood wizard. I enjoy reading, exercising and hunting. My friends and family are the most important thing in my life, one thing I despise is tomatoes. I know that courting is a not usually undertaken in modern times but my family believed that it would help us get to know one another. As such I will be unable to see or speak to you for at least a month, I hope this doesn't displease you and that you will send me a response whenever I owl you, this way we can get to know each other and hopefully bond before the courting comes to a close. Attached to this letter is the first gift of many, I hope that you find it worthy enough for someone as beautiful as you.
Eagerly awaiting you reply,
Antares Orion Black
A single tear rolled down Helena's bright red face as Antares letter came to a close, the beauty of it surprising her beyond belief. Turning towards the Slytherin table she saw that her future husband was carefully watching her reaction to his letter. As she turned to his direction her warm brown eyes locked with his intelligent grey ones, and for the briefest of moments they each shared a small smile that even they didn't know the meaning of.
Antares nodded to her before turning his attention back to his friends. It was in this moment that all the stress and anxiety from the previous two weeks was suddenly lifted from her shoulders. Gone was the fear that her husband was going to be someone that didn't even want to bother with her. Gone was the fear that she was going to live a loveless marriage of depression and despair. And all it had taken to waylay her fears was a lovely worded letter and a charming smile from a handsome boy across the hall.
Smiling brightly to herself she wiped her cheeks with the corner of her robes before turning her attention to the small package that had remained forgotten until now.
The package was roughly 8 inches in length and two inches wide, rectangular in shape and wrapped up in fine silver wrapping paper. After tearing the paper from the rectangular box, she was greeted with a dark blue box.
Lifting the top half of the box from the bottom half, she gasped loudly at what she saw.
A mesmerising quill of silver, black and green and topped with a gold tip lay inside. It wasn't just any old pretty quill with a gold tip though. The special thing about it, and the reason she had gasped, was the fact that the quill was made from the tale of the very rare Irish Phoenix, more commonly known as the Augurey. The inquisitive side of her wanted to know how Antares had procured such an item, but later reminded herself that most Blacks had more gold then sense.
Knowing that her future husband would most likely want a response as fast as possible, she packed up her new quill, grabbed her letter and book bag and made her way in the direction of her common room. A large smile on her pretty face present the entire way.
Here you go guys :) This part of chapter nine literally wrote itself. I enjoyed it much more than the previous chapter I posted. More parts of chapter 9 coming soon. Please Review.