Bellatrix was sat on her bed, ready for the day. She was wearing her midnight blue witch's robes and had her hat sat next to her.
A knock came at her. Bellatrix stood up and went to answer it. Opening it she saw James in a dark grey cloak with a crimson outline. "Shall we?" He grinned.
"Breakfast first, sweet talker. Then you can seduce me."
With Arcturus.
"Lord Black, your sons are here." The male house-elf dressed in a tuxedo called.
"Send them in." Arcturus replied without looking up from the letter he had written to send to his solicitor about changing his will as soon as possible.
The door to the study open and Orion and Cygnus walked in. "We wish to speak with you Father." Orion spoke as he clutched a newspaper in his hand.
Arcturus gestured to the seats in front of his desk. "Take a seat."
Once they were seated Cygus spoke up. "Is it true?" He asked, looking ready to burst.
Is that true?" Arcturus questioned, not giving anything away.
He's referring to this. Orion placed the newspaper on the desk and pointed to a small article on the front page.
Another Potter/ Black wedding?
Yesterday morning, a marriage contract between James Potter and Bellatrix Black was handed in by a house-elf belonging to the Potters. All we can confirm about the contract is that it was signed by both participants with a blood quill.
Tomorrow was also the funeral of the late Charles Potter, his wife Dora Potter née Black, and their son Bradley Potter.
Neither family has spoken about the engagement.
"So you are referring to this." Arcturus responded as he handed them their copy of the contract.
Both of the brothers read the contract with more and more surprise showing on their faces.
"Do you know why I made that contact?" Arcturus asked causing his sons to look up to him. "I made it to punish you, and to teach you both a lesson."
"You said you forgave us the contract." Orion spoke up.
Arcturus slammed his hand on his desk as he shot up. "I did until I saw the bride piece!" He let his words hang in the air. "One hundred gallons. One hundred gallons! You sold a daughter of the house of Black for the price of a mistress! The only difference is she's not coming back!back! I should you both out and make Sirius my heir!" Both men scowled at the very. Neither of you are ready to be head of this house. Everyone who signed this contract did so willingly. I could have asked for far more than a knut, but I don't trust either of you to not waste it." Arcturus leaned back into his chair. "You are both dismissed." Both scowled at their father before leaving the room to use the floo to return to their own homes.
Arcturus sighed. It was no use. "Montague!"
The male house-elf from before returned. "Yes, Lord Black?" He asked with a bow.
"Upon my death, you are to serve Bellatrix as you have me." Arcturus commanded.
"As you wish, Lord Black." Montague responded. "Is Lord Black ill, master?"
"No, I am in perfect health, but that doesn't mean I will stay that way."
Soon with James and Bellatrix.
The pair were now sat outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They sat in silence until they were halfway through their bowls when Bellatrix spoke up. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What did Dumbledore do to make Charles hate him so much?"
James leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table. "Quite a lot to be honest. Most of it revolves around Grindelwald." James then began counting the offences off on his fingers. "He originally agreed with Grindelwald. He made a blood peg with Grindelwald to not harm each other. When finally got around that and beat Grindelwald, he didn't kill and protected him from the death penalty. He argued a lot with Charles about him killing all of Grindlewald's inner circle when they tried to surrender. He's manipulative. Holds three very high up political positions and does absolutely nothing to help us progress. And probably some other stuff I don't know about. But one thing I do know is that he blamed Dumbldore for a lot of the deaths caused by the wars against Grindlewald."
"How does your father feel about him ?" Bllatrix asked.
"He doesn't like that he's holding down three full-time positions. Says that he can't give them the time that each job needs and that, that much power is far to intoxicating for one person."
"Do you believe him?" Bellatrix was pleased to see that she hadn't gone from one group of blind followers to another.
"While he's never actually himself 'The leader of the light', he does seem to like the name. And I've never seen him take another person's advice, not even that Mcgonigal wanted to burn that acromantula nest to the ground." James answered.
"Didn't a Griff almost get eaten by them once?" Bellatrix pondered as she began to eat her ice-cream again.
"Yeah, it was a first year muggleborn. He didn't see what could be so dangerous in a forest next to a school. To be fair he dose have a point. What kind of school keeps a nest of man-eating spiders?" James answered before he resumed eateating as well. "So, what do you want to do now you're out of Hogwarts?"
Bellatrix leaned back into her chair. "I don't know. I have always liked ruins, so maybe something with that?"
"You could go for a mastery in it if you want." James suggested.
"It'd give me a lot of free rain as an Unspeakable." Bellatrix thought out loud.
"If that's what you want to do." James shrugged.
"What about you? What's your best subject? And what do you want to do after Hogwarts?"
"My best subject is transfiguration and I want to be Auror." James answered.
The pair finished their ice-cream and started to look around the ally. They linked arms as they looked through the windows of various shops for something that catches their eye. When James got an idea. "How about we go dancing?" He suggested. "I know there's a place nearby that plays a few different styles."
"Sure." Bellatrix shrugged. James was disappointed at her indifference but reminded himself that this was new and they knew next to nothing about each other. It would take time for them to bond. Once the pair drew near to the entrance, Bellatrix transfigured their robes into something more suited for dancing and turned her hat into a necklace.
Bellatrix expected James to dance like those she had been made to dance with beforehand: stiff and emotionless. Or try to cop a feel of bum or push their bodies far closer together than necessary. But that was not the case. James had a lazy smile on his face during the slower dances and was outright grinning during the faster ones. Bellatrix couldn't help but smile along with him. Especially since he kept his hands where they should be. James bought them both a drink from the bar when he noticed a pair of blonds enter. "Trixie." James called. Once he had her attention he nodded to behind her. Bellatrix spotted what Jame was looking at. Lucius and Narcissa. "Do you want to get out of here, or should we introduce our selves?" James had a mischievous grin on his face as he finished his suggestion.
A grin soon mirrored by Bellatrix. "Let's go have some fun." She suggested as she pulled James along by the hand.
James caught up and slung his arm over her shoulders. "Let's show them up a little." He whispered into her ear. Realising what her betrothed was up to, Bellatrix leaned into him and plaster a lazy smile on her face.
They approached Lucius and Narcissa as the unsuspecting couple made their way to the conductor who was using his wand to manipulate a variety of instruments. Lucius talked to the conductor and handed him some sicles. When he turned around, his eyes widened at seeing the future Lord and Lady Potter stood behind his betrothed. Narcissa noticed her betrothed expression and turned around to see what he was looking at. Both James and Bellatrix were amused by how the blondes looked as if they were doused in ice-cold water.
"Hier Malfoy, Miss Black." James greeted with an amused smile.
"Hier Potter, Bellatrix." Lucius greeted with a faint scowl.
The conductor was oblivious to all this and began to play a slow dance song. "Shall we dear?" James asked the witch he had his arm around.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Bellatrix answered. The pair smiled as they walked to the centre of the dance floor. They turned to face each other. James bowed while Bellatrix curtsied. As soon as they were in position, they seemed to glide around the dance floor and weaved through the other couples. Particularly Lucius and Narcissa.
At the end of the dance they looked into each other's eyes and Bellatrix spoke. "You stink of sweat." She teased.
James snorted. "You're one to talk." He retorted.
With that Bellatrix pulled James in for a passionate kiss. They separated wearing stupid grins.
Feeling ready to move on, Bellatrix reversed her spells and freshened them up, before the couple headed back outside.
"So where to next?" James asked.
"Well, if I'm seriously going to go for that ruins mastery, I'm going to need some new books, some new carving slabs as well as some small ward crystals. So we'll have to go Gringotts first so I can get enough money from my account to pay for all of that. I imagine you will want to go and look at quidditch gear..." Bellatrix looked to James for a response.
"I could do with some new pads." He mentioned.
"...After that, I suppose we will need to head back." Bellatrix continued.
"Sounds good to me." James agreed as they entered the goblin bank.
"So what can you tell me about this ritual?" Bellatrix questioned her betrothed.
"All I can say is that it involves the brain and skull of a goat, and few veela hairs." James answered.
The pair stopped taking as they were now st the front of the. They both requested access to their vaults. Both of them grinned as they rode the cart through the depths of the bank.
"Does your mother work?" Bellatrix asked as they left the bank.
"Yeah, she's a language tutor." James answered. "She teaches; French, Spanish, Latin, Italian, Hindi and Gobbledygook."
"How many languages do you know?"
"Three: English-obviously, French and Gobbledygook. I also know a bit of Latin, but not enough to carry a conversation."
They had now reached Goldstein Materials and entered the shop. Bellatrix collected three slabs for each type of wood, stone and metal sold there as well as some small ward crystals. After Bellatrix paid for her materials, James casually strolled up to the counter and placed the most expensive carving set around on top. "Just this please." The tools were goblin made and the carrier was made of dragonhide and had a built-in pocket with expansion and fether weight charm on it for materials. He looked to Bellatrix with a grin. "Figured you could use some new tools while you were at it."
"Hell of a gift to get a girl on your first date."
James shrugged. "I try. Plus, you have nothing to hold all your materials in."
Bellatrix's eyes widened when she realised he was right. "Dam." Bellatrix shrank her perches into the kit's pocket and they left for Flourish and Blotts. The pair entered the store and split up to browse the shelves.
James found The Monster Book Of Monsters and came up with a new prank to play. After paying for enough copies to put one in each broom closet at Hogwarts and having a house-elf take them home, he went to find his Betrothed. When he found her, she was holding a book in her hands. "Trixie." Bellatrix jolted as she came back to reality. "What you got there?"
Bellatrix tilted the book so James could see it was one for first-time parents. "I'm just wondering how we'll raise our children." Bellatrix commented.
James smiled at the thought of them having more than one kid. "Well, there's the obvious stuff. How to act as a member of a most ancient and noble house, our families history and basic knowledge of other houses. As a Potter, they will be taught several pieces of advice that will help them throughout their lives and we'll teach them a few defensive spells before they go Hogwarts. There's more, but we're in public. Is there anything you want to teach them from being raised a Black?"
Bellatrix nodded. "Mostly dirty tactics they will need to be aware of, as well as some other things I won't speak of in public."
"Well let's get married first, then we can think about starting a family." James gently takes the book out of her hands and puts it back on the shelf. He kisses her cheek before speaking. "One step at a time Trixie. One step at a time."
Meanwhile with Dumbledore.
"Dam Arcturus." Dumbledore muttered. The binding of James Potter of Bellatrix Black made his little dream of getting closer to James impossible. He had hoped to use James' infatuation with Lilly to reel him in. Maybe even kick off a relationship between the two by giving Lily a mild love potion. James would begin to lower his guard around the headmaster if it meant keeping Lily happy.
But now the plan was down the drain. It wasn't hard to tell what kind of girl a Potter would go after. They like them smart and with a fire to them. Bellatrix fitted this model perfectly but unlike Lilly and every other muggleborn, she wasn't brainwashed to sing his praises. In fact some families believed he hindered them for not teaching them wizarding culture, leading to them being seen as rude and ignorant. But Dumbledore didn't believe they were important as he tended to ignore them himself.
But he still had a chance. Despite publicly arguing against Charles' claims of trouble on the horizon with the mysterious disappearances of squibs and muggle-borns. He knew Tom Riddle was coming.
A few days later.
Bellatrix was sat at the dining table as James had asked her to. Her hair was shorter and straighter than it was, due to having needed to cut it off for the ritual and using a potion to grow it back.
Over the week she had learned what it meant to be a Potter. Upon their wedding, they would have a painting themselves in a memorable location for the pair, which they would update the memories of weekly. They had decided that the manor's duelling ring would be appropriate for them. Another tradition was to create a wand with the wood of the ash tree where the fallen Potter a cremated. But first, she needed to acquire a core unique to her. One that is not simply bought. If the creature is passive, it must be given. If the creature is aggressive, it must be taken. The core of James' own ashwood wand is a shaven werewolf fang he had claimed from Remus Lupin.
James entered the room with a serious expression and carried an invisibility cloak. "Your families greatest secret is you own an invisibility cloak, or can you make them?" Bellatrix questioned.
"Bellatrix, this isn't a invisibility cloak. It's the invisibility cloak." James answered.
Bellatrix pondered James' word before it clicked. She looked to the cloak in shock. "You mean..."
"The deathly hallows are real."
Bellatrix was stunned. Countless questions ran through her head. "So the three brothers, were Potters?" Her tone little to no emotion as she was still reeling from the revelation that a children's story tale was real!
"Peverells, actually. The granddaughter of the third brother married into our family and brought the cloak with her. I'll tell you the full story some other time." James casually responded.
"Do you, have the others? The wand and the stone."
"Nope, and we don't want them."
That answer jolted the witch awake. "What!? Why not!?"
"What happened to the original owners?" Calmly answered.
Bellatrix opened her mouth to respond that they wouldn't let that happen. But she realised everyone who had died from them afterwards thought the same thing. She soon understood why they didn't want them and changed the subject. "Any other shocking secrets you want to tell me?" She joked.
"Dumbledore has the elder wand, I'm a animagus and haven't needed glasses since I was thirteen." James answered with a grin.
Bellatrix gapped at him again. The Potters were supposed to be boring!