Bellatrix stood almost horrified with rage and Sirius immediately sat bolt upright but sighed with relief as they realised it was only the elf.
"Do you not know how to knock?!" Bellatrix hissed viciously.
"I'm sorry!" the elf squeaked terrified it would be killed for walking in after not having knocked loud enough, "B-but Master Black wished for me to tell you Miss Black and Mr Black that lunch is ready."
Bellatrix paused before clearing her throat and straightening out her dress, immediately doing the zip and grabbing her one high heel that had fallen off in the process of the two teenagers getting onto the bed, "Yes... Of course it is." She said as calmly as she could while running her fingers through her now even messier hair as her cousin did his belt once more. Bellatrix was quick to walk out of the room and push the elf aside.
"Not a word of this to anyone." Sirius growled at the elf as he walked past it while it nodded vigorously and replied with 'of course master'. Sirius was quick to do up his buttons as he followed his cousin downstairs, taking a few minutes extra and acting as if he hadn't seen her yet.
He greeted all of his cousins once more, reluctantly as always. The seat beside his cousin appeared to be the one with his name on it and so he sat, running his hands through his dark, ever so slightly long hair. Most of the conversation was between Orion and Cygnus at lunch, discussing how half bloods were becoming more common and the extinction of pure bloods.
"Soon, I would say. Wouldn't be surprised if when our children are our age just they and their families are the only living pure bloods left." Walburga added in.
"Well have you met this young Tom Riddle man? Calls himself a Lord. Very interesting stuff, says he wants to rid the world of mudbloods and half-bred witches and wizards." Orion said adding to his wife and nodding to his brother.
"Good." Druella said firmly, "I hope he manages to do it."
"Ah yes," Cygnus said suddenly looking at his eldest daughter, "I wasn't going to say anything, but Bellatrix and I have been meeting this man recently. He was very taken with her when he saw us practicing her knife skills."
"An unnecessary skill for a lady." Druella said with her nose in the air before taking a sip of her wine between bites of her food. Sirius almost choked on his drink, earning him a kick from his brother and a sharp look from his cousin beside him although she also rolled her eyes.
"I don't think you anyone needs to know about that, father." Bellatrix chimed in suddenly.
"Nonsense," Orion said to Druella before turning to Bellatrix, "I've seen you work a dagger, Bellatrix. Your father has taught you well. A very valuable skill. Always must know how to look after yourself. Being so young and beautiful..."
Sirius's lip curled in disgust as he watched his father eye up Bellatrix for a moment. He cleared his throat, "Who is this guy?" he asked, attempting to find out more about it.
Before Bellatrix could cut off the conversation, Cygnus started very proudly almost having finished his lunch by now like everyone else, "He's rather highly spoken of in the ministry –among the majority of course. A fellow perhaps in his late twenties... He approached us in a bar we all go to not long ago and ever since we have been back to see him almost every day."
"Every day?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Why I didn't know you were so interested. Why don't you come with us my boy?" Cygnus said rather happily.
Sirius stopped, "no thanks." He said definitively.
Walburga rolled her eyes, "There's no point. I've been trying to get through to him for years but no. Nothing."
Bellatrix, although was annoyed they were acting as if he weren't there when they spoke about Sirius, was glad the topic was onto something else.
Lunch continued, with conversation flowing from topic to topic and eventually, they found themselves being excused from the table by two sets of parents, who said they should go and catch up upstairs. Of course they knew this always meant it was time to move on from the wine to the scotch or whiskey.
A couple of hours fed by, and after having lost track of her cousin for some time who she was sure was sulking about somewhere, she made her way to the library. No one would be in there. Little did she know she was very wrong. Sirius was lying on the sofa in front of the fire deep in reading a book. Bellatrix was quiet as she approached him and as it was though Sirius was so into the book that he hardly noticed her for a few moments more.
"Well hello cousin." she said, raising an eyebrow. He looked up suddenly and shut the book.
"I didn't see you there." He said, clearing his throat and sitting up.
"What are you reading?" she asked, tilting her head slightly in attempt to get a look at the book cover.
"Nothing important. Are the other's here?"
"No..." she said curiously, narrowing her eyes at her cousin before suddenly grabbing the book out of his hands and looking it over. She paused, "transfiguration? This is what you're hiding from me?"
"Not hiding, Bellatrix. I told you it was nothing important. Give it back."
"Why?" she said, pulling it away from him as he stood and reached out for it.
"Just give it back." He said, glancing at the book which she was holding away from him.
"Did your boyfriend give it to you?" she pouted before grinning and turning, opening the book on the page mark he had left.
"Bellatrix-"
"You're reading about animagus's?" she said, lifting an eyebrow, "shouldn't you know enough about this already?"
"What?" Sirius said, hardly trying to conceal his shock.
A slight smile flickered on the outside of her lips as she handed the book back, "well I better get dressed. The rest of our guests will be arriving soon."
"Bellatrix!" Sirius said as she turned and began to follow her out of the library.
No sooner had he left the library than his mother seemed to appear out of nowhere, "Sirius! Look at the state of your hair! What have you been doing?"
"Mother. Wait, I need to talk to Bellatrix."
"That can wait!" she said shrilly as she tugged at his arm, forcing him in front of a mirror. He watched his cousin walk away up the stairs, taking a glance back at him with a slight grin playing at her lips.