Chapter 33

Les Fiançailles

For the third time in under an hour, Luther felt the lump in his pocket to be certain that it was still there. He had been ready for almost a month, knowing without a doubt that his only hope for success was to seize his opportunity when she was unprepared and in a very good mood. Between the consistent and complete disapproval of Eva's family and her own insecurity, Luther knew that his relationship with Eva was tenuous at best. Yet he had a feeling that his chance would come today. Earlier that afternoon when he had whispered in her ear how much he loved her, she had seemed almost as if she had wanted to respond.

There were moments when he felt that she really cared for him. Her eyes would glow with happiness and she would smile in a way that she only did with him. Those fleeting moments thrilled him and gave him hope that his fears were misplaced. Nevertheless, he knew her doubts, since she had explained them to him several times since their relationship had begun. However, unlike Harold Goodwin, Luther took Eva's concerns very seriously and did not take a moment of their time together for granted. Luther knew that he would do whatever it took to make things right and he had already foreseen what this was likely to mean. He hoped that he would not have to make the sacrifice that he thought he would, but, of course, Eva was more than worth the price.

Luther tightened his grasp on Eva's waist as she slid closer to him on the hard stone bench. He smiled fondly at her as she nervously picked at the hem of his sleeve and asked in a soft voice whilst still staring down at the ground in front of them, "Did you talk to Patty about it, Luther? Is she going to see your Aunt Fiona?"

Luther moved his head slightly so that Eva's hair was no longer tickling his neck as he answered, "No, Patience didn't want to see Fiona, so I'm going to go. In fact, I know what this is about, so I am glad that Patience won't be involved. My mother has got herself into some trouble and Fiona hopes that she can enlist Patience's support to bring Mother down."

Eva turned so that she was looking up into Luther's face and asked in a shocked tone, "Why?"

"When Deirdre died, Mother got control of the O'Shaughnessy money. Fiona receives the same yearly allowance that she did when Deirdre was alive, even though there are only three sisters living now instead of four. Fiona is the next oldest, so if Mother dies then Fiona gets to administer the whole pile."

"She wants to kill your mother?"

"Possibly. That or manoeuvre Mother into a position where Fiona gets more of the money in return for not harming Mother. I imagine that Fiona has Sorcha's support or else she would not be so bold."

Eva grasped the front of Luther's robes as she shivered slightly and nestled her head into Luther's shoulder. "Your family is awful, Luther."

Luther frowned and cleared his throat several times before saying curtly, "Yes, it is. Both sides."

"I don't know, Luther, it scares me. I know Patty isn't like that, but sometimes I worry perhaps you are or you could be."

Luther twitched his shoulder lightly and pulled himself away so that Eva looked up at him. After regarding his girlfriend quite seriously, Luther slowly spoke in a very deep voice, "I hate what my family is, Eva. Yes, I know, you needn't look at me like that. I was in Slytherin and we do have a reputation, blah-blah." Luther waved his hand angrily and continued, "But Hogwarts was a long time ago for me. I hope that I am somewhat more complex than the house I belonged to when in school. If you must know, yes, Slytherins past and present like to win. However, all of us have principles and limits beyond which we will not pass, Eva. For some it is only personal harm that they fear and they would stop at nothing else if forced to choose. Some of my family certainly belongs to that number. But I, along with the majority of my old house frankly, have better priorities."

Eva began to speak, but stopped when Luther held up his hand, asking her to be quiet. Luther had already released his grasp on her waist and now got up to stand in front of where Eva was perched as she uneasily regarded him. With an unhappy expression in his eyes and a paler than normal complexion, Luther began speaking again, "Perhaps that is what you don't understand. Everything has a weight of importance, Eva, even for you or Patience when you make your decisions. Truthfully, I don't like most people and don't much care about their happiness unless it concerns mine, which I know you consider very selfish since you are the opposite. Yet I don't want anyone to be harmed, Eva, not even people I quite dislike. I do not harm other people unless they have first harmed me or else someone I love. However, those that I do like, I would do much to protect them, and those that I love I would not stop at anything but the outside of what is right or wrong to keep happy. There is no honour in what my mother and her sisters do to one another and there was none in my purposeful ignorance about what Govan did to Patience. I put him first, when I should have protected her because she is weak. I admit I was wrong."

"You made a choice to put Govan over Patience because you loved him so much?"

Luther nodded, but then conscientiously added, "And because I was too caught up in my research to want to care, since it would get in my way."

"Will that happen with me, Luther?"

"No."

Eva reached out her hand and touched Luther's arm as she asked gently, "You would not put me first and let that blind you to everything else?"

At Eva's touch, Luther's hard expression melted and he slumped onto the seat next to her. "I thought you were asking if I would let my research get in the way. I don't know, Eva. I have never felt like this about anyone before. I can't say how I will react for certain. You are not the only person for whom I care deeply and I do have an unbreakable obligation to someone else, as well. I do not know that I wouldn't choose to put you above it all though because I probably would."

Eva sighed and looked down at where Luther's hand was covering her own. "Would I have any say in the matter? Would you care what I wanted?"

Luther's voice cracked slightly as he responded, "Yes. What you want would always matter."

Eva let out the breath she had been holding and leant forward so that her mouth was almost touching Luther's ear as she whispered, "I love you, Luther."

Patience whipped her head round as the door to her bedroom burst open loudly. Patience saw her brother's flushed face and unusually untidy hair and exclaimed, "Luther! What is wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing in the world! Patience, she has said she would!"

Patience threw aside her aunt's letter and ran to her brother's side. "She has? Luther, I'm so happy for you."

Luther picked his tiny sister up and spun her round before kissing her cheek roughly and then placing her back on her feet. "She said she loves me and she wants to be married soon. She doesn't want any big wedding plans or any of the things they had planned with Goodwin."

Patience, who was recovering somewhat from her brother's unaccustomed affectionate behaviour, leant against her chair and asked, "What does she want then? Not like I had, not just a contract signing."

"Good heavens, no. Your wedding was like a funeral. Would have been, too, if Mother had left Father alone with Snape for five minutes."

Patience tilted her head and looked oddly at her brother, who had stopped in front of the fireplace to look at the picture of Patience, Eva, Sarah, and Elspeth. Luther bent to pick up the frame, saying, "She wants to go to the Ministry and be married there."

"Is that what you want, Luther?"

Luther turned round to face his sister, the picture frame still in his hand, saying incredulously, "I don't care how we get married, as long as it is legal and quite permanent."

Patience smiled at her brother and said kindly, "I really am happy for you, Luther. Eva is the best girl in the world. I think you really might be happy."

Luther reverently set the picture back on the mantelpiece, saying, "Yes, she is, and I know I will be."

"I suppose Severus won't be pleased at all, however. He is going to have to find someone else to live here with me and now that he's pretending I don't exist that won't be easy."

Luther shook his head vehemently and pulled his sister over to the pair of chairs by the fireplace. "I am not leaving you alone, Patience. Eva and I will be living here. She knows that, in fact she was prepared to fight me on it until I explained that I had no intention of doing otherwise."

"You don't want to live in this awful place, Luther. Especially not when you'll have to be with me at meals, when you two would rather be on your own."

Luther captured one of his sister's hands in his own and said gruffly, "Bollocks. If you think that either Eva or I would dislike having you round, then you're sillier than I ever thought. You are the only other person besides Eva that I actually love, you know. Do you think I would not want to be here with you, especially now that I'm going to be an uncle? Don't be daft, Patience."

Patience shook her head and said clearly, "It is a horrid, dreary old house that breeds Pecoins and Boggarts by the dozen. It is hardly the place in which to honeymoon and you shan't have any privacy, Luther."

Luther smiled grimly. "You can't convince me, Patience, and you don't really think that you could change Eva's mind, do you?"

Patience sighed and replied with relief, "No. It would be marvellous to have you both here, especially now that there is the baby coming. But Luther, I am forgetting. I got a letter from Aunt Sorcha."

Luther grimaced. "H***. Have you really? I suppose she is asking you to meet with Fiona?"

Patience shook her head. "No, she wants to come here and meet with us both."

Luther swore crudely and gestured with his wand to where the parchment scroll that Patience had dropped was laid on the desk. He caught the letter in his hand and began to read it.

"I do not want them here, Luther. I will not have anything to do with Aunt Sorcha. She is evil."

Luther raised his eyes from the parchment and asked, "What makes you dislike her more than Fiona?"

Patience shrugged her shoulders. "Mother is afraid of her. She despises Aunt Fiona, but she is really afraid of Aunt Sorcha. That is reason enough, don't you think?"

Luther nodded, "Yes, but I suspect there is something else behind your opinion. In any case, you are quite right. Govan and I believed for years that Sorcha was responsible for Deirdre's death."

Patience gasped. "No. That's too much, even for them, Luther."

Luther nodded gravely, "From whom did you think Govan had his money for the yggdrasilsap, Patience?"

"I don't know. I never thought of it."

"Just one bottle of the sap costs a bomb, Patience. You cannot imagine how much Govan's habit was costing him. Sorcha was giving him money, along with others."

"Because Govan knew something?"

"I think so. It was clever of Sorcha, if that is the case. She must have known that Govan would not be able to control himself and would be killed by the sap, which would neatly eliminate him without any need for Sorcha to lift a wand. At the same time, she would be causing public humiliation to our mother. Perfect really."

"Well I don't want her anywhere near my home. Keep her away, Luther."

"Have you notified Snape about Fiona's letter?"

"No. I thought we had agreed that we would keep this sort of thing within the family."

"Yes, but you seem to have wool for brains recently about anything regarding Snape. You will do anything he says without complaint, even though he is making you unhappy. You might have decided to tell him."

"Well I have not and you know why I am doing what he asks. Anyway, I don't know that he pays any attention to what I've written in that silly book. He has never written a thing back."

Luther's cold expression hardened more as he inaudibly muttered, "Black-hearted bastard." Then he cleared his throat before saying more loudly, "He reads the book, Patience. He mentions some of it to me for confirmation occasionally."

Patience rubbed her arms as if she were chilled and said shakily, "If it isn't dangerous for me to write in my book to him, then I don't see why he cannot write in his book to me."

Luther tucked a large paisley shawl round his sister's shoulders and said nothing in reply.