Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling. I also don't own the movie The Secret of Moonacre or the novel The Little White Horse, they belong to Warner Bros and Elizabeth Goudge respectively. There might be some elements from the movie Maleficent and its sequel, they belong to Disney.
The only thing I really took from The Little White Horse is the map of Moonacre.
Na Gealaí - 'Of the moon' in Irish according to google translate
The exchange rate for galleons is based on the page on Wizarding currency on .com
Thoughts/Dreams
§§§
"Back so early?" he smirked.
Vivianne lowered her hood and set a basket on the table as Corvin sat down at the head of the table closest to the door. Malcolm was once again behind Sirius.
"What's that?" He looked curiously at the basket and side eyed the briefcase the Seelie-hybrid placed on the table.
"Food and drinks." She carefully removed a thermos filled with chicken broth, poured the liquid into a bowl and set it in front of Sirius with a napkin and a spoon.
He looked so surprised and grateful she wanted to go out and curse the guards. They'd been so gleeful when Malcolm explained they might get hungry if this took too long and "of course we won't give him any, he's a Black".
A plate of sandwiches went in the middle and the rest of the cutlery and plates were passed around. She made sure to give him one too, to show he was allowed to eat the sandwiches. She wasn't sure he should, if his stomach could take it, but he could.
She'd also brought a water pitcher that she quickly filled with water before filling his cup for him. She wouldn't usually be so attentive to a stranger, but she wanted to at least have a civil relationship with her husband, and hopefully become friends. How were they supposed to raise a family together otherwise?
"You can cast wandless magic?" he sounded surprised and maybe a bit envious.
"It's pretty common in Moonacre." Most of them didn't need (or couldn't) use wands anyway.
She sat down in front of Sirius and nibbled on her own sandwich as Sirius drank his broth and greedily drank the water from his cup and poured himself another.
Corvin was setting a pile of papers in front of himself with an inkwell and quill to his left and a golden box decorated with rubies to the side.
"Heir Black, my name is Corvin and I'm the Merryweather Family Account Manager. I will be drafting your marriage contract today."
"Good…"
"It's 9 am," she told him.
"Thanks," he smiled slightly at her before looking back at the man. "Good morning, Manager Corvin."
"Good morning, Heir Black," he answered back. "Well then, this is non negotiable: the marriage contract will contain the standard secrecy clause for all outsiders moving into Moonacre."
Sirius looked up from his bowl at that, "That actually happens?"
Vivianne answered him, "It's mostly werewolves who chose to leave countries like England, with its discriminatory laws, or foreigners who married one of our citizens."
He nodded in understanding.
Vivianne gestured for Corvin to continue.
The Seelie handed over a paper to Vivianne and another one to Sirius; anything the Manager wrote on his own paper would appear on theirs as well.
They waited for Sirius to read through it to see if there was anything he wanted to change in the standard contract but he didn't say anything.
"Now, Heir Black, Your Majesty, you should decide on stipulations for your marriage." Corvin looked at them both expectantly. Seeing that neither wanted to speak first, he proposed. "Shall we go by steps? Let's start with finances."
"The Black estate will be absorbed into my family's estate." She had nothing against Sirius, but she was only marrying him so she wouldn't have to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life. And for that.
The De Noir murdered her parents, Coeur De Noir killed his own son, her father. She would treat Sirius with the respect due to her concubine, but she wanted some form of revenge on his family.
Her grandfather would be rolling in his grave if he knew that she, a Merryweather, was taking his family's wealth. Bellatrix too, the bitch. Speaking of which…
"I will provide a monthly stipend to all members of Sirius' family, him included. The amount will be decided later but you can set a minimum."
"All of them?" he asked her, "Even Bellatrix?"
She growled at the very idea, "Bellatrix Lestrange will be kicked out of the family as soon as we're married."
"That's another thing," he sipped more chicken broth, the bowl was almost empty. "You said I will have to give you the Black family, what does that mean?" He shivered.
Frowning, Vivianne got up and grabbed a warm blanket from the basket and handed it to Malcolm, who placed it on the shoulders of a startled Sirius. He murmured a soft 'thank you' and wrapped the wool tighter around himself.
She then grabbed a flask with hot chocolate inside it and a clean mug, and served the hot liquid to him.
He grabbed the mug tight and greedily drank the sweet treat. "Aren't you being too kind?"
She sat back down and shrugged, "You will be my husband, we might never learn to love each other, but I want us to get along." She wanted that clear from the start. "You will be my concubine, don't expect me to mistreat you." She felt a bit insulted.
"There's a difference between mistreating me and going out of your way for me."
She frowned, "This place sucks." he gaped at her, surprised she would word it like that, "It's cold and dirty and no place for anyone, much less an innocent. The blanket has a self cleaning charm on it, so you won't have to worry about dirtying it."
"I wish I could keep it," he sounded morose.
She blinked, startled, "When I get out of this room, you will be my fiancè." She saw that he didn't understand what it meant, "I can give you gifts and none of the guards can take them, not that they could, I had a charm applied so that everything will return to you if it's stolen. The magic should last three months, but I expect to have you out of here sooner."
He gaped at her and stared at the basket, "Gifts?" he asked.
She nodded, "The basket has an expansion charm on it, there's enough food in there to last you three months. There's also a pillow, a futon and some other odds and ends. There's a list in there, just say whatever you want with your hand inside it and it will come to you."
"I don't think this is allowed," he mused.
She smirked, "Nothing I give you should have magic in it, but I'm a foreign power and you're my intended, we get some leeway so long as nothing can be used to help you escape."
"Ahem," Corvin cleared his throat, "Your Majesty, the contract."
"Ah yes," they were getting off track. "Where were we?" It took her a second to remember, "You will present yourself before me as Lord Black and say: 'I, Sirius Orion Black, give the magic, estate and blood of the Black and De Noir family to Princess Vivianne Na Gealaí.' Then I will say, "I, Vivianne Na Gealaí, accept your gift and take the Black family as my own.' We get married and boom, no more Blacks."
"Ah..." he obviously didn't know what to say. "Alright then."
"Heir Black," interrupted Corvin, "do you accept the terms proposed by Her Majesty?"
He nodded, "They sound fair."
"You need to set a minimum for the stipend," she reminded him.
He thought about it for a while, drinking the last of the broth and sipping his chocolate. "250 galleons a month. And we can keep our personal vaults."
Vivianne nodded at Corvin to show she agreed, "Not Bellatrix, or any other Black we'll disinherit, all their personal assets shall be seized."
Sirius didn't protest and the man wrote it down in legalese.
"You should decide on what will be done about children," said Corvin.
Vivianne shrugged, "We need to have at least one daughter, but I don't think we should set a limit on the amount of children we can have."
Sirius nodded, "But what if we have a son and then I don't want more children?"
She shrugged, "Then I'm allowed to have a child with someone else, as many times as it takes to get an Heiress." I can have two more concubines, and I will need a Consort anyway.
"I will write down that you will need to have at least one child together," He made a note of that. "I assume Heir Black won't be able to have bastards?"
"He can't, but I will make an allowance for a genuine mistake."
Corvin nodded and wrote it down. She noticed that he'd worded in a way that wouldn't punish Sirius if he already had a child running around. Not a bad idea given his womanizing.
He noticed it too, "I don't have children."
"Are you certain, Heir Black?" asked Corvin. "Our sources tell us you had a long string of lovers."
"I was very careful." He sounded sure.
Corvin glanced at his Princess and she shrugged to show she didn't really care. The Seelie then amended the sentence.
"The last point is about extramarital affairs then."
"We can both have lovers, but they are not allowed into Moonacre if they are foreigners, they will not stay the night at any of our residences and they are not allowed to meet our children if one of us vetoes it. They are also not to be brought as dates to formal events." I'm not having a jealous witch underfoot.
"Sounds fair," he agreed.
While Corvin wrote up the contract properly on a separate sheet of parchment, Sirius started eating a sandwich and looking over the list of items in the basket. Vivianne listened, entertained as he muttered about them to himself.
"An expanded flask with 5 liters of hot chocolate?! And one with water?!" "That's a lot of food." "Butterbeer! Oh, how I missed you." "Soap! And shampoo! Conditioner!" "Books? I'm not Remus." "A cassette player and headphones? … Oh, Lily showed me those." "Fluffy towels? Pfft, she's really a kid."
"Hey!" she playfully snapped her teeth at him, "I made sure to bring the softest." And it took a shit ton of magic to charge all those runes. Every spell on the objects were rune based, they lasted longer and contained the magic more efficiently.
"Thank you," he smiled warmly at her.
She blushed, she'd honestly expected him to tease her, not to be so painfully emotional. She didn't know what to do, it was just basic decency and he was thanking her like she'd done a miracle. I'll have the Scáthach investigate the guards. Sirius shouldn't be so thin or dirty, there are laws. Even in Britain.
"The contract is ready," declared Corvin. He opened the jeweled box and removed a black quill and handed it to Vivianne with the contract.
She signed it and hissed as the words carved themselves into the back of her right hand and were written in blood only she could see on the page. Her people were paranoid about ensuring their True Names were never discovered.
Using the quill didn't really hurt, they were scratches more than cuts. They disappeared as she handed the quill to Sirius. As soon as he'd signed it, the contract glowed and disappeared.
She had deliberately made a show of not re-reading the contract and he'd taken the bait like a fool. I'll have to teach him to never sign anything without reading it. The reason for her subterfuge being the clause Corvin had sneaked in about other concubines and the Royal Consort not being subjected to the limiting clauses on their lovers. If Sirius didn't know he might not remain her only husband, it was best not to clue him in too early. Who knew how he'd take it.
The contract would appear in his personal folders at Gringotts and in the Archive Room in Moonacre. Their marriage certificate would also automatically appear there and in the British Ministry when they Bonded.
"What now?" asked Sirius.
"I will come back tomorrow with your lawyer and the Black Account Manager so that you may claim your Lordship and start working on your case. Since we're not married yet, the feud is still ongoing. Our truce ends tomorrow, so I won't be able to meet with you anymore."
She never experienced it for herself, but she'd seen the blind rage that would take them over if they met again once the truce was finished. She would be able to call for another truce again once Sirius was free and they'd have 3 days to get him settled in Moonacre and get married.
Lady Magic had accepted her intention to 'come to a decision on how to settle this feud' when she called this truce. She would accept another truce to end it for real.
§§§
"When will the wedding take place, Your Majesty?"
"The wedding will be on Friday the 10th of June. Sirius' trial will be on the morning of the 8th."
"Your Majesty! Three days are not enough to plan your wedding!" yelled Callahan, the poor sod in charge of her wedding.
"We're not going to plan it in three days. I can't meet him in person, but we can send letters through his lawyer."
Callahan sighed, relieved. "That's wonderful, Your Majesty, the groom should have a say in the wedding."
"He'll have to be baptised before the wedding."
He swore but made a note of it in his notebook, "I'll organise that as well Your Majesty." He tapped his pen against the page in thought, "The moon will be at its peak at…"
"11:01" she told him.
He nodded to show he heard, "So that's when he'll be baptised and the wedding can take place… at midnight shall we say?"
"Perfect." Not that they had a choice. All ceremonies in Moonacre were done under the full moon and baptisms especially required the moon to be at its peak.
"Will you be present for the baptism, Your Majesty?" he asked her.
She chuckled, "I'm already marrying an enemy. I'm not going to risk seeing each other before the wedding. We'll need all the luck we can get."
He nodded in understanding. "Shall wes start planning then, Your Majesty?"
"What's first?" she was dreading this. Wedding planning always seemed so needlessly complicated.
"Venue for the wedding and the reception, Your Majesty."
"We'll do the wedding in the Rose Garden and the reception in the ballroom."
He stopped writing in his notebook, "Do you want a buffet, Your Majesty?"
"Yes, but have servers there to actually plate things."
He made a note of it. "Officiant?"
"Rhaelia has already agreed to officiate."
"Colour scheme and dresses." he replied promptly
"I already ordered my dress, but you'll have to rush it for Sirius, the tailor will only be able to take his measurements once he's out."
He wrote it down "That is for the best, he should gain some weight in the meantime with all the food you gave him." And who spread the word about that? He looked up eagerly, "Can I see the design?"
"Mei-Rin," she called her lady in waiting. "Go grab it."
The woman was born in Moonacre like her father, but her mother was a Chinese witch. Mei-Rin herself was an Unseelie-human hybrid like her father and the first time she saw her, Vivianne had stared stupidly: she was beautiful. Silky raven hair and onyx coloured almond shaped eyes, with full pink lips and clear white skin.
Currently, the woman was dressed in the traditional black and white maid uniform with the complementary hat that Vivianne had demanded her female servants wore. The men were required to wear a butler suit with coattails, a gray vest and a black tie. Socks were rigorously black or white, and black leather shoes. Women could wear flats or heels, she wasn't picky.
The gardeners all wore olive green coveralls with brown boots regardless of gender and the cooks had white double-breasted jackets, pants in a black-and-white houndstooth pattern, and a white apron. Only the head chef was allowed to wear a chef hat.
All of them had the Merryweather coat of arms (a unicorn coming out of a wave with his front hooves on a beach and the full moon above it) embroidered on their left breast, with only her personal servants wearing the Na Gealaí personal symbol (a full moon above a pool of water with a silver and white flower blooming on a blue leafed branch in the pond, with ripples all around it in the water).
House elves weren't common in Moonacre, as in, the only places allowed to employ them were the brothels, the schools and the hospital. People could have a personal house elf but only those with a magical core could use them.
Allowing house elves in Moonacre was a recent development, 60 years ago there would have been none. The Moon Princess of the time realized their usefulness and decided to let go of old grudges in the name of efficiency. (That was the official reason. Truthfully, the woman's favorite concubine didn't like having human servants and his house elf was 'lonely'. Truly, that Princess was completely besotted.)
"Here, Mr Callahan." Mei-Rin handed the design over to her wedding planner.
The wedding dress would be arctic blue and long enough to touch the top of her feet. It had a heart shaped neckline and short puffy sleeves that left her collarbones and shoulders bare. It had a white vines motif going all around below her small breasts, down her back before branching off and coming back to the front slightly above her hips. The two vines re-join below her belly button and move downwards in a spiraling movement all around her gown so that when she twirls the vines appear to move up and down her lower half.
The Moon Princess only wore all white in her role of High Priestess. (Technically, she could officiate her own marriage, but it would send the wrong message since that only happened when eloping.)
"It's a beautiful piece, who designed it?" he asked her.
"My mother, sir." answered Mei-Rin.
"Ah, yes." he smiled at her. "Mrs Valroy is a phenomenal tailor." He made a copy of the drawing and placed it in his notebook, handing the original back to her lady in waiting. He turned back to Vivianne, "The colour scheme should fit your dress, what do you think of white and light blue, your Majesty? We can use varying shades so it's not as monochromatic."
She nodded, "What's next?"
