"You've grown taller. You're a very beautiful girl," my mother purred over ice-cream at an upper class parlour over the Christmas Holidays when Daphne and I returned home. She insisted on spending mornings or afternoons with just one of us, but I believe it was to blackmail us about which Sacred 28 pureblood bachelor we had wrapped around our little finger. Sometimes I think if mother hadn't married her way up into a Sacred 28 pureblood family so much Daphne and I wouldn't be put under such intense scrutiny to also marry well, but as it was, she was the weak link and probably felt like a good marriage from Daphne and I would solidify our status in the Sacred 28 pureblood world even more.
"Surely not as beautiful as you," I said politely over a bittersweet peppermint ice-cream sundae. Seldom requested by most but one of my favourites, it tasted like how the world felt.
"Such beauty and cushy bringing doesn't come from nothing," mother dipped her spoon into her french vanilla ice-cream sundae, topped with cherries and equally sweet syrup. "You should thank your father for providing you the upbringing he has. We would be nothing without him. Don't you think...it is wise to seek the same thing in your 'the one'?"
My mother fixed me a very strong glare. We've had similar conversations before. Each time mother tried to lead me onto wrapping a Sacred 28 boy around my finger even more tightly than before.
"I've always been fond of a good love story," I said, "I do not see why my partner in crime has to be the shiniest Sacred 28 pureblood bachelor of my generation. Is marrying for love that out of fashion?"
The ice-cream parlour was warded so people outside of the booth couldn't hear us. A charm only upper class places had because they catered to everybody's whim and a simple muffling charm wasn't costly to maintain at all. Especially with the profits they were turning from us being here. All upper class places were ridiculously inflated. In fact, mother shouldn't really be spending so lavishly here given our lack of profit, but she had a lust for the upper class lifestyle, even beyond what our father could provide, and always splashed out here and there. Right now I was quite glad for the charm, one to ones could get quite intense and personal with my mother.
She laughed, sharp and cutting, her laughter was like church bells pealing too closely to my ear. "That's not fair. I worked hard and used every inch of my power to secure a good man for the future. My husband is one of the best of our generation. My Hogwarts friends are green with envy. You benefit of my cunning. If it weren't for me your father would be some poor halfblood barely struggling to make ends meet. How dare you squander my good name? I gave you the opportunity to even go for a Malfoy."
If her blue eyes could turn red they would, but instead they remained rather beautifully blue as she held her glare at me. She still was beautiful, but beauty didn't always belong to a pleasant person. Her lips puckered into a smile, "you will aim for Theo Nott. I shall make sure of it. Your sister is going for Malfoy. He is...too difficult for you to get. Theo is easier. You already have an in with him. You are from a good family and we have remained in good terms whenever we have met for one of our Sacred 28 pureblood parties, winter balls, summer balls, hunting parties...with a few words from me, a few planned events together where you will build up a relationship with him personally and advice from me on how to beat the other girls away and keep him yours, you will have his ring upon your finger in no time..."
My mother gripped my hands. Her fingers were like a vice. She was also athletic, like Daphne was. I wasn't unathletic but their athleticness looked better on their taller frames. I could never wear their charm like they did.
"Don't make my life's purpose for nothing. And I know...what you are doing. Whether you are...trying to the best of your abilities or not. Don't...make me regret you. Otherwise I will...find a way to express my displeasure..."
I was silent. I could not disagree, in fact, I couldn't even find the words to express all my thoughts then. But all I knew was that now was not the right time to run away from all this madness, and I could fake for a little while longer. It wasn't that I didn't like Theo Nott, I had barely any real contact with most of the eligible bachelors of our generation yet, but that I still believed in romance, or at least, I didn't believe happiness in fake love, and I wasn't sure if Theo was the one for me.
A part of me always fancied running away from the madness of a Sacred 28 pureblood family somehow, and marrying a halfblood who barely had anything to do with magic. Halfbloods were the lowest anyone from a Sacred 28 pureblood family would go. Very few actually married squibs or muggle-borns. But still, I could feel the rebellion thumping in my chest at the thought of a halfblood so...oblivious to all the madness of the Sacred 28 pureblood politics.
"The next summer. I want to hear a good word from Theo's father about you. I know if you are building up a close relationship to him at Hogwarts right, his father will hear about it and mention something of the pleasure of your company to me..."
And with that, came the end of the real discussion of our ice-cream meeting. The silence was peppered only by light conversation about everything else, in which I'd lost my appetite for before it even began, but at least I knew my mother's ulterior motive for me. That was clear to me now.
"I feel like something ought to have happened this year. It's so quiet," Draco remarked at Theo's ball over the christmas holidays. The Sacred 28 pureblood families, especially the wealthy ones, could be so extravagant and over the top they had parties for no real reason, and we were currently at one of them. Theo's mother was dead, died when he was young, as my mother warned Daphne and I not to ask for fear of offending him or making enemies, so it can't have been her who organised it, but I didn't think the young Theo Nott had any interest in parties, he certainly didn't seem like the type, so it was most likely his father.
A widow who never remarried. Not for lack of interest, the Nott's were one of the richest families in the wizarding world and still attractive to many middle-aged women, but possibly because he was a dark man of twisted morals and he didn't want to hide himself around any witch or break her into it. The Nott's were one of the few families my mother warned Daphne and I about. They experimented with dark magic she had said, and dark magic was still considered very controversial in the greater wizarding world at large. We were not to accidentally offend the Nott's over their practice of it for they were incredibly wealthy.
No one knew if Theo Nott had a penchant for dark magic, but he was exactly the type of wizard who did. Loner, but very intelligent and cunning. He seemed more the dark wizard than Draco Malfoy, who was mostly just rich and arrogant, a little bit spoiled, and besides that no one else in our generation immediately jumped out as a potential dark wizard to be in the future.
Last year some events happened at Hogwarts where Harry and his friends were rewarded just enough house points to take the cup away from Slytherin, another testament to how Dumbledore wasn't suited to be a Hogwarts headmaster at all. But this year, nothing had happened. I suppose maybe some thought it would, or that something ought to happen for every year that Harry Potter was at Hogwarts.
"Just enjoy it while it lasts," I said, "you would be complaining to the nines if something did happen and Harry Potter saved the day as usual."
"He doesn't do anything. He doesn't want to really be part of the pureblood Sacred 28 wizarding world. You would think if he were trying to bring down Lord Voldemort or something he would suck up to those who may possibly know the most about him. But no, he's stuck in his precious bubble of dimwitted friends," Pansy's voice was like acid. Although I didn't like Pansy we were in agreement that Harry Potter was undeserving of his status as wizarding world saviour.
Some people were afraid to say his name, but we had never been. Though we sometimes pretended we were when we were around the company of others because it was too much to explain that Sacred 28 purebloods didn't fear Lord Voldemort, we merely viewed him as an annoying blight on what should've been our leadership over the wizarding world. He was but a mistake of a bygone era, a thing of the past, the new generation didn't care about him.
"We should kill him," said Theo Nott in a voice that didn't give away to whether it was joking or not. Crabbe and Goyle chortled all around. Pansy joined in with a few high-pitched giggles too, as if it was her wildest dreams to hear others express the same desire she haboured all along. Millicent joined in to be polite. Draco, Theo, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, Daphne, Millicent, Blaise, Tracey-Davis and Thalassa Nott, Theo's younger sister of 2 years, were here. A collection of the Slytherin Sacred 28 of our generation and also some other Slytherins in our year. If it weren't the other Sacred 28 it was the other Slytherins so we sometimes hung out together at these balls.
They were so grand almost everyone in the year were invited. A good way to express to everyone else the Sacred 28 families were wealthy and in power and the centre of gossip and always will be. Our balls were envied, but yet everybody wanted to go to one, couldn't pass up the chance of a luxurious experience. You wouldn't believe who people would like or what they would do for money. Everybody can be bought. Everybody has a price.
Though we were done with the mingling with everybody and were now in our own exclusive group; catching up on gossip. How rare it was to have all of us in one place discussing matters like this (the loud orchestral music drowned out our voices to anyone out in the circle), but yet it was quite valuable conversation all the same.
"Do you think You-Know-Who is really dead?" Tracey asked. She was a horrible gossip so whatever we said she was probably going to tell the rest of the school and try to draw attention to how she 'knew inside secrets from the Sacred 28 Slytherins' and how she was so exclusively in the group to hear it. No one liked her, she was just someone we couldn't bat away because she was sorted into Slytherin with us.
"I don't care about him. He is but a relic of the past. Whatever he is, dead or alive, he shall be forgotten about fairly easily for new world politics. I have several ideas of my own to implement but not through the ministry of magic. It's always been corrupt since it's inception," said Draco. This was not entirely true, the ministry of magic simply had a very pro-muggle and muggle-born lean that could be considered corrupt for pureblood purposes, but it was disliked by most of the Sacred 28 purebloods no one bothered to correct criticisms of it.
"The ministry is just a pain in the backside," said Theo.
"I think they're all the wrong sorts of people. The working class, we need someone aristocratic. Someone who understands old money..." Pansy wrinkled her nose.
"I hate looking at them on newspaper covers or magazines," Daphne wrinkled her nose, "so fugly and everything."
"Yeah. I don't want to work there. I don't think I'll be doing anything to draw their attention. I don't want much to do with them," said Crabbe.
"They don't even give out free food or items or anything. Unlike you guys do," said Goyle. The two looked at each other and laughed. The wealthier Sacred 28 families were more generous than the ministry, that was a fact. Most of our money was old-money however, simply invested throughout the generations. The wizarding world's economy was also quite poor at a larger scale and it wasn't easy for most people to make money. Most witches and wizards simply...subsisted. Magic helped a lot with that.
"I don't care about them," Millicent shrugged.
"I'd fuck some of the women working there," said Blaise, who was obsessed with sex.
"I sometimes dream of a monarchy," said Thalassa. Tall, skinny, ethereal looking and beautiful, we would've been in the same year if Hogwarts hadn't worked it's magic to open the gates early for me. She knew of this, my mother made sure the news spread around in pureblood circles in the most fashionable way, but if she did have any negative opinions or thoughts towards me from the news, she made no show of it, and instead treated me with the same polite coolness she always had. She was always a touch warmer to me for we would've been in the same Hogwarts year, and kept up that mannerism, but wasn't any more welcoming or giving with her friendship besides that.
I didn't trust Thalassa, but I liked her a great deal more than Daphne or Pansy. She was very similar to them, almost perfect in every single way, but somehow without the meanness. She looked like Theo's double, dark features but regal in a way that Theo was not. Theo simply looked like some twisted thug, but one with power and money.
"What do you think the wizarding world would be like with one?" Thalassa mused.
"You guys would be the queens and kings right?" said Tracey-Davis.
"It wouldn't be by wealth. It'll be by whose family has contributed more noble deeds towards witches and wizards through all of their recorded history," Pansy cut in quickly. If it was by wealth Draco Malfoy would be king.
"Monarchies are never really by wealth. The king and queen and kings and queens for other reasons," Theo sounded certain about it.
"Yah," said Crabbe.
"Yes," said Goyle.
It seemed no one wanted a future monarchy to be sorted by wealth which made sense for that would leave Draco with more power than the rest of us. We were all too selfish and greedy for that.
"The king and queen shall need a charm over the wizarding world. A gentle touch," purred Daphne in a way that suggested she thought she would be perfect for the role.
"Not always too fancy. Understandable to many people. Relatable," Millicent said.
"Handsome," said Draco.
"Sexy," said Blaise.
"Intelligent," I said.
"Very magical," said Thalassa.
The music was picking up again. Although we danced a lot beforehand and there was a small bit of time in between to gossip, now it felt like we were dancing again. The conversation quickly died of and we danced a little, most of the purebloods had ballroom dance classes of some sort, and there were just enough dances that were so simple anyone could've joined in from copying the others for the non-Sacred 28 here, and soon, it was getting closer to the evening. There was a small bit of time before the night was truly over and I found myself near Theo again.
"To whom do I owe this company to?" he asked, turning around at the shade of my shadow across his body and dance floor. He must've felt it. All around us the ballroom and adjacent rooms were light up brilliantly by the light of the chandelier. One of the most beautiful things of the otherwise dark and gloomy grey Nott Manor that felt more like a prison if I had to be honest, than a manor. The Nott's were not particularly decorative people and it seemed their house was the most gloomy and oppressive feeling than all the others I'd been to. I probably wouldn't be going again for some years. I wondered if Theo's father threw a ball now to excuse himself the pressure of having to throw one later on.
They didn't seem to love balls besides the formality and superiority over non-Sacred 28s and this year was a quiet year, a good year for a ball if you didn't want much tension or political drama.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so close, I must've accidentally wanted to exchange a word or so with you. I- great party. It's definitely decent," I said. The party wasn't the best, but it was decent among Sacred 28 circles. A success for the Notts.
"Don't give me such empty words. Our parties are always decent. You wanted to talk to me because..." Theo gave me a look that was neither a glare nor anything welcoming. A master pokerface if you'd call it.
"I guess...we'll be growing up soon. And it's not fashionable to be without a husband or a wife in this society. Romance takes a while to bloom and it's not bad to start young. I don't mean an actual engagement, but getting to know each other more closely. I don't think we'd be a bad match, it's worth a try," I said. The words came out tumbling super fast. All of it was true but somehow it didn't come out until this moment. It was a bit too direct for what else it could've been, but it was true that lots of pureblood children did have close relationships with each other, oftentimes knowingly, to test the waters, before an engagement later on. It was the Sacred 28 way.
"I know what you mean. Who else are you engaged with in this way?" Theo asked me.
If I said only him it would be clear I was especially trying to get him. It would be more innocent if I had many other pureblood boys as well, to make it seem like I was truly choosing between several. Suddenly I decided I'd pretend to try for Draco as well to hide my attempts at getting Theo. It may even allow me a closer relationship with Draco which may come in handy someday.
"Draco," I said, even though I hadn't actually done anything with him yet. I made a note to do so soon. "A charming halfblood otherwise. I am not attracted to Crabbe or Goyle."
They were especially ugly to be honest.
"Picky. But I will tolerate you. You can't accuse me of not engaging with you even if there is nothing final between us," Theo said bluntly with another pokerface. He was right in that he had done nothing I could accuse him of negatively.
"I won't forget," I said, because a part of me knew he could be worse.
And that was the beginning of my closer than what it would've been otherwise relationship with Theo, and later Draco Malfoy though I simply mailed him before I didn't want to organise a ball to meet him at or anything and he responded to my mails politely. So we were pen pals.