Chapter 15: Ron's Match, Part 2
While young Mr. Weasley lounged in the Ministry's lavatory, and young Mr. Potter turned back time and once again was trespassing where he was not supposed to be under the Cloak of Invisibility, somewhere else in London, in a small but expensively decorated top floor unit of a converted townhouse, a different group of plotters were having snacks and preparing to deal with the fall out from their plotting.
A tall raven haired witch lounged on the sofa. Her long legs in wide jeans and brand new dragonhide boots rested on the corner of the coffee table. The cropped baby-blue tank top and hurriedly put on a loose light button down shirt over it completed the relaxing outfit, leaving little to the imagination of her solidly built square body.
A bookish young wizard returned from the kitchen with a jug of pumpkin juice. He placed the jug on the coffee table next to the bottle of fire whiskey and a bowl of snacks, and straightened to face the witch. He eyed disapprovingly the boots on the table. Then got distracted as his eyes ran unbidden the length of the lounging witch, pausing here and there against all his lessons in propriety, until they ran into the amused hazels under the raised eyebrows.
'Salazar tits, Milly! Your time in Americas spoiled you for polite society!'
'I'm at my house, dude' The witch smirked. 'Where you lot were, like, not invited today.'
'Ow! Put this Muggle monstrosity away, Mil! The weasel deserves you!'
The bright brown and orange ball bounced from the wizard's midsection into the witch's arms barely missing the items on the coffee table it flew over.
'It's just a game ball, T. It won't bite you.'
'It's a Muggle ball! It hits the floor! Repeatedly!' He was not amused!
The hazel eyes rolled, and the witch chuckled.
'And my name is Theodore! Theodore! Theo for friends!'
'And T for enemies,' Millicent Bulstrode drawled, 'because I don't like you right now, Nott. Don't like you at all! Where is Zabini, huh?! Did you not say his scheme was solid? That over-perfumed snake did not pay me enough to end up with the little rodent for, like, for-evah!'
About a month ago Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott asked her to lunch, urgently. Blaise then offered her a meaningful amount of galleons in exchange for accepting her first Marriage Law match. He was willing to pay right away and wanted her agreement to his condition in writing. She already planned to accept , and expected her name to come up the next day anyway. But she wasn't sorted into Slytherin by mistake.
The wizards eventually revealed that they expected and counted on her match to reject her. She was a bit offended, but again Slytherin was not just an empty word, even if she was two years short of full experience. After several hours of negotiating, her compensation doubled, and the parchment was signed. It had just one line: "Millicent Bulstrode will sign Intent to Marry within 24 hours from matching". The wizards didn't reveal the target of their scheme and she didn't really care. She spent the money to buy a flat, before Blaise could change his mind and demand his money back.
The witch spun the basketball faster on the middle finger of her right hand. Theo cringed anticipating the Muggle ball to leave his friend's finger any moment in a very destructive manner.
The up until then silent wizard at the open balcony, poked his head in.
'Blaise is in mourning.' He rumbled, grinning faintly. 'I threatened to reject the Intent without his input if he doesn't stop the hysterics.'
'Would you? For real?'
Broad shoulders rose indifferently.
'That's what he paid me for, aint it?'
That was true. The second piece of Zabini's scheme involved saving Gregory Goyle for a later match. For Blaise himself. If anyone paid close attention during the Gs matchings, they would have noticed Greg's name coming up for a couple of seconds and then disappearing without any match. In order to avoid suspicion, Blaise decided to sign the Intent and then have Greg forget to sign, thus pushing both of them into the second round accidentally. Blaise signed the Intent immediately, as was planned. And Greg still had two days to think before forgetting to sign.
Though with Ron's unexpected decision, it seemed Blaise's plan was effectively dead in the water, and Greg wanted to skip forgetting and just proactively reject him.
'Come on Greg,' Millicent grinned at the large wizard. 'I, like, saw you checking him out!'
'I did more than checking,' the blond grinned back.
'Oh Salazar, no more sex talk!' Theo groaned. He was closer with Blaise than Greg, and Blaise already filled him on his premature evening celebrations. For a brief time, Blaise was in a good mood and generous in his praises. That was moments before, Blaise spotted the Prophet and learnt of the Weasley and Millicent treachery.
'Then, like, cover your virgin ears, T!'
'It's Theo!'
'Uhm... so… He's an attractive bloke. Shagging isn't the issue. Parenting a kid in three years…three kids in seven.' He heaved a long sigh. 'I hoped for an older, and… dunno… a more serious bloke.'
'And you are father material now?' hazel eyes twinkled, amused.
Theo sucked in a breath and cringed, but Greg just shrugged, not taking offense.
'Have been taking care of my half-brother and his little buddies since the Battle haven't I?… Will make the arrangements official after this stuff is settled. Blaise is not… supportive.'
'You still have the six of them, Greg?'
Theo was with Greg when he discovered that there were more kids than just his little brother under elves supervision in the Manor's nursery. With his step-mother dying in St. Mungo's from backfired curse, and father confined to Azkaban awaiting trial, Greg almost accepted the fact that he was now the guardian of his two year old half-brother. He was not prepared to have the whole quidditch team of kids be his responsibility. Theo suggested he take the kids to the orphanage, but Greg was adamant against it.
'Nuh, two left, Damian and Cordelia, and little Georgie, of course, others got picked up.'
'Salazar, you named them! You now have to keep them. Which ones are those?'
'Not funny Theo!' Theo sighed, Greg was way too sensitive about the children under his supervision. 'Dem is the dark-skinned boy with blond-brown hair. Georgie and him are good mates. Learned he is Dolohov's. Pureblood but illegitimate. Mother's gone. The girl is the silent baby. She is crawling now, and not very silent anymore. No one claimed them, and I'm not taking them to the orphanage.'
Millie poured herself a finger of fire whiskey then added several fingers of pumpkin juice on top of that to the clear horror of both wizards.
'I didn't know you had a brother, Greg… or the situation. Let me know if there is anything, like… well…you know.'
'Thanks Millie. You buying this place, in the state it was in, was a huge help after Goyle's estate was arrested.'
'Thank Zabini and his silly scheming, how did you keep this property when everything else was taken?'
'It was my mother's, not part of Goyle's properties. I don't understand this legal stuff, but somehow because she died a while ago and it sat untouched… The only good thing in all this mess! They haven't kicked us out of the Manor yet only because the bastards are bickering on how to divvy up our money and property, and putting toddlers on the street is bad publicity, but I got a letter to vacate by September 1st just the other day.'
'Where are you gonna go?'
'Here. Second floor. Renovations will be mostly complete by then. And I'm selling the first floor flat, I should have enough funds for sometime. Wish I was smarter about this stuff.'
Theo looked intrigued.
'Show me the flat, if it is decent size I'll buy it, I have to find a place soon.'
'Where are you staying now?'
'Nott Manor.'
Both Millie and Greg stared at him in surprise.
'What? Didn't they-'
'Oh yes, kicked me out, pillaged the place for dark artefacts, put wards around the land, but stupid houseless bastards know little of the blood wards and what it means to be the Lord of the place. I've been thinking of how to drop the value of the place enough to be able to buy it back. My latest venture netted up to maybe a quarter of the current price, and goblins agreed to loan another quarter.'
Theo was only fractionally less angry now with the humiliation of being kicked out of his ancestral home and land, than mid-May when that happened. At least he got a sort of compensation out of the indignity of aurors being in his family's manor and poking their noses around his family's heirlooms.
Almost two month ago he was hiding in the secret passageways of his ancestral home, snooping on the aurors that infested it, when he overheard a curious rumor. A rumor he shared with his good friend Draco, a good friend who at the time was somehow still with the access to his family's fortune, a good friend who generously thanked for the information. Before the Ministry gets a chance to steal it! His newly established private vault finally had more than the pitiful hundred galleons it took to open it.
'Stay at the first floor unit until you sort out the Manor. I don't need to sell right away. Maybe you can help me understand the money and inheritance stuff in the mean time? I don't want to be asked to vacate again but I cannot afford the solicitor.'
'Thanks Greg! Yes, I can look through the documents with you. I'll still buy it if I cannot sort out the manor by New Year's.'
Millicent let the wizards discuss their plans, and mused over their individual situations.
...She returned to the Isles two months ago. Draco was on the run, a marked Death Eater; Greg and Theo were the destitute Lords of their Houses; and Vince was just dead… She was too awkward at Hogwarts to be close with any of the Slytherin girls, but she felt for Pansy… to have both parents survive the war just to die at the hands of the side of light without a trial or anything...
As she learned more and more about the realities her old housemates faced, she finally started to appreciate her pureblood father's decision to move his half-blood wife and children to the New World. She had no doubt he was saving his butt and his face first of all, but as a result he saved them all.
They left right after her fifth year. Millie stepped off Hogwarts Express and was whisked away to a meeting spot for a portkey to Iceland, then Northern New World, and finally the heart of the New World. They severed all ties with the Britain Wizarding community. Her parents took her wand and forbade communicating with her friends.
She was given a new name and sent to live with her mother's distant cousin. Her mother's Muggle cousin who didn't know Millie was magical. In the same time, her parents with her newborn sister settled in the Wizarding village deep in the Amazonia rainforest.
We don't know where the Dark Lord agents are, and if your sister demonstrates accidental magic early in front of Muggles, we cannot risk exposure, honey, but you should have a normal life.
Surly, quiet, odd and strangely dressed.
The first days of public high school in the New World sucked. She resented her parents greatly, and tried to reach out to her Slytherin friends. But she didn't have a wand and the charms her father placed on her were too strong or too clever for her to get around. She wasn't the smarty-pants Granger after all! But then she realized slamming people into the walls worked in the Muggle world just as effectively as in the Magical, and after she managed to master a simple wandless heavyweight charm and apply it to her fist right before the confrontation… Even funny dressed blokes in exaggerated shoulder fixtures didn't bother Mildred Smythe after a short while.
She started to enjoy high school noticeably more. Her aunt on the other hand started to visit the principal office much more often, and to have talks with Millie just as often.
Her aunt didn't believe in corporal punishment… as if Millie would have allowed a Muggle half her size to hit her… The woman actually had solid lists of things she believed and didn't believe , and long rants associated with each of the topics. Specifically, she felt it important to remind Millie that she didn't believe in violence and believed in using one's words.
Still, after a time the Muggle's patient even-tempered ways started to sooth Millie's resentment. Joining the school basketball team was one of the woman's more successful suggestions… unlike running, and yoga, and choir, and band, and using one's words, and chess club. Millie was very average in Wizarding Chess, but the Muggle version was just boring...
Millicent's musings were interrupted by the activated fireplace. A slender elegant wizard stepped out of the green flames. His dark brown eyes landed on her, narrowed into slits and he stalked towards her.
'You! I cannot believe you did this to me!'
Greg and Theo fell silent, both spotting tiny amused grins on their faces.
Millicent stood up. She and Blaise were about the same height, thanks to the additional inch and a half her boot soles gave her.
'I did?!'
The two stood nose to nose glaring at each other.
Theo leaned to Greg, 'I'm betting on Millie.'
'Not a bet, that's a given,' Larger boy grinned fully in response.
'Was it your plan from the start?! To steal him from me! I want my money BACK!' An elegant shoe stomped hard on the parquet floor, his melodic honeyed voice rose to an unpleasant high in his frustration.
'Steal? You ungrateful snake! Did you or did you not pay me to agree to this mad plan?' A finger poked the wizard in the chest.
Blaise took a breath.
'Yes or no, Zabini!'
'He did!' The two wizards supplied helpfully.
'And did you or did you not put it in writing?! Were I not to accept the match in short order, so Weasley can reject me?'
Brown eyes narrowed at her. She poked him in the chest again.
'Yes or no?!'
'No!'
The two observers snorted at the outrageously obvious lie.
'I have the parchment, you idiot! In your handwriting!' Millicent's voice now too rose in sound and in pitch.
'Oh so what!… Clearly you didn't do enough for him to reject you!' The elegant shoe stomped the floors again.
'I didn't need to do anything! You were certain that my mere person would be rejected! How did that make me feel, you think, huh?!'
'Clearly you are somehow more charming than I suspected!'
Greg's and Theo's eyes rounded, both cringed expecting the witch to slap the pretty wizard. Instead she took a breath, stepped back and grinned dangerously.
'You know Zabini, I will enjoy banging Weasley, and I'll make sure you are aware of every… goddamn... delicious… detail of it!'
'I WANT MY MONEY BACK!'
Shooting quick looks to each other, Greg cast Muffliato while Theo levitated drinks and snacks behind the couch.
'No! And, you owe me compensation for yesterday's trip to the Ministry!'
'NO WAY! You clearly charmed him instead of scaring him off!'
'You went with me! Did he look charmed to you?!'
The two glared at each other, both fidgeting with their wand holsters.
'He wasn't charmed,' Theo piped from behind the couch where both he and Greg were now standing and observing the situation from. 'Come on Blaise, I was there too, he was not charmed, he was startled... and Potter looked ready to faint from keeping his laughter. It's not Millie's fault she is Weasley's type.'
The two glared at him. He fell silent and preemptively slid behind the couch. The two refocused on each other.
'Did I not stuff myself in badly tailored robes, and ridiculous 5 inch heels? Did I not put my hair in an 18th century updo to add 5 more inches to it. I looked like a bloody half-giantess! YOU! OWE! ME!'
Theo sighed and picked another carrot stick from the snack bowl.
He should have foreseen this and warned Zabini. Cannot count on bloody Gryffindors to behave reasonably. And now Millie would maim Blaise, and Theo would have one less friend to hang out with.
End of Chapter 15
