"Bellatrix," Arcturus' voice snapped her out of her daze. After her argument with her father, where she had confidently declared that she would marry Antonio, she had returned to her room and been lost in her thoughts ever since.
And now her grandfather Arcturus Black was standing in her room, right in front of her. She could not recall if he had ever visited her chambers prior to this. Maybe when she had been a little child.
Arcturus did not immediately rush to speak, instead, he made himself comfortable in the chair beside her large bed and waited for her granddaughter to get out of her daze.
"Grandfather," Bellatrix managed to say after a few moments of silence. Her mind was blank, and she truly did not know what to say.
"I am just here to check on you," Arcturus said with a smile. It was a smile filled with warmth and reassurance. Bellatrix smiled faintly in return, feeling some of her tension ease at the presence of her grandfather.
"So, you are going to marry Antonio," Arcturus remarked after another brief silence.
"Grandfather," Bellatrix mumbled in an embarrassed voice. "I just said that to shut Father up. It did not mean anything."
"I know," Arcturus responded with a chuckle filled with amusement.
"But so does your father," he added and Bellatrix's embarrassment quickly faded into seriousness.
"But did he not mention me going to Antonio's house and roaming around with him?" she asked. "He surely implied the closeness between us and he was very annoyed and angry about it."
"He did and he was surely angry," Arcturus nodded. "And he is a fool but not such a great fool. He may have said those things, but I doubt he truly believes you and Antonio are close enough to marry. I would not be surprised if he has already caught on to your bluff."
"I am certain that his anger was more of a posturing, a showoff to put more pressure on you," Arcturus continued. "Like how he asked me to not interfere. He was just trying to play mind games."
"What should I do then?" she asked hesitantly. "I really do not want to marry that buffoon Rodolphus. It is hard enough for me to even bear his presence. He is so annoying and so arrogant and so evil. How could I ever marry him?"
"You remember the suggestion I made a few days earlier?" Arcturus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Grandfather…" Bellatrix mumbled, a blush creeping across her lips.
How could she forget? Arcturus had hinted to her about getting closer to Antonio and perhaps even exploring the possibility of marrying him. She remembered vividly.
"It is a great choice, Bellatrix," Arcturus sighed. "Not only would it free you from marrying Rodolphus, but you would gain such a fine partner."
"I doubt you could find anyone more capable or better than Lord Olario," he continued. "Not only is Lord Olario an extremely capable and exceptional wizard but he is also such a fine human being. He would treat you with all the love and respect you deserve."
"And your feelings are very clear to me. Even if you are not completely in love with him yet, you have affection for him and that is more than enough."
"But I do not know what he feels about me," Bellatrix mumbled. "What if he thinks of me as nothing more than a friend."
"And it has not been even a month since we met each other," she added. "Everything feels so rushed."
Arcturus smiled, pleased that, at least, Bellatrix seemed willing from her side. And he too understood that both of them had not known each other for a really short time. But the circumstances they were in, time was a thing which Arcturus could not afford to waste.
"What do the two of you spend your time together on?" Arcturus asked. "You should be pretty close by now. I doubt he has anyone as close as you are to him."
"We just talk… mostly about magic and other things," she replied.
Arcturus sighed.
"I think you should speak with Lord Olario about all this," he said, already wondering if he would have to give love lessons to his granddaughter. But more than love lessons, what he truly intended to impart was the knowledge of politics.
"I think I have a way which can work," he suggested. "Would you be willing?"
"What is it?" Bellatrix questioned.
.
.
.
(Potter Manor)
"Whose letter are you reading, Charlus?" Dorea's voice snapped Charlus out of his thoughts.
Sitting in the main hall of the Potter Manor, he had been engrossed in a parchment he had received not long ago. Charlus was a broad shouldered man with dark black hair. He was tall and muscular, exuding an air of power and authority. Dorea, on the other hand, was slim and less imposing, yet she had her own charms. Her presence was no less majestic. Even with age beginning to show, she remained a woman of grace and beauty. She was daughter of the Black family and the Lady of the House Potter. There were few who could compare in status with her.
"A letter from Lord Bones," Charlus replied, placing the parchment back on the table.
"Oh!" Dorea reacted. "And what has Lord Bones written that made you read the letter so many times?"
"Are you not already in correspondence with Lord Bones? Even before Antonio Olario's trial and more frequently after the attack on his manor?" she pressed. "You have been helping him quite a lot in the last few days."
"Yes, we have been corresponding and I have been helping him," Charlus admitted. "But the help he had asked was what I would have done even without his requests."
"But this time it is different," he said.
"What?" Dorea asked.
"He wants to meet me," he answered.
"I do not see any reason for such a request to make you reread the letter multiple times," she replied. "Has he made some unusual or interesting request along with it?"
"Interesting," he mumbled. "He has expressed his desire to meet me as he wants to discuss something important with me."
"And?" She asked.
"He wants to introduce someone to me," Charlus said. "Antonio Olario."
"Oh!" Dorea had her mouth slightly open. "I think that you too were curios to meet Lord Olario."
"I am," Charlus sighed. "It is just that I was trying to see if I could extract some additional information from the letter. Maybe something about what Lord Bones wants to discuss."
"Come on!" Dorea reacted almost in exasperation. "You and your politics. Why could not the Lords talk in a straightforward manner?
"This is what makes us the Lords, Dorea," he chuckled.
"When will he be coming?" Dorea questioned with a smile.
"In a couple of days," he replied.
"A feast then?" She questioned.
"Yes, a feast," he nodded. "It would be after years that the Potter Manor would be hosting a completely new person. He should know the hospitality of the House Potter."
Dorea nodded in agreement.
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