บท 77: Children of the Leaders
Orion Black narrowed his eyes. "It is considered polite to formally declare your intentions — a note, an in-person proclamation, a piece of courtship jewellery… something.
"Portrait Black, I am but a humble instrument of my lord's will"—Orion scoffed.—"and I couldn't possibly speak for him, but if I were to guess, I would suggest that your son's attitude to parental influence and my lord's political alignment might make him cautious in making any such declaration, less he put your son on the defensive, and further restrict your granddaughter's movements."
Silence. Then her grandfather's voice filtered through to her as a whisper from where she still stared at the wood floorboards.
"…And you're ten years old. Dear Merlin, you put even your grandparents to shame. I wonder if that means you're even more insane then them too…"
She looked up.
Luna beamed. "Why don't you ask Alex? She can tell you."
"She's insane," she said without hesitation.
Luna turned and hugged her. "Thank you."
"Umm… you're welcome?"
Orion Black chortled. "Oh very well. I can't say I fully approve of all this cloak and dagger business your lord is engaging in, but I can see you're going to grow up to be an intelligent lady."
Luna bobbed another shallow curtsey.
"I just have one question."
"Oh?"
"Does your lord support the pureblood cause?"
Luna paused for just a moment. "My lord understands the frustrations many in magical Britain have with the noble house system since the loss of the rituals, and he recognises the dangers posed by first generation magicals to the international statue of secrecy."
Her grandfather seemed to search Luna's face for several seconds. "Damn, he has trained you well."
Luna's face was a picture of serenity. "That's all down to Lord Slytherin's super secret motivational technique."
"Which is?"
"Hugs."
Alexandra face palmed, again.
....
The cake was white and had ten candles in it. Alex blew them all out while the assembled wizards sang happy birthday, lead by Lady Potter. She sliced the cake into even pieces, and doled them out onto conjured plates. Luna accepted hers with an enthusiasm normally reserved for global sporting events. Susan politely accepted hers then proceeded to demolish it. John seemed to have gotten over Lord Slytherin's oneupmanship. He accepted politely and ate slowly, chatting with Susan.
The grown-ups all took their own slices, and she directed her attention to her own slice. She sighed. There were many costs associated with magic, and sometimes the cost was high. She took a bite and pretended she was loving it. It tasted like a sponge.
Every ritual has a cost.
Ever since Harry had pointed out that she should have waited for her thirteenth birthday for the best effect for the strength ritual, she'd felt a bit melancholy when eating sweet things.
She was a witch. She would never have all the power that wizards held in the wizarding world, but with the ritual of krazenkart she'd at least been able to narrow that power gap a bit. The ritual gave the witch who cast it both the strength of the man she could have been, and the potential for strength of the man she could have been. The cost was her ability to taste sweetness.
She didn't regret it. Not at all. But if she'd a bit less headstrong, she probably would have waited a few years first.
She caught Luna's eye and the blonde gave her a small encouraging smile. Did she know? Surely Lord Slytherin would know. Would he have told her?
"So, have you heard anything from Macmillan about the Hogwarts express?" Her father's voice washed over her and the other children.
John stopped half way through a joke, and stilled for a fraction of a second before starting to nibble his cake.
Susan looked at him, her face one large question mark.
Luna perked up.
John jerked his head towards the table where to grown-ups sat.
Susan's eyes widened in understanding.
She rolled her eyes, and resisted the urge to jump and shout 'told you so' at her father.
"Yeah. He wants his son to stay out of the main groups, but from the sound of it he was leaning more towards us than the Gray." Lord Potter's voice was a bit louder than her father's.
Luna brought out a set of gobstones, and they began a slow and pointedly silent game.
"So, he's going to have Ernie present himself then?"
There was a slight pause.
"I'm not sure, it's hardly necessary under normal circumstances. Ernie and John have known each other for years, and their compartment is going to be almost all kids they both know from classes."
"Buuttt…" Lily's voice interjected.
James Potter continued. "But there's the Gray to think about, isn't there. Macmillan may well want Ernie to present himself to them, even if he doesn't want him to sit with them. And if he presents to them, then he'll probably present to us too."
"Who would Ernie sit with if not John's group?"
"Not sure… maybe he'll scout for new muggleborns."
There was a sigh. Lily spoke. "At least we don't have to worry about clashes between our children and the children of the Dark. Daphne's going to be a wall between us."
"Yes. The Dark at the front of the train, the Gray in the middle, and the Light at the end…"
Lily spoke. "Wouldn't it make more sense to have the Dark at the end and the Light at the front? I mean, what about all the muggleborns who have to put up with all the bigotry the moment they step on the train?"
"It's a bit late to organise a different seating arrangement now, Lily. Hell, the way we're doing it this year is hardly better than organised chaos."
"Well Prongs, this year is crazy. The first born children of the leaders of the Light, the Dark, and the Gray, all starting Hogwarts, in the same year?"
"Trust me, Padfoot, I know. I've been fielding owls from dozens of parents for weeks now. Every single one is convinced that if their kid screws up, their whole family is going to ostracised for the next decade. It's mental."
Madam Bone's voice joined in for the first time. "I heard something interesting."
"Oh, what?"
"You know the Smiths?"
"Yeah, of course. Sally is going to be in with John."
"Mmmhmm.. And guess who's going to be with Greengrass?"
"… You don't mean?"
"Yep. Zach."
"Wow. So the Smiths are splitting themselves. Just like the Patils. Fine if you have two children in the same year, I guess."
....
Join my P*atreon right now and enjoy more than 60 advanced chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/Divine_Quill (Remove the *)
FREE members get up to 2 chapters for FREE.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง