metanoia

Chapter Eighty-two

"How is it that in the entire House of Black I can only stand four of them?" Alex groaned loudly, folding the piece of parchment she'd been reading and slammed it against the wooden table.

Remus looked over the top of his book, seeing Alex's demeanor, "That's more than most people can say. Why what happened now?"

Alex handed her boyfriend the piece of parchment, "This. This is what's happened. This is Narcissa's latest letter. Read the damn thing out loud."

Remus closed his novel, sliding it out from in front of him and traded it from Alex's letter from Narcissa Black. Looking down at her perfect penmanship, he began to read the long letter aloud.

"Dearest A,

I write you this with great sorrow and dread for the days to come. Not sorrow for a War that my family has a part in and you fight in tirelessly, not dread for the casualties to come in result, not things that a rational person would feel sorry for in these times. Though I do feel all of these things and more, the thing that has my heart bent out of shape is the cruel ways of the Noble House of Black.

As you know, it is tradition for such a family to betroth and marry off their children to keep the bloodline pure, no matter the feelings of the heart. I watched my mother, Druella, all my life being wed to a man she did not love and I vowed that I would not do the same. So, I learned to love Lucius. However, as we grew older and he became callous and cruel I unlearned all that love and saw the error of my upbringing, including my love for Lucius. Though I am happy with Nicholas, perhaps I have even grown to love him, the rules of my Blood ruin such happiness. The plague that is my Family and my Betrothed has creeped back into my life and for the sake of Nicholas' life, I am to wed Lucius Malfoy by the end of the week.

I pray you do not hate me or that you think I am weak for obeying and marrying into a loveless marriage. I am not brave like you. I cannot look my mother in the eye and denounce the engagement, I am not like Andromeda in that. Family, Loyalty, Blood above All is what I was raised upon. That we are to serve the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. Not only that, but I fear that if I do not marry him I could become the next name among the list of The Dark Lord's victims.

Lastly, I want to thank you for all you have taught me. You taught me courage and nerve can come when you least expect it, and because of you I have courage that I can survive this. I am determined to. You've taught me that I am more than just my family's values and I hope that I can impart that on my children one day, if Malfoy doesn't corrupt them with the seeds of Blood Supremacy. I will honor and keep my loyalties with you and Sirius, my Family. My chosen Family forged from love and friendship. You and Sirius will not be lost to me now that I will become a Malfoy. And I pray everyday that you two survive this War. Because if you can survive, surely I can survive this marriage and perhaps one day you can help me escape it.

If you do not hate me, please write back. However, I understand if you do not reply.

With Love and deep regard,
Narcissa.

"Wow."

Alex nodded in agreement, carefully folding her letter back into it's envelope. She summoned a piece of parchment and an ink pen from across the room, addressing it to Narcissa, "I should have killed him when I had the chance. On that mission. He was unarmed before I pulled him off Sirius."

"And you never would have forgiven yourself if you killed an unarmed man," Remus reminded, knowing that she felt guilty for her friend's predicament. He wrapped his arms around her, soothingly rubbing her arm, "You can't blame yourself. She's going to be alright, Al. She's strong, she is a Black after all."

"It's still not right. She shouldn't have to marry that wanker if she doesn't want to. They shouldn't threaten to kill Nick just to keep her in her betrothal. And it's weird that the Blacks are still betrothing it's family's children. It's 1978 for Godric's sake."

As the couple laughed at the Black's archaic beliefs and practices, Emmeline Vance and Benji Fenwick suddenly stumbled out of the fireplace and into the kitchen where they were. Remus looks at his soot covered former classmates in confusion, "Emmeline? Benji? What are you two doing here? Aren't you two supposed to be in school?"

Emmeline ignored Remus' inquiry about why they weren't in school, looking around the empty room as though she were trying to find someone, "Where's Sirius?"

Alex raised an eyebrow at the Ravenclaw, wondering why she was wearing a cutoff shirt in the middle of November, "He's at the Potter Mansion. He and my Uncle Fleamont have been fixing up an old motorcycle for years and now that they're finished, they're trying to enchant it to fly. Why?"

"I wanted to talk to him. Something bad's happened," she mumbles, looking down at her black combat boots and allowing her long ink black hair to curtain her face.

"Why what's wrong?"

Emmeline cleared her throat, looking up from her shoes to find all three of them staring at her expecting an answer. She wasn't sad and crying like they expected her to be by how she was holding herself, instead she was angry. She held no emotion on her face, clenching her jaw as she explained to them what happened, "My brother has just been murdered. By You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters. Because he didn't join their ranks and because he just married a Muggle girl we've known since we were children."

"Oh, my. I'm so sorry."

The Ravenclaw scoffed at the condolences the three were giving her, not wanting them, "Don't be. You knew my brother. So you know that he went down fighting, like the damn Gryffindor the bastard is. But anyways, I'm here for him. I want to avenge him."

"And I'm here because I have three younger sisters," explained Benji, turning the attention from Emmeline's deceased brother to him. "They're all Muggles, my family, and if Ol' Baldy wants to kill and enslave all the Muggles and Muggleborns, I have to fight to protect them. They don't even know what's going on."

"Does Dumbledore know you're here?"

Emmeline nodded as she took a seat beside Benji at the long wooden table, "Yeah, we came to him this morning and he sent us here through the Floo. He said that he knew Alex was here and that she could at least get us filled in on some of the Order stuff."

Alex sighed, waving her hand over her letter to send it upstairs with the rest of her letter from Narcissa, Amos and her Uncle. She seated herself across from the two in their Seventh year at Hogwarts, deciding she wasn't going to lie or hold her tongue, "Okay, I'm telling you right now, I speak ill of Dumbledore and a lot of the calls he makes. Don't get me wrong, I respect him but he has a lot of half-baked plans. So if that offends you or you're going to run back and tell him what I say, I'll leave you with Remus."

Remus raised his eyebrows at the blonde, "Hey, don't volunteer me! I think the old codger is crazy just the same as you."

"Well, he is. Crazy, I mean. So, let's get on with this Order hoopla."