Black Fortunes

Chapter 12

Late April 1977

To Remus Lupin with highest regards,

I believe I should be grateful you chose to even open this letter, let alone read it. First of all, I must ask how your classes are going? I know you desire to teach, which is an admirable choice of career for anyone. You, I believe, would have the patience necessary to teach young witches and wizards what they need to know, or even young Muggles should you chose to do so. However, I did not send this letter just for a chat.

I know you may not want to have anything to do with me after the disastrous start to what was your 5th year. You have no reason to trust me or believe in me, but I did not want that to happen. I do not play with another's feelings, certainly not ones as Sirius felt for me. Hopefully, he still does feel that way for me, we shall certainly know soon enough.

You see, Remus, Lord Orion Black was generous enough to dissolve the betrothal contract between myself and the vapid creature known as Narcissa Druella Black. It was not my choice to enter the betrothal, there were several other factors that you do deserve to know, but my beloved star deserves to know them first. He was the one I hurt the greatest, after all. I know you have no reason to trust me, Remus, but I do believe we were getting along well enough there towards the fatal end. This is why I appeal to you now instead of the Potter Heir.

I need to speak with Sirius, but I need to do so without him knowing it is me at first. You know as well as I do that he would rather spit on his late mother's grave (may she get what she deserved) than speak to me at the moment. To that end, I need your help, Remus. In two days I will be in that wondrous room we discovered, the one that was impossible to place on your Map. I will be there from a quarter past noon to one in the afternoon. Please ensure that Sirius comes, if you can.

I know this means I am asking you to lie to your friend, but he will forgive you. And I will always be in your debt for being a facilitator to fixing this Merlin-be-damned mess that I have gotten the one I love above all others into.

Hopeful Regards,

Lucius A. Malfoy

Remus had no idea how many times he had read and re-read this letter. His first instinct had been to burn the damn thing, but something always stopped his hand. He kept remembering the broken and hurting imitation of his best friend from a year and some months ago, more recently the almost unstable aggression towards all things pureblood or Slytherin. Sirius had not gotten over Lucius, no matter how much he declared it so.

The relationship had been a shock to both houses. It had been a mostly secret affair, but Remus and James had discovered the couple up on the Astronomy tower when James had forgotten his star chart after a particularly dull lesson. They had back-tracked up the tower and come upon their best friend being expertly kissed to a breathless daze and for the next few weeks, it seemed things would remain sour.

Instead, James and Sirius had given Remus another reason to marvel at the tightness of their friendship. After an intense questioning session and about a week of awkward interactions things had gone back to just the same as they had been. They had even begun to get to know some of the Slytherins, namely Bellatrix Black and Regulus. Regulus had never seen his brother and the Malfoy heir together, Sirius had been afraid to bring the subject up before he knew how far it was going to go.

And then in the second week of their fifth year, the social section of the Prophet had blatantly advertised the betrothal agreement between Heir Malfoy and Miss Narcissa Black, gushing over the suitability of the match and the blending of two powerful old bloodlines. Sirius' copy of the paper had burned to ash in a spectacular bit of accidental magic and it had taken him three days and countless copies to finally write out the scathing, furiously hurt letter he had written Lucius.