Regency in Diagon Alley [Theodore Nott | Harry Potter AU]

Chapter One

Maisie Goldstein is many things, but she was far from what society's expectations of a woman.

Her family name as the daughter of Earl Thomas Goldstein and Countess Charity Goldstein makes her a young woman of high status. Though a half-blood, her father's long line of pure magical blood has made her one of the most wanted debutants of the season. But aside from her blood status and her family's social status, Maisie was a perfect woman, she learned all manners of grace and etiquette without having a fuss; she is well educated and was still finishing her magical education in Hogwarts; she was well read and good in maths, something that not many witches and wizards attending Hogwarts are best known for since math wasn't exactly a core subject taught in school but an elective; she has studied ballet with her cousin under the guidance of the best dancer in magical Britain, and has forced herself to learn the flute because every woman was expected to know how at least one instrument... She did have the option to learn the piano forte, but her eyes would always end up crossed whenever she would look to where to place her fingers on the keys.

All those things should have made her suitable to be this season's diamond, but if there was one thing that would ruin such opportunity... it was the girl's trail of being too vocal with her opinions, and the fact that she refuses to partake in her debut in the first place.

The carriage was ready outside with the valet waiting for his master and mistress; Earl Thomas Goldstein, or "Tom" as he was called by his family and close friends, stood waiting at the downstairs parlor already dressed in his finest dark robes, his wand placed in his pocket, hair brushed to the latest hair fashion for men, and gloved hands fidgeting with the pocket watch as he looked at the two family portraits hung on the wall. One was the portrait of his family, and the other was an older family portrait when he was young and his father was Earl Edward Goldstein, and with them at the portrait was his mother, Louise Goldstein, and his sister Emmanuelle Goldstein. All of whom have passed. Upstairs, the sound of his wife, Countess Charity Goldstein, could be heard knocking on their eldest daughter's door as the girl has somehow learned a spell to keep the door closed that even Alohamora cannot open.

"My Lord," Beanie, the house-elf, approached him wearing the dress she has been given the wear, and has adjusted the fancy hat that Maisie knitted for her to stop falling to her eyes.

"Yes, Beanie?" Tom asked.

"Beanie has come to announce, Sir, that His Grace, has arrived, along with master's niece, Lady Carina Black."

Right after Beanie has made the introduction, a young woman emerged through the doors. She was tall, with a fair complexion, she wore her dark hair into an intricate bun decorated with small twinkling diamonds acting as a thin crown and framing her face was a few curls that ran down to her chin. She wore a lavender dress laced with chiffon that had embroiders of small flowers and butterflies, and gloves that reaches above her elbow. As the girl found him in the parlor standing by the pillar, her smile grew.

"Uncle Tom," she greeted.

Tom let out a breath as he looked at his niece, a breath of nostalgia as the sight of her reminded him of her mother... but for her eyes, which were gray and almost silver. Those came from her father.

"Hello, darling," Tom greeted his niece with a warm smile and kissed her on the cheek lightly. The Duke has also entered the room, but Tom was only focused on his niece.

"I could hear the commotion upstairs," Carina said.

"Yes, that. Mind going up there and help with the battering ram?"

"From what I heard, Ethan and Elias are already ramming the door with something like it... and I don't think Maisie would be too happy to see the marks it left."