The One That Got Away| Sirius Black

029| Wedding Dinners

July 8, 1975

Isabella had never seen her parents more tense than they were today. By noon, they had yelled at her at least ten times. All of her desserts needed to be perfect for Bellatrix and Rudolphus's dinner party. Their parents had somehow gotten an invite and were stressing about it. Tonight seemed like an important night for them, which made Isabella anxious. It was nearing time for them to leave, and Isabella wasn't ready. She was still in the kitchen, finishing the pastries. She had made a variety so everyone could find something they liked. 

Otis Wright entered the kitchen wearing his best dress robes. His forehead was wrinkled, his eyes narrowing at the plethora of desserts on the counter. He stopped at a tray of vanilla macarons. Those had taken Isabella a while, considering the meringue process took so long. She thought they were perfect for a wedding dinner.

"What are these?" her father asks, picking up the tray.

Isabella's heart raced as her father handled the dessert so nonchalantly. The cookies had shifted from their perfect circle formation. "Those are vanilla macarons," she answers reaching for the tray so she can fix the formation.

Her father holds them even further from her grasp, he reaches behind him to open the trash can and dumps them in. Isabella felt like a deflated balloon as she watched. "I thought I told you to make things that would impress them," Otis grunted before storming out of the kitchen.

Isabella held back tears as she finished plating the blueberry scones. It had been a while since her father had shown these levels of anger toward Isabella. She had been working hard all day for these to be perfect and now she felt horrible. Isabella quickly finished and hurried up to her room so she could get ready.

The entire time Isabella was getting ready she felt like she would burst into tears any moment. She kept replaying the scene with her father in her head. Isabella wanted nothing more than to tell Sirius about it. He would listen intently like he always did, letting her say her piece and interjecting when she needed it. Then he would either tell her a stupid joke and make her forget about it or comfort her. It felt like Sirius always knew exactly what she needed at the moment. She was happy they had become friends. It sucked they wouldn't be able to talk at the dinner party though.

The Wright family arrived to the dinner party five minutes early. Diana had insisted they needed to be early to help set up. Isabella thought that the Black family would probably hate that and it would only make them despise the Wrights more. When they got there, the Rosiers, including Aurora, the Yaxleys, and the Malfoys were already there. 

Isabella noticed how Lance seemed to tense up when he saw Lucius and Narcissa chatting with Abraxas. Narcissa was holding onto Lucius's arm, her head leaning on his shoulder slightly. They seemed to be happy together. Isabella was confused how Narcissa could move on so fast. From what she understood, Narcissa had loved Lance a lot.

"Shoulder's back Bella," Diana hisses into Isabella's ear as the family makes their way toward the dining room. Isabella rolls her eyes and pinches her shoulder blades together so her posture was stick straight.

In the dining room, Walburga was lecturing Sirius about something while Orion, Regulus, and Rudolphus were putting out centerpieces. Isabella's eyes travel to Sirius and he smirks at her, while Walburga is momentarily distracted by the new family entering the dining room. Isabella returns the smile, quickly and shyly.

"Well, you guys are... early," Walburga says. The annoyance is clear in her voice as she comes to examine the desserts the family had brought. Isabella almost laughs, she knew it. "The desserts look fine though. You guys can bring those into the kitchen, Kreacher will bring them out later. Regulus! Are you going to greet your guest?"