The Storm | Regulus Black

End of Summer Soirée

The end of summer holidays arrived with a subtle shift in the atmosphere. The long days that seemed to stretch endlessly under the pale blue skies of July and August began to shorten, and a soft chill had creeped into the air. Agatha had taken to the garden to take in the feeling of being free. Well, not entirely. She stood there, barefoot, looking over the grounds, hands relaxed at the sides of her body as she breathed in deeply through her nose. There was a sharp edge to the air she breathed. The leaves of the trees around her had began turning orange and brown, even the hedgerows which shielded the family of any unwanted peeking had started shrinking.

"Agatha, why are you not getting dressed?" Agatha heard her mother say sharply.

She looked over her shoulder. "What is the time?"

"We have an hour until we have to leave," Primrose said with considerable edge.

"Oh dear," said Agatha as she stood up and practically sprinted inside.

"It is not ladylike to run!"

The Greengrasses were hosting an end of summer party that afternoon. As the Burke and Greengrass houses were to be tied together after the summer, it was important that they were there. 'Twas to be in the large garden of the Greengrass house. It was not as grand as the Burke Manor, however, Agatha could admit that it was quite adorable of a Manor. It had a home-sweet-home feeling to it. It was painted in a pale yellow, white antique columns struck out of the walls in different places and... well, it was a perfect house. It looked like what the Grengrasses were known for; kind, noble, romantic even.

Caractarus and Annette barely looked at each other when they arrived at the manor and greeted each other. It was palpable that Caractarus did not agree with the terms and conditions of his arrangement. He still had not told Agatha why this was the case, he had been in a relationship with Annette before the betrothal after all. Envy clawed at Agatha as she thought about it. He hated his engagement with the girl he had chosen to date, whilst Agatha got Regulus. She wondered why he'd had so much time to find someone to marry and she had not. Probably because Herbert and Primrose were afraid that someone would take Regulus first. On the other hand it might have simply been because he was a man. It was unfair nonetheless.

Agatha hadn't taken in a word of what the adults had been saying when the Greengrasses came to greet them. Until...

"Oh, Agatha you look gorgeous," said Mrs. Greengrass.

Agatha woke up from her deeply depressing thoughts and smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Greengrass, although not any more than you."

Mrs. Greengrass laughed and shook her head. "Come, come, everyone is out in the garden."

Agatha looked around at the portraits and the flower vases, the many, many doors that led to mysterious rooms.

She hadn't even realised that they had walked through the large, glass doors to the garden before Primrose nudged her subtly. Agatha looked up to see almost every single head in the vicinity turned to look at her.

Seems that the news is out.

She was suddenly uncomfortable in her gown, was there dirt on her face? She felt ill at ease, it was a bit hard to breathe. Be that as it may, she didn't show it. The same jaded, stoic expression remained on her face. Her back was as straight as always. Her arms remained on her sides, not crossed over her chest as she wanted. Her engagement ring was the only thing that was new about her looks, and everyone's eyes dropped to look at it glimmering in the sunlight.

A few seconds felt like years upon years of stares.

A breath she didn't know that she had been holding in left her chest when they started walking over to the Malfoys.