BY fates design

Essance of a Black

"Perhaps, now is a good time for a break." Fleamont stood up, glancing out the window at the back of the great hall where the sky seeped into hues of rose and yellow, like the very clouds were blushing. "It appears the day has slipped away from us in our focus."

Many other mages and demigods nod, sounds of agreement filling the air like a chorus as bodies rose, limbs reaching to the ceiling to relieve stiffened joints from the long hours spent in one position.

"My lady." Cassiopeia's head lifted to regard the cris voice that addressed her, finding Astro stood before the couch she was occupying. His dark hair was tamed with gel, black waves settled neatly on his head, and his clothes were lacking in any wrinkles, dark fabric pressed to perfection.

"Hey, sis!" Corvus bounded over, flinging an arm over Astro's shoulders. Unlike his cousin, Corvus' brown hair was in a mess of brown waves, his casual garbs crumbled from endless wriggling throughout the movie. "Cousin." He grinned, ruffling Astro's hair, "looking dull as ever, Ro"

Raising a hand to her lips, Cassiopeia concealed a giggle behind her fingers, eyes softening as she watched the two boys fall swiftly into an argument.

Unbeknownst to them, many eyes were drawn to the trio, every individual in the room that shared Black blood was watching with unrestrained interest.

"That is the future of our house." Orion observed, sipping at the whiskey in his glass, letting the liquid burn down his throat and warm his chest. "Perhaps we didn't fail as terribly as we thought."

Footsteps clicked against the stone floor of the hall, steady, unwavering in their journey. "Or perhaps we did." Orion need not turn his head to identify that voice - his youngest son. "They are far better than any of us have ever been, and not one of us was there to raise them, or more correctly stated - not one of us was there to corrupt them."

Not awaiting an invitation, he took the seat to the right of his father, elbows resting on his knees, fingers laced. Gradually, like maggots to a corpse, the other members of the house of Black gathered around the same table for the first time in many years.

Scoffing, Bellatrix tossed a section of onyx curls over her shoulder, one brow raised in mock exasperation as she regarded her younger cousin. "Always so depressing. Are you incapable of opening your mouth without making the mood akin to a funeral?"

"Play nice, Bella." Narcissa sighed, shaking her head. "He isn't exactly wrong. Not a single one of us seemed to have much connection with those children. Peculiar really. Where exactly were Astro and Corvus raised after Walburga's death and before Sirius' freedom? There were many years between those events."

Humming, Andromeda nodded, one leg tossed over the other as she tied her dark hair back into a ponytail, only to have her hand slapped down by her mother. "Ladies will do no such thing." Druella chided.

"Mother." She rolled her eyes, sending a pointed look to her father instead, though Cygnus only shrugged, evidently not interested in prompting an argument with his wife. "Whatever. The point is, Cissa is right. We really know very little of those boys."

"Simple solution." Sirius dropped himself unceremoniously onto the sofa beside Regulus, his elbow making contact with his younger brother's ribs, earning him a slap to the head. "Ow, violent creature." He huffed, sitting up straighter. "Anyways, we could always just ask them. It's not like they bite or anything."

"I suppose that's an option." Walburga nodded. "Straighten your shirt, you look like a scruff, it's unbecoming of a gentleman." Her glacial eyes scrutinised his appearance, the wrinkles that made rivens in the cotton of his shirt which stretched like veins over the fabric.