Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Forty- Nine

[Chapter Forty-Nine]

After the surprise arrival of her parents, Éponine thought she would find herself in better holiday spirits, but it was quite the opposite. Once she had been confronted by Bellatrix, her stomach had yet to stop churning and her heart rate had yet to cease pounding in her chest. She felt that every move of hers was being watched. If Bellatrix knew about Gian, was it possible that other members of the Black family were aware of it too? What if Bellatrix had told Orion and Walburga, or even Regulus? What would they all make of it?

And to add to her already frazzled state, her parents' appearance wasn't making things any better. In fact, Éponine found herself angry rather than thankful that they were there. While Regulus meant well in inviting them, that was the part that irritated her the most, the fact that Regulus invited them and they took to showing up without any protest. But when she had called on them numerous times, they simply ignored her or told her that they were busy with other matters.

They weren't even married yet and already her parents were listening to Regulus, better than they ever listened to her. She certainly took offence to it because while Regulus was wonderful to think of her, it shouldn't have been him that they listened to. If she requested them to spend the holiday with her, they should have jumped on the opportunity, she was their daughter after all.

Sitting in between Victor and Heloise for dinner, Éponine had to force herself to smile but felt as though her face would begin cracking from the fake expression. She gripped her silverware tightly in her hand as her parents asked her all sorts of questions about Hogwarts, all subjects that she had covered in her letters. Which they would have known if they had bothered reading them.

Bellatrix kept eyeing her from across the table, seated next to her aunt, the only visitor left as if she couldn't spend the holiday with her own husband. And just when she felt as though her heart was going to give out from the added stress, she abruptly pushed back her chair.

The screeching sound of her chair, dragging against the wooden floor, brought all conversations to an end. All eyes fell on Éponine, who was already up on her feet, ready to storm off from the table. However, she had barely turned on her heel everyone seemed to be calling on her to explain what was wrong.

"Éponine, where are you going?" her father questioned, taking to grabbing her by the wrist gently. She shot him a look over her shoulder before snatching her hand away and returning it to her side.

"I'm tired," she said through her teeth, " I just want to go upstairs and lie down. It was nice seeing the two of you, I'll see you maybe sometime around the summer."

While Heloise and Victor appeared taken back by their daughter's words, it was Walburga who frowned first. She reached one of her hands out and placed it on Orion's leg before casting a look in his direction that told him to interfere before things became ugly. But Orion seemed at a lost for words at the moment, while Bellatrix watched things unfold with a grin stretching across her lips.