Growing up Pureblooded

The Confrontation

Two days before the end of term, Daphne plucked up her courage and resolved to seek out Aries Black. Ever since he returned from his mysterious disappearance several weeks before, he had seemed to her to be strangely distant. Not only had their cooking lessons not continued, but he hadn't even seemed to notice her in the library or in the corridors.

"You must have done something to upset him," Pansy had told her, that maddening 'I-told-you-so' look in her eyes. "I'd guess you weren't giving him enough compliments. Flattery is very important with boys." Pansy sneered with her nose in the air.

Daphne had scoffed at that notion. "Aries Black is the wealthiest, most pureblooded, smartest and best-looking boy in all of Hogwarts," she had replied. "Why would he need any compliments from me?"

All Pansy had done was smirk in response. "You've got it bad, haven't you?" Daphne had given her cousin an annoyed glare and stormed out of the Slytherin Common Room in a huff, deciding to walk directly to the library and figure out what was going on. It was a Wednesday evening, and she had observed that Aries tended to spend his Wednesday evenings studying. Of course, exams were now over, so it was perfectly possible that Aries would be taking the evening off, perhaps flying a bit, but she thought it was a good place to start. Besides, she generally did her best to avoid the Gryffindor Common Room altogether. The last time she had sought Aries out in the lions' den, Ron Weasley had hexed her for her trouble.

Daphne willed herself to ignore the horrible churning in her stomach. She had always dreaded direct confrontation, and was willing to go through nearly any amount of scheming and plotting in order to avoid it. That was why the Hat had put her in Slytherin after all. That, and her excellent breeding, of course. Her family might have only come into money a couple of generations before, but their pureblood lineage stretched back at least ten generations on all sides.

A horrible thought suddenly crossed Daphne's mind. Might that be why Aries had been avoiding her? Was she insufficiently pureblooded for him? Everyone knew the Black family motto: Toujours Pur. They were one of only a select group of families that could trace their fully magical heritage back into the mythic mists of time. It was generally accepted that Betelgeuse the Black had been an adversary of Merlin – though the Blacks themselves claimed that their illustrious ancestor had been Merlin's teacher and mentor. The Malfoys did not stretch back quite as far, having only come to England at the time of the Norman Conquest, but Sir Foulques Malefoy had been the court wizard of William the Conqueror, best known for smiting the Saxons with a wide array of unsavoury curses.

But the Greengrasses, they could only trace their ancestry twelve generations, back until just before the implementation of the Statute of Secrecy. Delphinus Greengrass, a Devonshire merchant, had been executed by the Cromwell regime for 'Royaliste Sympathies, the Observation of the degenerate Papisticall Celebration vulgarly knowne as CHRISTMAS, the Practice of Blacke Sorcerie & Assistance at an unlawful and heathenish Spectacle on the Sabbath Daye.' But even the fact that he had been caught and executed was something of a smirch on the family's reputation. It was only the poor and less powerful wizards who had suffered under Cromwell. Such exalted families as the Blacks and Malfoys had simply Portkeyed to their French estates and stayed there until the Restoration, happily celebrating Christmas, watching plays and practising black sorcery without fear of puritanical Muggle governments.

Then again, her bloodline might not be the issue. The Greengrasses had made the grievous social blunder of making their wealth, rather than inheriting it. That didn't matter to most people - the Fudges, for example, had always embraced the philosophy that money was money. But the Blacks were another story. Was Daphne simply too bourgeois for the aristocratic boy? Her family had been in trade for many years, after all, though her father now held a respectable position at the Ministry. Daphne's grandparents had even grown up without the benefit of house elves. Mighn't Aries have decided that Daphne just wasn't good enough to spend time with him?

The library was nearly empty, except for a few Ravenclaws, Hermione Granger...and Aries. The Black heir sat in splendid isolation, as far away from everyone else as he possibly could, and had a thick leather-bound tome propped up in front of him. Daphne shivered at the sight of the book. It was decoratively ornamented with what appeared to be eyeballs. If Aries had been any other student, she would have wondered why he was publicly reading a book that clearly belonged in the Restricted Section, but Aries had already told her that Professor Malfoy gave him permission slips without even asking any questions. It paid to have good connections, he said.

She took a deep breath and strolled over to his table, smothering her anxiety beneath a well-practised facade of indifference. "Good evening, Aries," she said coldly. Aries looked up. His eyes brightened a bit when he saw her, and he rose to his feet. "Oh, hello, Daphne," he replied with a smile. "What are you doing here? I should have thought you'd be off celebrating the end of exams." His smile remaining bright although he did look curious.

"I came looking for you," Daphne replied, a bit taken aback. She hadn't expected Aries to be pleased to see her. He was supposed to be avoiding her. "I'm glad you did," he said, pulling out a chair. "Won't you join me?"

Daphne hesitated. "I don't want to bother you," she said. "You're not," Aries replied. "I probably need to pack up soon anyway." He stifled a yawn. "I'm starting to see double."

He motioned again to the chair, and Daphne sat down primly. Boys in general were terribly difficult for her to understand, and Aries was particularly so. If he wanted to spend time with her, then why hadn't he sought her out at all?
Aries plopped back down in his chair and took a few last notes before shutting the horrible book.

"What are you reading?" Daphne asked. "An Elementary Introduction to Necromancy," Aries replied casually. Daphne couldn't believe her ears. "Excuse me?" She exclaimed in disbelief. "An Elementary Introduction to Necromancy," Aries repeated. "But that's illegal magic," Daphne protested.

Aries rolled his eyes. "I'm not planning on doing it," he said. "I'm hoping to figure out a way to counteract it." He showed her his notes. "I have to hand over a copy of these to Professor Lupin every week. It's the only way he'll let me check the book out." Daphne raised her eyebrows. "Professor Lupin let you check out this book?"

Aries nodded. "I've been doing some extra work with him," he explained. "Besides, he's my Head of House and my dad's best friend. He's been keeping a close eye on me." Aries explained while rolling his eyes. "You've been awfully busy lately," Daphne said quietly. "I haven't seen you much."

Aries winced. "I know. I'm really sorry about that. We've had a lot going on. My uncle died, you know, and my dad wants us to do this project with Professor Lupin. I haven't even had any time for pranks."Aries said fervently.
"It's all right," Daphne said, relieved that Aries wasn't just trying to avoid her. "I understand. Maybe I could help you with your project?"

Aries shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure about that," he said. "I mean, I don't think that's a good idea." The girl's face fell. She cursed herself for not realising that he was just trying to let her down gently. "I see," she said evenly. "If you don't want to spend time with me anymore, Mr Black, you can just say so."

Daphne stood up and stormed off with as much dignity as she could muster, ignoring the confused expression on the boy's haughty face. She held her emotions tightly inside until she had reached her dormitory, changed into her nightgown, crawled into bed and drawn the curtains shut. Only then did she dissolve into silent sobs.