Arcturus picked up the pile of files on the desk with a deep, wistful sigh. Two years ago, he had been the one to do all this paperwork. He had complained a lot. There was no fun in writing fifty reports in a day, sorting out the unimportant and the worrying complaints, filling in the dumps, sorting again, all until the pile disappeared. Yet he found himself regretting those days. With all the responsibilities he had now, he couldn't even take a five-minute breather. The slightest mistake and he could be fired at any moment. He lived in constant fear of making a mistake. No, really, filling out dumps was nothing terrible.
Pollux, however, did not agree. When he saw the files arrive on his desk, he wanted to bury himself six feet under the ground to finally be at peace. Arcturus smiled mischievously.
"Here you go, cousin."
"That's three times as much as yesterday!"
"Everyone's going crazy these days. Here, look at the first one," he said, grabbing the top sheet. "Someone claims to have seen Grindelwald in his street."
"It's totally stupid. Grindelwald is in Austria."
"Ah, this one actually talked to him in his kitchen. Wow, and he threatened him with a knife."
Pollux found it hard to hold back a laugh.
"Would Grindelwald have forgotten his wand?"
"Well, he's getting old."
Arcturus had gone all the way to Paris to talk to him, and those half-bloods thought that the dark mage had gone to their house to talk to them. Pathetic. The world was going mad. Dumbledore was absent more and more, and the shield of England was slowly disappearing. Fear had gripped those who had something to fear. As for the purebloods, they were showing interest in the turn of events. Arcturus included.
"Before you go to work," he said abruptly, having remembered why he had come. "I have something for you."
He took out a letter from his suit. Pollux took it with curiosity and read the parchment. If his face had lit up at the name of the sender, his features decomposed as he read. His hand began to tremble. It was only a detail, but Arcturus was too attentive not to notice.
"What's wrong?"
He'd seen Cassiopeia's name on the letter, so he knew his cousin's reaction could be overdone depending on the subject, but his sudden pallor worried him.
"Nothing."
He closed the letter as if it contained a state secret.
"What do you mean 'nothing'?"
He wanted to take the parchment from his hands, but Pollux was quicker. He got up from his seat and walked towards the fireplace. Regulus chose this moment to enter. This interruption stopped the two young men. Arcturus silently thanked his brother for coming in at the right time. This was a change from the usual.
Taking advantage of his cousin's pause, Arcturus took the letter from his hands and unfolded it with haste. He barely had time to look at Cassiopeia's fine handwriting before he felt the tip of a wand being thrust into his neck.
"Pollux," thundered Regulus, "Stop it."
"Give it back to me at once," he ordered in a feverish yet authoritative voice.
But curiosity drove Arcturus to start reading. Under tension, he read only the middle, but that was enough for him to understand the meaning of the letter. His throat tightened. Indeed, it was. It was worrying.
"Pollux, I won't say it again, put the wand down."
"I'll put it down if your brother puts down the bloody letter!"
"I already had my doubts," Arcturus said abruptly.
He had guessed why his cousin was acting this way. Cassiopeia had been a fool to write things down so clearly. The reason she hadn't sent it by owl was becoming logical, but still. That kind of message destroyed families. Well, "families"... their families. It was a rather unprecedented situation.
"What are you talking about?"
Pollux looked at Arcturus and Regulus in turn, expecting other reactions than a simple exasperated sigh. Anger, for example, disgust, something logical. Not that. Not that "this is usual" look. Because it was anything but usual.
"First, you put that wand down or I'll put it down forcibly," Regulus ordered curtly.
Regulus may have been the youngest of the siblings, but he was the most composed and authoritative of them all. His composure was legendary. In a way, his attitude reassured him, since Pollux did not expect anything else from him. But Arcturus?
"I take back what I said. I didn't have any doubts. I knew it."
He was forced to lower his weapon. His cousin did not pretend to be calm and then let his rage explode. There was sincerity in "I knew it". The panic slowly loosened from Pollux's heart, even if the distrust remained. He would give everything to protect this secret. Because to protect this secret was to protect Cassiopeia.
"How?" he asked in a white voice.
Arcturus placed the letter under the desk, staring at it as if it were Pandora's box. Burning it would be a mistake. They could use selected bits and pieces as evidence, but they would still have to keep the dangerous truth. If they had to keep it in a Gringotts safe, they would. It was the kind of document that, in the hands of the wrong person, could turn into a weapon worse than a dragon with a thousand spikes.
"Dorea," he said simply.
Pollux clenched his jaw.
"She was young," defended Regulus, "so as not to make the smallest of the family look like a traitor. And we insisted. Greatly."
"She only gave in after the promise of three dresses and a trip to America."
Arcturus smiled at the memory. He and his brother suspected something even then. The way Pollux looked at his sister was too intense, too full of innuendo. They had both just realised their passion and had not been able to hide the sparkle in their eyes. But as the eldest of the family, he knew his cousins by heart. Nothing escaped him. Since he shared absolutely everything with Regulus, the two boys had taken Dorea aside and subjected her to intense questioning. The little girl didn't give up until the price for a simple revelation was too high. She was only seven years old. Even though her parents had put it in her head from the beginning that betrayal was the worst thing in this world, she also knew that there was something forbidden between her brother and sister. She had taken advantage of this to get what she wanted, young as she was. Today, she wouldn't have said anything, because deep down, Dorea was Dorea... But it had to be said that Arcturus and Regulus had been convincing.
"How did you know that she knew?"
"She turned her head away every time you were together," explained Regulus. "Since we already knew about your... well, you know, we tried everything and managed to get the information out of her."
"And...?"
Regulus frowned.
"What 'and'?"
"How did that make you feel?"
It was this answer that Pollux dreaded the most. The evidence was that they had recovered, but who knew, maybe when they found out, their reaction had been much more... violent.
"It was surprising," Arcturus replied with a shrug.
"Surprising? Is that all?"
"Listen, Pollux," said Regulus, approaching him.
He put his hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes, with the intention of being as sincere as possible.
"I must admit that at first I found it hard to accept. It was not in keeping with the values we had been taught as children, but above all, I imagined doing the same thing with Lycoris to try to understand, and I think that was my mistake. Then I realised that there was no comparison to be made. Your relationship was far too special for that. And strange as it may seem to me, it was your business. Your story. I had no right to interfere in it."
Pollux remained silent for a moment, taking the time to swallow his words. Beside him, Arcturus nodded, having nothing to add to his brother's words. At first he had wanted to impose, to tell Cygnus and Violetta everything, but Regulus had stopped him. He still remembered what had made him give in. "You don't choose who you love," his brother had told him. He knew what it was like to be separated from a loved one. He knew it and he didn't wish it on anyone. Especially not his cousins.
"Now it's Callidora I'm worried about," Arcturus continued, looking at the letter from a distance.
"Summarise the contents, I haven't read it," ordered Regulus.
Pollux was surprised to see his cousins helping him, but decided to do as they ordered. He would not refuse a hand in this whole affair.
"Longbottom has given Callidora an ultimatum. He knows about me and Cassiopeia, and he wants to use this to marry her.
"Marry?" exclaimed Arcturus, who had missed this part of the letter.
"Longbottom is ambitious," said Regulus, after some thought. "He's not happy with his family, so he's looking to join ours. What better way than to marry a Black girl?"
"He's given her a week to decide," said Pollux.
"He's a fool."
"No, Arcturus," refuted his brother. "He is clever. He knows that revealing such a secret would destroy our family forever. Our image would be tarnished and our reputation would be damaged. As much as incest is not uncommon among purebloods, other families always take advantage of it to crush their rivals. It's all about taking power. The Rosiers and the Malfoys will be the first to seize the opportunity."
The Malfoy's had nothing against them, but being closely linked to the Rosiers, they had become one of the Black's main enemies. They had interfered with the Ministry for the sole purpose of stealing prestigious positions alongside the Minister of Magic. Regulus had been lucky to have gained Fawley's favour, but Arcturus had had the position of First Councillor stolen by Adonis Rosier. And who had kept that position warm? None other than Ernis Malfoy. The slightest weakness on the part of the Blacks would lead to their downfall. Inwardly, Arcturus mused that if he and Vinda had always been married, none of this would have happened.
"I don't want Callidora to pay the price for our love," said Pollux, embarrassed from the beginning of this conversation.
"It's too late," said Regulus, keeping his cool. "Tomorrow I'll go to Hogwarts. I'll talk with Harfang. Together we'll come to an agreement."
"If you see Callidora, tell her I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
Regulus looked sadly at his cousin. A feverish smile crossed his expression, the most reassuring he had managed to make.
"I think she already knows."
***
A loud "crack" sounded outside the gate of Black Manor. The tall bushes of the driveway welcomed their master in all their height, seeking to cover him with their long untrimmed branches. Arcturus grumbled about employing a gardener, something he did every time he went home. A swarm of crows flew from the oak as he reached the door. It reminded him that he had not transformed for a long time. He had missed the feeling of freedom, being guided by the winds.
His eyes fell on the imposing front door, but suddenly his heart bulged more violently. It was ajar. A bad feeling filled him. His first thought was for his wife. He would kill anyone who touched her. If anyone had dared to intrude upon his home to harm her...
With his wand out, he rushed into the house, breathless. Nothing strange on the surface. An imposing silence enveloped the hallway with its long, cold strides, the mirrors reflected the image of the timeworn tapestries. Even the wooden floor did not creak under his weight; it was as if time had stopped for a few seconds. He walked through the hallway, wand tip pointed forward, ready to spit his spell if there was any danger. Arcturus tried to remain calm despite the panic his heart was expressing through its frantic beating.
As he moved deeper into the house, voices floated up to him. He couldn't put his finger on the emotion they conveyed, but nothing seemed threatening. At least, not on the surface. Ever more wary, he arrived at the living room door, his hand hanging over the handle. Melania was certainly inside, but with whom? Was someone trying to hurt her? Had the letter ended up in someone else's hands and they were already trying to destroy them, starting with the elders? The thought chilled him. Melania was carrying his child, any intruder he saw near her would pay the consequences. With that promise, he nimbly opened the door and rushed in, wand raised.
"Ah, Arcturus, there you are at last!"
A wave of relief swept through his chest. He closed his eyes, as if exhausted by adrenaline, and lowered his weapon in front of his wife, who stood up to greet him. She gave him a questioning look.
"Why was the front door ajar?" he asked, now overcome by a disturbing irritation.
"Grita must have forgotten to close it when your mother came in."
Arcturus stopped himself from cursing the incompetent house elf and placed a furtive kiss on Melania's forehead. Hesper Black was watching them with a satisfied look, not noticing the tension that enveloped his son. The mistress of the house, on the other hand, frowned and went out to punish Grita.
"To what do we owe your coming, Mother?" he asked, welcoming her into his arms.
"I have decided to visit each of my sons every week," she said contentedly. "I realised that I was seeing very little of you, and that…"
"How much do you want?" he sighed.
"Seven thousand gallons."
She tried to hide her blush, but he noticed before she turned her head.
He knew it by heart. A few years ago, his parents had separated due to stories of infidelity. Their father being at fault, Arcturus and Regulus had contributed to give their mother a little money each month so that she could live comfortably in one of the Black houses in the country. Only she didn't dare to ask for more money when she needed it and she came to visit them with a thousand different excuses. If she knew... Arcturus had a chest full of money, and his two marriages had helped to fill it up a bit more.
"I'll go to Gringotts tomorrow. I had some business to attend to, so I'll take the opportunity to get the money out. Have you heard from Lycoris?"
"She wrote me a letter from America. She seems to be enjoying herself…"
A melancholy look came over his face. Arcturus hid his exasperation. His sister had a habit of escaping the problems of her life by travelling, funded by their father. She was lucky enough to be his favourite ; yet Regulus kept reminding her that at twenty-seven it was time to get married.
"Melania is good, isn't she?"
"Yes, she's fine, why ?"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"She's nice, I think. Nicer than Vinda."
"Mother, please don't talk about her."
"As you please."
Melania chose this moment to make her entrance again, slightly reddened by the effort. Six months pregnant, the doctor had advised her against going in and out of the Manor, but as usual, she was just going through the motions.
"I scolded Grita. I don't know what was going through her mind, really."
"It's nothing," he grumbled. "Can you do something for me?"
"Yes, of course I can. What is it ?"
He stared out of the window, his eyes on the darkening sky. He remembered his brother's words, and the plan they had devised to protect their cousins' secret. He hoped that everything would go according to plan, or complications would arise. Big complications.
"Write to my sister. Tell her to come home. We need her."