[Chapter Forty-Six]
On the day of Christmas Eve, Éponine had been happily reading over Regulus' shoulder by the fireplace when she was summoned to Walburga's and Orion's room to speak with the matriarch of the Black family. Despite sitting close to the fire, she felt a cold chill run up her spine as the invitation had been rather unexpected. Especially since they had been around each other during breakfast and Walburga showed no signs of wanting to have a word with her. The only comforting aspect was that Kreacher did not seem fearful about delivering the message; he appeared calm which made her consider that it didn't have to be a bad thing.
With a small sigh that she had to abandon the chapter just as the story was getting good, she pushed herself up to head over to the stairs. Regulus agreed to hold the place and wouldn't continue while she was gone. It brought a faint smile to her lips before she nodded her head and made her way upstairs.
Kreacher led the way, mumbling to himself that he needed to get a start on dinner or the family wouldn't be eating until very late. Éponine was about to tell him that he was free to go, she didn't need him as her escort, but at the same time, she still found his company to be rather comforting. He had given no insight as to what Walburga wanted and since the first time she had met her, Éponine had always found herself nervous. Back to when she arrived at the Black household to meet with Sirius for the first time, Walburga had given her a once over and made her judgements right then and there.
She picked at small things such as height or Éponine's skin condition, did she have anything else to scrutinise?
Before reaching the door, Kreacher came to a halt and with a snap of his little fingers, the door opened. At first, Éponine didn't move, waiting for him to go first, but as the house-elf cleared his throat, it was clear that he wasn't invited; she had to venture in alone. With one shaky step after another, Éponine walked in to find Walburga sitting at her vanity mirror. She wasn't dressed for the day, only wearing a thin slip as she readied herself. The door closed behind her, and within seconds, Walburga turned to give her full attention.
Similar to Bellatrix, there was something very haunting about the eyes of the women of the Black family. Éponine couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but she would say it was very close to an angry sorrow that seemed to spill out whenever someone made eye contact with them. The rest of their body language, carried them to be strong and powerful women, but it was that little piece trapped in their eyes that said differently.
"You don't have to stand so far away, Éponine," Walburga told her, " here, come sit."
Rather than sharing the small bench, Walburga stood up and motioned for Éponine to take her place. For a moment, she thought about protesting, claiming she could sit somewhere else, but she thought it was best not to argue in the slightest. Instead, she sat down and watched as Walburga came to stand behind her in the mirror.
"Have you been enjoying yourself since you've been home from school?"
The idea of Walburga calling the Black manor her home caused a small reaction from Éponine, nothing more than a slight flinch but enough that it was noticeable. She quickly tried to play it off, it was nothing more than a twitch, but Walburga was no fool.
"I have been enjoying myself," Éponine quickly added as damage control, " every night has been something special. I don't think I've ever danced as much in my whole life or tasted such foods..."
"But you still don't consider this to be your home," Walburga finished. "Is that right?"
"I meant no disrespect-"
Thinking that everything was about to go to hell, the last thing Éponine expected was for her future mother-in-law to start laughing. It was relaxed laughter too, none of the forced chuckles that took place at the dinner parties, she found it thoroughly amusing. And of course, Éponine only found herself smiling out of nerves.
"You remind me a lot of myself when I was younger," Walburga confessed, " always saying what people want to hear and never what's truly on your mind. It's how we were trained. The men get the luxury of being themselves, of course with good manners expected, but we are nothing but well-rehearsed birds for others. My own mother gave me the advice to agree, never be difficult, and do as I was told. I'm sure your mother told you to do the same in hopes of making a good impression."
Éponine wasn't expecting her mother to be called out in such ways, but she couldn't help but nod her head. From the time she was young, she had to give up everything in hopes of making a good impression, including her native tongue. She had to agree when she thought otherwise and if she dared to form an opinion of her own, it was normally squashed under expectations. Her father had been nicer about it, but still, Éponine was carrying a lot of anger towards the two of them internally.
Walburga played with one of the loose curls that sat at Éponine's shoulders. "I found myself upset with my parents too when they announced that Orion and I were to be married. They forced so many interactions between us as children, and eventually, they just left me to be with him. I saw it as such a betrayal that they would leave me, but it wasn't until I was older that I thanked them."
"What made you change your mind?"
"The way they had left me, I felt like I had lost my family," Walburga said, " but that forced me to push through and create a new family of my own. Orion was the first, his parents became mine, his sister became my sister, and then when we had our first child, I felt so blessed. Two of them and they were ours, we loved them so much. We loved each other so much and I don't think it would have worked the same if I was still attached to my parents."
Biting down on her lower lip, Éponine wasn't sure if she agreed fully with what Walburga was telling her. It was bad enough that she knew Regulus' parents to be that of cousins, so it only seemed a bit stretched that they all couldn't just come together as one family. She didn't think Walburga would have been any less devoted to Orion or her children had she been raised differently. But maybe that was her way of coping with it all, maybe she truly believed that her parents did it out of love and benefits, just so it didn't hurt as much.
"Your mother loves you, as does your father, they wouldn't write me letters asking about how you are if they didn't."
Still trying to figure out the purpose as to why Walburga had summoned her to talk, Éponine was fighting back words that bubbled in her throat. If her parents cared as much as she was putting on they could have easily asked her how she was doing in frequent letters. They didn't have to message Walburga, who wasn't at the Hogwarts castle, they could have heard it from the direct source.
"Anyways, I didn't call you up here for all of that," Walburga said after a minute or so of passing silence. "I actually have a gift for you."
Éponine lifted her head at the mention of the gift, wondering what it was and why Walburga didn't feel the need to wait until the next day when it would be Christmas. She didn't dare to voice either of her questions though as she watched the woman lean forward and collect a necklace from one of her jewellery boxes.
"I know Christmas is tomorrow," she began, " but I wanted you to wear this tonight during all the festivities. It belonged to my mother and her mother before her, so on and so forth. It's been in the Black family for generations but it's a tradition to pass them down through daughters. Since I only bore sons, I thought it would be fitting to gift to you since you'll be taking the name."
The gold chain was fragile looking but glistened in the light of the lanterns in the room. Held in the centre appeared to be a rather large ruby that as cut in an oval shape. The pendant was chilling against her skin as Walburga placed it on for her. But it was beautiful nonetheless, bringing out the colour of red lipstick that Éponine had placed on earlier.
"It's beautiful," she said, reaching for the ruby and holding it between her fingers, " I've never seen anything like it."
"It comes from the times of the Witch hunts," Walburga said, " it's survived many hardships, much like our people. Only those that uphold our values should wear it, and that is also why I want you to have it. There are temptations out there, ones that have stolen away my eldest. Trying to make us forget what has happened in the past, place our trust down, and for what? They weaken our bloodlines and therefore, weaken our society as a hold."
Suddenly, the ruby slipped from Éponine's fingers as her hands grew sweaty with more nerves. It was almost like Walburga had been picking up on her recent doubts as she began to question the validity of the pureblood superiority. No, she hadn't forgotten about the witch hunts, it was something engraved in history, but it wasn't taking place currently. She knew the cruelty of what her people had faced in the past, but it seemed others were facing that cruelty at the hands of the "pure."
People like Gian, who had to lie to protect his own well-being in the Slytherin house, was very similar to those that had to lie about possessing magic when they were being hunted. There was someone who knew about Gian, someone who wanted to isolate him and possibly hunt him down too. And for what? He had done nothing, he was only a first year, he was innocent. And while it had been ingrained her from the time of a girl that Muggle-borns were nothing but trouble and something of a disease, she found herself wanting to keep him safe.
It went against everything that Walburga was saying, everything that she praised Éponine for.
"Are you sure you want me to have it?" she dared to ask.
Walburga only laughed again, reassuring her that it was going to the right person. She had all the faith in the world that Éponine was going to be just like her because their childhoods had been similar. But the more Éponine thought about Gian, the one who called himself the Dark Lord and his followers, the necklace seemed to grow heavier in weight around her neck.
Before she could think of asking Walburga to reconsider, she was told to head back downstairs so that Walburga could finish getting ready before guests arrived. Uttering a " thank you" paired with a bow of her head, Éponine left the bedroom with a lump in her throat.
All she ever wanted when she was younger was Walburga's approval because it was something that her parents made her believe she needed. Now, she clearly had it, the necklace was a sign that she was considered very much a part of the family, but she was conflicted. She was sure she was falling in love with Regulus with every passing day, she loved the feeling she had being in the company of his family, but would they love her if she started to think differently?
Sirius had been shown the door and he had been a beloved son and brother, just what exactly would they do to her?
Making her way down the stairs to return to Regulus, she caught what seemed to be a conversation between him and Bellatrix. They were simply discussing what family members were coming to the party that evening, but everything seemed to come to halt when there was a knock at the door. The way Bellatrix and Regulus turned in the direction of the door, made it clear that they weren't told to expect company. It was too early for anyone to arrive for the party, but perhaps that hadn't stopped anyone from doing so.
Éponine paused on the stairs as Bellatrix took it upon herself to be the one to answer. She seemed to be in an awfully cheery mood about something, perhaps it was the Christmas spirit taking hold of her, or maybe it was the fact that her husband wasn't around. Rodolphus had been absent in the recent days, where he was Éponine didn't bother to ask. But whenever the two of them were in the same room, there didn't seem to be much affection within their relationship.
When the door opened, her hand gripped the railing of the stairs so tight that she was sure she would break through the wood. Especially as Bellatrix moved to the side to expose the fact that it was Ernest Nott at the door. Éponine's breath hitched in her throat, unsure as to why Ernest was there. Regulus had revealed very early on that Orion did not like Ernest, so why would he come?
Sinking down on the steps, Éponine did her best to hide without making it too obvious that she was there. At the sound of Ernest's voice at the door, Regulus was alerted and quickly stepped out to see what was going on.
The last person Regulus had expected to show up at his home was Ernest Nott and he saw it as borderline insulting that he would dare show his face. Of course, it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was there to see Éponine. However, he had no business seeing her as she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. Thankfully, during her stay, Bellatrix and Regulus had come to discuss many things, especially since she seemed to want to know many things about Éponine.
During one of their conversations, he managed to slip about Ernest, talking about how the man had made Éponine uncomfortable many times. And as he came to stand behind his older cousin, he could see the smirk that dawned on her features.
"Can we help you, Mr Nott?" Bellatrix asked, her arms coiling together like snakes as she leant against the doorway.
"I'm here with a message for Éponine on behalf of her parents. Is she around?"
He tried to get a foot in the door, but Bellatrix moved to the centre, blocking his path. Éponine curled up into a tighter ball as he tried to look around for her, trying to sniff her out like the predator he was. Go figure it was her parents that sent him to deliver a message when it reality an owl would have completed the job.
"I'm afraid she's busy with my aunt right now," Bellatrix said, " I can pass the message along for you."
Ernest didn't seem to like the idea of being denied access as his smile faded. "Her parents wished for me to check in on her and see how she was doing while they were on holiday."
"Well, considering I saw her just a little while ago I can assure you that she's fine."
"I would like to see her for myself-"
"Are you questioning my word, Nott?"
It was amazing how just six words had caused the entire room to become cold within seconds. The smirk on Bellatrix's lips was gone, her eyes narrowed in Ernest's direction, daring him to challenge her again. Even Regulus had ventured to take a step back, knowing that at any second Bellatrix was capable of snapping and that was never a pretty sight. Ernest seemed unsure of how to respond to her question, his lips parted but his words sputtered out before he tried to collect himself.
" I did not come to stir up trouble or to question anyone's word. It was requested on behalf of her parents."
Behalf of her parents, Éponine scoffed to herself, these were the people that had left her behind. Told her basically to join another family rather than depend on them. Which if Walburga was right, it meant that they weren't family anymore, which also meant they didn't have any business bothering with her anymore or even pretending as if they cared. They couldn't just abandon her and check on her when they felt like it. She would rather they didn't bother at all if they were going to send Ernest to do their bidding.
Gripping the necklace that Walburga had given her, Éponine felt a surge of strength race through her body. She pushed herself up from the stairs and made her way down the remaining ones. Regulus caught sight of her and gave her a look to remain back so that she wasn't bothered but she ignored him for the time being making her way to stand beside Bellatrix.
"Ah, there she is-"
"Mr Nott, since you are playing owl for my parents would you relay the message that if they truly wish to see how I am doing they can gladly see me in person for themselves rather than sending you on a holiday that is meant to be spent with friends and family without interruption? I would appreciate it. I am well, you can let them know that as well as I don't need them to send you to check up on me. It's rather insulting to believe otherwise."
Ernest's expression seemed to darken at her dismissal, especially as she wished him a nice Christmas and walked away. Bellatrix turned back to the man, her smiling returning within a crooked grin.
"Well, you heard it from her own mouth, if there isn't anything else we can help you with..."
He wasn't given a chance to say anything even if there was something because Bellatrix closed the door in his face.