Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World Chapter 153 152

Even before they reached the Black house, Severus felt soone's gaze on him, sharp and unwavering. He did not need to guess whose it was. When he looked toward the source of that feeling, he was t by a pair of cold, dark eyes.

Well, we're never going to get along, are we... He smirked inwardly and shifted his gaze from the window down to the front door of an otherwise unremarkable four-story building, which was already beginning to open. At the sa instant, Bella's hand moved away from his, and his hand slid from her waist.

"This can't be hidden any longer. They already know."

"There is no 'us'!" She shot him a sharp look, and in the next instant she yelped in surprise, her cheeks flaming, her hand flying back to cover herself after the slap that had just landed there. "You...!" But she did not finish the sentence. A man had erged from the house. She turned away from Severus with a furious glare, adopted the brightest smile she could manage, and inclined her head. "Good evening, Uncle. As you requested, I've brought him."

"Lord Black," Severus said with a slight nod, taking the asure of the man before him with quiet interest. He would have been difficult to place at forty. He had dark hair worn long and tied back, a short beard that joined smoothly with a mustache and sideburns, and the sa dark eyes that seed to be a family trait among the Blacks, along with an aristocratic pallor. He wore black trousers, a shirt a shade lighter, and a matching waistcoat.

"Mr. Snape. I'm glad you decided to co." The aristocrat smiled faintly and gave a slight nod of his own, studying the young man in front of him. "Please, co in. I hope you'll dine with us this evening?"

"I'd be honored."

"Excellent. Bellatrix, escort our guest."

"Yes." She shot Severus an unfriendly look, drew a slow breath to compose herself, and said, "Follow ."

"Of course." She stepped through the door, and he followed. Lord Black entered last, his gaze trailing after them thoughtfully.

Interesting young man... In his forty-nine years, Orion had moved among many people, none of them particularly simple, and had spent a great deal of ti wading through the swamp called high society. He had learned to read people quickly. A single glance was usually enough to tell him whether he could do business with soone, whether to keep them close or at arm's length. But to his surprise, behind the half-smile on this schoolboy's face, he could make out nothing at all. It was not the first ti he had encountered soone like that, but such people were usually a good deal older than this boy. It was perhaps not so surprising, given that this one had accumulated a small fortune in a short ti and established himself among the wealthiest families in Britain.

"Hmm!" The sound ca from the staircase. He glanced over to find his wife watching him, and her expression, while carefully composed, told him she was barely keeping her temper. Hardly surprising: he had neglected to tell her that Severus would be dining with them, only that a guest was coming, a fact that produced a wry smile sowhere in his chest. I should never have let her mother move in here...

"What is the aning of this?"

"I wanted to see for myself who could have such a strong influence on our niece," he replied, eting her gaze steadily.

"You actually intend to marry off our niece to this impertinent half-blood?! Have the Galleons in his account clouded your judgnt?! Do you want to taint our bloodline?!" By the end of it, the lady's voice had risen to sothing close to a shout, and the man's expression tightened.

"Calm yourself..."

"Do you understand what you're doing?!"

"Enough!" he said sharply, stepping forward until he stood directly in front of her. "You've worked yourself into a frenzy over blood purity. Yes, our family motto is 'Toujours pur,' but it's precisely because of that motto that I wouldn't be surprised to see us end up like the Mrkses or the Dollases, whose patriarch was born with severe damage from generations of marriages between close cousins. Or have you forgotten our family's second motto: 'Everything for the family'?"

"Those wretched trips abroad of yours have changed you beyond recognition! If you allow this, you'll bring nothing but sha to this house!"

"He is not Muggle-born, but half-blood. What exactly is your objection? We discussed this a year ago, especially after your idea of proper upbringing led to Androda running off with a Muggle, and you weren't opposed to half-bloods then. What's changed? And nothing has even been decided between them yet. What is this really about, or is it simply personal?" At those last words, the woman's expression shifted, and she rembered the day that boy had humiliated her in front of the whole family, an insult her pride could not let go of. Orion caught the change, and the grimness on his face deepened. "So. Personal. What happened between you?" But her expression told him she had no intention of answering, and a weary sigh escaped him. "Very well. We'll talk properly after dinner, and you will tell everything."

anwhile, Severus and Bella had been listening, if "listening" was quite the word for eavesdropping on an argunt loud enough to carry through the whole house.

"We're already married," Severus remarked with a smirk, watching the witch fix him with a displeased stare.

"What happened between you and my aunt?" She ignored his comnt, because getting Walburga Black to set herself against you with that degree of fervor took so doing. In aristocratic circles, the woman was often called the Iron Lady.

"Nothing of great importance. I simply made it clear that she shouldn't ddle in your life and should let you decide for yourself what to do with it," he replied calmly, washing his hands under the warm faucet while she stood in the doorway frowning at him. "I also, as it happens, roughed up your house-elf a bit, though in my defense he attacked first."

"I see... but you shouldn't have." She offered nothing further, simply turned and left. "I'll wait outside."

"Fine. I'll just wash my face and co out." He watched her go with a faint look of amusent, then caught his own reflection in the mirror. Won really are impossibly complicated. He hadn't done anything, as far as he could tell, and yet here they were. Though she had received the news without visible reaction, inwardly there had been such a rush of conflicting emotions, from sothing almost warm to sothing distinctly cooler, that Severus had to dampen the seal within her to avoid feeling it all himself.

A minute later he left the room and followed Bella downstairs, where she had already returned more or less to her usual self. The staircase was empty; the rest of the family had assembled in the dining hall. Seated around the long table, alongside Walburga and Orion, was Narcissa, watching the entering pair with mild curiosity. It was not, after all, every day that one saw one's parents quarrel over a half-blood, and she retained a certain interest in Severus since that other evening.

"Please, sit down." Orion waved a hand in welco. A house-elf, invisible until then, pulled out two chairs facing one another, and shot a rather hostile look at Severus for his earlier offense against the mistress.

Thank you. With a brief nod, both of them sat. A mont later the table was laden with a vast and varied spread of dishes.

The next hour passed pleasantly enough, conversation drifting to entirely neutral ground: the weather, books, life at school. Severus was mildly surprised to learn that Orion had known his mother, though Orion had been a year above her at Hogwarts. He spoke well of her, though with so puzzlent that she had ended up with a Muggle, given that she had been seeing a pureblood when she graduated.

They also spoke about other countries Severus intended to visit after finishing school, and when he described what he planned to do with himself afterwards, Orion offered a few suggestions worth considering.

The two of them, to Walburga's evident displeasure and the sisters' quiet surprise, found common ground without much difficulty and settled into an easy conversation. It was not, in truth, especially remarkable: if one accounted for the forty-seven years Severus had lived in his previous life and almost two more in this one, the two n were of a similar age, and Severus read widely and thought broadly enough to hold a conversation with virtually anyone. He could probably have found common ground with Dumbledore, if it ca to it.

When dinner was finally concluded, Orion asked him to stay on for a private word. The won excused themselves with varying degrees of willingness; Walburga visibly did not want to go, but a look from her husband was enough, and she left with a pointed step, leaving the two n alone.

========================================

------------------------------------------

Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;

1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 269

2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 188

3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 270

4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 115

support on Patreon for instant access to the 120 advance chapters: patreon/redofic