Harry Potter: The True Lord Chapter 74: Bellatrix's Declaration

"Bellatrix," the loud voice of Cygnus echoed across the Black manor, Grimmauld Place. "Bellatrix!"

"What happened, dear?" Druella was the first to reach the main hall as she questioned her husband. She had been waiting for him to return back.

"Where is Bellatrix?" Cygnus shot back.

"In her room," Druella replied uneasily. She could already feel that sothing was wrong.

anwhile, the rest of the Black family too had arrived in the hall. Walburga, Orion, Androda, and Narcissa. They too were wearing a questioning and confused expressions on their faces.

Bellatrix was the second last to arrive, with Arcturus Black a couple of steps behind her.

"What happened, Father?" Bellatrix asked with a small frown on her face.

"May I ask where you have been spending your ti these last few days?" Cygnus bood.

"What do you an?" Bellatrix asked, confused.

She was already very fatigued from all the practice she had been doing with that water golem spell.

"Oh!" Cygnus almost snarled. "You do not understand my question. Let rephrase it."

"How much of your ti have you been spending with your Antonio Olario?" he demanded, and surprise flickered across Bellatrix's face. "Where have you been this entire day?"

The rest of the family too wore shocked expressions, while Arcturus raised his eyebrows with mild curiosity. He could see things really moving downhill, but it was not necessarily a bad thing. The politician's mind in him was already working in full flow.

"Father," Bellatrix almost snapped. "What kind of question is this?"

"The very kind you are hearing," Cygnus snapped back even harder. "Do you think no one notices all the visits you have been making to his house? That no one has noticed the ti you have been spending with him? That no one took note when both you had been roaming in Hogsade? Do you think Wizarding Britain is blind?"

"And what does this have to do with anyone?" Bellatrix did not back down. "It is my life. What does it matter to them? Whom I et. Whom I spend my ti with. This is my choice."

"You…" Cygnus screeched, his fists clenched.

"Cygnus," Arcturus cut him off. "What is the matter? What are you trying to imply and achieve?"

"Speak plainly," he added.

"Father," Cygnus replied. Though his voice was lower, the stubbornness was still present in his tone. "It would be better if you stayed out of this matter. You also have a major part to play in this whole fiasco."

"And may I know of the fiasco that you are talking about?" Arcturus asked.

"Bellatrix's marriage," he replied. "She should have been married by now. It was your support of her childish tantrums and your opposition to my decision that made keep delaying it. And now the entire marriage has been put under jeopardy."

"Oh!" Arcturus replied, almost in amusent. "I thought that your plan to marry her to Rodolphus Lestrange had been dropped. Seems I was a bit wrong."

"Yes," he replied. "I had thought maybe giving so ti would bring Bellatrix on a right path. It turns out, I was wrong. I made a wrong decision which must be corrected as soon as possible."

"I will not marry him," Bellatrix almost shouted. "Do you even understand what you are saying? It has not even been twenty four hours since Reinhart Lestrange was killed invading the Bones Manor, and you want to marry into that family? As if Rodolphus being a buffoon and an idiot was not enough."

Everyone had expected an outburst from Cygnus. But it did not happen. For a couple of monts, he did not react. He was utterly calm.

"Sorry, Bellatrix," Cygnus replied calmly. "You do not have any say in this matter. Not anymore."

"As for the Reinhart matter, everyone will forget it in a few days. And as soon as things return to normal for the Lestrange family, probably in a couple of weeks, I will approach Rodolphus with the marriage proposal. Soon after, you will be married to him."

"And you should be happy, Bellatrix," Cygnus said with a smile. "You are going to be a lady of the family."

"No!" Bellatrix yelled. "I will not marry him."

"You will," Cygnus said.

"Are you sure, Cygnus?" Arcturus chid in, cutting off another shriek from Bellatrix.

"I am sure, Father," he replied. "And I will again ask you to remain out of this matter."

"I do not know what is going through your mind. You voted in favour of that Antonio Olario that did not even have a Wizengamot seat but have been constantly opposing a powerful family like Lestrange. But this is about my daughter, and it is who will make the final decision."

"I am out of this matter," Arcturus said, and Bellatrix looked at him in shock. "And as for voting in his favour, it was so politics. Nothing personal with Lord Olario."

"But what of Lord Olario's reaction towards Bellatrix marriage with Rodolphus?"

"What of him?" Cygnus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you not ntion yourself that she has been spending a lot of ti with Lord Olario?" he continued. "And there is only one logical reason I can think of for this. I assud that you have thought this through."

"Most probably both of them have feelings for each other. What can keep both of them indulged with each other this much? And do you think that if you force Bellatrix into marriage, Lord Olario will keep quiet?"

"What can he even do?" Cygnus scoffed.

"A lot of things," Arcturus answered with an amused face. "You probably witnessed what he did to Lord Marius."

"And ah! Yes, Lord Olario now has a seat in the Wizarding Council that he has earned through his own strength."

Bellatrix too had regained so of her confidence, and the nudge from her grandfather had been enough for her.

"I will not marry Rodolphus," she declared. "Not in hundred lifetis. I love Antonio. And I will only marry him."

With these words ringing and echoing across Grimmauld Place, Bellatrix stord back toward her room.

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