✧WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PUREBLOOD✧

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ᴛʜᴇ sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴀʟ 

ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪᴄʜᴇsᴛ

ᴛʜᴇ ᴄɪᴛʏ ɪs ᴏᴜʀs ᴜɴᴛɪʟ 
ᴛʜᴇ ғᴀʟʟ

ℕ𝕖𝕨 𝔸𝕞𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕒

***

Lily had a rough start to this morning, not only had she had to suffer through her sister's wedding yesterday...But even after all that she endured, Petunia already denied the position of maid of honor.

Even going as far as screaming into her sister's face to not go to her wedding at all.

It took all of her willpower to stop James from storming off to confront the two muggles. She instead spent the night at the Potter manner as both James' parents attempted to calm the situation.

Sirius and Remus on the other hand had been moving into their new flat just a few nights prior and were exhausted after getting everything settled. 

Apparently there was a lot more to living alone than either of the two thought.

First there was a need to shop for food, to cook and clean. At least Dumbledore offered a bit of protection in terms of giving a shield for only Order members and muggles to enter this apartment as either offered it as a safe shelter if someone needs it.

Lily offered to pick up some groceries as she was worried the two were going to have a hard enough time getting used to the fact that their maturity has reached this level of independence.

Especially for Remus, who had always had his parents when dealing with his symptoms. And right now it was a countdown in returning to his parent's farm to be locked into the barn.

A grand difference from the shrieking shack, but he's been familiar with either for most of his life already. 

It just saddened the rest of them that their full moon nights together have come to an end.

"RISE AND SHINE YOU TWO!" She cheered while coming into the flat, she scanned the area. It didn't look all that bad, but then again she assumed most of the nice furniture came from Sirius' late uncle that he didn't want to get rid of when selling the manner.

Otherwise Remus' pieces were obvious, like the music player in the corner. The pictures of everyone...The books.

It screamed like a bachelor pad, and Sirius was indeed the pure definition of that.

"MERLIN SAKES, WE'RE LATE FOR POTIONS!" It was a rough play. But when she heard one of the two fall out of their beds, it cracked a smile on her face. Shaking her head did she grin further in triumph for at least waking one of them up.

Filling up the kettle a generous amount did she kindly lean back against the counter. It had been a stressful week, and a cuppa would do her good.

She must've closed her eyes for a second too long, for Sirius' owl suddenly appeared before her. Offering up the daily prophet, she took a small piece off a fresh loaf of bread before trading for the paper.

And right there in front of her was Aurora and Rabastan...Smack in the middle of the front page.

Lily's eyes began to water as she stared for so long at the article about the news. They would be getting married within a month, and sure it served for the Order. But her brother would go into a frenzy knowing it was happening so soon.

"Lils...Please refrain from the loud noise next time?" Remus groaned, settling down in the seat across from her. The girl began to scold herself for forgetting about Remus. "Rem I'm sorry I—" 

"It's alright, I was just reading...Pads had some company over last night, so maybe stick to muggle subjects?" The poor girl was still in shock over the article in front of her, it was cruel for her to keep the secret. But it was right here for the world to see, so she decided that the best way to go across this is to carefully bring it up to Sirius.

The tea was enough of a calling for the oldest Black of this generation to make his way into the kitchen. "Anything worth reading?" Remus issued, but her eyes stayed planted at Sirius as he was wiping his eyes and slumping down in between Remus and Lily.

"We have a meeting today right...?" He questioned, squinting a bit before looking around, the light still bothering him apparently. "How about some breakfast?" Lily offered, hiding away the paper in her grasp while going to the stove and preparing a full English breakfast.

She already ate, but Remus needed something in his stomach. And Sirius looked far too thin since they've left Hogwarts and the constant course of three meals a day was already prepared and ready to eat in the grand hall.

Now he was learning to cook and be domestic. As she was preparing the meal, she found herself staring at the damn article. It was nice to know that Aurora still planed in pursuing school and not being trapped at home like other pureblood wives.

Ms.Evan's felt hypocritical for thinking she was too young to get married, because here she was...Wearing the ring James had given to her a few days before.

But this whole article just sounded like gossip. Was this the life of the sacred twenty-eight? Always being constantly followed like this?

Merlin, it made Lily sick to her stomach to even imagine how Aurora is.

"Did you hear from Rory...She didn't come to the meeting last night." Remus mumbled, and Sirius simply sipped his tea and shrugged.

"Suppose that party of hers ran a bit late...I tried saying sorry Moony she...She hasn't checked the textbook." Lily sighed, withholding the information was wrong. But this was going turn ugly, so she decided she would wait until James came.


Just so he could be the voice of reason when Remus was already agitated.

Serving up the food was she happy to see the two scarf it down. She huffed in annoyance that they were obviously hungry but were too lazy to cook on their own.

"When was the last time you two ate?" Their answers of yesterday and yesterday morning only angered her further. But luckily James came in, just before Lily was struggling with the whole ordeal.

Aurora was the youngest of the group, and hearing that she's getting married was a sting that Lily couldn't process. Nor could she process what Sirius will say.

She rose to the seat and claimed she needed James to grab a mug at the top of the cabinet, which neither of the two residences questioned considering she was a short thing.

James willingly followed, but then frowned when she threw the newspaper into his hands. 

"Er...Which cabinet?" She pointed to the paper once again in hopes he would get the silent hint.

"Lily I don't bloody care about whatever—Oh...OH. Fuck." James reached out to the counter, and when his eyes returned to look up to his own fiance...He shook his head.

"No...No. He's not going to—" 

"You have to. Please James, please. I tried and I couldn't do it!" Remus was confused as to what could be taking so long in grabbing a mug, but continued to listen to Pad's attempt in bringing Remus to the muggle pub when he was feeling better.

Suddenly James came into the room, his stern face already demanding the other two marauders attention. "What's up your rump this morning prongs?" The man looked at Lily, as if pleading with her as well.

Neither one wanted to hurt Sirius with this information, so Lily went on over to Sirius. Her hands gripping his shoulder from behind as she leaned her head onto his.

"Sirius. Two minutes. Be really serious, just like you're named after." Remus smirked as he watched his mate's friend close in an annoyed huff as he wasn't able to make that joke himself.

So James slid over the paper to Sirius and the man chuckled. "Prongs I don't read." But Remus snatched it after one glance and stared wide-eyed, which caused an unnecessary panic to fill in Sirius' eyes.

"It...It's Rory—Isn't it." He struggled at the idea at first, it coming out in croaked. But Lily debunkers his thought on his sister's passing.

"No...She's not dead Sirius, give her more credit than that." She whispered, but the growl matched the way Moony passed over the piece of paper.

And right there dead in the center was Sirius' sister...Sporting the biggest engagement ring he has ever seen.

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*

After three days of running around on mindless errands, was she particularly uncomfortable for this one...

A fertility specialist.

Unknowing to her father, who would've stomped on this idea and its entirety. But here Aurora is, in the waiting room of this facility awaiting for her appointment.

Her mother had made it, but considering she is of age, she didn't need a parent to be there with her. The posh of this place screamed pureblood, as did the customer base of other witches on either end of the pregnancy timeline.

One even had a small child in her arms for another sort of checkup.

Personally Aurora was only interested in how fertile she was, after witnessing both her cousins struggling to get pregnant while Andy had all the luck in the world? 

It caused an honest question to arise.

On the other end of the spectrum, Aurora contemplated the idea of inbreeding to the extent of causing infidelity in later generations...Would her own kids be able to have children?

"Ms.Black?" The young witch followed into the back and sat on the seat. She was honest with the medical witch, saying that this was all her mother's doing and was barely engaged three days ago.

"You're scheduled for the Macala treatment." 

"And I find that with the consequences that it could do to my body that I do not want that treatment." The witch was a hundred percent supportive in that regard. It was their duty to help those who want or need help.

And although Aurora wanted children in the far future, this was not the way she wanted to go about it. Instead she talked with the women on forms on contraception, learning that there is a difference in the formula when they're married because they need to be stronger after a union.

"Ms.Black, when you are indeed ready to have children...Come and see me, you are healthy as can be. Do not take a single ounce of anything. I try and tell everyone that these types of treatments may ruin the percentage of fertility."

Aurora took note that the women had seen too many cases where the Macala plant had destroyed the patent and it had Rory clench her heart in despair.

It was her choice if she wanted to take this risk, and so she was simply going to tell her mother that the fertility test came back very high.

Which it had.

And say that the doctor present said it would damage rather than do any good. 

Otherwise, Aurora looked into natural remedies, meaning which foods to stay away from rather than continue eating.

More so to stop her mother from pushing poisons down her system than anything else.

It was the strangest thing to see that this was also a test of virginity as well. 

Apparently the doctor could tell? But that was probably due to the clueless questions Aurora had asked.

She left feeling more weight on her shoulders than anything, it felt odd. To be thinking about children was she was almost eighteen.

Although this wasn't planned, she had gone to the Malfoy manner in hopes of getting a quick chat in with Cissy. The distress had sent Dobby into a frenzy as he popped into his mistress' study at the far end of the manner.

"Mistress! Mistress! Sweet Cassiopeia is here...Sweet young mistress asks for you." It confused the women of course, but never the less she met with her young cousin.

"Oh, Aunt Walburga is just preparing you for—" 

"But I don't want kids yet Cissy! I'm...I'm still a child." The poor girl was crying now, and it hurt to see how distraught the witch had been when crying into her cousin's shoulder.

"Darling, nobody said you have to get pregnant right away." 

"I know that, but mother sent me to that place wanting me to get the Macala treatment." Narcissa had looked into that option as well, but wasn't that desperate to try something that extreme.

"Do not. And I repeat. Do not take that. No matter what." Aurora nodded, that gut feeling had done her well in denying the injection.

Mrs.Malfoy asked to see the paper that the doctor had given her. Cassiopeia was in perfect health, and adding anything could damage that.

"You...You and Rabastan haven't..." Aurora couldn't even look in Cissy's general facility when she had mentioned that bit. She kept her entire posture to focus on her cup of tea and ignored the glances Narcissa continued to give her.

"Your mother will be happy about that." 

"Why? I was just engaged less than a week ago. I didn't think I would even be marrying Rabastan." Her cousin's eyes studied her cousin delicately, did her fiance not tell her they've been engaged since Bella and Rodolphos have been?

"I'll let her explain what—" 

"No. Please. She cannot explain anything if her life depended on it. Please!" Narcissa shook her head, this wasn't something she herself was meant to discuss.

Aurora must've realized this and nodded along, but it still sent fear into her soul for the night of her wedding.

"There's nothing to worry about, how about I drop you off at home?" The girl didn't look comfortable in going home, but there was really little else she could do. So she nodded along, but denied an escort.

Narcissa wanted to help more, she really did. But Walburga was still a Black, and until Cassiopeia was a Lestrange...She would have to abided by her mother's rules.

*

Luckily Cassiopeia had managed to sneak into manner and rush into her room. Regulus thought it was rather odd sure, but it was enough for him to visit her bedroom. With a small knock did he hear her sister's confirmation to enter.

She had barely been home for ten minutes, but she was sketchy away. 

"Mum's coming up with tea and magazines...Where were you today?" She peeked her head from behind her tall isle and rolled her eyes. But thinking about today sent a blush instantly on her face. 

"Don't linger in the hallway Reg, come in." She smiled, and the boy followed in pursuit of that instruction. A part of him still struggled to hold himself back from jumping onto Aurora's bed like they would when they were younger.

And of course Rory had caught him.

"I do it from time to time, no need to be proper when the door is closed...Just be careful, Omen might be under the cover." Regulus rose a brow, and she winked in off his direction before returning to her sketch.

"Merlin Rory, can't you just lack one skill. Please?" It was simple designs of how she wanted her wedding dress to look like. This wasn't even being technical with the lace she was thinking about or—

"Of course, I could never catch a snitch could I?" The smile that enchanted her brother's face pained her, he ate up every damn work she said. Considering it was the only positive he was getting at a time like this?

She reminded herself to spent a day with Reg before everything had gotten crazy.

"How about we do something tomorrow?" The two were sitting side by side with one another now, it was obvious the boy was adamant about his sister moving out. Much less to live with Rabastan. But the demand for a letter every day was the least she could do.

He wasn't going to take anything lightly.

"Yes! Can we go to Diagon Alley? I wanted to get some new gloves and break them in before the season comes." Aurora couldn't disagree with that as she swiped at his nose.

A knock had disrupted the piece, but the calling out of his sister's voice allowed their mother entry. 

"Regulus, are you bothering your sister? Go and busy yourself." 

"Oh please mother, he was just giving me company. Besides, this needs your approval." The angelic voice of Aurora had smooth over their mother in mere seconds. Regulus watched in awe at this new relationship where Aurora had come out on top.

Soon both she and Kreacher came into the room with a tray of a kettle a teacups lingered about.

"Oh Cassiopeia they're gorgeous...Had you found this skill easier Narcissa would've demanded you make hers." The compliment had made the young girl shrug as she gestured to the booklet. "I bought it the other day when I was in. Town, just bits and bops from one to another."

It was so much easier to psych out her own mother, with a calm voice and the manipulative smile. Obvioulsy her parent wasn't the best with children, and if Sirius waited a bit longer he could've figured that one out.

Her mother gave a few suggestions, and in the end it had Cassi sketch a dress out for her own mother to wear. Causing the women to start crying and wailing.

It was disturbing for Orion to even hear about, causing him to peek in without a proper knock. "Everything alright?"

"It's alright father, mum's just getting a bit emotional." He chuckled and came in further. But Walburga had retaliated and hid the entire aisle. "You aren't to see her dress until the day!" It hit him like a brick as to know what was going on.

Which caused him to leave, only for the two to continue their discussion on what to add as well as notes Aurora had learn to leave for the seamstress.

"Have you made your engagement dress yet?" 

"I'm between three, they're around here somewhere...OH!" Walburga looked at the given preferences, all while wiping her eyes at the excess of tears.

"I'll send these in tomorrow." 

"Which one?" It confused Aurora of course, but her mother simply chuckled at the idea of a single one dress to be made.

"All of them. It's a tradition to make five wedding dresses and pick from there." Whatever the hell that came from was outrageous.

"Five sounds a bit much mum..." 

"Cassi you have a dozen here...Pick your favorite, each will take a week long to make anyway." Thinking about that was struggling to grasp when her wedding would actually be.

"When is the wedding?" 

"Oh heavens child, it's July 20th...You know, perhaps you can wear one of these dresses for Rabastan's ceremony." It had been a good idea, and she would've made a comment had her mother not dropped the biggest bomb on her.

She would be getting married in less than a month.

And it's as if her mother could never miss a beat, the topic of the doctor's appointment came to light. Which Aurora silently passed the parchment to her mother.

"You have a higher count than your cousins...Very good. Very good." She attempts to sketch a new dress, but once her mother hit the one faithful part of the assessment where she did not start the treatment it was going to be worse.

"We're going to find you a new facility." Aurora turned to her mother in confusion. "I sent you to get the Macala and they didn't give it to you." 

"Because the treatment is meant for people who have less of a count mother. Anything higher it would've harmed me."

It should've been a big sign to the young witch that her mother gave little care to the natural health of her daughter if it meant gaining a grandchild. But the women shook her head.

"No matter, she didn't give you a counter—" 

"I have a good standing for natural conception...If...Especially the first time... That's the highest chance." Even though this angered Walburga, she smiled at her daughter attempting to learn the world of having children.

"Mum I don't want to ruin my body with medications when I'm at full health already...Besides, I can't rightly be in a lab when I'm pregnant."

Sometimes her daughter was just too smart for her own good.

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Date Posted:07-09-19

Time: 3480

Words: 3481