It was quite fascinating really to see just how jealous Charlus Potter actually became over the relationship blossoming between Mia Black and Aaron Simons.

For a guy that claimed he didn't care about her whatsoever and that he hated her with a passion, Charlus always managed to magically disappear whenever he and his friends came across Euphemia and Aaron in the corridor.

As for Mia, she was starting to regain some of her happiness again throughout the duration of her relationship with Aaron.

Over the past year, ever since she had fallen out with all of her friends, happiness had been in short supply for the girl and Aaron had managed to make her feel much more content.

Euphemia was pretty sure that her friends didn't want to reconnect with her whatsoever, if their actions over the remainder of fourth year had been anything to go by.

She still didn't know why they hated her, she still didn't know that they believed her to be the one who cursed Charlus because Mia didn't know that herself.

The thing was, what Euphemia kept telling herself, there was no point in moping around and waiting for life to suddenly become better, she didn't have to sit around complaining about the way her life had wound up. She had to do something to change that.

Mia had thought of all the time she had wasted being upset over it all and she had realised that time was too much of a precious thing to let go by.

If her friends weren't going to forgive her or at least give her a chance to explain herself then she had to keep on living, she couldn't just stop living her life because of them.

To be honest, Euphemia was only dating Aaron because she wanted to prove to her friends that she could be happy without them and that she could live her life despite them hating her for something that she didn't even do.

Aaron also made her much more happier than she had been in a while even though Mia knew it probably wouldn't last as Aaron, much like Charlus, had an infamous reputation of being a player and didn't tend to stay in relationships for very long.

Talking of Charlus, he wasn't taking it very well. He had gone back to his playboy ways long before Aaron and Euphemia had gotten together but his flings with girls seemed more enforced now and it was like he was trying to prove a point to certain people.

Charlus had also started consuming great amounts of alcohol, so much that even Florean was surprised and had to try and stop him from drinking himself into drunken stupors daily. Charlus seemed to be incredibly miserable and no one could work out what was wrong with him.

Minnie assumed it was jealousy over Mia and Aaron but, whenever she confronted Charlus about it, he always denied it and insisted that he still hated her for what she had done to both him and the group. So not even Minerva could find out what the issue was.

It was a Saturday morning when a rather hungover Charlus was walking down to breakfast, waiting for his hangover charm to kick in and get rid of his awful headache.

Charlus' friends had left without him because he had managed to sleep in again because he been up cavorting about with a girl and then had had a few secret drinks in the common room to drown his sorrows afterwards.

So, he was by himself and, as only luck would have it, he bumped into Euphemia who was trying to sneak out of an alcove, patting down her hair as she was fresh from a make-out session with Aaron, who was also hidden behind the alcove curtain and was waiting for the coast to be clear. Which it quite obviously wasn't.

Mia cleared her throat awkwardly when she saw Charlus and she was about to hide in the alcove again to avoid any arguments from emerging when Charlus spoke.

"There's no need to run away unless you're planning to attack me again," he said rather curtly and Euphemia was about to ignore him when she realised she had no idea what he was going on about.

What did he mean by attack him? All she thought that they had against her was that they believed that she had been a spy from the other side, not anything else. Unless they thought that Mia had been the one that had attacked Charlus? Because that wasn't the case at all!

"What on earth are you talking about?" Euphemia asked incredulously and Charlus scoffed, shaking his head slightly in disbelief, "Don't try and play like you're all innocent now, Black. I know you attacked me and you know it too," he hissed at her and Mia stared at him in shock.

"It wasn't me! I don't know who it was but it certainly wasn't me!" she protested and their raised voices must have attracted Aaron's attention because he suddenly appeared behind her, having come out from behind the alcove curtain.

"Is there a problem here?" Aaron asked coolly and Charlus gulped a little at his cold tone but then appeared to stand even taller, glaring at Euphemia. "Just your girlfriend," he snarled and Aaron raised an eyebrow, wrapping his arm around a now shaking Mia protectively.

"Then I suggest you take your anger somewhere else instead of making my girlfriend upset," Aaron said rather calmly but there was an underlying threat in his voice which made Charlus' jaw clench - he wasn't going to be patronised by Aaron Simons of all people.

"Don't tell me what to do," Charlus growled and he stepped closer to Aaron, who squared his shoulders in an intimidating fashion.

"Oh, so you want me to make you?" Aaron laughed rather shortly and harshly and was clearly about to carry on but his spiel was soon interrupted by Charlus' fist connecting with his face.

Euphemia gasped as Aaron staggered backwards from Charlus' use of muggle fighting before drawing his wand and aiming it at Charlus' face, who also took out his own wand. "Stop it! Stop it, both of you!" Mia screamed desperately, fear shining in her eyes.

Both of the boys immediately stopped at the sound of Euphemia's pleas - it was clear that they had forgotten she was actually there. "Stop it," she repeated firmly, gaining more control now that she had their attention.

"Put away your wands," Mia ordered and Charlus instantly tucked his back into the waistband of his jeans. Aaron didn't immediately obey her but, after a glare from Euphemia, he also did so and stood there rather sheepishly.

"Now, Aaron go to breakfast. Charlus, I want to speak to you," Mia commanded them and Aaron opened his mouth to protest but Euphemia shook her head at him, "I'll be fine," she told him and he sighed before placing a kiss on her lips, pulling her into him before she pulled away gently, smiling up at him.

"Be careful," Aaron whispered to her before walking away and Mia was able to turn to Charlus, who had watched their interaction with a pale face and clenched fists.

"What on earth are you playing at, Potter? First you accuse me of attacking you when I didn't even do anything and then you punch my boyfriend! What is going on with you?" Euphemia ranted at him, her grey - blue eyes glinting with fury as Charlus watched her rather sadly, looking down in shame.

"Maybe if you didn't attack me then this never would've happened! Or maybe if you were loyal to us instead of spying!" Charlus shouted back at her and Mia sighed in frustration, pulling her hair out of her ponytail out of anger and resignation.

"Where's your proof? What evidence do you have that I spied on you?" she asked tiredly, staring at him expectantly. Charlus blinked confusedly at her, "What do you mean?" he asked blankly, not understanding what she was getting at.

Euphemia was still looking at him like she was waiting for an answer and, when he failed to give her one, she threw up her hands in the air and exclaimed, "Exactly! You have Orion Black's word over mine, you believed him even when you could see that he was restraining me from speaking the truth!" Mia pointed out to him, all her vented up emotions from the past months exploding out in one huge torrent of rage.

"Aaron was right. You're not worth my time if you're not going to listen to me, I can be happy without you being in my life," Euphemia finished quietly, looking him in the eye and tossing her hair out of her face as she did so.

When Charlus didn't say anything, Mia sighed and turned away from him, starting to walk away but a hand suddenly grabbed hers, preventing her from going anywhere.

Euphemia looked down, raising her eyebrow as she saw Charlus' hand intertwined with hers, "What do you want, Potter?" she asked, turning her head to face him, not in the mood for talking now that she had just made it clear about how she felt.

"He doesn't deserve you, you know," Charlus said quietly, not looking her in the eye as he held onto her, as if he thought that she would disappear if he let go.

"Who?" Mia questioned and Charlus tightened his grip on her hand, causing an unfamiliar jolt to shoot through her stomach. "Aaron," Charlus said his name like it was some sort of curse word, practically spitting it out.

"Oh really? And why is that?" Euphemia challenged him, her tone sceptical as she placed her free hand on her hip quite sassily whilst her other one remained in Charlus' hold.

Charlus fumbled for words and stumbled over his speech for a second but soon regained his composure, "He's a player!" he protested and Mia scoffed, pulling her hand out of his, "So are you!" she retorted, shaking her head and starting to walk away again.

"He's not any good for you," Charlus called after her desperately and Euphemia turned on her heel angrily, facing him again from the other end of the corridor.

"And why do you care? You've never cared, you've always hated me and nothing has changed! You practically just said that you still believe that I spied on you and that I attacked you so how do you have the right to tell me what's good for me and what isn't?"

"Fine. Don't listen to me, if you're not willing to take my advice then obviously you don't want to sort this entire situation out and, you're right, I couldn't care less! Because I'm the one who still has all my friends, you can have Aaron and that Prince girl if that's what makes you happy. Whatever," Charlus threw up his hands and walked in the opposite direction of Mia, absolutely fuming.

Both of them looked back at the last moment, locking eyes for a mere second before both Charlus and Euphemia glanced back down at the ground and continued storming away from each other.

Evidently, it was going to take a long while for everything to die down and for tempers to cool which meant it wasn't getting sorted out any time soon. At least the two of them had the entirety of the approaching summer holidays to cool down and hopefully think things over.

~~~

Marriage is a truly beautiful thing and is extremely powerful, it is pretty permanent and is a promise that is meant to be kept for all eternity.

Marriage is a powerful connection of two souls, a romantic contract that ties two people in love together for life, a thing that is supposed to last for life, through everything and anything.

People get married because they want to spend the rest of their life with their significant other, not because they are forced into or are arranged together for the sake of sustaining the bloodline.

At least, that was the case if you weren't a member of the Noble House of Black.

The Black Family had always married their cousins or pure-bloods from other old, powerful wizarding families and this tradition hadn't died down by 1951.

It was seventeen year olds Druella and Cygnus' turn to be matched up and married for life for the sake of keeping the Black bloodline completely pure. And everyone had to be in attendance.

"You look lovely, missus," Tibet squeaked as Mia smoothed down the bodice of her sky blue dress that swept to the floor in beautiful floaty silks.

It had long, transparent sleeves that were embroidered with silver flowers at the wrists and Euphemia wore pretty white lace gloves to complement the outfit.

Her shoes were a pair of white high heels that contained an ankle strap so that Mia didn't fall over like she did at the last Black family event and she had also been given a matching white cardigan to wear over her pretty blue dress.

Cassiopeia had coordinated the entire outfit so that it was all matching and decent enough for a very pure wedding like the one that Euphemia would be attending that day in July.

Mia's pale blue outfit was the same as the other bridesmaids (why Druella had picked Euphemia, she didn't know and just assumed her cousin hadn't had a choice) but Charis' identical outfit was in a pale yellow; Walburga's was in pale purple; Callidora's was in pale peach and Dorea's was in a pale peppermint green colour.

Hogwarts had broken up for summer the week before and Mia had actually been glad to get away from the stress of friendships because her parents were actually okay with her at that moment.

Arcturus and Cassiopeia were happy with the fact that Euphemia had cut off all ties with her friends, even if that meant that their daughter wasn't actually happy herself.

Mia hadn't actually been tortured once that holiday which meant that it was starting to look like the best summer in a while, as long as she continued behaving in the way that her mother required.

"Thank you, Tibet," Euphemia beamed, admiring her reflection for a moment before she stepped outside of Druella's bedroom that she had changed in before the wedding due to her mother not wanting her to get her dress dirty on the journey and also due to the fact that all of the bridesmaids dresses were kept at the Rosier household.

"Euphemia! Hurry up!" Cassiopeia yelled up the stairs and Mia jumped before calling back down, "Coming, Mother!" and running down into the Rosier's entrance hall, her heels clacking on the polished linoleum before she walked out of their grandiose mansion and onto the grounds.

Euphemia's eyes widened as she saw the sight in front of her - there was a large white marquee tent taking up room in the enormous garden of the Rosier household. The entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long cream coloured  carpet that ran down the middle, creating an aisle.

The supporting poles of the marquee tent were entwined with pastel coloured flowers in pale pinks, blues, purples and greens. A house elf had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons that curved round in a majestic balloon arch over the point where Druella and Cygnus would soon be wed.

There were several house elves flitting around, all kitted out in sparkling white rags as they showed people to their seats. None of the decor for the after party was set out yet but Mia overheard her Aunt Melania, her mother's sister and Orion's mother, say to Druella's mother (Belvina Rosier) that it would be sorted out in a jiffy with a flick of her wand.

Cassiopeia beamed at her daughter as she arrived and quickly ushered her towards where the rest of the bridesmaids were gathered, stood to one side apart from the crowd, near to a decorated bush.

All of the bridesmaids were Euphemia's female cousins - first cousins, second cousins or cousins of her own cousins, Mia didn't know and simply just swept them into the same category because it was easier. They all held bouquets of flowers in each of their hands which matched the colours of their dresses.

Walburga sent Euphemia a tight, slightly forced smile whereas Dorea didn't even acknowledge her presence, staring stonily into the distance. Callidora and Charis, on the other hand, both welcomed Mia with careful hugs so as to not ruin their immaculate dresses before they assembled themselves into an order of height to walk down the aisle.

"This is a lot of faffing for just a bloody wedding," Callidora muttered underneath her breath and Euphemia chuckled before turning back to face her cousin, "How come they haven't matched you up yet?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Callidora chuckled, "They don't care about me, Charis is the main focus at the moment. I'm just the loser twin of the disgraced and disowned Cedrella that just has to find an acceptable pure blood husband because they can't be bothered to arrange me one," she said rather bitterly.

"At least you're not going to be matched up with someone you don't want to be with," Mia shrugged, glancing briefly at the suited up but rather miserable looking Cygnus at the front of the marquee tent, which she could see due to the entrance flapping open in the light breeze that graced that July afternoon.

Callidora simply nodded in response as the maid of honour, Cassiopeia herself, urged them all to be quiet as everyone had been assembled inside of the tent.

At that moment in time, Druella swept out of her house in a rather majestic fashion with her father, Felix Rosier, on her arm looking incredibly proud of his daughter.

A tinkly tune started up from inside of the tent and Mia felt a sharp prod in her back, as she was at the front of the line due to being the smallest, which was her signal to set off walking down the aisle.

Remembering everything Cassiopeia had ever taught her on posture because she knew her mother would be watching, Euphemia stood up straight and kept her head held high in her air as her arms were perfectly poised whilst clutching the bouquet.

Everyone sat in their seats, smiling at the procession of the neatly dressed bridesmaids as a few little Rosier girls from Druella's side of the family scurried ahead in matching pastel pink dresses, sprinkling bits of confetti down the aisle in front of the bridesmaids and bride.

Despite disliking Druella with every beat of her heart, Mia couldn't help but smile at the radiant bride walking towards a now happier looking Cygnus though whether the smile was fake, Euphemia didn't know.

Druella's wedding dress was incredible and the white fabric dazzled in the magic fairy lights around the marquee, the simple design looking breathtaking and amazing. She reached the officiator and her husband to be, smiling quite sweetly for a seventeen year old about to be married for life.

"You may all sit," the presider said. a rather bubbly gentleman with a balding head and pot belly peeking out from underneath his official robes. "We are here today to celebrate the marriage between Druella Belvina Arabella Rosier and Cygnus Pollux Phineas Black."

Mia sat with a slightly forced smile on her face as she witnessed the service taking place, watching through the vows and ring giving and promises that seemed to drag on forever and ever.

"I am happy to pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride," the man finally said after about an hour and a half of sitting still for Mia which made her foot tingle from pins and needles due to her being sat still for so long.

Cygnus pecked Druella gently on the lips, their hands joined and everyone rose, applauding the two as a balloon popped above their heads, bursting into pretty confetti and some magical butterflies that circled around the heads of all the guests, spreading through the tent.

Mia's Aunt Melania waved her wand, as promised, and all the fragile golden chairs were suddenly around dazzling white clothed tables and house elves arrived with trays of food and drinks as everyone crowded around the newly married couple to congratulate them.

Another successfully pure, arranged wedding... great Euphemia thought to herself in quite a bitter fashion before she grabbed a drink off a tray and lost herself in the crowd of relatives and other influential pure blood families that were invited to the wedding.