✧BREAKING A VASE✧

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The weekend had shifted quickly into the work trip, just as they explained to Walburga to hide the fact that they were visiting Hogsmead without her. And it had gone flawlessly.
Rhea couldn't have been happier.

The dozens of events, interviews, and parties had nearly caused Rhea to groan in relief when they re-entered their manor—Her home.

"No tears love, it's just the same as it once was."

"I know. It's just a shame about the other manor."

"Better that than this, love. I couldn't fathom you being a wandpoint—It's happened a few times with the Noble Houses." She was of course, thankful that that was not the case. But after returning to their daily schedule, Rhea didn't hesitate to visit Sterling and her family.

And while it took a bit to reintroduce herself with Sterling and the young Nifflets, until she was swarmed in sniffles and licks. It felt like utter bliss that Rhea found herself visiting them a few times a day, and the small sanctuary continued to grow and allowed them to live in prosperity—While the world around them seemed to be falling apart.

The Death Eaters were once again, making the front page of the Daily Prophet—And it was making Rhea sick to her stomach after every paragraph described the details.
It came to the point where Alphard would take it away before it affected her day and just give her the lives lost.

And after seeing how brutally it affected his young wife to hear the instances, he decided he needed to get down to the bottom of this once and for all.

Starting with visiting her brother, Rolf.

It had been fairly easy to get into contact with the bloke, wanting to simply thank him properly for allowing them to stay at the manor for a few nights. Even if he and Bellatrix were off on a mission a ways away.

With a vintage bottle of Firewhiskey in hand, Alphard walked through the young Lestrange manor as though he owned it and greeted the attending elves by name.

It seemed as though his niece was once again absent, not surprising, given the fact that she seemingly left her mark on of the the many attacks throughout the country.

"Uncle Alphard! Or should I keep calling you brother?" He said with a wide grin, bringing him in for a hug. And Alphard laughed, nearly forgetting that this was the same bastard that told his wife that she deserved the horrors that Dolohov had thrown at her.

"We'll work on it, I brought this...Not sure if the vase Rhea purchased was enough for your tastes."

"Ah, don't mention it. I trust you to protect my sister and updating the manor's wards is one of the many. Besides, it was empty." Rolf smiled before offering up a premium cigar.

"I haven't seen Rhea this happy since she started her internship with Madam Pomfry."

"You know of her internship?"

"Course, she had to get a signature and Flitwick accepted mine for whatever the reason. It worked out brilliantly on her part."

"You agreed to it?" Alphard seemed bewildered at the thought and Rolf shrugged. "She couldn't do Quidditch since mother forbid it, she needed something."

"Did you know that she was accepted into Saint Mungos?" The question caused Rodolphous' head to tilt. "Father might have mentioned it in passing, but it was much too late for me to do anything. Mind you I was also expecting Rhea to get married to that bastard. I wasn't her biggest supporter back then."

"And now you are?" Alphard had risen a brow to reiterate that he was tempted to give a gentle reminder of what is at stake. "Of course! After father's shift in character, even I have morals. Rhea would have been absolutely broken had that bastard had his way. Speaking of the bastard, he's attempting to get back into my good graces."

"Absolutely not." It was a surprise that Dolohov would even bother trying to be friends with the brother of the young witch he was hired to rape. As if there was any friendly will between them left.

"Not to worry, I told him to fuck off—He gave me a parting gift soon after, though. As if some random bloody piece of decoration will make matters better. Come, I'll show you. Perhaps I'll finally give it a curse." He said with a bit of laughter, and the two gentlemen had followed the hallway with a skip in his step.

"I am planning on giving Rhea the opportunity to attend Saint Mungo's program."

"You're allowing her to become a healer? Sweet Salazar, how'd she take it?"

"It's my Christmas gift to her, she'll be starting the following semester. And since she won't be working in the office, the estimated time for graduation should fall just before the summer and then she'll shadow. I think she'll enjoy herself."

"Immensely. I've heard from 'Bas mates that she was thorough in her time in the infirmary. I'm sure that Saint Mungos chose her for a reason." Alphard nodded and then chuckled.

"It was either that or a pup, and I take it the pup can come as a later gift."

"Oh, that would be brilliant! I might borrow the mutt then—Ah, there it is." Alphard turned to where Rolf's hand extended and Alphard had nearly faltered in his next step.

Staring at the vase in question and he had never felt so bloody relieved and angry all at once.

"He gave that to you?" Alphard questioned, and Rolf had careless picked it up and tossed it into the air to catch. "Hm, a pathetic gift really. Suppose it'll withstand a curse? Rhea's looks much better beside it." Alphard had thankful snatched it out of his brother's hands before he shattered it.

"These are priceless Black artifacts that were missing from my manor!" It had taken Rodolphous all of a moment to register what Alpard had meant, and if it hadn't come from Bellatrix directly from inheritance. He had no means of owning it.

"He—He must've—" His words had fallen short of the many a promises coming from Alphard.

Isn't that what Walburga had said?
That it sounded like revenge?

To what had sounded like a peaceful evening had ended with Rolf and Alphard in the Auror's office with the very vase that started it all. They issued a report of a stolen item, and thus began the planned search at the Dolohov estate. And when finally Alphard had arrived back at his own manor, he had felt well exhausted and couldn't even formulate a proper sentence.

Not when the very gift his own father had given him had been stolen, borrowed and returned.

It was most likely Antono's plan to plant said items in Roldophous' estate to frame him later on, when it was more convent. But with it so fresh in everyone's mind, it was almost too easy to connect the dots.

"I'm afraid I'll be sending your friend prematurely to Azkaban."

"He is no friend of mine, or to the Dark Lord." That is the reason that Alphard had wanted to speak with Rolf in the first place. "Another instance I wanted to discuss with you..."

"I won't tell Rhea about this if you don't want her to know. Do more harm than good."

"No. Your other obligations. I believe it is what is bothering Rhea." Now that had caused Rolf to take a step back. "Bothering? How so?" It had been an honest question, of course, and so Alphard continued further.

"I won't tell her any details. Make up a lie, Rhea has always been an empathetic witch. The last meeting she had attended ruined it for her, the Dark Lord's testimonies and plans. I realize that." Alphard had allowed the conversation to continue into his study, gauging the story and what Rhea witnessed.

Clearly, it had left an imprint on the fowl actions that they partake in, and Rolf wasn't proud of not thinking ahead of it.

Alphard wasn't about to correct Rodolphous on the reason of Rhea's worries or hatred for the organization. But the distance was implied and Rolf understood, though iterated that Rabastan was going to be sought in the future—And Alphard made the strict means that they weren't interested, and it was kindly noted that Rhea wasn't on the Dark Lord's sights.

"You know, that Dark Lord of yours is a younger than I am—And I don't ask for formalities," Alphard said with a bit of light laughter to better the mood, and Rodolphous had fallen back into his seat.

"You know the Dark Lord?"
"Hm, the better part of his time at Hogwarts, yes. Interesting fellow, strong ideals. But you know me, I'm a scholar—I work with knowledge, with the quill. Not this." Rodolphous had taken his words into consideration, wondering if there would ever be the time when the Dark Lord would look towards a former classmate for aid.

Especially when he's wealthy, high ranked, and pureblooded.

Whatever Alphard was doing to avoid the Dark Lord's sights was above Rolf's common knowledge, but the mere idea of Rhea being blamed for his actions and sent to Azkaban had trickled down his spine.

"I'll keep my missions brief, come up with a white lie..."

"I would appreciate it, brother. Now come on, I've got a new case of limited edition cigars that I'm sure your father would sell his soul to try." And that had caused Rolf to throw his head back with laughter, and thus trickled to outside the room.

Causing Rhea to stop her current task and take a gander at her husband's study. Did he have a meeting today?

"Alphard?" She called out, following a nod as she peeked her head inside. Only to find both he and Rolf crowded by a cloud of smoke.

"Goodness! I thought you were out, and my own brother couldn't even say hello?" She claimed, the scroll of blueprints holding in her hand while posing at her hip.

"Well, we were discussing something of the utmost importance and that requires secrecy." She groaned in the air. "He's gotten you on the birthday surprise as well? Damn it all, this isn't fun anymore." Alphard chuckled behind his seat and nodded as though that was the given conversation at hand. While Rolf properly said hello to his sister with a gentle kiss.

"No worries sister, all is well...Isn't that what your husband always says?" She rolls her eyes once more, but the impending date of her birthday was just two days away—It was agonizing, to say the least as no one was providing any clues.

No one!

Once Rodolphous had left for the evening, Alphard had traveled to Rhea's study—Only to find that she wasn't present. Course that lead to now of two other possibilities, given to her current interests.

The Green house or her art studio—Something that he recommended with the new additions to the manor, that she could fix one of the rooms downstairs to fit her likes and needs and acquire the perfect place for creativity to dwell.

He knew right away that it was much too late in the evening to tend to her garden and thus, to the art studio.

With a gentle knock, he heard a slight curse following his small action. "Come in!" She shouted, and her husband had found her in an old dress and a paint-covered apron. Not to mention whatever hairpiece she was sporting to keep the paint away.

"Have you been fighting the paints again?" He questioned, though Alphard couldn't contain himself when he followed it with a laugh. "No, I wanted to find the right colors and had to mix to create a few. Autumn is so colorful, it might be difficult to capture properly." She claimed, turning back to face the canvas, which allowed Alphard the moment to sneak a peek at her work thus far.

While it was only just in the beginning stages of an outline, Alphard found these details just as interesting—As he adored seeing his wife's thoughts displayed and generating before him.

"I know it will look wonderful by the end of it, though I have to say...You'll have to part with it for a night or two."

"For this damnable surprise that you have going on? I can't say I'm too happy on that front. But just remember, your birthday is coming too, Alphard."

"Oh, but it'll be a brilliant day, love. Besides, this is our first celebration after being declared husband and wife." She narrowed her brows and shook her head. "That's not true, we celebrated Narcissa's birthday—"

"Besides the point, this is me hosting my wife on her first birthday by my side. I have much to live up to. Not to mention that your fantasy about that lad in that book has hosted dozens of parties to get his friend's attention." Rhea rolled her eyes, knowing full well that her husband was showing his determination to hide his jealousy.

"Alphard, Mr.Gatsby does not any hold over me. A party doesn't mean anything to me."

"Believe me love, afterwards, I will show you just how much of a wonder you have been to me." She offered a close-eyed smile before turning back to her canvas and explaining her thoughts. Though it was a bit scattter brained at the moment and Rhea shared her doubt, but the process would save it.

As she's found that trial and error were rather brilliant for these types of things.

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Date Posted: 05/26/22

Time: 9:32

Words: 2270