A large round table, at which I sat alongside my mothers, had just been approached by Mr Greengrass with his wife and daughters.
"You are late..."
Bella let a touch of displeasure show. Only our petitioner showed not the slightest embarrassment -- he simply pulled out a chair, helped his wife to sit, then his two daughters, one of whom was, as far as I knew, roughly a year younger than me. Only after that did he sit down himself.
"Well then, shall we proceed to negotiations?"
"Did you not hear me?"
Bella raised an eyebrow.
"Come now, Bella -- as far as I am aware, the conclusion of a marriage agreement with our House matters a great deal more to you than it does to us."
Hmm... his wife and daughters were well-trained. Neither by gesture nor expression did they indicate that what he had just said was complete nonsense.
"Is that so?"
Cissy smiled at our interlocutor -- a very eloquent smile indeed. She made it quite clear that she knew exactly what he needed. The fact that as a St Mungo's Healer she was bound by oath was another matter entirely -- but even so, the mere fact of knowing, in negotiations of this kind, was worth a very great deal.
"Undoubtedly. As far as I am aware, for Draco..."
Greengrass nodded in my direction, and had it not been for the lessons from my mothers and grandmother, I might not have noticed the faint flicker of unease that crossed his face. His wife, too, grew slightly tense -- though the daughters understood nothing of it and simply continued sitting there like porcelain dolls.
"...a suitable match from an ancient magical house would be one of my daughters, or else the Parkinson girl. The latter, however, from what I have been able to learn, is rather lacking in the way of looks. As for the others -- you would not associate with those who are too deeply entangled in the history with the Dark Lord, from which you have only just managed to extricate yourselves, nor with those too closely aligned with Dumbledore, whose side you would certainly not take."
"You would be correct, Mr Greengrass..."
I decided to enter the conversation -- a moment agreed upon in advance, and Cissy herself had given me the signal that I might speak.
"...were it the case that Mum Cissy still belonged to the House of Malfoy, or that I did. That House did indeed have a rather troubled history with Continental families -- but we are Blacks. That particular difficulty does not apply to us."
I shook my head.
"No... certain families would certainly decline to discuss a marriage contract with us, but for many it would be more than sufficient to know that the Malfoy line has ended. So my choice of a future companion is considerably broader than you suggest."
I smiled slightly, just at the corner of my mouth.
"Moreover, I am quite seriously considering the possibility of a marriage contract with the Delacour family."
"But they are... Veela..."
Old Greengrass stared at me in astonishment.
"...your line would end..."
"Why on earth would it?"
I raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise.
"The Blacks are familiar with methods of producing heirs even from a full-blooded Veela, let alone from a quarter-Veela..."
I shrugged.
"A quarter-Veela?"
Greengrass gave a faintly contemptuous smile. "And you actually believe that nonsense? I had thought the Heir of the Ma-- of the Blacks would be better educated."
"Well, since you have raised the subject of my education yourself..."
I did not continue on the topic of Veela, whose magic was indeed passed in full only from mother to daughter. However, I also knew perfectly well that blood was no less important than magic -- and blood diluted to that degree made it possible to use certain rituals and potions to ensure the birth of an heir. Something similar could have been done with the current Lord Delacour's wife as well, though he evidently lacked the necessary knowledge.
"...perhaps I ought to mention that I have made considerable progress in applying my gift, of which you are already aware. We never particularly concealed the fact that I had developed the gift of breaking and dissolving curses. However, I am not only able to break and dissolve them -- I can sense them."
I smiled, watching the colour drain from Mr Greengrass's face.
"And you are all cursed. I have not yet examined this curse closely, but I can already tell that it is extremely complex -- lifting it will require approximately a year of work on my part. Studying the curse, calculating the approach... and that is only for your younger daughter. For the elder, the breaking will take closer to two years, and as for you and your wife..."
I shook my head.
"At my current level, those cases would take ten to twenty years each."
"So you can lift the curse from my younger daughter? Excellent -- we will give you the elder as a bride, if you undertake to break the curse on the younger."
"A fine attempt..."
Bella entered the conversation.
"...free treatment for both daughters. Truly spectacular audacity. One rarely encounters it these days."
"I... that is not quite..."
"Oh, come now..."
Bella waved a hand at him, as if to say there was no point in denying it.
"...you know, if it were not for your audacity, we might actually have agreed to the terms you intended to put forward. We would simply have asked for a somewhat larger dowry than is customary. However, you chose to push all the way to the end... very well then..."
She reached into the inner pocket of the jacket worn over her robes, produced a small scroll-case, set it on the table, and rolled it towards Greengrass with two fingers.
"...this is our first and final offer."
After a brief inspection for unpleasant enchantments, Greengrass finally took the case, opened it carefully, withdrew the parchment inside, and read through its contents.
"This is..."
His hands trembled slightly, and anger flared in his eyes.
"Don't be hasty..."
Bella shook her head, the smile playing at her lips one she did not even attempt to conceal.
"...think carefully about what you wish to say right now. As I said, this is our first and final offer. If you refuse, or if you say something unpleasant, the offer will be withdrawn."
The nostrils of the Greengrass patriarch flared, and I could plainly see him fighting to contain his rage. Meanwhile, the parchment passed from his hands to his wife's; she read it quickly, trembled slightly, and tears began to run down her cheeks.
"What does it say?"
This came from the elder daughter -- she could not hold back -- and I looked at her and shrugged.
"You see, your father believed he could deceive us. Or, more precisely, he wished to arrange things so that we would lift the curses from both of you free of charge, and quite possibly from your parents as well -- as future in-laws. But it was all meant to look perfectly respectable: in exchange, he would give you to our House as my wife."
I shook my head.
"Or rather, judging by how the conversation began, your father was counting on concealing the matter of the curse from us entirely, and presenting our betrothal as something I needed far more than you did. Only we are Blacks -- we never act blindly in matters of this kind. We purchased information from people who are capable of learning anything about anyone. It cost a certain amount, naturally..."
The smile at my lips grew slightly.
"...and as a result of your father's attempted deception, we have drafted our own contract. One in which we offer him the option of transferring one of his daughters under terms so strict that they amount to something very close to indentured servitude. Though two hundred years ago, a contract of this kind would not have been called servitude at all -- it would have been called a concubine's contract."
The girl flinched and lowered her head. The younger sister, clearly not yet fully grasping the situation, simply looked between me and her parents with curious eyes.
"Niko--"
"I agree."
I looked at the elder daughter in surprise. So did her father and mother. No one had expected this from her.
"Daughter... you don't understand..."
Her mother tried to reach her, but the girl shook her head with quiet stubbornness.
"Perhaps I don't understand everything -- but you were the ones who began these negotiations with deception, so why are you behaving now as though they..."
The girl nodded in our direction.
"...are the ones acting dishonourably?"
She looked at me.
"If we sign this contract, will you heal everyone? My little sister? Mother? Father? Me?"
"Yes..."
I gave a short nod, privately noting how telling her order of priorities was. First her sister and her mother, and only then her father and herself.
"...though as I said earlier, it cannot all be done at once. It will take approximately a year to study the curse on your sister, during which we will need to meet at least once a week -- after which I will be able to lift it. Your case is somewhat more complex. As for your parents... I will not take on their cases for at least seven years, as my experience is simply not yet sufficient."
"May I..."
The girl swallowed against a sudden thickness in her throat.
"...read the contract?"
I shrugged and nodded towards her parents, since the contract was still with her mother. I found the girl quite likeable, for what it was worth. If things worked out, I certainly had no intention of treating her unkindly. Quite the opposite -- I would look after her as best I could.
"Daughter, I don't think..."
"Do you have any other options?"
"No..."
The girl's father shook his head.
"...they..."
He gave a slightly contemptuous nod in our direction.
"...at least have something to offer. The other masters -- they won't take on a case like this for nothing, and we simply do not have the artefacts or the money they would demand."
"Then may I examine this scroll?"
The girl's mother passed her the contract with a trembling hand, and the girl -- furrowing her brows in an endearingly serious way -- began to read through it carefully. A thought occurred to me as I watched her. A small girl in a situation like this simply should not be able to remain this composed, let alone follow what was happening so clearly. Either she had some gift that was helping her, or she was the same as me.
We sat in silence for a while, until the girl looked up and met my eyes.
"I... did not understand everything..."
She lowered her gaze, embarrassed.
"...might I discuss certain details with my parents?"
"Of course..."
I nodded.
"...Mum Cissy, Mum Bella -- let us step out for a while and take a walk. I believe there is an ice cream parlour somewhere nearby that I have been wanting to try -- apparently everyone is talking about it."
"Very well..."
Both mothers rose, and we made our way to the door. At the threshold, I half-turned.
"The room is booked for two hours. We will return..."
I checked my watch.
"...in an hour. I think half an hour will be more than enough to either sign the contract or decline it."
"I agree with my son..."
Cissy nodded.
"And, dear girls -- what flavour of ice cream do you like?"
"Strawberry!"
The little one still did not fully understand what was happening, so she simply beamed at me. The elder looked at me with a thoughtful expression, and only gave her answer some thirty seconds later.
"Pistachio."
"Very good. I'll bring some back for you..."
We left the room and stepped out of the discreet building -- whose every room was designed for exactly this sort of negotiation -- then walked unhurriedly along Diagon Alley until we reached the parlour I had wanted to visit, where we settled at one of the tables.
"Do you think they'll agree?"
I looked at Bella, then turned the same questioning look on Cissy. A waiter approached and we placed our order.
"Who knows..."
Bella adjusted a stray strand of hair with aristocratic composure.
"...with Greengrass, one can never be certain of anything. What I can say is that you handled your first negotiation more than creditably. And if the contract is signed, we can add 'successful' to that as well."
"Good..."
Our ice cream arrived and I tried the much-talked-about flavour -- only to find there was nothing particularly special about it. Perfectly ordinary ice cream, the sort one could buy from a Muggle shop, and it would be not only just as good but considerably cheaper. I shared exactly that observation with my mothers.
"I have to agree... though it does pain me to admit it..."
Bella shook her head. After that we simply talked of this and that -- the sort of pleasant, lightweight conversation about nothing in particular that all well-bred people in England seem to conduct by default. Only at the very end did I order ice cream for the girls.
"Well then?"
I asked this question as I entered the negotiating room and handed both girls their ice cream. In answer, old Greengrass simply rolled the scroll-case back across the table towards me. I examined it carefully and, sensing no curse upon it, glanced at Cissy, who checked it for potions and gave me a nod.
Only then did I take the case. I drew out the contract and found the signature, along with the name written into it: Daphne Greengrass.
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