#darkestdawnevent

Location: Ballroom, Black Manor

It was impossible to make out who was who in the dim candlelight. That combined with everyone wearing face coverings of course didn’t make things any easier. Antonin spotted the hulking but unmistakable figure of Mikhail from across the room and started to make for him, he stopped when he noticed that he wasn’t alone and grinned. He wasn’t about to intrude on his friend’s date. So was this the girl he had told him about? He turned his eyes to the slight witch and was suddenly hit with a feeling of recognition. He couldn’t quite put a finger on it and could only watch as Mikhail led her onto the dance floor. He watched as the grew closer. And was hit with a wild bout of frustrating recognition again. 

A wandering light caught her hair and dread filled him. He knew that shade of spun butterscotch. Had watched as the sun had lit it on fire in that glen with the thestrals. But it couldn’t be. Well, Mikhail hadn’t been wrong when he’d said that Antonin wouldn’t like Wendy. Little did he know that they were already acquainted, and true to his assumption, Antonin didn’t like Wendy.

Sure, they’d managed not to kill each other when the thestrals had been around. Antonin whittled that down to the fact that such creatures usually calmed him down, coupled with the sunlight and her gentleness towards the creatures. There had been no reason to be irritated at the time. But as he watched the witch twirl in the arms of his friend he couldn’t help but feel that familiar irritation towards her begin to grow within him. He watched quietly, a pondering finger on his lip as the song finished. Mikha, his idiot of a friend, leant forward to whisper something to her. Antonin knew that he couldn’t confront his friend, not without explaining the work that he was sworn not to speak about, and not without overstepping their own unspoken rules of their friendship. 

He waited for his friend to walk away before he made his move, shoving his way through the throng of people, not caring who he stepped on or the couples he stepped through. He could hardly make a scene here without risking a bloodbath. Acting on instinct, he did what had seemed like a good idea at the time as the band started to play a new song. She turned right into him and he didn’t waste a beat as he took one of her hands in his, his other falling to her waist before he pulled her towards him and began to move to the tune. They may look like a couple, happily dancing through the throng of people but his tone was anything but loving as he demanded, “How do you know that man?”

Where : Black Family Ball

Hogwarts had been her blessing but a curse onto the Noble House Black Family in more ways then one.  First by Andromeda’s defiance and leaving home prior to marriage and refusing to be matched without her say mattering.  Second by Sirius, who went against everything in the family and became a different house befriending half-bloods and muggleborns.  Third by the death of Regulus fresh out of a school.   The next generation of five dwindled quick and it left only Narcissa and Bellatrix in perfect standing.  Andromeda teetering on the edge, Sirius on the run and Regulus in the ground.  

This ball was not just a show of unity but a show of the remaining power of House Black, showing the wizarding world they stood unified in their family’s rise to the very top of England’s political power.   Andromeda had a part to play, even if her part was a test to see where she stood.  If she hadn’t showed, her life would no longer belong to her.  So, she did what she always did.   She made sure her hair was perfect, her posture upright and her dress an old family gown.  A lace green and black dress, with a matching mask.  

This time, however, she stood with a friend rather then her sisters.  Emma Vanity, a woman well of her own skill.  A woman that inspired Andromeda which is why their bond lasted long past school.  It was not a bond founded upon wish of power but friendship.   Emma was one of the only people Andromeda felt like she could be herself around.  Someone who had her back and understood where they stood in this new world order.  

She looked up at her friend, “It has been so long since I’ve been in my Aunt and Uncle’s home.” She commented, eyes glancing around familiar paintings and decorations.  “It still somehow surprises how it never seems to change.” A partial lie though, the home had changed.  The absence of her cousins felt heavy in the air they once used to lighten.  “A perfect representation I suppose?” She added with a glance toward her.  “At least I know the food will be good, Kreacher has always kept a good home.” 

She was not on the clock tonight and didn’t have to watch him, but old habits died hard and she kept glancing at him as the night wore on. But even he was on his best behavior and did little except have a brief interaction with Bellatrix, which she’d have to question the other woman about later. Now, she was ready to go home, or perhaps to a real party. Alecto was on one of the many balconies, perched on the railing. The table next to the railing was full of the many champagne glasses she had put down recently and collected from couples making out in the garden. Spying another happy couple she deftly lobbed one of the glasses down below, hearing a shriek of surprise. Alecto laughed, thriving off the chaos she was creating from her boredom. Hearing the door open behind her, Alecto didn’t even give the person a glance. “Balcony’s taken. Go find your own.” 

Wendy was wandering down the elaborate and luxuriously decorated halls looking for one of the many bathrooms that was sure to be in the Black manor. She opened another door and found yet another richly decorated bedroom. “Merlin. Thousands of rooms and I can’t find a single bathroom.” She muttered and closed the door only to turn around and find someone watching her. “Oh.” Her cheeks colored beneath her mask. “You don’t happen to know where a bathroom is, do you?”