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chapter thirty-one,
arabella's wedding
Beatrice Salvatore had decided that her cousin Tiziana was much more fun now that she was a blood-traitor. No longer did the two girls throw snarky comments or avoid each other's company like the plague — in fact, they were entirely inseparable. Theodora seemed quite pleased to see that her daughter had made a close female friend (it had long since become obvious that she hated Seraphina Greengrass's guts), unlike Massimo Baresi.
Apparently Massimo had grown rather accustomed to being waited on hand and foot throughout the school year, listening only to Eduardo himself, and did not take too kindly to being ganged up on by his two twelve-year-old cousins.
"And when will Tiziana be returning home?" he asked in a strained voice over dinner after one particularly amusing day (Tiziana had found love letters to some lady he was trying to court, which she had read out loud to Beatrice with much relish before finally being caught).
Theodora frowned at her nephew — Beatrice and Tiziana had ensured that no adults found out about the ways they tried to wind their older cousin up. "The twenty-third of August — the day before the wedding."
Beatrice sighed. She didn't want Tiziana to go so soon after they had become friends, and the constant headaches she had been getting throughout the summer were doing nothing to help lighten her mood. "Couldn't she stay a little longer, Mum? We've been having such good fun."
"I know, I know, but as Tiziana is to be a bridesmaid it is crucial that she is home for the final preparations."
Beatrice tried her very best not to roll her eyes — wasn't keeping Tiziana far away from the preparations the very reason she was sent to stay with them in the first place?
"It's alright," Tiziana said glumly later that night when the two of them were hauled up in Beatrice's room. "It's probably best I speak to Arabella before the wedding anyway. Maybe try to convince her not to go through with it. Maybe apologize for trying to convince her not to go through with it."
Beatrice took Tiziana's hand. "I'm sorry, Tizzy. I can't imagine what it must be like."
Tiziana had a distant expression on her face that could only be described as melancholic. "It's not all bad. Siblings are strange, y'know. You can say you hate them and everything they stand for, but deep down you just wish they'd agree with you. No... not agree with you. You just wish beliefs didn't matter at all."
Beatrice thought of her dear cousin Lucius, and how he wouldn't stop using the word mudblood even (no, especially) when she told him he probably should. She thought of Regulus. "Do you think beliefs are always what's most important?"
