ᴀʟʟ ɪ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ɪꜱ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ꜰʀᴇᴇ - regulus black

chapter 1

Octavia Harper Rosier, daughter of Evan Rosier Sr and Gabrielle Rosier née Nott, was born on the 20th April 1961. Two years after her elder brother Evan and two years before her younger brother Felix. Ever since her birth, life has been calm. She was doing the most perfect job at following her parents' ideals regarding the pure-blood supremacy and at keeping up the family reputation. But everything changes the moment they introduce her to her future fiancé, something she hadn't expected to come so soon.

Winter 1976, Rosier Manor

"Octavia, go upstairs dress up. Our guests are about to arrive!" exclaimed Gabrielle Rosier, in an irritated and high-pitched voice, facing her daughter with an impatient look.

Gabrielle Rosier was a slim and elegant woman with long ginger hair that all her children had inherited. She had been educated to have the best manners and the strongest hypocrisy you could exhibit, although as she grew older, Octavia thought her mother had a lot concurrency on this matter. She had obviously taught her three children the best ways to brush others with the grain.

The young Octavia looked up from the book she had been reading for the past hour on the sofa, in front of the warming fire, and noticed her mother's infuriated stare. Sighing in an exasperated manner she closed the book and decided to stand up, not wishing to get her angrier.

"Fine, fine. I'll go dress up to meet guests I don't even know the identity of."

"Be quick," she huffed in return, before going back to the kitchen, yelling whatever instruction to their poor house-elf.

Octavia dragged herself upstairs to her large bedroom. She had to look for an outfit to wear but no inspiration came to her as she scanned through her tons of clothes perfectly folded in her closets and drawers. She had no clue on what kind of circumstance it was nor what kind of guests her parents absolutely wanted her to meet but she could guess she would have to be elegant and would be using all the fake politeness tricks her mother had taught her about.

"Octavia dear, are you ready?" said her mother's fawning voice from downstairs, sounding patient this time, and almost too kind. The guests had arrived.

Before the girl could even offer an answer, she was already at the doorframe.

"Hurry up! I don't want them to wait!" she barked, quietly enough of course, before leaving.

Octavia rolled her eyes and sighed at her annoying behavior. Once again she looked into her closet and retrieved a long brown skirt as well as a white shirt then taking one of her cardigan. That would be enough for those unknown guests. The girl took one final look at the mirror, quickly brushing her ginger hair falling down her shoulders, wishing for the millionth time it was shorter. Placing a strand behind her ear, she was ready.

She slowly walked downstairs, trying to hear snippets of the small chat coming from the living-room, but only managing to recognize her mother's fake laugh.

Finally at the doorframe, she realized with surprise who were the guests her mother so wanted to hide the identity of. The Blacks were there. It wasn't their first meeting, but it was surely the first time the three of them were standing there, in the middle of her living-room.

"Well, come say hello darling," whispered her mother, offering her a smile she wanted reassuring, but her eyes were urging her to speak.

"Yes, I apologize for making such important guests wait... Mrs and Mr Black. It's a great pleasure to see you again." Her smile was reflecting the same hypocrisy as her mother's, but so was Walburga's.

Orion Black, being such a well-mannered man, took the hand she offered him, to place a chaste kiss on it. His gestures were almost robotic, he surely had done this a lot of times. Octavia shared a greeting smile with Walburga then her eyes fell on the last person. Regulus Black was staring down at her, his eyes so dark, not showcasing any emotion, they were almost hidden by his hair, falling down and creating a shadow on his haughty face. He looked intimidating for sure. But Octavia wasn't the type to get intimidated. She showed him her hand and he took a hold of it, repeating the same gesture as his father, without a word. The coldness of it almost made her retrieve back, but she knew better than to do so.

"Let's take a seat. The elf will serve the tea," said Mr Rosier, breaking the silence. They did so, and the tea was served. The men were sitting in front of each other, the women as well, and the teenagers as well.

"Oh Gabrielle I'm delighted we are finally meeting. We've been planning this for so long," said Walburga Black with a polite smile but her eyes remained dark and devoid of any light that could translate her possible joy. Like her son's stare.

"I know right! Evan and I have been pondering over which day should be the best for weeks, and now that the children are finally home, it's an opportunity we couldn't miss," answered the ginger-haired woman.

"Excuse me Mother, but what is this all about?" suddenly interrupted the girl by her side, not liking to stay in this confusion. Regulus was glad she decided to speak up since he was just as confused.

"Your engagement, of course!"

"My engagement? And may I know to whom?"

"Oh dear, why acting innocent. To Regulus of course," next answered Walburga.

Octavia turned a surprised stare to the woman who just spoke before meeting the as surprised gaze of the boy in front of her.

"Mother. We had this conversation already, and you told me nothing was set with anyone, yet," spoke the raven-haired male through greeted-teeth, trying to suppress his sudden annoyance.

"I know son but after discussing more deeply with Gabrielle, I concluded that Octavia would make a good match." She looked rather proud of her idea as she said that. She had that content smile on her face that Octavia just wanted to wipe off.

"But Mother, I've already told you I wasn't ready-"

"Octavia!" exclaimed her mother. "You've repeated this enough times! This isn't for now, I know you're only fifteen and this is not official yet. Just know this will come sooner or later."

"But Mother..."

"Ah, young girls at this age can be a little...  how should I put this... rebellious, disobedient.. whether they had a proper education or not, I'm not blaming you of course! But fortunately, marriage put them back on track and they know how to behave so they can show honor to their family and their husband's family."

Octavia couldn't believe what she had just heard. The woman in front of her wanted her to be reeducated into a perfect little poodle to fit into the standards of her family after she only spoke one thing. And her mother only seemed to agree.

She was glad this meeting was put to an end quickly after, she didn't wish to stay in the presence of these people more longer, whether it was her family or the Black family.

Why did life have to be so complexed, she had no idea. In appearance, there did not seem to be big differences between Octavia Rosier and Regulus Black. Both Slytherins, descendants of a powerful pure-blood families, educated in the most strict way. The two had excellent marks and were ambitious, wishing to make their family proud. He wasn't much older, not even much taller. But these similarities didn't make them even the slightest bit. There was a big gap between them. They didn't have anything in common, the worst thing was that they despised each other. While he was completely blinded and indoctrinated by his family's extreme and closed views, she secretly wished for a better, equal world. Not that she would be so open about her wishes, it would be suicide in her household. Octavia was just trying her best to fit in and look like the others. But would she be able to live up to her family's expectations and marry the infamous Regulus Black for the sake of the pure blood community?

author's note: hi! thank you for deciding to read the first chapter of this story. i'd say this story depicts the journey through women's emancipation and the struggles that come with it. and so more specifically the pressure put on young girls. this is quite a serious story, more serious than the others i've written in case you've checked them out and i'm glad i came out with it. i feel like it's a great achievement. this is why i'd to thank all the future readers, even if it's just for one chapter or the entire story, thank you for giving attention to this story. i sincerely hope you will enjoy it<33

(just to mention i'm not a native speaker so feel free to point out possible mistakes!)