𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍 | 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐗 𝐅𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐂

⊰ CH 6: TRANSPARENT ⊱

"DO YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT it?" Dianna mutters quietly. She is currently wrapped in her sage green duvet cover as her body lays directly on Rodolphus'. His bare chest is against hers as she feels the tips of his fingers softly trail up and down her bare back while the other plays with the ends of her curly hair. Her ear is pressed to his chest, allowing her to hear his heartbeat.

"About what?" He replies cluelessly.

"What led you to my door today?" she clarifies.

"You mean aside from the letter?" Rudolphus asks, looking down at Dianna with his eyebrows raised. She shifts her body so that her intertwined hands rest on his chest as she leans her chin on them before humming in confirmation. "I didn't know how to tell you this on the train, but-,"

She looks into his piercing light green eyes and waits patiently for him to continue.

"Bellatrix and I broke up weeks ago," he admits.

"Genuinely?" Dianna raises her head a little in surprise. He nods. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asks.

He hesitates to reply, looking down at her with a reluctant expression. "I ended it because... I care about you. More than I had planned. This?" He pauses, taking her hand in his before raising it to his lips to kiss her knuckles. "This is what I truly craved. Not just the sex. You."

Her heartbeat picks up in speed. She looks at him before she slides her body up a little to kiss him. She's not the best at communicating her thoughts through words, so she expresses them through touch. She pulls away for a second as she thinks. "That still doesn't explain why," she whispers to him softly.

"A few days after the breakup, I got a letter from home. They didn't know about our split, nor the reason, so they made... certain arrangements," He states before looking away and clearing his throat.

"Arrangements?" Dianna asks, her brows pulling together in confusion. The Lestrange family is one of the most respected families of the wizarding world. Pure blood. Rich. Cruel. Dread fills her as she thinks about what he could be insinuating. "You don't mean-."

"I do."

"An arranged marriage? That's barbaric! You haven't even finished school yet!" she states in horror.

"They were planning for it to happen as soon as we do," Rudolphus sighs as he shakes his head in frustration. "I don't want to do it, Anna. I believe Bellatrix and I both entered our relationship knowing that we wouldn't last. It was meant to be fun but momentary... I can't picture myself happily spending the rest of my life tied to that woman."

Dianna can't help but look at him with pity. She lightly traces her fingers over his chest before kissing it reassuringly. This is a terrible situation to be in. She just let him hold her for a minute as she processed this new information.

"Why did you come here, Rue?" she whispers.

That's what makes him look at her again. He clenches his jaw before letting it relax. "Some addictions are hard to shake," he replies simply.

ϟ

"Reggie?" a soft feminine voice calls for the boy. Regulus looks up from the book he was reading to see Pandora peeking into the room from outside the door of one of the many sitting rooms in Malfoy Manor. "She replied."

He sits up a bit straighter at that news. It had been a few days since he had sent a letter to Dianna, and he was beginning to think that the ministry had taken custody of it.

Pandora steps into the room, quietly closing the door behind her. She places a lock of curly blond hair behind her ear before sitting in the chair across from his.