Modification || T. Riddle || Completed

Chapter 34: Guest Approval

Chapter 34: Guest Approval

Despite her deep love for Hogwarts, Estela was glad to be home again. There was no stress, no drama, and she found that she could cast her worries aside for a while and just focus on spending valuable time with her parents. Well, for a week at least. Riddle would be arriving next week and surprisingly, her parents didn't start pestering her with multiple questions immediately. They left it until they were eating dinner one evening.

The dining room was a good size, with a long mahogany table situated in the centre of the room below a lovely hanging chandelier. The table was lined with a silver runner, and the matching plates had already been laid out and the candles had been lit.

As Estela entered, the strong smell of home-cooked food awakened her senses, and as she breathed in the scent her mouth began to water and her stomach gave a low rumble. The feasts at Hogwarts were to die for, but there was nothing like a home-cooked meal.

Grace and William were already sat at the dining table. Grace was a kind looking woman with soft, curly light brown hair that just about reached her shoulder that she always tucked neatly behind her ears. She looked well for her age, and most thought her to be younger than she actually was. She had a thin but healthy face and almond-shaped eyes that were a warm brown colour, and there were freckles speckled across her nose. She smiled kindly at William who was sat next to her as he folded the Daily Prophet and placed it under the table, out of the way, ready to eat.

William was a tall, fairly slim but well-built man with a much more austere face than Grace. His appearance was sharper and more intimidating, and his thick eyebrows made him look angry at times, but his facial features didn't match his personality whatsoever. William was something akin to a friendly grizzly bear; a daunting appearance, but a complete softy inside. You could tell by his eyes - he had kind eyes the colour of a pure, smoky quartz, with little wrinkles that appeared at each side of them when he smiled. He had darker hair than Grace, though not as dark as Estela's, and he had a thick moustache above his lip. Grace said that Estela had him wrapped around her finger, which wasn't entirely untrue.

"Smells delicious," said Estela as she sat down opposite them.

"I hope you're both hungry, I think I've cooked a little too much," chirped Grace.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm starved," William said in a rough voice as he patted his stomach and smiled at Estela.

"How were things in your department today?" asked Grace as she spooned some peas onto her plate. She looked sideways at William, with something weary about her expression.

William huffed, his moustache wriggling above his lip, "Worse than yesterday," he said in a serious tone, "Grindelwald and his army are moving - they're going further east and wreaking more and more havoc as they do so."

Grace clucked her tongue sadly, "There's only one person who can stop him - I've said it from the beginning."

William nodded, "Hmph, I just hope Grindelwald is captured before the time comes when he'll have no choice but to stop him."

William worked in the Department of Security in the Ministry of Magic, so he dealt with any threats that there may be to the country and the Wizarding government. Estela wondered who the wizard that could defeat the Dark Wizard, Gellert Grindelwald, was briefly before William looked up at her.

"So," he said, eyeing Grace out of the corner of his eye, "this Tom Riddle -" Estela swallowed her food quickly and cleared her throat; she knew she was about to be interrogated. "Any particular reason as to why he's coming to stay?" His tone was composed and curious, but Estela sensed the suspicion that lay underneath.