Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 13 | Black Manor

A shadow crossed over the pages of Euphemia's book from behind whilst she was reading it one early December morning, curled up in her large green sweater that she had stretched to cover her knees, that were drawn to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs.

She was huddled up near the fire, trying to capture some warmth from the common room heat but was failing and she was in fact rather cold.

Her ice cold hands turned the pages almost numbly as she scanned over the words, getting so immersed in the story that the shadow behind her made her jump.

The eleven year old turned around slowly to see Walburga stood there and Mia immediately snapped the book shut, trying to disguise the fact that it was a book written by a Muggle author.

Luckily, Walburga didn't appear to notice, much to Euphemia's relief, but instead stood there with her arms crossed across her chest still.

"Can I help you?" Mia asked her politely, though she really wanted to tell her to bugger off so she could read her book in peace.

"Yes, you can, as a matter of fact," Walburga answered and her cousin then plonked herself down next to Euphemia, causing Mia to move up along the green leather sofa, her legs curling underneath her as she shuffled away from Walburga.

"I need to see what you'll be wearing to the Winter Ball so that I know not to wear the same dress or even colour or style as you. Because that would totally not look good," Walburga told Mia.

It wasn't a question of what she was wearing, more of a command to tell her and Euphemia instantly felt alarmed.

She hadn't even thought about the Winter Ball, that was a family tradition held in the ballroom of Mia's home, Black Manor, the one that sat on the hill overlooking the rest of London.

Euphemia had never liked dressing up in posh outfits but it was something she had had to get used to. When the two cousins were younger, Cassiopeia and her sister, Irma, used to dress Walburga and Euphemia in matching dresses because it was 'cute.'

After about nine years of always matching her cousin, Walburga had finally turned round to her mother (Mia's aunt) and refused to wear the same as Euphemia because it made her look like a 'loser.'

It was actually a blessing in disguise to Mia because she was then able to shake off the annoyance that was Walburga, even though she had been upset at the time because of being called a loser.

However, she had actually been called worse by her own mother when being lectured or punished so she soon got over it.

It had just hurt more, coming from her cousin who Euphemia considered close at the time and the two girls had soon drifted apart after that incident.

Which was exactly why Mia was so annoyed when Walburga kept bothering her at school.

"Uh...I can't say I was actually putting any thought into it?" Euphemia replied, wavering a little at the end of her answer so the statement started to sound more like a question.

Walburga looked like she had been smacked in the face and she gaped at Mia whilst the girl in question simply stared back with a rather sheepish expression.

"You haven't thought about what you're going to be wearing?" Walburga screeched, causing several of the students around them to glance over in the two girls' direction.

Mia wasn't aware it was such a crime and a shock that she hadn't even registered a single thought about some damned dress that she was going to wear - her mother would probably have gotten one of the house elves to fetch some possible outfits which, no doubt, would be waiting in Euphemia's wardrobe the second she got home.