Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 54 | Lysandra's Advice

"A toast to the groom!" Lycoris Black exclaimed loudly, holding his glass of wizarding champagne up in the air as he addressed the audience all staring up at him from their tables as he started his speech.

"To the groom," all of the guests at the wedding repeated after him in a communal mumble, all raising their glasses of either pumpkin juice, if they were younger, or champagne if they were of age.

Cygnus beamed as everyone toasted to him and he squeezed Druella's hand which cued a few 'Awww' sounds to come from some of Euphemia's old aunties and grannies.

"To the bride!" Lycoris carried on and now, Druella sat up even more sophisticatedly in her seat and smiled forcefully at everyone toasting her, acting like they were her subjects or something.

Mia didn't know why Lycoris was even doing a speech - his son, Orion, had been the best man and yet he chose not to talk due to not liking public speaking very much.

Besides, Orion hadn't even planned out a single word of his speech and was just going to improvise so his father jumped in and did the speech for him, for some reason.

Lycoris carried on talking for a little longer, rambling on about the importances of sustaining the pure blood line which made Euphemia roll her eyes but she kept quiet, burying her chin in her cupped hands.

Eventually, Orion's mother (Mia's Aunt Melania) dragged her husband off the podium for speaking too much and general chatter resumed throughout the room.

Euphemia could see Orion's parents arguing a little at the side which made her sigh - they were an example of yet another couple that weren't happy with each other but had married each other for the sake of pleasing their families.

Orion's mother, Melania, was Cassiopeia's sister and Irma Black (mother to Walburga, Alphard and Cygnus) was also a sister to Cassiopeia and therefore an aunt to Mia and Marius, not that Marius was there at the wedding due to him being disowned.

"How is Marius?" Euphemia asked Alphard quietly so that no one else would hear - if anyone found out that Alphard was looking after Marius and housing him then Alphard would be disowned immediately.

Alphard took a sip of his mulled mead before answering, "He's doing fine - he's at a muggle secondary school now and he's settled in really well," he told Mia and the girl smiled slightly as she thought of her brother.

"He talks about you a lot, you know," Alphard added, nudging Euphemia gently and she glanced up in surprise, meeting Alphard's honest face staring back at her.

"Really?" she asked softly and Alphard nodded, "He's always worrying about whether you're going to be safe or not, always wondering what you're up to," he told her and Mia seemed to lighten up much more - Alphard had noticed that she hadn't been very enthusiastic or happy throughout the entire day.

The fact that Marius was still doing well and living his life, despite being a Squib, made Euphemia feel much better and she was in a happier mood when she took a sip of her drink, standing up from where she was seated with Alphard to where Charis and Callidora were chatting with their mother, Lysandra.

Lysandra Black was a pretty woman with rather light brown hair that she had passed onto Charis, her youngest daughter. Mia had always liked her aunt (Lysandra was Arcturus' elder sister) because Lysandra had a sense of humour that the twins, Cedrella and Callidora, had inherited.

She was always up for a laugh and she actually seemed to like her husband, Phineas Black, in comparison to many of the other Black Family couples who appeared to detest each other.

Lysandra also did have a heart, unlike some of Euphemia's relatives, and Mia knew that the woman had been genuinely devastated when her daughter Cedrella had been disowned.