Through Death and Destruction | Regulus Black

Chapter 8 - bummer

Amaryllis had been avoiding Regulus for a full week. She didn't want to she just wasn't sure exactly how she was meant to act around him. As much as she could she had been spending time with Lucinda however during classes, in which she usually sat with Regulus she had taken to sitting with Corbin or Timothy.

Amaryllis' actions were confusing Regulus. He had no idea why she was acting so strangely. On numerous occasions he had attempted to find the letter that his mother had sent her, even going as far as to convince some of the girls in her dorm to try and find it for him. However it had not succeeded and he still had no idea what his mother had said to her.

After classes one day Amaryllis had left with the boys as she would have before however once they had made their way further down the hallway towards the dungeons and their common room she spied a passage. Just as they were about to reach the passage she grabbed a hold of Corbin's arm and dragged him quickly over to the passage.

Dragging Corbin over to the passage was no easy task. Amaryllis was a tiny girl forcing her to use all her strength just to get the boy over to the passage.

"Shh." She told him when he tried to call out to their friends. "I need to talk to you."

Corbin just stared at the girl. She had never tried to talk to him alone before, apart from the awkward conversation at the Quidditch match which was forced by no one else actually being available to be there, so this interaction was rather confusing to him.

"What do you want Merrin?" He asked.

He still hadn't gotten over her initial animosity causing him to be mistrustful of her actions towards him.

"I need you to explain some things to me." She said.

"Don't you usually go to Regulus with this sort of thing?" He asked confused as to why he needed to help her understand certain aspects of her life.

"Yes, but Walburga has forbidden me from telling him about this." She stated.

Corbin was confused. Why would Walburga want Amaryllis to hide something from Regulus? It was obvious to anyone that the two of them were closer with one another than any of their other friends.

"Which reminds me, you are not to mention any of what I say to him as I am going to have to explain the entire situation to you." She continued.

He just nodded at her not knowing how else to respond. Clearly Walburga was rubbing off on Amaryllis more than either of them realised. The girl was becoming increasing more like the older woman after each break. It was beginning to become rather terrifying.

"Essentially, the simplified version of it is, Walburga is impressed with how I have been presenting myself and had told me that if I manage to keep it up the betrothal arrange she is creating between myself and Regulus will go ahead." She explained to him.

Corbin just stared at the girl. He knew it was going to be something big if she wasn't allowed to tell Regulus however he would never have expected this.

"I have no idea what she is means by any of that yet I can't ask Regulus as he is not allowed to know about the betrothal at present." She said. "Please, can you help me understand what this means?"

Amaryllis pulled the letter Walburga had given her out of her robe. She had taken to carrying it with her in order to prevent Regulus from somehow getting a hold of it as she knew he wanted to know what the letter really said.

"The whole idea of the betrothal is essentially a pureblood family's way of making sure their blood remains pure by organising a marriage between their children and the children of other pureblood families." Corbin explained after reading through the letter. "Although a perfectly understandable tradition it does make for a great many unhappy marriages as well as marriages between cousins."