Euphemia forced James to dance with her, and he didn't dare to refuse when he saw her enthusiasm.
Sirius, who thought he wouldn't have to dance, had to dance with Andromeda, who forced him to dance. Since she was the bride, Sirius could not refuse and reluctantly had to dance with her.
Andromeda considered Sirius as her little brother. With Sirius, she got along very well, and they had the same thoughts when it came to blood purity and so on. This was very hard to find especially being a Black. So she wanted him to be a part of her party.
The hours wore on, and James and Sirius ate their fill. They ate dessert and drank a lot of butterbeer. They wanted to try fire whiskey, but Euphemia always caught them and took it away.
With less than an hour left before the wedding was to end, several people abruptly entered the entrance of the tent. At first, no one paid attention to them, as there were many people, and it was normal for some to come out to get some air.
But this group of people headed towards Andromeda, who was happily talking to her husband and a group of friends.
James was the first to notice this strange group of people, as they were walking as if they were very angry.
'Is that...?' thought James with a frown and having a bad feeling. In the group of people was a girl with long blonde hair and an arrogant look.
James could recognize her after looking at her for a few more seconds, Narcissa Black. Sirius' cousin and Andromeda's younger sister. He could only recognize her since he passed her several times at the dragon clubhouse.
"Hey," said James in a serious tone, as he punched Sirius' arm.
"What's up?" asked Sirius, a bit confused by the sudden seriousness of James, who only motioned his head forward, so that Sirius was looking at the group of people.
Sirius looked to where James was looking, and his face began to disfigure, 'Oh no... This isn't good,' thought Sirius nervously. How Black recognized everyone in the group. One of them was his mother, and then there were Andromeda's parents and her two sisters.
"Andromeda Tonks!" shouted a deep, male voice with fury and anger.
As it was the last few minutes of the wedding, the atmosphere was much calmer. This caused everyone in the tent to hear the shout. Suddenly all the hubbub ceased, and they looked at the person who shouted.
"Father...?" muttered Andromeda with a difficult expression on her face.
"How dare you...!" shouted Cygnus Black III Andromeda's father, "How dare you marry a mudblood!" he shouted indignantly and with contempt, as his gaze shifted to Edward, who stood next to Andromeda with a frozen expression.
"I-I marry who I want!" said Andromeda, plucking up her courage, but in a trembling tone.
"By talking back to your father like that! You're a disgrace to the whole House Black!" said a shrill, angry voice belonging to Druella Black, Andromeda's mother.
"And worst of all, marrying a mudblood!" she added, looking at Edward with disgust and disdain.
"Don't you dare insult my husband!" shouted Andromeda furiously, as she pulled out her wand.
'This escalated very quickly,' thought James.
"Pointing your wand at our mother. You are a basket case. I don't consider you my sister anymore," said a girl very much like Andromeda, but her hair was black, and her expression wasn't kind like Andromeda's.
"Bellatrix..." muttered Sirius with a frown.
Bellatrix was a couple of years older than Andromeda and the oldest of the three sisters. As Andromeda pulled out her wand and pointed it at her, she wouldn't mind teaching her younger sister a couple of manners right this instant.
"ENOUGH!" shouted Alphard with a furious expression stepping in front of Andromeda and confronting the crazy family. Andromeda, who was teary-eyed sighed in relief at the sight of Alphard's back.
James never saw Alphard with such an angry expression. He always looked like the cool uncle who never gets angry.
"Brother..." muttered Cygnus and Walburga, looking at Alphard's appearance.
Alphard, Walburga, and Cygnus were three siblings. The oldest was Walburga (Sirius' mother) after she was Alphard, and the youngest of them all was Cygnus, who was much younger than the two of them.
Alphard despite his detachment from the ideals of the family, still held an important position in House Black and had very great wealth.
"You're the one to blame for Andromeda marrying a mudblood! Take responsibility!" shouted Druella, rabidly pointing her finger in Alphard's face.
"Silence..." said Cygnus coldly to his wife. Cygnus, though he didn't want to admit it, feared his older brother. Alphard was a great wizard. The only one who could stand up to him was Walburga the eldest of the three.
"Where is Sirius?" asked Walburga in a stoic tone speaking for the first time.
"He must be out there. Eating something or playing a joke," Alphard replied vaguely.
Walburga huffed in annoyance and left. She began to look for her son. She had no plans to argue foolishly with her brothers. She already considered that Andromeda had done an irreversible crime. Andromeda had no salvation. On the other hand, her son did.
"See you at Hogwarts..." muttered Sirius, waving goodbye to James.
Sirius began to cautiously make his way to the exit of the tent. He didn't want his mother to find him, as his punishment was assured after he had attended a wedding with a muggle-born wizard.
Alphard managed to keep Andromeda's family from making a spectacle of themselves. After five minutes, they left with expressions of anger and disdain. Andromeda cried inconsolably in her husband's arms.
Her parents and sisters told her that they would never see her again, that their relationship was over, and that she was a disgrace to them. She would be erased from the family tree and could never contact them again.
James heard everything and looked at Andromeda with pity. Sirius, to his misfortune, was caught by his mother and dragged home.
"Poor dear..." said Euphemia in a low tone and with a sad look, watching Andromeda cry as her friends comforted her. Alphard sat down and downed a full glass of firewhiskey in one gulp.
James began to rack his brain. Why would Andromeda and Sirius's parents let them get together with Alphard? If they knew he didn't share the ideals of House Black. It wasn't hard to realize that sending your children to such a relative could cause Sirius and Andromeda to become increasingly rebellious and defy the family.
Just because Sirius listens to his mother and attends a couple of meetings, is not enough reason for her to let him go again and again with his uncle.
Andromeda and Sirius always had a rebellious streak and didn't quite accept the ideals of their house. However, if they hadn't spent so much time with Alphard, they might have been much more obedient and not so rebellious.
James came to an answer quickly. Alphard was single and only a few years shy of fifty. He had no heirs, that was the answer. Simple as that.
James could tell that Alphard possessed great wealth. Most likely comparable to his siblings or even greater, since from what he heard from Alphard himself he has several investments and properties. He doesn't even need to work.
Walburga and Cygnus send their children with him since if they win his favor they could receive a large part of his inheritance and double his wealth or more. The normal thing would be that if Alphard died his estate would be divided among the Blacks, but Alphard was very particular. If he wanted to he could leave it all to a single person who had nothing to do with House Black.
What Cygnus or Walburga did not expect was that their children every time they visited their uncle would become more rebellious and less in agreement with the family ideals.
They most likely realized that their children's rebelliousness increased when they were with Alphard, but their greed got the better of them, and they kept bossing Sirius and Andromeda around.
Alphard wasn't an overtly pro-Muggle guy or anything like that. He was a weirdo who minded his own business, so he was still on the family tree.
"It's time to get back..." said Fleamont in an odd mood. It wasn't the best way to end a wedding. They said goodbye to Alphard, as for saying goodbye to Andromeda they couldn't as they were still crying and she was surrounded by her friends.
"Have a good start to a good year at Hogwarts," Alphard said, saying goodbye to James. He had liked the days he had spent with the bespectacled, jet-haired boy.
Then in a few minutes, James was at the fireplace in his house. The last three days of vacation flew by. James got no information from Sirius. Most likely his mother grounded him and took out his owl.
September 1st arrived, a special day, as it was the beginning of the second year at Hogwarts.