When the doors of the Parliament opened, Aurelius Greengrass walked alongside his son-in-law. 'What did you think of the parliamentary meeting?' he asked, looking at the group of senators ahead of them. It was Asterion's first time attending a parliamentary meeting since Arcturus had fully retired, passing the Lordship to his great-grandson.
Though Asterion had not yet inherited the patriarchal mantle and taken over the House of Black as patriarch—a moment that would only come upon Arcturus' passing, according to the Salic Laws governing England's inheritance laws.
"They seem strangely united, despite the contradictions among them," commented Asterion, spinning the ring on his finger. The ring's body was composed of two snakes, one silver and the other golden, with a beautiful black diamond held between their heads.
Anyone familiar with the history of House Gaunt would recognize this same diamond in the ring of each Gaunt patriarch.
"Yes, when faced with a common enemy, it's not uncommon to see us all collaborating with each other. After all, while hatred may be enduring, only interests are eternal," Aurelius replied with a low chuckle, adjusting his cane. His blue eyes, reminiscent of Daphne's, fixed Asterion with a peculiar gaze, almost as if he were looking at a son he never had.
Honestly, to Aurelius' eyes, it wasn't much different—he had always wanted a son to inherit his legacy, and though he never had one, he gained one through his daughter's marriage.
Asterion understood the reasoning; interests always came before everything else in the eyes of those in power. It was normal, akin to taking a cherished friend's job; there was nothing personal about it, just business.
"You need to be prepared, Asterion. We'll likely want you as the new face of England, so you'll need to greet all the guests coming for the International Tournament of Magic and Witchcraft," Aurelius continued, his voice calm and serene as they walked.
Asterion nodded; Aurelius' words didn't surprise him. After killing Voldemort in front of everyone, his fame in England had arguably surpassed Rose's. Thus, it wasn't surprising that he would be the one greeting all foreign guests in the country.
It was both a show of respect to other countries and a subtle demonstration of strength. It might seem somewhat childish to some, but that's how international politics worked—those with the bigger cannon were the most powerful. Simple and straightforward.
Aurelius and Asterion ascended the Clock Tower via the elevator that led to the street and entered a car. The car soon glided silently through the streets of London. Inside the car, Aurelius placed his cane beside him and his hat on the seat beside it. He looked at his son-in-law with a smile on his face as he crossed his legs.
"So, when will your wedding with Daphne be?" he asked gently.
Asterion widened his eyes, completely taken aback by Patriarch Greengrass's question.
"Don't look at me like that, my wife Helena is more eager than I am for this wedding to happen." Aurelius chuckled and looked at Asterion's shocked face. It was the first time he had seen such an expression on his son-in-law's face.
"We're very young, maybe when we turn eighteen or twenty." Recovering from the surprise, Asterion shook his head and replied uncertainly. Aurelius's question had indeed caught him off guard this time.
Aurelius shook his head and asked, "How old do you think I am, Asterion?"
"30 or 33?" Looking at the youthful face of the Greengrass family patriarch, Asterion calmly responded.
"I'm glad you think I'm that young, but I'll be turning 51 by the end of the year." With a playful smile on his lips, Aurelius corrected his son-in-law in a friendly tone.
He continued speaking calmly. "Wizards are different from Muggles; we have a lot of difficulty reproducing naturally, which is one of the reasons there are so few wizards in the world."
"Helena became pregnant with Daphne when she was thirty-seven, despite trying hard to conceive for nearly fifteen years. When I received the news that she was pregnant, I was over the moon with excitement. My waist could finally rest." Aurelius showed a nostalgic and bitter look on his face as he continued to speak.
"This kind of thing is quite common in our world. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were a good example of this—they only had children when they were elderly and didn't even live to see their son grow up and get married."
Asterion fell silent at Aurelius's words. He knew that fertility issues were a serious matter among the Noble Houses, but marrying so early wasn't in his plans at the moment. Not that he was reluctant to marry Daphne in the first place, but he simply felt the timing wasn't right. After all, they were both thirteen, not yet fourteen.
"I'll talk to Daphne about it." Asterion definitely couldn't say what he was thinking, especially to his father-in-law, so that's all he could say for now.
The rest of the journey continued in silence, but not an awkward silence, as both were reading some reports, until finally the trip ended. The car parked in front of the Greengrass mansion.
"Try talking to Daphne about marriage, Asterion." The door was opened by the driver, but before getting out of the car, Aurelius spoke again with a friendly smile.
Asterion could only nod and watch his father-in-law enter the mansion, letting out a relieved sigh. This conversation about marriage had left him quite weary, something he hoped he would never have to deal with.
"Nolan, let's head to the Black mansion." Looking at the driver, Asterion leaned back in the rear seat and spoke with his eyes closed.
-
Arriving at the mansion, Asterion entered while loosening his tie around his neck and walked into the living room. To his surprise, he found Narcissa sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper, which made him look at her with a strange gaze—it was the first time Asterion had seen her reading the newspaper in years.
"Did something important happen?" Lying down on the sofa, he rested his head on Narcissa's thighs and casually asked, placing his arm over his eyes. To his surprise, his cousin actually responded with a serious tone.
"Yes. Something really significant happened," she said, handing the newspaper to Asterion.
Sitting up, he took the newspaper and opened it to the page Narcissa indicated, widening his eyes as he looked at the article.
"On this Monday, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, and Portugal suffered massive attacks on their respective Ministries of Magic. The reasons behind the Dark Lord's reprisals are still unknown, but according to sources, nearly three thousand wizards and witches lost their lives in a single day."
"Since the Middle Ages, this is the highest number of wizarding deaths recorded in nearly six centuries."
"Grindelwald is finally spreading his terror across the European continent. At this moment, protests are occurring in various European countries, with the population demanding the Dark Lord's arrest and death sentence."
Grindelwald's plan has officially begun.
This was Asterion's only thought after reading the articles in the newspaper. Though he didn't exactly know what Gellert Grindelwald's plan entailed, he knew it was far from simple—much like his plan to create a god or Mustafa's plan to reach the root of all magic.
"The world is becoming increasingly mad," Asterion murmured to himself, his eyes intensely serious yet calm.
The staircase appeared, but few would have the courage to climb its steps.
-----------------
Author's thoughts:
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
P-atreon.com/HPSCB
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 101 – Decision (3), Chapter 102 - The Black Sisters (1), Chapter 103 - The Black Sisters (2), Chapter 104 - Rose's Past (1), Chapter 105 - Arrival of Country Representatives (1), Chapter 106 - Arrival of Country Representatives (2), Chapter 107 - Arrival of Country Representatives (3), Chapter 108 – Party (1), Chapter 109 – Party (2), Chapter 110 - Back To Hogwarts (1), Chapter 111 - Back To Hogwarts (2), Chapter 112 – New Students (1), Chapter 113 – New Students (2), Chapter 114 – Ophelia (1), Chapter 115 – Ophelia (2), Chapter 116 – Doubts (1), Chapter 117 – Humbug (1), Chapter 118 - Ophelia's Mother (1), Chapter 119 - I Decided to Seduce Daphne (1).