On her other side, Susan squealed. "Kitteh! Oh Merlin, Alex, her eyes look just like yours!"
She glanced behind her to see all the adults speechless. She giggled, opened the door, and allowed the kitten to climb onto her. Her eyes gleamed pure evil. Her father had never allowed her to get a cat, but she knew he couldn't refuse her this one. To do so would be a massive insult. For a moment, she forgot her mask. "Thank you, Luna, thank you."
Luna smiled. "You're most welcome, Heiress Black.
She smiled back at her. Present opening halted for ten minutes while everyone held, petted, and fussed over the little fur-ball, which she'd decided to name Amethyst. Her father had been a bit put out, but eventually gave in and even gave the kitten a good sniff as padfoot, before declaring her 'acceptable'.
"Shall we move on?" Madam Bones asked.
Lily Potter looked up from where she was holding Amethyst. "Yes, let's. Alex?"
"Actually, Lady Potter. I do have one more gift to give," said Luna.
"Oh? Two gifts?"
"Well, this one isn't really from me. She held up a more traditionally sized gift. It's from my lord." Every adult in the room stiffened.
Her head shot up, and stared at the wrapped gift.
"Luna," her father said, slowly, "do you know what it is?" "Oh yes, it's a book."
Her heart was beating faster. Another book? What was Lord Slytherin playing at? Why give it in front of everyone?
"Luna, we don't want to imply any mistrust or disrespect towards your future lord, but would you mind if we checked it quickly for magic?" "Of course not, Chief Auror Black."
Luna handed it over to her father who waved his wand over it for a few minutes. John looked on, the same intense expression he'd worn in the playroom back on his face. Eventually, her father declared it clean, and handed it to her, a look of extreme reluctance on his face.
She carefully peeled the paper away to expose the cover. She stared. She snorted. She looked at Luna, picking up her spoon for another helping of pudding, all dreamy face and innocent smiles. She looked back down at the book, then at John Potter, then back down at the book. She closed her eyes. She tried to hold it back, but she couldn't. Her shoulders started to shake.
Her father looked on, concern radiating on his face. "Alex?"
She threw the book on the table, and howled in laughter. Tears leaked from her eyes. Why was she even worried? She still wasn't sure about this courting business, but that didn't change the fact that Lord Slytherin was awesome.
The assembled group stared at the book, eyes radiating shock, concern, puzzlement, and incredulity.
John looked ready to kill.
The title read — 'The Light Side of the Dark Arts - Volumes II and III'.
— DP & SW: RiBSR —
"How did Slytherin do that?"
Alex marched beside Luna towards the black library. They'd left John and Susan back in the playroom, excusing themselves with a comment about kerfuffling scribblebugs or some such weirdness.
Luna hummed. "Is it really a good idea for me to be in the Black Library? Won't your father get angry?"
Alex scoffed. "Him? He wouldn't notice a threat to the Black legacy if it challenged him to a duel. It'll be fine." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Just don't touch any of the books on the third rows or above. And you didn't answer my question."
"The sundial beetles told him."
She stared at the blonde, eyes narrowed. They arrived at the library door. "You could just say, 'I can't reveal my lord's secrets,' you know."
"I can't reveal my lord's secrets." "Better. C'mon, something."
I
want
to
show
you
She opened the door, and the two began the winding path through the stacked and dusty shelves.
Luna walked with complete ease, and she couldn't help notice the girl didn't seem at all awed by her surrounding. "Is the Lovegood Library like this?"
"Mmm? Oh. Our library isn't quite as big as yours. It's actually only about the size of the playroom."
"Oh."
"But it has a spiral staircase around the side, and I'm not sure how many floors it has."
"What?" "Me and Daddy went on an expedition to see how high it went, but by the time we'd climbed for four days we decided to turn around."
She gawked at her reacquainted friend. "And all of that was books?"
"Oh, many of the books were copies of books from lower down. That's another reason we decided to turn around. We hadn't come across a new book for a whole day."
She imagined climbing for days in an ever-repeating library. "That sounds like it would have got frustrating."
"It was fun. We both wore hats. And we had packed lunches."
"… And, how many floors did you go up?" "Fifty."
"Fifty! You climbed for four days, and you only got fifty floors up?" "We did spend most of the time reading. It is a library."
"…"
They rounded the corner of a long aisle. "Where is this library?" "In the basement."
"In the…" Alexandra threw up her hands. "Forget it. I give up."
.
.
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