Carve Me Open / r.l. + s.b. /

(Lack of) Hope

Andromeda leaned closer, eyes still focused on her sister laughing on the shoulder of her lover, "How long do you think they'll last?"

Sirius took a closer look. To the average onlooker, Lucius was attentive enough. He waited on Narcissa's beck and call, bringing her a new glass of port whenever her glass was nearing the cusp of vacancy, filling her plate with jaffa cakes and biscuits she loved. Hell, she made it no secret which ones she loved, judging by how she heaped them down her throat. Yet another puppet for the Black family, Sirius thought. And to consider he might have been spared had it not been for Bellatrix playing matchmaker.

However, Sirius got bored watching his cousin shovel food down her throat and said, "You know more about them than I do."

"I know that they've been shagging behind our parents' backs for nearly two years," Andromeda whispered. "Daddy hates Lucius and his father and forbade Cissy from seeing him. Yet, here we are, celebrating their possible engagement."

Sirius visibly tensed, unsure what any of this had to do with him. Not that the story didn't make any sense; that's how most of these marriages went. For example, his very own "Mummy and Daddy."

For the most part, the Black family married for blood purity, which meant there was a revolting amount of inbreeding that made Sirius queasy. Walburga and Orion were cousins. While they were both quick to point out they were second cousins, it was all the same to Sirius. To twist the knife, Orion had also been twenty-one years older than his vile mother, marrying her at the ripe age of fifteen and a half when he had been thirty-six. Then, not even a month after their wedding came Sirius. According to Walburga, these sorts of arrangements were typical. He was aghast by the idea that he'd been the child of some hideous, perverse incestual relationship to the point he sometimes was disgusted by the very image of himself.

"Why does he hate them," Sirius asked.

Andromeda shrugged, "Maybe because Lucius's father has more money than Daddy. Maybe because he has more influence over the Ministry. It could be a load of things. I think it's mainly because he wanted Narcissa to marry Desmond Selwyn."

"That moron," Sirius gasped, letting his eyes flutter over the guests.

Desmond Selwyn was just off the edge of the crowd, drinking a glass of wine diligently. Something about him made Sirius uncomfortable, perhaps the way he eyed his idiot cousin like she was a platter of meat. He wasn't portly or ugly by any means. Just odd-looking with his hunched back and fuzzy eyebrows. Sirius conceded that the strong brow bones and low cheekbones did make him slightly ugly. Not horrendous.

"Yeah," Andromeda said into her glass, hiding her sly grin. "He's had it for her since they were kids. Narcissa can't stand him, but whenever she wants to make Lucy Lou jealous—" she must have meant Lucius—"suddenly Des shows up."

"What a bitch," Sirius shook his head, narrowing his eyes at his cousin.

He watched as Orion and Walburga surveyed the room, whispering to one another carefully. He could hear his mother now, gossiping about her niece, Andromeda, and her possible relationship with some Muggle-born man, Tonks. It'd been the latest juicy news of the summer, and it was what took up most of the dinner time conversation. None of it was about whether or not Andromeda had been happy. No, most of it was about how much of a traitor she'd been. All that talk about marrying beneath her station seemed to go in one ear and out the other, as Andromeda smiled and waved at Sirius's mother as if nothing were amiss.

"But you didn't hear that from me," she finished, directing her gaze at his approaching father. "If you get bored, find me later."

Sirius gave her a look, a silent plea to just stay a moment longer. He'd managed to remain under his father's radar in the weeks leading up to this party; it was better not to attract Orion's attention in general, but these were opportunities to marry his child off to someone else's child. Not a single person in his family had enough money or good looks to get a ring from him.