Chapter 137 - – Malfoy Betrothal Ⅱ (1/2)
The pale-faced witch had a batch of blue running veins but still wore a shawl in the warm ballroom as if cold. Raising her gray eyes, a rare smile appeared on the old worn face as Georgine held out her arms outstretched for a hug. Warmly embracing, Dorea Potter, Georgine said, ”And just where have you been all these years, young lady?”
Dorea Potter wheezed with laughter at the blatant lie. ”Oh, I haven't been called that in many years!” Dorea wiped a tear of mirth from the corner of her eye. ”Oh, I have missed you, Georgine.”
”I know,” Georgine quietly said as she hugged the younger woman, who looked twice her years.
”Now, you, my dear don't look a day over forty despite your being fifty-seven years!” Dorea Potter exclaimed as she took a closer look.
”Why Dorea Black!” Georgine sputtered at having her age announced. ”One never discusses a ladies' age especially in public!”
”I haven't been a Black for nary, thirty-two years!” Dorea Potter chuckled as Georgine sniffed still in vexation.
”Yes, well,” Georgine protested as she glanced around. ”And what of Cassiopeia?”
”Still an unwed spinster living off the coast of Ireland,” Dorea warmly replied.
Georgine's voice dropped to a whisper as she asked, ”And Marius?”
”We keep in touch via letters,” Dorea confessed. ”After mother and father disowned him for his being a squib, another squib cousin took him. He's married and has several children with a muggle woman.”
Georgine sagely nodded her head as she remembered the sweet gray-eyed boy that was her first crush. But some things were meant to be or rather at that time her pride hadn't allowed it. Quickly changing the subject, Georgine snickered, ”I haven't seen Pollux?”
Dorea chuckled and waved her finger at Georgine. ”Now, Georgine,” Dorea teased. ”If I didn't know any better, I'd say, you liked my eldest brother given your endless fixation on fighting with him.”
”I should have broken his jaw instead of his nose,” Georgine huffed as she recalled the bottom touching incident in her fifth year with the seventh year Pollux. She'd always hated the lustful bastard since he'd gotten the 15th-year-old, Irma Crabbe pregnant while he was merely 12 years old. Walburga Black, his eldest daughter was born when he was merely thirteen! It wouldn't have been so bad if both were forced to leave, but Irma was the only one to drop out of Hogwarts, while Pollux continued attending Hogwarts and even graduated.
And to make matters worse it certainly didn't help that Cygnus, his now-deceased youngest son followed exactly in his father's footsteps. Successfully impregnating the older Druella Rosier girl, while he was only twelve for Druella to give birth to their first-born daughter, Bellatrix, when Cygnus was only thirteen years old.
Dorea loudly cleared her throat causing Georgine to come to in an embarrassment. Mildly mortified at having lost herself in her own private thoughts, Georgine swiftly says, ”But I was asking because Pollux is the grandfather of the bride to be.”
”Bellatrix was always his favorite granddaughter,” Dorea said as she avoided meeting Georgine's eyes due to the rumors surrounding her great-niece's death. ”But I fear that his health had already begun to wane, and the final nail in the casket was Cygnus's death. He, after all, my brother's youngest and favorite son. And unlike Alphard, who has always been sickly since he was a child, Cygnus was always so strong and healthy. Pollux fully expected to outlive Alphard, but not Cygnus. I'm afraid he's been rather ill since then.”
Even Georgine wasn't callous enough to mock her childhood nemesis over the death of his family members. ”Well, I've spotted Walburga and her husband, Orion. But I have yet to see Alphard, have you?”
”Oh, yes, I saw my nephew hiding out in the Malfoy foyer before. But I'm sure he's out and about here somewhere,” Dorea explained as she waved her hand at the vast multitude of guests.
Georgine finally hesitantly asks, ”And your son, Charlus?”
Dorea pales as she reaches over to grasp onto Georgine for strength lest she falls. ”I'm so sorry, Dorea, I didn't know!” Georgine said aghast as she led Dorea to the wall to have a seat. Quickly fanning Dorea, Georgine grabs a glass of cider for Dorea to drink.
”I'm fine now,” Dorea tiredly said as moisture filled her eyes. ”It just still hurts to talk about the subject with Charlus passing away at the same time.”