Chapter 257 - Brother and Sister (2/2)
Walburga didn't trust herself to speak as she simple pressed her lips into a thin line. Weakly smiling at his older sister, Alphard says, ”Do you remember all the games mother use to play with us, while I was here? I find myself recalling those long ago, forgotten times.”
Walburga's eyes flash as she recalls the mousy brown-haired woman, Irma Crabbe, that had been her mother. She must have been pretty once as their father had married their mother. But all Walburga could recall was the timid, witch who would keep her head down never rising to meet her father's gaze. That's why, Walburga had solemnly promised herself to never allow herself to be trampled by others. She would never become her mother.
Feigning ignorance, Walburga coldly says, ”I can't quite recall. It was a long time ago.”
”I see,” Alphard softly said half-understanding his sister. He never quite understood why Walburga disliked their mother.
But then again, Walburga was seven years older than him, much like he and Cygnus had been. And in her childhood, she must have seen how their father crushed the spirit out of their mother. But still, a child should never hate their parent. Yet he wasn't one to talk, he'd never forgiven their father either. The Blacks were quite good at hating others especially those members of the same family. It was an inherited family trait at this point.
Changing the subject, Alphard says, ”What did the healers say?”
”That you are to be on bed rest for a day or two,” Walburga sniffed. ”And that you are to not exhaust yourself so. Really Alphard, what can your desk job at the ministry possibly entail?”
Alphard hid a grin as an unspeakable couldn't exactly go about telling family members that. Many suggested it to their spouses, but he knew his sister. And she was a Black, through and through. ”Tis the season, and with spring upon us, various creatures are about to mate, and as such smugglers and creature sighting are about to go up,” Alphard lied with a straight face.
”Why you wanted to become an obliviator, I will never know,” Walburga rolled her eyes. ”You had such promising talent that you could have been anything you wanted. I know the Auror department would have turned you down considering your health. But still, you should have gone into law enforcement given your talent.”
Alphard hides a smile as Walburga huffs, ”But then again, things always do seem to work out for you. I thought you mad, when you asked, Orion to ensure that Georgine and Reginald Prince accepted Malfoy's invitation.”
Walburga paused as she eyed her younger brother with a suspicious gleam in her eyes. ”If I didn't know any better, Alphard, I would suspect that you knew of the attack to occur at the Malfoy Ball.”
Alphard doesn't react beyond a lonely smile and replies, ”A fierce crow told a tiny sparrow.”
Walburga snorts at the whimsical riddle and immediately put the outlandish idea out of mind. Alphard was a great deal of many things, but foolish he was not. Still, he had once been good friends with Rodolphus Lestrange, her deceased niece, Bella's husband. And whether she liked to admit it or not, her deceased niece, Bella, and her husband were intertwined with a demonic half-breed.
Alphard begins to chat with her about the children causing Walburga to immediately brighten up and forget her previous train of thought. And for a time, they chatted just like old times, before his sister had married their cousin, Orion, and had become Lady Black. Sooner or later, Lady Black would return and the distance between them as well. However, in the meantime, he'd enjoy this rare bittersweet moment. It was all he had left.