Chapter 677 - The Birds and the Bees Sequel Ⅲ (1/2)
Finished her detailed explanation, Professor Mortimer's face becomes solemn for the first time. ”No, my Slytherins if there is nothing else that you may recall from my lesson, it is this. All it takes is a single occurrence for a female to become pregnant, and it will not be the wizard, who shall bear the shame, but the witch. It is we, who will be called whores and pointed at by polite society.” All the girls including the transfer girls nod gravely back in understanding, they had all in their lifetime borne witness to such events.
”There are several manners in which to never become pregnant. The first is typically potions used for abortion or the sterilization of one, who no longer wishes to bear children. These types of potions cannot be used lightly for they carry serious side-effects,” Professor Mortimer firmly stressed. ”The other two options are a magical forged charm to prevent pregnancy and it is at no small cost to create such a magically forged object.”
”The second is the most commonly used spell which I must stress emphatically MUST BE cast each time PRIOR to being intimate,” Professor Mortimer deliberately accentuated. ”Remember it is we, who bear the young, and the male need not to take responsibility for spreading so carelessly his seed. It is we, who bear the brunt of the sin.”
The girls all fall silent in contemplation, before Professor Mortimer says, ”Now, watch carefully. I shall cast the spell thrice. Nullus Praegnatio!” A faint mist-like glow emerges from the wand and falls onto herself in a glittering-like fashion. She repeated to show it carefully and slowly twice more, before saying, ”Now, I want to see everyone complete the spell until I am satisfied. Commence.” It was not a request, but an order.
Rowan's lips twitched in understanding at Professor Mortimer's actions. Her mind recalls a memory from a few weeks ago. It has been a rare free evening, Rowan and Severus sat in the common room peaceful working on some of their homework, while Sylvia and Tiffany read various wizarding publications, and Bethanie and Terry played a game of wizarding chess.
After a while, Tiffany raises her strawberry bobbed head and sheepishly glances around, before quietly hissing, ”Psst, Terry.”
”What?” Terry grumbled uninterested in what Tiffany might have to say as it might cost him the wizarding chess match.
”Your cousin, Professor Mortimer,” Tiffany's voiced had dropped down to a barely audible whisper.
Terry paused gazing at the wizarding chest board and glanced over at Tiffany. ”What about her?” He carefully asked causing Bethanie to glance over at their friend.
”Is it true?” Tiffany quietly asked.
With a gleam of interest in her eyes, Sylvia looks up from Seeker Weekly. ”What is?”
Curious by the undertone of the conversation, Rowan and Severus lift their heads from their homework and glance over at Terry with blatant interest. Seeing all four of his friends, which included his courting partner, Terry gestures at the door with his head. ”It's a bit crowded,” he mumbled under his breath. ”We should get a bit of fresh air.”
Terry rises closely followed by Sylvia, Tiffany, and Bethanie, while Rowan and Severus somewhat reluctantly trail after them abandoning their homework in a corner of the common room. It was chilly in the dungeon's passageway without their thick fur coats, so they cast a warming charm upon themselves.
Huddled in an empty passageway, Terry double-checks that they are truly alone, before he says, ”It happened when I was really young, so my memories aren't that clear on the subject and I only know what I overheard in passing.”
More curious than usual perhaps because she was very likely to join the Greengrass family in the future, Sylvia asks, ”So just what is it that Tiffany knows that the rest of us don't know?”
Terry sighs and says, ”Cousin Eponine didn't always look like she does now. I was very young then, but I still dimly remember her having long, silky hair, and glistening pale skin. She used to love pretty herself up, and she was the most mischievous girl out of my cousins. She was a daydreamer, and the entire family loved her for it. But I remember, she used to worry great-grandmother very much so. Great-grandmother called her naïve, an innocent fool, and she used to say that no good would come of such naivety.”
Sensing the somber undertone Sylvia glances at Bethanie before they glance at Tiffany, who shares a sad smile with them. Feeling her heart sink in her chest, Sylvia turns back to ask, ”And then what happened.”
”She fell in love,” Terry bitterly said. ”Eponine fell madly in love with a no-good-rotten rake. He charmed her and professed his love for her. She fell for his sweet words and soon lay with him. It did not take more than a couple of times, but our family's natural fertility took its course, and she found herself with child.”
Terry's voice dies off for a moment as Sylvia opens her mouth and closes it for a second, before croaking. ”Then what happened?”
Terry hissed with old fury, ”The blackguard could not cast her aside unlike those previous before her. Cousin Eponine was a pureblood by right and came from an excellent lineage. The blackguard knew he could not deny the unborn babe the right to a name nor that his parents would permit his doing so as they would have forced the two to wed.”