"As a matter of fact, no." Replied Alexandra, turning to send a glare at the Slytherin boy who took a step back when he saw her expression. "I have not received any invitation from anybody recently. Not from a Lady Black or from anyone else." She finished, focusing her vision back on the teacher and not on the blond idiot.
"Oh, dear me!" Sighed Professor Sprout, taking a contrite expression. "My mistake, Miss Potter. I was asked by Professor Dumbledore to give you this at your breakfast." The Head of Hufflepuff took a letter on the desk and behind her, holding it for Alexandra which took it with a cold "Thank you."
The twelve-year old girl heard Draco Malfoy sniggering on her right, but alas this time this sorry excuse for a Slytherin had reasons to. Alexandra had long suspected from last year the Headmaster had taken certain liberties by naming himself as her magical guardian. Accountant Grimjaw had detailed to her in various reports how Gringotts had suspected the Defeater of Grindelwald to destroy the various financial empires from Houses he was supposed to safeguard, dividing the spoils for his allies and supporters. These suspicions had not been based on anything solid, however. There was nothing which could accuse the venerated Headmaster of Hogwarts, Grand Sorcerer and Chief Warlock from having done anything illegal.
But reading the mail of a student was not an action you could prosecute someone, if you were the magical guardian of the student in question. Alexandra raged internally, as she had been warned by Grimjaw the Headmaster had the magical knowledge and the political power to intercept her mail but until now she had not had an instance where it had happened. Now she had...and she wondered how many letters and correspondence had been seen first by a person she was still waiting her first meeting face-to-face, despite she asking Professor Flitwick to pass the remarks and message to the man. The letters with Atalanta and those sent by Gringotts were probably safe. Probably. She would have to send letters tomorrow to be sure of it, then warn Hermione, Nigel and Morag to take precautions with any mail they sent her during the holidays.
"Well, you have one hour to prepare yourself, Miss Potter, Mister Malfoy. I suggest you put to good use, take a shower and change into your best robes." Continued Professor Sprout, unaware of the storm in Alexandra's mind.
"Yes, Professor." Both the Slytherin and the Ravenclaw answered, before leaving the greenhouse.
Marching at a very fast rhythm towards the castle and trying to ignore the various insults thrown by Malfoy who was lagging behind, Alexandra opened the letter while she arrived in front of the marble stairs leading to the great doors of Hogwarts. In passing, she noticed the container and the parchment looked really similar in quality to the letters Gringotts sent. It was high-quality parchment, not the type she or anyone students used to copy their notes or even for writing their graded assignments. More in the category of marriage invitations, Ministry of Magic convocations or menus in very expensive restaurants.
The writing on it, unfortunately was exactly was Professor Spout said it was: an invitation from a certain Lady Cassiopeia Black to assist today at a 'familial meeting'. Climbing the stairs two by two, she read the location of the meeting where a formal lunch was about to take place, Black Cobra Manor. Really...weird. Why not Black Anaconda or Black Viper while they were at it? From the start, she knew betting a Slytherin had built said Manor was not worth losing her time. Apart from the two Black members Sirius and Leo Black, every member of this feared family had been sorted into Slytherin.
Entering the Ravenclaw Common Room after having solved the riddle, Alexandra ran to her room, still facing two difficulties. First, she had no clothes for the occasion. There were plenty of rumours at Hogwarts concerning the Black family. Half of them were horror stories. The rest were tales of their wealth, which was according to some of the pure-bloods Slytherin one of the most considerable in Magical Britain. One thing was sure, they were unlikely to see her arriving in T-shirt and jeans with a good eye. Okay, her arriving in clothes issued from the non-magical world would put them in a bad mood. Alas, with the invitation delivered to her on this very morning, buying what passed to be a wizarding formal attire was all but impossible. One of her nicest robes with her best cape, robe, gloves and boots would have to do.
The second issue was that she didn't know what the fuss was all about this meeting. Like this arrogant git named Draco Malfoy had remembered her, she had Black blood. What a big deal. Her grandmother on the paternal side, Dorea Potter nee Black, had indeed been part of this prestigious, dark and insane family. In fact, Dorea had also been the youngest sister of Cassiopeia Black. She had also only avoided being disowned by the slimmest of margin marrying Charlus, as House Potter had never been a family according importance or paying lip service to the purity of blood. All of this had been recorded in the archives of the Daily Prophet, proof that the marriage had made some really big waves. Alexandra wasn't anywhere in the position to claim the Lordship of the family though. Not only she didn't carry the Black name, the Ravenclaw witch was also a girl. And only a man could rule the Black family. Bigoted pure-bloods.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/Makimafic
If you guys wanna check it out.