Chapter 51: Life changing decision
“It’s not a joke isn’t it?”
“No.”
Lily and Rick were sitting on a conjured bench in the garden of the manor. They needed time alone to talk about the request his mother, uncle and aunt had made to him. Saving the House of Black. While Rick didn’t care much about it, his mother did and that made him consider actually helping. The problem that came with the request was the need for him to marry someone else after marrying Lily.
“I wish it was but no, it’s not a joke.”
“... You know, having fun together in bed with another woman was one thing but this…”
“I know.”
“She has to be pureblood too. Not only would the marriage be arranged, which would make you both unhappy if not downright miserable but you’d be happy with me making her the only one unhappy and miserable. That’s… a disaster in the making. That is if you accept.”
“If I accept, yes.”
“And?” she insisted, not having gotten a definite answer.
“And… I’d like to say… It’s your choice. If you don’t want me to, I won’t do it.”
“But?”
“But I’m not some weak-willed guy that needs to let the other make the decision in his place. I want to help my mom, I really do. But not at the cost of our happiness together. I won’t-”
“You should do it.”
Rick wasn’t sure he heard her properly. It was inconceivable to him that Lily would want him to marry a second time. It meant double duties for him which meant less time with her. He wasn’t even counting the fact that he would also be a Lord. One that needed to clean his house and fast. Even more duties.
“You have an idea on who you want me to marry.” The thought crossed his mind after a bit. He knew his fiancée well. “Amelia.” She had at least the decency to blush at being caught. If he didn’t know how much she loved him, he would worry about his sister in everything but blood being competition.
“She’s the best choice. You love, respect and trust each other.”
“And that she’s the most gorgeous woman you’ve ever met doesn’t play a part at all, huh?”
“She’s not. Your mother is.”
“I KNEW IT!”
“Can you blame me?! Gosh! Your mother with Amelia’s curves." She was lost in lalaland now. Picturing the sight, she would have drooled if not for her biting her lower lips in desire. He had to bump her shoulder with his to get her back to reality.
A frown marred his face. “Lily, be serious. This is a life changing decision that will affect us until we die.”
“I am serious.”
“Didn’t sound like it.”
Lily took a deep breath. “Look. You being Lord Black, second wife aside, will give you access to even more wealth and power. You can use it to fight and make things better in the magical world. You would have a foot among the dark faction and maybe change a few things.”
“...” he didn’t know what to say. Her arguments were sound and logical. From a practical perspective, him being the Lord of House Black was for the best. “You really want me to do this.”
“I do. Rick… Things are not getting better out there. They’re getting worse. We can’t pass on an opportunity like this. We need this. We won’t ever have a happy life if that asshole wins.”
“We could leave for the States. There are Potters there.”
“Rick.” the way she said his name didn’t leave any doubt at what she wanted nor let him joke around anymore. Sighing, he gave up.
“Not very ‘Gryffindor Forward’, I suppose…. I just wanted to spend my life with you happily without…. Without…”
“Me too. But that’s life, you know that better than I do.”
“Yes.”
Silently agreeing to his family’s request, he took Lily in his arms. He needed to feel her embrace to be reassured because he knew that things would irrevocably change from now on.
The intimate moment was interrupted by two hoots and two letters being dropped on their heads. Pulling back from each other, they shared a complicit glance and began to laugh. Looking down they saw the letters were from the Ministry. Their NEWTs results. Standing up, they walked back inside the mansion while holding hands. His parents were in the living room. His father was playing a soft tune on the guitar to his mother who was all smiles, amused more than anything by her husband's attempt at serenading her. After two years of practice, Charlus had gotten quite good with the instrument even though there were some mistakes here and there. Dorea didn’t care one bit however, she just loved the effort he had put in this hobby for her. She loved the song too and even his relatively bad singing voice.
“Oh, please, say to me~
You'll let me be your man~
And please, say to me~
You'll let me hold your hand~
You'll let me hold your hand~
I want to hold your hand ~”
Rick watched with fondness his parents. A glance at Lily told him she wanted that too one day and he mentally sighed. Learning to play an instrument was not something he ever thought about but if the result was his mother’s expression on his own future wife’s face then he will learn.
When Charlus was done, Dorea pounced on him, pushing him on his back against the couch and straddled him to give him a very loving kiss. Pulling Lily close to him, Rick let his head rest on the top of her head. At the same time she melted in the embrace. Finally, when the older couple broke it off, they had a dopey smile while looking into each other’s eyes.
“Charlus Potter, if you wanted to drop my garments off, you succeeded.”
“Yeah, no. Do that in your room please.”
““Corvus!”” The married couple turned their heads to see their son and Lily standing at the entrance of the living room.
“It’s fine. We’re getting out of the manor soon. Just think of cleaning the furniture afterward.” teased Lily.
“We’re not-”
“Don’t care, mom. Our NEWTs results are here.” he waved the letter from the Ministry in front of himself.
In a blink of an eye, Dorea was in front of her son and the letter opened in hand. The pride of his results showed on her face.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and WizardryNastily Exhausting Wizarding Test Results
This document certifies that the candidate (named below) completed their Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (NEWT), conducted by the Wizarding Examination Authority (dependant of the Department of Magical Education) and achieved the following results:Candidate: Corvus Matthew Potter ( formerly known as Rick Wald )
Examination Period: June 1978
Pass Grades:
Outstanding (O)Exceed Expectations (E)Acceptable (A)
Fail Grades:
Poor (P)Dreadful (D)Troll (T)
Alchemy: OAdvanced Arithmancy: OArithmancy: O
Astronomy: O
Care of Magical Creatures: OCharms: ODefense Against the Dark Arts: O
Divination: O
Herbology: OHistory of Magic: O
Muggle Studies: OPotions: O
Study of Ancient Runes: OTransfiguration: O
Number of NEWTs obtained : Fourteen
Comment: Mister Potter has achieved outstanding results, beating the previous record of ten NEWTs held by Albus Dumbledore since 1899. Never have I seen nor heard such an impressive feat of magic in more than a hundred years as an examiner. I’m curious to see what good Mister Potter will do to the world with his rarely seen talent.
Griselda Marchbanks,Governor of the Wizarding Examination Authority
“Playing quidditch professionally, that’s what.”
“Corvus, are you sure?” The concern in his mother’s voice was genuine. He had told his parents about it when he got back from Hogwarts and they didn’t say anything, thinking it was just a passing idea.
“Yes… I’ve been studying and doing research for seven years non-stop. I’d like to take a break. It’s not like I’m missing something, mom. Let’s be honest I could pass my mastery in potion, charms, runes and arithmancy right now if I wanted. I'm that far beyond.”
“True. I just hope you don’t come to regret that choice.”
He gave her a reassuring smile and let her keep his results. They would end up in her lab, framed on the wall next to his OWL results.
“Before we go, there is one more thing you need to know. Lily and I… I agree to your request.” Quite contrary to his expectations, his mother didn’t smile but instead gave him a sad look. “You should thank Lily for convincing me for doing it.” That piece of information surprised her and she looked in askance at her future daughter-in-law who simply winked at her. Without anything more to say the engaged couple got inside the floo and went to the Leaky Cauldron to start a date in muggle London. He desperately needed to take his mind off things for a while.
He did that the entire week until it was time for him to go to work. After giving a goodbye kiss to his redhead he took the floo to the Cauldron and used the Knight Bus to get to Montrose in Scotland. Following the directions he was given by Angus Wilson, his recruiter, he actually found himself flying to the center of Montrose Basin where the stadium of the team and where they were training was. He wasn’t the only one going there and saw a few people ahead of him. They all landed on a cleared area on top of the stadium above the water.
At the landing zone there were even more people. Once on firm ground he greeted people with a nod and walked to Wilson who he had noticed when he was up in the air. The man was sitting at a small table and fumbling with documents and writing in them as he listened to a woman in her twenties who was leading a small line of people. Rick got in line and waited patiently for his turn. Since Wilson only took the name, and choice of post the candidate wanted to try for, the wait wasn’t long.
“Name?” he didn’t even raise his head to look at the person he was interviewing.
“Rick Wald.”
Immediately the Magpie’s recruiter pulled out his head from his papers and looked at Rick. Recognition on his face, he smiled.
“Ah heard 'twas Potter noo. ”
“It always has been, I just didn’t know it. Either way is fine.”
“Potter it's then. Fur th' publicity. Anyway, it's guid tae see ye 'ere bairn.”
“Worried I might have gone somewhere else?”
“A bawherr.”
“You shouldn’t have. My head of house would have killed me. Especially if I went to Puddlemere.”
“Yer heid o' hoose? ” asked a confused Wilson.
“Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall.” Rick smirked and made Wilson laugh.
“A true scots lassie she is tae send ye oor wey. Ah will send her a ta gift.”
“Tickets for the team’s games would do, I’m sure. Now what? Where should I go and what should I do?”
“Wance ah process a' they got somehin recruits we're gaun doon tae th' pitch fur th' tests. Sin we scouted ye, ye dinnae need tae bygae th' preliminaries, ye'r awready th' gang. Ye'r nae th' starter seeker yit though. Ye'll hae tae prove yersel' in th' air against th' ithers seekers. Honestly ah wanted ye tae stairt. Reid is guid bit he's getting auld, his performance fur th' lest tae years hud nae bin at th' tap o' his gam. Unfortunately coach Campbell didnae see it that wey. He saw ye speil 'n' wis impressed bit he's th' fair kind o' guy. Ye git whit yer earn by workin' solid.”
“My kind of man, then. It will just give me more credit when I become the starting seeker at the end of the day.”
“That's th' spirit, bairn.”
Rick went to the side and waited a bit for Wilson to process all the participants. Thirty minutes later he was on the pitch’s grass in his playing gear. Looking up he was observing the seekers who were competing for catching the most snitches. Two were already drunk as hell and it was not even ten in the morning, five more were absolutely horrible, either as a flyer or as a seeker. Two were decent but wouldn’t make the cut in his opinion. The last one was quite good but far from ever besting him.
After an hour break to properly study the results and discuss them with the coach and his assistants, Wilson announced who failed and who got to move to the second phase of the tests. They were screams of joy and despair alike and Rick felt bad for the latter but that was life. There were winners and losers.
Fifteen minutes after that, the Montrose Magpies showed up ready to fly. While Rick was not really impressed as he didn’t know who was who, a few of the candidates were ecstatic. As groups began to form to hear what each test was about, Wilson took Rick apart for a bit.
“Ah vouched fur ye bairn. Dinnae mak' me a liar.”
“I’m only responsible for my expectations, sir. In this case though, you can rest easy. No one will call you out for lying at the end of the day.”
“Guid.”
Rick listened to the test, a simple game situation. One team against another. Out of the twenty one players on the team, starters or benchwarmers, a few posts were available for different reasons. Mainly because the contract was soon ending in some way. Either the time on it was almost over or because someone wanted to terminate it. The latter usually implied retirement, being recruited by another team or simple dismissal because the player wasn’t delivering on the field. As he took the air, Wilson joined his colleagues.
“So that’s the boy you told me about, hm?” inquired Callus Campbell. He was really curious when Wilson came back from a game at Hogwarts and said ‘Coach, ah think ah fun th' future best seeker in th' world.’
“Aye. Ne'er seen sic a guid seeker. Tis liek he wis born wi' a broom in haun.”
“We’ll see.”
And see he did. For the rest of the day, after multiple matches and changes in the teams’ composition, Rick completely dominated his opponents. For some it was easy, for others like Reid it was a bit more difficult but there was no contest.
“I guess the team got my replacement.” Reid said with a smile on his face when he landed and went to the coach.
“You think so?”
“Even you, know, coach. I spoke a bit with him, good lad. In for flying and the challenge, not the fame and glory.”
“Hm…”
“Come on, coach. No matter how much of a fan of me old Morrison is, quidditch is quidditch. I’m past my prime and am dragging down the team. It’s time for new blood.”
“You don’t mind being a reserve?”
“Nah. Quite good with it really. I can still give advice to the lads and get paid for it. As for flying… Been doing it for three decades now, time to put down the broom professionally.”
“... Very well.”
“Eh! We’re going to wreck Puddlemere this year.”
Coach Campbell didn’t say anything but he agreed. The team had been solid for the past few years but Reid’s age showed. They always did top five but never first which was a bit problematic. Especially with the Harpies getting two new excellent players in as many years and giving everyone a hard time.
Finishing his review of all the players, Campbell gathered them all and gave them the results. He was nothing but encouraging to the one who failed.
“You may not have made the team but you got that far. That means you have the potential to play professionally, so don’t give up and train hard for next year.”
When Rick got home, Lily outspeeded his mother somehow and asked how that went. The victorious smile he gave her said everything she needed to know and she shouted in joy at his neck, giving him a kiss.
“I knew you’d made it!” she was out of breath after she pulled away from him.
“Congratulations, son!”
This time it was his mother who took him in her arms to congratulate him then his father’s turn.
“Now, I’m sure it won’t be long before you become a starter.” said Charlus.
“If by ‘won’t be long’ you mean ‘now’ then yes.”
“You… Already?!”
“Yep.”
“We’re doubly celebrating tonight!”
Charlus put some music on and everyone had fun dancing before and after dinner. In the case of the latter, Lily had simply rode him for a couple hours with how happy she was.