Dumbledore Hall was truly a sight to behold.
It stood beside the river, hidden deep within the misty green hills near Buttermere. Its architecture was grand and imposing, built from pale, weathered stone. Several domes of varying size crowned the different towers and wings, their surfaces tinted a dull green by age. Tall, narrow windows and arches lined the façade, adding a sense of height and elegance. A wide staircase led to a large, arched entrance at the front of the Hall.
The building rose in terraces, each level supporting another rounded dome or spire, giving the entire structure a balanced and harmonious look.
Surrounded by ancient trees and the morning mist, the ancestral residence of House Dumbledore gave the impression of something ancient, resonating with magic, both majestic and secluded, quietly watching over the river as it wound its way towards the distant lake. And that was exactly what it was built to embody.
Bippo and his family excitedly waited for Gemma to take control of the ancient wards that protected the residence. The girl was working hard at it, placing her hand against an invisible barrier, with her Ring faintly glowing.
She had not done anything like this before, so she was clearly not used to it. The process was a learning experience for her, and finally, after a quarter of an hour, she succeeded.
"Come, Altair!" she excitedly called, grabbing his hand and leading him right through the wards, which, thankfully, did not expel him.
They climbed the stairs and then stood before the massive and ornate wooden door, which opened on its own, recognising the ring she wore.
A deep magical hum resonated inside the residence, and when the door fully parted, they saw a clean, pale stone entrance with the crest of the Dumbledore Family and their words written on the wall at the far end.
"Magic Iudex Est."
They stepped in, and their footsteps echoed. Soon their curious eyes were wandering everywhere. This place was just as new for her as it was for Altair.
The elves were faster, exploring the entire residence quickly, but the pair took their time, patiently inspecting every single room.
Gemma found the place just as grand as the home she had grown up in, the Sylvan Hall of House Fawley, and perhaps it was bias, but she felt that this place had a rather dark vibe to it.
She liked it, but she also found it a bit gloomy.
Of course, it was not as dark or grim as the residences of the House of Black or the House of Lestrange, but it was still somewhat sombre. Certainly less so than the dungeons of Hogwarts, but she liked those too.
Altair seemed to understand things better than her, and she was glad he was with her as he helped her discover the truly magical places.
Finally, they found the Master Study, which belonged to the Head of the House, and the young Black followed her inside under the eyes of several portraits.
"Fair, raven-hair, wine eyes, tall for a girl... You are a Fawley, child." A voice made them freeze and they turned to face the majestic and imposing old man in the portrait.
His name was written beneath in golden letters.
"Alastor Ignatius Baran Dumbledore (b. 1818, d. 1930)"
"I was born a Fawley, Great-Great-Grandfather. My name is Gemma Porpentina Dumbledore now." She bowed to the man and introduced herself.
"You are from my daughter's line. Marcella married into the Fawley family." The man smiled gently.
"From Honoria Sylvia Dumbledore too. She married late to Rodolphus Scamander, and had a daughter, who is my paternal grandmother. And I am also from the line of your niece, Sabina Valeria Dumbledore."
"Ah, little Sabina... She loved Hippogriffs more than books and married the Scamander heir. She was kind, very kind." There was a hint of melancholy in his voice, clearly deflecting the name of his other daughter, but he soon smiled again as he looked at Altair. "Raven hair, but those eyes... Black, or perhaps Morvaine."
"I am both, Lord Dumbledore." He bowed in greeting, and the old man smiled.
"From the line of Orion and Viviane, I presume?"
"Yes," he smiled, watching the man nod to himself and then look thoughtfully at his successor.
"Is he your consort, child?" Alastor enquired gently.
"Yes," she answered, a little nervous but relaxing when the man appreciatively nodded.
"Good, good, you honour your blood and you have chosen your husband wisely. Morvaine and Black are both Noble and Sacred, and they trace their history to the very creation of Magicals. The First Ones... two of the Immemorial Thirteen, created at the same time as Muggles were created. They were nobles even before Muggles had discovered fire..." He began to speak, and the more Gemma listened, the deeper her shock became.
Altair too was very surprised that Lord Dumbledore knew these details, but guessed that he must have been friends with some Morvaine ancestor. Sure enough, it turned out that his great-great-grandfather and Lord Dumbledore had been friends.
Once they started chatting, they did not pay attention to the passage of time, and before they realised it, it was late in the afternoon.
Gemma and Altair then headed to the Master Solar, which was massive and built inside a tower.
The intricate dome-shaped ceiling was layered in silver and gold, and there was a beautiful sculpture of a phoenix in the centre.
Bippo and the rest had already cleaned things up and changed the sheets in the bedroom. They had also placed the carafe and goblets, filled with slightly chilled water.
Altair poured himself some as he sat down on the rocking chair next to the fireplace and sipped it, while Gemma busied herself instructing the House-elves to clear the dressing room and the wardrobes.
She planned on later filling things up with her own belongings.
He could not help but chuckle when she came over and showed him a beautiful black and silver dress, which probably belonged to one of her ancestors.
It was truly beautiful, and he nodded without saying a word as it was perfect for the evening.
"Fruska." He called his House-elf, who appeared by his side and curiously looked around the new place. "Please bring over my suit and robes for the evening, and everything else."
"Yes, Master Altair." She bowed and disappeared, returning a few moments later with everything he had asked for.
Altair also requested her to bring over some toiletries and cosmetics, despite Gemma's protests, but she was truly grateful when she entered the bath to wash.
A lot of things had changed in the past century, and things that were considered necessities now had not even been invented back in the day.
Gemma bravely undressed right in front of him; after all, they were married now, but it was clear that she was very shy.
The young Black, to her agitation, looked all over her nakedness without any hesitation, but then to her relief, he informed her that she could bathe first.
"May I have some of your blood?" he asked before he left, and she looked at him in surprise.
"Why?"
"For a ritual, of course." He said it matter-of-factly, and she stared at him.
In the end, however, since she trusted him with all her heart, she let him create a cut on her left palm and draw blood to form a ball the size of a Snitch.
She watched in amazement as the cut was sealed without leaving a trace, and she even tried clenching her fist, which was absent of any discomfort or pain.
"Thank you." He said, and then, to her dismay, planted a kiss on her clavicle, which sent tremors through her body.
She instinctively pushed him out before closing the door, leaving him chuckling, and then Altair's eyes landed on the wand resting on the bench.
He picked it up and returned to the bedroom, soon entering his trunk that Fruska had brought over.
Once inside, he moved to the small ritual altar and drew some special runes on it with his elder wand.
These were the runes he had seen in Salazar's Wandlore, the special runes to blood-bind a wand with elm wood and phoenix feather.
Once he finished drawing all the intricate runes, he placed Gemma's wand in the centre and then started the blood-binding ritual, aided by his elder wand.
He was confident he could succeed even with his yew wand, but he wanted no errors and perfection.
The process started slowly as he tried to convince the wand to bind to its master's blood, and then, drop by drop, the blood was infused inside it.
It took a while, but the ritual succeeded, and the blood he had collected from Gemma was absorbed by her wand wood after the core had completely accepted the binding.
Her wand let out a magical hum, deep and resonant, and it looked far more lustrous than before, almost as if it had just been polished.
However, neither its colour nor design had changed. These were not the things that changed upon blood binding.
Altair did not realise how much time he had spent, so when he came out of his trunk and saw Gemma ready and waiting for him, he sighed in his heart.
He closed the trunk, and then under her curious eyes, returned her wand to her, which made her clothes and hair ruffle and let out another deep and resonant hum.
Her mouth dropped open in shock as she felt the connection with her wand, and when she lightly swung it, no accidental magic occurred.
She tested some spells, and sensing how much more potent and refined her magic suddenly was, she was amazed.
"How?!"
"Now it is truly a perfect match." He said playfully and planted a kiss on her cheek before walking into the dressing room.
When he returned, he smiled at seeing her still testing her wand, and she was still marvelling at the newfound connection.
"Happy birthday," he wished her, and she beamed a smile at him as she rushed over and tightly hugged him.
"Thank you, Altair."
"You are welcome. Now, please help me set my hair."
She happily got to work, setting his hair to her taste, and even though it took some time, he was satisfied with the result.
Both of them were dressed in black and silver, a perfect match, and after they applied a few very expensive scents, they looked at each other and shared a chaste kiss.
A few minutes past six o'clock, the two were teleported to the front door of the Rosier Castle by Bippo, where the scent of flowers from the famous Rosier Gardens filled their lungs and made them smile.
When Altair stepped forward on the stairs, he showed the magic eye on the door the invitation letter, and even though Gemma's letter was with her family, when she stated her name, the door opened on its own.
The two walked down the marked corridors of the castle with familiarity. They had been here before to attend Damien's birthday a couple of times, and also at a banquet that Lady Rosier had thrown last summer.
A few minutes later, the two entered the Hall of Roses, the main hall of the Rosier Castle, where a number of other guests were present.
It was not long before they were surrounded by friends and acquaintances, and once Lady Rosier and Laetitia were done chatting with Lady Selwyn, they approached them.
"Lady Dumbledore, Heir Black." The two ladies curtsied to them, and they returned the greeting by curtsying back and bowing.
Altair planted a kiss on Roxana Rosier's knuckles first, and then smiled at Laetitia, who offered him her hand.
As he leaned in to plant a kiss on her knuckles, he invoked the charm he had placed on his clothes, and soon colourful, luminous, and transparent butterflies of magic came to life and surrounded them, earning gasps from those who looked over and were enchanted by the beauty of the scene.
Laetitia looked around them in awe, and then met Altair's eyes, who was smiling at her.
"I wish you many happy returns of the day, Miss Rosier."
"Thank you, Heir Black." She curtsied to him and then happily received her gift.
She was clearly reluctant to place it on the table, but she had to, and it soon disappeared as her House-elf transferred it to her room.
"You may call me Altair from now on, especially at school, Miss Rosier."
"Please, call me Laetitia then, Altair. Or Leta..."
"Leta." He repeated gently, and she genuinely beamed at him.
They parted as it was Gemma's turn to wish her and give her a gift, and later the two returned to their friends and family.
Aurelia and Cho were already present, and when the music started, the little Miss Malfoy pulled Altair to the centre of the hall for a dance.
Altair later danced with Cho and even Cordelia, and was then invited by Laetitia for a dance.
He was the only one to dance with her that evening.
At the banquet, he did not eat his fill, and then politely excused himself with Gemma, Aurelia, and Cho as they had to attend another party, which was more private.
The Fawleys left too, catching a lot of attention from the Pure-bloods, who speculated about how close they were with the Black and Morvaine families.
Soon, however, those who did not know learned that Orion and Viviane were great friends with Newton Scamander and his wife, and things instantly made sense to them.
Some wished that they had been invited too, but the Morvaines were known to keep their family celebrations only for their relatives and closest friends. The old pair had no love for social gatherings anymore.
What people, however, did not pay attention to was the Greengrass Family, who took their leave after a while, but earlier than all the other remaining guests.
Of course, they had to be discreet about it because if people knew that they too had been invited to the celebrations of the Morvaine Family, quite a few of them would have tried to dig into the matter.
No one, not even one of the guests, really thought much of Gemma and Altair being very close.
Everyone knew that both of them were great friends, and they also knew that they were a Geminus Pair for this year's Geminus Cup.
At the Black Castle, the celebrations were more of a family banquet and storytelling sessions that lasted the entire night and everyone thoroughly enjoyed.
For the young Black and the new Lady Dumbledore, the next two days of the winter holidays were spent together too.
They practised for the Duelling Cup, attended Rolf's birthday party, mostly just spent time with each other as they decorated the Dumbledore Hall to their liking. It was their home now, and the home to the children they would have one day.
And of course, they spent a lot of time chatting with the Portraits in the Master Study.
Before they knew it, the time to return to Hogwarts had arrived.