Who is it?" He snapped, his fury palpable in his voice.
"Alex Timirus," Drafel replied with a solemn face.
"Alex Timirus," Antonio mumbled in a low voice. He was not unfamiliar with the name. In fact, he was very familiar with it.
Alex Timirus had been classmates to Antonio and Aurora at Hogwarts. He was a student of the Slytherin house, and Antonio remembered the man quite well. He also remembered certain events that had taken place at Hogwarts.
The Timirus family was a typical, old fashioned and conservative pure blood family. Condescending. Arrogant. Racist and hateful towards what they considered inferior blood, i.e., the half bloods and the Muggle born witches and wizards.
The Timirus family was not a very powerful or influential family. At best, it could be considered on the same level as the Bones family and the Greengrass family. But one thing stood out about the Timirus family. Their ambition and hunger for power. Timirus family had risen to their power, status and influence in the past three generations. And the same greed, same shrewdness and the same cunningness was drilled into the subsequent generations.
Despite having a thought process similar to the Malfoy family, sharing the same ideologies and the same ideas about the wizarding society and culture, both families had constant friction between them.
Antonio was not very knowledgeable about the internal dynamics and politics among the pure blood families, and certainly not between the Malfoy and Timirus families. But one thing was certain, and though no one wanted to talk about it, it was well known that the Timirus family wanted to replace the Malfoys as the figurehead of the so called conservative pure-blood, or dark, faction.
He also has had no idea that Timirus family or probably Alex Timirus only, had submitted to Voldemort. Even so, knowing about their nature, he was not really surprised about this fact.
Antonio certainly did not know how the dynamics might have changed after the involvement of the Dark Lord, but he was also sure that even if Voldemort might have reined in both families, he would not have been able to wipe away the ambition of the Timirus family or the friction between the two families.
And then came Alex Timirus. As stated, the man had been their classmate at Hogwarts. He was just like his family. Sharp minded but arrogant.
And Antonio did remember a certain thing about Alex from Hogwarts. Alex had wanted Aurora. Not in a way one would call love, but out of pure desire for fulfilment. As an object. As an achievement that he could brag about.
All of this had started in their fifth year. Alex had constantly tried to get Aurora's attention and draw her close to him. He would repeatedly approach her, trying to force her to become his friend and more. He was constantly rejected and pushed away by Aurora but would not relent.
In fact, he had even tried to use his status as a pressuring tactic to make Aurora agree. Only an intervention from Flitwick had reined the man in. Certainly, he had not stopped completely, but he had also not crossed the boundary.
And now, after all those years, the man was once again at Aurora's door. And since he had had no contact with her in the past few years since graduating from Hogwarts, Antonio was not sure if Alex had been harassing her even after Hogwarts.
"And your father agreed?" Antonio questioned, his voice almost icy cold.
"Yes," Drafel mumbled, his eyes gazing downward. He was not daring enough to look Antonio in the eyes.
"And you could not oppose his decision?" Antonio asked again.
"I tried…" Drafel stammered. "But my words do not really have any value in front of my father. My brother… Trafel Sinistra, he is next in line to become the Sinistra lord."
"And, I assume," Antonio continued, "that her wedding will take place after two weeks?"
He completely ignored Drafel's explanation about his incompetence.
"Yes," Drafel replied. "Thirteen days, to be exact."
"And Aurora is a prisoner in her own house?" Antonio pressed.
"Yes," Drafel nodded again.
"But apart from being not allowed to go out of the house or to contact or communicate with anyone, she is facing no issues at all," he quickly clarified, not wanting to anger Antonio unnecessarily.
"Good," Antonio said. Whether it was a compliment or a sarcastic taunt, only he knew.
Drafel did not say anything and continued sitting awkwardly. The vibe emitting from Antonio was making him nervous and frightened too. The atmosphere was almost suffocating. And Drafel was almost on the verge of collapse.
"You can leave, Mr. Sinistra," Antonio said abruptly after a couple of moments.
Drafel was almost shocked as he looked speechlessly at Antonio. He had been hoping they would discuss some kind of plan to deal with the issue, to rescue Aurora. To see some kind of outburst and angry reaction from Antonio.
He had not expected such a reaction from Antonio. Drafel wanted to argue, wanted to question if Antonio would even rescue Aurora, but the dry expression on Antonio's face sucked away all the courage he had been able to muster.
He did not say a word and simply got up and started to leave. He had no other option. He was about to step out of the main hall when he heard Antonio's voice.
"And Mr. Sinistra," Antonio said, "tell Aurora that she need not worry. I will rescue her before she is forced into anything against her desire."
A smile of happiness appeared on Drafel's face as he gave a bright nod.
"Yes, Lord Olario," he said, and then happily departed.
Meanwhile, a fuming Antonio was left behind in the house. He was using all his Occlumency to keep calm and not go to the Sinistra mansion, forcefully barge into the manor, and rescue Aurora. He wanted to see if he could find a 'legal' way to rescue her. If not, the first option and his wand was always available in his hands.
And if someone dared to intervene, be it Raphael Sinistra or Alex Timirus, they would face his wrath.
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