Ch. 13 More Birthdays

I straightened my dress robes, taking a deep breath. Today was Daphne's birthday, and this time I was invited to a dinner with the entirety of the Greengrass family.

The issue was that Daphne wasn't the one who invited me, Tracey had. I'm not completely oblivious. For months Daphne has been distant. Even when we have a good snogging session she would suddenly pull away and start to act all closed off.

So I made a list.

She found out about Tracey sucking my dick and thinks I cheated/is jealous.

The jealous part was probably accurate, even if the cheating was not. For one, I'm betrothed to both of them, for another how else am I supposed to get girls for my Coven? Even then, with the vast gender differences in the Wizarding World it wasn't considered cheating for a wizard to sleep with any magical, only when they went for muggle women was it iffy.

She never actually liked me and was instead just tricking me so that she could stay with her sisters.

This one had some logic to it. Daphne was a Slytherin, (or she would be) so she could have faked all the intimate moments. The thing was, I just didn't believe it. For all her cold persona, she seemed like a caring individual… and I really liked her so the thought that it was all fake kind of made me sick.

She is trying to give me space to either find other girls, or get closer to her sisters because she wants them to be happy more than she wants herself to be happy.

I feel like this one made the most sense. Daphne was both a perfectionist and a giver. All of our interactions have focused more on her sisters than they have her.

If that was the case than I would need to do something about it. How do you prove that one girl is special to you and deserves attention when there is another girl choking on your cock? Shit, none of those smut harem novels really conveyed how difficult it was to keep girls happy. Especially when you didn't know what was wrong.

Once the main character collected them like pokemon the girls would just sit by and act as trophies. The girls would always be understanding, have bare minimum jealousy when the MC was dicking down others, and would act like a house-elf to appease the MC.

I took another deep breath. Okay, now for the goals of the day.

Don't make a fool of myself in front of D.A.T.'s parents.

Talk to Daphne and have there be some conclusion to the tension.

Get kisses and hopefully more. (Once you get your dick sucked once jacking off just doesn't have the same appeal.)

I nodded to myself and headed to the fireplace.

"Greengrass Manor!"

I only took two steps out of the Floo when I was slammed back into the fireplace, (which was thankfully not lit)

"Reigis!" Astoria said, rubbing her face against my now soot covered robes.

"Hey Tori," I chuckled, rubbing my sooty hand into her black hair.

"Oi! Stop that!"

"Maybe don't tackle me in fireplaces."

"It's a fiance's prerogative."

I rolled my eyes.

"Is that so?"

"Yup!"

I grinned, giving her a quick peck on a cheek.

"Well I forgive you then."

She smiled a slight reddening of the cheeks, then I took a fistful of soot and rubbed it in her face. She hacked spitting it out and giving me a glare.

"Astoria! Get out of the fireplace!" A voice yelled from across the entrance hall.

A woman who looked identical to Daphne, only with black hair and a bit older, was standing nearby, a frown on her face as she glared at her daughter.

Sophia Greengrass was an absolute knockout. Could I orchestrate Leovon's death? I'd be sure to take care of his wife.

I shook the very dark and very erotic thoughts from my head.

"Sorry Mum, I'm just excited to see my hubby."

The glare broke and Sophia snorted.

"Come on out you two. We don't have long till dinner starts."

"Uh, where's Daphne and Tracey?"

An odd look cross both the monther and daughter's face.

"Tracey is with her mother and, well, Daphne is still getting ready," Sohpia said.

"The bint has been getting ready for five hours…" Astoria muttered next to me.

"Uh, why?"

"Because she's been avoiding-"

"Astoria."

Astoria's teeth clacked shut and she rolled her eyes.

Ah, so the tension has spread to the Greengrass household then. Or maybe it originated here.

Sophia pulled out her wand and cleaned the two of us from soot and I followed the two to the dining room. I would have gone to Daphne's room, but one, Astoria had her arm wrapped around mine and was keeping up a steady stream of rambling.And second I just knew that these damned house-elves would lead me away, or literally just apparate me to the dinner table. Something about "impropriety" despite us being betrothed.

Cock-blocking cunts.

Anyway, I got to the dining room, and there were half a dozen house-elves in not a torn up pillow case bustling around, floating food to the table and making sure that all the silverware was properly placed.

A few women were there too, talking to one another or holding their young daughters. Damn, Leovon really was a lucky man. Magicals were naturally beautiful compared to muggles but god damn. He got the creme of the crop.

Damn, I probably wasn't going to be getting any awards for not objectifying women. Eh, it was their own fault for being so attractive.

The daughters however stoked a deep seeded fear in me. So many children. In one family.

I imagined me fifty years old, two dozen little girls running around, kissing boys and oh god, periods.

I shuddered and Astoria gave me an odd look.

"You okay?"

"No."

I moved quickly to Sophia, Astoria following behind with a concerned look on her face.

"Lady Greengrass, may I know where some refreshments are?"

The First Lady (This title was different depending on the type of Coven there was, IE whoever bonded to the wizard first, whoever gave the wizard a son/first child, or whoever led the Coven. Generally the wizard chose which type to have, but sometimes it was stated in bethrothal agreements.) Sophia was the first and third since the recent birth of Leovon's son.

Anyway the First Lady Greengrass also gave me a somewhat odd look and motioned to a side table with crackers, cheeses and some wines and juice.

The many wives and daughters of Leovon Greengrass circled their way through speaking with me. Some mothers talked about normal things, like my studies and ambitions, others talked about weird things like how cute their daughters were with an almost begging quality to them. The daughters were children…

More and more of them entered the dining room, and I had another terrified thought.

It was very likely that my own Coven was going to be much larger than this one. Would we celebrate every birthday like this? Even if I had say twenty-five wives, and each one had one child, thats fifty birthdays in a year, almost one a week. Fifty birthdays, fifty presents, fifty birthday dinners, twenty-five weddings, wait, did wizarding society have group weddings? It would make sense, but if the average wizard only had seven Coven members than maybe not.

This was all terrifying, maybe I should just run away, find a nice muggle woman and live in… Jamaica? Guam? Guam seemed nice. I could start a small family in Guam, only worrying about three birthdays a year.

Then Daphne entered the room and I realized I wouldn't be able to leave. Even though I had gotten to know Astorai and Tracey(the latter quite intimately.) I couldn't say that I loved them yet.

But when Daphne entered the room, her blond hair in one of those fancy stylized braids, her form fitting dress and shear robe I knew that I loved her. Her face was cool, small accents of blush and lipstick, with dark shadowey eyes that reminded me of how she seemed goth the first time I saw her. When her emotionless eyes surveyed the room and landed on me I could see a dozen small flickers of facial movements.

I couldn't leave her behind.

And Daphne would never abandon her sisters, and I wouldn't have the heart to make her.

I would stay, I would grow to love Tracey and Astoria, healing her family of the Blood Malediction. We would have many children and I might be terrified of the number, but I would still be happy at every single birthday.

Even if I was having doubts about how Daphne felt about me, I no longer had any for how I felt about her. A wide smile split my face as our eyes continued to stare into one another.

We sat down for dinner. On one side was all the wives, with Sohpia and Tracey's mom Bessy (Odd name I know) closest to Leovon, followed by Kiara (the Greengrass's sole son's mother) A few of the other mothers shot Bessy glare's, but the woman, who actually looked to be in her thirties because she was a muggle, ignored them and just asked me questions politely.

On the other side was the children of the family, however I was closest to Leovon being the visiting Heir of another family. Followed by Daphne, Astoria and Tracey.

"So Reigis, I hope you are okay with me calling you that. Are you excited about finally going to Hogwarts? I hear you are already talking to another girl, a Veela," Tracey's mother asked.

"Yes I am, and not just because of all the beautiful women there. I hear there are many secrets to the castle, not to mention how majestic it apparently looks. As for Fleur unfortunately we have not been able to meet up because of her family visiting her homeland so often. However we are planning to meet up over the summer. We exchange letters weekly, though they are mostly about inane things."

I ignored the rising anger when a woman further down the table snorted at the mention of a Veela. Remember Reigis, your entire family is bigoted, even your parents have some not-so kind views on things. Maybe for revenge you can add her daughter to the Coven. Wait ew, her daughter is three, no.

"Inane things are necessary for a good relationship. Its how you enjoy the quiet moments, talking to one another about your perfectly mundane day," Bessy said.

I liked Tracey's mom.

The meal went by rather quickly, with Daphne saying little to anyone, and nothing to me. I could tell that the parents knew something was wrong, but only Leovon looked worried. Odd, either the mothers didn't like me and were good at hiding it. Or they trusted that everything would workout.

As soon as we were dismissed Daphne turned to me, her face paler than usual.

"Reigis, may I speak with you privately?"

I tried to smile at her, but I could feel how odd it must've looked on my face.

We headed out to the gardens. Astoria tried to follow behind but Daphne gave her such a withering glare that it would be hard to ever know she loved her sister. Thankfully Tracey, who looked stunning by the way, dragged her back to the manor.

Entering a hedge maze that constantly changed, we walked in awkward silence. There was a distance between us that I didn't like.

Eventually though Daphne stopped and I followed her example.

She turned to me, her eyes as calm as ever.

"Cork."

"Huh?"

A house-elf appeared next to Daphne, his face was knarled, but his smile was soft and kind.

"Yes mistress?"

"Take me and Reigis to my room."

"Yes mistress."

We appeared in a very large room, even larger than my own. There was a large four poster bed with some of the comfiest pillows I had ever seen and a fluffy blanket over top.

Instead of saying or doing anything Daphne was just staring at me wide-eyed and breathing somewhat roughly.

Was she sick?

I inspected her more, she was definitely pale, but there were not bags under her eyes. Hell, I didn't know what sick people looked like.

Best to just move on to my list and try and figure out what was up with us.

"Daphne-"

"If I let you fuck me will you forgive me?!" she almost shrieked.

"Huh?"