6 Ch. 6 Oopsie Riddle

All three girls seemed to notice my presence at the same time. Tracey's smile turned slightly awkward and bashful and a full on blush was on Daphne's stoic face. Astoria on the other hand jumped up off her chair and padded toward me like a little duckling.

"H-hi! Reigis right! Daph drew you so I know what you looked like. Uh, you look handsome by the way," she said almost too quickly for me to understand.

"Thanks Astoria, and you look lovely today."

A small blush appeared on her face now but it was quickly snuffed out.

"Don't lie I know I look too young. I get told that alot."

It was true that she was too young for me to actually be attracted to her, but she was beautiful.

"Tori, don't be a downer," Tracey said. "He said you look lovely and he's right."

Astoria smirked at Tracey before moving back to their little group.

All around us witches looked at me, both my age and older. Appraising me like a piece of meat, it was kind of hot.

I followed Astoria to the table where the other two stood to meet me. I had to push down my rising lust seeing Tracey's sinful body. Even with her flowing robes and dress I could still see the way her hips flared out.

"It's great to meet you Heir Gaunt."'

"And you too miss Davis, though I hope you will call me Reigis."

"Of course, same here then," she said, her infectious smile growing.

"Gotcha Tracey."

She gave me a quick hug and I felt her warmth and softness press into me.

"Reigis," Daphne said, a bit stiffly.

"Daphne, you look even more beautiful now that you're fifteen. Happy birthday."

She tried to hide her little smile, but I could see the corners of her mouth deepen.

"Thank you," she said moving in.

I opened my arms for a hug, but was surprised when her lips pressed against the corner of my mouth.

I smirked and pulled out the letter she had given me for my birthday.

"Let me check something real quick."

I bent over to Astoria and looked from her lips to the one on the page. Shaking my head slightly I moved the page over next to Daphne's head. 

"Ah, a perfect match."

Daphne's eyes widened in shock.

Astoria read the note on the letter and squawked indignantly.

"Daph! Why would you say it was me?!"

"I-I."

I saw she was panicking more than I expected so I quickly laughed it off and gave her a peck on the lips.

"So, how are we spen- oh wait, presents."

From the bag I carried I took out a book and a pair of hairclips. The book was on unusual, but useful household charms from Croatia, but the hair clips were the real prize.

"These are Fix-Me-Knots. Each one can save a hairstyle so you only need to clip it on for your hair to go into the proper shape. They will also fix any imperfections in your hairstyle that happen throughout the day. But if your hair gets too long or cut short you will need to reapply the saved hairstyle."

I noticed her need to be very prim and proper during our first meeting so I decided to get her something to help her out.

She took them, a smile spreading on her normally cold face.

"Thank you Reigis."

This time she was the one to kiss me on the lips. Though it was only a quick peck.

"I also got something for the two beautiful women accompanying you if thats all right?"

I think that meant more to her than the presents I got her.

"Of course."

"Here you go," I said to the two girls handing them each their presents.

Tracey got a new romance novel that was popular in the americas and a pair of earmuffs that would keep her entire face warm.

And Astoria…

BOOM!

A burst of pink glitter exploded in her face and when the smoke cleared both Tracey and I burst out laughing. Her skin was a deep shade of green and her hair was now sticking straight up and was colored a vivid neon pink.

She gaped at me for several moments before she began to snicker with laughter. Sadly we were then kicked out of the ice cream shop for causing such a ruckus. 

After that I handed Astoria her real present. Along with some chocolates I got her a music box where the witch and wizard inside actually moved and danced along with the music.

Her face brightened and she smiled widely at me with teeth. Which was hilarious with her forest green skin.

She jumped into my arms and gave me a wet kiss on the cheek, which left me covered in green and pink glitter.

After a few minutes the charm went away on Astoria and we continued on with our day.

I spent most of the time talking with the three sisters and learning more about them. At one point Daphne took me to the side to tell me something.

"I originally wanted to get you a more… intimate gift, but I don't think I'm ready for that. So Tracey and I agreed to wait to go all the way until we are at least sixteen. Okay."

I nodded and Daphne pointed her finger at my face. She was trying to come off as stern, but all she did was slightly scrunch up her eyebrows. It was cute.

"This doesn't mean you can just go around sticking it in muggles though, or older witches for that matter. Your virginity is mine!"

"Uh, yes ma'am."

She nodded her brow's relaxing back to her normal cold face.

"You're beautiful."

She entwined her hand in mine, giving me a deep kiss.

"Yes, my face is pleasing to look at. You have free reign to stare."

—

I was not too put off by the information that I wouldn't be able to sleep with Daphne and Tracey until next year. There was still plenty of things I needed to get used to in this new world.

My perusal through the tomes of the Gaunt family showed me a little of Blood Malediction.

Blood Malediction was a dark ritual that required many blood sacrifices of one family and the blood of the opposing family to complete. The amount of sacrifices the family completing the ritual used directly correlated with the strength and regularity of the Blood Malediction curse.

From what little probing I did I found that it was a once in a generation curse and it shortened the lifespan of the person immensely, while also making them sickly.

The current Astoria wouldn't live past forty, and even less if she had children.

As the future husband of the girl, because now I was wholly invested in the sweet younger Greengrass, I had to do my best to help her.

There were very few ways to cure a Blood Malediction, and sadly none of them were an issue of money.

One was to have the family that casted it do another ritual, this one was long and somewhat expensive, but not more so than what it took to cast it in the first place. The issue is I had no idea what family casted the Blood Malediction to begin with.

The second was for the cursed family to do their own ritual, but this was a counter blood sacrifice. Pretty much killing family to save family situation.

The third was to have whoever originally casted it, as in who led the original blood sacrifice ritual, to "forgive" the blood debt. And from what I learned that was around four hundred years ago.

I almost gave up on the last one until I remembered a specific artifact the Gaunt Family carried. The Resurrection Stone.

"Grandfather?"

"Yes boy?"

I noticed he rarely called me by my name. I didn't hate the man, despite his archaic beliefs and previous distaste. I just didn't think of him as family.

"I heard we had a family ring that had been with us for generations, I was wondering if I could see it."

The whiskey he had been swirling in a glass sloshed slightly and his face darkened.

"Can't."

"Can't?"

"No, Meropes boy, Tom, stole it before he left for Hogwarts, and when he died there the ring was nowhere to be found. We think some other bloke stole it, maybe even one of the teachers."

"Oh, damn, I'm sorry Grandfather."

"Hmm, yes. Perhaps somehow you will find it when you go, though your father never did. Tom died in the second floor girls bathroom of all places. Damned pervert."

Oh, OH. Damn, did Riddle get killed by his own basilisk? That's something I wasn't expecting. I had thought Dumbledore had noticed his dark tendencies early and had slit his throat.