Prospects and Brothers (Christopher)

Guest

Two more days before she could go back to her own place. Serafina kept count, and after the little battle of wills in the squash court, she was more than ready to go back to some peace and quiet, where the only thing she had to worry about were her studies and boys. For now, though, she had to play nicey nice and act all big sister-y. The latter wasn’t something she really minded - she did, after all, have some form of love towards her siblings - but the former irked her to no end.

Family drama and politics was not something she particularly liked to dabble in, not because she didn’t understand, but because she was above it all. It was also partly due to the fact that Serafina knew being back would only mean one thing - legible men. While her parents had respected (or rather, were forced to go along with) her desires to pick the male she married, and the family she married into, that did not mean they removed themselves from the process altogether.

And so, a couple days after Christmas, one of her servants knocked on her bedroom door with a note from her parents. A prospective male was coming to visit, and she was to meet him in exactly twenty minutes. With a sigh, Serafina sent off the servant with a reply of her own - that she would be in the foyer at the exact time stated - and set about getting ready.

Going through her wardrobe, she couldn’t help but smirk to herself as she picked the dullest dress she owned, one that highlighted nothing, and yet seemed to be just a tad too showy. It was a dress she had bought specifically for occasions like this, and she had never had the chance to wear it till now, and so it was still brand new.

Not bothering to do her hair, she slipped on a pair of heels and closed the book she had been reading, and made her way down to the foyer of their estate. Entering exactly on time, Serafina barely glanced at the male, instead moving to her dad and embracing him in a hug, giving him a kiss on either cheek. Introductions were then made, the same old usual spiel given, and then Serafina was left with the male - a 24 year old by the name of Franklyn who looked, if it were possible, duller than his name was.

She smiled politely at him for a moment, and then said, “So, Frank - I may call you that, I hope - tell me about yourself. Might you be in a University?”

At the notion of studying, he seemed taken aback, something that was already a bad sign in her books. He shook his head. “Why would I need to go there? I’m already smart enough,” he boasted, and it was at this point Serafina leaned back in her chair, already having lost interest. “I’m the heir of…” his words droned on and on in sentences that she didn’t bother to listen to as he talked about himself, and wished she could find a way to end the meeting early.

Guest

After the explosion of Verena's Chris had been smug, to be quite honest. Yes, Serafina had come and stuck her nose in to their business, but he had won the argument on the most part, and their father's capabilities has been questioned. Christopher didn't care though, he was just happy with winning.

Today was another day though, and Christopher had overheard that a prospect was coming over. At the age of fifteen, Christopher wasn't too keen on the idea of marriage - it was his duty, yes, but he wasn't keen on it - so he was amused at the idea his parents were still trying to get Serafina to play ball. Which, she wouldn't Christopher knew that. His parents were misguided in that respect.

Chris had just finished his morning lesson - riding in the grounds with his tutors and practicing polo. His shirt was a little muddy from the ride, but Christopher felt great in that moment. Sports always made the boy happy, and there were no shortage of them in his life. As he walked through the house - his riding boots leaving marks on the carpet as he hurried towards the room his sister was meeting a prospect - Christopher ignored the concerned words of the staff telling him Serafina was busy.

Like he cared?

The footman at the door of the meeting room faltered upon seeing Christopher walking towards it, dallied for a moment, before pulling it open for the heir of the Richardson family. "Sister!" Christopher greeted, giving her a smile that insisted she would owe him later. "I'm not interrupting, am I? It's just my horse, you see, terribly uncertain at the moment. And I just know you'd be able to help me sort him. The staff have tried... Oh." Christopher paused, making a meal of noticing the company she had.

"My apologies, I did not know you were entertaining. I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" He asked once more, raising an eyebrow at the man in the room.

Guest

"...but, of course, I shan't bore a lady with politics," Frank concluded. What he had said before, Serafina was not all too sure, but it hadn't been interesting.

Smiling a curt, polite smile that was void of any true emotions other than sheer annoyance, she put complete innocence in her tone as she said, "Why, from that statement, Frank, one could assume you think females shouldn't be kept in the know." She paused to smile again. "Of course, I'm sure you didn't mean that."

Franklyn blinked, staring at her as though she had two heads, and then seemed to catch himself. "Why would a lady need to bother with politics?" he blurted.

At once, her smile froze, and a cold look took over. Wrong answer, she thought to herself, eyeing him with a look that conveyed that things were over. However, the clock on the mantle still told her she was expected to be there for at least another twenty minutes. She held in a sigh, and instead played around with words in her head, trying to find something that was harsh and yet did not sound as such.

Just then, the door opened, and, in surprise, Serafina turned to see her brother saunter in, covered in mud and absolutely filthy. Her eyes darted down to his shoes, and winced slightly at the sight of the mud on the carpets.

"Sister!"

The smile told her he knew exactly what he was doing, but Serafina gave him no inclination of that, instead saying, "Brother, you're tracking mud all over mother's carpets." She put a bit of irritation in her tone, as though annoyed at the interruption, although she was sure that Christopher would not buy it for a second; he was the intelligent one among her three younger siblings, and there was no denying he had come to 'save' her, having heard she was forced into a meeting - probably through one of the servants, no doubt.

True enough, his next words confirmed her suspicions, but she played along, feigning a look of surprise, followed by slight concern. As Chris turned to look at her sorry-excuse-for-company, she stood. "You did, but it's no big matter. We were just about finished anyway. Isn't that right, Frank?" At her last statement, she turned to glance at the male.

Not bothering to wait for an answer, she looked back at her brother. "We best go, Christopher. I dare not think what Aphrodite might do to our stable hands if she is in one of her moods."

Already starting towards the door, she made a gesture for Christopher to move. At the last second, she glanced over her shoulder at Frank. "Thank you for your visit. Someone will show you out shortly. My deepest apologises for having to cut short our discussion. I am sure we would have had decent conversation at some point, had this emergency not cropped up so suddenly." Dipping her head in a polite manner, she offered the male one last smile and left the room.

Once the door closed behind her, and she was enough steps away, she let out a light laughter. "Aphrodite misbehaving, Christopher? She is the most well behaved horse we own," she commented.

Guest

"Brother, you're tracking mud all over mother's carpets."

"I am?" Christopher asked, looking behind him only as a play for the man in the room. He'd known and he hadn't cared for a moment, that was precisely why they had servants, maids and all the other household staff. To clean up after him. After all, what was the point in giving them a job if he couldn't use them at any time? "I'm sure it'll be gone before mother sees." He added with a cheeky grin, showing how much he really cared in that moment.

The small play that they put on was enough to get Serafina moving from the room, Christopher playing at pretending to be worried about Aphrodite despite there being nothing wrong in the slightest. Aphrodite was Christopher's prized horse, the most well behaved of the lot. He knew how to work with her, and she was a calm filly, happy in his presence and led easily by his hand. By now, she would be chomping on her large hay bale that she was treated with at the end of a long, hard ride. Only the finest, of course.

As the door closed behind the two of them, Christopher allowed the smile that he'd been holding back to grace his lips. Truly magnificent that display had been, in his eyes, at least.

"Aphrodite misbehaving, Christopher? She is the most well behaved horse we own,"

"It didn't have to be true, Sera!" Chris responded warmly, joining in with her laughter in that moment. "And, you don't have to thank me for saving you from that oaf, it's not as if I have anything better to do." He teased, before taking her in. "You look truly awful, you know that, right? That dress is so... bland in comparison to your other dresses. You're really going to frighten every single man away that they throw towards you, aren't you?"

As much as Christopher didn't like to get involved with Serafina's views, he couldn't help but worry as to what her future was going to hold if she continued in this manner. His own wife was hardly going to be accommodating if Serafina was still mooching around the Richardson manor when the time came, was she?

Guest

Holding back a legitimate sigh at his answer, Serafina merely smiled in return and replied, "Make sure of it, or you will never hear the end of it. You know how she gets." It wasn't necessarily polite to talk about one's family in front of visitors, but Serafina was beyond caring; besides, it wasn't as though she was ever going to see Franklyn again. He was so far gone that she honestly did not even care that he was in the room anymore.

"It didn't have to be true, Sera!"

She inclined her head a little, as though pondering this statement, then shrugged, something uncharacteristic of a Pureblood female - but she was among family, and it wasn't as though she was a perfect model of one of those, anyway. "Chris, by the time you've finished at Hogwarts, you'll come to appreciate the wisdom and benefits in true lies," she offered him, tone matter of fact and nothing more; she was not telling him off, nor was she saying she was wiser. Serafina was simply telling him what she knew.

"You look truly awful, you know that, right?

Looking directly at him, she offered him a large smile, as though genuinely happy with his words. "Compliment accepted, brother," she said dryly. Sarcasm and snark were not things her parents or ex-tutors approved of, but in all honesty, Serafina did not care.

She made a show of glancing down at what she was wearing, and let out a laugh. "Merlin, I do, don't I? It was on sale, too, which probably explains it. I wouldn't even call it a dress. Well, it's served it purpose, in any case." She shook her head, amused. "I will, as long as the ones they throw are as ignorant and as bland as this... piece of fabric I have on."

Serafina paused, let out a long-suffering sigh, and then said, "He doesn't even read, Chris. Why would I want anything to do with someone like that?"

Guest

"Make sure of it, or you will never hear the end of it. You know how she gets."

Christopher had to hold back the roll of his eyes in that moment. If it wasn't his mother nagging, it would be Serafina. And it was only a carpet, so who in Merlin's name cared about that? Christopher didn't care about something so replaceable as a carpet, that much was for sure, and he would never understand why his mother, or Serafina might either. But he remained quiet, because he knew, quite simply, that he would not win an argument on that much.

The idea of true lies that Serafina brought up when they were alone, however, confused the Ravenclaw. How could a lie be true? Or a truth be a lie? He wasn't really sure in that moment, it seemed like one of the impossible things in the world. A small crease of confusion touched his forehead as he thought about it, but, upon not being able to come up with an answer, he let it go. There would be another time to work out what Serafina was going on about, and right now was not it.

As Serafina admitted she would be getting rid of every suitor that was deemed bland in her books, Christopher couldn't help but smile and shake his head. It was mild amusement for his sister's antics. Some times he wasn't sure if she truly understood what it was to be a Pureblood. Or, whether she didn't understand the role of the women in their family (Christopher's view was still leaning towards the normality of their society, though he understood Serafina's to a point). "You're going to end up like one of those Muggle stories... The crazy old cat lady?" He questioned trying to remember if he had described it right. "Left all on your own with a million cats for company." He mused, wondering if the cats would stay with Serafina with her high standards she set for others.

Though, the last thing she told him was what confused Christopher the most. "How... can a man in our world not read..? How can he possibly think he'll be of any use if he doesn't!" Christopher asked, exasperation flickering in to his tone as he tried to understand how the man could possibly think that. "Was he brought up with wolves like the myths of Rome?" He asked, before letting out a laugh that showed how worried and rather disgusted he was at the thought of a man not reading when in their position.

Guest

His comment merely made her laugh. "You would disown me if I so much as looked at a cat, now that you have that idea in your brain," she teased, not offended in the least. With another short laugh, she started walking again, trusting that Christopher would follow. After all, there was no point standing in the foyer when there were other places they could be.

Besides, she wasn't planning to stick around for Franklyn's departure. No, he wasn't worth that, and Serafina did not particularly want anything to do with the male. Nodding at the butler as she passed him, she said, "My time with our guest is up. Please make sure he is shown out."

No questions were raised as the butler moved to follow her instructions, and Serafina let out a soft sigh at her brother's next words. "Exactly!" she said, finally allowing the irritation she had so carefully been hiding away to show in her tone. "He said - and I quote - that he learns all he needs from observation, and that he could learn more in an hour of social interaction than he could from the pages of a novel."

She shook her head in disgust. "I wanted to tell him that both are equally as vital, but of course, I had to play host and bite my tongue." Serafina sighed again. "After all, a female shouldn't speak out of turn," she added, quoting what she had been told so many times growing up. It was a frustrating thing she did not believe, but it was what was expected of her, and if she were to remain in the good books of her parents, she had to abide by those rules whenever they were looking.

And as much as she trusted Christopher, she never knew what he would relay to their parents. No, it was too dangerous to try him for the time being. So instead, she changed topic.

"Really, brother, where do our parents find the males? In some shady corner down at Knockturn Alley?" she complained. Anybody else, and she would have watched her words. But even though Chris was the heir, he was her brother, and she was making sure he understood just how stupid it was to thrust random males at a female.

She would change the way things worked if it was the last thing she did.

Guest

"Only if you were becoming much too attached." Christopher responded to her quip about the cats. Because that would set alarm bells off in his head. To Chris, Serafina only thought of herself - he didn't resent her for that - because he hadn't had much experience of her caring for others. He knew, of course, that his sister was not heartless, just not openly caring. Not in his personal experience, anyway.

Though, Christopher took that with being the only boy.

The heir of the Richardson family followed his older sister thought without second though, traipsing mud just a little further in to the house. He noted Serafina send the butler off, and did not miss the unsavoury look on the man's face as he noted the mess Christopher had made. Which only brought a smug look to the boy's features. As much as he wasn't the kind to purposefully make people's lives hard, he didn't mind when those people got so up themselves they thought themselves better than their job. Which some of the staff did, and Christopher didn't mind reminding them who was going to be in charge one day.

The quote made Christopher laugh, responding with a soft "moron" at the end of the laugh but adding nothing further. His one word response would be enough to tell Serafina what he thought of that information, he didn't have to be highly expressive to get his point across. Even if the tutors preferred him to be more expressive.

"After all, a female shouldn't speak out of turn,"

Christopher understood the use of those words. He might only be fifteen, but he wasn't stupid. Instead, he smiled slightly. With anything controversial that Serafina said, Christopher didn't pass comment. He knew saying nothing would be a better defence than agreeing or disagreeing with her. And, it would mean less trouble with his parents if they were to over hear. But, mostly, Christopher was not quite sure where he stood with his oldest sister's views. They were... not quite fit for the Richardson family, and yet she was still one of them.

"I think they just try to pick anyone, Sera. You scare them all away anyway." Christopher joked as they continued, looking at her with a small grin on his features. "Though, I do wonder when their attention will turn from finding you a suitor and when they're attention will turn to me instead. How am I supposed to entertain people? Especially if they think like you do!" He continued, pretending to be exasperated by the idea, though, if they were like Serafina, at least he'd have some idea how to not talk to them.

"How long are you staying before you go back to university?" Christopher asked, because as much as he might not want to admit it, having Serafina around was good, because it seemed to reign Verena in, if only a little.

Guest

"To an animal?" she questioned, humour in her voice. "What do you take me for, a muggle?" It was true, in a way; Serafina did not possess the capacities to care for a being that could offer her nothing in return. An owl was useful, for it got her mail, and horses were methods of transportation, so in those cases, she could see the benefit of making sure they were well. But a cat? A creature that did nothing more than eat and sleep? No, it was not worth it.

Glancing behind, she couldn't help but notice the look on her brother's face, and held in a smile. The boy was young, and it was not her place to teach him these things, but she hoped that eventually he would learn that people beneath them - muggleborns, halfbloods, muggles, and even staff - were worth being decent to.

Not because they deserved it or anything of that sort, Merlin no. That was a ridiculous thought that made her almost laugh. Rather, it was worth it simply because they made up the majority of the population (because if everyone was special, nobody would be special) and so it would be helpful to have at least some of them on your side.

That was probably the only reason Serafina was nice to them in the first place. Now, of course, she knew that some of them were relatively good people that could provide fun Purebloods couldn't, and had a few friends that were not Pureblooded. But, in the end, Serafina still knew she was above them in status, and that she was worth more than all of them put together.

But she told none of this to Christopher. These sort of things were learnt with time, and experience. If the boy did not seem to be learning this on his own, then and only then would she step in to offer a guiding hand.

At the laugh, she merely smile. "Indeed," she replied, and said nothing more; there was nothing more to be said. She had expressed all she needed to, and her brother had also done the same. It was time to move on.

"How am I supposed to entertain people? Especially if they think like you do!"

She turned to offer him a mock glare over her shoulder. "If you found someone like me, Chris, I would encourage you to run as fast as you can in the other direction. You have enough trouble with me, I am sure," she teased.

A heartbeat passed before she added, "Although I suppose by then you'd have enough practice to deal with her superbly. Here's a hint, though: let her talk." She laughed, showing that she was half-jesting, and then said, "As for when? Soon enough, Chris." She didn't bother to hide the fact that she knew her brother was reaching the age where he would have visitors, too.

At this next question, she let a couple seconds pass while she mulled it over. "A couple more days or so, I reckon. Just long enough to please father, and then I think I shall spend the rest of my holidays over in Ireland. You are, of course, more than welcome to come visit, if you wish to get away from the house..." She let the rest of her sentence hang, trusting that he would understand what she had not added: ...and the family.

Guest

The idea of mistaking his sister for a Muggle brought a soft laugh from Christopher. An honest laugh. Mistaking his oldest sister for a Muggle was one of the most humourous ideologies he had heard. He simply could not imagine her as such an inferior being. Even if it were amusing, Serafina's face would never fit. But, she didn't need for him to tell her that, so Christopher offered no response in that regard.

"You need worry not, Sera, I would be over the sofa and out the door quicker than you could say Quidditch if I were to be faced with a woman such as yourself." Christopher responded, teasing her in the same tone in which she was teasing him. Serafina wasn't that bad. Her views were unconventional, but she wasn't a bad person. Though, Christopher would prefer a wife who didn't have an answer for everything. His mind, his lessons, his parents had all insisted on the idea of a wife being someone to support his view, not counteract every one of them.

Whether those lessons were right...

Well, that was something for another day.

"Let her talk?" Chris echoed, cocking an eyebrow. Of course, growing up around three sisters Christopher knew girls did talk, and they could talk a lot. But his sisters never really spoke of much that he found interesting. Okay, that comment was a little unfair, Serafina and he compared ideas on books they had read a lot of the time, and they did have a few things in common, but she was a girl and Christopher knew that no Pureblood woman was ever going to be able to talk passionately about a subject he liked. "They're probably all going to want to talk about boring stuff, Sera!" He whined, trying to show he wasn't fond of that idea whilst also trying not to be too offensive at the same time.

The idea of meeting people soon made Christopher grumble softly to himself. He didn't want to have meetings with potential suitors. Who was he going to have to talk with? And why did it have to be people his parents chose just for a dowry and social status and all that rubbish. Why couldn't he pick someone because he found them interesting? Christopher wasn't a romantic, so he didn't believe he would find love in these meetings, but someone who shared his interests... that much would be nice.

And no Pureblood witch was ever going to be able to enjoy sports like he did.

Hearing that Serafina was leaving made Chris let out a small sigh. That meant he only had a couple more days of peace before Verena started up on her tirades about how much of an ass he was for calling them home. He took note of her offer, and nodded. "Hopefully they'll marry Stephanie and Verena off sooner rather than later." The Ravenclaw responded to her offer, before shrugging openly. "It'll be fine, I have a hidey hole in the library if needed." He added, giving his sister a smile that showed he appreciated the offer no less.

» Useful Prospects (Lisabeth & Joshua)
» First Impressions Are(n't) Everything [Christopher]
» Christopher Richardson
» The Follow Up (Christopher & Stephen)
» You Can Stop Staring, You Know? (Stephen & Christopher)