The following weeks at Hogwarts practically flew by for Antares, with nothing extraordinary or noteworthy happening, at least in his opinion.

Classes were dull and uneventful, yet were starting to become more and more challenging as the days progressed. Funnily enough, Defence Against the Dark Arts had easily become his new favourite subject, aided by the fact that Professor Graves had turned out to be a dab hand at Defensive Magic, and quite a competent teacher to boot.

His relationship with Caroline since they had slept together had changed, yet not for the worst like they had first feared. Nothing was different per se, yet the way she interacted with him now more than ever was… noticeable. She was more open with him than she had ever been in the past, asking him for help when she needed it, his advice on certain topics, something she had never done in the past. She had also begun to act continuously flirtatious towards him, something he had picked up on, but that he believed she was completely unaware of. She hadn't done anything too obvious of course, for that would hardly be acceptable given his current situation. A lingering touch here, a sidelong glance there. Standing a tad too close than was perhaps considered appropriate. Not that he particularly minded her extra attention, for he thrived on such things. Yet so long as it was all in innocent fun and things between them stayed the same as they had always been, then he saw no harm in her newfound interest in him.

He was unsure if Sophia had yet to find out that he had slept with Caroline nearly two weeks ago. He - of course - hadn't said anything to her, having decided that doing so wasn't in his best interest. Caroline could have told her he supposed, yet for some reason, he doubted that was the case. All he knew for certain was that he had yet to be slapped/hexed for his actions, which was quite an accomplishment if he did say so himself.

His courting of Helena Greengrass was still very much ongoing, and he continued to send her a gift of some sort every other day. From overly extravagant and expensive items to the most practical of gifts, he made sure to personalize every one with a thoughtful note or piece of knowledge that he found particularly interesting. He still was yet to meet her face-to-face, something that annoyed him to no end. Observing her from a distance was about all that he could do at this stage without violating the ancient and archaic rules of the courting process. Which he had taken to doing whenever he had a moment of spare time. He was enamoured with her beauty, that was for sure, for she was positively gorgeous. But beauty was only skin deep and meant nothing in the grand scheme of life. He desperately wanted to know what lay beneath the beautiful exterior that he could see. To know her mind and soul, but her heart most of all. To know what made her tick, what made her laugh, what made her angry, but most of all what made up the content of her character. Was she strong and independent? weak and feeble? Headstrong or Considerate? He wanted to know it all. He wanted to know the ins and outs of the woman he would one day spending his life with. He would admit that he had never been the most patient of people, yet it was said that 'good things came to those who wait' and only time would tell if that sentiment held any truth to it.

He and Sophia were still on good terms, as were he and Lily, who had taken to sitting with him whenever he found himself studying in the library. They didn't talk much, well he didn't at least. Evans couldn't seem to help herself from asking him a dozen different questions, the majority of which he avoided answering, and the few he did answer was but with the barest minimum of information. He enjoyed her company no less, despite the heavy cloud that hung over him every time he was in her presence.

His feelings for her remained the same despite everything that was going on in his life regarding the Marriage Contract with Helena. In fact, the more he spent time with her the more he found himself becoming more attracted to her. Still, he used his limited knowledge of Occlumency to repress his feelings for the red-head, knowing that becoming too close and personal with her, would cause pain and suffering in the future. Her constant chatter and bubbly disposition were a sight better than sitting alone amongst the dust-filled tomes and eerily silent emptiness that was the Hogwarts Library. It was for this reason that he acted distant and uninterested when she talked his ear off in the library, not because he liked being a prick, but because he didn't want to lead her on into believing something between them was possible when he knew it wasn't.

Between classes, studying, prefect duty, courting Helena, spending time with his friends and his many other social obligations, it was safe to say he was a very busy wizard. So busy in fact, that he hadn't had a shag in at least a week, which was starting to affect his concentration. 'Perhaps a letter to Maxine would soon be warranted' mused Antares idly to himself.

All in all, his life was back to being steady easy-going after an eventful and somewhat emotionally stressful first few weeks back at School.

Currently, he found himself seated in a large leather armchair in the secret study room of the Library. Sheets upon sheets of thick parchment were spread out on a conjured tabled before him, some filled out and starting to dry, others empty, soon to be written upon.

Dipping his quill into the emerald inkwell, he tapped it gently on the side of the glass bottle to prevent any access ink from falling, before placing the nib onto the parchment, the material sucking it up like a sponge as he moved it across the page in long sweeping arcs, his hand pausing every so often as he thought about what he wanted to write down next.

Two hours passed in a similar fashion, his hand becoming increasingly tired the longer he wrote, until it was all but beginning to cramp up from his ever-constant flow of writing. Thankfully his discomfort didn't last much longer, as he finished the last of his letters with a relieved sigh several moments later.

He was all too grateful to the let the quill from his raw and aching fingertips and back into the emerald green pot of ink, shaking his hand vigorously all the while to numb the pain that had begun to show itself.

Relaxing back into his chair, Antares closed his eyes and took a deep breath, glad to finally be rid of the one task that had plagued his mind for the past few days.

"Ahhh, so this is where you've been hiding" came the unmistakable voice of his oldest and dearest friend from seemingly out of nowhere.

"I'm hardly hiding… merely keeping out of sight" he replied dryly, sitting up and opening his eyes to see Xavier standing at the entranceway, a wide grin on his handsome face.

"Is that what you're calling it these days? The wards on the door would say otherwise," chuckled Xavier lightly, taking the nearest available seat next to Antares.

"I had some things to take care of, and the common room was beginning to get a bit crowded" shrugged Antares.

Xavier nodded his agreement, the common room was usually full on a Sunday afternoon. Full, and noisy. Not exactly the best environment to study in.

"What's with the letters?" asked Xavier, nodding towards the many black envelopes that lay on the table between them.

"Invitations to my Birthday Party. My Great Aunt thought it was about time I hosted an event of my own …" shrugged Antares, leaning forward in his chair, eyes scanning the envelopes for the ones that contained Xavier's name on the front.

Accepting the envelope with thanks, Xavier turned it over, admiring the exceptional quality… and beauty … of the letter he had just been handed. His name was masterfully written on the front in dark green ink, with the Black Family Crest on the back in a rich red wax.

Breaking the wax seal with his index finger, he opened the invitation and pulled out the single piece of parchment. The first half of the letter was simple and to the point, asking him to attend Antares' 16th Birthday Celebrations in roughly two weeks on the 18th of October. The particulars were of course included; time, date, dress code, so on and so forth. Yet the second half of the letter had a much more personal touch to it. Overall, the invitation was very warm and touching, written in the same informal style that Antares would use when they would communicate over the summer holidays.

"By the sound of it, it's going to be quite the affair," said Xavier, folding the letter carefully and tucking it into his breast pocket. And it did, live performances, fireworks, dancing, Magical animals of all types, important witches and wizards from all over the world set to attend, the Black Family sure was sparing no expense when it came to Antares birthday.

"Yes well, I'm hoping it lives up to expectation. I'm sparing no expense on the matter, and I'm organising everything myself, with a little help of course. I want it to be the talk of the town so-to-speak. I want it so that in a decade from now, witches and wizards all over the United Kingdom reminisce about the one-of-a-kind even that anybody who was anybody had attended. But… we shall see, I still have a lot of planning to do before the day arrives. Don't want to be counting our chickens before they've hatched"

"What of Helena?" Xavier asked, curiosity getting the better of him, "Will she be receiving such an invitation?"

"She will. It'd be in pretty poor taste if I didn't, wouldn't it?" asked Antares rhetorically, eyes travelling to a certain envelope on the other side of the table, "The Month of Giving is soon at an end, and you know what comes after…"

"The Trials of Devotion" finished Xavier, a knowing look crossing his face, "so that's the reason you're having this elaborate party. You intend to undertake the first trial on your birthday"

"As sharp as ever, Old Bean" smirked Antares, in the most pompous voice he could muster, switching back to his normal voice once the two of them had finished laughing, " Yes, that is the plan. Having so many witnesses for such an event will make it clear that I am worth to call myself Helena's future husband"

"That, and you just want to show off in front of all those people" interjected a grinning Xavier, raising his eyebrows in a challenging manner, daring his friend to try and deny what he was saying.

"That too," conceded Antares with a bob of his head.

Xavier knew him too well it would seem. While showing off one's wealth was something he considered tacky, he couldn't exactly help it this time. He needed to prove himself worthy of Helena's hand in marriage and to do that he had to show he was a strong, powerful and financially secure wizard.

"All thing courting business, it's become quite time consuming and bothersome hasn't it," stated Xavier offhandedly, sinking back into his seat.

"That it has. I'll be much happier when it's all over, even if I am to be married at the end of it" replied Antares, standing up and walking over to a small table that contained everything needed to make a cup of tea.

"Why go through this whole courting process then, Ares? Surely even you couldn't be bothered doing all of these meaningless - not to mention dangerous - tasks. As well as not being able to speak to your future wife and Merlin knows whatever else is expected of you. There's a reason this practice has all but been abandoned by the rest of wizarding society. No doubt due to its lengthy, life-threatening, and downright archaic nature"

'Blacks are shepherds, not sheep' was the first response that entered Antares' mind, yet he refrained from speaking said thought aloud. Instead, he opted to remain silent as he stirred two lumps of sugar into his cup of tea. He did the same again for Xavier' before picking a cup up in either hand, handing one to his friend as he moved over to sit by the dimly lit fireplace. Xavier followed suit.

"I do only as I am told Xavier, you know this" he finally replied, raising his cup to his lips and taking a sip of the warm, sweet, liquid, his frame relaxing into his chair.

"Yes well, that may be so. But it still doesn't change the fact that it's a big waste of time, effort and galleons. That's all I'll say on the matter" replied Xavier, mirroring his friends' action by taking a sip from his own cup, "speaking of Helena. When are you to finally meet her?"

"Not until after the Christmas Holidays. Traditionally, it's expected of me to wait 100 days before meeting her for the first time. I guess it's one of those rules of a 'downright archaic nature'" commented Antares somewhat testily.

"Do you think you're up for it?" responded Xavier, brushing off Antares' comment as if he hadn't heard him at all, "Not meeting her for the 100 days, I mean. If it were me, I'd want to meet my future wife as soon as humanly possible, I wouldn't be able to help myself. But that might just be me, my mother always said I was far too curious for my own good"

"Does it matter?" replied Antares coolly, one eyebrow raised as he took another sip from his cup, quite over all of the questions Xavier was throwing at him. Questions he himself wanted answers to.

"But you must be curious Ares," pushed Xavier, unconsciously leaning forward in his chair, eyes now intently fixed on Antares' stormy grey ones, "To see what she is like, what type of woman she is, how she feels about the situation, to see what she'll be like as your wife? I don't understand why you're so calm about this. The Antares I know wouldn't sit idly by why this was happening around him. The Antares I know would've been on the doorstep of Greengrass Manor, the moment he found out about this damned contract"

"But none of it matters, don't you see Xavier? I'm to marry her whether She or I or anybody else likes it or not. Meeting her today, tomorrow or a hundred days hence doesn't change anything." Antares muttered bitterly, his expression darkening as he raised his cup lazily to his lips, draining the contents in one go before letting the now empty cup fall from his fingertips and bounce across the carpet as he sunk into his chair.

Xavier shut his mouth with an audible snap, his eyes never leaving the china teacup as it rolled across the room. He hadn't meant pry, nor be so forceful in his questioning. Evidently, this marriage contract business had affected him much much deeper than he had let on.

Silence fell for but a moment. Antares couldn't leave it there, his frustrations and anger had been bottling up inside him since before school had started, and he needed to let it out. If not to his dearest friend, then to who?

Standing up, Antares walked over to the fireplace, his back now facing Xavier as he looked down into the smouldering flames of the fire. Digging deep into his own pool of swirling emotions, he let loose a fraction of what he had been feeling about the situation he had found himself in.

"When my father told me about the Marriage Contract with the Greengrass family, the first thing I wanted to do was show up on the doorstep of Greengrass Manor and introduce myself. As you can imagine I was angry, and rightly so I should think. I'd never spoken to this girl in all my years at Hogwarts, but I had seen her from afar. She is beauty incarnate Xavier, you cannot deny that. But no matter how much we may love the exterior of a woman, it's what's inside the truly matters. Not something I've always worried about in the past, I'll be the first to admit, but this is different. This woman is supposed to share my heart and my home. To be my life partner and the mother of my children. Was it too much to ask that I get to meet this woman? That I get to try and connect with her intimately and alone, away from the prying eyes of our parents and siblings. But of course, nothing is ever easy or straightforward in life. So there I was ready to storm Greengrass Manor to introduce myself to the lovely Helena Greengrass, yet I was stopped before I could even reach the front door. My parents informed me that as I was involved in a Marriage Contract with another Ancient House , that the old ways of courting were to be upheld. I was outraged, of course, I knew what that meant. It meant I wouldn't be able to see her for over three months. Yet what was I to do? My parents command it and their will be done. I was told in no uncertain terms by my Mother that 'The niceties must be observed, Boy. I won't have our family be the laughing stock of the Wizarding World because you can't keep it your pants for five minutes. You males are all the same, always thinking with your little head instead of the one atop your shoulders'. So you see Xav, It matters not what I want. As my Mother so nicely pointed out, our reputation - My reputation - is on the line, and I dare not screw it up just because I am curious about my future Wife. So no matter my opinions or feelings, I will stick to the Old Ways, as instructed"

"I had... I had no idea Ares" stumbled Xavier apologetically, clearly seeing the anger and hurt in his friends' eyes for the first time in a long time, "I'm sorry. I truly am. I knew this would be hard on you, but you've always been so strong, ever since we were young. I guess, because you haven't talked about it that much, that I assumed it wasn't affecting you as much as it is. It isn't my place to poke my nose into your private business, no matter if my intentions were good or not. So again, you have my apologies. I'll endeavour to keep my big mouth shut from now on"

"You're my best friend Xav, and best friends tread where others dare not. It's not my intention to surround myself with snivelling yellow-bellied yes-men who have no spine. So for keeping me grounded in reality, you have my thanks" replied Antares with a nod, sitting back down in the seat he had previously vacated.

For the briefest of moments, the two of them both felt like they should have hugged it out or some other such nonsense, but a second later, the moment was gone, replaced with a lighthearted and uplifting feeling that brought the mood up several degrees; from melancholy to a bit below almost-cheerful.

But somehow, with nothing but a small smile towards one another, the two of them knew that their relationship had now gone beyond just being the best of friends. Each of them knew, now more than ever, that they truly were brothers in all but blood.

Xavier bowed his head, silently accepting Antares' gratitude however undeserved he felt about it, before moving onto his friends earlier question, "You're right of course. I didn't seek you out for the fun of it. I'm heading into Hogsmeade for the day. Would you care to join me?"

"Is anybody else going with you?" asked Antares nonchalantly, not exactly in the mood to deal with well… anyone if he was being honest. That, and he really needed to go and visit Maxine.

Xavier shook his head, "I didn't invite them. It's been ages since we've had a real catch up, just the two of us. Plus, I thought it'd do you some good to get away from all of these musty tomes for a bit. You've practically spent the last few weeks with your head buried in a book, it's about time you got some fresh air"

"Alright alright, I'll come with you. Merlin forbid, a man gets some actual work done around here. You're worse than a mother hen sometimes, I swear," chuckled Antares as he stood up, arms in front of him in mock surrender. It would seem that a rendezvous with Maxine would have to wait until he got back from whatever it was that Xavier wanted to do in Hogsmeade.

"Someone's got to look after you. Who knows what would happen if I wasn't around to keep you on top of everything. Like eating for instance. I doubt you've made your way down to the Great Hall for lunch, perhaps Breakfast even, hmmm?"

"Your right of course ... on both accounts" conceded a nodding Antares reluctantly, though not without adding "Knowledge appeals to me more than food"

"I just have one last letter to write before we leave," said Antares, walking towards his makeshift desk. Not bothering to sit down, Antares pulled a blank piece of parchment towards him, holding it in place with his left hand while quickly jot down a quick message to Maxine.

"What's that your writing then, another invitation?"

"Something like that" muttered Antares with a grin, stuffing the letter into an envelope and tucking it the pocket of his robes.

"Keep your secrets then. No doubt I'll learn about it in due time, I always do" commented Xavier with a grin, knowing that if it was something truly important Antares would've told him straight away.

Waving his wand, Antares 'Accioed' all of the envelopes from the table into his open hand, the hundred or so invitations stacking themselves in a neat and orderly pile. With another flick of his wand, he banished the invitations to his dorm room to deal with at a later date. Another flick and the quills, inks and leftover parchment quickly followed suit.

"Are you ready then?" asked Xavier, having moved to wait patiently for Antares towards the exit.

"Yes Mother"

"Don't backtalk your Mother, you ungrateful little miscreant," Xavier replied in his best Mrs' Black voice, cuffing Antares upside the head with the palm of his hand.

"Not a bad impression Xav" laughed Antares, shoving his friend playfully as they fell into step beside one another, "Although, my mother would hardly resort to something so uncivilized as corporal punishment"

"She'd never hit you?" Xavier asked, an eyebrow raised in scepticism. He had met Walburga Black on many occasions, and she seemed like the exact type to relish such a task if given the slightest opportunity.

"Nah," Antares replied, shaking his head, "Her curses prove to be much a much more painful and effective method of curbing bad behaviour. I would know, I have first-hand experience in the matter, although not as much as Sirius I must admit"

"Antares!?" cried Xavier aghast, turning towards his friend with a genuinely horrified expression on his face.

"Hmm?"

"Sometimes, even I can't tell whether your joking or not"

"I know. That's what makes it so fun," Antares chuckled, a wide grin making its way onto his handsome face.

Yet Xavier, having moved ahead to open the Library door, failed to notice the dark expression that had made its way onto his friends face, nor how the smile he wore, wasn't quite so genuine as it appeared.