Advent Gift!Fic for: Sophie

Prompt: Early Black family members

Subject: Lineage Studies

Task: Write about one of the following early members of the Black family

Prompts: (Character) Iola Black, (Word) Porcelain, (AU) Arranged Marriage - sort of.

Word Count: 1068

Free

"Iola," her father said, walking into her bedroom unannounced. "I have some news for you."

Iola placed her quill back into her ink pot and slid the piece of parchment she had been writing on inside one of her books.

"What kind of news, Father?" she asked, giving the head of the household her full attention.

"Your mother and I have finalised the details of your marriage contract," he said proudly.

Marriage contract? She hadn't even been aware that they had found a suitable match for her. Sure, she had known it was inevitable that they were looking, but she had hoped to be far away from Grimmauld Place before such a travesty could happen to her.

"That is most... welcome news," Iola replied, forcing a smile on her face. "To whom will I be wed?"

"Septimus Malfoy's oldest boy, Lucius," her father answered. Iola had to fight hard to keep the smile on her face at this news. "I believe you will remember him from Hogwarts."

Iola nodded her head. "Yes, Father," she said, recalling the many violent acts the man she was now betrothed to has 'secretly' committed.

The eighteen-year-old witch's mind began to race, wondering what her life would be like married to that man. She didn't think she would survive a year with him. She knew, in that moment, that she needed to accelerate her plans to get away from this house and be with the man she loved.

"Iola, give me your wand," her father said, holding out his hand.

"Why?" she asked.

"It is not your place to question me, Iola," he said sternly. "However, if you must know, I am well aware of your dalliance with that filthy Muggle and I will not have you tarnish the Black name by running off with him. That is what you had planned, right?"

Iola felt her mouth go dry. Sometimes she wondered whether her father was a skilled Legilimes. It would certainly explain a lot.

"Of course not, Father," she whispered, reaching for her wand. "Who is this Muggle you speak of? You know I never have contact with them."

"The mailman, Bob Hitchens," he hissed. "I did my research. I have seen the pair of you canoodling. Now, hand me your wand before I take it from you by force."

With shaking hands, Iola handed her wand to her father. She watched as he placed it in his pocket before stalking over to the cage where her owl was quietly snoozing. He picked it up and walked towards her open bedroom door.

"Father," she said as he was about to cross the threshold. "Why are you taking my owl?"

"You didn't seriously think I would leave any means for you to contact your Muggle by, did you?" he asked before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Iola heard a few quiet clicks which signalled her door being magically locked. She was trapped. A prisoner in her own home with no means of escape, facing a sentence worse than death.

~o~o~o~

Her wedding day swiftly arrived and she soon found herself staring at her reflection. She looked like herself, only miserable, and she was wearing a cream wedding dress which she had to admit looked great against her porcelain skin. It was the only small light on an otherwise terrible day.

"Are you excited?" Elladora asked, bouncing up and down. "You should be. You're going to be Mrs Lucius Malfoy in a few hours."

"Yes," she said, planting a smile on her face.

"No, you're not," her older brother, Sirius, said as he entered the room. "You're miserable."

Iola turned to face her brother and rushed into his arms; she buried her face in his neck as she allowed herself to cry for the first time since the night she had been told of her arranged marriage.

"I can't do this," she choked out. "Please help me."

"For you, anything," Sirius answered. "But, if Father asks, I knew nothing and neither did Ella."

"What are you going to do?" Elladora asked.

"I am going to unite our sister with her true love," Sirius declared before rushing out of the room.

~o~o~o~

"Smile, Iola," her father demanded as they reached the end of the aisle, "or I will place a Cheering Charm on you."

Iola turned her head in the direction of her father and planted a smile on her face.

"An improvement," her father said, taking her arm as the wedding march began.

Together, with her father, Iola reluctantly walked down the aisle. At the end, she saw her brother, Sirius, and wondered if his plan had gone wrong. She knew that if he was there, she was doomed to spend the rest of her life with Lucius Malfoy.

"Stop the wedding," a familiar voice cried, silencing the quiet chatter in the tent.

Iola turned around and smiled when she saw the man she loved with all her heart stood at the end of the aisle in a suit and tie, holding a bouquet of red roses.

"Iola Black, I love you," he declared. "Please don't marry him."

She saw her father's hand twitch towards the inside of his robes, where he kept his wand, and she knew she needed to act now if she had any hope of escaping.

Iola closed her eyes and focused her mind, attempting to wandlessly summoning her own wand from wherever her father had hidden it.

There was a whooshing sound and Iola's eyes snapped open just in time to catch her wand. Unable to believe it worked, she removed herself from her father's grasp and apparated to Bob's side. She placed her hand on Bob's arm and offered her brother a smile before apparating away from her wedding to Bob's house.

"What was that?" Bob asked, sitting down on a chair in his kitchen.

Iola offered him a smile and sat down next to him.

"I'll explain everything in the morning," she whispered, taking his hand. "For now, can we just be together?"

"Of course we can, my darling, Iola," he replied.

For the first time in weeks, Iola was content. She was with the man she loved more than anything in the world. She hadn't had to marry the awful Lucius Malfoy. And she would no longer be bound by the 'high standards' expected of her family. She was free. Free to be herself.