✧RELAXING DAY AT THE SPA✧

◊━━━━━✥━━━━━◊

***

"But I wanted to meet with the architect! They're my sketches and I need to explain them—" "No. I've owled all of your gal friends and if there's anything you lot need is a day off to enjoy it with them. Now get going." She groaned into the air, and while their reunion was grand last night, it still didn't make up for the fact that Alphard felt guilty.

"Love, I promise that it'll be wonderful. I've heard countless reviews from the witches in our circle." He deemed, granted, he had asked Narcissa and this was one of the many suggestions. But this was for her and her friends, and of course, their parents had accepted their daughter's invitation when it had been Mr.Black himself to ask.

His name certainly had the power to go far.

"With this and pairing with your witch weekly readings, I'm wondering who's the younger of the two of us." This had Alphard throw his head back in laughter, and soon after he wiped a tear. "I've had plenty of rumors about me, this is one of the easier ones to bear."

"Oh, believe me, I think I've heard a couple about you that had me laughing."

"Intriguing, and which one would that be?" She had instantly turned red at having to speak about said matter, it earned him a shake of the head. "Hmm, I promise you, little goddess. I've heard them all before."

"Well that you...Played for the other side." Rhea's repeating words hadn't managed to translate in the older generation and it took a moment for Alphard to wonder just what that meant.

"Er—You fancy wizards..." She bit her lip in blushing further at the idea of actually biting her lip. "But that was for sure relinquished last night! And the many times before!" Alphard followed up with a laugh to see Rhea's panic on revealing that she knew.
"Well thank goodness my lover hadn't come to ruin us. He's promised to—"

"Alphard! That's highly inappropriate!" He had pulled her in by the weight and nuzzled his way into the crook of her neck.

"And what you did last night wasn't any at all—"

"Alphard!"

"That's exactly what you were shouting last night darling, though a little more out of breath if I'm remembering correctly when you—" A hand had caught over his mouth to stop him from speaking further.

"You act like it was awful." He tugged down at her wrist and kissed her gently.
"Not at all, now please enjoy yourself. Because when you return from this spa day, I'll fill you in on everything the architect has said." She smiled and kissed his cheek before hurrying off to meet her gals.

Only there was a missing member which Malia had informed her that Evelyn would not be joining them as she's out with her parents.

"I just don't understand what is with her, my brother isn't as awful as she's making him out to be." Rhea's eyes had widened, she had nearly forgotten that Theodore was Malia's brother. So what was wrong that wasn't being spoken out loud?

"Perhaps she fancies someone else? Keep in mind that none of us here really want to get married when our parents tell us to." Rhea offered, smiling out to her friends who were all waiting for the same conversation, however it was Daniella who bit her lip.

"I have something to confess...Jade, I know I said I wanted to wait, but Jasper and I have been owling for a bit—I did what you said Rhea, I went for it and I think—Well, I think I fancy him!" With that, the conversation had gone wild and sparked an interest. And those performing the spa rituals were enlightened to see young faces among their mist, not to worry about eavesdropping on anything important.

As nothing they held knowledge of wouldbe worth mentioning to someone else, though they did keep their eyes and ears open for Mrs.Rhea Black, as they were hoping to have her return again in the future.

Jasper, being Jade's elder brother and a Ravenclaw, Rhea knew him well enough. And couldn't wait to hear that there was another Ravenclaw couple forming.

"Wouldn't that be brilliant, Rhea?... Our children go to Hogwarts together!" That hadn't even been a thought in her mind, evidently, she was still waiting for her twenty-first to address the thought.

But if her friends were getting married and having children, then why should she need to wait?

"That would be wonderful, little birds of ours altogether." She grinned, hoping to pass the torch to someone else to speak. It was easy considering that Daniella's reveal had been so out of the blue that it took the majority of their time, and Rhea had gotten the sick feeling of ease their conversation had flown without Evelyn's presents.

Malia was much easier to talk to and wasn't worried about upholding the Slytherin nature, she flourished so well that Rhea wondered if she would end up with a Ravenclaw as well.

With their nails done, their hair treated, bodies waxed and good gracious—Rhea couldn't wait to go back for the sauna. It was utter relief and she finally settled. Whenever there was an issue, she would need to go here.

Could it be possible to install one in their manor?

She would need to speak with the architect on that front, but otherwise, she was relatively calm. So much that she stopped in to see Sarah and decided to treat herself further, and Sarah—Being the Hufflepuff that she is—Couldn't wait to tackle another project and amount to rising up into the fashion industry.

Yet while Rhea was spending the afternoon with eased consciousness, Alphard was still at a loss. While he had invited Evelyn to spend the day with the gals, he hadn't expected to have her show up—Especially not after she had owled in return saying that she wouldn't be able to join.

Yet even an hour and a half later, two kettles of tea shared between them, he had realized that witches in this day and age were a lot less high maintenance than he first depicted.

Better yet, he was learning so much about Rhea and her time at Hogwarts that he didn't care.

But Evelyn was sinking her fangs deeper into Alphard, especially when she had arrived whilst he had company over—Only to be revealed that it was a construction working planning to add an addition.

Oh to be confused with Mrs.Black had caused excitement to rush through her, and even now she found his ticks and his interests. The only thing left would be to better her self-image against Rhea's and it would be easy. Men in high power didn't care for such trivial things, with it still being such a new and fast paste relationship...The public's eye wouldn't think twice about a divorce, would they?

"I'm sorry Mr.Black, I should be getting home before my parents realize I've snuck out." She claims, and Alphard was rather relieved. "Yes, well the gals may be back in a few moments if you want to catch them?"
"N-no...It's like I said, they don't rightly understand and I need to figure it out on my own first." He nodded before bidding her good day—though, within just a few minutes, Rhea had come through with a smile on her face that shined brighter than before.

"I take it all went well?"

"Oh, it was brilliant Alfie, just brilliant. Look!" She had shown up her nails and he chuckled upon seeing the black and ivory detailing. She was certainly fond of that detail in their relationship. So he took hold of her hands and kissed either of her knuckles.

"I'm rather fond of you with nails, it feels lovely." She hummed at his little tease, granted the previous night she had scratched his back rather deeply that she had to heal him the following morning.

Victory wounds as he called them.

Rhea had turned to see that his sitting area holding a kettle. "Did Orion come?" She questioned and Alphard had nearly disagreed before catching her line of sight. "Yes, it was much too early for firewhiskey, we had a bit of trouble." He had felt the heaviness on his heart after having lied, and Rhea hadn't thought twice on the matter.

Not when she was relaxed and rejuvenated, and better yet, she caught the notes from the architect. Which allowed them to take up the space that he had occupied with Evelyn prior.

Though this time Rhea was snuggled into his side as they took in the viable options, it was a beautiful thing to have a similar style with their significant other.

"I did have another question with this fellow, when is he going to come back?"
"Next week, what is it that you want done?" Rhea blushed for a moment before smiling up towards him.

"A sauna."
"Oh love, the manor in Spain has one." Her eyes had grown so easily and he smirked. "C-can we go to Spain?"

"I think you have forgotten that the lads are coming tomorrow?" Rhea gasped, she certainly did forget with the look of surprise on her face.

"Perhaps we should invest in a sauna here, if it has you forgetting everything." She shook her head and curled into him further, sighing once again in a strong amount of pleasure.

"Daniella is talking to a bloke, apparently owling a wizard is the new way to flirt. Who knew." She says with a wicked grin. "Believe me love, I knew quite well what I was doing the first few owls."

"Really? Because I believe Orion and Sirius said you were a bit nervous around me. And I find that very endearing." Alphard had sucked in a quick breath to see her overlap his waist and wrap her arms around his neck.

"Rhea...I have a meeting in—" Her eyes fluttered and he withheld a groan, there was no possible way he would be able to deny her. Not when their relationship was rocky at best—In addition to the fact that they would not be as close with one another the following weeks when his nephews were living with them.

They couldn't be so carefree.

So it wasn't all that ludicrous of them to pull his trousers and Rhea to lift her skirts, though she wished that he hadn't been so quick to smoke a cigar afterward—But he had his own blissful reawakening.

"You know how I told you that Daniella is talking to Jasper?"

"Oh, isn't Jasper a friend of yours as well?" Rhea nodded with ease, though ran a hand through her husband's hair. "There's no need to get all pout, Alphard. He asked me once and that was the end of it."
"Asked you what?" She shrugged her shoulders and decided that perhaps it would have been better to remain quiet on such matters.

Rhea hadn't outted Jasper before, but there was a first time for everything.

"He wanted to take me to Hogsmead, completely innocent...But whenever a Slytherin or Gryffindor asked, they were much more straightforward." Rhea said with a slight tint of disgust in her tone, thus having him grip her by the waist just as firmly.

"Which one am I?"

"All of the above, though I was rather straightforward...Wasn't I?" Rhea had been looking back at the moments that led them to this compromising position and Alphard had just simply held her firmly in place. "Alphard, you have a meeting with—"
"Orion knows exactly what we're up to, we're a newly married couple."
"We've been married for nearly three months, how long are we going to be labeled as new?" He soon explained that it would most likely be a while.

"Do you think Daniella and Jasper will get married?" It didn't sound all that out of the ordinary, but Rhea couldn't remember well enough if Daniella had a fancyment with Jasper before or if it was the other way around.

So she shrugged her shoulders. "Not sure, but it would be lovely to have another Ravenclaw couple around, wouldn't it?"

"Ah, perhaps I don't hate this Jasper fellow so much anymore. He's a bird after all." She rolled her eyes and steadied herself to her feet, making herself busy as she didn't want to interrupt Alphard's work any more than she has.

Granted, she now had project after project, in addition to her nervousness about riding a broom again.

◇──◇────◇────◇──◇

Date Posted: 12-21-2021

Time: 11:01

Words: 2117