December 5th, 1986:

"Lia, how have you been since the death of
Pheonix?" Narcissa asked her friend, whilst Celeste poured more milk into her cup of tea.

The Three pureblood mothers were sitting in the living room at the Seramore manor having their weekly catch-up.

It had only been a couple of years since the unfortunate and rather odd passing of Ophelia Zabini's first husband and the father to her only son: Blaise Hunter Zabini.

Unlike most widows, Celeste's twin sister was surprisingly in happy spirits, Blaise was acting out more, craving his mother's attention, and willing to do anything to get it.

Her only child wasn't as close with his father as he is his mother, Draco is the same with Narcissa too, while Artemis was a daddy's girl.

So when Blaise's father had suddenly passed away of natural causes, the four-year-old boy at the time was upset at first but as time went on he got used to the vacant third seat at the dinner table.

His cousin, Artemis Seramore, and best friend Draco helped distract the hyperactive boy by doing whatever they could.

This meant they all got into lots of trouble, the trio did as much as they could.

They had been caught multiple times trying on Lucius Malfoy and Ezekiel Seramore's clothes and pretending to be them.

Blaise even used the eldest Malfoy's brush to comb through his Kinky hair, so he could get into character.

Lucius was not amused in the slightest, however, when the young wizards and witch left his room, the smallest smile appeared on his face. he knew that the youngest Zabini needed to process the death of his father, and he was just glad that his son and his goddaughter were helping the poor boy.

He knew what it was like to have a close friend since he and Ezekial had been friends since they were born.

He constantly went to the Seramore manor whenever his father had told him countless times that he was going to be a disgrace to the Malfoy name, he had sought refuge at his best friend's house, where he always felt welcomed by his Godfather Septrim Seramore.

He honestly didn't know what he would've done without his best friend, and hopefully, he would never have to find out. That was another reason as to why he wasn't too angry when he had found the three troublemakers in his room.

He was just glad Draco was close to other purebloods from respectable families.

"I'm doing fine my dear, Blaisy is the one I have to worry about, I found him trying on my heels yesterday, and honestly he looked good in them." the three witches started to laugh.

Celeste shook her head at the thought of her nephew raiding her sister's wardrobe, she wasn't surprised at all, as Artemis always did the same.

"Perhaps it's a sign he will join the family business, Lia," Narcissa said, once the laughter died down.

Ezekiel's mother; Sapphire Zabini who was Ophelia and Celeste's distant relative, started her fashion line for witches across the globe back in the 1950s.

"La Mente"

It means "the mind" in Italian, she chose to name her business due to her husband Septrim constantly praising her for her brains.

The business took off after a couple of months, which was not surprising as Sapphire was a very talented and crafty witch.

Perhaps Blaise Would take after his distant relative.

"I would not be surprised if he did want to help me create a new summer collection, that boy has a great eye for fashion."

"That he does." Celeste agreed with her twin.

They all continued to gossip about the latest wizarding news.

Since the fall of "you who know who" the wizarding world had felt safer, lighter, even brighter.

5 years had passed, yet his omnipotent presence still lingered in the shadows.

No one dared uttered his name, despite him being supposedly dead since 1981, but not many people were brave enough to say it.

It was already enough stress for them all to be pregnant and endure birth during such a terrifying time, they couldn't bear for their children to live through a war.

They only prayed it wouldn't happen again.

Ophelia once swore she saw the dark Lord lurking in her hallway, she immediately screamed the house down and went to pick up her wand, only to stop herself from muttering a spell when she had discovered it was only her son.

The Zabini boy thought it was a good idea to place a white shirt over his face with the holes cut out while wearing a long black robe. He had got into the kitchen cupboards with the help of Buffy - his house-elf- and poured flour on his hands and arms.

When his mother asked for an explanation as to why he thought it was to dress as the Dark Lord, he only responded.'It was only for a laugh'.

He was immediately grounded for a month and couldn't see either of his best friends.

He still wrote to them though.

When Ophelia had told her friends what had happened, Celeste comforted her, while trying to hold back a laugh.

Narcissa had taken a different route and burst out laughing at her godson's actions, making a mental note to tell her husband when she got home.

The Malfoy witch's eyes went wide, "Oh my god I forgot to tell you two that I found." She set her cup down, while the other two had taken a sip of their hot beverage.

Celeste nodded for her to continue, "go on Cissy."

"I found Draco's secret stash of poems."

They all started to swoon at the young boys' antics. Thinking back to how their husbands had won them over, the only downside was neither of the men had written them anything as romantic as a poem.

"That's rather cute," Ophelia said in awe.

"I agree sister." The Seramore witch nodded in agreement, "Who had he addressed them to." She was curious, she couldn't imagine writing something so mature at such a young age.

Narcissa had started to grin, earning two confused looks, "only a young Seramore witch of course."

Celeste gasped, "no way." She wasn't aware of the crush that Draco had on her daughter. She had thought they were just good friends, although it started to make sense since she would always catch the boy staring longingly at her child.

"I'm serious."

When Narcissa was snooping around her son's room, only telling him that she was just tidying it; which for some reason he had believed despite the Malfoy's having their House elf - Dobby.

She had found the letters in a small box under his bed, they all had started, "To my darling A"

She had wanted to put the confessions of his undying love back in the same place, but she couldn't stop reading them. She was initially shocked by the idea that her son could be such a good poet at his age, but the idea that he was in love with her best friend's daughter was a bigger revelation to her.

Although they were just children, she could see how beautiful the youngest Seramore was, she had a head full of curly thick hair which was often put into twists or braids to help it grow, her dark skin was flawless, and she wore a smile that could stop wars.

After she had put back the many letters, she smiled at the thought of the two ending up together. She kept this secret to herself, swearing not to tell anyone.

Apart from her friends of course.

"That's adorable, young love." Ophelia mused.

Narcissa nodded, thinking back to what she had found, "He puts a little heart on top of the 'i' in her name."

"Awww." her friends said in unison.

"That's it I'm betting 100 galleons he will make the first move," Ophelia said with a smiles

Celeste rolled her eyes at sister, "you are not betting 100 galleons on our children, sister."

"Fine, I'll up the stakes 200 galleons."

Narcissa shared a smile with the younger twin.

"Cissy help me out here." The Seramore witch pleaded the Malfoy Witch.

She only shook her head with a teasing smile, "Sorry I can't because I agree with Lia."

"Come on Celly, place your bet, we haven't got long before the trio run in here."

They had both pouted looking towards Celeste, knowing this trick would work as it did back when they were only young witches during their Hogwarts days.

Whenever they had wanted to do something or go somewhere that would get them into trouble, Celeste being the most mature out of the three, would always initially decline and go back to studying.

But she would soon stop when the begging and pouting would start.

The two witches had always known to use that same trick every time they had wanted to get up to no good and needed a third member to do it with.

The former Zabini had always given in, and that wouldn't stop anytime soon.

Celeste sighed deeply, knowing she would lose this battle, "fine." She agrees, causing the other two to smile, "but I feel like my daughter could make the first move."

Ophelia shook her head, "I doubt that Arty is way too oblivious to people having crushes on her."

"I agree, remember when that Cassius boy asked her on a date?" Narcissa cringed at the thought.

"Oh god, that was weird, especially since he's a couple of years older than her."

"Disgusting." Celeste made a noise of disgust, while Narcissa continued, "I believe that it will take a while before little AJ will see the way my son looks at her."

"Hopefully it's not too late, or she will end up with that Warrington boy."

They all shivered at the thought.

They all just prayed to Merlin that their children would end up with something they loved.

Ophelia broke the silence, "Where are the little devils?"

"I have no clue, they always disappear like ghosts, especially Arty." Celeste chuckled, she thought back to the many occasions when her daughter would vanish into thin air, like was never in the room in the first place.

"Draco did mention that if they didn't have both sets of eyes on her, she would slip away."

"And we all know that he loves keeping his eyes on her." Ophelia teased, she made a mental note to keep an eye on her godson, knowing how much he is infatuated with her niece.

Narcissa snapped her head towards the witch, "Lia, promise me you won't tell anyone, especially Blaise.'' She knew that if Blaise found out, he would immediately tell his cousin, and if he didn't tell her, he would make it extremely obvious. She swore that boy had no filter unless the secret was extremely important.

"Cross my heart, Cissy."

"Show me your hands," the blonde witch always knew that her friend would always cross her fingers and even one time she managed to cross her toes."

Her face wore an offended expression, "do you not trust me?" Both witches gave her an incredulous look, "fine," she showed her manicured hands, "I give you my word that I won't say anything to my beautiful boy."

She would just write it down and show it to him when they would get home.

Narcissa smiled in response and went to go and speak but was cut off by the sound of something breaking, followed by someone's little footsteps.

All three witches tensed but relaxed when they saw the flash of platinum hair, he ran straight into his mother, "mummy it wasn't me I promise." Narcissa picked up her 6-year-old and placed him on her lap. His face wore a scared expression, grey eyes filled with tears, and body slightly trembling, he then looked towards his two godparents, "the vase just fell Aunt Celly and Lia." He hid his head in his mother's neck, terrified of the repercussions.

There was no way the vase just fell.

"It's okay little one, as long as you didn't get hurt." Celeste promised, but she was curious about the whereabouts of the other two troublemakers, "But where are Arty and Blaise."

He moved his little head to respond but the children in question ran into the room, "mummy the vase just fell, I have no clue how it happened, all I know is it wasn't us." Ophelia grabbed her son and placed him on her lap, while Artemis just stood near her mother with an innocent smile. "We were just standing there and the vase dropped, isn't that mad?"

The Zabini widow smiled down at him, "Yes very mad Piccolo.", little one she noticed biscuit crumbs were around his mouth, she internally rolled her eyes, realising that they tried getting to her sister's snack cupboard. She wiped his mouth with her napkin, then pressed a kiss to his forehead, leaving a red lipstick mark there. The 7-year-old just beamed at his mother, " Are you sure you weren't trying to do anything at all?" she inquired, already knowing the answer.

All the little heirs shook their heads immediately, causing all the mothers to smile.

Little liars, Ophelia thought.

The children were always breaking things around different manors, they always seemed to fix it before they were caught, which meant they were either all very clumsy, or just very good at covering things up.

"Where is this vase in question," Celeste asked, looking at her 6-year-old daughter, she was the only child that had not spoken yet, "Can we see it?" The other witches nodded in agreement, making the two boys look towards each other, slightly scared but they knew their best friend wouldn't reveal the truth.

The young witch locked eyes with her mother, something she always did when she was concealing the truth. She always thought avoiding eye contact made you look weak and guilty, and it was easier to be a prime suspect if you did that.

"Mum it's fixed now," she smiled at her, "so why would you need to see it?" she tilted her head.

All the mothers were suspicious at her tone of voice, she sounded slightly off.

Celeste quickly recovered, "Well we just want to see the damage of the vase that mysteriously dropped, isn't that right girls," her friends nodded again.

Draco spoke up, "Arty fixed it." He had been looking directly at the young girl, he hadn't stopped looking at her since the moment she wandered into the room, admiring her wide brown eyes.

The way her chocolate iris's almost collided with the ivory whites of her eyeball, they are mesmorising to him, he was confused as to how no one else got lost in them.

The witch in question gave him a sly grin before looking back at her mother, grabbing her hand and starting to play with her rings, trying to distract her from the lies which poured from her mouth.

The little Malfoy wizard looked away, feeling a blush creep on his face, which the two Zabini's had caught. Blaise looked at his mother who wore the same smile on his face, she looked down giving him a look that said 'i'll tell you later' he subtly nodded, returning his gaze to the slightly stressful scene.

Narcissa looked at Artemis, "How was it fixed, I thought it just broke?"

The young girl had hummed in agreement, still playing with her mother's rings, which he successfully brought her mothers attention towards her manicured hands, "Yes aunty, I fixed it, did you not want me to?" a regretful look flashed across her face, making Narcissa quickly shake her head.

Blaise and Draco had to hold back a smile, knowing this was a part of Artemis' act. It was slightly scary how quickly she could change her tone to appear to be innocent.

That's always how it went, Artemis played the damsel, while the other two played her knights in shining armour...when it was usually the opposite. She just liked making people believe she was something that she was not.

Innocent.

"No Arty, I'm glad you fixed it." Narcissa quickly said, she looked towards her friends who wore the same grateful expression, "we're glad you fixed it, but how child?"

The young Seramore Witch looked around the room at the curious faces that appeared on each mother, while her friends' faces continued holding back their laughs, Blaise even covered his mouth with his hand, as a chuckle threatened to escape.

"I found your wand and used the Reparo charm just like I saw you do when you broke Daddy's glasses." Artemis innocently deflected, making her mother look down in embarrassment.

The young witch knew how to make people focus on other things, instead of her sins, she had learnt it from her mother, whenever she tried to convince her father to get her something.

Despite her young age, she's extremely perceptive.

Ophelia and Narcissa giggled, "you broke them again Celly, how?"

Celeste sighed, "I might have sat on them." the room erupted in laughter.

"You and your fat arse." her twin exclaimed.

Narcissa scolded her friend, with a smile, "Language Lia."

"Arse." Blaise and Draco said in unison between laughs.

"See what you've done?" Celeste hit her sister's arm playfully.

Artemis smiled at the scene, the broken vase already forgotten.

***

a/n:
Anyone fluent in French or Italian, please correct me throughout this book.

What did you guys think of the prologue?

<3 - liv