Love Made Us Blind

The visit was already starting miserably as the couple was greeted by Acel, the Voltaire's family house elf. She hated that stupid creature that never respected her because she wasn't a Voltaire.

"Bienvenue au Chateau Voltaire." He said bowing down, which he had been clearly ordered to do and didn't seem to like it one bit.

"Didn't anyone tell you that you're supposed to use the guest's language when you greet them? It's rude." Alice told him coldly.

The house elf ignored her. He turned his back and started walking them to the drawing room. There in the entrance a woman with brown hair and light blue eyes was waiting for them. She was very tall and skinny and now that Alice was almost sixteen she knew that she inherited even her average silhouette from her father.

"Marie-Adelaide, ma belle fille." She smiled as she hugged her only child. Alice didn't do anything; just let her mother squeeze her as she was doing it for the show until she turned to Draco. "Welcome to France Draco."

"It's a pleasure seeing you Mrs..." Draco didn't finish because he had no clue whenever to address to her as Voltaire or Lestrange. When he was younger he overheard her mother discussing that she wished to call off her union. If she changed Alice's name she probably changed hers as well.

The couple entered the room, where a man was waiting, in front of seven men and four women who were wearing dress robes. Draco had no idea who these people were or why he really was here. But judging by his beloved's expressions, she didn't want to be here. His uncle started talking in French to the small assembly and the blond got uneasy when he heard Malfoy and Black mentioned and knew it was something about both of them. He looked around the beautifully decorated room and the tapestry with the family tree on it. He had no idea that wizards in France were there for so long, longer than the Blacks. Alice's uncle waved his wand as the whole room watched a vertical line appear under Christine Voltaire's name. Once it reached two inches, a small version of Alice's portrait materialized itself with the name Marie-Adelaide Malfoy engraved with gold letters. With a second wave, a horizontal line appeared, and soon after, Draco's face. Alice was given the chance to stay a couple of moments alone in the room with her beaux and all she did was nod to accept.

"Meet us in the dining room." Her mother instructed her as the guest were leaving "Acel will stay behind to guide you later."

Alice waited until the doors were closed until she let out a frustrated scream.

"Alice..." Draco started but was interrupted

"I can't believe she staged it! Marie-Adelaide Malfoy ? She's sick! I'm fifteen! I-I... I hate them. Draco I want to leave this place now."

"We can't we have to be excused..."

"They still act like it's the middle Ages! My cousin is older than me and he's not there connected to someone!" She yelled looking at the names of her cousins near her. "They are both still single! So why do they have to marry me? I'm not even a Voltaire, I'm a Lestrange!"

"And a future Malfoy now." Draco said to cheer up the girl but it didn't help. He also thought this was weird but decided to hide it as his "wife" was freaking out.

"You should have heard him talk earlier about your family." She said disgusted "Talking about how pure is your blood and how wonderful it is that even the Voltaires that marry out are still set on keeping the blood pure. He made it sound as if I'm with you because of your blood."

"But I know that's not the case."

"If something happens and we break up he'll disown me. Blast me off."

"We'll make sure to stay together then..." Draco said, kissing his beautiful girlfriend-fiancée-wife

They finally left the room and followed the house elf to the dining room where everyone assembled. The couple walked to the long table as everyone watched them. On the tip of the table she spotted her uncle sitting between her cousins. Like most of the royal French families, Pierre-Henri Voltaire only wanted one heir. His first born son, Pierre-Luc, was sitting on his right, looking as cold as ever. He was two years older than Alice and they never got along, mostly because they never talked. Alice preferred her younger cousin Jean-Sebastien. He was four years younger than his brother and people in general were surprised of his birth. Most people believed that Claudine, the boy's mother, wanted a baby so much, she cheated on her husband. Which would explain Pierre-Henri's cold attitude towards his unwanted heir and the mother's undying love for him. Alice also believed that it was because he was never pampered by the father that she grew to like him. Jean-Sebastien was nothing like his brother. He was always smiling and a genuinely a nice person. Alice ate her dejeuner with little appetite and was thankful that she and Draco were seated between strangers and not with the royals. There were twelve ancient wizard families in France that were believed to be here well before the Middle Ages. France didn't have a Ministry or Minister of Magic. Everything was decided by twelve families. Only one family stood out more because and had been considered as the leader. Alice was very unfortunate that it happen to be her mother's maiden family. Half-way through the meal an older witch stood up and asked a word with Alice.

"Bien sur Madame Courbet." She said as she stood up and followed her outside the room, into a small salon nearby.

Madame Courbet was Rachelle's maternal grand-mother, the one who disowned her because she didn't want to go back to Beauxbatons. Madame Courbet never wanted her daughter to marry an English man but couldn't find any French prospect within a proper age limit for her daughter with a respectable bloodline. When the only White heir was born, she had plans to make sure Rachelle would marry a son of the royal families, Pierre-Luc Voltaire was an ideal candidate and Madame Courbet spend many years courting with the Voltaire's to make that happen. She didn't want Rachelle to go to Hogwarts for several reasons. She needed to keep her in the French society and interact with the royals. By threatening her to disown her, Madame Courbet was certain that Rachelle would remain in Beauxbatons. She never thought her grand-daughter would chose love instead.

"Please sit." She asked in French as the old woman took a seat on the couch. "Your mother told me that you transferred to Hogwarts this year." She said with a fake smile

"Yes, along with Rachelle" the older woman lost her smile for a second before gaining control over herself again.

"Why did you decide to rebel against your mother? She was very disappointed you know."

"I didn't rebel." Alice said a little scandalized even if it was a small lie "Madame Maxim offered to send me and Rachelle to Hogwarts so we can pass our examinations with the grades we deserve."

"Well then, I guess I owe Madame Maxim a talk. Sending young beautiful Fren-"

"Yes, you should talk with Madame Maxim and thank her for looking out for her students as much as she does. She really cares about what happens to us and what we become. We have a better shot at our future."

"Future? How hard is it to be a house-wife witch? Of course you don't have to worry about anything now do you? You made sure to pick out one of the purest blood line to marry into. What about Rachelle? Who is this Zabini, I could not find his ancestors in any history books! She needs to come back home so that-"

"No man could ever love her more than Blaise. And as for the Courbets... you only have one daughter and your grand-daughter will probably marry someone from England, making that child's French pretty diluted in her veins. You have to face it now: there will soon be only eleven Families."

When Madame Courbet left the room and shut the door, Alice stayed on the couch and rubbed her red and stinging cheek. It was for Rachelle, and the black haired girl could not wait to tell her that her grandmother slapped her. Alice was about to leave when a red haired boy, about fourteen entered the room. The girl smiled and hugged the boy as hard as she could.

"Tu m'as manqué."

"I doubt that true." He responded also in French "You hate it here."

"Doesn't mean I don't miss my favourite cousin."

"How are you holding up there?"

"Let's just say it's a good thing you came here right now. This might be the last time I ever see you. I don't and never wanted to be a part of this French society. When you will enter the drawing room, you'll see they added me and my husband there."

"Marie, it's about that..."

"It's so wrong Jean. I'm fifteen! I love Draco now but what if I grow up and in five years I won't love him anymore? What if I get married to someone else?"

"Well if his blood his as pure as his, they will just pretend Draco died. But if he's less than pure..."

"I'll the first one ever to be blasted off that tree."

"They won't. Yes you'll be disinherited but they won't blast you off. They will pretend like you never existed. Because, Marie, they don't care. Your fake engagement right now is just for the show!"

"Couldn't they use you for it? Or why not your perfect older brother? He's of age; shouldn't he by your medieval values already have two children and a third one on the way?"

"We're not like that Marie."

"Then why am I on the tree as a Malfoy?"

"Because your petit copain is also a Black, a family very well known and adored in France. Having a Voltaire, even if your mother married out is just what my father needed to remind everyone just how fine our taste is."

"That's disgusting."

"The motive behind that is..." He took a breath, trying to find words how to say his news "Pierre-Luc is in a lot of troubles with my father."

"How much?"

"Let's just say, every day, it's becoming more probable that I'll be the one who's going to succeed father and become part of the council even though he knows I'm not his son."

Alice's mouth dropped. Pierre-Luc was the adored child, the heir to the Voltaire's kingdom. He was raised so that one day he would replace his father and "rule" the French wizarding world just like Voltaires have done for centuries.

"What...Why?" The half-French witch asked in a weak voice

"Father picked out a fiancée for him who happened to have a grandmother who was a cousin of our grandmother. So he said he refused to inbreed and said he would marry the woman of his choice. Father let it go for now because he thinks that Pierre-Luc will see things his way but I know that it won't happen that way. He came to me the other day and said to be strong and if he were to disappear soon, he trusted me I make him proud and when the proper moment would come to also stand my ground."

"What, what did he do?"

"He fell in love with a muggle."

Alice let the information sink in as Jean-Sebastien said as many details as he knew, how they met, how at first his older brother didn't want to accept it, even thought of murdering the poor girl but couldn't.

"But he... She's a muggle! How could you fall in love with someone so different?"

"I don't know but I thought you deserved to know the truth. He wants to show a better side of the Voltaires, the ones that don't run away with vermin or inherit s fortune that's not even theirs."

"So, your mother cheated..."

"Everyone knows it."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not. And as much as I love you, take my advice. Run away from here and don't come back. It's going to be very ugly once hell breaks loose."

"I'm going to miss you." Marie said as she hugged her cousin one last time.

"I'm sorry for everything you had to endure today." Alice said as she lay beside Draco in his bed.

"I won't lie, they scare me."

"You're not too traumatized from seeing Marie-Adelaide Malfoy on that tree, are you? I know how young boys are commitment afraid."

"It's never been a problem for me now has it. And it does have a nice ring to it. On the other hand, I would have been traumatized if they would have turned and asked us for our future children's names."

Alice laughed softly. She cuddled even more against her boyfriend.

"Did you know if you would have been a girl your name would have been Sophia?"

Alice had every intention of having that daughter Narcissa couldn't have and name her Sophia. Once that happened, she would personally see to it that her little daughter and her mother in law would have the closest grandmother-granddaughter relationship in history.

"No, I did not." Draco said "And how did you know that."

"Your mother told me. She also told me the story of how she and your father started dating."

"Well you know everything, don't you? Like a Malfoy." He looked at her and caught sight of the necklace she was wearing. "You even look like a Malfoy with that."

"All I have to do is dye my hair blond."

"No, I like you like that."

"You like me?" Alice asked with a little smirk

"No, I love you." Draco responded before they stared kissing.