Visit to the Lupin Household Ⅲ

Straightening up Terry introduces himself and his betrothed, Siliva Flint. "Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Terry Greengrass the heir to the Greengrass branch from whence I am descended from." Gesturing gracefully to his companion, "My beloved companion is Syliva Flint, my betrothed."

Silvia holds her skirt out and gracefully curtsies in the introduction.

Blinking her brown golden eyes in surprise, Hope studies the pair of youths in front of her. "Ah, well, congratulations," she weakly said. "Forgive my response, but the two of you are rather young, no?"

"Most certainly madam," Terry acknowledged, before showing a rare gentle expression in public directed toward his fiancé. "However, Silvia and I are what colloquially is known as childhood sweethearts."

"Oh, how romantic," Hope fondly recalled the example of her own parents.

Seeing the clock hand move, Hope remembered the hour and several things to do in the kitchen. "Please do sit down," she shoo'd the youths toward her son, Remus, and his already seated friend. "I shall be back soon enough once I put this way," she held up the basket, before sending her husband a pointed look to behave, and retreated into the kitchen. She needed to adjust her preparations to include two extra servings.

Holding his hand out to Silvia, Terry leads Silvia to sit down first, before sitting down at her side. From the stylish leather satchel slung over his shoulder, he reaches in and removes a game box. Setting the satchel at his feet, he opens the game board on the table in front of them.

As Terry removes the items from the game box, he gestures invitingly to the enchanted board of Monopoly. "A game anyone?"

The muggle game had taken the wizarding world by storm and there were now various enchanted magical sets available for children to play. The purebloods hadn't protested as they rather approved of the purpose of the game. It taught their children to be ruthless and clever and more importantly learn fiscal responsibility.

Rolling up his sleeves, Remus says, "I'm in," before questioningly glancing over at Rowan.

"Fine, but Silvia is the banker," Rowan avidly glanced at Terry. "I don't trust Terry's calculations."

Terry visibly pouted, while Silvia snickered loudly. Seeing Silvia's expression, Rowan felt a lot more relieved. Silvia wasn't doing as badly as she had initially feared. On the other hand, Lyall Lupin didn't quite know what to make of the scene in front of him.

"Why dear Rowan, I have never stolen a knut in my life!" Terry blinked in feigned hurt; he held his hand to his broken heart.

"That's because you'd never lower yourself to steal a knut, when you can have the whole vault," Rowan firmly retorted.

"Fair enough," Terry shrugged, before pointing to the eight game-pieces available to choose from.

The eight traditional game pieces had been transformed into a cauldron, a witches hat, a broom, a curled up black cat, a potted wolfsbane plant, a toad, a rat, and a feathered quill. "Ladies first," Terry humbled his head in the direction of Silvia and Rowan.

"Don't mind if I do," Siliva went first and selected the feathered quill and placed it on the starting square. Once set down feathered metal quill magically rose and hovered over the square that read as start.

"That's certainly new," Rowan mumbled as she selected the witch's hat and set it in place. The witch's hat hopped in place twice as if excited. It vaguely reminded her of the Sorting Hat.

"The movement is a new added feature," Terry grinned at seeing Rowan's reaction, before reaching for the black cat. Setting the black cat down, the curled up black cat stretches and yawns, before licking its paw to clean its metal face.

Without hesitation Remus picked up the potted wolfsbane, the plant bounced on the board once before settling down. "Aren't you going to join us, Dad? There is plenty of room for another player," he gestured to the four available game pieces left.

Not wanting to leave his son alone with three Slytherins, Lyall grudgingly scoots his chair nearer to them. Seeing the remaining game pieces, he selects the silver broom. Setting the broom on the start line, the broom rises a few centimeters off the board hovering in place.

Finished counting out fake muggle money, Silvia dolls out $1500 to everyone. She grabs a pair of dice and says, "We should let the eldest start us off," she holds out the pair of dice to Mr. Lupin.

No one protests as Lyall Lupin suspiciously accepts the pair of dice. "Do I just throw them?"

 Remus rolls his eyes in exasperation. "Dad, please just gently roll them onto the board."

"Fine," Lyall coughs covering his embarrassment at his honest mistake. Tossing them lightly onto the board, he rolls a two and a five. The silver broom rises and darts in a straight line, before halting at the spot on the board that reads as chance.

"Please draw a chance card, Mr. Lupin," Silvia indicated to the golden cards on the board that read as 'chance'.

Picking up the yellow chance card, Lyall Lupin doesn't have time to read the card, when the silver broom shoots forward before landing on the on the Jail spot.

"What rotten luck," Terry mumbled under his breath as everyone nodded their heads in agreement. 

"Dad, that's just terrible, and on your first card too!" Remus incredulously remarked.

"Why?" Lyall frowned.

"You're in Azkaban, Dad! You can't get out until you roll a double or use a get out of jail free card or pay up to get out!"

A dawn of understanding appears on Lyall's face as he glances back at the yellow card in hand that reads, "Go to Jail."

"Ah, I see," Lyall said setting the yellow card aside. "So do I roll first?"

"Go ahead," Silvia gestured. "You need to roll a double of any number or pay a $50 fine."

"That's not too bad," Lyall confidently said much to Remus's dismay.

 Terry and Rowan both gaze pointedly at Remus in silent communication. "Your father is a total Gryffindor," their stare seemed to clearly say.

Shrugging apologetically at his friends, Remus clutches his money a little tighter already regretting inviting his dad to play. He had a feeling that this was going to be a terribly short game for his Dad at this rate. And he wasn't wrong, his Dad was bankrupt even before half of the game was over.

The final winner was naturally Terry followed by Silvia in second and then Rowan in third. Rowan might have won or even taken second place if not for Silvia helping Terry tag team her and Remus. Not that Rowan disapproved of their actions since it was perfectly natural for the two of them to act together in their best interests.

 For a multitude of reasons such as Terry and Silvia being pureblood Slytherin's. Or the fact they have been childhood friends since they were old enough to attend pureblood gatherings. And lastly, they were betrothed. It was only natural to act in a manner fitting that would continue to serve them well into their marriage.

"How do you even have a roof over your head, Remus?" Rowan drily commented ignoring the fact that Lyall Lupin was sitting right across from her. "If your father's fiscal skills are anything to go by, you should be living in a shack out in the middle of nowhere."

"Mum's good with money," Remus frankly confessed. "It's the sole reason why we have a roof over our heads," eyeing his dad in embarrassment.