18 Lunch & Letters

Placing the simple wooden chair to the right of the young princess, I wait for her reaction to the food I made for her earlier.

Delicately wrapping her small fingers around the knife and fork she picked them up.

Penetrating the roasted lamb fillet with the fork's tines, she held it in place while placing the knife's blade to the meat.

Pulling the knife towards herself it effortlessly slices through the fillet.

Gently picking up her fork to which a piece of lamb was attached she placed it in her small widely opened mouth.

Removing the slice of meat of the tines with her teeth she extracted the fork from her mouth and placed it back next to the plate.

Biting down, her teeth cut through the lamb like the guillotine through Louis the sixteenth's neck.

Closing her eyes she moved the meat around her mouth savoring the taste.

Swallowing, she reopened her eyes, making them flash in the sunlight.

Turning to me she smiled, "You have outdone yourself again Victoria, thank you."

I couldn't help but let a smile come upon my face hearing the compliment.

"Thank you for your kind words, your highness."

Turning away from me, she gazed at the garden, every once in a while taking a bite to eat while watching time pass by and the birds and butterflies flutter across the meadow.

Finishing her food her highness placed her knife and fork on top of the plate indicating that she was finished with her meal.

Standing up I reached for the plate and picked it up, "I'll be taking this inside."

Seeing her nod I was about to walk away when I heard her call out to me, "Victoria, could you please bring me another piece of parchment and two envelopes."

Turning back to her, I curtseyed, "Of course, your highness."

Walking over to tall glass double doors I push one side open and slip inside.

As I strode across the ballroom, the sound of my black shoes tapping against the floor echoed through the whole chamber.

As I passed by the grand piano I looked up, seeing the balcony that spanned the entire circumference of the room.

Exiting onto the long high ceilinged corridor I turned left walking down the hall I turned left and walked down the stairs leading to the kitchen.

Entering it I moved straight past the first stoves and to the sink, around which dirty dishes were already placed.

Sliding the plate I was holding into place, I moved over to the sink itself and laid the eating utensils in it.

Exiting the kitchen I quickly fetched the items her highness had requested and strode back outside.

Walking across the stone-paved terrace I was approaching the princess, when suddenly a strong gust blew past me, making my black ankle-length maid uniform flap in the wind.

Not letting it slow me down, I quicken my pace.

Placing the page on the small table, turning to look at me, with those crystalline eyes of hers, she asked, "Victoria, how are you doing these days?",

Smiling, I bow slightly towards her, "I feel fine, your highness, thank you."

Moving her small arm she motioned towards the chair, "Please, sit down."

Nodding, I walked over to the wooden chair and sat, carefully moving my dress so as to not wrinkle it.

Reaching over the young princess took hold of the parchment and placed it neatly on the wooden board, it had four thin legs that rested on the floor around her chair.

Dunking her quill in the ink jar looked back at the piece of parchment and took a deep breath.

Placing the tip of the quill on the paper she started to write.

While she was doing so I just watched her. It was calming seeing her small smile as she wrote to whoever she was planning to send the letter to.

Her hand seemed to graciously fly across the paper as she wrote her small childlike hands not striking her in any way.

I couldn't see what she was writing from such a distance but what I did notice was her beautiful calligraphy.

Tearing my gaze off the parchment I looked around the gardens.

They were extremely beautiful for some reason, since lord Black had told me no one had visited Black manor in over five years.

'It's probably magic.' I thought, since to my limited knowledge, magic could do almost anything.

Looking to my right I noticed that I could see patches of the rose garden through the trees and hedges planted by earlier generations of Blacks.

The trees that were blocking my view of the roses were a sort of wall separating them from the main garden, where all sorts of plants grew and flowers bloomed.

There were stone pathways along with the large garden which was connected to the terrace her highness and I were sitting on.

Further to the right were two buildings, one was tall and made of solid black marble like the manor.

While the other was long and low, I had visited it once curious of what was inside but what I found shocked me.

Dead horses, they littered the ground. When I looked at them in more detail I noticed that they didn't have any wounds, they also didn't look malnourished.

So taking that and the Black family's past into consideration I had theorised that they were probably killed with the killing curse.

So as a loyal maid of her highness should, I quickly informed her of my findings.

As soon as I had told her she had written it on her list of things she had to do by the end of the year.

The scratching of a quill going over paper suddenly stopped, turning I saw the six-year-old princess looking at me with a small smile on her lips.

"What were you thinking about?"

Smiling back I swept a lock of hair out of my face tucking it behind my ear, "Nothing important."

"Fine," she then turned back to the paper and folded it.

Reaching over she plucked one of the two envelopes of the table and slipped the letter inside.

After doing the same to the letter she wrote earlier, her highness took the candle that was placed on the table and let some wax drop on the letter.

Taking the Black stamp, she pressed it to the wax sealing the letter shut.

"Could you please send these for me." her highness asked, both letters clamped between her fingers.

Careful taking them for her small hands I curtseyed, "Of course, your highness."

Turning around I strode into the manor.

As I walked towards the door to the aviary I couldn't help but look down at the addresses the letters were being sent to.

The first letter was addressed to a Mr. Charles Weasely, which wasn't very surprising since I had reminded her of it earlier today.

But the other one made me cock an eyebrow, "Lady Narcissa Malfoy".