[HP Doujin] 1943

It has been a long time since Stuart Valley has been so lively. Several groups of officials from the Ministry of Magic rushed over and put a seal on the outside of the manor.The lonely and desolate Stuart Valley has not seen so many media reporters for decades.All the rooms in Alice's bar were full, the small square in the village was full of colorful tents, and reporters with cameras and shorthand notebooks crowded the whole village.

When Mr. Charles Stuart himself appeared, the black car he was riding in was surrounded by reporters. The Ministry of Magic dispatched fifteen officials from the Department of Law Enforcement and three Aurors to drive away the reporters. Mr. Tuart's car drove into the estate.

No one knew what happened, sporadic news came out through reporters, and the villagers learned that a woman had committed suicide at Elizabeth Stuart's tomb.Two days later, the Daily Prophet published an exclusive obituary for Lady Sylvia Black, briefly mentioning that she had died in the Stuart family cemetery.Sam, the bartender at Alice's bar, stared at Sylvia's photo in the newspaper dumbfounded, and stopped halfway in fright.

Isn't this the woman he saw that night.

She broke into the protective layer of Stuart Manor and committed suicide in the cemetery?

Although the official media did not leak any news, various tabloids except the Daily Prophet began to report all kinds of speculation.Many people say that Sylvia Black died of despair after her master lost power, which is the most widely circulated theory.

Mr. Barty Crouch, an officer of the Legal Enforcement Division, accompanied by an assistant, entered Mr. Charles Stuart's study just as the Stuart's Valley was in chaos.Charles Stuart was wearing a dark blue robe, with a solemn expression in his dark brown eyes.

When Crouch shook hands with him, he couldn't help but look at him more curiously. There was a clear outline of Francis Stuart on his face, but Elizabeth Stuart was in his eyes. gentle and delicate.

"I'm sorry," Crouch said in a businesslike tone, "we didn't do our job well enough to cause a Death Eater to trespass on your estate. You won't be involved in this matter, Stu. Mr. Art, you just need to sign some documents, and I will have my assistant prepare them for you later."

"Thank you," Charles said, looking out the window at the foggy field with a look of melancholy in his eyes.

Crouch took a group of Ministry of Magic officials to the cemetery to deal with the scene.Towards lunchtime the butler came and asked if he was going back to London.He looked around the cold marble hall of Stuart Manor, nodded, put on his robe and gray woolen scarf, and said lightly, "Let's go."

The house in London is on the Strand.After Elizabeth's death, Francis moved here with his family.Francis also died a few years ago, and Charles inherited his property and still lived the same reclusive life as before.

Francis Stuart's silent and gloomy character affected Charles.Everyone knows that the members of the Stuart family are notoriously reclusive, and rarely go out to social occasions.

Estella inherited all the property of the Randall family when she was an adult, including the Randall House in Knightsbridge, and several houses in France that Tony bought back then.But she didn't leave the Strand Street until she got married, because for her, Charles, Eleanor and Melinda were her family.

Eleanor married a Muggle, after which she moved to Edinburgh.Melinda, who works as a spellbreaker at Gringotts, always jokes that she is not suitable for marriage, still lives at home with Charles.

Charles wrote a letter to Eleanor and Estella respectively, telling them that "what happened in Stuart Manor is not serious, it's just that a Death Eater broke into the manor and the Stuart family Killed himself in the cemetery."

He didn't want to say more about the identity of this Death Eater.There is no need to bother any of your family members with the shadow of the past.

He had heard of Mrs. Sylvia Black, but had no memory of it.He knew she had been a friend of his mother's.He was too young when his mother died, so he hardly had any memory of his own mother.In his father's study—now his study—hangs a portrait of his mother. In those lonely afternoons of his childhood, he often slipped over alone to stare at her portrait, imagining that if his mother was still alive, Will my father still be so gloomy and silent, never going out all day?

That night, Melinda, Eleanor, and Estella were all back for dinner.When the accident happened at home, Estella was very young, so like Charles, she didn't have much memory of Elizabeth, Tony and Claudia.But Melinda and Eleanor were teenagers at the time, and judging from their pale faces, this day was not very easy for them to get through.

"After hiding for so many years, we have been pulled under the spotlight again." Eleanor turned the glass in her hand.On her finger was a plain silver wedding ring with a pale pink gemstone in the middle that shimmered in the light.She glanced at Estella and asked, "How are you and Raphael these days?"

Estella's husband is Professor Raphael Middleton, director of the St. Clair Observatory.

Estella nodded: "We live in the observatory, which was originally a place away from the hustle and bustle, so it doesn't have much influence. How are you and Melinda?"

Eleanor smiled: "Edgar is a Muggle. He can't even tell the difference between an Auror and a Death Eater. Do you expect him to understand the complicated past of the Stuart family?"

Melinda shrugged: "The best thing about a spellbreaker's job is that I'm surrounded by a group of people who are only interested in spells and gems. Even if the Minister of Magic himself is assassinated, no one in Gringotts will care of."

Charles spread out his napkin as the house-elf brought up the first vegetable soup.He picked up a piece of garlic bread and dipped it in the soup, and asked Eleanor casually: "Last time you mentioned in your letter that you would send little Lizzie to Beauxbatons to study."

"I have thought about it," Eleanor nodded and sighed. "I was very angry when I wrote to you, because at that time three reporters squatted in front of my house all day."

"but?"

"But I still want my kids to go to Hogwarts," she said quietly.

"I know," Charles, Melinda, and Estella glanced at each other, all three of them had a smile on their faces, "You made the right decision."

"So——" Melinda had a slightly sly smile on her face, just like she did when she teased Charles when she was a child, "Among the four of us, Eleanor and I belong to Gryffindor, and Same father. Estella is Ravenclaw, just like her father. Only you are from Slytherin. If it weren't for your exception, our family would have a tradition of children going to the same house as their father."

"What are you trying to say?" Charles asked dumbfounded.

"Let's make a bet!" said Melinda, who was always jumping in her mind. "I bet a Gallon that little Lizzie from Eleanor's family will be assigned to Ravenclaw in the future."

"I bet Gryffindor," said Eleanor.

"Ravenclaw," Charles said.

"I'm a Ravenclaw too," Estella said, resting her chin, her typical blue eyes of the Randall family shining in the candlelight, "like Elizabeth."

The name Elizabeth seemed to have always had a magical power in the house.When Francis was alive, no one had ever dared to mention the name in front of him.If someone accidentally mentions this name, he will definitely restrain all his smiles, as if suddenly turned into an empty shell, and then lock himself into the study without saying a word, and will not come out again for a whole day .

Everyone was silent for a while.

"Elizabeth is the woman Papa loves the most," Melinda said quietly, with the candlelight hitting her fair and quiet face, and the sadness of the past flashed in her dark and deep eyes, "although she is your mother, Charles, but I think . . . Eleanor and I remember her much more than you do."

Charles ate his bread in silence, without speaking.

"Although I resisted her at first, gradually I liked her more and more." Eleanor admitted.

"Me too."

"As soon as this incident came out, all the newspapers started discussing the past between her and Riddle again." Eleanor said with a sigh while holding a teacup in her hand.She was very pale, with blond hair that fell to her shoulders, and dark blue eyes that reflected the candlelight.

"I've seen the reports," Charles asked stiffly, "it's all bullshit."

Charles was a serious old-fashioned gentleman at heart, and every time anyone mentioned anything about his mother and Tom Riddle, the villainous villain, he felt a pang of discomfort.He doesn't like to discuss it.

"I guess it's because of Elizabeth's memoirs that were published a few years ago that many people are particularly interested in her life." Estella said sarcastically, "I think Elizabeth, and my parents lived Never dreamed that so many years after their death, they would become the protagonists of shoddy postcards, and their stories were made up and changed by many people in newspapers and magazines."

"That book was mediocre. Total rubbish." Charles snorted.

"I heard that the author wants to interview you."

"Yes, but I won't agree." Charles put down the spoon and wiped his fingers with a napkin, "I just asked my assistant to reply to her with a very brief statement that all members of our family will not accept any media interviews. What they want to write is their business, I have no right to interfere, but I will definitely not participate."

"I actually finished reading that book," Estella said.

"What?" Charles almost snarled. "You're going to read that book that defames my parents' reputation?"

Estella bit her lip, and exchanged glances with Eleanor helplessly.

Melinda leaned forward and put a hand around Charles's.

"Except for the last August siege that added speculation, the rest of the book is basically fact, including the story of your mother and Riddle." She said gently, "Eleanor and I attended Elizabeth's funeral, remember We saw him with our own eyes. If you have seen his back standing in front of Elizabeth's tomb, then you will definitely believe that he really loves her."

"And what about Sylvia Black?" asked Charles stiffly.

"Oh, Sylvia, I don't know her." Melinda sighed softly, and said softly, "I only know that she is the most powerful assistant of the mysterious man, and she has never liked Elizabeth."

"Why on earth did she choose to commit suicide in front of Elizabeth's tomb?" Estella asked in confusion.

Melinda shook her head.

"I don't know," she whispered, "no one will ever know, will they?"

"Queer woman," said Eleanor.

"I don't think we should talk about these things anymore," Charles said, pouring himself some more white wine. "Let the past pass. We're not in a position to talk about other people's lives."

Then he raised his glass and said calmly: "Tothedeceased. Maytheirsoulsrestinpeace."

Melinda, Estella and Eleanor also raised their glasses and whispered "Tothedeceased" quietly.

A gust of evening wind blew across the Strand Street in the night, the orange street lamps gently hit the frosted glass windows, and there were bursts of bells not far away. Everyone silently stopped their hands and lowered their eyes. Listen to the sounds that belong to this ancient city.The bell seemed to come from an ancient world that has passed away, hitting people's souls one after another.The sound of the bell is solemn and heavy, full of sadness and sadness, but also full of endless hope.Because all the darkness in this world has an end, everyone can find love and hope in the pain of life, go forward bravely, and live endlessly.

Final Chapter of Book VIII - Dedicated to Francis Stuart