SP #3

[JAMES IGNOTUS POTTER]

■ ■ cedrella desdemona yaxley [29]
■ ■ ---- ---- wood. [30]
■ ■ ---- ---- rosier. [29]

In pureblood tradition, it is customary for parents to find and secure suitable matches for their children. The intention is to keep bloodlines pure and alliances strong between pureblooded wizarding families. While the term "arranged marriage" has gone out of style, families are known for encouraging matches between their children. ROSIER and YAXLEY were so encouraged since they graduated from Hogwarts.

The pair dated on and off. It started as a sort of friends-with-benefits situation, but with a little more of a commitment. Their families were so well connected, that they didn't see any reason not to date after they started hooking up at school. However, neither of them were completely invested in the idea of a full-on relationship. After six of seven years of being together, however, their parents started to question why ROSIER hadn't asked YAXLEY to marry him. 

It led to an awkward conversation between the two. Both of them cared immensely for each other; they had come to be each other's best friends. However, there was never any passionate love or devotion in the midst of their sexual relationship. They enjoyed each other, surely, but were they in love with each other? It was pretty apparent they weren't, and that their relationship had become one of convenience because their families and the public approved. Also, they could focus on their own lives and not need to worry about finding a spouse.

When they each turned 27, there was immense family pressure to make the match official. Coming from the type of families that they did, they knew it was the right thing to do (or at least they felt it was at the time). ROSIER made a show of it; at a gathering of multiple pureblood families he got down on one knee and offered YAXLEY a rock of a diamond. She blushed and fluttered her hand before her face and squealed a yes. Their mothers nearly fainted, their fathers shook hands.

Engagements usually lasted a couple years, but the pair didn't feel any need to get married immediately. Their families were happy enough knowing that they were engaged and didn't press the issue of timing. Besides, both of them came from large families- the parents were already hovering over their other children trying to pair them off to eligible pureblood singles of noteworthiness. Everything was fine. They focused on their work and enjoyed the peacefulness they'd bought themselves.

...until WOOD came into the picture.

WOOD was the Care of Magical Creatures professor at Hogwarts, where YAXLEY worked as a librarian. The two interacted very little, as their professions kept them at opposite ends of the academic spectrum as well as at opposite ends of the castle, but at meals and staff meetings they continually made penetrating and lasting eye contact that unsettled each of them. There was underlying attraction despite the knowledge of who the other was. YAXLEY knew that WOOD came from a blood-traitorous pureblood family, highly respected and known by muggle rights activists. WOOD knew that YAXLEY came from a supremacist, Voldemort-supporting family, composed completely of Slytherin alumni and rich snobs. 

They were everything they hated about other people. But they can't ignore their instincts.

Will WOOD and YAXLEY finally interact after months of silent attraction and staring contests? What do they think the other thinks of them? Will WOOD approach YAXLEY, or vice versa? If ever? What about YAXLEY's relationship with ROSIER? If something happens, will she remain faithful? Will something happen at all?