March 31st, 1888 — Fort Lestrange

Tiberius had a very narrow view of the term 'family,' and most of the people invited to this bloated Easter weekend did not make his cut. He was determined to remain disdainfully aloof for the entire weekend if he could help it, particularly when he realized that he didn't even recognize some of the people here. Apparently he wasn't alone in that, however, because he overheard someone nearby discreetly asking who the brunette across the room was, shortly after he'd wondered the same thing.

Nora Abercrombie. Well, that was an interesting development. When Cassius hadn't responded to his letter, Tiberius had assumed he hadn't taken his advice, but here was proof to the contrary. If Cassius had bothered to ask to invite her, and Lucius had actually agreed, things were progressing far more smoothly than he might even have hoped. It might not be long at all before things had become slightly more finalized — perhaps there was even a hope of an engagement (or at least a courtship) before the end of the year.

Although it had been his plan from the beginning, the fact that it was now apparently working gave Tiberius a new interest in the previously unappealing stranger. He lurked at the edge of a conversation with an apertif in hand, but his eyes were watching her.

  

If there was ever a place that Nora felt out of place, it was among the Lestrange family Easter. Her invitation came by extension of Elwin and Evelyn as she'd happened to be staying with them for the holiday. Needless to say, she probably should have turned tail and run home, but that would have been incredibly rude and so here she was, practically vibrating with nerves, afraid to say or do the wrong thing. She was going to need a vacation from this vacation when she got home.

It was hard not to hover near her cousin and his wife, nor could she monopolize Cassius' time. Hiding in the library could only get her so far and so she just tried to be as unassuming and unobtrusive as possible. There were, fortunately a few other ladies around her age, Cassius' sisters and cousin.

The eldest Lestrange, Claudius, Cassius' brother, had taken pity on her and was most gracefully discussing books with her, though she couldn't help but to feel like somebody else was watching her. Nora tried to shake the feeling and took a sip of her tea to give herself enough time to convince herself that she was being silly. Just because like she stood out like a sore thumb didn't mean anybody else was paying any attention to her.

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The conversation that he was lurking at the edge of had turned to something other than Miss Abercrombie, but his attention had not. She was short, he thought. It was hard to tell exactly how short, from across the room, particularly when she wasn't standing with anyone he could handily compare her to, but he had the sense from looking at her that she was shorter than Antigone or Valeria, or perhaps even his young cousin Seneca (though it was hard to tell exactly with Seneca, given her abilities). On the other hand, it might have just been her physique that gave her the appearance of being short and stout. Even after two pregnancies, Antigone's figure lacked even a hint of a curve without the assistance of shaping corsets, and Valeria's moderate curves were still not quite as full as Miss Abercrombie's figure appeared to be.

Was she actually shaped like that, or did she just have exceptionally bad fashion sense and had picked the dress least likely to make her look appealing? The dress itself hardly seemed to be anything special, so he could feasibly believe the latter. Time would tell, he supposed, because she could not possibly wear the same awful piece of clothing through the entire weekend. Part of him thought that even given Cassius' twisted tastes he could not possibly be willing to see himself married to a woman who was overtly unattractive, but then — well, if Tiberius was the only one who was ever going to sleep with her, why on earth should Cassius care if she were fat?

No matter. If she had a small horde of ugly daughters, they would be his cousin's problem. He assumed the boy he claimed from the arrangement would look like him, anyway. Valeria's son did.

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   Bella Scrimgeour

It was hard to shake the feeling that she was being watched, but it would be incredibly rude of her to ignore her current conversation to worry about something that was both unlikely and beyond her control. Nora brushed at the skirt of her lavender dress idly, a laugh bubbling up at something Mr. Lestrange said about a book they had both recently read on charms. As much as she enjoyed her fiction novels, she did every now and then read a book on charms or transfiguration to balance it out. It seemed that the eldest Lestrange also enjoyed books of the sort and made some wonderful recommendations for her.

Apparently he also had a fiance that was around her age that was around the house somewhere, that was reassuring to say the least! Not that anyone had been outwardly cold to her, but she did feel out of place still and to have another woman her age that was not an actual Lestrange would be nice to have around, if only for a conversation here or there!

Nora sat up straighter in her seat and crossed her legs at the ankle below the chair before looking around the room quickly. That feeling was so very hard to ignore!

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omg if she only knew, she'd cry!

  

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She'd laughed at something. Tiberius supposed the noise wasn't overtly offensive, but he was not much in the mood to be enchanted by her charms after judging her appearance so harshly. Not that her laughter mattered much, anyway; Cassius might have to live with the sound, but it was probably something Tiberius would not encounter during his visits to her bedroom. He wouldn't even really have to listen to her speak, much, after they'd established the routine of the evening. The distasteful thought that he would have to pretend to be Cassius during the initial conversation where he explained to her what was going to happen drifted into his mind. He had no desire to contemplate how Cassius might describe sex — nor, for that matter, did Cassius, more likely than not, given his sexual proclivities. Hopefully whatever he came up with wouldn't seem terribly out of character for his cousin, or else she would be too nervous on her wedding night to notice or care about the inconsistencies.

Was she intelligent? He wondered whether that was the sort of thing children inherited from their mother or their father, or whether it was a trait independently acquired. His uncle Lucius was as sharp an individual as Tiberius had ever met, and his wife of many years had been an utter imbecile; their children seemed to have fallen on every corner of the spectrum. Claudius was capable and astute, as Tiberius knew both from his experience with him as a cousin and as a fellow employee in the Department of Mysteries. Cassius, on the other hand, was nearly as unintentionally self-destructive as his mother. The best that could be said of him was that he had not managed to impale himself with a fire poker — yet.

  

For a few moments, chatting with Mr. Lestrange about books gave Nora little sense of peace in an otherwise anxiety-inducing situation. Nora had to wonder if all of the Lestrange men were quite so charming or if it was just Cassius and his brother that managed to make her feel at ease. There were so many after all it was hard to really tell exactly and the fact that she lacked any outgoing characteristics meant she was unlikely to purposefully venture out to meet more of them.

Claudius mentioned that he would send his betrothed her way at some point in the day and that he would also leave a previously discussed book with her for Nora. Well, that was sweet of him at least. Having something new to read for the remainder of her time here would give her something to do when she needed a break from socializing (which was often). Unfortunately he had to excuse himself and Nora was left by herself once more. Perhaps it was time she found Evelyn or Elwin to let them know she was going to retire for a little while and gather some inner strength for the evening's activities.

Setting her teacup aside, Nora stood and smoothed out her skirts, looking around the room for her cousin or his wife.

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She was alone, having been abandoned by her conversation partner, and Tiberius wondered irritably where Cassius was. How did he intend to woo her if he left her to stand around looking awkward for half of the weekend?

She was looking around the room, though, and he didn't want her to catch him looking at her. She might feel obliged to try and talk to him, and he didn't want to have to deal with that. Shifting his attention to the door, Tiberius stalked out of the room to see whether he could figure out where his idiot cousin had gone.