June 8th, 1890 — Abercrombie House, Southampton

It seemed ludicrous to Evelyn that her sister would, tomorrow, become Mrs. Lestrange, even though that was the way of things and she herself had made the match. Nonetheless, though she saw Ellory each and every day, it was still perplexing to her that her baby sister had grown into a woman in her own right. With the preparations for the wedding day arranged, though, and the sun having retreated to bed, there was one last task to be ticked off of the list before Evey could consider preparations truly complete.

Ellory was readying for bed when Evelyn found her, and she had begged just a few minutes of her sister's time. She was not so naive as to think Ellory was entirely oblivious as to what a wedding night entailed, though with their mother dead, Evelyn knew it fell to her to fill in any gaps.

(Her sister, the witch thought, likely had it easier; hearing such details from the late Olivia Pendergast had been vaguely traumatic.)

"...but after the wedding itself, though," Evelyn continued almost apologetically, having reviewed the details of the day ahead, "there is the wedding night. I am sorry, but I must ask—how familiar are you, with the details?"

Even when the bride-to-be had edged close to danger, Evey could not have said for certain just what her sister did and did not know.

— @"Ellory Pendergast" —

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   Elladora Black, Ellory Lestrange

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As the day of her wedding approached, Ellory's anxiety on the matter had grown. It wasn't a fear based anxiety, exactly. It was of the giddy, 'this-is-a-new-strange-experience' kind. The sort of anxiety she had experienced on the days before first going to Hogwarts.

It still felt odd that she was going to marry Claude. The Pendergasts had always been close to that particular branch of the Lestrange family. Cash, Claude's brother, was like a brother to Ellory. As such, there was an awkwardness about marrying Claude. She now kind of understood why some people raised an eyebrow at the purebloods' practice of marrying amongst themselves. It was weird to marry Claude. It was weird because their children would be their own second cousin or something of that sort.

In any case, it was better to be having children with someone she got along with and liked than some middle-aged stranger.

She was getting ready for bed when Evelyn came into her room, asking for her time. Ellory nodded and dismissed the maid that helped her get undressed and gestured for her sister to sit on her bed. She suspected that Evelyn was there to tell her something about the wedding tomorrow. Encouraging words, to make some of the bride's worries go away.

Soon, it was revealed what Evelyn had come to talk about. Her question made Ellory's stomach twist. Back in the autumn, when her affair with The Guy had been revealed, there had been a passionate interrogation about whether Ellory's virtue had been marred. Ellory couldn't help but wonder if Evelyn was here to ensure that she wasn't going to hand a used woman to their uncle's firstborn. If only Uncle Lucius knew that she hadn't been perfectly proper, he would never have agreed to give her to his first son, niece or not.

"I am aware that husband and wife get... close. In some capacity," Ellory replied. It was strange. She knew more about those things that some debutantes, yet she didn't truly know what consummating a marriage entailed. "It is my understanding that some kind of ritual takes place. Something more than just... kissing. Something that brings a permanent change to the woman in the way that kissing doesn't." Oh Merlin, now that she thought about it, what were she and Claude going to do? She couldn't help but imagine them dressed in weird cloaks, performing some sort of paganistic ritual. The imagination was so vivid, that Ellory let out a small laugh. "Oh, sorry." she said, bringing a hand to her lips.

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   Elias Grimstone, Evelyn Abercrombie, Roberto Devine

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Her mother might have silenced Ellory's giggles with a sharp glare, but Evelyn had always been a softer touch. She smiled in spite of herself.

"It is normal to be nervous, dear one," she allowed sympathetically. She certainly had been, but Edwin had led her through the ordeal quite...well, awkwardly the first few instances, but splendidly in the years that had followed.

"When a man and wo—when a husband and wife lie together, the most intimate parts of their anatomy fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. A man's piece can be used in countless puzzles, but a woman's fits to the first man with whom she lies. A virtuous woman will be made to fit her husband and avoid other puzzles."

— @"Ellory Pendergast" —

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   Ellory Lestrange

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— so you wanna be a rose? —

— mj is kind of amazing. —

It was best that she didn't share with Evelyn what she had imagined. She tried to shoo those thoughts away, lest they kept her from taking this conversation seriously.

Evelyn's metaphors about jigsaw puzzles wasn't making it any easier not to laugh. Ellory's nails dug into her arm's flesh, so the pain would keep her from losing her composure. Frankly, this didn't make much sense.

"What do you mean?" Ellory asked, trying to keep a serious face. "Is Claude going to do something to my body?" Having said that, she now did feel some anxiety. If her piece of the puzzle was made to fit only Claude's, then that would mean that he would do something to her. "He's not going to hurt me, is he?"

Seemingly forgetting that muggles went through this too, Ellory remembered the time Antigone Lestrange used the cruciatus curse on her. Was Claude going to somehow mark his territory on her body? Charm her so only his jigsaw puzzle piece fit into hers?

  

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"It will be uncomfortable, I'm afraid," Evelyn answered apologetically, "but not always. Over time it will become..."

Evelyn trailed off, blushing slightly as she recalled the first time it had became.

"If your husband is—" is what? Anything like mine seemed far too bold! "—well, let us just say that, in time, it can become an experience that you relish, rather than a chore to be endured."

— Ellory Lestrange —

  

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— so you wanna be a rose? —

— mj is kind of amazing. —

Ellory could understand somewhat what Evelyn was trying to say. She remembered the pleasant sensation of kissing someone, of being held by a man's arms and feeling loved. However, there seemed to be a degree of control that Claude had in her pleasure. And there was the elephant in the room, that they were cousins and that it would be very awkward to see each other as anything but in the beginning. Ellory was afraid that they would never be able to see past that and they would have a loveless marriage, without the romance that she so craved to experience.

"It is kind of awkward, that Claude will be my husband," Ellory confessed to her sister. "What if this is detrimental to performing our duties? What if he is displeased with me and seeks a woman's pleasure elsewhere?"

  

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"Our cousin is a gentleman!" Evelyn protested. "He knows what is his responsibility, and will ensure at least that you are furnished with children."

She could not say for certain that he would not seek his pleasures elsewhere, but was quite confident indeed that he would do his duty by his wife regardless. This was Claudius Lestrange they were speaking of, after all, not some playboy like Fitzroy Prewett or Xavier Mondragon!

— Ellory Lestrange —

  

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— so you wanna be a rose? —

— mj is kind of amazing. —

What use would children be to her, if she didn't have their father's love? The only scenario in which Ellory fantasized about having a dozen children, was when she was head over heels in love with someone. She would then fantasize about what their children would be like, which qualities of their appearance their children would take, how they would name each child... Children were only good when they were an accessory to a couple's great love.

She would have to have children, of course, at least two boys, to strengthen Claude's position in the family. Cash's children would always be considered lesser, seeing that Lucius had no respect for him. As for Cicero, he would be in a position to have children in thirty years' time, roughly. So Ellory would have to do her part at the son birthing.

"That will keep me busy, I suppose," Ellory finally said. "Though I think Uncle Lucius wouldn't want me around his grandsons too much. He wouldn't want them to end up being decent people."

  

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"Ellory!" Evelyn exclaimed, taken aback at her sister's comment. Uncle Lucius was not the most doting man by any measure, but he had always treated the Pendergast children with respect!

— Ellory Lestrange —

  

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— so you wanna be a rose? —

— mj is kind of amazing. —

She had spoken out of turn. If it had been Olivia instead of Evelyn, Ellory might have received the Cruciatus curse again.

"Forgive me," Ellory said somewhat sheepishly. "What I am trying to say is that our cousin's family seems to favour people like... Cousin Tiberius. I wouldn't want my son to be this cold and unnerving." She wanted kind, decent boys like Cash and Regan.

  

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"We must be compassionate towards Cousin Tiberius," Evelyn encouraged her sister gently. "I think he is a fine gentleman indeed, given his situation. It would not be easy to lose a mother so young, and his father's nature certainly worked against him. It was quite kind of Uncle Lucius to take him in, and I think it reasonable that he may have been doted upon extra, if only so that a family's love might work to counter his father's influence."

Tybalt Lestrange was quite the influence to overcome. Though Evey would hardly call either of Tybalt's children warm, it was quite fortunate they were as normal as they were, given their parentage.

"Besides," she continued, more brightly this time, "you would not be marrying Cousin Claudius if all involved parties did not see it as an excellent idea! He is our uncle's heir, after all, and I am far too fond of you to go anywhere I did not think to be entirely suitable!"

— Ellory Lestrange —

  

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— so you wanna be a rose? —

— mj is kind of amazing. —

Ellory didn't think Tiberius was a fine gentleman but she was also biased. She had grown up making fun of him with Cash. It was difficult to see him as anything but their weird cousin who probably had literal skeletons in his closet. Ellory wasn't going to argue that with Evelyn, though. Her sister had always been more compassionate to all. In that sense, she was different than their mother, whereas Ellory perhaps not.

"I hope that I will not disappoint," Ellory said, some truth in her words. She would have never thought of herself as the top choice for an important man's heir's wife. Many responsibilities went with this title. Thankfully, Claude didn't seem to have any grandiose plans, like running for Minister.

  

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"You could never disappoint, Ellory," Evelyn answered earnestly, her hand moving to grip her sister's tightly.

— Ellory Lestrange —

  

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— so you wanna be a rose? —

— mj is kind of amazing. —

Ellory smiled, though even she didn't feel that confident in her ability not to be a disappointment. The truth was, she was quite self aware that she wasn't made out of the same stuff as her mother. She would never become the respected socialite that Olivia Pendergast had been. She didn't think of herself as a very imposing person. Funnily enough, she had been the Head Girl at school, but Hogwarts was a different sort of community than polite society was.

‘‘Thank you, Evey,’’ Ellory said nonetheless. ‘‘I'm glad that I had you all these years.’’ Even though the two hadn't been close growing up, Evey had been there for her since Ellory's graduation. He'd taken pity on her when their mother had forced Ellory to mourn her reputation by taking the responsibility of arranging her debut. She had been a gentle sort of maternal figure after their mother's death. Even though they were quite different people, Ellory loved her very much.

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   Evelyn Abercrombie

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