It was fortunate that Audra wasn't a gambling woman (not only for the sake of Ford's sanity), if she'd had to put money on someone fainting over dinner she would've put a handsome some on a genuine faint from Grace or a staged one from Verity, never in a million years would she have ever considered Noble.

Unfortunately it had been years since she'd been able to lift her youngest son without assistance or else she might've carried him from the room in her arms - she'd probably do herself a mischief if she tried now. Never mind that it was hardly dignified for a grown man to be carried out of a dinner party in his mother's arms.

"Noble?" Audra got up from her chair almost as hastily as Ford had but had the convenience of being sat right next to him. She placed a hand over his heart and was relieved to find a heartbeat although there was no reason why he ought to have dropped dead so suddenly. Audra searched herself for her wand. "Ford, ducky, it's alright." In a lower tone she continued, "Do you know if he's unwell?" It distressed her to think he might be ill and have concealed it from her but she supposed it was the way of boys once they reached a certain age. Mr. Lestrange made a good point about smelling salts but sadly she didn't keep any on her person. She drew her wand and murmured an incantation to conjure a pungent smell to rouse him in much the same way one might with smelling salts. 'Sadly' because although the spell was more effective, it was only more effective because it was more potent and had a way of permeating a room in a way smelling salts certainly did not. "Can you hear me, Chicken? Come back to us."

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The following 2 users Like Audra Greengrass's post:2 users Like Audra Greengrass's post
   Fortitude Greengrass, Verity Swann

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Ford was too distracted by Noble's predicament to pay any mind to what Verity and Lestrange were doing on the other side of the table, or even to care that his mother had called him ducky. His mother's question about Noble possibly being unwell sent a jolt of panic through him, because it implied that this might have been more of an ongoing issue than just a strange happening at the most inconvenient juncture. Was Noble sick? He hadn't said anything to Ford about it, but would he have? Ford would have hoped so, but maybe not. Maybe he thought Ford had enough to worry about, and maybe he was trying to deal with it on his own.

"I don't know. I don't know," he said a little desperately. His mother's spell hit the air and Ford immediately moved to cover his nose and mouth with the edge of his sleeve, because it was so strong that Ford thought he might pass out if he got too much of it, and that wasn't going to help anyone.

"Let's get a healer," he decided. They couldn't afford that, but that was a problem for Ford to deal with sometime in the future, sometime when Noble wasn't unconscious and maybe dying.

  

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Set by Lady!

Grace had fallen back into her chair, one hand pressed against her abdomen while the other cupped her mouth. Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes, because emotions were already high and Noble passing out was not something she's mental prepared for. She choked back and a sob as she watched Ford and mother fuss over him, and all she could do to show her support was reach out and grab the fabric of Ford's jacket, giving it a single squeeze before she dropped her hand back to her stomach. Very quickly the fear and confusion became too much and the tears flowed freely.

"Or - you could give - him - an awakening - potion," Grace hiccupped through her sobs, because that seemed like the route Noble would have wanted them to take. Oh, now she was making it sound like he was dead! Noble wasn't dead, right?

The stream of tears started coming faster.

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The following 1 user Likes Grace Greengrass's post:1 user Likes Grace Greengrass's post
   Fortitude Greengrass

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Bloody hell.

The horrific scent of smelling salts was enough of a catastrophe to contend with, but now Grace was sobbing as if Noble were dead. Which, he wasn't. He couldn't be. Perfectly healthy adults didn't just die at the dinner table. No, Noble was fine and just being a bloody idiot in front of Mr. Lestrange who would likely never attend dinner at their house again.

She walked around the edge of the table, careful not to bump into Mr. Lestrange or any of the other members of her family and gripped Grace's arm. "Let Ford and Mama handle it," she instructed her sister in what she hoped was a gentle tone. She wasn't panicked, but she was fuming. The last thing Mr. Lestrange needed to think was that she was insensitive. She wasn't, because Noble was fine. "We can wait in the parlor."

  

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set by mj

Something was attacking his olfactory senses; Noble's limbs stretched and he made a sleep-sound in his throat, but did not fully awaken.

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The following 1 user Likes Noble Greengrass's post:1 user Likes Noble Greengrass's post
   Fortitude Greengrass

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set by Bee

That he'd fainted at the dinner table was concerning in itself, that he wasn't fully brought out of it by the eye-watering spell she'd just cast mere inches from his nostrils was doubly so. He was at least making movements and noises that suggested he wasn't dead or in pain, if anything he just sounded as though it was 4am and he was fast asleep in bed.

Audra cupped his cheek and then his forehead and decided he seemed perfectly normal in that regard too. His coloring wasn't off and really the only thing odd about him seemed to be his lack of consciousness. She suddenly coughed very hard, only just managing to stop herself from gagging, the odor from her own spell finally getting the best of her. As it clearly wasn't bringing him around Audra ended the spell. "If this doesn't work, I think perhaps you ought to," she said in response to Ford's mention of a healer. She wasn't sure whether it was reassuring or not that Noble hadn't mentioned feeling ill or suffering from anything to his brother earlier.

"Rennervate!" If the reviving spell didn't work she was out of spell ideas but more importantly, if the reviving spell didn't work then it had to mean some seriously potent magic was at work here and she might have to join in with the panicking. "Noble?" She took hold of his hand. "Chicky, squeeze my hand if you can hear me." Panic was finally starting to creep into her voice.

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The rennervate hit him like a bucket of cold water, and Noble was sputtering awake even as he heard his mother's Chicky. Noble squeezed her hand although whether it was to affirm her words or to verify that this was really happening, he couldn't say. He straightened in his chair and blinked, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes as rapidly as possible, feeling as if he'd been asleep for a very long time except that was impossible. There was a horrible smell hanging in the air and Grace was sobbing and Ford was right there and there was Verity behind Grace. There was just a lot happening, all of a sudden. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Noble said, and just because he had not quite caught up with what was going on didn't mean that he couldn't try to reassure them — he was too overwhelmed by everyone's proximity and tried to catch Ford's eyes, hoping he could convey I need everyone to back off with just a look.

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set by Bee

Rennervate, why hadn't he thought of that? Ford was useless in a crisis, he was beginning to realize, or at least in any type of crisis that called for magical intervention. This was being chased around an observatory by Billy Darrow and not being able to remember a simple disarming spell all over again, because when Noble was unconscious the only thing Ford's mind was capable of holding on to for more than half a second was panic. Even Verity's suggestion would have been better, although he wasn't sure if they would have been able to actually use an awakening potion if Noble wasn't conscious to drink it — what would they do, pour it down his throat and hope he didn't choke to death on it before he woke up?

But nevermind. Noble was coming to, and he was giving Ford a look, and Ford understood it even if his hands were still shaking too much for him to think properly.

"Mama, take Verity and Grace upstairs," he said, with more confidence than he was feeling, because what he was feeling was still along the lines of holy fuck! what just happened! If he had been a debutante he likely would have reacted with about the same degree of composure as Grace had, but he wasn't a girl and he didn't have the luxury of being able to fall to pieces — he had to be the person who was in charge, even when he felt entirely overwhelmed by the prospect. But getting Verity and Grace and Mama upstairs would be a start, and then he could ask Noble what had happened and he could figure out what to do from there, and...

Oh, fuck, Lestrange was still here. Ford had entirely forgotten about him, and he gave his friend a sort of helpless look now, at an absolute loss for what to say.

  

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Set by Lady!

"Oh thank god!" She pressed Noble's hand to lips and kissed it as she breathed a sigh of relief. She barely had the time to process her relief before her eldest son was ordering her off upstairs. Ironically had she not been in the grips of her protective maternal instinct she probably wouldn't have taken her eldest son's orders as the affront that she did. It wasn't unreasonable to suggest getting the girls away so she could at least calm Grace down but something was amiss with her child and the last thing she wanted to do was leave his side.

Never mind the fact that they still had a guest in the room and she thought it'd probably make things awkward for the poor man if half the family just up and left. However, arguing the point in front of said guest wasn't any better and there was no other way to discreetly communicate any of this to Ford without Mr. Lestrange knowing about it. Although she resented Ford for ordering her away, she also didn't want to undermine him in front of his friend, it was the sort of thing she thought he'd worry himself over. "Are you feeling alright? I'll stay if you need me to, just say the word." She made sure to murmur this loud enough for Noble to hear but quiet enough that it'd be very difficult for anyone else to make out what she was saying unless they were stood right next to her. Audra suspected he'd shoo her away but still hoped that he'd ask her to stay, it felt good to be needed by one of her sons for once, particularly Noble.

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At some point in this incident it had become inappropriate that Cash was still here, and he didn't know what to do about it until Greengrass fixed him with a helpless stare. Cash nodded as if in response — he got it, he thought — and turned to Miss Verity, who seemed to have herself a little more together than anyone else in the room at the moment. "I should go," Cash said, "Thanks for, um, having me here — is the floo in the sitting room?" Yeah, obviously it would be in the sitting room, Cash was just trying to convey don't have me wander around your house by myself, because that didn't feel like a thing normal people did.

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MJ made this!

Thank Merlin for Ford, who was at least going to get everybody away from him, and maybe Verity would get Mr. Lestrange out, and then Noble could begin to try to figure out what happened. His eyes widened at Mama's option. "Mama," Noble said, forcing his voice to be as steady as possible, "Go upstairs." The thought of trying to figure this out around her was worse than the thought of trying to figure it out at all — if she was kissing his hand and calling him Chicky and generally Mama-ing all over the place, he would never manage it.

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The following 2 users Like Noble Greengrass's post:2 users Like Noble Greengrass's post
   Fortitude Greengrass, Ursula Black

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set by Bee

This was all too much—she couldn't do it.

Neither of her brothers had a job that screamed danger; if Noble had been an auror or a curse-breaker or something wildly dangerous, she might have been mentally prepared for something like this to happen, but it was all too easy to go about her day with the assumption that when bedtime came everyone would be well and healthy and uninjured. The sudden realization that Noble was not okay—even if he tried to claim he was—combined with the stress of the evening's dinner was enough to have her out of sorts.

Her heartbeat was way too fast, way too heavy, way too hard. She could feel it and it almost hurt, and glancing around the room she knew there was no one she could complain to. She wanted to flee. She wanted to leave.

And that made her feel all the more guilty, because this was her brother and something was wrong.

"Um," Grace squeaked, peeking between the entrance of the dining room and Mr. Lestrange, "I - I'll show you."

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The following 1 user Likes Grace Greengrass's post:1 user Likes Grace Greengrass's post
   Fortitude Greengrass

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Oh, thank fuck. Cash contained the swear, but only because there were young ladies around and he was shockingly well trained.

"Thank you, Miss Grengrass," he said, and the pair exited the dining room.

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MJ made this!