Harriet closed her eyes to assuage the image that popped intrusively into her mind. Fitz had always done as he pleased and she had been happy enough not knowing about his assignations, but hadn't she known deep down that it would always probably lead to this? Was this, in fact, her fault for not being a stricter mother?

"I expect he was proud of his sister for snaring you," she said with contempt though truthfully she knew it was not the case. She didn't know the younger Zabini man at all but if he took after his father in any way then Harriet could hardly imagine him being so calculating. "Perhaps he sent her to accomplish just that? Merlin knows that family seem determined to use ours to claw their way back to respectability."

Technically Calliope was not their family of course but she was the sister of Harriet's late brother's granddaughter-in-law and that was close enough with the mood she was in.