August 11th, 1887 — Excalibur

Aldous would have been inclined to dismiss Mrs. Abercrombie’s letter as the overreaction of a grieving widow had she not attached one in his brother’s own hand. Rather than respond to the woman immediately or seek out his brother’s explanation, Aldous had sat on the matter to ponder his situation. It was a delicate matter and he knew he had to tread carefully; fortunately, he was a diplomat from an affluent family. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, regardless of how he never would have imagined finding himself here, Aldous knew he could handle the situation in hand.

The papers sat tucked away in his suit pocket as he arrived at Excalibur, and the wizard used his familiarity with the building to find his way to his brother’s room—an easy feat in a building where no one expected dishonesty, and he looked the part of a gentleman. His knock on the door was deliberate and definitive, and he pushed his way past Reuben when the door opened to admit him.

“The way I see it,” he began calmly, though without any preamble or otherwise acknowledging his brother’s existence, “is that there are three ways that I can respond to Mrs. Abercrombie’s letter. I would like you to help me decide what answer I give her.”

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Ben's single room at Excalibur was not exactly what his brother might have considered an ideal living situation at the best of times, and things had only gone very steeply downhill in the two days since Ben had decided he needed to extricate himself (as painfully as humanly possible, apparently) from the princess' life. After the scene at the Three Broomsticks he'd decided it was probably better to lie low for a while, in case anyone decided to send him more howlers. Luckily, he had room service included as part of his club membership, so he could just tell the house elves to bring him up more booze and then it would appear, like magic.

That was mostly what he'd been doing for the past two days. Booze.

There were several empty bottles around the room on various tables, and a general feeling of chaos. Ben was on his bed when the knock came at the door, still half-clothed from the day before (the house elves did not insist on much in the way of decorum, but you did have to at least be clothed to go downstairs and have them send you more alcohol). It seemed to him very early (though it probably wasn't), and he barely forced his eyes open as he managed to get a pair of pants on and then answer the door.

He had no preconceived notions of who might come knocking at his room at the club this early, but if he had been expecting anyone, it certainly wouldn't have been Aldous. He was more stunned than anything, so it was easy for his older brother to brush past him into his room. Ben wanted to ask what he was doing there, but his head hurt and Aldous was apparently going to answer the question without it having to be posed. His explanation, though, did not really answer anything at all. Rubbing at one eye, Ben asked hoarsely, "Who's Mrs. Abercrombie?"

  

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“Mrs. Evelyn Abercrombie,” he offered by way of explanation, “eldest daughter of the late Olivia Pendergast.” As he spoke, Aldous looked around the room, the empty bottles adorning the flat surfaces explaining the stench of old alcohol that filled the stale air. Did his brother truly live this way? Had he given up lodging at the family home for this?

“She wrote to me on Wednesday,” the wizard continued from his sentry post in the middle of the room. “I would have rather discounted what she had to say, if she hadn’t had a letter from you to Miss Pendergast—Merlin, Reuben, what could have possessed you? No, I don’t want to know—the more I know, the harder it will be to believe what I wish instead. Regardless, you have a choice, and it is not one you will have much time to ponder.”

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Oh, that Mrs. Abercrombie. Ben hadn't known her name, but he assumed this must have been the same sister of Ellory that had sent him the howler. Either that, or the princess had gotten his letter and then immediately told all of her relatives, which seemed... well, a little insane. Of course, her family was the insane sort--her mother had threatened to disown one of her daughters for failing to follow societal rules and she had apparently banished the chaperone who'd lost Ellory to somewhere outside the country--but he hadn't really pictured the princess as the type of girl who fit into her crazy family. Maybe he'd been wrong.

"She sent you my letters?" he repeated incredulously, though he couldn't help but be a little nervous at that prospect. Which letters? All the letters? Shit, did Ellory still have all the letters? They were all incriminating, though all in dramatically different ways. "She's—that's insane," he said, then his brain caught up to what Aldous had said last.

"What choice?" he asked. Something told him he wasn't going to like the sound of this.

  

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He arched an eyebrow in disbelief. After the things he had said to Miss Pendergast, it would have been ‘insane’ for her not to inform someone—after all, the corruption of a young lady, even if only in words, was a blight upon all of society. But that was not his purpose, not today.

“Miss Abecrombie has made it plain to me—and to Roman—that, if we do not sever ties with you, things will be very difficult between our families. I am not certain how valid her claims our, but that is two careers in jeopardy if we run afoul of the Lestranges, our sister’s social life, various friendships, all in the privy. I would have thought that after twenty-eight years of life,” Aldous said more sternly, “you would have learned that your actions impact more than just you. I trust that after the dust has settled, you will have taken that lesson to heart.

“I have here,” he pulled the papers from his pocket now, “a first-class ticket for passage to Canada, round trip, for six months. It leaves on Monday, if you’ll take it, and you’ll be kept abreast of family news and welcomed back when you return. If you should rather stay,” Aldous continued, placing the ticket on the bureau, “I have researched the Ivana Memorial Asylum, and they apparently are able to ‘cure you’ of the perversions Mrs. Abercrombie seems to believe you hold. If neither option is amenable to you…”

He trailed off, hoping he did not have to spell it out—and that Reuben did not decide isolation was superior to allowing things to settle down.

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Reuben was coming very quickly to the conclusion that he did not care at all for Mrs. Abercrombie. The fact that she had sent letters to both of his brothers seemed like both an overreaction to his letters (since, in Ben's mind, he'd made it pretty clear that he had no intention of continuing to try and see the princess) and a gross violation of decorum, given that he'd never even met this bitch. Before he could say anything about the evils of Mrs. Abercrombie, though, Aldous had reached into his pocket. Ben's breath caught in his throat, assuming he as about to be confronted with his own letter. He may have written it, and he may have thought it was for the best when he did, but he didn't want to see it again. He wasn't proud of how he'd treated Ellory--he just thought it would be better for her, in the end.

What Aldous actually ended up pulling out of his pocket, however, was much worse, and something Ben was in no way prepared for.

For a long moment he wasn't able to say anything at all, but simply stared at his oldest brother, mouth agape. When he did finally speak, his voice was small and half a tone lighter. "Perversions?" he said, in disbelief. "I... I was trying to bring her flowers..."

  

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Aldous held up his hands as if in surrender, for all that he was anything but.

"What Mrs. Abercrombie thinks is her own business, but I know better of you, Reuben," he assured his brother quietly. "Regardless, though, the situation is far from ideal and must be mitigated. It's my intent that by getting you out of sight and of mind, things will be allowed to blow over and unpleasantness might be put behind all parties involved."

His earnestness was plain in his expression: he loved his brother, thought his brother was getting the short end of the stick, but knew that Reuben's foolish actions could not simply be left as is. This was not intended as a punishment but a Hail Mary to save Reuben, Miss Pendergast, her extended family, November, and the Crouch Brothers from further...discomfort.

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Aldous knew better of him, apparently. Ben chewed the inside of his lower lip as he eyed his older brother, wondering what that meant. Did Aldous have any idea what had actually happened between him and Ellory, or was this just an attempt to see the best in him, for the sake of their relationship? He would have thought the latter, but if Aldous didn't know enough about who Ben was as a person to genuinely believe he wasn't a complete and utter cad, whose fault was that? Ben had been the one who'd been so desperate not to have anything to do with his stuffy, rich, traditional family.

"But you researched the asylum," Ben said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his tone entirely. That option was probably meant as a threat, he realized, some alternative to force him into accepting these tickets to Canada, but even the suggestion of it stung. His brother had seen Mrs. Abercrombie's letter and thought that the acceptable solution was to look in to what it would take to send Ben to an insane asylum.

Well, apparently this was where the matter stood. Aldous might have thought he was abominable, or might have only believed otherwise because he had willfully decided to believe the best of Ben without any proof. He'd looked in to sending him to an asylum. There was a ticket to Canada.

"What am I supposed to do in Canada?" he asked helplessly. "I have a job here. My room here, my whole life..."

  

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"A freelance job," Aldous pointed out. "Surely Canada has an abundance of Indian curses to break? And I'm given to believe that the Canadian west is quite wild still—an adventure if ever I did hear of one!"

He did his best to sound enthusiastic. It fell slightly flat.

"You needn't worry about supporting yourself whilst away, so long as you don't turn into some sort of rake. It would just be a matter of keeping a low enough profile to stop Mrs. Abercrombie from sounding any alarms—half her family work in the Ministry with Roman and I."

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Ben's head still hurt, and Aldous's attempts at enthusiasm reminded him of the throbbing there. He wasn't sure whether Aldous's voice had actually gotten louder, or if it just seemed more annoying because what he was saying was so obviously superficial. He grimaced slightly as his brother continued to lay out the terms of this arrangement. Once upon a time, Aldous offering to support him whilst he traveled a foreign country seeking adventure would have sounded like a dream come true, but the added condition of so long as you don't turn into some sort of rake soured the deal considerably. It certainly implied that Aldous would be keeping an eye on him while he was overseas, probably a little more closely than Ben would have cared for.

Essentially, his brother was trying to buy his silence for a period of six months--go away, don't do anything too awful, and let your big brothers have their careers. Well, if that was what it came down to, fine. Reuben hadn't asked to be born into this family, and he wouldn't lose any sleep over being separated from the Crouch legacy for a while.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" he asked dryly.

  

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"You do. It's hardly a glorious one, but you do have a choice. I cannot—will not—force you to do anything, Reuben."

If offered the option some years prior, would he have made his brother take a more conventional path in life, be a more useful member of society? Probably not, Aldous realized, though he had long questioned some of his brother's more colourful life choices.

"It wouldn't—It wouldn't need to be the full six months," he added hesitantly. "Just long enough. I thought it might upset you, though, if I turned up without a return." A chuckle, strained though it was, left him there.

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Hardly a glorious one. What a choice of words. There was nothing, in all of Reuben's twenty-eight years of life, that could even charitably have been considered glorious. The best he had ever managed to do was to occasionally not screw anything up, and even that was often rather spotty.

The only thing he'd been trying to do here, with the princess, was to not make anything worse. Apparently he'd bungled that one, because although he might have broken a heart or two before, never in the past had Aldous showed up on his doorstep and asked him to flee the country over it. He had to admit that he saw the logic in Aldous' explanation about the return ticket, too. Ben already felt as though he were being treated as an inconvenient eyesore, being pushed under the rug before the guests arrived—asking him to disappear indefinitely would certainly have felt like he was being disowned in all but legal fact.

It occurred to him rather vaguely that Aldous actually could have disowned him. He hadn't brought that up as a threat, so far, so maybe Ben was supposed to take that as a sign of good faith. Although, he would have preferred getting disowned over the asylum; it seemed to have worked out for Art Pettigrew, in the end. Maybe if Aldous wasn't still at least a little convinced he was worth saving, Ben could have given up on all of his disappointing attempts to fit in to his family and gone and played Quidditch.

"Well," he said, shaking his head and letting out a long breath. "I guess I've got packing to do. So I'll see you in—" he hesitated, counting out the months. "What, fuck, February. Unless Mrs. Abercrombie decides to be less crazy in the meantime," he said with an almost aggressive shrug, moving past his brother to the desk in the room to make a show of starting to pack. He didn't actually plan on starting right away—he had four days between now and Monday, and there was a lot of alcohol which could be consumed in four days—but he did want Aldous to leave, and that seemed as good an excuse as any to avoid another I'm not angry I'm disappointed lecture.

Only when he got to his desk, the last letter from Ellory was still sitting right there on the top, staring up at him. He felt as though the breath was knocked out of his chest as his eyes ran over the salutation. My dearest Ben. Well, he'd certainly fixed that one, hadn't he?

"Aldous," he said, voice quieter and suddenly solemn. "I was trying to do the right thing for her. No one will understand that, but... I tried."

That was about as much as he could ever claim, for any venture in his life—but it had never been enough before, so why did he think it would mean anything now?

  

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I wish it didn't have to be so drastic.

The words formed in his mind but died on his tongue, for while genuine they seemed hollow, given the gravity of events. He would not miss worrying about his brother at every turn, but he would miss his brother, and hated that he had been backed into such an unsavory corner. Still, sending Reuben away for a few months was vastly superior to denying his existence, and hopefully Mrs. Abercrombie would prove erratic in her grudges, allowing a more speedy return.

As to Reuben's seemingly unlikely claim, Aldous believed him. However misguided those efforts might have been, his brother was not malicious in nature. While he was, frankly, appalled at the things he had chosen to say (or rather, write) to Miss Pendergast, he did not for a moment believe that Reuben would actually have spoiled the grief-struck deb if it had come to that.

"In a few months, this will all be behind us," he said instead with what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "And we'll have fresh starts all round."

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Fresh starts? Reuben doubted that. What was going to change so dramatically in the course of a few months that he would truly be able to start over? The princess wasn't going anywhere. She probably wasn't going to hate him any less six months from now than she did right in this moment. Maybe his feelings for her would dissipate by then, but... well, somehow he doubted it. No, from where he was standing at the moment the future looked rather bleak, and he didn't have much faith that a six month walk-about would substantially change his outlook on life.

There was no point in bringing that up to Aldous, though. It would take more explaining than he cared to do in order to get his brother on the same page, and in order to get all of it out into the open, Ben would have had to put into words a lot of things he didn't really care to verbalize. What was he even supposed to say? That he loved Ellory? Would Aldous ever believe that? Did Ben even believe that?

"Yeah, alright," he said rather noncommittally, pushing Ellory's last letter under a pile of other things on his desk so that he didn't have to look at it anymore. "Let's hope."

  

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