June 10th, 1890 — Breakfast table, Oakshire Hall, Kent

The event yesterday had left almost no impression whatsoever on Tiberius. If he had been inclined to think about it at all, he might have conceded that Claudius could very well have married earlier, given his position in the family, and therefore he might have seen this wedding as overdue — perhaps even suspicious, that Claude had had so long to choose a bride of his own and had ended up with a short betrothal to a cousin at such a late age instead. In truth, though, he was not particularly inclined to consider it, and so he didn't think it particularly strange at all. Unlike Cassius, Claudius had never given him any reason to care about what he did or didn't do with his love life. So long as he was marrying someone that Uncle Lucius approved of, and was a fitting vessel to create an heir to the Lestrange estate, it didn't much matter who he married. Regarding cousin Ellory, Tiberius had exactly no opinion whatsoever, except perhaps that she was slightly childish and had the misfortune of having red hair. Hopefully Claude's eventual children wouldn't share in that piece of bad luck.

The following morning he took breakfast as usual. He'd finished a light breakfast and was now glancing through the paper, prior to readying himself to head into the Ministry for another day of work. He was quite surprised when his wife entered the room; it was not her usual custom to rise early in order to eat breakfast with him. She must want something, he decided — she hardly would have roused herself from bed just for the pleasure of his company.

He raised an eyebrow at her over the top of the paper.

  

Sleep had not dulled her aggravation, if anything the amount of time she'd spent dwelling on the Ellory problem before sleep had made it worse. She'd wasted her time and she'd had so much of it! If she'd only- No, this wasn't her fault this was Ellory's fault for being so pathetic she had to have her marriage arranged for her. Not that she hadn't, but she hadn't even debuted yet and obviously she'd been betrothed for completely different reasons. The main reason being that her parents were selfish traitors.

This marriage was a terrible thing and the honeymoon wasn't even going to be long enough for anything to be done about it in the meantime. This would get Tiberius' attention, it had to.

Having woken up early and restless, Tig decided there was no time like the present and he would surely be having breakfast around now. As she swept into the room she was pleased to see she that she was right.

"We need to talk," she announced as she sat down forcefully and seized a piece of toast.

---

| OUTFIT |

  

---

The fact that she thought so had been evident by the fact of her presence, so this declaration was not news. Tiberius glanced back down at the newspaper, but nothing in its pages was really holding his interest, anyway. The news was mostly preoccupied with preparations for the Quidditch World Cup, which he cared nothing about, and society tidings, which he cared even less about. The latter was fairly standard for June, between the debuts and the weddings that always plagued the start of the summer, but it was obnoxious none the less.

He closed the newspaper and set it down on the table, which was as much of an invitation as he would extend to his wife.

  

Tig took a bite of the toast as she surveyed him for some sort of response. He started to fold up his newspaper which seemed to be an indication that he was prepared to listen. Good. Tig lost interest in her toast and dropped it on the plate in front of her.

"Ellory and Claudius are a problem." Tig dusted her fingers on her napkin. "People are going to compare us." She was itching to burst into a tirade of annoyance but she had to make sure he'd listen first.

---

  

---

Since Tiberius' relationship with Claudius growing up had never been particularly strained, he failed to see the connection between these two statements. Why should he care if people compared them? He didn't really care much what people thought, except that they had no reason to think his behavior (or that of his wife) reflected poorly on the Lestrange family. The Lestranges were, in his view, obviously superior to all of the other inhabitants of magical Britain. Of course people were going to talk about them, and perhaps even compare them, but why should it matter? Whether Mrs. So-and-So thought he was better or worse off than his cousin would make no practical difference to his life.

"That's probably true," he allowed impassively. "We have the same name, and work in the same department of the Ministry. We were raised in the same house. Some degree of comparison seems inevitable."

  

He was not concerned. That was fine, he soon would be.

"You're both firstborn sons! Ellory is disaster but she she's still her mother's daughter. If they suddenly start establishing themselves in society they're going to make us look bad by comparison. We've had years to get ahead! Do you want to be second to your cousin?"

---

  

---

Again, Tiberius failed to see the urgency in his wife's declaration. But perhaps that was to be expected; society was the realm of women, not men, and he did not tend to concern himself with it very much.

"You haven't seemed particularly interested in being a proper society wife before now," he pointed out. "Spending weeks roaming the woods like a feral cat. And the one party you did throw, you cursed the guests," he continued. "So if we're to judge based on your performance thus far, it seems entirely likely you'll be outmatched. In fact, I think it would be difficult for Ellory not to outdo you, unless she manages to poison the first pot of tea she serves her guests."

  

"They thought they had a good time and that's all that matters!" Tig snapped abruptly. How dare he suggest Ellory would better than her! "I could be very good at society things if I so chose to be, I won't be shown up by the likes of her! Where's your sense of loyalty?" She'd been pushed into defending him the day before and it still pissed her off but the least he could do was return the favor, even if he didn't know and never would know what she'd said. "We have to be better than them, Ellory thinks she's better than me because she has Claudius for a husband!"

---

  

---

Her last statement was the one that finally rubbed him the wrong way. He wasn't sure whether it was the implication that Ellory, a family member and someone whose opinion ought to count for something, thought poorly of him, or the more direct comparison of himself and Claudius, but it didn't sit well with him.

"Claudius has known Ellory for her entire life, and it never occurred to him to marry her until his father arranged it," Tiberius pointed out. "So I should hardly think she has gained a particularly amorous or devoted husband." Those were the sorts of things that mattered to women, weren't they? Tiberius failed to see what other points of comparison might have come up in which he could possibly be viewed as inferior to Claude. They had exactly the same career, and they were both heirs and independently wealthy, from the same family. The fortune Claudius stood to inherit may have been larger than Tiberius' (may have been; Tiberius wasn't entirely sure how the estate was set to be divided, if at all, between Lucius' numerous children), but that was rather offset, he thought, by the fact that Tiberius already had his fortune, whereas Claudius would be waiting quite a long while before he properly inherited his.

  

Was she finally getting somewhere with him? "She wasn't suggesting Claudius was better because of any merits he might have, she was suggesting he's better by default because he's not you. Ellory's an idiot but she implied she wasn't the only one in your family who felt that way." Who else thought that? It might be Ellory's nonsense but it wasn't as though she'd invented some reason, it was at least based in truth.

---

  

---

Tiberius' first reaction was to scoff at that statement. He hardly trusted Ellory to have the inside scoop on the feelings of everyone in the Lestrange family. She was only prevented from being the black sheep of her particular branch by the last minute poor decision-making of Rosalind. Tiberius and Antigone both knew that her own mother had seen fit to allow her to be subjected to the Cruciatus Curse for embarrassing behavior, which was hardly a glowing recommendation. Who would she even be talking to on the subject, Cassius? Tiberius hardly cared what Cassius thought of him; he was a wretch and an invert and most likely still blamed Tiberius at least in part for the death of his sordid male lover. Tiberius knew, on the other hand, that Valeria adored him and had born his children, that Seneca viewed him as something of a mentor and had written to ask him several questions regarding advanced magic, and that Lucius respected him enough to confide in him, at least where certain parts of family business were concerned.

Of course, it was possible that members of the family might hold Claudius higher than him — in fact, it would have been illogical to think they wouldn't, since he was a member of the direct family and Tiberius was a cousin who had been grafted in during his Hogwarts years. The only person for whom that implication bothered him at all was Lucius, because Tiberius had spent so long idolizing the man and was hesitant to think his uncle might in any way view him negatively. But, again, Ellory would hardly be the best source of some intelligence, if that was true.

"Ellory is an idiot," he confirmed stiffly. "And one who has demonstrated herself prone to getting into trouble in the past. You would do well to avoid her, to the extent practical," he continued. "So that you don't find yourself involved in the same sort of trouble."

  

"But I can't avoid her anymore, that's half the point, Tiberius!" How was he not grasping the extent of this issue? "I have to invite her to any event I might host as she has to invite us otherwise it'll look questionable. She's never going to go away. This time next year she might have a son and be embarrassing us socially! It's a disaster, we're going to look inadequate next to them if we don't do something!" Obviously they weren't inadequate but people might compare and make that judgement if she didn't start establishing herself as a proper socialite and he didn't start... Well maybe he could get a promotion, that'd do some good probably. "I refuse to be second best!"

---

The following 1 user Likes Antigone Lestrange's post:1 user Likes Antigone Lestrange's post
   Ellory Lestrange

---

"Then don't be second best," he snapped. "You talk as though Ellory is going to easily surpass you socially, but she's hardly a dazzling prodigy when it comes to society life. Throw some parties, invite her, and ignore her. Charm the guests. Let her try and outshine you and watch her fall flat on her face and don't say a word." He took another short sip of his coffee, and when he continued his voice was lower and more contained. "Leave the son to me and do your part as a society wife, and you'll have nothing to worry about by this time next year."

The following 1 user Likes Tiberius Lestrange's post:1 user Likes Tiberius Lestrange's post
   Ellory Lestrange

"Oh I intend to!" she replied rather forcefully. She wanted to clarify that she'd had every intention of doing so before he'd said anything so he didn't think he'd been the inspiration. He clearly wasn't grasping the severity of the situation and it was starting to irritate her. "Perhaps if you hadn't convinced me to get rid of the last one we might already have the advantage." It just meant it would be more work for him, why should she care?

---

  

---

"Or perhaps you'd be dead, and I'd be enjoying my coffee in peace," he retorted sharply. "Is that all?"

The following 2 users Like Tiberius Lestrange's post:2 users Like Tiberius Lestrange's post
   Ellory Lestrange, Madeleine Backus

Frustrated, Tig pushed her chair back loudly. "Either you're underestimating the potential threat here or you have the ambition of a Hufflepuff. It had better not be the latter." She strode swiftly towards the door to leave. Perhaps she'd go back to bed for a few more hours.

---

  

---