25th March, 1891 — Elmer's London Flat

Helena had barely stopped to think from the moment the letter - anonymous and unexpected - had landed in her hands only a few minutes ago. Whoever it came from she believed the words implicitly, never doubting for a moment that Elmer would be just stupid enough to get himself involved in a duel with Merlin-only-knew-who and so she had ran to the hallway to cover herself in John's topcoat and quickly apparated to Elmer's statically dingy flat. (Under normal circumstances she would have paused to roll her eyes in exasperation at the affected bohemian décor in the hallway outside his front door, but today was not a day for anything less than anxiety and immediacy.)

She knocked twice - a courtesy she had agreed to when he was being less absurd - and when she received no reply Helena opened the lock with a flick of her wand. She was mildly surprised to find it locked at all.

"Elmer! Are you here?!"

If he wasn't, where could she look next? (If he was she was already sure of her next action: skinning him alive.)

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Elmer Macmillan | Ellory Lestrange

The following 4 users Like Helena Macmillan's post:4 users Like Helena Macmillan's post
   Arthur Pettigrew, November Malfoy, Reuben Crouch, Samuel St.John-Black

Elmer had arrived at his place early in the evening. Emrys Selwyn had done little to dissuade him from duelling the next morning. In any case, when he crossed the doorway, he felt his heart sink. He could be dead the next day. Or he could be morbidly wounded.

November Malfoy had asked him to stop writing. She wasn't the only lover in his life, but her letters had become a constant in his life. Furthermore, he hated to think that she now thought him a horrible man. He had said that terrible thing about her and even though he'd meant to be disrespectful to her brother rather than her, he did feel some guilt over having said that.

There was a letter upon his table, left there when he was at Selwyn's probably. He conjured a bottle of wine and a glass, poured himself one and was about to open it when he realized he wasn't alone.

  

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Lynn cropped this avatar for me and even added a border and I'm very appreciative for that. Love you Lynn.

Several hours earlier...

Catching Elmer at home had proven impossible so after waiting an hour, her nerves getting ever more threadbare, Helena had done the next best thing and left him a little incentive to not be an idiot before apparating home. Surely, surely he could not be so stupid?

Elmer Richard Macmillan if I find out that you have been involved in any kind of duel you will never see the outside of the castle again! You will live under my supervision and, if I should die of utter exhaustion, I will put Charles in charge of your every affair!

howler by SabinaDrake, coded by Emily

The following 3 users Like Helena Macmillan's post:3 users Like Helena Macmillan's post
   Charles Macmillan, Reuben Crouch, Roman Crouch

The howler filled the room with her mother's booming voice. He'd never heard her so angry. In fact, he had never received a howler from his mother before. He has been the perfect child while at Hogwarts and, when his life had begun to go downhill according to good society's standards, she still hadn't sent him a howler.

He listened to it all, lowering his head with every word. Her mother's threats were serious one and he didn't have them for empty ones. However, once the initial desire to things off washed away, Elmer thought that he was trapped. He couldn't call things off. It was too late now. He was between a rock and a hard place and he couldn't do much else but love through it.

The thing was, that he had been dishonourable to November Malfoy and, as much as he didn't regret saying those things to Reuben Crouch, he wasn't going to give him the pleasure of feeling moral superiority.

He was going to duel at dawn and whatever happened, happened.

  

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Lynn cropped this avatar for me and even added a border and I'm very appreciative for that. Love you Lynn.