April 25th, 1891 — Malfoy Residence, London

I must see you privately.

Dramatic? Probably, but then, Bellona had had a dramatic month.

It was supposed to be an enjoyable cruise, the stories of which she could use to make her friends jealous. It also got her out of the house, away from Calliope's ever-increasing girth as the birth of the child loomed near. Instead, her brother had all but forced Fitzroy Prewett for which Camilla was quite lucky to the alter, the ship had sunk, and Bella had caught quite a chill whilst awaiting rescue that had only subsided enough for her to leave the house two days prior. 

She needed her dearest friend, and she needed to not have an audience.

The staff at the Malfoy residence plainly expected her, showing her to the parlour, vacant save for Angeline. Any attempt at a neutral expression failed entirely when she saw her friend, who she hastened to quickly with a choked, "It's terrible!"

— Angeline Malfoy —

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   Havelock Nott

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The survival of her best friend and brother was more than Angeline could have hoped for. They were the two people she loved best in all the world and the fact that both of them had been in such terrible danger without her there to help (although quite what she would have done was a little vaguer in Angel's mind) had caused her to lose sleep at night. Even her little helper had done no good and the nightmares had come repeatedly.

But today Bella was coming here. Her message, though short, had been extremely welcome and waiting in the parlour Angel had worked herself up into quite the state of anxiety by the time she heard the door go.

“Bella!” She shot across the room to embrace her friend tightly. She had been so foolish to ever take her for granted! What would she have done if Bella died?! Tig Angel clung to her determinately, holding her ever closer when she felt her shake a little. “Nothing can be that terrible if you're alive.”

  

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Of course, of course Angel could not understand, Bella thought, for she did not know. She squeezed her friend tightly, relishing the human contact.

"I might as well have died," she sighed darkly into Angel's ear before pulling away reluctantly. "My prospects certainly have."

— Angeline Malfoy —

  

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Clutching Bella’s hands in her own Angel led her to the chaise and casting her eyes over her friend she didn’t see any change that might ruin her prospects. She was still beautiful and surely she hadn’t discovered her father was a halfblood too?

“Just because you were on a boat that sank?”

  

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time of death: when MJ dropped this heart-stopping set

Bellona bit her lip and moved away, taking a seat without waiting for invitation. She was positively dizzy—sick still, perhaps?—about the whole situation and did not trust her legs to hold her much longer.

"Camilla is married," she said in hushed tones, "to Fitzroy Prewett."

The look she gave her friend would dispel even the most naive supposition that it had been planned before the voyage.

— Angeline Malfoy —

  

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“No, she isn’t,” Angeline replied immediately and belligerently, doubting she would have missed that little titbit of gossip but the penny soon dropped. Shock overcoming her she fell into the seat next to Bella.

“She didn’t?”

  

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time of death: when MJ dropped this heart-stopping set

With anyone else—anyone else—Bellona would have left it merely at that, both out of loyalty to Camilla and a sense of self-preservation. But Angel was her oldest friend, her dearest friend, and, unlike Camilla, had not recently betrayed her.

"I had known, of course, that she had an interest in him," Bellona confessed; everyone had an interest in Fitzroy Prewett. "I had known even that they flirted." A great deal, really. "But I hadn't expected her to be so brazen as to necessitate haste!"

— Angeline Malfoy —

  

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On the one hand Angel was appalled. It was a well-known fact that catching a man through being a slut was at best a faux pas amongst one’s fellow debutantes and at worst a one-way ticket to being ostracised by society for the rest of one’s life. No one would ever forget how Mr and Mrs Prewett had wed so hastily, even if they were married for another fifty years.

But on the other hand…

Angel would never admit it to another soul – except Bella, usually, but definitely not in this instance – but they had probably all considered it with the likes of Fitzroy Prewett. And she could very well imagine that Camilla, given her circumstances, was more eager than most.

“Is she…in trouble?” Angel asked, whispering the last words cagily, as though someone might be listening.

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   Camilla Prewett

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time of death: when MJ dropped this heart-stopping set

Bellona pursed her lips a moment before answering, "Perhaps, but our brother did not wait long enough to find out."

A beat of hesitation.

"Matilda...found them."

— Angeline Malfoy —

  

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If she’d had pearls to clutch then Angel would have done just that. Like most proper young ladies she had no official knowledge of what one could be caught doing with a young man that might necessitate having a hasty marriage but in practice she had grown up with Raph, who was no angel, and she had some suspicions of what Matilda Zabini may have walked in on.

“Perhaps he enchanted her?” She suggested, not meaning the metaphorical interpretation.

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   Bellona Zabini

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time of death: when MJ dropped this heart-stopping set

A small, derisive snort left her at the suggestion. She loved Camilla (probably; this latest turn of events had rather soured things), but she knew both her sister and Mr. Prewett well enough that the suggestion seemed ludicrous.

"If anything, I should think it the other way 'round—after all, Mr. Prewett surely would not wish to be caught in so undignified," and scandalous, "a position!"

— Angeline Malfoy —

  

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From everything she had heard there were few positions that Mr Fitzroy Prewett had not been caught in but that was by-the-by for the moment and Angel kept her face in a meticulous display of shock and sympathy for her friend. Though, and feeling rather shabby about it, she mentally removed Camilla from her group of friends; it was a shame, as far as her best friends’ siblings went she was far superior to Ligeia and Tatiana Lestrange.

“But,” she began tentatively. “It isn’t all that bad, is it darling? He might be the most eligible of them but don’t forget that Mr Prewett has three single brothers so perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise?”

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   Bellona Zabini

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time of death: when MJ dropped this heart-stopping set

"Unless their mother makes me little better than an outlaw," she pointed out darkly, "as punishment for crimes not my own."

Harriet Prewett was a formidable society matron, and Bellona was given to believe the witch was quite formidable within her own family as well. This new tie formed between the families would only benefit Bellona if, by some miracle, it cast her in a favourable light, and she was not about to hold out much hope in that regard.

— Angeline Malfoy —

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   Havelock Nott, Marlena Scamander

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It struck Angel then that if Harriet Prewett did indeed decree that the rest of the Zabinis were persona non grata then it likely wouldn’t be long before her own mother followed suit. It could be another season or two before she was even allowed to see he best friend and they would nearly be old maids by then!

Unconsciously she squeezed Bella’s hand tightly in hers.

“I won’t let her.”

  

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time of death: when MJ dropped this heart-stopping set

Bellona cast a small smile in her friend's direction, but doubted very much that Angel could do anything about it. It was not as though she had some sort of innate power over the scions of the society matrons, else they both would have long ago secured a husband. Not for the first time, Bella felt a twinge of relief at the fact that her friend—perfect, in her estimation, save her attatchment to Antigone—was also unmarried.

"Still," she sighed, "it would have been nice if Camilla had allowed me to secure my prospects before tramping all over them!"

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   Havelock Nott

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Casting aside her usual decorum – if she couldn’t with Bella, then with who? – Angel shuffled closer and wrapped her friend in her arms. It was a gesture more becoming of the children they had been together once upon a time but Angel held her tighter than ever before and held back tears at the thought that Bella might have died but for Camilla being a slattern.

Angel had never been so glad of anyone else’s unfortunate behaviour.

“Everything will be fine darling, you’ll see. You know,” she suggested idly. "You could take some of my laudanum if you'd like? I get upset all the time and it makes such a difference."

  

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time of death: when MJ dropped this heart-stopping set