March 16th, 1892 — Oakshire Hall, Kent

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I want to get rid of it. It was the first thing either of them had said in what was surely well over fifteen minutes. It had been playing on her mind so when she felt a disturbing sensation in her stomach that reminded her more of a struggling eel than the pathetically feeble pre-human thing she knew it to be. Then she'd simply blurted it out. Tig clenched her jaw, already regretting the lapse in her judgement. Although she'd provided no context she expected he'd know exactly what she meant and there was nothing ambiguous about where the sentiment came from. If it was vanity then she'd been incredibly slow on the uptake, her condition could hardly be called 'subtle' anymore. Tiberius would surely seize upon the truth immediately.

Fear was a strong word for what she felt but it wasn't inaccurate. It was more of an unsettling sort of agitation, a recognition of how powerless she was, an awareness of how little time remained, and worst of all how it was entirely her own doing. She probably could've had Tiberius sort it out a lot sooner if her pride hadn't insisted that it was not only necessary but that she was entirely capable of doing so without dying. Now she was starting to feel trapped by her own presumption. She was fine now, at that precise moment, but she couldn't just jump ship and leave her body if it betrayed her, something which was more likely than she wanted to consider.

Perhaps she'd done herself a favor bringing it up, if Tiberius thought she was scared of something that was so commonplace and mundane she'd sooner die anyway. It seemed a little bit optimistic thinking there might be a way to correct her hubris at this late stage but if there actually was a way it seemed probable that there'd be serious risk anyway so she may as well just go on as she was, come what may. But if there was a way, a way with considerably less risk than the path she was already on then she might just take it... If she could feasibly do so without Tiberius thinking she'd lost her nerve which was the most unlikely thing of all.

Tig picked up her fork and petulantly stabbed a bone on her plate that she'd long since picked clean. She'd actually finished eating but she needed to do something that wasn't walking out of the room before he could reply. Not that she thought she could get away as quickly as that encumbered as she was at present. She stabbed the bone again, frustrated this time, and almost sent it flying off the plate.

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Outfit | Tag: Tiberius Lestrange | Notes:

  

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Tiberius had never been a particularly involved husband, but even he couldn't have failed to see the changes in Antigone over the recent weeks. She was gaining weight, which was the most obvious sign and the one least able to be attributed to any other cause. Everything else he could have found an excuse for. She was moody and irritable, but when was she not? She often seemed uncomfortable, but he'd seen her act that way over a stray comment she was still turning over in her mind weeks after the fact, so he wouldn't have been concerned. On a few occasions when he'd been staying up particularly late with a project he'd noticed that she wasn't sleeping well — there was the rustle of tossing and turning when he passed by her door on the way to his own. All of that he could have dismissed, but with the weight gain it painted a rather damning picture.

He wasn't going to bring it up until she did. He had the sense that it was her business, even though it was his child. The experience of the second pregnancy and labor had moved things like this squarely out of the realm of normal, heir-producing activities, however; pregnancy seemed like a health condition at this point, and one that she ought to manage herself. When he first started to suspect he assumed she didn't want to bring it up because she wanted to carry the child to term, despite the risk, and — he wasn't sure he wanted to stop her. This wasn't supposed to have been possible. The healer had told them it was impossible, and he had made alternative arrangements, and yet it had happened twice already. At least twice already; there could have been others she'd disposed of herself, as a matter of fact, after he'd assisted in the abortion of the first. If the healer was so wrong about conception being possible, maybe he was also wrong about the risk to Antigone and the probability of health defects in the resulting child. Maybe carrying this to term would be fine.

He wasn't necessarily surprised that she brought it up (though at this point it had begun to feel something like a game of chicken) but he was surprised at the direction her comment took when she did. He watched her stab the bone on her plate, then took his time setting down his own fork and knife and steepling his fingers in front of his mouth.

"That's probably wise," he eventually responded.

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Twinkle twinkle you can't hide
I'm the devil in disguise

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At his reply she found herself suddenly afflicted by the incredibly rare phenomenon of being lost for words. Was he saying it because he knew there was a safe way or did he simply mean exactly what he said with no further implication? It was also odd how his agreement had the unexpected effect of almost completely curing her of her apprehension, for now anyway. Irrespective of anything else she'd much rather have rid of it, if only it were so simple.

A third option was that he was baiting a trap in an attempt to provoke her until she admitted she was worried about dying. It seemed unlikely but she was unsettled enough that she couldn't help but to entertain the idea if nothing else.

After a very notable delay she finally spoke. Yes, well, it's neither here nor there because it's too late. As snippy and defensive as she sounded she couldn't help but to steal a glance at him hoping to find a clue in his expression as to whether she was correct in her assumption or not. It would be a considerable waste of time and energy at this point and she didn't want to deal with people questioning her fertility any further than they already had, and yet she couldn't completely suppress her curiosity. She couldn't completely block out the temptation to seize upon the possibility if it existed

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Outfit | Tag: Tiberius Lestrange | Notes:

  

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Tiberius frowned. He didn't know how advanced her condition was, but she made the statement with a degree of finality. No question in her tone. If that was the case, though, then why bring it up at all? Why bother telling him what she wanted if she knew it was already off the table? Perhaps this was one of those things she simply said because she was emotional — he'd never been good at gauging and correctly responding to those.

"Do you know that?" he asked. "Or only assuming?"

He hadn't researched it, but he would have been surprised if there wasn't something that could be done. Magic could accomplish almost anything — or at least, it could if one was willing to dip toes into the waters of dark magic, illegal magic, and experimental magic as well as the traditional Hogwarts canon. The question was not whether it could be accomplished, but rather what would it cost to do so?

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Twinkle twinkle you can't hide
I'm the devil in disguise

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She furrowed her brow. He was supposed to know the answer, why was he asking her? Tig thrust herself against the back of the chair and made a frustrated gesture at herself with both hands as if to say, Look at me, what do you think?!

Tig threw her hands back into her lap. I'll be lucky if I have two months, Tiberius! Needless to say his solution from last time would almost be as bad as waiting it out except with at least one guaranteed death. But it doesn't matter, it's happening, isn't it? It was a mostly rhetorical question. She folded her arms in front of her chest and continued to frown at him, daring him to contradict her.

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Outfit | Tag: Tiberius Lestrange | Notes:

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He nodded implacably at her outburst. She was too far along for what they'd done last time with the potion, certainly. At the size the baby was now she'd have to drink three or four times the amount to have the right effect, which might have a negative impact on her health and still might not have the desired impact with the pregnancy. "It would probably involve surgery," he speculated. Again, he believed it was possible. Whether or not it was worth the risk was another matter. Surgeries in general didn't have the highest survival rating, even with healing magic to aid in the recovery process. Experimental surgeries involving two living things seemed even more likely to result in her death. More or less likely than going through with the labor, though?

"You let it go this long," he pointed out. He wasn't intending to make it sound like an accusation, but rather to scratch at her underlying logic: if she'd forborne to bring it up for so many weeks, she must have believed she was capable of carrying it to term. Why the change of heart?

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Twinkle twinkle you can't hide
I'm the devil in disguise

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Her lip curled upward into a sneer at the mention of surgery. She hadn't considered it and she had no intention of ever doing so.

Her sneer long gone, Tig shrugged nonchalantly at his words. As did you, she replied shortly. Quite different from the last time, at least the way I remember it. She recognized that she was getting a little hostile or perhaps defensive was a better word for it, though she couldn't explain even to herself where it was coming from. And I suppose you haven't sourced an alternative in case it's not suitable? What a waste of the opportunity she'd so kindly given him. If she were more self-aware she might've recognized that she was lashing out at him in frustration at her own miserable situation but she wasn't. It was all good and well to aspire to be pregnant for noble reasons such as pride, vanity, and insecurity; to assume these things were worth the hell she could only hazily remember, but in practice she could only curse her past self. If he'd only hurried up and made a child elsewhere she could've sort it long ago and avoided the whole thing! Her pride would probably have recovered eventually.

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Outfit | Tag: Tiberius Lestrange | Notes:

  

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Tiberius bristled slightly at the implication that he had fallen behind on his part of the bargain. He'd had two potential routes lined up for this when they'd initially made the arrangement between the pair of them, but Cassius still had yet to marry and Valeria was dead. Antigone hadn't been privy to either of his plans and wouldn't have known that following through on them was currently impossible, though — if she'd wanted a backup, she ought to have told him that she was pregnant instead of just waiting for him to figure it out for himself, particularly if they were trying to match up timings as closely as possible.

"You might have given me more than two months to procure one," he pointed out testily. Even if he'd pieced things together and found someone to impregnate two months ago, it would have been impossible to pass one infant off as another unless she'd told him as soon as she'd discovered it. Not that they'd ever discussed it, because when he'd come up with this plan he'd imagined he'd be the one in the position of breaking the news to her, and she'd only be feigning the pregnancy. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant — hence the plan in the first place.

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Twinkle twinkle you can't hide
I'm the devil in disguise

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Oh I didn't realize your entire scheme hinged on my go ahead, on my permission, no wonder you've failed thus far! She also refused to believe he'd only just now found out about it, what nonsense! Ironically she'd never formally told him about it because she hadn't wanted a repeat of last time. Between Ellory and Cassius and everyone else who thought it necessary to question her reproductive situation she was hellbent on proving she was capable. She was also keeping it on the downlow for the exact same reason. The idea of returning to society if she failed... Perhaps death wasn't the worst case scenario.

An idea suddenly came to her, one so inspired (in her opinion) and obvious that she quite forgot her spite. It doesn't need to be yours! Her face was suddenly lit up by a fiendishly gleeful expression. If it has to be replaced then any infant will do! When it reaches that point where its age is more ambiguous we swap it out. No one would be the wiser if it's suddenly a few months younger! How neither of them had come up with this idea when it wasn't so far removed from what they were doing with the twins, she didn't know, but she was very pleased it had been her idea because it was a stroke of genius. If the replacement falls through then we have it die and people will think it a terrible tragedy and nothing at all whatsoever to do with me.

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Outfit | Tag: Tiberius Lestrange | Notes:

  

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"You're very casual about killing children," Tiberius pointed out. He was honestly surprised, and unsure whether he ought to be impressed or concerned. Again, when they had originally concocted this plan there wasn't supposed to be two infants in the picture at any point in time, and thus there would have been no need to dispose of one. Antigone wasn't supposed to have children, and yet here they were.

"What would be the point of having a spare if we don't intend to keep it? If it's not mine. Either the baby you're carrying will be healthy, and a spare won't be necessary, or it won't, and the spare would need to disappear — also unnecessary. Unless you're thinking of trying to get pregnant to try again right away?" The idea seemed risky, though he wouldn't be the one to point it out. He didn't know of any way to bring it up that wouldn't sound as though he was too invested in her health and well-being. "Even if you managed it the age difference would be almost a year. The Hogwarts letter would give it away if nothing else did."

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Twinkle twinkle you can't hide
I'm the devil in disguise

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Her brow furrowed in irritated bemusement at his words. Was he judging her? How many times had he wanted to kill one of the twins for no good reason that she could recall? Did he expect her to feel some sort of sentimentality towards a child that not only wasn't hers but was entirely hypothetical at present? That was unreasonable. Or perhaps he was also referring to her earlier willingness to get rid of her unborn child which was maybe slightly more sane of him but surely he understood if it was a matter of life or death she'd choose her own life hands down every time, as any rational person would in her position. Then again he had just jumped to the conclusion that she was suggesting she'd make the replacement child immediately and that was absolutely not happening. He did make a valid point about the Hogwarts letter but clearly he wasn't getting the brilliance of her idea which was exasperating, the letter thing was trivial and could surely be worked around.

Obviously it wouldn't be mine, you'd have to go back to your original plan and we just keep the spare breathing until the Hogwarts letter arrives and send the proper one in its place. If we wanted we could change our minds at any time and kill- Tig cut herself off as she was sharply reminded of what he'd said about her casual attitude about child murder. The more she thought about it the more it irritated her not knowing for sure what he'd meant by it. Was it a dig at her? She was struggling to see how it could be anything but critical. Forgive me, I forgot about your delicate sensibilities; it must be my other husband who wants to kill his own daughter. Tell me, were you implying that killing a child is worse than killing an adult or do you just expect me to feel that way because I'm a female?

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Outfit | Tag: Tiberius Lestrange | Notes:

  

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As though he would ever expect maternal instincts from Antigone.

"I wouldn't bat an eyelash at killing a child or an adult," he clarified. "If it were necessary. Creating a mess for no reason and then assuming that we can sort it all out later by murdering someone and disposing of the body..." Tiberius paused, considering his words before he continued. "It's sloppy at best, wanton at worst." The main problem he saw with the latter was that it lead to an excess of the former. Tiberius didn't exactly mind what people derived their pleasure from, so long as it didn't involve him, but people who took pleasure in committing crimes tended to become reckless about it, sooner or later — which meant that sooner or later, it would involve him, because he'd have to clean up the mess. He had long since assumed that he would inherit Lucius' role as chief caretaker of the family reputation, resolving issues that others carelessly threw themselves into — Claudius didn't seem interested in doing so and obviously Cassius wasn't suitable.

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Twinkle twinkle you can't hide
I'm the devil in disguise

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She had absentmindedly picked up her fork again as he spoke although she had no intention to eat anything, it was something to occupy her hand as she grew increasingly agitated. His explanation was more offensive than the conclusion she had jumped to and not just because it was more realistic. She felt patronized, he was calling her sloppy, implying that she was stupid. Even if her idea was potentially impractical in some respects he had no right to sneer down his nose at her! What had he done aside from pick holes in her ideas? He'd contributed nothing useful and he was insulting her and-

There was a dense 'thud' sound. Tig looked down and saw that she'd stabbed the table with her fork. Color rose to her cheeks as she considered how stabbing the table was hardly a compelling argument against sloppiness and wanton behavior. This fact combined with her slight embarrassment frustrated her even more.

Tig got to her feet as abruptly as her current state would allow her. Merlin you're dull! She spat the words with the venom of a far worse insult. She could actively feel her foothold in the conversation spiraling into the abyss. She couldn't remember if it had been the case last time but she was convinced the child was impairing her brain in some way. You've ruined my appetite! Never mind that she'd finished eating. She did her best to stride swiftly towards the door but the effect was hampered somewhat by her condition.

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Outfit | Tag: Tiberius Lestrange | Notes:

  

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