June 9th, 1890 — Lestrange/Pendergast Wedding Reception

As soon as the bulk of the guests arrived for the reception, some of Ellory's anxieties melted away and were replaced by a giddy, excited feeling. To start with, everything was beautiful. Evelyn had outdone herself with the planning of the event, while still respecting some of Ellory's wishes about the decorations. Ellory felt beautiful in her wedding dress, even if she and Marcus Lytton had disagreed a lot until its final creation. In the end, the designer had incorporated the Renaissance-y vibes that Ellory wanted, while still keeping it close to the fashionable shape.

At some point, Ellory crossed paths with the person she disliked most in the world, Antigone Lestrange. It was expected for her to be at her wedding, given that she was married to her soon to be husband's cousin. And Ellory's cousin, for that matter, because Ellory was related to both Tiberius and Claudius already.

What was ironic, was that they would both be Lestrange wives soon. In a way, fate had always kept the two close. They had both been prefects at Hogwarts and now they would both be Lestrange wives. Seeing that Antigone hadn't given a son to Tiberius yet, they would likely have a competition more intense than the Space Race, about giving birth to the next penis bearing Lestrange.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Antigone?" Ellory asked her already cousin-in-law in a fake sweet tone.

Antigone Lestrange

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   Ursula Black

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SET BY MJ

Well she supposed there was a possibility this day would one day come, although why the likes of Smellory Pendergast got to marry a firstborn Lestrange when Angeline remained unattached, she didn't know! Nepotism was one thing but Ellory was obviously defective amongst her family as well as a liability. Surely she ought to have been sent off to wherever reject debutantes went to become tolerable yet fusty spinsters? Or they could have pawned her off on someone like Aldous Crouch, they were both physically wanting and the middle class was really more Ellory's speed anyway. It was no great boon for Ellory's family to marry someone like him but they'd be rid of her and could just act as though they'd forgotten she ever existed!

Perhaps she ought to try harder with Angeline and Bellona, or rather actually try matchmaking for them, she clearly had a talent for it, Aldous Crouch and Ellory Pendergast were the perfect match. What a pity the world would be deprived of that coupling now.

As hard as she tried, Tig couldn't help but keep circling back to Ellory's new position in society. She was a direct comparison, she had the social grace of a garden gnome and the fashion sense of a mole, but that only made it worse if somehow she upstaged her. If Ellory suddenly started to take after her dead mother people would compare the two of them and it wouldn't be Ellory who looked bad. Tig's gut instinct to prevent this horrific scenario was to physically incapacitate her in some way but the specifics would need work. Childbirth might get her anyway but that wouldn't really be satisfying. The little rat would only be glorified in her premature death and her gross offspring wouldn't necessarily die with her. Tig wouldn't care if the whole thing wouldn't be unfolding right under her nose as it would now that she'd married Claudius.

Tig had been hoping to avoid the new bride, preferably for the remainder of the day, but luck was not on her side it seemed. She'd seen very little of Ellory in the last couple years - of course she'd almost vanished from society completely until more recently so it was hardly surprising - and it had been a long time since she'd had to deal with Ellory induced rage. That said, she wasn't the same little girl who'd thrown herself into a duel with her, nor the same girl who'd tried to stab her with a teaspoon. No, she was above that now, she wasn't a child like Ellory was. The stakes were so much higher now.

"How could I not?" she replied, mirroring the icky sweet tone Ellory had used. Mature or not, Tig couldn't quite keep the sneering look off her face. "I should probably offer you my congratulations." She should but she wasn't going to.

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   Elladora Black

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Simply being in Antigone's presence was enough to annoy Ellory. If only there was a way for her not to attend her wedding! However, because she was family, she got the privilege of attending the whole thing, from the reception to the private family meal. At least for that occasion, Evelyn must have thought to put the two far away from each other. It was hardly a Department of Mysteries level secret that the two didn't like each other.

The previous being said, Ellory somewhat liked that it was her day to shine and that Antigone got to see it. Even though Ellory judged of shallowness the women who were competitive about these things, she was aware that it was a catch to marry Lucius Lestrange's firstborn. Even their husbands had something of a competition. Even though Claude was Uncle Lucius' first son, Tiberius had been raised like a brother and everyone knew that Uncle Lucius liked him a lot. It was unclear which one of the two Uncle Lucius preferred the most. Then, they were both Unspeakables, so there was likely some sort of competition career-wise, not that Ellory knew what exactly they did at work. She was going to pester Claude for information now that they were married.

It would be impossible not to be some kind of competition between the two. Her sisters kept telling her that now that she would be Claude's wife, she would be a reflection of her husband and that she would have to present herself accordingly. She couldn't allow to be upstaged by society wives who were 'lesser' than her. It was all somewhat overwhelming for Ellory. Sometimes, she wondered if her mother would have trusted her for the position of Lucius Lestrange's firstborn's wife. She often felt like Olivia thought her a better fit for a humble second son.

Well, it was what it was. She was marrying Claude and he at least seemed to like her just fine.

"Thank you, Antigone," Ellory replied. "Who would have thought that one day we would be married to two men who are something like brothers."

  

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SET BY MJ

Ellory could hardly have chosen less provocative words at that moment. She'd acknowledged the revelation Antigone herself had had earlier and that meant war. There would always have been competition between them but she'd hoped Ellory would be too dense to realize it for a while yet so she could get a head start. Technically she'd had years of a head start but now they seemed a painful waste of good time, she'd simply never imagined Smellory Pendergast could ever make a match like this and certainly not so soon! She was going to ruin Ellory's life in every possible way. The only line she'd never cross would be the limits of her Unbreakable Vow, aside from that she'd destroy her at any cost; she'd poison society against her, she'd somehow ruin her personal life, she'd plague her marriage, and she'd ingratiate herself with the Lestranges and turn them all against her. Ellory was too small minded to be any sort of real competition but that didn't mean crushing her wouldn't be the most satisfying thing she'd ever do.

"Who indeed." She was now so worked up that she could barely contain her malice. Tig couldn't say she knew Claudius Lestrange all that well and while he was a little older than Tiberius which ordinarily might be an annoying advantage but he seemed dull and highly uninteresting and obviously Tiberius was better, Tiberius could take him in a duel any day! Tiberius was a winner and Claudius had settled for Ellory and that said everything. There was no competition. Except there was and the newlyweds didn't stand a chance in it.

"I expect we'll be seeing a great deal more of each other from now on," she remarked through gritted teeth. Her own words aggravated her but she comforted herself with the thought that they probably had the same effect on Ellory.

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Antigone seemed... intense. Ellory sensed from her tone that she was trying very hard to keep her tone polite. She couldn't tell her anything nasty on her wedding day, after all. She would spare Ellory from one of her nasty nicknames, like 'Smellory', and however else she liked to call her. Ellory herself felt somewhat amused to yield this power against her, on that day.

"And why is that?" Ellory asked after Antigone's last comment. She was hardly marrying into a new family, she and Antigone already had to attend most of the same events due to Ellory's relation to Antigone's husband. Claude wasn't particularly close to Tiberius, so it wasn't like Ellory would be forced to invite him and Antigone over for dinner at her new home. Perhaps it would be amusing, though. She wasn't as close to Claude as she was to Cash, and he was way more mature than she was, but Ellory was sure that he shared some of her sentiments about Tiberius and Antigone.

"Are you going to guide me through my new role as my cousin's wife, Antigone? Make me feel welcome in my uncle's household?"

  

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SET BY MJ

It might be possible that they didn't end up seeing a great deal more of one another than they did already but they were both married women now and their social circles would only grow closer especially as Ellory wasn't marrying out. They'd both be obliged to invite the other to certain events if they wished to host and while they could certainly turn down invitations from one another it would soon start to look bad and Tig would be damned if she was on the outs for publicly snubbing Smellory one too many times.

But maybe Ellory wouldn't want to play hostess, maybe she'd been too worried about living up to her sister's reputation that she'd never try it. That was the best case scenario where Tig didn't feel the burning need to outdo her socially and could live a more peaceful existence. That seemed like a distant pipe dream and she'd be better to start now rather than wait for the gauntlet to be thrown at her feet.

"I see no need to waste both of our time." Ellory was probably beyond help even if helping had ever been a possibility, if finishing school couldn't prepare her then there was nothing left to be done for her. But of course Ellory hadn't been serious and Tig knew that. But she also knew what still awaited Ellory and no matter what she'd been told in recent days, it wasn't the same as knowing. Tig's demeanor shifted a little as she felt suddenly more in control. "But I suppose I could do you a small kindness in forewarning you."

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Ellory knew that there were certain expectations of her now that she was married to Uncle Lucius' firstborn. First of all, she would have to give Claude a son. Even better, two sons, to have one as a spare. She would have to be careful about what image she gave off to the world. Listen to Mr. Lytton's advice about fashion, do charity, be a perfect society wife. Ellory didn't think that she would ever be as accomplished as her mother had been and as Evelyn was growing to become. Thankfully for her, Claude was more laid back himself. He didn't seem to care much about the social sphere, about fashion, and the like.

Antigone's words perplexed Ellory somewhat. "About what?" she asked. Ellory thought that she already knew a lot about the family she was marrying into. After all, Claude was her nephew and his brother was her best friend. The Lestranges were no strangers to her. What more could Antigone possibly know, so as to warn her about it?

  

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SET BY MJ

In the interest of unsettling Ellory as much as she was able Tig unfortunately had to take new bride by the arm and start walking as though they were friendly with one another, this way she might also assume a lower, conspiratorial tone and not look so suspicious. If the gesture made Ellory that much more uncomfortable then it was worth making her own skin crawl. "Consider this the only favor I shall ever give to you, like an extra wedding gift except far more useful than any of the gaudy clutter you've been given."

Tig took a moment to look around as though she felt furtive but really she was trying to fight back a smirk. "What have you been told about this evening?" She finally looked back to Ellory with a carefully schooled serious look on her face. "About after this evening?"

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   Madeline Bell, Melody Crouch

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Evelyn had approached her the previous evening and given her The Talk, which had involved creative metaphors about their anatomy. Ellory was now really curious about what she and Claude would be doing that evening. About what Claude would do to her because it was her understanding that she would be on the receiving end of whatever a husband did to his wife.

Antigone bringing it up made Ellory blush terribly. She didn't like the idea that Antigone knew that she and Claude would do whatever it was that married people did. She also didn't like that Antigone knew more about it than Ellory did.

"It is a rather private matter, don't you think?" Ellory replied. In any case, Antigone's words had sparked Ellory's curiosity, because the blonde made it seem like something sinister was going to happen to her. "Why? What is it that you want to warn me about?"

Maybe Tiberius had done something to her, that a husband didn't normally do to his wife and now Antigone thought this was the standard? Ellory wouldn't put it past her psychopathic cousin to do that, but Claude wasn't like him. He had seemed unapproachable to Ellory as she grew up, but that was because he was very serious and bookish whereas she was loud and fun-seeking. He never had that quality that Tiberius or his father had, which made Ellory feel uneasy.

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   Antigone Lestrange

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SET BY MJ

Ellory seemed flustered and initially reluctant but it seemed curiosity won out over intelligence. Why on earth would she ever do anything to help Ellory? If Ellory was that naive then she deserved to be taken advantage of. As if Tig would ever do anything kind for her, ha! If that wasn't obvious then she clearly needed to make a greater impression upon her. What was the worst possible advice she could give?

Tig thought back to her own wedding night for inspiration. "You know how it is for us as women, men control us our entire lives like little toys. Our own fathers' sell us to the highest bidder to be good little wives and mothers  and they feed us fairy tales about 'love' and 'happy marriages' so that by the time we marry we'll be perfectly compliant for our husbands. They say they 'love' us to keep us that way." She paused for a moment to search Ellory's face for an indication of what she was thinking. "I may despise you but we have a common enemy in men, you see?"

Her grip on Ellory's arm tightened a little but not enough to be painful, it was only supposed to inspire a sense of urgency. "You need to understand that all husbands are the same. All of them. I presume your sister told you just enough that you'll cooperate and know roughly what to expect at first. She's trussed you up like a pretty little lamb for slaughter, as she was and I was and every other married woman in this room was." Tig worried that she might have overdone it now but the thought of putting the fear of god in her was too great to resist.

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   Elladora Black, Ellory Lestrange, Melody Crouch

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Ellory was indeed naive because it hadn't crossed her mind that Antigone could be playing with her. Not exactly. Antigone sounded so sincere and Ellory didn't think it impossible for her cousin Tiberius to have done something to hurt Antigone. Perhaps that was the reason why she was so unpleasant?

Oh, she was unpleasant way before marrying Tiberius, Ellory reminded herself.

"How can you speak so confidently in regards to all men?" Ellory asked Antigone. She didn't want to believe that Claude was going to hurt her! Antigone was saying all that because her husband was Tiberius! Claude was nothing like him! "Not all men are Tiberius, Antigone."

He was weird, he had probably made Antigone watch as he murdered small animals, or made her sleep in a coffin. Claude was nothing like him!

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   Antigone Lestrange

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SET BY MJ

She bit the inside of her cheek hard to stop herself from glaring. She turned her face away sharply fearing that her facade of niceness was slipping despite her efforts. Was that blood she could taste? 'Not all men are Tiberius, Antigone.' It was just damned insulting, who was she to suggest that she had a subpar husband?! What did Smellory Pendergast know about marriage or husbands or Tiberius? Absolutely nothing! She might technically be a wife but if she died that very minute she wouldn't leave behind a widower.

Tig finally coaxed her temper back under control enough to respond. "You'll understand when you're properly a wife." She could finally tolerate Ellory's stupid face enough to look at it again. "But Tiberius grew up like a younger brother to Claudius, they're more alike than you might think." Ick. "Surely I don't need to explain siblings to you as well?"

Eager to feel the way she had before Ellory opened her mouth she lost patience with building it up any further. "Your sister's told you that Claudius will come to your new bed chamber this evening, and she must have mentioned the... part and where it goes." In her excitement to ruin Ellory's wedding night and hopefully her marriage, Tig hadn't thought about the fact that she'd have to actually talk about sex to some degree. She wasn't relishing it. "She might also have mentioned it's uncomfortable or even painful but that doesn't begin to cover it." By this point she was speaking in the lowest of murmurs, just about loud enough for Ellory to hear every word. " He may seem caring or considerate but he has to be to lull you into a false sense of security. The truth is it's like the cruciatus curse except longer and more painful." She couldn't possibly have forgotten that. "You'll want to curl up in agony but you can't, he won't let you. After he's gone you'll fall asleep soaked in your own tears and blood. And that's just the first time. You might think he'll be grateful if you pretend it's not so bad, but you absolutely mustn't. He knows he's torturing you, if you pretend otherwise he'll think there's something wrong with you. Loose women don't experience it the same way as other women, they're broken." There she'd let that sink in for a moment.

How accurate her words were, she had no idea, she'd created a work of fiction that was supposed to terrify Ellory. In the best case scenario Claudius wouldn't give her a reason to question the false wisdom and if it wasn't as bad as it sounded she'd hopefully jump to the conclusion that something was wrong with her and be too afraid to talk about it to anyone.

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   Madeleine Backus, Melody Crouch

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Antigone seemed truly upset as she spoke. Ellory didn't think that she was lying, but she still clung to the belief that she was saying all that because her husband was Tiberius. Perhaps she was in denial because she didn't want to believe that this was what would happen to her later that day.

Evelyn had mentioned something about her piece of the jigsaw puzzle fitting only Claude's. Ellory had wondered then, if he would hurt her in some way to ensure that. The answer had been mostly reassuring that Claude wouldn't hurt her. But here was Antigone, telling her that he'd make her go through something more horrible than the Cruciatus Curse!

No, Antigone had to be saying that because Tiberius had hurt her and now she thought that this was the fate of all women. How would Antigone know what all husbands were like to their wives unless she had been with more men than her husband? The argument about Claude and Tiberius being similar because they had been raised like brothers wasn't valid. Cash had been raised in that same household and he was nothing like Tiberius!

"I am really sorry that this has happened to you, Antigone," Ellory told the blonde. She did feel somewhat bad for Antigone. Even though she was insufferable and she had made her go through the Cruciatus Curse, no person deserved to be tortured. Perhaps circumstances had made Antigone so harsh and unpleasant. "But Tiberius is the son of a murderer. We all always kind of suspected that he's taken after him, in some way. It is truly horrible that he has made you suffer so much but I am confident that Claudius is nothing like him and that he would never hurt me!"

Having said that, Ellory didn't feel completely convinced. Antigone had planted the seed of doubt.

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   Ursula Black

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SET BY MJ

If Ellory hadn't already primed her for this sort of indignation she might would probably have flipped her shit very loudly and publicly. It seemed she'd been more convincing than she could have hoped but the last thing she'd wanted was Ellory's pity. How dare she! Even if she was some sort of pathetic victim of a tyrant husband she'd be insulted by the very notion! As if she'd let herself be pushed around by anyone! Ellory was stupid, Ellory knew nothing of anything, she didn't know her own husband and she certainly didn't know Tiberius. How patronizing! It was the absolute limit. There was no way Tig could keep a neutral expression now, although her face was a rigid sort of horrified expression that probably could be explained as mortification rather than thinly veiled rage.

It wasn't just the insult of her pity but she spoke about her husband as though he was the family reject, as though everyone put up with him because he hadn't gone on a murderous rampage yet. It was absolutely off base, Tiberius put more energy into stopping her from doing that sort of thing than plotting it himself! He only had respect from people, especially his family, she hadn't married the dud Lestrange! Was Ellory trying to insult her via Tiberius?

"There's nothing wrong with Tiberius!" Tig finally found her voice and while it was thankfully not an angry shout, her fury had quite clearly been condensed into every hissed syllable. "He's not his father and I don't suffer, I wouldn't want a different husband and he's better than Claudius by a mile." Screw Ellory for making her say nice things about it, he'd better not somehow be listening in or she'd really lose it. If she still wanted to traumatize the other woman she couldn't leave it there, she'd have to give a little. Her demeanor soften a little but not completely. "He's no worse than any other husband. And yes, I know, I have married friends. We talk. It's a universal experience so you'd better prepare yourself, you're lucky you know what to expect now."

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How much had Tiberius brainwashed Antigone, if she defended him so fervently even after confessing that he had been torturing her? Ellory wondered if he had her under the influence of the Imperius curse, so she would defend him at all costs. If that was the case, though, she wouldn't have told her all those things about what husbands were truly like.

Ellory didn't know what to believe. She didn't want to believe Antigone that Claudius would do something to hurt her. Even if their coupling was a painful experience, Ellory wanted to believe that Claude would find a way to make it less so. He was a good person, he wouldn't want to put her through terrible pain!

Then again, childbirth was also a terribly painful experience. And women had to go through whatever torture Claude would put her through, in order to get pregnant and have children.

"If you're so ready to defend your husband after admitting that he's been torturing you, then it mustn't be so bad," Ellory commented. Or maybe she was a masochist and she enjoyed the pain that Tiberius inflicted on her.

  

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SET BY MJ

Damn it, it was backfiring! Tig didn't know what to rebuke - that she was defending Tiberius or that marital relations weren't as bad as she was trying to convince her they were. "I'm not defending him," she snapped back. If Ellory ever let it slip at some family gathering that she'd said nice things about Tiberius in front of Tiberius... Well she'd have no option but to never see him again and that would inevitably result in death one way or another.

"I've had five years to get used to it. But you're weak, you won't make it through childbirth. That's even worse." Tig unhooked her arm from Ellory's. "If you keep talking, whatever nonsense you like, it'll probably distract him enough to make it half-tolerable." That was the last attempt at advice she was going to offer, if her efforts hadn't been in vain Ellory might at least irritate her new husband with her inane bedtime chatter. Tig would certainly want to smother her to death with a pillow if she had to listen to her talk all night. Then again, Ellory didn't need to say anything at all to provoke murderous urges in Antigone.

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