march 1st, 1891 — House of Lytton

Jules was the last person Camilla would expect to find gracing the cover of Witch Weekly, unless they were doing a spinster edition during one of the least exciting months socially.

First there had been the incident at Mrs. Finch's party, which Camilla hadn't witnessed and she hadn't paid too much attention to. She had only adviced her friend not to be seen as much, especially when the most stern members of society had a dress fitting. By the time the 'scandal' reached the Lyttons it had been so diluted, that it was basically 'Julianna Binns and Lachlan MacFusty were seen kissing'. As much as she loved her friend, she couldn't imagine her having an affair with someone like Lachlan MacFusty. Where would they have even met? If it was some bookish healer, she might have been more inclined to believe it.

That day's Witch Weekly issue offered the needed explanation. Her friend had been a victim of a scheming, vindictive woman! Camilla had never liked Marianne Finch, she was, quite frankly, a bitch. She could go to that Modest Rose shop that had opened in Hogsmeade, or whatever its name was.

"Jules!" Camilla said when she found her friend. "My darling, I'm so sorry! That vindictive hag! Are we all going to pay the price of her daughter running off with Reuben Crouch?" She set the issue she had been reading down with a 'thud' and brough a hand to the side of her head dramatically.

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   Juliana Ainsworth

Things had gone off without a hitch, so far, and Jules was rather pleased with herself — though of course she couldn't show it. No one who had their most embarrassing moment unexpectedly splashed across the pages of Witch Weekly would have been thrilled by the development, and she had to keep up the facade that she knew nothing whatsoever about this. She had given quite the performance when she bought the magazine at the news vendor yesterday. Admittedly, it hadn't all been an act; she had supplied no photographs with her letter and she wasn't sure where they'd even gotten a photo of her. She certainly hadn't expected to see her face on the cover next to Lachlan MacFusty's.

"Oh," she said, feigning disappointment and weariness as Camilla approached the desk. Inside, she wanted to giggle. She knew she shouldn't take Camilla's reaction for much more than a grain of salt; she was bound to be sympathetic to Jules already. Still, her reaction was quite delightful.

"Is this about Witch Weekly?" she asked, visibly put out. "I've had more than enough talk about that already."

Hopefully Camilla wouldn't believe her, or wouldn't listen. She would have loved if her friend had embarked on a lengthy monologue about who she knew who had read it, and described their reactions in great detail.

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

The latest article had been a source of talk at the fashion house that day. The majority of their customers were women with too much money and free time in their hands. Many of them waited on Witch Weekly to supply some excitement in their lives, with stories like Jules' and Lachlan MacFusty's supposed affair.

"Oh, darling, I am so sorry, you are right," Camilla said. Her friend had to be terribly embarrassed, especially with her being Jules, who wasn't used to being in the spotlight of gossip columns.

"You can take some days off if you'd like, my darling? Or no, people will think we believe that vile Mrs. Finch! Honestly, I never liked that woman, Jules! No wonder her daughter eloped with Reuben Crouch, the poor girl must have been eager to escape her clutches!"

  

Jules bit her lower lip. "I never knew anything about her, really, one way or the other," she admitted. Marianne Finch was just another socialite; they were all more or less the same, in Jules' eyes. That entire sector of society bored her, which was why it was a particularly strange choice for her to be working at House of Lytton — but, well, Camilla liked her, and there weren't a good many other things that she was qualified for without OWL scores besides working in a common shop, which probably would have killed her mother. Of course, this might still kill her mother. The way Mrs. Binns had carried on about the article, one would have thought it had physically wounded her.

"But I certainly can't claim my first impression was a positive one," she admitted. "But yes, I think you're right. I think I ought to keep working — so long as you don't mind it, Camilla? I wouldn't want to distract anyone with my whole sorry ordeal."

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

Other than being the mother of Melody Crouch, Marianne Finch hadn't done anything noteworthy, Camilla thought unkindly. She was rather unimpressive as far as socialites went, but she had an attitude as though she was society's queen.

"Whatever you like, darling!" Camilla told her friend. "If you are worried, though, I will not ask you to hide away in fear of what people have to say! I support you fully. Besides, people will be quick to forget as soon as the newest piece of gossip is out!"

  

And just like that, Camilla had segued perfectly into her next project. It was not exactly news that society gossip had a short memory, but it was nice to hear Camilla confirm it all the same. Yes, as soon as she had another thing to push through the pen of 'Meredith Watchword,' this whole business would be quite decidedly behind her.

"Thank you, Camilla," she said with a sorry sort of smile (or what she hoped looked sorry, anyway; she wasn't sure how well her acting skills would hold up in the realm of feigned facial expressions when what she had the most experience pretending was polite interest). "I do so appreciate your support. You know, my mother said she's had an invitation rescinded already because of the news — and I'm not even sure if they believe it or not, or if they just want to avoid the association. It's just dreadful."

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

"Oh dear!" Camilla made. How utterly horrid for Jules' poor mama. What it looked like to Camilla was that they were ganging up on her for not being that established in society to begin with. Nobody would bat an eyelid if this was one of Lucius Lestrange's daughters -- then again, nobody would dare go after them.

"I will tell you something, darling! Those people are so judgemental because they have worse things going on in their households! Some of the things I've heard in this very shop!"

  

"Really?" Juliana replied, eyes widening slightly (she was good at this, she thought, and with every feigned facial expression that Camilla didn't call her on her confidence grew slightly). She was not at all surprised to hear that people told Camilla all their dirty secrets. She had that kind of a face, where people would like to talk to her, and she had just the right level of interest. People felt as though they were interesting, when they spoke to Camilla, without feeling as though their secrets were in jeopardy of being shared. She was a working woman, after all, and had clients to please and business to conduct, so she wouldn't have time to go spreading the news around.

But maybe she'd spread it just a little, if Jules showed an interest. "I don't have the inclination for society matters. I'm sure someone's probably said something directly to me, and it's just gone right over my head," she said. As if anything ever went over her head.

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

Camilla laughed. In a way, Jules was the perfect person to work as Marcus Lytton's assistant. Someone who was competent at her job and didn't care enough aboutsoity gossip go blabbing to outsiders.

"Oh, most people love to complain,"Camilla observed. "The young Missuses Lestrange, for example. They're always at each other's throats and will tell me something about the other's fashion sense and I'll tell them how the other picked a piece of fabric nobody else wanted and we'll laugh about it."

  

Jules frowned. "Well, that doesn't sound worse than this article at all," she pointed out. It wasn't much of a secret that the Ellory Lestrange and Antigone Lestrange didn't like each other (at least, if her recent foray into Witch Weekly was to be trusted), and she didn't imagine anyone other than Camilla would care much about which fabrics they'd chosen for their new dresses.

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

"No, not most of the time, but sometimes they might let something slip that the public shouldn't know about," Camilla pointed out. Of course, these things were probably lies created by the women's spite for each other.

"You know, Marcus discovered that a girl was pregnant once, when she shouldn't be." He hadn't disclosed her the name but he'd asked whether she knew about how to get an abortion.

  

"Oh, I do remember that," Juliana said, recalling the conversation she had with Mr. Lytton on the subject. It was probably one of the strangest conversations of her entire career at Lytton's, and therefore one of the most memorable. That was old news, though, so again not of much help to her in her current situation (though now that she had been reminded of it she did wonder vaguely whether the girl had carried the pregnancy to term or whether she'd taken Juliana's advice and thrown herself down the stairs — she hadn't ever actually heard the outcome of the story).

"Well, I'll keep my ears open for something," she said with a shrug. "If only to make myself feel better."

Or for a more insidious purpose. Camilla didn't need to know about any of that.

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules