6th March, 1891 — Hogsmeade Ballroom

"I must confess I anticipated a little more from your Miss Lestrange after everything I've heard," or been forced to hear, Helena added silently as she all but snuck up on her son. She had done him the courtesy of waiting until he had finished speaking with his colleagues - one of the aurors perhaps, though she wasn't sure this event would be quite worth their time - but as soon as he had become free she had pounced.

"From everything you told me I expected Rowena Ravenclaw reborn and yet the schoolteacher beat her in two rounds," she teased gently, knowing her middle son was not really up to too much needling given his rather overdeveloped sensitivities. He did take everything to heart, even when it was meant in jest, but that was very likely her own fault. There was a possibility that Miss Tatiana Lestrange could be the making of Charles but she was not entirely convinced yet: marrying again was a fine move for him and Nimue but she sensed Mariana Macnair's influence running through the girl and that was more than enough to make her hesitate in being too thrilled at acquiring a third daughter-in-law.

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Charles Macmillan | Ursula Black

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   Charles Macmillan

Charles had finished overseeing a duel a couple minutes ago and was thankfully done for the day but there were still duels going on. He'd hoped to catch at least the tail end of Miss Lestrange's duel but was dismayed to find she too had finished for the day. He liked to think she wouldn't have left already and not said a word and so he was looking about the ballroom for her, that is until his mother's voice interrupted him. He turned to face her with a warm smile but it started to vanish as soon as he absorbed what she was saying.

Miss Lestrange was perfect, there was no conceivable scenario in which his mother wouldn't be delighted with her. Was there? She was jesting he thought but it made him uneasy. If his mother disapproved of Miss Lestrange for some reason not only would it be unexpected but he'd probably have a constitutional crisis. "Well I'm not marrying her for her dueling aptitude, Mama." He blanched as soon as he finished speaking. He'd only meant to match her jovial tone and hopefully get her to say something positive about Miss Lestrange so he didn't have to worry she didn't approve, he hadn't meant to say marrying like he'd already proposed. Charles had at least sought and been granted permission from all the relevant parties now but he hadn't formally asked. When he did propose his mother would be the first to hear of it, that is if he didn't drop in to tell her on his way there.

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   Elladora Black

Wait, what?

Helena stopped in her tracks, eyeing her son with a very specific combination of astonishment and outrage that only a mother of three boys could conjure up as she briefly entertained the notion that she had taken too much laudanum and missed something. No, that was absurd, she had been good lately and even if she had missed it at the time surely John would have seen fit to inform her?

This was…new, for want of a better phrase, she was quite sure of it and Charles looked as though he regretted opening his mouth so there was definitely something to be jumped on here.

“Marrying her?” Helena repeatedly back, a dog with a bone now. She reached out to lay a hand on her son’s shoulder, commanding his attention and refusing to let him escape until she had an answer. “I wasn’t aware you were marrying her.”

It was not wholly unexpected of course but still Helena felt a tad unsettled. True that there were considerably worse girls he could bring home but the fact that he had not told her first was what really chaffed. But who could know if she did not? There was no reason to keep an engagement secret which suggested-what? That the Lestrange didn’t want it announced yet? That Charles hadn't asked her yet? Or that the engagement was altogether a secret?

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Charles felt his stomach knot with guilt even though he knew he was completely innocent. Obviously his mother knew he was serious about Miss Lestrange, he'd never courted a woman before, hell he'd dragged his feet just thinking about finding a second wife! She had no reason to be looking at him like that, in that way she only did when he'd boxed Elmer's ears or stolen Edward's favorite toy.

He felt as though he was five years old and if he dared look away from her he would've looked around to make sure Miss Lestrange wasn't witnessing his regression. He knew he didn't look like a child but he felt so much like one that he almost couldn't believe that he didn't. "I haven't asked her yet!" He almost tripped on his words in his haste to put this side of his mother back into childhood memories where she belonged. "I'm going to though - soon. Very soon." He tried to smile but it was a sheepish sort of grimace instead.

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“I see,” Helena replied measuredly. Charles always seemed to be in better spirits whenever he spoke of Miss Lestrange – which was certainly better than the strangled reluctance with which he had married Noelle – so she could hardly be opposed to the match, but his hesitation in asking her was telling. The particular Miss Lestrange in question was a seasoned debutante and, even Helena knew, was a highly desirable one so it would probably be prudent to get a move on before somebody else muscled in.

What was it that Charles was waiting for?

“Would you like me to find a ring from your grandmother’s collection?” Helena asked, a small smile growing on her face as she contemplated which of the treasures that had been passed to her by a woman long dead would be the most appropriate – and the most likely to impress a debutante of that calibre.

Miss Lestrange seemed the sort that would require impressing and Helena thought she ought to make the effort. Perhaps it was time to invite her for tea too?

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   Charles Macmillan

Charles had a time tamping down his glee. The offer was as good as any declaration of approval she could have made. "I would be honored, Mama. The perfect ring is all I need." He trusted his mother to pick the best ring of the bunch but he also felt a bit twitchy relinquishing control of it. Ordinarily he'd be happy to pass off such responsibilities but it was the second most important piece of jewelry he'd ever give Miss Lestrange, arguably the most important as it would secure her as his properly. An engagement was almost as sacred as the vow of marriage itself.

"I was thinking an emerald or amethyst for the stone and something dainty but nothing understated. Are pearls appropriate? They're quite nice. Are they as valuable as precious stones?" He didn't want to choose something aesthetically pleasing if it would make him seem cheap.

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Helena felt a wave of pure adoration pass through her entire body as her son began to ask his questions and she couldn’t stop the smile that bloomed on her face. Only Charles would put so much care into a piece of jewellery and Helena loved him all the more for it – Miss Tatiana Lestrange had better be worthy of her sensitive boy.

“You leave it to me,” she controlled the urge to cry, just barely, and instead looped her arm through Charles’, squeezing gently. “I have just the right thing in mind and I promise not to be offended if you don’t care for it.” She looked at him hesitantly. “I suppose I ought to formally meet her.”

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   Charles Macmillan

"I'm sure it'll be perfect." He firmly believed it would be but if the impossible were to happen and it was subpar he probably wouldn't be able to turn it down anyway. It was a real eyesore he'd probably still accept it and have to figure out a way to give Miss Lestrange the perfect ring while also making sure his mother never found out he hadn't liked it.

"You're going to like her very much," better than Edward's wife, "she's..." He left the sentence hanging, remembering that he'd sang Miss Lestrange's praises so often to her that nothing he could possibly say would be of surprise to her. "Well, you'll see for yourself, won't you?" He smiled at her, completely oblivious to how emotional she'd been just moments earlier.

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Helena supposed if nothing else it would be quite novel to have a daughter-in-law that was not also a niece somewhere down the line. Minnie was a lovely choice for Edward but Charles needed someone with a little more substance and from everything Helena knew of Miss Lestrange she was certainly fitted the bill.

“May I ask if you have a date in mind to ask the young lady? I would hate to ruin the surprise by inviting her to tea too early.”

And if the worst happened, and Miss Lestrange turned him down, Helena would not have to pretend to like the young woman if she did not. Nor would she had any compunction about ignoring her socially forevermore.

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   Cassius Lestrange, Charles Macmillan

"Not an exact date, but I plan to have asked by the end of the month." It would depend on when he had the ring and what his final plans for the proposal were but he fully intended to be engaged come April. "You'll be the first to know the date when I have it."

After a pause he had an unwelcome thought by the name of Althea. He'd never considered introducing her to Miss Lestrange. It seemed an unnecessary bother, he'd marry Miss Lestrange whether his daughter liked her or not and she might very well embarrass him besides. "When is it customary to introduce one's child?" What if Miss Lestrange expected to meet his daughter before they married and took it as a slight if he didn't facilitate an earlier introduction?

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In truth Helena had no idea. Widowers of Charles’ age were usually men who had lost their wives to childbirth and Helena was far more familiar with the older widows of her own age whose husband’s had succumbed to the lure of brandy, cigars and never listening to reason. The latter usually had grown up children that didn’t need consideration and the former…well, she wasn’t sure what they did or who she might ask or indeed how one might even go about asking such a delicate question.

“I presume she knows you have a daughter?”

  

Charles' brow furrowed at his mother's question. Obviously Miss Lestrange knew about his daughter! Didn't she? If he hadn't mentioned her in passing then she must have heard about her elsewhere. He'd certainly mentioned his daughter to her brother but it was entirely possible he'd never even alluded to Althea in Miss Lestrange's company, after all, he tried to forget she existed as much as he could. "Yes, of course." If she didn't know about his daughter then she was less intelligent than he'd given her credit for but there was no guarantee that she'd garnered that information from him directly.
"Although I don't speak of her often with Miss Lestrange." Her mother couldn't begrudge him that he hoped, he'd sound pathetic if he waxed poetic about his infant daughter.

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That was unfortunate but not unexpected. Helena had been concerned that her granddaughter would become little more than an inconvenience to Charles and any new wife he might take, and that concern remained – fortunately Althea would never be forgotten as long as she lived. No matter how many sons Charles or Edward or even, god help her, Elmer might have Althea would still be her first grandchild and have a special place in her heart.

She only hoped Miss Lestrange could find a place for her though she did concede it would probably help matters if Charles could do so first.

“I daresay she has asked others to do her research for her,” Helena pondered, moderately put out by the thought of Tiberius Lestrange or Mariana Macnair casting judgement upon her family. “If Althea is to live with you when you marry then I would introduce them sooner rather than later. I doubt Miss Lestrange will have cause to find her anything but charming.”

And if she didn’t then Helena would dare her to say so in her company!

  

His mother's judgement was unimpeachable. Except when it came to his daughter. His daughter was not charming in the slightest but perhaps Miss Lestrange would be fooled as his mother. He'd much rather have left his daughter to live with his mother but he didn't want to deal with the public scrutiny of such a decision. No one was likely to care, at least not at first, but someone would eventually get bored enough to notice and then people would talk.

"You're probably right, Mama. I'll have to arrange something after the proposal." He sure as hell wasn't going to delay it on Althea's count. Perhaps he'd find a way to subtly test the waters with Miss Lestrange and find out if she cared to meet his daughter before or after the wedding, it might well save him some effort. "The nursery in the new house should be ready soon..."

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Helena had enough sense not comment upon whether Charles was ready for this or not but the thought certainly entered her mind. When she had gently nudged Edward into matrimony it had been with the surety that her oldest son was as ready as he was ever going to be to wed – Elmer she suspected never would be – but Charles? Others found it hard to tell at times but Helena credited herself with knowing him better than anyone.

“I am quite sure it will all go splendidly,” Helena said in her most reassuring tones, not especially encouraged by the tone with which Charles still spoke about his own daughter. It was not the end of the world though – Althea could stay with her grandparents until Charles and Miss Lestrange produced a child to be her companion.

“Do you need to get back to the duels? I don’t want to keep you from your work, I know how important it is.” As did Miss Lestrange, she assumed, though it struck her now to think of why such an eligible young lady would attach herself to a second son.

Helena might love them all equally – more or less – but society certainly did not.

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   Charles Macmillan

His mother either didn't catch his drift or was reluctant to part with Althea and didn't want to talk about it yet. He could get on board with that. Maybe it wouldn't be all that strange after all if she stayed where she was, it wasn't unreasonable to give Miss Lestrange a chance to settle in as his wife before adding the duties of mother, was it?

"I'm done for the day, Mama, mine wrapped up nice and quick." Still not quick enough to catch Miss Lestrange but it was probably for the best... "I was planning on leaving shortly."

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