Owl to Esmerelda Rosier

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

*The following is written with a depth of glee quite out of synch with the woeful tone of the words themselves. Lucius rather looks like a child at Christmas as he pens the elegantly-scripted letter. (Indeed, Draco is unsteadily walking around and around his father's chair, holding onto it for support as he goes. He looks thrilled with this accomplishment; their expressions are nearly identical.)  It's nothing at all against Esmerelda - Lucius is fond of her - but her little bastard of a son well and truly has this coming.*

My dear Esmerelda,

It is with great regret that I must write this letter. There are things to which discretion requires the turning of a blind eye, and there are things so deeply disturbing that it is one's duty to tell of them, even when it is painful to do so. I fear this occasion is of the latter persuasion.

On a recent visit to the Ministry I happened across your son waiting outside the office of Dolores Umbridge. You've little reason to know who she is, of course, but in summary: she is the head of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Being Division. More importantly, she is leading the Ministry's efforts to control the werewolf situation. I thought it odd that Evan would be there, of course, and odder still when a young lady of questionable identity emerged from the office and left with him. On behalf of you and Dearborn, I took the liberty of investigating. Madam Umbridge confirmed an indecent intimacy between the two, and I persuaded her to let me have a look at the young lady's file. You'll find it enclosed, but in brief, Evan has taken up inappropriate relations with a werewolf.

As a parent I know how this news must pain you, but it is my duty as a friend of your family - as a relation, indeed - to bring this most upsetting revelation to your attention. Narcissa and I are of course at your disposal should you require additional resources in handling your son's petite amie.

With deepest condolences,

Lucius

Comments

[motherspider.livejournal.com]

*The letter and its accompanying folder arrives with a slew of others. Since she likes Lucius, Esmerelda neglects it until she has worked her way through the stack of payments, invoices, and other business correspondence that it arrived with, that she might linger over the note and compose a proper response.

She reads it twice, flips through the file--at least Evan has the sense to bribe this Umbridge woman--and scrutinizes the picture.

Some perverse part of her wants to laugh. Evan did always like them a bit strange. After that bizarre, almost prudish affair with the consumptive French princess was cut short by death, she had hoped he might settle down with someone more normal. This development makes that previous entanglement look less like a lark and more like developing a taste.

It won’t do to wait, though, and she draws out a quill.*

Dear Lucius,

I very much appreciate your concerns regarding my son. I have heard that he was enjoying someone’s company, but I had not heard the disturbing details you have given me with this owl. It seems that it is worth much more consideration than I had given it thus far, and I will give the matter my full and undivided attention until I can correct his errors.

I do appreciate both your diligence and your discretion in this matter until I am able to address it in full and put my son to rights.

Sincerely,
Esmerelda

*And her quill doesn’t even stop, it merely skips over to a new bit of parchment and begins again at the top, in the same brilliant blue ink Evan himself uses, her script still loose and beautiful across the page despite its contents.*

Dearest Evan,

Forgive me for the curt tone of this letter, but I have just received an owl from Lucius Malfoy informing me that you have been consorting publicly with a woman well below your station. I have heard, of course, that you have been courting a someone, and that you greatly enjoy her company. I have trusted your good judgment regarding the selection of a wife to add to our family, and you have betrayed this trust. Surely you know that Regulus is to be wed soon, and he is two years younger than you. I have given you the liberty of finding your own match, in the hopes that you might be happier with one of your own choosing. I have been patient with you, but that patience its nearing its limit if you cannot be bothered to introduce me to the woman you find so worthy of your time. If you do not feel she is good enough to present to me, then she is not good enough to hang on your arm at all, and I will expect an apology and news of the dissolution of your relations.

*She pauses, and adds on an extra sentence, if only to see how far he will push this madness.*

If not, I have cleared my schedule for the afternoon of the second of April for you to bring her over for tea.

Your loving mother,
Esmerelda

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

Dear Mother,

I do apologize for neglecting my duty to you; however, all is not quite as you may think it, particularly if you are getting your information from Lucius Malfoy. Surely you know his feelings toward me have never been warm. In the encounter he relates, he was downright hostile. Moreover, he is ignorant regarding the true intentions I have with her. I respectfully request that you remember I have duties outside of that to the Rosier name and family, as well.

Your loving son,
Evan

[motherspider.livejournal.com]

Dear Evan,

If that letter was intended to mollify me, it has failed utterly to do so. Do remember that Lucius himself is one of your colleagues. I still expect some kind of explanation why you find it amusing to carouse so publicly in direct defiance of what you know my will to be.

I will expect your return owl by this evening or I will have to take further measures to ensure your obedience.

Your loving mother,
Esmerelda

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

*Evan turns the letter over in his hands, putting a finger over the words further measures and obedience. It irks him. He toys with the idea of doing the right thing--leaving Amrita and supplicating his mother’s forgiveness--for only a moment. It’s absurd and Esmerelda will just have to see reason. Besides, there’s no way she’ll let this lie, even if he did break things off with Amrita; Mother would dig for the truth about Amrita, if she hasn’t already, and then start to get pushy about wedding him off before the idea of having shared a bed with a werewolf becomes public and scares away the debutantes. Besides, he hasn’t even begun to shape Amrita into anything the Dark Lord might find useful--that requires her to trust him completely, and that cannot be hurried along. That all makes his decision obvious without even requiring him to analyze his own feelings toward Amrita.

Into the breech, then. If Amrita is to ever meet the Dark Lord, this will be good practice.*

Dear Mother,

I look forward to introducing the two of you. I’m sure you will get along splendidly.

Until tomorrow afternoon, I remain your loving son,
Evan