Private message to Lucius and Narcissa

[alt_antonin]

My dears,

Short notice, I know, but in the tangle of preparations, I had entirely forgot to arrange things earlier. Would you do me and Barty the honour of joining us tomorrow for supper to celebrate today's work? Nothing formal, simply an acknowledgement that you are quite dear to us both, and one ought celebrate the bonds of family with those who have been friends to that family for quite some time.

We will not be making an announcement of the adoption publicly -- it is not that sort -- but I cannot help wishing to celebrate in at least some way.

Your,
T

Comments

[alt_narcissa]

Darling,

We'd love to come. I'm surprised Lucius hasn't already responded but then he has been oddly preoccupied lately. What time?

[alt_antonin]

We are all quite preoccupied at the moment! But I think we could all use an evening of appreciating each others' company and setting aside our plotting for an hour or two. I think it may be the occasion for which I have been saving that bottle of Pendragon '71 Bordeaux, in fact.

Shall we say half seven?

Your,
T

Private Message to Toshenka

[alt_narcissa]

Splendid.

Truth be told, dear, your news took my husband somewhat by surprise. You know he can sometimes hold very ... narrow views on the appropriateness of chosen kinship. He keeps you in a special category, of course, and he's always been fond of Barty, but your newly-cemented ties force him to adjust his thinking, somewhat.

Don't fret, though, beloved: I have already pointed out to him that he might be the tiniest bit over-thinking the situation.

Re: Private Message to Toshenka

[alt_antonin]

Oh, dear; I hadn't thought of that. Yes, it would give him pause, wouldn't it?

But Barty and I have agreed between us that we won't be making any sort of fuss, nor requiring others to change their behaviour towards either of us in any way -- indeed, we aren't planning on making an announcement at all. (How would that look in the Prophet, anyway? ADOPTED, to the houses of Dolohov and al-Busiri, Barty Crouch, Jr, age 35... best not; the gossips would gossip. More than they already do.)

And truly -- I cannot speak for Barty, but I view welcoming him into the presence of my ancestors as not a change, but a mere formalisation of the ties that already existed, and have since I first saw that potential for greatness in him. But to truly allow Barty's access to the magics that are bloodline-linked, the last pieces I have to teach my spiritual son and intellectual heir, something slightly more formal than sentiment was required. I know Lyoushka holds that blood is all, but I do believe that sometimes we find those of our family in slightly wider circles. (Such as you, milaya, and Lyoushka as well. There is a reason I call him 'little brother', after all; I know he views the term as no more than endearment, but to me he has been family since long before we took vows of brotherhood in Our Lord's service. But I am greedy that way.)

And I must confess, I hadn't realised until the feeling was gone how much it has weighed on my shoulders, to be alone in the world of all my kin. Oh, you can find fourth and fifth cousins of my mother's line if you look back far enough, but they've all been brought into different Houses. This morning I woke, and I was no longer the last of the line of al-Busiri. For all that I have made a family of my own in the intervening years, based on spirit and not of kinship, it was still a very contented feeling.

Yours, and not merely in courtesy,
T

Re: Private Message to Toshenka

[alt_narcissa]

Tosha, I do love you, but you can be delightfully thick sometimes.

Your 'little brother' does not view that honourific as an endearment, at all - or perhaps I should say, he does not view returning the compliment as a mere trifling expression. In all the time I've known him I've never heard him assign a familial relationship to anyone else to whom he did not have some sort of physical bond, be it Ptolemy as his god-son or any of our extended family by marriage, saving perhaps Our Lord Himself. Ari and Tony, of course, but as I understand it they actually did cement their relationship as 'blood brothers' while they were in school.

You know my family have a way of dubbing each other 'Auntie' or 'Uncle' at the drop of a hat; he has always found that practice vaguely distasteful. (You'll note he barely tolerated it for Harry, even when the boys were very young!) Has he never told you of the time Horace made the mistake of addressing him as 'Son' shortly after Abraxas passed? I'm surprised if he did not but perhaps at the time it was too raw a wound and thereafter he never thought to speak of it.

But having long ago accepted you as a rarefied member of his spiritual family, if you will, he now must open his definition to include a hitherto-unknown nephew. It has nothing to do with whether anything has changed, materially. And everything to do with how he views the borders and outlines of his connection to you.

As I said: Over-thinking. We have never known him to do that, of course.

And you know, I trust, that he could never deny you any measure of comfort or happiness that would set you at ease in your own legacy. So it is that wish for you, I think, more than anything, which shall allow him to forgive this 'intrusion' into his familial sphere and welcome Barty in an entirely new (if altogether unaltered) capacity. (But kindly do not point out his jealousy, my dear; it will only delay his acceptance of a decision which was entirely yours to make.)

We shall see you shortly.