Miss. Delacour

                              Making a lark of the misery

—

Walburga’s own parents hadn’t hosted many events during her childhood, but over the her years in the Black family she had learnt and hsoted many events. “I do indeed….” She murmured with a smile. She adored it. It was hard, but she loved hosting, and feeling like she had something to do in this world. Being a socialiate was pretty fun. “I sometimes host teas at my house, but I mostly join my sister-in-law in hosting events at their house. It’s bigger than ours you see”

-

“Oh really?” she asked with polite curiousness. Tea parties sounded far from her area of comfort but it wasn’t that surprising to hear Walburga enjoyed them. They were the exact kind of socialite parties that she had had to endure growing up, and she now knew people of a certain standing loved to host or enjoy them. She suspected it was just another excuse to shut off. “That sounds lovely. It must be nice to be so close to your in laws,” she commented with a smile. 

—

Emmeline was a pretty suspicious person. She supposed that was what came with her job. And maybe, it helped her be good at her job. Some criminals were pretty good at hiding things. In order to catch them one needed to be pretty savvy, and find everything that looked suspicious. It didn’t exactly help in situations like this though. Mostly because Emmeline was likely to be on edge for the rest of evening. At least if anything else happened she would be ready though. “Exactly. Surely some rest at home would have been the only thing she needed if it was just sunstroke….” Which was exactly what she was probabyl feeling so supicious.

“I hope so…..” She murmured with a shrug. “At least Laurel is in the best place…. the healers will look after her”

-

“Even if she had fainted a rest on a chair for a few minutes would do her fine,” she agreed, frowning ever so slightly. It made no sense to her. Either something small happened to Laurel and she should have just been given a glass of water and sent home, or; something far worse happened and she had to be rushed to St. Mungos. If it was the latter, then she was sure Walburga either knew more than she was letting on, or didn’t care enough to find out if something had happened to Laurel. “That’s true,” she agreed, glad she had people looking after her who would hopefully be able to figure out what had happened to her and help.

.

Alastor put his hands on his hips and looked around the room. His head hurt as he tried to put it all together despite the amount of whiskey in his system. “I’m not sure if –” he had no proof that it was more than just Laurel feeling lightheaded. If Alastor went with what his gut was telling him, a gut that was rarely incorrect, (the only exception being after a huge helping of chilli) then something was afoot. “So Laurel faints. A healer steps in. Walburga is a pleasant host despite her hatred for the likes of the Linwoods. The three Linwood sisters apparate to St. Mungo’s.” he listed the events as they occurred. “What am I missing?” || @claudettedelacour​

- 

Claudette looked over as Alastor stopped speaking, her small curious frown almost matching his. She waited for him to continue, listening when he did and nodding as he listed off the events of the evening. “Why she had to go to St. Mungo’s for a simple fainting fit,” she suggested in answer to his question. While she wasn’t a healer, Claudette knew enough to know that no one went to the hospital for fainting unless they badly hit their head on the way down, which she hadn’t heard happening to Laurel. “Is she awake? Has anyone questioned her?” she asked.

—

“Of course I’m enjoying myself” Walburga murmured with a smile. She adored parties like this, and she really did enjoy showing off. It was hard work, but it paid off, and Alecto enjoed it. “It’s a lot of work, but I enjoy it in the end. It all works out.” And she would continue to enjoy it as she continued to host events. Walburga really could not imagine ever not waning to host events, which was good really, considering she kind of had to host them. “It’s really not too bad when you’re used to hosting”

-

“Brilliant,” Claudette smiled, giving a small nod. She knew a time would eventually come when she had to host parties like this, probably not all that far away with her engagement to Alexander. Once she was a wife she would more that likely have hosting duties all the time, living up to both their family’s expectations. “So do you host a lot of parties like this?” she asked, bringing her drink to her lips as she waited for an answer.

—

Emmeline was frustrated. Although she hadn’t fully wanted to come tonight, she had wanted to at least have a good time. And now she was on edge. She watched as people just returned to the ball, and wished she could do that. But she was naturally on edge, and she was pretty sure that Laurel hadn’t just gone down. Sure, she might have. But with things that had been happening lately, Emmline didn’t think so. It was too strange. And she was sure Laurel wasn’t that stupid to let herself get overwhlemed. So Emmeline was on edge.

“Mmmm….” She murmured, running her fingers through her hair as she looked around the gardens and then turned her attention back to Claudette. “No I didn’t….” She murmured with a frown. “Not that it would help…. I hear it just looked like she fainted”

-

Claudette turned towards Emmeline as the other woman started to speak, nodding slowly. “Yes, I heard that too,” she mused, still frowning slightly. “I’ve seen many people faint over the years and never has it required a trip to hospital,” she murmured. Fainting was a pretty simple ailment all things considered. A bit of air and putting your head between your knees usually sorted it out in less than a minute. That just made it all the more strange in her opinion that she had been whisked away to the hospital while everyone was told she had just fainted by the hosts. 

“Hopefully it is something simple like that,” she added, though she didn’t sounds terribly convinced. Maybe they were all just paranoid after everything that had happened recently.

—-

“Mmm. You got that.” Walburga mused with a little smirk. There wrere only so many people that could pull off tiaras, and she was one of them. She also didn’t really care what other people thought. She was happy with what she was wearing, and she felt self-confinent enough to not particularly care what people said about her. One had to have a thick skin to survive in this world. “It is….” She murmured with a nod. A big crowd made it all the better for what she was planning. “Hopefully they all have a good time”

-

“I’m sure they will,” she nodded, glancing around. While it wasn’t her preferred type of party, she could easily see that others would enjoy themselves. The venue was beautiful, the dress code was a bit of fun, and the drink was flowing steadily. “I trust that you’re enjoying yourself as well, despite the struggle of hosting duties?” she asked with a smile. She knew hosting could take all the enjoyment out of a party if you were too stressed about the details. 

Evangeline felt giddy, a certain giddiness that she hadn’t encountered since the first few months of her and Claudette’s previous relationship. As though they were both entering the honeymoon phase once more, a brief distraction from what they once were a few months back. Evangeline just had to push away the thoughts of pushy parents and arranged marriages. Alexander Tremblay was nowhere to be seen, nor Edrick. So as far as Eva was concerned, out of sight out of mind. There wasn’t no work-colleagues or friends surrounding them, no simple passerby knew their history. To everyone else surrounding, they looked like two women engaging in small talk. No one else knew how Eva’s hand longed to reach out and graze Claudette’s, or how much Eva longed to go onto the dance floor. Those thoughts were hers, no match-making ball or pushy parent could change that. 

“Good, i’m relieved. I don’t think tonight is the night for a formal introduction. ” She breathed a laugh, her glance softening as Eva couldn’t help her eyes taking in the sight that was Claudette Delacour. “On my own.” Eva nodded, “it seems I’m not quite agreeable enough for any pureblood date.” @claudettedelacour· 

“No, I don’t think so either,” she agreed, a soft smile on her lips as she looked at Eva. Personally, she would like if Eva and Alexander never crossed paths, happy to keep all aspects of her life separate from one another. Even more so if things were starting to be good between her and Evangeline again; she would let Alexander or anyone else disturb their lives again. She shook her head as Eva explained her lack of date, already in disagreement. “I can’t imagine that, one look at you and any man in the room would want you.” Or woman, but she thought it best to not say that out loud. 

“I was just going to step outside for a minute and get some air, want to come?” she asked, a twinkle in her eyes as she asked. This room was too crowded, too full of people she didn’t care about who would just pull her attention from Eva.

@claudettedelacour​

“Thank you!” Amelia answered with a grin. “I hand-painted them myself, actually.” She blushed slightly at the compliment before casting another look at her own outfit. “The whole thing is muggle,” she explained, giving Claudette a cheeky look as she raised her voice to say the last word, as a middle finger to everything this evening stood for. “Got the dress on the high street, and did my make-up myself. Don’t know how muggles do this every day,” she sighed. “The whole thing was incredibly challenging and took about two hours,” she added with a feigned shudder. “My respect for muggle women never ceases to grow. Anyway,” she continued, realizing from the amount she’d talked that perhaps she didn’t need another drink – not that that would stop her. “Yes, absolutely. If I have to endure this all night, you best believe I’m going to make it worth their money on champagne,” she said with a giggle as they headed towards the bar with their arms linked. “How’s your night been so far?” 

- 

“They’re beautiful,” she smiled. It wasn’t anything she would have work but she could still appreciate how good it looked on Amelia. Florals weren’t really her style in general but they suited Amelia’s bright personality and her bold dress. “Very nice,” she laughed at the knowledge that it was all muggle, pretty certain in her assumption that the hosts of the evening would turn their nose down at the very idea. “That sounds like a lot more effort than I would be willing to put in,” she joked. “Oh stop, they’re amazing. I still don’t know how they wear heels without cushioning charms to help with the pain,” she agreed, giving a small grimace at the thought. “Oh I intend to drink enough champagne to cover the cost of my shoes,” she grinned with a laugh as Amelia linked arms with her. “Not too bad,” she admitted as they made their way to the bar. “But it’s still early yet, so I’m sure things could go downhill before long. How about you?” she asked, looking over.

—

Small talk wasn’t really Walburga’s favourite thing in the world. Pasting smiles onto her face, and pretending she liked people she really didn’t. It wasn’t great, and especially not today when the room was filled with such scum. But still she was a good host, and she smiled, and made small talk with everyone. It was why she was happy to see Claudette. She still wasn’t fully sure about the woman, but at least she was of a pretty decent family. She didn’t have to pretend too much with her. And that was good.

“Oh. Thank you” She murmured with a smile. She didn’t need hear the compliment. She knew that she looked grand. “Oh. Some people think it’s too much, but I love a good tiara….” She mused, a little smile. She thought she looked grand, but then again, she thought that she awlays gooded great. “Ahh good. Good. It has gone well so far”

-

“Not just anyone could pull it off,” she complimented with a smile. Nor should everyone, thought Claudette. She personally thought tiaras were tacky rather than classy but she knew better than to say that thought out loud. That, and well style was a very personal thing after all. “Anything sparkly always seems like a good edition to any outfit,” she mused conversationally. “You’ve done a very nice job,” she nodded. “It’s a very big crowd,” she added, glancing around. If anything, the large amount of people almost put her on edge, still sort of wary of large gatherings after the march.

"It is easy to forget now, how effervescent and free we all felt that summer." —Anna Godbersen, Bright Young Things

Claudette’s outfit to the Summer Solstice Ball is a clear mix of all the opposing factions of her life. Her outfit is white, the colour insisted upon by her mother as soon as she heard about the ball, well aware that this was once a time when men found their future wives. The white no doubt showed her off as a b r i d e, already taken, Alexander’s fiancée. But she was not one to abide solely by her mother’s wishes so she had skewed slightly from the idea of a dress, wearing something much more fitting to her style. She had earrings lining her ear and just as much jewellery in her hair which was tied up in loose plaits, looking far more effortless than it was.

James was always being chastised by McGonagall and other professors for doing something that wasn’t favorable. This felt like one of those moments. The only difference is that for some split moment James felt as if this time it got through to him. He didn’t really have to prove his worth all that much in Hogwarts ( though he still did anyways ), but at the Ministry he felt as if he had to work hard for that. That he wasn’t the same boy as before. Yet here he was doing the same thing he did before. “I normally don’t, I apologize for doing something as reckless as that. I feel like it probably won’t be the last time, but…I’ll try my best to not be the one to start it. Or at least keep the reckless behavior to more stunts and not dueling people,” James looked down before looking back up, a slight pout on his face.

“There’s no need to apologise,” she dismissed with a small smile, waving a hand to brush it away. “No harm was done this time at least.” Though there was a small part of her that now felt like she should be keeping a closer eye on James Potter, especially if there was another rally anytime soon. “Not duelling people in the very busy streets is a good start,” she agreed with a small roll f her eyes at his pouting. “James, I have a younger sister who had me wrapped around her little finger, I’m immune to pouting.”