Gabrielle had spotted him out of the corner of her eye making her stop mid sentence. Clement. She would know her brother anywhere. Even with masks obscuring their faces she knew that it was him in the way that he held himself in the way that he moved swiftly through the crowd. A smile formed on her lips, it was a surprise to see him there tonight, but that smile turned to a frown when she realized that he was up to his old tricks again. With a sigh that could only be attributed to Clement, she excused herself from her husband and their current company and began to follow him.
She carefully made her way through the crowd smiling here and there. She needed to be sure that her brother was doing what she thought that he was. The last thing she wanted to deal with tonight was Clement acting offended that she would disparage his honor by suggesting that he would do something like steal. They both knew that it would just be for the theatrics. A fond smile formed on her lips. There was nothing that she wouldn’t do for her little brother. She would deal with the theatrics any day if it meant that they could spend some time together.
Finally watching him as he slipped a bracelet off of a woman’s wrist, she sighed. She worried for him. There were so many notable people in attendance, if he crossed the wrong person it could be trouble. Even though she knew that he could handle himself she didn’t want him to have to. Watching him for a moment as he shoved his finds into a vase, she finally had had enough and walked over to him, grabbing his ear and pulling it enough for him to feel but not enough for it to ever hurt. She would never hurt him. “No,” she said firmly, shaking her head but she couldn’t stop the slight smile on her lips. “Up to your old tricks, petit frère?”
She dropped her hand and crossed them over her chest as she took him in. He looked well, she thought, and that was always a good sign. She worried about him, not unnecessarily, and it was always good to see that he was in one peace and healthy. Her annoyance at his stealing had already dissipated, call her a pushover but she could never stay angry with her brother for long. If anything she was worried about what people would say or do if they had caught him. She didn’t need him to be arrested.
“Wasn’t doing anything?” Gabrielle retorted with a raised eyebrow. “Please. Don’t even go there, petit, We both know exactly what you were doing. If I put my hand in there what will I find, hm? An expensive watch? Or a bracelet perhaps? If I look in your pocks what will I see? A wedding ring?” She asked, but with a sigh, she pulled him into a quick hug. “Yes, you being arrested will absolutely liven things up for everyone else,” she said sarcastically.
If there was anything good about being back in London, it was the close proximity to his sisters again. He loved his home in Provence, but he realized quickly that their ancestral home, the one they had grown up in, tucked away on the French coast, didn’t mean all that much without their family in it. Still, he was so much happier than when he had left Hogwarts—at which point he was not only miserable, but convinced he was nothing more than a monster—that he had dealt with the different kind of loneliness that came with going back to France. A nostalgia for something he wouldn’t be able to get back.
And who could blame him for longing for the idyllic scenes of their childhood? Gabrielle, Claudette and Clement had been near angelic children, especially to human standards, always charming and beautiful and seemingly soaked in the sun even when they were drenched in English rain. Moreover, they were the only people who Clement felt had ever understood him with any measure of success, and he didn’t want to let other people into their little trio to ruin it. Frankly, at this point, he couldn’t even think of the damage Aldrich was doing without his blood boiling.
Gabrielle had always been the person Clement looked up to, more than anyone. She was the cool older sister, the one who caught everyone’s attention at Beauxbatons, the one who seemed to always know what she was doing, who had managed the transition from their life in France to their life in England seemingly without a hitch. In some measure, Clement had been envious of her, but more than that, he was fiercely protective. And even if she was going to get annoyed with him for his stealing and his penchant for getting into trouble, she was the person he knew would always protect him, too.
He lifted his mask so he could look at Gabrielle—and she could fully see the sullen expression on his face. “Come on. You think it’s funny.” He felt a mischievous smirk curving at his features, the same expression he’d been using since he was a kid to make sure that he didn’t get into too much trouble (even though he definitely should have). Clement couldn’t help himself. “C’est un blague, Gabi, c’est tout,” he added, his smirk now his fully-blow, most charming smile. He was sure Gabrielle could see right through it.
Clement brushed a light kiss against her cheek as she pulled him in for a hug, still grinning at her. “It would! You have to admit, it’s been a very long time since I’ve gotten in trouble at one of these. It would be much more exciting.” The last time Clement had been kicked out of a party, he’d been caught making out with the host’s son—an embarrassment for other people more so than their family, thankfully, for the Delacours had never put much stock in puritanical restrictions on sex—and he had been twenty-two. Frankly, he was itching to get in just a little more trouble.