What is Wrong With You? (Elenore)

The arrival of Mimosa's letter had been one of the worst pieces of correspondence Jacques had ever received. It was filled with the hatred of his younger sister's mind, and the helplessness of the child he'd wanted to protect for the longest of times. If Maman and he had thought this would go away after the explosion at the Palace, then they had, without a doubt, been completely wrong in their ideas.

The initial outburst Jacques had put down to an overwhelming level of stress in his younger sister, which had come to a head at Mimosa. Unfortunate, misplaced, and not truly meant. Jacques had believed in the weeks that past that she was simply resolving those issues with the aid of Grandmere who had always been her closest confidant.

What Jacques had never truly believed, was that Elenore could despise Mimosa as she did in the words written for him to see.

At this point, it had been clear that they were dealing with something much, much worse than they could have imagined, which meant Jacques had to step forth. Step forth to try to mend his family that was breaking down around him, in a manner he'd never believed possible in the Clement household, but it was. And it had to stop.

The first letter went to Mimosa. He ignored the writing at the bottom, hoping she didn't realise that the bottom of the letter had been filled with Elenore's words. The second letter went to his professor, explaining that something had come up at the Palace, and that he would be absent from classes for the next few days. That, on his return, Jacques would arrange a meeting with the professor to discuss the work he needed to make up, and, of course, that he was sorry for the inconvenience he was causing.

The third letter had not been so easy for Jacques. As he pulled the third sheet of paper towards him, Jacques knew that writing to his Maman would set off alarm bells -- his last letter had gone only two days ago, and he'd not yet received an owl back with the reply. But, there were things in this world that you must do, even if it resulted in worry of the woman you loved most in the world.


The letter was cryptic, and Jacques was not entirely sure he should send it. But, it was only fear of the unknown that was holding him back. Fear of what would happen if he didn't tell his Maman. Fear of what would happen if he did. If you lived your life stuck in fear of the world, you would never achieve anything. In this moment, that was not an option. It was why not ten minutes later, three owls left the owlery, heading off in different directions before Jacques apparated back to the Palace.

Mimosa's broom was retrieved, the kitchens were sent to work making Mimosa's favourite foods to take with him. Word was left with the staff that there was absolutely nothing he wished to be spoken about to in the next few days. Anything coming in to the Palace was not comparable in that moment. The rest of the twenty ninth was spent at the Palace, preparing for the next day, as he sent word forth to Mrs Goshawk of his need to speak to Elenore and Mimosa. Elenore first, though, if the Headmistress would be so kind as to arrange for Elenore to be brought to the Headmistress' office at ten am the next morning.

Without reason being given.

After an evening of no sleep -- how had they allowed this to happen? -- Jacques had rose from his bed the next morning feeling worse for wear. Dressing in a black suit, the Clement her had taken the time to right any sign of stress, and tiredness from his body before apparating to Hogsmeade. At the gate of Hogwarts he was met by the groundskeeper, and Mimosa's gifts were taken off to the young witch separately. Mimosa would know of his arrival, but first. First he had to deal with the person pretending to be his sister.

As promised, Jacques arrived at half past nine at the Headmistress' office. With a thank you for her kindness -- though they both knew a sizeable donation was coming the school's way -- Jacques was left alone amongst the portraits, waiting for his sister.

Jaw set, and eyes sitting perfectly on the door, his eyes almost as cold as his Maman's could be when not impressed with a situation.

Now, all he had to do was wait.

When the knock at the door came, Jacques stole himself one steadying breath. He was not ready to do this, not in the slightest, but that did not mean he would shy away from his responsibility within the Clement household. Jacques did not answer, though, knowing it would give too much away, and he didn't wish for Elenore to go running before he had chance to talk to her.

The moment in which it took her to decide to open the door, Jacques slid his wand from it's holder on his belt, and held it down at his side. The person pretending to be his sister entered, not concentrating on the person before her in the first couple of moments, but the room at large.

It allowed Jacques the moment to close and lock the door, ensuring they would not be disturbed, but also ensuring Elenore could not run from the consequences of her actions. Placing his wand on the desk, Jacques waited. Until Elenore's eyes landed upon him and the surprise on her features showed in that moment. The sound of his name leaving her lips was not one he cared for, and as she dared to pretend she hadn't known why he was here with the pleasantries, Jacques' features turned darker.

Elenore stopped, though, and Jacques could only feel a deeper loathing for the young woman before him.

Reaching in to his jacket, Jacques extracted the letter that he'd received from Mimosa, and opened it very carefully.

"Elenore!" Jacques read, depicting the excited tone he simply knew Mimosa would have used upon seeing the witch before him.

"I would insist that you read page forty five, however, I don't have all day to watch you stumble over the words." Jacques read, putting no kind of tone in this, simply reading what the letter said.

"I don't..." This was said with a tone hinting confusion.

"Your friend, Sebastian, and his husband Aiden, were murdered in your beautiful country. Murdered because they loved each other, the newspaper claims. Dead.

"Oh! This is part of the game... You're just teasing, aren't you? What does it really say?

"Oh, yes, Mimosa. I am, of course, teasing you about the death of your uncles, because, you know, to joke about such things is a common occurrence in the life of lady such as myself.

"I don't... un-understand...

"Your uncles went to a bar... a bar especially for men who like men. When they left the bar, they were caught up in a hit and run. The pickup ran over Sebastian and Aiden, from what I can gather. And then the driver got out, and shot them with a Muggle device, a gun. To make sure they died.

"N-no...

"That's the truth, Mimosa. They're not coming back, and not even you can make them. You'd be wise to wear black for the next two months. They were, after all, your Uncles."

As Jacques finished, he folded the letter back up, tucking it back in to the inner pocket of his suit. His eyes moving back to Elenore in that moment. There was no question in his eyes, it did not take a genius to work out what Elenore had been trying to do. It did not need Jacques to ask if he'd read it correctly, if he'd understood, because it was a dictated letter, and the beauty of all of this meant nothing was changed from the words being spoken.

But the question of it all remained. A question Jacques had not believed he would ever have to ask his younger sister.

"What has come over you, Elenore? Mimosa is a Clement Ward. She is one of us." Jacques told her, because so long as he was around, he would not allow anyone to forget that Mimosa was one of their own. "I don't know what is going on, Elenore. I don't know what reason you see fit to do this to Mimosa, but I am telling you, right now, that this stops today. We're all a family, we will always be a family, and unless you have forgotten every lesson you've ever been taught, family comes before all else."

Jacques paused, his anger flashing in his eyes. For as much as he was his Maman's son, he'd inherited his father's temper. But, he took a few moments to steady himself, knowing that no good ever came from losing his temper, and no good would ever come from it either.

"What would Maman say, if she knew about this?" Jacques asked, his voice barely above a whisper, but by no means soft. "Or Papa? Grandmere? Maman and I haven't even told Papa about what happened over the summer, but now you've done this..." You're leaving us with very little choice. The unspoken words were palpable in the room, but they were a necessity.

Seeing Elenore say that their Maman would not care made Jacques shake his head, growing more frustrated with his sister in that moment. She didn't understand, in the slightest, how much their parents loved them, cared for them, would be disappointed in them if they knew the extent of the destruction Elenore was trying to cause to a child.

But Elenore's ideas just grew worse in that moment, and Jacques could not help but feel thoroughly disappointed in his sister. How could she..?

Standing from his desk, Jacques moved to stand before Elenore, his hands moving to the tops of her arms in that moment. "Look at me, Elenore." Jacques told her, voice still quiet, but still not softening. "I don't know what is going on in your head right now. I don't know what's upset you, I don't know why you think Mimosa is here to replace you. I don't know why you think we're trying to get you to leave the Palace in a betrothal, but none of this is true. It has never been true."

The explanation was not one Jacques was happy giving, and he did not wish to linger on the subject. Elenore was being stupid, untrusting, and her actions were making her look very questionable within her role of the family. But, this was not something Jacques could fix on his own. Their Maman needed to be brought in on the matter, to make things better, and, right now, Elenore was not the most important person in the problem.

"Promise me, Elenore, promise me you won't go looking for Mimosa again. Promise me you won't try to hurt her again. Because, I can promise you, if you do this again, I will ensure the Palace will not be a welcome sight in the holidays." Jacques told her, because he could not face seeing Mimosa upset and hurt again. Elenore might be his sister, but Mimosa was a child, and children needed protecting at all costs.

A small, meek nod came from Elenore in that moment, and Jacques' hands let go of her.

"Now, go, you have classes to attend." Jacques told her, no hint of warmth, or reconciliation in his tone. He might have stopped Elenore from doing it again, but this, by no means, meant this was over.