No One Ever Died From Wanting Too Much (Jacques & Louis)

August had swept through the Palace with a more welcoming air around it. Whilst the Palace now ran as it normally would, there were still the last signs of bereavement remaining in the Palace in the most prominent places. Lady Vanessa Clement still held herself in the period of mourning for her father-in-law, even if her husband had given way to the ideals after the first month of mourning had been completed. The sign of respect for the former Lord Clement shone as a pillar of remembrance in the current Lady Clement's actions, and Louis knew he had found yet another reason to fall more deeply in love with his wife each day.

Louis' own remembrance might have lapsed, but he had not forgotten his Maman's actions in the day's after his Papa's death. He had yet to bring himself to a private audience with his Maman since their loss, and he would hold it off just a while longer, allowing the older witch to partake in the lengthened grieving process that was allowed of widows. Not, it seemed, that the older witch needed such time.

The transition within France had been much more important to Louis in the last month, though, ensuring that opening up to the Muggle world about magic being real was not an easy idea to implement, and the first few weeks had caused some turbulence within the country. Not as hard felt as it could have been, of course, but there were groups within the country who had not taken kindly to the idea of living amongst witches and wizards alike. Some could be silenced peacefully, as benefited the image of fairness generated by the Clements, but others... others had to have a firmer hand their way. As of yet, though, nobody had been seriously hurt with the transition, and Louis intended to keep it that way before they branched out further with this regime.

This morning had brought the Lord Clement away from his usual walk to his own offices within the Palace, instead of turning right at the main offices of the Lord Clement's station to his own solar, Louis had turned left. Jacques was almost twenty one now, but the office he'd taken up residence in a few years ago now had started to mirror his Papa's. To an extent, anyway, the younger Clement's office lacked the feminine touches at the moment. Well, aside from the picture that sat atop his desk of a much younger Mimosa that Jacques had placed there. The note had been out of the blue, in Louis' mind, and worded ever so carefully by his son so as to only look as a polite question of dropping by if the older male had time.

As if Louis would not make time for his own children if they ever asked for it.

Knocking gently on his son's door -- despite the fact it was not necessary to do so for the Lord Clement -- Louis waited a moment before Jacques' face appeared before him.

"Papa!" Jacques greeted happily upon seeing the older man, though beneath the smile and warmness emitting from his son, Louis could see the mostly internalised trepidation from the boy before him. "Come in, please." Jacques added hastily, opening the door further to allow the Lord Clement inside before closing it carefully behind him a moment later.

The future Lord Clement's solar was simple, currently. The desk at which Jacques had been pouring over the paperwork for the new regime sat in the middle of the room, books and papers open all across it with notes being made on the pad sitting atop it all. Bookshelves encased the room on three of the four walls, and the final one bore a map that Louis remembered fondly from when Vanessa and he had begun everything they had today.

The Lord Clement's solar had a map of a similar size, carefully depicting the countries that the Clements now controlled throughout Europe. Louis' copy simply coloured each country black once it had been brought under their control, and those who were next on the agenda, or in progress currently, were starting to turn various shades of grey to show how close they were to bringing the country on board.

Jacques copy was different in many ways.

Much like his father's map, the countries taken under the Clement control had changed colour to black, but at the corner of each country, Jacques' map denoted a small bar, much like the battery icon on one of the mobile devices the Clements had worked on years ago. These, Jacques had explained earlier in the summer, denoted the security of that country for the Clements. France, currently, did not sit at the solid green that it had before the announcement of the Magical World. But none of those bars were at a dangerous level, yet.

America -- much to Louis' silent amusement -- was depicted in a deep red on Jacques' map. The explanation for which had been simple from Jacques. America was, and always would be, off limits for the Clements. Though... Louis had to admit today, America's colourisation seemed to have moved closer to an orange than a red...

And finally, Louis' favourite difference between the maps, Jacques' map held miniature figures of each of the Clements. Five Clements sat safely at the Palace on the map, but there was one more figure upon the map. Probably the figure that moved the most of all of the figures. Mimosa's replica grinned out at them both from India, as expected, and waved happily to the entrance of her Grandpere, bringing a small smile to the Lord Clement's features as he brought his eyes away from the map that his son had created.

"You wished to speak with me?" Louis asked, taking Jacques' nod as the affirmative before he continued. "Something you couldn't share with your Maman?" The Lord Clement asked, the smile on his lips showing that he already knew that there was something going on before Jacques gave a sheepish smile in reply.

"We can share with Maman later, Papa. I wished to ask something of you first... Well, two things, actually." Jacques replied, motioning to the seats around his own desk for better comfort than standing. The Lord Clement took up the offer on the knowledge his son was stalling carefully for additional time, but he did not speak first, instead waiting for Jacques' questions to be broached.

Perhaps it was to do with his son's birthday that was approaching quickly now. A question of a gift that he felt he needed, though Louis did not know for why that would mean keeping Vanessa out of the picture in this moment. Whatever the case, though, Louis trusted his son's judgement.

After all, neither of his children had ever let him down.

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~ Lord Clement ~ Profile ~ 55 ~

Thank you to the amazing Ruby for the signatures! <3

The promise that he'd made Elenore had not been the cleverest of promises he'd ever made in his life, Jacques had known that the moment he'd uttered the words to his sister. But, there was no way on earth he was going to allow the witch to hurt herself through the idea that Maman and Papa were trying to hurt her because they would not allow her to go to America. There was no denying that the wish to go to America was one Jacques would never be able to understand of Elenore, but if this was truly what she wanted... surely... surely they could do something?

But what Jacques could do now resided upon his Papa's decision.

A decision Jacques already knew what the knee jerk reaction would be.

The decision he knew the Lord Clement would take to not only protect Elenore, but also his Lady wife because Maman had already made her own decision clear in all of this. The decision that made this very meeting a very difficult feat to undertake. Knowingly asking his Papa to forsake his Maman's decision was not going to be easy to do, but Jacques hoped that he could do something to make this okay. Even if it meant he would invoke the disappointment in his Maman that he had never experienced before in his life.

For the family's greater good, though...

The reason for the meeting with his Papa, here, though, was obvious to the older male from the get go, and being called out upon such things made Jacques grimace inwardly. Being obvious in his work was not something he liked to do, but there was a time for pride, and now was not it. Maman would know in due course, of that much he was sure.

The pause between the two men grew for a moment, before Jacques spoke again.

"Papa, I would like to ask for something that I know would not normally be permitted. But, with your leave, I would like to leave the Palace before my birthday celebrations for India. Mimosa's birthday is three days after my own, and I would like to spend both of our birthdays together this year." Jacques explained, picking the easier of his two requests first. Both men knew that this was not out of the question, nor did the younger male have to ask for the permission to spend his birthday as he saw fit. But Jacques had always been a strong believer of taking his parent's blessings in his endeavours with the understanding they would only ever say no with good reason behind them.

An outcome that had never happened because Jacques had never asked for permission to do the things his parents would not approve of.

A smile touched the Lord Clement's lips as Jacques' request finished, shaking his head slightly at the notion of giving permission to his son for such things.

"Your Maman would much rather see you here on your birthday, but we can postpone the celebrations until yours... and Mimosa's return?" The Lord Clement replied, showing that the question had not been unreasonable.

"I'll bring Mimosa home, yes, but, a surprise for Maman." Jacques replied, the two men sharing a knowing look that established once more that they knew what would bring the Lady Clement joy and what would not. "And, I will let Maman know that I plan to leave for India." The younger man added, not wishing to cause his Maman more grief by not telling her of his plans himself. Though, once more, Jacques would phrase it as a request, rather than telling his Maman he would be leaving.

"That is not your real reason for bringing me here, though, I'm afraid to say." Louis Clement continued on, the concern touching the man's features as he contemplated his son carefully. Jacques could see the small movements of the older male's body, moving to brace himself against what was coming next, because they both knew that Jacques was biding his time to his next request.

"Unfortunately, that is not my reason, non, Papa." Jacques admitted softly, though his eyes remained upon his Papa. "Though, I ask that you hear me out completely before you say anything, Papa. I know what I am about to ask is not going to be easy for you to consider, but I ask that you hear me out fully first."

The Lord Clement bristled slightly at that, and Jacques had to do his utmost not to be cowed in that moment. A few seconds passed, before Louis nodded his understanding, and left the floor open to his son to speak.

"As you know, at Christmas Maman and Elenore had a conversation about university." Jacques started, earning an affirmative nod from his Papa. "Elenore took Maman's advice on board when she returned to Hogwarts, and looked in to the courses that she wished to pursue upon finishing her N.E.W.T.S. at Hogwarts. Elenore has decided that she wishes to pursue an academic career in music as that is where her talents lie, we've all known that, the way she plays the piano closely rivals Maman, often surpassing Maman, if I may say so."

The last was said with a nervous glance to his Papa, who smiled slightly at the sentiment. What that meant, Jacques could not be sure, but that was not for this moment.

"There are many great music schools in the world, each changing ranking dependent upon what criteria you assign to the rankings. The top schools can be found here in Paris, London and New York." Jacques hesitated, seeing the grimace from his father's features made him want to stop right now. Go back to Elenore and insist he'd done his best, but Maman and Papa could not be moved from their decision. That, though, would be turning this whole thing in to a lie, and Jacques refused to lie to anyone in this family.

"Elenore wishes to study in New York from September. The Julliard School is, by all counts bar one, the best music school in the world. It's only downfall, as I know you will agree, Papa, is the fact that it is in America. I have tried so many times to make it so that the options of Paris, London, or any other location in the world would show a different result to sway Elenore's view away from The Julliard School, but I cannot. Elenore believes she should be allowed to go to the best music school in the world, and as a Clement heiress, I agree with that wholeheartedly.

"Except when having the best will cost our family." Jacques summarised, quickly stalling his Papa's intention to interrupt his explanation. "I know that Maman and yourself dislike America deeply. I have never asked why, and I will not ask why now. I trust your opinion on the country, and I know that when I need to know your reasoning behind your dislike, you will share with me. Whatever reason you have right now is not something I need to know.

"However, I am asking you to put aside those differences for Elenore's sake. She has her heart set upon going to America, and I don't believe we could make her apply anywhere else. I know you hate America, Papa, but please, with the right protections in place, with the right measures... the right people, would you consider allowing Elenore to go to America to study?" Jacques asked gently. "I will take personal responsibility for her, for the decision, for her safety. I will ensure she had everything she needs, and that nothing untoward will come of her. I would not ask you to get involved in something you don't believe in, or truly want for Elenore, but I would ask that you give her your blessing to go."

The end of Jacques' explanation was met with silence.

Icy silence.

But the younger male did not allow his eyes to move away from his Papa's gaze as the internal battle of the Lord Clement raged without secret in his eyes. Had it been anyone else sitting before the Lord Clement in this moment, that rage would have been declared to the world by now, Jacques could tell from the way the energy in the room shifted and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. Studying such atmospheric reactions had been nothing compared to experiencing the effect of deep rooted magic such as the current Lord Clements, but Jacques did not back down.

Longer still the silence warred on in the space around them, and it was perhaps a trick of the light, or Jacques' imagination, but he was sure the French scale of contentment just moved down two or three notches behind his Lord father.

"You would ask me to hurt your Maman for this?"

The question cut through Jacques' chest like a knife, plunging deep in to his chest and twisting painfully because he had known all the while that this would hurt the whole family, and whilst he knew his Papa could deal with this, that he could personally deal with Elenore's decision, Maman would be hurt by not only Elenore's decision to go to America, but by his own betrayal of her trust in not bringing Elenore around to her point.

"I would never ask you to hurt Maman," Jacques replied softly to his Papa's question, before continuing on stronger than before. "But I would ask that we all make a sacrifice for the good of the family, or else I fear Elenore will do something to hurt our family in the long run."

The Lord Clement paused in confusion for a moment, so Jacques continued.

"Elenore's happiness is paramount to the future of the family, Papa. The women of this family are the most important, they always have been. Allow her the next three years, and I believe it will benefit our family."

The Lord Clement's chair pushed backwards with little and less thought as the older male stood, clearly disgusted with the idea that had been presented to him. Jacques stood, went to move round to his Papa, but was halted by his Papa's hand showing him to stop where he was.

"Papa-"

"We will not speak of this again."

"Papa, pl-"

"Non. We will not speak of this again, but you will see to the arrangements. Elenore's education and well being are your responsibility whilst she resides in America." The Lord Clement insisted, and Jacques nodded his understanding. It was almost the same as how he'd overseen Mimosa's care in America on his parents behalf, but this time, they would know what was happening. "I will see to it that your Maman is told with the care this subject needs."

With that, the Lord Clement left the room, leaving the air in the room charged with electric like energy. And though the future Lord Clement might have won this time, it did not feel like a victory to him at all.

This felt more like a blow than a victory, but it would stop Elenore ruining the family in the end.

Jacques had to believe that.

Or else this would all have been for nothing.

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~ Profile ~
~ Clement Heir ~ 24 ~ Athletic ~ 5'11" ~ French Accent ~

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