dante avery (infernos) wrote in disorderic, @ 2018-01-19 19:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | dante avery, violet slughorn |
WHO: Violet Slughorn & Dante Avery
WHAT: An uncomfortable discussion about the consequences of their actions.
WHEN: Thursday, January 18th
WHERE: Violet’s flat
WARNINGS: A brief mention of contemplating ending a pregnancy (but not actually following through on those thoughts)
As the father of the child, (and just when did she start thinking of it as a child? It was an embryo at this point, the science enthusiast in her corrected) perhaps she should have told Dante first, but Violet chose to tell Valkyrie instead. Val was one of her best friends. Dante was an ill-advised one night stand who just happened to be Val’s older brother. But he was the father, and a little over two months later, it didn’t look like this problem would fix itself in the form of a miscarriage. There were potions that could trigger a miscarriage. Violet had seriously considered them in the past few weeks. One of the biggest deterrents to that plan was the Ministry IDs. They were required for making purchases in any wizarding establishment. It wasn’t much of a stretch to assume that they’d be used for tracking purchases. While those potions were entirely legal and whoever was monitoring that was probably focused on identifying people who might be helping the Wandless, staunch purists were in control. If they found out a young woman from the Sacred 28 was buying that particular potion, it seemed likely that they’d investigate further, if not outright interfere. Though she had the skill to brew the potion herself, it unfortunately was one that took three months. She’d be showing by then. Then there was the fact that Violet herself valued wizarding blood and thought too much of it had been shed already. As much as she didn’t want to be pregnant, could she go through with ending her pregnancy? Could she keep something like that from one of her closest friends? Ultimately, the answer to both of those questions was a resounding ‘no’. Which meant that like it or not, she was going to have to have a very awkward conversation with Dante. Her research into why the preventative potion she took failed likely wouldn’t help much, but she had a copy of it tucked away neatly into an envelope for him anyway. When he arrived and her house elf Spritzy announced him, Violet had a small tray of snacks ready on a tray set out on the coffee table beside her couch. “Hello, Dante. Please make yourself comfortable. Care for a snack? Perhaps some firewhiskey?” He’d probably need the firewhiskey later. There was nothing that set a person off quite like hearing ‘there’s something I need to talk you about.’ Since Violet had said that, Dante had spent his days - on and off - wondering what it was she might have needed to say. Something that wasn’t an emergency, but was still important. He had ideas, but none of them were good. He didn’t know how to answer her question at first. He wasn’t hungry; he was too anxious to hear what she had to say to want to eat. “Thank you,” he said, considering if it would be rude to refuse. After a beat, he nodded. “Not the firewhiskey. But all right, yes. Should I -?” He gestured towards the couch. He thought she meant for him to sit, but he didn’t want to assume. In the past few days, Violet had spent some time mentally rehearsing what she was going to say, imagining possible outcomes, and how to address them. Between preparing for this discussion and the bouts of nausea she was experiencing at random, her mind hadn’t been on her work. That was probably indirectly beneficial to whoever was trying to flee the country. These past few days hadn’t involved much of the diplomatic work where she really shone, and instead was just boring documentation to review in case some of it belonged to fugitives. “Yes, please have a seat,” she said with a nod. She had no idea if the churning in her stomach was another bout of nausea or if it was simply nerves, but one advantage to having plenty of time to mentally prepare was that she was able to outwardly maintain business-like composure despite how much she’d panicked in the privacy of her flat when she’d first realized she was pregnant a few weeks ago. She waited in silence until he was seated as comfortably as he possibly could be while feeling anxious. She hadn’t missed the subtle visual cues that he was ill at ease, and really, she couldn’t blame him. “Thank you for visiting. This was a discussion that needed to be in person.” She could go on with all sorts of pleasantries, but she decided it would be best for both of them if she just got to the point. There was more than enough drama going on in the world around them to bother with unnecessary suspense. “I’m pregnant.” There was a short pause and she gave him a pointed look before adding, “Two and a half months pregnant.” The announcement didn’t register at first. He heard her, of course, but it took him a moment to figure out why she would need to tell him that. Wasn’t this terribly personal? She barely knew him. It wasn’t until he calculated the time frame that it really hit him. His eyes widened. “Oh. You’re --” He hesitated, glancing down at her abdomen quickly even though there was nothing new to see, and then he looked back up at her face. “Pregnant.” He paused. “And it’s …” He had trouble getting the words out. It was his? His fault? His baby? He didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t what his father imagined for him. This wasn’t what he imagined, either. “Yours,” Violet confirmed with a single nod of her head, voicing the words that Dante couldn’t make himself utter. She was silent for a few seconds, giving him time to have the information sink in. “So, we have some things to talk about.” Dante’s first thought was what do we have to talk about? Not because he wouldn’t take responsibility, but because he wasn’t going to presume she wanted him to have anything to do with it, or with her. This was unconventional, to be sure. It probably wasn’t even something she wanted. She was young -- as young as his sister, he reminded himself. Val was going to kill him. But he held that back and instead tried to look genuinely concerned. He was, of course. He was still reeling, though. “What … do you want to do?” he asked slowly. He wouldn’t dare give his opinion on the matter first. “I was going to ask you that,” Violet replied. But points to him for considering what she wanted instead of simply making assumptions or trying to tell her what to do. “I’ve thought about it for weeks. I considered terminating the pregnancy and not telling anyone, but...well. Val’s one of my best friends, and I believe in preserving magical bloodlines. I wouldn’t be a very good friend and I’d be a hypocrite if I got rid of it.” She didn’t bother to mention the research she’d done or just how long she’d spent thinking about terminating the pregnancy. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. All he needed to know was what she intended to do now. “So, I’m keeping it. What do you want to do?” The mention of his sister made him wince a little, but he tried to focus instead on what else she was saying, particularly about preserving magical bloodlines. She had a point about that. For all their talk about the preservation of their culture and the importance of blood lineage, it seemed like … not having this child would go against all of that. There had to be another generation, even if it wasn’t how either of them planned. Truthfully, though, he had trouble imagining himself as a father. He’d been trying to put his father’s hopes and dreams off as long as he could, focusing instead on their mission. Now he didn’t have a choice but to think about it. “I…” Dante frowned. “It’s a little much to take in all at once,” he admitted, “but I suppose…” Should he comfort her? Try to hold her hand? “Whatever you want. I’ll support you in whatever you need. If you want me to be a part of this…” He left that open-ended, even though he was such she knew that there wasn’t much of a choice involved in that, once his father found out. For all that she’d mentally rehearsed and had time to inwardly panic about the situation, it was only now as they were talking about it that she was forced to think about what she actually wanted. Dante hadn’t had the time she did, so it wasn’t reasonable to expect him to have more concrete plans. “For now, I just want you to be aware and accept it.” Which he’d done. Points to him for being willing to take responsibility. “We’ll have to tell our parents sooner rather than later. I’m seeing mine this weekend.” He hadn’t had the time to really process it and seemed to be looking to her for direction. “Tell yours before the end of the month, all right?” “Yes.” Dante nodded, but he didn’t feel very aware of his body, or his thoughts, for that matter. His mind was scrambled, trying to figure out what had happened. They’d been cautious, hadn’t they? He usually was. He hadn’t wanted any surprises like this, after all. After a moment, he realised he was staring, and he looked away. “Sorry. Yes, I’ll tell them straight away.” He could imagine his mother being happy about it, but his father’s face was more difficult to imagine. “I expect they’ll want to have dinner soon, all of us.” “Probably,” Violet acknowledged with a slight grimace. She was not looking forward to that dinner discussion in the slightest. None of this should have happened. They’d been careful. The preventative potion she took was said to have a 99.9 percent efficacy rate, and yet here they were. Beating the odds. Fucking Felix Felicis. Which reminded her. “Here,” she said, moving over to sit beside him on the couch. She set the envelope filled with her research down in front of Dante. “Remember how at the start of that evening, I was talking about that world renowned magical researcher I was so happy to meet? I used Felix Felicis to make sure I’d get the opportunity to meet him.” She let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “As it turns out, there’s some anecdotal evidence that it can cause problems with preventative potions. It’s not really conclusive as to whether it’s because of the short bout of bad luck some report just as Felix is wearing off, or if it’s other things, but…” She gestured to the envelope. “Well, you can read that later if you want to know more.” Dante picked up the envelope, though he didn’t open it just yet. He listened, instead, to her explanation -- to both the confirmation that she did typically take preventative measures and hadn’t been trying to pull one over his eyes, and the reasons why it might not have worked how they’d expected. He probably should have felt more guilty for some of the thoughts running through his head about how he’d walked into this situation, but he couldn’t help it. It was the practical thing to do. He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. About …” The baby? The enormous mistake they made? Dante actually know how she felt about it at all, outside of wanting to keep it. Was she happy? Was she upset? Was she glad it was him, or did she wish it was someone else? “I’m sure this isn’t what you expected for yourself.” “That’s an understatement,” she replied mildly with a little sigh. She wasn’t going to tell him how many times she’d bawled her eyes out at first, nor how many hours of sleep she’d lost worrying about it once she got over the initial panic. However, she also wasn’t going to pretend that this was exactly what she wanted. It wasn’t. Not in the slightest. “I had a lot of plans, and a baby wasn’t supposed to even be a possibility for another ten years.” All in all, he was taking everything remarkably well, at least outwardly. Perhaps he’d panic later in the privacy of his home. She didn’t know him well enough to know how he dealt with stressful situations. She only really knew him through Val, pureblood circles, and that he’d gone to Azkaban for Death Eater activities. “But you know what? Once I decided to keep it and really gave the situation some thought, I realized an unplanned baby isn’t going to stop me from doing what I want with my life. It just means I’ll have to go a different route and achieve some things a little slower than planned.” Like some of the other Sacred 28 families, the Slughorn family was extremely wealthy. She could easily afford a nanny even if Dante had wanted absolutely nothing to do with the child. It was hard to tell what he wanted, beyond his willingness to help her with whatever she needed. Which made her wonder… “So...um.. Question. Are you exempt from all of this ID tracking business? Because if there’s a way to put off Dolores Umbridge finding out I’m pregnant until it’s obvious, I would really like to pursue that.” A baby. It took Dante’s breath away to hear it said like that. In a few months… He blinked a few times. She was talking about her plans being waylaid, and that wasn’t right. There was no reason one night should put off her dreams too much, so he leaned forward a little, wanting to make sure she knew he was interested in what she was saying and that he was genuine in what he had to offer. “I have an ID,” he answered, “as a show of good faith… though between us, I think it was an overreach to force us too, like we’re some common criminals. I’ve no doubt I can evade her, however. What do you need?” “It absolutely was an overreach,” Violet agreed with a nod. “She seems far more concerned with getting everyone on record than with common sense and looking at individual circumstances. I really don’t envy the people working under her who have to spend all day just going through everybody’s ordinary, boring purchases to look for anything that might be remotely suspicious. That sounds incredibly tedious and not very useful for identifying criminals.” There weren’t many people Violet truly disliked. Dolores Umbridge managed it, even before throwing Oliver’s father in jail. She was just a very anal retentive person, and didn’t seem to possess any capacity for empathy to speak of. Dante, on the other hand, was being very kind about this entire situation, and she lightly placed her hand on top of his to wordlessly show her appreciation. “There’s a potion for dealing with morning sickness that’s supposed to be longer lasting and more effective than ordinary anti-nausea potion. It’s sold at Slug and Jiggers. I’m not sure about other apothecaries. The book that describes how to make it is called Potions for Palatable Pregnancies and is at Flourish and Blotts...both fairly unsubtle items.” She sighed. “I’ve had a really rough time in the past few weeks with morning sickness.” For the first time since he’d arrived, Dante smiled - not with nervousness, but slight amusement - and it was genuine, too, rather than tinged with any malice. He could imagine what might be said if she walked into an apothecary and asked for either the potion or the book; even though it was no one’s business, someone would talk regardless of what she said about it. He could understand why she’d want to avoid the attention. He didn’t trust Umbridge as far as he could throw her, truthfully. She was an opportunist and a liar. They couldn’t trust what she would do with the information she gathered, even on one of their own. “I’ll take care of it,” he assured her. “No one will question me.” And it was likely that he could convince someone to erase that section of his data, or convince someone to sell to him without an ID. Or send someone to buy it for him. Now there was an idea. He did want to practice his Imperius again… He turned his hand around in hers so he could give hers a gentle squeeze. “Thank you for telling me.” Violet felt some of the tension leave her shoulders when Dante said he’d take care of it. While there were still plenty of awkward and difficult conversations ahead, they would be easier to handle when she didn’t have to contend with nausea. Her parents wouldn’t be happy, people were going to gossip, and her non-purist friends would probably be even more disappointed in her than her parents would. Still, things could be much worse. “Thank you for being supportive,” she replied, squeezing his hand back. “If you want to talk to a friend or two about it...I’m fine with Peony and Angelus knowing.” He would need some support in all of this, too, after all. It was a bit jarring to hear her thank him for that. Did she expect anything less? But then Dante remembered that they didn’t really know each other. He knew her as Val’s friend from school, for the most part, and her perspective was probably similar. That didn’t mean she knew how he’d react. “Yeah, of course. Of course. It’s --” He cleared his throat and tried to smile again, like he was excited instead of just nervous as hell. “It’s not just your responsibility. Wouldn’t be right not to be here for you.” He paused. “And the baby.” It was partly his fault, after all. The thought of telling people made him tense, though. Angelus would lose his mind over it, most likely. Peony would be sympathetic. Dante wasn’t sure how he’d be able to keep it to himself entirely, though, so he appreciated the gesture. He nodded in acknowledgement. He’d tell someone, eventually. “When’s your next appointment? With the healer?” She might not have known Dante well, but she was well acquainted with the high expectations the old wizarding families put on their children. She also knew how difficult it had been to keep it to herself once she realized she was pregnant, when what she really needed was some support. She didn’t know what it was like to be a Death Eater, but it seemed like it would come with its fair share of stress. She’d heard of Death Eaters who defected, went into hiding, and wound up dead. So with those things in mind, Violet wanted to make sure he had people he could reach out to for support with the stress she’d just added to his life. “In two weeks,” she replied. “For the first six months of pregnancy, healer visits are only once a month. I can hext you and let you know how the appointment goes, unless you’d prefer to visit.” “Can I …” Was it too much, if he asked to go with her? “If it’s okay…” The last thing he wanted to do was to push her boundaries. But if what she said was true, and he had no reason to distrust her, he had a right to be there too. “If you don’t mind,” he began again, “I’d like to accompany you. I don’t need to be there for all of it, if you’d rather your privacy, I just … I should be there. I’d like to be there.” It was confusing, how someone could be as sweet and supportive as Dante was being right now could also take the Dark Mark and inflict violence and terror. Even though she was aware that people with beliefs far more extreme than hers loved their family members, it was still hard to understand. But what she did understand was the value of encouraging empathy. The dark arts fed on anger and fear. Love and logic seemed like a better way to oppose them than getting into journal and hooter arguments. She was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Our parents will know by my next appointment, so you’re welcome to be there.” With a slight smile, she added, “Just be aware that this puts you on hand-holding duty.” If she needed someone to take stress out on, the least he could do was lend a hand. He’d gotten her into this mess, after all. “I can take it.” He’d have to, whether or not he was ready for it |