InsaneJournal

Who: Daphne Greengrass and Alys Greengrass (NPC)
What: Mother/Daughter conversations
When: Midday, November 7th
Where: The Greengrass Home
Warnings: Talk of suicide
Status: Completed in docs




As little as Daphne enjoyed one-on-one conversations with her mother, she couldn't just avoid the woman altogether. When she tried to, her mother tended to seek her out and Daphne wasn't about to subject herself to whatever methods Alys Greengrass had up her sleeve. So, she owled her mother and suggested they have lunch together. The owl was met with an eagerness from Alys who always wanted to know what her daughters were up to, but especially Daphne who was the eldest and desperately needed to find herself a husband.


Preparing herself for the likelihood of her mother wanting to thrust a list of eligible bachelors at her, Daphne decided that she would tell her about seeing Roger. She wondered if Alys would faint at the mention of actually seeing someone. Too bad she didn't have a camera at the moment to catch the reaction.


She arrived on time to her parents' home and let herself in. "Mom? It's me," she called out, hanging her jacket on the rack near the door and heading for the kitchen where she figured her mother would be.


“Dining room, Daphne,” Alys called out. The house elves had set out a lavish set of lunch options and Alys was sat at the table sipping afternoon tea. She did not stand when her daughter entered the room, but Alys did offer her eldest a smile. “Laila has set out some food for us,” she explained, giving a small wave at the table where the food sat.


Daphne returned her mother's smile with one of her own and moved to sit at the table with her. "It looks lovely," she said. "How are you? How's work?" Common questions that she asked every time that she saw her mother. The answers were usually the same, but Daphne had long ago realized that small talk was difficult with her mother. They had very little in common, really.


Placing the teacup down on its very fancy saucer, Alys gave a very slight shrug with her left shoulder. “I have been well,” she replied to her daughter’s question. “Work has been busier than usual with these things appearing,” Alys explained giving a wave with her hand that implied a degree of distaste towards the things she was referring to - the apparitions.


Waiting for Daphne to take a seat, Alys poured out a cup of tea for her. “How are you getting on with your work?” Alys asked more politely than with any genuine interest.


Daphne settled into her chair and thanked her mother for the tea she poured. Pulling the saucer towards her, she lifted it up and took a sip. She'd thought her mother would be more busy with the apparitions. It wasn't that she thought they'd do much damage, but the frightened people running away from them certainly did enough of their own.


"It's going well," she said, smiling. "I've been writing more," she added, though she doubted her mother cared very much. She knew a way to make her care or, at least, a way to get her more interested in the writing. "My boyfriend has been helping me."


There was a barely a hum of acknowledgement when Daphne informed Alys of having been writing more. But then, at the mention of a boyfriend, Alys’ eyes widened slightly as she glanced at her daughter. “A boyfriend?” She asked doing rather well at not sounding completely disbelieving. “And who may this boyfriend be?” Alys inquired slowly.


Of course that question would come. He had to be a proper boyfriend or he mattered very little. If he wasn't a proper boyfriend, he was no more acceptable than a fly in the soup. "Roger Davies," she offered, meeting her mother's gaze. "He's really very sweet." She doubted Roger would have wanted to be called sweet but, in her opinion, he was.


“Roger Davies,” Alys repeated before giving a dismissive wave at Daphne’s words that he was very sweet. Daphne’s mother made it rather clear that she cared little for whether the man was sweet. What she evidently cared a lot more for was the name. “Davies,” she repeated. “Maximilian’s son?” She clarified. “The youngest,” she concluded. “But I suppose that’ll have to do,” Alys announced.


Daphne wasn't surprised that her mother waved off her mention of his sweetness or even that she knew his father's name so easily. Her mother knew everything there was to know about most families. At least enough to know if they were good enough to be mixed up with her daughters. "Yes," she said. "Maximilian's son. The youngest. 'That'll have to do'?" she asked, tilting her head at her mother. "You don't sound very pleased, mother."


“I’m not displeased,” Alys said with a small shake of her head. “At least your sister’s had the good graces of dating the oldest, but at least it’s a good family,” she commented reaching for her tea. “Sad story, the Davies boys,” Alys added after taking a sip. “But I hear the oldest is now a lawyer? Clearly, Maximilian did well, despite.”


She should have realized that no matter her choice, it wouldn't be good enough. Daphne knew she should be thanking her lucky stars that her mother wasn't having a fit over Roger's family and seemed at least somewhat approving. Maybe not thrilled, but not 'displeased' as she'd said. The rest of what she said, however, had Daphne wondering what she was talking about. "Sad story?" she asked. Clearly her mother knew something that she didn't and she probably wanted to tell that story.

She nodded at the mention of Max. "Yes, he's a lawyer," Daphne said. "Roger invited me along for the Christmas Holiday. He and his brother and Max's fiancee go skiing," she explained.


“Oh, that’s nice,” Alys commented at Daphne’s words. “You must say yes,” her mother advised with another small nod. “An engagement before the next year’s out would be nice,” Alys added seriously, before giving a small wave at Daphne’s earlier question regarding Alys’ comment of the Davies boys having a rather... sad history.


After topping her teacup up from the teapot, Alys took her time to stir the sugar in slowly. “Quite a scandal at the time,” she explained finally. “Maximilian’s wife - a Yaxley, you know - took too many sleeping potions,” Alys said as if this was common gossip rather than someone’s life she was discussing. “The boys were still very young then. And on her son’s birthday as well,” Alys tutted. “It’s really a miracle the boys have grown up as well as they have,” she added. “Such a selfish woman,” Alys commented more to herself than Daphne, really.


Her reaction to the Holiday invitation was as Daphne expected. Eagerness to get her engaged and married off. Roger probably would have laughed if he heard the timeline her mother hoped for. "Well, I'm not sure I can promise an engagement, but I did plan on saying yes," she assured her. "I just didn't want you and Dad to be disappointed if I was elsewhere." Apparently that mattered very little to Alys, though. It was both good, because she wanted to go with Roger, and sad, because it would have been nice if her mother at least pretended she was slightly disappointed at the thought of not seeing one of her daughters over Christmas.


That was dismissed even as a concern when she mentioned how Roger's mother had died. Not just died, but apparently killed herself. Thinking back, she realized Roger hadn't mentioned his mother. She'd assumed that maybe she wasn't in the picture for one reason or the other, but it hadn't really come up in conversation so she hadn't prodded him for answers where she was concerned. Hearing that she'd killed herself on one of her son's birthday made her heart hurt for him and her stomach lurched.


"She did it on purpose?" she found herself asking. "On her son's birthday? Which son?" It was awful and Daphne wanted to do or say something about the whole thing to Roger as if that would make him feel better, but a large part of her wondered if it would just push him away to know she'd heard about the situation at all.


“We will of course be saddened by your absence, Daphne,” Alys informed, managing to make the statement sound rather heartfelt. There was a lot to be said about Alys’ skills at bedside manner, being a Healer had served her well. “But it is certainly best if you accept the invite,” she added far more truthfully.


At the question, Alys pursed her lips. “The oldest, I believe, was born around Christmas? It wasn’t then,” she explained. “The youngest, then,” she said before giving a small wave with her hand towards Daphne. “Roger?” She offered. “Poor dear wasn’t even Hogwarts age then,” Alys added. “Neither of them, I don’t believe. However did Maximilian cope,” she pondered shaking her head.


“I shall extend a dinner invite to him,” Alys said in the same tone she had just discussed Maximilian Davies’ wife’s death. “It’d be nice to see him again. I feel the last time might have been a Ministry ball I attended with your father?” She offered, though there did not seem to be an expectation for Daphne to know the answer to that particular question.


The attempt to make her daughter feel missed was appreciated but not entirely believed. Accepting the invite was at the forefront of Alys's mind, obviously. It worked out fine for Daphne, though, because she wanted to go skiing with Roger and his brother and sister-in-law.


She wasn't sure of Max's birthday, but Roger's wasn't around Christmas. When her mother seemed to be sure it was Roger who's birthday was also his mother's death day, Daphne thought she might be sick. She felt bad for all the Davies men then. Two boys, not even old enough for Hogwarts, left without their mother. Roger on his birthday, no less.


"I'm sure he'd love to see you again," Daphne offered. She wondered how long it would be before her mother urged her to invite Roger to dinner. Hopefully she'd have enough time to prepare him for that lovely endeavor. Which reminded her that she was to meet Max before the Holiday excursion.


"Do you know why she did it?" she asked. "I know you can't possibly know for sure, but surely someone knew something about what was going on with her." People didn't decide to end their lives for no reason at all.


“Well,” Alys dragged out slowly, in a true fashion of someone who wanted to gossip but did not want to be thought of as a gossip. “She was much younger that Maximilian, you see,” Alys explained. “And the rumour, at the time at least,” she clarified as if there was one going around currently. “Was that he had rather many affairs and did very little to hide any of them,” Alys told Daphne before reaching for her tea.


Taking a careful sip, Alys carried on. “Emmanuela wasn’t, I don’t believe, very good with the kids, either,” she said. “But then, who really is?” Alys asked with a small roll of her eyes as if somehow being rich meant that it was expected to not be very good with one’s children.


“Such morose conversation,” Alys announced suddenly. “We best move on to happier things,” she told Daphne seriously. “Your father and I have been discussing a holiday,” she said in basically the same breath.


The topic certainly was morose. Daphne didn't think she wanted to talk much more about it either, so she was glad when her mother decided to move right along with something else. She tried to ignore the weight of sadness in her stomach, but she pushed it aside in hopes of losing herself in her mother's ramblings about holidays and her father. Still, her mind kept drifting back to Emmanuela and to Roger. More than that, though, it drifted to whether or not she should mention it to him now that she was aware.