A/N: Omg whaat? Another chapter so soon? Yeah, I have like this evening to myself before work placement starts and I have to fly off to Spain so it's update time! Also I'm definitely Irish and not Vietnamese so if you speak Vietnamese, correct me because I literally don't speak a word of it, I just have a strong headcanon.
BEFORE any bilingual people come at me with "people don't just slip between languages like that, you're so wrong" come at me binch because I chop and change languages in the same sentence henny.
Orion found himself in the hallway of the second floor of Black Estate, suddenly realising he had no idea where in the house Irma Black was. He turned quickly and hurried down the stairs at the end of the hall.
He wondered what he would say to the woman. What could she be allowed to know? What was safe to tell her? Walburga didn't want her to know, that much was clear and Orion supposed he would just have to follow Walburga's lead and rely on a skill that he'd perfected in the company of his family: lying. Merlin knew that skill had served him excellently throughout his life.
He found himself in the entrance hall and walked to the double doors on his right. He opened the door without knocking and found Irma curling elegantly against the end of a chaise lounge, talking to Pollux who stood above her. They both turned to him, looks of surprise on their faces - a decidedly affronted look from Pollux.
"Orion? I wasn't aware you were coming," She said, a small note of dismay in her voice. "Let alone already here." She added in a murmur.
"Apologies." He said hurriedly with a nod to Pollux, recognising the patriarch of the house. "Aunt Irma, I couldn't- borrow you for a moment, could I?"
Irma sputtered her shock and obvious disapproval of Orion being there with no invitation and immediately looked up to Pollux, who raised his brow at him. Orion suddenly realised what he said had not come out anything at all like he had meant.
"Only," he hurried on, "Walburga owled me – she's quite unwell and I think you'd best take a look." He said, aiming for his politest voice and most innocent face.
Pollux took a step toward him, "I'll go, if sh-"
"No!"
Pollux looked to him again, eyes wide and brow furrowed at the outburst. Obviously the elder man hadn't quite forgiven Orion for the fight between Cygnus and himself.
"She asked for Irma specifically, she's not in any fit state for you to see her, I'm afraid." He said, the lie rolling off his tongue before he even had time to think.
Pollux just nodded slowly at him, sighed and gave Irma a nod, allowing her to follow Orion out of the room. They left the drawing room and hastened up the steps, hurrying their way to Walburga's room. Stepping through the large room, Orion opened the bathroom door to find Walburga wheezing heavily, her eyes closed and her head resting against the toilet bowl.
Irma pushed past Orion and rushed to kneel beside Walburga, picking up a cloth as she went. She took her wand from her long, grey sleeve and whispered a muttered "aguament", soaking the cloth before pressing it to Walburga's head.
"Walburga? Walburga, stay awake for me." Orion stood and watched dumbly as Irma's attention was completely commanded by Walburga. He'd never thought Irma capable of such tender acts. She was never cold or uncaring, but she had always stayed in the background; the quiet, pretty woman on Pollux's arm.
Now she busied herself, moving about the room and pushing a cold compress onto her daughter's head, holding it up with Walburga's own hand. She moved away again and wet a hairbrush under the running water at the sink and continued to brush through Walburga's thick curls.
All the while she kept up a steady stream of chatter. "It can't have been any food, or both your father and I would be in the same state. Perhaps the flu. Anything you might have drank at the ball would have flushed out of your system by now."
Orion's heart stopped for a beat, and for one awful moment he thought she knew what had happened, until he realised Irma had only been referring to the copious amounts of alcohol that Walburga had consumed that night. He breathed relief again.
"Oh Walburga. Whatever will we do with you?"
Walburga's breathing seemed to have calmed somewhat, but there was still that awful wheeze that filled the room with every breath. She coughed slightly before breathing out laboured words. "My corset hurts, Mother. I need to… need to take it off."
Irma stopped running the water through Walburga's hair and shot a furtive glance at where Orion was still standing at the door. She looked back down at where Walburga was. "Yes. Yes, alright." She said, nodding.
She moved around and knelt in front of Walburga. "Can you stand?" She asked, bringing a hand to Walburga's face, stroking her cheek softly with her thumb.
Walburga nodded and made to stand up. She pressed her hand to the toilet seat to push herself up but her hand slipped and she crumbled back to the floor, whimpering with fatigue.
"Shhh. Alright darling, alright." Irma said, steadying Walburga. She looked back up to Orion. "I'll need you to help me, Orion."
He nodded, feeling stupid for not helping her sooner. He moved forward and bent low, resting a hand under Walburga's shoulders and another arm under her thighs. Irma questioned him silently and he nodded. "I've got her."
She nodded and stepped away so he could lift her gently. He carried the half-dressed Walburga back to her room, walking to the bed and lowering her onto the pillows gently. He didn't feel right about this at all. He was taught never to allow himself to see this much of an unmarried woman, much less carry one. But he supposed he would rather it him than anyone else. Then he also supposed that what he felt about this situation didn't matter at all. He cursed himself for his idiocy.
He made sure she was comfortable, Irma arranging pillows around her and went to move away. Before he could get off the bed though, Walburga's hand shot out to his tie, yanking him back down at the same time as she wretched, spewing more bile down his clothes.
She looked up at him. "Oh dear, I'm sorry, Orrie. I didn-"
"Shh, it's alright. It's not like I'm going to run out of clothes," he said softly, stroking her hair gently as if she were a child.
Irma breathed a small sigh, "I am sorry, Orion. I'll have Ribby clean that for you." She turned back to Walburga. "Ribby," she spoke aloud to the room.
A house elf cracked his apparition.
"Take Orion's waist coat and tie down to be washed and bring me a basin of cold water," she ordered, keeping her eyes on Walburga as she spoke. "And several face cloths. Quick!" She added as an afterthought.
Orion muttered a 'thanks' and unbuttoned his waistcoat, throwing it to the house elf.
Irma was pulling back the covers to keep Walburga cool, her daughter an exhausted rag doll in her arms. Irma pushed her forward gently and started pulling at the lacing of her corset. Orion looked the other way, not wanting to see Walburga so bare. He knew he had seen it all before, only last week in fact, but she might not have wanted him to see, not to mention how conscious he was of Irma's presence in the room.
She unclasped the corset from the front and took it away from Walburga's body, Walburga immediately taking in a bigger breath and letting her head fall back against the headboard. Irma brought a light sheet up to cover her chest but Walburga batted it away haphazardly. "Too warm. Tôi mệt quá." She breathed, finding the language of her childhood easier as she was babied.
"Alright darling, alright." Irma said in soothing tones.
Orion moved away from the bed, not wanting to let on that he had in fact seen Walburga far more naked before but she reached out to him once more. She didn't say anything to him, or look at him at all. She just rested her head back onto the headboard, her eyes closed, her hand a delicate china piece in his.
Irma watched their hands for a while and Orion found himself wondering what she was thinking. The woman seemed to blink herself back to the present and started to push away Walburga's skirts, whispering comfort to her daughter in Vietnamese.
Once she had stripped away the last of Walburga's trousers and stockings, pushing them to the floor, Irma stood and looked directly into Orion's eyes.
She was a small woman. A tiny, dainty little thing but her stare carried more threat than even her husband. It was a look he had seen in Walburga's eye, and a look he had hated in Cygnus'.
He nervously shifted under her gaze.
"May we talk... outside?" She said, no question in her voice at all.
He nodded, "of course," and followed her from the room and into the corridor beyond.
As soon as Walburga's door closed, Irma turned to him. "What's wrong with her?"
"I- I don't know. I'm sorry, I-" He stuttered and fumbled over his words. He couldn't tell her. Could he? No. He couldn't. But what if the vile poison Cygnus had given her at the ball was doing something horrible to Walburga? What if Irma knew how to stop it? "Perhaps she drank something?"
"She can't have. Pollux only keeps the finest of liquors. And it certainly doesn't look like any flu I've seen." She said, waving a dismissive hand. "If anything, it looks like Dragon Pox but there's no rash, thank Merlin," she muttered to herself.
"No. I mean, perhaps she has had something… she shouldn't have. Something she… thought was alcohol." He said slowly, hoping against hope that he was coming across more theoretical than he sounded.
"What do you mean?" She asked with a furrowed brow.
"Well maybe she found a… substance. Maybe she thought it was a drink she hadn't had before and… took something that was actually poisonous?" As soon as he said it he trailed off and he knew, he knew he had done it wrong. He had said something wrong.
Irma's face fell and that threatening glare entered her eye again. "What do you know?"
"No- nothing. I promise!"
How was such a tiny woman doing this to him? How was this quiet, gracious wife suddenly the backing him into a wall with eyes that would surly stab him if he looked away?
"What. Do. You. Know?" She said much slower and much more ferociously.
He swallowed and he knew he was finished. "Someone spiked her drink at the ball. She didn't know who." He hated himself. He hated himself for telling Irma against Walburga's wishes. All of a sudden he was reminded of just how late he was, of how he didn't get there in time, how he didn't save her. He could have and he should have but he didn't and she had suffered for it. And he hated himself. "I'm sorry," he said, quietly.
Irma didn't say anything for a moment and he had not the slightest guess of how much or how little she might have just worked out. "I want you to go to the family bathroom upstairs. There is a chest in there full of potions and ingredients. You will bring them to me, and we'll see what we can do." She said, her voice soft and yet devoid of emotion.
He nodded and turned to walk quickly to the next set of stairs, passing an ugly, old house elf on his way, its arms laden with towels and bowl of water bigger than itself.