(A/N): We're back in 1967, this time with Amelia Rochester. The first maybe third of this chapter is a recount of everything that happened up until the point of Cipicia and Leonides disapparating to St Mungo's, from Amelia's POV, and then we continued on from there. I've chosen to write this in first person, because Amelia is an adult, basically.
October 18th, 1967
Amelia
Everything had very much not gone to plan. It was supposed to be a normal day, where I ushered the children around the manor to their lessons, but then... it had all gone a bit pear shaped.
We had been taking our customary midday stroll, and I had paused to talk to Nolan- or rather, pretended to reprimand, Nolan. It was difficult for us to balance our differing social statuses, our careers, and our relationship, in a situation where getting caught was not an option. It would mean the end of our employment, and my ousting from my position on the outskirts of pureblood high society- and knowing the kind of person that Cipicia Joannis was, it would likely be a lot worse for us than that. And I knew now, more about exactly what sort of person she was.
I had been caught completely unawares by Leonides falling out of the tree- if I was honest, I hadn't quite realised the state of things until Miasenna had screamed her brother's name. I had spun around at the sound of wood breaking- and what I now suspected was the sound of a little boy's body hitting the ground- but then I saw Miasenna's face- saw her throw herself into the bushes- and I followed her. It was only when I made it through the bushes and finally saw Leonides sprawled out in the dirt, that I realised that Nolan had been right behind me the whole time.
I had tried to scold Leonides for being so careless, but he hadn't really been affected by it- and then, he had made it clear that he knew about Nolan and I. Or, well, that he knew something was going on with Nolan and I- which was... worrying, to say the least. If he knew, then it was likely that other people did- although... Leonides had always been almost impossibly bright- maybe we had somehow managed to continue escaping the notice of anyone that actually seemed to care.
It was only after I had tried to force him to his feet that he had managed to convey to me that he thought his leg was broken- and I felt sick to my stomach. Not just because I had tried to make him stand on a broken leg, but also because I knew that, in the end, there was no way that I- or any of us, really- would be able to get out of this unscathed.
I had tried to pull up his trouser leg, but Miasenna's yelp had halted me- almost as if she were the one in pain, rather than her older brother. I had told her that he would in pain either way, and she had set me straight- she knew him best, and in a situation like this, that paid off. I hadn't noticed it before, but now that she had insisted that he was in terrible pain- more than he was readily exhibiting, anyway- I could see it in the set of his jaw, and the glazed over look to his eyes.
I had attempted to inquire as to how much pain he was in, but he hadn't answered- so, with barely a look in his direction, I encouraged Nolan to try his hand at it, instead- and it was much more successful. I couldn't be sure whether it was because Leonides was too caught off guard to obfuscate things, or because Nolan was just infinitely more convivial than I was- there was a reason, after all, that he, of all of the men in the Joannis family's employ, had caught my attention... and it wasn't just because of his quiet good looks.
The description Leonides had given us was... truly horrifying- and to make things worse, he had insisted that we make absolutely sure that his leg was, in fact, broken. We had made a plan to cut his trouser leg with Nolan's secateurs, and I had told Leonides that he could scream, should he need to- and he had stuffed a belt in his mouth. His belt. In his mouth. By choice! It was so ludicrous that I hadn't really been able to react to it properly- with the appropriate horror- and before I really knew it, Nolan had stopped cutting.
Leonides's ankle was definitely broken- but then he was asking about the rest of his leg, and he mentioned moving it to check, so I had to rush to discourage him from doing so, lest he injure himself further. Nolan had told Leonides that he needed to cut further to be able to get a better look, and this child- this little boy- had simply shoved that belt back into his mouth, and nodded.
The knee was swollen, but we weren't sure whether it was broken- the lower leg, however, we were very sure about. The bone was clearly in two halves, and misaligned- and the only thing Leonides seemed concerned about, was how his sister might get her hat back. Her favorite hat, apparently, but a hat, nonetheless.
Then, he changed the subject, to how we were going to go about things, in order for all of us to get in the least amount of trouble possible- to incur his mother's wrath the least. He had suggested sending Nolan away, and I had done so- because every point that he had raised made an inordinate amount of sense, and I couldn't exactly insist that Nolan stay, just because it brought me no end of comfort simply to be near him.
Nolan must have alerted Aldin like we had instructed, because Cipicia Joannis had arrived halfway through flying into a rage- and began her circuit of scolding Leonides, then me, then occasionally Miasenna- but mostly me, until Leonides decided to speak up. Oddly enough, it seemed to only be whenever I- or his little sister- were the most at risk of shattering his mother's fragile temper, that he seemed to throw whatever self-preservation instinct he may have developed to the wind, and almost actively antagonise her.
All throughout this conversation, I gained insight into the type of person that Cipicia Joannis truly was- and slowly, I came to the terrible realisation that things were... much worse that I had feared. I had known that her relationship with her children had never been the most tender or loving, but I had assumed that either she only showed that side of herself when I wasn't present, or she- like a lot of the upper crust of pureblood society- was simply only interested in any children she may have for how they could be useful to her, as an heir, and the future head of the household.
And then Miasenna had felt the need to inform her that he hadn't screamed- had mentioned that Cipicia was always telling them that, 'showing pain was a weakness'- and I knew that something was incredibly wrong. There were strict parents, then there were parents where you just knew that the child was going to have issues down the line- once they became adults- and then, there were parents like this. I didn't know what Cipicia Joannis was capable of- but I was starting to get an idea of her limits... and they were much, much further than I had ever expected.
The way she had given him a choice of how to get to St Mungo's, and he had immediately started going through the pros and cons- no pleading, no trying to worm his way out of it- just perfectly well thought out, measured considerations- which I usually wouldn't have thought a child of seven would be capable of... but with Leonides, I was beginning to understand that nothing was the way it should be- or at least, the way it was with most other children.
Cipicia had refused to let me take him to St Mungo's, and instead relegated me to- in her words- 'monitoring the less valuable child'- which was, in itself, an utterly awful concept, let alone the fact that she had said as much in front of the both of them.
I had attempted to convince her to let me ask a gardener to fetch the hat- to give me an excused to check in with Nolan- but she had refused, pointing out that wherever I went, Miasenna was to go with me- and the understandably dirty workshop was beneath her. It was just another confirmation that she- nor the rest of pureblood society- would approve of Nolan and I's relationship.
She had simply told Leonides, 'You know what I require of you', and he had slowly, agonisingly slowly- but not as agonising as I suspected it was for him- clawed his way to his feet. Well... foot. Miasenna had hurried to support him, and their mother had snapped at her that he would either do it on his own, or suffer the consequences- which was horrible by its own rights, but made even worse by the fact that he literally had a broken. Leg. Then, they had disapparated, and I had been left alone with Miasenna.
"Come with me." I said quietly, and when she didn't move after a few seconds- instead staring at the space her brother had just evacuated- I laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay... he'll be back soon enough, I promise." She tilted her head back to look up at me, and I could see the fear in her eyes.
"...we're really in trouble, aren't we?" Well, she wasn't wrong. I tried my best to reassure her, but I wasn't the best at that- I was a governess, not a nanny.
"...I am afraid so, Miss Miasenna. I will do my best to lessen your punishments as much as I can, but there is only so much I can do once your mother makes a decision." Slowly, she nodded- and then, she looked at me consideringly, before she opened her mouth, and said,
"You don't have to use my title, if you want. When we're alone." I blinked. "You called Leo by his name, so now I'm okay with it, too." Oh, of course that was the case.
"That is very nice of you... Miasenna." She frowned, and I worried that she might have changed her mind, before she spoke up again.
"Mia." Oh. That... I wasn't sure that I was comfortable with that.
"Yes, of course." She narrowed her eyes at me, as if she knew that I was attempting to placate her, and she wasn't happy about it. I put my hand on her shoulder again, and guided her back to the manor house, and inside.
We entered the rear foyer, and the maid that was already there shot me an utterly filthy look, as Miasenna and I tracked dirt in on the bottom of our shoes- a consequence of our trek through the bushes- from her position in the middle of the grand room, where she had been almost finished cleaning the marble floors using her wand.
"I apologise for adding to the mess, but-" She cut me off, sweeping toward us with her wand clenched in a fist.
"Off! Shoes- off!" It took me a second, blinking out of shock, to regain my composure- even as Miasenna shrugged, and reached for her own shoes.
"Excuse me? Surely you cannot expect us to-" The maid- Annette, I believe her name was- interrupted me, gesturing to the recently cleaned floor with her wand.
"Look, I don't tell you how to do your job, Miss 'High Society Governess'- off with the shoes, or find another way in. I won't have you dragging in more muck- I'm behind enough as it is, and the Mistress of the House will have my head if I don't meet my quota." Reluctantly, I tried to swallow my pride- knowing that this woman, much like Nolan, was much more at the mercy of our employer's whims than I was- but it rose back up my throat with a burn that even I couldn't tolerate.
"I will not remove my footwear-" She was clearly preparing to continue admonishing me, before I continued. "-however, I will scourgify our footwear while they are still on our feet, so that we don't leave a trail of mud behind us as we go." Beside me, Miasenna paused, halfway through unlacing one of her more utilitarian pairs of shoes, looking mildly disappointed that she no longer had an excuse to traipse around barefoot. Annette's expression calmed, somewhat.
"That... sounds acceptable, to me." I retrieved my own wand from the specialised pocket in my skirt, and bent down to start charming my shoes clean. "I... I apologise." I glanced up at her briefly, before returning to the task that I had set myself. "About what I said... the... Miss 'High Society Governess', thing." Ah. That. Once I had finished with my own shoes, I looked up at her again- noticed that she was wringing her hands, and her face was rather flushed- before I moved on to Miasenna's shoes.
"It's quite alright... Annette, isn't it?" She blinked, and then nodded stiffly, as if she was shocked that I had ever heard her name, much less cared to remember it. "We are all under a lot of pressure- and while I'm sure that more is expected of someone in my position, I do not doubt that the consequences of you being unable to fulfill your duties are much more dire than mine." At least on the front of livelihood. When I looked up again, finally having completely removed the dirt and other debris from Miasenna's shoes, and re-tied her partially untied shoe, Annette appeared conflicted. "Would you like any help? Two wands are better than one, after all, and I would hate for you to miss your quota just because we held you up." Her expression softened slightly, even as she inspected me somewhat warily- as if she thought this might be some kind of trap.
"I appreciate the offer, Miss, but I don't believe that it's worth the risk for either of us to be caught doing so." I nodded, and put my hand on Miasenna's shoulder once more.
"I understand- I will let you get back to work. Good luck, Annette." She gave me a significant nod in return, and we went our separate ways.
It was only after we ascended the staircase and made our way halfway down the following hallway, that we came across the man of the house- Leonides and Miasenna's father, Sebastien Joannis.
"Ah, there you are!" He exclaimed as he emerged from one of the connected hallways, and immediately, I tensed. "I heard there's been a bit of a hubbub, and I suspect that you are exactly the woman to talk to about that." Well, there was almost no way that this was going to turn out well.
"Master Joannis." I acknowledged him as he continued to approach, and waited patiently until he came to a stop- a mere three or so feet in front of me. Much closer than was socially- or personally- acceptable, but he had always been the sort of man to invade other people's personal space- especially when that person happened to be a woman. I didn't dare step away, because that wasn't socially acceptable either.
"Father." Miasenna greeted him, dipping her chin submissively- which he seemed to delight in, as per usual, before he turned his attention back to me without even saying a word to her.
"Ms Rochester," It was practically a purr, and it made my skin crawl- but if he had any notion of my reaction, he certainly didn't show it. "Where is my son?" His tone was light, almost teasing- either he knew exactly where Leonides was, or he had already guessed enough of the situation by virtue of the fact that the young boy wasn't with us, like he usually should be.
"Leonides has been taken to St Mungo's, Master Joannis." He nodded- clearly, he had already known that that was the likely result, then- and started to lean in closer to me. "Your wife apparated him there." It wasn't quite as pointed as I would have liked- it couldn't be, if I wanted to keep my job- but Sebastien seemed to get the message, because he stopped closing in.
"Of course." His voice was silky- much like his wife's had been, at some of the more dangerous parts of our earlier conversation. "I won't divert your attention any longer," His eyes flicked to his daughter, then back again. "You have a job to do, after all." I put as much weight behind my nod as possible, and afforded him the briefest little half-curtsy.
"Certainly, Master Joannis. I take my job very seriously, as you well know." He eyed me like he was the most spoiled brat on the playground, and I was a toy that he wasn't allowed to play with.
"Miasenna." He didn't even look at her, much less wait for her courteous reply nod, before he stormed off down the hallway we had just come from- probably to go bother some other poor woman. Hopefully Annette had finished her duties in the foyer, and vanished elsewhere.
"Come on," I murmured to Miasenna, not wanting to raise my voice any higher lest Sebastien be drawn back by it, and we continued toward the landing along the top of the grand staircase, which connected this hallway, and the hallway that led to the children's bedrooms, among other things. "Your mother wanted you to go back to your lessons-" She wheeled around, pulling out from under my hand in order to do her best approximation of a glare, that was oddly reminiscent of one that her mother had given me earlier- even as her lower lip wobbled.
"No." She said firmly, putting her hands on her hips- which clearly wasn't something she had learned from her mother, given that something like that wasn't acceptable behavior for a high society pureblood woman... much less a high society pureblood little girl. "There's no way I would be able to focus anyway-" I bent at the knees to meet her eyes, on her level.
"I know, I know. We don't have to- we simply have to be able to pretend that we've both done an adequate amount of work." She blinked, and then understanding lit her face.
"Just... pretend?" I nodded, and she took a minute, seemingly to consider this. "Can we do that?" She asked inquisitively, as if the thought had never occurred to her- and I wasn't sure if that was genuine, or incredibly well-feigned.
"I believe that if we work together, we can sufficiently fool your mother, or anyone else that might want to check that we are doing what we are supposed to." She nodded hesitantly.
"Like a lie?" I winced.
"Well, I- not- not exac-"
"Leo says that we should always be honest-" Oh, how to explain this in a way that a five year old would- "Except for when we need to keep us safe." ...well, that wasn't the worst way of approaching the subject.
"And that is exactly what we are doing." I told her, and she fixed me with a look that I had never seen from her before- mischievous, yet determined.
"Okay!" She chirped- and then she took my hand in hers and started dragging me down the hallway, with a level of strength that I wouldn't have expected from such a small, young child. We arrived at her bedroom not long later, and immediately following the closing of the door, she spun around to face me- bouncing on the balls of her feet as she did so. "How do we do this? How do we get started? What do you want me to-" I interrupted her as gently as I could, seeing that she was just so excited.
"Fetch your coursework, and we'll get started working on it." Her little eyebrows furrowed, and her lower lip jutted out petulantly.
"But you said we were going to pretend to do the work, not-" I held up a hand to placate her.
"I'm going to tell you all of the answers, it just needs to be written in your handwriting." Her mouth dropped open into a tiny 'o'.
"That's really smart." Was it? I suppose to a five year old, it must have seemed that way.
"I'll coach you through adding some 'working out', so that it looks less fabricated." She stared up at me with wide eyes, in an almost awed manner.
"Do you really think they'll check for that?" Purposefully, I let my face scrunch up into a grimace and I shrugged, trying to put her at ease with my casualness- even if I did have to fake it.
"I honestly don't know. However, we want to cover all our bases- we don't need to any more in trouble, now do we?" She frowned slightly, as she sunk down onto her desk chair.
"Do you think... is Leo going to be okay?" That was a loaded question, and one that I wasn't entirely sure how to answer.
"The Healers at St Mungo's will take care of him- that's their job." She nodded slowly, but clearly, she was still worried. "It's just a broken leg- I'm sure they fix that sort of thing all the time... and they numb everything before they do, so he won't be in pain, even if he tries to hide it." She looked slightly less worried, but still definitely concerned, and she lowered her head a little.
"That's not what I-" She hesitated. "But what about... when he gets back?" Oh. This... this, I wasn't sure that I could reassure her about, considering that even I wasn't sure what was going to happen upon Leonides's return- how far Cipicia would go, in order to punish him.
"I'm not sure, Miss- Miasenna." Her eyes narrowed slightly, as she took note of my slip up. "As I said, I will do my best to lessen your punishments, but... I'm not sure what I can do to help, given my position." She frowned again, then nodded solemnly.
"I know. Thank you, for that." I winced, and moved forward to gingerly put my hand on her shoulder again, in what I hoped was a comforting enough manner.
"I will help you in whatever way I can- both of you. Like I told your brother, I have no desire to see either of you suffer." She pinned me with a skeptical look- or maybe simply distrustful.
"Why should I trust you?" She asked as sharply as I suspected she was capable of, and crossed her little arms over her chest rather sternly- or as sternly as a five year old could, anyway.
"I suppose you have no reason to trust me," I reasoned. "Although I don't suppose you have much of a choice, if you want an ally. Besides, you already have a means to blackmail me if I were to betray you, since you know that Nolan and I are in a relationship." She blinked.
"What?" What? "You and the gardener? You're... courting?"
Ah. Well. That hadn't exactly gone the way I'd planned.
(A/N): Mia: 'You don't have to use my title, if you want.'
Amelia: 'That is very nice of you... Miasenna.'
Mia: 'Mia.'
Amelia: 'Oh no. No no no. That is absolutely not- I cannot abide by- my poor sensibilities!'
also
Amelia: *trying to commiserate with the maid, Annette*
Amelia: 'We both have our jobs to do, and while I'm sure that more is expected of me, I don't doubt that the consequences of you being unable to fulfill your duties are much more dire than mine.'
Annette: '...that was the most backhanded thing I've ever heard, Fancy Lady, but I suppose you're alright... I guess.'
also
Sebastien: *being a creep, invading people's personal space (especially that of women)*
Amelia: 'I would slap you across the face, but it would mean the end of my career and my life as I know it, if not literally.'
Amelia: 'You're WIFE has taken your SON to the HOSPITAL.'
Sebastien: *...reluctantly backs off*
Sebastien: 'I won't divert your attention any longer, I know you have a JOB to get back to.'
Sebastien: 'A job that you only have because I allow you to keep it.'
also
Amelia: 'We're going to pretend that you've been working hard on your coursework, by me telling you all of the answers. It just needs to be in YOUR handwriting.'
Mia: '...like a lie?'
Amelia: * 0.0 *
Amelia: 'Uh, well... not exac-'
Mia: 'That's really smart.'
Amelia: * 0.o *
Amelia: 'Was it? I suppose to a five year old, it must have seemed that way.'
Mia: 'That's so cool! I LOVE lying! Leo always says we shouldn't unless we have to, but it's SO USEFUL!'
Dialogue Choices:
Mia says, 'Except for when we need to keep us safe.' Because I figured she wouldn't say what I was actually trying to get across, which was 'Except for when we need to keep ourselves, and each other, safe.' I originally wrote that Sebastien said, 'I won't waste any more of your time', and then decided that Sebastien wouldn't think it possible for him to waste someone else's time, much less that of a servant, so I changed it to, 'I won't divert your attention any longer', because to me, it reads as 'I'm choosing to leave you alone... for now.'