A Perfect Matcb
By Eamane-Shu
“Lucius Malfoy?” Bella
exclaimed later that evening, as she stretched out on Narcissa’s bed, her
younger sister lying, curled up with a pillow that rested on Bella’s lap. The
two girls were snuggled up together in their pajamas, Narcissa’s were the
finest pink silk, consisting of a lacy camisole and loose fitting bottoms,
while Bella’s nightdress was covered by a comfy green dressing gown, with a
matching pair of green slippers. Narcissa’s cat, Lyra, whom she had received as
a going away present for her first term at Hogwarts was curled up in a ball
beside her.
Narcissa nodded
calmly. “So they’re making you marry Lucius Malfoy?” she questioned again,
unable to get her head around recent events.
“Making me marry is an
extreme term Bella; they haven’t cast the imperius curse just yet.”
“What are you going to
do then?” Bella questioned anxiously.
Narcissa sighed, “I’m
not going to do anything at this exact moment in time, I’m still currently
dating Charles, though I suspect I should end things sooner rather than later,
and Mr Malfoy appears to be chasing after Parkinson.”
“Goodness only knows
why, she has nothing going for her.” There was no answer from Narcissa, so
Bella continued, “So why did Mother and Daddy wait so long to tell you then?”
“The Malfoys, while
wanting a pre-arranged match, dislike the idea of an arranged marriage, they
want it to look like we came together of our own accord.” Narcissa rolled her
eyes elegantly.
“So it’s going to be a
real courtship at least?”
“Hardly” she snorted
back “it’s going to be one huge farce made up to look like a real courtship.”
They sat in silence
for a while, Bella running her fingers through her sister’s soft golden locks,
while Narcissa was off in her own thoughts, thoughts that she didn’t much feel
like sharing for the moment. When her parents told her that she was to marry
Lucius Malfoy she had been shocked, and now that feeling was wearing off she
was starting to feel more than a little apprehensive, although she had seen the
Malfoy heir at school, and around town she barely knew him. Bella did though,
she thought suddenly, the pair had had an understanding at Hogwarts, and he was
a good friend of Rodolphus, she could ask Bella much of the things that she
wanted to know. But not tonight.
Her thoughts were
interrupted as her mother came into the room to check that her youngest was
alright. She was holding a small candle in one hand, to light the dark passages
of Ravensden; however it was unneeded in Narcissa’s bedroom, which was, as
always full of candles making the room bright and cheery.
“I’m fine mother”
Narcissa replied evenly, she just wanted to be left to sit quietly, her mother
sensing this, bent over and kissed her on the forehead gently “Goodnight
darling, I’ll have Aggie bring you up some hot chocolate.” She bent over and
kissed Bella before sweeping out the room, leaving the faint scent of perfume
and powder that Narcissa associated with her mother.
Narcissa had always
adored her mother, Mrs Black was beautiful, and Narcissa was said to be her
mother’s image, except for their hair, Mrs Black had a gentle sandy coloured
mane, while Narcissa’s locks were a heavenly blonde. Narcissa had always tried
to be exactly like her mother, as a child she had put her make up on, and
played dress-up with her robes. She had always admired her mother’s effortless
grace, and her first memories were of her girlish laugh.
“Are you angry with
mother?” asked Bellatrix suddenly, Bella had always hated family conflicts, it
had broken her heart when Andromeda had run away, and secretly in her heart of
hearts she was terrified of loosing another sister in the same way.
“No” Narcissa replied
calmly “not really, I guess I’m just a bit confused, my head is reeling from
taking all the information in.”
“Do you think he knows?”
Bella asked thoughtfully.
A frown wrinkled
Narcissa’s forehead “I don’t know, I think he does.”
“I guess it explains
why he was so nice to you today.” Lucius Malfoy rarely did anything unless he
could see the benefit in it for himself.
Narcissa sighed heavily;
it was all just too much for one day. She rolled over, facing away from Bella,
and yawned pointedly. Bellatrix took the hint and left, leaving Narcissa alone,
with her cat and with her thoughts.
She was going to marry
Lucius Malfoy. That was all there was now. It could have been worse, Lucius was
from a very respectable family, second only to the Blacks themselves, and he
was quite handsome, with his aristocratic features and his long blond hair. It
wasn’t the groom she objected to so much, really all pureblooded wizards were
the same as far as she was concerned, and Lucius was considered the best, which
was why her parents had agreed to the entire affair.
She rolled over and
sighed to herself heavily, she didn’t like to not feel in control, and she
definitely wasn’t in control of this situation, by the sounds of it the
Malfoy’s were, and that Narcissa definitely didn’t like. However, she decided
that she was going to work out how to regain the upper hand in the morning. It
would be Theodora’s party tomorrow night, and there was no point in loosing
beauty sleep now, as she would need to look her best. Especially with Parkinson
going to be there, and by the looks of things it was becoming increasingly
likely that she would be there on Lucius’ arm. Narcissa reached for her wand,
and with a quick flick extinguished all the candles. She certainly wasn’t going
to worry about that pathetic excuse for a witch now. She shut her eyes and was
soon fast asleep.
“Did you read the
papers today?” Bellatrix asked, bounding into Narcissa’s room, she had some
form of green gloop on her face and her hair was tightly twisted into rollers.
“Is mother helping you
get ready for the party?” asked Narcissa
sympathetically, as she reached for a hair-grip from the small nervous looking
elf who was helping her style her hair.
Bella nodded, and
flopped herself down on Narcissa’s bed hard “Did you read the prophet today?”
she asked anxiously as she waved it around.
“No, why?” asked
Narcissa as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and pinned it up
gently.
“He was in it again!”
Bella told her excitedly.
“Oh
really.” Narcissa replied
uninterestedly. She didn’t need to ask who ‘He’ was; Bellatrix had been going
on about this Lord Voldemort and his ‘revolutionary’ thoughts since she left
school. She said that he was going to change the wizarding world. Narcissa
doubted it; after all, thinking muggles and muggle-borns were scum was hardly a
revolutionary thought, it was really just common sense.
Bella was telling
Narcissa about the article in detail, though she wasn’t really listening. He
had been spouting off about how muggle-borns should be left with the muggles,
or something similar, it was always the case.
“…And apparently he’s
got quite the following now.”
“What?” Narcissa asked
again, distracted, “Who’s got quite the following?”
“Lord Voldemort.”
Bella sighed; Narcissa had never really taken the same level of interest into
politics as her older sister. “
“Join what?”
“His group” Bella
informed her haughtily “They call themselves the Death Eaters. It’s mostly
members of the Knights of Walpurgis.”
“The
Death Eaters?” Narcissa’s
ears suddenly pricked up “Aren’t they responsible for those muggle-born deaths
that occurred last spring.”
Bella nodded
conspiratorially “But it was never confirmed.”
Narcissa looked pale,
“
“Oh
don’t be such a girl, besides” she added threateningly “They’ll only
find out if you tell them.”
“I won’t tell them,
but I still don’t think that it’s a good idea! What would Rodolphus think?”
Bella got of the bed
and knelt down next to Narcissa, whispering into her ear “He’s already a
member, and he wants me to join.”
“On your head be it”
Narcissa told her, hearing the approach of her mother’s footsteps, before the
pair of them quickly changed the subject.
“Bella go away!”
Narcissa ordered as her mother entered the room, “I’m trying to get ready and
you’re distracting me.” She opened a tube of mascara and started applying it
gently to her mouth.
“There you are
Bellatrix” her mother huffed as she swept into the room, she was already ready
to go, with her hair pinned up in an elegant chignon and wearing black and grey
dress robes that were in perfect taste. “Go and wash your face! Leave Narcissa
in peace, we want her looking her best for tonight’s party now don’t we?” However Bella had left the room by the time her mother
was telling her to leave Narcissa alone. Mrs Black then went to rest her hands
gently on her mother’s shoulders.
“I don’t suppose it matters what I look like,
seeing as I’m already spoken for.” Narcissa bit back.
“Now darling, don’t be
like that. You know perfectly well that it mattes what you look like. You’re a Black,
and as a Black it’s important that you show all the other girls their place in
society” she kissed her daughter on the cheek tenderly “that’s below you” she
whispered with a knowing smile, and despite herself Narcissa smiled an
identical smile back. “Now” her mother’s breezy attitude was back “what dress
are you going to wear tonight?”
“I haven’t decided
yet” she started to apply her lipstick, a soft peach colour, which brought out
the golden honey tones of her skin.
“Well I’ll leave you
too get ready, goodness knows Bellatrix needs my help more than you do.”
Narcissa smiled warmly
as her mother bustled off to get Bellatrix ready, her heart going out to her
sister, who couldn’t abide their mother’s fussing at the best of times, let
alone when getting ready for a party that she didn’t really want to go to.
Narcissa applied the finishing touches to her make-up, and wandered over to the
closet. She shivered slightly and pulled her dressing-gown around herself
tighter, but the soft peach silk did little against the cold breeze coming from
underneath the door. She opened up her wardrobe and looked inside, as a
debutante, she would be expected to wear something in white, however with her
pale skin the colour had never really done her any favours and her mother had
ordered her gowns for the season in more of a champagne colour. The dress she
chose for that evening was pretty, but relatively demure, after all Theodora
was one of her closest friends and she didn’t want to risk looking like she was
trying to outshine the girl. The dress was plain, straight fitting with soft straps;
it was pretty and understated and would be perfectly complemented by the Black
family debutante necklace. All the women in the family had worn it at their
debutante parties, it had most recently been seen adorning Andromeda’s neck,
however that wasn’t mentioned by her father as he clasped it round her neck
shortly before they were due to depart.
When Charles arrived
to pick her up in order to escort Narcissa to the party, he looked dashing in
his dress-robes, however she noted they weren’t new for the occasion, and
Narcissa felt a pang knowing that this was the reason that, after tonight, she
was going to have to end things with him. However in the meantime she was all
smiles and giggles as she posed, first on her own, then with Bellatrix then
finally with Charles, while her father took photos to mark the occasion.
“My little Cissa” her
father smiled, kissing her on the cheek as she was about to step into the
fireplace, “all grown up and attending her first deb party. I’m so proud of you
sweetheart.” He suddenly looked at her sadly, he was obviously thinking of
Andromeda. “You’re a good girl Cissa, I don’t tell you that enough.”
“Don’t be silly Daddy”
she replied throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a huge hug, before
waving brightly and stepping into the fireplace.