Slughorn's Party
Narcissa was seeping her glass of pumpkin juice when she saw Alice entering the room with Frank at her arm. Not far behind was that red-haired girl Rita talked about. And she was accompanied by …
Sirius.
She must be going crazy. How is her cousin right here at the Slughorn club? And with that girl? Narcissa didn't know if her aunt and uncle would be pleased about Sirius attending the party at such a young age or mad at him for going with that specific student.
From where she was standing Narcissa saw Alice laughing at something Sirius said. And she couldn't stop the feeling of jealousy from entering her brain. She always had a good relationship with Regulus. It was her little cousin, the youngest of the family. They shared that. They were both the youngest sibling. But it was different with Sirius, they never really bonded. He always loved Andy more. And now that he was sorted in Gryffindor, it was like he drifted from the family further and further. Seeing him laughing with Alice of all people made her heart ache a little. She wanted to be the person laughing at Sirius's joke.
“So, how do you think she managed to get an invitation,” said Lucius, breaking Narcisa's thinking.
“What do you mean ?” she asked not really understanding where Lucius was coming from. Mere moments ago he left to talk to Slughorn about his missing invitation. And now he was back at her side, talking about invitations again.
“She surely cheated her way into this party” he answered pointing at Lily Evans. “Do you think, your cousin helped her get here ?” He suggested.
“You mean how I helped you get here ?” she replied, already tired of Lucius' bullshit. Of course, the girl was young and a mudblood, so it was odd to see her in here. But Narcissa couldn't stand Lucius' condescendence. If one thing, Narcissa wasn't a hater. She could recognise when someone got something from their hard labour. And for Lily to be here, she must have worked hard. Not like Lucius who was always claiming to be “the shit” when he's actually just a coward mama's boy always counting on his last name to open doors for him.
Lucius was silent after Narcisa's implication. It was not the first time Narcissa snapped at him, and with time he understood that if he wanted to save faces he must keep quiet.
Without a warning, Narcissa began walking toward the group, not really knowing what she will say or do but not wanting to be put on the side. Other students were also there like Jim Thomas with Sara Abbott discussing something serious looking with Audrey Greengrass and Miles Bulstrode.
Practically hidden in one corner of the room, there were the Carrow twin, Alecto and Amycus both sorted in Slytherin and one year older than Narcissa. They are part of the sacred 28 families of wizards, so she knew them from before Hogwarts but she didn’t like them so much. There was something off about them but Narcissa couldn’t quite place what.
When she reached the group with Alice and Sirius, they all fell silent. Narcissa had this feeling they were talking about her but it must be her imagination torturing her once again.
“Hello” she said tentatively.
***
When Alice entered the room, she saw Narcissa directly. How could she not? She was wearing a gorgeous green dress. Of course, she would wear Slytheryn’s colours. As usual, she looked like royalty among peasants. Especially when you look at Lucius, who’s at her side. He looks so out of place it’s a bit comical. Alice noticed his tie was matching Narcissa’s dress and an unpleasant feeling filled her chest. She really brought him to the party, she thought.
After the altercation a few days ago, Alice thought that Narcissa would not invite Lucius. He had threatened to obliviate her for god sake. As much as Alice can admit that Narcissa is smart, seeing Lucius at her side makes her doubt. It was stupid to bring someone who wanted to obliviate you just days ago. Alice came to the conclusion that Narcissa was a book smart not a streetsmart kind of person. She was book-smart and freaking gorgeous in this dress, it’s not fair.
She noticed Narcissa was watching her too, so she redirected her gaze to her group of friends. She was sure Narcissa caught her staring, or more like fixating on her. Alice felt really uncomfortable and knew Narcissa’s gaze was on her now. She needed to do or say something. In a jolt of panic, she laughed. A bit too hard, a bit too fake. And clearly, she wasn’t aware of what Sirius had just said. It could have been something not funny at all. But here she was laughing like a manic just because Narcissa was watching her.
When she was finally coming to her senses and stopped laughing, Frank and Sirius were watching her with puzzled faces. While Lily wasn’t paying attention because of how stressed she was. Alice took a look at Narcissa to see if she was still observing her. But she was not. She was now speaking with Lucius and seemed very bored. But then she started walking in her direction and Alice freaked out.
“Narcissa is coming,” she said, whispering to her friend. They all looked at her like she was mad. After all, they were at a party to which people like Naricssa were specifically invited. It was nothing strange.
“Yeah.. and ?” asked Frank. He wasn’t of any help. As Sybill said once, Frank has Golden Retriever energy. Which makes him kind and cute but most of the time clueless and naïve. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Narcissa reaching them and all her body tensed at once. And now that she was there, thanks to Alice's weird warning, no one was speaking.
Sirius was also tense but he managed to just move a little bit in front of Lily. Not as much as excluding her from the group gathering. But enough to send a message to Narcissa.
“Hello,” she said tentatively.
***
Narcissa could sense the tension. She saw how her cousin clearly doesn't trust her with Lily. But she tried to not pay it mind. Everyone was silent for a moment before Frank replied with a big smile and his hand extended. “Hi, I’m Frank. I’m in the same year as Lucius” he said. “And you’re Narcissa, the archnemesis of Alice, are you?” His tone was full of joy and kindness. Narcissa wasn’t able to tell if he was joking. Archnemesis really? What kind of sick joke is this? She eyed Alice and could swear she had lost all of her colours. The poor girl looked like a ghost.
“I’m Narcissa indeed,” she answered, shaking his hand. “As for the arch nemesis, it’s a bit too much don’t you think so?” she added. She knew that the little rivalry between her and Alice was known by other students at school. They often gave a pretty good show of it in class. But to say they are arch nemesis. That’s a bit far.
“Not my word !” he said, holding up his hand like he was claiming his innocence. It was easy to know where this came from then. Narcissa turned her head in the direction of Alice. If only 2 minutes ago she was pale as a ghost, her face was now redder than ever and her eyes were sending lightning bolts toward Frank.
Of course, it was Alice's choice of words. Narcissa should have guessed it faster. But Narcissa was not hurt. It was just a confirmation that all she said to Alice after the quidditch match was true. And when Alice finally stopped watching Frank with angry eyes, she looked at Narcissa. And right there and then Narcissa could swear they were both thinking about their last discussion. Narcissa raised her eyebrows at Alice. She wanted so badly to say ~See, I was right about you~ but she kept herself. First, because she doesn’t want to make a scene in front of everyone. And secondly, because she saw the sorry look on Alice’s face. And it wasn’t worth it to make her even more desolate.
***
“May everyone come and sit at the table?” a voice said, “The dinner is ready”.
When Alice saw Slughorn inviting people to come to sit at the table she could have kissed him. This whole interaction was horrible. She wanted to bury Frank alive. This stupid boy just threw her under the bus. Of course, she ranted about Narcissa to Frank. But that doesn’t mean he can use what she said like that. It was not a secret that they were rivals. But still, no need to mention the arch nemesis thing.
Alice went straight to the long table. There were 15 chairs, as 7 people were invited and each of them had a +1. Every place around the table was dressed properly and on each plate, there was a piece of parchment with a name on them. After looking for hers she finally found it and sat. She was quite well seated. Not too far from where Slughorn would sit so she could still be part of the same conversation as him if she wanted. But not too close so she won’t have to pay very close attention to which cutlery she had to use for each plate.
Alice knew how to be polite and behave in society but table manners weren’t her strong suit. She preferred to avoid looking dumb in front of a professor.
Frank was assigned the seat at her right as he was her +1. Then she read the inscription on the bit of parchment at her right and saw that Ted Tonks will be the one seating there. He was still up near the entry of the room talking to Frank. They get along pretty easily as they are in the same year and both of them are captain of their quidditch team. Looking at Frank, Alice noticed that every quidditch’s captains were at the party, but they all were +1. Frank was her guest, Ted was Andromeda’s, and Audrey Greengrass, the Ravenclaw captain, was there with Hufflepuff a 6th year from Gryffindor. Narcissa was there also but when the invitation was sent, Lucius was still the captain and here he was as a +1 too. Slughorn might not give importance to sport, noted Alice. Which was a good thing in her opinion. She, too, doesn’t give a damn about sports.
Sirius and Lily were seated one seat to the left in front of Alice. She was eyeing him suspiciously when she saw Sirius exchanging her parchment with Lily’s so he could sit at her place, in front of Frank. Odd.
The chair directly in front of Alice is still empty. Of all the people who aren’t seated, there are Narcissa and Lucius, the Carrow twin, Sara Abbott and Jim Thomas. Sadly for Alice, Sara and Jim went to their designated place, at Lily’s left. Now, Alice knows from all the people still standing that she’s not gonna like who’s seating in front of her because it’s either Narcissa, Lucius or one of the Carrow twins.
When they finally decide to come and sit, Narcissa is looking for her name and Alice is watching her with intensity. And of course, she stops in front of Alice. Of all the people that could have been assigned there, it’s Narcissa. Alice was ready to sight but when she sees Lily laughing with Sara she understands why Sirius changed places with her. Lily is on the end of the table with Sara, Jim, Miles and Audrey. All of those students are from powerful wizard families but they don’t really pay attention to blood status and are good people. On the other end of the table, it’s the Carrow twins which aren’t friendly from what Alice heard. And if Sirius hadn’t changed places with Lily, she would have been seated next to Narcissa. A true Gentleman.
Lucius sat next to Narcissa and gave Ted a smug look. What a dick. This is going to be a long night, thought Alice.
***
When Narcissa saw her name on the little bit of paper, she thought Merlin was pranking her. Out of the 14 seats she could have been assigned to, it’s the one right in front of Alice? You must be joking. But Narcissa wanted to make a point to be the bigger person here, so she sat calmly and smiled at Alice politely. The girl in front of her couldn’t have been more lost. It was like Narcissa's smile sent Alice to another planet.
It was an important dinner and Narcissa knew that everything happening here will go back to her parents’ ears so she must be on her best behaviour. Of course, it won’t be easy. Especially when she caught Lucius looking down at Ted. He’s clearly a child and for a moment, Narcissa was scared that even if Lucius was coming from one of the 28th sacred families, he doesn’t know how to behave at a dinner party. Luckily when everyone began to eat, Narcissa shot a glance at him and saw Lucius using the right fork and it appeased her a little. He had table manners, he’s just a jerk that’s all she thought.
When Narcissa looked at Alice she saw her battling with her fish. She wasn’t using the right knife so no wonder her fish was getting poorly treated. At first, Narcissa found it funny but then when Lucius saw it too and laugh she had enough. As she reminded herself, she had to be the bigger person here. So she tried to catch Alice’s eyes to show her the right knife to use. But Alice wasn’t paying any attention to her surroundings, too concentrated on the fish. It began to be ridiculous and for some reason, Narcissa was afraid Slughorn would see Alice in this deplorable state, battling a fish already dead. Maybe it’s because if Slughorn saw that horrible spectacle, then he would think less of Alice and it would affect the way he perceives her too, as professors here always love to compare them, and put them against each other. Sadly, it’s easy to put two girls against each other just because they are both smart.
So with as much discretion as possible, Narcissa kicks Alice’s leg under the table, to grab her attention. But all Narcissa’s efforts of discretion are thrown away when Alice jolts right in her seat completely in shock. She was so concentrated on her fish, she forgot the world around her and Narcissa’s kick must have scared the hell out of her. Luckily no one seems to notice except Frank at her side who watched her oddly before going back to the conversation Slughorn is having with Sara and Audrey. Now Alice’s eyes are not fixated on the fish anymore but on Narcissa instead. Even tho she is sending a death glare her way, Narcissa takes her fish knife in her hand and makes a little move to indicate to Alice how to hold it. Then, she proceeded to show how to use it on the fish so she could separate the meat of the fish from the fish’s bone.
It seems to work as Alice's face brightens as a sign of her understanding. She tries to cut her fish and finally, she’s able to take a piece of it without bones and eat it. Discreetly, she mouths the word thank you in Narcissa's direction and then goes back to her plate finally able to eat her meal.
The rest of the evening goes smoothly. Everyone is eating and talking. It’s bliss. Even the weird Carrow twins seem more friendly than usual. Narcissa also had the chance to talk and laugh a bit with Sirius thanks to Andromeda who led the discussion.
Sirius and Andromeda always got along easily and Andy and Narcissa did too. So she was like the glue keeping this family together. Narcissa could not imagine what would happen if Andromeda wasn’t here. She loved her sister dearly. That’s why, when she saw Ted entering the room earlier, she made a point to say “Hello” and engage in a discussion. It was pretty easy because they both liked Quidditch. And even tho, Narcissa wasn’t sure Ted was a good influence on her sister, discussing with him was the best she could do to show her sister support. She knew her family's stance and she knew Andy was having none of it. She also knew that as soon as their parents would know about Ted and Andy being together at Slughorn’s party again, it would be madness at home. And she would get grounded too for not stoping it from happening and endorsing it. Even if it has nothing to do with her. But it was worth it, thought Narcissa when she saw the smile on Andromeda’s face.