Something worth considering
Narcissa paced in the sitting room Wednesday morning...to and fro…to and fro… It was nearly tea time and Hermione had yet to step out of the library where she was working. Finally, the door creaked open. Narcissa spun quickly to find Hermione, hair frazzled, face red, and clothing in disarray.
Not knowing what to say, Narcissa simply raised her eyebrows.
“I had a…potions malfunction,” Hermione said quietly, face reddening further.
“You were brewing potions in the library? We have a potions laboratory beneath the east wing, Hermione.”
A long beat of silence hung between them.
“Oh. That…might have helped a bit. Perhaps after lunch you could show me where?”
Narcissa, shoulders dropping and a grin threatening to overtake her features nodded at her fiancée, “I shall do so. Now, however, you need to get ready for Molly Weasley and tell me where we’re going so I know if I’m suitably outfitted.”
“Come upstairs with me?” Hermione asked as she made her way to Narcissa’s rooms. “I don’t know that we’ve decided exactly where to go. I originally thought a Muggle pub would be better because she would be more likely to keep her voice down there.”
“You’ve changed your mind?”
Hermione simply hummed for a moment while sifting through clothing. Pulling out a pair of jeans, she turned back to Narcissa and answered, “I have. I think it might do us some good if people saw her out at lunch with you and me, planning our wedding. If Molly accepts us and our upcoming marriage, others might as well.”
“Are there people who don’t accept our wedding?” Narcissa narrowed her eyes, head tilted.
The younger woman turned away, ostensibly looking for a shirt.
“Hermione, please answer me,” Narcissa said quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Not necessarily our wedding. But there are people who still don’t really accept you and I want to give you more opportunities to be in public with people who can help that…that…image?”
“Merlin. Molly Weasley is going to help my image?”
“Not like that. You know what I meant.”
“I do, darling, and I appreciate that you’re concerned about it,” Narcissa stepped behind Hermione, placing a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. Lacing her fingers through Narcissa’s, Hermione was content to simply pause and take in the moment.
When Paionia returned a short while later with a response to their query about where to meet Molly, the couple looked at one another and nodded. They could do this. How difficult could one lunch be? And planning their wedding…well, that was their favorite thing to do.
“So, you’re sure you have flowers under control,” Molly looked back and forth between the couple, eyebrows raised.
“Well, we’ve selected our flowers,” Hermione hedged.
“Bouquets, decorations, centerpieces? And you’ve contacted a florist?”
“Contacted a florist? No. Amalia and Samuel will be taking care of the actual ordering and purchasing of the floral arrangements and bouquets. We should send them an owl with preferences this week, though, to give them time to make the proper preparations with whichever florist they select.”
Molly’s lips pursed and her head tilted just a bit as she took in Narcissa’s response before asking, “Amalia and Samuel? Aren’t your parents Wendell and Monica?”
Eyes widened, Hermione took a moment to breathe before she replied, “At the moment they are Wendell and Monica Wilkins. But, eh, Amalia and Samuel own Achnagairn Castle. The place, well, that’s, um, that’s where we’re getting wed in three months.”
Nodding, Molly smiled and continued, “You’ll owl them this week then? Yes? With all three selections? And what are they?”
Again, the pair was a bit tight-lipped. “Actually, Molly, we aren’t telling each other our bouquets,” Narcissa spoke gently, her cheeks a bit pink.
“What do you mean? What if they clash? What if you choose the exact same thing? What if the colors don’t work together?”
“We chose the colors for all of our flowers together. And we chose our decorative flowers along that theme. We’ve decided, though, to keep our specific bouquet choices as a surprise to one another - but the flowers we use will still go with the color scheme,” Hermione explained.
Narcissa, realizing Molly was too curious about every choice to let it go, gave her some of the information she wanted, “We’ll be decorating with Edelweiss, Bellflowers, and Honeysuckle.”
Molly furrowed her brow as she sipped her tea and the waiter, seeing the lull in the conversation, hurried over to ask if they were ready to order lunch.
Thankful for the break, Narcissa breathed deeply for a moment. Catching sight of the sigh, Molly clenched her teeth but held her tongue until the waiter had moved away. Narcissa looked back at Molly, prepared for the questions to begin again, and was surprised to see the anger on the other woman’s face.
Hermione, oblivious, excused herself to the restroom.
“Don’t think I didn’t catch that,” Molly hissed. “Embarrassed to be seen in public with me?”
“No, not at all,” Narcissa leaned forward, her hands both on the table. “I,” Narcissa took another deep breath, “I…I’m not used to having to explain every decision to others. For a long time I had complete autonomy over most household decisions but, as you know, a few years ago that completely changed. Now, I’m afraid I’ve fallen out of the practice of even sustained conversation. That sounds terrible and I don’t mean to be melodramatic. I’m trying, here. Honestly.”
“See, the problem with letting you off the hook for the crimes you and your family have committed over the past decade is that we’ll never know if you are being honest. Ever.”
“Veritaserum and legilimency from the Ministry itself wasn’t enough to verify the truthfulness of my statements? I’ll tell you most anything you ask.”
Shaking her head slightly, Molly pressed on, “Why? Why now? You kept all their secrets this whole time but now you’re willing to come clean about anything - just anything - I want to know?”
“Don’t you see? I just want to make life better for Hermione. I know if I’m completely honest with you, even though it will make me uncomfortable, it will make things easier for her. And that’s what I aim to do with this.”
“That’s the whole reason you’re here today, is it? You don’t want my help planning this wedding. You just want to keep Hermione happy. Content. Dare I say, complacent?”
“No, no, Molly, honestly, that’s not my aim. I’m not trying to keep her complacent. Merlin’s beard, she’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met, I’d never try to keep her brilliant brain from reaching its potential. Though, to be completely honest, you are right about one thing. I don’t particularly want your help planning our wedding.”
“Finally, some truth from you,” Molly snarled.
“Woah,” Hermione dropped into her seat, instinctively reaching over to cover one of Narcissa’s hands with her own. “What did I miss? I was gone for two minutes.”
“Narcissa let me know she doesn’t want my help with your wedding. Were you aware of that, Hermione? What else is she keeping from you?”
Taking a moment to entwine her fingers with Narcissa’s, Hermione pulled their hands off the table and leaned in closer to her fiancée. “Cissa, we don’t have to stay for the actual meal. We can leave whenever you’re ready,” the younger woman said just loudly enough for Molly to hear her. Speaking up a bit to make it quite clear to whom she was speaking, Hermione continued, “I’m well aware of Narcissa’s preferences about our wedding. She didn’t come here today because she had a burning desire for your aide, Mrs. Weasley. Narcissa came here with me today for exactly that. To be with me. Because I asked her to. Because I said we would have lunch with you. Because I said you could help us with the wedding. She is completely apprised of your distaste for her, you made it plainly clear when we visited the Burrow. We didn’t expect you to just let that go because of one conversation.”
“Then why?”
“And yet,” Hermione continued as though Molly Weasley hadn’t even spoken, “here my Narcissa sits with me. Supporting me. Because I wanted to have this lunch with you and she doesn’t want me to lose anyone from my life because of her.”
Narcissa squeezed Hermione’s hand gently, appreciating her loyalty. “Hermione’s right, Molly. We don’t really need help with planning our wedding, I suppose. We do have everything under control and we want our day to reflect our choices. But Hermione values your presence in her life and we thought it might be a good idea to involve you in this process because of that history.”
Molly leaned back in her seat before she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I…I suppose I got carried away. I just want what’s best for Hermione, you know. I’ve seen her go through so much and, especially without her parents here, I worry for her.”
“We appreciate your concern. Truly,” Hermione intoned, softer now. “And we would be happy to talk about some of the aspects of our planning but we do want to keep some things just between us - or even as a surprise to one another.”
Molly nodded, her features softening. “I have some wedding planning experience, I just want to help. I do want you to be happy, Hermione, and I would like to hear about what you would like to share with me. If this makes you happy then that’s what matters. I’ll try to be better about accepting this even though it’s not what I expected for you.”
“That means a lot to us, Molly,” Narcissa said sincerely. “We understand that this might be difficult for you and we appreciate your willingness to try.”
All three women were sitting with much more relaxed postures, though Hermione and Narcissa hadn’t released one another’s hands just yet. They went back to the wedding checklist, moving through the items the couple remembered.
“And have you looked into any photographers? You’ll want pictures done, yes?”
Two heads shook in response.
“You have a cousin, you know, who’s a photographer. One of the Rosiers.”
Blinking, Narcissa shook her head a moment. “I have a Rosier cousin? I thought, well, I thought they died out?”
“No, not at all. Felix Rosier went to Hogwarts with my Bill and then left the country to go work with dragons, just like my Charlie. Something happened a few years ago and he couldn’t keep working. He ended up turning to photography; starting with dragons and branching out.”
“That, well, that could sound good except…he’s a Rosier? Why would he photograph a wedding between a blood traitor and a muggle born?”
“Oh, Narcissa, that’s why he left. He didn’t want to be involved in pureblood society. He didn’t believe all that. He just really liked dragons and wanted to be top of his field. He and Bill have stayed friends all this time. Felix stayed in South America during the recent war. He didn’t want to fight with or against his family.”
Hermione shrugged and raised her eyebrows, content to leave the decision to Narcissa.
“If you don’t mind, then, I suppose, could you reach out to Felix on our behalf? Give him the details of the event or just our contact information?”
Molly beamed, nodding as the waiter delivered their lunches. Conversation continued pleasantly – if a bit superficial in nature, no one complained.
When the trio parted in Diagon Alley, Hermione and Narcissa to collect their Owl Post and Molly home to the Burrow, it was with none of the earlier tension.
“We’ll pay extra for you to keep them in hold until we send someone in for them specifically. Can we do that, please?” Narcissa ground out through clenched teeth. “If those Howlers don’t get put back in a box post haste, they’re all going to go at once, you know.”
“They’ve been checked, like you said. C’mon, they’re just ‘owlers,” the Post Mistress shook her head.
“I know what they are. I do not want them right now. Please keep them in a post box until we come for them. Unless there’s something we can do at home to keep them from exploding all at once?”
“It’s fine, Cissa. We can just use Immobulus and put them all in a box with a containment spell on it. That should work, right? The freezing charm works on living creatures, does it work on animated objects?”
A stooped older gentleman stepped out from the back of the Owl Post Office.
“I could not help but to overhear the conversation, ladies, and perhaps I may offer a bit of advice? I checked your Howlers for anything beyond the simple animation,” he offered his hand along with his quiet words.
Narcissa inclined her head, shaking the hand before her.
“I have all of your Howlers in two boxes right now, separated by recipient, of course. They’re all already immobilized, though I use a specific spell created just for Howlers. They shan’t reanimate until the person to whom they are addressed touches them or the counter spell releases them. We can give you these two boxes now and the counter spell and then collect future Howlers in a new box, altogether? Might that work?”
Looking at Hermione for an agreement, Narcissa waited a moment before responding in the positive and the two were off, headed back to the Manor with a bill on its way to Gringotts.
Once back at Narcissa’s, Hermione unceremoniously dropped her new bag of post just inside the door and stared at it, lips pursed.
“Narcissa?”
“Hmm?”
“How will we know if anyone wants the job as assistant if their application or letter or…what have you is mixed in with all the rest of our post?”
Narcissa chuckled, “I put in the advert that all interested parties should address their inquiries to Master Filly and Miss Pepper.”
“You didn’t!” Hermione’s jaw dropped but her eyes were alight with laughter.
“I most certainly did. Filly and Pep have no doubt been stacking the inquiries in the little anteroom. I’m going to go peruse them and see if I can find someone today or tomorrow. It’s not that late, only mid-afternoon.” Smiling herself, Narcissa put a sticking charm on the post bags and boxes before levitating them ahead of herself and towards the letters she wanted to read.
“Thanks, Cissa, for taking care of that. If you don’t mind, I’m going to head back to the study and get some more work done, Care of Magical Creatures. Though, you know, I must say…NEWT level of this class isn’t so much care as control of magical creatures. Did you notice that?”
Narcissa paused and turned slightly, eyebrows furrowed. “I haven’t taken any NEWT level courses, Hermione. I was already a mother by seventeen.”
Blanching, Hermione apologized for her forgetfulness and the two went their separate ways. Just before they were completely out of eyesight, Hermione called out, “You know something, Cissa?”
“What’s that?”
“You could do these exams with me. You’re quite brilliant. You could take your NEWTS.”
“Something worth considering, I suppose,” Narcissa acquiesced.
Hours later, the witches found themselves in a long embrace beside the fireplace.
“I’ll be over in the morning to do some work on Charms. When will we meet with the first person again?”
“Oh, not until lunchtime, but we’re meeting in Diagon Alley. I’d rather meet someone first before inviting them into the home.”
Hermione nodded, smiling and pressed a long kiss to Narcissa’s lips before pinching a bit of Floo powder.
“I’ll meet you in Diagon Alley at noon, then, if I don’t see you in the morning.”
And with just one more kiss, they bid goodnight.