High heels
For a pureblood wearing heels, Narcissa was an incredibly fast walker. Only seconds ago she had thought the woman with bi-coloured hair to be lazy, but now Hermione almost had to jog to keep up. Grindelwalds granny! This woman was full of surprises, she thought with a little bit more than admiration. Forcing herself out of those thoughts, the brunette slowed down her pace and took some time to immerse herself in the Scottish scenery.
Grass of the greenest shade stretched for miles, blanketing the enormous hills. A wisp of a breeze bit into her skin, relieving her of the unwelcomed beads of sweat dripping down her face. Somewhere in the distance she caught a glimpse of the sun, but it was not long before it was sequestered by the darkening clouds. Dead ahead, on the highest of all the hills, was Hogwarts. The old stone castle looked much the same as it had before it's destruction, and the sheer size, combined with the glowing stone, never failed to amaze her. Even from a few miles away, she could feel the raw power running through the ground, some ancient magic long lost to the sea of time. It was stunning.
Maybe it had been the look on her face, or maybe she had just spoken aloud without realising, but in the next second Narcissa was next to her, replying "For once I can agree with you Miss Granger, Although, I must say, for someone who has lived through a war, you are extremely oblivious to your surroundings".
Hermione glared, " Well, for someone who has been in a war, you are insufferably insensitive and prejudiced." She scoffed and made to increase her pace.
While she was fuming silently, she forgot to pay heed to where she was going and tripped over a stone. The brunette screamed rather loudly as she fell forwards, and gasped as she felt a hand on her arm, pulling her up. Cheeks flaming, Hermione turned around, to see the woman with bi-coloured hair still gripping her arm and sporting an amused smirk.
"I told you so, Miss Granger '', Narcissa quipped, " Very aware of your surroundings.
Without further ado, the woman with bi coloured hair dropped the brunette's arm, creating an absence of a warmth she had not known was present. Not letting the subject go, as was usual for Hermione, she started to protest.
" Of course I saw the stone there Mrs Mal- Professor Black, I was merely trying to test your reflexes and the presence of the anti-apparation wards has rendered me disoriented. "
This last part was not entirely a lie, the closer they got to the wizarding school the thicker and more suppressing the wards were on parts of their magic.
"What a pitiful excuse, although it is one worthy of a Gryffindork like yourself. We Slytherins really are better aren't we?" Narcissa mused.
Unsure whether the question was intended as a rhetorical one, the brunette resumed walking and remained silent until she could no longer ignore the insult.
"Gryffindork '' she exclaimed incredulously, " You're almost more insufferable than your pigheaded son".
"Pigheaded!" the woman with bicoloured hair screeched, her face becoming red with anger. "My son is an angel, sent to me by the Great wizard Merlin himself".
Hermione burst out laughing.
Still seething, Narcissa turned to look at the brightest witch of her age doubling over in fits of laughter.
"What in the Baron's name is so amusing about my son being nothing short of a miracle?" she asked with a raised brow.
"Angel". The brunette wheezed out. "Pig's head" she took a deep breath. " Pigs flying". The woman with bi-coloured hair stared at the brunette as if she was crazy.
" Catch up to me when you can speak something that's not unintelligible", Draco's mother finally answered, beginning a brisk walk. "Don't you think the insult to my son has been forgotten, I might just give you detention when we arrive".
As she walked ahead, Narcissa began to lose herself in thought. Miss Granger was a headstrong girl, there's no doubt about that, so why, she thought, why is she avoiding this subject so avidly? And most of all, why did she of all people look at her with warmth in her gaze. Her, the woman who had stood by and simply watched as the young muggleborn was being tortured. The woman with bi-coloured hair shuddered involuntarily as she remembered that horrific night;
"I'll talk to this one, Girl to girl".
Her sister's voice floated through into the drawing room she currently occupied. Her heart began to race, almost as fast as the gears in her brain began to turn. She knew that tone of voice, she had heard it herself a split second before a crucio had torn through her body on the night her pathetic husband failed. Before her brain could continue down that treacherous path, Bellatrix burst into the room, dragging along the mudblood Hermione Granger, whom her son had greatly envied.
"Look who we have here, dear sister" , Bellatrix spoke menacingly, before pushing the mudbl- no muggleborn to the barely carpeted floor.
"It's the mudblood Granger!" She exclaimed excitedly, beginning to straddle her.
While her sister began to unsheathe her obsidian knife, she retreated to stand behind a towering grey pillar, which, when she came to think of it, has no business being in a drawing room. Her eyes settled on the warm brown ones of the witch on the floor.
For some reason she could not explain, she felt an urge to protect the girl on the floor. No. She would not. Draco needs her to be alive and lord knows what would happen if she intervened. she remained steadfast in her desicion, until the screams started. Ear splitting, earth wrenching screams that shook her down to her core. Looking down, she seen her sister holding her knife only millimetres above the mudbl-muggleborn's smooth skin. She couldn't stop herself this time and dove headfirst into the muggleborn's brain. For someone who was in the midst of torture, her subconcious thoughts were absolutely wild; frequenting the attractiveness of herself and-oh salazar help the poor child, how she wished it was her straddling the girl instead of Bellatrix. Before the muggleborn's train of thought could continue any longer a blinding flash of pain overwhelmed her brain.
Well here it goes, she thought before muttering the incantation 'non nocere'.
She pulled herself out of the muggleborn's brain, in time to hear her sister's signature curse,
"Crucio!"
She held her breath, praying to Merlin and Morgana that her spell had worked.
And it had.
She caught the moment of confusion in the brunette's eyes before they fluttered shut and a thought projected itself into her mind.
"Why doesn't it hurt?"