Before I learned civility, I used to scream ferociously
“Mother, we have something we’d like to tell you”
“Yes?”
“It’s very important”
“Well then spit it out already Narcissa, I’m getting impatient!”
Narcissa looked over at Lucius “I’m pregnant”
Her mother seemed completely unsurprised by this news “Well how wonderful, I hope you guys are prepared to throw a wedding soon, I will not have any daughter of mine marrying when its clear she’s with child, it’s unseemly”
Narcissa shot Lucius a look, as if to say I told you so “yes I know, I have already scheduled cake testing’s, wedding dress fittings and made a list of possible venues, caterers and florists who we could get in touch with, I have already sent you the calendar of events you are required for-” she paused “I thought that was obvious”
Lucius was completely blown away by the thought of his wife being able to plan all this without him knowing.
“Well don’t act so surprised Lucius, I thought it was obvious” Narcissa teased her fiancé “But then again men are never very observant…”
“Narcissa! A woman should never bash her husband. That is the very thing that causes marriages to fall apart. Young women these days just simply seem to lack understanding of the fundamentals of marriage, it’s unbelievable” Druella lectured her daughter
“Yes mother” she looked over at her fiancé “I was just joking”
“Yes, really Druella, she’s always been like this and-” he looked over at his fiancée and smiled “to be completely honest, it’s one of the many things I love about her”
Ugh. Love. Narcissa had to fight the urge to retch. She just smiled at her mother, trying to avoid eye contact with Lucius.
“Yes of course, today’s youth has no concept of proper love anymore” Druella scoffed
“Yes mother.”
The conversation dragged out like this for another two hours across multiple courses, and Narcissa was waiting desperately for it to end. It was just. So. Very. Tiring.
“Well I really must go, it’s getting quite late! Thank you so very much for having me, the food was just wonderful” Druella finally got up to leave and Narcissa couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief.
“Well goodbye mother, it was truly wonderful to have you! I hope you come again soon, I love these dinners with you dearly!” Growing up a black had taught Narcissa many things, most importantly: how to lie through her teeth.
“Well we’ll be seeing a lot of each other this next month I hope” Druella replied, an obvious nod to the wedding preparations and Narcissa tried not to whip out her wand and kill herself then and there. She wasn’t sure she could survive another second with Druella or Lucius or anyone without her head exploding.
“Goodbye mother” her smile vanished the moment her mother apperated out of the house “Oh thank Merlin I thought I was about to explode!” She tried to force a laugh but it just came out like a strangled cough
“Oh just the same here darling, are you alright though? You seem quite tired?”
Tired. Narcissa’s go to excuse to get out of anything “Yes I am actually, I think I’ll head to bed now, I think I’m getting a bit of a headache”
“A headache? Oh dear… well you better rest then, I still need to make some calls so I will join you later if that’s alright…”
“Yes perfect. Goodnight Lucius” and with that she took off to the bedroom, put on her Pj’s and curled up in bed with a good book and a cup of tea.
How easy it was to make people believe she was a weak little damsel in distress who would die from a simple headache. Or maybe Lucius was just concerned for their son. Maybe he didn’t care about her quite as much as she sometimes feared he did. Maybe he had stored away the other pictures in boxes and only left the pictures of them to someday show to their son. Maybe he had just lied to her mother in an attempt to spare her another lecture. Maybe he loved another girl just like she did. Maybe she was just imagining things. Maybe she could learn to love Lucius the way she had loved Lily.
Because she did love him. Just not like that.