September 5th, 1968
The weeks that followed didn’t provide Narcissa much solace. After she had left the attic, no one had bothered to chase after her. She thought it was really quite simple - she wasn’t asked to stay after class, so she didn’t.
The day went on regularly after that. In other words, if anything extraordinary happened after, she didn’t notice because nothing else held a candle to Lucius Malfoy calling a professor a slur. The events of the 8:00 Divination class were all the Slytherins in her year could talk about. She tried to tune them out but it was difficult seeing that her name was woven into every retelling. Luckily, preteen boys typically didn’t realize the volume at which they spoke, so none of them knew that Narcissa could hear them.
When she had returned to the common room that evening, she expected that her sisters would be eagerly waiting for Narcissa’s own retelling. Bella and Andy were suckers for gossip, and Narcissa knew how to tell a good story. But upon arriving, she realized that the common room was practically empty, besides a few independent, studious older students working in armchairs. Ambitious Slytherins getting a headstart on the first day of classes seemed about right, but she had expected more. It was rare to see the common room act as a reading room.
Her dormitory only mocked the nature of the common room. Bella was studying something complex on her bed, though it didn’t seem to be classwork, and Andy was nowhere to be seen, bed still neatly made from that morning.
“Where’s-”
“With the mudblood.”
So she knew.
“Ah,” Narcissa started, not sure how to continue the conversation. She had been under the impression that Bella was completely oblivious to Andy’s new boy. When had she found out?
“You knew,” Bella accused suddenly, snapping the book she’d been transfixed on shut. “Didn’t you?”
Narcissa’s mouth fell open, ready to say something, anything to assuage her sister’s rising temper. “I thought-”
“You thought I knew? Bullshit. You knew for a fact that I didn’t know. You knew that if I had known that Andy was prancing around, planning to elope with a mudblood I wouldn’t have let it slide.”
Narcissa’s mouth went dry. “Elope?”
It came out as no more than a timid murmur. Suddenly she felt like a wide-eyed little girl again, looking up to Bella for all of the answers.
“Oh don’t act foolish,” Bella said, her voice raising hysterically in pitch, “This whole time that I have been…tending to my own responsibilities, you just let this happen!”
She had gotten up off of her bed now, her tall frame reminding Narcissa of just how much older she was.
Narcissa felt her bottom lip begin to quiver. “I didn’t know!”
“Bloody hell!” Bella shrilled, “Would you stop acting like a baby? You’re not a baby anymore. You’re at Hogwarts, in your third year at that. How could you have not known?”
“I thought we had more time!” Narcissa exclaimed, her hands immediately flying to cover her trembling mouth.
Bella’s eyes lit up, but not with happiness. It was something else. She tramped back to her bed and snatched a curved stick off of the cushion - her wand. Before, Narcissa could register what was going on, Bella’s wand was at her throat.
“You thought we had more time,” she echoed menacingly, “Cissy, who is ‘we’?”
“Us!” Narcissa pleaded, “You and me. I thought we would have more time to sort her-”
“Cissy,” Bella had changed her voice to a shrill, mocking tone and feigned a frown teasingly, “We don’t have all year. I graduate this winter.”
“Winter?” Narcissa gasped.
Bella just nodded, a callous smile waiting to tear through her face. Narcissa was still gasping. The air around her was suddenly becoming limited. She couldn’t get enough.
“I didn’t”—a breath—“know. I didn’t—”
“What is going on?”
It was Andromeda.
She was standing in the doorway looking as if she could not quite comprehend what was happening. Her eyes were glassy and her knuckles were white from how hard she was gripping her textbooks. Narcissa hadn’t even realized that she had been crying until she saw a tear escape her sister’s eye.
Bella looked back and forth between her sisters, lowering her wand slowly. “Nothing to be concerned about, Andy. I assure you that Cissy and I were merely sharing a sisterly bond over something.”
She turned around and made her way back to her bed. Then she sat down and promptly pulled a bookmark from the book that she was studying earlier. It was only now that Narcissa realized it was a torn piece of parchment. Bella held it up between her pointer and middle finger, and Andy’s face went pale.
“How did your study session go, sister?” Bella clipped, then read the note. “‘Dearest Andy, I’ll be in the library this evening with a couple of friends. If you need any more help with Muggle Studies, don’t be a stranger. - T.T.’ Aw, and there’s a little heart there too. Well Andy, did you finally get a better understanding of…Muggle Studies?”
“That- that doesn’t even make any sense!” Andy defended. “I’m not even in Muggle Studies.”
“I know,” Bella said matter-of-factly. She had already won and she knew it.
“It’s not like that!” Andy cried. “Bella, I swear!”
“Silencio!” Bella’s wand had raised into an offensive position so swiftly, so naturally.
Andy’s lips were sealed at once, becoming runny and wet from tears that were now freely flowing.
“I do not want to hear a word more of this,” Bella stated. It baffled Narcissa how much she sounded like Mother. “Or I will send an owl home and I will not leave out a single detail.”
☾☼☽
The days that followed were some of the tensest that Narcissa had ever experienced among her sisters. After that night, Andy didn’t return to the common room, certainly not the dormitory. Bella, on the other hand, continued doing everything normally, as if the events of that night had never occurred, and it was chilling to the bone to watch.
Therefore, despite her initial plans, Narcissa ended up showing up at Collymore’s detention. She figured it would be a good distraction from everything going on in the dungeons.
This time, she wanted to make sure that she wasn’t late. She arrived ten minutes early, just as she had the Monday before, but considering that the group was much smaller than a class, she was sure that no one would be there. Unfortunately, as she entered the sphere, she realized that Lucius was perched at the same round table that he’d sat at during class. Barty had not yet shown up.
Wanting to be as far from everyone as physically possible, Narcissa took a seat on the opposite side of the room, equally high as Lucius. Between Collymore, who was reading a book on tea leaves at the center table; Lucius, who was staring Collymore down, and Narcissa’s seat, they were forming a triangle. Each person was almost equally far from the next.
Barty never showed, and by the time the hour struck seven, Collymore shut her book. She surveyed the room and clicked her tongue. “No Mr. Crouch?”
“Seems not,” Lucius said, still holding his stare.
“Well then I will be having another word with him tomorrow,” she said, taking note on a piece of parchment. “Now then, you two will have to move to the same table. The activity that I’ve assigned is team-based, though, I suppose for today it will be partner-based.”
Oh God , Narcissa thought to herself, Maybe she should have just put up with Bella.
Lucius finally broke eye contact, she realized, as he was now standing up and making his way over to her table. She figured that Collymore would have rathered that they both moved to a more central table, but she also knew that Lucius was likely taking her corner table for that exact reason.
Collymore turned around, picking up a tall stack of books, and waddled up the shallow stairs towards their table, grunting as she went.
Just after Lucius sat down, she dropped the stack onto the table. “You two will be cleaning and repairing these old books so that they may be used for years to come.”
Narcissa sighed, this would be a piece of cake.
“By hand,” Collymore added, holding out her hand expectantly. “Your wands.”
“You cannot be serious,” Lucius said, eyebrows furrowing in confusion and anger.
“Oh, I am,” Collymore responded, her hand moving closer.
Before Narcissa realized what she was doing, her wand was in Collymore’s hand. She then looked away, ignoring the witch’s presence. She had had enough of confrontation this week. Plus, as much as she hated to admit it, the professor had more power than she did. If she acted out again, she would likely be dealt another detention, and she didn’t fancy spending a day more than she had to in that stuffy attic.
“Good,” Collymore responded, “Mr. Malfoy?”
Lucius was staring again, but not at Collymore. Narcissa could feel his gaze, as if her choice was something that he was taking into consideration.
“Fine,” he said, pulling out a silk sleeve from his robe. He dropped his wand inside and placed it in her palm. The act was so subtle, but Narcissa understood it. It meant, “I will surrender my wand, but your filthy hands will not be touching it.”
He had made it so that Collymore had not won. He made a truce. Narcissa wished she had been that clever.
“Very well then,” the professor said, pulling out a white tube labeled “Super Glue.” “You may need to use this on copies with broken spines and peeling covers.”
She pulled out two rags from her robe. “And use these to clean the covers. I placed a spell on them so that they will stay moist and absorb any dust that may have settled. I will take this”—she picked up the crystal ball centerpiece— “and get out of your way. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
With that, she descended the steps back to her table.
Narcissa was the first to move, picking up the topmost book from the pile. The cover was barely legible under layers of dust and years of wear; leather-bound books never held ink well. Narcissa picked up one of the charmed rags and wiped the cover. Now she could read it.
The Dream Oracle
By Inigo Imago
Narcissa dearly hoped that these books were not a part of the third-year curriculum. She never remembered her dreams and she did not like the idea of having to make up a story silly enough to be believed - especially not analyzed.
Lucius finally put his hand on the top of the stack but drew it back swiftly. He turned his palm up and grimaced. Then he looked at Narcissa, who was now reading the book’s prologue.
“Looking for something?” She deadpanned, not looking up.
“I might ask you the same thing?” He replied.
She looked up. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh I don’t know,” he said, holding his hands out defensively, one clean and one full of dust, “I didn’t pin you to be the dream analysis type.”
She closed the book. “Who says I am?”
He raised an eyebrow at the book she’d put down.
“The Dream Oracle? Sounds like a book full of rubbish to be completely honest.”
“To be completely honest,” she mocked, “I think so too, which is why I was checking to see how advanced these books are.”
“Clever,” he allowed, then, “Oi professor! Will we have to read these?”
Collymore looked up from her table and nodded sarcastically. “I’m afraid so…unless you two do not clean them up well. Then, I’ll have to make everyone purchase a copy of their own.”
Lucius rolled his eyes and pulled a copy from the top, wiping off the handprint that he’d unintentionally made earlier. Narcissa was unfazed, feeling the spine and covers to see if she would have to touch the muggle glue just yet. Thankfully, it seemed as though her first copy was still well intact, so she pulled another copy down from the stack.
They continued like that for a while, in silence, until Lucius pulled his third copy from the pile. Almost immediately, the spine and cover swung out, revealing the title page.
Lucius grabbed the muggle glue without a second thought and shook it at the binding with vigor.
Narcissa pursed her lips, continuing to wipe down her fifth copy, then whispered, “I think you should ask Collymore how to use-”
“I’m sure that I can handle muggle glue just fine,” he snapped, unscrewing the cap impatiently.
Eventually, the cap fell off bouncing off of the table and down the steps. Lucius didn’t make an effort to pick it up but instead held the glue upside down over the backside of his cover. Shaking it again, a large glob fell out. He then turned the bottle right side up again, letting the excess glue fall down its side, and put it down.
“Lucius,” Narcissa hissed, dropping her book and wiping the spilling glue off of the container, but Lucius was preoccupied, pressing the cover down on the mass of glue until it overflowed at the edges, seeping into his hand.
“Ugh,” he scowled, now looking up to see Narcissa tugging at her rag that was now stuck to the glue bottle. He hastily grabbed for his own cloth and scrubbed at the glue on his fingers, but when he pulled the cloth away, he found it stuck to his fingers.
“You prick,” Narcissa accused, “my rag is stuck now.”
“Your rag?” He fumed, “What about my hand!”
Narcissa then saw his own debacle.
“Oh,” she said, suppressing her sudden urge to laugh.
“Oh?” he repeated manically, “Oh? My hand is stuck !”
“Oh dear,” said Collymore, who had looked up from her book on tea leaves, “Let’s get you to the hospital wing.”
“Hospital wing?” Lucius replied, “Is it not just glue?”
“ Super glue,” Collymore corrected, “Even muggles end up in hospitals because of its strength. I just assumed that pure-bloods wouldn’t be so reckless. After all, you are the superior breed, no?”
“We are superior,” Lucius sneered through nearly gritted teeth, “Not my fault that my wand got detained.”
“Aw,” Collymore let out a sarcastic lip, “You’re right. That’s my bad. I should have known better. Superior species only know how to do things one way, silly me.”
With that, Lucius stormed down the steps and out of the sphere, rag now balled up in his right fist.
“First you and now him,” she clipped, now standing out of her seat, “Running away from authority is not permitted at Hogwarts. Perhaps a class of respect would do students some good.”
With that, she strutted out of the sphere after him, leaving Narcissa alone. She thought about getting up too if only to disobey Collymore again, but there was still a stack of books that needed to be cleaned and she really really did not want to buy a copy. She pulled at the rag again and this time it ripped, but she figured it didn’t matter, the rag was still damp and the charm was still intact.
She swiftly moved through the books, hoping to be through the stack before the professor’s inevitable return. She decided to avoid the glue, even if it was necessary, hoping that Collymore would understand after the incident with Lucius.
Her plan went smoothly, allowing her time to move the cleaned stack to the professor’s desk and cap the glue bottle that now had a piece of cloth covering its label. With that, she left, relieved that it was over.
☾☼☽
She returned to her dormitory soon after, bracing herself for the tension that Bella’s presence would bring. Only, Bella wasn’t there. In fact, neither of her sisters was there. For the first time in almost a week, Narcissa felt herself relax. Kicking off her shoes, she fell onto her bed and nuzzled her head into the pillow. She stretched her feet, both still hugged by black stockings, to the bottom of the bed frame breathing in the familiar scent of sleep and shampoo that emitted from her pillowcase. Then she sighed, feet losing touch with the bed frame again.
Had it been any other evening, Narcissa likely would have gotten up and showered. She would have changed into her pajamas and grabbed her wand, practicing new magic before giving up and calling it a night. Had it been a week prior, she would have listened to Bella tell her about her new lover and Andy help her with the spells she would be trying.
The memories felt fonder now, but as she turned her head out of her pillow, she was met with the emptiness of the room yet again. This time, it didn’t feel relieving. Not even bothering to get under the covers, she pulled herself into a fetal position and turned toward the wall.
Suddenly, Narcissa was overcome with emotions that she only allowed herself to feel when she was alone, and she began to cry.