Friends or depends
“Bella! I'm back” Rita called as she strode into their dorm.
“And? Was he there?” Bellatrix asked eagerly, leaping to her feet.
“No” Rita answered, “she sat in the wrong section, just as we wanted. She probably thinks he stood her up”
“She’ll never want anything to do with him again” Bellatrix cackled, taking her seat again. “ I must have a conversation with Narcissa though, can't have her turning out like our darling sister, can we?”
“No, of course not” Rita said, making her way over to the bed Bellatrix was seated on.
“All thanks to you, my little beetle you are! Keeping an eye on everyone as you do. We wouldn't have known otherwise” She said, tracking the other girl with her eyes.
“It was a very smart idea,” Rita said, sitting next to her.
“The dark lord will appreciate your intellect when you're finally able to properly join his cause” she continued as she turned to stare at Bellatrix.
“I still don't see why you won't join Rita, he lets women fight, speak, do anything we want, just like you're always talking about!” She said earnestly.
“Journalistic integrity, my darling. Got to remain impartial, so that means no joining dark lords” Rita said with a laugh, rolling her eyes at a conversation they'd had many times before.
“Ugh you're so boring” Bellatrix huffed with a smile, leaning in to smother the laugh from the other girl's mouth.
“She's going to be upset when she returns, you know, and we'll need to comfort her due to something we've done. Oh, I feel just awful Zahara!” Azalea frowned.
“It was for her own good Az, Bellatrix was right, we don't want to chance letting him lead her astray” Zahara replied.
“Narcissa is the model pure blood daughter, we wouldn't want the traitor to sully her reputation, would we? Because then we couldn't associate with her” she countered, with a pointed look at Azalea.
“Oh I guess you're right Zahara. She tries so hard not to slip up, we're just being good friends by helping her, aren't we?” she tried, questioning.
“We are” Zahara answered, not without a glimmer of guilt in her eyes that was gone as quickly as it appeared.
Just then they heard the telltale twist of the door handle as the topic of their conversation walked in.
“Hello girls” she greeted them, in a voice a little too cheery for someone in her place. After greetings were made Zahara asked they question that both girls had been itching to hear the answer to -
“So, how did it go?” She inquired, watching carefully for a reaction. Narcissa's face didn't shift from the neutral mask it was so often in.
“Your previous worries were correct. He failed to show up” she answered, with only a slight narrowing of her eyes.
“I'm not quite sure what led me to attempt to reach out, but I appreciate you two indulging me and letting me learn for myself. “ She finished with a wan smile.
Azalea looked mildly uncomfortable as her and Zahara gave their somewhat condescending condolences but soon the conversation moved on and the matter was never spoken of between them again.
“I just can't believe they would do something like that to you!” Alice cried in disbelief.
“They're supposed to be your friends, they should be supporting you, not setting you up like that” she continued, indignant.
“Personally, what I can't believe is that they forgot to put a silencing ward on the door. Conspiring with Bellatrix to ensure I remain in high social standing does seem like something they would do. I guess they had my best interests in heart” Narcissa explained.
“What?- cissa? They manipulated you! How does that mean they have your best interests at heart? You just wanted to check on your cousin” Alice responded, confused.
“It's a Slytherin thing I guess. Well, Slytherin pureblood thing. They meant well.” She waved Alice off, in lieu of an explanation.
Narcissa wasn't quite sure why she was telling Alice this. Or how she even got there. After overhearing her roomates, she felt that weird feeling in her chest again, that hurt and for some reason she just hadn't wanted to be around them at that moment so took herself off to the lake to think.
That was when she had encountered Alice, who took one look at her and the bright smile on her face faded slightly and her brow furrowed. She had gestured for her friends to go on and simply walked alongside Narcissa in silence until suddenly she had started to talk and the whole story just spilled out.
“Well in my opinion, I don't think they're acting like very good friends, and if that's how all Slytherin friends act, then I guess you need a Gryffindor friend” Alice grinned at her.
Narcissa finally let a smile creep onto her face.
They ended up talking for an hour or two, about anything and everything, but by the end Narcissa was only more fascinated by her, her curiosity only satiated by Alice's promise to write over the looming summer holidays. She had hugged Narcissa goodbye. No one else ever did that. It felt weird.
It felt nice.