A ficlet written for the FB Ficlet event hosted by The Fire and Ice Archive D&Gdotcom page on Facebook. I posted this under the name sempereadem ( (slash)medaerepmes).

Promt:
- Setting: Rose Garden
- Object: Priceless Family Jewel

Constraints:
- Must be 300 words or less.
- Both the setting and object must appear in the ficlet.


"Mrs. Malfoy?" a timid voice from behind the kneeling woman called.

"I'm quite busy now, Ginevra."

Narcissa was franticly digging up the new hybrid roses she had finished planting that morning. She had misplaced – not lost, Narcissa Malfoy never lost anything – a centuries old Black family ring her mother had gifted her with when she had married Lucius. The ring had rarely left her hand, and now it was missing.

"Have you lost something?"

Narcissa paused in her frantic digging to glare at her soon to be daughter-in-law. "A Malfoy doesn't lose anything, Ginevra," the older woman sneered as she returned to her digging. "Now why have you decided to bother me in my private rose garden?"

The younger girl, used to the other woman's dislike, was unfazed. "I found this in the hallway on my way down from the Library. I knew it wasn't mine, and it's too feminine for Draco or Mr. Malfoy to wear. So I assumed it was yours and I came here to see if that was so."

Slowly, Narcissa stood from her digging and turned to face Ginevra Weasley. There in the girls hand was her ring.

"Is this what you thought you had lost, Mrs. Malfoy?"

She took the delicate ring from the young girls hand and slipped it back around her own finger.

"Ginevra, do you like gardening?"

Knowing she was never going to get an answer from Narcissa, Ginevra answered, "Yes, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Good. You can help me with these roses then."


An hour later Draco found his mother and his fiancé kneeling side-by-side in her private rose garden. A rare smile graced his features as he watched his mother guiding Ginny in the delicate art of rose gardening. Whatever had happened, Narcissa finally deemed Ginny worthy of being a Malfoy.