Topic: Writing Challenge #33
All right, everyone. So I've got the challenges for the rest of the month and this is the one I've come up with to keep you all busy until the 24th. It's also the one Xan and I have been driving you all mad with for days, so I hope you like it!
Secrets: Write a fic with a word count of more or less an exact multiple of 100 words dealing with a HP character (or characters) and a secret of some sort. They can be sharing secrets, keeping them, discovering them, or anything else you like, as long some sort of secret is involved.
And don't forget to enjoy yourselves! :)
Hope this suffices Nell =)
The Family Secret
The Gringotts cart thundered along the track, sparks flashing on the rails and blond hair whipping through the air, on its way to the deepest vaults of the bank. A childish giggle rang out at a particularly sharp hairpin turn, cutting through the cold stillness.
Draco Malfoy's face was flushed with pleasure. Tiny hands gripped the edge of the cart as he leaned out as far as he dared. Only his father's hand, gripping the back of his robes, prevented him from plummeting straight down to the still distant rocky floor below. Narcissa Malfoy smiled indulgently as her husband muttered, more to himself than his errant son.
"Every time we visit the bloody bank."
"Leave him Lucius, he's having fun. Aren't you sweetie?"
Draco, who had stood up and was currently bouncing on top of his seat, trying to create an even more heart stopping journey for himself and his family, briefly turned his head and nodded gleefully. Lucius merely crooked an eyebrow and took a firmer grasp on his son's robes.
Narcissa smiled again, more ruefully this time. Draco never tired of making the ride to the vaults more dangerous (more exciting Mummy!) than was strictly necessary. And Lucius never tired of pretending to have a heart attack when he did. Though Narcissa had it on very good authority that another little boy (who had looked distinctly similar to Draco) had once enjoyed rocking the cart on this very same journey.
With a knowing look she pointlessly tried to stop her hair from flying into her face. Lucius mumbled something inaudible.
He refused to release Draco even when the cart had stopped. Draco, predictably, struggled to free himself.
"Daddy! Let go!"
"Draco, behave yourself," Lucius snapped as his son twisted in his grasp, nearly strangling himself as his robes were pulled tight against his neck.
"Mummy!" he whined. "Make him let me go!"
Narcissa crouched down beside them.
"Draco, be a good boy and hold Daddy's hand and we'll go see the dragon."
Pouting, Draco stood still long enough for Lucius's hand to transfer from his back to his hand before he began to bounce again and pull his father towards the Malfoy vault.
Barring the way to the five deepest vaults was a very old dragon. Narcissa pursed her lips in disgust. The beast's scales were falling off and littering the rock floor, its eyes were completely white, its face was so scarred it was almost impossible to discern what it had originally looked like. It roared hoarsely at them and a pathetic lick of flame hovered at its mouth before disappearing completely.
"We're replacing it tomorrow Madam Malfoy," the goblin said quietly, not looking at her. She sniffed.
Draco did not share his mother's sentiments.
He stared in fascination as the goblin shook the clankers and the beast cowered, giggling again.
"Look Daddy look! It's a dragon like me."
The goblin, satisfied the dragon was no danger to them, pressed his palm to one of the doors, opening the Malfoy Vault. Lucius attempted to drag Draco towards it.
"You said I could see the dragon!"
"You've seen it Draco."
"But I want to see it longer!"
"Draco, come on."
"Mummy!"
But Narcissa wasn't listening. She was standing in front of the vault, directly opposite the one they wanted. For a moment it looked as if she might lift her hand to try and force her way in. the goblin hissed in protest and she shot him a glare of annoyance before walking stiffly over to her family and lifting Draco onto her hip.
"Mummy let me down! I'm not a baby, let me down!"
Ignoring his protests she eyed the goblin.
"I wish to enter my vault."
Lucius looked a little too understanding as he turned and casually strolled into the Malfoy vault. The goblin duly pushed his palm to the door to the immediate left of the open vault, and, without another glance at the vault at the other side of the chamber, Narcissa carried Draco across the threshold.
The various treasures of the Black vault glittered in the candlelight. Draco tugged her sleeve in a silent plea to be let down and Narcissa finally acquiesced. He scampered amidst the gold peering occasionally at some or other artefact.
"Can I have this?"
One hand held a small silver dragon figurine; the other held his thumb firmly in his mouth, something Lucius found intolerable and Narcissa endearing. Wide grey eyes fixed on Narcissa beseechingly.
"Of course you can baby."
She continued to the very back of the vault, ignoring the muttered "Not a baby" as Draco sat on the floor and began to play with his new toy. An ancient tapestry loomed out of the darkness.
The very top edge was stained with exactly three droplets of blood. From there silver thread mapped the Black bloodline against the black backdrop. Years ago the tapestry had hung somewhere in Narcissa's childhood home, but it had been banished to the vault centuries before she had been born.
Because, unlike the tapestry that hung in her Aunt's house, this tapestry held no burn marks. Charms held in the three (exactly three) drops of blood prevented the tapestry from being modified.
And near the bottom were three, names in a row.
The first was Bellatrix, the owner of the vault Narcissa had paused in front of. The ghost of a shiver passed along Narcissa's spine as she read it. Her eyes quickly moved the last name in the row, her own, then quickly to the name directly below and connected with silver thread; Draco. Lucius however wasn't there. This was a tapestry of blood, not family.
Which meant to the left of Narcissa, the right of Bellatrix, was a name that even now she couldn't bear to look at. Instead she gazed pensively at the name directly below it. Directly across from Draco's.
Nymphadora.
Narcissa wasn't sure how long she stared. It couldn't have been that long. But it was long enough for Draco to notice something was wrong with his mother.
"Mummy?"
When he tugged her sleeve, she stroked his hair unconsciously and kept staring, silent and unblinking. Ducking from under her hand he ran as fast as he could to find his father. She didn't notice him go.
"Cissy?"
Narcissa started as a large hand crept round her neck and pulled her into a firm embrace. Only when her nose was pushed to the rough material of Lucius's collar did she feel the tears dripping down her face. She was not the only one.
A whimpering Draco clamoured at her knee to be lifted. The silver dragon lay abandoned on the floor. Lucius's hand never left her neck as she stooped to lift both Draco and the toy. A damp, hiccupping face mashed into her neck, and a small thumb made its way back into a damp mouth. His other arm hooked around his father's, which still rested on her neck.
A distinctly calmer Draco sat playing with the silver dragon the next morning. Narcissa watched him over the rim of her saucer. Every few minutes he would glance up happily and smile at her, before turning yet again to the tower of wooden blocks his dragon was destroying.
But slowly the glances became more furtive, and Draco's baby teeth began to gnaw at his bottom lip.
"Mummy?"
"Yes poppet?"
"…Nothing."
Draco played on.
"Mummy?"
"Yes Angel?"
"…Nothing."
Narcissa set down her tea and waited.
"Mummy?"
"What is it sweetheart?"
Large grey eyes regarded her a third time then dropped to study the rug. A small hand unconsciously played with the hem of his robes. Narcissa lowered herself to the floor and grasped the small chin, forcing him to look at her.
"You know you can ask me anything Draco."
He nodded.
"Especially if it upsets you or makes you sad."
Another nod.
"And I won't be cross, I promise."
Another nod.
"Tell Mummy, baby."
"But what if it makes you sad?"
His hand moved to fiddle with her robes. She covered it with her own, and took a deep breath,
"Ask me Draco."
There was a slight pause. And then came the blunt question.
"Who's Nymphadora?"
Her fingers began to draw patterns on the back of his hand. Whether to calm him or herself, she couldn't tell.
"Did you read that on the tapestry yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you a clever boy."
He smiled. The smug, little, self-satisfied smile that she loved. She continued stroking his hand, wondering how to answer. And whether to call Lucius to help her.
"It's a family secret Draco." A pause. "Nymphadora is your cousin."
His head cocked in childish interest.
"I have a cousin?"
"Yes."
"Blaise has cousins," he said thoughtfully. "Lots and lots."
"It's not the same sweetheart. You see, Nymphadora's not really your cousin."
"Why not?"
"Well…"
Again, she felt like calling Lucius.
"Well, you know Mummy has two sisters, but you don't ever see them."
"'Cos Auntie Bella's in Azkaban."
"Yes. And Auntie An- Mummy's other sister did a very bad thing."
"What?"
He had somehow made it onto her lap and was gazing up at her with his thumb in his mouth again.
"She married a Muggle."
Draco gasped.
"But Muggles are… are…" His four year old vocabulary struggled to find a word. "Bad!"
A small smile curled across Narcissa's mouth.
"Yes they are bad."
She hugged him. She was glad she hadn't called Lucius. She could handle this. It was good to get it out. Good for her and good for the sweet little boy on her lap.
Draco's forehead wrinkled in deep thought, as she kissed his head and returned to her seat and her, now cold, tea.
"Mummy?" his little voice piped up again a few seconds later.
"Yes darling?"
"Your sister was a Pureblood wasn't she?"
She could handle this.
"Yes sugar."
"And it's Mummy's that have babies isn't it?"
"Yes…" Narcissa replied more uncertainly.
He smiled up at her and stated matter-of-factly, "So the Muggle doesn't matter and I can play with my cousin now"
Narcissa gawped at him trying to form words.
"No sweetheart! She's half Muggle. A Halfblood!"
He frowned, as he always did when he didn't get his own way.
"But you said it's the Mummy that has the baby Mummy! You said!"
"Yes, but… but… it's the Daddy's baby too!" she cried desperately. Then immediately realised her mistake.
Draco pursed his lips and prepared to ask the question all parents dread.
"Where do babies come from?"
"LUCIUS!"
Any good?