Challenge Twenty-One: Winter Holidays Past
Title: Blood Diamonds
Author: silburygirl
Wizard/Witch: Lucius/Narcissa
Rating/Warnings: G/PG
Prompt: 11. glittering diamond necklace
Summary: Narcissa receives a family heirloom.
Many thanks to thehalflie for the fabulous beta.
The case sits open on the comforter, its contents winking innocently. She traces the chain with a finger, pausing at the diamonds, and repeats the motion along her collarbone, remembering her grandmother's words.
Irresistible beauty. An enchantment to bend to her will any man who glances her way. Power.
Her hand twitches as she recalls the gnarled grip around her wrist, the patch of shrivelled skin brushing her arm, the unseeing eyes seeking the outline of her face.
"Narcissa," her grandmother had said, making her feel the full weight of her name.
It speaks of Bellatrix, more her mother than her father and already beginning to show the hereditary insanity, and Andromeda, the former favourite turned blood traitor. It tells Narcissa that she is the only one left.
Rather than stare at the diamonds with a mounting sense of dread, she stands and moves towards the mirror, jabbing pins into her hair at random and wincing as they scrape into her scalp. The effect is less severe than she would like; it's incapable of doing anything other than what it ought to.
Her figure blocks the necklace's reflection, but the prickle on the back of her neck makes her think it's watching, plotting its next invasion.
Accusing.
What she didn't say between murmured thanks is she's not much better than Andromeda, really, better only at pretending to play the aloof pursued, keeping her heart hidden deep within her chest, and then slipping away from their watchful gaze into his arms.
She doesn't need enchanted diamonds; she has her own charms.
Nevertheless, she can't help but glance back. Underlining every thought for the last year has been the terror that her family will learn she hasn't agreed to marry Lucius out of reluctant familial duty but love, the fear that he will somehow give them away—he's far too arrogant to be subtle.
Her family has always used misery to create the illusion of generosity, and if they were to suspect she has reasons for accepting Lucius besides the money it would bring to her family…
The Malfoys are richer than the Blacks now, but still occupying the same place as the Parkinsons: high enough to flirt with the old families, never quite enough to be embraced. Tweaking Lucius' manners to satisfy even her mother, keeping all other potential husbands at bay, even dazzling her own father into accepting her every whim are no further than the fastening of a clasp.
Her gaze locks on the necklace. It glitters with greater intensity as she steps towards the bed, and it's only because a hairpin leaps out of place that she looks back at the mirror. Tracing the smooth outline of her cheeks, she imagines them etched deep with wrinkles.
She snaps the case shut and shoves it into a drawer. The day may come when she needs it, but if she can't cajole and persuade and arrange things to her liking without the aid of a curse, she doesn't deserve Lucius.