A/N: Hello, all! This is my first Narcissa centric piece. So far, I am absolutely fascinated with her character and with the Black family in general; just putting up these chapters makes me pleased as punch. As this promises to be a long endeavor, I'll try to make my updates as regular as humanly possible. Happy reading!
It is Christmas, and winter's chill has firmly entrenched itself throughout London. Nowhere is this felt more than in number twelve, Grimmauld Place.
Somehow, this winter is achingly worse than the last; bringing with it the type of cold that buries itself into one's bones. Even magic is unable to ward it away entirely. The large, ornate windows in the drawing room have never been so blurry with frost; the sounds of multiple roaring fires echo throughout the house until they seem to overlap, as if Grimmauld were a miniature Ministry of Magic. Only after nightfall, when the house grows silent, is the whisper of thickly falling snow finally heard.
This particular afternoon, the Black family is gathered together to formally celebrate the holiday. Older relatives sit in the kitchen, idly picking at the remains of a sumptuous dinner. The noise of clinking silverware and animated conversation follow ten-year-old Narcissa Black upstairs as she dashes towards the drawing room.
"C'mon, we're starting Catch the Muggle!" she shrieks at her younger cousins, who are playing Exploding Snap – a gift from Uncle Alphard -- in the middle of the hallway. Five year-old Sirius, who loves 'Catch the Muggle' even more than his new cards, follows immediately, whooping as he runs; little Regulus toddles awkwardly behind.
She finds her older sisters already inside, and hopes desperately that they won't make her be the Muggle. From the frowns on their faces, Narcissa shouldn't worry; neither one looks very excited about this.
Bella speaks first. "Catch the Muggle, again?" She sounds frustrated, but she's been short-tempered ever since turning fourteen; this is nothing new. Narcissa wonders if she's ever going to be in a good mood this Christmas.
"We played it earlier, remember?" Bella snipes. "Do something different."
Dromeda huffs in agreement. "Honestly. I don't even like this game."
"Come on!" Narcissa whines, impatient for everyone to play. Her sisters have to join in; otherwise the little kids won't play by the rules. "Bella, you always love it when you win! I thought you liked playing games against Muggles? Dromeda says you do, at school." She doesn't mention anything about the rest of the story; how a younger girl was nearly sent to the hospital wing because of Bella's games, or how Dromeda told her she feels sick just thinking about that day.
Her eldest sister sighs. "Cissy, that's different. This is just stupid. I don't like playing as much as I used to."
Narcissa stamps her foot and scowls. "But you have to! Please?"
Bella rolls her eyes, ignoring her sister's whines. "Merlin, you're so dramatic."
"C'mon," Dromeda fake-whispers in Bella's direction. "You can't make me do this by myself. Humor them, please?"
Bella pretends to consider this, but they all know she'll do whatever she pleases. "Fine," she says flatly, sweeping a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear. "It's not like there's anything else to do around here."
Narcissa grins and claps her hands. "Right, then you get to be the leader since you're the oldest; you know more spells. Dromeda…" she turns to her middle sister and puts on a thoughtful look. "You, me, and Sirius will be the catchers. Regulus will have to be the Muggle."
"I don' wanna be the Muggle!" Regulus pipes up in protest. Sirius pushes his brother's shoulder in response, hissing, "Get over there, you git!"
A pouting Regulus reluctantly takes his place in the center of the room. "Do I hafta sing the song, too?" he wheedles.
"No, dear," Dromeda reminds him, "That's our part." She nods to Narcissa, who promptly sings:
"Muggle in the middle, center of a riddle, if catchers aren't careful they'll get sent to hospital--"
"—Go!!" shouts Sirius, springing into action.
"But I haven't finished singing yet!" Narcissa complains, outraged. Everyone knows you have to finish singing to set the spells in place. During the game, her father once explained, the special magic in the song makes each jinx work like a Shield Charm. Spells hover in the air, invisible, until the game is either finished and each hex has been found, or an adult with stronger magic comes along and casts a Finite. She hopes that the game will still go well, even without all of the song's special magic.
As promised, Bella takes up her place as the leader, idly casting jinxes outward from where Regulus stands; these are all meant for the catchers to avoid. Dromeda is poised near the windows; she creeps towards the fireplace, careful of every step. On the same side of the room, Sirius is several paces ahead, bouncing from foot to foot like a rabbit as if this speedy movement will protect him from any and all obstacles.
Narcissa, her back to the enormous family tapestry, has taken six tentative steps from her place against the wall. She carefully searches the room for some hint of where to move next. Just as she is about to act, she hears Sirius yelp and stumble backwards into a glass cabinet, about a meter from the hearth. A pattern of delicate red spiderwebs tangle above the spot where he's just stepped; he's hit one of the bigger spells.
Dromeda raises her eyebrows at the pattern. "Looks nasty. You all right, Sirius?"
Sirius bites his lip and looks as if he'll burst into tears. "It burns!"
"Come off it," Bella says from the corner, "It can't be that bad."
"Yeah, you big baby," Narcissa chimes in. "Reggie accidentally hit a big one this morning and he didn't even yell or anything."
Sirius makes an angry noise and rubs tear-filled eyes on the sleeve of his jumper. "You don't know anything, Cissy! Shut up!"
Dromeda moves closer and kneels by Sirius's side; she's good with these sorts of things. "All right, cousin. Show me where it hurts?"
He points towards the left side of his stomach. "Here," Dromeda notes his answer and briskly lifts up the jumper to reveal a large red welt, probably formed when he first touched the spell field.
"No wonder it's painful," she says quietly. Raising her gaze, Dromeda casts a curious look at Bella. "What spell is this?"
"Stinging Hex, I think," Bella replies coolly.
Narcissa frowns. They're only supposed to use mild jinxes during the game. Annoying spells, like Jelly-Legs or the Leg-Locker Curse. Why would Bella use a Stinging Hex?
Apparently, Dromeda wonders the same thing. "Why'd you cast that?" Her voice is tinged with suspicion.
"Lighten up," Bella draws out her words in a long-suffering tone. "I just wanted to make the game more interesting. It's not even a painful spell! Not like I cast anything Dark."
"Yeah, well," Dromeda retorts, "lucky you can't cast Dark spells. This is a kids' game. Somebody could get--" she hastily amended herself, "– has got hurt!"
"Oh, he's just exaggerating," Bella returns harshly. Something cold flashes in her stare. "Little Sirius just wants attention from the big kids, isn't that right?"
"No, I don't!" Sirius cries. "You hurt me!"
Still frozen in the middle of Bella's obstacles, Regulus hears the cries of his older brother and starts to whimper. Narcissa wishes he wouldn't. One crying kid is awful enough.
Dromeda casts a Finite so that Regulus is no longer trapped. She leans towards Sirius and whispers something in his ear – Narcissa doesn't know what. Seconds later, he's grabbing Reggie's hand and they're both running downstairs. She guesses he was sent to find Aunt Walburga – or rather, some other grownup – and tell them what happened. His mother won't treat the appearance of two sniffling children too kindly, though.
Watching the two scurry away, Bella turns to Dromeda and gives a disgusted sigh. "You're being too soft with him, Dromeda. Sirius can't just cry and run to his mother every time he gets hurt. He has to learn to be tough! You're not helping him."
"He's five, Bella! He's not going to understand any of that rubbish. I mean, what else was I supposed to do?" Andromeda hisses, casting a sideways glance at Cissy.
Cissy doesn't even understand what's going on anymore. Her sisters fight all the time over clothes and books and toys, but this feels completely different. Why is Bella acting so strangely?
"You're supposed to set a good example, idiot!" Bella retorts. "Sirius is never going to learn how to be a proper Black if you keep coddling him."
"Yeah, well, maybe he shouldn't learn." Dromeda mutters. "Being a Black's not so great."
Bellatrix stares hard at Dromeda, ready to respond, and then looks sideways, meeting Narcissa's eyes. It feels like they're seeing each other for the first time.
"Cissy, get out," she spits. "Now."
Narcissa knows better than to argue. As she reluctantly flees down the long hallway, she hears someone raise their voice in the kitchen. Sounds like Aunt Walburga, she thinks, and grimaces. She wonders if Bella is going to be punished for ruining the game. She wonders if they're ever going to finish playing at all. She wonders why Bella would ever want to hurt Sirius.
She's never had so many questions in her life.