AN: This is only my second Harry Potter fic, I'm still learning about the characters, so I hope this stays true to JKR's characters. I have a fascination with the Malfoy family, and this is just a little idea that occured to me this morning and has been niggling me all day.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the canon characters, I'm just borrowing them to fulfil my creative desires.

Summary: Every family has it's secrets. Lucius and Narcissa only have one child. Right? Oneshot from Cissy's POV.

Twisted Family Values

"Draco, come here and say goodbye to your sister."

When Narcissa Malfoy spoke to her son, her words were clipped and monotonous. Perhaps through anger, or in an effort to hide emotion, but even though she wanted to scream and cry, something was stopping her. She'd never felt bullied by her family before, she had always been proud to be a Black, but now she felt trapped in her own existence and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

In the doorway Draco stood, glaring defiantly at his mother. He had never looked so much like his father. Blonde hair slicked back, his stance and the look in his eyes made him look far older than his nine years, and Narcissa wondered with a pang when her son had lost his innocence.

"No" he spat, venom seething from his lips. "I don't have a sister." And he turned on his heel and vanished from sight.

Narcissa gasped, it was all she could do to prevent sobs wracking her body. She would not cry, not now, not while there were people around to see her weakness. In the corner of the Malfoy Manor drawing room, Lucius Malfoy held court, not saying a word. He watched his son's retreating figure with something akin to paternal pride, and Narcissa felt a rush of anger at her husband.

"She's your daughter!" Narcissa had yelled the previous night. "There's still a chance she could…"

"No" Lucius replied, without emotion. "It has to be this way."

Next to him, a mad smile spread across Bellatrix's face. "There's no magic in this one at all!" She shook her head and her smile broadened, she seemed to take a perverse pleasure in her sister's pain and Narcissa wanted to smack her. "Our little Draco" she cooed, her voice sickeningly full of admiration, "he showed immense ability by the time he was two, I remember the time…"

"Bella, enough!" Narcissa's voice cracked, and the tiniest hint of emotion escaped. She felt nothing but contempt for her Black family heritage in that moment, as she watched her sister, full of hatred. She stared blankly at her husband and sister, and felt the cruel irony of the situation. Two of the most important people in her life had never seen eye to eye in all the years she was married, and now that they finally agreed on something that Narcissa herself was vehemently opposed to.

Lucius stepped forward and placed a hand firmly on his wife's shoulder. She tried to shrug it away, but he kept it there with a tight hold that rendered Narcissa rooted to the spot. "We'd know by three years, you know that" he said, the calmness in his voice made Narcissa relax despite herself. When he spoke next, her lowered his voice. "I can send for someone to take her away in the morning, the sooner we do this, the less painful it will be."

A small laugh had escaped Narcissa's lips at those words. How could anyone believe that anything could make this less painful?

She knew it last night and she felt it now, no charm or potion on the earth could ease this pain and she seemed to be the only one who understood. Just as she had been last night, Narcissa stood across from Lucius and Bellatrix, and felt dwarfed by their presence. Her self-imposed sense duty was suffocating. She would not fool herself into thinking she had ever been oppressed, she embraced her family name and everything it stood for, but now the 'House of Black' didn't seem so noble.

As she looked at her husband's tall figure, up to his stern expression that said his mind was not going to be changed, she had never felt more alienated from him. They didn't talk in the way that married couples should, they rarely showed each other any real affection, but there was always a connection, thoughts and feeling passed between them unsaid, but she now felt like that line had been cut.

Lucius was fiercely proud of Draco, but he never showed even a fraction of the same sentiment towards their daughter, even before this. At first Narcissa assumed it was a father and son thing, but always had the nagging feeling it ran deeper than that, and now she knew why. It was like he had always sensed that Astra was a squib, and now she felt incensed that he had not said a word to her.

Three years she had bonded with her baby and now that bond would be broken in a flash. As irrational as it was, she felt like no one was to blame but Lucius. He was the one focus for her anger, and as she gazed across at him through watery eyes, she could no longer hold in her rage.

"Why must we send her away?!" Her words burst from her mouth at once, and she felt an odd sensation like she was watching someone else say them.

Lucius didn't move, the picture of composure. "We cannot let our sacred heritage be tarnished in this way, it's an embarrassment to everything our family stands for."

"Our family?" Narcissa's eyes widened. "My family. Don't pretend your family has any beliefs that don't revolve around galleons. You only married me for my last name and the stature it brought you."

Lucius made no move to deny this, although Narcissa knew from ten years of marriage that it was stubbornness on his part that prevented him from disagreeing. She knew he loved her, unconventionally maybe, he certainly wasn't romantic, but he did. And despite everything, she loved him back. Maybe that's why he was doing this, tough love. Narcissa remembered the day Andromeda was disowned from the family, and felt no desire to go the same way. Lucius knew that. Maybe through all of this he was only trying to spare her.

Maternal instinct was a stronger force than Narcissa could have even imagined before she had Draco. In her childhood and through her teens, she had always been passive by nature. With Bellatrix and Andromeda always arguing and squabbling over right and wrong, Cissy stayed neutral, never wanting to get involved. She had never felt the need to stand up for anything before, and then she became a mother.

Unlike Lucius, she felt the same love for Draco and Astra. She glanced at her daughter, curled up asleep on a chair. Her tiny form was peaceful, she was completely oblivious to how much her life was about to change. Narcissa seemed to be the only one in the room to acknowledge her presence and that only intensified her anger.

"Can you honestly tell me you don't feel a shred of affection for your own flesh and blood?" Before the sentence was even fully formed, Narcissa knew the answer.

"We're wizards" Lucius replied, in a colourless business-like tone. "What use is a squib to us?" Then what he said shocked Narcissa more than anything she'd heard before. "We have House Elves as slaves."

From a few feet away, Bellatrix began to cackle. Lucius ignored her, and looked Narcissa straight in the eyes, the same as Draco had moments ago. "You must make a choice. Let her go to some muggle to bring up, or take her yourself. But be warned, if you do it will be the last you see of Draco and I."

Narcissa backed away. "You bastard" she seethed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You Bastard!"

"Choose little sis, come on Cissy, choose." Bellatrix taunted her in a sing-song voice laced with distain, and she swayed from side to side as if being hypnotised.

"Desist." Lucius raised his voice, and the room fell silent. He could mobilise an army with just one word, and the command he held over his household was mesmerising. It was what attracted Narcissa to him in the first place, she was in awe. He still had the power to make her feel that way. But now the one quality that she loved in him was the one that she now hated most.

There was something in his eyes that drained all the willpower from her, and in a split second's realisation that she may come to regret, Narcissa knew her cause was lost. It was futile to believe that her family could stay the way it was, no one had yet been able to change Lucius Malfoy's mind. He nodded once, and clicked his fingers, and a second later a couple of men that Narcissa vaguely recognised as two of her husbands many minions, apparated into the room and made for the chair where Astra slept.

"Wait!" shouted Narcissa, and shot to the same spot. "Just wait a minute."

Lucius let out a great sigh. "If you must make things harder for yourself, go ahead. If you decide you still want to be a part of this family, I'll be in my study." With that he turned and walked majestically through the same door that Draco had walked through, and into the hallway. "Bellatrix, come" he snapped, as if calling a dog.

Bella stopped, and looked daggers at the back of his retreating form, but she obeyed. Narcissa had never in her life seen anybody tell her older sister what to do and not be met with a tirade of objections, but she was not in the mood to take pleasure from it.

Narcissa barged past the men, who stood there aimlessly, blank stares in their eyes and mouths slightly open. They were a pathetic sight, as if they couldn't breathe without being given permission, but Narcissa could not summon any sympathy for them at all.

"You do what you're told when I tell you. Get out of here" she snarled through gritted teeth, and they both jumped and scuttled away.

Astra didn't stir. Narcissa was amazed that the little girl had managed to sleep through the raised voices and heightened tension that filled her surroundings. She watched her daughter, absorbing every little detail about her in the hope that the picture would imprint on her mind with the same strength that her family tree was stuck to the wall at 12 Grimauld place. Whether she loved it or hated it, that tapestry was there to stay, and no matter how much Lucius or anybody would deny Astra's existence from now on, she was real, and Narcissa for one did not want to forget that.

She reached out, and gently stroked Astra's soft hair, marvelling at how perfect she was. What did Narcissa care if she would never be able to do magic? A mother shouldn't care, but the truth was, however much she hated it, that in a year or two years time, Narcissa would see that her husband was right and this really was for the best. Although right then, that thought brought her no comfort at all.

Taking one last look at her baby, Narcissa did the hardest thing she'd ever done. She took a deep breath, and walked towards the closed door with pace. She feared that any slower and she would crumble, would just grab Astra up and run, giving no thought at all to anyone's welfare, least of all her daughters. What kind of life would she lead in a house with a father and brother who despised her? But at the same time, it was instinct and not coherent thought that coursed through Narcissa then.

She flung the door open, and found, as she had expected to, the men standing on the other side waiting. "Take her now" Narcissa told them. Her voice was small and belonged to someone she didn't recognise. "Take her somewhere safe."

Nothingness enveloped her as she closed her eyes, and felt the men walk past her into the room. A moment later, she heard a familiar CRACK, and she had never before felt so alone. Shaking, her body heaving with grief, Cissy sank onto the cold marble floor beneath her.