Bad
Everyone at the gala knows that there's this far and then there's too far. Bella is too far. Narcissa's dress robes are violet.
"What's this supposed to benefit again?"
"St. Mungo's," Raleigh tells Narcissa with punitively furrowed eyebrows. "The new wing they're opening up."
"I remember." It's easy to pay attention to Raleigh Greengrass's appearance, so she does. Her robes look like they're peppering kisses down her legs. Her hair puffs out of her skull like dust from a clapping textbook. The whole thing fits in nicely with the Selwyns' ballroom, because houses have things like ballrooms in them when they belong to people like Narcissa.
"You haven't been returning my owls."
"I know, Ray, I'm so sorry. With the wedding coming up, you know."
"Lucius is a dear, isn't he?"
"Oh, a darling," says Narcissa, botching a smile when she decides Raleigh detected a pinch of her sarcasm. She nods to Lucius across the room, then resumes looking at Raleigh instead.
Bella's problem is that she's too far out, but people are never going to listen when Narcissa tries to tell them that about herself. She may not know why, but she'll always be safe. What do you do when no one will see you?
On the way out, she takes a couple wrong turns and lands in Andromeda's kitchen. Pointing a knife can be so much more effective than pointing a wand.
"What are you doing here?"
"But we got rid of you."
"This isn't necessary, Cissy."
"Say something cruel."
"No."
"Feel better."
"No."
Then what does she do?