Author's Note:
Round 5: What's in a Name?
Team: Pride of Portree
Position: Beater 2
Flower: Poppy (as inspired by Madam Pomfrey): Write about a character treating someone as a consolation prize.
Prompts used: 5. (quote) 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.' —William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
7. (dialogue) "It was like kissing a troll, only wetter."
Word Count: _1343_ excluding Author's Note
In this story the Yule Ball is not connected to the Triwizard Tournament but is instead an annual event. In addition the Black sisters are a bit closer in age, Narcissa being in fourth, Andromeda in fifth and Bellatrix in seventh year.
Unknown are the Ways of Love
"Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Yule Ball?" Nearly everything about Lucius was perfect in that moment. He was tall and his long blonde hair fell on his shoulders in such an elegant manner that it made most ladies swoon. His voice was silky and his smile could knock any girl right off her feet and into his arms.
There was only one problem: he was not Rodolphus. Realistically, Narcissa knew that the chance of Rodolphus asking her was slim at best. Especially when there was someone like her elder sister around. It didn't hurt to dream, though.
It was just that, when the dream ended, she was left with the option of Lucius Malfoy. Lucius was not a bad second option, except that Narcissa knew that she had not been his first choice either. She was painfully aware that Lucius had asked both of her elder sisters before coming to her. He'd hoped to go with Bellatrix, but was willing to settle for Andromeda or Naricssa. Perhaps being the second choice she could have accepted but being the third was no girl's dream.
She could turn the boy down, of course. Narcissa's gaze lingered on the other people currently in the Great Hall. If only the pickings were not so slim. So many young and eligible Pureblood ladies at Hogwarts meant that every boy who had two eyes and a nose on right got snatched up quickly. All that was left were the really undesirable ones, and the thought of going to the Yule Ball with Augustus Rookwood, for example, sent a shiver down Narcissa's spine. Sure, he had money but to even give that brute some hope would not do.
It wasn't becoming to keep a gentleman waiting so long. She nodded. "Yes, I would be most honoured to go with you to the ball."
Lucius smiled and bowed slightly at the waist. "Let me know what colour of robes you decide to wear and I shall adjust my outfit accordingly!" With that minimum amount of politeness taken care of, he walked away.
Narcissa could not really complain that much. Lucius did everything he was supposed to do. Perhaps a casual observer would not have even noticed the coolness in him and how he kept his distance. In a way, Narcissa could not blame him either. She had, after all, been sneaking glances at Rodolphus every time he walked past her. He was just so dashing and handsome in his black and silver robes and when he smiled his face lit up so charmingly. Lucius only ever looked stoic and calm and, while he had nice features, they never quite made Narcissa's heart beat faster.
They were, of course, polite to each other. They were careful not to say or do anything wrong. Lucius held Narcissa on his arm like an exquisite decoration. He'd even gone out of his way to find the exact shade of green for his robes that Narcissa had specified. If only he wasn't so damn perfect, Narcissa could then properly despise him for not treating her the way she deserved to be treated.
Even when he glanced at Bellatrix to see her twirling in Rodolphus's arms, it was discreet. Probably even more so than the longing glances Narcissa herself threw their way. She just could not help it… There was passion in the way that boy danced. Fire in the way he looked at her sister. Was he not the perfect prince from a fairy tale?
Lucius led Narcissa to sit after their third waltz and went to fetch them both some punch. She waited daintily as couples swirled by. At the back of the room, Andromeda was chatting with a boy from another house. He was a Mudblood and yet, as Narcissa saw the way he admiringly looked at her sister, she suddenly wished desperately that someone, anyone, would look at her like that. Even a Mudblood would do.
"You are not enjoying yourself." Lucius's voice was silky as he whispered the words in her ear.
Narcissa shuddered. "Neither are you," she replied a bit snippily as her gaze lingered on Bellatrix, who looked stunning in the moonlight that showered her features. "She's beautiful, I grant you that."
"Perhaps. But so are you. So what does Rodolphus have that I don't?"
Had she really managed to injure his pride despite everything? Was Lucius really malcontent with her not being happy on his arm, despite them both knowing what they did? Narcissa shrugged. "Does it matter?"
Lucius's elegant, long fingers curled around the two punch glasses he had yet to put down. "Perhaps if I knew-"
"You could be the one dancing with Trixie."
A moment of silence passed between them. Slowly Lucius put the glasses down and sat next to Narcissa. "She'd never take a Malfoy."
It was true, Bellatrix had inherited from their mother a certain contempt for the Malfoy family. There had been a scandal with a Mudblood, if Narcissa could remember correctly. Was it perhaps Lucius's father whose brother had run away with some girl from the wrong side of the tracks? Still, she felt obligated to say something.
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," she mused quietly. "A man named William Shakespeare said that." She'd been sneaking away Andromeda's books whenever she could. They were surprisingly enjoyable and she'd often wondered if there was such love out there for her, too, as the poet described.
The corner of Lucius's mouth twitched slightly in an involuntary smile. "Ah, but the problem is not in my name. By any other name I still would not be Rodolphus."
They allowed themselves another moment of somber silence. Then Lucius stood. "But surely the reasons that we are not Bellatrix or Rodolphus should not keep us from enjoying ourselves? Perhaps we could at least forget it for a moment?" He held out his hand and led Narcissa back to the dancefloor.
It was past four in the morning when Narcissa finally fell onto her bed and sighed happily. From the bed next to her, the sleepy head of Arsenia Burke rose to smile at her. "So, dare I ask how it was?" Narcissa grinned, thinking back to the party. Lucius was not a half bad dancer. In fact, it turned out he'd had quite a bit more practice than any other boy and knowing how much Bellatrix loved to dance, it was quite satisfying to see Rodolphus tire while Lucius still twirled Narcissa around again and again.
"I think I even saw you under the mistletoe!" Arsenia winked at her. Narcissa smirked but ignored the girl. They might have ended up under the mistletoe and all things considered, while he was no Rodolphus… Well, Bellatrix had glared daggers at her certainly. Or perhaps Narcissa had imagined it. It was such a nice thought, though, that Trixie and Rodolphus had envied her. That one wanted to be her and the other wanted to be with her...
"Oh come on, share with the rest of us. How was snogging the honorable Malfoy?" Arsenia prodded further. Lucius was, after all, still one of the more valued boys in Slytherin House.
Narcissa rolled her eyes, noticing that another fourth year was also stirring in her bed: "It was like kissing a troll, only wetter."
Arsenia grinned: "So I take it the next time Rodolphus is unavailable...?"
"I would certainly consider being Lucius's third choice!"
Narcissa smiled in her sleep as the dream of their first dance played out again. Next to her, Lucius moved a hand over his wife and pulled her closer to him.
"Like kissing a troll…" his wife muttered and Lucius chuckled lightly, recalling a similar statement to the young Severus Snape, who had been waiting sleepily in the Common Room to ask about his night.
"And yet, my love, now I'd never want to be with anyone but you!" he whispered and planted a kiss on Narcissa's forehead.