Biscuit Trails
A/N: This story was written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition's Training Camp. I am Chaser 1 for the Penzance Pegai, and for this round, I was required to write a story based either on an aspect of or the complete fairytale, Hansel and Gretel. I've put a small explanation of which version I used after the story just in case :)
My optional prompts were:
2 (word) sore
11 (word) underhanded
14 (word) hate
Word count: 2986 words (using and Google Docs)
A huge thank you to my amazing betas (and in no order!) Dessie, Jenny, Kat, Sarah (who helped name Procyon, meaning 'little dog star'), Shay, and Di for helping me, and a shoutout to Maisie for volunteering to help.
This is dedicated to the wonderful Cel—you're more valued and loved than you could ever know!
December 1966
"Sooty! Hurry up and clear away this paper. Girls, go and get your cloaks on and be ready to leave in ten minutes."
"Now, now, Druella, Walburga can wait. I have one more present here," her father said.
Narcissa looked at her father, excited not because he had an extra gift, but because he had delayed the possibility of heading to Grimmauld Place for at least another few minutes. Although she knew that the sooner they got there, the more likely they would leave when her mother and aunt got into yet another argument, it was a prospect she preferred to avoid altogether if she could. Both of her cousins, Sirius and Regulus, would be there, and she didn't know if she could stand yet another day hiding from the boys' pranks.
The man grunted slightly as he dragged a large brown-papered box out from behind the tree. "This present is for the girls. I expect it will come in handy for all three of you, and I have no doubt you will all show some responsibility in caring for it. If not, I shall be returning it immediately," her father said.
Narcissa raised a thin eyebrow at Andromeda, who shrugged in return. She knew that her sister was thinking the exact same thing as she was: what in Merlin's name had their father bought for them, and why? The man barely even knew what the gifts that their mother bought them were each year; his role was more often than not simply handing over the Galleons to their mother and signing a card on occasion. Judging from their mother's disapproving frown, though, it seemed that she too was unaware of their father's plan.
They didn't have to wait long to find out. Bellatrix crawled forward and began tearing at the box's wrapping. Large brown strips of paper fell to the carpet, as did the Spello-tape sealing the lid together. After ripping it open, Bellatrix turned to their father with a pout.
"Parchment?" she asked, holding a scrunched-up ball.
"There are several layers to it, mostly to prevent any smell," he said, nodding back to the box. "If you cannot be patient enough to find out what's inside, perhaps you do not deserve it after all."
Narcissa glared at her sister's back; it was just like Bellatrix to spoil a treat. Well, she wouldn't let her ruin this one. She crept forward and helped Bellatrix paw through the parchment, placing the scraps beside her in a neat pile.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of digging through parchment, they pulled out a smaller box. It shook in their grip, causing Narcissa to almost drop it. Thankfully, Andromeda held it steady, and after shooing away Bellatrix's hand ripped off the final piece of spell-o-tape.
Large, clear bubbles of air floated from within the box to the ceiling, but it was what was inside the box that captured Narcissa's attention. There, panting away, was a small, black German Shepherd puppy.
Its wide brown eyes blinked as it looked at each of the girls' faces, its pink tongue hanging out from its mouth.
"Were there no brown dogs?" Bellatrix asked, sitting back. Even so, her lips lifted into a small smile when the dog leapt out of the box and onto the settee.
"Really, Cygnus, a dog?" their mother shrieked, pulling her gifts out of the way. "It will ruin the house!"
Their father gave a short whistle and the puppy bounded over to him. It sat at his feet with its tail wagging, and he scratched its ears.
"He will need to be disciplined; I expect him to be more obedient than a house-elf. However, it will be good to have some extra protection for our girls outside, and will hopefully ready them for when they take command of other creatures in the future."
"But a mongrel?"
"He is a purebred, make no mistake," their father answered.
Their mother wrinkled her nose but didn't argue any further. Instead, she ordered the girls to collect their cloaks so that they could finally be off to Christmas lunch.
The puppy trotted over to Narcissa, his tail continuing to wag and his nose sniffing the air. She didn't care that they were still going. As she gathered him into her lap, careful not to soil her new dress robes, she knew that she would be able to endure whatever Sirius and Regulus threw at her if it meant coming back to such a companion.
December 1967
"Ok, now… sit!"
Narcissa smiled as Procyon sat down, his large, fluffy tail thumping against her bedspread. She reached across to her bedside table and, taking out a small biscuit from a paper bag, placed it in front of him.
"Good boy!" she said as her dog waited before gobbling up the biscuit.
Looking back at the treats bag, she saw that it was almost empty. Procyon had gone through seven bags of treats that week alone, and her parents had refused to spend money on extra food. They had claimed that Procyon was getting too fat too soon, but Narcissa hadn't wanted him to starve. Using the change her mother had given her to buy a set of new brass scales during their last visit to Diagon Alley, Narcissa had slipped away to the Magical Menagerie and bought two packets of treats.
She should have learnt her lesson, however, and taken to rationing the biscuits; two packets were simply not enough.
"I'll try and buy you some more at school," Narcissa said, her heart aching at the way Procyon stared at her. It was as if he knew that she would be leaving him for several months.
When he whimpered in response, Narcissa sighed. She picked up the bag of treats and tipped what was left out on the bed. She made a mental note to clean up any crumbs before her mother saw them. Thankfully, the problem was taken care of when Procyon licked the quilt clean.
"I am not friends with a Mudblood! I don't know why she would make that up, but it's not true!"
"Don't you dare speak to me in that tone! Your sister wouldn't lie to us!"
Narcissa closed her eyes and gathered Procyon up in her arms, holding him to her chest. She listened to his heartbeat, even as he tried to wiggle free from her grasp, using it to calm her own. It seemed to drown out the voices of her sister and parents from downstairs, but only just.
"I wish I could bring you with me," she whispered as more shouting penetrated the walls.
Procyon finally stopped squirming, and it was a good thing, too, for he now weighed almost twenty-five kilograms. Narcissa gasped as something wet and rough scraped her cheek. When she opened her eyes, she saw that it was his tongue.
"No wonder Bella let me have you," she said, wiping her cheek.
Still, she had meant what she said, and though she loved Hogwarts dearly, she could not wait for the summer holidays.
July 1968
"Procy! Procy!"
Narcissa tried to keep her voice to a whisper as she crept around the manor, but it was becoming harder and harder when she found each room empty. She had thought that Procyon would be waiting for her near the door when she got home—as he usually did whenever she returned from school—but he was nowhere to be found. After searching the outside grounds, she had turned her search indoors, wondering if he had perhaps snuck inside.
"Procy! Where are you, boy?" she asked, walking into the drawing room.
Unfortunately, she had been too busy looking for him that she hadn't noticed her mother sitting in one of the armchairs.
"What in Merlin's name are you making all that racket for?" her mother said, peering over the cover of the book in her bony hands. "A young witch should be seen and not heard, or have you forgotten?"
Narcissa straightened her back, having been just about to look under the coffee table. "I apologise, Mother, I did not mean to disturb you. I was just looking for Pro—something."
"Oh?"
"Yes, but, I should have been more careful not to misplace it. Nevermind, I shall look elsewhere."
Narcissa turned on her heel, eager to leave before her mother realised Procyon was inside the house. Her dog would not have been in the drawing room anyway, for he always seemed to cower in her presence.
However, her mother's next words stopped her in her tracks.
"He isn't here," she said.
Narcissa turned around, her heart thumping in her chest. Surely her mother hadn't already caught him inside, had she? "Who isn't?"
"That dog of yours."
"Why—wha—" She knew she was stammering, and she cleared her throat. "Where is he?"
Her mother didn't look up from her book. Flipping a page, she said, "I sent him to live with your aunt. This place wasn't built for a dog."
Narcissa's breath caught in her throat. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She knew it was impossible that her mother had sent her dog to live with her cousins. For one, her Aunt Walburga hated animals more than she hated Mudbloods, always complaining that their fur and claws ruined furniture. Even so, Sirius would have bragged to her at school if they had taken in her dog.
Her head was now throbbing and she walked from the room without another word. Once out of sight, she ran up the staircase and towards her room, her heart breaking as she tried to remain composed.
"You do know she was lying, don't you?" Bellatrix asked.
Her sister was leaning up against the frame of her bedroom, watching Narcissa with a smirk on her rosy lips. Narcissa pushed past her, heading straight for her bed. With an undignified hiccough, she flopped down onto it and buried her head in a pillow.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic; it was just a mutt. You could probably get a new one next Christmas."
Narcissa lifted her head off the pillow and glared at Bellatrix. Andromeda was usually the one she turned to for help, but she hadn't thought that Bellatrix would be so callous. "I don't want another one," she said.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "If you insist."
Narcissa sniffed. "I'll just have to get Procy off Sirius next visit."
Her sister's smirk grew wider. "Oh darling, you really are naive. Your dog isn't running about at our dear cousins' house. Why, I'm not even sure it is even running around at all. Mother dumped him in the forest months ago; who knows where he is now?"
Narcissa fought the urge to throw a pillow at her. "You're lying!"
"Oh? Remember that fleabag I got for my sixth birthday? He didn't just run away you know."
Narcissa thought back to the beautiful black kitten Bellatrix had received for her birthday years before. She hadn't really known the cat, but she did remember having felt jealous that both Bellatrix and Andromeda had had pets and she hadn't. She hadn't been allowed to play with him either, both by Bellatrix's orders and by her mother's—Bellatrix never shared, and her mother had feared that the cat would scratch Narcissa's beautiful porcelain face and mar it permanently.
Bellatrix nodded. "I thought so. Well, after he turned out to be not so cute, Mother got rid of him. She and Father took him out behind the house into the forest, and when they came back, my cat was nowhere in sight. They told me he ran away, but we both know that's just the sort of underhanded thing Mother would do."
Narcissa's blood turned cold. The forest behind the manor was dark and spooky, even more so than the Forbidden Forest. She never really ventured there since Bellatrix had told her that evil fairies resided within, waiting to turn her into one of them. The forest was deep, and she knew there was a good chance that once someone went in, it was unlikely they would come back out again.
"Father wouldn't let that happen. He bought Procy for us! And if he was so unhappy with him, would he at least not try to find a better home?"
Bellatrix shrugged her shoulders. "What is a couple of Galleons to us? You should just be happy that it wasn't a house-elf; if it was, you can bet it wouldn't have been taken to the forest."
Narcissa watched through blurry eyes as her sister flounced from the room. She refused to listen to her, no matter how true her words seemed. Her mother might have been harsh, but surely the woman wouldn't do anything that would destroy her daughter's happiness… would she?
September 1968
She was down to her last bag of treats, but she had to try. She placed each one in a single line, just as she had every day that summer.
Ever since she had written to Regulus and had it confirmed that her dog had not been adopted by her cousins, she had started her search for Procyon on the property. It had begun with a walk into the forest, mustering up all the courage she had had. It wasn't much, though, and after only a few hours of aimlessly wandering around calling his name, she had tried to retreat. As she had expected, however, she had gotten lost in the trees and brambles, her arms scratched by thistles and leg muscles sore. If it hadn't been for Andromeda appearing from behind a tree, her nose and eyes red as though she, too, had been crying, she would probably have been stuck there overnight to fend for herself.
Andromeda had forbidden her from returning to the forest with the threat that she would tell their father and mother, and Narcissa had promised not to. She hadn't promised to stay away from the edge of the forest, though, and her next plan had formed.
Risking a hiding from their father, Narcissa had spent the money she had been given for new school robes on biscuits instead. When she had returned home, she had gone straight to the forest edge and laid a trail of the treats towards the house. Procyon was a smart dog and he had a good nose on him; with luck, he would eventually sniff out the treats and find his way home.
Even if other forest critters had gobbled up the biscuits some days, and the rain had turned the biscuit trails into mouldy puddles on others, she wouldn't give up. Every so often, she would swear that she could hear barking.
Behind her, a twig snapped, and Narcissa jumped. Swirling around, she saw that it was only Bellatrix.
"I thought you were Father," she said.
Bending down, she placed a final biscuit in line and turned her gaze towards the forest. A slight breeze had picked up earlier in the afternoon, and now it made the branches of nearby trees sway.
"You really are hopeless, aren't you? It will never come back," Bellatrix said.
Narcissa turned and fixed a glare on the girl. "He will come back, I know it."
Bellatrix rolled her dark eyes. She looked down at her fingers, examining the cuticles. In a voice barely above a whisper, she asked, "What will you do if it doesn't?"
Narcissa shook her head. "He will."
Her sister fixed her dark eyes on her, and there was something within them that made Narcissa take a step back. "But if it doesn't? What will you do to Mother?" she urged.
"I—" Narcissa went to say that she would do something terrible to her mother, but what that was, she didn't know. What she did know, however, was that she probably wouldn't have it in her to take revenge if the time came. Instead, she shrugged and said, "I hate her; she's an old witch."
Bellatrix almost looked disappointed. "Your dog was boring anyway, probably not worth the effort. Anyway, you need to come back inside and finish packing."
Narcissa sighed and glanced back at the forest. She had thought she had heard barking in the distance, but the trail of biscuits was still there, untouched. When she looked back at Bellatrix, she saw that the girl was tapping her foot.
"Look, I wasn't going to give this to you until you were finished, but if it stops you from moping around, I'll do it now." She fished around in her cloak pocket and pulled out a small package wrapped in brown paper. "Here."
Narcissa's hand wavered, her gut telling her not to accept a package from Bellatrix. She took the package anyway, though, and kept an eye on Bellatrix as she slowly tore the paper open.
"Oh."
Inside the package was a stuffed toy dog with similar colours to Procyon. Its fur was almost as soft as Procyon's had been—was—and it even had an emerald-green collar around its neck.
A warmth that Narcissa had not felt in a long time enveloped her body, and she looked up at her sister. "Thank you, it's… it's beautiful."
"At least you can keep this one in the house," Bellatrix said. Narcissa took a step toward her, a free arm outstretched to fold her in a hug, but the girl moved back and wrinkled her nose. "Just don't let me catch you carrying that thing around school. Even for you, it's a bit babyish. Now, come on; if you're not packed by dinner, I will be telling Mother."
Bellatrix flounced off back towards the house, long dark curls bouncing trailing down her back. Narcissa hugged the dog to her chest and followed, eager to avoid upsetting her mother again. As she ran after her, however, she thought she could hear a dog barking, and she hugged the toy harder.
Additional A/N: The version I chose to focus on was the one in which it was the wife who forced her husband to take their children into the forest and abandon them (in some versions, it is only the poor old man who leaves his children). Although they aren't poor, I chose Druella and Cygnus Black to fulfil this role. You will also see aspects of the story such as the main feature of a breadcrumb (or in this case, biscuit) trail the children used to find their way home, and the villain of Druella as both the horrible wife and old witch. You can find the version I used on Wikipedia, but the elements are the same for most versions and hopefully can be seen in this :D In one version the crumbs don't work as they are gobbled up by hungry creatures and pebbles are used instead (and in another, the children are forbidden from taking any pebbles and after eating the poor old witch's house and throwing her in an oven, a duck flies them home—I did have a duck eating the crumbs but sadly word count heh).
The story was also inspired over Christmas break, where sadly, many people still choose to buy pets as presents only for the owners to dump them a few months later when the pet is no longer 'cute' or 'affordable'. I applaud those who do adopt pets and cherish them, but please, please, please, if a pet isn't for you, make sure it does have a good home!