Author's Note: This was written for the 100 Days, 100 Drabbles Challenge for which the guidelines etc are as follows:
Objective: To write one hundred drabbles in one hundred days or less.
Guidelines:
1. The first drabble must be posted after June 20th and the last by September 27th, one hundred days later. The last drabble must be posted within one hundred days. If you aren't able to post on the last day of the challenge, then you may post them - and complete the challenge - earlier.
2. Drabbles must not be more than 400 words long. If you go over, edit.
3. Responses should not be posted in this thread. Instead, I suggest creating a new story and posting them there.
4. Drabbles must be posted in the order prompted, with the prompt as the title of the chapter.
Word Count: 385.
Something Old, Something New
(or, How Narcissa Malfoy Became a Shop-a-Holic)
sic transit gloria
Narcissa glanced at her new husband from under her lashes, secretly revelling in every line and angle of his face. Though he was almost a stranger to her (the wedding having been arranged between their parents), she felt only a deepening familiarity as he held her in his arms, and rejoiced at the novelty he presented in her oft-boring life. His hand warmed her skin through the silk gloves as he led them in a stately waltz and Narcissa decided that Lucius Malfoy was the most handsome man on earth. Later that night when he reverently removed the new emerald earrings that were a gift from her father and they were introduced to each other's bodies, Narcissa decided she was the luckiest woman on earth.
She lost the emerald earrings two years ago, and can't remember the last time she danced with him. They faded long ago, anyway. Now she spends her days having tea and running a household, her nights in the solitude of a private boudoir. Her husband is charming and attentive to his business associates and their wives. He is still handsome, but she does not feel quite so lucky anymore.
Narcissa cooed at her newborn son as she laid him carefully on her lap. There were guests, a party in honour of the newest Malfoy, and Narcissa was enjoying showing off her precious bundle. The faintest wisps of blonde hair dusted his crown, and watery eyes regarded her with an indifferent stare. She couldn't tell the colour yet, but she hoped they would be grey. Like his father's. And handsome, too. Then maybe she would feel lucky again. Lucius approached her from behind and placed a necklace gently around her neck – emerald. Around her, the noises of the celebration faded away into his whisper against her ear: "I am proud of you, and my heir."
She covers her ears to block out the sound of the screaming infant, and when that fails, calls in fluent French for his nurse to fetch him while she resumes her daily nap. The emerald's faded again, and she regards it with indifferent eyes when she looks at it all. The novelty's worn off. She might recapture that freshness, that innocence, if he stops screaming. If he dances with her.
If she buys a new emerald.
