Loyalty and blood ties
A/N: Written for 'I Never' Challenge, issued by XxrandomxX on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenge forum. Ages (which includes year of birth and difference in age) is supplied by the ever reliable Harry Potter Lexicon. If you notice anything wrong with ages and whatnot, don't hesitate to tell me.
Narcissa is six, still innocent and hopeful.
"Who's Voldemort, Bella?" She asks ten year old Bellatrix.
"He's….just Voldemort. He'll rise to power and get rid of all that are of impure blood." How simple were the words that flowed out of Bellatrix's mouth…
It seemed too easy for Bellatrix to claim loyalty for a man she's never met, for a man only talked about in whispered tones at dinner time. It isn't quite clear whether or not she actually knows the meaning behind the words.
And, like Narcissa is used to, words like 'Death Eater' and 'domination over mudbloods' are thrown around. She wants to know what the mean.
Narcissa is ten and alone. With both Andromeda (a second year) and Bellatrix (a fourth year) at Hogwarts, she has very little contact with them. Bellatrix writes lengthy, but extremely boring, letters about nothing particularly interesting. What does catch her eye is that a boy by the name of Rodolphus Lestrange is mentioned. He is not a 'friend' nor a 'boyfriend' but simply a 'useful ally'. Narcissa finds it particularly odd how…unaffectionate she is towards him. Surely she wouldn't talk to him if she found him boring?
Bella is a strange girl…Narcissa mused.
Every week for the next year, an owl arrived from Bella. Each letter got lengthier and always included her plans about how she would rise to become into someone great. Andy would write back to call her an egotistical prat and Cissa would just laugh at Bella's larger-than-life dreams. For now, she'd be a Black and she would always be a Black.
Narcissa is sixteen and head over heels in love with Lucius Malfoy, a handsome blond seventh year. Sure, she's liked boys and dated a boy or two in the past but she was never really convinced that she loved anybody like him before. He's confident and smart, witty and oh-so-charming. He's a pureblood as well! Surely, mummy and father would approve of him. Narcissa found her older sister both brave and stupid to have the guts to elope with a mudblood like Ted Tonks.
She decides that today was the day she'd have more of a conversation than the normal greetings and forced few sentences when their social circles collided.
"Hello, Lucius," Narcissa says quietly. She tries not to let nerves get to her head.
"Hello, Narcissa. How are you?" He asks, almost unsure.
"I'm fine, thank you. And you?"
"I'm well. Thank you for asking." Silence ensues.
"I'm sorry this is so awkward…"
Lucius grins, "It's not, I promise. We should get to know each other so our next conversation won't be quite so awkward." That simple sentence sent Narcissa's heart fluttering.
Narcissa is twenty two and getting married to Lucius. Their vows are short and sweet and meaningful but most of her family was not around to see witness the beauty that is their marriage. Andy is disowned, forever banished from being a Black. Even if she wasn't a blood traitor, she would be too busy taking care of five year old Nymphadora.
Lucius looks shifty throughout the whole wedding, muttering something about the Dark Lord. She isn't ignorant, she knows that Voldemort is gaining power and Lucius is in the inner circle.
Narcissa can't understand why she couldn't just have a family without the threat of Lucius dying on his 'job'.
Three years later, on a warm June afternoon, Draco is born and Narcissa couldn't be any happier. She watches him grow up into a young man.
When Halloween of 1981 (Draco is a little over a year old) rolls around, Voldemort falls and it feel so sudden; he was once a powerful man and now he's just a legend, simply a name who once held whatever he wanted in his hands.
"He'll be back, I promise." Narcissa isn't quite ready to admit she's at all reassured by those sentiments.
Bellatrix writes to Narcissa for the first time in years and Narcissa squeals in girlish delight, causing Draco to look confused, with a look on his face that said: Why are you so happy?
"Aunt Bellatrix wrote today!" Narcissa muses out loud, and Draco nods. She rips open the letter and reads it. It's written in Bellatrix's familiar neat handwriting, but this letter is short, simply stating that she was writing on the run and she was lucky to not be imprisoned.
Bellatrix writes another short letter some time later, stating that she tortured the Longbottoms into insanity ("They deserved it for not coughing up the necessary info," Bellatrix wrote, and Narcissa could almost hear the condescension in the line) and that she has a life sentence in Azkaban for doing that. Narcissa's heart breaks.
Fourteen years later, Bellatrix escapes and one of the first things she does is fight in the battle of the Department of Mysteries. Narcissa smirks when she first heard about this, at the idea of Bellatrix fighting like she always did.
Just like her namesake…
Bellatrix the female warrior, it seemed to make an eerie fit.
Bellatrix kills Sirius without remorse and Narcissa can't decide whether to mourn his absence (after all, he is flesh and blood) or rejoice at his passing (he was a traitor to the House of Black. His pure blood was wasted.)
Draco turns sixteen and Narcissa's maternal instincts tell her that he needs all the protection he can get. The first person she turns to is Bellatrix, who smiles brightly.
"It's time to use the Unbreakable Vow, my dear baby sister." Narcissa hopes for the best.
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
"Have I ever let you down before?"
"….No, but---."
"Just trust me, okay?"
"I need a second opinion."
"Cissa, why can't you trust me?"
"I can, but---" Narcissa's voice trails off nervously.
"But what?!"
"But I want a second opinion."
Bellatrix sighs. "Why not we bring Severus Snape into this? You trust him, he'd never lie to you."
"Thank you for humoring me."
And she hopes correctly, for the Vow protects her son. She's glad she can trust her sister and Severus Snape.
She never expected Draco to fail and Dumbledore to die at the hands of Snape. Life tends to take unexpected turns.
This is the happiest Narcissa's ever seen Bellatrix, even if it is at her funeral. Narcissa doesn't want to believe that her beloved older sister was killed in the Final Battle.
"I thought you were stronger than that, Bella!"
A/N: This morphed into a study of Narcissa's character, but I think it turned out nicely despite straying away a bit from the prompt.
I haven't read the books in a while, so the timeline is taken from the Lexicon. Agewise, Bella is the oldest (born 1951), Andy is the middle child (born 1953) and Cissa is the youngest (born 1955). I was unclear on Rodolphus's age so he's the same age as Bella and Lucius is a year older than Cissa (he's born 1954).
Thank you for reading and please review! I also hope you liked it.