"Severus, stop it!" Narcissa Black wept bitterly, as she tried to push Severus Snape away from her.
"Narcissa, please!" Severus took hold of both her arms and forced her to look at him. "You can't let them do this to us!"
"How can you do this to me, on my wedding day?!" Narcissa was in her long, pure white, silk wedding dress. It was truly the best her family could afford. Her hair was in an elegant bun, pale blonde hairs were already cascading from it.
"Severus," Narcissa continued in a calmer voice. "Lucious is your best friend. You cannot steal me away from him." she tried to chuckle at the idea, as though she truly thought it was funny.
"But I love you." Severus implored.
"Well I don't love you."
"You don't mean that."
"I do!" she said as fervently as she would be saying her wedding vows an hour later. Narcissa yanked herself away from him. She tried to stop the tears from falling , but they kept coming, like rain sliding down a white rose petal. "I love Lucious now. I don't love you...anymore." she continued, frost covering her voice.
For a moment, Severus stared at her with beseeching eyes, but soon the beseeching look melted into his coal black eyes. A new coldness, that she did not recognize, replaced it. "Very well," he said in an icy voice. "We will speak of this no more." he turned and began to walk up the stairs of the secluded Church cellar. "Now if you'll excuse me, the wedding will begin shortly, and Lucious may need some moral support."
"Wait Severus!" Narcissa hurried over to him. "Don't leave in anger." she said tenderly. "We must be companions, after all, we both serve the Dark Lord." Narcissa rolled up her white sleeve. Her arm bore the Dark Mark. It was the only thing that would draw them together, now.
"Of course Narcissa," his eyes lingered on her a moment longer, then he took her hand and held it to his lips. He gave it one last kiss and then he was gone.
Narcissa sat at the bottom of the stairs. She had to refuse Severus. Lucius was wealthy, prosperous, and good-looking. All Severus had were his horrid relations, that he never would talk about. Severus was not handsome, he had a dull complexion, oily black hair, and a scrawny form. She never knew how an appearance oriented person, like herself could ever have fallen in love with a man like Severus Snape, but Narcissa had, in her heart still was, and always would be, deep inside of her.
She had little time to dwell on this, however, shortly after she heard her older sister, Bellatrix, stomping down the old staircase.
"Fancy him being here!" Bellatrix mussed in a shrill voice. She was standing before her bridal clad and beautiful.
Narcissa flashed Bellatrix a forced smile, as she wrapped herself in a tight hug. "I'm guessing you mean Severus?" Narcissa replied softly. "Didn't you know? Lucius chose Severus to be his best man."
"No, I didn't." Bellatrix answered curtly, quite sullen that she had not known that piece of knowledge. "I know Lucius is fond of him, but I don't trust him. He seems far too cozy with that Dumble...I say, Cissy, what's wrong?"
Bellatrix must have noticed the new tears forming in Narcissa's eyes. With a look of confusion mixed with compassion,, Bellatrix stroked the long blonde hairs falling out of Narcissa's bun, lying conveniently on her back. Narcissa gave into the many inhibitions she kept, and leaned into Bellatrix's petite body. After a moment or two Bellatrix commanded in a soft voice. "Cissy, tell me."
Narcissa knew she could not tell Bellatrix that she was in love with someone other than Lucius, especially if it was Severus. Everyone expected her to marry Lucius, because of the high position of the Black and Malfoy families. If she married poor Severus, that would be almost as horrible as being one of the Seven Embarrassments. Not to mention that Bellatrix hated the man. No, Narcissa could confide many things in Bellatrix, but not this. "I'm just nervous Bella." Narcissa told her as convincingly as she could. It was true, Narcissa was very nervous about spending the rest of her life with a man she did not even love.
Narcissa could tell Bellatrix believed her. Her fixed expression relaxed as she gave her younger sister a friendly squeeze. "Oh Cissy, married life is wonderful, take it from me." She gazed at her own wedding ring, nestled gently on her finger. She tossed her raven black hair. "Cissy, married life was made for us! Lucius will always take care of you, you have absolutely nothing to be nervous about..." for a moment Bellatrix fell silent, and suddenly her voice became dark and frightening. "...unless you tell him about The Seven Embarrassments."
Narcissa didn't want to think about The Seven Embarrassments, one of them being her other older sister Andromeda. Four years ago Andromeda married a muggleborn, named Ted Tonks, because of this she was banished from the family.
Narcissa remembered the night Andromeda deserted the family, or did the family desert her? That night Narcissa was in her bedroom. She had escaped the shouting of Bellatrix, the weeping of her mother, and the silent displeasure of her father.
"Out, out!" she could hear the stomping of an adamant and unforgiving foot..
"Bella, please!" Andromeda begged.
"Get out Andromeda, you are dead to us!" her father must have raised his wand, for she heard Andromeda let out a shaky cry.
"Papa...Papa don't...please...don't do this! Mama, don't let him do this!" Narcissa could feel the vibrations of Andromeda's body, kneeling to the floor in a plea.
"Sir, you don't have to do this, you, Andie, and me, we can work this out..."
"Silence Mudblood!" her mother screeched.
A loud blast shook the whole hose, followed by a pained wail from Andromeda. Andromeda had been blasted off of the Black family Tapestry. Except for the soft panting and crying of Andromeda, a deathly silence fell over the house.
"C...Come on Andie." Ted Tonks finally spoke.
"Let me talk to my sister." Andromeda croaked sourly, obviously directed more at the family than Ted.
"I'm not your sister, anymore!" Bellatrix screamed.
"Not you! The rest of the family may have rejected me, but Narcissa has been in her room this entire time. Narcissa heard soft footfalls coming towards the stairs. She heard the sisterly appeal that was made for her. "Narcissa, please come down here, and say goodbye to me."
Narcissa wanted to run downstairs, hug Andromeda as hard as she could, and beg her father to forgive her sister. But instead Narcissa unlatched the door, walked downstairs as calmly as she could, refusing to look Andromeda in the eye, and whispered. "Goodbye."
That seemed to be enough for Andromeda, she enveloped Narcissa in a hug. Narcissa didn't hug back, how could she? She knew that her uncle Alphard was disowned, simply for giving her outcast cousin Sirius a bit of gold. Tears of longing came to Narcissa's eyes.
"I love you." Andromeda whispered. Narcissa could feel Andromeda's tears fall onto her neck.
This was too much for Narcissa, She had to speak the words, or she felt her head would explode with water, form her sobs. She spoke the words that could have jeopardized her own position in the family. To this day she did not know how they had not. "I love you too, Andie." she whispered.
Andromeda swallowed her sobs and leaned even closer to Narcissa's ear. "I'm a little relieved, you know. I can be with the man I love now. I'm free now Cissy. You can be too, you don't have to be a Black all your life." Andromeda then let go of Narcissa, and gave her a smile. There was a lot of pain in it, but it was a smile none the less. Andromeda was happy. She reached for Ted's hand, and together they left the house.
It did not seem to matter that the seventeen year old Narcissa had given Andromeda a goodbye. Her father took her mother to the study. Bellatrix took Narcissa upstairs, and brushed her hair, like she had brushed Andromeda's so many times before...
"Cissy, didn't you hear me?!"
Narcissa awoke from the past, to see the intense Bellatrix and Church basement. She had come back to the present. She was once again twenty-one and getting married to Lucius Malfoy. Bellatrix had a look of urgency on her face. The seven embarrassments were something Bellatrix didn't take lightly. She had an unfathomable loathing for them. But why did she feel the need to bring them up now? "Can't we talk about this later, Bella?"
"We have to talk about this now." Bellatrix told her sternly. "I can't believe we didn't discuss this earlier. Cissy, you can never"
"This isn't fair! I never brought them up when you married Rodolphus!" she interrupted.
Bellatrix shook her head. "That was before..." she stopped. Narcissa knew that she was talking about Andromeda.
"Bell," Narcissa looked at her sympathetically, carefully putting her hand on her shoulder. Bellatrix was never one that gave into weakness. In fact, whenever she became upset or unhappy, she hid behind anger and sometimes violence. Narcissa knew she had to be exceptionally careful in times like these. "Why does it matter if that was before?"
"It matters, because she was our sister!" Bellatrix pulled away from her touch. She began to pace back and forth, swinging her arms back and forth. She took her wand out and blasted the mirror Narcissa had used to get ready, with so many jinxes and hexes, that the mirror soon disappeared in a cloud of dust. Narcissa watched from the step, waiting for her sister to calm herself. Finally Bellatrix turned back to Narcissa, her face red and her eyes wild. "I could forget a great-great-great Aunt. I could forget a great-great uncle, mudblood lover. I could forget a great uncle squib. I could forget, a distant cousin Weasley. I could even forget an uncle and cousin, but she was our sister Cissy! It's nearly impossible to forget that."
"Why do we have to, then?" Narcissa asked her. "Wouldn't it be easier to remember her when she was our sister?" She looked up at Bellatrix, who was looking away from her. "Bella, we used to love her."
"You still do." Bellatrix whipped her head back toward her.
"What?"
"I heard what you said to her, before she left."
"Bell, honestly, I was just a kid."
"Good," Bellatrix conjured Narcissa's veil. The veil flew toward them, and landed over Narcissa's head. 'Because you're not a kid anymore, you are a servant of The Dark Lord, and soon to be the wife of Lucius." Bellatrix firmly pulled Narcissa to her feet. A tender smile spread over her wild features. "You have made the Blacks very proud." Bellatrix began to whisper. "But never tell Lucius about The Seven Embarrassments. He would reject you for it. If we knew he had a mudblood-marrying brother we would never let him into our family. The family cares about these matters almost more than we do. Rodolphus forgave me after...she...married the mudblood, but I endured so much torture before he did. I never told you this, but he considered leaving me. You know Lucius would never forgive this, don't you?" Bellatrix stepped back and looked at her earnestly.
"I know." Narcissa nodded meekly, knowing full well how proud Lucius was of his ancestry, and how he had accepted her's. If he knew, her family would loose the fabulous opportunity to be joined with the Malfoys.
"You're a good girl, Cissy." Bellatrix kissed her veiled forehead. "Make us proud." Bellatrix turned went up the stairs. As soon as she got to the top and opened the door, she turned and shouted down to Narcissa. "The procession's starting, are you ready?"
"Almost."
"Hurry."
Narcissa heard the door shut. She was once again alone in more ways than one. She was about to marry a rich and lovely man. Why wasn't she happy? She was a Black. Why wasn't sh satisfied?
She was in love with Severus. She missed Andromeda. Yet, she was going in the opposite direction. She was marrying another man. She was still a Black.
She didn't have to do this, did she? She could just walk away from all of this, couldn't she? The Seven Embarrassments seemed at least happy. She heard that her runaway cousin, Sirius, was living with his best friend. She heard that Andromeda and Ted had a two year old daughter, Nymphadora. She could marry Severus. She could see her sister again.
But Narcissa left the dream behind her. She walked up the stairs to her future. She married Lucius Malfoy.