Their sixth year at Hogwarts was like any other year until they received the letters from their parents.
"What's wrong?" Narcissa asked her best friends, seeing the crestfallen expressions on each of their faces.
"Our parents have arranged marriages for us as soon as we graduate," Georgina answered grimly as she put down her letter. "We will be learning who our future husbands are this summer."
Narcissa frowned. Arranged marriages weren't exactly rare in Pureblood society. She and Lucius had been arranged since they were babies. It was rare, however, for arranged marriages to be made when a Pureblood girl was close to being an adult.
"Why now?" Narcissa inquired.
"They didn't say," Nicola spoke, "but I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. My parents have been asking me for several years now if there was any boy that I've been having my eyes on, and I've always told them that most of the Slytherin boys are much too immature for my taste. There's just no proper breeding in them. I guess my parents found that to be an unacceptable response to their inquiry."
Georgina nodded her head at Nicola's words, indicating that her situation was similar.
"Toujours Pur," Narcissa muttered with some degree of bitterness.
Narcissa then glanced over at Flora. Out of her three friends, Narcissa was the most worried about Flora. Georgina and Nicola were both strong-willed, more strong-willed than their parents would prefer. Flora, on the other hand, was sweet, gentle, and soft-spoken. Narcissa could only hope that the man her parents forced her to marry would not take advantage of her docile personality.
Around them, the rest of the Slytherins at their table in the Great Hall were engaged in their own conversations and not paying Narcissa and her friends any mind. Well, the rest of the Slytherins with the exception of Lucius, Regulus, and Severus, all of whom were closely listening to the conversation going on among the four young ladies.
Severus turned his head away so that no one could see his frown. This type of conversation was just another reminder of how he didn't truly fit in with the rest of his Housemates. His mother, despite being a Pureblood witch, had never talked to him about the importance that Purebloods tended to put on arranged marriages. His mother, despite being a Pureblood witch, had married a Muggle.
Severus could feel Lucius giving him a sympathetic look. Unlike most others, Lucius knew that Severus was a Half-Blood. Severus could never forget how Lucius had suddenly appeared in his house during the summer between his first and second year and had then gotten involved in a fight with his father Tobias Snape.
Despite all that, however, Lucius had continued to take Severus under his wing and had continued to show him the respect that he would show any other Pureblood of proper breeding and standing.
Still, though, it always hurt whenever Severus was faced with something that reminded him that he was not the Pureblood that he pretended to be in order to be accepted by the other Slytherins.
"Why couldn't our parents have waited until the summer to tell us this news?" Nicola asked in an annoyed voice. "Don't they know that we still have to take our end-of-term exams and that we don't need this type of distraction?"
"Just be glad they didn't wait to do this until right before it was time for you take to your N.E.W.T.s," Lucius said teasingly, knowing that using humour was typically the best way to raise Nicola's spirits.
"I'm surprised they didn't do that," Nicola grinned back at Lucius, knowing that he had just been trying to make her feel better.
"Do you have any idea of who our future husbands might be, Lucius?" Georgina asked.
Like the rest of the Slytherins, Georgina knew that if you wanted information on anyone and anything, Lucius was the person to go to.
Lucius, however, shook his head. "I'm sorry, Georgina, but I have no idea. I haven't heard any of our Housemates bragging about it or anything like that."
"I suppose that means then that our parents intend to marry us off to older men," Georgina said in a disgusted voice. "If we were to marry one of our Housemates, they most likely would have bragged about it by now."
"That could be likely," Lucius remarked. "I know that there are several older Pureblood men whom have not yet married."
"I just hope they're not that much older than me," Nicola muttered. "I don't want to marry someone old enough to be my father or even worse someone old enough to be my grandfather."
Flora's face went very pale at those words.
"Oh, Flora, I'm sorry," Nicola spoke quickly. "I didn't meant to upset you."
Regulus also gave Flora a sympathetic, worried look.
Narcissa couldn't help thinking that it was a shame that Regulus was so much younger than Flora, especially considering that it was a rarity for a Pureblood male to be older than his Pureblood wife (Orion and Walburga Black were one of those few rarities, and even with them the age difference wasn't that huge), because Narcissa truly believed that her cousin and her friend would be perfect for each other. Their personalities were so similar, and Narcissa knew that each would treat the other with respect.
Narcissa could only hope that Flora's parents had set her up with a Pureblood man that had good breeding and knew how to treat a Pureblood lady properly.
"Well, there's point worrying about any of this until summertime," Georgina said suddenly. "We need to concentrate on our studies. Whoever I end up being married to, I'm not going to allow them to have the advantage of being so much smarter than me."
Nicola nodded her head in agreement.
Flora, who was still pale, also gave a slight nod of her head.
"You should eat something, Flora," Regulus suggested in a kind voice. "Food always makes me feel better."
Flora smiled slightly at Regulus.
Yes, they would definitely be perfect for each other, Narcissa thought with a combination of fondness and sadness.
Narcissa then glanced over at Georgina and Nicola. Despite their strong, annoyed facades, Narcissa knew that there were just as worried as Flora was about who they were going to be arranged to marry.
Narcissa was proud to be a Pureblood, but it was at times like these that she wished their society was different.
Narcissa felt Lucius's eyes on her. She knew that she had been fortunate to be paired with Lucius, who had always treated her with respect and as an equal.
It also had not hurt that she and Lucius had been friends long before they had started to have any romantic feelings toward each other.
Narcissa could only hope that Flora, Georgina, and Nicola would have similar fortune in their future husbands.
Author's Note: Even though Harry Potter Wiki has Cygnus Black still being a child when his first daughter Bellatrix was born, Harry Potter Wiki also stated that Rowling has admitted that math isn't her strongest point. Therefore, it is possible that a mistake was made in Cygnus's age. Also, since I see Pureblood society as being very traditional, I can't image a male Pureblood becoming a father when he is still a child himself. My Cygnus, therefore, is older than what Harry Potter Wiki states, even though I do picture him as being around Druella's age. In most cases, I don't see a Pureblood male being younger than his Pureblood wife, even though there is an exception when it comes to Orion and Walburga Black, with Walburga being a few years older than Orion. However, they were both born Blacks, so perhaps their parents just wanted Black blood to stick with other Black blood. In my headcanon, though, something like that happening is a very rare occasion; so the likelihood of Regulus ever being engaged to Flora (who is Narcissa's age in my headcanon) isn't high.I try to follow canon as much as possible, but I just had to make an exception with this. Hopefully that doesn't bother anyone too much.
Additional Author's Note: For the full story of Lucius's visit to Severus's house, see my story "Different Worlds But Not So Different People."