Chapter 1: Pardon My French
Briar looked around the crowed room, her palms were damp, and her heart raced in her chest, she never really liked crowds the noise was too loud and there was always one person who wore too much cologne that would make her nose itch and burn. Her mother walked behind her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"It's too loud." Briar winced as a red-haired family tromped through the Leaky Cauldron. Emilia smiled gently at her daughter and placed a kiss to her temple.
"Ne t'inquiète pas mon amour les effets de la lune vont bientôt passer." Emilia whispered in her daughters' ear.
The girl nodded and sighed. "Doesn't make it any easier."
The side of Emilia's mouth turned up and she tucked a wild curl behind Briar's ear, not that it managed to make her daughter's hair look any less untamed, but the action calmed Briar slightly.
"Emilia I'm glad you could make it." A graceful woman with white blonde hair and stormy grey eyes walked towards the mother and daughter who stood off to the side away from the crowd.
A warm smiled appeared on Emilia's face. "It has been too long Cissa." The two grasped hands tightly as Briar watched as the pair seemed to converse silently. Cissa nodded and turned her attention on Briar.
"Well Mademoiselle Briar Rose, you have most certainly grown." Narcissa Malfoy said, her lips were upturned in an approving smile as she studied Briar.
"Thank you, Lady Malfoy." Briar looked down at her feet as her cheeks began heating up. Narcissa placed a finger under her chin a lifted Briar's face up making the girl stand straighter and more alert.
"There now, pretty girls deserve to have their faces seen." Briar blushed once again at Narcissa's compliment. "Now, come. I reserved a table in the back for us. We shouldn't be bothered there." Narcissa led the way to a small table in the back of the run-down tavern.
The room that held the table was small, it had once been rented out for customers, but most didn't like the size, nor did they enjoy being so close to the kitchen; the room was now used for guest who wanted to dine in privacy. Briar was thankful for Narcissa's quick thinking.
A tiny house elf appeared just as they too their seats, "My names is Tingle and I will bes serving yous. What can Tingle makes for yous?" The tiny elf squeaked out excitedly.
Emilia and Narcissa were not particularly hungry, ordered tomato soup while Briar was ravenous ordered Shepard's Pie, with a large slice of chocolate cake.
Emilia chuckled as Tingle looked at Briar in shock but soon the shock was over and the excitement began. Tingle popped away quickly, but not before making sure the table had a picture of water and three glasses filled to the brim.
"I do believe love, that you made her night." Emilia hummed out while Narcissa grinned.
It didn't take long for their food to be prepared and Briar was quick to dig into her hearty portion of food while Narcissa and Emilia were busy catching up.
Briar smiled softly as she chewed; Her mother and Narcissa were good friends in school, six months after Briar's second birthday Emilia moved them to France; from what Briar understood, Narcissa was related to one of her fathers. Narcissa was also one of the only people who knew both of her father's identities and that her mother and fathers were a triad.
Triad's were incredibly rare and dangerous, from the little her mother told her about triads, it all depended on magic. "Usually those who find themselves in a Triad can already feel the magic pulsating and pushing them to each other…At least that's how it was for your father's and I." Emilia's words echoed in her mind.
Briar half listened to her mother and Narcissa speak, knowing that they were most likely retelling stories from their youth; Briar was more interested in analyzing the pair.
Narcissa was like fine wine subtle and supple. A polished woman of society; most would call her vain, entitled and stuffy. Briar saw Narcissa as smart and cunning; Most would assume her husband single handedly ran the Malfoy empire, but Briar was observant enough to know that was not the case, the aristocratic woman in front of her was too intelligent to be ignored and Lucius for all his faults had some sense to use his wife's brilliance to the family's advantage.
Of course, no one knew that Narcissa had a hand in business and didn't mind playing the part of picture-perfect pureblood wife.
Briar had come to greatly admire the woman.
Her mother was slightly different then Narcissa.
If Narcissa was a fine wine, then Emilia was an antique jewel.
Emilia like Narcissa was too smart for her own good, attentive with a vast assortment of knowledge; but Emilia was bold; She was all to pleased to show her intellectual capacities and not afraid to intimidate someone with her own brand of brilliance. She made her own fortune as a Healer, specializing in curses, she had published many different papers on her findings one of which being a better cure for Dragon Pox, not that many hospitals used it, preferring to stick to the modernized techniques of Albus Dumbledore.
"Misogynistic lot." Emilia once said.
Briar decided as a child that she would one day grow up to be like her mother and Narcissa, she would be graceful, clever and cunning. She could only hope to be as beautiful as them, but she would gladly settle for their intelligence.
"Aurora." Emilia called out to her daughter trying to get her attention.
Briar winced at the use of her first named. "Maman, tu as promis de ne pas m'appeler comme ça, surtout en public." Briar's cheeks turned red along with the bridge of her nose.
Emilia gave a cheeky grin, "Why not, it is what I named you. Aurora Briar Rose." Narcissa smirked at the prissy sounding name, Briar flushed even more.
"Mum, most children are not stuck with a list as their name." Briar said while shoving a forkful of her cake into her mouth, and Emilia chuckled.
"To be fair I like your name." The matter of fact tone made Briar sigh.
Narcissa smiled softly at them, a faraway look in her eyes as she looked at Briar. Narcissa sighed and Emilia placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Narcissa nodded, "I have just missed you. Both of you, you're my family…At least the only family who wants anything to do with me." Emilia squeezed her friends shoulder once again. The trio sat in silence for a few moments until a knock sounded on the door of their room.
"You may enter." Narcissa said.
A man who was dressed nicely in a suit and a long brown trench coat entered the room, he had large blue eyes and styled brown hair. He wore a stern expression like a suit of armor, although Briar believed if his expression tensed any more then his eyes would pop out of his head. He stared at Narcissa who gave him a neutral glance.
"May I help you?" Narcissa questioned smoothly.
The man cleared his throat, "May I speak to you in private Lady Malfoy?"
Narcissa inclined her head to the side slightly and smirked, "I would prefer to speak here if that is alright with you, Mr. Dawlish."
"Lady-"
"Comment apprécies-tu la soupe ici?" Emilia asked Briar. Mr. Dawlish looked at Emilia in masked confusion.
"La soupe est bonne mais je préfère la tarte au berger. Le temps est beau, légèrement plus frais que la France mais adorable." Briar said quickly to her mother as Mr. Dawlish relaxed his posture.
"I think it's will be fine to speak here, Mr. Dawlish." Narcissa pressed once more as she took a sip of water.
"They don-" Mr. Dawlish began, wishing for some type of reassurance.
Narcissa gave a coy smile, "They are from France. Emilia is a good friend of mine and Briar is her daughter, she attended Beauxbatons this past term."
Emilia and Briar turned to Narcissa as soon as she spoke their names, "Ne vous inquiétez pas, Mr. Dawlish peut être un bon Auror mais il n'est pas le plus brillant." A charming smile on her face as she nodded to Mr. Dawlish.
Mr. Dawlish turned pink around his ears and cleared his throat, "Lady Malfoy, I am here to warn you about Sirius Black. The Ministry wants everyone who has ever been associated with or has ever encountered Black to be alerted. We know that he's your cousin and Lord Malfoy informed us that you and Black were estranged but we wanted you to be prepared. Black is a desperate man, and desperate men are dangerous men."
Narcissa glanced briefly at Emilia who paused for a moment and went back to whispering in French to Briar.
"Well, I will be certain to be extra cautious then, Mr. Dawlish, thank you for your time." Narcissa said politely dismissing the Auror. Mr. Dawlish was still slightly flushed and Narcissa believed that the man still harbored a crush on her from their time at Hogwarts.
The man nodded and walked away, when he was out of earshot Narcissa turned her attention onto Emilia. "Are you okay?"
Emilia nodded, her long blonde curls bounced slightly, "As okay as I can be…Does anyone know what he's after."
Narcissa sighed, "From what I hear, they're not certain. Aurors heard him talking in his sleep."
Emilia arched a manicured eyebrow, "What was he saying?"
Narcissa grimaced, "He's at Hogwarts."
Emilia closed her eyes and sighed deeply, "Harry."
"That's what they believe."
Briar who was silently digesting the information noticed the doubt in Narcissa's voice. "What they believe, as in you don't?"
Narcissa looked down at the table, not wanting to meet her friend and surrogate niece's eyes, "What I believe doesn't matter in this case." The bitterness was barely hidden in her voice.
"Cissa, what do you know?" Emilia's voice held a steeliness that Briar had only heard a handful of times.
Narcissa raised her head making sure to meet Emilia's eyes and took Briar's hand in her right and Emilia's hand in her left, in that moment she was no longer Narcissa Malfoy Pureblood wife but Tantine Cissa, "I honestly know nothing, I wasn't there when he was arrested nor was Lucius…He sent Lucius to the ministry that night. Something important needed to be kept safe in the Lestrange vault, " Narcissa shook her head, "I don't know. But I'm thankful he did. My husband is a lot of things but a sadist he is not. Could barely help me when Draco would injure himself."
"Couldn't stand blood?" Briar wondered.
Narcissa rolled her eyes, "More like cried more than Draco when Draco would scrape a knee."
Emilia smiled, "Always had a dramatic flair."
Cissa smiled briefly before grief once again took over her face, "I don't know if Sirius did what he has been accused of but, I know this. There was no trial…and the three of you were his whole world. Not to mention Sirius and Potter were like brothers. I don't think Sirius would have been capable of betraying any of you he just never seemed to have the capacity to murder twelve muggles and Peter Pettigrew one of his dearest friends with one spell." Narcissa sighed her grip tightened slight on their hands.
"Sirius was powerful and proud but…Something just wasn't right." Cissa paused, "Something isn't right."
Emilia sighed, "I know." She looked at Briar's confused expression. "I never fully believed he was guilty. He'd disappear and was secretive, but we had Briar and Remus was trying to recruit werewolves. It was war….And war changes people, but Sirius and Remus both…they were my soulmates. We were bonded. There was always a line with us…trust that I didn't think could ever be broken. Sirius he is a piece of me."
"If you didn't believe Sirius was guilty, why didn't you say something Mum?" Briar tried to push back tears only to have one fall down her cheek.
Emilia leaned over and brushed the tear away with her thumb, "I wasn't sure my love. Remus and Sirius had gotten into an argument the night before and Sirius was hiding something from us. I was able to ignore that fact. Remus was more suspicious. Plus, I had you and at the time there were quite a bit of deatheaters looking for revenge in any way they could get it. I couldn't risk it. I couldn't risk you."
Emilia looked at Cissa, "He left that night. Was gone for a week, I had no idea where he was or what he was doing. I don't know what was said between he and Remus but from what I gather it wasn't pretty. After that week, Sirius was arrested, and Remus and I were trying to piece ourselves back together." Emilia gave a tight smile.
"Sometimes, things don't work out the way you'd hope." Narcissa patted her friend's hand in show of her support while Briar tried to ignore the numbness she felt.
Narcissa was the first to break the silence as she glanced at Briar's empty plates, "I can't believe you ate all of that food."
AN: So there will be some French in this I will translate it all at the bottom, also I used Google Translate so if the translations so the translations may be sub-par.
Do not worry my love the effects of the moon will soon pass
Mom, you promised not to call me that, especially in public
How do you like the soup here
The soup is good but I prefer the Shepard's pie. The weather is nice, slightly cooler than France but lovely
Do not worry, Mr. Dawlish may be a good Auror but he is not the brightest
Auntie