"Of the powerful and influential magical families in Europe present during the time of the great Michel de Nostredame, only a small handful remain…. The most notable among them being the House of Black… The Potters, the House of Lestrange… And the House of Malfoy, who crossed over to England from France in the late 9th century."
—Magical Pedigree At the Turn of the Century, 1901
• • • • • • • •
The train whistled sharply of its impeding departure, and I couldn't help but grimace at its shrill cry. Even after five years of train rides, I hadn't become accustomed to it. I wouldn't need to after two more years in any case.
"Topsy, see that Miss Narcissa's trunk is safely on board," Mother told one of the house elves. "Give Mummy a kiss goodbye, Cissy dear." She presented me with a lightly lined face, which I obligingly kissed.
"Goodbye, Mother," I said dutifully, but she had already waved me away.
"Have a good term, dear. Come now, Bella, or we'll be late of Mrs. Malfoy's luncheon." She flounced away in a whirlwind of velvet and fur, leaving a dreamy-eyed Bella behind.
Bellatrix, who accompanied us as an excuse to show off her engagement ring to her former classmates rather than to see me off, quickly snapped out of her reverie and gave me a quick kiss farewell. "Be good," she told me, winking suggestively.
"You're filthy!" I replied, laughing. She blew me another kiss and skipped off after Mother, her distinctive giggles bouncing off the station walls.
"Cissy dear, is it?" a smooth voice said into my ear. I whirled around; half drawing my wand, before I realized whom the voice belonged to.
"Malfoy," I hissed.
He bowed elegantly. "Miss Black," he murmured. "May I escort you onto the train before it leaves without us?" I looked around and saw that the platform was almost completely deserted and took his proffered hand without thinking. Swiftly, he handed me into the car and jumped up himself right before the train started for Hogwarts.
Once on the train, I attempted to take back my hand, but Lucius still held it in his, an odd expression on his face. "Where's your ring?" I hadn't noticed I had given him my left hand, and I cursed silently for my thoughtlessness.
The Malfoy engagement ring he had given me after the betrothal ceremony was just as impressive has Bella's, if not more. I had felt wrong wearing it, as though I was an imposter and had deprived the real Malfoy bride her finery. Lucius had insisted—commanded, really—that I wear it, so I couldn't just chuck it into a safety box somewhere and forget about the damn thing.
Instead of wearing the ring on my finger, however, I wore it on a long gold chain around my neck, whispering a safety charm so it wouldn't break and be lost. It hung heavy between my breasts, thumping against my chest when I walked. It served as a constant reminder of who I belonged to now.
Wordlessly, I pulled out the chain and showed him.
"Did you charm it?"
I gave him a disgusted look. Did he think I was a child? "Of course. Protective charms on the ring and chain. I'm not going to lose it."
"Why aren't you wearing it on your finger?" His face had lost that odd, strained expression, and now he simply looked curious.
I shrugged, looking away from him. "I'm not Bella," I said, as if that explained everything. Strangely enough, the answer was sufficient for him, and he let the topic go looking somewhat mollified.
Lucius did not release my hand after that confrontation, as I thought he would, but instead led me down the length of the car. "I hope you don't mind," he said over his shoulder, "but I had the house elf bring your trunk to my compartment." His tone made it perfectly clear that he didn't care a jot whether I minded or not.
The childish part of me was astounded and somewhat exhilarated by his attention and the brazen way he took command of me. It was the type of thing I fantasized about as a little girl. The more mature, reasonable me—the side I usually agreed with—was incensed that he was leading me about, not considering my feelings or if I had my own friends that I wanted to sit with.
Still, it was quite gratifying to see curious and jealous faces peering into the corridor from the various compartments. It was like being a celebrity. I wondered what they were thinking as they watched the infamous and desirable Lucius Malfoy walk down half the train (or so it seemed to me) with the unattainable and equally desirable Narcissa Black. The attention was intoxicating.
I was hard-pressed not to grin like an idiot.
At last we came to our compartment, and I felt the unfamiliar thrill of apprehension shoot through my body. It was only at that exact moment did I realize just who would be sitting within the magically opaque windows. This was the compartment reserved solely for the eldest of each great Wizarding house. It was Slytherin's innermost circle: the students who ran every aspect of the Slytherin House—the Primori.
The Wizarding community, though ranging the globe, does not command the vast numbers the Muggles do. In Britain, the Muggles number—dreadfully—into the millions. We number only in the thousands. Thus, the upper crust of Wizarding society know each other by name, if not by face; and the scions of each of the greatest Wizarding families usually found themselves in the House of Slytherin with only a few notable exceptions. It was inescapable, really, that the Primori or some other type of elitism would form.
Salazar Slytherin himself secretly established the Primori in the years before his departure from Hogwarts. Within the bowels of Hogwarts Castle, he covertly mentored a group of the purest and most promising to continue his beliefs of blood sanctity. This group was so secretive that even centuries after its founding, the only chance one had of possibly hearing of the Primori was if one was in Slytherin, and even then, it was never permissible to openly talk of their existence. Indeed, if you weren't a member of the Primori there was no reason to; and if you were one of the Primori there was no need to.
The Primori's power with the Slytherin House was absolute and all-encompassing. No House decisions, trivial or major, ever occurred without their approval, from deciding who played on the House Quidditch team or deciding the proper punishment for the numerous unwritten rules of Slytherin. Had Andromeda stayed in school, she would have been judged by the Primori—and judged harshly. She would most likely have suffered a student-imposed exile; she would still live within the Slytherin House—it was required, students could not be re-Sorted—but she would not be part of it in anyway. Blood treason demanded no less.
Blood purity was the dominant factor in membership; apart from that, if you were sufficiently wealthy, clever and attractive, one of the eight seats would be reserved for you. There never was a formal initiation either. If you fit the criteria, during your sixth or seventh year—as availability permits—you would suddenly find yourself in the compartment with the seven other members.
Some families, like the Malfoys, would have a seat reserved for them that was passed down from generation to generation. The Blacks, noble and pure, always had a seat within the Primori. There were instances in the past where a sitting member of the Primori would be ousted to make room for a more prominent heir that came of age to take the seat. Bellatrix was the most recent example of this. When she became a sixth year, she had usurped seventh year Nathaniel Borgin who barely qualified to begin with.
In past generations, there had been as many as three Blacks seated simultaneously during a two year period. And now, with Bellatrix's graduation and Andromeda's disgrace, the Black seat had fallen to me.
The men stood at my entrance, in keeping with the old tradition of assumed chivalry. I felt Lucius' hand at the small of my back. "Narcissa, this is Tom Avery, Barty Crouch," he introduced them, and they each bowed slightly in turn. "You know Rabastan Lestrange"—my future brother-in-law came forward grinning and gave me a kiss on the cheek—"and Evan Rosier"—a cousin on my mother's side—"And Hester Bulstrode and Cressida Yaxley." I nodded to them all, smiling politely. "Everyone, this is Narcissa Black." He turned to me, not quite smiling. "My fiancée."
I heard breaths being drawn through teeth at this pronouncement, but each face was still impassive though the tension in the room became decidedly thicker. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw more than a couple pairs of nervous eyes dart quickly to Cressida, whose beautiful smile seemed plastered on her face.
Poor girl, she must have been Lucius' latest dalliance. Perhaps she thought now that Andromeda was a social pariah, she would rocket to the top of his marriageable list. I couldn't help the smirk that I felt blossom on my lips. Guess again, Cressida.
I could tell from the carefully masked faces of the others in the compartment that my induction into the Primori was not insignificant. I had caused major political shifts. Even though I was younger than most of the other members—only Rabastan was my age—I was also engaged to their de facto leader. Unwittingly, I became their alpha female, a role Cressida Yaxley had probably claimed for herself in the two years since Bellatrix vacated the position.
"If you'll excuse me, ladies…" Lucius raise my hand to his lips, lingering there. He was either oblivious that he deposited me in a hostile environment, or he didn't care. I guessed it was the latter. "We men have business to attend to." He nodded to Hester and Cressida and swept from the compartment. Avery, Crouch, Rabastan, and Rosier filed out after him, each giving me an apologetic nod. I sat down across from the two frigid girls who linked their arms together as if in defense.
Cressida and Hester were both seventh years, so I didn't know them that well. We knew each other by reputation, of course, and being a part of Lucius Malfoy's set, albeit until this year—this very day, really—I was only on the fringes of it.
"They never tell us what they do," Cressida sniffed before I could even ask her. She had seen my gaze lingering on the now closed door, and assumed that my look was of curiosity rather than the wish to go with them. "You can assume that whatever business they're up to isn't Primori business."
"They have these meetings often then?" I asked, grateful for something to talk about that didn't directly involve my engagement to Lucius.
Cressida shrugged delicately. "Often enough," she answered vaguely.
"I've heard them whispering in darkened corners," Hester added mysteriously. "They say that even as we speak, a powerful wizard is gathering followers."
I had heard this rumor, too. Over the past year, I've been hearing snippets of conversations about a great wizard who supported the Principle and, unlike the many who have come before him, was also willing to take decisive action.
"Are they thinking of joining him?" I asked, trying to appear nonchalant. They looked at each other and shook their heads. I didn't know if they couldn't tell me, or wouldn't tell me. "Is it only men at those meetings?" I tried again.
"When she was with us, Bellatrix also attended the meetings," Hester replied, shrugging. She narrowed her eyes at me. "How long have you been engaged to Lucius Malfoy?"
I knew this line of questioning was inevitable. "Barely a week," I told them truthfully. I saw no point hiding it from them, though I was loath to make it public knowledge.
Cressida glared at me—the first sign of aggression I saw in her. "And is it true your sister Andromeda—!"
I cut her off coldly. "You must be mistaken. I have no sister by that name."
They both nodded gravely and let the matter rest, satisfied with my answer. Each of us knew that their own families would have responded to such blood treason in the exact same manner.
Stupid, stupid Andy. She would have been here instead of me, finishing her last year at Hogwarts had she not runaway. Yet, even if she had come back to school, she would never be accepted by her fellow Slytherins now that she had been disowned—a blood traitor. She was lower than a Mudblood because she knew better. I pushed the painful thought away, and turned the conversation to more mundane topics.
At eleven-thirty I had a brief respite from the two girls when I left the compartment to meet the Head Boy and Girl with the other Slytherin prefects. I was almost late to the meeting and received glares from the other students. We were missing one girl and with a pang, I suddenly remembered why; everywhere I went I was reminded of Andromeda. I noticed that Lucius and Rabastan were already seated. Rabastan gave me a friendly grin, but Lucius merely nodded at me.
The meeting was brief; they simply told us to watch out for our Housemates, and make sure that people were getting off the train in an orderly fashion and into the carriages or boats, as needed. It was the same set of instructions I had heard the year previous, and would probably hear again next year. Then a slip of paper was passed around bearing the password for the common room.
I glanced briefly at the slip before passing it along. Whoever came up with the passwords were not very imaginative. It seemed that every year, the password rotates between "tradition," "purity," "blood sanctity," "ancestry," or "pureblood." This month it was "purity."
We were dismissed from the meeting, and I dragged my feet back to the compartment where Cressida and Hester waited. The meeting had barely lasted half an hour, and I didn't enjoy the prospect of sitting alone with those two for the rest of the seven-hour ride to Hogwarts.
Waiting outside the door, I took a deep breath to try in an attempt to brace myself against them for the next few hours. Suddenly Lucius' silky voice beside me whispered, "Experts agree that the best way to defeat gorgons is to avoid eye contact, quickly severing the heads from their bodies."
I laughed at this advice, but when I turned to thank him, he was already gone.
A/N: Thanks for reading and advanced thanks for reviewing! Did everyone get a chance to read Deathly Hallows yet? It was amazing and heartbreakingly sweet. No more shall be said of it. I only brought it up to reassure my readers that my future chapters won't spoil DH for you if you haven't yet read it. And you wonder how I could put DH spoilers in a Narcissa/Lucius fic? Oh, it can be done. I'm just not that cruel. Anyway, our next chapter takes us to Hogwarts! As indicated by the schedule, the next chapter should be up next Friday. I've already written the next three chapters, so I will be keeping up with the deadline of posting once a week. Happy reading, all!