Chapter 3: Besmirching is a sin
His eyes burned with fury.
"You have disgraced our family! Besmirched our name! You are an absolute shame to the pureblood race! Contumelious—wretched—such insolence—Tinker! Mathilde!"
Two terrified house-elves appeared with a barely audible crack; as if magic itself couldn't dare to disrupt the silence created by the mighty Cygnus Black.
"Yes, master?" the two chorused, their voices hushed and fearful.
Cygnus slapped his daughter, and then turned away from her, trembling with ire.
"Get her out of my sight. NOW!" he bellowed, and the house elves, shaking with terror, grabbed the youngest of the Black sisters and disappeared with yet another subdued crack.
"She doesn't know what she's doing, Cygnus. She's in that age of great changes; we have to guide her, show her how she's sinned," consoled Druella Black, emerging from the shadows cast by a navy curtain that separated the candle-lit room from the harsh, bitterly cold forest outside the window.
"Be quiet Druella! She may well be sixteen now, but in two days time she'll be of age and once she finishes school she'll marry Malfoy. What then? She is a disgrace to our name; she has stained our honour with her shameless acts of ignorance. This propensity to perform in such a brazen manner has to stop!"
Cygnus' fists shook with the pique he felt. His wife walked across the dimly lit room, through the labyrinth of leather settees and low coffee tables to where he was standing. Druella softly caressed his cheek and kissed his ear.
"Everything will be all right, darling… everything will be all right."
"Everything will be all right, darling… everything will be all right," solaced Andromeda, gently stroking her younger sisters tow-coloured curls.
"Pfft!" cheeked Bellatrix, "I don't know why you even talk to her, Andromeda. She's no more than filth! We've always told her to keep away from those gold-digging halfwits. But no, Little Miss Smarty-Pants Cissy has to go and fall in love with one of those oafs!"
"Hold your tongue, Bella," scolded Andromeda over the sobs of her sister, "if you don't have anything nice to say, then clear out!"
The eldest stuck out her tongue at Andromeda.
"You really are a lummox, consoling Cissy like that. If you don't take care, you'll be the next one to elope with some muggle. Hah! I'm the only pure one here… I have never felt the teeniest bit of attraction to anyone below my place. You two will learn one day, but I will not be the one to teach you. I'm going to Ellabeth's. At least I'll have someone decent to talk to."
And with that, Bellatrix disappeared with a crack.
"What you've done, Narcissa, is appalling. Not only have you created a bond with a muggle, but you have also dared to love him as if he were worthy of you. This is scandalous behaviour, and your father and I will not stand for it!"
Narcissa sobbed into her pillow.
"But now, my daughter. I know that the past is gone and cannot be changed. Instead, together, we shall have to forge a prosperous future for you. It will not be easy, because there are many ideals that one cannot force upon such delicate minds, but I promise you that you will get what you deserve. Glass of water?"
The young witch raised her head from the pillow and nodded at her mother, who was shocked by the state of her daughter's face.
Narcissa's normally gleaming eyes were a matte white, without a spark of hope in them. Her pearly orbs were surrounded by waves of scarlet marks, which showed the forlorn pain her heart was decaying with.
"Here you go, darling," smiled Druella, offering the young Black a golden goblet encrusted with the Black family crest. " Now, listen to me."
"Yes, mother?" piped up Narcissa, gulping down the water in one sip and placing the goblet alongside a tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice on the small wooden table that resided beside her bed.
"You must forget about that Maxwell Coppervalley as soon as possible, and try your best to obey both your father and I. It is of utmost importance that you regain your father's confidence. Remember, my sweet, that soon you will be wedding the grand Lucius Malfoy."
At this statement, Narcissa started to cry yet again, but her mother consoled her, embracing the slim body that was once only a teensy child.
"He will be a very good husband, my angel. He is respectable, smart, and rich. No doubt that you will have one or two children, and they will be as charming as the two of you. You will be very happy with him."
"But I don't love him!" Narcissa sobbed, "It isn't fair. I shouldn't have to marry a man I shall never love."
Druella chuckled.
"Love does not bring happiness, my treasure. Love is but passion, and passion only brings pain. And while you may feel invincible when your beloved is by your side, when he is not you will feel your frail heart shatter into a million pieces that only his return shall be able to splice together again."
Narcissa looked up at the melancholy expression on her mother's face.
"Do you love father?"
Druella looked away.
"No."
"Have you ever loved a man?"
Cygnus' wife stood up, and walked over to the window, and pulled back the scarlet drapes that kept her from admiring the dell that had been bathed in white by the falling of snowflakes
"Yes, I have."
Hope you enjoyed that, Dramione will be back, don't worry! :) And we will see more of Narcissa's flashbacks too. Please review!