"Slytherins prize purity, cunning, ambition—
The gaining of power is this House's true mission."
—The Sorting Hat, 1971
• • • • • • • •
The men returned hours later it seemed, long after the strained conversation between Hester, Cressida, and I had ceased. The two girls across from me whispered conspiratorially with each other while I, acutely aware of every hiss and gesture, pretended to either sleep or read. It was not a comfortable ride in any sense of the word, and the men's reappearance was most welcome.
"So were heads rolling?" Lucius murmured in my ear. Despite my annoyance at him for leaving me with those two, I couldn't help but smile at his remark.
"Unfortunately, no. As soon as they started talking, the only life I wanted to end was my own." That raised a chuckle out of him. I don't know why it pleased me so much to hear it.
With the men's return, conversation flowed easily, and I realized that even if most were the heirs of their house, they were also boys who joked around just as much as those who weren't bound by familial obligation to act like miniature adults for most of the time. All of them were quite animated, reciting their exploits over the summer for the entertainment of the others. Once in a while, they would cast furtive glances at Lucius to see if he was enjoying the tale.
It seemed that they sought Lucius' approval by unconscious habit; not unlike the way my father acted around the elder Mr. Malfoy. It was an uncommon talent they had, the Malfoys, of gaining the undying admiration and respect of weaker-willed men.
Before long a whistle signaled the train's approach to Hogsmeade Station, and we quickly changed into our school uniforms. The train came to a gentle stop, and Lucius led me out onto the platform, handing me out of the train with a firm hand on my elbow. Casting a locomotor charm on our trunks, he guided me through the swarm of students on the platform.
"First years!" I heard a voice cry out. "First years this way!" The din of the platform—students talking and laughing; luggage, trunks, and bags crashing onto each other and the floor; screeching of caged owls and mewling of cats—quickly overpowered the voice, and it was lost in the sea of cacophony.
As prefects, Lucius and I were supposed to attempt to organize to the whole affair, at least for our House. Leaving the task up to the others, we simply ignored the chaos and made our way to the carriages waiting patiently outside.
A quartet of third years—Hufflepuffs by the look of their robes—was already at the available carriage. One icy glare from Lucius, however, sent them and their baggage scurrying. As he put me in the carriage, Rabastan magically appeared out for the throng, as well as Hester and Cressida, much to the obvious displeasure of Lucius. They all climbed aboard, and we five made our way to the castle. Arriving there, we left our trunks in the Entrance Hall for the house elves to organize and deliver to our respective dormitories and filed into the Great Hall.
Despite us having left the station quickly in my option, the Hall was already half way full with students. I scanned the Slytherin table and caught the eye of my best friend Audrey Burke. Her eyes lit up in recognition, and she beckoned me to sit next to her. Unfortunately, Lucius still had control of my arm, not having released it as he helped me off the carriage, and I could do nothing but shake my head helplessly at her.
To my horror, Lucius decided to move down the table toward Audrey. Silently, the rest of us followed. I, myself, didn't have a choice. He approached Audrey and the group she was sitting with. "These seats are taken," he informed them.
Audrey and the others opened their mouths to protest, but quickly shut them when they realized whom exactly they were about to address. Without a word, but with many dirty looks cast in our direction, the group grudgingly made way for us to sit down. I felt Audrey's eyes on me, but I kept my head down and avoided her stare.
Over the next few minutes, the rest of the students made their way into the Great Hall. Avery, Wilkes and Crouch found us and clambered over students, benches and a table to take their place next to Lucius. Finally the noise died down as the Sorting Hat was brought out to sing its song and the Sorting of the first years commenced.
"Abbott, Richard!" called out Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher and Deputy Headmistress. A timid, curly-haired boy walked the length of the Great Hall and sat on the stool, the Sorting Hat falling over his head and face down to his elbows.
"Hufflepuff!" the Hat announced quickly, and the Hufflepuff table cheered as the Abbott boy joined their ranks grinning proudly. The Slytherins around me smirked.
"Belby, Michael!"
"Ravenclaw!" At this point, I was already beginning to lose interest in the whole affair and turned back toward the table where Avery and Wilkes were casting charms on their silverware to make them dance. I quickly snapped back to attention when I heard the name, "Black, Sirius!" The other Slytherins looked up in anticipation.
Strutting down the Hall with an easy grin on his face was my younger cousin. It didn't even occur to me that he would be starting Hogwarts this year. The Sorting Hat was placed over his head, and I grimaced in anticipation.
Sirius Black, though bearing the name and dark visage of our ancestors—which was more than I could say for myself—did not think like us. He openly opposed our values and traditions, much to the wrath of Aunt Walburga, whose pride and joy was my even younger cousin Regulus. Sirius was tolerated because he was still the eldest and apparent heir of the main Black line. In short he was a rebellious, trouble-making, prankster who had the makings of a blood traitor.
It was not a surprise to me when after a moment of contemplation, the Sorting Hat announced with a hint of surprise, "Gryffindor!"
A buzz of conversation erupted at the announcement and even the professors looked astonished. I felt more than a few eyes turn to me, and I willed my face not to burn with shame for my cousin. There has never been a Black that wasn't a Slytherin. Even my Mudblood-loving traitor of a former sister had been a Slytherin.
This would not bode well for our family.
• • • • • • • •
Another shock the Slytherins received that night was the loss of the Potter heir. A distant cousin of mine (but then again, who wasn't?) the Potters were wealthy and pureblood. A perfect candidate for Slytherin. When he was Sorted into Gryffindor, it came as quite a disappointment.
"The Potters are gone in the way of blood traitors," I heard Cressida snipe to Hester under her breath. "Just like the Weasleys. People would rather be traitors than remain a Black." The Weasleys were second cousins, once removed.
"A disappointing year," Lucius said, clicking his tongue, watching the huddle group of terrified looking first years. I didn't blame them; they were in for a tough year. Where in other Houses, first years were accepted unquestioningly, the Slytherin House still required that they proved themselves. Some did not live up to the task of being a Slytherin, and it was not unknown to have students drop out of Hogwarts to be either privately tutored, or enter immediately into a trade school to learn how to clean lavatories or some other demeaning task.
Being a Slytherin was not for the faint of heart. And it's the Gryffindors who pride themselves on being courageous, I sneered, when in Slytherin it takes courage and cunning to merely survive the school year. If one had cunning and ambition, one could be courageous as needed and make it through the school year. To be truly successful in Slytherin, however, one must also to be charming and brilliant—gifts that only a few of us possessed. Those select few were probably the ones you would see gracing the compartment of the Primori.
Dumbledore, the dotty Headmaster of Hogwarts, made a short, inane speech that made the entire Gryffindor table reel with laughter. Idiots, all. Then, with a wave of his hand, the food appeared before us and the feasting began.
The Slytherin House made its way down to the common room as the clock struck nine. Sneaking away, I ordered a second year to make a slight detour and owl a letter home for me. Errand accomplished, I made my way through the winding dungeons. The feast may have been over, but the Slytherins were only just beginning our celebration for the new school year.
A few of the younger prefects rounded up the first years to lead them down into the labyrinth like corridors of the Hogwarts dungeons. Left, right, right, left, right, left, or was it right? I couldn't tell anyone, on pain of death, exactly how to get to the Slytherin common room, but after five years my body knew the route by instinct. I imagine that if I had to come back to Hogwarts after years of absence, I would still be able to get to the blank stone wall that slid open to reveal the passageway into the Slytherin House.
Most people believed that the Slytherin House was located underneath the lake, but that wasn't entirely true. The common room jutted directly into the lake, nestled against the cliff wall, and a wide overhang, one hundred feet below the surface. The skylights on the ceiling of the common room allowed some light to shine through from the water, and wavering beams of light danced on the stone floors of the common room.
I always imagined the Slytherin common room to be the grandest of all the other Houses, since Salazar Slytherin was known to demand the best. The long narrow common room was lined with sage-tinted marble columns around which silver snakes were wrapped. Bright green orb-shaped lamps hung from the ceiling on silver chains. Numerous forest-green leather chairs, couches, chaise lounges, and ottomans filled the room, occasionally grouped together around dark wood tables. A huge fire roared beneath an elaborately carved mantle piece. On each side of the fireplace stood a stone basilisk, which guarded the two dormitories. The basilisks would block students from descending into the dormitories of the opposite gender.
Rabastan waved at me from his place by the fireplace, gesturing for me to join him. Having the whole House submerged in water made for a rather chilly common room and the seats by the fireplace were the most coveted. As Primori, we had first rights to any seat we wanted, and these were usually the ones we occupied. Most of the younger students already knew of this unspoken rule and never bothered to try for these seats to begin with.
The others were already seated next to the fireplace when I took my place among them. Lucius slid down to make room for me beside him, thus earning me a nasty look from Cressida. As soon as I sat, loud music began to play. Chairs and couches were pushed against the walls, and tables were soon covered with all sorts of prohibited items.
Handles of firewhiskey, bottles of cheap wine, and flagons of all sorts of alcoholic beverages were loosed from their anti-theft, charm-protected, and invisible hiding places and shared with the group. A more responsible student passed around bottles of butterbeer for the younger crowd. House elves appeared carrying trays of empty goblets and egg-sized glasses, ready to be used; as well as the ever-popular anti-hangover draught to be consumed later before bed.
Lucius poured a generous dollop of firewhiskey into one of the little glasses the elves were passing around, and held it out to me. I hesitated for just a moment before I took the glass from him. He poured himself one, and toasted me, throwing back the shot. I followed suit and felt the clear liquid burn as it went down. My eyes began to water. No wonder they called it firewhiskey, I thought. I held out the glass for him to take, but instead he poured me another. I drank that one too, and my vision began to blur. I dropped the glass, which fell to the carpet and rolled away, unharmed. A goblet was pressed into my hands, which I sipped at as the night wore on.
Soon the common room grew warm with the crush of bodies, despite the chill of the cool August night. Raucous laughter filled the room, as stories and jokes were shared. I saw couples secluded in dark alcoves all along the perimeter of the room, and no one paid them any mind. My cheeks and ears were burning, and I couldn't help but press the coolness of my free hand against them, marveling at the temperature differences. Even Lucius' pale skin was flushed red, and he was laughing more than I'd ever seen him.
My head was growing increasingly heavy, and I laid my face against the cool leather surface of the couch. The green orbs were unusually bright, I noticed, and I felt my eyelids start to close. It was a struggle to keep them open.
I giggled as Rabastan's face floated into view. "Cissy, are you all right?" he asked laughing. "Merlin's beard, Lucius! How much did you give her?"
I heard the frown in Lucius' voice. "Not that much. Two or three shots at the most. Though I don't know who gave her that goblet or what's inside it." He took it from me and sniffed the contents, grimacing.
"That's mine!" I pouted angrily. I hiccuped and slid halfway out of my seat. Confused, I looked down at my body. I was telling it to sit up straight, and it wouldn't obey me. I hiccuped again and landed on the floor.
"We're cutting you off, young lady." Lucius picked me up under the arms and dragged me, quite undignified, up onto the seat. The others laughed. He looked amused now. "Narcissa, was this your first time drinking firewhiskey?"
Guiltily, I nodded and hiccuped again.
Rabastan laughed. "And you're so tiny! No wonder you're sloshed, Ciss."
"I'm not tiny!" I argued. "I'm almost as tall as you!" I tried to stand up to show them, but Lucius held me down gently but firmly.
"Cissa, he simply meant that you're very slender, and your body can't handle alcohol well. Especially since this is your first time drinking hard liquor." When I hiccuped violently once again, and slid half off the seat, Lucius decided it was time for me to go to bed.
Without giving me time to form any protest—not that I could, in my condition—he scooped me up in his arms and marched to the girls' dormitories, stopping in front of the stone basilisks. "Rab, do you mind?" he indicated the statue. Rabastan shot it a simple confundus charm, and it immediately slithered out of the way.
I was vaguely aware of Lucius descending to the second level where the sixth year girls' dormitory was located. I did, however, undeniably hear Audrey's terrified shriek: "You can't be in here!"
"Quiet down, Burke. I have Narcissa. She's had too much to drink. Which bed?" Audrey must have pointed because I didn't hear her response. Lucius deposited me gently into the bed that smelled faintly of my perfume, and I could barely keep my eyes open.
"Accio, draught!" I heard Lucius mutter, and after a few seconds I felt a cold goblet against my lips. "Drink this so you won't feel like death tomorrow." Obediently, I drank. It tasted like mint julep.
"Good night, Cissy dear," I heard Lucius whisper. I thought I felt his lips brush against my forehead, but that could have been the beginning of a dream. I was already asleep by the time he closed the bedcurtains.
A/N: Thank you all for reviewing and for your encouraging comments. On the latest chapter of another fic of mine called "No One But Us," (Draco/Pansy), I've posted a mini-essay based on the Malfoys in the last book of the HP series. However, I advise you don't read it if you haven't read the last book yet, as it contains spoilers. I loved Narcissa in the Book 7... she's so Slytherin! Anyways, I'll see you all next week. Happy reading!