Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Written for; Hogwarts Assignment 3; Gardening Task 2 : Write about someone losing hope.

Other Challenges listed at the bottom.

Beta'd by my Salt-Pot

Word Count - 1159

A Doused Flame

She can still remember the champagne coloured robes she wore the first time she met Lucius outside of school. She was 15, and she'd already known him to be handsome, but that was the night she leaned how charming he could be.

He twirled her around the dancefloor, his eyes twinkling, his smile wide, and he made her feel like a princess.

That had been the moment that she knew she'd met her Prince Charming. That had been the moment she thought she'd started along the path to her 'Happily Ever After.'

He'd been bold in his advances following that, making it clear that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to have her close, to have her hand and her heart for his own. She'd gladly accepted.

Looking back, those first years of marriage were the happiest time of Narcissa's life. Lucius was a loving husband; he adored her and he made her feel special.

As though he was blessed to have her by his side.

Narcissa hadn't realised, the night he come home chattering, nervous yet excited, about The Dark Lord. Lucius believed in this man, this Lord, and Narcissa wished to support her husband, and so she held her silence.

When Lucius returned with an ugly tattoo marring his once pale, perfect forearm, she held her silence.

When he cried into her shoulder, the guilt of his first torture eating him up from the inside, she held her silence.

Now she wonders if, all those years ago, had she not held her silence, they would not be in such a mess now.

…

"Narcissa?"

She could hear him calling for her, but she ignored him, continuing her gentle rocking in the nursery chair, Draco held in her arms.

Lucius burst into the nursery a few moments later, his eyes crazed, his hair messy and looking rather unkempt. She glared at him when he opened his mouth, her eyes warning retribution if he woke their son with his dramatics.

This was supposed to be a happy time in their lives, and yet, as Lucius sunk further and further into the Dark Lord's web, Narcissa had begun losing hope that life would ever return to normality.

Placing Draco carefully into his crib, Narcissa pressed a kiss to his head and gestured Lucius to lead her from the nursery.

"What on earth is the matter with you?" she demanded. "And why do you look so…"

"The Dark Lord… he…"

"What, Lucius? The Dark Lord what?"

"He's gone."

…

After that evening in the nursery, when Lucius had given her the news, Narcissa wondered if things would return to the way she had imagined them. She wondered if this would derail their paths back to the one she'd hoped for.

An impossible dream, as Lucius was almost immediately arrested under the suspicion that he'd been involved with The Dark Lord.

...

"Cleared," Lucius declared, stepping through the doors to the entrance hall of the Manor. "Of all charges."

"Oh, thank Merlin," Narcissa gasped quietly, wrapping her arms around his waist as his settled around her, rubbing her back comfortingly.

He nuzzled his face against her neck, and she could feel him inhaling deeply.

"I owe you many apologies, my dear Narcissa," he murmured against her skin. "I can only hope you'll allow me the chance to make my mistakes up to you. I'll buy you the finest jewels." His lips caressed her cheek as he looked up to meet her. "Take you on the most relaxing vacations. I'll shower you with all the love you deserve."

She pressed her lips to his. "Make it up to me by allowing our lives to return to how they were supposed to be," she whispered, her lips brushing his with the movement. "Make it up to me by being happy with me."

…

Life had returned to an echo of the years before the Dark Lord. Lucius was once more the attentive, loving husband she remembered. And yet, there was something… something false about it.

Something fake.

It was as though the Dark Lord had left something behind in Lucius, something sinister and dark, something that made his charm seem more sinister, that made the twinkle in his eyes foreboding.

Narcissa had hope that with time, it would stop. It would return to normal. Lucius would return to normal.

…

"I… Narcissa?"

She glanced up from her book, only to find Lucius staring with something akin to horror at his forearm.

"It's burning," Lucius gasped. "He's… he's really back. He's… calling."

Heart sinking, Narcissa closed her book and left it on the arm of his chair before crossing the room. He stood up to meet her, and she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"You should go. Keeping him waiting is not a good idea."

Narcissa was left alone in the lounge, staring at the fireplace.

She didn't even know if her husband would return home. The Dark Lord was not known for his mercy.

…

The second war, though held more privately, was more vicious than the first in Narcissa's eyes. It was strategy, and violent, and cold.

It only got worse when Lucius was arrested. Narcissa was left alone in the manor, missing him and cursing him in equal measure for getting them into the situation they were in.

The next time she saw him, her hope was doused to the smallest of flames, because this was not her husband, and she had no idea how to fix him. That Bellatrix came with him, and the Dark Lord not long behind, did little to help that fire burn brighter.

Narcissa thought that perhaps, this time, the deviation from the path of 'Happily Ever After' was too much to overcome.

…

There were footsteps coming towards them.

"You stole me life from me."

Her words were quiet, but that didn't stop him from flinching as though they had impacted him physically.

"You gave me the best thing. You gave me Draco, but the rest… you stole my youth, my heart, my chance at happiness."

The footsteps were getting closer, and there was no pretending that they didn't belong to who Narcissa knew them to be.

As the Auror's entered the room.

A tear slid down Lucius' gaunt face as he was cuffed, not bothering to fight what would be just another losing battle.

"You stole my hope from me," Narcissa added. She crossed the room, and, eyeing the Auror closest carefully, Narcissa leant in and kissed Lucius one last time. "I love you. But I'll always hate you for that."

...

Hope lost, Narcissa could only stare out of the bedroom window onto the lonely grounds of Malfoy Manor.

Draco had his own family now. Lucius was in Azkaban, with no chance of release. Narcissa was alone with her pain.

Her 'Happily Ever After' in tatters, she would do no more but wait for the relieving hand of death to beckon her.

Also written for;

Disney; King Louie - Write about someone who wants the impossible.

Bex's Basement; The Twits - Write about a fraught marriage.