"Society knows perfectly well how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death."

-Andre Gide

Society is a Masked Ball

It had been a difficult decision for Narcissa, but ultimately she decided she had to talk to her mother. After all, everyone else had received an invitation over a week ago and still no owl came winging with one for her. At this point, it looked like she was not going to get one. The party was at the end of the week.

Her sister, Andromeda, had been no help in figuring out what to do. When Narcissa had asked, Andy told her not to worry about it. If she had been invited, she would get an invitation, and if she had not been invited – then she had not been invited. Narcissa had not known what to make of that statement. Of course she was invited. Isadora Pucey was not allowed to not invite her. All her friends had been invited. Simply because Andromeda did not seem to enjoy parties as much as Narcissa enjoyed parties did not mean her older sister could say something like "had not been invited."

They were not people who were not invited to things; this was something Narcissa understood well. Her family got invited to everything and should there be multiple conflicting events, they only attended the ones they deemed important. Other families of the same social caliber they always attended on, but other families not so high on the social scale relied on the Blacks being free and in good spirits. Narcissa had already learned a great deal about snubbing. Last year a family that overstepped their place in society had invited her to a party and she had not been allowed to attend. That sort of action sent a reminder of where one stood.

But snubbing did not apply to her. No one was allowed to go around snubbing her. She was a Black, one of the oldest wizarding families in existence, and ignoring her meant severe social consequences for the family that ignored her – no matter the reason. That was why she had been conflicted about going to her mother. She was upset about not being invited, but her mother might decide that even should an invitation be offered, Narcissa would not be able to go. What if her mother said that she could not attend parties thrown by the Puceys for a while? Isadora might not be her best friend, but Narcissa liked her well enough and did not want to injure their friendship. Besides, she liked going to parties and wanted to attend this one. She had already picked out her dress.

However, she could not attend without an invitation and no invitation had come. She had to talk to her mother.

Her mother had friends over for tea, which did not make it an ideal time to discuss the matter. But, once they left, there would be a window of opportunity before her father came home and dinner arrived on the table. Her father would not want to hear about such things, he liked to talk about the Ministry, and he preferred her and Andromeda to be next to silent. She had to discuss it with her mother now.

There was a footstool by the door, and there she perched, waiting for the talking to die down and everyone to filter out. Andromeda would have thought to bring a book but Narcissa had done no such thing and found herself getting awfully bored while she waited. She almost wished Callista had not told her about the party because then she would not have to deal with it. Callista Greengrass was one of her closest friends and when her invitation had come, had written to Narcissa to see if she was attending. It made sense; Narcissa always got her invitations first. Excepting this one occasion. Hopefully her mother would be able to fix it and no one would ever know. No one but her and Callista, who had already promised to not attend if Narcissa was not on the guest list.

It seemed like she had to wait for hours, there was no clock within eye distance, but she flounced and smoothed her skirt over and over and over again and that had to take a lot of time. It occurred to her that she could have a house elf get her something to pass the time, but then she heard the door open and her mother's friends started filing out, bits of gossip catching her ears. Narcissa jumped to her feet in order to greet everyone. She knew the women well, all frequent visitors to the manor. She knew pretty much every pureblood that came to parties semi-frequently and could easily match names with faces. It was an important skill, one she was very proud of since neither sister was as good as she.

"Mother?" Narcissa asked tentatively, after the other women had left. Druella Black was fixing her hair in the mirror, watching the house elves clear the dishes from tea out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes, Narcissa?"

Narcissa took a deep breath. "I need to talk to you about Isadora Pucey's birthday party." She paused, and looked at her mother.

"You can always send an elf to Diagon Alley to buy presents, Narcissa. You do not have to pick everything out yourself."

"It isn't that." Sighing, she explained the problem, "I didn't receive an invitation."

Her mother stopped what she was doing, turning to face her, "What?"

Narcissa started picked unhappily at the lace on her dress. "Callista received her invitation a week ago. Everyone did. Except me." Her mother watched her carefully but did not say anything. Was she supposed to continue? That was all that had happened. Or rather, had not happened. "I want to go. Everyone is going to be going. Well, Callista said she wouldn't go if I didn't go…" She stopped, her mother said frequently that rambling was not what proper young ladies did, and Narcissa did try to be a proper young lady.

"Have you fought with the Pucey girl lately?" her mother asked. "Any reason why they would purposefully not invite you?"

"No."

"Well, we'll give them then benefit of the doubt this time. You wish to attend the party and you are old enough to learn how to handle this sort of thing."

Isadora and her mother were invited to come to two tea days later. Mrs. Pucey claimed the invitation must have been lost in the post, the original had been sent, and enclosed a new invitation with her reply to Druella. Narcissa was indeed on the guest list, right at the top, her invitation had gone out first. Despite this, Narcissa realized the game was not over. The invitation had come, but it had come too late. It was not enough to send her an invitation when all the other girls had gotten theirs long ago.

When the invitation arrived, Druella sat her youngest down and had Narcissa pen out an RSVP, simply stating if her plans freed up she would be happy to attend. Narcissa had not understood the point of that at first. Druella explained it was a calculated action. If Narcissa did not attend, word would get out she was not attending. Chances were the Puceys would have other little girls withdraw their positive RSVPs. Anyone who did attend after that would see the party was not being attended by the upper echelon of society and would be quick to strike the Puceys from the next social event thrown by their family. No sense in getting in the middle of a social feud and being stuck on the wrong side.

The response to Isadora and her mother was a note that the Blacks were accepting that it was a postal error, but that did not erase the fact that damage had been done. Narcissa had been distraught over not receiving an invitation, although Druella had explained that it would not have mattered even if Narcissa had not cared at all. Therefore, Isadora and her mother needed to make a concentrated effort in bridging the gap, and that was why the Puceys had been invited to tea. Today, they would be making an attempt to get Narcissa to come to the party and with no reason for bad blood between the families, there was every reason to believe the efforts would be acceptable. There was a very slim chance the Puceys would fail, but the odds were in their favor.

Narcissa had picked out the perfect dress for tea, one she thought looked very important on her. A lavender floral print with ruffled lace edging and a darker solid colored purple sash. White mary jane shoes over white lace socks were on her feet and she had little pearls in her ears and a golden locket around her neck. This morning she had brushed her hair exactly one hundred times and the white alice band she put to hold her hair in place completed her outfit. She was absolutely ready to deal with whatever should happen at tea.

Her mother was in a lovely yellow and orange floral on beige tea dress with a full skirt and sleeves that stopped right at the elbow, with heels that matched the yellow of the dress. A classic strand of pearls was around her neck and there were diamond studs in her ears, small enough to be tasteful, big enough to be clearly expensive. Her hair was pulled back in a French twist with an enameled clip that was one of Narcissa's favorites. Narcissa thought that when she was her mother's age, she wanted to dress very similarly, except not in yellow, because that washed her out. Her mother had darker hair than she did, not as dark as either of her sisters, they both clearly took after their father, but dark enough to get away with the color yellow. Narcissa thought it made her resemble sunshine.

Isadora and her mother were not a moment too early or a moment too late, arriving to the minute of when the tea date was. A house elf ushered them into the parlor where Narcissa and Druella were waiting and poured tea for all four. Narcissa was a bit nervous now they had arrived. She had been carefully coached in what to say, how to act and she had practiced in front of her mirror several times, but it did not make her nerves go away. What if she messed up and shamed her mother? It had to go just so. Attempting to settle her nerves, she reached for one of the petit fours, at the same time Isadora did. The other girl gave her a meek little smile and Narcissa returned it. Probably Isadora was as nervous as she was, if not more. The thought made her feel a bit better.

Mrs. Pucey took the interaction between the girls as an excellent excuse to get started. "I am terribly sorry about this unpleasantness. Of course I went right to the post to complain the minute you informed me. I should have been more forceful in indicating how important these invitations were, and of course I never should have left dear Narcissa's up to a post owl. I merely thought with our own owl getting on in years and my husband too sentimental to replace him…clearly I was wrong. We are ever so sorry. Please, would you and Narcissa accept these chocolates on our behalf? I do hope she can come to the party this Saturday."

The game had begun exactly as her mother had told her it would, a reiteration the oversight was not a snub, and a gift to help smooth the waters. Now it was her turn.

She accepted the chocolates graciously, to indicate both her and her mother believed it had been a mistake out of their control. "Thank you for the kind gift." As if she was thinking, she tilted her head to the side a bit, "this Saturday?" Isadora nodded, confirming what everyone in the room already knew and Narcissa continued, "oh dear. I wish I had known sooner."

Isadora's turn. Narcissa could tell the other girl was not enjoying herself. Her mother had probably explained to her what was riding on this, and how to proceed. She almost felt sorry for the other girl, but then remembered how horrible she had felt when she had to tell Callista she had not received an invitation. Besides, they all had to learn to play these games; they were part of what kept society together.

"Do-do you already have plans?" Isadora asked, dismay evident on her face and in her voice.

Narcissa nodded, "I do." She looked at her mother as if clarifying something, but it was only for show. This game was not so hard to play; it was even a little bit fun. "I'm not sure it can be rescheduled.

"Oh," Isadora replied, looking genuinely crestfallen. "I understand. I-I hope you can find a way to fit me into your schedule. I'd really enjoy having you come to my party." She glanced over to her mother who nodded encouragingly. "Um-as you saw on the invitation, it will be fairy themed. I was hoping you could be my partner for the scavenger hunt. I'm sure you'd be best at it, and the winner gets first ride on the fairy swing."

Narcissa looked up at her mother, this was as far as her part went. In her mind, it seemed as if Isadora had played by the expected rules. She had given Narcissa a present and been rightfully upset when Narcissa said she could not attend, and then had offered her something special at the party. Druella seemed to agree. "If you will just excuse me a moment, let me see if Narcissa's plans cannot be pushed back a little."

They all knew Druella was not changing anything when she left the room; it was formality for appearances sake. Even though the outcome of the game had seemed pretty predetermined in Narcissa's eyes, Mrs. Pucey was visibly relieved the moment Druella mentioned a change of plans.

"Have a lemon cake?" Narcissa offered Isadora. "They're very good."

Small talk filled the air as they waited for Druella to return. Isadora asked about Narcissa's sisters and Narcissa asked about Isadora's brother, then about plans for the party – a fairy theme sounded delightful. They got to discussing the dresses they were wearing and Narcissa made sure to include Mrs. Pucey in the conversation like a good hostess would, but she seemed pretty content to let the girls talk on their own.

Soon enough, Druella returned to make the announcement. Sitting back down and taking a sip of her tea beforehand, she informed the Puceys that Narcissa would be able to attend, although she might have to leave early. (Narcissa knew this was false and assumed the Puceys would also know this was another thing said as part of the game.) The game was over then, everything set to rights. They could enjoy their tea and each other's company.

After it was all over, as Narcissa made to head back up to her room, the Puceys gone home and house elves clearing the tea things, Druella spoke directly to her, praising her behavior. "You were very good, much better than Isadora, her nerves were written all over her face. White as a sheet. You kept your composure the entire time. Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes."

Druella nodded approvingly. "It's nicer if you enjoy it, and I'm sure you'll get even better. Don't ever let the other party get the better of you. It's important to always stay on top. And you can avoid making the mistake the Puceys made, always follow up with your most important guests, a little note making sure they got the invitation. Then you'll never have to make apologies."

Narcissa nodded, filing the information away for later as her mother waved her off upstairs. Her mother knew all the little useful tricks of society. It was easy to be on top when you knew how to play.