AN: Thank you for your reviews, your suggestions and your criticism!! I ask you to excuse my halting style for English is not my mother tongue and unfortunately I never spend more than three weeks at a time in an Englisch speaking country. Keep reading and reviewing please!
Chapter 21
-Rituals-
Two weeks after our wedding the famous Malfoy-Winter-Party was scheduled. Sirius was wearing black dress robes and I had to admit that he looked pretty fly for his usual standard. I wore a banging silver and white dress as a nice contrast.
"I hate these events." Severus grunted annoyed.
I was attaching my second earring. "But why? I really like to meet other people."
"It's a bunch of chitchatting hags and old men talking about things they don't even understand. That's what it is."
"Gotten out of the wrong side of bed, hum?"
He looked at me with a stern expression on his face. "What do you know?"
"Nothing yet." I smiled, grabbing for my silver handbag heading for the door.
I don't know what Severus complained about. Malfoy mansion was worth a visit, with its huge halls, the marmoreal fireplaces and heavy precious Gobelin tapestry. When I stood in the entrance hall my mouth kind of hung open, I have to admit though I don't want to. Paying Narcissa Malfoy a compliment is really hard for me, but this place was more posh than my parents' castle.
"Ah, the Snapes." Would I ever get used to the falsity in her voice? I felt my face contorting in the effort to give her my fakest smile possible.
"Narcissa, how nice to see you." Severus shot me a sideward glance. I was pretty sure he just wanted to make sure that it had been really me who spoke for my voice sounded pressed with sweetness and slime.
"Is this your first time in my house? I will show you around later! First, I have to welcome the other guests. Do you know Draco, my son? Say 'Hello' Draco."
He was unmistakably his father's son. The same pointed face and the horrible light hair.
"Draco will start Hogwarts the year after next. I am sure he will be a Slytherin like the rest of our family. " She gave a high-pitched giggle as if she just had told some classy joke.
I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes at her. Maybe my recollection wasn't correctly, but I could have sworn she hadn't been that annoying some fifteen years ago.
"Nice, then you will come into the house of my husband." My voice was so clucking I reminded myself of my threehundred-and –fiftysomething year old grand aunt. What a stupid thing to say. I was even able to humiliate myself in front of a child.
Draco looked at me mildly cloyed, but smiled. Firewhisky. Here. Now. Fast. I had to escape the clutches of Narcissa, her mere presence turned me into a person I didn't want to meet.
Luckily, Lucius was approaching us, slapping amicably on Severus' shoulder.
"Severus, my dear old friend. And his enchanting wife." He kissed my hand perfect in form, leading me towards a huge door.
In the gigantic living-room all the creepy acquaintances of Lucius and Severus were convened. I recognized a few faces, but most of them I had never met. Lucius introduced me here and there and head was soon dizzy with about two-hundred names and the appertaining faces. A lot of them worked for the ministry, others owned shops or companies. He had gathered the crème de la crème of our society in his house, that much was true.
"Your parents send their apologies. Your mother seems to be a bit ill lately. But I am sure she will recover in no time." With these words he left me standing in a group of elderly men, disappearing in the crowd.
One of them brought me a Martini. This had to do. After giving myself Dutch courage I was able to master the night pretty good. Most of the elder men were easy to wrap around the finger, slobbering for me and kissing the floor I was walking on.
I saw only flashes of Severus every now and then, but every time I saw him he seemed to be more annoyed.
It must have been around midnight when he grabbed my arm, dragging me discretely towards the library. "What is it?" I was whispering without knowing why.
"You will see."
In the library around fifteen men had formed a circle. Their wives stood lined up on the other side of the room.
"Go over there." Severus demanded, taking a place in the circle himself.
Not Narcissa again. I chose the other end of the line, standing next to a witch I had never seen before.
"What's going on?"
"This is an old ritual. Don't worry." Her voice was little more than a breath.
Lucius commenced: "To the Dark Lord. Our true and eternal master!" The men in the circle all took small silver knives from their robes, using them to cut into the flesh of their left arms.
"Upon my life! As long as blood is running through my veins I will be a faithful servant to the Dark Lord! I will do everything in my power to prune this world from mudbloods and scum. The Dark Lord!" Lucius spoke loud and clear.
"The Dark Lord." The other men repeated in a dark choir.
Lucius turned to face us women. "Women be of proud and purity. Serve your men and the Dark Lord. Bear pure-blooded sons and raise them to be men in a better world."
The witch next to me gave me a gentle push. "Go to your husband and kiss away the blood."
Obviously I had chosen the wrong end of the line. I was so confused, I staggered to Severus. He looked me dead in the eye, holding out his left underarm to me.
"Kneel down!" A small voice in my head commanded. I obeyed and knelt in front of him, his arm now at the height of my mouth. It was a miniscule cut, a drop of his deep red blood oozing from it. I kissed his cut, immediately having the iron taste of blood in my mouth. I stared on the floor. Severus reached his hand out for me, I laid my cold one into his warm and he pulled me towards him, making me stand next to him. His arm firm around my waist.
The witch that had been next to me walked over to her husband, the man next to Severus. Apparently, I was done. All women performed the same strange ritual I had just endured. My attempts to make eye contact with Severus failed. He kept staring at the others, all I could feel was him calm and steady breathing.
After the last couple- Lucius and Narcissa- a goblet full of wine appeared in each man's hand.
"The Dark Lord." Lucuis said again.
"The Dark Lord." The others iterated and every man poured a bit of wine on the carpet and then drank himself.
"This was the biggest farce I've ever seen!" I yelled when we were back home. Surprise and disgust had silenced me until this point, now I was fuming.
"What about the peacocks?" Severus mocked, raising an eyebrow at me.
"I stand corrected."
He laughed out. "This is nothing. It's a stupid thing we used to do as Death Eaters and Lucius is keen to keep the tradition."
"Nothing? Nothing?" I snapped my fingers under his nose. "This is nothing. You swore a allegiance with a dead monster you ought to fight!" I spluttered.
"It's only words. It doesn't mean a thing."
"You have me drinking your blood, putting Imperius on me and dare to tell me it's only words? You are nuts!" I roared.
"Please, drinking my blood! You make it sound like you had to drink it in buckets. We are talking about a drop of blood. It's supposed to be a vow between couples, swear allegiance to each other." His voice was all calm.
"To the Dark Lord you mean."
"These words mean the same to me as they do to you. Nothing."
"Why are you still with these people then? Why don't you just go and find yourself some new friends? You don't even like them."
"This is for reasons better left unsaid. As for the Imperius I will apologize. But you didn't know what you had to do."
"Very right! You could at least have told me what you were up to! Then I would have stayed at home!"
"That was exactly the reason why I didn't tell you." He looked at me smug.
"Great! Just great! I will never ever do this again!"
"You will. You will do it as I will do it."
Saucer-eyed I turned my back on him. This was madness.
"Listen, Dumbledore wants me to stay in their good books just in case." His voice was betraying impatience for the first time.
"In case what?"
"In case the Dark Lord will return."
"He is dead." Will they never learn it?
"Maybe. Maybe not."
"What?! Are you kidding me? Harry Potter, you remember?"
"Thanks to your dear voice I do. But Dumbledore and I agree on the point that he will return one day. He is not dead and not gone."
"Then the two of you should drink less!"
"I am not the one in this room who has an affinity to alcohol. And I am going to swear allegiance to the devil if necessary to finish the Dark Lord for good. And you are going to do it along with me."
"And if I refuse?"
"You won't."
"Why not?" I would be refusing everything from now on!
"Because you don't want your daughter to grow up in a world ruled by him, do you? You still remember how it used to be ten years ago?"
"Hardly." I grunted, sitting on my bed now.
"Talking about allegiances- you know whose wife you are, don't you?"
"What? Going to take me to task?" I snapped.
He had grabbed my hair, pulling me slowly towards him. I feared his dominance and harshness as I was attracted to it.
"I do." I shot at him aggressively.
"Tell me then." He hissed.
"I am yours." I stared into his black eyes, but there was no feeling to be seen in there.
"Then behave like it. I will not allow any other man to disrespect me like they did tonight."
"Who disrespected you?" I gasped.
"All of them. They all talked to you like you were unmarried. They flirted with you. And you allowed them to do so."
"I was only conversing. You want me to be charming, don't you?" I couldn't believe how he managed to turn the tables to his advantage so fast.
"I want you to stick with me until I tell you to converse. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You will not have the cheek to flirt with any of them again?"
"No, Sir." I mimicked.
"Good." He pushed me roughly away from him. I turned to face him, rage pulsing through me. His eyes on the other hand glistened with fury and pride. In a swift and sudden motion he grabbed me again and drew me into his arms.
"Because-" He kissed me on my mouth.
"No one-" He pulled away again.
"Is able to make me feel the way you do."