A/N: Hi readers! All the thanks for this fic go to The Coven, who are the incredibly supportive and marvellously talented group of Slytherins who so generously beta for me. I would be lost without them. Please do yourself the favor of discovering their collective works on the Priestesses of H.I.S.S. page, and favoriting Acantha Rayne Oak-Moon, Slytherclaw Black, and Tempest E. Dashon. I'll add in the other witches' pages as well as their fics come to life.
There will be some Lucissa, some Dramione, some Sev/OC and who knows what else my plot dragons come up with as our characters discover their magic.
This is AU, and as such not-your-Mama's Narcissa fic, as it were.
I do hope you enjoy my musings, and welcome your reviews as donations to my creative fires.
On with the show!
Xx Vine AKA Narcissa's Closet
Narcissa Malfoy was born the youngest of three daughters to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black in the mid-twentieth century. As expected of such a life, she was given every conceivable comfort from the very beginning. An excellent education was standard fayre of such an upbringing. Languages she would never make use of were deemed imperative knowledge, a plethora of negotiation tactics for her suspected and expected future as a society wife to an important and political man, and finally the family secrets and tainted history which she never cared to know more about than was absolutely necessary. Narcissa's personal and most, to her mind at least, more-than-respectable accomplishments were what made her feel the most prized trophy of the Black sisters - being beautiful, graceful, educated and accomplished should procure her a worthy and wealthy husband. She was blessed to have mastered many instruments, her most treasured skill of which being violin, excellent and graceful in the art of formal dance which paired beautifully with the knowledge gained at a young age of how to host extravagant and decadent parties envied by witches the world over.
Narcissa was a quiet, observant child, and highly empathetic. Due to her disposition, she developed an unfortunate reputation for being overly-sensitive, and eventually cold and withdrawn. In truth, overly-sensitive may have been accurate, but she was anything but cold. In fact, she felt so highly connected to those around her, she often saw fit to place distance between herself and others as a method of self-preservation. She was self aware enough to realize her propensity to love deeply and desperately, and how vulnerable this trait made her to exploitation. Not only would she steal fire from the gods for her sisters, she also became overly attached to people whom she quickly learned did not reciprocate her feelings or her actions.
She was never the flashy charms master her eldest sister, Bella, had been, or the bold opinionist and potions guru her middle sister Andy was. Each of the Black sisters were encouraged by their parents to develop their natural talents separately, exponentially increasing the strengths they already possessed. The sisters all delved vigorously into their respective studies, mostly to stave off the soul-crushing boredom of growing up silver-spoon fed and relentlessly sheltered.
After spending many hours apart during their daily tutoring and practices, the trio would gather on the plush rug by the library fire during the cold months, or on a soft blanket in their mother's immaculate rose gardens in the warm summer sun. They talked for hours about their respective disciplines, and Narcissa practiced her charms on Bella's unrelenting curls until they were as smooth and shiny as a calm night sea. After Bella went to Hogwarts, Andy and Cissy - as Narcissa was affectionately referred to by her sisters - would spend this precious time discussing their philosophies and speculating what the future would hold for them.
Once Andy began her academic magical education, only Narcissa was left by the fire in the winter, and the gardens in the summer. Her parents had very little time to give, and eventually Narcissa began retreating to the manor library to fill the hole left by their absence with stories and knowledge.
She loved the fantastic stories of the dragons of yore, and light stories of love and adventure. The many Dark magic tomes housed in the Manor library frightened the young witch, and the few times she gave in to her morbid curiosity to read them, she ended up with nightmares and waking terrors. Narcissa couldn't fathom how anyone could be so deranged to create some of the particularly Dark curses, used specifically for torture and pain, and often spent hours staring into nothing while despairing over the cruelty of the Wizarding world. Even so, she found enough objectivity to realize not all "Dark" magic equated with "evil" magic. Evil magic was in the hearts of those who meant to hurt others she ascertained, while Dark magic could many times be effectively used to protect against such intentions. Having observed Bella grow into maturity and become increasingly irritable and violent as her parents attempted to force her into betrothal contracts she had no want of, Narcissa concluded when people were hurting, they developed the desire to hurt others. As solving problems was her lot in life, Narcissa determined in the very moment she had this realization, she would never allow herself to become one of those hurting individuals.
When she became betrothed to Lucius Malfoy - handsome and seemingly intelligent heir to the mind bendingly enormous Malfoy wealth - at the behest of her parents at age 14, she made no effort to connect with him outside of their prescribed meetings and cordialities. A conqueror at heart and forever desiring a challenge, the frigid aloofness Narcissa displayed only enamored Lucius, and he began to fall deeply. He committed to proving to Narcissa he would become a worthy spouse, and made it his life's mission to give her everything he believed a woman could desire. He listened intently to any opinions he could coax from her, and enjoyed the respectful debate they would engage in afterward. Any tidbit of information she would allow him, he would catalogue for later reference and mention.
She didn't possess the dark and seductive beauty of her oldest sister, who was the same age as Lucius, nor the untameable warm beauty of her middle sister, who was derided in adult Pureblood circles and widely speculated to be a wood nymph by the rumorists of Hogwarts. Although not as conspicuously physically attractive as the older Black daughters, Narcissa's biting humor kept Lucius engaged and entertained, while her thirst for knowledge could often rival his own. Narcissa possessed a soft allure uniquely her own. Her shine was of a pearl, forged in the depths of life, not a gemstone birthed from pressure and fire. The blinding light of day did her no justice by exposing every purple vein of her eyelids and the sunkenness underneath. Lucius supposed her pale skin and light eyes were suited to the soft shine of the moon. He knew from experience the light of night would turn her lovely white hair a glittering silver, and he supposed it would turn her pale blue eyes into a fathomless open sky.
On the night he learned for certain this was the case, he vowed to spend as many moments with her in that open sky as life would allow.
For her part, Narcissa found Lucius's attention to detail captivating, and his persistence endearing. Never had she met a person so apt to earn her favor, or tenacious in his pursuits. As such, she guarded her heart with ferocity against his advances, and created a seemingly impenetrable wall of logic to protect her mind from becoming attached to his presence. She often repeated to herself this marriage was to help her gain status, to ensure she and her family would have stability. She would respond to his kindnesses as an employee would respond to an employer, by doing her best to perform the duties of her perceived role and do nothing to earn his displeasure.
Little did she know these efforts were for naught, as she would end up mercilessly indebted and compelled by her own conscience to stand by her new life partner to many ends of many worlds.
The wedding came and went in a glorious and outrageously elaborate ceremony. The newly minted Malfoys soon moved into Lucius's sprawling ancestral home, shared for a while with his curmudgeonly father who never remarried after his mother's untimely passing. Narcissa found herself more and more compelled towards her beloved as the months passed on, and looked forward to their evening chats and the mundanities of domestic life.
She soon discovered her doting husband asked very little of her on a day to day basis. With the Malfoy fortune at her disposal, she had no need for compulsory employment. The drudgery of cleaning and cooking was of no concern, as Lucius owned a small army of house elves to maintain the property. With her husband gone most of the day, Narcissa set to explore her desires and determine how to make herself useful in this new life. She began regimens to care more for her body and appearance, as that was the most obvious route in her estimation. She also studied various topics at whim, to make herself a more interesting conversationalist. She even attempted to expand her network of allies, however this proved difficult given the fast paced nature of society and the growing tension of the political climate. So it was, she began to stay more to herself, and longed for companionship.
When the day came for Lucius to finally ask a favor of her, it dawned on her what a reproachable job she had done at guarding her heart. Instantaneously she realized the level of effort her husband required of her regularly, was but a plot to procure her favor. The manipulation stung like ice water doused suddenly on her bare nerves. The favor he asked, was for Narcissa to bear his child.