Chapter 12
In which Narcissa found that muggles are actually fascinating.
"Alright Gentlemen," Lucius started. "And Ladies, of course," he added hastily at his wife's glare.
"Our Lord has called for reinforcement. We, as his loyal followers, have been gathered here to answer his call in his time of need." he said solemnly, looking at the eyes of his gathered comrades, Augustus Rookwood, Theodore Nott, Sr, Alberto Jugson, Corban Yaxley, The Parkinsons, The Greengrasses and his wife Narcissa. The other Death Eaters were busy doing something or others in either the Slytherin and Gaunt's many businesses and their Lady's Conservatory project. (Macnair was rather put out when he was sent to assist the Scamanders, but he was one of the most knowledgeable about magical creatures, so he got conscripted).
"What do you say, my fellow friends? Do we prove our loyalties to our Lord? Or are you going to abandon him as you did ten years ago?" he asked gravely. "We, the Malfoys, have pledged our loyalties and will help our Lord. What says you?"
Their fellow Death Eaters hastily pledged their loyalty too. Eager to once again prove themselves. Narcissa hid a smile as she thought of how delicious their reaction would be once they heard of the Dark Lord's request.
Lucius nodded solemnly. "You have all heard of what happened in our first class of The Hippogriffs Talk."
They are already in their fifth class, and while it was mortifying at first, many of the Death Eaters who were fathers had already decided to use this class as a part of their own talk with their sons and daughters, or rather, passing it to their wives to talk to their daughters.
The males nodded gravely.
"It was atrocious what the muggle did to the Dark Lord," Percival Parkinson said."So barbaric, culling his interest in marriage and continuing his line. What a crime! To an Ancient Line, a Founder Line no less!"
The others nodded in agreement.
"Worry not my friends, the spring has come for our beloved Dark Lord! He has managed to ask our Lady to their first date tomorrow!"
The room broke to half incredulous, half excited chatters.
"But...but that's private business!" Alberto Jugson exclaimed.
Augustus Rookwood turned red with embarassment, "he really does need the help, so i don't mind"
Corban Yaxley buried his head in his arms in mortification.
"Now, remember that you promised to help." Lucius said
"How can we help?" Amaryllis Parkinson asked. Her husband had told her of the event, and it tugged on her heart how mistreated the Dark Lord as a child was.
"First of all, the Dark Lord has asked us if we know of the color Mauve, Orchid, or a Mauve colored Orchid. Any ideas?" Lucius read the missive that Severus had sent him.
The others in the room looked at each other in confusion.
"I've heard of Orchid flowers, but not the color Orchid, nor Mauve" Narcissa frowned.
She'd prided herself as the leading authority in fashion and home arrangement, yet never heard of the color. A look to her fellow ladies only revealed the same confusion.
"Nevermind. I will go to our Lady's house first thing in the morning to enquire. Surely her family should know of her preference, right?" she decided.
"Thank you darling. Next order of business. The Dark Lord had decided on a picnic, and required help for the content of the picnic basket. He wanted the best of everything and felt that the Hogwarts House Elves' choices might be too plebeian for his tastes. Narcissa, might you also enquire about our Lady's favorite foods to her aunt?"
Narcissa immediately scribbled the question.
"Amaryliss, you are the best at arranging tents and table for the picnic, so maybe come in the afternoon to arrange it? Severus will let you in."
The Lady nodded eagerly and started to sketch ideas.
"Cyrus and Elina, I need the two of you to collaborate with Narcissa on the color and flowers. We need the field to be decorated with flowers and butterflies of our Lady's favorite color. Theodore, there's a colony of Acromantulas that you need to keep contained during their evening stroll. Augustus, can you deal with the centaurs? And Alberto, Corban, help to herd the unicorns and any other interesting and non lethal magical creatures to our Lord and Lady's path. Draco, Pansy and Theo will be chaperoning, so make sure that they have some food too, Amaryllis. Severus and I will be shadowing them from afar to ensure that no one, be it the inhabitant of the forest or curious onlooker from the castle, disturb our Lord and Lady."
The gathered Death Eaters murmured their assent and discussed with each other excitedly about their new task. Lucius leaned back with satisfaction. The first stage is a success, and he is determined to see this through. On her part, Narcissa wanted her cousin to have all the experience of being courted and planned just about everything down to the wedding dress that won't see the light of day until Harriet turned seventeen.
The next morning, Narcissa apparated to Privet Drive and walked to no.4. She admired the gardens for a few moments, only to be startled at the door opening and a man came out holding a briefcase. He looked surprised to see her.
"Good Morning, Vernon Dursley, was it?" she greeted politely.
The man squinted at her and nodded curiously. "You were our Harriet's cousin, right?"
Vernon remembered her from the station when he sent Harriet to her boarding school. Narcissa nodded, pleased that Vernon remembered her.
"Please call me Narcissa. Is your wife at home?" she asked.
Vernon eyed her and nodded. "You can call me Vernon then." he turned back to the house and called. "Petunia!"
Petunia Dursley was still wearing an apron when she came out and smiled uncertainly. She recogzised the woman as Harriet's cousin, but didn't understand why she was there. From Lily's stories, they usually didn't care much for non-magicals.
"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy, was it?" she asked politely.
"Yes, call me Narcissa, please. I have something to discuss with you." Narcissa said, her eyes taking in the decoration of their porch.
Petunia and Vernon looked at each other, unsure of what to make of this strange event. Vernon shrugged and waved her in.
"I suppose I can go to my office a bit later. Is Harriet alright?" he asked as he walked her to their living room while Petunia went to the kitchen to fetch tea.
"Oh, she is wonderful, Draco told me of her achievements both in class and outside. She is also organizing to build a Conservatory for magical creatures. You must be proud of her." Narcissa said, her eyes wide at the beautiful living room interior.
Her attention zeroed to a basket of Architectural Digest and Interior Magazine that Harriet and Petunia loved.
"Very," Vernon puffed out. "She's very bright. A genius with numbers and investment. Very sharp, that one. She has the makings of a tycoon." he boasted.
Petunia smiled as she walked in with the tea, having heard of her husband's statement. She poured the tea for them and served them, eyeing Narcissa's interest in the magazine.
"Oh, they're Harriet's favorite. I liked them too, so she put the magazine here. How may we help you, Narcissa?" she asked after Narcissa took a sip of the fruity tea.
"This is interesting. What blend is this?" Narcissa asked as she inhaled the cheerful aroma.
"Huh? It's the Four Red Fruit Tea. Do you like it? It's relatively new." Petunia said.
"It smelled so good, and yes, I like this. We don't have anything like this in the Wizarding World." Narcissa commented. "I came here because Harriet said something confusing, and being her family, I thought you would know what she meant."
She put down her cup and observed the couple looking at each other.
"Well, what did she say?" Vernon asked impatiently.
"Our Lord asked her for her favorite color, and she said, between Mauve and Orchid?" Narcissa said uncertainly.
"...and? Which part is confusing?" Petunia asked, equally confused.
"What manner of color are they?" she elaborated.
Petunia stared at her. "Well, they are shades of purple, of course. Don't you know this?"
Narcissa shook her head. "I know dark purple, light purple, lilac and violet, but that's it."
Vernon shook his head. "I don't know about that either. I don't think I'll be any help for you, so you two can discuss it. I'll just go to the office."
Petunia snorted at that. "Men. Don't mind him, Narcissa."
He stood up and kissed his wife's head and said,
"Narcissa, can you please extend a dinner invitation for…your Lord at his earliest convenience? We'd like to know our future nephew-in-law, of course."
Narcissa was flabbergasted. "Of course. I'll pass the invitation to my husband. He will forward it to our Lord."
Petunia also stood up and waved at Vernon before waving to her to follow her up.
"Come, I'll show you Harriet's room. The wall paint will be better to show you, but I'll lend you my color chart later if you need too."
They entered Harriet's room and Narcissa was stunned. One side looked like a study while the other side was the bedroom. Petunia led her to the bedroom wall, there were several shelves filled with various books there while the office side had more shelves with color coded files.
"This is Mauve" she pointed to the wall. "And that is Orchid" she pointed to the office side's wall.
Narcissa paid a close attention to the details of the bedroom side and the office side. There were muggle contraptions that she didn't know the name off and each color of the file's cover (and what a fascinating concept that is! And the colors!) had different names.
"Oh, that's Harriet's clients' files." Petunia said from the sofa she sat in while Narcissa looked around.
"Clients?" Narcissa asked as she fingered the binders curiously.
"Harriet did accounting for them. Us too. She earned her own money. She's very savvy, you know."
"How fascinating. I don't have time today, but can we make a date? I want to see more of these muggle appliances, I wanted to borrow some of that magazine too. Can I?"
Her eyes shone with the images she wanted to do for Malfoy's Manor.
Petunia chuckled and agreed readily. "Of course, they were old, though. I haven't been to the bookstore for the new one. Would you like Gardening Magazines too?"
Narcissa decided that Petunia is her new best friend.