Chapter 15
Narcissa crossed the room and opened a set of doors into a huge walk in closet stuffed with expensive clothes. She selected an outfit and went behind a blue changing screen. When she was emerged she was wearing a white knee length dress, with a matching black and white form fitting jacket, heels, purse, and hat. She selected a simple diamond necklace from a large tray of jewels on dresser near her bed and fastened it around her neck.
"I think we'll take the black Rolls Royce into town this time Tinky."
"Yes, Mistress. I'll tell them to bring the car around to the-?"
"Front entrance."
"Of course." Tinky disappeared, leaving Willow and Narcissa alone.
"Well, I suppose you can't wear that can you? You can wear some of my niece Bridget's clothes. Come along,"
Narcissa led her to another smaller room, the guest room, Willow assumed. The white room was simple but elegant and had a gold colored four poster bed with curtains made of sheer white fabric hanging from the sides. The girl that Narcissa spoke about was nowhere to be found.
"She must be swimming, but I'm sure she won't mind."
For a prisoner, Willow noticed, she was being treated quite decently. But she doubted that there was a room in the entire house that wasn't at least pleasant, so it would be impossible to make her uncomfortable.
Narcissa rummaged through Bridget's closet for a few minutes, and finally deciding on a few outfits, thrust them at Willow.
"Hold them up to you I want to see if the coloring is right." She said, backing up to examine her.
Willow held an olive jacket up to her chest.
"Mm hmm, very nice, that could definitely work."
Willow held up the next outfit uncomfortably, she had never liked shopping that much and was certainly not used to be taken on expensive shopping sprees by her kidnappers. This went on for a few minutes more until Narcissa threw up her arms and exclaimed, "Aha! That's it! Perfect." The outfit she had selected was a short lavender spaghetti strap dress with a frilly little satin rose in the center of the neckline. Willow looked disgustingly upon the purple piece of fabric. Narcissa hurried into the closet again and returned with a set of equally ugly lavender Mary Jane's, white zip up jacket, matching headband, and white knee socks. She hoped that Mrs. Malfoy had better taste in formal wear than she did in day wear.
"Go, go! Hurry up we haven't got all day!" She rushed Willow into the closet and shut the door. When Willow emerged she decided against looking in the mirror in fear of what she might see.
"Follow me. Quickly now!" Narcissa led them through the many rooms of the house, in two elevators, and finally to what looked like the lobby of a fancy hotel. She opened two large heavy brass doors and they went down a flight of old looking white painted wooden stairs into a small garden. But when Willow looked back at the house she was amazed to find not the enormous mansion she had expected, but a tiny yellow cottage with an adorable little porch swing and wicker chairs with flowered cushions. She stared in amazement, remembering how many floors they gone down and how many rooms they had passed on their way out, wondering how it was possible to fit all of that into the tiny little house behind her. But remembering Narcissa's warning, she did not ask. Narcissa had the quickest walk Willow had ever seen, especially for a woman wearing stiletto heels. She struggled to keep up with her as they went down the gravel path to an elegant black car with a driver waiting for them. The car had tan leather interior and (Surprise, surprise!) more cursive m's branded into the seats and dashboard.
"Where to Mam?" Asked the driver from the front seat.
"Corner of 5th, Diagon Alley."
"Diagon Alley it is. Anything to drink?"
"A Manhattan please, Edward."
"And for the miss?"
"Uh, do you have Shirley Temple's?"
"Of course, Miss. One Manhattan and one Shirley Temple."
With a wave of his wand the drinks appeared and floated gently over towards them. Afraid that the drink might drop if she tried to take it out of it's levitating position, Willow hesitantly reached her hand out for it and quickly snatched it out of the air. Knowing that it would be completely senseless to poison her before the ceremony, Willow eagerly gulped down the drink.
"Slow down, girl. I hope you don't plan on drinking that way at dinner or he will be most displeased." Narcissa said with a sneer.
"Who will be displeased?"
"You will see soon enough."
* * * * *
Dawn twiddled her thumbs nervously. "Giles, why isn't he back yet? He's been gone for almost two hours now. Do you think something's wrong?"
"I don't know. Perhaps the invisibility spell wore off and he was discovered. But I can't imagine that he would be in any kind of danger-"
"I can." Said Sirius from the back of the room.
"What do you mean?" Giles asked.
"Just before his death, Lucius Malfoy planned to make Draco an official Death Eater. I don't know why but Draco refused-"
"Why? Does Draco not wanting to join a society of evil wizards come a such a shock to you?" Dawn said defensively.
"Well frankly, yes. Draco was more than well on his way to becoming exactly like Lucius. I certainly couldn't reach him, Lucius was always on my tail so I couldn't even send him a letter much less give him career advice. Draco ran away from home just before Lucius's death and Narcissa never forgave him for it."
"I thought he said his mother kicked him out." Dawn said.
"Oh, yes well I believe it was a bit of both."
"How do you know all this?" Said Giles.
"I had the great misfortune of bumping into Narcissa when she testified for my trial. She happily informed me of her troubles, which of course, she blamed on me for not being there for our son while I was in prison for a crime I didn't commit and afterwards hiding from the ministry in caves in the mountains. " Sirius explained and rolled his eyes.
"She sounds pleasant." Xander added.
"How did Lucius die?" Dawn asked.
"Amazingly of natural causes. But it was believed that one of his fellow Death Eaters was plotting to kill him, that guy was probably the sanest of the lot" Said Sirius.
"Well if it wasn't the attractive tattoos it's definitely the loyal comrades aspect that convinced me, I'm becoming a Death Eater." Xander said. "I hear it's a great way to make new friends." Said a voice.
Everyone turned around. Madeye Moody was leaning on the register.
Narcissa crossed the room and opened a set of doors into a huge walk in closet stuffed with expensive clothes. She selected an outfit and went behind a blue changing screen. When she was emerged she was wearing a white knee length dress, with a matching black and white form fitting jacket, heels, purse, and hat. She selected a simple diamond necklace from a large tray of jewels on dresser near her bed and fastened it around her neck.
"I think we'll take the black Rolls Royce into town this time Tinky."
"Yes, Mistress. I'll tell them to bring the car around to the-?"
"Front entrance."
"Of course." Tinky disappeared, leaving Willow and Narcissa alone.
"Well, I suppose you can't wear that can you? You can wear some of my niece Bridget's clothes. Come along,"
Narcissa led her to another smaller room, the guest room, Willow assumed. The white room was simple but elegant and had a gold colored four poster bed with curtains made of sheer white fabric hanging from the sides. The girl that Narcissa spoke about was nowhere to be found.
"She must be swimming, but I'm sure she won't mind."
For a prisoner, Willow noticed, she was being treated quite decently. But she doubted that there was a room in the entire house that wasn't at least pleasant, so it would be impossible to make her uncomfortable.
Narcissa rummaged through Bridget's closet for a few minutes, and finally deciding on a few outfits, thrust them at Willow.
"Hold them up to you I want to see if the coloring is right." She said, backing up to examine her.
Willow held an olive jacket up to her chest.
"Mm hmm, very nice, that could definitely work."
Willow held up the next outfit uncomfortably, she had never liked shopping that much and was certainly not used to be taken on expensive shopping sprees by her kidnappers. This went on for a few minutes more until Narcissa threw up her arms and exclaimed, "Aha! That's it! Perfect." The outfit she had selected was a short lavender spaghetti strap dress with a frilly little satin rose in the center of the neckline. Willow looked disgustingly upon the purple piece of fabric. Narcissa hurried into the closet again and returned with a set of equally ugly lavender Mary Jane's, white zip up jacket, matching headband, and white knee socks. She hoped that Mrs. Malfoy had better taste in formal wear than she did in day wear.
"Go, go! Hurry up we haven't got all day!" She rushed Willow into the closet and shut the door. When Willow emerged she decided against looking in the mirror in fear of what she might see.
"Follow me. Quickly now!" Narcissa led them through the many rooms of the house, in two elevators, and finally to what looked like the lobby of a fancy hotel. She opened two large heavy brass doors and they went down a flight of old looking white painted wooden stairs into a small garden. But when Willow looked back at the house she was amazed to find not the enormous mansion she had expected, but a tiny yellow cottage with an adorable little porch swing and wicker chairs with flowered cushions. She stared in amazement, remembering how many floors they gone down and how many rooms they had passed on their way out, wondering how it was possible to fit all of that into the tiny little house behind her. But remembering Narcissa's warning, she did not ask. Narcissa had the quickest walk Willow had ever seen, especially for a woman wearing stiletto heels. She struggled to keep up with her as they went down the gravel path to an elegant black car with a driver waiting for them. The car had tan leather interior and (Surprise, surprise!) more cursive m's branded into the seats and dashboard.
"Where to Mam?" Asked the driver from the front seat.
"Corner of 5th, Diagon Alley."
"Diagon Alley it is. Anything to drink?"
"A Manhattan please, Edward."
"And for the miss?"
"Uh, do you have Shirley Temple's?"
"Of course, Miss. One Manhattan and one Shirley Temple."
With a wave of his wand the drinks appeared and floated gently over towards them. Afraid that the drink might drop if she tried to take it out of it's levitating position, Willow hesitantly reached her hand out for it and quickly snatched it out of the air. Knowing that it would be completely senseless to poison her before the ceremony, Willow eagerly gulped down the drink.
"Slow down, girl. I hope you don't plan on drinking that way at dinner or he will be most displeased." Narcissa said with a sneer.
"Who will be displeased?"
"You will see soon enough."
* * * * *
Dawn twiddled her thumbs nervously. "Giles, why isn't he back yet? He's been gone for almost two hours now. Do you think something's wrong?"
"I don't know. Perhaps the invisibility spell wore off and he was discovered. But I can't imagine that he would be in any kind of danger-"
"I can." Said Sirius from the back of the room.
"What do you mean?" Giles asked.
"Just before his death, Lucius Malfoy planned to make Draco an official Death Eater. I don't know why but Draco refused-"
"Why? Does Draco not wanting to join a society of evil wizards come a such a shock to you?" Dawn said defensively.
"Well frankly, yes. Draco was more than well on his way to becoming exactly like Lucius. I certainly couldn't reach him, Lucius was always on my tail so I couldn't even send him a letter much less give him career advice. Draco ran away from home just before Lucius's death and Narcissa never forgave him for it."
"I thought he said his mother kicked him out." Dawn said.
"Oh, yes well I believe it was a bit of both."
"How do you know all this?" Said Giles.
"I had the great misfortune of bumping into Narcissa when she testified for my trial. She happily informed me of her troubles, which of course, she blamed on me for not being there for our son while I was in prison for a crime I didn't commit and afterwards hiding from the ministry in caves in the mountains. " Sirius explained and rolled his eyes.
"She sounds pleasant." Xander added.
"How did Lucius die?" Dawn asked.
"Amazingly of natural causes. But it was believed that one of his fellow Death Eaters was plotting to kill him, that guy was probably the sanest of the lot" Said Sirius.
"Well if it wasn't the attractive tattoos it's definitely the loyal comrades aspect that convinced me, I'm becoming a Death Eater." Xander said. "I hear it's a great way to make new friends." Said a voice.
Everyone turned around. Madeye Moody was leaning on the register.
