This is written for the Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) forum, specifically for Assignment #10; Notable Witches and Wizards Task #2 - Write about someone plotting something.
Not sure whether I managed it, but whatever. I wrote something and that is always amazing.
Narcissa Malfoy née Black is the perfect pureblood wife. She is poised and demure, beautiful and precise. She is devoted to her family and is the Lady of the House, stepping in when her husband is otherwise engaged.
Narcissa Malfoy is the perfect pureblood wife and, it seems, she always has been. But Narcissa has seen the Dark Lord fall, once, and watched as those with him scattered to the winds, hiding their names and blurring their shadows. She and Lucius refused to step back, simply lifting their chins and looking others in the eye when they were questioned.
But now, the Dark Lord is back and Narcissa's husband is locked away and her son is on a suicide mission that the Dark Lord has given him. Now, Narcissa is waiting alone in the house with only the House-Elves for company.
However, Narcissa is a Black—Lady Black, in fact. She is not useless, not weak, not helpless. She never has been. She is the perfect pureblood wife, and that means that family comes first, always. Family that the Dark Lord has not only scorned, but sent to die.
And that will not stand. Narcissa will not watch her son and her husband be beaten down and killed by a man who calls himself the Dark Lord. A man who claims to be making sure the world is safe for purebloods and yet does not reveal his name. And Narcissa can find no mention of him anywhere. In fact, no pureblood wife or lady of status appears to know him.
Before the Dark Lord returned, their world had been rife with mudbloods and halfbloods, but at least her family had been safe. They had been proud and wealthy and haughty and happy. Now, even before her son returned to Hogwarts and her husband was locked away, Narcissa was seeing the dark shadows beneath their eyes, the stress painted across their faces even as they tried to hide it. They are both so alike, trying to hide their pain from her, but Narcissa is a mother and a wife. She knows them, just as they know her, and she can read them with ease.
Sipping her tea out in the gardens, Narcissa ponders her next step. She knows what she is setting out to do, knows that nothing will be as it once was—but if she can ensure the safety and happiness of her family, nothing will stop her, not even death.
After spent so long married, it is likely everyone will expect Narcissa to go about this as a Malfoy, with a smile and money in her pocket and a little bit of blackmail. However, she was raised a Black and being a Black meant loving your family. Perhaps it is time Narcissa returns to those teachings.
It would, of course, mean hosting party after party, gathering alliances and information. Then, she would start her hunt for whatever it is that has let the Dark Lord become immortal. She has a number of dark books that would, likely, provide a few hints as to what has been done.
And then, onto the proper methods befitting a Lady Black—blackmail and power, forcing her way through everything and forcing people to pay attention to her. She will retrieve her husband from the Dark Lord's grasp, and steal her son back from the Dark Lord and watch as the man crumbles before her, a mockery of what he should be.
Very well, Narcissa thinks to herself as she places her teacup down so carefully it barely clinks against the china saucer, I have a plan.
She stands gracefully, robes sweeping against the ground, and she glides inside. It is perhaps time she plans a party hosted in the Malfoy Manor, inviting those of high class. But Narcissa will need to make it a somewhat neutral party, perhaps by inviting the Zabinis. After all, Lady Zabini is a lovely woman and a woman no one wants to cross, well known for her position as a neutral party in the war. More importantly, Lady Zabini is an old friend of Narcissa and might, in fact, be willing to provide a helping wand.
Of course, that might also be because Lady Zabini delights in causing chaos and upheaval and, as children, Narcissa can remember many fond memories of Lady Zabini and herself laughing and leaving quickly before they can be given detention for the destruction they left in their wake.
Not to mention, Lady Zabini is perhaps one of the best intelligence gatherers that Narcissa has ever had the pleasure of meeting. Alongside her job and travelling, Lady Zabini has made many alliances and is all too willing to hoard the favours and debts she is owed.
Yes, Lady Zabini will definitely be invited. A few other high class friends that Narcissa has kept in contact will not go amiss either. She can claim it's a reunion of old school friends, if anyone asks—though no one will.
Then—information, intelligence, and figure out how to take down the Dark Lord and keep her family safe and happy. It's apparently an impossible task for Dumbledore, but Narcissa is a Malfoy and a Black. She is a perfect pureblood wife, she doesn't fail.