FOR ILVERMORNY SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Title: silver child
House: Wampus
Class/Task number: Astronomy/ Task #1 Andromeda
Bonus prompts: 1) [character] Narcissa Black Malfoy; 6) [colour] white; 13) [quote] "How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it." - Marcus Aurelius
Summary: Cissy's the silver child. She's the prettiest, the best behaved, and Mother and Father's favourite. She can marry whoever she wants!
Word count: 1,571
Narcissa is five years old. She's wearing a light blue dress that flutters around her when she twirls. It's absolutely amazing. And the best thing? She's been asked to twirl. Continuously. See, Narcissa is one of the prettiest flower girls at the wedding. Both Mother and Father have told her, and Mother and Father are always right.
Cissy, as most people call her, giggles as she twirls and throws the flowers in front of the pretty lady in white. Once they reach the end of the red carpet, someone quickly ushers Cissy off to the sides and to where Mother is waiting for her. Mother lightly scolds her for staining her dress. Cissy had been playing with the mud outside before.
The ceremony is very, very long. Narcissa doesn't understand what is going on really. Andi and Bella didn't want to explain to her, because she is still too little. Andi and Bella never want to explain anything to her. They always leave her alone. So she doesn't understand. But what she does see is that the pretty lady in white is crying.
"Mother?" she asks.
"Shhh," the older woman tuts before giving her daughter a smile, "Not now Cissy."
"But Mother," she urges on, "Why is the lady crying?"
"Maybe she doesn't want to marry him," Mother mutters.
"Why?" Narcissa is confused. The man in the black robes looks very happy, he seems to want to 'marry' the pretty lady in white very much.
Mother shakes her head. "Don't worry, my silver child. Don't worry. You will marry whoever you want."
Narcissa still doesn't understand, but Mother seems to think this is a good thing, so she smiles. Besides, who cares about this whole 'marry' business? As far as Cissy's concerned she has the prettiest dress. It's light blue and it flutters. She doesn't want anything else. Cissy's the silver child anyway.
Narcissa is fifteen years old. She's wearing a yellow dress. It's a very pretty dress, perhaps a little too short for Mother's liking but Bella said she could, and after all, it's Bella's special day. (But maybe Narcissa should have listened to Mother, because she keeps having to hold it down as the wind is blowing today). Both Mother and Father have told her she's the prettiest bridesmaid, and Mother and Father are always right. But then again, the only other bridesmaid is Andi, and everyone knows Cissy's the favourite.
It's Bella's wedding. The date had been set years before, agreements signed and fealties sworn. Unfortunately, that was to Tiberius Nott, not Rodolphus Lestrange. Father is positively fuming but they can't say anything about it because Nott himself blessed the union, and the Lestrange house doesn't have too bad a reputation, blood lineage or heritage. Father looks like he's about to burst, everything in his body language just screams discontent, anger, at how much he hates the whole event.
Andi and Narcissa walk down after their sister, put up in an absolutely horrible white dress, and are quickly ushered away. Mother glares at her elder daughter, who just flashes her an amused smirk. Narcissa doesn't quite understand why they're so angry anyway. They all knew Bella was never just going to do what their parents told her to do. She's not like Narcissa at all. Narcissa knows Mother and Father are always right.
"Mark my words, Andromeda, you will marry the man of our choosing," Mother gets through gritted teeth as she continues to try to murder Bella with a stare.
Andi doesn't say anything. She just pleasantely continues to smile, a lot more… aloof than Narcissa had once known her.
Mother then turns to her younger and her eyes soften. "But not you, my silver child. Don't worry about it."
Narcissa nods. She trusts Mother. Mother and Father love her best. They will always want to make her happy. She's the baby of the family, but if that means she's spoiled and pampered, heck, she'll take it.
Narcissa is seventeen years old. She's wearing a dark green dress. It's made of velvet and is extremely heavy. She doubts the skirt will flutter if she twirls. But there is no need for Christmas at this occasion. It's Christmas after all, Mother, Father and Narcissa are sitting in the winter sitting room. The fire is lit.
Father is reading the letter Dibsie has just brought. Maybe it's from Bella. She hardly comes over anymore now that she's married. Or that she has a job or something. Cissy likes to ask her about it but Bella will never tell her what she does, just that it's of the utmost importance. She always thinks it's so amazing that a married Pureblood woman can have a job. Even if it does seem like Bella is going crazy. They don't often discuss Bella at home now.
Mother and her are discussing Andi's upcoming wedding. Caspian Fawley is at least twenty years older than her sister, but he seems like a kind husband, with a LOT of money.
"Madam Malkin told me that Andromeda had already come to take the dress, and I was most surprised. She hasn't shown it to any of us yet, right, my silver child?"
"No, nothing at all. I was hoping she'd say more about the bridesmaid's dresses but nothing."
"Oh well, maybe she just wants to surprise us as much as her husband."
Narcissa grimaced. "I don't think she loves her husband all that much."
"Of course not!" Mother laughed. "There's no reason for there to be love! I did not love your father when I married him. It's just the way it is." Then she paused. "But, of course, you will pick whoever you wish, my silver child. Speaking of which, do you have anyone in mind?"
"Mother!" The older woman just gives her a knowing smile.
Suddenly Father thrusts himself out of the chair, knocking it to the floor. The fire lunges.
"HOW DARE SHE!" he bellows, "HOW DOES SHE GODDAMN DARE!"
Mother rushes over to Father who pushes her away. Narcissa burries herself into the chair. She doesn't understand what is going on. But she's scared. She's never seen Father quite this angry. No, not angry; furious. Even when Bella got married he wasn't like this.
"Darling, what's wrong?" Mother whispers. She's very pale.
"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG!" He's tearing up the letter into jagged peices and feeding them to the hungry fire. "YOUR DAUGHTER HAS MARRIED A MUDBLOOD."
"An...Andromeda?"
"YOU WILL NEVER TALK OF HER AGAIN."
Mother cowers as Father punches into the nearest vase. Narcissa takes that as her cue to leave, and she discreetly tiptoes back to her room.
The shouts are still going on once she's reached her room. Father is angry at something he can't be angry at. Mother is trying to calm him. It's probably futile. Narcissa thinks of her sister. She was never close to any of her sisters, especially not Andi. But Mother and Father have always said: Purebloods are superior to Mudbloods. You will not talk to them, interact with them, or aknowledge them. Andi broke every single one of those rules.
There's another crash downstairs. Well, hopefully her white dress was pretty.
Narcissa is eighteen years old. She's wearing a long satin white dress. And a veil. It's her wedding. If she twirls, the dress does flutter around her. It's quite beautiful. The seamstress did quite a good job with it.
It's what Mother has promised all these years. Well, almost. The only difference is that she's marrying a perfect stranger. Lucius Malfoy. They've exchanged a total of 34 words when they met for the first time at their formal introduction.
She's with Mother in the dressing room. Mother is crying. This is not what she imagined either. Narcissa was her silver child. The third daughter. The one who didn't need to make any political connections through her wedding. The one Mother had hoped would marry for love.
But clearly, Father disagrees with her. Bella's little stunt left him angry, and the sister's betrayal pushed him over the brink. So now Cissy has to pay the consequences of their actions. 'Robbed' according to Mother, of her only privilege as the youngest daughter. Narcissa has been practising her smile for months for this day.
Bella, on the other hand, is delighted. She knows the man Cissy is marrying. She says they do the same thing. And that only worries her more. Bella is absolutely out of her mind. And while the man she met two months ago seems sane, a lot can be hidden behind his mask of indifference. And the Malfoys do have a certain… reputation. Though they may be rich, and their blood lineage intact, there's a reason why they have so much trouble finding a wife. Smile, Narcissa, she reminds herself.
Mother is still crying profusely, tears dripping down her nose, as she hugs her youngest daughter.
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it, thinks Narcissa bitterly. Sacrificing the love of the only two women who ever loved him because of the actions of the two who didn't doesn't quite seem reasonable to her. But Father can't quite see it.
Narcissa pushes her away delicately. There have been enough tears today. Mother can drown later. For the moment, Father is still waiting outside to give her away. Mother should wish her luck, instead.