Don't trip over your feet, Narcissa spoke in her mind over and over again as she walked down the stairs in order to meet the Malfoys in the entrance room. Don't do anything to embarrass yourself. You must impress them. You must impress your future husband and his father.
Her future husband.
Narcissa barely managed to not trip over her feet. She instead focused on Bellatrix and Andromeda, who were descending the stairs in front of her. As always, they were the perfect pictures of grace and dignity.
Why couldn't she be like them? If she was like them, then the Malfoys would definitely be impressed by her.
"My daughters," Cygnus spoke to Abraxas and Lucius, interrupting Narcissa's thoughts. "Abraxas, you already know my two oldest."
Abraxas gave Bellatrix and Andromeda a slight nod in acknowledgment.
Both sisters returned his nod.
"Lucius," Cygnus then spoke, "allow me to introduce to you Bellatrix and Andromeda."
Lucius nodded his head politely at them.
Bellatrix and Andromeda both returned his nod before stepping out the way for Narcissa.
"And it is truly my pleasure to introduce my youngest daughter, Narcissa," Cygnus said.
"How do you do?" Narcissa asked politely, curtsying to both Malfoys.
"We are doing just fine, thank you," Lucius replied. He smiled at her, but his smile didn't reach his eyes.
Narcissa managed to give him a weak smile.
Abraxas just nodded his head at her.
Narcissa couldn't even bring herself to meet his eyes.
"Why don't we give Lucius and Narcissa some time to get to know each other," Druella suggested with a bright smile.
Abraxas frowned slightly for just the briefest of moments, but he quickly composed his mouth into a smile before anyone could notice.
"Of course," he said. He then gestured for Lucius to step forward.
"Let's go to the drawing room," Druella smiled, nodding her head at her husband to lead the way.
Everyone followed Cygnus to the drawing room.
Once there, Druella motioned for everyone to take a seat. She motioned for Lucius and Narcissa to take a seat on a couch that was some distance away from the rest of them, so that they could have a little bit of privacy but still be in sight.
"Hi," Narcissa said nervously as soon as they had sat down.
Lucius just looked at her.
"Um, what do you want to talk about?" Narcissa asked.
"What is there to talk about?" Lucius returned. "My name is Lucius Malfoy, and I am a Pureblood. Your name is Narcissa Black, and you are a Pureblood as well. You do believe in blood purity, right?"
"Of course," Narcissa replied.
"Then there is nothing for us to discuss," Lucius responded.
Narcissa glanced over at her mother.
Druella was smiling charmingly at Abraxas, but it was clear that she also had an eye on her youngest.
Narcissa sat up straighter in an attempt to look more confident, but she couldn't keep herself from fussing with the imaginary wrinkles in her dress. At least she didn't touch her hair, but that was only a small comfort to her.
Lucius followed Narcissa's eyes, and he noticed that she was looking nervously at her mother.
Lucius nodded and smiled politely at Druella before turning his attention back to Narcissa.
"I don't care much for needless conversation," Lucius told her.
Narcissa couldn't help but notice, though, that Lucius was making gestures with his hands as he spoke, giving the impression that they were having a lively, animated conversation.
Narcissa smiled politely at Lucius and nodded her head as if she was agreeing with something wondrous that he had just said.
"I will try my best to not do anything to embarrass you," Lucius continued, still gesturing with his hands, "and as long as you try to do the same, there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to coexist. We share the same beliefs, after all, and that's what truly matters. Everything else is unimportant."
Narcissa nodded her head again, and she allowed her smile to grow even wider.
Inside, though, Narcissa felt like she was falling apart. She had not been expecting Lucius to talk with her with the same comfortableness as her sisters, but she also had not been expecting that Lucius would not want to say anything to her at all.
But at least he was pretending to be interested in her for the sake of appeasing her mother. Narcissa supposed she should be happy about that.
"I will try my best to respect your wishes," Narcissa spoke, "but we can't just keep on nodding our heads and smiling at each other for the rest of the night."
"No, of course not," Lucius agreed. "Your mother clearly wants you to make a good impression. Well, you need not worry about that. I will tell her before I leave that I find you to be very pleasing."
"Do you really?" Narcissa pressed, trying not to sound too hopeful or desperate.
"It's clear to me that you are of good breeding," Lucius answered with a casual but also elegant shrug of his shoulders.
There was a brief moment of silence between them.
"So, what now?" Narcissa asked. "We need something to pretend to talk about."
"We could discuss our family trees," Lucius offered. "It is important that we know our heritage."
Narcissa was proud of her heritage, but it wasn't exactly something she wanted to discuss in a "pretend" casual conversation. But what else was there for her and Lucius to talk about? Family trees was as good of a subject of discussion as anything else. Besides, it was important that she knew as much about her future husband as possible.
Her future husband.
Narcissa could not help but shift uncomfortably ever so slightly. She quickly composed herself, however, and she gave Lucius another bright smile.
Lucius shifted ever so slightly (even though he made it look natural instead of deliberate), so that Druella would have no problem with seeing the smile on Narcissa's face.
Narcissa tried to take some pleasure in the fact that at least both she and Lucius were good at pretending, but that was only a small comfort to her.