Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 10: Naughty Little Secrets

"Miss Zara?" said a high pitched, squeaky voice. "Miss Zara, are you alright?"

Zara opened her eyes to find Dobby staring at her, "Yes Dobby," She said slowly as she stepped out of the fireplace.

They were standing in the sitting room and the first thing that Zara noticed was that a very old but very beautiful mirror that had been in her mother's family for years had been covered in black fabric. Seeing the mirror told Zara that there had indeed been a death in her family.

"Dobby has set out a snack for Miss Zara in her room."

Zara offered him a small smile, "Thank you."

All of the house elves took extra pains to please Zara as she was the only one out of her family to treat them with any kind of decency. This was done in secret of course. As much as he loved Zara, Lucius would not have been happy to see his daughter treating his house elves like people. Dobby especially, considering his disappearance for a night during the summer.

Dobby was all too happy to take Zara's things, which he did, disappearing with a crack. Left alone, Zara made her way into the main hallway and up the oak staircase which split off in three directions at the top landing which was shaped in a circular fashion. Straight ahead, through a set of double doors was the library and several spare bedrooms used for guests known as the north wing. To Zara's left, through a set of glass French doors was the east wing or children's wing where her bedroom as well as Draco's was located. And to the right, through a similar set of glass French doors was the west wing or the master suite as it was more commonly known. The master bedroom and her mother's study were in this part of the house. But Zara noticed that black curtains had been pulled across the doors.

Zara stared at the doors for the moment before turning left and going through the doors toward her room.

Narcissa Malfoy sat on the large bed in the master suite. She was paler than usual and like many things in the house she was also draped in black robes giving her the appearance of a fallen angel. Her long waist length blonde hair fell unbidden down her back. She stared out the window lost in thought until a soft knock at the door brought her out of her reverie.

"Come in," She said with a slightly hoarse quality to her voice.

The door opened and Zara stepped inside dressed in a pink dressing gown, "Mummy? You wanted to see me?" She asked, not moving from her place by the door.

Narcissa turned to face her daughter, "Yes Zara. Come here," She said in an unusually soft tone and Zara did as she was bid. Narcissa motioned to a spot on the bed and the child sat down. Picking up a brush beside her, she began to brush Zara's hair. Despite the fact that Narcissa did not have a traditional relationship with her daughter, she had made a point of doing Zara's hair. Even though Zara could take care of her hair by herself, she let Narcissa do it because it was something that they could both share.

"Am I in trouble?" Zara asked with a little hesitation in her voice.

"No Zara. I wanted to ask you something," Narcissa replied. "I need you to do something for me."

"Like what?"

"Will you perform the sealing at your grandfather's funeral?"

"You—you want me to do it?"

"Yes Zara."

"But what about Draco, he could probably do it better than me," She said mumbling the last phrase.

"I would like you to do it," Narcissa replied in an almost gentle tone. "Will you do it?"

Zara looked up at her mother and nodded, "Yes mummy I'll do it."

"Good," She said stroking Zara's cheek.

As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Zara hugged her mother. "I'm sorry you're sad mummy," She whispered.

Narcissa felt her heart clench and she hugged Zara back tightly, "Thank you Zara."

"Is there anything I can do?"

In that moment, Narcissa felt like she was about to cry. Zara reminded her very much of Andromeda. Her older sister was always kind and very considerate. She almost always put her family and friends before herself. These similarities had caused her to act as badly as she had. Narcissa knew loss quite well. Her mother had died while she was still a student at Hogwarts. And she had lost both of her sisters over time to men, Ted Tonks and the Dark Lord. Andromeda's loss came as more of a shock than Bellatrix's incarceration had. As the wife of a death eater, Narcissa was well aware of the risk the Dark Lord's followers undertook.

But as she looked at her youngest child in that moment, Narcissa knew that Zara was not her sister. She was an entirely different person, very unique in her own right. And at the same time, she was committed to her family. That was something that differentiated the two Malfoy children. Draco always did as he was asked if only to please his parents. However, over the last few years Narcissa had noticed that his loyalties had changed, Now, Draco was more apt to look out for himself more than others. This was something that he had no doubt gleaned from his father. Lucius was fiercely loyal to his family, though it was still somewhat of a secret.

A soft sigh pulled Narcissa from her thoughts and when she looked at Zara once more, the little girl was asleep. Slowly, she draped the blanket she wore over the sleeping child and continued to hold her throughout the night.

The day of the funeral dawned bright with a slight chill in the air. The sound of crunching leaves could be heard as people made their way across the graveyard to the Black family mausoleum. Lucius and Narcissa walked together in silence, their faces composed masks. Zara and Draco walked behind them dressed in the colours of Ying and Yang. Draco was dressed in black robes similar to his father's while Zara was dressed in robes of white, her long pale hair falling down her back freely. The little girl was the only one in white in the group of mourners now gathered in front of the white marble building.

The adults greeted Narcissa and Lucius, each expressing how sorry they were to the only true Black left. Draco stood aloft from the group looking very bored while his obiedient sister stayed near her parents. The ceremony began a few moments later when Francis Lorrings, the Black family's solicitor and family friend stood in front of the marble building.

"Hello everyone," Francis began in his low booming voice. At 6'5, the older wizard towered over the rest of the people present at the ceremony. He had been a good friend of Cygnus Black's since they were at Hogwarts together and it was he who Narcissa asked to speak today. "We are here today to honor Cygnus Black. He was a strong, intelligent man who had a great thirst for life. I am saddened that he is gone as I am sure you all are. His life was ended too soon but he has left behind a great legacy in his daughter Narcissa and his grandchildren Draco and Zara. Cygnus was a very proud man and he worked hard in everything he did. But what brought him the greatest joy in life was his family. He found a lifelong partner in his wife Druella, whom he loved very much. And his little Narcissa made him happy in everything she accomplished, particularly in the raising of the two fine, upstanding children who are now attending Hogwarts. The world will never be the same without him. We will never be the same without him. But let us hope that he has finally found peace with his beloved Druella."

With that, Lorrings motioned to Zara who came forward. She placed her feet on the step leading into the mausoleum and with great concentration; she made a swishing motion with her wand. Zara expected to see some sort light shoot out of it. But instead, all she was a blurry puff of smoke as she was rocketed back nearly one hundred feet. Zara didn't dare scream, not that she even had time to. She landed with a thump near the edge of the graveyard behind a tree.

"Are you alright Zara?" said a startled voice beside her.

Zara looked up to find a woman of her mother's height looking down at her. The raven-haired beauty looked very familiar. In fact, within seconds the young girl realized that she was looking at the woman from the photograph her mother kept hidden in a drawer. She had found it on a rainy day a year ago while her mother was hosting tea with a group of friends. She hadn't breathed a word about the photograph of the three Black sisters in what had looked to be their lower school Hogwarts days, until now.

"You're in the photograph with my mummy," Zara breathed, too surprised to answer the woman's first question. "You're Andromeda."

Andromeda Tonks chuckled softly and offered a hand to her young niece whom she had never seen before today. But she hadn't needed to in order to identify the child. She was a perfect mixture of Narcissa and Lucius; blonde haired, blue eyed, with a creamy complexion. "Yes dear I am," the older woman said bemusedly. "Are you alright? That was quite a trip you took."

"Yes, I'm alright," Zara replied even though her once pristine white robes were now smeared with dirt and mud. But Zara didn't care. She had a million questions to ask.

However, before Zara could say another word, Narcissa's worried voice reached her ears. The force of Zara's flight made for worry.

"Zara?" Within seconds, Narcissa appeared in front of her daughter. A second later, she saw Andromeda too and her heart leapt into her throat. But she didn't let it show; instead she called out, "Lucius, Zara is here." Then her eyes turned to her child once more. "Are you hurt?"

"No mummy I'm fine."

Lucius came over then, "Zara, good you're alright." He too quickly noticed Andromeda and went to his daughter. Pointing his wand at her, he said clearly, "Scurgify." The unsightly dirt and mud vanished instantly. "Come darling," He said quietly taking his daughter's hand and led her away. If there was one thing he had learned over the years, it was to stay out of Black family affairs.

Once Zara was gone, Narcissa spoke in a surprisingly soft tone, "What are you doing here, sister?"

"I came to mourn our father's passing like you have."

"I see," Narcissa replied flatly. "You shouldn't be here."

Andromeda sighed, "Cissa please. I won't disturb anyone. I want to say goodbye."

"Father wouldn't want you here."

"Maybe not. But I need to make peace with father."

"Like you made peace with me?" Narcissa retorted.

"I want to make peace with you Cissa more than anything if you'll let me."

Narcissa scoffed, "You made your bed sister. I will never make peace with you," she said with a soft fierceness. "I have to get back to my family," She said and began to leave.

"Narcissa wait!" Andromeda called after her.

But Narcissa didn't dare look back. When she reached her family, it was obvious to her that Draco had replaced Zara's wand with a trick one judging by the expression on his face and her husband's as well.

"You may perform the sealing now," Narcissa said to her daughter. "With your real wand," She said throwing a look at her son who looked away.

"Yes, mummy," She said taking her place back on the step. With a swish and flick motion, Zara said the spell and the inner doors sealed. She repeated the same procedure for the outer doors until they too were sealed.

"Thank you Zara," Narcissa said, putting her hand on the small of the girl's back in a show of gratitude before going to speak with the guests that had attended.

Alone in her room that night, Zara wondered about the aunt that she had seen for the first time today. She had had a million questions to ask since she knew asking her parents was out. Her father would just tell her to keep out of it and her mother wouldn't answer at all. She rose and went to the chair where her school bag was, thinking about the book Ginny had given her the night before she'd left Hogwarts. She had told Zara how good it was for writing about things that troubled you.

Zara frowned and with a sigh she sat at her desk. She wondered if it was good for questions too. Zara pulled out a quill and a bottle of ink along with a small black book. Setting them on the desk, she opened the ink bottle and the book which had the year "1941" embossed on it. Opening the book, she wrote on the first page, "Hello Tom. My name is Zara Malfoy. My friend Ginny Weasley said that I should talk to you." Zara wrote this in neat script which faded after a moment.

After a minute's pause, words appeared in handwriting different from Zara's own. "Hello, Zara Malfoy," It read. "Yes, Ginny has told me a lot about you."

Zara smiled softly and continued to write. Downstairs, Lucius Malfoy sat in the sitting room drinking a glass of brandy with his wife, unaware that being a death eater was about to cost him very dearly.