for les
219 words, by google docs
There was a slight emptiness in Malfoy Manor. Narcissa knew that everyone felt it, but none of them seemed brave enough to mention it. None of them were Gryffindors.
No, they were all Slytherins. Slytherins didn't face their problems head on. Slytherins waited and watched and left their feelings for when they needed them.
The Malfoys had just fought in a war. They didn't need their feelings, not just yet. Besides, even if they wanted to show their feelings, the rest of the wizarding world wouldn't care.
Narcissa knew that they had a right to not care; her family had hurt other families. Still, she wanted to scream at everyone. She wanted to go to them and force them into her house and force them to listen to the screaming silence. She wanted them to feel her pain.
This war didn't just hurt their families. Narcissa's family was hurt. Narcissa's family could still feel that pain, the pain of the war.
After effects, Narcissa thought, didn't just hit the 'good side'.
Sitting with her family, Narcissa could almost feel the tangible after effects. It hit them, too. It broke them, as a family. They didn't have the same life everyone else did. They might have caused it, but it didn't mean they relished in it.
Narcissa wanted to scream.