The day of their mother's funeral dawned with a grey sky. And Narcissa could hardly bring herself to get out of bed. The house-elf had awoken her with a cup of tea, and she had risen and dressed herself in the traditional black. She had sat down and put her make up on, placed the veil of a mourning daughter over her face. And then she sat and waited.

She didn't know what to do next, all her energies over the last week had been in preparation for this moment. She had spent the last week issuing invitations, organising flowers and food for the wake. Bellatrix had offered to help, but she had never really been one for planning social occasions, and her father had been shut in his study since she had delivered the bad news to him. So she had sat down and planned her mother's funeral and now it was all done, it was all ready and she didn't know what to do.

Bella came into her room, after a soft knock that Narcissa almost didn't hear; she was dressed almost identically to her sister, same simple black dress robes, same dark stockings, black shoes, and same black silk gloves. The only difference was between Bellatrix's raven tresses and Narcissa's golden hair. Bella looked much older today, it could have been the tired look in her eyes, or alternately it could have been the fact that her hair was pinned up off her face, a rare look for Bella.

"Narcissa it's time."

With a final glance Narcissa glanced around the room, knowing that once she left everything would change forever, that somehow the whole affair would now become real, she followed Bellatrix out and down the stairs where Rodolphus and her father were waiting for her.

Narcissa recognised very few people at her mother's funeral. There was of course her aunts and uncles and cousins, and her mother's friends, however many people that were in attendance were there because it was expected of them, that they should pay respects to a wife of the Black family. Buried in the Black Family Vault, with the inscription Toujours Pur over it's doors, Narcissa felt a rush of pride for her mother, she had been the perfect wife for her father, doing everything that was expected her, always knowing what to do in every situation. Narcissa missed her guidance.

She tried to choke back the tears but failed.

Then she felt a hand slip into hers, she looked up expecting to see her father, or perhaps Rodolphus, but her eyes met a pair of cool steel pools, who smiled at her encouragingly and she squeezed his hand gratefully.

As she looked up through blurred tears she saw a familiar figure standing opposite her, on the other side of the grave. Andromeda was here with her husband, holding a small infant, presumably her daughter. As her eyes locked with her sister's she looked away disdainfully. Andromeda had made her bed, and as far as Narcissa was concerned she could lie in it until she rotted.

Narcissa had been keeping an eye on her sister and father, hoping that neither of them would see Andromeda in the sea of faces after the burial. Her father was currently occupied talking to the Crouches, and walking back towards the house, so Narcissa didn't have to worry about him anymore. However Bella seemed to have noticed Andromeda's presence, and was currently angrily storming towards her middle sister.

Until she was intercepted by Narcissa.

She tugged at Bellatrix's sleeve until she turned away, and shook her head insistently. "Not today Bella" Narcissa begged "don't do this here, not today." It was the first time the two sisters had clapped eyes on each other since Andromeda's defection. Bellatrix turned haughtily and walked back to the house, escorted by Rodolphus. Lucius offered her his arm, to walk her back to the wake, but Narcissa excused herself for a moment.

She walked towards her sister.

"You shouldn't have come here."

"She wasn't just yours and Bella's mother, Narcissa. She was my mother too." Narcissa watched as the woman who used to be her sister choked back a sob "She was my mother."

"Yes" Narcissa agreed "but she made it quite clear that you were no longer her daughter."

And with that she turned on her heel and joined Lucius for the long walk back to Ravensden.

She felt her mother's death even more when she returned to the house. Everyone was coming up to her to pay their condolences, and Narcissa was starting to get tired of greeting people. After a while, when people had begun to disperse she slipped out of the gathering and upstairs into the private area of the house. She sat down gently on a window seat and sighed, enjoying the five minutes of peace.

Until she was interrupted by a soft voice.

"Hey."

She visibly relaxed when she saw it was only her cousin Regalus.

"Hey Reggie" she smiled, because she should, not because she felt like smiling.

"I saw you come sneaking up here, and I thought I'd make sure you were ok, you know?" He had a soft, goofy kinda smile that made Narcissa smile back, genuinely this time.

"I'm ok" she told him sincerely "just a little tired."

"Wanted to get away from everyone?"

"Do you know half these people? Cause, there's hardly anybody here I know." He paused, but didn't give her chance to answer "Cissy, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry, you know" he shrugged awkwardly.

Narcissa didn't reply for some time, and when she finally spoke she felt more light hearted than she had felt in days. "Hey Reggie, do you fancy getting out of here for a bit?"

"Sure, where do you wanna go?"

"How about we go get some ice-cream?"

"Okay, sounds good."

The two stole downstairs, slipping past the Lestranges and Lucius Malfoy, making their way into Narcissa's father's office. The slipped quietly into the fireplace on their way to Diagon Alley, then onto Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. It was surprisingly quiet when they got there, with the many deaths the previous week people were avoiding Diagon Alley, indeed Narcissa had read in yesterday's Prophet that Hogsmede had been doing record trade, with people currently preferring to go up north to do their shopping. She ordered a banana split, with chopped nuts and whipped cream, though she wasn't really that hungry. She and Regalus sat and ate their ice-creams in relative silence, enjoying each other's company quietly, though Narcissa had begun to listen, with interest, to a conversation happening between a witch and a wizard in the next door booth.

They were discussing the bodies of the McKinnon's, which had been discovered yesterday morning. They had been involved, somehow in the raid on Dempsey's and the retribution of the Death Eaters had just begun to fall.

"Well they were found in the house by a neighbour, who obviously called the Aurors, who announced that it had been the work of Avada Kedavara. What they didn't announce, that I heard from a friend at the ministry, was that the house had the dark mark above it all night, only faded this morning I hear."

"What's the dark mark?"

"It's what the ministry have dubbed Lord Voldemort's sign…"

The witch's voice interrupted rudely "Oooh, don't say his name, makes me feel all goosebumpily."

"It's what they're calling you-know-who's sign, the dark mark. It looks like a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth."

"Creepy."

"Yeah! Especially when you take into account that it's getting sent it off into the sky every time that the death eaters kill somebody."

Narcissa stopped listening; she'd had enough of death for one day. She looked across at Regalus, he was so young, only in his second year, and already signing up to join the death eaters, not that she blamed him, everybody was. She just couldn't imagine Regalus using the Avada Kedavara, he was far too sweet.

Bellatrix on the other hand. Narcissa was worried about her sister joining the death eaters. Bellatrix had never been one to do things by half measures; she would be in the thick of things, the most loyalmember, the one who would be there till the very end, no matter what the circumstances.

She sighed and pushed her ice-cream away, it was tasteless in her mouth. Regalus had already polished off his chocolate sundae, with the appetite that only a thirteen year old has.

"Come on" she told him gently.

"We should be getting back."

"Will we get into trouble?" he asked suddenly "for sneaking out, I mean?"

Narcissa shook her head "No. Not today we won't Reggie." Who was going to complain that she needed to get some space, today of all days.

Things hadn't changed when they arrived back at the house. People were still milling about, being served cups of tea and sandwiches by the house-elves. Her father was sitting in his chair alone, gazing into the fire. Narcissa was worried about him. It was true that he had never been desperately in love with her mother, but he had relied on her, and they had been married for nearly thirty years.

She left him alone with his thoughts for now; there would be time enough for them to talk later, when everybody had gone home. When there was just the two of them left.

She made her way over to where Bellatrix was standing; she was talking to her father-in-law in hushed whispers. Narcissa knew what they were talking about, even if she couldn't hear them. It was rumoured that Lestrange senior had gone to school with Voldemort himself. Though he wasn't a death eater, due to his age, he had strongly encouraged both his sons to join up. Rodolphus had been a member months before the Dempsey's incident, and his younger brother Rabastan would be joining as soon as he left Hogwarts next September.

She approached them cautiously, they may not want her joining in the conversation, but as she got close to them Bellatrix smiled slightly.

"Oh there you are. We couldn't find you and I was starting to get worried. Sirius is still looking for you out in the grounds, I didn't think you'd have gone back outside but he was getting restless and his mother thought it would keep him out of trouble."

"Sorry, I just needed to get out for a bit, it was all just getting too much. But I'll go mingle for a bit if you like – give you a bit of a breather."

Narcissa played the good society witch for the next hour as the guests began to depart. The last to leave were the Malfoys. Belinda Malfoy, pulled Narcissa to one side, instructing her, that should Narcissa need her at any time of the day or night, all she had to do was floo. She had hugged Narcissa and Bellatrix tightly before they had left, leaving both girls with pangs for their real mother, whom no surrogate could replace.

Eventually there was just the four of them left, Rodolphus, Bellatrix, Narcissa and their father. He still hadn't left his chair by the fire, and when Narcissa took him over a cup of tea he seemed surprised that everybody had gone. He soon after made his excuses and retired for the night.

Shortly afterwards Bellatrix had made a move to go, suddenly reminding her sister, that this wasn't her home any more.

"Will you be okay?" Bella asked with concern, "you could always come back to the town house with us." She felt awful leaving Narcissa in the cold empty house.

"I should stay here with Daddy" Narcissa replied softly "He might need me."

Bellatrix and Rodolphus said their goodbyes in the hallway and Narcissa showed them out. She then returned to the sitting room, it had always been her mother's favourite room in the house, with dark wooden panels on the walls and velvet covered furniture. She wrapped her arms around tightly as realised to her relief that for the first time that day she was now completely alone.