"Rose Red, Rose Red, will I ever see thee wed?
Only if you can capture me."
-Emilie Autumn, "Rose Red"
Narcissa watches her parents. She wonders if they love each other the way parents are supposed to.
"Of course they don't," Bellatrix says. "Blacks don't love."
"Only because arranged marriages aren't about love," Andromeda chimes in, peering up from her book. "No one cares if you're happy or not."
Eight year old Narcissa ponders this, nose scrunching up. "Then I'll never marry," she decides with a slight nod of her head.
Bellatrix rolls her eyes. "You will if Mother and Father want you to," she says. "You're a Black. You have a duty."
"Duty is stupid."
"Better not let Father hear you say that," Andromeda warns.
.
When Lucius Malfoy corners her in the Slytherin common room, kissing her roughly, sloppily, Narcissa pushes him away, wiping her mouth in disgust. "Piss off, Malfoy," she grinds out, adjusting her robes and glaring up at him.
"You'll learn to like it," he says calmly, a smirk twisting his lips. "I'd dare say you'll even love it one day."
"Doubtful," she says curtly, turning on her heel and rushing to the girls' dormitories as fast as her legs can carry her.
.
"Why do you keep following me?" she demands.
"Because I like watching you walk. Your hips sway nicely. Quite the view."
Narcissa grits her teeth, resisting the urge to punch him in his stupid face. She's certain that she hates Lucius Malfoy.
.
"You really should be nicer to Malfoy," Bellatrix says. "He's going to be your husband one day."
Narcissa scowls at the thought. "No. He won't."
"Just wait. His father and our father are old friends. And Lucius Malfoy always gets what he wants."
.
"But Father," Narcissa says, horrified, "I don't want to marry Lucius Malfoy!"
"You will," Cygnus says, and though he speaks sofly, his words are heavy with an unspoken threat. "This is what's best for our family, Narcissa. Is that understood?"
She wants to scream, to throw a fit. The thought of marrying Lucius makes her skin crawl. "I don't love him."
Arranged marriages aren't about love, Andromeda had said all those years ago.
Andromeda, who had the good sense to defy their parents and marry for love. Or bad sense, as she had been disowned instantly.
Narcissa wonders if her sister is happy with the Mudblood. Is a world free from family obligations more beautiful than the chains Narcissa now wears?
"Narcissa?"
"Understood, Father."
.
Narcissa tries to ignore Lucius' smug smirk as they exchange their vows.
"I told you you would be mine," he whispers under his breath as he kisses her and seals her fate.