Chapter Twenty Four

A/N: Thank you to matsuyo and Nevaeh -Rose Malfoy for reviewing the last chapter.

Narcissa knew from the moment she was summoned to her aunt's study the reason for her being called. The perfect Pureblood lady after so many years of training, there was no breech of etiquette she could be found guilty of. Except for one.

For such a small, squat woman, Walburga Black was one of the most intimidating figures her niece had ever met. Her pinched face seemed to be set in a perpetual frown, her lips curling with disdain even when faced with those she loved most dearly. If, indeed, those people actually existed.

"Sit, Narcissa." Walburga instructed, not bothering to greet her niece. The woman could never be described as quiet, but she did not believe in wasting words on pleasantries. "I have heard of your betrayal."

"How?" the girl questioned. There was no point in denying it. Walburga Black knew everything about her family long before anyone told her, particularly when there was something she could chastise them about.

"The daughters of a friend of mine, they saw you meeting with… that girl in Hogsmeade village a few weeks ago." Walburga could not even bring herself to mention her niece by name, but Narcissa knew it was not sadness for her loss that caused such vagueness, rather a worry that she might somehow be marked by association.

"Andromeda is my sister." Narcissa stated, with no thought for how her aunt might react to the truth. In her typical melodramatic style, Walburga gasped, sitting back slightly in her chair, as if she could not bear to be near Narcissa. 'I might as well have confessed to murder.' Narcissa thought bitterly, although she imagined her aunt would have liked that so much better.

"That girl is no sister of yours." Walburga spoke, her voice high and sharp. "She abandoned her family the day she threw herself at that Mudblood boy, and it is in return that we abandoned her. The decision was hers to make."

"She fell in love, Aunt Walburga." Narcissa argued, and her aunt's face was almost purple now, such was her disbelief at her niece's defiance. The girl knew she ought to have been more frightened than she was- Walburga was a dangerous woman, after all, and all lines of defence against her were gone now- but there was a fire that spread through her veins every time the woman insulted Andromeda. The lion within her was rearing its head, and she could not help but be proud of that.

"She was a foolish little traitor, who turned tail and ran with the first boy who smiled at her." Walburga barked, her eyes wild with fury. It was a habit of hers, to retreat into the past tense when speaking of her ill-fated niece. In fact, Narcissa would not be surprised if Walburga wished the girl dead; it would have been so much simpler to defend the family honour if she were.

"Aunt Walburga, if I am not permitted to treat her as my sister, then why can I not treat her as my friend?" Narcissa knew that pressing such a fanatical woman on this issue was futile, but she could not abandon her attempts completely.

Walburga did not scream or curse, merely sighed resignedly. The understated approach was a rare path for that woman to walk; it was a testament to how much her niece had worn her down. She did not have the strength to shout any longer.

"Narcissa, you know what you are saying." This time, Walburga's voice was low, her whisper almost sounding concerned. "I cannot control you altogether, but I will give you this warning, for the sake of my late brother and his wife. Do not travel down that same road Andromeda chose. It will only lead to nothing. You were fortunate enough to be born a daughter of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, to be given opportunities other Pureblood families could only dream of. Do not throw it all away for someone who had no qualms in casting you aside for a Mudblood."

If she had thought about it, Narcissa might have argued further, but her aunt's sudden smile threw her off balance. She ran the details of their conversation through her mind, as if she were scanning the words in ink and parchment. Something was not quite right.

"What opportunities?" she asked eventually, warning bells pealing at the back of her mind. What Walburga Black saw as a possibility, her niece would rarely see it the same way. "You said I couldn't waste chances. What had chances?"

"Interesting. I had wondered whether he would have told you." the woman began cryptically, clearly revelling in the knowledge she had that her niece did not. "After all the time you have spent with the boy, for him to keep the truth from you, something as important as this."

"Aunt Walburga, I don't understand what you're saying." Narcissa protested, her thoughts racing like angry wasps through her skull. Her aunt's smug smile was beginning to grate on her, her heart pounding like a war drum beneath her chest.

Walburga chuckled, the seriousness of the situation clearly lost on her. Or perhaps it was not; Narcissa would not put it past the woman to draw the suspense out as long as possible, merely for the sake of her own enjoyment.

"Andromeda had her marriage arranged since she was a child." the woman explained. Suddenly, Narcissa felt her heart rise into her throat. With Andromeda gone, she knew that elements of her sister's role would be passed onto her. She had never thought of this. "It cannot be abandoned now, merely because she has gone. The alliance of these two great Pureblood families has been longed for over generations. So now it is up to you to take that traitor's place at the altar."

She ought to be furious with her aunt for signing away her destiny so freely, she ought to scream and yell and refuse the engagement altogether. But no sooner had she opened her mouth than the words caught in her throat, the gravity of the situation finally dawning on her. Of all the Pureblood families in the country, there was only one that the Blacks would endure anything to be united with, only one that they considered almost equal to themselves. And the son of that family- her fiancé now- had been lying to her face all along.

When Narcissa was finally released from her aunt's presence, she wandered out into the garden, the only place where no one would come looking for her. The rain was pattering on the gravel, leaving small dark dots on her shoulders, but the girl ignored it, making her way to a bench beneath an aged oak tree. Only a few raindrops could weave their way through the branches, and from where she sat, Narcissa could pretend those droplets were the same as the ones rolling down her cheeks.

"Lucius, how could you?" she whispered to herself. Of all the people who might have betrayed her, she would not have suspected him. If she had her way, she would never see the boy again after this. But that was the crux of her situation. Like so many other things in her life, she did not have a choice.

A/N: I know Cissa might be overreacting a little bit, but now she's faced herself with the idea that Lucius might not care about her at all. Hope you enjoyed, please review!