Chapter Twenty Five

A/N: Thank you to Nevaeh -Rose Malfoy and kpop1392as for reviewing.

Aside from the occasional visit from her cousins, and one brief uncomfortable afternoon spent with Bellatrix, Narcissa found herself locked in her room more often than not; reading, writing essays, practicing spells. Anything to take her mind off the outside world, and the platinum-haired boy out in it.

Walburga had satisfied herself in revealing the truth to her niece, and for all her faults, she did not go out of her way to cause the girl more suffering. It seemed that destroying her life twice over would be too much for even her, and so she let her be.

It was at times like this, locked away in her bedroom alone, that Narcissa wished Andromeda was still with her. The younger of her two sisters had always known just the right thing to say. Only a few carefully chosen phrases from her, and it surely would have put the whole thing into perspective. But she could not be sure of that, Narcissa reminded herself, especially given that Andromeda was the reason she was in this mess in the first place.

She had been so lost in her thoughts that the tap against the window almost made her fall off the bed in shock. Seeing the dark shape of an owl glancing impatiently through the pane, the young woman crossed the room, releasing the latch and allowing the bird inside. She did not recognise them- feathers so dark they were almost black and piercing eyes- but had she seen the writing on the envelope they carried, she would never have opened the window at all.

The bird flew away the moment it had dropped the letter, as if its master had instructed it to leave the moment was safely delivered. Knowing who had sent the letter, and how well they knew her, it would not have surprised Narcissa in the least.

It took a few minutes for her to calm herself enough to read the letter, anger bubbling inside her veins whenever she imagined what it might contain. After all, the Malfoys were notorious liars, and Narcissa could see now that Lucius was no exception to that rule.

The paper had been crumpled in transit and some of the ink had run a little, blurring what must have been an intricately thought out speech. It was almost as if some force had thought of what Narcissa wanted done with the letter and carried it out before she even saw it. But the majority of the sheet was still legible, and so the girl began to read.

Narcissa,
I knew that adding any kind of affectionate term before your name would most likely have made you throw this note into the fire, and so I've let it go unsaid, even though it very much remains true.
I cannot deny my role in your being deceived about our engagement. I knew the day that Andromeda left that you would be made to take her place, and I never told you. The truth was, I didn't want you to think of me differently, as a man you were forced to be with, instead of one you wanted to be with. In a way, I thought I was giving the decision about your marriage back to you, and I suppose that was arrogance in me being so confident you would choose to marry me regardless.
After everything I've done, I would not be surprised at all if you tried to break off the engagement, but I'm warning you, it will not be easy. I'll support you in what ways I can, if that is what you really want, but you need to be aware that the contract exists between our families rather than ourselves; it will be up to them to break it.
There's only so much I can put in a letter, especially one that might potentially be read by someone who isn't you, so I'm going to leave it there. I know there's more to be said, and so, if you want to, you can come to visit me at Malfoy Manor. My father will be away for the day, and I doubt your aunt will object. I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but please, just give me a chance.
Yours,
Lucius.

The request was so outlandish that Narcissa almost laughed out loud. He had been right on one score at least, Lucius was the last person she wanted to see. She had read his words and his reasons- excuses, more like- and though they all seemed reasonable enough to be true, her anger hardly dissipated at all. But still, she could not help but run the words over and over in her head.

'At least he admitted the truth.' she thought, the only positive she could find from his telling. But the truth had not been what she had wanted to hear, that was the trouble. And having realised that only made it all a thousand times worse.

She had wanted to hear that it had all been a mistake, that the engagement had been as much a surprise to him as it was to her and Aunt Walburga had only been trying to make trouble. She had wanted to believe that Lucius had done no wrong, because…

Throughout her life, she had always been told that love was a wonderful feeling, a glittering candle through any darkness, lighting the way forward. But all Narcissa felt was pain, cutting at her heart like a knife, sawing through the threads one by one until it was torn apart. She had thought that hearts were flesh and blood, but it seemed they were more like glass. She had reached out her very self in her hand, but Lucius had pulled his away too soon, and it had shattered upon the floor.

Clutching the letter tight in her hands, Narcissa moved to her bedroom door, waving her wand to unlock it. She tiptoed slowly down the stairs, her stockinged feet only making the slightest patter against the wooden staircase. Soon she reached the entrance hall, and the grand fireplace taking up the majority of one of the walls. Atop the intricate mantel rested a jar of powder, the green crystals set into the ceramic seeming to loom with foreboding, as if they were trying to warn her away from her mission.

But her determination was too much to be cowed, and so the girl took a handful of powder from the jar, stepped into the fireplace and called out the name of her destination, managing to stop her voice from shaking for just a moment. If what she had read was true, there was only one place she could turn to now.

A/N: Sorry about the random cliffhanger there, but it didn't feel right to stop anywhere else! Hope you enjoyed anyway, and please review!