Tuesday morning arrived quicker than Narcissa had anticipated. She had sent out her own Monday morning with a letter to Draco and a parcel containing his favorite sweets and cakes. Lucius remained sound asleep as she looked over at the clock reading 7:01am. Rummaging in her closet, she found robes with silver and black paisley that she slipped over her loose black pants and black turtleneck. She clasped the silver chain over her waist as she located her wand on the window sill. After adding silver teardrop earring and a matching silver bangle, she carefully tip-toed out of the room being especially cautious to not place her full weight on the floorboards for fear of them creaking and waking Lucius. Closing the door, she continued her path down the hallway where she ran into Dobby, who was using a rather ragged feather duster to dust the various knick knacks.
"Dobby, could you let Lucius know I am at the Ministry today? He's inevitably going to forget about my job."
"Dobby will do that Mistress," he bowed. She descended the steps and left for the Ministry. Upon arriving, she made her way to the lift that contained three other men all of whom looked like the depression of working day in and day out had already taken hold and refused to relinquish its grasp. All of their eyes were sunken and dead. Not even the small talk of future plans that rattled from their mouths could bring any sort of life to them. Narcissa shivered as she situated herself as close to the door as possible. As she was about to press the button for level nine, she realized that was the only button illuminated.
Great, Narcissa thought, these are my colleagues. At least I don't have to forge polite banter with them. She stepped out and spotted Altair and Hydeia. The pair waved as she made her way over.
"Nice to see you again, Narcissa," Altair said. Narcissa drew herself closer to him as the three men that had accompanied her in the lift made their way behind her.
"Merlin, did you get stuck talking to Morning, Noon, and Evening?" Hydeia chuckled.
"I–," Narcissa started with a confused look, but Altair cut her off.
"She's only joking. Those are the research leads for the Time sect. Hydeia and I were placing bets on whether the Fountain of Youth is broken because I've seen corpses look more alive than them."
"But, the Time team is a little unorganized," Hydeia chimed in, "I can't lie, I'd probably look like death too."
"Do you know where you're going?" Altair said, turning to Narcissa.
"Not really," she let out a small laugh.
"Your sect laboratory is next to ours. You can just walk with us!"
"It's been such a slow morning," Hydeia delved into, "we're still waiting on the Muggle autopsy reports. Honestly, it's such a pain in the arse to work with them. They can't ever figure out our delivery systems."
"What are you using the autopsies for?" Narcissa asked, eager to continue the conversation.
"I don't want to ring my own bell, but Altair and I are working on probably some of the most groundbreaking research."
"Listen to this," Altair said, walking backwards as he committed to maintaining eye contact with her, "we have this theory that the source of magic comes from somewhere in your brain. People who are non magical either don't have the brain capacity or they have something in their brain turning the magic knowledge off. We've been working with the muggle doctors and scientists as they call them to get medical records of deceased patients. We have over 350 records so far and St. Mungo's is doing a great job to provide us with records as well. Wouldn't it be incredible if everyone ended up with magical powers?" Narcissa grimaced at the last part, and said in an indifferent tone, "I suppose."
Misreading her indifference as intimidation, Hydeia said, "Don't worry! We've been doing our jobs for a while. They probably won't expect you to come in with a fully fleshed out project." They made their way over to a metal door with golden carvings running down the sides. Hydeia stood just to the right, so that she was eye level with a rectangular, grey panel. The doors flung open to reveal several people bustling about. There was a definitive air of light pink smoke and rose petals fluttering about. A few tiny pink puff balls were scampering about on the wooden floor as an older man chased after them.
"L, we have your new employee!" Hydeia shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth. A person with shoulder length black hair, tan skin, and a slight limp made their way from behind a desk.
"It's always a bad day when I see the two of you in my lab," they smiled wearily, pushing the glasses that had started to fall down their arched nose back up.
"It's always a bad day when we have to be here," Altair retorted, "the amount of pink in here is appalling."
"At least we don't have brains gallivanting around."
"Hey, don't you dare insult our brains," Hydeia smirked, pointing her finger playfully at them.
"Yeah, yeah," they brushed off, "so you must be Mrs. Malfoy," L said, looking at her quizzically.
"Narcissa," she said, tilting her head up as their gaze became crushing.
"Narcissa. You two can leave, you know," they said, swinging their hand back and forth in a shooing motion.
"So, first day?"
"Yes," she nodded as she watched Hydeia and Altair scamper out, but not before knocking one of the scales sitting on a work table over.
"Do you have eyes in the system yet?"
"I'm sorry?" she said.
"I'll take that as a no. Come over here," they motioned as Narcissa made her way to the other side of the desk, "Look up at me." She shifted her eyes to where their wand was pointed and felt a temporary burning sensation as her eyes began to water.
"Done. You should have access to this room and most other labs as well. We'll issue you an ID, so that in the event our systems decide to be a pain in the arse, you'll still have access. I should be able to get you that tomorrow. So basic rundown of how things are run. I don't particularly give a toss with when you decide to come in or when you decide to leave nor how many days you come in. Makes no difference to me. I do care about getting stuff sorted by the deadlines. Sound decent so far?" Narcissa nodded as her eyes scanned the room.
"I can't have you working on any project by yourself as I'm sure you can understand. I don't know how you work, and I'm not one hundred percent sold that you have the brains nor the bollocks to be here." Narcissa narrowed her eyes and frowned. "Don't take it personally. I think that about anyone that passes through here. So to start out, you'll be assisting me in writing a curriculum to teach school students about amortentia. Sound boring?" they said in response to observing a look of disgust on Narcissa's face, "How do you think I feel? By assisting, I mean you'll write the curriculum, and I'll proofread. Nothing too extraneous though it might be for you," they looked her up and down again.
"Is there a problem?" Narcissa finally spoke, annoyed at the passive aggressive tone of their comments.
"It's just that, be honest with me, what are you doing here? Hm? You probably spend more in a day than I do in 5 years, so it's not money. Are you bored? Want to give your life some purpose? Or are you trying to help save the wizarding world?" L mocked.
"I don't believe I owe you an explanation," Narcissa retorted indignantly.
"No, but I am the lead researcher here, so you may want to start showing me that you're not the toff with a moral compass navigating about as straight as a corkscrew that I've come to associate with the name 'Malfoy'."
"Or what?" Narcissa fumed, "Do you plan on firing me? Or perhaps setting me on fire instead would suffice."
"I guess we shall see if you continue as your insufferable self. You can start working on the curriculum. I need it by the end of the week," they smirked.
"Any particular guidelines?" Narcissa asked through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, keep your blood purest hoopla out as best you can." With a huff, she stomped from behind the desk to the spacious work table in the middle of the room. A much older witch was boiling a translucent liquid across from her and scrawling little notes on a quill. Pulling some parchment from a draw under the table, she made her way over to the expansive shelves, searching for the term 'amortentia'. Locating three books, she made her way over to her work station. Near her was a pensive with glass vials extending to the ceiling like an extravagant chandelier. At the far end of the room was a fountain that was cascading with mother of pearl liquid. Immediately, she recognized it as her research material and the source for why she smelled sage, rain, white wine, and Lucius' cologne. As she was opening up the "Amortentia history", she spotted a woman at a different workstation with a scalpel in hand, cutting what appeared to be a heart.
I wonder what I should research, Narcissa though, bringing the quill to the side of her face. Realizing she was zoning out, she refocused her attention onto the pages below.
Amortentia is the strongest love potion known to the Wizarding World. It was originally created around 1855 by the Irish potioneer Laverne de Montmorency. Ms. Montmorency was born in 1823 to two squibs in a small town outside of Galway called Barna. She demonstrated magic powers at age four when she prevented her father's fishing boat from capsizing after getting caught in a storm. At age eleven, she was sent away to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where she was subsequently sorted into the house of Ravenclaw. It is noted throughout her diaries and notes that she had trouble fitting in with the other students. Although her parents did not ever express a problem with her appearance, the green skin was an easy target for school children to bully. She spent the majority of her time in the library where the librarian took very little notice of her. Her favorite sections were the potion and restricted section where she would skip multiple classes to spend hours learning the properties of potion ingredients.
After receiving nine O's on the nine NEWTs she took, she applied for an apprenticeship in Knockturn Alley at a shop called 'Bewitched'. After only a year, the owner, Degalis Flounder, decided to hire her full time. Her potion skills continued to advance as people from all around the world were traveling to purchase her brews. By 1854, she was best known for her happiness potion, Blissful Blooms. As time went on, Laverne de Montmorency had her career and money, but she was missing a significant other. Her parents had both died the previous year from complications due to a nasty strain of influenza. Their bodies were cremated and their ashes were spread on the Irish seaside.
Refocusing her research on love instead of happiness, Ms. Montmorency began studying the best potion ingredients to attract someone. After months of trial and error, she came up with the prototype that has come to be known as Amortentia inferior due to the mildness of the symptoms. Within a few more months, she had crafted the perfect brew to cause infatuation as long as the brewer continuously fed the victim the potion. After hearing it was possible to force anyone to fall in love with you, many people traveled far and wide to get their hands on these potions. Politicians, lawyers, ministers, headmasters. Anyone with a heart and two feet was willing to pay the price.
The three years after caused havoc as the love potions caused a scare. Many wizards and witches developed a paranoia of accepting food or drinks from strangers, which extended to buying the necessary food from the markets, leading many to drop dead from starvation. Even with the rapidly decreasing population, it was not until a muggle man reported the use of love potion that the Ministry of Magic stepped in as this was a breach of the Statute of Secrecy. From there, they passed two decrees. The first banned the use of love potion to cause a person to unknowingly and non consensually partake in a romantic relationship. The second regulated the sales of this love potion. It required a license that the Ministry of Magic would grant upon the completion of the necessary paperwork.
It should be noted that amortentia is strictly prohibited while other minor lovepotions such as Cupid's Teardrops, Devil's Lust, and Moonstone Eyes have minor regulations. Despite the eventual banning of her first creation, Laverne de Montmorency was awarded an 'Exceptional Potions Master' award. In her thank you speech she thanked her parents and the people who made her feel unloved for pushing her to pursue this brew. She died in 1893 at the age of 70 after suffering for a year from Dragon Pox. Her grave can be visited in Barna and bears the inscription ' Love shall conquer all'.
Narcissa had outlined the first section to highlight the history of the creator. She kept in mind what would be interesting to school students while still maintaining the importance of what needed to be taught. As she flipped through the pages, there was an entire 20 pages dedicated to Laverne de Montmorency's childhood and her magical abilities pre Hogwarts. As interesting as Narcissa found this, she highly doubted the students would need the entire autobiography. She flipped until she found the lists of minor love potions. Although she was aware the topic was Amortentia, it wouldn't hurt for them to understand the other potions that are out there and their intended use. Tossing the book aside, she retrieved "Amortentia: Brewing and Bottling".
"Dear, you've been working very hard. Wouldn't you care for a break?" the old witch across from her said, her voice full of concern.
"I'm alright," Narcissa said, nodding and smiling as she opened the pages of her new focus.
Warning: Amortentia is a strong love potion. Under Ministry decree number 65, the use of this potion to force feelings of love, lust, or companionship are strictly prohibited. Anyone caught breaking this law will face up to 10 years in Azkaban with an additional 3 years on Tracking Spells.
Amortentia is considered advanced potion making that is very complicated to perfectly brew. Warm room temperature river water to a boiling 100˚C. Chop three Ashwinder eggs vertically and place them in the boiling water. Remember to keep them frozen until you need them as they are an extremely unstable and unreliable potion ingredient. Give 7 stirs counterclockwise. Pour in an entire vial of rose thorns. Freshly picked are preferred, but this potion can still be brewed with month old thorns as well. Do not use thorns two months or older as they will have lost their potion properties and fermented. Stir 2 times clockwise and bring your cauldron down to 75˚C. Let the ingredients simmer for 15 minutes covered. Uncover the cauldron sprinkle in your dried peppermint. Cover and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Uncover and drop a moonstone of medium size in. Let boil for 20 minutes. Remove the stone and remove the potion from the heat.
As Narcissa was outlining how to make it, she quickly scratched it out. Instead, she flipped to the section that outlined how to brew the antidote as, she thought, this was more helpful and less prone to the interest to brew amortentia oneself. She looked up from her writing to see everyone else had left aside from the older witch and L. Glancing up at the sky roofs far above her, she recognized some of the dim but visible constellations.
"You don't have to stay here, you know?" came L's grating voice.
"I am aware," Narcissa returned to her scrawling and refusing to turn around to face them, "I do, in fact, have the ability to listen and comprehend what you say when you speak, unfortunately for me," she mumbled the last bit to herself, but L smirked, clearly hearing what she had commented.
"Whatever floats your boat then," they said, grabbing their traveling cloak from its place on their desk, "I prefer sleep. See you tomorrow, maybe," he said, hobbling out of the laboratory.
"They're unbelievable!" Narcissa expressed aloud, forgetting the old witch was still across from her.
"They're trying to get a rise out of you," the old witch said in a high, squeaky voice that reminded Narcissa of Dobby's, "and you take the bait."
"It is so aggravating, regardless. I'm sure you understand."
"I think you need to understand something, deary. Everyone in this place is aware the type of people you run with. Bunch of us, myself included, do not give a rat's bollocks," she said as Narcissa opened her mouth in protest, "I'd reckon half of 'em believe something similar to you even though we're supposed to be partial. But the other half, well, the other half happen to be muggleborns including L, so you can understand why they wouldn't take too kindly to you."
"I–," she began, but couldn't continue. She wanted to express her beliefs, but she couldn't formulate what they were. She thought back to what her parents had told her growing up.
"Narcissa, mudbloods don't deserve to be in our presence. They would not even be aware of magic if it wasn't for our kind," Druella would ramble, "they are abominations to our kind and they are abominations amongst the muggles, so why should they be allowed anywhere? They do not belong anywhere. If they really knew what was good for them, they would build a little colony of their own, far away from the rest of us, so we wouldn't have to gaze our eyes upon something so foul." As much as Narcissa followed her family, it was more so out of desperation to not initiate arguments. Thinking back to the many times she had contact with muggleborns, she had realized early on that they were hard to spot. Her parents warned her against them, but she could almost never detect them. She had asked her father on many occasions on how to spot them, and he gave her the same, tired response of how if she wasn't able to identify them with her own two eyes, she should pluck them out because they were betraying her.
After all of this pondering, Narcissa could only produce, "I don't want them hunted down and killed if that's what you think."
"Not what I think, but certainly what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named thinks. So how do you separate yourself from the killings while still supporting his cause?"
"He's gone. There is nothing to support."
"Before he was gone. A lot of people were living in fear of being tortured or killed. How'd you separate yourself?"
"I wasn't…I'm not a part of his circle at all. My husband got involved during his last year at Hogwarts and dragged me along," she muttered.
"Oh, so your husband kills people and you just sit in bed waiting for him to come home, so you can wash the blood out of his robes. That sound about right?"
"No!" Narcissa shouted, outraged, "he never murdered people. He was under the imperius curse anyways."
"That the truth?" the witch asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Of course it's the truth," Narcissa fumed. She shoved the parchment and quill into her purse as she stood up, slinging the bag over her shoulder.
"I didn't mean to make you upset! I'll close my yapper and go back to what I was doing."
"I think I need to get some rest," Narcissa said, rushing past the witch, flinging open the door to the lab. Outside in the Department of Mysteries atrium, everything was quiet except for the sloshing as the brains leaped out of the water into the air and back into the water. Covering her mouth to prevent a sob from escaping, Narcissa allowed for tears to roll down her cheek as her mind and thoughts were thoroughly scrambled. The witch reminded her of an argument she had with Andromeda.
"How could you, Andy?" Narcissa shrieked as Andromeda yanked her trunk down the steps with Druella's curses and slurs simply hollow sounds in the background. Her blonde ponytail trotted behind her. The rain was torrential as Andromeda kept stomping through the muddied ground ignoring Narcissa.
"You said you'd never leave me!"
"Yeah, well, that was before you called the love of my life a mudblood."
"That's what he is though," Narcissa said, her bare feet sinking into the puddles as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"No!" Andromeda slammed her trunk against the ground and turned around to face her. Narcissa watched beyond as Ted Tonks stepped out of a red sports car, happily waving to an Andromeda who was preoccupied. She turned around for a brief moment to signal she would be there in a minute before turning back to face Narcissa. "You had so many chances, so many chances to break away from the family, and what do you do?" she let out an exasperated laugh, "you go right on following in their footsteps because you can never stand up for yourself. That's your problem. Maybe you need some Skele-Gro to grow that back bone you're lacking."
"I'm not lacking anything! You're lacking foresight because what life could you possibly lead with him?" she motioned, her clothes pelted with water as she curled her toes in the dirt out of frustration. Andromeda narrowed her eyes as she bent to the ground and grabbed a fistful of dirt and held it up to Narcissa's face.
"You think this is what he bleeds, Narcissa? Is it?" she angrily flung the dirt, hitting Narcissa squarely in the face. Not willing to take that, Narcissa hastily grabbed a similar fistful of dirt, flinging it at Andromeda, hitting her white shirt. Andromeda lunged forward and yanked a fistful of Narcissa's shirt as Narcissa scratched at Andromeda's hands. Shoving her into the softened ground, Andromeda held one of Narcissa's hands above her head while Narcissa used her free hand to yank at Andromeda's hair. Ted had taken a few steps forward as though to intervene, but thought better against it and reclaimed his place against the car.
"Let go of me!" Narcissa grunted as she felt the dirty water soak into her hair. Andromeda untangled her hand from her hair and held it above her, tears flowing down her face.
"Cissy, why can't you see that this is wrong? That our parents are wrong?" Her blue eyes shifted back and forth, searching Narcissa's similar blue ones.
"Would that make you stay?" Narcissa asked in a small voice, slowing her struggle, "If I said they were wrong."
"Do you believe that?"
"I'd believe it if it made you stay."
"Then I guess this is goodbye, Narcissa," Andromeda said in a monotonous tone, relinquishing her grip on her wrists and forcefully wiping the small stain of dirt on her otherwise pristine form. Narcissa looked on as Andromeda picked up her trunk and kissed Ted as he opened the passenger side door for her. Unlike Andromeda, Narcissa was covered with mud. Her blonde hair was indistinguishable while her face had bits of grass and mud. Her legs and clothing were also coated with the softened earth. And she sat in that spot on her feet until Druella yanked her upper arm to pull her inside. Couldn't allow the neighbors to think one of the Blacks was going mad was her reasoning.