In Narcissa's opinion, Abraxas treated her more like his only daughter than one simply related by marriage. She knew, at first from Lucius and then from first-hand experience, that he was strict, guarded in the way he spoke, rarely letting his guard down and showing the man behind the mask of stoicism. She knew exactly, however, what to expect from her own father and uncles, and from the first moment she met him treated him with an unwavering respect and honesty, and, ever since that first meeting, felt that she had had that honesty repaid with a glimpse behind the mask.

Abraxas had a rich, deep voice that changed ever so slightly to a sweeter tone when he smiled, which Lucius said had been more common to hear around the house when his mother was alive. When talking to Lucius, he wore a frown on his face often, which Narcissa attributed to his extremely high expectations of his son - and she asked Lucius, if they were to have a son, if they were to only have one son, that he never look at their own son that way. And Lucius eagerly promised, as he had never wanted to make his own future child, or children, feel as he had. Abraxas was of a similar height and build as Lucius, tall, thin, and always standing proud, and he had aged gracefully, which were the only traits she hoped Lucius would inherit as they would grow old together.

The more assured her marriage with Luciud had become, the more they met with his father, spent their afternoons and Sunday tea with him, and the more she spoke with him, especially in those brief moments when Lucius was not there, the more she felt that he became her own personal counsel, and that he was expecting the same position of her. And as the youngest daughter out of three, she certainly relished to have that position, herself, alone. Not that she did not love Bellatrix - no, she adored sharing everything with her.

Despite their enormous rooms, since they were small children they preferred to spend time in the same room, in the same bed. Despite the amount of clothes Druella bought her, she preferred wearing Bella's old clothes until she developed her own sense of style. And even then, until Bella had gotten married and moved out of the house, they shared perfumes and other toiletries.

However, this was something she had on her own. Her husband, her father-in-law, her soon-to-be manor, equipped with all the rooms that she could decorate and redecorate, her own house elf. And her wedding.

The one thing she did not have was her choice of orchestra, but she had never had much interest in keeping up with the latest in music, be that classical or more modern. She did have pieces she loved, pieces connected to her childhood.

In her youth, she learned how to waltz with her mother and sisters. On warm summer nights, when their father would visit their ancestral home for Black family matters, Druella would teach them simple steps, and they would pair off and dance in their best clothes. She hadn't picked dance up since her second or third year of Hogwarts or so, after Bella thought herself too old for it and became embarrassed, but Narcissa had always looked back fondly on those memories, and was looking forward to dancing them once again, this time with her soon-to-be husband. Not as a daughter and sister, but as a married woman.

And she did so indeed, as she had dreamed of, in an enormous hall that reminded her of those evenings spent with her friends and family in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. The one thing she had been concerned about was Lucius's dancing technique, as the weeks of practice were not as fruitful as she had hoped. She tried to teach him, she had Bella over to try and do the same, she even talked to his father - without his knowledge and in secrecy, of course- but to no avail. He was always messing up the tempo, no matter what they were trying. Even shoes that were magically altered to ensure he would do the correct steps were useless, as his feet would follow, but the rest of his legs and posture would not, and led to even bigger headaches on her side.

So, despite Lucius's odd request to not talk to the orchestra, she approached them as they arrived, and requested a word with the lead. A dark-haired witch in a green sashed kaftan stepped forward, bearing a wide smile on her face and in her gold eyes as she raised her arms and lightly pressed her cheeks against Narcissa's own, before showering her in compliments, to such an extent that she couldn't help but blush in surprise. For those few seconds Margarita talked, Narcissa felt like the most beautiful woman in the world, like the first and only bride under the Sun, revered by all.

When she saw her , weeks later, she still remembered how the words poured out of her mouth like honey, directly to her soul.

Oh, how much a man could walk, nine years, on nine seas and nine endless roads, without being able to find a woman like yourself, with your eyes and with your lashes!

It was no wonder that Abraxas had a soft spot for these musicians, if by only taking one look at her, one could praise at length everything, from the colour of her hair, to her skin, to her name.

"I was wondering if you received my list, by chance?"

"You needn't worry about a single thing today, not from our end."

With reluctance in her voice, Narcissa described that she was not worried about that as much as she was worried about her first dance, and why she was worried to showcase this to their guests. With a small nod of her head, Narcissa pointed at several high-ranked Ministry employees, yet Margarita kept looking directly into her eyes, her palms gently squeezing her left hand, not caring about who the guests were.

"You and your husband step as you will, and I will take care of the rest. We'll follow your lead."

"Aren't the dancers supposed to follow the music?"

"If you or your soon-to-be husband cannot follow me, I have no choice but to follow you, wouldn't you agree?" she winked, and Narcissa felt oddly comforted by her confidence.

And indeed, to her shock, they followed their lead - she watched Margarita mouth breathlessly as she watched their footsteps, but with the same assured smile on her lips, their improvisation not feeling out of place and accompanying Lucius's still clumsy attempts, elevating them to actual cohesive dance moves. And the orchestra stood there, playing continuously, for four hours or so, until the wedding finished. While themselves and their guests ate, drank, and danced, the musicians played without breaking a sweat, only taking the odd break, always one at a time, for a quick drink, yet the others would fill in seamlessly, that Narcissa only noticed it as she looked at them out of curiosity.

When the wedding finished and the last guests had left, there was a peculiar feeling in Narcissa's heart, a feeling of emptiness as the orchestra packed their instruments and departed.

She could not help but notice that Lucius felt more at ease now that they had left, and breathed easier. Only later did Lucius tell her about Margarita's inclinations of preserving and interpreting songs about Muggles and their feats, and how his father did not care much for that and insisted still, that they are the best musicians in the British wizarding world one could ever have, against his own wishes. How she replied that if it were not for the favour done for Abraxas, she would pack then and there and leave them without an orchestra for their wedding, and how she undermined him on his own wedding day.

"Don't let anyone know what you just told me." was the only thing she had to say on the matter. Lucius agreed, and they considered the matter closed. She had not even told Bella about this secret, and considered it one of the first secrets her and Lucius kept as husband and wife. At least their wedding was nothing but picture-perfect, and their guests had nothing but good things to say when reminiscing about it.

After their wedding, their visits to Abraxas lessened, as they were busy building their own life, and there were times they would not see him for weeks at a time.

Slowly, she noticed things changing - not only had his father offered them one of his two house elves, Toby, soon enough he offered them his other one as well, Dobby. Their visits to his house got replaced by him visiting them 'for a change of pace'. But there were rumours that reached Narcissa's ears, rumours about her father-in-law being seen alongside a young woman or another. But those seemed to be nothing but unfounded rumours indeed, as no one seemed able to provide her with a name of one of these alleged young witches. Nevertheless, she tried bringing it up to Lucius, by addressing one of the aspects she was sure of - how they would no longer visit Abraxas, and he would instead come by their house.

"He's old, probably gets him out of the house." was Lucius's idle answer when she raised it, and she had no choice but to accept his response, as indeed, she was unsure, apart from the connections he had made to elevate his position and stated, whether he had anyone with whom he could be himself, with whom he would want to spend time with.

"Don't you worry about your father, sometimes?"

"What is there to worry about?"

"He must be quite… well, lonely, isn't he?"

"Father? He's a solitary man, Narcissa, always has been. Even when my mother was alive, as large and quiet as the study room was, he'd still go to his study only to read the Prophet in peace and smoke his pipe, back when he was still smoking. Everything needs to be on his terms, that's how it's always been with him, and that's how it's always been - quiet and solitude, that's his bread and butter. Don't worry about him, love."

A few weeks after that conversation, Narcissa had seen her father-in-law outside, on Diagon Alley, for the first time. She was at Twilfitt and Tattings, getting her clothes adjusted, after her robes started to look unflattering as she was slowly starting to show the first signs of pregnancy. As she was looking at some maternity robes in preparation for the later stages of pregnancy, she saw him walking down the street, appearing to talk to someone obscured by his figure. To her surprise, his usual frown was gone, and he appeared to be engaged in quite a pleasant conversation with the person next to him. As they got further and further away, Narcissa could see the figure next to him from the back, and noticed by the cloak and long, dark hair that it must be a woman.

"I'll be right back to pick these up." she commented to Madame Tatting, before leaving the shop and walking briskly towards them.

"It's exactly like I told you, after a flourishing history of five hundred years, British wizards managed, in… what, a few decades, to destroy the history of lutes in their own culture. It's a pity, really… I am not sure how I am supposed to get this one fixed."

Narcissa's face turned from wonder to shock as she started to recognise the voice. It slowly dawned on her that the person in front of her must have been none other than Margarita. Back at the wedding, her hair was caught in a bun and adorned with small green gems, whereas now it was flowing wildly behind her as she walked quickly to match Abraxas's walking gait, but it was without question that her father-in-law was walking - willingly! - alongside her.

"Will you have to travel again to Germany, then?"

"Will you accompany me this time, if I must?"

Narcissa was unsure what Abraxas answered, as she had lost them in a crowd after falling behind. She had heard enough, however, to understand that there was something between the two, for this witch, this random witch, to ask him to travel with her…

"What happened? Narcissa - are you alright, darling?" Lucius asked the moment she had stepped in their bedroom, and Narcissa realised that she was not trying in the slightest to hide the expression on her face when thinking about what she had witnessed. And why should she? If anything, this was her husband, and he deserved to know what his father has been up to.

"I-... I saw your father today on Diagon Alley, walking on the streets, almost hand-in-hand, walking alongside that Muggle-loving, that-..." she watched Lucius put his head in his hands groaning as he finished her sentence and grumbled 'Margarita'. He shook his head, head still in his hands as he sighed deeply. She continued, detailing what she had seen and their conversation, and what she inferred from it, and how it matched rumours she thought were simply unfounded and spread purely in bad faith.

"Did you know- about any of this?" she finally asked.

"Of course not - well, I hoped not, I hoped I was wrong. You must have seen it too, did you not see how he was looking at her, back at our wedding?"

"Why would I pay attention to that, Lucius, it was our wedding! I didn't look at your father once, I only had eyes for you."

"Well, I looked at my father, out of curiosity." Lucius answered in a tired voice. "I didn't tell you, because I figured it didn't matter in the least. Back when we went to that performance, I thought it was the music, I thought it was the performance, everyone in the audience was captured by it. I thought… I've seen him like this before, when Aladar would sing one of his songs, and so on, so I left it at that.

But at the wedding, he barely had eyes for me or you - when the other guests weren't talking to him, he would just have eyes for her, no matter how much I told him beforehand how much disdain I had for people like her. He wouldn't budge, and chastised me. I didn't tell you this, my love." he looked up at Narcissa, and apologised to her. "He chastised me for talking to her, asking her to make sure not to play any of those Muggle songs at our wedding, for how I treated her - me, Narcissa! What that man would do for his weird little passion for music, but it's not just the music, now, is it?"

Narcissa watched as Lucius's face turned from one of annoyance to consternation, and she realised that her husband must have tried his hardest to not think about it, to remove it as a possibility, but it could no longer be ignored..

"He's- involved with her, isn't he? He must be."