A/N: Not my sandbox, just my sand castle. I don't own anything from Harry Potter. Additionally, no one has permission to bind and sell my works, fandom or otherwise. Shame on you for exploiting other people's works!

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another fic :) I hope you enjoy another Regency Inspired fic!

I am going to refrain from using Regency dialogue just because the last time I wrote it for the competition, I was marked down for using it, since it's not considered modern grammar.

So I will do my best to stick to modern grammar despite writing a historical piece.

Most mistakes are mine, but I did have a few betas go over it. Beta credit is below :)

This one is for Round 4 of The Houses Competition, where I'm in Gryffindor House and writing for Potions. This competition, we have to write a drabble (500-1000 words) as well as a standard (1000-3000 words). This fic is the Drabble of the two. Prompts are listed below.

Thank you kindly to charliemanx, Queenie, and Dora for the beta!

Word Count: 986

Disclaimers/Warnings: None

Summary: Narcissa knew that her reputation was on the line if she and Lucius Malfoy were discovered without a chaperone in Lady Lestrange's greenhouse during her weeklong house party, but with how sinful Lucius' words to her were, how could she resist? Bridgerton!AU, Muggle!AU

Prompts:

The Houses Competition Y11 R4

Drabble

Captain Planet and the Planeteers: [Location] Greenhouse

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Assignment 6

Calligraphy with Professor Loops

Task #3: Work of Literature - Write a fic inspired by one of the following : (a) Bridgerton (b) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (AKA: Regency inspired)

The Menagerie on Discord

July 2024 Bingo

O3-Historical AU

The Menagerie on Discord

Weekly Writing Challenge

6/24/24 Prompts: 1- (dialogue) "You look beautiful."

"Wholly Improper"

Following Lucius Malfoy into the greenhouses at the Lestrange estate was not Narcissa's smartest move, but she couldn't help herself. She had always been taken by people who held passion in their voice when talking about their interests and their affairs, and Lord Lucius Malfoy talked about everything that way. Just that morning, he had spoken of the overcast weather with the same effusion as he did with his horses, and Narcissa couldn't help but hang on to his every word. She might not have understood the meaning of everything, but she understood the emotions behind it.

She knew she was an infatuated fool, and if anyone caught them here, alone together without a chaperone, she would be ruined if he didn't deign to marry her.

"I'm unsurprised that the Lestranges have such a fine greenhouse. Lestrange the younger–Rabastan–has an eye for flora and always seemed to sequester himself with the plants when we were back at Eton. Lord Lestrange–Rodolphus, your brother-in-law," Mister Malfoy clarified, "had to pull him out of there nearly every other week."

"From what little I know of Mister Lestrange, that does seem like him," Narcissa replied with a small giggle. She gazed around the greenhouse in awe of its size. At the door that they entered through, there were a few tropical ferns that encroached into the walkway and a large workbench full of pots and tools up against the wall.

"You look beautiful."

Narcissa's head whipped around to see Mister Malfoy staring intently at her. She blushed, thankful that the dim moonlight coming through the greenhouse glass roof covered it up.

"Thank you," she said, averting her gaze, unsure of how else to reply. There was a moment of silence between them before he coughed awkwardly.

"The reason I brought you to the greenhouses so late at night is over here," Mister Malfoy then said, moving further along the path. Narcissa took a moment to revel in the wild nature there.

Everything else on the Lestrange and Black estates was well manicured to near perfection, but the Lestrange Greenhouse was wild with abundant life. Plants overgrew their pots, tropical trees and bushes took up the massive corners, and even the tiny flowers, just beginning to propagate on the workbench, seemed to have no care for which direction their sprouts grew.

Narcissa loved it.

"Miss Black? The Echinacea is over here!" Mister Malfoy called out from deeper in the greenhouse. Narcissa took a steadying breath before heading his way.

"Mister Malfoy? Mister Malfoy!"

Mister Malfoy–Lucius, as he's requested her to call him in private–wrenched away from her, his hands on her shoulders, as a masculine voice called out to the man who had just been kissing her. Narcissa was dazed. Suddenly, Lucius' hands pushed her down, shoving her further into the bushes they had ensconced themselves in. Narcissa withheld her squeak of surprise–she didn't want to be discovered, the chance of which only seemed to increase as Lucius walked out to meet the man who was calling out for him.

Narcissa suddenly realized it was her cousin, Sirius Black, who had come to find them.

A sudden spike of uncertainty filled her, and Narcissa pressed herself further into the bush, trying to hide herself. She couldn't hear what Lucius was telling her cousin–and heir to the Black Dukedom–over the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears. If they were discovered, would Lucius actually marry her? He had said so many pretty things in the minutes leading up to him asking her permission to kiss her.

She knew it had been a mistake letting her passion sweep her off of her feet, but she couldn't help it. She was a Black sister, and she let her emotions overtake her. They were trained from such a young age to contain their emotions, to never let anyone see what they really felt, and to only show what they wanted the public to see. But with Lucius?

Lucius let her unmask in a way that was wholly improper, and if he didn't follow through on his passionate whispers of marriage, Narcissa would be ruined. No other man would want to touch her, and she would have to be shipped out to the country to run a household there.

It would have gutted her.

Narcissa had always wanted children. She loved how loud the houses were when she, her two sisters, and their two cousins would run rampant at one of the properties. But the only way to get children was to have a husband. And if they were caught here, in the bushes in the back corner of her sister's greenhouse, and Lucius refused to do his duty, she would never have children.

"Narcissa!"

Her older sisters were suddenly in front of her, their elegant hands pulling her from the bushes and righting her.

"Oh, Narcissa," Andromeda said sadly, cradling her face, seeing something that Narcissa didn't.

Bellatrix, instead, whirled around to face Lucius, who was currently being lifted in the air by his lapels by Sirius.

"Please," Narcissa said, unsure of what she was begging.

"So here is what we are going to do," Sirius threatened, his look darkening at the sight of Narcissa. "The two of you are now engaged to be married. I will procure you a special license, and by the end of next week, Narcissa will be your wife. Do you understand, Mister Malfoy?" Sirius was practically growling in his anger.

"She will make me the happiest man in the world," Lucius replied.

"And what about her?" Bellatrix replied, her anger simmering just under the surface. "How happy will you make her?"

"Ecstatic," Narcissa suddenly said from Andromeda's arms. She pulled away from her sister to look at her cousin. "He will make me the happiest wife and mother I could dream to be." Holding Sirius' gaze, Narcissa refused to back down, not when she could finally control her destiny.