Ron kept dodging and shielding even as Mike kept sent tagging spells in his direction. After a while they switched and the muggleborn wizard did the same in response to Ron's spell. And so did the other pairs of guards that were present in the large training room with them.
The exercise they were doing right now was meant to train one's ability to anticipate and sense incoming magical attacks. As it was explained to Ron, there was a certain element of precognition with magic that can be trained so that a person not only sees the attack coming but can also sense it with their magic before it happens. At first, it all sounded like nonsense to Ron but he could vaguely recall Mad-Eye Moody mentioning something similar during his numerous rants about always being prepared and vigilant, so he reckoned he would give it a shot.
Ron was happy to find out that he was actually really good at this exercise, much to his partner's frustration. Mike was good at it too but he confessed to Ron that in the beginning he could only detect attacks he saw with his eyes and nothing else.
"All stop!" their instructor called and in response all the people in the room ceased their casting and lowered their wands. "Let's see the counts," he said even as he waved his wand to examine the number of tags on the individual trainees. "And the winner is..." he started to announce before looking in Ron's direction. "... Weasley."
Other guards murmured at that while the instructor approached them. "You don't happen to be going easy on him, Wilson, are you?" he asked as he briefly glanced at Mike. "No, sir," the young guard immediately answered and so the instructor focused his eyes back on Ron. "Spill it out, Weasley," he told him. "You had some prior training of your magical instincts, didn't you?"
"No," Ron answered. "I was never trained to sense magic," he repeated what he had already told the man before. Everyone assumed he had such training given that he was a pureblood. But that was simply not the case and he was getting little tired of having to tell people as it constantly reminded him that he missed learning something so useful.
"Yes, so you keep saying," the instructor said with a frown. "But I find it difficult to believe that even the most blood traitorous family would completely deny their children any sort of magical training," he said in a very skeptical tone.
Ron frowned at the purely veiled insult before answering. "Well, it's the truth. Whether you believe it or not... sir."
The man looked at him sharply at his tone before nodding. "I see... so may I ask what is it you normally did as a child if you did not train at all?"
"Well," Ron said and stuttered, not sure how to answer and not feeling all that comfortable with telling him either. "We hung out with my siblings... played a lot of quidditch, and also..."
"Quidditch!" the instructor cried out, interrupting him. "Well that must be it! Although not the most effective method there is, Quidditch is still a great exercise for your magical instincts," he informed him.
"But how?" Ron wondered before adding. "Sir."
The instructor looked at the other guards before calling out to everyone. "Can somebody answer him?" he asked. One of the guards raised his hand and the instructor gave him a permission to speak.
"The balls utilized in Quidditch are magical, sir," the guard recited. "As such, they behave more like spells than physical objects and so one can learn to anticipate their movements the same way."
"Correct!" the instructor confirmed before turning back to Ron. "Surely you noticed that the Quidditch balls do not follow a ballistic curve?" he told him and when he saw his confusion, he added. "They do not fall down like they would if you threw an ordinary rock, for example. Even the broomsticks behave like that," he told him before addressing the whole room again, "And can anyone tell me what is the… unfortunate… consequence of this?"
This time, the single woman guard who was training with them raised her hand. "Mudbloods who did not submit to their superiors do not play Quidditch, sir," she answered before adding with a smirk. "Or make good flyers."
"That's preposterous!" Ron loudly protested such blatantly biased statement. After his declaration, a deathly silence fell over the room as literally everyone turned their heads to look at him. Ron had to resist a tendency to gulp down nervously under their collective gazes.
"Is that a fact?" the instructor asked him with a cold sneer.
"Well... yes!" Ron insisted. Granted, it was true that Hermione did not like flying or Quidditch at all but that was just her personal preference. It had nothing to do with her being a muggleborn!
"You followed the professional Quidditch league, I asssume?" the instructor asked him and when Ron nodded, he asked another question. "Can you tell us your favorite muggleborn player?"
Ron opened and then closed his mouth as he just stared at him in stunned silence. The instructor smiled victoriously. "I'll make it easier for you... can you name any mudblood Quidditch player at all?!" he asked more broadly and when Ron still failed to find an answer for him, he said, "Yeah, that's what I thought." He then turned to address everyone again.
"For the record, there were few professional mudblood players. I can personally recall at least three in my lifetime. They were all adopted members of pureblood families and had trained since they were children," he explained and the room listened with rapt attention. "Unfortunately, mudbloods raised by muggles do not have much of a chance. Obviously, they can train only from the age of eleven. But even then, without magical instincts they are not very good. And by the time they get enough magic into their bodies, they are already too old to make it professionally," the instructor told them while looking sympathetically at few of the trainees who were muggleborn. He then paused, letting everyone, including Ron digest the new information. Finally, he called, "Five minute break!" and then went to talk to some of the guards.
At his order, the trainees dispersed around the room, discussing what happened or just relaxing. Ron swallowed nervously, still feeling the tension in the air. Eventually, he walked over to Mike who was looking at him strangely.
"What?" Ron asked with a tad of irritation.
"Only that you're so bloody lucky that you're a pureblood," Mike said jealously while shaking his head. "If you weren't then that damn mouth of yours would've gotten you killed already," he said while punching his shoulder in a friendly gesture. "And don't worry about our lord commander..." he then told him quietly. "He's a tough guy to impress… being a pureblood and a veteran of the war with Grindelwald to boot," Mike told him.
Ron had to stop a snide question 'On which side he fought?' from slipping out. Instead, he focused on the old man who instructed them for the moment. He reminded Ron of Mad-eye Moody a little. He did not have quite as many injuries as the old auror did but there was a similar attitude and posture to them both. He had no doubt that his skill must be excellent as well, especially if he really fought in the war as Mike suggested. The man briefly talked with some of the guards before he walked over to the other side of the room... where a young girl was sitting in a chair.
'When did she walk in?' Ron thought as he watched the instructor speak with Astoria Greengrass. He knew that the younger Greengrass sister sometimes came to watch the guards train but this was the first time it happened while he was here. He reckoned it might have something to do with the torrential rain falling outside as normally Astoria could be found horse-riding around the grounds at this time of day.
Ron still felt extremely torn when it came to Astoria. On one hand, what she put him through was one of the worst things that had ever happened to him. He also knew that Astoria would have done worse had her sister and her mother not stop her. Being forced to act as a helpless slave... a pig... to a girl younger than him was a humiliation that he feared had permanently scared his soul. Not to mention the fact that Astoria was going be the next Mrs. Malfoy and that she at one point relished the idea of presenting Ron to her fiancé as some sort of romantic gift. Ron managed to stand up to that jerk for six years without loosing his dignity and it was bitter pill for him to swallow that in the end he was brought down so low by Malfoy's bird of all people. He sincerely hoped that Astoria did not plan to share what happened with her future husband as Ron could not possibly stand to imagine how gleeful that bastard would be afterwards.
He knew he should hate her for all she did to him but he could also not ignore the fact that he pretty much brought what happened to him down on himself. After all, he told a girl who was even younger than Ginny, and who was absolutely devastated by her father's death, that her father got what he deserved. In hindsight, he still felt that he spoke the truth but he was not stupid and knew how profoundly insensitive it was to say it to her at that time. Especially since, excepting her initial treatment of him, Astoria Greengrass appeared to be a genuinely nice girl.
More importantly, she was probably the only person of influence within the entire Greengrass manor who was not disgusted at the sight of Hermione and treated her with some kindness. One day, when Hermione was assigned some particularly unpleasant cleaning duties, Astoria overrode those orders and instructed her to clean her room instead. In reality, there was no cleaning and she allowed Hermione to relax while reading through seventh year school books and assignments secretly borrowed from Daphne, something that his friend expressed intense curiosity about before.
Astoria finally noticed him looking her way and she smiled and waved at him. He hesitantly waved back.
"Alright, break's over," the instructor called and Ron and the guards returned to their previous places, expecting to resume their previous exercise. But instead, the instructor called their attention to something, or rather someone else.
"We've a special guest today," he announced as he gestured towards Astoria who stood up from her chair. "Lady Astoria!"
The young girl curtseyed, "Hello boys... and girl," she said towards them even as the guards bowed their heads at her and echoed the greeting. Ron did the same.
"We are here training how to protect members of the House of Greengrass," the instructor then announced. "Well, one of your main duties will be safeguarding your principals in case of an attack," he said and then gestured at the young girl. "Lady Astoria graciously agreed to participate in our training for one such scenario today... if you will, my lady," he beckoned her with a smile to stop forward and she did, looking eager and clearly enjoying herself.
"We will simulate our lady coming under a surprise attack with one of you escorting her to safety. For the purpose of this exercise, the other side of this room will be considered a safe zone. The attackers will be allowed nothing but the tagging spells we have been using this morning," he stressed that point by looking into everyone's eyes and not continuing until he received 'yes, sir' or at least a sharp nod from everyone.
"The defender will be allowed dodging and shielding spells. Their goal will be to escort the lady to safety," he explained. "In situations like these, your priorities are protecting your charge from death or injury, protecting yourself from death or injury, and lastly protecting the property of House Greengrass... in this order," he said and finished with. "Any questions?"
When there were none, he selected two of the guards. "You two will be the attackers," he informed them. "You may utilize any attack vector you wish but do not physically bar their way. If you do, I will personally stun you," he warned. "Your goal will be to place a tag on the lady while the defender will do everything they can to stop you."
"And as for the defender..." he said as he let his eyes roam over them again until the settled on Ron. "Weasley... you scored highest before. Feeling up to this?"
Ron did not expect to be chosen and momentarily froze in shock. He glanced between the instructor and the girl. Astoria gave him an inconspicuous nod and thumbs up gesture. Ron steeled his resolve as he looked at the instructor and said, "Yes, sir."
He stepped forward and walked next to Astoria as instructed. He looked at the girl up-close and noted she was dressed relatively casual today, wearing some very light see-through black shirt with tank top underneath and tight shorts. Like always, she looked very pretty, making Ron woe the knowledge that a girl like this would be wasted on a bastard like Draco Malfoy.
"Eh... so just keep your head down and I will protect you," he told her with a weak smile.
Astoria snorted derisively at his patronizing words even as she drew out her own wand, from where he was not sure. To this day, he could not figure out where witches kept their wands when dressed like that. "I can fight too, you know," she declared boldly, making some of the guards smile at her enthusiasm.
"Very well," the instructor said with amusement. "But now there will be three attackers," he said as he gestured an additional guard to join the attacking group.
Once everyone was in their places, he asked them one last time, "Ready?" and when they all nodded, he cried, "Go!"
And then the pandemonium started as all three guards started sending spells at them while Astoria and Ron dodged and shielded against them. He had to admit that Astoria was fighting really well given how young she was but Ron still felt like he had to do most of the defending – which was the whole point of guarding her, he supposed.
"Come on!" he told her as he pulled on her arm. He soon realized that his original plan of quickly running over to the other side of the room, into the 'safety zone', was impossible and that they actually had to walk slow if they hoped to shield against their attackers who also kept running around them, trying to flank them.
Very soon, Ron and Astoria had their backs pressed against each other as they rotated around to meet their attackers while at the same time shuffling slowly to their destination. Ron was careful to always face the more dangerous side, especially since their attackers purposefully hurled most of the tagging spells at Astoria. A number of times, he had to push her down or grasp her hand or arm to pull her out of harm's way. But otherwise, they were doing good as their attackers did not manage to land a hit on either of them so far.
At last, they were almost to the end. Ron was about to let out a relieved sigh before he realized that in his eagerness, he made a mistake – there were only two guards he could see and he knew Astoria was looking more or less in the same direction. He more felt than saw the tagging spell coming at the girl's side from her blind spot. There was no chance of shielding in time or pushing her out of harms way from where he was standing.
So in the end, Ron made a quick flip on the spot which placed him right between the incoming spell and Astoria, letting the tag hit him even as he physically pushed the girl over into the safe zone and the instructor called an end.
"Are you alright?" Ron asked as he saw her stumble under the force of his nudge.
"I am fine," Astoria told him as she straightened up and looked over to see what happened.
"The lady's fine. You Weasley, on the other hand, are dead or injured..." the instructor informed him as he examined their tags, seeing one on him and to Ron's immense pride, zero on Astoria. "Still, you protected your lady and that is what matters the most. So job well done," he told him before turning to look at Astoria and saying with a bow, "You as well, my lady."
"We did it," Ron said happily to the girl who looked at him strangely.
"You sacrificed yourself for me," Astoria said and smiled at him coyly before leaning over. "My hero!" the girl purred while giving Ron a kiss on the cheek and absolutely shocking the boy to the core in the process. Astoria then quickly pulled away and started giggling when she saw his expression. "This was really fun, everyone. But I have to go prepare for my future mother-in-law now, so… until next time!" she called and waved to the room before briefly winking at Ron.
And then she turned around and walked away.
Ron stood frozen on the spot as he numbly watched her leave, his eyes following Astoria's every movement. His wrist as well as the skin of his cheek where her lips touched him tingled like crazy. For a brief moment, he felt a sense of dread as if something was very wrong. But then the image of Astoria's grey eyes and her proud but kind smile materialized in his mind like a hypnotic seal. He could not let go of it no matter what. She was all he could think about and he strongly felt like he should go after her immediately... but something else stopped him from doing so and there was a war fought within him. He might have stood there frozen like that forever had one of the guards not call out to him.
"Weasley... you coming?"
That broke his reverie. "Yeah, coming..." he said and with one last yearning look at Astoria's retreating form and a pang of longing, he went to join the others.
Green flames surged in the fireplace as Narcissa Malfoy flooed into the entrance room of the Greengrass manor. She gracefully stepped out of the fire while dusting soot away from her clothes. She then looked up and saw three members of Greengrass household guards approaching her with wands drawn. Two of them stopped at a respectful distance while the third stepped up to her and offered to take her cloak. She just nodded and handed it over. Afterwards, the man said, "Your wand, my lady."
"I don't have one," she answered truthfully while looking the guard in the eyes. With her magic senses, she was trying to gauge whether he was a mudblood or not, a habit instilled in her by her parents when she was a small child. There was at least some ambient magic around then man so she could not tell for certain.
Meanwhile, the guard acknowledged her answer. "Very well, please remain still," he instructed her even as he began to cast scanning spells to determine whether she really was Narcissa Malfoy and to verify that she truly had no wand on herself. Few years ago, such actions would be considered paranoid and impolite, but during the war time it was an unfortunate necessity. After all, that could be anyone wearing her face – a mudblood, blood traitorous supporter of Dumbledore, even Harry Potter himself…
So even though a part of her felt like bristling at the guard's actions, she still fully cooperated. Meanwhile, the other two guards watched them carefully in case she did something hostile or the scans revealed she truly was an imposter. Fortunately, that did not happen and a dozen spells later, the guard lowered his wand and his two friends visibly relaxed.
"Welcome to Greengrass manor, lady Malfoy," the man said while giving her a deep bow.
"Thank you," she replied while simultaneously looking at him haughtily. There was a very real possibility that the man was a mudblood. If so, there was no need to thank him as absolute obedience was the inherent duty of all mudbloods. But at the same time, his words were spoken on behalf of the Greengrass family and so common courtesy demanded she responded in kind.
"I will summon miss Astoria. Please have a seat while you wait, my lady," he said and gestured towards a chair. There was a table with some small refreshments prepared on it. Meanwhile, his two friends put the entrance room into lockdown so there would be no unexpected guests while she waited. Narcissa sat down while the guards went away, presumably to fetch her future daughter-in-law.
Narcissa was pleasantly surprised that Astoria did not decide to greet her in person. She suspected that many young women would do so in the same situation in an attempt to win a favor with their prospective mother-in-law. She was therefore pleased that the girl was not that naïve and instead left it to her guards. After all, it would not do well for future lady Malfoy to act like a sentimental fool and put herself in danger in the process.
While waiting, Narcissa looked around and sighed tiredly as she relaxed in the chair… relaxed for the first time in what might as well have been months. Normally, educating your son's future wife on the customs of her new family was one of the more boring duties that pureblood mothers had to fulfill. Mainly because the girl, assuming she had at least some brains, typically already knew most of it beforehand so there was very little to actually teach her.
But in this case, Narcissa literally relished this custom as it gave her a perfect excuse to get away from Malfoy manor. And nobody, not even the dark lord and his ilk, could question it as it was a time-honored pureblood tradition. Which was ironic and she felt a gleeful happiness at that as it was the dark lord who was the ultimate source of all the woeful things which had befallen her family recently. Oh, to think what her life had become in just three years! Especially when it all went so well until now…
Narcissa was born as the youngest of three sisters and as such she naturally received the least amount of resources and attention from her parents. And yet, what had her sisters done with the opportunities presented to them?
Bellatrix was the oldest. She was beautiful and powerful and ended up marrying an heir of a respectable pureblood family – a man she loathed and thought of as beneath her in every way. In a sense, Bella was correct as no magical family in Britain could possibly match the prestige of House Black. Therefore, for one of the Blacks to marry essentially anyone who wasn't a Black was always a step down for them, something which was more difficult to handle for women. Perhaps marrying within the family would have satisfied her sister but their grandfather would not allow another incestuous marriage, knowing it was not healthy for the family in the long run.
Therefore, her parents eventually selected Rudolphus Lestrange as her husband. Bella dutifully followed her family's wishes and married the man but she never saw him as her equal. It led to a loveless and childless marriage, never mind the fact that Bella's profound dissatisfaction with her life and ever growing fanaticism got her locked up in Azkaban for over a decade. Narcissa and Lucius tried to arrange for her release several times over the years but it was futile as even the old families would not go for it. Not after what Bella and her husband had done to the Longbottoms.
As for Narcissa's second sister, she was even worse than Bella, in her opinion. By running away with a filthy mudblood, Andromeda spat on everything her family stood for. It was only because she managed to birth a powerful daughter with a unique magical ability that lord Black reluctantly refrained from having her entire family murdered for dishonoring them all.
As for Narcissa, she was eventually betrothed to Lucius Malfoy, the heir of a relatively new but influential pureblood family which was on the rise in the last few centuries. And yet, despite their impressive recent accomplishments, most members of House Black considered Malfoys as nothing but upstart peasants from France. Narcissa knew for a fact that lord Black only chose that marriage for her for the business connection it would bring him as well as for an exorbitant bride price.
As for the Malfoys, they were very eager to have their heir married to her. After all, having a Black for a wife would be a huge step towards removing the 'outsider stain' from their family name and greatly improve their status among the purebloods of magical Britain.
Therefore, at the time, her marriage was seen as mutually beneficial trade for both families but it still did not change the fact that she had essentially been sold to a complete stranger. And so as a young bride, Narcissa was faced with a critical choice – she could either become just like Bella and grow bitter over the fact her husband was a foreign upstart with straw sticking out of his boots… or she could try to make the best of the situation and to perhaps make her marriage work.
She chose the latter.
Instead of becoming resentful of Lucius, she actually tried to be nice and respect who he was. Recognizing that he was a very clever man, she took an active interest in his ideas and plans for the future and helped him to fine tune them. She even dyed her hair blonde after discovering it would please her new husband. And fortunately for her, Lucius reciprocated and genuinely appreciated her efforts. Just like her, he had witnessed some very toxic relationships among his relatives and he did not want anything like that for himself.
Mutual respect they held for each other was quickly followed by friendship and after a year or two… love.
It was a start of a fantastic partnership as they formed an unstoppable duo that took the wizarding world by storm. Lucius was well aware that Narcissa understood some things better than him, such as the inner workings of pureblood society, and he had no problem with letting her make decisions on these matters. Likewise, Narcissa knew his business instincts were superior to hers and so she made a point not to interfere in his deals beyond helping him use her maiden name as leverage. In short, they were both playing to their strengths and compensating for each other's weaknesses.
And for a long time, it worked splendidly.
The Malfoy wealth more than doubled since their marriage and the splendor of their luxurious home was the envy of Magical Britain. Lucius' brilliant Imperius defense idea after the first war also earned them a huge political clout as many families were grateful for having saved their members from Azkaban.
It allowed Malfoys to form a powerful block in Wizengamot and to push forward numerous laws and regulations favoring purebloods. Both Lucius and Narcissa strongly believed in pureblood supremacy and they wished to leave behind a better world for their son and heir of whom they were immensely proud. General population of Magical Britain considered Lucius and Narcissa to be the power couple of their time and it was commonly accepted that Lucius Malfoy would become Minister of Magic one day and thus permanently secure his family's legacy in this country.
The only serious obstacle to their unstoppable journey into power was Albus Dumbledore – a powerful wizard, headmaster of Hogwarts, and a popular war hero who seemingly could not be defeated, be it magically or politically. Dumbledore was strongly pro-muggle and pro-muggleborn and would use his influence to undermine and reverse so many of their achievements. As much as it pained them to admit, the Malfoys and their allies understood that it would not be possible to create the world they wanted while that foolish old man was still around.
Fortunately for them, being an old man was Dumbledore's fatal flaw, along with not having any suitable heir to carry on his political cause. Therefore, no matter how many painful setbacks Albus Dumbledore caused to the pureblood movement, Narcissa and Lucius understood that they were only temporary. It might take few more decades but inevitably, Dumbledore would die. And when he did, there was nobody to stand in their way.
Waiting for Dumbledore to die was a slow but ultimately the safest plan… but it was completely demolished when the dark lord somehow managed the impossible and actually came back from the dead. At first, they were tentatively optimistic, especially once Voldemort forgave the former death eaters for having lost their faith in him after his death. Narcissa reasoned that with the dark lord back, there was a great chance to accelerate their plans and perhaps to even actively get rid of Dumbledore instead of waiting for him to die naturally.
However, rather than advancing their cause as they all hoped for, the dark lord spent an entire year doing nothing except being preoccupied with Harry Potter and some silly prophesy which related to the boy. Narcissa could not help but scoff at that. Yes, Harry Potter was involved in a weird magical accident when he was a baby but seeing as the dark lord was back now, what did it matter anymore? Why waste time and valuable resources worrying about a mere school boy? Even worse, resources which were coming almost entirely out of the Malfoy's family wealth! Literally the only good thing the dark lord accomplished in that time was getting Bella and the others out of prison.
In retrospect, the dark lord's obsession with Potter should have been a major warning sign to them. But sadly, just like the others, Narcissa was convinced by the dark lord that the boy was somehow more important than he seemed. And so both she and her husband went along with Voldemort's plans.
It was the worst mistake of their lives.
The dark lord's plan turned out to be a series of fuck ups which culminated in a profoundly stupid idea to lure the boy-who-lived into the Ministry so he could collect the magically protected prophesy. It completely blew up into their faces when Lucius and his comrades were caught red handed by Dumbledore and his cohorts and sent to prison.
And that was the end for the Malfoys. Instead of admitting that his master plan had been fucked up from the beginning, the dark lord shifted all the blame on Lucius and the Malfoy family. As a punishment, Voldemort practically took over their manor as his base, making Narcissa a virtual prisoner in her own home. Their beautiful home she had worked so hard to perfect was turned into absolute pandemonium as the dark lord filled it with variety of disgusting creatures which served him like the werewolves and dementors.
And then there was the dark lord's pet snake…
Werewolves were nothing in comparison as Narcissa loathed that wretched creature more than anything in the world. It would slither around her home like it owned it, constantly shedding small pieces of its disgusting skin everywhere it went. It also made an evil habit of surprising and scaring Narcissa. Whenever she tried to sit down somewhere, it would suddenly be there in the chair, hissing at her angrily. Once she even saw it slithering out of her bed!
Narcissa did not think her life could get any worse but then the dark lord surprised her once more as he dared to include her son Draco into yet another one of his stupid plans, tasking him with assassinating Dumbledore of people! She knew her son was powerful but Dumbledore was even more so and he had a century of experience under his belt. Sending Draco to kill someone like the Hogwarts headmaster was a pure foolishness and made Narcissa wonder whether it was yet another way to punish her family or if the dark lord was truly going insane. If it hadn't been for Severus Snape, she knew that she would have lost her son.
It was the day any lingering loyalty to the dark lord died within Narcissa. She no longer cared about the war and was increasingly convinced that Voldemort was not the great champion of the pureblood cause he made himself to be. In fact, Narcissa believed it would have been much better if the dark lord never came back. Had he just remained dead, then everything would have been better, especially for her family. The pureblood victory would be delayed by years or even decades but it would have happened eventually. Oh, how she wished that Voldemort had the decency to just stay dead…
"If wishes were horses," she whispered sadly to the empty room she was sitting in while looking around. Even the entrance room looked perfect and made Narcissa even more self-conscious about the state of her own home. She also envied the Greengrasses for being spared the same treatment her family was exposed to as their manor still looked like a proper pureblood home should – sumptuous and with mudbloods around to serve the needs of their superiors…
Narcissa sighed wistfully as she thought about the servants of House Malfoy. Her birth family never utilized mudbloods as servants, believing that such filth wasn't even worthy to polish their boots. It was therefore a very strange experience for Narcissa to suddenly have mudblood servants after she joined the Malfoy household. However, she had to admit that there really was something to the practice and she quickly grew to like it. It was just so satisfying to see the mudbloods scramble to obey her every wish just so they could gain a little magic from her and correct their birth defects. And if it really helped to remove the muggle filth from them, then all the better…
Unfortunately, their muggleborn servants were yet another thing the Malfoy family had to give up. Technically, the dark lord never spoke a word against the practice and the subjugated mudbloods were even protected by the new laws. But having mudbloods, even ones who submitted, around the dark lord and some of his more gung-ho followers was just asking for trouble. Especially since the Malfoys would be bound to protect their servants from any attacks. Therefore, they had all their mudblood servants reassigned to one of their properties in France to avoid any… incidents.
The door clicked and Astoria Greengrass walked in. Narcissa stood up and took in her future daughter-in-law with her eyes. The girl was wearing a mid-thigh black dress with a frilly belt around her waist. Her black heels were decorated with diamonds and she also added long diamond earrings, emphasizing her family's wealth and making Narcissa smile approvingly inside, pleased that Astoria at least knew how to dress like a pureblood lady.
The girl curtsied, "Welcome, Narcissa. It is good to see you," she said with a dazzling smile which Narcissa returned and they hugged. Afterwards, Astoria invited her inside the house and the two of them walked out of the entrance room and into corridors while exchanging pleasantries along the way.
Even during their small talk, Narcissa kept evaluating the girl. The question of Draco's marriage was something that Lucius was undecided on for a very long time, always considering different daughters of his allies and business partners alike. But for a few years now, Narcissa strongly suspected it would have to be the girl walking next to her.
First of all, Astoria Greengrass was a proper pureblood girl from one of the oldest families in the country which always made an excellent choice. At the same time, Greengrasses were not and never had been inbred idiots as their millennia-old practice of grooming mudbloods assured they had many marriageable opportunities among the newly minted pureblood families. And even though there was already a relation between Houses Malfoy and Greengrass, it was distant enough. In addition, the last two Greengrass lords married an American woman and a daughter of House Selwyn, respectively, none of whom were related to Malfoys, thus ensuring the level of consanguinity was low. In short, Astoria's blood status and suitability was beyond reproach. But there was something even better that made her perfect for Draco – her believes.
It took Narcissa and Lucius a long time to accept that despite their best efforts, their son just wasn't a pureblood supremacist like them. Although he didn't think much of muggles, Draco did not truly see mudbloods as inherently inferior. Oh, he would do his best to emulate his father in his words and actions but his heart was never in it. Last year, Draco finally confessed his feelings on the matter to his parents. Narcissa cried a long time after learning the truth but eventually, she had no choice but to just accept her son for who he was.
Since then, Narcissa knew that if she wanted Draco's future wife to complement him, then Astoria Greengrass was one of the few options available to them as the girl did not believe in pureblood supremacy either, much to her family's consternation. At the same time, Astoria was not as actively pro-muggle as to be considered a blood traitor – which made her a perfect future partner for Draco, given his own feelings.
At first, Lucius suggested that they marry Draco to a firm pureblood traditionalist, hoping that his bride would change him and turn him to her believes. But Narcissa would not have it. She knew that if they did that, then the girl would inevitably come to regard Draco with disdain, much like Bellatrix did with her husband.
As daughter of House Black, Narcissa was taught that love was meaningless. That all that mattered was doing duty to your family. And yet when she looked at her two sisters, she had to admit that love seemed to be more important than her parents thought. After all, her sister Bella did her duty to their family. She married a proper pureblood and gave him no children. In contrast, her other sister became so besotted with a filthy disgusting mudblood she actually spread her legs for him… she let an animal impregnate her! And now she was blessed with a healthy daughter who was apparently a very powerful witch as well as metamorphomagus.
The contrast between her two sisters was something that forced Narcissa to admit that the old muggle-loving fool was right at least about one thing – love was important. Even the unspeakables were rumored to be studying it and leaning towards that conclusion. And for this reason, Narcissa very much wished for Draco to have genuine love in his marriage. Not for some foolish romantic sentiment but because the available evidence pointed to the fact that love matches produced magically more powerful children. And of course, she also wanted her son to be happy…
Narcissa knew that her mother would burn her with hot poker for such a thought but that's what she wanted. And she knew that Astoria was someone who could make Draco happy as he genuinely cared about her… even loved her.
They knew each other since they were children as they were distant cousins and their families would sometimes visit each other while their grandparents were still alive. Narcissa still remembered fondly one day when Greengrasses visited them and Draco was tasked to escort Astoria around while the adults talked. Draco must have been ten at the time which would make the girl eight. And yet somehow, Astoria managed to talk him into taking her see the peacocks… which they then attempted to ride. It was the single most foolish thing Draco had ever done and they punished him for it severely. But at the same time, he looked so happy while doing it. Draco kept in touch with his distant cousin after that. And Narcissa had her eye on Astoria Greengrass ever since…
She was so deep in thoughts that she almost did not notice them stopping at one point. Narcissa finally looked around and noticed she was not being led into one of the saloons but rather to the entrance of the lord's office. Or rather the lady's now. She turned to look at her future daughter-in-law with a raised eyebrow.
"My sister would like to talk with you," Astoria told her nervously.
Narcissa glanced at the guards standing next to the door as well as two others who somehow magically appeared behind them as they walked and were now looking at her with stony face. She glared at the girl who shrank a little under her accusatory gaze. "Good luck… I'll see you later," Astoria then told her in honest voice which surprised Narcissa. She then turned on her heel and walked away.
Thousand different scenarios were running through Narcissa's head even as one of the guards opened the doors for her. There were many reasons why Daphne Greengrass might demand to speak to her in such blatant manner and none of them were particularly good.
'Does she want to cancel the betrothal? Is House Malfoy no longer good for the Greengrasses? Will Daphne demand greater bride price?'
All of her thoughts came to a screeching halt when she entered the room and her eyes located Daphne Greengrass sitting behind her father's old table… as well as the person sitting next to her.
Narcissa Malfoy always took pride in having mastered the skill of Occlumency the best out of her sisters. She could still vividly recall her parent's lessons which consisted of repeated mind invasions and harsh punishments when they failed to defend themselves. Her mother's favorite was rolling up their sleeves and lashing their bare arms with nettles. And where Bella would rage like a lunatic after each punishment and Andy would whimper pathetically, Narcissa always endured the pain with emotionless serenity. It helped her to quickly build up her occlumency shields.
She supposed that her parents would have been proud of her for how fast she managed to put up her emotionless mask now. In fact, she doubted there was even a split second of surprise plastered upon her face. She walked towards the table and curtsied to her host. "Lady Greengrass," she said first before shifting her gaze to her companion. Her impossible companion. "Mr. Potter…"
"Actually, that would be lord Black to you, my lady," the Greengrass heiress said in a silky voice even as she gestured to the seat in front of the table. "Please have seat. We have a lot to discuss," she said and Narcissa thought that it was an understatement of the year even as she measured the boy-who-lived, and apparently the lord of House Black, with her eyes. She had a brief flashback to the memory of nettles stinging her arms as her emotionless mask received its first few cracks.