Narcissa

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine! Not even Danvers! They either belong to Jo or Daphne Du Maurier, I am just twisting them for my evil purposes.

Chapter Five

The next day I decided to talk to Severus, as I needed to talk to someone that might be forthcoming about Narcissa, the ball, and other things that Lucius doesn’t seem to tell me.

Danvers told me that her Mrs Malfoy never went by floo, as it made her fine gowns filthy. Her Mrs Malfoy preferred to apparate, or had the guests come over by floo. I threw in a pinch of floo and said Spinners End. Danvers did not leave me throughout this procedure. She had a mocking twist of a smile on her lips, as if daring me to be different. I weren’t going to do anything that Narcissa didn’t do. She was the perfect wife, mother, Mistress of all she surveyed, and seemingly well loved by everyone.

“Yes,” Severus said impatiently.

“Oh, hello, Severus, um, is it possible for you to come over?”

“Is it necessary?” he asked, his tone bored, and I could tell he did not like the idea of being alone with me. I chalked this up to the fact that we had that little bit of history.

“I want some answers, and Lucius won’t answer them,” I said. “Bea has tried to help, but I need someone who’s, well, more level headed.”

I heard Severus chuckle at that. He nodded his head, and I stepped back, and waited for Severus to walk through the fireplace. Almost as soon as he had stepped through I hugged him like he was my uncle.

“Mrs Malfoy,” he said in a quiet soothing voice. “What’s the matter?”

“I just need to talk to an old friend,” I said. “And neither Harry or Ron will be able to answer what I need to know.”

I turned around and Danvers was still standing there, as if she expected some scandal to happen, and she wanted to watch. I weren’t going to talk with that in the room.

“Is there anything I can get for either of you?” she asked. “I remember you were my Mrs Malfoy’s particular friend,” she said addressing Severus.

“There is nothing Danvers,” I said, as coolly and as authoritatively as I could. I must have lacked something in my manner, as Danvers just raised a brow sardonically and bowed.

“Pardon me, but my Mrs Malfoy always had coffee and biscuits for her guests, whether she wanted them or not.”

“Oh, in that case, yes, coffee and biscuits.”

Danvers disappeared with a pop and I turned to Severus who eyed the spot where Danvers had just stood with an annoyed glimmer in his eyes.

“You don’t have to do that you know,” he said.

“Do what?” I asked.

“Do what Narcissa did, she had her methods, and you will have to establish yours.”

“I am finding this whole thing difficult,” I said. “Narcissa was perfect and I feel as if I am spoiling that just by being here.”

“You are Mistress here now, Hermione, regardless of what some house elf thinks,” he snapped.

I dropped my head in shame, as I picked at the skirt of my light blue robes. I looked up, and then offered him a seat.

“What do I do, though?”

“I am sure Bellatrix has told you to be firm and put your foot down,” Severus said, as he sat down on the chair nearest the fire opposite where I was sitting down on the sofa.

“Yes,” I said. “She has.”

“And she’s right,” Severus said. “Bellatrix usually is.”

I gazed into the fireplace.

“I met Jocasta Crabbe yesterday,” I said.

“What did that bitch have to say for herself?” Severus said in his usual irascible tones.

I laughed, and was about to relay what had happened the day before, when the tray of coffee and biscuits appeared on the table in front of us. I took to pouring out coffee, and despite not wanting it minutes before; I discovered that I needed it now.

“Oh, not much, she mentioned a ball.”

Severus swallowed some of his coffee harshly, as if the mere mention of the word ‘ball’ was enough to frighten him.

“Sorry,” he said. “Yes, the Annual Ball, was quite an event in its heyday, Manderley would simply be covered with people. Narcissa made it so,” he looked at me, “but you wouldn’t have to lift one of your fingers to organise the event. I do that now.”
“I am sure I could do it,” I said. I tilted my chin up in the air and looked at him defiantly. “I am, after all, good at organising other people.”

He chuckled again.

“Forgive me, my dear, but you seem to be swamped in the Mansion as it is now, let alone when the carpets cannot be seen because of feet. I am sorry, perhaps when you’ve grown into your newfound position more, and then yes, I agree, the task should fall to you. I can’t think of nothing more tedious than organising such an event.”

“So, why are you going to do it?” I asked.

“You seem keen on it, and it might cheer Lucius up.”

Lucius, I thought, what of Lucius? I wanted to thoroughly make sure that it was all right before I said to Severus that he could go ahead and start. I was about to ask someone to send for him when Lucius strode into the room. He sat down besides me, and then he looked at Severus and inclined his head towards his old friend.

“What’s going on?” Lucius asked.

“Mrs Malfoy wishes to resurrect the Annual Ball, Lucius,” Severus said.

“Oh, yes, she mentioned it last night. The bloody cow Mrs Crabbe happened to bring it up in her conversation with my wife yesterday morning,” Lucius said.

“I won’t do it if it will cause you any inconvenience,” I said.

“Oh, it’s all right, we’ll have the silly thing. Anything to shut you up,” Lucius smirked at that; as he noticed me humph back into the cushions on the sofa.

“So, what are you going to go as?” Severus asked Lucius.

“I am not going as anything but me. Let the other dunderheads make fools of themselves, but I will not be made a fool of in my own home.”

“What of you, Mrs Malfoy?” Severus asked. There seemed to be a strange ache to his voice when he called me that.

“I am not going to tell you,” I said stiffly. This caused Lucius and Severus to burst into hearty, manly laughter. “I mean it,” I said, as I felt my indignation get higher, so I felt myself blush. “You’ll both get the biggest shock of your lives!”

“Oh, be that way then, spoilsport,” Severus said.

*^*^*^*
Severus was a daily visitor discussing plans with Lucius and I hardly saw my husband after that. Even our bedroom activities were waning. I felt a little saddened at that. About a week after being shut out of all discussion about this ball, I decided to go exploring. I wanted to go up the OTHER side of the staircase. The one that no one had gotten to see, I wanted to find out what secrets might be hidden there.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but you just know when you’re not wanted, even in an disused part of the house. Most of the doors were locked, and I didn’t have my wand to perform the Allohomora spell on them. I saw pieces of furniture covered up with dust shrouds, and frames were empty, as if they had left when they realised nobody was admiring them.

The floorboards kept creaking under my feet, and I kept looking over my shoulder, as I was sure I was being watched. I even hid in an alcove when the feeling was too strong to ignore. I then walked out, as the feeling subsided. I was near to panic. I could not shrug off this feeling of paranoia that had welled up in me. It was as close to being afraid, as I had been since the first time I met Lord Voldemort.

I would not have felt so panicked if there were a frame or two occupied. Perhaps even the stirring of a dumbwaiter, or Jacobs Ladder might have helped, but no, there were no sign of those things. I was thinking of turning back and giving up, when I spotted it.

“A light,” I murmured. I walked towards it as though I were a moth drawn to its enchantment. It seemed out of place in this otherwise dark, grim, passageway.

I opened the door, the hinges creaked ominously, and I felt like I was intruding on someone’s privacy without being asked to. I took a tentative step into the room and was about to turn the oil lamps down and walk back out, when a voice stopped me.

“I wondered when you would come up.”

I froze. My heart stopped beating for a minute, and I took a while to register whom else was in the room. I turned on my heel and looked down on Danvers. Something about her eyes made me forget that I weren’t supposed to be here. They seemed alive, even her voice had taken on a new quality.

“Pardon?” I asked stupidly.

“Gryffindors never pass up opportunity to explore places they should not be in do they?” Danvers asked, as she stepped up to me. “This was my Mrs Malfoy’s boudoir.”

“Really?” I asked. “Well, I better be going.”

“Why don’t I show you around now that you are here?” she asked. “What else have you got to be doing today?”

Nothing, I thought. I had planned nothing. Lucius and Severus was locked up in that office deciding on a ball that I had no power over. I was left to my own devices. I looked at Danvers. She had taken hold of one of my hands, and started to draw me further in the room.

She immediately brought me to the foot of the grandest bed I had ever seen. The sheets were clean and freshly pressed. There was a lavender pillow on top of all the other ones. Delicately laid, and just as clean, and freshly pressed, was a silver silk negligee set, it was shimmering and beautiful, and then I was turned around, a sharp twist of the wrist alerted my attention to other furniture of the room. A desk with new silver combs and hairpieces all arranged smartly and methodically. I could not resist the urge to stroke the brush and comb, tracing the design with the tips of my fingers.

“They were Mrs Malfoy’s particular favourite set,” Danvers said. “The negligee and combs are as I set them out the day that she never returned.”

I said nothing; there was something about Danvers attitude that sent cold shivers down my spine.

“She would trust no one else with such delicate things as this,” Danvers said. “She used to say, ‘I won’t let anyone else, but Danny, do these things.’ Danny, that’s what she called me,” her voice took on an extra zeal. “You like those combs, here, sit.”

I dumbly obeyed. I sat on the stool, as Danvers picked up an ivory-toothed comb, she ran the comb delicately through my hair. “No,” she sighed. “Her hair was flaxen and long, it used to slide through its silken locks.” She then picked up a hairpiece and put the clip on a lock of hair beside my ear. “No good, it used to complement HER hair.” I felt as if I was fixed on that stool.

She then put the brush through my hair; I shivered with her touch, as she tried to make me HER Mrs Malfoy.

“She had beautiful hair, so soft, so long, so silky. Not like this lankiness, this muddy colour.” She looked disappointed, and then she rushed her fingers through my hair. “Not exactly a beauty are you? Not like her. She could stop men’s hearts at the age of twelve. She knew she was going to grow up a beauty. She could make grown men wilt just with a winsome smile. Now, up!”

She barked. I got up and she dragged me towards a heavy wooden wardrobe. She brought out a set of robes and stood on the bed and held the top of the hanger under my chin. “No, not even there are you like my Mrs Malfoy,” she said. “She was tall. Taller than most women, she used to overpower many with her height. Look, the robes are trailing inches on the floor like this.”

She sighed, and then she hung the garment back in the wardrobe. “I keep them all fresh,” she said. “All are cleaned, as if she were still here. She might come back. Others have come back. She might come back from the dead.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, finding my voice again. “No spell can bring people back from the dead.”

“Are you sure about that, Miss?” Danvers asked. Her eyes gleamed strangely, as if she thought I was stupid. “No spell that any ‘good’ witch or wizard would do, maybe. My Mrs Malfoy was not like that though. She liked being bad.”

I felt my throat dry as Ginny’s words came to my head. ‘Something’s are best left for dead!’

“No, I remember when she was eight, and she had a horse. The horse was stubborn, it bucked and it would not calm down. My Mrs Malfoy saddled the horse, and got on it with a whip in her hand. She whipped the beast senseless. Foam and blood poured from his flanks, and the horse never bucked again. ‘That’ll teach it, Danny,’ she said. ‘The bastard beast won’t be stubborn again, will it?’ ‘No,’ I replied. ‘No, my sweet, it won’t. You taught it a proper lesson!’ She smiled. But you,” her eyes roved up and down me. “You are not a patch on my Mistress!”

I felt woozy, and sick. I wanted to leave this room, and get out. Narcissa was alive in this room. She was watching me, and she was scorning my feeble attempts at playing Lady of the Manor.

“Come,” Danvers said. She took my hand, and then she popped up on the windowsill and stood on the ledge. She opened one of the windows and the sound of the sea roared into the room. “My Mrs Malfoy used to love this sound, she always wanted the windows open, so that she could fall asleep with the sound of the sea. She loved its carefree, and wild attitude. Listen,” she closed her mouth, and both of us stood there listening to the sound of the sea. It had me transfixed.

“I wonder, though, if she truly is dead?” Danvers asked. “I wonder if she truly is gone? I do not think so. I think that she is still here. I think that she is watching, watching every move you and Mr Malfoy make. I think that she watches you especially. I wonder, I wonder if she is laughing at the thought of you and Mr Malfoy together?”

That was it. I fairly ran from the room. I could not stand another minute of that loathsome creature’s company. I had to leave, to get some fresh air. I ran blind, and bumped into someone.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“That’s okay,” a voice I instantly recognised said. But, it couldn’t be? Could it? I looked up, and saw to my complete, and utter shock, the very much alive form of Sirius Black!

“Sirius?” I gasped.

His eyes narrowed and then he turned to look at Danvers. Danvers stood behind me, and she was silent. She stood there watching what I would do.

“Hello, Hermione,” he said. His manner was cold, and his indifference towards me hurt.

“I thought you were – well – dead,” I said.

He was completely ignoring me. His grey eyes were focused on Narcissa’s house elf.

“Um, Hermione, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Lucius you met me. Okay?” He said. He brushed past me and walked into the room that I had just exited. Danvers looked at me with a slow, smug, smile creeping on her face.

“People CAN be brought back to life Mrs H Malfoy,” she whispered before going into the boudoir. “Just think about that when you’re with Mr Malfoy.”

She then spun on her heel and walked into the room, and then, she shut the door.

*^*^*^*

I was nitpicking at my dinner that night, Lucius looked at me worried. He put a hand on mine and then he tilted my chin up.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I am fine,” I said, as I picked up a slice of beef and put it in my mouth. “How are the preparations for the ball coming along?” I asked.

“Oh, they are going along fine,” he said. “The date is in a months time, the 23RD of June.”

I smiled and looked at the plate.

“I could help you, you know,” I said.

“You need to find your feet first,” Lucius said. “So, tell me what are you coming as?”

“I won’t tell you.”

Lucius was smirking, as he sipped his wine.

“Oh, yes you will,” Lucius said. “A month is a long time to keep a secret.”

I was not in the mood for teasing. I thought Danvers trying to see if I measured up to Mrs Malfoy’s height, stature, demeanour, was scary enough, but to bump into Sirius Black, a man I thought to be dead, only fuelled the fear.

Was he staying in the house? Was he actually watching us? Was it him that was following me along that passage? Or, did he live somewhere else? I could not concentrate on anything that night, as thoughts of Sirius pervaded my other senses. Why, of all people, would Narcissa wish to bring him back to life?

But, then he weren’t the Sirius I knew. He was cold, and distant towards me, as if he didn’t like me anymore. Why? I wondered. The answers, dear reader, are not anything I can reveal right now…

A/N Ozarkmon: I can't give anything away, but I am pleased to get you guessing.

Pinkwands: I hope you love this chapter. I had shivers writing it!