But
heaven knows I’m miserable now. “You’ve been in the house too long,” she said,
and I, naturally, fled. In my life, why do I give valuable time to people who
don’t care if I live or die?
THE
SMITHS
He had
meant no harm. As a matter of fact, he had thought it to be an act of courtesy
and a sign of affection to call on her that morning. He was in no way prepared
for the reception, and the habitual discretion of the serving house-elves was
no help in that respect either. He had no idea about Andromeda’s engagement, or
pregnancy, or exile, or Mrs Black’s cardiac arrest, when entering his adored
Narcissa’s room in awe and thrilled anticipation, with a big smile on his face.
“Good
morning, Narc-”
“What do you want here! Out! Get out!”
This was
the first time that he was perplexed, and many more were to come yet. “I beg
your pardon for intruding, but I wished to inquire after you. You –”
Narcissa
was tired, exhausted and desperate, and if her own father had abused her to get
that weight from his chest, she didn’t think it unfair to use that insolent
person to ease her own worries now. He had a thick skin, he could take it much
better than she had! For three hours, she had been compelled to listen to her
father’s outraged ranting about the ‘debauched cad that she hadn’t been ashamed
of to associate herself with!’, and seeing that ‘cad’ standing there now,
smiling at her expectantly, she would have liked to curse the living daylights
out of him.
“What do
you want, Malfoy? How dare you come here! I couldn’t prevent you from molesting
me in school, but this is my home!
You have no place here!”
He
faintly registered that she was looking pale and rather unhealthy, but his mind
was too much engaged with the sudden change of mood. Last night, she had been
charming and easy-going, she had appeared to like him to a certain degree. He
didn’t understand what had happened since then – had he misinterpreted her
behaviour so completely or –
“I
apologise if you find my visit inappropriate, Narcis-”
“Miss Black
for you! In my own house I want to be addressed by my proper title!”
“That’s
fine by me!”
In all
truth, he had never been dressed down the way Narcissa did in the following ten
minutes by any of his ex-girlfriends, who admittedly had had sufficient reason
to be mad at him. What had he done now to Narcissa to make her so venomous and
hostile?! She hurled all sorts of reproaches and allegations at him, leaving
him no chance to defend himself, and while still yelling that a ‘smooth
scoundrel’ like him was the last man on earth whom she would allow to misuse
her, she rang for a couple of servants to have him thrown out.
He left
without protest, frog-marched by some ridiculous house-elves, but in the
hallway, her father suddenly stepped in their way, looking even fiercer than
his daughter. “You,” he spat, gesturing him to follow, and slamming the door to
his study. “You! You will stay away
from my child, young man, or I swear, I will make you regret the day you were
been born!”
“Sir, I
–”
“I know you! I know what you are! I know
how you treat innocent girls, what you do to them! But mark my words, you won’t
succeed with my Narcissa! How dare
you enter my house! I might have failed in the past to protect my daughters
from villains like you, but that won’t happen again, and certainly not under my
own roof!”
“I merely
came to inquire after her well-being, sir!”
“Silence!
Don’t you talk back to me! I know your kind, Mr Malfoy, and even though I’m an
old man, you want to know that you better not mess with me! My daughter has no
interest whatsoever in you, don’t you get that?! You’re not in her league, she knows that, so why don’t you just
leave her in peace!”
“Sir,
please let me just say –”
No, Mr
Black did not let him say just
anything. Like his daughter before, he heaped threats upon reproaches, hardly
catching his breath, culminating in a fulminating, “And if I ever see you
within a hundred feet of my daughter, I will make you pay and all your father’s
wealth won’t help you then! Out! OUT!”
Lucius
obeyed numbly. His head was spinning. Not even his own father had ever managed
to yell at him for one and a half hours straight, and so totally without
reason. He hadn’t done anything to
Narcissa Black, and what was more, he hadn’t the least intention to take advantage of her in any way!
He felt
something like remorse. His father had often warned that his bad behaviour
would one day fall back on him, and even though he was perfectly indifferent
towards all those girls he had been with, he was sorry now. The only one he had
ever really wanted – she wanted to
have nothing to do with him because of those useless affairs.
He
returned to Malfoy Manor, groaning when meeting Abraxas, who showed a malicious
grin and snarled, “You’ve gotten up very early for your own standards, sonny.”
“Not now,
Father. Not now! I’m not in the mood to quarrel with you!”
“Quarrel?
Oh my! There I go, for once wanting to congratulate you, and you presume I
wanted to quarrel?”
Lucius
sniggered mirthlessly. “Spare your scorn, Father. I know my results don’t meet
your expectations, but I’ve done well enough, I’ll start College in autumn and
you’ll get your will, as always.”
“Who’s
talking about your academic mediocrity?”
“It’s one
of your favourite topics, so it’s a fair guess.”
“So
tense, sonny? I know you didn’t get it last night, but I wouldn’t have thought
that you’re so needy!”
“Oh, shut up,
Father!”
He meant
to walk past, but stopped in his tracks when Abraxas continued regardless, “I
was quite impressed with that Black girl. What have you done with her? Did you
jinx her?”
“What?!”
“She
appeared a very good girl, and witty to boot. Such a girl wouldn’t deliberately
go out with someone like you.”
Lucius
took a deep breath and looked his father in the eye. “Too right, Father. She
won’t go out with someone like me,
and as you’ve already stated so tastefully last night – you won’t meet her
again, and neither will I.”
“Oh, so
that’s where you’re coming from at this time of day? She’s ditched you?”
Abraxas laughed merrily. “I’d say it’s a pity, because that one was worth a
hearty damn. But on the whole it serves you right. You were overdue to swallow
a dose of your own medicine.”
Lucius’
hand was in his pocket, fumbling with his wand, but he fought down the urge to
curse Abraxas. He didn’t have the nerve for fighting; he just wanted to be
alone with a bottle of Ogden’s Firewhiskey.
*****
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