In All the Thunder

Chapter Fifteen: A Chat with Narcissa Malfoy

Lorena saw the cozy, little café when she rounded the corner in Diagon Alley. It was a beautiful summer's day, the sky blue with a few fluffy white clouds, everything clean, flowers blossoming on the green grass, colors exploding on the windows of shops, young children running amuck, giggling and laughing. Everything was wonderful about today--even the café was looking exceptionally nice. Lorena had to admit; today had begun as a good day.

Too bad she knew that that was going to change in just a few moments.

There, sitting at one of the tables outside at the café, was Narcissa Malfoy, calmly reading a book with dark sunglasses on, a cup of tea forgotten in front of her on the table. She had shining bright blond hair that had a dark bandana draped over it; bright blue eyes were being hidden behind the shades; and fair skin was being hidden underneath dark blue robes. She was a beautiful woman, honestly. She had made plenty of men trip over nothing but air and walk into walls and poles over the years.

Lorena was sure that people confused the two of them as sisters. They looked so much alike. It was ironic that the only reason they were related (without tracing their family far, far back) was because Narcissa was married to Lucius Malfoy. Lorena had always felt quite ugly when compared with Narcissa, but the older woman (by two months) insisted that Lorena was anything but that.

Lorena saw that Narcissa was not alone this morning, like she usually was. There was a young man sitting at the same table next to her, looking very bored. He glanced at the book Narcissa was reading and then gave an uninterested sigh. He was leaning back in his chair; he had his arms folded across his chest, blond hair looking untidy from the light wind, and gray eyes shooting around the open area.

Lorena recognized the young man as Draco Malfoy, Narcissa's sixteen year-old son. Lorena sat down at the table across from Narcissa, who closed her book and sat it down on the table. She had a tired look on her face, but Lorena couldn't tell much more because of the sunglasses. There was a weak smile.

"Hello, Narcissa," Lorena greeted, shaking Narcissa's hand over the table. Lorena took her hand back. Narcissa took the bandana off and set it onto the table next to her full cup of tea. Draco was giving her a skeptical look-over.

"Good morning, Lorena," Narcissa replied, even sounding drained. "I'm sorry to bother you today, but an extremely important matter came up, as I'm sure you know already. I couldn't wait to speak with you and I'm sure that you had wanted to do the same with me."

"Ah, yes, of course," Lorena sighed, nodding her head.

Narcissa turned to her son. "Draco, you remember my friend, Miss Lorena Fawcett, don't you?"

"Yes," Draco said, looking calm and proud. Yes, he was his father's son alright, but Lorena could see a lot of his mother in him, deep down. The way he looked at her with a respectful regard was something that Malfoy had never been able to do while Narcissa always did. He held out his hand and Lorena shook it. It was a firm handshake. "Good morning, Miss Fawcett."

"It's Lorena," she replied, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. She honestly hated such formal politeness when it came to herself. He took his hand back and nodded his head. "And good morning to you, too, Draco."

"Draco," Narcissa prompted, "why don't you run along for now? The Quidditch shop must be open by now or Flourish and Blotts. I hear they've gotten a new shipment of brand new books in from yesterday."

Draco looked delighted to be able to leave, but he managed to keep it in check. He stood up from his seat quickly and then slowed down. He nodded his head and thanked his mother while he shoved his chair back into its place. He bid them both goodbye and walked away, towards Flourish and Blotts. Narcissa watched as her only son disappeared into the crowd; there was a small, wistful smile on her face.

"He's sixteen now, right?" Lorena asked, engaging in comfortable small talk before they began business like she normally did with her clients. "I haven't seen him since he was ten."

Narcissa nodded her head. She didn't look back at Lorena as she said, "Yes, as of June 4th. He looks so much like his father." When Narcissa took her sunglasses off and sat them on the table, Lorena saw that there were tears forming in Narcissa's blue eyes. "It hurts me so much to see how much we've grown apart over the years. He used to spend a lot of time with me, but after he began Hogwarts, he started spending more time with his father. I'm not sure..."

"Narcissa, I don't think he'll turn out like his father," Lorena said, choosing her words carefully. "I'm sure he'll never have this happen to him when he gets older. He has a lot of you in him, too. I can see it easily."

"Yes, well, he may think he's a young man now, but he'll always be my little boy," Narcissa said, smiling as she looked back at Lorena. Her blue eyes were red-rimmed; she'd obviously been crying. "I just hope that he never has to have this happen to him. I used to be sure, but now... He's not the same boy he was when he was eleven. He's so much different now that it's hard to make him smile and laugh. He's turning into..."

"He is not turning into Mal-Lucius," Lorena declared, almost slipping. It wouldn't be polite to speak about Narcissa's husband the way Lorena was used to. Right now, he was not her cousin, but her friend's husband, which was a totally different matter.

"I'm just scared, Lorena," Narcissa said firmly. She composed herself again and put her sunglasses back onto her eyes, just in case, Lorena supposed. "Now, I guess we should talk about why we came here. You took Lucius's case, am I right?"

Lorena nodded her head.

"Of course, I knew it," Narcissa said, her expression still apathetic. "You want to put him away."

"True," Lorena agreed, if a little guiltily. She gave an apologetic smile. "I have for a long time. I'm sorry if that may seem a little-"

"No," Narcissa interrupted brusquely, "I want the same thing."

Lorena was taken aback seriously. She broke her professional, calm manner once again by gawking at the older woman, astounded. Narcissa had just said that she wanted to lock her husband up in Azkaban. The world was truly turning upside down! Now, where was Remus?

"Pardon me?" Lorena asked, wondering if maybe she'd heard it wrong. That had to be it. Narcissa had said something else, not that.

But nothing changed as Narcissa flatly said, "I want him in Azkaban for life."

"Bloody hell-sorry, but-what happened?" Lorena demanded. She had discarded her politeness and was now talking like herself again. Narcissa's expression was still emotionless. Obviously, she hadn't want Draco to hear this. Lorena was confused as much as she was flabbergasted. "Last time we spoke, were you not still in love with my dear cousin?"

"I still am, Lorena," Narcissa sighed tiredly, massaging her temples now, "but I cannot let him tear down the life of my son. Lucius's reputation is being dirtied as we speak because of his reckless behavior and it will ultimately be the crumbling of my son's good reputation if I don't do something about it first. He may not be the most liked boy at Hogwarts-I daresay, young Potter's sealed that spot-but he has a good name when it comes to the high society people among us. People are seeing my son as an accomplice-as a Death Eater, Lorena."

"They think Draco's a Death Eater?" Lorena immediately questioned.

Narcissa nodded her head and leaned in. "Draco wrote me a letter when that Quibbler article came out. He was in shambles about it all. He said that people were coming to think that he was a Death Eater in-training; he questioned his father's innocence. I, myself, had been doing the same thing. But my loyalties and his loyalties were to Lucius so we declared, he without any reasonable doubt, that he was innocent."

Lorena shook her head. Narcissa did something very unlike her; she snorted and then shook her head.

"Oh, how wrong we were, indeed. I'd had my moments of doubt before, but that was something that shook my peaceful world." Narcissa put a hand on her forehead, her elbow on the table. "I had never questioned him before about it. During the First War, before we got married, I demanded that he tell me if he was in league with You-Know-Who or not; I would not marry a Death Eater, seeing how it had destroyed my family completely. Bellatrix had gone mad with You-Know-Who; Andromeda no longer spoke to me; Sirius had also separated himself from the entire family, furious with us all; and poor Regulus had been killed by them when he tried to back out. Lucius had told me that he was not one of them. I believed him so I married him.

"When You-Know-Who's fall came, it felt as if the world was falling apart at the seams, as I'm sure you already know." Narcissa was referring to Lorena's loss of James, Lily, Peter, and Sirius. "When it came up that Lucius was a Death Eater, after all, I was furious with him. We got into a huge argument and I refused to sleep or even speak with him for two weeks. I would not, however, leave him because we had Draco by then; and I knew that he would need a father as he got older. Lucius had explained that he had been put under the Imperious Curse and could not tell me the truth then. I was skeptical, but I loved him so I believed him and forgave him.

"I had my little nagging voices and moments of doubt in the time before now. But my love for him always overpowered my doubt in the end. The summer before Draco's fourth year though-1994-something had stirred up all of the questions and suspicions. It was the night at the Quidditch Tournament; I'm sure you remember the little thing that caused quite the ruckus."

Lorena nodded her head. The Quidditch Tournament in 1994 had caused a lot of chaos in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Wizards in black robes, Muggles in the air, fire burning down tents, and one blasted, glowing Dark Mark hovering in the air had thrown the Ministry into a black hole for sure. It was still in that black hole, too. Narcissa continued.

"Lucius had been drinking with some associates; I had warned him not to drink too much before going off to bed, taking Draco with me. Lucius always acted a bit...peculiar when he drank, which I did not want Draco witnessing. Lucius had waved me off and continued talking with his friends. I went off to bed, feeling as if I should be dragging Lucius to bed, too. I had drifted off to sleep, but no sooner, had I woken up to screams and heat. Draco was shaking me, shouting at me to get up. He looked to be keeping his calm, but... I saw pure fear in his eyes for the first time in my life; and I felt afraid automatically.

"When I saw what was happening, I was in shock. Fire, people running out, screaming, spells and curses flying in the air everywhere, Muggles"-Narcissa had grown out of using the term 'Mudblood' long ago-"in the air-two of them were children, I recall-and wizards in black robes and white masks: Death Eaters."

Narcissa shuddered involuntarily.

"I was horrified. I did not want Draco to witness such a thing. He looked so calm about it, but I had been shaking in my shoes. I told him to hide in the woods where he could not get hurt; the Death Eaters were moving in the opposite direction. He didn't want to--said he didn't want to leave me--but I ordered him and he left for the woods. With my wand, fear and worry flooding me, I set off to find Lucius.

"A young man-another Weasley, I think, because of his red hair-saved me from a burning tent that almost crashed onto me. I never did thank get the chance to thank him, although that would have ruined my pride, thanking a Weasley. That's when I heard Lucius's voice. I turned around and was horrified to see that I was in the path of the oncoming Death Eaters. Putting two and two together-he hates Muggles and Muggle-borns and would therefore not help save them-I came to the awful conclusion that Lucius was one of the Death Eaters.

"When the Dark Mark appeared in the sky, I felt ice shooting through my veins. It had come from the woods, the same woods I had sent Draco to. The Death Eaters scattered and disappeared, Apparating. Everyone else had stopped and stared at the green Dark Mark in the sky. I had done nothing of the sort; I had taken off towards the woods, shoving anyone in my way out of my way. When I found Draco, he was still calm and I had hugged him so tightly. I had been scared; he had not. That was when I realized that he was a different person-that he was acting like his father. I had forgotten about Lucius completely until then."

Narcissa took a sip of her mildly warm tea. It had been cold, but the heat of the day had melted the ice and turned it warm. She sighed with dislike and pushed the cup away from her. Lorena saw that Narcissa was now looking a bit angry-at herself and Malfoy, possibly.

"We had walked back to our tent, which had not been touched in the slightest. I sent Draco into his room of the tent to pack his belongings-we were leaving on my orders-and I began packing up on my own items when Lucius came back inside. He was a mess, his black robe discarded, but he held the white mask in his hand, much to my anger. I had confronted him about it; he had said it was the Firewhiskey, but I was so furious at him for endangering lives-including his own son's and mine-for a little fun that I shouted at him and we got into the second largest argument in the history of wizards and witches-the first being the time when I first found out he'd been a Death Eater. I didn't sleep or speak with him for a week, but I loved him still so I believed him and forgave him."

Narcissa gave a bitter laugh. Lorena raised her eyebrows. The incarceration of Lucius had clearly unhinged Narcissa very much.

"Do you see the pattern? I was too nice when it came to Lucius. I loved him far too much for my own good. I allowed him to blind me; I allowed him to lead Draco on a path that I hated all because I loved him. I willed myself to believe him, to forget my doubts, and to forgive him. But this time, the suspicions and tensions were high and when You-Know-Who supposedly rose again, I nearly keeled over from my distrust of Lucius.

"When he kept denying that You-Know-Who had risen again, we got into another fight because I finally told him that I didn't believe him. Believe me, it was the worst month of my life. This time, he wouldn't speak to me and without Draco home to comfort me like he normally did, I was alone. We obviously reconciled, but something had changed in our relationship. I handed my loyalty over to him once again, but we weren't as close anymore. Something had changed and it wasn't until three weeks ago that I realized we had changed."

"And you're saddened by that?" Lorena asked.

But Narcissa shook her head, smiling painfully. "Oh, it was tough to realize, believe me. I didn't love him as much as I used to, but I still did; I was still very much devoted to him. But I could tell that it had lessened with me for him. Maybe I had been just a trophy wife, but I had come to believe that he had loved me all along. It had certainly seemed that way. I don't know much of anything nowadays.

"So when Lucius was arrested on the charges of being a Death Eater a week ago, I found that I was not really surprised by it. When an Auror told me that he had been arrested for assisting in an attack in the Department of Mysteries, I had laughed openly and said that it was probably not the only thing he'd done. I think I frightened the Auror a bit, actually. Draco was caught off guard by it; he's furious with that Potter boy for doing this to his father. I haven't the heart to tell Draco the truth..."

"What do you mean?" Lorena asked, a little bemused.

"Lorena," Narcissa said, taking her sunglasses off again to look Lorena directly in the eyes, "Draco believes that his father is innocent. I never told him otherwise. Draco thinks that Lucius was never a Death Eater; he thinks that his rival-not his enemy, really-set Lucius up somehow just to get back at Malfoys. Draco does not know the truth about his father."

"You're going to have to tell him," Lorena told Narcissa, who nodded her head rather reluctantly. "He should not be kept in the dark, especially since I, your friend, am the one trying him and especially if you are willing to testify against Lucius."

Narcissa sighed, fiddling with her sunglasses now. "I knew you'd want me to," she said quietly, "but I don't know if I can. I mean, how can I face my own husband in court, when I'm going against him and not with him? He'll be furious with me and if he gets out..."

Narcissa didn't need to finish her sentence. She shuddered at the mere thought. Lorena knew what Narcissa was thinking; she understood the older woman exactly. Lorena touched Narcissa's shoulder. Narcissa pulled her head up to look Lorena in the eyes.

"I know where you're at, trust me, I do," Lorena said.

"Of course," Narcissa sighed, looking down at her cup of tea, "Bellatrix's husband."

Lorena blanched and pulled her hand away slowly. She put her hands together and began fiddling with her thumbs. She looked at them intently. "You know about that?" she asked, sounding like a child. Narcissa nodded her head and brought her eyes up to look at Lorena. "How?"

"Bellatrix was infuriated at Rodolphus for...attacking you," Narcissa muttered, sounding very guilty, "without telling her that he was going to do it. She had wanted to be in on it. She wanted to have a little payback with you and because he did his own without her knowledge, she had been enraged and spent three nights at the Malfoy Manor, complaining about it whenever she got the chance."

There was a bout of silence and then, Narcissa softly said, "I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter," Lorena mumbled. "That was fifteen years ago. I'm over it."

Not, Lorena thought immediately.

"So will you testify against him?" Lorena asked again.

Narcissa thought about it for a few minutes. Lorena knew that Narcissa didn't really want to. Lucius was still her husband and the father of her only son--and she still loved him. But love could only go so far, as both had found out.

Narcissa nodded her head. "Yes, I will testify against Lucius," she said. "I must. I have always let him use my love for him and for Draco to make me do things that I would normally never do. But love can only go so far and it has finally reached its limit. I will tell Draco the truth tonight."

"Thank you," Lorena replied, truly gracious. She almost sighed with relief. "You don't know how much this will help my case."

And make my job easier, Lorena added mentally.

"It's the least I can do for you--and for Draco," Narcissa explained. She handed the waiter her halfway full cup of hot tea. She slipped her sunglasses back on. She picked up her book. "It's a Muggle book, nice and romantic with plenty of mystery, just the way I like it and just the way Lucius doesn't. He never knew that I had taken a liking to Muggle authors, of course, but there are some things that should be kept secret."

"And some things that shouldn't," Lorena added automatically.

Narcissa smiled and nodded her head. She glanced at the title of the book in her hand.

"Exactly," she responded. At that moment, Draco dawdled over to them, still looking bored. Narcissa smiled at him. Lorena saw a hint of a smile on Draco's face; he was trying to hold it in, but failing. He was carrying one book from Flourish and Blotts. Narcissa turned to Lorena and murmured, "He loves to read, but doesn't want anyone to know. He acquired that from me; Lucius always hated to read, in and out of Hogwarts."

"Yeah, he sure did," Lorena said with a snort. She remembered that every time they had gotten their school books, he would flip through the large Transfiguration book and complain that he hated reading. It had also always been their Transfiguration book; she supposed it was because Minerva McGonagall, Head of the House of Gryffindor, taught it. She had always read her Potions textbook in advance.

"Why you never became the new Potions professor is beyond me," Narcissa giggled. Lorena smiled, feeling just a little embarrassed by that fact. Draco gave her a sort of odd look, one mixed with a bit of confusion, curiosity, and admiration. Lorena didn't know why he would give her an admiring look. She wasn't someone to admire, honestly. Blush creeped up on Lorena.

"Are we leaving?" Draco asked. Narcissa nodded her head and stood up. She smiled at Lorena, who stood up. They both pushed their chairs in as a habit. They chortled at each other.

"We'll never outgrow it," Lorena laughed. "Well...it was nice seeing you again, Narcissa. I hope you have a lovely week."

"The same for you, of course, Lorena," Narcissa replied, shaking Lorena's hand once again. "And I hope the case goes well. Floo me if you ever want to talk. You know the place, obviously."

"I only lived there half my childhood," Lorena said with a snort. Draco gave her more of a confused look this time. He still didn't know that they were second cousins. Lucius had never told them and Narcissa had been told not to tell Draco. "Oh, and it was good to see you again, Draco."

"It was a pleasure meeting you again...Lorena," Draco replied, hesitating with calling her by her first name. It had gone against many rules he was brought up by. Lorena knew that he was taught to call his superiors by more proper names. She shook his hand.

"Well, I must be off," Lorena sighed, glancing at her watch. "The entire Court District is probably still a mess without me there to clean it up. They get so crazy when I'm not there to sort them out. Honestly, they're like little children."

Narcissa chuckled. "Alright then," she said. "I guess I'll see you next week, as usual."

"Floo or owl me with the day and I'll be there," Lorena replied. "See you later, Narcissa."

"Goodbye, Lorena," Narcissa said with a smile. Lorena turned around and walked away. She had to get back to work or someone was likely to go mad. She half wondered if Riley had found that note from her mother. In the back of her mind, Lorena head Narcissa say, "Draco, how about we get some ice cream at Flortescue's? I haven't had a sundae from there for years now."

Lorena smiled and turned around. She saw Narcissa and Draco heading towards Flortescue's Ice Cream Shop. Draco was enthusiastically showing his mother what book he got. Yes, he was his mother's son, alright. It showed very visibly.

Lorena Apparated to the Ministry of Magic, hoping that the Court District hadn't fallen apart.