Ice

Chapter 3: Anger is momentary madness, so control your passion before it controls you.

"Lucius Malfoy asked about you, Narcissa."

Narcissa looked up briefly as her sister, dressed in blood-red robes with a satisfied smirk on her face, sauntered into the dining room. Narcissa wondered briefly when Bellatrix had lost the ability to smile without that cynical twisting of her lips. Her heavy-lidded eyes glittered strangely in the muted morning light of the breakfast room.

Narcissa sipped her morning coffee and counted to ten before answering her sister. "You appear to be waiting for some kind of reaction from me, Bella. I'm not entirely sure what you want."

Bellatrix sighed and threw herself in a chair across from her sister. As usual, her movements were intensely dramatic, suited more for the stage than the breakfast room. "I swear, Narci, you are frightfully difficult to surprise."

Narcissa raised an eyebrow and smiled serenely at Bellatrix. "Why should I be surprised that Lucius Malfoy made an inquiry of me? I spoke with him just last night, Bella, at the McNair's party, and I know the two of you are friends."

Bella rolled her eyes. "You must know, Narci, the Malfoy heir is one of the most sought-after bachelor's in England," Bellatrix said in a voice very like their mother's. At that, Narcissa looked up with a frown.

"Oh, no. You did not tell Mother, did you? She shall swoon in delight and have me married off before luncheon."
"Of course not, Narci. I came directly to you this morning, and you may do with the information whatever you wish," Bella said sweetly. Narcissa continued to sip at her coffee, not believing a word of her sister's reassurance. If there was drama to be caused, Bellatrix would see to it.

I do hope Bella doesn't do something drastic in order to outdo Andromeda, Narcissa thought, and then she winced. That was too terrifying to contemplate.

"Well, then? What information do you have for me?" She made her voice even, as if the thought of Malfoy's asking about her was no more exciting than deciding what dress robes to wear.

"Malfoy asked about what you had been doing since you'd left school," Bella said, running her tongue over her top lip and narrowing her black eyes. Narcissa was well used to that look of her sister's, as it usually preceded some information that Bellatrix thought was likely to hurt the recipient. Narcissa was well aware Bellatrix had no intrinsic desire to cause her pain per se. Her sister merely enjoyed causing pain in general and was not all that worried about who she was inflicting it upon, sister or no.

"He also mentioned you looked nothing like me," Bellatrix purred, "and said that you appeared to act nothing like me as well. He asked me if I were sure we were indeed sisters."

Narcissa laughed; she could not help it. "Meaning he was astounded that someone related to you could be overset and not overturning the furniture?" Her voice was teasing but had a slight edge to it. Am I forever to be compared to my sisters and found lacking?

"I told Malfoy you resembled mother and that I looked more like father," Bella said, snatching a scone off the table. She was constantly moving, Bellatrix. Narcissa had the childish urge to snap at her sister to cease fidgeting and calm down. Her sister's constant motion was exhausting to watch.

"And did you tell him that Andromeda looked like us both?" Narcissa said, then sighed inwardly as Bellatrix leapt out of her seat, her eyes wild, and gestured threateningly at her sister.

"Don't you ever speak her name in front of me again, Narcissa! Why, if I had her here, I would tear those traitorous eyes right out of her skull and mount her head on a pike!" Bellatrix shrieked, her voice rising. "I swear I will see her and that Muggle husband of hers dead, do you hear me? Dead!" Bellatrix finished this statement by picking up a dish from the table and hurling it towards the floor in her rage. Narcissa winced as the delicate china shattered on the glossy hardwood.

Shattering like her sanity, Narcissa thought, ringing for a house-elf. There was nothing to do when Bellatrix was in one of her rages, and she was sorry she'd brought up Andromeda's name. As she watched Bellatrix shriek and continue to throw the priceless china on the floor, she kept a firm grasp on her coffee cup. Her sister's black hair fell around her face, livid with her fury, her eyes sparkling. Bellatrix was beautiful in a rage; there was no denying that.

"I apologize, Bella," Narcissa said smoothly after Bellatrix had vented her fury and collapsed, breathing heavily, into one of the chairs. "I should not have mentioned it."

She did not want to say that something about Malfoy disturbed her--for what else could have made her speak so thoughtlessly? She was aware of Bellatrix's towering, all-encompassing rage at their sister. Their former sister, Narcissa reminded herself firmly. If she felt a twinge of sadness at the loss, it would be deadly to show that to Bellatrix. Narcissa did not fancy being the next thing Bellatrix tried to break that morning.

"I know, Narci. I just cannot stomach what she did--to us, her family." Bellatrix shook her head, and Narcissa saw the tears in her sister's limpid black eyes. Ah, we move to the theatrical weeping. Perhaps she will run the gamut before noon so that I may accomplish something worthwhile this morning.

"I just...She betrayed us, Narcissa..." Bellatrix wailed, putting her head in her long-fingered, elegant hands. Her platinum wedding ring, edged in diamonds, glinted in the sunlight.

"I know, dear," Narcissa crooned, sneaking a look at the Daily Prophet that had lain unopened next to her plate. Bellatrix's tantrum had ruined her morning routine.

"It is just unthinkable, really. I mean, just think what the scandal could have done to us, Narcissa. Why, we're lucky that I was married to a pureblood and that you are too sensible to do anything to damage the family name..."

Narcissa made a non-committal noise, rolling her eyes at her sister's words. Sensible, am I? Again, she felt that darkness rise up in her, and the urge to do....something...overtake her. The thought of breaking something seemed appealing for a moment until she remembered how utterly ridiculous her sister looked flinging the family china at the floor. That would not do; Narcissa abhorred looking ridiculous. Not to mention, if she broke something she hoped it would be something of more importance than china, no matter how lovely or priceless it was.

"I have to tell you, Narcissa, none of this would have occurred if we had proper laws in place about the sanctity of blood..."

Gritting her teeth, Narcissa nodded absently, desperately wishing Bellatrix would stop the lecture and allow her to finish her coffee and the paper in peace. She briefly considered telling her, I am aware of your feelings on the matter, and why are you lecturing me about it? I am hardly going to marry a Muggle. I am not our sister.

As usual, her sister's moods could change like lightening, and Bellatrix smiled at her after completing her lecture on blood-purity and lineage, saying only, "Well, I think it is very interesting that Malfoy asked about you, Narci. Even though I hardly think he's your type," Bellatrix said, her voice sounding slightly snappish.

Narcissa looked up, interest and a bit of amusement flaring in her midnight-blue eyes. "You give me this twenty-five minute lecture on the important of pureblood purity and lineage and then bemoan a man from one of the most powerful and respected Houses in Britain asking about me?"

"He's just...not exactly your type, dearest, that is all I meant," Bellatrix said, stepping over the house-elf that was cleaning up the evidence of her earlier tantrum to hug her sister. "Men like Malfoy are best left avoided by girls like you. He's much too..." Bellatrix trailed off, her hand waving in a negligent gesture. Her eyes flickered to the clock; Narcissa knew her sister was rapidly losing interest in the conversation.

"Rich?" Narcissa asked, then bit her lip in consternation. Of course, Bellatrix would now fly off the handle about that comment, taking it as a slur against Rodolphus and the fact that the Lestrange family fortune was hardly equal to the Black's, much less the Malfoys'. What on earth is it about that man that makes me throw all caution to the wind and speak out of turn in this manner? I thought I'd schooled myself better than this!

Bellatrix must have been sated by her earlier tantrum because she smiled teasingly at Narcissa and said only, "No, silly. He's just too....dangerous." She kissed her sister on the cheek and trilled a goodbye, flouncing out of the breakfast room without a backward glance.

Narcissa sat at the table, her paper forgotten, and watched the sun glinting off the shattered fragments of the centuries-old china as the house-elf busied about cleaning the mess on the floor. Suddenly, she stood up, grasped her coffee cup and raised it slightly as if she were going to mimic her sister and throw the cup on the floor. The house-elf winced, as if it expected Narcissa to toss the cup at its head for being too slow. It obviously has me confused with Bellatrix.

She stood there with the cup in her hand, and the strangest thought occurred to her. This is not your way, Narcissa. Bellatrix throws tantrums and shatters priceless antiques with no thought to their value. Her mind is as fragile as the porcelain you hold in your hand, and it shall shatter just as easily. Narcissa sat the cup back on the table and raised her chin. She leveled a harsh look at the house-elf and said imperiously, "See that this is cleaned up, and find a replacement setting of the china."

Narcissa swept out of the room, and as she dressed for the day in perfectly lovely and sensible dress robes of blue, she imagined Bella's robes of blood red a tad enviously. There is no reason I could not wear that color, other than everyone would faint in shock at the proper Narcissa Black parading about in robes the color of blood. It is expected of Bellatrix. Her sister's words rang in her thoughts, disturbing her more than she would have liked to admit.

"He's too...dangerous."

No doubt Bellatrix had said this to warn the sensible, practical and even-tempered Narcissa away from the blonde wizard. After all, no one would have assumed that a man with a "dangerous reputation" would appeal to her, the biddable and quiescent Narcissa. However, she was finding that she was not exactly as horrified by the thought as no doubt everyone assumed she would be.

She was intrigued with Malfoy. She was fascinated by the idea of him being dangerous. And she was determined to find out why.