Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

Inevitable - 131

After our appointment, Narcissa insisted that we stay in Paris for lunch. I chose to leave the studio wearing a tweed skirt suit in black and silver plaid. We sat outside, and the bright sun was hurting my eyes, so I paired the outfit with a matching wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.

My energy was properly depleted after faking a chipper attitude with Chloe and carefully keeping my left forearm from being exposed.

I chuckled sardonically. "I promised Draco I would enjoy myself," I said.

Narcissa slowly lowered her latté down onto its saucer. "You usually do enjoy yourself. If I'd realized it would be so taxing for you..."

Shaking my head, I gave a light smile. "Don't worry about it. I needed some new things at some point this Summer anyway. We just got it done early."

She nodded. I could see the guilt on her face. A moment of tension passed before she said, "My hair... it literally changed overnight." I furrowed my brow, confused and curious.

"I don't know much your father told you about the night Lucius went to Azkaban... William woke me up by knocking on the bedroom door in a frenzy. Lucius hadn't told either of us his plans, and we didn't know what happened until Bella returned from the ministry. At some point went back to bed to a fitful sleep. Then the next morning when I sat at my vanity..." She twisted her wrist around near her ear, referring to her hair in its current state.

"No spell I tried seemed to fix it. I even went to a useless healer. Only theorized I might have some recessive metamorphmagus gene that was triggered by some stressor." She scoffed. "Completely useless. I don't even know a single metamorphmagus in our family."

My heart tugged, and I instantly felt guilty about how distant I'd been. She was suffering, too. Despite how much I despised Lucius Malfoy, she loved her husband.

"At least it's a fashionable style," I said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

That apparently did the trick. Her red-painted lip turned up a bit. "Thank you, dear. You know, despite the circumstances, I'm at least happy you and Draco are finally together. Your mother and I always anticipated this time coming,"

The change of subject piqued my curiosity. I furrowed my brow. "Since when?"

She looked amused now. "Pretty much since you were born, and we all realized you were destined to be together."

"Wait... You believe we're soulmates?" I queried.

"Oh Darling, I know you both are." She said. "The Malfoy line has been waiting for you two for quite a few generations."

I swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling anxiety and pressure. Draco and I were just getting a chance to sort out our feelings for each other, but our ancestors had been expecting our relationship to be inevitable even before our conception.

"You don't have to let that information rush you into anything," Narcissa said, noticing my mild panic. "And if I raised a gentleman, Draco won't be rushing you into anything, either." She sighed. "We never wanted to force anything on you." A light wistful smile fell on her lips. "In fact, Persephone and I always found the idea of watching you fall for each other over time exciting." The smile dropped as she looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "Other things, unfortunately, got in the way."

I took a chance to be direct with her. "Are you speaking of Mother's death or the... interference keep us from each other all these years?" I wasn't going to be crass enough to accuse her imprisoned husband. Not to mention, she and my father had a hand in things as well, willing or not.

Narcissa knew what I meant, however, she didn't seem offended. "Both," she admitted. She then looked me straight in the eyes, which were flooded with sincerity when she said, "I don't expect you to forgive me for this soon, but I'm sorry for the part I played in that interference."

The air around us was getting tense again, so I decided to change the topic. "Draco said the vow would only try to break itself with a witch and wizard pairing. Do you know why that is? With the bond, I can't imagine romantic relationships have occurred exclusively between witch and wizard matches."

"And you would be correct." She nodded. "The only problem, especially back when the vow was more frequently done, is that pureblood children are needed. So marriages still took place regardless of preferences, and the vow continued to the next generation. The magic around the vow somehow adapted."

I felt awful for Defensors of the past, having recently felt the increased pressure to marry pure and produce offspring, regardless of any romantic affection for their spouse. I couldn't imagine how their children must have felt. I had zero doubt my mother and father loved each other, so I was fortunate not to be in that situation.

"And what's to stop an arrangement between a defensor coupling between a witch and wizard from simply being arranged to different people, effectively separating them and continuing the vow?"

She hesitated. "Your relationship with Draco is so new... I worry that information will put more pressure on you than there already is. I'm not sure you want to know."

"I'm sure I do." I insisted.

With a heavy sigh, she took a pensive pause before saying. "Whatever Draco read that used the term soulmates, it was not used lightly. This bond is one of the strongest magical bonds, and any attempt to go around it will fail. From what I understand it's always messy... Infidelity, illegitimate children, scandals and hurt feelings. Once the vow decides that it's run the course in that bloodline. It will not lose."

Narcissa would certainly have seen my eyes widen if I didn't have my sunglasses on, and I took yet another nervous swallow. I thought of how I felt while things were set with Dimitri and knew she was correct. Maybe her assumption that I didn't need to hear that information was right.

She looked down at her watch, "We should get going. We have one more errand to run."

Our check was paid, and then Narcissa led me away from the main business district of Place Cachée into a shadowed alleyway. I took off my hat and sunglasses so I could see.

Narcissa lifted the flap of her leather handbag, then reach her arms elbow deep. She had an extension charm on it. When her arm emerged once again, she pulled out one of my cloaks and handed it out to me. "Give me your hat and sunglasses and put this on. You'll need it where we're going."

I followed her request. Once everything was tucked away, she pulled the hood up on her cloak, and I followed suit. She then held onto my arm and apparated us away.