HER - Narcissa Black Malfoy (wlw)

Silent Discussion

Throughout that one year, everything was going seemingly well. Many nights were spent in the common room by the fireplace, and they were wonderful, a peace they had never felt. Cahya enjoyed those nights; herself, Lucius and Narcissa could sit together and converse happily. As well known and liked they were amongst the house, they kept to themselves, and it was apparent to others when to stay away.

It was a rare occasion to see the Malfoy's smile and share laughs. Lucius was, and always has been, rather cold, and Cahya always was similarly cold, yet mostly it was due to unhappiness. Those moments in front of the fire, on those very leather seats from the first interaction, everything bad seemed to be forgotten by all of them.

-

One of those last moments she recalls, was one of the moments Cahya came to acknowledge something. Not something wrong, but not something right. Moreso the feeling that something is different, unusual, but not quite understanding what that exactly was.

It was a quiet night. The three of them sat silently. Things felt somewhat colder. Lucius sat still next to Narcissa, statue-like with his eyes fixated upon nothing visible, staring into thin air. He was making a decision, Cahya could tell.

Her eyes turned to Narcissa, who seemed almost the happiest of the three, she seemed content watching the fireplace, as if she were the only one who could feel it's warmth. With a book in her hands Cahya kept glancing between the two, this wasn't an issue between them, Narcissa's happiness was evidence of that. Lucius. What is he thinking? She analysed him with careful eyes.

Narcissa stood to go to the bookcase across the room, investigating the spines of each book carefully with her fingertips as she searched for the perfect one. With her back to the siblings, Cahya took this as an opportunity.

"Lucius," she whispered, "Lucius," she tried again, louder this time. He was definitely ignoring her, she extended her arm and knocked on his arm with her book, as if awaiting an answer at a door. His eyes shot up to meet hers, he looked tired, sleep deprived. "What on Earth is the matter with you tonight?" She asked abruptly.

"What exactly are you referring to?" He quickly snapped back, still talking in a loud whisper.

"You. What's on your mind? You're thinking and clearly not about classes or exams," she enquired.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," he snapped, rolling his eyes slightly in denial, putting his defenses up as per usual.

"Then don't be so obvious. You act as though I haven't spent my entire life knowing you." She jolted forward, hair falling forward over her pale face. He remained silent. "What is it exactly that is so significant that you refuse to tell me?" They may be cold to one another at times, but they told eachother almost everything despite differences, it was simply a thing that they did.

He took a sharp, deep breath and straightened his back out as if she had not said a word. Narcissa soon came walking back with the book of her choice. The Malfoys settled their eyes on her, "What is happening here?" She had noticed the obvious tension between the siblings. Lucius was quick to deny in a poor manner, "nothing, dear-"

"What're you reading?" Cahya was quick to interrupt Lucius with a convincing smile, saving him from his own obvious lie. Narcissa's eyes narrowed with concern and frustration of not knowing, but answered anyway. "It's just a book for potions, nothing too exciting," she smiled, she clearly did find it exciting, but wasn't keep on expressing her own interests. Cahya flashed her a kind smile, whereas  Lucius looked at her and nodded his head and raised an eyebrow, poorly pretending to be interested. That's most likely why she didn't discuss her interests. She lowered herself to her seat and patted her robes, fixating her eyes on the book to almost avoid the obvious tension.

After silence lasted longer than necessary, she stood up, "I'm sorry, I'm quite tired, the book and the fire almost had me falling asleep," she tried to laugh awkwardly to try and diffuse the tension and mask her obvious excuse to leave.

"Don't worry about it at all, goodnight, Narcissa." Cahya smiled and let out a very small laugh in her sentance as a response to humour her, but at least the smile was genuine. Faking her beliefs all of her life trained her to be immaculate at false enthusiasm. Lucius on the other hand remained cold, she kissed him on the cheek and said goodnight and a small smile altered his face slightly, looking up he simply said, "goodnight."

She smiled and nodded to him and Cahya once more to then walk away, dropping her smile slightly too early to where Cahya could see. It didn't bother her so much that Lucius was being the way he was, but moreso the way it evidently bothered Narcissa, as well as- of course, him keeping something from her.

When it was clear she was far enough away to not see or hear them, Cahya advanced to Lucius' side. "Speak, tell me what is going on, now." He remained silent. She grabbed the book Narcissa had since put down and playfully hit him on the leg with it. "Listen to me right now Lucius. I am not prepared to waste my time, you know I don't do that." His eyes glanced up. "However," he prepared himself to sit through this, "I will not sit by and let you be like this without good explaination. If you were upset, maybe I'd leave you be, but this isn't upset. This isn't anger. So will you just tell me?" He finally tuned his head to face her.

"Then if it isn't something wrong, why be concerned?" He argued. This continued back and forth until the pair knew neither of them were giving up. Argument would have to carry on tomorrow, they were tired.

She couldn't shake the feeling. More than one thing did not feel normal, and it unsettled her.