hagrid's hut [ 2.3.77 ]
< “what could you possibly have to g a i n?” >
An intriguing question indeed. One he did not blame her for asking. But he felt himself stalling in his answer because he wanted to have her wait.
After all, the most satisfying answers were ones that came after TIME had passed.
”I think the question is, what would I have to lose? These wolves have an idea of who we are. They wouldn’t hurt us like they would those of l e s s e r b l o o d. What is the worse they can do? I honestly doubt they’d eat me. That’s for fairy tales.”
He halted then. A little slip from his golden tongue. It was already known how he had FILTH running through his veins, but not many knew how recent a muggle had infiltrated his bloodline. Nobody had yet to know his great-grandmother would whisper sweet tales when he wasn’t old enough to know that the stories were TRAITOROUS.
He hated her for marrying a man from that world. He hated himself for being tainted.
Yet the man he revered had that same blood. There was hope for someone like him.
Bowing his head for a moment, he eyed the forest once more. Nothing called back to him. Begrudgingly, he staggered back and turned to face the flower of the sinister house.
With a smile on his face, he quipped ”I’m saddened by the fact you wouldn’t dare save me if something did go wrong. I’m terribly hurt by that, Narcissa.”
His long pause made her uneasy, and had she not already allowed her fright to seep through her surface she'd have attempted to hold back — but it was already too late for that. She shifted back and forth from one foot to the other, watching as his smile only grew.
It was all a game to him, wasn't it? On any other occasion she'd have played right along with him — on any occasion where her life wasn't hanging in the balance, of course. Here, now, the stakes were too high to care which of them won.
Perhaps his words rang true, on some level. Her blood was worth being p r e s e r v e d, and if the wolves' alliance was the same as hers, she'd be kept from harm.. wouldn't she? She wanted to believe him, especially with just how sweet his words sounded as they rung in her ears, but she knew better than to put blind faith in those a n i m a l s. Trust was a luxury she couldn't afford.
"But they're creatures, Xavier," she exhaled. "How are they to distinguish you or I from those beneath us? Who's to say they even care? For all I know you might even be right, but I certainly don't plan to wait around long enough to find out."
( If the wolves didn't bring an end to her, her own paranoia would. )
Narcissa sighed in relief as his feet brought him away from the forest's edge and towards her. If he'd finally given up on seeking danger, perhaps he'd be willing to see reason and escort her inside, watching their backs for clawed followers as they went.
She allowed a smile to break through her icy lips — the smallest hint of one. "Please," she scoffed, arms folded across her chest. "When has the great Mulciber ever played the damsel?"












