don’t test the ones you love — andromeda & narcissa.
It was both getting easier and harder to get out, Narcissa learned. Nearly two months had passed since Lucius had passed, and she was growing more and more at ease to be among the people. The whispers were less, the looks thrown her way lingering less long and she felt more and more comfortable to mix with crowds.
She made herself go out to a cafe twice a week. Sometimes she’d grab lunch, other times breakfast and on days she wanted to be home as soon as possible, either because she’d brought Draco or because her legs felt too heavy with grief, she just got a coffee. That day was a coffee day, but not because her son was there --- after Dorcas Meadowes’ death she’d been more careful with taking him out, not wishing to risk anything. Besides, he really liked spending time with the Zabini boy and Narcissa wanted him to have friends, didn’t want him to grow up with just his mother and Death Eaters as company.
And so she was standing in line, going over her options; she didn’t much feel like eating anything. Grief came in ways and that day was a bad one, and Narcissa hardly had an appetite when her mind seemed to be spinning with a feeling of loss and restlessness. She knew, however, that she would have to get something in her system, but what she should pick she didn’t know ----- these things were worries that she liked to take her time with, because they were mundane and hardly important. She could, after all, in the end decide to not eat anything after all, if she couldn’t come to a conclusion.
With her eyes glued to the menu, Narcissa’s mind was fairly occupied, but this didn’t mean she wouldn’t let her eyes glide through the small cafe every now and then --- she was not feeling much like bumping into someone she knew, as small talk was tedious on good days but positively draining on bad ones.
And then her eyes fell on dark brown hair and she wished to disappear completely.
Andromeda was looking at her, too, and Narcissa nearly shook her head to let her know to not approach her, to make it clear that she didn’t want any kind of communication. It was bad enough that Andromeda had stood on her doorstep not too long ago, it was bad enough that she’d been inside her house only weeks ago, but she couldn’t have a conversation with her in public.
She was quite sure she’d break down again, and that she could not handle.
But still, she did not move. She stood there, frozen, staring at those familiar eyes and Narcissa did not understand why she didn’t look back at the menu, why she just looked at Andromeda with her lips pushed tightly together and her entire body tense.
@mrs-txnks
