wellpresseddaisy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wellpresseddaisy) wrote2023-05-30 08:17 pm
wellpresseddaisy) wrote2023-05-30 08:17 pm
Entry tags:
A Word to the Wise
In which Narcissa Black, snob and Hogwarts’ reigning Chilliest Prig Competition winner, intervenes at a crucial moment.
Lily slammed the door of the girls’ restroom open, stepped through, and slammed it shut behind her. She stomped past the sinks and stalls, to the far wall, and kicked it.
“Wanker, wanker, wanker!” She kicked the wall each time she repeated the word, her sturdy school oxfords leaving a black mark on the cream plaster.
“That isn’t going to help the situation, you know. And you’re scuffing your shoes.” A cool voice had her starting and turning, wand in hand.
“Black.” She practically gritted out the name. Why a sixth year would be interested in a second year, she had no idea.
“Evans. It’s so nice we know one another, isn’t it?” Narcissa Black seemed amused by her anger.
“What do you want?” Lily snarled.
“Just a word to the wise, dear. You’ll never dislodge Lucius from Severus’s life. There’s just something about him…you can’t compete, unfortunately.” Black leaned against the wall near the door, looking as if she’d just stepped out of a school recruitment pamphlet.
Lily felt rumpled and young and horribly outclassed. She slid her wand away, though. Black didn’t have that sort of reputation.
“I’m not competing with poxy Lucius Malfoy.” She kicked the wall again. “He isn’t even here any longer!”
“No, but he writes frequently. You write to your sister, yes?”
Lily’s anger deflated at the thought of Petunia. “Yes. But she’s my sister. Malfoy isn’t -”
“Ah. Yes. You may wish to consider how two young men with no siblings might feel. Lucius does so enjoy being the elder brother.”
“Then how…?” she trailed off, feeling foolish.
“He and Severus adore one another, but Severus doesn’t agree with all his…views. Encourage your friend from that angle. Let him know that he can have you and Lucius, but he cannot have you and Lucius and Lucius’ beliefs about muggleborns.” Black examined her fingernails and frowned minutely. “It’s not as if he actually believes it. Not really. He’s trying to fit in.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Lily demanded, leaning against the wall, but sulkily.
“Because I happen to think you’re good for Severus. You’re bright and fun and his age. You’re interested in the magical world, not just as a place to be educated, but as a place to remain. You’ve studied the culture as much as you can on your own. You seek to understand, first and foremost. That’s more than most in your position ever do. Severus isn’t just of this world. He needs good in both. Good that won’t lead him down a path to destruction. Lucius is…dear to me, but he can’t see further than his own prejudices and beliefs in his own innate superiority.” Black spoke more passionately than Lily had ever heard her. She usually looked like the world’s chilliest prig.
“And you see beyond your own prejudices?” Lily challenged her.
“My dear child, I’m talking to you, aren’t I? If I believed as Lucius did, I’d ignore your existence completely. You have talent and drive. You’re also a good friend to someone I care about…or you try to be. He’s a bit feral, still.” She smiled, but not the sort of condescending smile that would have had Lily storming out.
“He’s not feral in the least bit.” Lily lifted her chin. “He’s just fine as he is. His mam taught him his manners.”
“And his father taught him to bite in self defense.” Black drawled, raising an eyebrow.
“Er,” Lily felt her cheeks heat. “I may have taught him that. His da taught him to punch, but he isn’t very good at it.”
Black snorted delicately. “Oh, two hellions, how lovely. Look, lay off him about Lucius and stop nagging about things being Dark. Trying to keep a Prince scion away from the darker side of magic is like trying to lock a ferret out of anything. It simply won’t work.”
“A Prince? Was that his mum’s name before she married? She’s a very quiet sort of person.”
“And the entire generation who knew her breathed a sigh of relief when she married a muggle. We all think she may have done it to remove the temptation. The stories my own mother has…Eileen Prince could have given any Dark Lord a run for their title in her younger years. There was apparently a red-eye incident in the SCR one night that terrified everyone.”
Lily’s eyebrows tried to meet her hairline. Nice Mrs. Snape with the quiet voice and quiet hands who put things right in a trice when she and Severus got a bit…excited? She’s almost become a Dark Lady?
“Um, how do I keep Severus from…that?” she asked, squeaking a little.
“Encourage his study, but only as an academic pursuit. Don’t let him know if you disapprove. And for Merlin’s sake if he seems to be getting into the actively dangerous, send for me. If I’m not here, get one of the Allerdyces for the immediate problem and owl me.”
“Not Lucius?” She couldn’t help it.
“No. He likes to pretend otherwise, but the Malfoy family as a whole is about as dark as midsummer in the far north. If it comes down to it, I can bring him to Arcturus Black. But not having to sneak and hide away should keep him from going down the wrong path.” Black nodded, mostly to herself.
“And you think…”
“I think if you make yourself a refuge, you won’t lose your friend. You have friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, yes?”
“Yes, a few. It’s hard when we’re kept apart so much, but we study together.”
“Include him. He’s a bit solitary and quiet naturally, but he’d like to know more people, I think. It would do him no end of good, in any case. He needs more than the Slytherins in your year. Foul, most of them. They snigger.”
“I’ll bring him with me next time we all meet. I think some of the Ravenclaws may want to talk Potions.” Lily managed a smile.
“Good girl. If you need help or just bucking up, owl me and we’ll meet. I appreciate that you would listen, Evans.”
“I…thank you for helping me keep my friend.”
“Just remember that he cares for you. And polish your shoes.”
With that, Black left as quietly as she’d entered. Lily made a face at the door but quickly brushed the each shoe against the opposite calf. She really had to look up a spell for that.
“Lucius is still a wanker,” she muttered before leaving the restroom.
Lily slammed the door of the girls’ restroom open, stepped through, and slammed it shut behind her. She stomped past the sinks and stalls, to the far wall, and kicked it.
“Wanker, wanker, wanker!” She kicked the wall each time she repeated the word, her sturdy school oxfords leaving a black mark on the cream plaster.
“That isn’t going to help the situation, you know. And you’re scuffing your shoes.” A cool voice had her starting and turning, wand in hand.
“Black.” She practically gritted out the name. Why a sixth year would be interested in a second year, she had no idea.
“Evans. It’s so nice we know one another, isn’t it?” Narcissa Black seemed amused by her anger.
“What do you want?” Lily snarled.
“Just a word to the wise, dear. You’ll never dislodge Lucius from Severus’s life. There’s just something about him…you can’t compete, unfortunately.” Black leaned against the wall near the door, looking as if she’d just stepped out of a school recruitment pamphlet.
Lily felt rumpled and young and horribly outclassed. She slid her wand away, though. Black didn’t have that sort of reputation.
“I’m not competing with poxy Lucius Malfoy.” She kicked the wall again. “He isn’t even here any longer!”
“No, but he writes frequently. You write to your sister, yes?”
Lily’s anger deflated at the thought of Petunia. “Yes. But she’s my sister. Malfoy isn’t -”
“Ah. Yes. You may wish to consider how two young men with no siblings might feel. Lucius does so enjoy being the elder brother.”
“Then how…?” she trailed off, feeling foolish.
“He and Severus adore one another, but Severus doesn’t agree with all his…views. Encourage your friend from that angle. Let him know that he can have you and Lucius, but he cannot have you and Lucius and Lucius’ beliefs about muggleborns.” Black examined her fingernails and frowned minutely. “It’s not as if he actually believes it. Not really. He’s trying to fit in.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Lily demanded, leaning against the wall, but sulkily.
“Because I happen to think you’re good for Severus. You’re bright and fun and his age. You’re interested in the magical world, not just as a place to be educated, but as a place to remain. You’ve studied the culture as much as you can on your own. You seek to understand, first and foremost. That’s more than most in your position ever do. Severus isn’t just of this world. He needs good in both. Good that won’t lead him down a path to destruction. Lucius is…dear to me, but he can’t see further than his own prejudices and beliefs in his own innate superiority.” Black spoke more passionately than Lily had ever heard her. She usually looked like the world’s chilliest prig.
“And you see beyond your own prejudices?” Lily challenged her.
“My dear child, I’m talking to you, aren’t I? If I believed as Lucius did, I’d ignore your existence completely. You have talent and drive. You’re also a good friend to someone I care about…or you try to be. He’s a bit feral, still.” She smiled, but not the sort of condescending smile that would have had Lily storming out.
“He’s not feral in the least bit.” Lily lifted her chin. “He’s just fine as he is. His mam taught him his manners.”
“And his father taught him to bite in self defense.” Black drawled, raising an eyebrow.
“Er,” Lily felt her cheeks heat. “I may have taught him that. His da taught him to punch, but he isn’t very good at it.”
Black snorted delicately. “Oh, two hellions, how lovely. Look, lay off him about Lucius and stop nagging about things being Dark. Trying to keep a Prince scion away from the darker side of magic is like trying to lock a ferret out of anything. It simply won’t work.”
“A Prince? Was that his mum’s name before she married? She’s a very quiet sort of person.”
“And the entire generation who knew her breathed a sigh of relief when she married a muggle. We all think she may have done it to remove the temptation. The stories my own mother has…Eileen Prince could have given any Dark Lord a run for their title in her younger years. There was apparently a red-eye incident in the SCR one night that terrified everyone.”
Lily’s eyebrows tried to meet her hairline. Nice Mrs. Snape with the quiet voice and quiet hands who put things right in a trice when she and Severus got a bit…excited? She’s almost become a Dark Lady?
“Um, how do I keep Severus from…that?” she asked, squeaking a little.
“Encourage his study, but only as an academic pursuit. Don’t let him know if you disapprove. And for Merlin’s sake if he seems to be getting into the actively dangerous, send for me. If I’m not here, get one of the Allerdyces for the immediate problem and owl me.”
“Not Lucius?” She couldn’t help it.
“No. He likes to pretend otherwise, but the Malfoy family as a whole is about as dark as midsummer in the far north. If it comes down to it, I can bring him to Arcturus Black. But not having to sneak and hide away should keep him from going down the wrong path.” Black nodded, mostly to herself.
“And you think…”
“I think if you make yourself a refuge, you won’t lose your friend. You have friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, yes?”
“Yes, a few. It’s hard when we’re kept apart so much, but we study together.”
“Include him. He’s a bit solitary and quiet naturally, but he’d like to know more people, I think. It would do him no end of good, in any case. He needs more than the Slytherins in your year. Foul, most of them. They snigger.”
“I’ll bring him with me next time we all meet. I think some of the Ravenclaws may want to talk Potions.” Lily managed a smile.
“Good girl. If you need help or just bucking up, owl me and we’ll meet. I appreciate that you would listen, Evans.”
“I…thank you for helping me keep my friend.”
“Just remember that he cares for you. And polish your shoes.”
With that, Black left as quietly as she’d entered. Lily made a face at the door but quickly brushed the each shoe against the opposite calf. She really had to look up a spell for that.
“Lucius is still a wanker,” she muttered before leaving the restroom.