An Interference of Portraits

A Strange Negotiation

It was late when people returned to Grimmauld Place after the Gala Dinner and we all migrated into the kitchen. Hermione, Minerva, and Dromeda excused themselves from any more revelries and retired to their bedrooms and I put up a series of Muffliatos around their rooms to avoid the noise disturbing them or Teddy and Fleur, who were happily oblivious to the party happening four floors below them.

It was, with a certain amount of nerves, that I caught eyes with Lucius. However, as he made to stand, Narcissa laid a hand on his arm and leant close to say something quietly to him. He sat back in his chair with a slight huff and it was Narcissa who rose to meet me and we headed away from the party and up to the Study. I didn't fail to notice that Draco was watching us leave with an immense amount of suspicion combined with concern written on his face.

The Portraits watched us pass but no one said anything. Iola retreated into the corner of the Study and began to play with the globe as she watched Narcissa warily.

'Severus, would you mind leaving us?' Narcissa said to the professor who had been dozing in his chair but became immediately alert when we entered the room.

Severus raised an eyebrow, watching me sit at my desk and Willow, who had followed me up, scramble up into my lap. I petted her as she settled. Narcissa took a chair opposite me, smoothing her forest-green ballgown as she sat. Still, Severus didn't move from his portrait.

'It's okay, Severus,' I said. 'Narcissa wants a private word. It's fine.'

'I'd prefer to stay,' Severus said calmly.

'As you wish,' she said. 'But this conversation remains private, between myself and Harry, it's not gossip for amongst bored portraits. That goes for you too, Iola...' she said to the ghost.

Iola bared her teeth in response.

'Would you like a drink, Narcissa?' I offered.

'Please.'

'Firewhisky?' I asked on a whim. Narcissa clearly wasn't messing and I had a feeling this 'talk' called for the strong stuff.

She didn't even bat an eyelid. 'Thank you. That would be appreciated.'

As we waited for Nettie to return with two glasses and the bottle, I noticed, compared to her husband earlier, how composed Narcissa looked, though she occasionally glanced at Severus who was watching her closely. Her face gave nothing away.

Once Nettie had left us and I'd poured us two snifters over ice from the unlabelled bottle, I waited for Narcissa to talk as she studied the contents of her glass momentarily. She swirled the amber liquid and ice cubes gently, took a sip and looked at me. I wondered if I saw sadness in her grey eyes.

'I'm given to understand that my son is gay,' she said quietly.

I hoped I managed to cover my surprise. 'I think, really, this is a conversation you should be having with Draco, not me.'

'Yes,' she said, 'I will. But I wanted to understand your situation, given that you have just publicly announced your own... you called it "Queerness"...'

'A generic term. But yes, I'm gay, Narcissa, and I don't wish to hide who I am and if I'm going to face more prejudice in this world I shall fight it with equal fervour.'

'How noble,' she muttered.

'Are you homophobic?' I asked bluntly.

She looked at me for a while and then said, 'I love my son. I want what's best for him—'

'A so-called normative Pureblood life? Arranged heterosexual marriages, children, what have you...' I stated carefully, not allowing my temper to rise because I wasn't sure where Narcissa was taking this conversation.