Trouvaille [Draco Malfoy AU]

two

The queen almost tripped over her long navy blue dress as she hurried into the palace, pulling Clarisse by her hand behind her. The guards looked at the queen in confusion as they noticed the dark skinned peasant in rags and muddy boots holding onto the queen's hand. Narcissa's heels clicked at an uneven pattern as she ran across carpet and shiny linoleum as she made her way to the library where her husband often hid away this late at night.

Clarisse could feel her head spin after becoming sea sick from their journey from France to England. The bumpy coach rides and now all this rushing was not helping her sickness, on top of that, a simple peasant like her was being led by the Queen of England through Buckingham Palace. Clarisse closed her eyes tight as their pace began to slow down, breathing slowly to control her churning stomach.

Her heart almost stopped at the sight of the king sitting in a lounge chair with piles of open books around him as he read a particularly thick one. The king's eyes averted upwards towards his wife. He smiled softly, but it soon disappeared as he saw the dark peasant holding Narcissa's hand.

"Cissy I appreciate your kindness towards the poor but you do not have to bring them into our home," he said sternly.

"My love, I've found a bride," Narcissa whispered ever so softly. She grinned as Lucius put his book down and hurried over to Clarisse with wide eyes. He gently took the girl's face in his hands and moved it side to side, examining her doll-like features.

Lucius frowned for a moment, wondering how England would react upon his son marrying a darker girl, specifically a peasant, but his desperation was so strong that it was the least of his problems.

The king began to cry tears of joy. "By Jove Narcissa she is gorgeous," he sighed as he looked into Clarisse's dark brown eyes. "What is your name dear?"

Clarisse bowed, "Je m'excuse de votre majesté, je ne comprends pas l'anglais," she said. Lucius had frequently visited France while growing up due to the origin of his surname, so his French wasn't perfect, but he could understand that the girl said she couldn't understand.

"Votre nom, mon cher," Lucius replied, asking for her name again but in her native tongue.

"Clarisse Lacroix."

Lucius raised an eyebrow, hearing her surname before, "Lacroix?" He muttered to himself. Lucius turned away from the two girls and disappeared into an enclosed section of the royal library that only members of the family had access to. He returned with a heavy black hard covered book with the edges painted with gold swirling patterns and words that Clarisse could not read on the cover.

Lucius flicked through the pages frantically. Finding the page he wanted, he skimmed the pages, following the flow of the sentences with his index finger as he read. "The House of Lacroix,  a pure blood French family descended from French alchemist Nicholas Flamel," Lucius read. His eyes widened at the realisation that the peasant girl could possibly be a pure blood witch, although Lacroix was not an uncommon Muggle name. Lucius continued to read about the House of Lacroix, discovering that most of it's members were executed for witchcraft, and only few members remained.

Narcissa pointed at the wand sticking out of Clarisse's boot, "Clarisse, your wand."

Clarisse leaned over to take out her wand, giving it to the king as he held out his hand to take it. Lucius examined the wand, only able to determine the ebony wood but not the core. Lucius waved the wand at a nearby vase with roses, causing it to shatter. The three jumped as Lucius returned the wand to Clarisse, "a very loyal wand I see..." Upon the sound of glass shattering, one of the many house elves ran to clean up the mess without the king or queen requesting the help. 

"Have some of the servants wash her up before she meets Draco," Lucius demanded, "do not tell him until Clarisse  can at least speak one sentence in English." 

Narcissa nodded, "shall we cancel the dinner with the Parkinsons too then?" She asked.

"Yes we'll definitely do that. I don't want those filthy pugs in my palace ever again, I'll give Weasley the news tomorrow morning. Right now, I need to rest, because I am far too overwhelmed that we have finally found a bride for our son." Lucius sighed. 

Narcissa kissed her husband's cheek before leading Clarisse out of the library and towards the servant's quarters outside of the palace.

"I'll leave you with our best servant before we're ready to introduce you to our son," Narcissa said despite Clarisse understanding none of what she had just said to her. "Hermione Granger has never failed me, a perfectionist at everything she does which keeps this palace and the other servants in check." 

The queen opened the door and gently lead Clarisse in. In the dim candle lit room was a girl with bushy brown hair hunched over in her seat, sewing a long emerald green garment. She turned around, standing and bowing in presence of the queen.

"Your Majesty, I was just sewing your gown for the dinner with the Parkinsons-"

"We won't be dining with the Parkinsons anymore, Granger, but I'm sure I'll use it for another event." Narcissa smiled, "this is Clarisse Lacroix, she will be Draco's bride. I need her cleaned up and ready as quickly as you can. She speaks no English, and I know you are of French descent, so help her speak our language."

Hermione nodded frantically as Narcissa left the quarters and returned to the palace. Hermione scrunched up her nose at how dirty Clarisse was. She dragged her index finger along her forearm, gagging at the grime that had appeared on her finger from doing so.

"This will take a while..."

x

translations:

Je m'excuse de votre majesté, je ne comprends pas l'anglais = I apologize your majesty, I do not speak English

Votre nom, mon cher = your name, my dear