All About the Family (Bella; Lucius)

[Malena]

Narcissa felt strange as she walked around the empty rooms of her mansion. It was like a sign, a hunch that something bad would soon happen. She walked downstairs, into the living room and took a seat in one of the large, pale chairs in front of the fireplace. Narcissa just sat there, staring at the flames and listening to the beating of the old clock in the corner. For some reason the ticking made her feel even more nervous and distracted.

Someone knocked at the front door and Narcissa jumped on her feet and headed towards the sound. One of their house-elves ran past her to open the door, but she didn't pay much attention to it. Instead she stood in the hall, waiting to greet the visitor. She crossed her arms over her chest, hoping that it was her husband finally returning home.

[malfoy]

Lucius was on his way home after a tiring day. As he reached the front door of his house, he gave it a knock. The house elves should know well enough to get to the door on the first knock and it did. Lucius looked at the house elves and showed a disgusted expression on his face. He entered in slowly and took off his coat, tossing it to the house elf. Using his walking stick, he pushed the house elf away from him, "How many times do I have to repeat myself? Distance..." Lucius could have just blast the house elf away or punished the elf but he was pretty worn out for a fight or anything. He just needed his rest.

He walked towards the hall and noticed his wife standing there with her arms folded. He did not even bother taking off his glove and looked back at her with no expression at all, "Something the matter? If you're looking for an argument, I'm practically not in the mood." Lucius responded coldly before moving over to his arm chair and settled down. As he did, he slowly started removing his glove as he placed his walking stick beside his chair. The house elf soon appeared and placed a glass of red wine onto the small desk beside it and backed away slowly.

[Bellatrix Black]

After yet another long, tiring and boring day at the Ministry Bellatrix Lestrange did not feel like heading home and playing wife with her husband. She sighed to herself and leaned back in her chair, lifting her eyes heavenwards to stare at the enchanted ceiling. Bellatrix started tapping her sharp fingernails against the arms of her chair and after several minutes rose to her feet. She grabbed her travelling cloak and fastened it over the plain low cut corseted dress she was wearing. Bella absent-mindedly patted her pockets to make sure her wand was secure within one of them and than turned on the spot and disapparrated in a twirl of black smoke.

Seconds later, her slim elegant figure reappeared pert outside the Malfoy Manor. She knew Draco was at school and hoped that Lucius was not home yet. Bellatrix wished to spend some time with her baby sister, who she hadn't seen for weeks. Bella marched up to the door and knocked firmly. Her hand had barely moved away from the wooden surface when the door swung wide open. The house elf looked up at her curiously and then bowed low while muttering, "Madam Lestrange." The elf moved to the side, out of Bella's reach, to allow her easy access inside the house.

As Bellatrix stepped through the doorway the first thing she saw was a mane of palomino hair, which didn't belong to Cissy. Bella sighed to herself and rubbed her temples, clearly not pleased that Lucius was present. Bellatrix stopped several paces away from him and stood rigidly in the spot, her eyes solely fixed on Narcissa. Bellatrix greeted her sister with a smile before offering Lucius a forced nod of the head. "Good evening Narcissa... Lucius," she uttered formally.

[Malena]

Narcissa silently watched her husband enter the manor and remained motionless, as he pushed the house-elf with his stick and headed down the hall, towards her. Narcissa just sighed and frowned at her husband's words. "Everything is fine." she said with a weak voice and followed him through the hallway. "Can't I just wait for your arrival? I don't want to argue either." she added and sat in an armchair next to Lucius. She watched in silence, as another house-elf appeared with the drink. "How was your day?" Narcissa asked her husband, ignoring his unpleasant tone. A Black woman must always be a perfect wife and never disobey her husband, were her mother's words and Narcissa had always tried to live up to her family's expectations.

There was another knock on the door and Narcissa turned in her seat to see the visitor. She wasn't surprised to see her elder sister standing in the room, with her dark eyes focused on Narcissa. She also didn't miss seeing the way her sister conveniently moved away from Lucius and the look of displeasure on her face. Narcissa stood up to greet her sister. "Bella, what a nice surprise!" she said with a large smile and moved towards Bellatrix.

[malfoy]

Lucius sipped onto his drink while watching as his wife moved over to the arm chair that was beside his. He moistened his lips as he tasted the wine before holding the glass in between his fingers and responding back to his wife, "You should know that it's not necessary. I don't want you to suffer." As much as Lucius wanted to be cold and fearless, he still cares deeply for his family. He would place his family most of the time, unless he did not have a clear mind at the moment. "Anything but good." Lucius replied coldly. He heard that his son was causing trouble again at school but he chose to believe that was not the case and his son was well-behaved. Lucius could tell that who the guest might be for the night.

She seemed to be part of this manor all of the sudden and being in charge in a way or two. Lucius could feel that his power was being threatened by her presence but said nothing. He placed the glass onto the table before getting up from his seat. His wife sure is happy to see her, but he would not blame her or anything, they are sisters after all. "Evening, Bellatrix..." Lucius said with slight respect, he had to, in a way or another. However, that does not mean he wanted to stay on, "I'll be in my study room if you need me...That is if you need me." He ended his last sentence by looking at Bellatrix before grabbing his stick and flipped his cloak, making his way up towards his study room.

[Bellatrix Black]

Bellatrix was evidentially pleased with Narcissa's reception and looked at her with a warm expression. She walked towards her sister but stopped a couple of inches away from her. Bella leaned forwards and air kissed either side of Narcissa's cheeks while saying, "It has been too long Cissy dear." Her eyes shifted to Lucius as he started speaking, his words making her smile grow bigger. She would rather see her sister on her own, yet again she knew how much Narcissa cared for her good for nothing husband. Bella wiped the smile off her face and said icily, "Do not feel obliged to leave on my account Lucius."

She paused and cast Narcissa an apologetic look before adding, "This is not simply a social call. I am here on the account of the Dark Lord. He would have come himself but he is rather busy." Bellatrix puffed out her chest looking proud and pleased with herself. She placed a hand over Narcissa's shoulder and patted it gingerly before stepped around her and moving closer to Lucius. "I am waiting Lucius. Your report on your latest task, if you may." She folded her arms over her chest and looked down at him with an air of superiority.

Before he had the chance to reply she turned to her sister and said reassuringly, "We can exchange proper pleasantries and err gossip? as soon as we are done with this... I am sure you understand Cissy... He is the Dark Lord after all." Bella smiled at Narcissa before re focusing her attention on Lucius, giving him an expectant look.

[Malena]

Narcissa was almost surprised to see Bella so pleased, it had been awhile since she'd seen her like that. She returned her sister's air kisses and moved a step backwards, with a small glance towards her husband. She could feel that Lucius wasn't too happy with Bella being around and she knew that her husband even felt threatened by Bellatrix; her presence often made people feel like that. Narcissa watched her husband leaving for the study, wondering if Bella would let him get away so easily, she knew her sister too well.

Bella's following words almost made Narcissa laugh, even though there wasn't anything to laugh about. She knew her sister too well and knew that she rarely made social calls and almost her every action was related to the Dark Lord. But that was Bella that Narcissa loved and admired as they were growing up, her strong big sister, always the powerful one and always taking care of Narcissa.

Of course, Narcissa thought that Lucius was doing something for the Dark Lord too and that it was the reason why he hadn't been home earlier. She didn't like hearing about their business and sometimes even witnessing it, but she kept silent and never said anything to either one of them. Narcissa shivered at the thought of the Dark Lord personally coming to their mansion, she believed in pure-blood supremacy, but was also scared of him. "Of course, Bella." she answered to Bellatrix and looked at her husband, waiting for his response and explanations.

[malfoy]

Just as he was about to make another step up the steps, Bellatrix spoke. Lucius narrowed his eyes when she did and was a little annoyed by it. However, he did not want to place his wife in a difficult position, although at times, he could not help but wonder who might his wife place first. It was stupid, but no doubt, he had that selfish thought in mind. Lucius sneered when he noticed how proud she became upon mentioning or letting Lucius know that Dark Lord appointed her to take charge even for a while. He had his hand holding firmly on his walking stick before turning around to look at the both of them, mainly on Bellatrix. He responded coldly, "Is that true?..." Lucius paused for a while.

It was as though he had a lot of thinking through in the process while he dragged his sentence of questioning on Bellatrix. He lifted his head up high slowly and soon stated, "I've nothing to report and if I do, I would've reported to the Dark Lord, straight away. It's better to do it in person rather than third party." Lucius gave her a 'don't you think so' kind of look before flipping his cloak and made his way back up. He could not stand any more second being with or near her without actually wanted to flare or worst. It was hard to keep cool and calm all the time, not only that, being a role model for Draco. He had an image to uphold after all.