DINNER WITH FAMILY

                                    

                                          
Narcissa Malfoy lived almost all her life as a shadow of someone else.
                          
From her outward appearance, it was next to impossible to guess the fact that her proud posture, disdainful expression and superior air were nothing but an attempt to appear someone who she was not.
                          
She was not a leader. She was never the one to take decision or take control of her own life. In her childhood days, she was the shadow of her sister Bellatrix. She tried hard to think and behave like her sister, to look down upon classmates from Muggle families, to taunt and jeer those inferior species, placing the highest esteem on the purity of her bloodline and many more.
                          
In her senior year, when she started to get attention from the then most eligible bachelor Lucious Malfoy, her idol shifted from her sister to her beau. And eventually, when they started dating and finally got married,  she was already fully under his influence to believe in the cause of the charismatic leader - the wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort.
                          
But, as time progessed, especially when all those shined, proved not to be gold, tiny seeds of doubt started to sprout thoughts which were absurd till that time, thoughts like - if she should be ashamed of the nausea she felt when her sister Bellatrix was in a mood for 'fun'; if she should overlook the fact that after the initial phase of their marriage, her dear husband started to loose his tempers on her a bit too frequently, sometimes which was more than just verbal abuse; if she should supress the doubt that her husband was having extra marital affairs with not only one, but several mistresses and casual acquaintances; and the most dangerous of all thoughts- if Lord Voldemort was worthy of the devotion he demanded.
                          
Despite these troubling thoughts, she kept on maintaining her role as the Mistress of the prestigious Malfoy household - planning and attending grand parties, soirees, tutoring young girls of Pureblood families about manners, crinkling her nose in disdain when in company of people from inferior birth and dutifully obeying her husband in better and worse. The last phase of Voldemrt's reign proved to be the most difficult time of her life - not only because the Evil himself took residence into her house with his nefarious followers, but also because her son refused to follow his father's footsteps. 
                          
At this point, Narcissa Malfoy faced a critical choice - her lifelong prejudices, her husband, immediate family, the cruel master versus her entity as a mother to her son, as a sane human being in an insane, dark era. In the end, the mother won.
                          
After that fifteen years had passed. Narcissa retired to a solitary life at an ancient castle at the sea side. All she needed was peace and solitude to be herself for the first time in her life, free of all influences and peer pressure.
                          
So many ups and downs came. But those only strengthened the bond between the mother and the son. 
                          
When Draco decided to marry a Muggleborn woman and incorporate many Muggle customs, decorations and instruments in the Malfoy household, the wizarding world was waiting with rapt attention for the reaction from the Pureblood matriarch of an ancient bloodline. But  to everyone's surprise, although not very enthusiastic, the mother chose to stand beside her son and the woman he intended to marry.
                          
It was not that Narcissa Malfoy suddenly became best friend with Hermione Granger, No, there were too many issues in both of them. But, with time, both of them learnt to be on civil terms with each other and work together for the welfare of the family. And with that, family dinners, either at the Malfoy Manor or at Narcissa's place, became common.
                          
*****
"Hey, it's alright. You have attended these family dinners more than hundred times before. Relax", Draco gently pressed Hermione's hand as they were about to step into the fireplace.
                          
"But that wasn't me. It was.... well, I lost all my memory of last fifteen years, remember?"
                          
"Oh, how can I forget! But my mother doesn't know that."