InsaneJournal

WHO: Narcissa Malfoy, Marcelia Selwyn, Ginnifer Rowle
WHAT: Dinner and Drinks
WHEN: Sunday, March 8 (backdated)
WHERE: Malfoy Manor
WARNINGS: None, really



To say that the weekend had been trying was a vast understatement. By the time Sunday evening arrived, Narcissa was downright giddy at the prospect of drinks with Marcelia and Ginnifer. She needed to relax, and to do that, she needed to get her feelings about Saturday off her chest.

She had, naturally, shared them with Lucius, but he had been through the exact same ordeal and felt precisely the same way about it, and talking about a shared experience wasn’t cathartic in the same way that sharing it with someone new was. Marcelia and Ginnifer had not been visited by the Ministry, but seemed eager in the journals to hear Narcissa’s tale. With Lucius planning to be out handling things that needed to be dealt with, it was the perfect evening to have them over.

It was a shame they had to modify their original plans, though.

Narcissa told the house elves to have dinner ready promptly at seven, and broke out a bottle of wine so it would be ready to drink as soon as her guests arrived. If she had a little more than was usual while waiting, well, one could hardly blame her.

When Ginnifer heard that the Malfoy’s had been raided, she felt outraged. The fact that a reason was not given was just the icing to the cake of Ginnifer’s feelings about the whole situation. She was glad nothing was found and knew that the family wasn’t one that would just leave things out for anyone to find.

She left her shoppe early but had clear instructions to her workers to close up after the last appointment was taken care off. She apparated just outside of her shop to just outside the Mafoy’s manor with a bundle of blood red roses. Walking up to the door she was admitted inside right away, her cloak taken, and was brought to where Narcissa was. “Narcissa, my friend. I brought you something to help brighten up the place after what had happened. When the roses wilt, new ones with a different color will regrow in its place. I charmed it myself.”

A little of the tension Narcissa had been carrying since their rude awakening yesterday morning eased at Ginnifer’s thoughtful gift. “Thank you, Ginnifer. They are lovely.” She summoned Dobby to take care of them so they could go on display in the parlor, where she would get the most enjoyment out of them. “Would you care for a glass of wine?

The Selwyns of course had excellent wards on their place, and they were very careful about what they left around or in the open. But still, upon hearing the Malfoys had been raided by aurors, they did a sweep of their own place to double check. They weren't in much danger of a raid, but Marcelia prefered caution in cases like these. Safe, not sorry, was the way to do it.

When she apparated to just outside Malfoy manor, Marcelia had been sure to bring wine with her. "Client of mine recommended the vintage. You know the type, finer taste than he realizes he has funds for. But nonetheless, lovely year," she explained once she'd been let in.

It never ceased to amaze Narcissa how people persisted in spending money they didn't have (as in her opinion, that was why they didn't have it), but she could appreciate excellence taste no matter where it came from. And the bottle Marcelia handed her was excellent. "Thank you. It will go wonderfully with dinner." And if it didn't, the house elves could punish themselves for not anticipating one of Narcissa's guests would bring wine... after they made something the wine would go wonderfully with. She called for Dobby, had him take it down to the kitchen, and offered Marcelia a glass of the wine she and Ginnifer were drinking.

"I am sorry to change plans on you at the last moment." She'd been quite looking forward to destroying that upstart mudblood Marcelia had mentioned, but the timing simply wasn't right. The aurors and hits squad had found nothing, of course, but the visit had still been unpleasant and the memory was enough to make Narcissa take a long drink of her wine.

Ginnifer smiled at Marcelia, another dear friend from her days at Hogwarts. It had been a long time since she was able to spend time with her friends - especially since she was married and sent off to foreign Countries. Now that she was a recent widow, she was free to do what she wanted once more.

Taking the glass of wine. “It is alright Narcissa. There will be other days, once the attention has died down of course.” She took a sip of her wine, “Do you want to talk about it?”

"Exactly, adaptability is why we've remained successful while so many others have fallen behind," Marcelia said, waving off the apology but taking the glass of wine and smiling back at Ginnifer. They were all such busy people that sometimes it was hard to get time together like this.

"Our upstart mudblood won't get any less insufferable I assure you, there will be other chances."

"I simply cannot imagine a mudblood becoming anything other than more insufferable." Narcissa smiled. True friends like Marcelia and Ginnifer were hard to come by, and she appreciated the support they were offering.

"The worst thing about it was how uncivilized they insisted on being. The Auror arrived at five in the morning! I thought poor Dobby was going to expire of fight from the mere idea of waking us that early." Not that she cared that the wretched creature was frightened--he'd done something to deserve it, she was sure--but she and Lucius were the ones who were supposed to torment their house elves, no one else. "We knew a visit was a possibility. Antonin has been staying here for several weeks now and Draco...." She trailed off with a sigh. Her friends were aware of Draco's antics on the journals. There was no need to rehash that embarrassment too.

Ginnifer took a quick glance over at Marcelia as Narcissa started her tale about the Aurors arriving very early in the morning. They were probably hoping to catch the Malfoy’s unaware and was glad that nothing was found. More shame on the Ministry for interrupting families homes. “Antonin? I wasn’t aware he was staying with you.” She moved over to Narcissa’s side and put a hand on her shoulder, “The good news is that they found nothing. That should add some embarrassment on their end.” Ginnifer would cause hell if it happened to her.

At five in the morning? It was both to catch them unaware and make a statement at the same time. But what prompted this suddenly was the question, reports were coming in that others had been raided too, so it was more than just Antonin staying with them that was behind this. "Yes, there's a plan to get him out of the clutches of that awful woman, Malkin. Narcissa and Lucius are being very kind in helping that one along," Marcelia explained to Ginnifer. Hallam was working on getting Antonin to work for Twilfitt and Tattings, so of course she knew of all this. She and her husband shared everything.

"Still, even with a visit as a possibility, knocking down doors at that hour is truly unacceptable. I don't know what their management is up to, but it really can't happen."

“It can and it did, but it’s done with.” Narcissa took another long drink of wine, draining the glass, and poured another. “They found nothing and got nothing out of either Lucius or me.” Or Antonin, which had been a bigger worry. The Malfoys didn’t keep anything in the manor to find, but they hadn’t discussed that with Antonin and it had been a fleeting worry. “We managed to keep them from destroying anything. One advantage of wards and traps that have to be taken down by myself of Lucius.”

“Interesting.” Ginnifer said into her drink before taking another sip. She hadn’t seen the need to go into the other clothing shop but wondered if there was something more going on with Malkin than there was letting on. Another thought came to her mind and wondered if she could get her dad or brother to get information for her, on why there were raids. Surely they would had heard something.

Looking around the room and seeing everything in order. “On the bright side they shouldn’t bother you again. Not if they don’t want it to look like they are targeting certain families.”

"Nothing on Antonin either I assume?" Which hadn't been explicitly said, but it was implied enough. If they'd found something on Antonin, the Malfoys would be in hot water too. "But Ginnifer is right, they found nothing and they'd just look more the fools if they did something like this to you again. All they can do now is try to keep tabs on you, but I know you can more than handle that," Marcelia said with a smile to Narcissa and a slight raise of her glass.

“Naturally not,” Narcissa agreed. “Antonin is reformed and Lucius and I are upstanding pillars of the community. We don’t dabble in things like dark magic or illegal activities.” She smiled at her friends, knowing they would take the correct meaning of that sentence. She and Lucius most certainly did not dabble in anything. “I do not wish to presume we are safe from future visits, however. It does not pay to be sloppy and I am unconvinced that the DMLE will be concerned about looking like fools.”

She took another sip of her wine and let the tension she’d been carrying since Dobby woke her far too early Saturday morning finally melt away. “It could have been worse. Lucius, Antonin and I cooperated and simply accompanied the auror back to the DMLE. Some people arrived with their hands bound.”

A tiny smirk crossed her lips, “Of course not.” When dabbling was mentioned. Dabbling was for those who were uncertain and didn’t want to plunge deeply into the unknown. Ginnifer wasn’t afraid to do into the unknown, Salazar knows her skeleton’s in her closet. “Some people have something to hide.” She lifted her glass. “Then a toast to them not finding nothing and to our future endeavors.”

Marcelia raised her glass for the toast with a smile. "And may those endeavors always be successful."

“Indeed.” Narcissa raised her glass as well, and they all clinked them together. After the requisite sip, Narcissa settled back in her chair. “Now, let us speak of happier things. The shop is doing well I take it, Ginnifer?” That was a topic that should occupy them until the house elf announced dinner.