The Hidden One

mirror conversations

Rose had never felt so bad in her life. It had been 2 weeks since the events in the study and Lucius had made it clear to her that she was going to face the consequences. He had stopped allowing her to eat dinner with the family and instead would send up a house elf with the scraps. Lucius would come to her room periodically and judge it. If he thought it was unsatisfactory he would torture her. He never found her room satisfactory.

Rose didn't even have her wand and she had read almost every book in her library. She was going crazy. She spent the majority of the time in the window seat looking out at the gardens. She would sometimes reread a book or look at old pictures that Remus had packed for her. Her favorite thing to do was to imagine what it would be like to reunite with her friends and family. She could spend hours imagining that.

Rose was currently imagining what it would be like to reunite with Harry when a knock on the door distracted her. Rose immediately stood up.

"Come in," Rose called out hesitantly. The door opened and Narcissa walked in, sending Rose a small smile.

"I'm here to bring you your laundry," Narcissa told the small girl. Rose nodded, but she was confused. The house elves typically did that.

"Here, let me help," Rose quickly offered, not wanting Lucius to see his wife doing work for her.

"It's no problem," Narcissa assured Rose. "Go sit on your window seat, I'll be ok."

Rose hesitantly sat down, but her eyes would go between the closet and the door to her room.

"There, I've hung all your clothes," Narcissa said 5 minutes later.

"Oh...thank you, Mrs. Malfoy," Rose said softly. Narcissa smiled and sat down at Rose's feet. The teen quickly jerked so that she was sitting properly.

"You can call me Cissy," Narcissa said.

"...Why?" Rose asked.

"I...I've always wanted a daughter. And I know that after everything my husband has done that the last thing you would want is to be in this house or be around me, but...I don't want you to hate me," Narcissa explained, looking almost ashamed.

"Your husband made me watch as a man died and then made me clean up the blood. And he's tortured me multiple times," Rose reminded the woman. Her hand unintentionally went up to the scar on her forehead from where Lucius had cut her in his study.

"I know what he's done. But I assure you that I told him not to. He woke you up so early that day because I forbade him from doing that to you. I'm the reason you cannot eat dinner with us because I know that Lucius might do something like...that to you again," Narcissa replied. Rose could hear that she was sincere. Rose stared into her eyes and let out a gasp, scrambling to get away from the woman so fast that she ended up on the floor. Rose quickly stood up.

"You're a Death Eater! You were there that night!" Rose cried. Narcissa quickly stood up too.

"I will not deny that. But I will tell you that I never wanted to be and I do not have the mark. I was punished for letting you go, even though the Dark Lord does not know how easily you got away," Narcissa said.

"Why did you let me go?"

"I-I...I don't know. But I know that I won't let anyone as young as you get trapped in the Dark Lord's schemes," Narcissa said.

"What does he want with me?" Rose asked.

"He knows the prophecy. He wants to use you to make sure that he never loses his followers...that's all that I've heard," Narcissa replied.

"Where is he?" Rose asked. She knew that she could tell Dumbledore all this information the next time she saw him. Narcissa seemed to also realize that she was saying too much.