....IN THEORY, the Malfoy's New Years Ball could have been a decent evening out. But the problem with theories is that they are all just ideas waiting for proof. The stuffy attitudes, the ridiculous dresses and the inedible food were all theories that were detestable to Jackie.
After lunch, Figgy had apparated into her room without warning to ready her for the upcoming event, much to Jackie's dismay.
"Merlin Figgy, it's one in the afternoon! If you think it's going to take six hours to make me presentable, I'd rather you just insult me outright." Jackie grumbled as the elf pulled her from the armchair she was reading in and pushed her towards the wide splaying mirrors of her dressing table.
Jackie earned a firm smack to the shoulder for her objections. "Mistress knows Figgy is thinking her to be very beautiful." She corrected. "But Figgy is also good with a Petrifying Charm if Mistress is not sitting still." The elf told her, an evil glint in her eye.
Jackie eyed Figgy with alarm. She really was scary for such a little thing. "I'm going to have to tell Charlotte to stop giving you sugar before noon." She grumbled, sitting down begrudgingly and allowing the elf to get to work.
"Figgy is her own elf." She shrugged, taking hold of Jackie's head and twisting in different directions as she appraised the girl in the mirror.
When she was done, Jackie rubbed her now aching neck and glared at the elf in the mirror. Figgy looked back at her with a mock innocent smile as she tried to hide her amusement.
After several hours of prodding and potions, Jackie was finally done. She had to admit that Figgy had done a better job than she ever could have. The elf had used half a vial of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to tame her wild mane into perfect dainty curls that reached down her back. Her makeup was light but highlighted all the right points of her face. Figgy had somehow managed to give her the illusion of high sharp cheekbones, glowing skin and long fluttering lashes. She hadn't even realized she had the potential to look like she did.
"Figgy, you out-do yourself everytime." Jackie told her in wonder as the two looked at their reflection in the mirror.
Figgy patted the girl on the shoulder encouragingly. "Figgy is not a good painter. She is just having a good canvas." She praised happily.
Jackie turned to search in her wardrobe for one of her more formal dresses to put on for the event. Figgy looked appalled at the sight of her scrounging around in piles of dresses that she had already been seen in.
"What is Mistress doing?" The elf asked in horror.
"Looking for something to wear to this stupid party." Jackie mumbled, from the cupboard that she was raking through aimlessly.
"Mistress cannot be possibly thinking of wearing an old dress to the Malfoy's." Figgy called out, taking Jackie's hand and pulling her away from the rack of clothing.
"There's nothing wrong with them." Jackie interjected. "They still fit."
"Oh no no, that won't do. All Figgy's hard work for nothing." The elf snapped her fingers and a long garment bag appeared in her hands through the power of elf magic. "Figgy is thinking ahead. She is giving your measurements to Madam Malkins so Mistress will have a beautiful dress to wear."
Jackie fought the urge to roll her eyes. The little thing was always planning ahead. "You didn't have to do that, really."
Figgy raised at eyebrow at her and then gestured to her other older dresses. "Obviously Figgy did." She shoved the bag into Jackie's arms and gave her a stern look before she apparated out. "Try it on." She managed to squeak out as she left.
Jackie tutted and turned to lay the bag down on the bed. She pulled the zipper down and revealed the dress with a gasp. It was ankle-length long and a silky satin fabric that she already knew would cling to her skin like a glove. But it was the colour that caught her off guard. A light, steely silver. Exactly the same shade as a certain someone's eyes.
That sly little elf.
When she slipped in on, it fitted her perfectly and slinked down to her ankles. It laced up at the back with a series of intricate threads and complimented her chocolate brown hair surprisingly well. She looked at her whole reflection in the mirror and almost rolled her eyes in annoyance. She looked the picture of a well-dressed pureblood lady and it was a sight even Walburga Black would look happily upon. She'd fit right in.
Regulus had sent her an owl earlier in the week to tell her that he'd floo in at eight o' clock and pick her up so they could arrive together. She hoped they could both get away before her Father could request a word with him. So she grabbed her bag and shoes and marched downstairs to wait in the living room for his arrival.
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Regulus was running late. His mother had spent so much time fussing over the color of his tie and who he should be introducing himself to that it was five minutes past eight when he finally stumbled through Jackie's floo. He hurriedly brushed the ash off of his suit jacket as he stepped out of the fireplace.
"Sorry I'm late I-" He had gotten to the explanation part of his apology when he finally glanced up at her. And he swore his heart stuttered in his chest.
She looked like an angel. There was no other way to describe it. Her hair looked like silk and her skin shone like it was visibly glowing. And the dress. Merlin, that dress could have brought him to his knees. It clung to her in all the right places and made his look of awe deepen. And that color. Was it? She couldn't have matched the color of her dress exactly to the shade of his own eyes, could she have? No, that would be impossible. But it still made his heart swell possessively and sing out a phrase. Mine.
Jackie didn't even seem to notice his adoring gaze as she jumped up from the armchair she was lounging in and rushed him back into the fireplace rapidly, murmuring snippets of "get in!" and "hurry up." He tried to stop her and figure out the reason for her rush when a sound from the doorway to the room interrupted him.
"Jackie, aren't you going to introduce us to your guest?" Regulus heard a deep voice from the door say. Jackie groaned next to him and turned to face her father. He couldn't be that bad, could he?
Jackie began her introductions without her usual enthusiastic fervor. "Father, this is Regulus Black, as you know." She told the man begrudgingly. "Regulus Black, this is my Father." She turned back to him and said.
Regulus had to suppress a smirk at her obvious annoyance. He walked forward to greet her father and offered his hand to shake. "Nice to meet you sir." He said politely.
Alistair Harmon raised a condescending eyebrow at the boy but shook his hand all the same. "So this is the boy Walburga has been raving about? He's fairly skinny isn't he?" He asked Jackie. Regulus could practically feel the embarrassment radiating from her. "Well I suppose you'll do. Nothing a bit of meat on the bones couldn't fix." Her father told him, in what was seemingly supposed to be considered praise.
"Father, We really mustn't be late. The Malfoy's are sticklers for punctuality." Jackie interrupted, her voice taking on an odd meek quality that Regulus had never heard from her before.
"I suppose so. I'll be through in a while." He told her, dismissing her with a glance.
"And you boy." He addressed Regulus with a hint of disdain. "I have a lot of money riding on this betrothal. Bring her back in one piece." He told him. Regulus frowned at the way he referred to his daughter with such little respect. Like she was a commodity and not his only child.
Before he could say anything in response, Jackie had linked her arm in his and pulled him over to the fireplace to floo directly into Malfoy Manor.
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The Manor was absolutely beautiful, Jackie would admit that much. The ballroom that the event was held in was something otherworldly. The walls were set with stunning arches and pillars and pieces of gold filigree. The chandeliers hung glittering and majestic from the high ceilings. The walls were all wonderfully hand-painted with depictions of wizarding history and mythology. Jackie had grown up surrounded by opulence but this was like stepping into a world of royalty.
She held a glass flute of something bubbly and pink in her hand and surveyed the room. She still held on tightly to the crook of Regulus' arm as she looked at crowds of women in all shades of colorful ballgowns and throes of men in black tuxedos.
When she finally looked up to properly take in Regulus for the first time in all his splendor, she noticed that something was amiss. His eyes were sunken into his face and he had dark rings around those striking grey irises. His cheekbones stood more gaunt on his face and his skin looked slightly sallow and sickly. He would wince when she would brush against his inner forearm but he tried valiantly to hide it. He looked like how Malfoy and Nott had looked during her father's gathering at the house. Jackie opened her mouth to question him about it when they were suddenly approached by a large bearded man who wished to enquire about the Black family business.
She turned and took a sip from her drink and glanced up at Regulus as he made conversation with the man. The boy really was an enigma. He usually hated to talk and preferred to just listen. And that suited Jackie just perfectly because she loved to chatter endlessly. But here he made conversation comfortably with a person he barely knew. As he talked about mark-up values and profit ratios, he sounded incredibly intelligent. She looked up at him in admiration, just enjoying hearing his deep voice. She was broken from her stare by the sound of the man's voice addressing her.
"This one seems smitten with you." The man commented, nodding at Jackie with a knowing smile. Jackie flushed slightly when she found out that she had been caught staring at Regulus. "How long have you two been together?" The man asked.
Regulus looked down at her with a sly smile as she stammered and tripped over her words. "Oh! We're not- Nothing like that." Jackie mumbled, glaring at Regulus when she caught sight of his little smirk.
"She's a stubborn one." Regulus told the man conspiratorially, as if she was just secretly holding out on him. Jackie glowered at him for entertaining such fantasies. When he noticed her angry little face, his smirk only deepened.
"I can see that." The man replied, clinking his glass against Regulus' as he turned to leave.
When the man was out of earshot, Jackie elbowed Regulus in the ribs, hard. "Stop letting random old men think that i'm secretly enamored with you." She scolded him crossly.
He gave a genuine, amused smile at that. "So coy Jackie. I think the bruise that you just left on my side is a dead giveaway of your hidden devotion to me." He teased, rubbed his ribcage gingerly.
Jackie furrowed her eyebrow to fight the hint of a smile trying to crawl it's way onto her face. "You deserved it. Prat." She told him stubbornly, raising an eyebrow in his direction.
Merlin, he looked so stupid when he gave her those special smiles that he reserved just for her. And the way his eyes twinkled when he looked down at her was just downright idiotic. And he looked like a fool when he angled his face slightly to the side and the light fell upon his perfectly kissable jaw- Wait. What?
Jackie shook her head to clear those thoughts from her mind, earning another one of those heart-stopping grins of his. Maybe she'd end up punching his stupidly handsome face before the end of the night.
The thought of his appearance brought her question about his wellbeing to the surface again and his odd absence from her father's post-Christmas gathering. She once again turned to him to ask him about it when they were interrupted by some old bat in a frilly dress just the same as the time before.
And that happened again and again. Everytime she would try to ask him what exactly was up with him she would be cut across by a prissy pureblood inquiring about his parents or the state of the Black family affairs.
Finally after Regulus had finished talking to Fulcran Lestrange about something Jackie had zoned out from, he had rested a hand on the small of her back and turned her away from the crowd with the slight press of his palm.
"Come on, I have something for you." He whispered to her as he led her away from the ballroom and out the double doors. Jackie let out a giggle as he pulled her down long winding corridors and away from the noise of the party.
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Jackie looked around in awe at where he had led her. It was a domed glass greenhouse. The prominent smell of roses filled her nose and everywhere she looked there were roses of white, red and pink. They grew along the floor in overflowing pots and up along the panes of glass in tangled vines.
"If Malfoy lives in a house like this, you'd wonder why he's such an arsehole all the time." She mumbled, earning a laugh from Regulus at her vulgar language.
Regulus tucked his hands behind his back and watched her as she tiptoed along a carpet of fallen petals. She looked up at him and gave him a thankful grin for showing her such a place.
"You said you had something for me?" She asked curiously, sitting herself down on a stone bench and gesturing for him to join her.
He sauntered over in his usual casual way and sat down next to her on the narrow bench. Jackie was hyper-aware of his leg pressed against hers as he settled beside her.
He retrieved a medium-sized red velvet box from his suit pocket and presented it to her.
"Happy belated Christmas." He told her.
She took it in her hands and ran her fingers over the soft material of the box. She slid the lid off with a slender hand and revealed what was nestled inside. It was a necklace, and a beautiful one at that. It was a small, dainty little thing. A sparkling, iridescent opal set on fine silver chain. It was so very categorically her.
"Before you panic on me, I've had a Curse-Breaker take all the Binding enchantments off it. It's just a necklace. It doesn't have to be anything deeper than that." He told her calmly.
The gifting of jewelry was a sort of pureblood betrothal ritual. It showed your intentions and that the person wearing the jewelry was very soon to be spoken for. Usually it was family heirloom laden with Binding enchantments that made it impossible for the wearer to engage in commitments to anyone other than the person who had gifted it. It was certainly nowhere near as serious as a engagement ring but it still held a purpose. It showed that you were soon to be betrothed and would no longer be available.
Regulus didn't give it to her as an expectation for her to commit, she knew that. It was simply the proper thing to do during an impending betrothal. In fact his mother had probably encouraged him to do so. Jackie had always thought it an archaic practice. So that's why it was even more surprising when she passed the necklace to him for him to fasten it around her neck.
Regulus took the chain in his one hand and moved her hair out of the way with the other. He fastened it around her neck, his fingers brushing against her bare skin as he moved away. It made her breath catch in her throat.
"Thank you Regulus. It's perfect, really." She praised, her voice still slightly breathy from the effects of his fingertips on her neck.
Desperate to get away from the topic of jewelry
and the possessive look in his eyes as looked as the jewel settled on the base of her throat, she changed the subject.
Now that they were alone with no interruptions she could finally ask him what she had been wondering all night.
"You weren't there at my father's thing. Your mother said you were ill." She commented, looking at him shrewdly.
She noticed how he immediately froze up at that, his bright eyes shuttering off to a closed and detached expression. "I was sick." He answered simply.
"Alright." She replied folding her arms and looking up at him. "So what was wrong with you?"
Regulus picked a rose from one of the nearby plant pots and began to pull the petals from it. "I had a headache." He answered, feigning boredom.
No you didn't. Jackie narrowed her eyes at his lie. "Your mother said you had a chill. So which was it?" She asked pointedly.
Regulus sighed and stood up, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking down at her. "Jackie, please don't pry. You really don't want to be caught up in all this."
"Caught up in what?" She asked desperately, She was sick of hearing cryptic warnings about this impending doom that no one was willing to tell her truthfully about. She wasn't stupid by any means, but she was definitely sheltered.
"I told you not to pry." He told her dismissively, unwilling to budge and confess any of his secrets to her.
"Why do you do that?" She snapped, her temper rising. Her eyes flashed bright amber in her ire.
"Do what?" Regulus asked, with equal irritation. His own eyes turned stoney grey as he shut his emotions inside.
"Lie." She spat. "Keep secrets. Treat me like a child. Never let me in."
He shrugged and avoided her glare. "That's not true." He replied, quietly.
Jackie stood up from her seat and stepped closer to him, glowering up at him. "It is true." She told him harshly. "Anytime I get too close to the real Regulus, you slam the door in my face. What are you so afraid of?" She demanded angrily.
"I'm not the one who should be afraid." He told her pointedly. His arm twitched involuntarily as he said those words.
"I'm not afraid of you." She scoffed, raising herself onto her tiptoes in an attempt to meet his eyes.
"Then you are a fool." He told her resignedly, turning away from her. Always walking away when things got too heavy. When it looked like he might have to show what was really going on in that head of his.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him back around to face her. They were dangerously close now. Their noses were almost touching and his harsh breath fanned out across her face.
"You don't get to run away this time." She told him, her voice weakening at his proximity. "You don't get to push me away."
His eyebrows furrowed and he looked like those words from her mouth physically pained him. She longed to reach out to him and smooth away the lines of sorrow marring his beautiful face.
Regulus finally met her eye and it took her breath away. "I am not a good man." He whispered dejectedly. "You are worth more than anything I have to give to you."
It was the sorrow in his voice that did her in. The complete resignation to being alone and unworthy of affection. This wasn't the way his story should be allowed to pan out. It wasn't fair.
He's just a boy.
She could fix it. She could make it all go away. He didn't have to be all alone. That was what she told herself as she surged forward and bridged the gap between their lips. And because she was whole and he wasn't and she could fill the cracks,
She kissed him.
( surprise shawtyyy🤗 )