The Flint family was awful and had a horrible taste in curtains, Narcissa Malfoy had decided when she had visited Mrs. Flint earlier that day. She frankly couldn't wrap her head around the fact that a mother of any kind could kill her four year old son's muggle friend without regret. The boy, Narcissa had found out, had been five. Five!
Her pale fingers curled around her wand. How she wished she could curse them into madness, like they had done to so many others. She would make them beg to die on their knees, and watch them succumb to madness when they realised it wouldn't be that easy. And then, when she had decided they'd had enough, she would end their lives and burn their house down - starting with those frightful curtains.
Scoping out enemies was never fun.
She was pacing. The clicking of her heels on the floor echoed throughout the mansion.
"It isn't a good idea, for us to mingle." Mrs. Flint had said.
Narcissa hadn't shown her displeasure outwardly. She knew better than that. A lady must never agree or disagree publicly was what her mother had taught her.
A lady pulls the strings from behind the scenes to keep her and her family safe.
Narcissa was very good at pulling strings. She had built a very neat network of correspondents and assets of many skill sets over the years and was secretly very proud of that. It enabled her to do things like tweak a social situation to cause a political chain reaction with an outcome in her family's favour.
Everyone thought it was Lucius' work, but he was just the face of the article. He was too hot-headed, too proud to lead the Malfoys. Narcissa was happy to say that her son took after her. It bode well for his future.
She wondered if it was time to introduce him to her... business in the underground. It was something he could run some day.
The Flint family could be considered collateral damage if she played a the cards right. But first she would need to pull that Oliver Wood out of the crossfire. She would need someone to help with that.
The main objective was still weakening the Dark Lord by causing disrupt among his ranks. She would not be able to do much more than that.
She decided it was time for a walk.
A long stroll along the riverbanks would do.
The mist hung in the air beautifully. Narcissa paused in her movement. There was a shadow behind the tree, waving at her. The blonde leaned her head to the side and motioned to it to follow her before moving along, crossing a bridge and entering the village turning around various corners before coming to a stop in a somewhat shady alleyway.
"It's been quite some time, hasn't it?" Her company asked, morphing from a shadow back into a person.
"I suppose," she said. "You look well."
"I am. The last job payed for the potion I needed to lift the curse."
"I can tell."
Her company smiled. "I suppose you have another job for me?"
"Perhaps. There is a boy- a young man, staying with the Flint family."
"A kidnapping? I'm not sure I want to risk it. They are notorious - Of course not so much as yourself ma'am."
"You wouldn't need to steal him out of the house directly. Maybe allow him a detour before or after work." Narcissa raised an eyebrow, "He should be less trouble then."
"Alright. One of your enemies ma'am?"
"Let's leave it at 'I want him unharmed', shall we?"
"Of course, ma'am. As for payment-"
"I have a certain artefact of high value, given our shared history I doubt you need proof it's real."
The person bowed before slipping into the shadows again. Narcissa disapparated. Now that was taken care of, she had to push a few more pawns up the ranks before enacting her plan. A few more puppets to decorate before the show started, if you will.
Narcissa had always been partial to puppet shows, even as a child. It had been no surprise to her, when she had discovered just how much she liked conducting them.
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Narcissa is the Kingpin in town. Change my mind.
XOXO, Drachma