"And why is this nessisary?" I asked Narcissa as she rubbed hot wav around my eyebrow with a small, wooden stick. She put the stick down and put a strip of fabric over the eyebrow.
"I'm just trying to make you look as nice as you possibly can for tommorrow." She replied, then grabbed the end of the strip. "Brace yourself."
"Brace myself for wh- Oh, F***!" I screamed. She held up the strip, showing me what looked to be half of my eyebrow.
"Please watch your language, Eleannor." She pleasently asked, putting some more of that wax on my other eyebrow. I jerked away.
"No! I'm not letting you do it again!"
"But I have to. If I don't, then your eyebrows will be uneven." She jabbed with the wax again, but, like before, I moved.
"I don't care! That hurts!"
"I have to. Look." She reached beside the strips and pulled up a hand mirror. I looked in it: Sure enough, once of my eyebrows were slim and,I dare say, sexy, while the other one looked bushy in comparision. It would look stupid if she didn't do the same to the other one. I had no choice but to suck it up and let her.
"Okay, fine." I crossed my arms. She smiled and put the wax on. I squeezed my eyes shut.
"You have to calm down. Quit squishing your eyes together. The skin has to be smooth." She instructed. I losed my eyelids and felt the strip being laid on my eyebrows. A moment later, she ripped it off.
"S***!" Tears began streaming down my face. Why did this even exsist? It was too painful. We should have used this when Snatching. It was one of the most painful thing I had ever experienced.
"There we go. That looks much better." She held up the mirror again. She was right, except for where the hair had been ripped out was now bright red. It also stung. She reached over and grabbed a small jar from her vanity. Then, she opened it and put the white lotion on the red skin. It imediatly started to cool. "Now I can do your nails."
"My nails? Who's going to see my nails?"
"Well, everyone who comes to teh wedding, of course."
"They aren't going to look at my nails.. They'll be looking at my greasy hair, or my big nose. Not my nails."
"Now, Elle. You know very well that your hair isn't greasy and your nose most definally isn't big."
"Narcissa, I don't want my nails done. I don't want my hair fixed. I just want to get married."
"Well, look at it this way: I have planned with wedding, I have bought you everything for this wedding, the least you can do is let me make you look nice."
"Fine." I rolled my eyes. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right.
"We can eat lunch first, though, if you would like."
"Yeah. I think I would like that." I replied. Anything that could put off the further tourture. She cleared her throat.
"Gumby!"
"Yes, Female Master?" The elf popped up.
"Make Elle and I some soup. Maker her a peanut butter sandwich as well. And bring her an apple." Narcissa spoke to the else without looking at him. Instead, she was pushing some hair out of my face.
"Yes, Female Master! Gumby is most happy to do that!" Gumby smiled, then Disapparated.
"Will you let me wash your hair tommorrow morning?" She asked, running her hands through it. I bit my lip.
"Yeah, sure..." I reluctantly replied. Why couldn't I just get married?
...................................................................
Narcissa tourtured me the rest of the day. I either had to put up with being poked, or proded, or any other thing that was suppose to make me 'beautiful'. She painted my nails, experimented with what she wanted to do with my makeup. Experimented with what she wanted to do with my hair.When she finished with the hair she brushed it all back out and put it into a tight braid. She made me shave my legs and made me swish some kind of potion around in my mouth to whiten my teeth. Finally, at the end, she explained how everything was going to happen tommorrow.
I was having a standerd wedding, with a reception afterwards. Basically, it was all traditional. She made it that way because she guessed that I didn't want to go to any wedding rehursals, which I thanked her for. I didn't like large groups of people.
Tommorrow morning, she was to wake me up, fix my hair, makeup, and everything, and take me to the Enchanted Fields, where she had secured the wedding. Once there, there would be a tent set up for me to get dressed, where she would help me do so.
It all seemed simple enough, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle it. I mean, I just had the primping part today, and by the time Lucius came home from work, I was exausted. All I wanted to do was take a nap, but Narcissa wouldn't let me. She said I had to eat dinner first. So, when dinner was ready, I went down to the dining room and sat down. Narcissa and Lucius were there, but Draco wasn't.
"Where's Draco?" I quietly asked, picking at a roll.
"He went out for Gregory tonight." Lucius replied. I dropped the bread and crossed my arms.
"What? Why couldn't I got out tonight?"
"I thought you were tired, Elle?" Narcissa asked.
"Well, I am, but... But I want to go out. Home come he can and I can't."
"You know very well why he can and you can't." She calmly replied. I bit my lip, begining to get angry. Yeah, I knew why: because they thought I was crazy and didn't trust me. But that still wasn't fair.
"That's not fair."
"He's having a bachlor party, Elle. You can't go to his bachlor party." Lucius calmly explained.
"Well, why can' t I have a bachlor party!"
"Because you're not a bachlor."
"Whatever." I got up, pushing my plate forward. Narcissa looked up.
"Eleanor, finish your dinner please."
"No. I'm going to bed." I sneered, then rushed upstairs. They must have figured that chasing after me would be no use, because they didn't chase after me.
I flopped onto my bed, angry. This wasn't fair. Draco got to go out and have fun while I was stuck her. I had been poked and dressed up like a doll, and I was getting nothing for it. How was it fair that Draco could and I couldn't?
The anger was flowing now. I hopped up and ran across the room. I had to punch something. I had to get it out.
I pulled my fist back and punched the wall. I was so workedup that I couldn't feel the pain. It felt so good to hit something. I punched it again, and again, and again, until I hit a hole in the wall. That's when I finally quit, and the pain started to set it.
I pulled my fist away, looking from my bleeding knuckles to the whole in the wall.
"L-Lucius..." I quietly called out. "Lucius! Lucius!" I didn't want to call for Narcissa, because that would make her mad. I had ruined my nails and cut up my hand, the day before the wedding.
I continued to call, but no one ame. They probably couldn't hear me from the dining room.
"Gumby..." I wispered. The House Elf appeared.
"Yes, Little Female Master?"
"Will you tell Lucius to come up here." I wiped tears from my eyes. Gumby bowed and Disaparrated. A few minutes leter, Lucius came through the door.
"Elle, are you okay-" He stopped stort when he saw me. He looked from my bleeding hand to the wall. "Eleanor, did you perhaps get mad and punch the wall?" I looked down guiltfully.
"No... I punched the wall multiple times..." I sat down on the ground, finally feeling the guilt full force. He came over to me, bent over, and took my hand, exaiming it.
"You have to learn to control youself..." He brushed against a cut, and I winced. "I suppose you called for me so Narcissa couldn't see. You've cut your hand up."
"I'm sorry... It's not fair..."
"That you get angry?"
"No, that Draco gets to go out and I don't."
"You know we this to protect you. What if you had gotten mad and punched something somehwere else. Remember when you pushed over the shelf at the shop? You can't do that. We keep you here to keep you safe. I promise when you improve and learn to control your anger a little more, you can go out more."
"It's not fair... Draco and I aren't even going anywhere for a Honeymoon."
"I know, dear. I know." He wiped some tears off of my cheek. "I promise, we will let you go out. We do let you go out for dinner often."
"I want to go out and have fun."
"Look, the wedding is tommorrow. You need some rest, it's going to be a long day. Afterward, you and Draco can go out, I promise, but you now you have to understand that we have reason for constricting you."
"Whatever..." I trailed off. I didn't want to admitt that I did have anger problems, and that they were probably right for keeping me at home, because it re-enforced the fact that I was crazy. He sighed.
"Okay, lets get you cleaned up, then we can go swimming, how does that sound?"
"We don't swim after dinner, we swim after lunch."
"IT doesn't matter when we swim."
"Yes it does. We've always swam after lunch, if we swim."
"You are making no sense." He shook his head, then helped me up. "Come on, let me clean up your hand, then we can do something fun, okay?"
"Okay..." I trailed off, and let him pull me into the bathroom.
When he finished I told him that I just wanted to go to bed. He questioned me, asking if I was sure, but I told him I was posative. If I couldn't go out, or do what I wanted, to be treated like an adult, I might as well act like a child. Children go to bed at 7:30, right? I didn't have Group Session or Therapy for the next fe days due to the wedding, so why bother? Why bother doing anything?
If I was nothing more than a child, why was I even getting married? Children don't get married. I shouldn't have been veiwed as a child, I mean, I trained the Snatchers, for goodness sake! But I was. That's what mental disorders do: they make you look weak and immature in their eyes. Like you can't make good choices. Maybe it was right.
What if the wedding was one of those bad choices? This isn't really something you can go back on, and it's something that will change my life forever. Even if it was a mistake, I couldn't change my mind now, not after Narcissa has spent all this time and effort putting it together. Although Draco was only marrying me out of pity, and I was second guessing the marridge myself, it meant a lot of things to a lot of people:
Narcissa's babies were getting married.
Greogry was finally being a best man.
Sarah Beth was my maid of honour.
My friends at St. Mungo's were getting out of there (under tight supervision) for a day to attend. They were getting a taste of freedom
All the wedding services and designers that made my dress had written Narcissa directly, saying that they were thrilled to contribute to the wedding.It was good for their business, with all the press I had been getting since the war.
This wedding meant so much to everyone, so I couldn't ruin it. I couldn't call it off, no matter how I felt.
"Here, Elle. Do you want your Combination?" Lucius came back a bit later with a vial of liquid.
"Yeah..."
"Here." He handed it to me, and I drank it all. "Tommorrow is going to be really different, and I have a feeling you are falling into a depressive episode. If you need to tlak aout something, or cry or anything. It's okay, just don't hold it in. Be good, and be strong. We love you a lot." He leaned over and kissed my forhead, then hugged me. I melted into him.
"Will you lay down with me?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yes, if you would like me to." He replied, then got up on the bed beside me. I laid my head on him, clutching Melvin. Orion came through the door, sniffing for us. Then, he jumped up onto hte bed with us. Luicus stroked my hair.
"Lucius, what if this doesn't work?"
"What?"
"The wedding."
"Shhh... Don't worry yourself about it. Everything will work out. You will get up tommorrow, and look beautiful. Everyone will look wonderful. I will walk you down the aisle, and give you to Draco. The two of you will kiss, and will you come home tommorrow a Malfoy." For some reason, that helped a little. He made it seam more real. Less scary.
"A Malfoy..." I repeated, yawning. Thinking about it, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Tommorrow, I would come home a Malfoy.