Post by narcissa black on Aug 17, 2012 19:08:59 GMT -5
NARCISSA VIOLETTE BLACK
The Noble House of Black is one of the most ancestral and prestigious of the pureblood wizarding families. They pride themselves on the purity of their blood, their respectability and their wealth. Although they have some blemishes on their family tree- whose doesn't?- the Blacks successfully rid themselves of all the canker, the rebels and the black sheep who go against the family name, as can be seen on the tapestry in one of their London town houses.
Druella (Rosier) and Cygnus Black were anxious for a boy by the time Narcissa came along, having already had a girl. The little blonde baby was bright and bouncy from the start and the angel of the family. Neither of her parents seemed to mind that she was a female, and they had not achieved their desired male heir. She supposed, later on in life, that it had something to do with the fact that she resembled what they considered a pretty little pureblood girl should look like- sweet, innocent, blonde and pale. After her, the couple had another child, Bellatrix, and decided that there would be no further children; daughters were good enough.
Of course, Narcissa used this to her every advantage. Even as a young girl she realised the ability she held by being pretty and didn't make an effort to be kind or sweet with anybody unless it suited her. She knew she would be able to get what she wanted in other ways, either by batting her eyelashes, looking pretty or by throwing a tantrum. Spoilt and convinced that she was destined to be a Princess, Narcissa surrounded herself with children who she suspected would one day become close friends...or at least be useful.
Whilst she was doted on by her Mother, Narcissa was definitely a Daddy's girl. She would throw tantrums in front of Druella but never in front of Cygnus. She knew better than to evoke her Father's wrath, unless she was doing so to get Andromeda in trouble. The girl took something of a dislike to her elder sister, who she didn't see as being particularly special. She did however have an incredible admiration for Bellatrix as the two grew older.
Like many other families, the Blacks were convinced of blood purity. They believed themselves to be special. Muggles, muggleborns (mudbloods) and blood traitors were inferior and worthless. Even half bloods were questionable and one had to be suspicious around them. Whilst Andromeda had her reservations, Narcissa did not. She did not support it as avidly as others did, but she did definitely believe in what her parents told her. She knew she was special. She was something great and powerful and the muggles took that away from her, the muggleborns even more so. They did not deserve to have magic or wands and she was not looking forward to spending time with them at Hogwarts when she attended.
Then again, she knew she was a virtual certainty for Slytherin house, which accepted only the purest students. She had very little to worry about so she grew up quite contented, waitng for her time to board the Hogwarts Express to follow her older sisters to school. During this time, she became close to her cousin, Regulus, even though she hated Sirius, who she thought was an idiot. He was far too much like Andromeda and she hated that he thought he was so important and special, when he didn't even believe in blood purity.
When she finally attended the magical school in Scotland, Narcissa achieved her dream of being sorted into Slytherin house, with her sister Bellatrix following. Andromeda was sorted into Ravenclaw, something Narcissa thought was highly amusing, considering her opinion of Andromeda as stupid and foolish.
In Slytherin house, Narcissa excelled socially. She made many friends, though several were simply those she used to get what she wanted. Due to her social standing and her family's respectability, she already had some suitors from her early years in Hogwarts, whose parents were anxious to marry their sons to one of the Black girls. Narcissa seemed an appropriate candidate for a wife, being blonde, sweet, pretty and (seemingly) docile.
Over her years at Hogwarts, Narcissa has achieved reasonable grades, excelling only in certain subjects which she feels she needs to put more attention to than others.
It is impossible for Narcissa Black to think of herself as anything other than perfect. She is a vain, spoilt and self centered girl who loves admiring herself in the mirror, preening and making herself up to show herself off. She detests any kind of dirt and filth and always makes an effort to keep pristine. It can take a long time for her to get ready and she enjoys making people wait for her, as well as wait on her. She believes that she is superior, she is essentially a Princess and she should be treated as such. Everyone sees Narcissa as a girl who strives for perfection. Some people see her as a role model, whilst many others view her as a stuck up, selfish and arrogant girl who has a serious attitude problem and needs to be taken down a peg or two.
On the bright side, Narcissa is a friendly enough girl when you become friends with her; it's just the becoming friends that's the hard part. She is very picky about who she hangs around with as she does not wish to be seen associating with people who are socially inferior to her. It would be an embarrassment and could even risk her being disowned from the family, something she definitely does not wish to happen at all. When you do get to know Narcissa Black, she can be friendly. She enjoys spending time with her close friends, doing typical girly activities such as shopping or going out for drinks or coffees. She has out grown those childish sleepovers she used to have but sometimes Narcissa can still be a little girl at heart.
She has a vulnerable side which only her mirror sees, when in some rare instances she feels as though she is not good enough. Sometimes she feels like a failure and often worries that she will do something to upset her family or her friends, thus leading to her being stripped off the family tapestry. This is perhaps her worst nightmare- alongside growing old as a spinster. She puts in twice the amount of effort many people would to be perfect, but this can leave her drained and exhausted. Whilst she does not always let people in, she often feels ill and suffers from poor health.
As a student, Narcissa is decent enough. She does not concentrate in some classes, preferring instead to focus on the boys (one in particular) or on doing what she wants to do. Some, however, have captured her attention. She particularly likes Charms and Potions and enjoys being creative with them, although she does this subtly, not wanting to appear geekish. She has developed the typical Slytherin hatred of Gryffindors and enjoys the rivalry between the houses. Although she takes an interest in Quidditch, she does not play herself, though she enjoys watching when the boys play...
(As adult Narcissa on another site)Narcissa was never the type of girl to be interested in academia, especially not in history. She took a brief interest in it to achieve her grades during her schooling years but afterwards, and before, never had any inclination to study it any further. She was married and a mother by the time she was in her early 20s and she didn't need a job, so why would she study anything? She considered it to simply be a waste of time. All she knew was what she needed to know, what was required of her.
It had come as a great shock to her, and all around her, when she had suddenly begun to take an interest in the subject she'd been encouraged to teach. The Dark Lord wanted a greater presence at Hogwarts, especially now that it was filled with Order Members and mudbloods and traitors and the like. She was determined to do things well and be an excellent History of Magic professor, even if she hadn't been overly concerned about the job when she had begun at the school.
When Lucius had been made Minister, nobody foresaw that Mrs Malfoy would be working alongside her husband in the Ministry, in a Department created especially for her. Under the Dark Lord's command, she began to reform Hogwarts properly, as she saw it. Although this was somewhat difficult, given Severus Snape's mistake in allowing several unsuitable professors through the system, Narcissa had managed to obtain a position for one of her allies, Mr Septimus Haig, and had begun working in the school herself. She wanted very much to keep a close eye on the work she was doing and what better way than to be a part of the school's staff team?
Of course, History of Magic had been a bit of a strange topic for her to pick, as a teacher. Then again, there had not exactly been a bountiful amount of free places, most of them- she was convinced- having gone to the unworthy Order, or to former Aurors, or to blood traitors, or in the very least those who supported Potter. It infuriated her that she was surrounded by these imbeciles and she could do little to nothing to get rid of them, as she so desperately wanted to do.
She had thought that maybe becoming a perfect teacher would give her a head start and help her in her task, so Narcissa had taken to reading over the summer. She spent countless hours searching old tomes and found herself excited to be searching around for ancient documents. Whilst she had initially only intended to travel back in time for a few centuries, she ended up wanting more and more. She was desperate to find out everything she could about history, more specifically hers.
For some strange reason, the family histories of the Blacks and the Malfoys went no further back than the 12th Century. They started suddenly and she could find little record of them in England. She had been under the assumption, of course, that all the records would be kept in the English archives. She had been quite surprised to discover that many of the records actually lay outside of England, in Scotland or France.
At the present moment, Narcissa was seated, alone, in the library, save only for the little girl playing nearby. She had made a charmed play pen for Morgana, filled it with toys and set about her work whilst her daughter played happily. One of the house elves had brought Narcissa a cup of tea whilst she read and she'd made sure that there were plenty of candles to light the pages. She had managed to find a spell to protect the delicate documents, even though they were already exceptionally well preserved. Perhaps she would take these to her History of Magic class, or at least copies of them. Not to the younger years of course- they would not appreciate the delicacy of these historical tomes. No, she'd allow only her older students- the OWLs and NEWTs to have access to these. Perhaps she could compile them into a book...Or have someone else do it for her.
It was unusual for the woman to be so excited about something like this. In fact she was a little concerned by her sudden, rapid love of her work. She worried that it made her common. Though she supposed that many common people hated their work; they simply had to do it because they needed the money. Narcissa was working because she wanted to work. There were some who had whispered that it was an oddity for a woman of her social class and her standing to be working, though nobody could imply that it was for financial reasons. Lucius Malfoy had always been wealthy, and as the Minister he was even more so.
Thankfully most of the people who Narcissa associated knew that her task came from the Dark Lord himself. Nobody was going to defy the Dark Lord. Mrs Malfoy was not a Death Eater herself- she had never taken the mark, despite their Lord's desire that she did. For some reason he never forced her, only pressured and encouraged her. Still she remained brave and adamant that she would support Lord Voldemort, but not take the mark. She couldn't imagine Lucius would be happy about her doing so either, and he'd never criticised her for it. In fact, he was pleased that she was not like her sister, Bellatrix, who many considered to lack feminine charms. Narcissa, by contrast, was considered very proper and respectable in terms of womanhood.
As she turned the first page of the second volume of documents, she began reading avidly. She had reached the period of history during the creation of Hogwarts and was anxious to discover the reasons behind the lack of documentation so far for explaining the Malfoy and Black family histories, and many others for that matter. But soon she would discover the cause.
