Ch96. Natasha's pleasant outing

Natasha was walking around Diagon Alley, looking for a place where she could get lunch. Tom was far too busy with his research so for today she was alone.

Her morning was spent going around the apothecary shops and buying herbs she intended to plant in her new garden and she had to admit, Wizarding Britain was a wonderful place when it came to the variety of magical plants.

It was a few days ago that Tom and Hermione made up and it was decided that Hermione would stay at the Weasleys until the end of the summer holidays because the girl wanted to stay with her friends.

Frankly, Natasha was completely fine with that. Being alone with Tom was preferable for her. She didn't mind the girl much but it is what it is. Unlike Tom who took Hermione's behavior as a bratty rebellion, Natasha didn't like it at all but it was not her business.

As she walked across the street, Natasha suddenly saw one person she remembered from the Quidditch World Championship entering a bit too fancy-looking restaurant for her tastes, and her eyes brightened. Now that she thought about it, there was that one thing...

Instantly changing her direction, Natasha decided to pay Narcissa Malfoy a visit.

...

Narcissa Malfoy sat in a private VIP booth in her favorite restaurant, waiting for her food when she heard a knock on the door.

Surprised, yet, happy that her food was finished so fast... thinking that the service had improved since she last ate here... Narcissa swished her wand at the door, unlocking them in a sign that the waiters can enter.

But just as she was about to mind her own business and ignore the waiters, from the corner of her eye Narcissa noticed it was not a member of the staff who entered but a redheaded woman.

Needless to say, Narcissa's wand instantly snapped back into position, aimed at the newcomer before she even realized who exactly it was that paid her a visit.

Once Narcissa recognized Natasha, her throat went dry and her eyes slightly widened in worry... but it was gone as fast as it appeared on her face, and channeling her upbringing, Narcissa forcefully calmed down, leveling her cold gaze on the smiling Natasha who calmly walked towards the table, not minding the threat of Narcissa's wand at all.

Narcissa's eyes followed Natasha in mute surprise up until the moment she rudely sat down opposite her and silently looked Narcissa in the eyes, her smile still plastered on her face as she put her elbows on the table and her chin on her joined hands while silently waiting for Narcissa's reaction.

After a short while of silence where the women stared at each other, measuring the other with their eyes, Narcissa broke the moment by slowly pulling her wand back and putting it on the table. But she didn't let go of it, still clutching it in her hand, just in case.

"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy." Natasha politely greeted, starting to annoy the other woman with her easy-going smile.

"What do I owe the... pleasure, Miss Romanoff?" Narcissa frowned and asked, spontaneously twitching her nose a bit as a sign of what she thought about this surprising visit.

"Mhm. From your reaction, I see that you do know about your husband's recent escapades." Natasha quipped.

The way Narcissa instantly put her at the wand point and the discomfort she tried to hide was a massive tell for Natasha. If the woman had no idea about what her husband tried to do, she would have no reason to worry. At most, she would have been angry and started screaming at her for the intrusion into her private booth.

But Narcissa didn't do that, which was very curious.

Narcissa narrowed her eyes, "So is this supposed to be some kind of attempt at revenge or something?" She asked and subtly glanced at the door as she clutched her wand tighter.

Natasha, however, just chuckled at the reaction, "If you think the security will realize something is wrong, then don't bother. I have my ways."

Narcissa's eyebrows creased at these words and her body grew more rigid. This restaurant was very guarded since only the high society of Wizarding Britain usually visited it. The VIP area, especially.

She really couldn't even start guessing how Natasha managed to enter, much less come all the way through the restaurant to the VIP area without anybody noticing and no guard stopping her. That only increased Narcissa's worries.

But just as Narcissa was about to cause a commotion in hopes the guards would come rushing to her aid, Natasha's next words made her calm down.

"But no. I didn't come here to harm you. I just want to talk." Natasha reassured Narcissa, giving her a knowing look that soured her mood. Even so, it helped since Narcissa was curious about what Natasha could want from her.

As a proper woman of House Black, Narcissa knew there were dangerous situations and then there were dangerous situations that could prove profitable.

"Then talk but make it quick. My lunch will be done soon." Narcissa dryly said, unwilling to show even a smidgen of weakness in her expression.

Of course, Natasha was much, much more experienced in reading people than some pampered wizarding princess so she could clearly see the worries in Narcissa's eyes but she only pleasantly smiled, portraying an approachable front.

"Lunch? That sounds great. What are we having?" Natasha revealed her intentions as if she was talking about the weather and Narcissa did her best to stop herself from outright gaping at the audacity of this bitch. Her entire life manners were something sacred so hearing the outrageous thing the redheaded woman said almost floored her common sense.

Narcissa's expression darkened in outrage, without her even realizing how easily the smiling redhead managed to get under her skin, and she had to take a deep breath before she spoke again, "We," She put a heavy emphasis on this word, "are not having anyth-!"

But Natasha was not having that. As if she would refuse free luxurious food. "How does your husband take the fact the Minister no longer takes his bribes when it comes to us?" She easily flipped the topic away from her upcoming free lunch.

It was effective only because Natasha's words reminded Narcissa why exactly she deemed the woman sitting opposite her dangerous. Neither she nor Lucius had any idea how they managed to make Fudge fear them so much... and finding out that he was positively terrified of them was as easy as watching the man's eyes when Tom and Natasha were mentioned in conversation... but these two made Fudge truly terrified and that made Narcissa and her husband feel uneasy.

Especially when Narcissa took into account all the newly crippled young second and third sons of dark magical families that were sent to deal with Tom and the smiling redhead who was now looking at her as if she was some kind of interesting animal.

Narcissa saw the damage Natasha caused in her fight against ten young wizards and she found the redhead terrifying too. The approach of permanently crippling rather than killing was completely ruthless and cruel.

Narcissa grew up among dark wizards. She grew up listening to stories about the past glory of House Black and some of these were... Dark Lord Voldemort level not-kid-friendly.

Because of that upbringing, she could make a clear distinction between some Killing Curse shooting loser dark wizards wannabes like her husband and the really dangerous men like the Dark Lord. It was all in the willingness to go further than anybody would deem humane when it came to hurting others.

Killing Curse was merciful, and painless. But when Narcissa witnessed what Natasha did to the kids who attacked her during the Quidditch World Cup... that proved to Narcissa that these two newcomers were not simply full of hot air and political scheming like her husband. These were the real deal who would not hesitate to step over a mountain of corpses to get what they wanted.

To be honest, Wizarding Britain didn't have the best track record when it came to stopping these kinds of people.

While Narcissa had no idea what exactly these two desired and she tried to caution Lucius but he just didn't listen, still trying to provoke them due to the small slight he 'suffered' at their hands. Being arrogant was fine... but sometimes, Lucius was taking it too far. At times, Narcissa wondered how it was possible that the growling at Voldemort's feet still didn't manage to curb his inborn arrogance of Malfoys.

It worried Narcissa a lot these days. She didn't want Wizarding Britain to erupt into another conflict or for her House to be targeted by dangerous people. Not when her baby boy was entering his teenage years.

Hearing Natasha clearing her throat, Narcissa realized she was lost in her thoughts for a tad bit more than was polite, and her cheeks slightly reddened. But then she saw Natasha's pleased smile and with an inward huff, Narcissa realized she was just teased.

"He is very upset." She kept her reply short in order to keep at least some of her decorum and keep her voice calm and polite... but without her realization, the tension in her shoulders disappeared.

Natasha had to admit that the rigid blonde was fun to tease. Something about making her break her facade of the perfect lady was immensely satisfying.

"I can imagine. I am actually very surprised you are so truthful about it. Don't you care about your husband? Won't he reprimand you for talking with me? Isn't it one of your wifey duties to listen to your husband?" Natasha gleefully asked without any shame, causing Narcissa's eyebrow to twitch.

'I am talking to you because I have no other choice!' She was inwardly screaming in frustration.

"Most of his current success is because of my previous family's connections and my help with his politicking so my husband's opinion on the matter doesn't matter." Narcissa dryly bit out.

Hearing that, Natasha widened her eyes in a mock surprise, "But don't you love your husband? How can you say that about poor Lucy?" She was enjoying it a tad bit too much.

As these words reached Narcissa's ears, she understood one important thing. A thing that made her close her eyes and take a deep breath to calm herself. Still, she decided to ask about it, hoping it wasn't true because if it was, it would be so very demeaning...

"Are you here only to make fun of me?" Narcissa blandly asked with helpless exasperation.

At first, she thought Natasha was here to hurt or threaten her. And if not that, then to get some information out of her. But the woman was just fooling around! This was getting ridiculous. The last time someone was teasing her like this was during her school days.

Narcissa had to admit she was maybe... just slightly, only the teensiest bit, kinda... enjoying it deep down. She tried to squash that feeling as soon as it came but she wasn't entirely successful. At this point, Narcissa would have been happier if Natasha indeed had some kind of agenda.

Unfortunately for her, Natasha just nonchalantly shrugged with her perpetually calm smile still plastered on her face, "Pretty much. I had nothing to do."

And Narcissa could only deadpan at the rude... but interestingly irritating redhead.