Narcissa didn’t drink coffee all that often, preferring tea, but sometimes she just needed a good kick of caffeine. And today was one of those such days. She hadn’t seemed to be able to sleep the previous night. She had been restless and unable to close her eyes for more than five minutes it seemed. Of course makeup covered the dark circles under her eyes, but makeup couldn’t give her the energy that she desperately needed. It was already time to start thinking about the holiday ball at St. Mungo’s and she was certainly not in the holiday spirit. That had always been one of their happiest times as a family and she dreaded the thought of a Christmas without Andromeda and Regulus. Their absences wouldn’t even be mentioned, it would be just like they didn’t exist, which was a hard pill to swallow. 

She stood to the side, waiting for her name to be called as she glanced around the coffee shop. The bell above the door sounded, signaling another customer. Narcissa glanced towards the door, a bored expression on her face, when she saw Frank Longbottom walking in. She furrowed her brow, and she hoped that he didn’t see her. Narcissa didn’t have anything against Frank personally, and before Andromeda’s death, she hadn’t thought much about him outside of being Alice’s fiancé. But now his face was a reminder of what she had lost, just like Alice’s was. It wasn’t fair. But there was nothing that she could do to change that.

Narcissa happened to meet eyes with him, and she knew that she had to go over to greet him. The last thing she needed was for him to report to Bellatrix  or Alice that she hadn’t said anything to him. So she pushed herself away from the wall that she had been standing near and made her way across the coffee shop. “Hi Frank. It’s so good to see you,” she said politely, a smile on her lips. “How are you? And Alice?”