"There's something for you, Padfoot," Remus Lupin called as he sorted through their mail. "Why didn't you tell us you had a new girlfriend?"

"I haven't," Sirius muttered, waking up very gradually with each sip of his coffee.

"Then why are you getting pink scented notes?" Lupin demanded cheerfully.

"Let me see that," Sirius snapped, suddenly completely awake and clearly annoyed. Lupin handed the letter over, watching as his friend turned the letter over and began to laugh, long and loud and bitter.

"What's going on?" a muzzy James Potter asked as he emerged from his bedroom.

"Padfoot's got a letter, but he won't say who from."

"Didn't the flowers tell you?" Sirius asked. "I wonder what my darling cousin Narcissa wants after all this time. Can't be money, she knows I've none, and she's married Malfoy and I'm sure we'd know if he weren't still rolling in galleons."

"You're related to Malfoy!"

"Don't remind me. She forgot to send me an invitation to the wedding, but I read about in the papers." With a grimace of distaste, he slit the envelope, and began to read the letter. James and Lupin watched as their friend's fists clenched around the letter, not quite knowing what to do. The family politics never made sense to those raised in happy, open, loving households. The letter fell to the ground as Sirius swung out of their flat, leaving half his morning coffee in a cup on the table. Stooping Lupin picked the letter up. There were two sheets. The first was an invitation to the funeral of Regulus A. Black. The second read:

Cousin Sirius,

I suppose you have heard of your brother's death in the newspapers, but I write to express my condolences and to invite you to join the rest of the family at the funeral. A formal invitation is included.

I don't know if this will please you or not, Sirius, but Regulus died because he believed in something. I think you would have been proud of him. I know he would have wished it.

Sincerely,

Narcissa Black Malfoy

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"Mummy, this letter smells funny."

"Funny how, darling?" Andromeda Tonks asked, not pausing even to wipe the flour off her hands as she pulled the possibly dangerous letter from her daughter's curious fingers.

"Funny like the princess-aunty," Nymphadora said, scrunching her face, then letting it settle back into a set of perfect doll-like features that Andromeda knew almost better than her own, and that her daughter had only seen once. Ever since discovering the pretty lady was her aunt, but not in the same way Daddy's sisters were aunts, Nymphadora had called her the princess-aunty: related, but too high-and-mighty to see her poorer subjects.

The letter did smell of Narcissa and, unable to resist temptation, Andromeda slit it open, wondering why in Merlin's name Narcissa would write to her. First, there was the invitation to the funeral, addressed only to her, again, excluding her family. Then the letter.

My dear Sister,

Cousin Regulus is dead in the service of the Dark Lord, as you may have heard. I have enclosed a formal invitation to join the rest of the family for a funeral service and burial. Bellatrix will not be attending, so you need not worry that your presence would offend anyone unduly.

Sincerely,

Narcissa Black Malfoy

Flipping through the newspaper, Andromeda found her cousin's obituary, just below the list of suspected Death Eaters captured that week. One of those on the list was Bellatrix Lestrange.

When Ted came home an hour later, she was still crying over the newspaper.

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Narcissa sat at her window seat, watching again, the rain pour over the farms and fields of the Malfoy Estate. Lucius was away again, but just for today, the loneliness of the place suited her mood. Would Sirius or Andra care, she wondered. Or would they rip up the stiff little notes she'd spent the morning slaving over without reading them. Once, Narcissa would have said they would always open such a letter, certainly feel sorry for a cousin's, a brother's death. But if Bellatrix, who had once lived only for her family pride, had changed so much that she could kill her cousin, how much more could Andromeda and Sirius, who had thrown themselves away from the family, ignore?

Finally, in a mansion alone, Narcissa Black cried properly and messily for her favorite cousin.

(A/N) The End! I hope you liked it. Please review. The time Tonks met Narcissa is completely stolen from Thessaly's fic Princess of Gehenna which every single one of you should read. Go now. Also, for anyone concerned with Bella and Narcissa's friendship/love/agreement at Spinner's End in canon, I believe Narcissa would do anything for her family, including forgive Bella.