Canon for OFH!Lucius

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 161024

> 
> Pippin:
> Right, Narcissa shows up cool, calm and collected, knowing exactly
> what she wants. The 'drowned' imagery has nothing to do with her
> grasping at straws, and all her wild-eyed pleadings are an act.
> 

Neri:
Of course Narcissa isn't showing up cool, calm and collected. She
wouldn't have got what she wanted if she showed up cool, calm and
collected. Don't you know that when you're damsel-in-distress in
search for a knight, you need to *look* the part? Sure, you can be
desperate for real, but you still need to *look* desperate. And a wise
choice of the knight does help <g>.

The repeated references in Spinner's End to how Narcissa looks like,
especially the "drowned" one, are extremely suggestive:

************************************************************
HBP, Ch. 2, p, 22:
Narcissa threw back her hood. She was so pale that she seemed to shine
in the darkness; the long blond hair streaming down her back gave her
a look of a drowned person.

"Narcissa!" said the man, opening the door a little wider, so that the
light fell upon her

************************************************************

The perfect entrance. Precise use of gesture, look and lighting, right
in front of Snape <g>. BTW, just several lines later she "throw off"
that cloak and "cast it aside" before she sits herself on Snape's
sofa. You have to appreciate how she really got the most out of that
cloak. 

And Narcissa being desperate still doesn't change my observation that
she doesn't look even slightly surprised, not to mention "astounded",
when Snape takes the UV. We're doing fine literal distinctions here,
aren't we? Then I offer you this distinction: "desperate" and
"surprised" are not the same thing. If Narcissa only went to Snape
because she was clutching at a last straw, then she'd be surprised for
at least a second or two when it produced such marvelous results. 


> Pippin:
> Hardly. She shows up not even sure that Snape is in on the plan,
> then she asks him to talk Voldemort out of it, then she asks him 
> to do the task instead, and when he refuses, she falls to the floor,
> at Snape's feet, screaming and clutching at her hair. 
> 

Neri:
If Narcissa didn't know that Snape is in on the plan, then it only
goes to show you how much she expected of him. She expected him to
break the Dark Lord's orders. So, unless she believes him to be DDM,
she believes him to be OFH. 


> Pippin: 
> That would be the moment for Snape to  give in, if what he
> wanted was to see her on her knees before him. But he 
> doesn't. He picks her up and steers her to the couch. *Then*
> he allows that he might possibly be able to help Draco.
> 

Neri:
No, no, no. You mixed up the mechanics of it. She's not kneeling,
she's "crumpled, falling at his feet" when he picks her up. *Then* he
allows that he might possibly be able to help Draco, and *then* she
"slid off the sofa into a kneeling position at Snape's feet" and also
"seized his hands by both of her, and pressed her lips to it". I know
all this action can be confusing, but Snape is as good at this dance
as Narcissa, so he gets her first to just crumple at his feet, *then*
to properly kneel, and kissing his hand as a bonus <eg>.


Neri