"The Best Exotic Muggle Hotel" (Narcissa Black, Fiona Zabini)

[friendshipmods]

Author: Anonymous
Prompt/Prompt Author: : Narcissa Malfoy and Mrs Zabini: After the wizarding war, much has changed and these two find themselves in the position to have to earn a living. They decide to open a bed-and-breakfast together. / Therealsnape
Title: The Best Exotic Muggle Hotel
Characters: Narcissa Malfoy / Fiona Zabini
Rating: PG-13.
Warnings:

Comments

[squibstress]

What a fabulous story, and a fabulous new life for Narcissa!

I love post-war stories about the minor characters, and Narcissa is one of the most fascinating to think about. I always feel for her--her position during the war was one of the most horrendous (even if she may have brought it on herself) and she's perfectly captured here, I think.

The working of Narcissa's mind was wonderful--she just can help making things lovely, can she? The humor juxtaposed with the glimpses of life under the Dark Lord is really stunning; just when the reader is getting settled comfortably into the fun and humor of it all, the nightmare comes back and reminds you, as it does Narcissa, that this is actually very serious business.

Some things I really loved:

One had to remember the other inmates. Guests, she meant. Lodgers. I'm sure that's exactly how it felt.

The other explanation contained the words ‘sell-by date’ and ‘middle-aged’, and nice gels didn’t use those words to describe other nice gels, even if said gels had stolen a perfectly good boyfriend at the Christmas Ball of 19- well, of quite some time ago. :-)

one became venerable rather than enchanting. Until that time when extreme old age - white-haired, black-laced, lavender-scented extreme old age - rendered one ‘enchanting’ once more. True.

The boarding house lodgers had ignored her when they thought she was a DE’s wife. Ignored her pointedly, but no more than that. They had become positively malicious when they had found out that she was the wife of a once very rich man. Astute observation.

Is there any more wonderful image in all of fandom than Narcissa Malfoy in Ikea! "No exit in sight" is exactly how I always experience it--glad to hear I'm not alone in that.

Fiona’d had a thing for Swedish balls for years. Naughty, naughty.

“You know,” said Fiona, filling up Narcissa’s glass, “there’s one more special thing about this shop - I must have forgotten to tell you, Cissy.” I'm dying here.

The construction scenes were great--a friendship can only truly be forged in the fires of DIY hell.

Wonderful read!

[therealsnape]

Thank you so much for your wonderful, detailed comment. Such fun to see which lines work, and to see that Narcissa has found a sister-in-spirit where Ikea is concerned. I tend to be rather on the Fiona side myself, but it was great fun to get under Narcissa's skin.