The woman knew what she "could" do. She was a proud girl, from a proud family, and she always knew what she "could" do. She "could" be ladylike about it, forget that she had ever even noticed that he wasn't there to see Potter and her younger cousin, Sirius' Quidditch game against Slytherin, where her fiancée now left Gryffindor wishing they had never stepped foot on the pitch. She "could" do the Slytherin thing and notify the teachers that he was acting peculiar, although she already knew why he was acting that way. Or, she "could" do the proper thing and just confront him herself. Weighing out her options, that one seemed the best. Narcissa sided with that one.
"I'll be right back," She says softly, putting her hand on Regulus' shoulder who was staring at the game in awe. He was still only a first year, one that Narcissa and Lucius had taken under their wing to show the ropes of being a Slytherin. 'Don't make him join,' Narcissa remembered begging Lucius one night as he took her up to the Astronomy Tower to show her the stars. Lucius had gazed into her icy blue eyes, promising he would not make Regulus do anything he didn't want to, barely setting Narcissa's mind at ease.
"Uh huh," The young boy answered in awe, watching as Lucius dodged the bludger once more, making another goal. He didn't even notice as his older cousin wandered off.
Narcissa took one last look back at the pitch as she covered her head with her cape, protecting herself from the cold as she walked towards the Whomping Willow. His cries of pain filled the courtyards every year about the same time, leaving everyone believing that the Shrieking Shack was actually haunted. What few people knew, other than the older students there at Hogwarts, was that it actually hadn't started 'shrieking' until only two years ago, the same time that he had come to Hogwarts for the first time.
"Immobulus." Narcissa whispers, pointing her wand at the Whomping Willow as she had watched the boy do multiple times before. She remembered where the hole was beneath the roots, slowly moving down them she crawled, careful not to hurt herself in the process.
As Narcissa made her way into the basement of the Shrieking Shack, she looked around in disgust. Dirt, cobwebs, spiders. It was filthy. Quickly she pulled her cape closer around her body as she walked up the dirt stairs, heading towards the boy who had come up missing.
The stairs eventually turned into wood as she placed her hand on the railing, continuing up the stairs. She had no idea where to begin to look in this disgusting shack, only that he was here somewhere. He was always here, every month. Finally she made it to a door, one that was partially open and opened it further. She could see a fire in the fireplace as the building squeaked from the wind blowing and she couldn't help but wonder if it would collapse around her. Pushing the door open a little bit more, she walked into the room, seeing the boy she had been looking for lying in a bed, covers up to his neck.
"You shouldn't be here," He said weakly as Narcissa could see the toll his curse was taking on his body. His face was pale, paler than usual and his light brown hair lay sweat-drenched on his forehead, as if he had been carrying a fever. The scar that draped across his face was red instead of its usual white, showing how much pain he was in.
"Neither should you, Remus." Narcissa answers, walking over to his bedside. She pulls out a rag as she sits down next to him, dabbing the sweat off of his face.
"How did you know?" Remus asks, looking at her in shock. Even his family stood on edge around him near the full-moon, but here Narcissa Black, Sirius' cousin of all people and one he bad-mouthed immensely and the future-wife of that arrogant arse Lucius Malfoy, was taking care of him.
"I had a suspicion whenever you had to get sorted late because of an illness." Narcissa answers softly, "So, I followed you. I had to see what this was all about. I couldn't figure it out at first until I noticed a pattern."
"Every full moon." He answers, looking down in fear that she would tell someone and he wouldn't be able to come back to school.
"I know," Narcissa says, looking down at him as she wiped the sweat from his brow again. "It's okay though. Your secret is safe." With that, Narcissa stands up and covers her head with her cape again before kissing Remus softly on the forehead. He watches as she walks out of the Shrieking Shack, unsure if what had even happened had really happened or if it was all in his head.
Years later, he would look back on it and still wonder as Narcissa graduated, got married, and had a child, if it had ever really happened. If his Ice Princess had ever really come into the room where he had hidden away from society. If she had actually kissed him before leaving. He would make eye contact with her sometimes after he left Hogwarts, wandering down Diagon Alley as she walked with her son. Sometimes Remus would almost think Narcissa was smiling at him before she led her young boy into a store. Other times, he knew it had to have only been a dream. One attached to his fever.