A/N: This was written for WizardWay's "Guilty Pleasure Challenge." One of my guilty pleasures is writing Snape and Narcissa (although only every now and then), so...here you go. This takes place at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince, when Narcissa and Bella go to Spinners End. For the record, you will recognize dialogue and some description at the beginning, and into the story a bit. The credit for that goes to Jo. I did add my own stuff to the descriptions to flesh them out some according to how I wanted them to be, but I felt that I needed to have this stuff in there to set it up some. So, it isn't all a rehash!

The knock at the door hardly surprised him; he had known it was only a matter of time before they came. It was the plural that had him hesitant to answer the call. One of the visitors he welcomed, and the other he did not. For that reason, he stayed still in his chair for a few seconds and then stood, going to the door and opening it just a crack to look outside. There stood two figures, both wearing hoods. One hood was lowered as he gazed at it to reveal a pale woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Narcissa!" He opened the door wider, so that the light from behind him fell on her and the person behind her. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"Severus," she replied. Her whisper was strained, which was curious… "May I speak to you? It's urgent."

Giving a slight nod, he responded. "But of course." Stepping back, he held an arm out to keep the door open and pressed himself closer to the wall so that she could pass. The woman behind her stepped after her without invitation. Curtly she said his name, and with a mocking smile he closed the door after her and greeted her as well. "Bellatrix."

He knew what was to come next: questions and explanations.

[-][-][-]

He stared at Narcissa as she began to cry, wishing that they were alone, that he could offer her the consolation that she craved without company around. As it were, he couldn't, and so he just stood as she cried.

"Then I am right, he has chosen Draco in revenge! He does not mean him to succeed, he wants him to be killed trying!"

Her voice was easy to understand despite the sobs she choked on, the tears running down her face, but he said nothing in reply and watched as she staggered to her feet and stumbled to him. She seized the front of his robes with both hands, a wad of fabric in either fist. So close were they that their faces were nearly touching, and her tears fell directly onto his chest. He wished again that Bellatrix was absent, for he wished, in that moment, to do nothing else but kiss her.

"You could do it. You could do it instead of Draco, Severus. You would succeed, of course you would, and he would reward you beyond all of us-"

She cut herself off when he reached up to grab her wrists and gently forced her to remove her holds on him. Emotions ranging from sadness to anger, despair and happiness at being so close to her, he looked down at her face, looking past the tears running down her face and welling up in her eyes to the woman who didn't deserve what was being done to her. Gently, he squeezed her wrists in reassurance, the movement so slight that even Bella's sharp eyes didn't catch it.

"He intends me to do it in the end, I think. But he is determined that Draco should try first. You see, in the unlikely event that Draco succeeds, I shall be able to remain at Hogwarts a little longer, fulfilling my useful role as spy." He felt another pang at that, wishing that neither he nor the boy were forced to do the deed.

"In other words, it doesn't matter to him if Draco is killed!" Her tone was borderline hysterical now.

"The Dark Lord is very angry. He failed to hear the prophecy. You know as well as I do, Narcissa, that he does not forgive easily." He spoke quietly, and then watched as her legs gave out and she crumpled, falling down at his feet, her body wracked with sobs.

The conversation was growing wearisome, he thought, standing in front of the sofa as he watched her make a mess all over herself with the wine she could barely hold to her lips. It was mainly his own despair at seeing her like this that made him tell her he might be able to help her son, but that despair soon turned to shock when she knelt at his feet and asked him to make an Unbreakable Vow. To do so would be to risk his own death, especially with how Draco had been acting toward him as of late. And yet…wasn't he risking death anyway? Had Dumbledore not already had this conversation with him, made him promise that he would do the deed? They both knew that Draco couldn't succeed. He didn't have it in him.

But others did, and one of them was in this room, totally expectant of a declination. Without looking at her, he gazed down at those blue eyes. "Certainly, Narcissa…."

[-][-][-]

The Bond had been made when Bella lost it. Her eyes gleaming with rage, she hissed, "Sectumsempra!"

Blood erupted from Narcissa's chest and stomach immediately, and she slipped to the floor, her hand falling limply from the hold it had just had around Severus's wrist. He lowered himself to the floor, kneeling in a rapidly expanding pool of blood, and whipped his wand from within his robes. A brief glance up showed a remorseful Bellatrix moving forward to help him, but he flicked his wand at her angrily and she leaped back, rubbing at two large welts on her left hand and wrist.

"WORMTAIL!" When the man appeared, looking nervous, Severus was still glaring at Bellatrix. "Get her out of my house. Now."

She yelled as she was forced away, but Severus paid her no mind, turning his attention to the other woman instead. She was already paler, shivering. Gently, he placed his wand to her wounds and began tracing them, softly murmuring vulnera sanentur, a healing incantation that sounded almost like a song. The first time his wand made its path the flow of blood eased up, then came to a halt, and the second time the wounds knitted themselves together. He paused for a brief moment, then began again. When he was finished, he glanced up to see Wormtail gaping at him, and glared at the man. "Fetch me dittany."

When Wormtail returned, almost instantly for once, Severus sent him off again, this time only seeking to be left alone. He applied the medicine to prevent scarring, and cleaned the blood from the floor with another wave of his wand. Stowing it back in his robes, he gently lifted Narcissa and held her to his chest. She made a soft sound, like she was trying to speak, and he looked down at her. "You need to rest."

[-][-][-]

The first time he went to check on her, she was lost in sleep. The second, she was barely awake. The third, she talked. And the fourth, she was alert. It was that time that he asked her to stay for dinner, and she accepted. The fifth time, she was standing with her back to the doorway, facing a dresser, and examining something that she was holding.

"Narcissa." He cleared his throat. "Dinner is ready." And he turned, returning downstairs without seeing the tears coursing down her cheeks as she looked down at one of the few photographs he had of Lily Evans-Potter.

[-][-][-]

What she was doing was wrong, she knew, but she didn`t care. Her life was filled with nothing but things that were wrong, mainly because of choices that the people around her had made for her. Her parents had picked who she would marry, her middle sister had betrayed her, and her husband had become a Death Eater. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That is not to say that she did not understand it all, did not agree with most of these things, however. The fact of the matter is that she very much agreed with her mind, but her heart told her another story. Her heart said that people should not be judged by their blood, that Andy had been right to run off with Ted, and that her husband was an evil man because of what he did to innocent people.

She wasn't completely sure if she believed all that, or if it was just the wine.

Ah, but there was another reason that she felt her husband was evil…and it was primarily because of that reason that she stood in the bedroom of her husband`s best friend, her hands joined together at the back of his neck. Primarily, but not entirely. She was more in love with this man than she was with Lucius, but she would never admit it. Never.

Severus bent his head to nip lightly at her neck, right where her hairline lay, and she shivered as his teeth lightly scraped her skin. He had already touched her enough to make her want to stop all the foreplay, to get down to business, but she forced herself to refrain from vocalizing her desires. Lucius never did this to her, never took the time to arouse her enough that she would enjoy the act as much as he would. For once in her life, Narcissa wanted to know what it was like.

It was blissful agony, she decided as she gently placed her right hand on Severus`s trousers and smirked. Ever so lightly she ran her fingers up his still covered stomach and chest, watching in delight as he pressed into the touch. He wanted more. When he had removed her clothing he had been quick with it, but she had to make up for all the other tantalizing he had done. She used both hands to undo all the tiny buttons on the white shirt he always wore beneath his robes and then smiled at what was revealed when she tugged the material off of him. He was muscular but not so much so that it was obvious while he was clothed, much like Lucius, but Severus had more and the look fit him better she thought.

Smirk growing, she rose on her tiptoes to press her lips against his, nipped lightly, and then removed his trousers in a flash. Her left hand rested atop his shoulder, while her right slid down his front, starting at his naval and ending right before his erection. He moaned into her mouth, gripped her hips and pulled her toward him.

How they made it to the bed, she had no clue; she only remembered laying on her back and staring up at the man above her as he thrust in and out. Her body responded more actively than it ever had to her husband, rising up to meet him and then her limbs quaked slightly after he had brought her to an orgasm.

When he too had reached his peak, Severus slid from her, rolled beside her to lie on his back. She rolled partially so that she was on her side, facing him. The sheets lay crumpled down at their feet, knotted together. They weren`t bound together forever; they would separate in due time, much like Narcissa and her husband. It was something that nobody could control besides the two of them. It seemed that Lucius had given up on his part of sticking together a long time ago, though she was just now learning about it. Now…now she had begun.

Guilt tried to raise its ugly head as she moved herself closer to Severus but she forced it to shrink back down. She had no reason to feel guilty…. She was only doing to Lucius what he had done to her. He had ignored the vows that they had taken when they wed each other, and so now had she.

Fingers slipping up the potions master`s hip, she couldn`t help but wonder how many women Severus had been with before her. One? Two? It had to have been at least one, for he had known most definitely what he was doing. Had that woman – or one of the women – been Bella? 'No you fool…he isn`t like that,' she thought to herself. That thought alone wasn`t very reassuring though, for she had said the same thing of Lucius and he had slept with her oldest sister.

Fondling his manhood with light fingers, tone braver than she felt, she spoke. "Did you…ever do this with her?"

She didn't need to say Lily's name for him to know who she was referring to, and he didn't respond, his silence giving her an answer.

She placed a gentle kiss to Severus`s lips, asked him softly, "Bella?"

He looked at her, those dark eyes displaying no emotion, and responded with only one word. "No." Capturing her mouth, he nipped her bottom lip and then pulled back. "I have no desire to at all, especially with you around."

The words were a gift she was not expecting, but she didn`t allow her sudden delight to be displayed. It was better that the ice queen still reign supreme, even if she were in the mood to let a couple glaciers melt until they were mere puddles. For once, someone liked her better than they liked her sister. For once, a man desired her more than he did her sister. For once, she was the first of the two of them to get to a man. And, for once, she was the one who got a fantastic ride in bed.

"I'm glad she did it," she said as she slipped on top of him and lowered herself over his renewed erection.

He forced himself to stay still as she settled on him, then as one they began to move. "Did what?"

"Sectumsempra."

He squirmed beneath her, the pulse in his balls and manhood coming close to being overwhelming, and she found herself smiling. For the first time in a long time, both she and Severus Snape were getting what they wanted.

Maybe betrayal wasn`t always such a bad thing after all.

A/N 2: Please R&R!