Disclaimer:All characters, terms and places associated with Harry Potter belong JK Rowling. This story is by no means an original concept, however I do own this particular plotline. Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and is only referenced in chapter titles and opening quotes. It would be pointless to send you're lawyers after me as I haven't got two brass haypennies to rub together.
Chapter 2 - Conversations with Dead People
"I'll find her, wherever she is,
tie her up, torture her,
until she likes me again.
Spike - 'Lovers walk,' Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"And what time do you call this?"
Lucius looked around, not realising at first who was speaking to him as he reached the top of the stairs in the Malfoy Manor. He looked at his watch, checking the time. "I'd say it was about half past one."
"Your Mother has been checking your room every twenty minutes for the past two hours to see if you had decided to come home yet."
"Gran, I'm 21. I think I come can home at half past one without it being dubbed a national incident." Lucius said, trying to walk past.
"Where do you think you're going?" Hestia Malfoy said from her portrait. "Don't ignore me Lucius, I'll just follow you through every portrait in the house. I don't care if I wake the whole estate up."
"I'mtrying to go to bed, Gran." Said Lucius, shaking his head at the fact he was having a conversation with a painting. "Why do we have to go through this,every time I come home late?"
"Becauseevery time you come home late, your mother paces up and down these halls, keeping me awake." She said. "It would be different if you could just pick a girl and stick to her, Lucius. But flitting from girl to girl is hardly conducive to fulfilling your pureblood obligations and carrying on the family name, is it?"
"I haven't met the right girl yet, that's all."
"Well you'd better hurry up and meet her, your mother's patience only extends so far and your father will no doubt be having words with you about it soon."
"Have you been eavesdropping on my parents conversations again?" Lucius accused, giving his grandmother a harsh look.
"You're lucky that I do occasionally happen to over hear your parents conversations, who else is going to look out for you in this house?"
"I don't think lecturing me every time I walk past you, counts as looking out for me, Gran."
"Well if I didn't I would never get to talk to you, would I?" She said, raising her nose into the air and sniffing. "You never even say 'good morning' anymore. And when was the last time you visited me in the family crypt? Those dead carnations are beginning to look like a real eyesore!"
"Gran! What have I told you about that? It's morbid to spy on people coming to visit your grave. The last time you said 'hello' to my mother while she was in there, she fainted and had to spend a week recuperating. Father said he'll place a silencing charm on the portraits if you don't behave."
"Your father is all talk and no action, he'll never do it." Hestia said with an air of confidence.
"If you keep talking like that, Father will have you hung in the cellar with Aunty Beatty." Lucius said with a smirk.
"Don't be soft, Lucius." She said, pointing her finger in the direction of his bedroom. "Just go to bed or your mother will have bags as big as Billywig's."
"Itried doing that when I came in..."
"Yes, but I needed to talk to you first. Don't argue with me."
"Yes, alright, Gran. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Lucius shook his head and walked down the hall to his bedroom. He might have pretended otherwise, but he really enjoyed the spats he had with his Grandmother. In life she had been a fiery lady and it was not beyond her to hit him over the head with her snake-headed, walking cane. In death, the only thing that had changed about her was that she was no longer able to give him a clip round the ear-hole, when she thought he needed one. Her cane now lay in his father's study, on display and unused, which Lucius thought was a terrible shame.
"You sure you're Mother is ok with me staying here tonight?" Lucretia asked, placing a pillow at the end of the bed.
"Yeah of course she is." Cissy replied. "She doesn't mind it when you stay over." Cissy added an extra blanket to the bed. "Was it nice getting to spend some time with Ash?"
A dreamy look spread across Lucretia's face. "Yes. It was a surprise of the best kind." She looked a little guilty. "Sorry for abandoning you, by the way. It's just..."
"I know, I know, you hardly get to see him." Cissy said with a small shake of her head. "It's ok, it was worth it, if at least one of us had a good time at that wretched party."
"Ok." Lucretia said, sitting down on the bed and giving her friend a stern look. "What happened?"
"Oh, it wasn't anything."
"Cissy..."
"Alright." She sighed and sat down opposite her friend. "Lucius Malfoy..."
"Not again!" Lucretia shook her head sadly. "Don't tell me I subjected you to that git? I'm so sorry, Cissy."
"Sadly, yes, you did subject me to him again." She dropped her shoulders a little. "But it's ok, I was more annoyed at myself than anything. He's so bloody quick off the mark, he says something to me and my mouth starts talking before it has time to catch up with my brain."
"That's awful, darling."
"It's not that bad, I just want to throw myself into the pits of darkness for a few minutes." Cissy said, picking up her half drunk, glass of black vodka and taking a sip. "I don't know why I can't just meet a nice, pureblood boy. Does your Ash have any brothers?"
"I'm not entirely sure, actually, Cissy." Lucretia said, taking the glass from her friends hand and having a sip. "I asked him about it one day and all he did was go all quiet and start muttering under his breath. So he either doesn't and he's bitter about having to carry the family responsibilities on his own or he does and they're either dead or disowned." She closed her eyes, very poor choice of words.
Cissy shook her head. "It's ok, Lu. Don't worry about it."
"Are you ok?"
"Of course I am." Cissy, smiled. "I'm going downstairs and get a sandwich or something. I'm starving. You want anything?"
"No, I'm fine, darling."
"Alright, I'll be back in about ten minutes." She said, sliding off the bed and walking out of her room to go downstairs. She walked as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb anyone in the house as she walked into the kitchen and went straight to the cabinet to pull out some cooked ham and bread to make a sandwich with. It was then, while standing with her bare feet on the cold stone floor, that something clicked inside her mind.
She had come into the kitchen once, to get a vase for her mother, if she remembered correctly and had seen Andromeda hiding something at the back of a cupboard. She had forgotten about it until that very moment and she had meant to inspect it not long after that to see what it was her sister had been hiding. But Andromeda running away and marrying that mudblood, Ted Tonks, had made the whole family want to forget that she had ever existed at all and Cissy had forgotten about Andromeda's hiding place altogether.
Cissy walked over to the cupboard and slid her small hand into the gap and could feel something brush against her fingertips, she wiggled her fingers a little and managed to grasp at something, thin and papery. She gave it a sharp tug and pulled an envelope free, of it's dusty hiding place.
She looked down, turned the yellowed envelope in her hands and inspecting the name on the front of it. She raised a curious eyebrow and lifted the flap, carefully removing the parchment from inside before she unfolded it and began to read.
My Darling,
I know that we can never be together, but it doesn't stop me thinking about you.
My mind cannot forget the night of ecstasy that we spent in one another's arms.
I beg to spend one more night with you.
If you reply to this letter, with your consent, then I will come to your house tomorrow
and ask your father for your hand. If you do not, then I will take it as a rejection and
leave you to your happiness, with whomever you chose.
I wait with anticipation.
Rabastan
X
Cissy folded the letter up and raised her eyebrows; whatever she had been expecting to see inside that letter, it was safe to say that what she'd read, had not been it. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised, sisters were supposed to look out for one another. Rabastan must have delivered the letter by hand, as there were no claw marks on the envelope nor any other of the telltale signs of owl post. Andromeda had been protecting her big sister; preventing her boyfriend from finding out she had slept with his brother.
Cissy took the envelope and slid it back into it's hiding place. She might be dead to her now, but she would allow Andromeda to keep the one last, good thing she had done for her family, alive.
Lucius sat in his bedroom, enjoying a final glass of firewhiskey, before planning on getting into his bed and sleeping away most of the next morning. His thoughts drifted back to the party, he had particularly enjoyed tormenting the youngest Black sister in the rose garden while she had smoked her cigarette. She was the perfect kind of girl to torment, one who bit easily and who didn't have an answer at the ready to whatever he might say.
It helped that she wasn't entirely, unpleasant to the eye either, he wasn't sure why he hadn't noticed before, but he would have to have been blind not to notice her tonight. He thought it a shame that such a fantastic dress was wasted on that particularly pathetic party. His eyes scanned over her in his mind, the cut on the back had accentuated her slim frame and there had been something about the way it had hung on the front that had made her ample breasts impossible not to notice.
He began concocting things in his mind; while Rodolphus insisted on spending so much time with Bellatrix, he may as well use it to his advantage. As long as he did it subtly, Narcissa Black might be fun to play with for a while.
Author's Notes:
This chapter was, in part, inspired by the fabulous; Makani's fanart. If you aren't familiar with her work, just type: accio brain, into google and her site should come up. Check out her fanart 100 if you like Lucius/Cissy because I can't even begin to explain how good she is.
Thanks go to my beta Twiist for helping to cope with my eccentricities. Thanks also to allycat1186 and GiggleGinny, thanks for your reviews girls!
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