3 – Despite common misconceptions, Slytherins have a conscience. They just sometimes ignore it to achieve their goal.

Just keep calm. He'll get bored of it in some moment. Ignore them. Ignore them…

Lucius stood up from the armchair in the Slytherin common room he was sitting in and went straight to Narcissa and Jacob Nott. They were sitting near the fireplace, and she was laughing at something the other boy had said. Nott glanced at Lucius and winked at him, then turned his attention back to Narcissa.

"Black. We need to talk." Lucius said. She stared at him in surprise.

"I don't think so, Malfoy. I told you what I wanted to."

"No, I'm serious. We really need to talk."

Narcissa sighed. Lucius was starting to hate these sighs; they meant that she's really annoyed at him. She left her place and went to the deserted part of the common room.

"What do you want?"

"You mustn't trust Nott." Lucius said, lowering his voice. "He's making fun of you."

The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? And how exactly?" The skepticism in her voice was obvious.

"He… he made a bet with… with Zabini." Lucius said. He was making up the story right now and he had no idea what to say next. "Yeah. A bet. He said that he'll have a date for you in four days and err… he said that he can become your boyfriend if he wants."

Narcissa just stood there, but Lucius could see some kind of confusion pass through her piercing blue eyes.

"He… he really did that?" she asked quietly.

Lucius suddenly felt miserably. How could he do that to her? It was all a lie, of course, but he was sure that he can be better than Nott if he just once win her heart… But still… Could he cause such a pain to her?

"Yes." He nodded finally. "He did it. I'm sorry, but I just wanted to warn you."

"Thank you… thank you for telling me anyway." Narcissa whispered and then silently left the room, climbing the stairs to her dormitory.

Lucius froze where he stood. Wait, this wasn't part of the plan. The idea included Narcissa shouting to Nott and not letting him defend himself, and then never talking to him again. It definitely didn't include a silent acceptation from a hurt Narcissa.

"Cissa…" Lucius said. She glanced at him questioningly.

"Yes?"

For half an instant, he had changed his mind. He wanted to tell her the truth and everything else, but he would be too ashamed to admit everything to her. And plus, she'll never speak to him again, even if she knew. He felt guilty. It wasn't fair to lie to her like that just because he was jealous.

As for her feelings now... He was sure that she didn't even like Nott that much. She would get over it. And Lucius honestly didn't care about Nott and his feelings.

So, instead of actually saying something important, he just smiled slightly.

"Goodnight."

She tried to smile back – and almost succeeded.

"Goodnight, Malfoy." She said and closed the door behind her.

Lucius tried to ignore that tiny voice in his head shouting at him what an evil act was that and smiled to himself. Soon, he thought. It was for her own good, wasn't it? Nott was just not the right person for her. Soon this whole thing will work.