Chapter IV

Plus One

a/n; A really shore and pathetic chapter.

The rest of the school year had gone by with no further event and summer was just as boring. Lucius had found that, after the Christmas incident, his father wasn't as keen to take him over to the Blacks. Something about Bellatrix being a bad influence and Lucius needing to learn how to act around ladies. As if he could consider Bellatrix, Andromeda or Narcissa a lady in any event. Either way, it was evidently considered poor behavior to disappear with two of them and wreak havoc in the Black stables. So it had been on September 1st when he and his father reached Platform 9¾ to go back for his second year that he saw them again and was reminded that Narcissa was only a year younger and thus was starting her first year at Hogwarts. Abraxas had stopped to chat, but rather like Bellatrix and Andromeda, Lucius had decided that he was going to go and find an empty compartment. Really, being seen with ones father at the train station was horridly embarrassing.

He wasn't sure how long his father had stayed out there, laughing with Cygnus, but it didn't matter entirely too much. He'd found a compartment and, rather than searching out his friends, they'd found him. Walden Macnair, Gregory Goyle, Martin Crabbe, and Charles Avery. There was another boy in their year, Alexander Dumond, but his accent annoyed Lucius a great deal. If you were French, why didn't you go to the French school? He had, though, saved one seat and he was watching out the compartment door for the person he'd saved it for. It was only polite, after all, and she was his friend. He'd hate for it to get back to his father that he had poor manners.

Crabbe and Goyle strummed up some sort of competition between the two of them and, while they were at whatever they were fighting over, Lucius kept an eye out the door. Finally, the little blonde head he was watching for came around, her walk a little hesitant and unsure of where she was going. Lucius got up from his seat and stepped over to the door, leaning out slightly.

"Cissa! Come sit in here with us," he invited, reaching out to grab her trunk for her and pulling it in after him and putting it up top. At the entrance, the two stopped the fight they were in the middle of to exchange frowns and look at the new addition.

Avery was the one to speak up. "Um. Malfoy. That's a first year. Shouldn't she be… with the rest of the first years?"

Lucius cocked a disdainful eyebrow at the boy. "I know she's a first year. What difference does that make? Weren't you a first year last year?"

"Yes, but now we're second years and as such, first years don't belong with us," he replied, sneering slightly.

Narcissa shook her head at her friend, eyes rolling slightly. "It's fine, Lu, I'll go see if I can find someone else to sit with. Maybe Be-"

Lucius frowned a bit, raising a hand to silence Narcissa. He really didn't want to lose this fight. That would be weak. "No. I believe I was the first one in here, so technically, this is my compartment. If you have a problem with who I invite to sit in my compartment, Avery, then perhaps you should find your own compartment, where you can choose whatever company you wish to keep."

The boy glared slightly at Lucius. He was being kicked out? Really? For a first year? He got up and grabbed his trunk. "C'mon, Walden. There are less crowded compartments elsewhere."

Macnair frowned at his friend before sighing. Fine. It wasn't like he was comfortable or anything. He got up and pulled down his trunk as well to follow Avery out. Lucius closed the door after them, making it rather evident that no one else was invited in, nor were Walden and Charles to be invited back. He put Narcissa's trunk up and sat down, arms crossed and legs up on the seat across from him, just a bit moody now. Narcissa, feeling decidedly awkward, sat down silently in the seat near his feet, watching him a moment before looking out the window. It was going to be a long first train ride.


The sorting had been embarrassing, but it could have gone much worse. She could have ended up in Gryffindor, which would have been just horrid. But she was a Slytherin, where she was expected to be, and glad to be there. This house held everyone she knew outside of school, including her sisters.

Narcissa had found her way to a couch in the common room, settled between Lucius and another friend of his, Rabastan Lestrange. Rabastan, who was in the same year as Lucius, had been otherwise preoccupied on the train, as he'd explained when Lucius had found him earlier that evening. They were all playing some sort of game; she had yet to figure it out.

So far, she got that you needed to tell some sort of lie. And then if your lie was detected, you had to do something, something the person who caught you dared you to do. But if they accused you of lying and you weren't, well. She wasn't sure what happened then. So far, it looked like either most of Slytherin were very good at lying, didn't want to face what happened when you were caught lying so didn't lie, didn't want to get caught trying to catch a lie, or, if you were Lucius or Rabastan, accused everyone of lying and had them too intimidated to tell you they weren't lying. And if you were Narcissa, you lied anyway and no one challenged that due to the boys sitting protectively on either side of her.

And if you were Andromeda, you were sneaking out of the common room whilst everyone else was distracted with the stupid game. She glanced back down the hallway, making sure no one was following her. Bella had already told their parents she had made friends with people who they most certainly wouldn't approve of. Admittedly, when she'd come to Hogwarts, she had believed their ideals about blood and purity. She had been uncertain about such cold heartedness, but she had believed them. Until the moment she met what they called a mudblood and had seen nothing wrong with them other than that they were a little confused.

She had to go through quite a bit of the castle to get up to the 'safe' corridors. No Slytherin would be up this high in the castle at this hour. A smile crossed her face as she entered the empty classroom her group of Ravenclaw friends were hanging out in. Much better.

"Annie! Come 'ere, I wanna show you something!" called one named Ted Tonks. He was holding up some book that looked like someone's diary with a grin on his face. Well. She was still a Slytherin; these were the sorts of things that they found naturally interesting.


It was late. Every other member of her dormitory had already fallen asleep. Except Narcissa. She just couldn't sleep. It wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable, but rather that the room had to be shared with so many other people. And it was an entirely unfamiliar place. Once sleep had proved impossible here, she'd gotten out of bed, pulled on a robe and sought out her sisters. Andromeda's bed was empty, but Narcissa really didn't give it a second thought. She headed for Bellatrix's, only to be shooed out of the room by a very tired, very cranky sister. And so, she ended up in the common room to find a surprise. Lucius was still up, lounging out on a couch and just staring at the fireplace.

"What are you doing up?" she asked curiously, crossing the room to sit beside him on the couch, earning a shrug.

"I don't sleep very much," he replied distractedly. Truth be told, he didn't sleep very much because he didn't want the other boys in his dormitory to know of his nightmares. Not that that particular truth would ever be told. "Why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep and Dromeda isn't in her bed and Bella kicked me out," she said, yawning widely. It wasn't that she wasn't tired or, like him, didn't sleep much. She just couldn't. She climbed over him, though, to sit on the inside of the large couch rather than perched on the outside and proceeded to settle down against him, making the twelve-year-old boy frown and shift uncomfortably.

"You know, maybe you should go back up to your room and try your bed again. You never know, if you just lay down and close your eyes, you could fall asleep up there," he said uncomfortably, arm held out wide so he was as far from holding her as possible.

"Just shhh, Lu," she muttered, closing her eyes as she rubbed her face a little on his shirt, clamping an arm around him as if he were a rather large teddy bear.

"I don't think this is allowed, we could get in to trouble," he tried again. No answer. He frowned and moved enough to see her face. She couldn't have fallen asleep that fast. He poked her side. No response. "Cissa, come on. You're not sleeping. Cissa!"

When she didn't answer, he tried to remove himself from her grip, only for her to tighten her hold. Finally, he sighed and settled down. Oh well. They'd just be out of there before anyone else woke up. He'd still be awake. Smiling as her pillow gave up struggling, Narcissa drifted off to sleep easily in her spot, Lucius not far behind her.


When Lucius woke up in the morning, Narcissa was gone. The common room was still fairly empty and a quick glance at the clock on the mantle of the common room said it was only just after seven. He was fairly confused, frowning briefly at the empty side of the couch before he got up and stretched out. There was enough time for a hot shower and breakfast before his first class at half passed eight. He left the common room up for his dormitory, fetching his clothes for the day and proceeding to the shower, moving quickly through the motions before he dried off and dressed swiftly, running to the Great Hall for breakfast and slowing as he noticed the Slytherin table. Narcissa was already there, sitting with Rabastan, who was rolling with laughter. Narcissa had a wide smile on her face as she related a story to his friend. He picked up his pace a tad, frown in place as he approached and sat next to Rabastan.

"So what's so funny?" he asked a little tightly, putting a few pieces of toast on his plate as he frowned a little more at the young blonde across from him.

She returned his frown with an even wider smile, something that caused Lucius more concern. "Nothing, really. I was just telling Rabastan about that time that when we were playing outside by the pond and Drommy accidentally fell on to Bella and she fell in. Do you remember? When she came out, there was all this gross wet grassy stuff on her head and a fish down her dress?"

He relaxed instantly. Of course Narcissa wouldn't be spreading bad stories about him. He gave a little chuckle as well, nodding briefly. He did remember that. Bella had been spitting fire for weeks after that. Narcissa said something then about having to run off for her class, leaving her there with Rabastan, who had finally managed to calm himself down, still grinning like a fool as he grabbed a piece of toast and glanced at his friend. "So. You weren't in the dorm last night."

Lucius paused a moment at that. No, he wasn't in the dorm last night. But no one had ever commented on it. "No, I was studying."

"Uh huh. Studying," he replied with a wider grin and a knowing nod.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Malfoy asked through some toast, doing a good job of pretending to be uninterested in this conversation.

"It just means you weren't studying," he explained simply, pouring himself some more juice. "I was up earlier than usual this morning and came down and saw you two on the couch. You're miserable to wake up, though, so I settled for waking Cissa up."

Lucius froze at that. Someone had seen? And that was why Narcissa had been gone when he had woken up. She didn't even seem remotely embarrassed about it, either. "She cornered me last night. I couldn't get away and ended up just falling asleep while I waited for her to do the same. It didn't mean anything!"

"Hey, I wasn't implying anything!" Rabastan defended swiftly, throwing his hands up in surrender. "I was just commenting that I saw you."

"And how much do you want to keep quiet?" the blonde said stiffly. He could afford anything the Lestrange wanted. But his friend simply shook his head.

"I don't want anything. I don't plan on saying anything. Merlin, Lucius, you're so paranoid," he said, downing his glass of juice quickly as he got up. "I need to go get my books. I'll see you in class, yeah?"

Rabastan was gone before Lucius could say anything in return, leaving him instead glaring suspiciously at the doors of the Great Hall.