Chapter 4-Winning

Narcissa awoke at four in the morning to her husband swearing and throwing back the covers.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, as he got up from the bed and pulled on his robes, "Where are you going?"

He ignored her. "Lucius? What in Merlin's name is going on?" She demanded.

He spun around to face her, and his pale face was angry. "I have to go to work, Narcissa." He said.

"Right now?" She asked, "In the middle of the night."

"Yes right now." He spat, and pulled up the sleeve of his robe, to show her the Dark Mark, burning black against his skin.

"O-oh..." She stammered.

"Look, I'm sorry," He said quickly, seeing that she was upset, "But I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can."

She watched him as he turned from the room, the door banging shut behind him. Narcissa sighed, being married to Lucius Malfoy was hardly going to be boring, she decided.

The night was full of the shouts of excited Death Eaters as they scattered from the scene, their work finished. The Dark mark now burned in the sky above the house of the blood traitors, the husband and wife, who lay bleeding and dead on the floor of their home.

"How was the wedding?" Bellatrix's silky voice whispered in his ear. "Or perhaps I should ask how the events after the wedding were?" She laughed quietly.

"I thought you were in France." Lucius said, turning to face his sister-in-law.

"I was." She said, smiling, "But I didn't want to miss out on all the fun." She laughed and turned back into the night, walking away from him.

He followed behind her, and she looked back and called over her shoulder, "It's a shame that their son and his lovely wife weren't there as well..." She yelled, motioning back to the house they had just left. "I'm sure you remember Arthur Weasley?"

Lucius frowned, "Those are his parents?"

"Were his parents." Bellatrix corrected, Lucius caught up with her and fell into step beside her. They were quiet for a few minutes until Bellatrix finally stopped.

"Bella..." He began.

She interrupted him. "Say hello to Cissy for me." She said, before disappearing.

"Come on Regulus." Walburga commanded, steering her son straight towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Regulus closed his eyes as they passed right through the wall and onto the platform.

"Where did Sirius go?" Regulus asked, looking through the mist for some sign of his older brother. Walburga gave him a sharp look.

"I suspect he's on the train already." She said, "With his Griffindor friends." She said the word Griffindor as though it were a bad taste in her mouth. "Now." She said, and looked down at her younger son, "Don't let your brother be a bad influence on you, do you understand?"

Regulus nodded, and wondered what his mother would do to him if he wasn't sorted into Slytherin.

"Good." She gave him a last, meaningful look, "Goodbye darling." She said and quickly kissed him on the forehead, "I'll see you at Christmas."

"Right." Regulus said, and turned from his mother, toward the giant scarlet steam engine. It was really happening, he was escaping from Grimauld place and his overprotective parents, he was going to Hogwarts. He made his way through the mass of students and their parents and found his way onto the train.

"Regulus!" A voice called from behind him. He turned to see a small boy with a mop of sandy hair and a large grin making his way through the crowd towards him. He was carrying a large cage containing a tawny owl. "This is mad isn't it!" The boy grinned, "We're finally going! Can you believe it!"

"Hello Barty." Regulus said, together the boys made their way into an empty compartment. "When did you get the owl?" He asked.

"Dad bought him for me." Barty said proudly, and the owl gave a low hoot. "As a start of school present."

They sat down in the seats closest to the window, looking out at the parents who stood waving on the platform. But neither of the boys had relatives standing and waving to them.

"How was your summer?" Barty asked, turning back to his friend.

Regulus shook his head, "Fine, I suppose. Yours?"

"It was alright." Barty leaned forward in his seat slightly, "Father wasn't home much, there's been trouble at the ministry."

Regulus raised an eyebrow. "You mean the minister resigning?"

Barty shook his head, "He didn't resign, Regulus." Barty said, and his eyes were shining with excitement. "He was murdered."

Regulus frowned, Barty was always full of stories from listening in on conversations his parents had. "He can't have been." Regulus said.

"It was those Death Eaters, the people working for you-know-who." He said quietly, "The ministry kept it all quiet, said he'd resigned and moved to America. But it's not true, he was murdered!"

Regulus didn't know whether or not to believe Barty Crouch and his stories, "Why wouldn't the ministry just tell the truth?"

Barty looked at Regulus as though he were an idiot. "Because they don't want to make it look like they're losing the war! Don't you see."

"But are they going to lose?" Regulus asked.

Barty shrugged, "Suppose we'll see." He said. "I think it's exciting, don't you?"

"Yah, I guess." Regulus replied, turning to watch out the window again as the train pulled away from the station. He didn't want to think about wars and murders today, he was going to Hogwarts.

(A/N: Arthur's parents are thought to be Cedrella Black and Septimus Weasley. Cedrella was disowned when she married Septimus because the Weasley's were considered blood traitors. So that's why Bella was so excited to be a part of their deaths, although she wouldn't admit to Lucius that she was related to them.)