Chapter Six:

Narcissa woke up somewhere around midnight and was unable to fall asleep. She swung off her bed, fixed her blonde, curly hair, and went on a walk, pocketing her wand.

She hadn't been walking long around the Astronomy Tower, when she caught voices. Being the youngest, she always listened in to her parents' and siblings' conversations, so she was excellent with eavesdropping.

She crept closer to peak around the corner.

To her surprise, it was Andromeda and Ted.

Ted had his arm around her, and he held her lovingly. The look in his eyes was caring and tender. "Meda, do you ever think about the future?" he asked gently, cautiously.

"I worry about it," her older sister admitted softly. "I'll be burned from our family tree and disowned and disinherited if I...uh, continued a relationship with you. My family would disown me and never accept me back."

Ted began slowly, "I don't want to ask you to know now, but would you consider that for me? Because I don't want anything horrible to happen to you, and I'll break up if it hurts you to betray your family too much."

Andromeda paused for a long moment. Then, she turned and kissed Ted on the mouth. They didn't break away for a long, long time. When they did, Andromeda whispered, "Ted, I would rather betray my family than consider breaking up."

Ted whispered, "Really?"

"Yes. Really. I love you."

He pulled her onto his lap, nuzzling her neck gently and lovingly. He murmured tenderly, "I love you, too."

Narcissa crept back, not wanting to hear much more. She hadn't taken two steps away from the situation when she literally crashed into the one and only, Lucius Malfoy.

Clenching her teeth together to prevent herself from making a sound, she pushed him around a corner and against the wall so he would find Andromeda and Ted and they wouldn't hear them eavesdropping.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Walking? Obviously, there is the possibility for more than one person to be sleepless."

His blunt answer left her mind confused for a moment; then she remembered she was also keeping him away from her sister and boyfriend. "Well, you can walk with me. Let's walk this way."

"Why?" asked Lucius.

"Because, there's nothing to see in that direction," stated Narcissa.

Lucius grinned coyly. "You sure? Your very own sister, Andromeda, visits her boyfriend over there."

"How'd you know?" she hissed.

He chuckled. "I walk this way every time I can't sleep. I caught them weeks ago."

"So when you said Andromeda snogs well, you meant...?"

"In Ted's opinion, obviously." Lucius gave her his most arrogant grin, which she found herself almost swooning over. Almost.

"Good. You worried me. I can't imagine my sister kissing the likes of you," Narcissa said rudely, though he could see through the teasing.

Lucius touched her cheek, turning her towards the wall. "Yes, and yet you..." He closed his eyes and brushed his lips against hers. "Yet you just did kiss the likes of me."

Narcissa went to step back and hit the wall. She winced. "Ouch." She rubbed her head, saying, "And if you kiss me again, Malfoy, you'll find it hard to walk for the next three weeks."

Lucius grinned at her. "I love the way you always threaten to hurt me physically. Absolutely adorable."

She glared at him. "Oh yeah? At least all boys don't know how I snog, because I don't hand out snogging like you do. You prat."

He was grinning again. His grins were so attractive - they made her head spin. "Oh? I'll find out how you snog."

"Nope." She turned her cheek to him when he leaned in. "Not today, Malfoy. Good luck with that!"

She skipped down the hall and disappeared to bed.

Lucius watched her leave, deciding that, no matter what, he would get this girl - this beautiful, strange, charming girl to fall in love with him like he did with her, and he would snog her. Someday. Soon. Preferably within tomorrow and around that time range.