"A true Pureblood man is loyal to his master, friendly to his neighbors, generous to his mistress, and civil to his wife."

On Pureblood Relationships, 1934

• • • • • • •

The train ride back to Hogwarts, I saw, would be awkward and uncomfortable. Lucius had swept off to his secret meetings as soon as we boarded, and Audrey brooded uncharacteristically. "I'm surprised you would deign to sit with me, your majesty," she sniped without provocation. Questions about her holiday were answered in short, terse sentences, and we soon fell silent. Hester snored quietly in the corner.

So lulled was I by the monotonous ride that I jumped up when the compartment door suddenly slid open within the first hour. The first-year Severus entered looking sheepish. "F—f—for you, ma'am," he stuttered nervously, extending to me a folded note. I took it and quickly recognized Lucius' handwriting.

It was an order for me to join him in his compartment. Do not tell Audrey why, it read. My first instinct was to refuse such a rude command, but the spell sensed my disobedience, and I began to feel the effects. Damn Lucius.

I stood, and Audrey glared accusations at me. "I'm sorry, Audrey," I tried to placate her, "but I have to leave."

"Running off to your master?" she accurately guessed. She turned away from me to face the window. Hastily, I went to Lucius. The pressure of the spell completely alleviated.

Lucius looked up with a smug expression when I entered. "Ah, so it worked."

I glowered at him, allowing him to see the anger on my face, which he ignored. "You could have asked," I spat at him. "You could have fetched me yourself. You didn't have to send a command through an errand boy."

"It was an experiment," he answered nonchalantly, brushing away my words with a sweep of his hand. "You don't know the value of learning everything there is to know about this spell."

"Of course, I don't. I'm the one it's being tested on."

Lucius gave me a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Sit," he said pointedly.

I sat. Of course I did.

"She was certainly being rude to you," he continued.

I pursed my lips. "I'm sure she didn't mean to do it. She's probably just miffed that we weren't able to spend time together this holiday."

"I hope she gets used to it. Audrey Burke was acting out like a spoiled child."

"That is not fair, Lucius. As we have already gone over countless times, Audrey is my friend."

"Who throws a fit whenever you aren't paying attention to her. Angry because she sees her control over you slipping, perhaps?"

"Control over me?" I retorted bitterly. "You're the only one with who's ever that."

He smiled, as though pleased with the idea. "And I attend to keep it that way." He shrugged, "I don't particularly dislike your relationship with the Burke girl—simply, I think you could do much better. She has done nothing for you. She's used to feeding off of your popularity, your wealth. She's a leech, Cissy."

I sniffed. "Obviously, you and I have two very different definitions of friendship."

Lucius laughed. "No, my pet. You have a definition of friendship. I'm the one who understands that there is no such thing."

• • • • • • •

"They're thes—thestrals," stammered Severus, noticing my shocked expression. "They've always been there. Except you c—can't see them unless you seen someone die."

That would explain it then. I had seen Abraxas Malfoy die, and now I could see the thestrals—death incarnate. "Can you see them too?" I asked a disinterested Lucius.

He nodded absently. "I could see them since last year," he answered, placing our trunks into the carriage the thestrals were carting.

We rode to the castle, depositing our luggage in the foyer for the house-elves to take to our rooms, and headed straight to the Great Hall for dinner. I scanned the almost full Slytherin table for Audrey, but she wasn't among those seated.

Lucius led me toward his group of lackeys, sitting me between him and Rabastan. "Rab, have you seen Audrey?" I asked.

"I saw her go to the dormitory," he said around a mouth full of food. "She said she wasn't hungry."

She was angry and avoiding me then. Of course she was. I had abandoned her on the train, giving her a pitiful excuse. But she was angry at me before that. I needed to talk to her, I decided.

After dinner, I opted to skip the usual Slytherin festivities and made my way through the labyrinth of corridors to get to the dormitories. Climbing down to the room I shared with the other 6th year girls, I noticed that Audrey's bed curtains were drawn closed.

"Audrey?" I called. No answer came. I sighed and climbed back up the stairs to Lucius.

It wasn't until much later in the night when I returned to the dorm with the rest of the girls. The room soon filled with the bitter smell of smoke and alcohol we carried with us from the celebrations above. Our cheeks were flushed, and no one was in the mood for sleep.

"Cissa!" gushed one of the girls. "Tell us all about your romantic holiday with Lucius."

"I'd hardly call it romantic," I answered, sitting down to brush my hair. "His father was dying after all."

"Yes, of course," said another, "but you can't possibly expect us to believe you didn't have any time alone with him."

I remembered the rides over the virgin snow of Wiltshire; the chess matches by the fire; the stolen moments under the oak tree. "Yes," I said with a smile. "I had a few."

Audrey's bed curtains were suddenly thrown open . "It must have been more than a few, since you didn't even have a spare moment to reply to one of my letters," Audrey said, emerging from her bed.

"No," I said standing, shaking my head in confusion. "I didn't get any of your letters, Audrey, or I would have responded."

"Oh, and I suppose you didn't hear about my coming to visit you?" she continued bitterly. "I waited all afternoon alone in the Malfoys' foyer, and you never showed up."

I stepped toward her beseechingly. "Audrey, believe me. I didn't know anything about your visit or your letters. You're my friend, and I love you. I wouldn't hurt you."

"Are you saying that Lucius is deliberately keeping me away from you?"

"I don't know about deliberate—!"

"You said it yourself, you didn't know about my visit or my letters. Who, if not Lucius, would be in control of that? Who else would have a reason?"

"It was a busy week," I said, searching my mind for answers. "His father was dying—we were in and out of the house, it was Christmastime—"

"Do you love him?" she asked abruptly. The other girls giggled nervously at Audrey's question, and I remembered that we had an audience.

I returned to my vanity and continued combing my hair. "What's not to love?" I replied flippantly, attempting to return this conversation to somewhat normal. "Lucius is handsome, clever, rich—"

"Evil."

The other girls gasped, astounded that anyone would dare say something against Lucius Malfoy.

"No, he's not," I calmly responded, continuing to comb my hair. I caught her gaze in the mirror. "Sometimes people don't understand him or his motives because he's—"

"A liar?" she interrupted snidely.

"No, he's—!"

"Manipulative!"

I slammed my brush down against the vanity. "This is my future husband you're slandering," I told her through clenched teeth.

"It's not slander if it's true, Narcissa," Audrey retorted.

I stood up to face her, finally furious. "Who the hell do you think you are? You are an uppity little nothing that wormed your way into the graces of your betters. Lucius tried to warn me about you. You come from nothing, and that's exactly how you'll end up. You are a pathetic little leech."

Her face pale, Audrey stood in the middle of the room, shaking—in anger or something else, I don't know. "You are a damnable fool if you go through with marrying Malfoy. He will lie to you. He will cheat on you. He will treat you like a dog—he already does. Life with him will bring you nothing but misery and heartache!"

"Shut your mouth!" I screamed, slapping her across the face. I instantly regretted what I'd done the moment I saw my bright pink handprint against her pale skin.

Touching her cheek gingerly, Audrey looked more shocked than anything else. Her eyes were wide, almost like amazement. "They were right about you, Narcissa. A viper in the grass. Now I see I've spoken too late. You're already in love with him. And you two deserve each other."

"Audrey!" I said, reaching out to her—in regret, in apology. She shook me off and retreated behind the curtains of her bed.

• • • • • • •

"Her father's business if failing," Rabastan answered, when I asked him about Audrey's odd behavior of late. "Her parents fight constantly. She said you never sent her an owl throughout the holidays, even though she sent you several letters."

"She did not!" I exclaimed, outraged.

Rabastan held up his hands, as though protecting himself. "I'm just the messenger! Don't be angry with me!"

Whatever was bothering Audrey, it didn't let up even after several weeks at Hogwarts. She was moody and unresponsive. She snapped at me when I asked her what ailed her and disappeared for hours on end. Her grades began to fail, as she stopped attending classes. She was suffering, I could sense, but I did not know how to stop it.

And she would not forgive me.

In terms of my relationship with Lucius, if I had expected our intimacy from the holidays to continue, I would have been sorely mistaken. Lucius soon reverted back to his old ways, and was perhaps even colder than before.

"He's busy," Rabastan would explain. Faithful Rab, the dutiful intercessor between the King and Queen of Slytherin.

I suppose in part that was true. Lucius had inherited a vast fortune, as well as property and businesses across Europe—a virtual empire. Of course he couldn't trouble himself with the likes of his fiancée.

Whenever I did approach him, he would purse his lips into a thin smile, struggling to control the annoyance my presence caused him. Half listening to my efforts at conversation, he would search for the earliest possible moment to hurry off to something more important.

If anything, it was those secret meetings that took up a majority of his time. They would occur at any hour of the day without notice or convenience, it seemed. Not able to fight my curiosity, I would often prod Rabastan with information about the dealings that occurred there.

"I'm sorry, Cissa, but I can't tell you anything," Rabastan would answer. "It's Lucius' orders to specifically not tell you what goes on during the meetings. We're not even supposed to admit such meetings exist."

I let the matter go, albeit grudgingly. Rabastan was a friend, and I didn't want to get him into trouble by asking him more questions. And honestly, I was too frightened of Lucius to even bring the topic up with him. Childishly, however, I was curious as to what occurred during the meetings, and was hurt that Lucius didn't include me.

I couldn't have known then how naïve I was being. My innocent curiosity toward the meetings. My confusion over Audrey's behavior. But then, no one knew really what was to happen.

Hogwarts, by nature, always did seem distanced from the troubles of the real world. Those of us nestled there were blissfully ignorant of the gathering dark. Only the most sensitive of teachers—Dumbledore, most certainly—and the truest followers of the Dark Lord had any inkling of what was to come. I myself didn't realize the full extent of those days until years later.

Lucius made sure of it.

• • • • • • •

It was the morning of a Hogsmeade weekend, and the dorm was deserted. I slept in late because, per usual, Lucius was too busy to accompany me, and I did not feel like going by myself. I took comfort in lying in my bed, half asleep, lulled by the sound of the crackling stove.

The sound of Audrey's screams startled me awake. "No! NO! Merlin, no!" Immediately, forgetting our childish squabbling, I rushed to her bed and threw back the curtains. Audrey sat sobbing on her bed, her nightgown and beddings soaked in blood. As soon as she saw me, she threw herself in my arms.

"Dear Merlin!" I gasped at the sight of the blood. My eyes raked over her body, trying to find the wound but couldn't. I hugged her to me, a vain attempt to stop her from shaking.

"Cissy…"

I felt tears forming in the corner of my eyes, and I held her closer. "Audrey, what happened?"

"I—I lost it!" she cried, clinging to me. "I lost the baby!"


A/N: I know, I'm a horrible person. I haven't updated in an eternity and then I leave you with a cliff hanger. I promise, PROMISE, you won't have to wait a year for the next chapter.