A/N: Sorry, I haven't updated in a few days, but here's a new chapter, with Narcissa! Enjoy (:

Chapter 10

The morning after Rodolphus's visit to the pensieve, he awoke feeling very anxious. It was the last day before term was set to begin again. He felt around on his nightstand until his fingers grasped his wand, and then he shoved the covers off himself. He felt the need to take precautions- he wasn't sure if Crabbe still meant to punish him.

Inherently he hadn't, because all signs pointed to Crabbe already having headed down to breakfast. Rodolphus changed and was heading down the stairs just as Rosier awoke. "Hey, Rod?" asked Rosier.

"Yeah, Ev?" replied Rodolphus as he watched his groggy friend try to remember what he had meant to ask.

"Is everything ok? I mean, between you and Crabbe and MacNair and Bella?"

"Yeah, I think so, but who knows." Rodolphus shrugged and headed down the stairs. He wanted to check on Bellatrix.

When he got down to the common room, he found her already changed and wide awake in stunning emerald robes. The cuts on her face were mostly healed, and the cuts on her arms were covered. Rodolphus still saw bruises on her hands and face and dark circles under her eyes. He figured those would only go away with time. Despite the lingering marks of her attack, she had regained her air of arrogance and superiority that somehow reassured him as they walked down to breakfast together.

"You sleep ok?" he inquired, after about a minute of comfortable silence.

"Fine. You?" she said as she picked up the pace, forcing him to walk slightly behind her.

"Yeah, had a weird dream about Slughorn playing Quidditch…" he trailed off. She laughed a bit, but her smile quickly faded as she walked into the Great Hall and spotted her assailants. She replaced it with a look of haughty superiority, and sat beside her sister Narcissa. Rodolphus sat across from them, several seats down from any other Slytherins, one of the advantages of winter break.

Bellatrix read the Daily Prophet and sipped some tea while Rodolphus quickly scooped eggs and sausage onto his plate. Narcissa was making a racket cutting up her piece of ham, and Rodolphus glared at her to make her stop, but she looked at him desperately- it had been a ploy to get his attention.

"What is it?" he mouthed silently, astute to Narcissa's intention of not gaining Bellatrix's attention.

"Come with me after." She replied mutely, and he nodded his consent. He only hoped that whatever she needed didn't have to do with the Malfoy boy.

As it turned out, Lucius was not what Narcissa wanted to discuss. Rodolphus didn't need to think of an excuse to tell Bellatrix, because right after breakfast she dashed off to the library. He walked with Narcissa to the owlery, and stood gazing out over the ledge. She stood beside him, a good foot shorter, tugging her blonde hair nervously between her fingers.

"What's going on with Bellatrix?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what happened last night?" she looked up at him with large, worried eyes. "She had terrible nightmares, I could tell. I think something bad happened."

Rodolphus's jaw twitched, but he did not speak at first. He couldn't tell the truth to Narcissa. She was only thirteen, and barely anyone knew of what was going on with Voldemort. "I- I don't know, Narcissa."

She looked down. "Something's going on. Not just last night, but since the beginning of break. She's been distant, she's been in the library, or with you and Evan sneaking out-"

"How do you know we're sneaking out?"

"Because she always misses meals and leaves and comes into the common rooms at times when she knows there's no one in the corridors. Sometimes she has dirt all over her boots, and if she just went outside, it would be snow."

Rodolphus was surprised with the younger girl's shrewdness. Without waiting for him to reply, she continued. "You're with Him, I'd bet my wand on it. She is too, aw Bella! She's going to get herself put away or worse by getting mixed up in that. Lucius says he's joining up as soon as he can. I wish I'd have stopped her. I wish I'd have figured it out before right now." She closed her eyes. A few seconds later, Rodolphus noticed her crying.

"Aw, Narcissa, don't cry now." He sighed. "It's alright. Bella's a great witch, she'll be fine. Ev and I'll look out for her too."

She stemmed her tears and hiccupped, looking up at him after a moment the same way that Bellatrix did. Nervously, she asked, "It wasn't Him, was it? He wasn't the one that caused those nightmares?" She had asked him in such a way it was as if to ask him to reassure her that Voldemort could not be so evil as to subject his followers to terrible night scares. She wanted to know the dreams came from somewhere else.

Rodolphus nodded. "I can't say what it is, but it's not him."

Narcissa looked at him grimly. She nodded also. She then opened her mouth to speak again, but stopped. Rodolphus saw the slightest hint of a grin as she shut her mouth again.

"What were you going to say, Narcissa?" asked Rodolphus teasingly, yet taking full advantage of his imposing, large stature.

She blushed, and backed away a couple of steps. "I don't know. I mean, I was just gonna ask if, you know, once you've left Hogwart's and all, if you had any plans. Like maybe, I don't know, if you had thought about being with my sister." She blushed deeper as she said the end of the phrase.

"I don't know," he joked, "It would depend on how you felt about that, Narcissa."

"Oh," she said, taken aback, "I suppose it would be good, I mean, my sister does like you quite a bit."

"Oh yeah?" he challenged.

"Last night," she said, somber again, "When she was having those terrible nightmares, she looked like she was terribly frightened and like someone was trying to hurt her, and she kept mumbling your name. You can never tell her I told you though, or she'd curse me!"

Rodolphus laughed at the truth of the statement but promised not to tell. He felt suddenly excited by the news of Bellatrix calling his name in the dream. He said goodbye and thank you to Narcissa and dashed down the owlery steps, possibly to go take a ride on his broomstick and revel in this terrific news. He was stopped in his tracks, however, by a familiar prickle on his forearm, summoning him to his master's side…