Of Secrets and Deceptions

Chapter eleven: Getting to know them

Once they reached the pitch, Narcissa stood in the middle of the group and clapped twice to get their attention, "now if you could all separate into your small groups and sit in your areas." She then proceeded to assign them their area. There were ten on each group sp it didn't take long to get them sorted. Narcissa was once again in the middle of the four groups with all four males leading a group. She was hoping to simply observe the game and the students. Once all the children were seated and as attentive as they were going to be – she could see several of the Gryffindors pulling faces at each other – she began to speak again.

"Were going to play a little game. Hopefully everyone will know it. It's a muggle game I was thinking we could put a wizzarding twist too. It's called Capture the flag." This got quite a bit of applause so she had to give it a minute. "I'm glad you all approve. Anyway as I was saying there will be a twist. You are allowed to use levitation charms and only levitation charms when attempting to retrieve the flags and you may use any spells you can think of to defend your flag, the only rule is that it must be easy to reverse." She glanced around at the children and smiled at the calculating expressions some of the children wore. She realised she would most likely spend a majority of the game un-jinxing unlucky victims. "As you may have noticed the field has been divided into four areas, if each group would like to select an area and construct your flags with the materials provided and we can begin in twenty minutes." The groups made their way over to the divided area and waited to be directed to their area. Well the Slytherins did. The Gryffindors however, ran on and 'secured' their area.

Severus sighed and led his Slytherins to the area Harry, Seamus and Neville decided would be theirs, and the students began to design the flag. He arched an eyebrow when he saw the way the Gryffindor boys snatched the materials out of each other's hands. He did not miss however that this was the first time Harry had not spent a majority of his time staring at Black. He smiled at the thought that Harry was enjoying himself enough not to worry about not being with the mutt. Narcissa clapped her hands again a few minutes later and called the group back in and told them they were going to begin. Draco put their flag on the pole and Slytherins tried to engage the others in a strategic discussion. They were uninterested. The Gryffindors looked around the field eagerly, ready to play. Several Slytherins were watching them wondering what they were thinking before they got a chance to find out Narcissa flicked her wand and the game began.

It was chaos.

It started out fine, the Gryffindors rushed in and separated amongst the three 'enemy' groups while the Slytherins were left to defend themselves against the enemy. This went on for almost half an hour with very little disruption before Longbottom got himself hit with a particularly vicious hex. Narcissa and Lucius both took him to the infirmary leaving Severus to supervise the children and wolf and his pet. The students didn't seem to realise they had left. Things went fine... for a few minutes.

No one would to admit to starting it, by the time Narcissa and Lucius returned the entire group was covered head to toe in mud; including Severus. He was fuming, sending vicious looks towards the other Adults. They however seemed thrilled. The Slytherins were silent as soon as they saw the Malfoy's, the Gryffindors however were not that intelligent, they continued to talk and laugh amongst themselves. Lucius looked ready to intervene but Narcissa stopped him, the children needed to see her take control.

She clapped her hands twice and the group started to calm down. Harry led the group closer to the others. Narcissa smiled at the expression on her youngest sons face, he looked so at peace. She directed her attention to the general group and saw the semi-afraid expressions on some of their faces. "I see you enjoyed yourselves. Shall we return to your rooms where you can clean yourselves up?" Narcissa and Lucius took control of the group whilst the others went to their own rooms to clean themselves up. They made their way to the new rooms and the children separated to gather their belongings. Pansy came back out and asked Narcissa if the girls could go use the Prefect bathrooms and she gave permission, this would enable the boys to get through quicker as well.

It was almost an hour later the last of the kids returned to the common room and Narcissa was no closer to finding out what happened than she had been at the start. Well, not much could be done anyway, she decided to simply continue with the team games. As the students played card games in their groups Narcissa and Lucius The others showed up and seated themselves quietly, Severus scowled at the other two men before turning his back and ignoring them. Narcissa saw him frown and followed his gaze. Harry and the other Gryffindors weren't playing. They had their heads together discussing something between themselves as the Slytherins kept playing their cards were on the ground as if they had never participated. She looked over to Lucius and saw he was looking at the other men obviously amused. They were both staring at Severus.

...Later...

Narcissa and Lucius were sitting on a couch in their quarters. Cissa was leaning against her husband's chest, thinking about the events of the day trying to decide upon her next step. The two groups within the group were much divided, although they were trying to get along, the Slytherins were making an effort (how much of that was their decision and how much was Tom's discussion with them was another story). She also considered the look on her cousin's face as he and his partner stared at her friend and knew what was on the other Black's mind. Well if her friend did chose that route it would probably make things easier, but there was much to get through before that could happen.

She sighed and looked at her husband, "We need to tell them." He nodded, he realised the same thing.

"Tomorrow. Severus needs to be there too."