Chapter Fourteen: Malfoy Manner
Summary: Romance is in the air, Darkness stirs behind the scenes and Ron and Serenity have a quarrel started by chess, and you've been rewarded for the long wait.

A/N: Okay I'm soooo sorry for the long wait but I just couldn't write and really don't know why.

In this chapter, Serenity does cuss, in fact she says the f-word. I know I have some readers where that kind of language is offensive, and other's just don't care but I'm warning you ahead of time and it's only used once anyway…

again, i'm sooo sorry! and i'm sorry ifd this chapter is a bit on the short side as well, but i'll try adn make 15 longer!

Godrics Hollow
At Godrics Hollow, when you looked at it from the street it looked like any normal house. There was a small garden out front, a quaint little porch. It had a nice homey feel to it. At the moment, there was a yellow glow coming from the windows, and the two people who sat on the other side of the road across from the house saw this. Three shadows in a window, having some carefree laughs.

The two people dressed in black cloak's couldn't tell if the three inside knew the danger they were in, and if they did, the most certainly had themselves armed. They knew that there were two magical people in the house and then there was a muggle. Their assignment, kill all three, get to Harry Potter. Once they had disposed of the three inside the house, Reese Jewell could begin the rest of her assignment. But they had to find the right time and The Dark Lord had told them not to rush.

o

Godrics Hollow, Potter Manor
"Remus! Give me that!" Lily shrieked and leapt up after the laughing man. Petunia was almost doubled over from the entertainment the two had provided since Remus had moved in. Right now Remus had taken Lily's cookies and was running away from her. Coral started barking, she had recently taken on a more fuchsia pink color, but was slowly turning back to the coral color she normally was. Remus laughed and kept running. Lily tsked and then stopped running and whipped out her wand.

"Remus, give me those cookies," she said threateningly. A twinkle sparkled in Remus' eye.

"Why?"

"Moony! That's it." She pointed her wand at him and muttered something under her breath and suddenly the cookies was floating in the air and Remus was on the floor clutching his side and laughing uncontrollably. Lily smiled triumphantly and whisked the cookies away and walk back into the kitchen.

"Aren't you going to take that off?" Petunia asked.

"In a minute," Lily said breezily. She walked over to the counter and placed the cookies upon it. She then pulled down three glasses from the cupboard and poured milk into each one from her wand. She then placed five cookies on each plate that had been sitting out already. Lily turned around and pointed her wand at Remus and he stopped laughing and got up off the floor.

"That was mean Lil."

"Then don't steal my cookies… or anything else I make."

"You would have made a good maurader."

"I think I've hung around James too much, I didn't used to act like this."

"Well, that's the price of love."

Lily rolled her eyes and brought two of the plates over to the table and then summoned the other one. She sat next to Remus, "Don't even think of stealing one from my plate." Remus frowned but it was quite east to tell he silently laughing.

o

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
It was Monday and that meant classes and didn't leave much time for Harry to think about the way Chad had acted in the common room. If Ginny had thought anything more of the behavior in the common room last night, then she hadn't told Harry, Serenity, or Hermione.

When they went to Binns class, Ron and Harry started their usual hangman or something similar to that with the glares from Hermione between her taking notes. After six years, Ron and Harry learned when to ignore her and when to pay attention.

By lunchtime Harry had forgotten the strange behavior of Ginny's ex, but Harry wasn't at the table when Serenity arrived.

"Where's Gin?" Ron asked serving himself a portion of beef casserole.

"She went to the bathroom. And I'd been complaining that I was hungry so she just told me to go on ahead."

"Oh."

"So where is Harry?"

"I don't know, he disappeared as soon as break started," Hermione said plopping a portion of mashed potatoes onto her plate. Serenity laughed.

"What so funny?" Ron asked.

"I don't think either of them are going to show up."

"Why?"

"I just don't think they are," Serenity replied rolling her eyes. Ron was so dense sometimes. Ron glared narrowly at Serenity but said nothing and continued to eat his meal.

o

At dinner Ron practically pounced on his sister.

"Where were you at lunch?" was the first thing he said to her.

"If Harry didn't tell you, what makes you think I'm going to?" she replied causing Ron to grumble silently to himself.

"Ron with the way you act, you'd think Harry was seducing her or something," Serenity said, which caused Hermione to laugh, and Ginny to smile. Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend's behavior.

The rest of the evening consisted of a chess match between Ron and Serenity, Harry and Ginny studying together (though there was more play than studying) and Hermione was watching the match. At quarter till nine, Serenity won the match, and she jumped up causing her curls to fly around her.

"You know, I miss winning every game," Ron said as he watched Serenity do her happy dance.

"Does that mean you wish I hadn't come to Hogwarts?" Serenity asked, a touch of innocence in her voice.

"No, just saying that I miss winning all the time."

"All the same, it must feel good to have a worthy opponent," Hermione said slipping into Serenity's chair.

"True, but now I'm gonna crush you."

"Probably." Hermione said, Ginny giggled from the couch, Serenity turned to see that she and Harry were saying something to each other and weren't paying attention to their friends. Serenity had noticed that the fight they had had pushed the two of them closer together. They spent even (if possible) more time together now and didn't pay attention to the other three as much. Ginny laughed again and Serenity shook her head slightly, her eyes looking at the ceiling and then turned back to Ron and Hermione's match. Presumably Ron was winning, and Hermione's face was scrunched up in concentration. She opened her mouth to speak when Ginny shrieked. Serenity turned around and saw Harry tickling her. It was the first time since they'd stopped fighting. Serenity rolled her eyes, it was good to have things falling back into their normalness.

Across the room, usually a boy with brown hair and blue eyes was staring at them, but not today. He in fact wasn't even in the common room. No one seemed to take notice of this however and went about their nightly activities.

"Wow, Ron, you seem to be having an off night!" Serenity said an hour later when Hermione successfully beat him at chess. Ron glared at Serenity and then glanced back at the chessboard as if trying to figure out where he went wrong. Harry and Ginny joined Hermione in a joyful dance, Hermione beating Ron was like a miracle, it was her first game she'd won in the six years they'd been going to school together.

Later when everyone had retired and gone to bed Harry lie awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling of his four-poster bed. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, the image of Chad Coralpivitski screaming "Don't touch me you fool!" floated into his mind. Harry couldn't place it but he swore he saw those eyes somewhere. But he didn't linger on the thought as another image replaced Chad's, a much more pleasant image at that. It was Ginny sitting in the grass with Serenity earlier in the year and they were laughing while Ron sneaked up on them…

o

The month of March approached fast and the weather seemed to warm up just slightly. It was March 3rd, and a Saturday when Ron and Serenity actually had a disagreement. Apparently Ron had accused Serenity of cheating at chess, Serenity's temper flared and soon the two were yelling at each other.

Serenity had just called Ron a name only a Malfoy would say when Harry, Ginny and Hermione all walked in from dinner, Dean and Seamus had held Harry back while Lavender was talking to Hermione, Ginny simply stayed because Harry was.

"Real nice Serenity!"

"You just can't stand the fact that there might be someone better than you at playing chess!"

"Before you came along, I won every game!"

"You know, what? Who bloody cares? It's a dumb GAME!"

"To you! Work doesn't come easy to me, like it does to you, and Hermione!"

"Is that why your yelling at me?"

"You started it."

"No I didn't," Serenity said, her voice filled with pure ice, if you didn't know better you would have thought that she and Draco were twins at the moment. The look on her face and the demeanor she had at the particular moment was nothing but Malfoy. "I simply won a game again and you said I must have cheated."

Ron glared at her. After he said nothing Serenity's eyes narrowed.

"Well you must have, it's the only way you could have won against me all this time!"

Serenity gave Ron the coldest glare, it was the type of glare that Draco and Snape gave Harry all the time. Her eyes narrowed again, then she replied in the iciest voice any of them had ever heard, "Fuck you."

With that she swept past Ron and raced up the stairs, her robes billowed behind her and her hair flew straight behind as well because she was going to fast. Ron watched her go up the stairs before he pulled out his wand and packed up the chess set. He turned, saw the other three and glared at them narrowly before going up the boys staircase.

The other three made their way over to the corner that had been previously occupied with Ron and Serenity.

"Can you belive that?" Ginny asked.

"Well, yes, but no at the same time," Harry said.

"Yeah, I mean, I belive that they were fighting, it was bound to happen, but for Ren to say fuck you, that just put it over the top." Hermione said, sitting across from the other two.

"You know, they just fought like a newlywed couple." Ginny commented after a few minuters of silence.

"True, I mean it's like they are just inching closer and closer to getting together." Harry said. Ginny laughed.

"You never know though, mine and Harry's fight just pushed us closer together," Ginny stated as she placed her head on Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah, that's true too, one of these days they'll get together, they just don't know it."

"I know, they sooo like each other and they are denying it," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"I just hope that this doesn't push them away from each other, you never know with Ren," Ginny said as she glanced up at the girls staircase. Hermione nodded, then pulled out some homework from her bag. Ginny looked at Harry who looked back.

"Sorry Gin, I have a essay due Monday."

"Oh well, I have to do a chart for Ancient Runes anyway."

o

At breakfast the next morning, Serenity and Ron weren't talking to each other but talked animatedly to the other three. But any questions or comments that pertained to the two of them doing something together were ignored as if they had not been made.

The five of them (who are now being called the ADA, Anti-Draco-Association), walked to class in silence. At the hall where Sirius' class was they split, Serenity and Ginny going to Transfiguration and Harry, Hermione and Ron going to Potions. In Potions, however, Ron acted normal, like he and Serenity weren't speaking to each other. He made Harry and Hermione laugh with his usual comments and stuff. Harry and Hermione looked at each other periodically as if telling each other, "You ask!" but neither of them said anything about it. If Ron noticed, he kept quiet, and the class proceeded with out any interruptions and all their potions turned out perfectly (much to the dismay of Snape).

o

Malfoy Manor

Lucius spent the rest of the week knowing if he turned over, Narcissa wouldn't be there, whenever he went to sleep. He had a funny feeling she wasn't all that happy with him as she had led him to belive. It was past Valentines Day, it was in fact the first one Narcissa had missed since being married. Lucius on the other hand had been kept busy sometimes by the Dark Lord.

When he awoke on Friday morning, he was a bit frazzled, he'd never had problems with his marriage before. Lucius showered and then walked to the closet to dress. He pulled out a black robe and some small gold dress robes fell out. Lucius picked them up and recognoxed then as Narcissa's old ones from school…

Flashback

Hogwarts Great Hall had been decorated to extravagance again, as it was every year. The trees glowed brightly with different colors. And a seventeen-year-old Narcissa Black looked stunning as the lights glinted off her gold dress robes, and her hair fell in long soft curls placed specially for this night. Love shone brightly in her eyes, just for her lover.

A seventeen-year-old Lucius Malfoy glided through the doors and over to her, wearing his own ravishing green robes that Slytherin himself could have been proud of. When they danced, it was like magic, and they looked perfect as the Prince and Princess of Slytherin.

Flashback Ends

Back in those days, 18 years ago, Lucius could see the love in Narcissa's eyes, that shone just for him, when ever he looked into her eyes. But now, he realized, he did know if the love was still there. He hadn't actually looked into his wife's eyes for years.

He didn't have to look into her eyes though to know that the love they once shared was fading. He didn't know if it was because of their feuding children, or because of all the Dark Lord expected of Lucius. Whatever the reason, Lucius knew one thing, he knew he stilled love Narcissa, and he knew that he didn't want to lose her.

Lucius had still been staring at the dress, and when he looked up from it, he say an inscription magically put there. When they were fifteen, Lucius had had Narcissa over once and showed her his room. Later Narcissa was gone for a little bit, and when she had left, Lucius had found the inscription in his closet.

Narcissa Black Loves Lucius Malfoy forever

But the forever looked as if it were fading and the heart that used to surround it was so faint that it was barely visible.

A tear escaped Lucius' eye. He quickly brushed it away and hung the robes back up and then continued to get dressed. In the dining room, again Lucius ate alone, he had half been hoping Narcissa would have been sitting there, heck he would have been happy to see Serenity (who he knew he loved, no matter how he treated her). But no the other seats were empty and the house-elves served him breakfast. He had never ate alone before, he had always had Narcissa there or another Death Eater depending on where he was. As he swallowed the last few bites, he realized that this is that Narcissa almost every day for almost 15 years, ate alone while her kids and husband were away.

After the Dark Lord had released Lucius later that night, Lucius walked into Malfoy Manor and hung up his ebony cloak on the hooks beside the door. He stepped away before pivoting on his heel and wheeling around to look at the hooks again. There, just like always, was the sky blue cloak hanging neatly on it's hook. That only meant one thing. Narcissa was home.

Lucius did his best not to rush through the house looking for her. Instead he took his things to his study and then calmly walked up one floor to where Narcissa's own study was. He looked in to see the door wide open to the familiar dark purple study and a tall blonde had her back to the door. Her hair hung down her back in a sticklike way and she was searching through a bag, one of the many that covered her desk and chairs.

He resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her waist. He had a feeling she wouldn't melt into him like she used to. Instead he gently cleared his throat.

Narcissa turned around, a smile touched her lips but didn't quite meet her eyes. "Hello Lucius," was all she said.

"Hello Narcissa," he replied, "Did you have a good time?"

Narcissa surveyed Lucius, it wasn't normal for him to come and see her, let alone talk to her or ask questions. Normally he waited until dinner to ask these questions. She also noticed that his demeanor had changed slightly. He still held himself up the same way, but his eyes weren't the cold stare that he gave everyone. They were filled with… longing.

"It… was fine," she said after a moment's pause. Half an hour later they were seated in the dining room, Lucius on an end and Narcissa sat a 90° angle from him. They were eating silently, as usual but Narcissa could tell that Lucius had something he wanted to get off his chest. The silence was awkward and the only noise was that of clinking silverware and the shuffle of house elves as they went in a out with dishes.

When dessert had been served, Narcissa reached forward and took Lucius' hand in hers. Then he did something Narcissa had wanted him to do for years. He looked into her eyes. His voice barely above a whisper he said, "I'm sorry Cis." Narcissa smiled warmly at him.

"It's okay," she said and then leaned forward and gave him a kiss to which he responded. Narcissa knew that he would tell her everything he wanted to, but she was sure it would take a little time.

Hours later the two of them lay on the couch in the library having both fell asleep, in a peaceful state. Lucius had apologized fully which was followed by passionate, the kind they shared back when they were in Hogwarts.

Now they were curled up in each other's arms the book they had been reading together haven slid the floor. A red blanket had been placed over them (by a house elf no doubt). And upstairs around the words Narcissa Black Loves Lucius Malfoy Forever, a gold heart had started to form and the forever was darkening in as if someone had traced it with a Sharpie.

o

Potter Manor
It was late in the Potter house, about two a.m. but the three people who lived in it were all up. In fact they were watching a movie called "Grease."

The day was spent in the orchard, nursing the trees and other plants through out the grounds back to health. And then Lily and Petunia and spent the afternoon playing around and joking as they made many pies that ended up being given to the children to the neighborhood. Remus on the other hand had been played with Koral who was turning green now and the coral color and the green made a nasty combination so she was a puke brown green.

There was nothing inside to suggest anything was about to happen. Sandy had just told Danny she wished she never laid eyes on him when Remus heard something outside. He tried to ignore it but then he heard it again. He pushed Koral off his lap and then went to the window and pulled back the curtain just slightly.

"Oh, shit." He whispered. He could see numerous figures moving about outside. Each one was decked out in black cloak. "Lily!" he whispered loudly. Lily turned her head to him and saw him looking out the window and curious, came over to look. Her eyes widened and she turned to her sister, about to open her mouth when there was a loud crash from the kitchen.

"Oh dear." Lily said and quickly pulled out her wand, Remus did the same while Petunia scrambled up from the couch. All of a sudden about 15 Death Eater's were surrounding them.
Cursing her lack of shields Lily fired a few stunning spells towards the Death Eater's and then took a gamble at looking at her sister. At the moment they were leaving her alone. Lily ducked a spell and then fired a few in any direction but Remus' who was right behind her.

All of a sudden Lily heard shrieks of pain. She looked at her sister and saw a Death Eater had trained his wand on her. Lily pointed her wand and uttered "Petrificus Totalus." The Death Eater snapped together, clenching it wand in it's hand, but Petunia stopped screaming and gasped for breaths. Lily wanted to run over there but she was preoccupied with the other 12 Death Eater's left that seemed more concerned about attacking her and Remus than Petunia.

Lily gulped in some air and muttered a few words of a spell James had taught her, six of the Death Eater's flew back and some it the wall with sickening crunches while other's flew in to other Death Eater's and furniture. It cleared a path to her sister. Lily took a step forward and then she saw the tip of a Death Eater's wand light up with green and it was pointed at her sister! Lily launched herself across the room and flew in front of her sister with the spell inches away from their bodies.

o

It was Monday night and Hermione was in the library and Harry and Ginny were who knows where in the castle. That left Serenity and Ron in the common room alone, well there were other people but their friends weren't there. They were sitting across from each other on the couches, Serenity was working on homework while Ron was reviewing some notes. Every now and then when they happened to look at each other at the same time they would glare at each other.

Serenity's quill was scratching the parchment and it seemed to be getting on his nerves. Ron grabbed his own quill to start on an essay he had put off for a week now and he soon forgot about Serenity. The two were silent as they worked, it was an odd, eerie silence that fell over the corner. It was like Harry and Ginny were fighting again except they weren't there, in fact they were somewhere in the school, in the middle of a snogging session. When Harry and Ginny were there it was anything but silent.

As Serenity's homework drew to a close she looked up at Ron and saw he was leaning forward, staring intently at his paper. He would write something down every now and then, sometimes it was a long period or only for a few seconds. Serenity scoffed.

"Your actually concentrating?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. Ron looked up, a rather annoyed look in his face.

"Yes, and it's a whole lot easier without your annoying voice." Serenity's nostrils flared but she said nothing. She closed her bag and stared at the fire, and soon Ron put his own stuff away, leaving the two of them sitting in silence. Fifteen minutes went by and neither had said a word. Serenity sneaked a glance at Ron.

She had to admit, he was cute, she liked the way his hair was at the length where it wasn't too short, but it wasn't too long. And also the way it fell across his face, she liked the way he laughed, when she realized what she was thinking she shook her head and tried to think about something else. However when she shook her head, it caught Ron's attention, her curls bounced into place as she looked out the window. Ron couldn't help but admire her stubborn attitude, very much like his own if not more. She wasn't like most girls, who would have backed down and very meekly defended themselves when he accused them of cheating, but Serenity had roared up like a loin and held strong. Lately he could see the Malfoy part of her that she hated so much. At the moment, he thought she looked very much like an angel as she stared up at the stars that were starting to appear outside.

There was no doubt about it, these two had it bad for each other, but the other was more stubborn about not showing their feelings the other one. It was all their friends could do not to take the two and hit them upside the head with a two by four(Ginny), cast a spell to make them hand upside down or something like that (Hermione), or pelt them with their chess pieces(Harry).

Ron was studying a sheet of paper that had chess moves upon it while Serenity had moved to a window seat and was staring out it when Harry and Ginny returned the common room. Harry rolled his eyes, though it was nice to know that another fight had not taken place and they were both still fully intact, he just wished they'd get over the dumb fight and start going out. At curfew, Hermione walked in, and had similar thoughts to Harry's and sat down with the other's, (Harry and Ron engrossed in a Quidditch conversation, Ginny and Serenity were talking about some boy in 7th year, luckily for Ginny, Harry couldn't hear her).

An owl fluttered though the window Serenity had left open and landed on Harry's knee. Harry took the owl and gave him a bit of bread he had in his pocket from dinner. The owl took off and Harry opened the letter. All of sudden, for Ron, Hermione and Ginny it was like déjà vu as Harry paled when he read the letter.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC LETTERHEAD

Dear Mr. H. Potter,

We regret to inform you that at 7:15pm (approximate time from eyewitness') earlier this evening, the residence at Godric's Hollow was attacked. No more that 15 Death Eater's surrounded the house and broke in while the three people currently residing at Godric's Hollow were watching a "movie."
Remus Lupin and Lily Potter faught them to the best of their ability, according to eyewitness Petunia Dursley. "People dressed in black robes just seemed to appear and they seemed to go after only Remus and Lily at first, but when one came after me Lily cast something that made it's body lock together. Then she tried to get to me but the black robed people stopped her. Then some other person trained their wand on me and muttered something like the muggle saying 'abra cadabra.' Lily flung herself on top of me and I must have blacked out because I don't remember anything after that."

It has been confirmed that Mrs. Potter was hit with the Death Curse but she was knocked out and hit herself on the stone fireplace while the curse rebounded and hit the caster of the curse.

Mister Remus J. Lupin sustained many bruises and a deep cut on his forehead, was checked into St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries at 8:07pm but was released at 9:12.

Ms. Petunia F. Dursley fell unconscious when her sister fell on her and was admitted at 7:59 to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and awaken at approximately 7:38 and released at 9:45.

Mrs. Lily C. Potter fell unconscious having hit her head and is currently suffering a concussion and checked into St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. A constant around the clock surveillance is kept on her room. She is allowed no visitors and we regret to inform you that you may not see her until she has awakened.

Upon awakening, Mrs. Potter will be taken to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry immediately and a meeting with Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge and other Ministry Officials and you will take place.

Expect owls upon your mother's condition until she awakens.

Sincerely,

Alyssa Curdie, Head of St. Mungo's

Ministry of Magic Seal

Cornelius Fudge

But Harry didn't leap up out of his chair and rush away this time, he stood transifxed, his normal tan skin was almost ghostly white. This scared Ginny, well all of his friends, and she gently touched his knee, to which he jumped. He relaxed (only slightly) when he looked at her, but she saw his eyes were filled with tears.

She hadn't asked but he passed her the paper, and upon reading her own eyes widened. Harry pulled the paper from her hands after she finished. Ginny gave Harry a hug and Ron timidly asked, "What's up mate?" almost afraid of the answer.

"My mom… and Remus… and Aunt Petunia… were attacked." Hermione's mouth dropped open while Ron asked, "Again?"

"What!" Serenity exclaimed. "His house has been attacked before?"

The other four nodded. A small explanation followed but then they fell into a silence… all asking themselves the same question. Will Lily ever wake up?

okay so i make you wait a long time adn then i leave you with this cliffie... thinks about hiding... oh well.

i guess i just needed school to get my creative juices flowing again! it worked! i wrote this magnificent chapter... well i hope it's magnificent, i didn't do my math homework in order to get the Lucuis/Narcissa part in there...