On April 30th, the eve of Beltane, Cissy remained awake later than anyone in her room. Tonight was the night she would find the 'friend' who would finally solve the mystery of Tom Marvolo Riddle, the orphan boy who would rule all one day (at least according to him). Cissy remained clothed and packed a small rucksack with her wand, a bottle of Polyjuice Potion with one of Andromeda's hairs in it (in case she was caught by a teacher trying to sneak down to Hogsmeade, at least she'd look like someone who was old enough to go down there), and a few other items that would help her on her trip. She didn't plan on staying long.
At 11:45 in the evening, Cissy finally felt the coast was clear, and she snuck easily out of Slytherin house and walked silently down the hall, up the stairs, and easily made her way towards the main entrance.
"Hold on a second, Miss Black," said a male voice from behind Cissy has she walked. She cautiously turned around to find Remus Lupin standing (prefect badge and all) with Ophelia Elsinore from Ravenclaw beside him (after what happened with Andromeda and Hugo Mince, the teachers decided that as long as prefects patrolled two at a time, they didn't have to stay with their houses). "Now, why are you out of bed so late, young lady?" he asked.
"I'm in detention. I'm just running an errand for Professor Flitwick," Cissy lied, holding out the rucksack. Remus studied Cissy for a moment and nodded.
"You should have a pass," Ophelia scolded. "Run along before someone else sees you."
"Yes ma'am," Cissy nodded, running further away from Remus and Ophelia. Remus still looked a little suspicious of 12-year-old Cissy wandering the halls alone, without a pass, at nearly midnight….
Meanwhile, Cissy walked a bit faster, hoping not t bump into another set of prefects. How come the hallway to the gate seemed a LOT longer all of a sudden? Cissy's long blonde hair trailed behind her as she picked up speed and began a bit of a run. She panted as she finally saw the light at the end of the hallway, but, sadly, another voice stopped her.
"Cissy! What is THIS?" Cissy turned around and stopped dead in her tracks. She didn't bump into a prefect, she bumped into Andromeda the prefect! Great!
"Doesn't matter! I have detention with Flitwick and am running an errand for him!"
"Liar," Andromeda hissed. Her partner this time around was the male Ravenclaw prefect, Duncan Inverness. "I know for a fact that you don't have detention tonight! WHY ARE YOU LEAVING THE CASTLE?" Andromeda asked again.
"It doesn't matter!"
"On the contrary, I'm a prefect!" said Andromeda. "I don't care if you're my sister, you're NOT making a break for it! What's in the bag?" she demanded. Cissy hugged the rucksack closer to her chest.
"I'm not telling!"
Andromeda rolled her eyes and turned to Duncan. "Could you please find Remus? He'll help me take her down," she said.
"Why do you want Remus here? You broke up with him!" Cissy accused. Andromeda rolled her eyes.
"This has nothing to do with him! Why are you making a break for it? Are you running away?" she asked. Cissy shook her head.
"I'm not doing anything wrong!" she said. Andromeda rolled her eyes.
"A likely story, BELLATRIX!" Andromeda said. Cissy pulled her wand out of her bag and waved it at Andromeda.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
Andromeda suddenly became stiff as stone, and fell to the floor with a crash. Cissy laughed to herself and ran along her merry way. Luckily, Cissy's 2nd year status and lack of skill with a wand made it easy for Andromeda to break herself out of the jinx. She did so and then decided to quietly follow her sister from a distance. Where she was heading, it must have been really important to her…
"Andromeda? What are you doing?" Andromeda didn't get four steps before she heard Bella's voice from behind her. Shit.
"What are YOU doing? I may be your little sister, but I can still report you to Professor Celestia!" Andromeda threatened.
"Where the hell is Cissy going?" asked Bella. "She's been acting funny all afternoon."
"I think she might be heading down to Hogsmeade, why, I don't know," Andromeda said. Bella and Andromeda exchanged worried glances and nodded. Bella then rolled her eyes.
"Merlin, I want to go to bed! But I'm going with you. Rodolphus told me that there was going to be some strange happenings in Hogsmeade tonight…"
Andromeda got her wand out. "Well, come on, before Cissy gets into trouble!" She looked at Bella, who armed herself as well. As different as they were, Andromeda knew that they were both united by one thing: Cissy. Cissy was both Andromeda's and Bella's little sister, and neither girl wanted to see her come to harm.
"Come on, we'd better beat her there," Bella said. She and Andromeda took off into the darkness after Cissy, just before Remus Lupin and Ted Tonks came upon the scene and saw the girls rush off into the night…
Cissy wandered into the little village a few minutes past midnight. The town was completely black. Cissy wondered where the 'friend' she was supposed to meet was expecting her. He WAS expecting her, right?
Cissy suddenly caught sight of a light glowing in the space above The Three Broomsticks pub. It was the only light in on in the small town of Hogsmeade.
"This has to be it," Cissy muttered. "Nox," she muttered, turning off the light of her wand. She slowly snuck her way inside the pub. The downstairs of the pub was darker even than the outside. It was scary. Cissy stumbled over a few chairs in order to get to the staircase that led to the upper floor of the pub.
Once on the top step, Cissy decided that it would be wise to sneak in and make sure it was safe. After all, she only knew two or three defense spells, and she was completely alone. The nearest safe place was Hagrid's hut, and that was all the way up the hill…
Cissy quietly pushed open the door just enough to see within. She sat on the top step and peered inside. Inside were a few older men sitting around a table drinking out of gold goblets. One she recognized as Lucius Malfoy, Andromeda's (very handsome) ex-fiance, another sitting near Lucius was Rodolphus Lestrange, Bella's boyfriend. Cissy felt that no matter who else was there, those two men would bring her to no harm.
"So, will the Dark Lord come himself tonight?" asked a man with a long face.
Lucius shook his head. "No, he will not. He only told me that we are waiting on a young pureblood with a feisty soul and a true Slytherin heart."
"What should this young fellow have to do with us? Is the Dark Lord recruiting him?"
"Can't say, but this new person was the one who's been tracking Him through his clues hidden by the Chamber of Secrets and under his old bed…"
Cissy understood now that this 'pureblood with a true Slytherin heart" was her. Intrigued, Cissy opened the door a little wider.
"Should he not be here by now, Lucius?"
"How should I know?!" Lucius snapped. Rodolphus sat back in his chair.
"Ease up, Dolohov. He's been a bit down in the mouth ever since Andromeda dumped him for a werewolf!" Rodolphus laughed. Cissy was confused. Andromeda wasn't seeing anyone right now...and who was a werewolf? Surely not anyone Cissy knew. Lucius threw his goblet across the table at Rodolphus.
"Shut up, you ass!" Lucius yelled. "She was my last chance of marrying into the House of Black!"
"Not exactly," said Rodolphus, wiping firewhiskey off his shirt. "There's still little Narcissa…"
Cissy giggled. Lucius marry her? How wonderful!
"Hardly, she's eight years my junior!" Lucius snubbed. Cissy's heart sank when she heard it. She gritted her teeth together and grunted in dismay.
Lucius continued. "And besides, Andromeda's the most attractive of the sisters Black. If she dumped me for a shabby half-breed, then how the hell—"
"—WHERE THE HELL IS THIS NEW GUY?!" Dolohov yelled impatiently. "I want to get some shut-eye!"
Cissy was taken by surprise by this outburst, and she yelped a little too loudly. Rodolphus and Lucius sprang to their feet and went to the door. Cissy wanted to run, but she stayed frozen where she sat as Lucius opened the door. He looked down at her and smiled. The smile seemed kind enough, but something about it made Cissy afraid.
"Little Narcissa Black…can you believe how close we came to being in-laws?" Lucius said, his voice a bit more comforting. Cissy let her guard down just a little bit. She shook her head. "Why aren't you in bed, little one?"
"I….I found some poems, and they told me to come here…" Cissy explained, handing Rodolphus the poem she found under the sink with the snake on the faucet. Rodolphus read it and handed it to Lucius, who looked almost unbelieving.
"So you did," Lucius nodded. He held out a hand, and Cissy took it. Lucius helped her to her feet and guided her inside, Rodolphus closing the door after him. Lucius then picked Cissy up like she were a rag doll and sat her on the table. "This is Narcissa Aurora Black, gentlemen," Lucius introduced. Cissy felt herself begin to shake.
"Oh, don't be afraid," Lucius said. "We're your friends here," he assured. "Say, Cissy…do you want to hear a story…?"