Chapter 6: Come to Roost
Even with Corban gone, the house on the island was too full for Narcissa's liking. She didn't like Alecto and Amycus having such a close seat to her grief. With Bella around her all the time, Narcissa's sadness channeled into anger instead. She could hardly stand to look at her sister. It gave Narcissa some sort of pleasure to watch Bella squirm with loneliness. The Dark Lord wanted nothing to do with her. Narcissa ignored her existence. Even Amycus, who Bella had been cohorts with since before they romped around Hogwarts together, avoided her. Alecto followed suit.
One evening, while Narcissa checked in on the lacewing flies she stewed in a cauldron on the kitchen table, the library door opened and closed. Narcissa spotted movement out the corner of her eye as she read the Polyjuice Potion instructions. She looked over at the arch frame leading into the keeping room. The Dark Lord leaned against it, watching her.
"My Lord," Narcissa addressed him. "Do you need something?"
"How's that coming?" he asked.
"Good so far." Narcissa was being very careful not to make a single mistake. "It should be complete on the twenty-seventh."
The Dark Lord nodded. "Are the Carrows around?"
"I think they're still outside. I haven't heard them come back yet."
"When you're finished, would you find them? I have something for them to do."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Thank you."
With that, he returned to the library. Narcissa exhaled heavily through her nose, the words on the Dark Lord's written instructions blurring as her eyes shifted out of focus. She forced herself to concentrate before she was able to put the parchment down and head for the front door. Narcissa took one of the foyer torches outside with her.
It didn't do a whole lot to light Narcissa's path. She could only see about twenty feet in any direction once she reached the tree line. Narcissa stopped walking and listened hard. She didn't think that Alecto and Amycus would venture too far off the path, nor would they be walking around without light of their own. The woods were still except for a rustle of wind passing through the foliage.
Narcissa carried on. Her ears were craned to pick up anything in her surroundings. A jolt of adrenaline stiffened Narcissa when she caught movement ahead. A couple of eyes glinted like a cat's in the darkness. Narcissa raised her torch more, suspecting Lys, and relaxed when she saw it was indeed her. Lys shrunk more down behind the tree she peered out around until only one eye was visible.
"Hi, Lys," Narcissa tried with a soft, friendly tone. "All right?"
That drew her out a bit. She leaned out enough for her other eye to be visible again, then stepped out from behind the tree when Narcissa neared cautiously enough. She looked as downcast as Bella had lately, but her pout was a lot more rooted in reality.
Narcissa didn't know what to say to Lys that she would understand. Whatever language it was she actually spoke, Narcissa had never heard it before. She didn't know what kind of images to draw up either, in order to make a conversation through Legilimency. That all seemed fine to Lys. She just fell in step with Narcissa as she carried on down the path.
An idea occurred to Narcissa. She touched Lys' arm to get her attention, regretting it when Lys started. She calmed down quickly, tilting her head in curiosity before the mental image Narcissa drummed up of Alecto and Amycus became clearer when Lys received it. Lys took Narcissa's hand and took her off the trail.
She had a way of leading Narcissa through the woods where Narcissa didn't have to mind her feet. She walked freely, gaze forward. Eventually, voices carried from ahead. Wandlight appeared through the trees. The voices went quiet, and then Narcissa stepped out onto the path.
Alecto still had the tip of her wand lit. Amycus had his pointed at Narcissa, although his set expression relaxed before he lowered his arm.
"Oh, it's just you," Amycus said with a glance at Lys. "Everything all right?"
"The Dark Lord asked me to send you back to the house," Narcissa replied. "He has a job for you two."
The Carrows glanced at each other. Alecto hesitated when she passed Narcissa by. "Were you coming?"
"I guess." Narcissa wasn't sure what for, other than just to be back where it was light and warm. Although Narcissa wagered the island was warmer than the general area, it was still quite chilly. She could almost see her breath. "Bye, Lys."
She waved at Lys, who awkwardly returned the gesture before heading back into the woods.
Alecto watched over her shoulder. "She's weird."
"She's not human," Narcissa reminded her. "And I think she's spent a lot of time alone."
"Is she like Hildegard's pet or something?"
"More like a friend, maybe. I don't know," Narcissa said. "Hildegard never told me about her, or about this place. Or about anything, really. I only met Lys in June."
"Yeah, Hildegard didn't tell us anything either," Alecto replied. "I never heard of druids before. She's not a witch?"
"No."
Narcissa was too tired to go over it all with Alecto. If she had questions, she could direct them toward the Dark Lord. Narcissa headed upstairs when they all returned to the house, intent to lounge before gearing up to make dinner. If Alecto and Amycus had a job to do, Narcissa wondered if that meant they would be leaving the island.
She got up when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Sure enough, Alecto and Amycus were heading into their rooms. Narcissa crossed the landing and announced her presence at Alecto's door by lightly rapping her knuckles against it.
"Oh, hey." Alecto pulled her bag up onto her bed.
"Leaving?"
"Yeah," Alecto replied.
She didn't offer up an explanation, and Narcissa didn't think it her place to ask. "Amycus too?"
"Yeah."
"Staying for dinner, at least?"
"Wouldn't hurt to start off with a full stomach," Alecto said. "I don't think the Dark Lord would mind. It's a bit time-sensitive, but I think he'd rather we ate now than have to take more time later figuring it out."
Narcissa nodded with that and headed downstairs. She started bringing things out of the ice box. Narcissa jumped a little when, looking up once from what she was doing, she realized she wasn't alone. Bella hovered toward the keeping room, her arms folded and face stuck in the pout she'd worn ever since they arrived.
"Need help?" Bella glumly asked.
"Not really," Narcissa replied. "Feel free to go mope upstairs, if you'd rather."
"I'm not moping," Bella snipped. "I was told to help you whenever you need me. If you don't need me, then I don't have anything to do."
"So you mope."
"No I don't."
"If you want to be helpful, go help Alecto and Amycus pack," Narcissa told her. "They're leaving on a job for the Dark Lord. It sounds important."
"What're they doing?"
"I don't know. Ask the Dark Lord."
Bella fell quiet. Narcissa thought she might have left, but Bella still stood there when Narcissa looked up.
"You don't need me, then?" Bella asked.
"No." Narcissa brought out a knife to start cutting vegetables. "It's less work to just do it all myself rather than babysit you."
When Bella didn't reply, Narcissa looked over. She was gone. Narcissa just rolled her eyes, which was pretty much automatic anymore when it came to dealing with Bella. When Bella returned downstairs later and took a seat in the dining room, Narcissa continued ignoring her. So too did the Dark Lord after he joined them from the library. Narcissa had to suppress a little smile when she noticed Bella eyeing him, eagerly waiting to be acknowledged.
Alecto and Amycus let their dinner digest a little bit when they were done eating. Narcissa put Bella on clean-up since the job was in plain view of everyone else in the household. It was that much more embarrassing for her, which Narcissa took quiet pleasure in as she pretended to check on the Dark Lord's Polyjuice Potion again.
The house fell quiet when Alecto and Amycus left. It was just Narcissa, Bella, and the Dark Lord—hardly any of the company Narcissa wished to keep.
With only three people in the house, the food in the ice box slowed down in how it disappeared. Narcissa figured they probably had about a week's worth, which was good because Corban and Wes were taking their time. Narcissa couldn't help but worry a little bit. Wes never took this long. Had they run into trouble? The Dark Lord didn't seem concerned, so Narcissa forced herself to try and let it go.
Even if she wasn't worried, Narcissa was still anxious to see Wes again. When Bella had shown up on the island in the last days of November and told Narcissa she'd be leaving, her goodbye with Wes had been sudden and unexpected. It ended up worth it to Narcissa once she realized where Bella had taken her, but sharing a bed with her sister instead of her lover had come with some strained yearning late at night. She missed Wes.
Narcissa relaxed in the bath one afternoon when male voices downstairs perked her upright. Narcissa sat as still as possible, her heart audible, and then sloshing water overrode the voices after the front door thudded shut. In her robe, Narcissa peeked out the bathroom door. Sure enough, the upstairs had expanded again. Narcissa nipped from the bathroom to the master so that she could get dressed. She was just righting a jumper when knuckles rapped against the door in a familiar pattern.
Narcissa ran her fingers through her hair on her way to open it. The ends were still wet. She couldn't help but grin when she laid eyes on Wes leaned against the frame. Narcissa pulled him into a tight hug, pushing the door shut as a second thought when she heard Corban coming upstairs. Shut off from the rest of the house, Narcissa squeezed as hard as she could with her face pressed into Wes' neck. Her excitement quickly tapered off into tears.
"I'm sorry," she whispered with a sniffle. "I am happy to see you."
Wes nodded, rubbing her back. "Don't worry. I saw. Corban gave me the heads up too, when we got here."
Narcissa nodded against his shoulder. "He doesn't know if she's dead. When we talked about it, he said he didn't feel her in there."
The way Wes sighed made his grimace audible. "I'm sorry. That was where you went, then? You saw Draco?"
"For a little while." Narcissa wiped her one eye when she pulled away from Wes. "Do you know what happened to him, by any chance? Where he went?"
Wes bunched his lips when he shook his head. "All the news Corban and I brought back just had to do with the Dark Lord. Speaking of which, I was just coming up to drop my things and fetch you for a meeting."
"Right," Narcissa said quietly. "Well, I'm glad you're back, anyway."
She stopped in at the bathroom on her way by to brush her hair and ensure that her eyes weren't still irritated from the small cry she'd had. She washed her face anyway to try and freshen up. There wasn't much a point outside personal pride, for she was the only person in a female body on this island that really cared about such a thing. Bella was apathetic beyond basic hygiene, and Dagmar's femininity had diminished from being possessed by someone that preferred a more masculine presentation. Dagmar's curves couldn't just disappear, but the Dark Lord hid them underneath oversized robes. He took to keeping Dagmar's hair back in a knot at the nape of her neck. Narcissa was quietly relieved that its length and required care hadn't driven the Dark Lord to chop it off in frustration.
The Dark Lord, Bella, and Corban waited for Narcissa and Wes in the library.
"Close the door behind you," the Dark Lord said. With all of them there, he looked to Corban. "What news, then?"
"A little bit," Corban replied. "Nott and I were going to stick around at his place and wait for any concrete information about what the Ministry thinks happened to you, but we had to leave. Magical Enforcement showed up."
While Narcissa looked at Wes, concerned despite the fact he was here and fine, the Dark Lord hummed in thought. "They're starting to round up suspected Death Eaters, are they?"
"Think so." Corban nodded, brow low with his seriousness. "Before we left London, I met with Rowle. He said Avery and Macnair quietly disappeared. Figures they got arrested."
"Gibbon, Jugson, and Selwyn?"
"Not before we started north, at least. Just the two."
The Dark Lord narrowed his eyes as he thought. "Avery, Macnair, and Nott. . ." His gaze darted to Wes. "The three named by Harry Potter in that interview he did for the Quibbler, that are still on the grid."
"I never noticed that, but yes."
"Interesting timing for the Ministry to start trying to round you all up," the Dark Lord said. "What else did Rowle have to say? What rumours are floating around?"
"There were the seven Aurors killed in Bergen, so there was no keeping it quiet that something happened," Corban replied. "Potter's also not been at work. The one Auror, that woman Bella got inside the cottage, was his mentor. A rumour's been floating around the Ministry as of Tuesday that you've been killed."
"Killed or defeated?"
Corban studied him, blinking a couple times. "With all due respect, is there a difference?"
"I'm curious how much the Ministry knew about what might happen if someone tried to kill me," the Dark Lord said. "After '81, they might not lower their defences unless it's certain. I couldn't leave my old body behind in Bergen since it might have looked strange for only Dagmar's to be missing from the scene."
"Apologies, my Lord. I'm not sure."
"It's still early." The Dark Lord shrugged. "What else?"
"There was a ceremony supposed to happen yesterday for the Aurors that died. They were all receiving Orders of Merlin. Rowle said Jugson was going."
"I'd like to know who else attended," the Dark Lord replied, then hummed. He tapped his finger on the table before his gaze shifted over to Narcissa. "Would you be able to prepare a supply list tonight for approximately a week?"
Narcissa nodded. "I can right after the meeting."
"I'll have you return to London tomorrow morning," the Dark Lord told Corban before looking over at Wes. "If the Ministry is looking for you, I won't risk you making your old supply runs. Yaxley will take over."
"Yes, my Lord." Wes said all that he could in response. "What would you have me do instead?"
"For now, I'll just put you on standby," the Dark Lord replied. "I have some other things in the works, but they're time-consuming and nothing anyone can help me with at the moment. Assist Narcissa with the Polyjuice Potion she's making if you like, but I think she has that under control."
Wes nodded. It left him with nothing to do, since Narcissa did have it under control. Narcissa was just happy it meant he would be here with her. Although it didn't directly serve the Dark Lord for Narcissa to have some company, it might steady her hand while she executed such a fickle potion. She couldn't afford to be distracted. Narcissa doubted the Dark Lord would be pleased with her at all if she had to start over.
"Did you manage to check in on Wormtail and Nagini?" the Dark Lord asked Corban.
"Wormtail, no," Corban replied. "The airspace over Norway's west coast is a little clogged at the moment, Bergen and Trondheim in particular. Nagini is doing just fine. She'd swallowed something a little too big for herself right before we found her, so she was just working on that."
Something close to a fond smile came over the Dark Lord before he grew serious again. "Trondheim's airspace was clogged, you said?"
Corban nodded, which turned the Dark Lord thoughtful. Narcissa resisted against frowning in her confusion and redirected her gaze to her lap to ensure that the Dark Lord didn't see. Draco had told her that this island was located in Trondheim, so why would Corban imply that he and Wes had merely passed the city by?
"Interesting," the Dark Lord said. "When you go back to London, make contact with Jugson and see if he's heard anything about Trondheim. I'd also be curious about how the Norwegian Ministry might be working alongside the British one. Seeing as we were discovered to be in Bergen, there will likely be some scrambling to ensure what remains of us isn't in Norway."
"Should Wormtail be where he is, then?" Corban asked. "Do you trust him to stay quiet if he's caught?"
"He doesn't know enough to be a liability." The Dark Lord waved it off. "In fact. . ."
The library fell quiet as he lapsed into thought.
"There are a few among our ranks it might be best not to tempt with knowledge of what happened," the Dark Lord eventually said. "I sent the Carrows with instructions to track down Rabastan, Travers, Mulciber, Rookwood, and Dolohov. Now that we've found Norheim, their efforts need to be redirected. I've instructed them to head east. I want a quantified list of all the Balkan archmages, so that we might narrow down who exactly Norheim may have interacted with if he indeed traveled to the region before losing track of the boy.
"The question came up with the Carrows what they should tell the five of them if they either heard rumours of my death, or it was announced," the Dark Lord continued. "For now, I told the Carrows to tell them I'm alive and well. I trust these five. They served time in Azkaban in my name for fifteen years before I was able to free them. I returned once from apparent death. It won't be a stretch of the imagination for them that I managed to avoid it a second time.
"That said, there are some I'm hesitant about. What did you tell Rowle about Bergen, Yaxley?"
"Nothing explicit," Corban replied. "I erred on the side of caution. He wanted to know if the rumours were true you were dead, of course. I assured him that our work wasn't done yet, and to be patient. He accepted that. It's like you said, you've dodged death before. It's easy to accept that it could happen a second time, especially at the hands of an eighteen year old who probably never cast a Killing Curse before he shot that one at you."
The Dark Lord chuckled, looking amused. "Good. Although our Ministry spies have been helpful when they can be, I certainly don't extend them the same trust as I do those who sacrificed their best years for me. You handled that well. It would be best to leave them in the dark for now."
"Who else would that be, my Lord?" Corban asked.
"Wormtail, certainly," the Dark Lord replied. "If you manage to check on him, I give you permission to lie. Tell him I'm dead, but that your work now consists of a contingency plan I put into place about how all of you will avoid prosecution."
"Yes, my Lord."
"The other one I've been debating is Snape." The Dark Lord idly rubbed his chin. "He's simply too close to Dumbledore. I've allowed him to feed Dumbledore crumbs about my operations so that he stays close, but that comes with a price. If it's known that Snape met with one of you, I either put him in a position to lie to Dumbledore and say that I'm dead—compromising him later, when I might need him—or to tell Dumbledore the truth. I don't want anyone close to Dumbledore or the Ministry to know what happened. I want the element of surprise completely on our side."
"So you want me to tell him you're dead?"
"It might not even arise as a concern, actually," the Dark Lord said. "Anyone that Snape knows is a Death Eater won't be out and about. Only you and the Carrows ought to conduct my business outside of here at the moment."
"Yes, my Lord."
With everyone informed and set with their instructions going forward, the meeting came to an end. The Dark Lord stayed in the library when everyone else filed out. Narcissa headed to the kitchen to do her job right away. Corban and Wes came in after her.
"I'm going to make you a list with ten days worth of supplies, just in case," Narcissa told Corban.
"All right."
Wes looked in the ice box out of habit. Narcissa glanced at him when he brought something out, then double-took. "Oh—put that away."
He held the jar with the Dark Lord's heart, expression something like a curious grimace. His brow was furrowed and lips parted. "Is this—?"
"Yes, put it away. It needs to keep."
Wes did. He closed the ice box door. "I think I'm going to unpack."
Narcissa would've followed if she didn't have something she needed to tend to. It didn't help that Corban made himself comfortable in the silence between them, munching on one of the apples he'd brought to the island with him. Narcissa left her list for a little bit in order to get dinner going, and then came back to it while things boiled and baked.
"I'll double-check it in the morning in case there's something else I'm not thinking about," Narcissa told Corban. "Feel free to add anything, of course, and I'll tell Wes, Bella, and the Dark Lord the same."
"Sounds good."
Narcissa had made so many lists like this that she doubted she'd overlooked anything. Bella added something to it after dinner before Narcissa left her to tend with cleanup. Narcissa was more partial to follow Wes upstairs. The long travel north had caught up to him, and a belly full of warm food put him horizontal on the bed. He cracked his eyes when Narcissa let herself into the room.
"Guess we got upgraded, huh?" Wes asked when Narcissa laid down next to him. "What's going on with Bella?"
"Doghouse," Narcissa replied. "The Dark Lord's pissed at her. I am too. It's all her fault everything in Bergen happened. She saw Harry Potter and decided on the Dark Lord's behalf that it was a good time to try and get him. Potter and Kingsley Shacklebolt got away, but Potter got the Dark Lord with a Killing Curse. His other body is dead, but he's carrying on in Dagmar's. He says he wants to fix it, but I have no idea how he'd go about doing that."
Wes idly stroked Narcissa's hair, humming in thought.
"So, what happened in London?" Narcissa shifted closer. "Magical Enforcement came after you?"
Wes shrugged. "I had my things packed. Corban was just staying at my place while he poked around with the Ministry. When Enforcement showed up, we apparated away. I don't even think they knew we were there."
"You're not worried?"
"Not about that." Wes rolled onto his side to better face Narcissa. He sighed as they looked at each other. "Well? What're we going to do?"
"You're asking me?" Narcissa raised her eyebrows. "I haven't got a clue. I think we're stuck here until further notice."
"I wasn't expecting him to take me off supply-run duty," Wes said. "Damn. I could've reached out to Dumbledore. I won't lie, I'm relieved he didn't try to make contact while Corban was at my house. I'm sure I could've explained it away, but it sounds like the Dark Lord's defences are right up. He won't tolerate even the merest appearance of dissent right now."
"No," Narcissa agreed in a whisper. "Did you know anything about what happened before Corban showed up?"
Wes shook his head. "He told me something happened, but he kept me in the dark. I had a feeling it had to do with Norheim. Did the Dark Lord find him, or what?"
"Yeah, but it didn't go anywhere. He. . ." Narcissa furrowed her brow, for she still wasn't entirely sure she understood what all the Dark Lord meant about the boy he looked for. "Norheim was supposed to have a boy named Bjorn with him. They figure Norheim took him to Eastern Europe and got help from an archmage or something. Someone wiped Norheim's memory."
"What's so special about this boy?" Wes asked.
"Well, the Dark Lord told us the one time that Norheim had taken his body," Narcissa replied. "He said when we got back here that Bjorn would be seventeen pretty soon. Next week, I guess. And he'll look just like the Dark Lord."
"Hm." Wes blinked, brow similarly low as his gaze darted about. "His body, so. . .hm. Considering what happened with Dagmar when the Dark Lord got hit with the Killing Curse, did he mean for this boy to. . .well, the Dark Lord's soul isn't exactly permanently placed, is it? He got forced out of his original body when he tried to kill Harry Potter back in '81. Floated around until he got the body he's been using the last few years. Now he's in Dagmar's. So was he supposed to be put into this other one, then?"
"Maybe." Spelled out like that, it was pretty much the only thing Narcissa could see making sense. "What I don't know then is where Bjorn came from. I never heard about him before now. Kids don't show up out of nowhere."
"The Dark Lord said he looks just like him?" Wes asked, to which Narcissa nodded. "My best guess is that this kid is his. But then who's the mother?"
Narcissa's stomach did a little flip. "Hildegard."
Wes hummed again.
Doubt crept in on Narcissa. "You don't think so?"
"No, you're probably right," Wes said. "What I'm thinking is that if the Dark Lord had a child with Hildegard, we're probably laying in the bed they conceived him in."
"Oh." Narcissa wrinkled her nose. "Hildegard is so young, though. She would've been about the same age as our kids. I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of Draco getting tangled up like that with someone so much older. And what about Dagmar? Draco told me when I was at his house that Erik wasn't her father. Do you think it was the Dark Lord, then?"
"Could've been."
Narcissa started to feel nauseous. Did Lucius know? If he did, he'd kept it from Narcissa through the entire time they'd been talking with Hildegard and Erik about arranging their kids together. Was it not the Ramstads Lucius wanted to merge their family with, but the Dark Lord himself?
Narcissa rubbed her mouth. "Maybe we're jumping to conclusions. I want to say Lucius wouldn't have kept that from me, but I don't know. I guess because I didn't want to be involved, it was easy to keep me in the dark. It might have even felt like an honour to him."
Wes rested a hand on Narcissa's elbow, lightly stroking with his thumb. It did little to comfort when Narcissa felt so gross about the entire situation. She hated feeling like she'd been taken for a fool, but she felt even worse for Draco. That was a lot of expectation to put on a clueless kid—not to mention, a kid. But then why did Hildegard imply to Narcissa that Dagmar had no sympathies about the Dark Lord? Did she expect that to make Narcissa shy away? Had Narcissa read her wrong?
"I feel like such an idiot," Narcissa said. "And there's nothing I can do. If I knew what Lucius was trying to set up, I can't say I would've encouraged Draco toward it. And I feel awful saying that, because there was nothing wrong with Dagmar herself. She was a sweet girl who brought the best out of Draco. It was a lose-lose from the beginning. Draco wouldn't have been as happy without her, although I'm sure it's nothing compared to how he's feeling right now."
Her eyes welled up, but she pushed it all back. "What do we do, Wes?"
Wes was chewing on his lips. "What happened to Draco? Or do you know anything at all?"
"Potter took him when he left the cottage." Narcissa's stomach dropped anew because she hadn't really thought about everything she overheard from the upstairs landing. "Shacklebolt said something about Dumbledore. I think Draco and Dagmar must have been involved with him. They had some kind of plan for if Death Eaters showed up there."
"So Draco's probably okay, then," Wes said. "If Potter took off with him, he's probably with Dumbledore. What all did Draco know about the Dark Lord's operations? He knew you were here, right? You told him about it?"
Narcissa nodded, then furrowed her brow again. "He knew about the island. He called it Phantom Island, and said some people were looking for it. He told me it was in Trondheim, but it didn't sound like that's true from the way the Dark Lord was talking earlier."
"Trondheim? That's barely the half-point between here and where I've been getting supplies in northern Scotland. Why did he think it was in Trondheim?"
"I'm not sure." Narcissa shrugged. "He sounded certain. If we're not near Trondheim, then where are we?"
"West of Tromsø, on the Norwegian Sea."
"The two aren't even close?"
"Trondheim is probably five-hundred miles south of here."
"Well. . .someone got some bad intel, then." Narcissa sighed. "I guess we can't expect anyone to show up here looking for us."
Wes narrowed his eyes. "Did it sound to you like the Dark Lord might be aware of a mole? How he was curious about Trondheim?"
"Think he was the one to feed the bad intel?" Narcissa asked. "I guess that's one way of knowing someone betrayed your confidence."
"I don't know. Depends who all knows about this place. As far as I was aware before I came here, only the Dark Lord and Bella did. One of the Carrows, maybe?"
"No," Narcissa refuted. "It was their first time here when we came up last week."
"Hm." Wes sighed. "Guess we'll find out."
Narcissa gravitated closer to Wes on the bed, resting an arm around his middle when he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Despite doing hardly anything, she was exhausted. Maybe the darkness had something to do with it too, but Narcissa didn't know how much longer she could go without feeling like she had some control over her life. She'd been granted an illusion of it for the one glorious week she got to spend in Bergen. In a way, Narcissa was worse off for it. She'd gotten used to the ebb and flow of life here on the island. By breaking that, it reminded Narcissa that something else—something much better—was possible. She truly was a prisoner here. She could never leave by her own volition.
The weight of that zapped Narcissa of any motivation. She hardly returned any of the affection Wes tried with her. Narcissa certainly couldn't rally herself for a shag. She didn't have much to say either when Wes asked after her mind.
While Wes went for a hot shower, Narcissa decided she ought to at least go check one more time on the stewing lacewing flies. The fire under the cauldron would probably need to be tended to, lest the batch go to waste. Whatever personal reason Narcissa had to not bother wasn't worth disappointing the Dark Lord.
The flame was indeed low. Narcissa piddled around on it, trying to find some motivation. Finishing would let her put one more day behind her. She watched the lacewing flies roll around in the cauldron when she heard a quiet thump at the front of the house. The library door opened afterward. Narcissa didn't hear it close.
She went back to work on the fire more to make it look like she was actually doing something when the Dark Lord appeared in the corner of her vision. She looked up. He stood forlornly in the centre of the keeping room, gaze on the fireplace that Narcissa should probably stoke as well before she headed upstairs.
That he lingered pulled Narcissa's gaze back. She furrowed her brow.
"My Lord?" she asked.
He didn't respond. He continued looking around the keeping room. When the Dark Lord turned his face enough in Narcissa's direction for her to see its profile, he looked confused.
"All right?" Narcissa tried again.
The Dark Lord's head snapped in her direction. He blinked at her, his eyes otherwise wide and unfocused.
Narcissa's throat tightened as they looked at each other. She almost felt foolish to ask, as if she was only stacking more false hope on top of the rest of it: "Dagmar?"
She didn't react any differently, if it was indeed her. They—whoever it was—blinked a couple more times. With a long draw of breath, a shadow passed over their face again. The way their expression set made Narcissa's shoulders slump.
The Dark Lord stared at Narcissa, blinking one more time before turning with a grunt back toward the library. His feet padded down the hallway and then the library door closed. The house fell silent again.