Chapter 36: Collarbone

Lily jumped slightly as Severus placed his hand on the small of her back, but forced her strained smile to stay in place as he said in a monotone that had not altered since they entered Voldemort's mansion, "Narcissa, may I present my wife. Lily, Narcissa Malfoy-"

"We've met, of course," Narcissa said, tone bland, but emotion flickered behind her eyes- emotion that unsettled Lily, as she couldn't tell what was inspiring it.

"Of course," Lily echoed, allowing her eyes and mind to wander as she looked over Narcissa's shoulder at the party going on behind them, amazed at how normal the whole thing seemed- somehow she had never expected that when the Death Eaters got together it would be almost exactly the same as when the Order did. Wizards were mingling casually, various alcoholic beverages in their hands, and occasionally a laugh would erupt, causing people to look over, not in disapproval, as Lily would have expected, but rather, as though they wanted to join in on the fun. If the laughs were a little few and far between, well- in truth the same could be said of the Order, now, and for the first time Lily realized sharply, almost painfully, that these people, her enemies, all had friends and families too- were all affected by this war, too-

Severus was saying something, probably to Narcissa, and though Lily's instincts cautioned her that she should be paying attention, her traitorous mind could only jump back to that morning, when Albus had stood before her and Severus, a downright smirk on his face, and pronounced them man and wife, in what had felt to Lily like the biggest mockery of the institution of marriage ever known to wizards. It probably hadn't helped that Albus had married her and James, too, but the day she had married James had been lighthearted, carefree- she had been surrounded by friends, by family, instead of by various members of the Hogwarts faculty, their expressions ranging from mild disapproval to downright condemnation-

Lily fought the urge to jump again as the pressure of Severus's hand was suddenly absented from her back and he murmured his regrets, heading over to another group. Lily fought competing urges to scream and laugh hysterically at the thought that she had been left alone with, of all people, Narcissa Malfoy-

But Narcissa just looked around nervously before taking a hesitant step toward Lily, looking as though she wanted to say something but didn't know how-

"I- do you like the party?" Lily questioned, knowing she must sound ridiculous, but not knowing what else she could possibly have to discuss with this woman who probably wanted her dead.

And to her surprise Narcissa snorted in an extremely undignified manner before suddenly looking anxious and replying softly,

"It is always an honor to attend any gatherings the Dark Lord might feel to be appropriate."

Lily felt her brow start to furrow and she stopped it only through an extreme force of will, commenting casually,

"I imagine so," and trying without much success to come up with another topic of conversation. Narcissa had no job, and Lily couldn't remember her ever expressing an interest in anything but Lucius Malfoy when they'd been in school-

But Narcissa didn't even seem to hear her, merely looking around nervously again before taking another halting step toward her and saying so softly even Lily wasn't sure she heard her correctly,

"I was- so sorry- to hear about your son."

For a second Lily froze, wondering if Narcissa would really mock her here, like this, now-

But a look at Narcissa's face ruled that out more effectively than anything else could have, and Lily was reduced to merely staring at her, too shocked to feel any of the pain she normally did when thinking about Harry before offering softly,

"Thank you. I- how is Draco?"

And to her astonishment, cold, shallow Narcissa lit up like a firework at the mention of her son's name before babbling about how clever he was becoming.

Lily smiled and nodded at what seemed to be the appropriate times even as she took a moment to survey the scene around her carefully, noting the increasing drunkenness of the majority of the people at the party, the fact that, at this point, her and Severus were no longer the focus of attention-

"I'm- so glad, Narcissa," Lily offered as the younger woman stopped for breath before shooting her what she hoped would be perceived as a slightly embarrassed smile, ready to put her plan into action. "But I was wondering- could you point me in the direction of the toilets?"

Nearly thirty minutes and a countless number of charms later Lily stood in what appeared to be an extremely poorly organized records room, and she marveled at the fact that Voldemort would actually allow things to be in such a state before remembering that Albus had warned her that the majority of this information would be useless, horribly outdated, of no use to anyone-

"And I'm supposed to find the one relevant list how?" Lily muttered to herself before opening a cabinet at random and beginning to look over the records there- useless financial information about potions ingredients-

"What are you doing," a voice suddenly hissed from behind her, and Lily froze, knowing there was really no way for her to explain this away- that she was almost certainly about to die-

"I- was lost-" she began softly, turning slowly, and almost collapsing with relief when she saw Severus standing there before she registered the fury on his face.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned, feeling sudden anger as she went on the offensive. "Someone's going to notice that we're gone-"

"That didn't seem to bother you overly much," he shot back, voice venomous as he advanced toward her and she squared her shoulders, forcing herself to stand straight as she snapped,

"I'm going to go back as soon as I locate the list of Death Eaters who are from outside the British Isles-"

"Did Albus put you up to this?" Severus growled, gripping her upper arms tightly, murder in his eyes.

"I don't see what that has to do with-" Lily began before letting out a whimper as he squeezed her arms tighter and muttered something that sounded miraculously like a death threat against Dumbledore before continuing to glare at her, as though he was trying to impart something with his eyes-

"Careful, Sev, I might think you care," she snapped, trying to hide her uncertainty as her eyes warred with his before she yanked out of his grip with all her strength and turned her back on him, flinging open another drawer at random. "I told you, I'll be done in a-"

A sound from somewhere outside caused her to freeze mid-sentence, however, and despite the fact that her back was to him she could have sworn she felt Severus do the same. Before she could stop to analyze the situation, however, Severus was suddenly close behind her, placing cold, surprisingly gentle hands on her shoulders.

"What are you-" she hissed angrily despite the fact that she was more confused than angry, attempting to turn and face him-

But before she could even finish the question he had barked "Silencio" with a kind of chilling certainty, and Lily felt her mouth drop open in shock before she snapped it closed, anger bubbling furiously inside of her as she faced the fact that, at least for the moment, words were no longer an option.

"Relax," he whispered almost gently, and Lily shivered as he quickly, skillfully brushed her hair to the side with one hand and slipped her robe down over her right shoulder with the other, exposing her collarbone.

Unable to process what was happening she tried again to turn and face him, but at that instant his fingers trailed gently up her neck, and even as her mind cried out in fury she felt her knees wobble slightly under her as her head tilted as though of its own accord, allowing him better access.

She stiffened as she felt his lips press gently down on her collarbone, moist and far warmer than she would have expected as he kissed a path from her shoulder to her earlobe, slowly and with impossible certainty- impossible skill-

She opened her mouth to order him to stop, knowing it would come out as more of a whimper than a command and somehow unable to care as the hands which were gripping her upper arms suddenly loosened and slid slowly down her arms to join with her hands in one fluid, impossibly sensual motion.

And then, just as she had given up the thought of turning to face him, she felt herself whipped around and hoisted onto a desk she hadn't even noticed before and bent backwards so hard that it should have hurt as his lips descended and met hers.