Disclaimer: I just own the plot.
Review Responses:
Serepidia - The cat's doing just fine thanks to you faithful reviewers! I couldn't have Narcissa murder Lucius, I'm not saying I don't think she's capable of killing someone, but in cold blood? I suppose she nearly did kill Sev but that wasn't exactly cold blood and she was pretty unbalanced at that time. I couldn't turn her into a murderer, besides it wouldn't fit with the books! I can't say I'd object to seeing Lucy dead, (though I still sort of love him heck I'm strange!), but not like that, besides anything else I think Lucy would be the type to go out with a bang not to be murdered in his sleep. Thanks for reviewing; I won't keep you waiting long for this chapter, unless fanfic goes crazy again!
Professor Charlotte Snape - Yeah, it was pretty obvious she wouldn't kill him, as it would break with the story though there are days when I think he is just about psycho enough to do it! But I couldn't have Narc becoming a murderer! The writing a chapter of comedy and angst idea sounds good, that way you can see which one works out best! You'll have to let me know when you post it! I adore Richard E. Grant! I would marry him but he hasn't asked yet! He was funny in Jack and Sarah but it was also so sad! I love that film! Gosh imagine being trapped with the Goyles! I've never been to France, well I've driven through it on a coach in the early hours of the morning but I've never seen much of it apart from the motorways! Lucius in Disneyland! LOL! That's so good! Now that would make a good basis for a comedy! Thanks for reviewing and twice at that!!
Dark Comet - I got your review, Fanfic has been a bit strange lately though which is why my last update was so late! I am so glad you said you'd keep reading! I dread just keeping posting chapter after chapter with no reviews, my poor little fic just festering in cyber-space. Ok, I'm talking crap! I'm glad you liked chapter fifteen, scarily enough I liked writing it, I think Narc is a way of letting out my inner psycho I tend to be quite a reserved person so all my psychopathic tendencies seem to re-route into my writing! Believe me she hates him, though I think there's still a part of her that on a normal day doesn't really want to see him dead and bear in mind he had not only just threatened her but her son as well! She is scary, but think about what she did to Sev, who she likes, in Wedding Bells, Lucy got off lightly! Definitely bad Sirius! I always seem to have him as the bad guy in this fic but I do love him, I just think ah well he's Sirius he doesn't really know any better somehow his evil stupidity is cute! James however, I really don't like! Goodness knows why I just don't. I will try to be nice to Sevvie, he's going to have an interesting time in this chapter! Morgana had taste, so of course she'd take Sev over Siri! I'm glad you liked those lines, I was rather fond of 'you killed it' myself, I just imagine Draco saying it very indignantly! Narc gives Draco too much credit sometimes, he can be exactly that daft! Thanks for reviewing and telling me you'll keep reading, I'm glad someone will!
Lune Project - Ooh, I hate presentations. No, thankfully, my exams aren't that bad, though I do have a monster of an English paper. Three hours unseen practical criticism! At least we know the general topic and it's war literature which I love so that could be worse. I hope your exams go well! Narc does think ahead with the eliminating the evidence part, she knows that it wouldn't exactly look good if it were found. No, nobody saw her, the only person who knew she had an extra wand was the guy who sold it to her and he isn't telling! She disposed of the wand down in there dungeons, well, actually an underground laboratory in the dungeons but you get the idea no to see her as they don't even have a house elf when she does it and the human servants wouldn't go near the place. I LOVE trying to work out what's going to happen in the next books! Me and my friend, the one who helps me with the plot of this story, obsessively record and watch documentaries on which Jo gives interviews trying to get some clues! One guess, or rather connection, I was wondering if other people thought anything of was that the woman who watches Harry is called Mrs Figg and at the end of the fourth book when Dumby is referring to the old crowd he mentions an Arabella Figg, one and the same person or some relation perhaps? I keep running funny names through my translator to try to find the meaning behind the name! English lessons help with that too, we were reading Othello and it made references about both McGonagall and Trewlawny's names, I didn't know Minerva was a roman goddess of wisdom and apparently a Sybill (or Sibyl) was in classical times a woman possessing the spirit of prophecy! I did know about Jo's hard life before HP and I guess that does pretty well explain why she would favour bravery. She's not as bad as I at times make her out to be, Sev is a good example of a grey character perhaps that's why I love him so much! Hufflepuff? I was sorted into Ravenclaw by the official HP website but I still want to be a Slytherin! I'm not mad with you! You make good points, I do love Jo there are just parts of her books that I don't quite like, (Hagrid's whole bad blood comment abut the Malfoys seems just as prejudiced as Draco's mudblood comments about Hermione but I adore Hagrid so I have to blame it on Jo instead!) The bit in the previous chapter about Pettigrew isn't really my opinion it's just Narc's Slytherin love of power, she sees Pettigrew as weak and therefore would not have used him personally but I see why the Potter's used him, she doesn't think they should have seen through him she thinks he was obviously going to be too weak to risk using, but that's Narc being judgemental! Draco as minister of magic? I like it but I doubt he'd do it. Personally I'm hoping for Arthur or Ginny as the next minister, I can just see Ginny as a career woman ruling the wizarding world! I have indeed ordered book five and if you really want to know the plot and the details of who dies and stuff then I'll send you an e-mail when I've finished reading it, is your e-mail address in your profile? If not just stick it in a review and I'll send you the plot details as I don't want to put them up here in case others who haven't read it and didn't want to know come to kill me in my sleep! Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking, I naively imagined book five being released everywhere at the same time. By 'I can't buy the English versions' do you mean versions printed in England or in the English language? My friend thinks Draco's safe for now because killing him would unbalance the story, there'd be no major Slytherin. I really do adore getting long reviews, unfortunately they provoke long review responses which are fun to write but I'm betting aren't fun for people to have to scroll through to find the story! LOL! Thanks for reviewing!
honest_iago - Thank you for reviewing again, yes I do have some loyal reviewers and you're one of them. This chapter's dedicated to you because you love it so much! I'm glad you do feel sympathy for Narc, I certainly do. You are privileged, though I do have some stuff you haven't read yet! AODAF must be to do with Dad's Army but I can't think what it stands for! David should not be keeping secrets from Nate! And Keith is totally still in love with him, who wouldn't be! I'd leave a longer review response to you but I have about ten minutes left until I'm ordered off the internet, so sorry! Thanks for reviewing and here's your darling Sev in all his blackened glory as you put it!
I Built My Life Around You
A/N: This is very long chapter but it just didn't split easily so I left it all together. It also changes perspective briefly at times. People's thoughts are as below:
**Narcissa's Thoughts**
***Severus' Thoughts***
*Lucius' Thoughts*
_emphasis_
This chapter is dedicated to honest_iago because she loves it so much and she's 18 on Wednesday! Happy Birthday Marwood (or should I say Mrs Pike?)!
Chapter 17
October arrived with a cold edge to the wind and an early frost. Narcissa was pretty well recovered from the events of summer, she was more conscious of what she said and did now but she had to admit that Lucius didn't really bother her on a daily basis. They had had a somewhat unconventional relationship for years which had often involved them barely speaking for weeks but now they appeared to have formed a silent agreement to leave each other be. Lucius was busy with his one-man campaign to end Dumbledore and Hagrid's respective careers and get the hippogriff destroyed and Narcissa felt it was best to leave him to it. **Nice to know he's found a hobby that doesn't involve harming children!**
Narcissa had finally managed to hire another house elf but she wasn't sure it was working out. The elf was called Dippy and lived up to its name. She was perpetually happy and chirpy, bounced everywhere and even liked Lucius, who once kicked her down the stairs for being too cheerful. Narcissa didn't say a word about that incident; she saw the temptation. The house elf was quite clearly a few slices short of a loaf and Narcissa had taken to avoiding it as much as possible.
She and her husband still exchanged the odd word but it was cold and disinterested more often than not. One morning in mid-October Lucius informed her as he left the breakfast table, "Narcissa there's an important party at the ministry next week."
**What was that, an invitation? An order? Or just a random piece of information I don't really need? Ah well, I'll ask him later.**
She returned to her breakfast and didn't give it another thought until Lucius accosted her on the stairs a week later. "You ready for that party tonight?"
**"What?!" Now that he mentions it I seem to remember him saying something about a party.**
"The party at the ministry tonight, I told you about it a week ago! Of course I realise that's quite short notice, it taking you three days to put your make up on and everything, but come on woman!"
**Woman! Ooh, I'll get you for that one!**
"You didn't tell me we were going! You said that there was a party, not that we were invited."
"Of course we're invited!"
**Oh yeah, who wouldn't want a deatheater at their social gatherings? What's your party piece, a spot of muggle torture before dinner?**
"Right, well what time are we leaving?"
"Be down here, ready to leave, at seven."
**Oh yes, your royal worshipfulness!** She nodded and continued up the stairs then smiled strangely and turned back.
"Lucius, what colour robes are you wearing?"
"The dark green with the silver fastenings."
"Ok." She smiled and went to rifle her extensive wardrobe; she had just the outfit for this occasion.
*******
Narcissa walked downstairs at seven oh five precisely that evening.
"Where have you been, what took so long? And what in hell's name are you wearing?" Lucius snapped.
She glanced down at her outfit, "Robes."
"You know what I mean!"
She did indeed know what he meant. She was wearing a beautiful set of deep red robes, which added colour to her pale skin, and a black choker and matching bracelet to math the robes black fastenings. She looked wonderful, as did he in robes of deep forest green with silver fastenings. The only problem was that they clashed horribly, as Dippy demonstrated by walking in at that moment and saying, "Misses and Misters Malfoy you is looking very festive tonight!"
"The bloody elf's right, together we look like a pair of bloody Christmas decorations."
"Oh don't be silly dear, we look fine."
"We look ridiculous, as I'm quite sure you realise!"
"What, are you implying that I purposely dressed like this in order to clash with you?" she laughed.
"If I didn't believe that to be beyond your level of intelligence then I'd say yes. The one thing I actually thought you were capable of was dressing suitably, but apparently now even that is beyond you."
"If you say so dear, shall I go and get changed?"
"No we don't have another week to spare, we're late as it is, come on."
"Alright, I'm coming."
*******
They arrived at the party half an hour late, Lucius now very much annoyed.
"Now just slip in quietly and we'll separate once we're in there," he hissed at his wife.
"Alright dear," she said, much louder than she needed to. She then swung open both doors at once causing their "quiet" entrance to become rather dramatic.
People turned to look at them, they always made a stunning couple but now they were stunning for a different reason, they looked awful together. Narcissa smirked as Lucius cringed slightly so only she noticed.
The two of them walked into the room and were immediately greeted enthusiastically by Fudge.
"Mister and Mrs Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you here! You look delightful Mrs Malfoy, the two of you make such a handsome couple!"
**What, is he colour blind? I hope all my hard work isn't going to be wasted. Oh no, everyone else is looking at us as though they need sunglasses!**
Fudge waved someone over, "Lucius, I believe you know the Weasleys?"
"Ah yes, Arthur and Mildred."
Fudge nodded, "Well I have to go and speak to the ambassador I'll leave them to entertain you."
Arthur was looking quietly handsome in a deep midnight blue coloured robe. Molly was on his arm dressed in a pretty shade of pink and brushing some non-existent dust off her husband's clothing.
"Arthur, Mildred, good to see you. Pity about your robes Mildred, I suppose your dress robes were at the cleaners?" Lucius sneered at Molly.
Arthur stepped forward as though to defend his wife but Molly held out her arm to stop him doing any serious damage. Narcissa decided to attempt to save the situation.
"I think it was an inspired choice Molly, you look lovely dear."
"Yes, almost as inspired as it was when you wore it last year," Lucius drawled.
"I think it's great to use robes more than once," Narcissa said, her mouth curving in a mischievous smile, "Lucius is doing that tonight aren't you dear, and nobody's noticed the stain on the collar?"
Lucius glared at his wife, "Well at least Arthur's wife isn't literally a scarlet woman," he sneered, before glancing at Molly and adding, "Then again with that hair..."
Narcissa looked affronted and gave Lucius an effective sneer of her own before turning to the Weasleys, "Excuse me Arthur, lovely to see you again Molly, but I have to go and mingle."
She smiled vacantly and walked away, grabbing a glass of champagne off a waiter's tray and downing it in one go. She felt she'd need it; it looked like being a long night.
She sighed heavily and glanced around the room for something to entertain her. **Oh, now that looks like something that could make the evening much more interesting!** Standing in a corner, and glaring at the food table as though it had done him some great offence, was none other than Severus Snape.
She smiled, almost without knowing it, and headed over to his corner.
"Severus!" she exclaimed, then composed herself before he could turn around and coolly asked, as though she didn't care, "What are you doing here? This is a polite party. I thought you didn't do polite?"
"I don't," he stated, seeming unsurprised to see her, "Dumbledore couldn't make it, I drew the short straw."
"What's wrong with Dumbledore?"
"I don't know, something to do with Potter, he's probably had a nasty nose bleed or stubbed his toe or something."
She couldn't resist laughing at the long-suffering expression on his face. "I see you're expanding your wardrobe," she said glancing at his clothes, "It now includes black and black."
Severus was wearing a simple, fitted black robe which was perfectly suited to him; he glanced down at his robe, then at Narcissa's and raised a dark eyebrow.
"You should be careful Sev, you could make a girl swoon with that expression."
Severus chose to ignore her swooning remark, "I don't think you should be commenting on people's outfits, unless of course you and Lucius were going for a Christmassy effect in the middle of October?"
"Well I don't know about him but I certainly was! Like it?" she gave a little twirl causing Severus to roll his eyes.
"You coordinated your outfit so that you would clash with Lucius in an attempt to humiliate him." It wasn't a question, he knew her well enough to realise that that was exactly what she'd done.
"Yes, pity he considers himself too refined to allow himself to blush."
"I don't think even Lucius would blush merely because his wife wore an outfit that clashed with his."
"Just because there isn't enough human left in _you_ to blush," she said taking another glass of champagne and downing it as quickly as the first.
"I'm not human." He deadpanned.
"Wow, is Severus Snape joking?" she teased.
"No, he's trying to make you look stupid."
"You're not being very nice to me!" she said, waving across a waiter who refilled her glass.
He raised an eyebrow, "You tried to kill me."
"That was years ago, we're over that," she said sipping her refilled champagne.
"I'm not."
"Gosh anyone would think you cared."
"If I'd known then what I'd be doing now I'd have embraced the Dementors with open arms, I have since learnt the Weasley twins are a fate worse than soullessness."
Narcissa smiled at him, "Speaking of Weasleys, Molly appears to have left Arthur and Lucy to fight it out."
Molly was heading over towards where Narcissa and Severus were stood, leaving her husband and Lucius to glare at each other whilst being involved in conversation by Bartemius Crouch.
"Hello, Narcissa, Professor Snape."
Narcissa smiled and Severus inclined his head politely.
"Molly doesn't Sev look handsome tonight?" Narcissa asked suddenly.
Molly looked bewildered and shot worried looks back to where her husband and Lucius were looking less than congenially at each other.
Severus opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again, clearly realising that speech would not be wise and that the only proper course of action was a hasty retreat.
"Would you ladies kindly excuse me, I have to go and pretend to be interested in the inane ramblings of Cornelius 'I am a fool' Fudge while actually staring at the wall behind his head to avoid having to chew off a leg through listening to his idea of conversation."
He walked away, leaving Molly staring and Narcissa polishing off the third glass of champagne.
"So Molly, how are things? I'm so sorry about Lucius, I love your robes!"
Molly smiled, "Oh there's no need to apologise, Lucius and I were at school together and I can't say he's changed much since."
Narcissa snorted, "I'm willing to bet he hasn't!"
"He and Arthur have never liked each other and it only got worse as they got older. It didn't help that Arthur was head boy either, Lucius really didn't take well to that."
Narcissa laughed, "Lucius was beaten to the head boy's position? Oh, that is too good!"
Molly looked amused but then frowned a little, "Why do you let him talk to you the way he did before?"
"Oh, that's nothing. Just husband and wife banter, you know." Narcissa didn't even manage to look convinced herself and Molly let the subject go noticing that her friend seemed to want to talk about something else.
Narcissa and Molly chatted happily for a while, steering clear of topics such as Lucius, though Narcissa failed to understand how the woman could talk to her in such a friendly manner. **Does she not know what Lucius tried to do to her child? Does she really see me as different from him? I'd almost given up hoping anyone other than Sev would! She's such a good person to even look me in the face after what my husband did!**
Eventually Cornelius Fudge, and a very bored looking Severus Snape, wandered over to speak with them. It took Narcissa ten minutes to palm Fudge off onto Lucius and soon Fudge was scuttling off to ingratiate himself with Mr. Malfoy, who would undoubtedly not thank his wife were he ever to find out. Molly had politely excused herself and gone back to her husband leaving Severus and Narcissa alone again.
"I cannot believe the society Dumbledore can tolerate," Severus growled out, he had indeed looked close to chewing his own leg off while Fudge had been talking, **Well either that or just Avada Kedavraing the man on the spot and claiming self-defence!**
The alcohol had put Narcissa in a good mood and she laughed, "I know, I hear he even socialises with ex-deatheaters!" she said in a mock-scandalised tone.
"And the wives of current ones," Severus shot back.
"Oh, he doesn't socialise with me, sends me his 'disappointed' look every now and again but besides that, nothing. You know I sent him a perfectly nice howler once and I didn't even get one back."
Severus couldn't quite hide his smile at that comment.
Narcissa felt that the evening was dragging on forever; she would have preferred to talk to Severus or Molly but kept getting whisked off by various people she didn't know, or was too drunk to remember that she knew.
Eventually she escaped from the clutches of an ambitious young ministry worker, who could have been talking in Greek for all the sense he'd been making to her, and rescued Molly from Fudge and Crouch who had cornered her in a pincer movement which seemed decidedly unfair!
"Thank you dear, I don't really enjoy these things, but I have to come for Arthur's sake. I don't know what they were talking about!"
Narcissa smiled at Molly's devotion to her husband, "I'm not overly fond of these ministry functions myself, the highlight of this evening was seeing Sev. I didn't realise how much I missed him until I saw him again. Doesn't hurt that he looks quite so handsome either."
"Oh Narc, I didn't know you cared," said a silky voice behind her, she turned to see Severus Snape walking away, robes billowing out behind him and **Damn it he's practically swaggering!** She felt her cheeks grow warm.
Molly gave her a sympathetic look but was now much too distracted by the fact that Arthur and Lucius had become embroiled in conversation, which appeared to be less a conversation and more a heated argument.
"I think we should get over there!" Molly said, clearly concerned.
**Why? I think Arthur's about to swing for Lucy and I'd pay good money to see that!** Still Narcissa followed Molly across to where her husband was sneering at an irate Arthur Weasley.
"Honestly Weasley, you'd think with all those children you wouldn't miss one?" Lucius sneered.
Narcissa was horrified and looked at Molly in an attempt to communicate her sorrow at her husband's attitude but Molly was more interested in the fact that her husband had now indeed swung for Lucius.
Wands forgotten, the two of them began to scrap like children with Molly calling, "No, Arthur!" in vain. The attention of the whole room was now on the two brawling men.
Molly looked pleadingly at Narcissa, who simply said, "Don't complain, Arthur's winning!" in a rather cheerful tone.
Severus came up behind her and took hold of her arm at this point, leading her away before she could either embarrass or incriminate herself, "Admirable sentiment Narcissa, but not something you want Lucius to hear!" he hissed as they walked away from the crowd.
She nodded, "Perhaps not."
Severus glanced back towards the fight, "I never thought I'd find myself cheering on a Weasley," he commented.
She laughed then remembered their previous encounter, "You realise that I knew you were there before, and that I wasn't really embarrassed." She suddenly seemed to realise the unconvincing state of her own argument, "Damn, champagne dulls my wits!"
"You really didn't mean to say that last part out loud did you?" he said, smiling indulgently.
She groaned and shook her head.
"How much champagne have you had?"
"About two and a half"
"Glasses?"
"Bottles."
"You should be dead!"
"Is that in response to how much I've drunk or the fact I've been married to Lucy for the last fifteen years?"
"Both."
"So I cheated death on a couple of occasions, you should be dead too!"
"Well if you'd had your way..."
"Ah, it was all in good fun!"
"None of it was in good fun."
"No, none of it was in good fun."
"You're drunk."
"No, just crazy, but give me credit I'm crazy and coherent."
Severus shook his head in despair. They both glanced back towards the fight, which had finally been broken up by Molly hexing them both into submission. Fudge was now chastising Arthur and apologising to Lucius who was looking around for Narcissa, eager to leave.
"I have to go now," she said, not wishing Lucius to notice her with Severus, even though he did currently look fairly occupied with Fudge and Molly.
"Ok, goodbye." Severus said in a voice devoid of emotion, which suggested he didn't really care whether she stayed or went.
"Goodbye," she hesitated. "Alright, well I'm probably only doing this because I'm drunk but what the hell, I'm drunk so I can."
Severus looked at her as though she had finally flipped, then opened his eyes wide in bewilderment as she kissed him softly, "Goodnight Sev."
He simply stared as she walked away, then she turned back and called, "Don't be a stranger," before making her way through the crowd to where her husband and Arthur Weasley were now being scolded by Molly. Lucius looked as though he wanted to give the woman a piece of his mind but his painful split lip was making that difficult.
Severus shook his head as he watched husband and wife leave together, each eyeing the other as though they were lower down the evolutionary ladder than flobberworms until Narcissa suddenly had a fit of giggles and burst out with "He beat you to the head boy's position, then he beat you to a pulp!" before they passed out of sight.
***A) now you are just plain suicidal, woman and B) that is good!*** Severus thought, laughing softly.
*******
Narcissa passed out in the car on the way home, much to her husband's disgust, *Can that woman not behave herself just for one evening?* When they reached Malfoy Manor he tried to wake her but she remained stubbornly unconscious. *Well I'm not going to carry her!* He got out of the car to see Dippy waiting at the gate, "Go and get Narcissa in to the house, put her in bed or something."
"But I is too little to is lifting her!" Dippy protested, all the while bouncing up and down.
"Find a way!" Lucius snapped, knocking the elf backwards in to the snow.
He retreated into the house to heal his wounds, *Bloody Weasley!* He was still angry with his wife when he smiled suddenly. *Oh yes, that would be perfect.*
He went up to his wife's bedroom to see her lying, still out of it, on the bed. He shook his head in disgust and ventured into her bathroom pulling open the cabinet. He removed a couple of small bottles and, very pleased with himself, left her to sleep it off.
When he got downstairs he poured the hangover cure down the sink, Narcissa would not be having a pleasant awakening tomorrow morning.
*******
Narcissa woke at six o'clock the following evening feeling as though she would never move again. Two minutes later she changed her mind and raced for the bathroom just in time to vomit into the toilet. She rifled the bathroom cabinet for a hangover cure but found the bottle missing, **Wha...where's the hangover thingy? Oh damn!** she thought as she sent a cascade of hair and skin care products into the sink. Deciding that they were probably happier where they were, she left them there and shut the door of the now empty cabinet. As she looked into the mirrored glass she saw a sight which made her scream and whirl around; there was a monster in the room. However when she turned there was nothing there, she frowned and glanced back. **Oh bugger, that's me.** Her make up from last night was half rubbed off and her hair was sticking out in sections from the elegant style it had started out in. She groaned, **I want to die!** She splashed some cold water on to her face and pulled off last night's robes, having some difficulty pulling them over her head as she had forgotten to unfasten them first. Eventually they were discarded and she pulled on a huge old t-shirt and crawled back into bed falling back into blissful unconsciousness.
It was a further eighteen hours before she regained consciousness, head still pounding but stomach feeling less like it had an energetic house elf jumping on it. As if on queue the energetic house elf appeared.
"You is awake Mrs Malfoy!"
It seemed far too excited about this and Narcissa wondered for the thousandth time why the thing couldn't just be miserable and quiet for a change. She nodded but then regretted doing so as her headache worsened.
"I'm dying," she croaked melodramatically.
The house elf continued to bounce excitedly, "Is you? Can I's helping with that?"
"What!?" **Did the house elf just threaten to kill me?** "Did you just threaten to kill me?"
Dippy shook her head, "No, but if you is wanting me to..."
Narcissa cut across before the elf could finish that thought, "I is wanting you to get me a cup of tea," she groaned again as she realised how she had just phrased that. "Go! Leave me to die in peace! Tell Lucius I'll haunt him till the day he dies, or until I get bored, whichever comes first."
The house elf beat a hasty retreat to fetch some tea, when it returned Narcissa was holding her head in her hands, **What did I do last night?! Hang on it isn't last night any more, it's two nights ago! Hmm, why do I remember Sev being there?** She suddenly got the feeling that she did not want to remember something that was connected with Sev so she pushed it from her mind and took a sip of the hot tea before sending the excitable elf to fetch a painkilling potion, **Where did the hangover cure I had get to?! And is Dippy on drugs? Hmm, should look into that. Ooh but not right now.**
She sat back against the pillows, sipping the tea, a memory of Severus slowly becoming clearer in her mind. She remembered an overheard conversation with Molly Weasley and her pathetic excuses afterwards. **Oh, I said some dumb things to Sev last night.** She then recalled someone saying in a voice which sounded remarkably like hers, "It was all in good fun," in reference to Severus having a near miss with the Dementors, **oh yeah, it sounded like me because it was me. I said some _really_ dumb things to Sev last night. Damn!** She thought back to the end of the evening even though some part of her subconscious mind was screaming at her to stay away and never think of it again. **I kissed Sev. Oh no, I passed out in the car!** She shook her head and took another sip of the hot soothing liquid then paused, **Hang on, back track, I KISSED SEV!** She spat the tea out and sent the cup flying, sitting up quickly enough to make her head feel like it had just exploded. She groaned and lowered her head into her hands, unable to be bothered caring about the teacup.
**It's ok, it's ok. Oh no! It's not ok! I kissed Sev, after telling him that that whole me trying to kill him thing was all in good fun! I actually used the phrase 'all in good fun'. Hmm, I seem to also remember using the phrase, 'don't be a stranger'. What was I on?! Oh yes, alcohol. I'll never drink again!**
Dippy bounced back in, making her head spin, "Hellos, I is broughting you painkiller potion, enjoy!"
**Must kill house elf!** She took the potion and drank it, relieved when the pounding in her head ceased. "Thanks, I think. Must you bounce?"
"I is only bouncing because I is a happy elf!"
"Go away!"
The elf bowed and skipped out of the door. **Of all the house elves in the world how did I get stuck with that one?! Ok, bigger problems than the house elf right now. Like, I kissed my son's potions master for example!** She groaned and climbed out of bed promising herself a hot bath and some chocolate. **Oh yeah, I wonder how Lucius is? Ah, I don't care.**
*******
A/N: In case anyone's interested, Lucius has worn those robes before but there is no stain on the collar, Narcissa is trying to humiliate him.
The line "glaring at the food table as though it had done him some great offence" belongs to honest_iago who helped with much of this chapter! Thank you to her!
When Lucius and Arthur are arguing and Lucius says, "With all those children you'd think you wouldn't miss one no one is listening to them and as Lucius is very prestigious Fudge simply blames poor Arthur!
Just a bit of timeline information for this fic - Lucius, Molly and Arthur were all in the same year at Hogwarts and they are ten years older than Narcissa, who is in turn two years older than Sev just in case anyone has forgotten.
I hope you enjoyed this lighter hearted chapter. What do you all think of Dippy? What do you think of Narc's behaviour?
In the next chapter Narc thinks over what she's done and she and Sev exchange some letters.
Please review! If you want to know the last update before the fifth book is released will be in the 18th June (Wednesday) I will update again the week after and I just hope you don't all desert me! I myself will be in a little local bookshop at one minute past midnight with honest_iago to collect our readily reserved copies of the book. She said she's going to kill a significant character in it! I'm terrified! I just know she'll end up killing someone I love!
I tell you what, why don't you tell me when you want the first update after the fifth book and I'll try and pick a date from your suggestions, as my exams are finished then it makes no difference to me really though I am going away for a few days so I can't leave it over a week after the book comes out. Anyway let me know what you think.
Reviews will feed the cat and make me write they will also make me smile!
Review Responses:
Serepidia - The cat's doing just fine thanks to you faithful reviewers! I couldn't have Narcissa murder Lucius, I'm not saying I don't think she's capable of killing someone, but in cold blood? I suppose she nearly did kill Sev but that wasn't exactly cold blood and she was pretty unbalanced at that time. I couldn't turn her into a murderer, besides it wouldn't fit with the books! I can't say I'd object to seeing Lucy dead, (though I still sort of love him heck I'm strange!), but not like that, besides anything else I think Lucy would be the type to go out with a bang not to be murdered in his sleep. Thanks for reviewing; I won't keep you waiting long for this chapter, unless fanfic goes crazy again!
Professor Charlotte Snape - Yeah, it was pretty obvious she wouldn't kill him, as it would break with the story though there are days when I think he is just about psycho enough to do it! But I couldn't have Narc becoming a murderer! The writing a chapter of comedy and angst idea sounds good, that way you can see which one works out best! You'll have to let me know when you post it! I adore Richard E. Grant! I would marry him but he hasn't asked yet! He was funny in Jack and Sarah but it was also so sad! I love that film! Gosh imagine being trapped with the Goyles! I've never been to France, well I've driven through it on a coach in the early hours of the morning but I've never seen much of it apart from the motorways! Lucius in Disneyland! LOL! That's so good! Now that would make a good basis for a comedy! Thanks for reviewing and twice at that!!
Dark Comet - I got your review, Fanfic has been a bit strange lately though which is why my last update was so late! I am so glad you said you'd keep reading! I dread just keeping posting chapter after chapter with no reviews, my poor little fic just festering in cyber-space. Ok, I'm talking crap! I'm glad you liked chapter fifteen, scarily enough I liked writing it, I think Narc is a way of letting out my inner psycho I tend to be quite a reserved person so all my psychopathic tendencies seem to re-route into my writing! Believe me she hates him, though I think there's still a part of her that on a normal day doesn't really want to see him dead and bear in mind he had not only just threatened her but her son as well! She is scary, but think about what she did to Sev, who she likes, in Wedding Bells, Lucy got off lightly! Definitely bad Sirius! I always seem to have him as the bad guy in this fic but I do love him, I just think ah well he's Sirius he doesn't really know any better somehow his evil stupidity is cute! James however, I really don't like! Goodness knows why I just don't. I will try to be nice to Sevvie, he's going to have an interesting time in this chapter! Morgana had taste, so of course she'd take Sev over Siri! I'm glad you liked those lines, I was rather fond of 'you killed it' myself, I just imagine Draco saying it very indignantly! Narc gives Draco too much credit sometimes, he can be exactly that daft! Thanks for reviewing and telling me you'll keep reading, I'm glad someone will!
Lune Project - Ooh, I hate presentations. No, thankfully, my exams aren't that bad, though I do have a monster of an English paper. Three hours unseen practical criticism! At least we know the general topic and it's war literature which I love so that could be worse. I hope your exams go well! Narc does think ahead with the eliminating the evidence part, she knows that it wouldn't exactly look good if it were found. No, nobody saw her, the only person who knew she had an extra wand was the guy who sold it to her and he isn't telling! She disposed of the wand down in there dungeons, well, actually an underground laboratory in the dungeons but you get the idea no to see her as they don't even have a house elf when she does it and the human servants wouldn't go near the place. I LOVE trying to work out what's going to happen in the next books! Me and my friend, the one who helps me with the plot of this story, obsessively record and watch documentaries on which Jo gives interviews trying to get some clues! One guess, or rather connection, I was wondering if other people thought anything of was that the woman who watches Harry is called Mrs Figg and at the end of the fourth book when Dumby is referring to the old crowd he mentions an Arabella Figg, one and the same person or some relation perhaps? I keep running funny names through my translator to try to find the meaning behind the name! English lessons help with that too, we were reading Othello and it made references about both McGonagall and Trewlawny's names, I didn't know Minerva was a roman goddess of wisdom and apparently a Sybill (or Sibyl) was in classical times a woman possessing the spirit of prophecy! I did know about Jo's hard life before HP and I guess that does pretty well explain why she would favour bravery. She's not as bad as I at times make her out to be, Sev is a good example of a grey character perhaps that's why I love him so much! Hufflepuff? I was sorted into Ravenclaw by the official HP website but I still want to be a Slytherin! I'm not mad with you! You make good points, I do love Jo there are just parts of her books that I don't quite like, (Hagrid's whole bad blood comment abut the Malfoys seems just as prejudiced as Draco's mudblood comments about Hermione but I adore Hagrid so I have to blame it on Jo instead!) The bit in the previous chapter about Pettigrew isn't really my opinion it's just Narc's Slytherin love of power, she sees Pettigrew as weak and therefore would not have used him personally but I see why the Potter's used him, she doesn't think they should have seen through him she thinks he was obviously going to be too weak to risk using, but that's Narc being judgemental! Draco as minister of magic? I like it but I doubt he'd do it. Personally I'm hoping for Arthur or Ginny as the next minister, I can just see Ginny as a career woman ruling the wizarding world! I have indeed ordered book five and if you really want to know the plot and the details of who dies and stuff then I'll send you an e-mail when I've finished reading it, is your e-mail address in your profile? If not just stick it in a review and I'll send you the plot details as I don't want to put them up here in case others who haven't read it and didn't want to know come to kill me in my sleep! Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking, I naively imagined book five being released everywhere at the same time. By 'I can't buy the English versions' do you mean versions printed in England or in the English language? My friend thinks Draco's safe for now because killing him would unbalance the story, there'd be no major Slytherin. I really do adore getting long reviews, unfortunately they provoke long review responses which are fun to write but I'm betting aren't fun for people to have to scroll through to find the story! LOL! Thanks for reviewing!
honest_iago - Thank you for reviewing again, yes I do have some loyal reviewers and you're one of them. This chapter's dedicated to you because you love it so much! I'm glad you do feel sympathy for Narc, I certainly do. You are privileged, though I do have some stuff you haven't read yet! AODAF must be to do with Dad's Army but I can't think what it stands for! David should not be keeping secrets from Nate! And Keith is totally still in love with him, who wouldn't be! I'd leave a longer review response to you but I have about ten minutes left until I'm ordered off the internet, so sorry! Thanks for reviewing and here's your darling Sev in all his blackened glory as you put it!
I Built My Life Around You
A/N: This is very long chapter but it just didn't split easily so I left it all together. It also changes perspective briefly at times. People's thoughts are as below:
**Narcissa's Thoughts**
***Severus' Thoughts***
*Lucius' Thoughts*
_emphasis_
This chapter is dedicated to honest_iago because she loves it so much and she's 18 on Wednesday! Happy Birthday Marwood (or should I say Mrs Pike?)!
Chapter 17
October arrived with a cold edge to the wind and an early frost. Narcissa was pretty well recovered from the events of summer, she was more conscious of what she said and did now but she had to admit that Lucius didn't really bother her on a daily basis. They had had a somewhat unconventional relationship for years which had often involved them barely speaking for weeks but now they appeared to have formed a silent agreement to leave each other be. Lucius was busy with his one-man campaign to end Dumbledore and Hagrid's respective careers and get the hippogriff destroyed and Narcissa felt it was best to leave him to it. **Nice to know he's found a hobby that doesn't involve harming children!**
Narcissa had finally managed to hire another house elf but she wasn't sure it was working out. The elf was called Dippy and lived up to its name. She was perpetually happy and chirpy, bounced everywhere and even liked Lucius, who once kicked her down the stairs for being too cheerful. Narcissa didn't say a word about that incident; she saw the temptation. The house elf was quite clearly a few slices short of a loaf and Narcissa had taken to avoiding it as much as possible.
She and her husband still exchanged the odd word but it was cold and disinterested more often than not. One morning in mid-October Lucius informed her as he left the breakfast table, "Narcissa there's an important party at the ministry next week."
**What was that, an invitation? An order? Or just a random piece of information I don't really need? Ah well, I'll ask him later.**
She returned to her breakfast and didn't give it another thought until Lucius accosted her on the stairs a week later. "You ready for that party tonight?"
**"What?!" Now that he mentions it I seem to remember him saying something about a party.**
"The party at the ministry tonight, I told you about it a week ago! Of course I realise that's quite short notice, it taking you three days to put your make up on and everything, but come on woman!"
**Woman! Ooh, I'll get you for that one!**
"You didn't tell me we were going! You said that there was a party, not that we were invited."
"Of course we're invited!"
**Oh yeah, who wouldn't want a deatheater at their social gatherings? What's your party piece, a spot of muggle torture before dinner?**
"Right, well what time are we leaving?"
"Be down here, ready to leave, at seven."
**Oh yes, your royal worshipfulness!** She nodded and continued up the stairs then smiled strangely and turned back.
"Lucius, what colour robes are you wearing?"
"The dark green with the silver fastenings."
"Ok." She smiled and went to rifle her extensive wardrobe; she had just the outfit for this occasion.
*******
Narcissa walked downstairs at seven oh five precisely that evening.
"Where have you been, what took so long? And what in hell's name are you wearing?" Lucius snapped.
She glanced down at her outfit, "Robes."
"You know what I mean!"
She did indeed know what he meant. She was wearing a beautiful set of deep red robes, which added colour to her pale skin, and a black choker and matching bracelet to math the robes black fastenings. She looked wonderful, as did he in robes of deep forest green with silver fastenings. The only problem was that they clashed horribly, as Dippy demonstrated by walking in at that moment and saying, "Misses and Misters Malfoy you is looking very festive tonight!"
"The bloody elf's right, together we look like a pair of bloody Christmas decorations."
"Oh don't be silly dear, we look fine."
"We look ridiculous, as I'm quite sure you realise!"
"What, are you implying that I purposely dressed like this in order to clash with you?" she laughed.
"If I didn't believe that to be beyond your level of intelligence then I'd say yes. The one thing I actually thought you were capable of was dressing suitably, but apparently now even that is beyond you."
"If you say so dear, shall I go and get changed?"
"No we don't have another week to spare, we're late as it is, come on."
"Alright, I'm coming."
*******
They arrived at the party half an hour late, Lucius now very much annoyed.
"Now just slip in quietly and we'll separate once we're in there," he hissed at his wife.
"Alright dear," she said, much louder than she needed to. She then swung open both doors at once causing their "quiet" entrance to become rather dramatic.
People turned to look at them, they always made a stunning couple but now they were stunning for a different reason, they looked awful together. Narcissa smirked as Lucius cringed slightly so only she noticed.
The two of them walked into the room and were immediately greeted enthusiastically by Fudge.
"Mister and Mrs Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you here! You look delightful Mrs Malfoy, the two of you make such a handsome couple!"
**What, is he colour blind? I hope all my hard work isn't going to be wasted. Oh no, everyone else is looking at us as though they need sunglasses!**
Fudge waved someone over, "Lucius, I believe you know the Weasleys?"
"Ah yes, Arthur and Mildred."
Fudge nodded, "Well I have to go and speak to the ambassador I'll leave them to entertain you."
Arthur was looking quietly handsome in a deep midnight blue coloured robe. Molly was on his arm dressed in a pretty shade of pink and brushing some non-existent dust off her husband's clothing.
"Arthur, Mildred, good to see you. Pity about your robes Mildred, I suppose your dress robes were at the cleaners?" Lucius sneered at Molly.
Arthur stepped forward as though to defend his wife but Molly held out her arm to stop him doing any serious damage. Narcissa decided to attempt to save the situation.
"I think it was an inspired choice Molly, you look lovely dear."
"Yes, almost as inspired as it was when you wore it last year," Lucius drawled.
"I think it's great to use robes more than once," Narcissa said, her mouth curving in a mischievous smile, "Lucius is doing that tonight aren't you dear, and nobody's noticed the stain on the collar?"
Lucius glared at his wife, "Well at least Arthur's wife isn't literally a scarlet woman," he sneered, before glancing at Molly and adding, "Then again with that hair..."
Narcissa looked affronted and gave Lucius an effective sneer of her own before turning to the Weasleys, "Excuse me Arthur, lovely to see you again Molly, but I have to go and mingle."
She smiled vacantly and walked away, grabbing a glass of champagne off a waiter's tray and downing it in one go. She felt she'd need it; it looked like being a long night.
She sighed heavily and glanced around the room for something to entertain her. **Oh, now that looks like something that could make the evening much more interesting!** Standing in a corner, and glaring at the food table as though it had done him some great offence, was none other than Severus Snape.
She smiled, almost without knowing it, and headed over to his corner.
"Severus!" she exclaimed, then composed herself before he could turn around and coolly asked, as though she didn't care, "What are you doing here? This is a polite party. I thought you didn't do polite?"
"I don't," he stated, seeming unsurprised to see her, "Dumbledore couldn't make it, I drew the short straw."
"What's wrong with Dumbledore?"
"I don't know, something to do with Potter, he's probably had a nasty nose bleed or stubbed his toe or something."
She couldn't resist laughing at the long-suffering expression on his face. "I see you're expanding your wardrobe," she said glancing at his clothes, "It now includes black and black."
Severus was wearing a simple, fitted black robe which was perfectly suited to him; he glanced down at his robe, then at Narcissa's and raised a dark eyebrow.
"You should be careful Sev, you could make a girl swoon with that expression."
Severus chose to ignore her swooning remark, "I don't think you should be commenting on people's outfits, unless of course you and Lucius were going for a Christmassy effect in the middle of October?"
"Well I don't know about him but I certainly was! Like it?" she gave a little twirl causing Severus to roll his eyes.
"You coordinated your outfit so that you would clash with Lucius in an attempt to humiliate him." It wasn't a question, he knew her well enough to realise that that was exactly what she'd done.
"Yes, pity he considers himself too refined to allow himself to blush."
"I don't think even Lucius would blush merely because his wife wore an outfit that clashed with his."
"Just because there isn't enough human left in _you_ to blush," she said taking another glass of champagne and downing it as quickly as the first.
"I'm not human." He deadpanned.
"Wow, is Severus Snape joking?" she teased.
"No, he's trying to make you look stupid."
"You're not being very nice to me!" she said, waving across a waiter who refilled her glass.
He raised an eyebrow, "You tried to kill me."
"That was years ago, we're over that," she said sipping her refilled champagne.
"I'm not."
"Gosh anyone would think you cared."
"If I'd known then what I'd be doing now I'd have embraced the Dementors with open arms, I have since learnt the Weasley twins are a fate worse than soullessness."
Narcissa smiled at him, "Speaking of Weasleys, Molly appears to have left Arthur and Lucy to fight it out."
Molly was heading over towards where Narcissa and Severus were stood, leaving her husband and Lucius to glare at each other whilst being involved in conversation by Bartemius Crouch.
"Hello, Narcissa, Professor Snape."
Narcissa smiled and Severus inclined his head politely.
"Molly doesn't Sev look handsome tonight?" Narcissa asked suddenly.
Molly looked bewildered and shot worried looks back to where her husband and Lucius were looking less than congenially at each other.
Severus opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again, clearly realising that speech would not be wise and that the only proper course of action was a hasty retreat.
"Would you ladies kindly excuse me, I have to go and pretend to be interested in the inane ramblings of Cornelius 'I am a fool' Fudge while actually staring at the wall behind his head to avoid having to chew off a leg through listening to his idea of conversation."
He walked away, leaving Molly staring and Narcissa polishing off the third glass of champagne.
"So Molly, how are things? I'm so sorry about Lucius, I love your robes!"
Molly smiled, "Oh there's no need to apologise, Lucius and I were at school together and I can't say he's changed much since."
Narcissa snorted, "I'm willing to bet he hasn't!"
"He and Arthur have never liked each other and it only got worse as they got older. It didn't help that Arthur was head boy either, Lucius really didn't take well to that."
Narcissa laughed, "Lucius was beaten to the head boy's position? Oh, that is too good!"
Molly looked amused but then frowned a little, "Why do you let him talk to you the way he did before?"
"Oh, that's nothing. Just husband and wife banter, you know." Narcissa didn't even manage to look convinced herself and Molly let the subject go noticing that her friend seemed to want to talk about something else.
Narcissa and Molly chatted happily for a while, steering clear of topics such as Lucius, though Narcissa failed to understand how the woman could talk to her in such a friendly manner. **Does she not know what Lucius tried to do to her child? Does she really see me as different from him? I'd almost given up hoping anyone other than Sev would! She's such a good person to even look me in the face after what my husband did!**
Eventually Cornelius Fudge, and a very bored looking Severus Snape, wandered over to speak with them. It took Narcissa ten minutes to palm Fudge off onto Lucius and soon Fudge was scuttling off to ingratiate himself with Mr. Malfoy, who would undoubtedly not thank his wife were he ever to find out. Molly had politely excused herself and gone back to her husband leaving Severus and Narcissa alone again.
"I cannot believe the society Dumbledore can tolerate," Severus growled out, he had indeed looked close to chewing his own leg off while Fudge had been talking, **Well either that or just Avada Kedavraing the man on the spot and claiming self-defence!**
The alcohol had put Narcissa in a good mood and she laughed, "I know, I hear he even socialises with ex-deatheaters!" she said in a mock-scandalised tone.
"And the wives of current ones," Severus shot back.
"Oh, he doesn't socialise with me, sends me his 'disappointed' look every now and again but besides that, nothing. You know I sent him a perfectly nice howler once and I didn't even get one back."
Severus couldn't quite hide his smile at that comment.
Narcissa felt that the evening was dragging on forever; she would have preferred to talk to Severus or Molly but kept getting whisked off by various people she didn't know, or was too drunk to remember that she knew.
Eventually she escaped from the clutches of an ambitious young ministry worker, who could have been talking in Greek for all the sense he'd been making to her, and rescued Molly from Fudge and Crouch who had cornered her in a pincer movement which seemed decidedly unfair!
"Thank you dear, I don't really enjoy these things, but I have to come for Arthur's sake. I don't know what they were talking about!"
Narcissa smiled at Molly's devotion to her husband, "I'm not overly fond of these ministry functions myself, the highlight of this evening was seeing Sev. I didn't realise how much I missed him until I saw him again. Doesn't hurt that he looks quite so handsome either."
"Oh Narc, I didn't know you cared," said a silky voice behind her, she turned to see Severus Snape walking away, robes billowing out behind him and **Damn it he's practically swaggering!** She felt her cheeks grow warm.
Molly gave her a sympathetic look but was now much too distracted by the fact that Arthur and Lucius had become embroiled in conversation, which appeared to be less a conversation and more a heated argument.
"I think we should get over there!" Molly said, clearly concerned.
**Why? I think Arthur's about to swing for Lucy and I'd pay good money to see that!** Still Narcissa followed Molly across to where her husband was sneering at an irate Arthur Weasley.
"Honestly Weasley, you'd think with all those children you wouldn't miss one?" Lucius sneered.
Narcissa was horrified and looked at Molly in an attempt to communicate her sorrow at her husband's attitude but Molly was more interested in the fact that her husband had now indeed swung for Lucius.
Wands forgotten, the two of them began to scrap like children with Molly calling, "No, Arthur!" in vain. The attention of the whole room was now on the two brawling men.
Molly looked pleadingly at Narcissa, who simply said, "Don't complain, Arthur's winning!" in a rather cheerful tone.
Severus came up behind her and took hold of her arm at this point, leading her away before she could either embarrass or incriminate herself, "Admirable sentiment Narcissa, but not something you want Lucius to hear!" he hissed as they walked away from the crowd.
She nodded, "Perhaps not."
Severus glanced back towards the fight, "I never thought I'd find myself cheering on a Weasley," he commented.
She laughed then remembered their previous encounter, "You realise that I knew you were there before, and that I wasn't really embarrassed." She suddenly seemed to realise the unconvincing state of her own argument, "Damn, champagne dulls my wits!"
"You really didn't mean to say that last part out loud did you?" he said, smiling indulgently.
She groaned and shook her head.
"How much champagne have you had?"
"About two and a half"
"Glasses?"
"Bottles."
"You should be dead!"
"Is that in response to how much I've drunk or the fact I've been married to Lucy for the last fifteen years?"
"Both."
"So I cheated death on a couple of occasions, you should be dead too!"
"Well if you'd had your way..."
"Ah, it was all in good fun!"
"None of it was in good fun."
"No, none of it was in good fun."
"You're drunk."
"No, just crazy, but give me credit I'm crazy and coherent."
Severus shook his head in despair. They both glanced back towards the fight, which had finally been broken up by Molly hexing them both into submission. Fudge was now chastising Arthur and apologising to Lucius who was looking around for Narcissa, eager to leave.
"I have to go now," she said, not wishing Lucius to notice her with Severus, even though he did currently look fairly occupied with Fudge and Molly.
"Ok, goodbye." Severus said in a voice devoid of emotion, which suggested he didn't really care whether she stayed or went.
"Goodbye," she hesitated. "Alright, well I'm probably only doing this because I'm drunk but what the hell, I'm drunk so I can."
Severus looked at her as though she had finally flipped, then opened his eyes wide in bewilderment as she kissed him softly, "Goodnight Sev."
He simply stared as she walked away, then she turned back and called, "Don't be a stranger," before making her way through the crowd to where her husband and Arthur Weasley were now being scolded by Molly. Lucius looked as though he wanted to give the woman a piece of his mind but his painful split lip was making that difficult.
Severus shook his head as he watched husband and wife leave together, each eyeing the other as though they were lower down the evolutionary ladder than flobberworms until Narcissa suddenly had a fit of giggles and burst out with "He beat you to the head boy's position, then he beat you to a pulp!" before they passed out of sight.
***A) now you are just plain suicidal, woman and B) that is good!*** Severus thought, laughing softly.
*******
Narcissa passed out in the car on the way home, much to her husband's disgust, *Can that woman not behave herself just for one evening?* When they reached Malfoy Manor he tried to wake her but she remained stubbornly unconscious. *Well I'm not going to carry her!* He got out of the car to see Dippy waiting at the gate, "Go and get Narcissa in to the house, put her in bed or something."
"But I is too little to is lifting her!" Dippy protested, all the while bouncing up and down.
"Find a way!" Lucius snapped, knocking the elf backwards in to the snow.
He retreated into the house to heal his wounds, *Bloody Weasley!* He was still angry with his wife when he smiled suddenly. *Oh yes, that would be perfect.*
He went up to his wife's bedroom to see her lying, still out of it, on the bed. He shook his head in disgust and ventured into her bathroom pulling open the cabinet. He removed a couple of small bottles and, very pleased with himself, left her to sleep it off.
When he got downstairs he poured the hangover cure down the sink, Narcissa would not be having a pleasant awakening tomorrow morning.
*******
Narcissa woke at six o'clock the following evening feeling as though she would never move again. Two minutes later she changed her mind and raced for the bathroom just in time to vomit into the toilet. She rifled the bathroom cabinet for a hangover cure but found the bottle missing, **Wha...where's the hangover thingy? Oh damn!** she thought as she sent a cascade of hair and skin care products into the sink. Deciding that they were probably happier where they were, she left them there and shut the door of the now empty cabinet. As she looked into the mirrored glass she saw a sight which made her scream and whirl around; there was a monster in the room. However when she turned there was nothing there, she frowned and glanced back. **Oh bugger, that's me.** Her make up from last night was half rubbed off and her hair was sticking out in sections from the elegant style it had started out in. She groaned, **I want to die!** She splashed some cold water on to her face and pulled off last night's robes, having some difficulty pulling them over her head as she had forgotten to unfasten them first. Eventually they were discarded and she pulled on a huge old t-shirt and crawled back into bed falling back into blissful unconsciousness.
It was a further eighteen hours before she regained consciousness, head still pounding but stomach feeling less like it had an energetic house elf jumping on it. As if on queue the energetic house elf appeared.
"You is awake Mrs Malfoy!"
It seemed far too excited about this and Narcissa wondered for the thousandth time why the thing couldn't just be miserable and quiet for a change. She nodded but then regretted doing so as her headache worsened.
"I'm dying," she croaked melodramatically.
The house elf continued to bounce excitedly, "Is you? Can I's helping with that?"
"What!?" **Did the house elf just threaten to kill me?** "Did you just threaten to kill me?"
Dippy shook her head, "No, but if you is wanting me to..."
Narcissa cut across before the elf could finish that thought, "I is wanting you to get me a cup of tea," she groaned again as she realised how she had just phrased that. "Go! Leave me to die in peace! Tell Lucius I'll haunt him till the day he dies, or until I get bored, whichever comes first."
The house elf beat a hasty retreat to fetch some tea, when it returned Narcissa was holding her head in her hands, **What did I do last night?! Hang on it isn't last night any more, it's two nights ago! Hmm, why do I remember Sev being there?** She suddenly got the feeling that she did not want to remember something that was connected with Sev so she pushed it from her mind and took a sip of the hot tea before sending the excitable elf to fetch a painkilling potion, **Where did the hangover cure I had get to?! And is Dippy on drugs? Hmm, should look into that. Ooh but not right now.**
She sat back against the pillows, sipping the tea, a memory of Severus slowly becoming clearer in her mind. She remembered an overheard conversation with Molly Weasley and her pathetic excuses afterwards. **Oh, I said some dumb things to Sev last night.** She then recalled someone saying in a voice which sounded remarkably like hers, "It was all in good fun," in reference to Severus having a near miss with the Dementors, **oh yeah, it sounded like me because it was me. I said some _really_ dumb things to Sev last night. Damn!** She thought back to the end of the evening even though some part of her subconscious mind was screaming at her to stay away and never think of it again. **I kissed Sev. Oh no, I passed out in the car!** She shook her head and took another sip of the hot soothing liquid then paused, **Hang on, back track, I KISSED SEV!** She spat the tea out and sent the cup flying, sitting up quickly enough to make her head feel like it had just exploded. She groaned and lowered her head into her hands, unable to be bothered caring about the teacup.
**It's ok, it's ok. Oh no! It's not ok! I kissed Sev, after telling him that that whole me trying to kill him thing was all in good fun! I actually used the phrase 'all in good fun'. Hmm, I seem to also remember using the phrase, 'don't be a stranger'. What was I on?! Oh yes, alcohol. I'll never drink again!**
Dippy bounced back in, making her head spin, "Hellos, I is broughting you painkiller potion, enjoy!"
**Must kill house elf!** She took the potion and drank it, relieved when the pounding in her head ceased. "Thanks, I think. Must you bounce?"
"I is only bouncing because I is a happy elf!"
"Go away!"
The elf bowed and skipped out of the door. **Of all the house elves in the world how did I get stuck with that one?! Ok, bigger problems than the house elf right now. Like, I kissed my son's potions master for example!** She groaned and climbed out of bed promising herself a hot bath and some chocolate. **Oh yeah, I wonder how Lucius is? Ah, I don't care.**
*******
A/N: In case anyone's interested, Lucius has worn those robes before but there is no stain on the collar, Narcissa is trying to humiliate him.
The line "glaring at the food table as though it had done him some great offence" belongs to honest_iago who helped with much of this chapter! Thank you to her!
When Lucius and Arthur are arguing and Lucius says, "With all those children you'd think you wouldn't miss one no one is listening to them and as Lucius is very prestigious Fudge simply blames poor Arthur!
Just a bit of timeline information for this fic - Lucius, Molly and Arthur were all in the same year at Hogwarts and they are ten years older than Narcissa, who is in turn two years older than Sev just in case anyone has forgotten.
I hope you enjoyed this lighter hearted chapter. What do you all think of Dippy? What do you think of Narc's behaviour?
In the next chapter Narc thinks over what she's done and she and Sev exchange some letters.
Please review! If you want to know the last update before the fifth book is released will be in the 18th June (Wednesday) I will update again the week after and I just hope you don't all desert me! I myself will be in a little local bookshop at one minute past midnight with honest_iago to collect our readily reserved copies of the book. She said she's going to kill a significant character in it! I'm terrified! I just know she'll end up killing someone I love!
I tell you what, why don't you tell me when you want the first update after the fifth book and I'll try and pick a date from your suggestions, as my exams are finished then it makes no difference to me really though I am going away for a few days so I can't leave it over a week after the book comes out. Anyway let me know what you think.
Reviews will feed the cat and make me write they will also make me smile!
