Author's Note: Well, it's been quite a while since I worked on this fic. I hope this chapter ends the story better than my original ending did… I managed to fit some Order of the Phoenix stuff in here, but keep in mind that I began this story before it came out.

Title: An Unexpected Love
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Just a little.
Summary: Narcissa Black marries Lucius Malfoy, never expecting to love him as much as she does. This is the story of what the wife of a Death Eater goes through when she loses her husband.
Disclaimer: All this Harry Potter stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling, but the plot of this story is mine.
Setting: This story begins during Lucius and Narcissa's days at Hogwarts and goes through their years of marriage to each other.

--- - setting change
111 - begin flashback
000 - end flashback
/…/ - time
italics - emphasis

-Expectations-

/Draco's fifth year/

Narcissa watched as her husband put on his Death Eater robes. "When will you be back?" she asked, looking up at him from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Lucius looked at her. "Long after you're asleep."

Narcissa doubted that she would even be able to sleep. "You will be back, won't you?"

After a moment of silence, Lucius replied, "Of course." Truthfully, he was unsure of whether or not he would be back, but he couldn't tell Narcissa that. Unsure of what else he should say, he swept out of the room without another word.

Narcissa closed her eyes. Lucius still wasn't able to tell her he loved her before he went out. Narcissa knew that he did, but sometimes she wasn't so sure. The incident that had occurred a few months ago had made things better, certainly. However, it hadn't returned things to the way they had been fifteen years ago, before the Dark Lord had been defeated and everything had changed.

Now the Dark Lord had come back and taken Lucius away yet again, leaving Narcissa alone. Narcissa hated being alone. She was always alone in this big, empty mansion.

She was sure that it was the Dark Lord's influence that had changed her husband. Narcissa had to admit that Lucius had had a dark side long before he had ever become a Death Eater, but she thought that it was Lord Voldemort who had brought it to the surface.

"I hate you," she whispered. "I hate you for doing this to him." She stood up and went to the window. "He is mine, you hear me? Not yours. Mine." But she knew that she had already lost. Nobody won against the Dark Lord—except the Potter boy, and he was the enemy.

Lord Voldemort had left an imprint on their lives, just as he had marked Lucius. Before he was defeated, Lucius had been almost a slave to him. Shortly after the Dark Lord was defeated, Lucius went through hell to keep his safe, comfortable lifestyle. And when Voldemort had gone away and left the magical community of England, he had taken Lucius's humanity with him.

Narcissa waited, but the tears did not come. The pain was now too great for mere tears to express.

---

A few weeks later, Lucius entered the bedroom late one night to find Narcissa staring at the door, seemingly waiting for him to return.

"What are you doing up, Narcissa?" he asked, removing his cloak. "It's late."

"It's not that late," she replied.

"It's half past two," Lucius responded.

Narcissa's gaze met his. "Do you remember the day we met? The day we first spoke to each other, I mean."

"How could I forget?" Lucius smirked. "As I recall, you called me an arrogant, egotistical pig."

Narcissa hid a smile. "Yes, I did."

"I also remember that I was absolutely taken with you after that."

Narcissa adopted an expression of mild surprise. "But that was two years before you asked me to be your girlfriend."

"I was more patient back then," Lucius replied. "It paid off. I got what I wanted, didn't I?" He looked curiously at Narcissa. "Is there a reason you brought up the topic?"

"Not especially."

"Don't lie to me," Lucius said coldly.

"You lie to me all the time," Narcissa countered.

Lucius gave no visible reaction. After about a minute, he said softly, "I lie to protect you. You lie to protect yourself."

Narcissa felt ashamed. "I'm sorry." She stared at her hands as Lucius got ready for bed. Then, when her husband settled himself under the covers, she asked, "Have I been a good wife to you, Lucius?"

"Better than I could have expected," Lucius replied. He stared at her. "You're acting very peculiar tonight."

"I've always been peculiar," Narcissa replied. "Perhaps you just never took the time to notice."

---

Draco was home for Christmas. Narcissa was quite happy about that. She disliked it when her son went away to school, taking his light with him. However, Narcissa saw that the light within Draco was fading and being replaced by darkness. She saw that he was following in his father's footsteps.

Draco wasn't such a little angel anymore. He was losing his innocence, just as his father had.

---

Christmas dinner in the Malfoy house was a spectacular affair, although only three people were there to enjoy it.

Despite the festive nature of the holiday, Lucius and Draco managed to steer most of the conversation toward Lord Voldemort and how his plans were going.

"Father, I want to be a Death Eater," Draco said, swallowing a piece of turkey.

Narcissa put down her fork and looked at her husband, apprehensively waiting for Lucius's answer. The Dark Lord was constantly taking people away from her. First her sister, then her husband, and now her son. There was nothing Narcissa could do but allow him to do it.

Lucius gave his son an appraising glance, then turned his attention back to his plate. "No. You're too young."

"But Father—"

"You are not ready to join the ranks of the Death Eaters," Lucius replied. "You'd probably get yourself killed the first time out. You will not be permitted to become a Death Eater until I decide that you can."

---

"Thank you," Narcissa said once she and Lucius were in their bedroom.

"For what?"

"For not letting Draco—"

"I didn't do it for you," Lucius said, cutting her off. "He wouldn't be able to handle it. He thinks it's easy to be a Death Eater." He went to stand by the window. "He has no idea how it feels to—" He clutched at his arm, feeling Lord Voldemort's call. He crossed the room, pulling out his hidden Death Eater robes. He began to put them on.

"Who was the first person you ever killed?" Narcissa asked quietly.

Lucius paused and looked at her. "Charlotte Davis. And that friend of hers, Koren Smith—she came right after."

"You remember," Narcissa said.

Lucius turned away. "It's not something that's easy to forget." He moved toward the door. "I must be leaving now."

"Lucius?"

"Yes?"

Narcissa began to say something, but faltered and said instead, "Say hello to my sister for me."

Lucius nodded curtly and walked out of the room.

Narcissa sat in a chair by the window and gave a small sigh. She wished that Lucius had never killed anyone. Becoming a murderer had done something to him—it had taken away a part of him that Narcissa missed. When she was younger, she had been so enamored of Lucius that she hadn't noticed the change in him. But now that she had time to think about it, Narcissa knew that she had been losing Lucius since before they were even married.

Lucius was able to love. But he was also able to kill.

How could a man have so much light and yet so much darkness inside him?

---

Kreacher, the house-elf that belonged to Narcissa's late aunt, left the Malfoy residence to return to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place in case he should be missed. This was his second visit to the manor. After the elf's departure, Lucius left the house as well. He needed to see the Dark Lord right away.

Narcissa once again found herself sitting at home alone. Draco had gone back to school, so the house seemed darker to its mistress.

Narcissa longed for her husband. It was so deathly quiet without his energy, his essence—that thing that was so unmistakably Malfoy. It was the very thing about Lucius that Narcissa had fallen in love with him for—that she still loved him for.

She was so desperately in love with him that it hurt.

She hadn't expected to fall in love with him. When she had first met him, she thought that he was too arrogant and self-absorbed to ever be able to care for her. He had thought the same of her, but she didn't know that.

Lucius had never expected anything of her except to love him. But he had forgotten that she expected the same from him.

Narcissa's memories of the way her husband used to be were all that sustained her now. She remembered the day he had asked her to marry him. He had been so innocent then. He hadn't had blood on his hands. She remembered the days when she was the only thing that mattered to him. Over the years, Lucius's warmness had receded, leaving hard, cold silver in its wake.

111

"We're getting married tomorrow," eighteen-year-old Lucius said. He and his fiancée were sitting under a tree on the Blacks' estate. Lucius was seated facing west, and Narcissa was facing south.

"I know," Narcissa replied. She smiled, even though she knew he couldn't see it. "All the arrangements have been made. The wedding will be perfect."

"It bloody well better be," Lucius muttered. "After all the money we've spent on it…"

Narcissa laughed.

Lucius stood up. "Blasted sun," he said, coming to stand directly in front of Narcissa. "Let's go inside." He silently offered his hand to help her up.

The young woman reached out a hand, placing it in Lucius's palm. Before she pushed herself off the ground, though, she looked up at her fiancé. She found herself entranced by what she saw—the sunlight shone on the young man's hair, turning it golden. This was how Narcissa had always imagined the real Lucius to be—warm, with a golden aura about him. She had never seen him look like this before. The silver quality in Lucius's blond hair had always made him seem colder than he was.

Narcissa stood up, continuing to stare at Lucius like she had never seen anything quite like him before.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I never have before."

000

It wasn't fair. After all these years… She had finally spoken her mind and gotten her husband to listen to her. But then the Dark Lord had to come back and ruin it all. With the return of his master, Lucius had to revert back to his cold, Muggle-hating self. There was no room for the sweet teenage boy he had once been.

---

Lucius should have been back by now. He had said—he had promised he would return hours before the sun came up. But the dawn's early light was already creeping up over the horizon, and Lucius had not come back to the manor.

Helplessness had never been Narcissa's favorite emotion.

Still, Narcissa waited.

She wondered why she still desired so much. She had a good life. Lucius had given her everything she'd ever wanted. And yet… happiness eluded her.

An owl tapped on the window, pulling Narcissa out of her reverie. Narcissa opened the window and took the scroll of parchment attached to the owl's leg. She unrolled it to find a message from the Ministry. Lucius had been captured, along with several other Death Eaters.

It couldn't be true. He couldn't have been captured—not her husband. He was Lucius Malfoy, for Merlin's sake!

But the letter was here, and Lucius wasn't.

Narcissa was only just beginning to realize that Lucius wasn't coming back. Oh, it wouldn't be very hard for him to break out of Azkaban, certainly not. But even if he physically returned to Narcissa, he would never do so emotionally.

"I didn't think I could love you," she whispered, "and I didn't think you could love me. But I was wrong."

Nothing hurt worse than the loss of an unexpected love.

THE END

Author's Note: Well, how was that for a new ending? I think it tied things up quite nicely.

BIG THANK YOU TO: Caprigrrl, Usako3000, sofa-king-retarded, PrincessWitch, terani, killinjoke, Neo Moon Queen, Forbidden, Kira Blackwell, love-princess1, Cygna-hime, Kilatara-Twins, Sammie Tonks, and all the anonymous reviewers!