Order 02: Remorse

Lucius pulled out a blackening rose out of his heavy drapes of robes and kissed it quickly. He laid it down onto the ground, right beside the tombstone and took off at a hastened pace to the vast cherry blossom tree and sat against its trunk.

"Oh, but Severus … do be reasonable! I do not see why we must proceed with the plan! After all, Draco is dead and the Dark Lord is satisfied, or so it seems … I find that his recent imploration is … well, not very reasonable!" came a female's voice swiftly, as she and a man dressed in black from head to toe approached Draco's tombstone. The woman had on a violet dress that curled delicately around her tall, black heels. Her long hair was pale and shone in the iridescent moonlight.

A soft scoff was heard and the man who was accompanying her spoke harshly though in soft monotones, "Narcissa, do think about what a mistake we made upon making the Vow. I should not have been so foolish—we both should have seen that once a mission was set for somebody in particular by the Dark Lord, that person was expected to fulfill his duties. Draco did not do as the Dark Lord asked. This is vengeance."
"Upon the innocent—don't blame him for such stupid things!" she shrieked hysterically, "What happened two years ago happened and no one should die because of a stupid little orb containing words!" Narcissa had a tone of frenzy lacing her voice brutally. " Why not you? Why is it that you have a mission in murdering—"

"Narcissa!" Severus interrupted, his charcoal black eyes narrowing as he glared at her dangerously. 'You are the one who should have been set such a mission, you foolish woman! There is no way I can possibly do what the Dark Lord begs. I have known him for far too long, he is far too close to my heart."

Narcissa huffed and crossed her arms, challenging Severus with a hard glare from her twinkling blue eyes. "There is nothing for you here, Severus. You must complete the task, or … I do not wish to think of the consequences."

A clear silence followed this, the merest cricket chirp shattering it in a million shards. "I see what you mean," the man said lowly, sweeping back curtains of midnight-black shoulder-length hair, "but there is always the option of death for me … I suppose that would be noble … that would be right …"

"No, you won't!" Narcissa cried out painfully, grasping Severus' shoulders with both of her hands. "Lucius died three months ago! From the second he found out his son was deceased, a part of him crumbled terribly! I have no one but you! YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME!"

Severus looked rather untouched by these words; though he did not speak, he brought a hand to her curly, blonde hair. Running it through the forest of shimmering locks, he hissed, "I love Lucius as much as you do, just in different terms. He is my best friend—my only friend. Lucius was there for me when no one else was. He saw me for more than just an outcast of a teenager—he didn't side with that bloody Potter and his gang. I simply cannot repay his loyalty to me by murdering him."

"He would rather have himself murdered than you, Severus … please, hear me out … I don't want to die alone," Narcissa's eyes welled with tears, "but if you do not stay, I shall." Black tears streamed down her face, smudging the precisely applied makeup.

Severus turned his nose up in disgust. "I would die for him, Narcissa. Love of a mere kind such as ours will not prevent me from doing what I initially planned to do. I will walk away."

Narcissa buried her face in her fragile, thin hands and bawled loudly. Her shoulders shook with each heart-drenching sob; her breath got caught in her throat as she tried to stem the tears.

"Sev … er… us…" she sobbed, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her pained face into the crook of his neck. "… I think I … love you …"

The man's blood ran cold as he gasped quietly. No one had ever spoken such words as these, no one … not even his mother … she never really concerned her superior self to wonder what was wrong with her son when he spent hours in the washroom, wearing cuts all over his wrists when he came out; she allowed his father to beat him unconscious, leaving the boy floating in a puddle of his own blood on the dungeon floors …

Yet now, now … someone told him the three words he had expected with false hope all his life. It felt wrong and shallow—of all people to tell him, his best friend's wife had. Guilt clouded his mind excruciatingly, obscuring his senses.

Narcissa lifted her head and peered into his black eyes. She hesitated a moment, then she met their lips in a soft kiss.