Yep here's the 12th chappie, containing a biiiig reveal! ;) Thanx to my wonderful beta, Tracey (Tuxedo Cat), she has a big part in this story!

Chapter 12 - Cherry on Top

I awoke the morning before the ball to the bright sun that was shining through the windows facing east.

However, when I went to the bathroom to take a shower, I heard the not-so-delightful sound of somebody throwing up in the toilet booth next to me.

"Hello?" I whispered through the door, having no idea who I was talking to, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh Merlin, Crys." I heard Cissa huff and puff, "I am afraid I'm not going to Hogsmeade with you today."

I sighed dramatically because I had been looking forward to our shopping trip.

"Well, would you at least let me in?"

"I'm fine, just take a shower and don't worry about me."

"Whatever you say" I answered halfheartedly. She didn't sound all that 'fine'.

I turned on the shower and enjoyed every minute of the wonderful warm water over my body.

After drying up and applying lotions, clothes, and make-up, I knocked on the booth door once more. Cissa was no longer there.

I went back into the dormitory and found Cissa lying in her bed.

"You look dreadful." I told her in full honesty. She looked up at me, frustrated.

"I know, and the ball is tomorrow damn it. I don't have a dress, and my hair looks like shite, not to mention I have lost my eyeliner." She whined before turning on her other side, away from me.

There was a short hopeless silence.

"Do you want me to buy you a dress and some eyeliner?" I felt like a desperate mother trying to brighten her sick baby's day.

"Would you do that? I'll just hand you the money and trust you to buy me something cool." Her eyes got wide and shone with new-found happiness.

"Yeah, but I'm not doing it unless you give me money for a double chocolate cherry ice cream." I smirked. So much for the mother baby thing.

"Yes, of course." She got up to fetch some money and half an hour later I stood on the Hogwarts platform, waiting for the train doors to open. I was half hoping that some Slytherin girls would be going too, but I didn't see any of them.

However, somewhere in the distance I heard somebody call my name.

I peered my eyes and saw Sirius stomping towards me and when he reached me he grabbed my arm softly. I shivered from his smooth touch remembering the previous day.

"C'mon Crys. Sit with us."

I agreed and I was quite happy until we got to the compartment and Sirius opened the door.

It was full of Gryffindors in their seventh year. Of course Miss Evans didn't miss the party and sat beside James, accompanied by several perfect-looking girls.

I was slightly nervous because of the competition, but however, I am me, a Slytherin, and I enjoy making people like Lily look like idiots.

Therefore, I walked straight up to James, lifted his jaw up softly and gave him a wet kiss on the mouth with my elbow in Lily's face.

"Hullo." He exclaimed happily and made me sit on his lap.

When I looked up I noticed that Sirius wasn't smiling anymore and his sparkling black/blue eyes had a look of burning jealousy in them.

"Hey everybody." I tried to appear full of confidence, even though I didn't

feel like it on the inside.

I did find out though, that Gryffindors (most) are very friendly people and when the train stopped in Hosmeade I was having a hilarious conversation with James, some other Gryffindor boy, and one of Evans' perfect girl friends, whose name turned out to be Carmen.

"Well, what and where are you going to shop Crys?" James asked me.

"Dresses, underwear, shoes and accessories for both me and Cissa, an eyeliner for her as well, and…yes, I am going to get my hair done on some salon."

The information was too much for him, and I saw on his face he wasn't really interested in going with me to buy those things.

"Don't worry, I'll go alone" I added smiling.

He laughed, obviously slightly relieved.

"I'll meet the four of you at Three Broomsticks in two hours okay?" I looked at him in question.

"Yeah, we're cool. Have fun."

"Oh, I will." I grinned and walked off. It didn't take me long to get to 'Joanne's ballroom', a clothing shop that sold beautiful ball dresses and dress robes at a reasonable price.

A lady with black hair came to me and directed me to a stall where the

coolest dresses hung.

One of the wizarding world's biggest qualities was that a dress didn't necessarily have to fit. It could easily be enlarged, tightened, or shortened with a simple charm.

It didn't take a lot of searching to find the perfect dress for Cissa; a purple, ankle length one, made of flowing satin in a Victorian style. It went of the shoulders a bit, and had wide sleeves of some see through purple fabric, down to the elbows.

My dress, however took very long to find. I had tried on half the shop, shrinked and enlarged endlessly, and I had almost made the decision to not even go to that stupid ball, when I saw a dark royal blue dress in the corner of the shop.

It was, like Cissa's made of satin, the top part was sleeveless, and corset like and the slightly poofy skirt reached my shins. It was perfect.

I paid for both of the dresses and got back out once more. It was raining and the familiar smell of wet earth and freshly sprung tree leaves filled the air.

I held the two bags tight to my body as I jogged into The Skyline, the wonderful salon that I had visited in the autumn with Cissa.

The same gay looking guy that had greeted me then came strolling towards me and seemed to remember me.

"Hey you!" He pulled me into a hug and I had to try hard to not pull back, even though I desperately wanted to, because of the thick cloud of hair spray that surrounded him.

"Hullo…" I murmured back.

"Well look at you, you have grown so tall honey."

"Yeah, look…" I started but he just wouldn't let me finish until he had.

"The ends of your hair are not looking their best today though. I think I could arrange an hour for you in Xiao's chair in about ten minutes. Help you out, like friends do for each other huh?"

"Yup." I liked this dude.

I sat down in a leather sofa and started flipping through glossy magazines with moving pictures of women with gorgeous hair.

Finally a pretty Chinese woman came and gestured me towards a chair.

She followed my instructions perfectly, and when she was done with me my curls were the softest they had ever been, and the brand new highlights complimented the smooth lines.

I put a ponytail in my hair so its new wonderful look could be seen tomorrow for the first time. I paid for the haircut and the spray and Xiao even put a small muggle magazine with various suggestions to something called 'prom updos' in the bag with the hairspray.

"This is a guide to idiot proof but magical looking updos." She exclaimed as she took the money. I still had the shoes, lingerie and the eyeliner to buy.

Just a few houses away was a shoe store. I came in there with three bags and left with five.

Across the street was the lingerie shop Cissa and I visited so often, 'Madame Diane's Finest Undermentionables'.

I hurried through the store and grabbed a few pieces of lingerie for me and Cissa, and then bought an eyeliner and some accessories in a cosmetic shop before I met up with the guys at Three Broomsticks.

"Hey you!" Remus said, surprising me, because normally he didn't speak to me that much.

"Hi everybody!" I ordered my beloved chocolate cherry ice-cream before sitting down on a bench between Sirius and James.

"So, have you bought a lot of stuff?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Well, I bought two dresses, one for me and one for Cissa, some lingerie, cosmetics, accesor…"

"Sounds like a lot of fun" James replied sarcastically before I could finish and grinned as he leaned forward and kissed me on the nose. "Your hair smells good." He exclaimed.

"Yeah I know. And wait till you see me tomorrow."

"I'm holding me breath."

"You're adorable. Did you know that?"

"Of course, everybody does!" He smirked and I rolled my eyes.

I squealed happily as my sundae arrived, complete with a cherry on top and an umbrella.

In the end all four marauders ordered one for themselves when they had all spent five minutes drooling over mine.

After I had finished my sundae I looked around and noticed that Pettigrew was sneakily peeking in the 'Madame Diane's' bag.

"Get out of there you pervert. James, would you hit your friend for me?" I said angrily and tore the bag from Peter's hands.

James playfully punched his chubby friend's shoulder.

"Can't a guy be curious?" Pettigrew asked himself before he lay down on the table and sighed dramatically "What is this world coming to?"

I came up to the empty Slytherin girl dorms later and Cissa came running towards me, obviously not so sick anymore.

"Feeling better are we? Girl, you don't look anything like you did before!"

"Well yeah, I got over it." She changed the subject. "Let me see that!"

She grabbed two bags from my hands and ran with them towards me bed, on which she jumped onto and smiled goofily.

"Hurry, hurry I ain't got all day. Well… actually I have but that's not important."

I jogged up to join her with the rest of the bags and she immediately snatched one of the golden bags from 'Joanne's Ballroom.' It was my dress.

"This is one hell of a gorgeous dress Crys. The colour matches your eyes so perfectly and the fabric is so soft and…" She sighed as she touched my dress lovingly but tossed it aside when she saw the other golden bag lying by my right foot.

"That's mine isn't it?" She whispered and looked in my eyes, her own were loaded with anticipation.

"Yeah, obviously. I'm going to open this thing up so we can go downstairs for dinner, I'm starving." I rubbed my stomach hungrily.

"Yep, I just need a sec to digest the whole thing." She whispered. I furred my eyebrows.

"It's just a dress baby, no whole thing."

"No it's not that it's just…" She sighed. "nothing… I'm a bit hungry too, let's do this."

I slowly took the dress out of the bag and unfolded it. For a few seconds she sat on my bed with some strange look on her face.

Then suddenly, she bolted up and did some sort of a happy river dance.

"It's perfect! Simply perfect, that's what it is!" She came dancing to me and hugged me warmly.

I was flabbergasted. She had been close to crying like five seconds ago. What the fuck was that all about?

"I'm just going to put it up to my body, just see the levels." She said excitedly and held the dress to her body, and I could just see she would look breathtaking tomorrow.

"It's great Cissa. It looks truly amazing. We are going to be the hottest ones around tomorrow. Now let's go eat, dinner will be over in ten minutes and I feel like eating for hours!"

When we got back up to our beds, we opened the rest of the bags. Cissa complimented the accessories I had bought for myself.

I had got a silver bracelet with shimmering blue fake diamonds, some fake but undeniably real looking diamond earrings with the same metal/diamond colour theme. I was also going to wear the silver necklace James gave me for Christmas.

Cissa had gotten some jewellery for Christmas from Lucius. She was actually going to shove it down the toilet back in the days but I had convinced her not to, since they were beautiful and probably dead expensive as well.

There we four pieces and the set had come in a blood red velvet box. A real gold necklace with purplish pearls that were not any more fake than the gold, matching earrings, a bracelet, and even an ankle chain.

"Lemme see the shoes!" Cissa demanded. She was such a shoe person.

She was jumping up and down as I took up her shoes. They we simple lace-less high heels. The upper part was made of purple satin and the bottom was of some black plastic material. In their Cissa-like simplicity they matched the dress and the ankle chain perfectly just as I had hoped.

My shoes were made of blue satin and the heel was silvery. My shoes, unlike Cissa's had ribbons on them, and they sort of reminded me of Ballerina shoes.

There were two extremely long satin ribbons which I tied casually around the ankles, and then criss-cross tied them up to the shins.

"Let's not put on our dresses now okay?" Cissa asked me.

"Why?"

"Because, it'll be so much more fun if we save it till tomorrow. Please?"

She pleaded and I gave in.

"Fine, fine. Have I showed you the underwear I bought? I bought some for you too."

"No you haven't. Oh god I love this. I feel like it's Christmas all over again."

I laughed and sneakily I took up the bag with the lingerie and showed her.

She gasped excitedly.

I had gotten some hipsters for both of us, one water-filled bra for me and a normal one for her because she sure as hell didn't need the fillings, lucky bitch.

I also had a tiny brown paper bag, which contained two garter belt sets, and some thigh high nylon socks.

"These garter belts and the socks were more of a joke gift. I'm not going to wear mine to the ball because the ribbons look awful on the nylon."

"You might want to put them on later if you know what I mean." She nudged me in the ribs and I squeked.

"You dirty minded creature," I hit her playfully in the shoulder "I wonder why I put up with you."

She pretended to be hurt.

"Awww I didn't mean it honey poo…" I took part in the game and stroked her back lovingly.

"Consider yourself forgiven." She rose up from her 'crying' position and reached for the bag from the saloon.

"What's that?" She peeked into the bag and took up the spray.

"That's 'silk waves' hair spray. You can borrow it if you want."

"Yeah for all my…" She pointed to her 'straighter than anything' hair "…waves?"

"Maybe you should curl it…"

"Maybe." She took up the magazine with the muggle prom hair updo thingies.

"What's that?" She asked me and cocked her eyebrows at the cover.

"That's some muggle magazine. The hairdresser said it had idiot proof hairdos in it."

Cissa was now flipping through the magazine, clearly not satisfied.

"There's something wrong with those photos. They're not moving."

"That's because it's a muggle magazine you blonde."

"Hey don't discriminate me!" She joked.

"Blonde! Blonde!" I yelled playfully, and tracked the attention of three girls who came up to get something.

She dug for her wand and pretended to be angry.

"Silencio." She muttered.

I felt the oddest feeling. I spoke and yelled but there was no sound. I found my school bag on the floor and dug up a quill and some parchment. I

scribbled down a message and handed to her.

Please say the counter curse.

She laughed at my note, curled it up and threw it into the fire behind her.

I wrote another one.

I have been so nice to you today!

She sighed and muttered the counter curse.

"What was that all about?"

"You hit a soft spot. Do not call me a blonde."

"Fine. You find anything cool?"

"Well, a few actually and this all looks pretty easy."

I sat down beside her and we read through the whole thing together until the girls were back down to the common room.

"Do you think I'm going to have to put on the nylons later? You know if a certain someone is present after the ball?"

"Yeah there's a fair chance that'll happen. Just don't… you know, rush to things or you might regret it."

"Look, since we're best friends and all, you can tell me. Have you ever…you know?"

"Um…yeah…I have and it was a mistake."

"Well who was he? How was it?"

"Crystal. I have been meaning to tell you this story for a long time. It's just I never sort of got myself to do it. It was in august…"

--The Black Residence, 12th Grimmauld Place august 1978 --

"Narcissa Black, get down here right now."

"Mum, I seriously don't feel like it." The blonde girl shouted down from the privacy of her room and tried to concentrate on her romance novel.

"Narcissa we've been through this. You will be downstairs tonight and join us for the dinner party. We are the hosts of several important families and it's going to look ridiculous if you don't show up. Don't make me come up there and get you." Her mother's voice had a hint of alert in it.

"Fine, Merlin! Relax woman!" Cissa sighed and got up.

"Do not use that tone with me young lady. And by the way I've got something for you to wear; you'll find it in the top shelf of your closet."

Holy crap. Her mother was interfering with her dressing style again. She wondered what ancient piece of clothing Mrs. Black had found this time.

She found a black paper box on the top shelf, just like her mother had said.

She opened the box and shoved the contents to her bed, but when she got a good look at it the she gasped. A light blue silk gown lay folded on her bed. It was criss-cross laced in the back, and it hung and swung in all the right places.

She decided to put it on, since it just looked too gorgeous to not give it a shot.

"Gosh…" She whispered to herself and toughed the mirror lightly. She had grown a few inches in the summer, and her chest had gone up a few sizes as well.

She decided to make the best of that stupid dinner, not talk much to all these blood obsessed crowds downstairs.

She found a box full of hair pins, twisted each strand of hair, then pinned it up on the top of her head. In ten minutes she had also put on some make-up and was quite happy about herself.

She got downstairs and saw that the lower floor was decorated with pastel colours and soft lighting. She hadn't even reached the bottom step of the stairs when her mother grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear.

"I have found someone I think you'll like."

Narcissa smiled politely up to the people watching even though she wanted to run away and hide.

Her mother finally stopped by a tall silvery haired man, and a light brown haired woman. Beside them stood the boy she had been seeing the previous school year.

"The Malfoys are here! From the cabin in the highlands, remember?" Her mother said.

Cissa nodded and took a step towards Lucius, both of their parents watching closely.

"Narcissa." Lucius greeted and kissed her outstretched hand.

"Hey Lucius." She smiled warmly and hugged him. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine thanks. And now I'm even better."

Cissa blushed slightly and her mother almost squealed.

"You two know each other so well, you're in the same year at Hogwarts right?"

"Yeah, we're quite close." Lucius answered her mother with the appealing confidence that had charmed Narcissa from the day she first met him.

"Well I'll leave you to it then." Narcissa was quite sure she saw her mother grin.

There was an awkward silence.

"Want to take a walk around the house?" She finally asked.

"Of course." He offered his arm and she took it smirking.

The stalked around the house until they reached the family tree tapestry.

The noble and most ancient house of Black

Tojours Pur

She laughed at the stupid family motto. Tojours Pur. Always Pure, in French of all languages.

Lucius looked in her eyes.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Tojours Pur huh?" He said like he could read her thoughts.

"Yeah…"

He pointed at three burned spots on the tapestry.

"Who are these people? Are they dead?"

"Not dead. Disowned by the Black family. My aunt, Sirius' mum, gets the honour of burning away the names. This," She pointed at one spot, "is Sirius Black, he was burnt away for his betrayal of the dark side."

She pointed at another spot. "This is my Uncle Alphard. He gave Sirius some gold so he could leave us here and buy his own place." She pointed at the last spot, this one was right beside her name, "This is my sister Andromeda. She married a muggle born."

"Impressive." Lucius laughed softly. "How about you? Have you found anyone you would like to marry?"

"No so far. You?"

"I'm not quite sure." The two exchanged glances, Lucius' silver grey eyes met Cissa's purple ones and a spark was lit.

"Dinner everybody!" Narcissa heard her mother call. She and Narcissa's aunt, Sirius' mother had been up since eight in the morning, cooking.

Lucius and Narcissa sat side by side at the table and the discussions at the table were even more shallow than she remembered.

"Have some wine everybody." Her sister, Bellatrix said happily, "Cissy, why don't you have some, and you too young Malfoy."

As a kid she had loved those dinner parties, but it was only because she hadn't sensed, hadn't understood how fake all those hugs and warm words were.

And the worst thing was that in her older years she felt herself fall into that mode again, and couldn't do a thing about it.

After the dinner, she and Lucius went up to the empty top floor, both pretty tipsy.

"It's cold in here." Narcissa stated and sat down on a couch.

"You think? He sat down beside her.

"Lucius? Have you gotten the um…mark yet?"

He looked down and seemed unbalanced by the words.

"No… father wants to do it as soon as possible."

"And do you want it?" They were looking into each other's eyes, and his hand had found his way to her thigh.

"Well, I don't know if…I don't want to do…I just hate mudbloods." He whispered.

There was a silence between the pair, until she grasped the moment and put her lips on his.

They kissed softly and she lead him to her room. Her hands in his short silver-blonde hair and his were all over her lower body.

She put the lock on her door and then they threw themselves on her bed.

At first it was innocent make-out but in an hour the light blue dress lay on the floor and so did every single piece of clothing they had had on.

Lucius turned his head to her, where she lay panting and tired. "Cissa? Do you realize what we just did? We are NOT married and we are bloody seventeen!" He searched for his robes and put them on. "You were wonderful. I'm going to the toilet. Why don't you fix your hair, it's gotten a bit untidy." He got out.

Cissa suddenly bolted up when she realized what she had done.

"Fuck. Shit!" She put her underwear on and her dress as well.

That was messed up.

Her first thought was to owl her best friend, Crystal, but then she decided to forget it. It wouldn't be of any importance. Yeah, good call. She fixed her hair and make-up. Finally she sprayed on some perfume and got downstairs.

The crowd was sitting in the living room, and probably discussing where was the best place to blow up innocent muggles.

"Where were you honey?" Her mother asked.

"With Lucius. We were just…playing…cards…"

"How cute." Her mother sighed and turned to her husband "Isn't that cute Pollux?"

"Very cute." Her father answered like that only to please her mum.

"Well I'm just going upstairs to…study a little okay?"

"Yeah, fine honey. She is so smart…always top of her class and…" Her mother began.

Cissa snuck upstairs and threw herself on her bed. She hadn't climaxed or anything, yet it hadn't hurt that much either. Lucius was definitely experienced in those matters. There was a knock on her door. She let Lucius in.

"We were 'playing cards' before, okay?"

"Okay."

There was a long painful silence.

"Wanna go at it again?" He asked and grinned.

"You kidding?"

"No."

And before she could say another word he slammed her against the wall and started kissing her. However his kisses were harsh now. She tried to push back but she couldn't move. She was stunned from the mental pressure. He had her dress half off again when she finally managed to get her mouth free.

"No." She moaned but he kept undressing her.

"It'll be fun, don't be a baby."

He was taking her knickers off when she finally got an idea. A simple idea.

She kicked him in the balls.

"Owwww…" He cried and glared at her.

She got dressed.

"I'm not that easy of a lay! Now get out of my room before I tell everybody what happened."

He got up in a hurry and marched out.

She turned on her wizard stereo box and took her schoolbag from under her bed.

She was going to forget everything.

--The Black Residence, 12th Grimmauld Place two weeks later--

"What do you mean you're pregnant!" Lucius was stomping around in Cissa's room.

"It means I have a baby in my belly!" She sat on her bed with her face in her palms. "You stupid son of a…" She began.

"Okay chill. I think I have a plan."

"Well? Please share…" She said sarcastically.

"I have seen a book about those matters. It might exist in the Black residence library."

They sneaked onto the hallway and then in to the personal library. She sat on a stool and he finally came back.

"I found it!" He smiled.

"I don't see this is an occasion you smile about…" Her voice was grumpy and she felt sick.

"Fine. Let's be sad then."

They got back into her room and he read aloud:

"Pregnancy is a complicated process blah blah blah blah… wait here it is, it can be concealed by simple potions and these strategies are well known in the wizarding world when underage girls blah blah blah. It's all in here. Here is the recipe for a potion for your belly to shrink. It will not hurt you or the baby. And here is one for morning sickness. It'll be okay. You'll have the baby in late May."

--Hogwarts Slytherin Dorms, Crystal's Point of View again--

I stared at my best friend, and was unable to show any signs of human emotion.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you, this is just too much and I don't know if I can do this and I don't…" Cissa was just blabbering.

I felt so sorry for her. And I was so angry she didn't tell me. But the later one was lost somewhere and not to be thought about right now.

I snapped out of it and took her in my lap.

"It'll be okay, don't worry. Have you decided what to do with it?"

"We're giving it to a wizard couple in London. Nobody knows except me, you, and Lucius. And it's a she."

"Well, then there's nothing to worry about. I'm sure they'll take good care of her. It'll all be forgotten."

She lightly caressed her flat stomach.

"Why were you throwing up this morning then?" I asked.

"Lucius' uncle was out of town and couldn't make the potion, he came back this morning and Lucius brought the potion in the afternoon."

"Well, when are you due?"

"In a week. Isn't that bloody crazy?" She started crying, and it reminded me that her weird reaction to the dress and everything were because of the hormones.

"Shh, don't worry, she'll be born and then it'll be over. All over and you can have a good, normal life."

A few girls came into the dormitory and a girl called Zoë saw my dress lying on Cissa's bed.

"It's pretty." She said and smiled.

"Thanks." I whispered and Cissa puckered up.

"Well, let's take a look at those hairdos then?" She blew her nose and wiped the tears that trickled down her cheeks.

I smiled at Cissa's fighting spirit and got the hair magazine from under my bed as if nothing had happened.

Review and I'll update faster, 'the ball chapter!' :O