Chapter Five
Narcissa's head was still spinning from the Occlumency as she made her way back home. She was going to check if there was anything there that she could sell, or at least the key to her Gringotts vault. She opened the door. Everything was ruined. Tables were turned over, precious objects lay smashed on the floor and important documents ripped.
"Benzil! Benzil!" she shrieked. A house-elf appeared from under a table.
"Mistress, I is here," he squeaked.
"Who did this?" she asked sharply. The elf's eyes widened fearfully.
"Big wizards!"
"Yes, I know, but who?" she said impatiently. The elf continued to squeak.
"Death! Death!"
"Death Eaters?" she asked, her voice softening. The elf nodded vigorously. She sighed. She went upstairs to her room to look for jewelry. The box was open but nothing had been taken. Relieved, she started to choose what she would sell.
"I was wondering when you'd show up," a voice surprised her. She turned around.
"I thought you wanted nothing to do with me," Narcissa told the figure.
"I don't. I'm here for business purposes," Severus said, his eyes narrowing.
"Oh? Which would be?"
"The Dark Lord is unconvinced by Bellatrix's findings. He believes that even though you don't know where Lucius is, you may have an idea of where he'd go… He gave me the unfortunate task of finding out," he said, settling himself comfortably in a chair.
"I don't know anything," she spat.
"Be that as it may, I can't leave without information. Does Lucius have any other habitations apart from this one?"
"No."
"Narcissa…" he said in a warning voice. "Do not tempt me."
"There's a farm in France. But he would never go there, it's dirty and disgusting. We never go there; he's been trying to sell it for ages."
"If he's desperate enough…"
"Lucius is never desperate. He's a stone wall, devoid of emotion."
"He's not the only one," Severus muttered. He looked up at her. "I think that will be all for now."
"Severus, please… I can't stay here, everything's ruined, can't I please… just for a few days…"
"You know the answer to that Narcissa. Don't look so shocked. You brought this onto yourself."
"But it was so long ago! It doesn't—" With a sweep of his robes, Severus had left, leaving her in the middle of her destroyed room. Where had it all gone wrong? She took out her diary and started to read again…
Dear Diary,
Today something great happened! It was the end of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and so everyone was already putting away their books. Class ended and everyone left, leaving me behind. When I was finally ready, I left the classroom.
"Narcissa!" the call came from a deserted classroom. I thought it might be Severus, who had realized how stupid he was being, so I walked in. Instead I found Sirius, James and the rest of the idiots. Outnumbered, I tried to leave, but before I could…
"Expelliarmus!" My wand flew out of my hand, and then I heard the door close as someone locked it.
"Oh come on," I said, buying time. "You can't be so cowardly that you would fight me while I'm alone and outnumbered, far away from help!" I laughed nervously.
"We're trying to spare you the public humiliation," James grinned. I tried to edge closer to my wand.
"Stay where you are! Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius shouted, and I fell to the ground, paralyzed. I hate to say it, but I was getting really scared by this time. They crowded around me, laughing.
"Wonder what she would look like without all those expensive robes, eh?" Peter laughed.
"Peter! Have you forgotten we're related? Not something I want to see!" Sirius protested. "Let's just jinx her and leave, while we have the chance!"
"Don't be a spoilsport Sirius," James was eyeing me now, and I could feel his stare burn into my skin.
"Prongs..."
"Ok, ok. Remus, you jinx her," James said.
"This was your idea Sirius. You do it."
"We'll all do it, a different jinx each. Ready? On three," Sirius said, wand raised.
"But how will we know we're doing different jinxes if we don't tell each other which we're doing?" Peter argued.
"One," Sirius started. There was a scratching noise from the door.
"Two," James continued. The scratching became louder.
"Three!" The door slammed open, distracting them.
"Accio wands!" Their wands flew towards the person at the door. It was Severus. He reversed the spell on me, and I got up, pushing past the four. Severus must have made a silent spell, because a moment later they were all lying on the floor, their faces disfigured. "I actually think they look better that way," he said. I couldn't help laughing.
"Look, I'm sorry I acted that way before… But I guess we're even now; You helped me, I helped you."
"I could have handled it," I said jokingly. He put his arms around me and we hugged. When we separated, I realized I didn't want the moment to end. It felt so good being with him, in our moment of glory that I found myself reaching out to him again. He didn't pull away. We clung to each other for a long time, and then he gently pushed my head upwards a little. He bent down and hesitated for just a moment, but it didn't matter because the next thing I knew, our lips connected and I could feel his tongue searching my mouth. If we had been in a movie, I'm sure the room would have been spinning 360 degrees around us. Time froze, and I felt like I had lived my whole life to get to this moment.
Narcissa closed her eyes, thinking back to it. She suddenly didn't want to read ahead. Because she knew what was coming up next.