Chapter Seven

Severus woke up with a headache. He got up nonetheless, for he had much to do. He rubbed his eyes sleepily. The memory he had witnessed the night before had been short, but it still brought back painful feelings… He had loved her so much… she was his only one… angrily he searched inside himself for that familiar feeling of hate he had whenever he thought of Narcissa. He searched in vain, for he could find none. His hands curled up into fists and he punched everything that came within his grasp, aiming spells randomly. He remembered last time he had felt this angry… he remembered…

"I had no choice, you have to understand…"

"I do understand. I understand you've tricked me all this time… I was so stupid, I believed you… Get out Narcissa, I never want to see you again!" he aimed a powerful curse at her and she ducked.

"Severus, my family's broke. I have to do this," she pleaded.

"Of course, I'd forgotten how much money meant to you. What did you do with the necklace, spit on it?" A second curse flew towards her. Her eyes filled with tears again as she jumped out of the way.

"No, I didn't. How can you underestimate me this way? You know I love you, but I care about my family too… Sev, please!"

"Get out!" he screamed at her, now making objects zoom towards her.

"Severus, I love—"

"SHUT UP! IF YOU LOVED ME YOU WOULD HAVE PICKED ME!"

"I can't abandon my family! And it's pretty unfair of you to ask it of me… what the hell would you do in my place?"

"Well I guess we'll never know, will we? Get out Narcissa, I'm warning you."

Narcissa had left. Up till that week, it had been the last time he had seen her. The worst thing was that at that point in time he still hadn't known the worst…

Severus walked down Diagon Alley. He had nothing now. Narcissa was gone, and so was his money, on that stupid, meaningless necklace, as meaningless as their relationship had been. No, a voice inside his head reasoned. It hadn't been meaningless. She was right. Her family was broke, and she couldn't abandon them. If marrying Lucius Malfoy was the only way to change that… then maybe he should just accept that. After all, he wasn't the only one losing something. She was losing something too. Him. They'd stay friends, Severus decided. It was only fair; after all they'd been through. No one could deny them each other's company.

"Would you like to buy a newspaper?" a small boy asked him.

"Anything interesting?"

"Well… they've posted this year's list of the top 100 richest families… and there's a really good goblin story. Oh, and Hogwarts is looking for a Potions teacher for next year…" Severus thought about it. This was their seventh year… why not be a Potions teacher? It might be fun.

"I'll take it," Severus handed the boy his money and then flipped the newspaper open. Something caught his eye. A headline.

"Malfoy: #1 richest family yet again!" He looked at the long list of names. His heart started beating, really fast. It couldn't be! But it was. #2, Black. It had all been a lie to get rid of him. A lie, for more money… He threw the newspaper away in disgust, and with it, all positive feelings toward Narcissa and the not so Noble House of Black.

88

Narcissa pulled herself out of Lucius' strong hold as soon as they arrived back to the present. She didn't stay to listen to him, she just apparated to the tree outside Severus' house, where her belongings were. Soon she heard a crack, but instead of seeing Lucius as expected, she saw instead her mother.

"I thought you might be here, Narcissa," her mother said with distaste, eyeing Severus' small, almost broken down, wooden house.

"Nice to see you too," Narcissa said, with equal dislike.

"I have heard of your poor behavior, and I am not impressed Narcissa. I thought maybe if I gave you a day, or two, you would come to your senses and stay by your husband's side… I was mistaken," her mother conjured up a chair, and sat down comfortably.

"The only reason I ever stayed by his side was Draco… You know that. As I understand it, I gave Draco the choice, the possibility, of staying with me, but he refused. I wasn't going to lose my life over a stupid plan."

"Draco did." Narcissa froze.

"Is this some kind of cruel joke?" she asked.

"Hardly. Why would I joke about something like that?"

"Oh my god. Draco…" Narcissa's face scrunched up with guilt. What had she done? Was this the price she had to pay for her life?

"Yes. A sad loss, a fine young man, he was. Anyway, Narcissa, we have pressing matters to take care of. You have to give Lucius another heir, or the Malfoy line might die out, and since he's in difficult circumstances, you might want to hurry. I have made necessary arrangements for you to get together, and it should go—"

"No," it wasn't more than a whisper, but her mother stopped talking.

"Excuse me?"

"No!" Narcissa's voice was louder, clearer. "I stayed with Lucius for Draco. Because I had to. Now I'm free. FREE!" Narcissa shouted the last word, laughing manically.

"Narcissa, calm down. What's gotten into you! Really…"

"Mother, you know what the funny thing is? I thought I hated you. I really did! But now I realize that I don't! I don't care enough about you to hate you, I never did… You ruined my life, but now I might actually be able to fix it!"

"Don't be silly, what about Lucius?"

"What about him?" Narcissa said, her eyes flashing. "Anyways, I have much to do now, so farewell." Narcissa gathered up her few possessions. Her mother got up, grabbing one of Narcissa's hands.

"What did I do wrong? Narcissa please, give me a second chance, give Lucius a second chance! For the family's sake…"

"I have no family," Narcissa's voice was flat, and uninterested. "I'm sorry; I've already given up too much. I have wasted 17 years for you, and the Noble House of Black."

"What did I do wrong?" her mother wailed.

"Well for starters, you shouldn't have lied to me about our family being broke, just to get me to marry Lucius Malfoy."

"But I did tell you we weren't broke eventually!"

"After the wedding, when it was too late. And you never told him."

"Narcissa, it was for your own good, I couldn't let you marry that nobody!" Narcissa's eyes filled with fresh tears.

"But mother, he wasn't a nobody to me! Thanks to you, he hates me!"

"Don't you see Narcissa? Just look at where you'd be living! You weren't brought up wanting that kind of life! You wouldn't make it through your first week! You were but a child. You couldn't make such a great decision…"

"You should have given me the choice! It is my life after all!"

"You would have picked the wrong option!" Her mother's words sounded familiar. Narcissa thought back. The wrong option. That's what Severus had said about her picking Lucius. So which was the right option? Severus didn't want her anymore, and a life with Lucius was definitely not for her. Maybe the right choice was neither? Fury rose up inside her. People were always telling her what to do… No one had consulted her about anything… even Severus had never stopped to think about how she had felt about the whole thing, he just assumed it was her choice. This wasn't her life, it was theirs. She had given it up for everyone but herself… and she was sick of the whole ordeal.