Albus managed to hide what happened to him for the time being, nobody beside Severus and his brother knew of it and it was fine by him. He wasn't ready for people to know that he was dying, he needed to get his affairs in order first, make sure that Harry and his sister would be fine, that the Order was in good and capable hands. That the war would be won, even without him.
He was trying to make sure everything and everyone he cared about would be fine without him.
As for his hand, people did notice it, and some even asked (the others seemed too intimidated to dare ask), but he simply brush it off, saying that there wasn't time to tell such an interesting tale.
"Is Azkaban going to be safer now? Are they really taking new measures to ensure it?" Mad-Eye Moody asked during this Order meeting, in the living room of the Headquarters.
Molly Weasley was the only one missing, she was keeping an eye on the kids. When Sirius dropped them off, Ron and Harry showed Dudley about garden gnoms and how to rid the garden of them and it was incredibly funny to the muggle. Draco had never done it either, when Gnoms came at the manor, the house elves took care of them, but he did find it funny enough.
What intrigued Sirius is that, before he left, Molly cornered him, telling him that they needed to talk later. That they had something important to discuss and, as she told him this, she had looked at Ginny. He knew that he didn't have time at the moment so he nodded and left, but now, he couldn't help but wonder what this was all about.
"Yes, they're working on an emergency spray that would conteract the effects of the Goblin sleeping potion. It will work a bit like muggle fire safety water spray... I'm not sure how they're called... Sprinklers maybe? Anyway, that's dealt with. The wards will now be a bit stronger and they've signed on the dragons. Charlie Weasley is coming back for this. There will be a couple of dragons guarding Azkaban and the wizard prison guards will be trained to watch the dragons as well, though as I understand it, Charlie Weasley will be in charge. He's going to be at the head of a team of 4 wizards to guard the Dragons, all also trained to defend the jail in case of an attack." Albus replied.
"I bet Hagrid was happy to learn this." Sirius smirked.
"Especially since one of the dragons is Norberta, the one he adopted and took care of a few years ago. I'm almost expecting him to ask for a job there soon." Albus nodded, ending with a little joke.
"And that will also work against a possible dementor attack because dementors are afraid of dragons, right?" Arthur asked.
"I'm not sure if they're afraid of them or if their fire can actually hurt them but they never go anywhere near dragons." Remus replied.
"Well, if Charlie needs a place to stay he's welcome in this house anytime, until he can find something closer to Azkaban. It'll be closer than the Burrow." Sirius offered Arthur.
"Thank you, but he said he has friends who offered him a room not too far from Azkaban, he's going to room with them. Something about having his independence and being able to party without his mother being behind him all the time." Arthur replied with a small smile.
"Anyway, did we ever find out who the mystery guest at Malfoy Manor is?" Kingsley asked.
"Unfortunately no. Armand Malfoy's painting is still up in the living room for now, but there hasn't been any meetings so far. All the paintings near the door were taken down and apparently Lucius is in the process of taking all of the manor's painting down one by one. He's storing them all in his office. Narcissa suggested she sneaks back into Malfoy Manor at the first opportunity to cast a strong sticking charm behind the portrait so that it can't be taken down but..." Albus replied.
"She suggested that?" Moody asked, surprised.
"Yes, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea, it will be dangerous..." Sirius shook his head.
"I agree, but I also know that she's a Black, and you Blacks tend to be headstrong. She's determined to prove that she's switched sides, that she's with us and I wouldn't put it past her to do it behind our backs." Albus declared.
"Where is she now anyway?" Remus asked, curious and worried.
"She went to the Marauder's lair to watch over Draco, Luna, Rose, Harry and Dudley." Moody replied.
"No she didn't. Rose is working and the other's are at the Burrows, that's why Molly isn't here today." Arthur shook his head.
"Kreacher?" Sirius called, looking worried.
"Yes, Master Sirius?" The House elf answered as soon as he appeared.
"Do you know where Narcissa is?" Sirius asked him.
"She... She asked that Kreacher doesn't talk until you ask... I'm sorry Master... I did tell her that you would want to know, that she needed to tell you, but she didn't listen to Kreacher and insisted that I keep the secret until you ask me..." Kreacher shook his head, tears pooling in his eyes.
"It's alright, I'm not about to punish you for anything she did. I just want to know where she is, we're all very worried for her." Sirius insisted as the Order members watched.
"Miss Cissa went in her old home. She talked to Armand Malfoy and he said nobody seemed home except for her husband so she went home, intending on casting a permanent sticking charm on the portrait. She's going to pretend she came home simply to have a talk with Lucius and if he knows she's lying she intends on pretending she wanted to take a few books in the Library, she left some of her favorite books behind just in the eventuality she'd need an excuse to go back. She's also thinking of taking down the protective wards from inside the house, if he catches her and doesn't believe her, that will be her excuse." Kreacher explained, half crying.
"She's thought it through but it's still dangerous... Lucius could kill her!" Sirius growled.
"Isn't there a way for us to go and get her?" Albus asked.
"No, their manor is the most secured place after here... Even Kreacher can't go there without her calling him first and he'd be greeted by the other house elves before he could reach her." Sirius shook his head.
"Kreacher, did she tell her son anything?" Albus asked the house elf.
"No, she waited until he left. She left a letter, she gave it to me and asked that I gave it to her son if she couldn't come back or if she... If she..." Kreacher replied and he couldn't finish the sentence, though they all understood.
"So all we can do is wait?" Sirius asked, incredulous.
He had grown very close to her lately, and he was worried, very worried. He was as close to her as he had once been to Lily Potter. She had become like a sister.
"Miss Cissa didn't want you to get involved, she was afraid you'd risk your life over this or that you'd get hurt. She knows Master Draco is safe and will be taken care of if anything happens to her." Kreacher replied.
"Brave for a Slytherin." Moody commented.
"I should go and warn Andromeda, just in case she hears from her first. Ted has always been good at healing magic, he should get ready, we might need him of Emergency Care." Sirius suggested and Albus nodded.
"Should we tell Draco anything?" Remus asked.
"Why don't we wait until tonight? If we haven't heard back, then we'll tell him, but no need to worry him if she manages to come back safely." Tonks suggested and everyone nodded.
"Okay, we all have things to do but someone should stay here in case she comes back injured." Sirius declared as the meeting was about to be broken.
"I'll stay here, if she's injured, I'll be able to call for help so someone can stabilize her." Moody offered.
"Kreacher, stay on the look out, the moment she calls you, you go to her and if she needs it, you take her back to the Marauder's lair, to safety, alright? If she needs you to play pretend, just go along with it. Don't hesitate to insult me if you have to act like you're betraying me." Sirius asked and his house elf nodded.
.
Narcissa knew that it was dangerous, but she made sure to cover all the angles before she left. She first went to the Marauder's lair after Sirius had left it with everyone, then she apparated in front of her manor. Of course the doors opened for her and she walked inside, trying not to make noise. The doors shouldn't have warned Lucius, since this was also her home.
She had the official excuse of wanted to grab a few books, hopefully he'd believe her. Maybe she'd even be able to convince Lucius that she just missed him. She hurried to Armand's painting and on the way she saw that a lot of paintings had been taken down. She needed to act fast.
"You shouldn't have come here young one, it's dangerous." Armand whispered to her.
"I had to help." She whispered back before she cast 3 different sticking spells, one of them twice and another 3 times before she cast another protection spell on the portrait, preventing anyone from even touching it.
After that she rushed in the library to grab a couple of books, her excuse, just in case.
She was sure that she had managed to achieve what she wanted without being spotted and she hurried back in the corridor. The wards were in Lucius' office, would it be too risky to go there?
That's when her husband appeared, his pink hair hidden under a hat though she could see a strand of it on the side.
"Narcissa?" He asked in a voice that although surprised, didn't sound very welcoming.
"Lucius, I've missed you." She replied with a smile, acting like she had come here just for him.
"Really? You have? What are you doing here? I thought you were locked up with the Order?" He asked her.
"I managed to sneak off during a meeting, they were distracted. Kreacher helped me distract them." She replied, saying the house elf a little louder so that, maybe, he'd hear it as her calling him, though knowing that it could not work.
"And why did you come here?" He asked her, keeping his distance and still speaking in a hard voice.
He wasn't believing her and she could tell he was thinking of attacking.
"I wanted to see you, make sure you were alright. I was worried for you." She replied, taking a step closer to him.
He let her and she thought that she had won. He even walked closer to her but, before she could do anything, he had his hand wrapped around her throat and was squeezing, hard. She tried fighting back but all she could do was make his hat fall, revealing that he had cut his hair a bit. Her wand was out of reach.
"Do you honestly think that I would believe that? I saw that you took everything, unlike the Dark Lord, I don't believe you. You and your son have betrayed us. I know it. Why did you come here?" he asked in a hard voice.
"I wanted to get some of the house's wards off so that the Order could come in if they needed it. Our son might be fine on your side, playing pretend for the Dark Lord, and I'll never do anything that could get him hurt, but I'm not, not anymore. I want to be on the same side as my remaining sister." She partially lied.
"You stupid unfaithful traitor! I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to do my best to kill our son because I don't believe you one bit. When the Dark Lord has won and is in power, I'll remarry and have worthy children with my new wife." He spat, pushing her hard against the wall, making her hit her head hard each time he hit her.
She could barely breath and the shock of her head against the wall hurt a lot, she coudln't see straight, stars were clouding her vision. She could barely hold on. Then he let go of her and before she could do anything, even before she took one full deep breath, he had his wand out and was casting a cruciatus curse at her. After three crucio, he started on cutting curses. He also surprised her by hitting her with his foot a few times, breaking a few of her bones.
Narcissa could barely hold on but she managed to call Kreacher once more, though it was just a whisper. The house elf arrived 2 long minutes later and he used his powers to send Lucius flying backward, grabbed Narcissa and left.
.
Kreacher appeared at the Marauder's lair with Narcissa, unconscious and bleeding badly. Sirius was there, waiting and they quickly called everyone. They laid her in a bed upstairs and Ted Tonks, who had a gift for healing magic, started working on her while Andromeda went to get a few potions, trying to keep a cool head but extremely worried by her sister's state. Ted was the best placed at the moment to handle emergency care.
Remus went to get Draco and the others, warning the boy of what happened, that his mother didn't tell them what she was doing and that they only found out too late to stop her.
"She said this morning that she had something important planned for today but I thought it was just something with Aunt Andromeda that made her happy... I mean, she looked so happy, like she finally felt free of a big burden... I just thought that something had happened with Aunt Andromeda or something..." Draco shook his head as Luna wrapped her arms around him to try and make him feel better.
Kreacher told them what he could, which wasn't much and they were hoping she'd wake up soon. Kreacher had heard her the first time, but another house elf had stopped him on his way in and it had taken him a lot longer to get to her. He was feeling guilty, wishing he had done more.
"I tried to ask them who was inhabiting Master Draco's bedroom, but they couldn't speak, they were ordered to keep quiet. It's definitely a man, an old one." Kreacher added.
"Thank you Kreacher, you've done very well today." Sirius nodded with a smile.
"Why don't we take her to St Mungo's?" Remus asked.
"Isn't it too dangerous?" Sirius asked.
"Mom believes that the Dark Lord doesn't have spies there." Draco shook his head.
"They would help her get better faster than me. What I did was more of an emergency healing, to stop it from getting worst." Ted nodded.
"What if the press finds out about her being there and why she is?" Sirius asked.
"I think she won't mind. She wants people to know that she's changed, that she's on the right side of everything. As for my spy role, well, if when we get back to Hogwarts we find out that nobody believes me, I'll stop pretending and let them know which side I'm truly on. I don't think anyone will try anything while I'm in school." Draco shook his head.
"We could provide her with extra security there." Moody, who had just arrived to check in, commented.
He was seeing the woman under a new light. He believed she had only changed sides for her son, that she wouldn't be truly loyal to them without the magical oath she had made and now she had proven him wrong. She was brave, worthy of being in the Order, worthy of being his friend. He'd help protect her.
"Alright, let's take her there now that the bleeding has stopped." Sirius decided.
.
A soon as Sirius arrived in her home, Andromeda knew that something was wrong just by the look on her face. Her first thought went obviously to her daughter.
"Sirius? What is it? Nymphadora?" She asked immediately.
"No, Narcissa. Please tell me that you've seen her this morning?" he asked her, more seriously than she had ever seen him.
"No, just yesterday. Why? What's going on?" She asked.
"She left, told Kreacher that she was going to Malfoy Manor to make sure Lucius wouldn't be able to take Armand's portrait off the wall, maybe even take down the protective wards of the manor if she can... She didn't tell anyone, waited until Draco had left..." He explained quickly.
"Oh Merlin... But it's dangerous, Lucius could kill her!" Andromeda exclaimed.
"I know... Did she tell you anything at all about this?" He asked again.
"She mentioned wanting to help more, but that's it..." Andromeda shook her head.
"We need to prepare for the worst. Can Ted come over to the Marauder's lair as soon as possible? Kreacher is on the look out to grab her as soon as she calls for help, and when he brings her back, I have a feeling that we'll have to act fast." Sirius explained.
"Of course, I'll call him. He's at work, but he'll take the rest of the day off and come as soon as he can." She promised, working hard to keep calm but she could see that she wasn't the only one.
She could see that Sirius was trying to keep busy not to think or feel too much but he, too, was worried sick for Narcissa.
"Don't bother knocking or anything, just come in. We'll leave Draco at the Burrows until we know more, that's how she wanted to do it, she told Kreacher so." He replied.
"She's stronger than she appears, Sirius, she'll be fine. Don't worry. " She tried to reassure him.
Later, when she saw her sister lying unconscious and bleeding on the bed, she had to work harder than ever to be strong. Her sister had been brave, there was no denying it, but she was now dying.
"Lucius is such a monster! I want to kill the bastard." She growled to nobody in particular.
"I'm pretty sure the entire Order has just placed him first on their kill list." Alastor Moody replied to her.
"I hate my father more than ever." Draco added, nodding at his aunt who rushed to hug him.
"She'll be fine, we have to believe that. She's strong." Andromeda assured the boy.
By now, Rose was back from work.
"She... She asked me for my hair potion... She wanted to know if I could bring her some... I didn't ask her why, I just told her that it would take a couple of days because the twins were all out, it's very popular. I was making some for her, I told her that it would be ready tonight..." Rose declared to the room.
"She probably thought that it would be too long, she saw an opportunity and jumped at the occasion." Draco reassured Rose, who was starting to feel guilty.
"Us Blacks, we have a tendency to act first and think later." Sirius tried to joke, making his cousin Andromeda nod with a chuckle.
.
The transfer of Narcissa to St Mungo's went smoothly, Albus Dumbledore even came to make sure people knew she had gotten hurt while working for the Order, that she had acted like a hero and that she needed to be protected. There was a very small list of people allowed to come and see her and they were all in the Order. Her sister, Draco and Sirius were the only ones allowed to come in her room. No gifts were allowed in the room if it hadn't been inspected first and Moody was overseeing the security.
She was still unconscious for now, but the healers had hope that she'd wake up in a few days, her body and her mind, needed time to heal. She had gone through a lot. The three cruciatus curses right after being almost chocked to death would be a lot and they were even wondering if she'd be able to fully recuperate after waking up. Would she be as strong as before? They didn't know.
.
As soon as he got back up, Lucius cried out in rage and went to Riddle Manor to speak with the Dark Lord.
"What's going on, Lucius? I thought you were busy making an inventory at the Manor, even though it's unnecessary?" Voldemort asked him.
"I just received a visitor my Lord. Narcissa snuck into the Manor, trying not to be noticed. She came to grab those books but after interrogating her, I managed to find out that she wanted to take the manor's wards down to help the Order. I tortured her to punish her for her betrayal but she managed to escape. She claims that Draco is still on our side, that he doesn't know about her role today, but I don't know if I should believe her." He confessed, hoping he wouldn't be punished for his wife's crimes.
"She did what?" Voldemort asked, incredulous.
"She didn't manage to touch the wards, I caught her before she could do anything." Lucius insisted.
"What of your son?"
"She mentioned that he was still playing spy for us and that she wouldn't do anything against him, anything that could get him hurt by the Order, but he was always closer to her than he was to me, no matter how hard I tried, I think it's safe to say that he's on her side and that she lied to me on this too." Lucius replied.
"Then they've manage to deceive us, to betray us..." Voldemort shook his head.
"She was barely alive when Black's House Elf Kreacher helped her escape, she might not make it. As for Draco, if he survives this war, I intend to renounce him. I'll remarry and have a child with someone more worthy of my name." Lucius declared.
Voldemort then entered Lucius' mind to see the entire scene for himself.
"Good... I think we should still consider your son as potentially on our side for now. Now, why don't you go back to your manor, I'll go with you. You've proven worthy of my trust. I'll tell you who our special guest is, and why it's important he stays hidden until the very last minute." Voldemort spoke.
Voldemort was surprised by Narcissa and Draco's betrayal, he truly believed them to be on his side, but Lucius had handled things well. Plus, Jenny Collins had just agreed to carry his child in secret, so he was in a good mood. If she had refused he would have asked Umbridge, but she was a bit older and if he had to lay with any of those women, he'd rather do it with one that was younger and good looking.
To make sure she wouldn't change her mind, he had started feeding her love potion. She'd take them until the child was delivered, then he'd stop feeding them to her. Her reaction wouldn't matter after that. He'd kill her if he had to.
Now, all he had to do was wait until the right time of the month arrived for the conception to take place, though he wasn't against laying with her before that if he wanted to. There was a chance she wouldn't get pregnant on their first try after all, so he might have to have sex with her more than once.
What did you think of the events? They weren't planned! I swear Narcissa took a life of her own and before I knew it, she was almost dead... Almost...
I used to have 15 chapters written in advance, now i'm down to 5 because i'm having trouble writing... Don't worry, it'll fix itself, I'll just space out a little my updates until I can write more.
Review please?
Lorelei Candice Black