Hello beautiful people! I hope you're all well and healthy, and that you're having a great time! Here's the next chapter, that I hope you're going to like. As you know, I love to read your comments and feedback, so please, if you can spare a minute of your time, and let me know what you think I'd love to hear what you think!

My biggest thanks to iRedeeem, Love . Fanfiction . 2021, EchoMoment your reviews keep me going! And Three123 - I think you hit the nail on the hat!

"What is it, Rabastan?"

He closed his eyes for a moment before softly speaking. "It's the Dark Lord. He asked about you today."

Caroline maintained her appearance, although her heart was beating out of her chest.

"Okay," was her first reply, mostly to calm herself down than anything else. "Could you tell me more about it?"

He turned to face the window again. "Avery started it." Caroline could feel her blood turning cold. She thought there wasn't anything the man could do to make her hate him anymore, but yet she was once again mistaken. "He said some bullshit remarks on you and Severus at the ball. We exchanged a few words and then the Dark Lord came and asked what it was about."

That was great. There wasn't a better way for the Dark Lord to notice her than to remember her as the one who stood behind the disagreements of his followers.

"He asked why you haven't joined our ranks yet."

Even better. Caroline remained silent as she felt there was more he wanted to share.

"I told him something about you working for St. Mungo's and so on… Severus and Lucius said something to cover for you as well. He let it go but said he would still like to meet you soon."

Rabastan refused to look at her and choose instead to face the window. She approached him, put one hand on his shoulder wanting him to turn and face her, but he spoke again. "He invaded my mind, Carol. He invaded it and it was terrible. I didn't show him anything that could give him a hint about your abilities, but he still saw some memories. He is… He is just as good as you, Carol. If not… if not better."

Caroline's heart sank even deeper, if that was possible. But feeling both hers and his emotions, she had to use all her powers to hold it.

She slowly made few steps in order to stand just in front of him. If she focused and occluded enough, she could suppress the negative emotions and replace them with a bit of calmness for both of them.

She places her palm on his face, carefully trying to send a bit of calmness in his direction.

"We knew it would happen soon or later, Rabastan," she said softly. She knew.

He looked at her and raised his hand in the same gesture she did, and placed his palm on her cheek. "We'll manage, Carol. You can make him be fond of you. As you did with me."

She offered him a small smile instead of an answer, and sent another wave of calmness his way. He slowly kissed her and she could feel the taste of his old whiskey on her lips. This kiss was yet again different than the previous ones they shared. It was so slow, filled with emotions that neither of them said aloud. It took some time for them proceed further with the lovemaking, both of them being as gentle as possible, but still leaving them both completely out of breath and covered in sweat when they finished. That evening, when both of them laid in bed, Caroline turned in order to face her husband.

"I've missed you, Rabastan," she said softly. He eyed her and offered her one of his rare honest smiles.

"I've missed you too, darling." She quickly let her magic check whether he was speaking the truth and he spoke again. "I thought you've already found out that I wouldn't lie to you, Carol. There's no point for it, not with you, when you can always recognise it. So there's no point for you the check every single time I say something."

He took a part of her hair and played with it, a gesture that made Caroline's heartbeat rise in instant. "Severus knows about your magic." It was a statement rather than a question.

"I know," Caroline replied softly and watched Rabastan narrow his eyes a bit. "And Lucius knows something. I don't think he has any idea as to how far your abilities go, but he noticed something. You should be careful around him. And around Snape as well. He's not who you think he is."

Caroline smiled softly at that. Rabastan wanted her to be careful around Severus, while Severus said the same about her husband.

Her next days in her work went pretty much the same way as the first one, and she quickly got back into her routine, finally feeling better with a lot of things to occupy her mind.

Until she got home on Thursday, and Rabastan was waiting for her, telling her the Malfoys were expecting them for a dinner. Caroline just raised her eyebrows at that, got quickly changed and then slowly approached Rabastan with whom they used the Floo network to come to Malfoy Manor.

"Ah, pleasure to see you, Caroline, Rabastan," Lucius spoke formally as their house-elf led them to meet him and Cissy.

"Likewise, Lucius. Now tell me, how can I be of service?" At her direct approach, Lucius offered her a smirk and pointed to a comfortable-looking chair.

"Now now, before we start, may I offer the two of you something to drink?"

"Are we celebrating, Lucius?" Rabastan asked, ever carefully.

"Oh, we certainly are. Dumbledore is gone from Hogwarts. And I was already contacted by Madame Undersecretary, who currently replaced him as a Headmistress. She would very much like you to pay her a visit, Caroline." Lucius smug face only complemented what kind of pleasure she felt from him.

Caroline raised her eyebrows at that. The news of Dumbledore being replaced as a headmaster totally missed her, but she didn't let this stress her too much. If there was anyone she trusted to always have a plan, it was Dumbledore. She was however very pleased to hear what Lucius told her about Umbridge. Because although her opinion of the woman was very low, the fact she contacted Lucius in order to get in touch with her was just what she wanted to hear.

She could feel Rabastan's surprise. "The Undersecretary to the Minister? She's replaced Dumbledore? Isn't she the one Avery is supposed to work on?"

Lucius just smirked at that and Caroline was sure she felt a wave of disdain coming from Narcissa. "Trust me, Rabastan, Avery won't have much work with that one. She would gladly join our Lord now, given the opportunity." Caroline couldn't agree more with this statement.

"Yes, but what does she want with Caroline?" her husband asked further and Caroline caught his quick thought on why hasn't she told him.

Lucius raised his eyebrows at the mind healer. "Haven't you told him?" And then he turned his attention back to the other man in the room. "Caroline made quite an impression on Madam Umbridge during the ball. She would like to start some kind of permanent cooperation."

Carol felt slight anger coming from her lover. He wasn't happy about the fact that she obviously kept this part of the ball to herself and didn't tell him.

"What kind of permanent cooperation?" he asked again and his tone got an edge of dangerousness in it.

Caroline send a look to Narcissa, who seemed to find this situation amusing, and way too much for Caroline's liking. But before she could check what was on the other woman's mind, Lucius started explaining.

"The Headmistress is concerned about the wellbeingof some of the students. She fears there may be somethingpathologicalin the way some of them behave, like for example, our shining Potter boy. She would like Caroline, as a mind healer with striking reputation, to examine that for herself," Lucius smirked as he used her own words she offered to Umbridge.

"It would be an honour for me, to take up on that offer," Caroline replied, not letting her official mask slip a bit. She could tell she pleased two people in the room and angered one. And Rabastan wasn't among those, who's emotions she would evaluate as positive ones.

"I am quite sure your presence at the school would raise up its standards, Caroline," Narcissa said, but Caroline couldn't sense any bad intentions from the woman.

"The Headmistress will be glad to hear your positive answer, Caroline." This sentence pretty much ended the conversation on this topic, however Caroline could tell from Rabastan's face she would be hearing more about it later.

Lucius kept the conversation going during the dinner until he left with Rabastan to discuss something in his private study, which left Caroline alone with Narcissa.

Her companion called for the house elf to pure them more wine, while they slowly moved to one of Narcissa's salons, that she used for small social gatherings.

"You and Rabastan seem to get on pretty well," Narcissa pointed out, while carefully eying Caroline. The mind healer hold her mental shields as she took a sip of wine and answered. "Of course. I love my husband, my loyalty lies with him."

There was a longer pause when none of them spoke, until Narcissa face changed completely, the cold face mask gone, and Caroline had a feeling like a whole different person stood in front of her.

"You've been awfully formal this whole evening, Caroline. It's me and Lucius is not here. There's no need for that mask of yours." Caroline was taken by surprise by that sudden change. Narcissa very rarely let her own mask slip and doing it so bluntly meant a lot, even for her.

Caroline let out a breath and spoke again. To this woman, she owed at least a bit of the truth. "We are getting fine, considering the circumstances. I feared it would be worse."

"He seems to care for you," her companion pointed out.

Yes, that much Caroline knew. That much she felt. But she knew the bigger question was whether her husband cared more for her or for the Dark Lord. And that much she still needed to find out.

"Does he know about Severus?"

All blood in Caroline suddenly went freezing cold, and her emotionless mask was back on, not letting a bit of her inner panic show out on the outside. "What do you mean?"

Narcissa gave her a sweet smile, that Caroline couldn't quite read. She didn't feel any hostility from her companion, only curiosity. "I mean whether Rabastan knows about the little affair you had with Severus, while he was in Azkaban."

Caroline held all her mental defences up and strong, her voice deprived of any emotions. "Unfortunately, I don't know, what you're talking about Narcissa."

But Caroline did know what Narcissa was talking about. After the Dark Lord fell and all the traumatic experiences Caroline had to endure, she found out what it felt to reach the bottom. And although Narcissa did try a lot to help her friend get back up, it was Severus, who understood. He too, lost someone he loved during the war. The intimate time they've spent together wasn't based on love, however, and although Caroline, devastated by Rabastan's actions, thought for a while there could be something more in their physical relationship, she soon found out that Severus's feelings would always meant for another and were unquestionable. They remained friends afterwards, although throughout the years, they've grown a bit apart.

Caroline was just getting ready to summon a bit of her mind magic and lead the conversation elsewhere, but her friend surprised her yet again. "I do consider myself your friend, Caroline. There's no need to lie to me, no matter how excellent you are it. Or to use your mind magic on me."

If Caroline was surprised before, now she stood just frozen, unconsciously clatching her wand in her hand. Only her respect towards her friend stopped her in invading her mind and trying to see what this was about.

"For all those years, I knew you were a bit different, we all did. I just couldn't quite place it, you know? But at the ball, Lucius noticed, and when he brought it up later, it suddenly all made sense. How you always seemed to know how I felt, even though no one else ever saw it. How you always said just want someone else wanted to hear. I'm just surprised no one figured it before. And I'm also hurt that you apparently never trusted me enough to tell me any of it. Not about this, nor about Severus."

Caroline was left speechless. Never would she imagine their today's meeting would go like this. She struggled with herself whether invading Narcissa's mind would be worth it, but decided against it. Even without doing so, she would feel her friend was sincere and she didn't mean her any harm. At the same though, she couldn't bring herself to say anything and for a moment, there was a dead silence between them.

"I am sorry I haven't told you, Narcissa. But I kindly ask you to keep your observations to yourself," was the first thing Caroline said to break the silence. And at that, her companion brought her cold face mask back on and took another sip of wine.

"There are no observations on my part, Madam Lestrange."

Caroline was impressed. Narcissa's ability to shout down any emotion and lie so effortlessly was admirable and she, despite the current turn of events, felt another strong positive vibe towards her friend. She trusted her secret was safe with her, at least for now.

"Just one last point on that topic, my friend – I have witnessed the Dark Lord placed an interest in you. You're wife of one of his most trusted followers, and yet you still haven't shown an interest in placing your faith in his cause. Rabastan and Severus, with a little help from my own husband, provided a short support on your part, but it's only a matter of time before the Dark Lord approaches this topic again. You should get yourself ready."

Yes, Caroline knew that much. And she wasn't looking forward to it.