Chapter 5
What A Crap Day…
A buzz of electrical excitement hummed through the Great Hall. It was seven in the morning, and miraculously, everyone was awake. Willingly. That had to be some sort of record.
It was April 22nd and a lot of things were happening around Hogwarts that day. For one, the sixth years had a potions test, for which nobody had studied. Then, it was Narcissa's seventeenth birthday. And lastly, the thing that had actually woken everyone up, the Quidditch finals. All crammed into one measly day.
"I can't believe we have class first." Finn muttered angrily, stabbing at his rashers with his fork. "What're the chances of the Quidditch finals falling on a week day? I mean," he ranted, jabbing his egg, "the professors could have at least given us the day off."
"I blame that fool Dumbledore, it's just like him to do something like this to us." Lucius glared up at the Professor's table, not unlike the rest of the student body.
Narcissa shook her head, swallowing her mouthful of apple pie. "No, it's Slughorn's fault. He should have objected instead of being the weak idiot that he is and going along to it. That's what he's there for, right? As our Head of House he should have represented us; which he failed to do." she shrugged. "As usual."
"Cissy's totally right." Madison chimed in, not looking up from where she was filing her nails against the table. " Like, what kind of Head gives us a potions test on the day our House is playing in the finals. That's so not cool." she looked up. "He's like, breeding a bad mood. It's like he doesn't care if we're playing, let alone want to win."
Finn let his fork fall onto his plate with a clatter. "I hate this fucking school."
-S-
"What three main ingredients must one add into what particular type of cauldron to brew the Herbicide Potion?" Narcissa stared at question ten of her potions test, mind as blank as the parchment in front of her.
Herbicide Potion? When had they done anything like that? Not even the name rang a bell.
Herbicide. Herbi. Herb. Well, at least she knew it had something to do with plants. Might as well just take a guess, what's the worst thing that could happen? Fail?
"To make a Herbicide Potion you must add Snargaluff, Newts tails and a single twig from a Bowtruckle into a cauldron of clay." Narcissa muttered quietly as she jotted down her, completely improvised, answer.
Slughorn could go to hell…
-S-
"How'd the test go, Blondie?" Lucius gave Narcissa a peck on the cheek as she dumped her books in front of her on the table.
She glared angrily as she spooned some mash onto her plate. "Don't even talk to me about that."
Just then, Madison came stomping up dragging Finn behind her. "What the hell is a Herbicide Potion!"
"You didn't know either?" Narcissa looked between Maddy and Lucius "She didn't know! I would swear on my nicest shade of nail varnish that we didn't do that freaking Herbicide Potion!"
"Oh, you did do it my dear, sweet cousin." Regulus sat down opposite them, casually picking up an apple.
"Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Ugh, Regulus, what do you want?"
"Well," her dark haired cousin examined the green fruit in his hand. "I actually came here to discuss our Quidditch strategy and wish you a happy birthday…but I can tell by this warm welcoming that I'm not wanted." he sniffed.
"Ding ding ding!"
Lucius stared wide-eyed at his girlfriend. "It's your birthday today!" he exclaimed "Why the hell did nobody tell me?"
"Because they all swore an oath never to mention it, remember Reg?" Narcissa stared pointedly at her cousin. Lucius looked very confused. "What?"
Madison grinned. "Narcissa's birthday is a total conversational taboo. Each birthday is just a reminder of how she's always getting older and older. Hence getting grey hair and wrinkles."
Lucius raised an eyebrow at Narcissa. "You're seventeen, I think you've got more than enough time."
Narcissa put her head in her hands, this day was getting worse by the minute. "Ugh, everything to do with birthdays just acknowledges the fact that I'm a year older and before I know it: BAM! I'm ninety with knobbly hands and age spots. It's gross."
"Cissy's totally right there; age spots are like, totally not cool." Maddy nodded.
"Well I don't care if you have age spots when you're older; you'll still be my beautiful Maddy to me." Finn pulled Madison over by her waist and lowered his mouth to hers.
Regulus made gagging noises and Lucius smirked at his friend, but winced at he got a bony elbow rammed into his ribcage. "Oi, what was that for?"
Narcissa just gave him a pointed look. "I'm guessing that means I have to say something sappily romantic too, Blondie?" he smiled down at her. "You know, it's not good getting soft right before a match."
-S-
"And Darcy hits the bludger at Davis, OH! That was a close miss! Davis ducked just in time!" Sampson Hughes's voice boomed around the pitch and stands.
Whilst most of the Hogwarts students were gasping, shouting and whistling, two girls were hardly paying any attention. "Does my hair still look alright to you?" Madison shouted over the crowd trying to pat down her windswept hair. "I don't think this stay-put charm is working."
"No, I don't think so either. Why does it have to be so windy up here? It's messing everything up!" Narcissa moaned back.
"And it's freezing. I don't like being freezing, it's horrible. I'll bet you anything it's going to start raining sooner or later and then what? We'll be soaked and freezing!" Maddy complained crossing her arms. "I don't see why we have to sit out here, they could just play their match while we're all inside with a cup of hot coco and then just tell us who won. Simple as that. But I'm so not having fun right now."
Narcissa pouted. "I think I just broke my nail…"
"And it looks like Slytherin Seeker Lestrange has spotted the snitch, people. Whoa, watch him go!" Sampson announced. "This is not good news guys, we can't let those slimy snakes win again this year!" A collective hiss was spat from the Slytherin stands and McGonagall hit Sampson over the shoulder with a rolled up Daily Prophet.
"Hughes is such an ass." Narcissa growled leaning back in her chair, trying to fix her injured nail.
Madison smirked "Mind you, he's a hot ass."
"Maddy! You can't say that in public, you've got a boyfriend!" Narcissa giggled.
The brunette rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Cissy. Don't tell me you've become immune to boys. That's impossible."
A small smile crept across Narcissa's face. "Fine. He's a hot ass. But still an ass. And a Hufflepuff."
"Back to the game." Sampson muttered, eyeing the armed-with-a-newspaper Professor suspiciously. "Gryffindor Seeker Isabel Stanley hot on Lestrange's heels, or should I say broom?" he chuckled.
Nobody laughed at his 'clever joke'.
"Scratch that last bit." Madison blinked. "Hughes is, with that, officially de-hottified."
"Uhh," Sampson coughed lightly at the silence. "Stanley pulling forward, the two Seekers are now head to head; but what in the name of Merlin's knotty beard was that!" he screamed, leaning further off the stand. "Oh you bloody cheating git!" Hughes exclaimed hotly, earning him another slap with the Prophet. The crowd held it's breath as Rabastan Lestrange made a sharp left turn, effectively knocking Isabel Stanley right off of her broom.
-S-
"This is such a crap day." Narcissa ripped a bunch of leaves off a bush and started tearing them to shreds. "This could possibly be the crappiest day ever to have gone down in history. You know," she looked up, "I wouldn't be surprised if Binns taught about this very crappy day in the years to come."
Lucius chuckled. "You're so cute when you're mad." he slung his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him and burying his face in her curls.
"Oh yeah?" Narcissa spat. "Well, I'm about to get adorable." she tried to glare at him, but his smirk was infectious and her scowl faltered before breaking out into a wide smile.
"You're always adorable." he touched the tip of her nose.
"Very true." Narcissa nodded. "But this day is still crap, no matter how charming you try to be."
The Quidditch Captain clutched his chest in mock-offence. "I do not try to be charming, I am. It's a gift."
"Sure it is." Narcissa gave him a small smile. The pair of them strolled hand in hand over the grounds. Theoretically they were supposed to head back to the school for the Quidditch Cup prize giving, the after party and what not. But what was the point anyways? Everyone knew Dumbledore's speech off by heart and Gryffindor House parties were so lame, they didn't have nearly enough Fire Whiskey. Yes, you read correctly. Gryffindor won the Cup. Woo! Go them!
Not.
After Rabastan had bashed Stanley right off her broom, McGonagall had thrown an absolute fit. Isabel had broken two ribs, her shin and left wrist. Normally she wouldn't have gone back to continue playing, but she was one of those over-the-top insanely brave idiots that go by the name of Gryffindor, so, of course she got back up, gritted her teeth and continued. And caught the snitch.
Finn had been on the verge of tears, nearly clubbing Gryffindor's Captain, Wilkinson, over the head. Maddy was giving him a private therapy session which involved masses of chocolate frogs (his favourite) and alcoholic butter beer (his other favourite).
"Let's go to the Lake." Lucius led Narcissa over to the ancient rowan tree, that was possibly even older than his Great-Grandmother Cerbera.
"I can't believe it's nearly the end of the year." Narcissa said as she slid down the bark.
Lucius sat down next to her, "Time flies when you're having fun." he ripped up a bunch of grass and chucked it at her.
Narcissa smiled, "Sometimes I feel that life's just a train that's rushing past me, not waiting for anyone. Just going and going and going until it stops at the last station where you get kicked off unceremoniously."
"Wow Blondie, that's deep stuff. You really are having a crap day."
Narcissa raised her eyebrow at him, "Really? I wasn't sure if shredding a bush like Bella burns essays, and ranting for ten minutes straight about how crap this day is, was that obvious."
Lucius grinned at her. "Ouch. Sarcasm. Well, I think I have just the thing to make your day just that bit better."
Narcissa shifted onto her knees, squealing excitedly. "Ooooh! Show me, show me, show me!"
Lucius pulled out a long, light blue box from under his Captain's cloak which he had never bothered to take off after the disastrous end to the match. He opened it and inside was the necklace he had bought all those months ago on Christmas eve. Narcissa's eyes shone as he laid it around her neck.
Apparently she wasn't that opposed to birthday presents after all Lucius realised with a smile.
AN: Hey guys! So this was just another filler chapter, you know, tying up loose ends and all. :)
I've finally figured out the rough amount of chapters this fic's gonna have. I'm thinking about 23, so we've still got bit to go. :D
Soz again for the late update, but the teachers are trying to kill us with homework. I swear!
Another thing I realised was that I'd completely left out disclaimers. *shock horror!* So here it is, for the previous and future chapters: I don't own anything, I'm not JKR (duh!) and I make no money from this. blah, blah, blah...
Oh, and don't forget to review! Tell you what, Lucius and Finn will come pay you a visit if you review. Shirtless. How's that sound? ;)