Title: Tidal Waves
Chapter: Six
Characters/Pairings: Lucius/Narcissa, Juliet
Spoilers/Warning: R
Summary: His proximity has always had way of affecting her; whether it's causing her to have homicidal thoughts or, more recently, giving her butterflies. - L/N at Hogwarts
Disclaimer: Not authorized, prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by J. K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any other individual or entity associated with the Harry Potter books or film. All Harry Potter logos, trademarks, names, characters, and related indicia are the property of Warner Bros., J. K. Rowling, and/or their respective owners. I do not claim any affiliation with those who own Harry Potter and would like to make it clear that no copyright infringement is intended in the publication of this story
Author's Note: Finally! The end! But don't worry kids... A sequal is in the works. That's right, I'm doing a sequal!
It's bright.
I groan and pull the scratchy sheets over my face in attempt to block out the sun. Wait one Prada loving minute, I think as the cotton brushes roughly against my cheeks. I open one of my eyes and frown. These are definitely not my thousand thread-count Egyptian cotton bed sheets that I'm currently snuggling up with.
With a screech, I throw the sheets off of me and sit straight up in bed.
"Cissy!"
"Oh Merlin," I breathe as Juliet sits down on a chair beside my bed. "Why am I in the infirmary?"
Juliet grabs my hand to keep me from panicking and asks calmly, "Cissy, what do you remember?"
"I was…" I frown. Hm. What do I remember? Oh Merlin! "Do I have-"
"No, you don't have amnesia," my psychic best friend interjects before I can even try to have a meltdown. "Do you remember feinting?"
"I remember," I say slowly, "yelling. And then everything went sorta fuzzy." I wrinkle my nose at the disgusting sheets they've wrapped me in. "And then scratchy. How did I get here?"
Juliet frowns. "So you sort of remember what happened?"
"Yes." I glower at her. "What day is it? And don't you dare answer my question with another question."
"It's Wednesday," Juliet says and laughs as my jaw drops. "Madame Pomfrey has had you on sleeping draughts for the past two days. And she pumped you so full of strengthening potions I'm surprised you haven't sprouted a-"
"Let!"
"You had pneumonia," Juliet tells me with a smirk. "Apparently cashmere sweaters and leather boots aren't proper weather repellent. That, combined with low blood sugar, caused you to feint."
Makes sense.
"Cissy," Juliet says softly. She's chewing her bottom lip nervously. "I need to apologize to you."
"For what?" I ask, frowning.
"I've been a horrible best friend." Juliet's gaze hits the floor. "I said the worst things to you."
"So you lectured me, gave me the cold shoulder, and cheated on me with that bitch Greengrass." I smile sadly. "You were right though. About Malfoy. You were right."
"No," Juliet shakes her head, "I was completely wrong."
Er, what?
"You asked how you got to the infirmary," Juliet clarifies. "Lucius brought you. He carried you the whole way and the only reason he isn't here now is because Madame Pomfrey slipped him a sleeping potion when he wasn't looking. I'm actually extremely impressed. I've been trying to slip him potions for years and she got it on the first try."
Er, what?
"Anyway," Juliet scrambles. "Cissy, he was really worried."
"But…" I'm so confused I think my head is going to explode. "But he's got a girlfriend."
"Not anymore," Juliet tells me. "And they had only been dating for a week anyway. He's been after you for a lot longer than that."
I'm not sure whether to laugh or to cry. I manage an unsure "oh" instead.
----- ----- -----
Juliet literally has to restrain me from jumping out of bed when Pomfrey gives me the all clear a few hours later. I may have been in a pseudo coma for the past few days but there's nothing I want more than to curl up in my nice, comfy bed and sleep away the next forty-eight hours.
"Do you have them all?" I call to Juliet from behind a curtain as I pull the sweater she brought for me over my head. I've given Juliet the task of collecting all of the Get Well cards I seem to have acquired during my stay in the hospital wing. Apparently, if the messages scribbled on the inside of the incredible quantity of cards I've gotten is any indication, I'm the freaking queen of Hogwarts. Of course, most of the cards were from boys aged thirteen and below, but still… I'm rather proud.
"Juliet? I asked if you've got all the cards?" I call again when my first request is met with silence.
"All but one."
The voice that calls back makes me freeze. I'm sick and sleepy and haven't showered in days and the absolute last thing I want to do right now is have another confrontation with Lucius Malfoy. I mean, I knew I'd have to do it at some point but I was hoping I wouldn't have three days worth of sweat clinging to my skin.
When I've finally recovered my senses I call back, "Go away."
"Cissy, please," Lucius says with a sigh.
"Just…" I shut my eyes tightly. "Just please go away. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"I'd really rather-"
"Lucius." My voice is strained now and my head is starting to pound again. Just please leave, is all I can think. Please.
"The potions lab?" Lucius asks. And then, with a little more certainty, he adds, "At seven."
He sighs again and, after a slight hesitation, turns and leaves the room. I wait until his footsteps have stopped echoing off the stone floor to peak my head around the curtain to see if the coast is clear.
"He's gone," Juliet says as she walks over to me and hands me a folded piece of parchment. "He told me to give this to you."
I step out from behind the curtain and take the parchment from her. I flip it open curiously and I can't help smiling at the short message:
Cissy-
I've never groveled before so I'll need a little help. Maybe a tutoring session or two will suffice?
- Lucius
----- ----- -----
"Groveling 101?" I ask as Lucius pushes through the door to the potions lab at precisely seven the following evening. I, myself, have been in the lab for the past fifteen minutes rehearsing every gesture, stance, and position in an attempt to gain the upper hand. However, as soon as I lay eyes on that pretty little blonde head of his, all my preparation has suddenly flown out the window.
Lucius grins as he crosses the room. He hops up next to me on Slughorn's desk and asks, "How are you feeling?"
Horrible. "Better."
He nods slowly and we lapse into an uncomfortable silence. Just when I think this whole thing has gone to shit and he's not going to continue he whispers, "I think I love you."
I look up at him abruptly.
"When you told me you thought I'd taken advantage of you the other night…" He trails off, shaking his head. "I wasn't planning for things to happen the way they did Narcissa."
"Then how were they supposed to happen?" I ask quietly, my heart pounding so hard I'm surprised Lucius can't hear it.
"I've," he sighs and closes his eyes, embarrassed, "admired you for a while now. I mean, who wouldn't? You're gorgeous." He flashes me a tiny, quick smile. "And you accessorize like no one else."
Shameless flatterer.
"Anyway." Lucius drops his gaze back to the floor. "I may have had… ulterior motives when I enlisted your help with Crabbe and Goyle. They needed help in potions, obviously, but I really just wanted an excuse to see you outside of class without looking like a total prat."
"You are a prat," I point out. "Remember that night I went out with Evan? You were trying to get under my skin and you almost kissed me. Why?"
"You look good in green," he says softly.
Green? Baby, I look good in every color.
"And when we started spending more and more time together my attraction to you…" Lucius hesitates, trying to find the right words. "My attraction to you changed. I realized you were more than just a pretty face with a talent for potions. You're a pretty face with a talent at potions who makes me laugh and think and wonder. I came to realize how amazing you truly are. And when you started dating that moron Harper it took every ounce of self control I had not to punch his smug little face in."
"He obviously noticed," I murmur.
"Yes, well." I'm not sure how someone is able to look both sheepish and smug at the same time, but Lucius has somehow pulled it off. "That night that we… I wanted that to happen, but not like that."
I raise an eyebrow.
"Not that it wasn't great," Lucius backpedals hastily and grins at me goofily. "It was fantastic. Really fantastic. I just would have preferred to be dating you first."
"You want to date me?" I ask, grinning.
Lucius nods. "Well yeah."
----- ----- -----
"Cissy! Are you even listening to me?"
"Er." I frown. What the hell did she just say?
It's been a week since Lucius and I resolved our problems. At the time, we agreed to transition slowly into a romantic relationship so as not to ruin our friendship. All was going rather well until a few days ago when he waltzed into the common room after Quidditch practice looking all rough and tumbly. I wanted to take things slowly, but really, I have absolutely no self control. At all.
"You're not paying attention," Juliet asks, glaring at me over the crystal ball on our small table, "are you?"
I roll my eyes. Do I ever pay attention in divination?
"Fine," Juliet snaps. "Let me interpret your dream then since you obviously have no intention to interpret mine."
"I was on a beach," I say with a sigh. "Lucius was with me and we were just watching the water."
"The waves?" Juliet asks, eyebrows perking up. She seems suddenly interested for reasons completely foreign to me.
"Mmhm," I murmur as my attention begins wandering to where the professor is claiming Helen Fitch is going to die a horrible, gruesome death. Hmm. I think Helen is starting to cry. "They were little ones. Gentle. Continuous."
Yep, Helen's definitely crying now.
"Gentle waves represent consistency and reliability," I vaguely hear Juliet say. "It could mean your relationship with Lucius is healthy and stable."
I giggle as Helen runs out of the room sobbing.
"On the other hand," Juliet looks at me pointedly, "they could just be a bunch of tiny tidal waves."