Author's Note: Okay. There is a big surprise in this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. =D I know the story is moving slowly, BUT... it's going to get faster. I'm sorry it's taken so long so finally get moving. *blushes* Thank you to everyone who's reviewed. It means so much. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter... =] Thanks again to Rissy for being my beta.

Chapter Six: Black Secrets

I woke up to the sound of someone vomiting. The sun was shining through the windows in my bedroom, blinding me. Luckily, I didn't have a hangover. I closed my eyes and listened; seconds later, I heard my sister vomiting again.

I threw the covers back from my bed and walked around the bed and toward the bathroom. The door was wide open and I saw Bella in the middle of the bathroom, leaning over the toilet. I frowned and crossed the distance toward her. I sank down beside her and gathered her thick curls in my hand, then gently rubbed her back with my free hand.

"Too much to drink?" I asked gently.

Bella didn't answer me as she vomited once more. I looked away and continued to console her. After a few more times vomiting, she leaned away from the toilet. Her face was sweaty and I frowned at her appearance. She looked exhausted.

She leaned against the cabinet behind us and closed her eyes. "Keep your legs shut," she breathed out. "You have knees; learn how to use them the right way." Her dark eyes popped open and we stared at each other.

I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about, but I figured it had something to do with last night. After I'd gone upstairs with the strange man, we found ourselves in a guest room. We'd begun to snog, rather feverishly, and ended up on the bed. He tasted wonderful (it wasn't the wine; it was something else), smelt amazing (like lemon and coffee, plus some spices I couldn't note) and I found myself unable to resist him. His hands had roamed my body all over, cupping my breasts through the gold silk and tangling his fingers in my curls. I had allowed my hands to roam his body as well as his lips traced along my jaw line… down my neck and along my collarbone. At some point, my dress was pushed around my hips and I had felt his hand inching up my leg. That was when Bella and Rodolphus stumbled into the room, laughing. But their laughter died quickly when they saw me on the bed with a man I didn't even know, in a very compromising position.

"Bella, I—"

She held up her hand and closed her eyes once more. "If you use your knees properly," she said softly, "you won't end up like me."

I studied her tired face, still trying to piece her words together. Was she subtly calling me a whore? And then I instantly felt guilty for thinking such a thing because that meant I was calling my own sister, the one who had once protected me from the thunder, a whore.

"You're talking in riddles, Bella," I said softly.

She took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant." And then she launched to life, pressing herself against the toilet again, vomiting.

I'm not sure how long I stayed by my sister's side that morning, but I managed to get her settled back into my bed. (She had slept in my bed last night because Rodolphus had to work today and she claimed that she wasn't used to sleeping alone anymore. She said that she couldn't sleep with Andy because they were fighting, confirming my previous thoughts. I was secretly delighted that she was spending time with me, even if we were just sleeping. And then she had asked about the man I'd been snogging that night.)

I was surprised by Bella's news. She hadn't said another word about it and I hadn't brought the subject back up. Though, I assumed no one knew – not even Rodolphus, if it were his child. This made me uneasy.

"Bella," I said gingerly, sitting on the edge of my bed. I looked down at her as she attempted to fall back asleep.

"What?" she asked sounding annoyed.

The question I desperately wanted to ask scurried to the back of my head, hiding. I stood up and Bella opened her eyes. "I'll get you some gingerbeer," I explained. "It'll help settle your stomach."

Bella scoffed, but nodded. "Sure, Cissy," she said softly and closed her eyes again.

I watched her briefly before turning away from the bed. But her words echoed in my head. I bit my lip and turned around in the doorway. I had to know. "Bella," I called out. She turned her head toward me, her eyes open. "Are you pregnant with Rodolphus's child?"

She stared at me and almost looked ashamed. I prepared myself for the answer I was hoping not to hear. But, surprisingly, she nodded. "Yes," she replied. Then she laughed. "He's the only man I've been shagging over the past year and a half. I know you hear things, Cissy," she added, waving her hand in the air, "but I don't cheat on my boyfriends – not unless they deserve it. I've told you some stories, which maybe I shouldn't have, but I was never actually with those guys. Not like how I was with Rookwood or Rod." She paused and then her eyes widened. She sat up and gave me a hard stare. "You have better keep your mouth shut about this. If I find out you've told a soul, I will hex you like there's no tomorrow—"

"Bella!" I said my voice louder than I had intended it to be. "I'm not going to tell anyone. It's not my job."

She studied me some more, but then seemed satisfied with my answer. She leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes once again. I smiled to myself and then slipped from the room.

I headed down the hallway and as I rounded the corner, I nearly bumped into Andy. "Sorry," I said

She shook her head and stepped back. She looked down at my nightgown and then met my gaze once more. "You might want to change," she told me. "There's company… I just nearly embarrassed myself dressed in this." She indicated to her own set of pajamas.

"Company?" I asked as we headed back down the aisle.

She nodded. "I'm not sure who, though," she admitted. "I don't know them for certain, but they do look a little familiar." She shrugged. We stopped at my room and I placed my hand on the doorknob. Andy bit her lower lip and she reached up the pull her long braid over her shoulder. She locked eyes with me. "Did Bella sleep with you last night?"

I nodded. "She's sick this morning—"

"Again?" Andy asked, looking shocked. And then I remembered that pregnant women were always sick in the morning.

I nodded once again. "I was just heading down to get her some gingerbeer." Andy opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it quickly. She nodded and smiled encouraging. "Meet me back here?" I asked opening my door slightly, just enough so Andy could see Bella.

Andy nodded and peered into my room. When the two of them fought, it was usually Andy who went crawling back after just a few hours. But this time it had been days and I knew that my middle sister would want to see her best friend in a peaceful state.

I slipped into my room after Andy gave me a small smile and walked away, satisfied that I could help her out just a bit.

I dressed quickly and apologized to a very demanding older sister several times for not having her gingerbeer. When I slipped back out of the room, Andy was already waiting for me. She was dressed in a simple floral halter dress and wore flats for shoes. Her braid was still resting over her shoulders and she had stuck a sunflower into her hair.

I giggled and poked at the flower as she swatted at my hand, then looked down at the dress I had picked. It was a green sundress with thick straps. I had slipped my feet into white sandals. The curls in my hair from last night had remained in tact. I had run a brush through them quickly, softening them. They hung just slightly passed my shoulders.

"Nice choice," she said approvingly.

I grinned and she rolled her eyes. We headed down the hallway, rounded the corner (I avoided glimpsing in the mirror) and then descended the stairs. The stairs emptied out next to the drawing room, into the foyer. We took a left and I stopped in my tracks. I reached out and grabbed my sister's arm, gripping it tightly. Just feet from us, standing right outside my father's study, was the man I'd been snogging last night. But, in this light, he wasn't a man at all – he was a young man.

"That's him," I whispered, not taking my eyes off of him.

"Who?" Andy whispered, leaning toward me. Her lips brushed up against some of my hair.

"The boy I was snogging last night!" I whispered back in a hurried tone.

And, as if he'd heard me, he turned his head in our direction. He looked shocked for a moment, but then he broke out into a smile and chuckled to himself. He shook his head and looked back into my father's study. Seconds later, he stepped into the room

"Was he the one who gave you that hickey?" Andy asked after he had disappeared.

"What hickey!" I exclaimed.

Andy giggled and pushed back the hair on my right side. Then she brushed her finger against the spot on my neck, indicating where there was some discoloring. "Want me to heal it?" she asked. Andy was an excellent healer and had actually expressed interest in working St. Mungo's as a Healer, but when she had approached our father about it, he had laughed in her face.

"Please!" I said. "If Daddy sees it…"

Within a second, Andy had whispered a spell, pointing her wand at my neck. I saw a flash of light come out of the end of her wand and then it hit me. It didn't hurt; it only felt a little warm against my skin. Then she dropped my hair back against my neck.

"Did you have sex with him?" she asked suddenly.

I swung my head around, my lips parted slightly. "No!" I replied forcefully. Then I dropped my gaze. "Almost…"

I wanted to, I added to myself. I looked back up at my sister.

"What stopped you?" Andy pushed. She was the reasonable one out of us all. If Bella didn't like something, she grew very angry and she was almost scary. If Andy didn't like something, she tried to find the positive out of the situation. She never judged and for that, I loved her. If I didn't like something, I kept my thoughts to myself and pushed the bad feelings down.

"Bella," I said with a half-laugh. "She walked in on us."

Andy smiled softly. "She's good for that. Do you remember when I was dating Alexander Nott? Well, we both faked a sickness one day to finally have sex – I mean, we'd been dating for two years and wanted to try it," she explained. "Anyway, somehow Bella found out that both of us were missing from classes. She put the pieces together and… well, I'm sure you can imagine what happened after that." She began to laugh and I smiled at her story, happy that my middle sister was finally sharing her secrets with me. Then she composed herself and looked at me with a half-serious face. "Why did you want to have sex with him?"

I shrugged. But I knew the real reason: I had felt so restless last night. I had to do something. I had to do something to make myself feel alive, like I was still alive. But I knew neither of my sister's would understand. They didn't know that I still blamed myself for our mother dying a horrible death. They didn't know I punished myself for it, either. It was just too much to explain, so I shrugged once again.

"Listen, Andy," I said, beginning to slide away from her, "I would love to chat about all of this, but Bella is really sick and I… I need to take care of her. Once she's feeling peachy, I promise I'll come to you and we can talk about boys and sex and snogging and everything. Okay?"

But I didn't wait for her to answer. Instead, I spun around and headed down the hallway. The main door to the kitchen (which was located at the back of the basement) was in the family room, which used to be the nursery. I quickened my pace as I skirted by my father's study.

"Narcissa!"

I stopped and closed my eyes. I bit my bottom lip. I hoped it had been Andromeda who'd called out to me, but there was no mistaking my father's deep voice. I balled my hands into fists and turned around slowly. My father was just stepping out of his office when I moved toward it.

"Daddy," I said brightly, beaming up at him. I unclenched my fists.

He held out his arm and I stepped up to him. He turned to stand next to me and placed his hand on the small of my back. "Come with me, dear," he said, smiling at me. He steered me into his office and I did my best to avoid looking at the young man I'd snogged last night. But, I gave in once I realized that he was staring at me and offered him a small smile.

My father stepped out from behind me. He walked behind his desk and looked at the other, older man in the room. "Gentlemen, this is my daughter," he said proudly, "Narcissa." He looked at me with a smile and winked. "Cissy, this is Abraxas Malfoy and his son, Lucius."