A few weeks went by, with no change in Lucius's behavior. He'd disappear at strange hours, come home late, and act generally mysterious whenever Cissa came anywhere near his study. More and more, her curiosity about his behavior grew, and she became more and more frustrated with him. It was difficult not to become a nag. She wanted to know what he was doing, but he gave her no opportunity to ask about it, and if she asked when unprompted, he became cross with her.

Narcissa was indignant about the whole matter. It clearly had something to do with her – probably some sort of setup to test her loyalty – so why wouldn't he tell her anything about it?

Slowly, her frustration gave way to anger directed at her husband, and slowly but surely he became aware of that anger. But of course, he took a very righteous attitude with her about it. "My directives from the Dark Lord have never been any of your business, Narcissa. Why should that suddenly change?" he said to her when she was exceptionally persistent. In addition to all this, he'd developed the recent, irritating habit of ordering her to "go help Sukey make supper, or find something useful to do" whenever she annoyed him. (This, she felt, was exceptionally rude and un-called-for, suggesting that a witch of her breeding would cook for herself!) Not that it mattered about supper, because he hadn't been at home to eat at the usual time for almost a week.

Finally, though, there came an evening when Lucius was actually home at suppertime and they could dine together. Not surprisingly, it took all of three minutes for them to get on each others nerves. It was miraculous, really, the way a simple "how was your day?" could spark a conflict.

"Well, you could respond with more than just 'fine;' that might make me happy," Narcissa replied to her husband's rhetorical question.

Lucius regarded her calmly. "Perhaps there aren't more words to describe it; perhaps my day was truly, simply, just fine."

"Very well then; since you will not elaborate on the quality of your day, we will sit here in silence, since I clearly may not ask you what you did today."

Her husband raised an eyebrow. "I spoke to your sister today."

Narcissa glanced up at him. "Really. About what?"

His expression became unreadable. "That's the part you cannot know."

She put down her silverware noisily, sighing, and reached for her glass of wine. "Honestly, Lucius, you're enough to drive a witch to distraction," she said, frowning.

"Or to drink, apparently," he commented smoothly. In mid-sip, Narcissa glared at him over top of her glass, and then downed the entire thing.

She was about to ask him how it felt to be replaced by a bottle of wine, when he suddenly winced and grabbed his arm. Narcissa shook her head; on one hand, she was shocked that he was being called away so often, ...yet on the other hand, this was exactly how she'd expected this meal to end. It upset her, deeply, to have him once again leaving without telling her where he was going, but she tried to mask her feelings with sarcasm and scorn. "Doesn't the Dark Lord ever have supper? Is he not human enough to recognize proper mealtimes? Of course not," she muttered bitterly.

Lucius remained cool, despite her hostility, and rose from the table. As he moved around his chair, he drew his wand and muttered a spell. Immediately, Narcissa's chair pulled away from the table and swiveled to face him. Placing a hand on either arm of the chair, he leaned down so that his face was directly in front of hers. "I suggest you get your attitude in order. Hmm?" he said calmly, staring her down. Narcissa's eyes were brimming with tears despite her best efforts, so she looked away from his intense grey stare. Apparently satisfied with this, he cupped her cheek gently for a moment before leaving the room.

Narcissa stared at her lap. This was ridiculous. If he wanted to conceal things from her, he was going to have to do a better job than this. Blatantly hiding things from her was downright infuriating, and he knew it! It was as though he was doing this on purpose, just to drive her mad! Well, she'd had enough. When he got home from this meeting, she would demand to know... ... ...but of course she couldn't. If she asked questions, the Dark Lord would see it as betrayal, and this time he would not show her mercy. Seething, Narcissa slammed her hand on the table, making the dishes clatter.

Immediately, the house elf came running out from the kitchen to her. "Can Sukey help Mistress with anything?" the little creature asked, clearly a bit frightened of her mistress.

Cissa looked down at the elf, her face flushed and eyes wet. She almost dismissed the elf reflexively, but then had a thought. "Yes, Sukey... ...bring me the rest of this bottle." She held up her glass, indicating what she meant.

The servant looked uncertain. "Master is not liking it when Mistress drinks too much..."

"Do it now!" she shrieked at the creature, no longer even slightly controlling her rage. The elf scurried back into the kitchen, and returned quickly with the bottle.

"Mistress," Sukey said as she handed the wine to Narcissa, "You are knowing that Master becomes angry when Mistress does this..."

Narcissa poured herself another glass. "One bottle of wine is not enough to make me drunk, Sukey."

The little elf lowered her eyes and left the room, almost sadly.

Ignoring the little creature, or at least trying to, she drank down another glass. What else could she do? She was trapped, unable to defy even her husband, let alone the Dark Lord. Everything was spiraling out of her control, and there was nothing she could do about it. She felt her anger melting into sadness, but didn't allow it to happen. The tears that streamed down her cheeks burned with frustration and shame. She was the mistress of this house, yet she no longer had control of it! Lucius would sooner tell Bellatrix his darkest secrets than his own wife!

Her hands shook with anger, but she managed to pour herself another glass. This was ridiculous. Lucius was her husband. This was her home. They were making secret pacts and conspiring about her. She had a right to know what was going on, especially since they were doing it right under her nose!

The grandfather clock chimed, startling Narcissa. Eight o'clock. Who knew what time Lucius would be home? Usually he didn't reappear until at least eleven or twelve. Off getting himself into Merlin knows what, she thought bitterly. And all I can do is wait for the bad news.

Or ...could she? He wouldn't be back for at least two hours. That was plenty of time to get into his study... but that was madness. If Lucius found out that she'd been snooping around his private things, he'd be furious. He'd be worse than furious. He'd be absolutely livid. ...Oh, grow a spine, Cissy! she thought to herself. He didn't need to know. There would be no reason to tell him. Besides, she had every right to know what he was hiding from her in there. It was her life on the line, too, not just his!

Knowing that if she didn't do this right away she'd never get the courage again, Narcissa rose from the table and walked bravely toward his study. With each step her heart raced faster. As she approached the large wooden door, she drew her wand from her pocket. She stopped in front of the door, trembling slightly with adrenaline. "I have to know," she breathed aloud, clenching her jaw. She raised her wand, pointing it at the lock, and froze there for several seconds. "Alohomora," she whispered finally.

The lock sparked, and the door fell slightly open. With a sick feeling in her stomach, she entered the room.

For a moment she looked around. His owl was not on its perch – probably out delivering some secret messages, she thought bitterly. With more confidence, she walked over to his desk, surveying the immaculate top. There wasn't a single piece of parchment there. Unperturbed, she opened the top drawer, only to find various inks and quills, and continued on to the next drawer, in which she found a lot of paperwork regarding the Ministry, their Gringotts vault, and their taxes, but nothing about the Dark Lord whatsoever. A bit nervous now, she opened the bottom drawer and went through every single parchment, finding nothing about which she either cared or was ignorant.

Feeling sick and foolish, she leaned back in his leather chair. Of course he didn't keep his important, secret documents about the Dark Lord in his desk. Lucius wasn't that naïve. He either had a secret hiding place for his documents, which she could look for all night and still never find, or he destroyed the documents as soon as he read them. Narcissa closed her eyes as tears began to swell.

A sudden fluttering behind her made her eyes fly open. She turned around quickly. Lucius's owl had returned and was sitting on the windowsill... with a letter. With her heart suddenly pounding once again, she stood and approached the bird apprehensively. It watched her with piercing yellow eyes, holding the envelope in its beak. She reached out her hand and took hold of the letter, staring at the owl. For a few long moments, it stared at her, not letting go of the parchment. Then, deciding that she was the next best thing to Lucius, it released the letter and flew over to its perch.

Narcissa stared at the letter in her hand for a moment. She shouldn't open it. He'd know. ...But it was sealed with wax. She could easily un-seal it, then re-seal it. He'd never have to know. Then, without thinking any further, she opened the envelope and took out the parchment.

Lucius,

Perseus Thatcher was unable to provide any information regarding the entrance to the Hall of Prophecy. Seeing as we can't find the Prophecy if we can't enter the department, I highly suggest you make some new contacts before the Dark Lord loses patience and selects a new team. Our resources are running very thin, and we don't have much more time.

-Nott

P.S. I have Thatcher under the Imperius, in case we need him later.

Narcissa read the letter in disbelief, slowly realizing what it meant. Then, to her horror, the parchment dissolved into ashes in her hands.

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A/N: Thank you so much to everyone for being so patient! I know it's been quite a while, but I assure you that my life has been ridiculously hectic. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, stay tuned, and don't forget to review!! :)