When Narcissa came around, she was in a
setting she did not recongize. Somebody had propped her up on a
scarlet sofa, and she was uncannily reminded of Voldemort's eyes when
they flashed with fury. Edging herself up, she saw pale blue eyes
looking at her with staged concern. "You," she hissed, and
backed away. He smiled steadily, his clouded eyes unblinking.
"Yes
... do you like my house? We're getting married next week instead of
the summer ... why wait?" he smiled, smoothing down his blonde
hair with an arrogant, patronising motion. She didn't answer him.
What had happened to the others? She tried to sit up but he pushed
her down. "No, dearest," he continued, in the same flat
tone of voice, "you hurt yourself quite badly when apparating
... hurt your arm. Do you want a drink?"
"No," she
replied sharply. "I mean, yes ..."
He smiled. "Good
girl. I've recently got another house elf - his name is Dobby. Bit of
a fool, really, but there you go ... Dobby, come here."
There
was a loud crack, and the house elf called Dobby appeared,
quivering. "Yes, Master?"
"We want drinks - now."
Dobby hesitated for a nano second. Lucius saw, and raised his
wand to hurt the elf but Narcissa shielded him, her eyes
blazing.
"How dare you try and hurt a house elf-"
"Get
out of the way, girl, it deserves punishment-"
"No-"
"Get
out of the way!" he flung her onto the carpet and she landed
awkwardly, her arm clicking back into place. He raised his wand and
pointed it at Dobby; who shrieked in horror and cowered as he was
inflicted with pain. Narcissa was standing up now, her own wand
pointed at Lucius, her chest heaving. "Dobby - go to the
kitchen, please. I'll deal with Lucius." Dobby whimpered, before
vanishing into thin air. Lucius was smirking at Narcissa.
"So
- what are you going to do to me, Narcissa?"
"You hurt
Dobby for no reason-"
"Get a grip, woman!" he
shouted, his cool, silk voice dissapearing into thin air. She
smiled.
"I'm not your darling, then?"
His face fell
in a strange sort of way as he sunk to the sofa, his face
emotionless. "I - why don't you like me, Narcissa? I've got
everything, money, I'm nice, I'll look after you and treat you well
and get you anything you want."
"I do like you,"
she lied, sitting next to him. "It's just difficult right now.
You can't even begin to comphrend what I'm going through. Forced
marriage, my friendships ended so abruptly. I never even got the
chance to say goodbye. Oh, Lucius - can't you do anything to let
Voldemort give in?" Lucius smiled upon her plea, and a stroke of
sympathy crossed his face.
"The Dark Lord and the term
'giving in' never goes well together." Lucius's smile was
somewhat strained. "But ... did he permit any visiting?"
Narcissa thought, her breathing
steadying. "He threatened James about repaying a debt, told
Remus never to see me again ... Sirius. No. He didn't say anything
about not seeing him." Lucius raised an eyebrow, but didn't
speak, so Narcissa continued. "I - Sirius is my, cousin
..."
"He's a blood traitor," said Lucius softly.
Narcissa ignored this.
"I want to see him."
"No
- it's dangerous." he told her firmly.
"Please, Lucius,
you said I could have anything."
He sighed
heavily. Narcissa was so persistant. He strode about the room,
twirling his wand in his hands. He posed momentarily to glance out of
the window, attempting to pursue a look of deep contemplation. He
turned, his eyes glittering. "Don't you understand, silly girl?
If The Dark Lord finds out ..." he supressed a shudder, "Oh,
I don't know what would happen ... but if you really want to, Owl
him. And that's all, for the time being."
"Thanks,
Lucius," she grinned. "I would of done it anyway." And
with that, she stood up and left the room. Sitting at a desk in his
vast-study, she selected a pot of ink and a twirly quill, before
writing her letter on a roll of parchment, with the Malfoy Crest
printed on it.
Padfoot,
I've been taken to Lucius
Malfoy's residence. He's being okay at the moment, but ... I don't
like this. I don't want any of it - but deep down I know wishing it
to leave and wanting it to are two different things. I hope you're
all okay. I'm so sorry, Padfoot. We should never of left Hogwarts,
it's all my fault. I'm so sorry. I'm not allowed to correspond with
Moony or Prongs in any way, shape or form - but I'm being slightly
daring and am asking you to pass on my apologies and love. Don't
blame any of this on yourself, though, because it was entirely my
fault. I hope we can figure out a way to fix all of this. Not through
charms or magic, but by general relization of matters. Oh god, I miss
you all. So much. You'll never understand how much.
Love, Narcissa.
A tear splashed onto the letter she was
composing, smudging the word "love" slightly. Sniffing, she
rolled up the parchment and put it in a crisp white envelope, before
tying it to a fluffy owl, which pecked her affectionatley before
flying off. Sitting back down at the desk, she flicked her wand
absent mindedly at the sleek looking radio, which burst into life.
The end of a song she vaguely recongized was finishing as she tuned
in, and a cool woman's voice took over. "... And that was Perma
Frost with their Number One hit, I've Got A Chill And I Think
It's You. I'm Olive Colens, and it's eight o'clock. The weather
for tonight looks rather chilly, so I'd bundle up warm personally.
Now, after that astounding weather report, I think I'll get to the
news quickly - then to the competitions for this evening!"
Narcissa rolled her eyes, but listened intently whilst gazing at the
fire.
"Several more attacks on Muggles in mid-London earlier
on this evening, culprit unknown, fire at the old bridges just one
hour ago ... and what's this? Excuse me for a moment ..." there
was a pause, and then the presenter gasped in horror. Narcissa looked
expectantly at the radio. "Another murder - Hydra
Snow - employee at the Ministry of Magic, was found to be under the
Imperius curse. As we all know, that is one of the unforgiveable
curses, cast by ... well, you know. Upon having the curse broken,
Hydra was trapped in insanity, and eventually hung herself. All these
murders are rather odd, aren't they? My apologies about the news
mainly consisting of death tolls ... my apologies indeed! Now, to the
competition, could YOU win a Nimbus-"
Narcissa zoned out
after this upsetting and rather blunt news, and was only vaguely
aware of someone entering the room a few moments later. Lucius sat
rather gingerely next to her, looking a bit concerned. "Are you
okay? I saw Fluffy - that's the owl, silly name I know - fly off with
a letter. Uh," he cleared his throat, clearly not used to having
to direct the whole conversation, "Do you want some
dinner?"
"Yeah, OK," said Narcissa quietly,
standing up and heading to the door. Lucius followed, muttering, "I
think we'll get a proper meal, not just slop or junk - how about..."
she wasn't really paying any attention to him, but nodded whenever
there was a pause. They entered the dining room, and he pulled a
chair out for her out of manners. She stubbornly delibrated over
sitting down, before taking her place. She drummed her fingers on the
table in a rhythm, as if hoping to wind him up. Lucius sat opposite
her, reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, ignoring her completely.
After dinner had arrived fifteen minutes later, she was so tempted to
eat. But something in her throat restrained her; choking her from the
inside. She pushed the food around on her plate, taking forkfuls in
her silver fork, but letting it clatter back down to the plate with a
soft thud. She did, however, drain her glass of Firewhisky, but
Lucius refused to give her a top up, claiming she would be wallowing
in further self pity. He was trying to be nice, she knew that, but
she just couldn't deal with it. "Where am I sleeping?" she
asked abruptly, shattering the silence. He glanced at her, an eyebrow
raised.
"Well, it clearly won't be with me. Ah ... you can
have the guest room. It's rather large - kingsize bed, fridge ...
yes. Of you go then, if you're tired. Goodnight." And with that,
he went back to his newspaper. She blinked.
"Thanks, Lucius.
Goodnight."
After she'd got ready for bed, she wandered out
onto the balcony and gazed at the moon. It was a full one. She
imagined Remus transforming, along with Sirius and James as ritual.
Would they miss her from were they were? She looked at the stars. "I
miss you."
An hour or so away, Sirius had transformed back into himself, and glanced up at the twinkling stars. One appeared to wink at him. Stretching a little, he turned his head further towards the sky, and spoke. "I miss you." The heavens opened and rain fell down, big dark clouds hiding the moon. He hoped she missed them as much as they missed her.
