A / N : Sorry the update took so long, the words just wouldn't come out the way I wanted them to. But I'm probably letting my perfectionist tendancies get the better of me. Anyway, the chapter title is from the song by Linkin Park. Let me know what you think, as always! Oh, I also have a new fic if anyone's interested. It's a Lucius / Narcissa romance, currently called 'Tangled'. It's much lighter in tone than this, with shorter chapters, set when Narcissa is seventeen and Lucius is twenty-one. The link can be found on my profile page, and I'd love your opinions on it, as ever. So if you like romance . . . .

Points of Authority

Half-past five. Half-past six. Seven ' o ' clock . . . .

Bellatrix scowled. She was sitting in her favourite seat in the common room, the one that would no doubt have been called a window seat if the Slytherin common room had not, in fact, been located in a dungeon. She pulled her black school cloak more tightly around her and leant forwards, just the tiniest bit, her dark hair falling in front of her face. All of this, she knew, helped her blend into the shadows, which was just what she was aiming to do. Her gaze was fixed intently on the entrance to the common room. Waiting. Bellatrix Black did not like waiting for anyone, and waiting for Narcissa, of all people, was just . . . beyond belief. It wasn't, she reasoned, as if Cissy had anything better to be doing. She had no excuse to be away from the dungeons at this hour, therefore she had to be attempting to avoid her sister – a conclusion that did Bella's patience no favours. The longer she waited to confront Narcissa, the more irritated she became, but she would confront her. She was determined to, even if she had to wait until midnight and drag Cissy out of bed by her hair. This was going to stop, and it was going to stop now.

As if on cue, Narcissa stepped into the common room. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were puffy, as if she had been crying. She was also, for some unfathomable reason, clutching her wand. Bellatrix didn't stop to question this. Cissy cast a quick, nervous glance around the common room, and then dipped her head and turned to hurry upstairs, unnoticed. She was halfway to the stairwell when Bella leapt out in front of her and seized her arm.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Narcissa gasped. "I – I can explain," she stammered.

"Oh, I'll just bet you can!"

"Bella, I'm sorry," her sister cried, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it, please Bella-"

"Shut up." Bella tightened her hold on her sister's arm until she heard Cissy gasp in pain. Her heart had begun to accelerate again, and the fact that she could feel nothing but bone in the arm she was holding onto did nothing to calm her down. "We," she said slowly, "are going to talk."

Narcissa nodded. She looked nothing short of petrified. "Please, Bella – you're hurting me!"

"I don't care!"

You're hurting me. Bella swallowed, suddenly aware of the fact that her hands were shaking. To conceal this, she shook Narcissa, as hard as she could, as if she could actually shake some sense into her.

"This ends," she snarled. "Right now. Do you understand? I don't care if I have to sit beside you at every meal and feed you myself – you are going to eat. I don't care if you're not hungry. I don't care if you don't like the food. I don't care if you have somewhere you'd rather be. I don't care about any of your excuses. If you don't eat, I'll stick a tube down your throat and force-feed you, do you understand? And trust me, you won't like that."

Narcissa stared at her, appalled. "You – you can't do that," she whispered.

"Try and stop me."

"No, please Bella, please . . . I'll do anything. Just . . just don't-" She broke off, apparently unable to continue, and Bella realized, with a horrified jolt, that she was crying. Begging her sister not to make her eat, and actually crying about it . . . She snapped.

"What the hell is wrong with you? It's just food, Narcissa. It's not going to kill you. Just eat it, for Salazar's sake!"

She had started to shake her sister again, and people were beginning to pay attention to the scene unfolding in their corner of the common room, turning to stare and whispering behind their hands. But this wasn't what shocked her. What shocked her was that Cissy was fighting her. She didn't know how it had happened. One minute she had been shaking her little sister, unable to keep a lid on her temper, and the girl had been struggling to get free. And then, before she knew what was happening, Cissy was physically fighting her, scratching and kicking and . . . Narcissa's wand clattered to the floor, and Bella tightened her grip upon her sister, seizing both her upper arms and shaking her like a rag doll. She gasped as Cissy kicked at her shins and retaliated by grabbing a fistful of the little girl's fair hair and tugging as hard as she could.

"Stop it, you little animal!"

Narcissa shook her head. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, thick and fast, but behind them, her eyes were blazing. Bellatrix scarcely had time to wonder at this before Narcissa abandoned all restraint and punched her in the stomach.

"How dare you?!"

Disgusted, Bella wrapped a portion of her sister's hair in her fist and pulled, harder than before, forcing her sister's neck back almost to breaking point.

"Bellatrix, stop!"

She recognized, dimly, Lucius' voice. Damn him. Why did he always have to interfere? He was still shouting at her, and suddenly she felt nothing more than a fervent desire to shut him up. So she thrust her hand into her pocket and pulled out her wand, whirling it round in the general direction of his voice. There was a bang like a firecracker, and he was blasted off his feet. Crack. Several people screamed. Losing patience entirely, Bella slapped Narcissa across the face with all her might. The little girl went flying, collapsing in a heap on the floor in front of the fireplace.

"Miss Black! Stop what you're doing this instant!"

Bellatrix froze, breathing hard. She looked up, very slowly. Slughorn was staring at her, looking angrier than she had ever seen him in her life. Lucius was lying unconscious on the floor, a thin trickle of blood running from his temple. Narcissa, her face ash-white and tearstained, was also on the ground, the shaking fingers of one hand pressed to the livid red mark on her cheek. And Bellatrix stood above her, pointing a wand at her baby sister, surrounded by a ring of horrified onlookers. All in all, it did not look good.

"I – I can explain . . ."

But for once, Slughorn didn't seem inclined to accept any form of explanation. He shook his head, disarming her in an instant, and put her wand in his pocket.

"No. This is out of my hands, I'm afraid."

Bella stared at him, confused and annoyed. Her fingers curled into an automatic fist, feeling oddly bereft without her wand. To find herself suddenly defenceless, and facing an uncertain punishment, was highly unsettling. "What – what do you mean, it's out of your hands?" she demanded, fighting to stay calm. He wouldn't expell her, would he? He couldn't. She was a Black, for heaven's sake.

Slughorn frowned. "I'm sorry," he said. "But I've tried my best to rein you in, heaven knows. To no effect, apparently. We'll have to see if Professor Dumbledore can do any better."

Bellatrix opened her mouth, and shut it again, unable to think of anything to say, any argument that would change his mind. She had the horrible feeling "you can't do this – I'm a Black!" wouldn't have much effect in this situation. So she said nothing. Slughorn nodded, acknowledging her submission, and then he crossed to Narcissa, pulling her to her feet. Her sister's eyes jumped from Slughorn to herself, and she folded her arms across her chest, rocking back on her heels. She was still crying, but as Slughorn turned to revive Lucius she took advantage of the distraction and fled the room once more. Bella watched her go, furious. If it wasn't for Narcissa, she would never have lost her temper, and none of this would even be happening . . . .

Lucius, it transpired, was already awake. He stood up, swaying slightly, and dabbed at the blood trickling down his neck, looking more than a little groggy. Slughorn pressed his wand into his hand, and turned back to Narcissa, frowning as he realized she had, in fact, disappeared. He sighed.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Black, come with me."

"Oh," Lucius mumbled. "If you say so . . ."

They left the common room, the stares of most of Slytherin House following them. As they walked up and out of the dungeons, Slughorn began to speak again, oblivious to Bellatrix's frenzied attempts to make Lucius seem more alert and less potentially brain-damaged.

"Mr Malfoy, I received an owl from your father. Apparently he is experiencing some health difficulties. He wishes you to come home. You can, of course, use the fireplace in my office, if it would be more convenient for you, m'boy . . ."

Lucius frowned. "Oh, of course . . ."

He still seemed completely out of it to Bellatrix, so she was naturally quite alarmed when he suddenly seized her by the arm and hissed in her ear.

"Don't . . ." it seemed to take him a moment to focus on the words coming out of his mouth, "Don't . . . let him take you . . . to . ."

"To Dumbledore," Bella snapped under her breath, finishing his sentence for him. "It's a little late for that, don't you think?"

Lucius shook his head fiercely, an activity which left him rather dizzy. His eyes slid out of focus again, and he almost fell over. Bellatrix glanced at Slughorn, who was still a few steps ahead of them, leading the way to his office. In a snap decision, she pulled Lucius behind a suit of armour, and slapped him across the face.

"Why not?" she demanded.

Lucius groaned. "Because," he murmered, "he'll know . . ."

"Know what?" She could hear Slughorn calling their names in the distance.

"Do you . . . do you remember what I told you? Never . . never lie to the Dark Lord, because he always knows . . . it's the same thing."

Bella froze, recalling the strange sensation she sometimes got, the feeling that her master could read minds . . . . .

"He'll . . . he'll know?" she gasped.

Lucius nodded, falling forwards again. She pushed him back into a standing position, propping him up against the wall.

"But . . . I can't not go!" she cried, panicked. "I have to – there must be something I can do! Lucius!"

He seemed to be falling unconscious again. Even slapping him a second time didn't produce the desired effect. She shook him by the shoulders.

"Lucius! Tell me what to do!" she ordered. He had scarcely opened his mouth when Slughorn's voice sounded behind her.

"Miss Black? Mr Malfoy? Is there a problem?"

She turned around slowly, fixing a false smile to her face. "No, Professor, not at all. Lucius just felt a bit dizzy. That's all."

"I see." He didn't seem too convinced. "Well, Mr. Malfoy, my office. We'll leave you here, I think. Miss Black, come with me."

"I . . ." She stared at Lucius, helpless. Her only hope of keeping her secret was about to jump into a fireplace and quite literally go up in smoke. She widened her eyes, silently begging him to help her. Unfortunately, the concussion seemed to be making him even slower on the uptake than usual. He merely blinked, while Slughorn frowned at her in a manner that implied he thought her insane.

"Miss Black, are you quite sure there isn't a problem?"

To her surprise, Lucius answered for her. "She's fine," he said blearily. "She just . . .wants to say goodbye." Slughorn raised his eyebrows. Lucius ignored him. "You'll have to forgive me," he sighed, but this last part seemed to be directed at her. Before she had time to wonder what Lucius might want her to forgive him for, he had pulled her into an embrace and kissed her. Slughorn made a noise of alarm, and immediately looked away, which was fortunate, as it meant Bellatrix's hastily smothered shout of astonishment went largely unnoticed. Ugh. Kissing Lucius, she realized with a jolt, felt profoundly wrong. That was odd. It hadn't before, when he had pulled her out of the fountain. But now, it felt . . . wrong. She was so unsettled by this realization that it took her a moment to realize he was only kissing her to distract Slughorn, while he whispered six words in her ear.

"Don't . . . . look him in the eye."

He pulled away from her and staggered into Slughorn's office, cursing as he walked into the desk and spilled Floo powder across the floor. He managed to fling the Floo powder into the grate on his third attempt, and disappeared. Bella watched him go, silently marvelling at his ability to formulate a plan of any sort while suffering from severe concussion. It was, she grudgingly conceded, quite impressive. Although if he ever tried anything like that again, she wouldn't hesitate to slap him. And she still wasn't entirely sure it had been worth it. Don't look him in the eye? How was she supposed to accomplish that? And, even worse - what if she couldn't do it?

If she failed her master . . . . .

If Dumbledore found out the truth . . . .

"Miss Black?"

Slughorn was staring at her, waiting expectantly. For the first time, he looked as if he pitied her a little.

"We're here, m'girl. Go on up."