Author's Note: As ever, thanks to Mamacita for her quality betaing skills. Also thanks to everyone that's sticking with me and favouriting the story - I really do appreciate it. Dx

Lissy was pacing the room like a mad thing, driving her mother mad in turn.

'Come on,' she whined. 'We'll be late.'

Cindy laughed at her daughter and shook her head. 'They're not going to wait thirty seconds and then leave, Lissy. We're meeting for lunch — well, ice cream — so I'm sure a few minutes isn't going to matter one way or another.' She continued brushing her hair then headed for the bedside table to get her jewellery, fastening her necklace before heading for the mirror to put her earrings in.

As she came back into the room she climbed into her shoes and grabbed her handbag off the bed. 'Did you leave your dad a note telling him where we'd be?' she asked as she took her watch from the nightstand.

'Yes, although I don't know why we bother. He probably won't come home anyway.' Lissy's voice was petulant.

'We bother because if we don't, he'll definitely come home and then we'll be in a heap of trouble,' Cindy said quietly. 'Come on, let's go.'

She grabbed her daughter's hand and laughed as Lissy pulled her downstairs to the lounge, grabbing their winter cloaks from the coat rack as they went past. They each took a handful of Floo powder from a pot on the mantelpiece.

'Now, don't forget to speak clearly,' Cindy reminded Lissy.

Lissy rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. 'How many times have I done this, Mother?' She poked her tongue out, threw the powder into the fire, and stepped in, announcing 'Leaky Cauldron!' before she disappeared in a flash of green flame. Cindy smiled and followed her daughter.

Cindy brushed a few smuts from the shoulder of her cloak as she stepped from the Floo into the pub. She waved to Tom the barman and followed after her hyperactive daughter, who was already heading out into the small courtyard at the back of the pub to open the entrance to Diagon Alley. A few minutes later the two of them were opening the door of Florean's ice cream parlour.

Florean rushed to welcome them both with large kisses on the cheek, then ushered them to the fireplace where Lucius and Draco already sat. Lissy rushed over excitedly to talk to Draco, the two of them hugging tightly before sitting together, slightly separate from their parents. Cindy walked rather more sedately and greeted Lucius with a brief kiss on the cheek.

'We haven't ordered yet,' Lucius said. 'I was sure you'd be wanting ice creams even though it's minus ten out there.' He laughed.

'There's never a bad time for ice cream, Mr Malfoy,' Lissy said, and Lucius laughed again.

'Exactly what your mother always used to say,' he confided.

A few minutes later Florean reappeared with three chocolate sundaes and a large pot of tea. 'I see you've had a rather busy time recently,' he said brusquely to Lucius as he placed the tea tray in front of him.

'I'm sorry?' Lucius replied in confusion.

'At the Quidditch World Cup earlier in the year.' Florean stared at him. 'You were there, weren't you?'

Lucius gazed coolly back at Florean before glancing at Cindy. 'Yes, Narcissa and I took Draco there to see the finals. We were guests of Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic.'

'Hmmm.' Florean didn't say any more but he glared at Lucius, then looked at Cindy.

Cindy gestured to Draco and Lissy, who had moved to another table and were chatting to each other animatedly. 'I think perhaps we should change the conversation,' she said pointedly.

'Well, of course, if you think that's best, Cindy,' Florean said, sounding reluctant.

Cindy sighed. She had read about the Death Eater attack at the Quidditch World Cup and she was aware that Lucius had been there. Logically, she knew it was likely to have been him and his friends who had been behind the attack, but she had tried to ignore it, especially with the much graver news of the Dark Mark hovering over the site. That had apparently, even scared off the Death Eaters, so God only knew who had conjured it. She glanced once more at her daughter and Draco.

'Yes, I think I'd rather talk about something nice than something frightening.'

Florean, being uncharacteristically grumpy, took his leave and left the two couples to their own discussions.

'So how was your Christmas, Lucius?' Cindy asked politely as the two of them watched Draco and Lissy mucking around with their ice creams. She took a mouthful of her own.

'Pretty much the same as every other Christmas,' Lucius drawled, sounding bored. 'Draco got too many presents and I got drunk after a day of being bored stiff. You?'

Cindy laughed. 'Andrew didn't bother to grace us with his presence again this year. So Lissy and I dispensed with the usual festivities and drank snowballs all day and had ice cream for dinner. Then we had a game or two of Scrabble . . . a Muggle word game,' she explained, seeing Lucius' look of confusion. 'All in all, not the most exciting day ever.'

'I wish I could have seen you,' Lucius replied quietly. 'I'm sure I could have made your day more exciting.' He winked lewdly.

'I'm sure you could,' Cindy laughed. 'But I don't think we'd have got away with that, somehow.'

She realised Lissy was looking at the two of them and she smiled at her daughter. She couldn't quite work out what the look on Lissy's face meant, but soon her daughter turned to talk to Draco again, the two of them thick as thieves. Cindy shrugged it off and returned to her conversation with Lucius.

When they arrived home that evening it was, as Lissy had predicted, to an empty house. Andrew was nowhere to be seen. Having removed their cloaks and hung them back in the hall, Cindy went to the kitchen and made them both hot chocolate. She returned to the lounge so they could sit on the rug by the open fire and enjoy the warming drink.

'You and Draco seemed to be having fun at Florean's,' Cindy said to her daughter. 'I take it the two of you are on at the moment?'

Lissy nodded. 'Although he did annoy me a bit over that Quidditch World Cup thing. He can be so stupid sometimes.' She didn't add anything further.

'I'm glad to see you got over him taking someone else to the Yule ball,' Cindy said gently. 'I did wonder if that might have been a bit of a sticking point between you.'

'Well, of course, he had to take a Slytherin, didn't he?' Lissy said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. 'At least it was Pansy Parkinson. I know he detests her.' She laughed. 'Anyway, I went with George Weasley and he was very nice.' She blushed deeply. 'And Draco really wasn't very happy about me being with him.' She smiled wickedly.

'George. Was that one of the twins?' Cindy asked, trying to remember back to her meeting with the family a couple of years before.

'Yes, George and Fred. They're both really nice. I get on very well with them, actually.'

Cindy nodded. 'Yes, they were rather good-looking lads. I can imagine Draco would have been quite worried about you going with one of them.' She smiled at her daughter. 'Good for you, love.'

'So what about you and Lucius?' Lissy asked, changing the subject.

'What about us?' Cindy looked at her daughter curiously.

'You seemed to be getting on well,' Lissy said slyly.

'Yes, we had some interesting conversation,' Cindy confirmed, wondering where this line of questioning was leading.

Lissy moved and began to play with her mother's necklace, turning it round to look at the pendant. 'Your pendant seems to have grown,' she said, looking intently at her mother. Cindy wasn't sure what to say. 'Funny, 'cos Lucius wasn't wearing his today,' Lissy continued smoothly. 'You both used to have half a pendant and now you've got the whole one. Did he give you the other half?'

Cindy coughed and undid the catch on the necklace, freeing it to fall into Lissy's hand.

'Yes. That was this year's Christmas present.' She hoped she wasn't blushing; she certainly felt as if she was.

Lissy looked at her shrewdly and said, 'So are you and Lucius in love?'

Cindy regarded her daughter uncomfortably. 'Not in love, no,' she replied quietly.

Lissy stared at her mother, her mouth open in astonishment. 'I can't believe you just lied to me, Mum,' she said. Cindy just looked at her. 'I know you and Lucius used to be in love; before you married Dad,' Lissy rushed on before Cindy could say anything. 'And I know you've seen him a few times since I started school. You and Dad haven't got on for such a long time, but you and Lucius always seem so happy together.'

'It isn't that easy,' Cindy said. 'Chatting to someone a few times doesn't make you in love with them.'

'No, it never is easy. But after the end of our second year, you were really unhappy. More unhappy than you normally are with Dad. And Draco said Lucius was really unhappy, too. Then he sent you that necklace for Christmas.'

'That doesn't mean anything,' Cindy said quickly.

'But it does. You both wore them. I know what the symbol means. I'm a teenage girl, remember? I know the sign of love parted when I see it. Two halves of a whole — you and Lucius.'

'Lissy,' Cindy said warningly.

'I always thought it was quite romantic, you and Lucius and your unrequited love. But now the pendant's whole again. That must mean the two of you are together.' She looked at her mother with a look of triumph on her face, pleased to have worked it out.

'Lissy, it's a lovely idea but both Lucius and I are married to other people.'

Lissy looked upset. 'But Dad doesn't want to be with us and I know Lucius doesn't love Narcissa, Draco's told me about it often enough. So why can't the two of you get divorced and remarry each other?'

Cindy laughed. 'That's a nice idea, love, but things aren't always quite that simple.'

She kissed her daughter on her forehead. 'Does Draco know about this?'

'I don't think so. Men aren't so observant, are they?'

Cindy laughed again as she took the necklace back from her daughter. 'Well, that's true enough. Right — I think enough excitement for one day. Time for bed. And Lissy, please don't mention this to your father. It's hard enough at the moment without yet another argument over nothing.'

Lissy kissed her mother goodnight then headed for the stairs. Before she left the room she stopped, turning to look at Cindy as if considering something. 'Perhaps he should be told,' she said finally. 'Then maybe he'll go and live with his other family all the time. You'd stop being so unhappy and you could be with Lucius.' Immediately she turned and ran up the stairs.

Cindy looked after her in astonishment, then jumped up and followed her.

'Lissy?' She knocked on her daughter's door and opened it slowly to reveal the girl laying face-down on her bed. She was obviously crying. Cindy sat down next to her and stroked the girl's hair. 'Lissy what was that about?'

Lissy turned to look at her mother, tears streaming down her face. 'Don't pretend you don't know,' she said miserably.

'Don't know what?' Cindy asked.

'That Dad's got another family. That's where he goes when he isn't here. He goes to live with them.'

'How do you know that?' Cindy asked.

'Because his son joined Hogwarts last year. He's in Ravenclaw. He came and introduced himself as my brother. His name's Daniel Wentworth.'

Cindy gazed at Lissy in horror. 'Oh, Lissy!' she exclaimed. 'I'm so sorry. I really didn't know for sure. I mean I knew he was having affairs, but I never thought he'd got a whole other family.'

She felt a bit guilty for saying this but she needed to calm her distraught child more than anything else so the lie was necessary. She pulled her daughter into her arms and hugged her tightly. They sat that way for Merlin knew how long before Lissy finally pulled free of her mother.

'I'll be fine,' she said, smiling wanly. 'At least I know now why he didn't want to stay here with us. I guess he prefers his new family.'

Cindy shook her head. 'Your father has been very unfair to you, Lissy. I'm so sorry he's treated you that way.'

Lissy laughed bitterly. 'I don't care. I just hate the way he's treated you. It's so unfair that you could have been with Lucius and you got Dad instead.'

Cindy shook her head again. 'I told you, it isn't that simple. Now, go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning.'

She hugged her daughter again and headed for the door, turning to check Lissy was getting undressed before she closed it.

Cindy was surprised that, contrary to her threats, Lissy didn't tell her father about Cindy's relationship with Lucius. In fact, she seemed to forget all about the whole thing, or at least she didn't want to discuss any of it with her mother. Cindy had, of course, confronted Andrew about his other family and criticised him for his lack of judgement, especially where Lissy was concerned. But as usual, he didn't really care about how Lissy was feeling. In fact, at one point Cindy almost threw something at him when he complained about Lissy not being friendlier towards her half-brother.

Amazingly, although she herself had several times tried to move the conversation in that direction, Andrew hadn't once mentioned a divorce or moving in permanently with his other family. Cindy assumed this was only because he knew it annoyed her more that he stayed with her and Lissy.

Lucius had been sympathetic when they had next met up and was as shocked at Andrew's behaviour towards Lissy as Cindy was, but he seemed to be more worried that Lissy had worked out the significance of the pendant. Cindy assured him Lissy wouldn't say anything to Draco.

'It's not Draco I'm worried about,' he said. 'I'm sure Narcissa's realised we're back together, and she wouldn't care anyway, as we're not making it known publicly. But what would the tosser say if he found out?'

'I don't know,' admitted Cindy. 'Lissy seems to think he'd choose the nice friendly option of going to live with his other family, leaving us free to get married . . . once you've divorced Narcissa, of course.'

Lucius raised his eyebrows. 'She's thought it all through, then.'

'Oh, yes. She's a teenage girl, and unrequited love holds a strange fascination for her,' Cindy said. 'I did tell her it wasn't quite that simple.'

'Hmmm. Well, it could have been,' Lucius mused, 'except not any longer.' He looked downcast.

'Why? What's the matter?' asked Cindy in concern.

Lucius sighed. He hadn't wanted to share this with Cindy but he knew he didn't have any choice; she would have seen as soon as he removed his shirt anyway. Unfortunately, this was one of those things that was going to hurt her and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. Warily, he slid back the sleeve of his robe and showed her his inner left forearm. The Dark Mark was showing again — not the bold black it had been the last time she had seen it, but definitely clearly visible.

Cindy looked at him worriedly. 'What does it mean?' she asked.

'I don't know for sure, but I think it means he's coming back,' Lucius said quietly.

'But I thought he'd died! I thought Harry had killed him.'

Lucius shook his head. 'No one knows for sure what happened that night. Potter was the only survivor in the house, but there was no sign of the Dark Lord. He could just have been badly injured and gone away somewhere to recover. But if he does come back, you know what that'll mean.' Lucius pulled Cindy to him and hugged her tightly. 'He'll expect me to be a Death Eater again.'

'Well, it's lucky you've been keeping in practice, then, isn't it?' said Cindy, a little more coldly than she had meant.

Lucius looked stung. 'I did tell you that you wouldn't like everything I did, and you accepted it,' he said.

'Yes, I know. But that was before a total Death Eater resurgence and the resurrection of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,' Cindy replied unhappily. 'I love you, Lucius, but I'm afraid things will be the same as last time . . . or worse!'

Lucius pulled her to him again, stroking her hair to calm her. 'I will do everything in my power to protect you, you must know that,' he said gently, and bent to kiss her. 'You know, I was supposed to be going to Hogwarts with Cornelius to see the final event of the Tri-wizard Tournament tonight. But I don't think I'll bother. I'd rather stay here with you — if that's possible?'

'Of course,' Cindy replied. 'But it should be a spectacular finale, shouldn't it?'

'Yes, but I can think of things I'd much rather be doing than watching Potter chasing for the Cup.' He gazed at Cindy lecherously.

'Really?' asked Cindy with mock surprise. 'Like what?'

'Oh, I have a few games I could show you,' Lucius replied, smiling. 'But you're wearing far too many clothes at the moment.'

He pulled her towards him.

Cindy sat in the kitchen with a cup of tea and a copy of the Daily Prophet, not sure if she was in shock or just terrified. The last few weeks had been a nightmare and she was only just beginning to come to terms with what was happening. Unfortunately, it appeared the Ministry of Magic weren't prepared to believe what was going on, so getting information was hard.

It had begun the same evening she and Lucius had decided not to go to the final of the Tri-wizard Tournament. They were relaxing in bed after the most incredible bout of lovemaking when the Dark Mark on Lucius' arm had burnt, the way it used to when he received a summons from the Dark Lord.

Anxiously he had sent Cindy home, then Apparated to Malfoy Manor to collect his Death Eater robes. He went on to the meeting place, which turned out to be a graveyard in Little Hangleton where a very much alive Dark Lord had greeted him back into the fold before attempting, for the second time, to kill Harry Potter. He hadn't succeeded, thank Merlin, and somehow Harry had managed to escape back to Hogwarts.

Lucius had told Cindy about this when they had met in Muggle London on the day school finished. They had, as usual, arranged to meet early and spend some time together before meeting the train. Lucius was worried that with the worst Death Eaters now out of Azkaban and back with the Dark Lord they would once again be after Cindy. After all, Bellatrix Lestrange was one of the escapees and she was Narcissa's sister and had always hated Cindy, even before she had known Cindy and Lucius were a couple the first time around.

Cindy wasn't so worried about that as she knew her remaining time with Lucius was likely to be short anyway. Soon they would have to keep their distance. But she was worried about Lissy's safety. Lucius had assured her that Hogwarts was the safest place her daughter could be and that it would be fine for her to return there the following year. After spending far too brief a time alone, considering it could be their last time together for a long while, they made their way to platform Nine and Three-Quarters to collect Draco and Lissy.

Lissy had been terribly upset, both at the danger Harry had been through and also at the death of another pupil, a Hufflepuff boy called Cedric Diggory, who had died when he and Harry had both taken the Tri-wizard Cup together. It turned out the Cup had been a Portkey which had taken the boys to the graveyard to which Lucius had later been summoned, and Cedric had been killed. Harry had managed to get his body back to the school but it had reappeared in front of the whole crowd, and Lissy had been just one of hundreds of students to see the poor boy dead.

She was also upset that Draco had been taunting Harry and his friends on the train coming home about the Dark Lord's return, although Lissy smiled as she told her mother about the number of jinxes and hexes cast by her friends on Draco and his two henchmen, and Cindy couldn't help but laugh.

But now she didn't know what to do. She needed to go shopping to get Lissy's school books and she needed some new robes for herself, but Andrew was never around to go with her and she wasn't sure how things would be if she went on her own. She berated herself for her stupidity, but then sent an owl to Lucius asking if he was going to be taking Draco shopping. Lucius responded in the affirmative, so Cindy arranged for her and Lissy to meet them at Florean's.

She had got there early as she wanted to talk to Florean before Lucius arrived. She didn't want a repeat of his previous mood. She explained to Florean what had happened between her and Lucius, and about his confession. She told him she knew that Lucius was once again a Death Eater, but it was something they were all just going to have to live with. She was pleased that when Lucius arrived, Florean greeted him as an old friend instead of as an enemy.

Cindy and Lucius sat in the ice cream parlour drinking tea and chatting amiably while Draco and Lissy went to buy their school supplies, returning every so often to drop bags with their parents and collect more money. Cindy was glad she had asked Lucius to meet her. It was good to see a friendly face, and he had more news than she had managed to garner from the newspaper.

He confirmed that the Ministry of Magic would not believe the Dark Lord had returned, and they were unhappy at Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore's insistence that he had. They had tried unsuccessfully to expel Harry from Hogwarts, but they were appointing a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, someone called Dolores Umbridge, who was going to be the Ministry's eyes at Hogwarts. Cindy wasn't at all sure she liked the sound of this but kept her thoughts to herself until she got home; when she told Lissy to watch out for the woman as she was going to be trouble.

Lissy promised she would.

Cindy was just putting away her food shopping when there was a tap at the window. She looked up to see Lucius' eagle owl waiting patiently, so she opened the window and let it in. She took the note from the bird and read it, then scribbled a response on the back and gave it back to the bird, sending it on its way after giving it an owl treat from the cupboard.

She hastily finished putting away the rest of the shopping then dashed upstairs to put on her makeup and get changed. She hurried back down to the lounge and grabbed her handbag and Apparated to the alley near the Muggle hotel she and Lucius favoured. Looking around briefly to make sure she hadn't been noticed, she stepped out of the alley and walked across the road to the hotel. Once inside, she rapidly made her way to the lift and headed for the sixth floor and the room she knew Lucius had booked.

She knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later it opened and she slid inside, locking the door behind her. She turned to see Lucius already partially undressed, his long hair tousled from removing his shirt. In a single step, he pulled her to him, kissing her deeply as his hands immediately worked to unzip the sundress she was wearing.

'What's the rush?' she asked laughingly, stepping out of the dress as it slid down around her.

'I'm being sent on a mission later,' Lucius said seriously. 'I can't tell you anything about it, but it's dangerous. I have no idea when I'll see you next, and I really want to spend some time with you.'

He kissed her again, pushing her down onto the bed.

Much later, Lucius disentangled himself from Cindy and slid from the bed.

'I have to go,' he said apologetically, rising to head towards the bathroom. A few minutes later he was back out, drying his hair with a towel.

Cindy slid out of bed and walked over to her lover, wrapping her arms around him. She kissed him deeply, surprised by his active response and enjoying it. But then he pushed her away.

'I have to get back,' Lucius said, sounding disappointed. 'I'm supposed to be meeting Bellatrix and the others in half an hour.'

'Be careful,' Cindy replied.

'I will be, don't worry. I love you.' Lucius kissed her again.

'I love you, too,' Cindy said.

'Do you?' Lucius asked. He smiled. 'Good. Then I'll be fine.'

Cindy quickly removed the necklace from around her throat and fastened it around Lucius' neck.

'I think you need this more than me, now.' She stroked his face gently. 'Come back to me soon, love,' she whispered as he gave her one final kiss then dashed out of the door.

Cindy took a long bath before dressing slowly and then made her way back to the foyer, dropping the key at reception before heading off to the alleyway again. From there she Apparated back to her home and had just made a cup of tea when she realised it was time for the news.

Turning on the radio, she sat down in her chair. Almost immediately she was awash with shock and despair, not wanting to believe it when the announcer said that a group of Death Eaters had been apprehended breaking into the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. The culprits had been rounded up and sent to Azkaban prison. Amongst those named was Lucius. The announcer went on to report that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had also been at the Ministry. There had been a positive sighting and the Ministry were now saying that he was definitely back.

Cindy didn't care about the last bit. She only cared about the fact that her precious Lucius had been caught and sent to Azkaban. Even the name of the place was enough to strike fear into any sane witch or wizard. She couldn't even begin to imagine what horror he would go through in there.

She realised she was crying. The tears flowing silently as her heart broke yet again.

Ironically — or, more likely, purposefully — Andrew chose to come home just after she had heard the news about Lucius. She was sure he had only come back to gloat at her misfortune, anything to make her even more unhappy than she already was. And gloat he did. In fact, he was so obnoxious that she finally had enough and told him to leave, saying he was no longer welcome and that he could go and live with his other family permanently and not darken her doorstep again.

He wasn't very happy at her proclamation. In fact, he argued bitterly against leaving, although for what reason Cindy had no idea. After all, it was clear he didn't want to be with her and he had little interest in Lissy, so why on earth was he insisting on staying in their lives? It had to be because of Lucius.

After Andrew had finally left her alone again she received a message from Lissy. Draco was obviously very upset by what had happened to his father and Lissy was worried about him. The two of them hadn't been getting on very well all year, having had a falling-out over Draco joining Dolores Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, mainly because Lissy had joined her Gryffindor friends in another club that was practising Defence Against the Dark Arts in secret.

Cindy had thought the Umbridge woman was stupid to stop them practising in lessons just because she didn't like Harry Potter and didn't want to believe his stories and she had backed her daughter in her decision to join the group, merely warning her to be careful. After all, Lucius had warned her about the woman from the Ministry. But it appeared that membership in the group put Lissy in direct opposition to Draco and Lissy, who hadn't forgotten his jeering on the train home the previous year, had ended their relationship.

But now she was worried about how Draco was feeling and whether he would do something stupid to avenge his father's name, and she was asking Cindy for her advice on the subject. Lissy had said she didn't want to get back together with Draco, although Cindy had a feeling that wasn't entirely true. But she did want him to know she was worried about him. She was also worried about her mother. Now that Voldemort was back, things were going to get hard for Muggle-borns and although she was trying to remain positive in her letter, it was clear that Lissy was panicking about Cindy, too.

Cindy wrote back suggesting that Lissy talk to Draco and offer her friendship, letting him know she was around to support him if he had anything he needed to get off his chest. She also told Lissy not to worry about her. There was little reason for Cindy to be bothered by Death Eaters now that Lucius was out of her life.

She was sure Lissy and Draco would get back together eventually; it was almost as inevitable as her and Lucius. She thought of her beloved man sitting in that awful place and the tears started to flow again. Silently she scolded herself. Tears wouldn't help.