Chapter Sixteen

A/N: Thanks to NicoleKidmanFanxD for reviewing.

As the sun rose in the sky the next morning, Narcissa truly did not want to rise with it. Her husband was by her side, having returned home, a luxury that she took on the rare occasions that she could get it, the day was beautiful and for once, nothing was wrong. That was what she thought at the time.

She had lain in utter stillness for only a dozen minutes at most when her husband also began to stir, his eyelids raising slowly over his eyes, though squinting a little, as the first thing he had seen had been the blazing sunrise. When he had finally managed to clear his vision, the man turned to his wife, an affectionate smile illuminating his features to a greater degree than even the sunlight.

"Good morning, Cissa." Lucius sighed, his voice heavy with sleep, and with something else that his wife could not quite put her finger on.

"Good morning, darling." she replied nevertheless, smiling a little herself at the affectionate term she had used to address her husband. It had been all very well and good, her calling him Luce, while they had been lovesick teenagers, but after a good few months of marriage, it seemed a little too childish for further use. His use of the name Cissa, however, had remained unchanged, something which suited the both of them well enough. "How are you?"

It was a routine that had been in practice for a couple of years for the couple, not only in the morning but at any time they met in the corridor, or in the Quidditch stands, or even at a party. It was so routine for them, to question whether the other was alright or not, though they could usually tell without words the answers immediately, that they no longer truly noticed the words that they spoke.

"I am fine." he responded, a little absentmindedly. The strange look in his eyes was still present, and his tone seemed to be conforming to that emotion, though Narcissa was still a little unsure as to what it was, precisely. Seeing no other option at hand, she decided to ask her husband.

"Lucius Malfoy, what are you hiding from me?" she asked, the use of his full name assuring him that she was utterly serious in her question. She only used endearments with him usually, or simply his first name, but when she used his family name also, she was truly worried about something, and he knew precisely what it was.

"Narcissa… there is something that you need to know." Lucius answered, a little more cryptically than his wife would have wished for him to do. Still, he was speaking to her on the matter and that was almost enough, and would have been, had there not been the thoughts left swimming in her mind at the vacuity of the statement he had made.

Dozens of ideas began to buzz in her mind, each more terrible than the last. Lucius regretted their marriage, he was seeing someone else, he wanted to leave her, the woman was having their child. He loved the woman more than he loved her. She was brought to the brink of tears just with the final thought, and, noticing this, Lucius elaborated, somehow sensing that she was becoming more anxious to hear the response.

"There was a Death Eater attack yesterday." he began, pausing briefly when Narcissa let out a heaving sigh. She hated to hear anything to do with the Death Eaters from his mouth, as it reminded her of the fact that he not only belonged to her, but also to the Dark Lord, by right of the brand on his arm. However, Lucius was certain that she would have to make an exception just this once, as it truly was important what he had to say.

"Go on." she told him, though regretted it quite soon after doing so.

"It wasn't planned to happen, the attack. It went off course, and I couldn't stop them." Lucius paused for a moment, taking his wife's hand in his own. She would certainly be badly affected by the news he was about to impart, but there was no sparing her from the pain. After all, if she did not hear it from him, far worse she would hear it from someone else. "They had a tip off from an anonymous source, that they acted on immediately, and so they went off to stop the people from talking, the only way that a Death Eater can. They had betrayed the movements of the force, you see, and they had to be punished for that."

Once again, he glanced upwards, to ascertain how his wife was reacting, despite the fact that he had not truly revealed anything. Seeing that she was coping well, he continued once again.

"They went to their manor, and flushed them out, every one of them. The entire family was at home, the parents, their daughter, and her aunt, and each of them was killed the moment they were spotted. They would not submit to questioning about their children, the aunt being the strongest on this, and the four of them took their secrets to the grave."

"Who were they?" Narcissa asked in a quiet voice, a feeling of admiration mixed with her sadness at the events that had occurred previously that week. "The family that were killed."

Lucius said nothing, only glanced towards her. Suddenly, all became clear to the woman, and she was stunned into silence, too stunned even to allow the tears to fall from her steadily filling eyes. Knowing that, as she grew older, the blonde woman became even more against people seeing her cry, Lucius pulled her to his chest, the action suggesting that it was perfectly alright for her to cry, as he could not see her face doing so.

Narcissa was an extremely intelligent woman, and had pieced together the parts of his story to deduce a horrific fact that had been revealed subtly to her by her husband, who was almost as upset as she was, not only because of the tragedy, but of the fact that it had upset his wife so. The Black family was diminishing once again.

Druella Black had fallen.

A/N: Please review, as always!