Chapter Twenty Two: Simple

They talked for hours, weaving between business and their personal lives. Regan learned a lot about Narcissa and was surprised to hear that she still cared greatly for Lucius. She made it clear, though, that she did not approve of what Lucius was doing. She had left at the first opportunity that she had gotten, but greatly missed her son and grandson. Regan momentarily wished that she had brought pictures, but how could she have known that Narcissa would be orchestrating this whole plan?

Speaking of the plan…

The plan was fairly simple, but it wouldn't be possible without Regan. She would have to play the part of the dutiful wife and had to earn Lucius's trust. At a large party or concert, Regan would trade places with somebody who looked like her with the help of the polyjuice potion. With everybody in attendance, they would kill Lucius and catch his death eaters off guard. It would be the start of a great revolution that nobody was expecting.

Regan was looking forward to it.

After their long talk, Narcissa took her back out into the main room where all the tables had been pushed together and set for dinner. Regan sat next to Narcissa with Charlie once again across from them. People were still wary of her, she could feel it, but they kept their mouths shut and their comments to themselves. Regan couldn't deny that as she sat there, she was a bit awe struck by her dining companions. Hermione Granger sat beside Ron with an extremely short haircut, but she looked truly stunning. The entire Weasley family had survived and was there, save for Fred. Neville Longbottom, with a patch over his right eye, sat with Oliver Wood and Dean Thomas and Regan could only stare. She felt conflicted. These people were supposed to be epic heroes and warriors, but they all seemed so…human.

Regan found it difficult to eat. She felt so out of place with these people. Yes, she had fought and had been there on the last day, but she had never been part of their inner circle. And it occurred to her, as she sat there quietly, that they would never completely accept her in their group.

"It's Regan, right?" Regan suddenly looked up. Oh God, Hermione Granger was trying to start a conversation with her.

"Yes…" She said, her voice coming off overly suspicious. Hermione smiled brightly, her face seeming to come to life under the dim lights.

"You could pass for a Weasley with that bright hair." She commented, bringing on a small titter of laughter as attention became focused on Regan.

"I get it from my father, but I'm not sure if the Westwoods are related to the Weasleys." More laughter, though Regan hadn't meant to be funny.

"So how did you come to work for Lucius?" Hermione asked. In a moment of weakness, Regan told them everything that had happened since her arrival at Malfoy Manor. Even her most embarrassing moments were suddenly made public, save for her lost child, and she couldn't ignore the pity that she saw on everybody's face. Surprisingly, the person with the most pity for her appeared to be Charlie Weasley. He wouldn't touch his food as she spoke; he could only stare at her.

"Astoria obviously didn't tell us everything that was going on." Narcissa said in a low voice.

"I don't tell Astoria everything." Regan said with a small shrug.

"You won't have to worry about him," Charlie said sternly. "I'll take care of him, myself."

"I don't need anybody to protect me or take care of me." Regan quickly replied. Charlie quirked an eyebrow.

"I wasn't asking for your permission." Regan narrowed her eyes.

"I can take care of myself."

"Oh yes, because you've been doing such a good job of it so far." He muttered, rolling his eyes. "You know, I can't believe that you're all so willing to shove her off into the lion's den. Who says that Lucius won't turn on her and kill her?" Narcissa slowly shook her head.

"Lucius is too enamored with her. If he didn't care about her, he wouldn't be spending all of this money on their wedding. Regan is extremely safe…as long as she does as she's told. Plus she has Draco and Astoria to protect her if anything should go wrong."

"She needs a guard." Charlie suddenly blurted out. "You saw the papers; a maid tried to kill her with poison."

"She wasn't thinking straight…" Regan muttered, gently closing her eyes.

"Regan is aware of the danger that she's facing." Ron said slowly. "But if you think that she's unprepared to defend herself, then prepare her." Both Regan and Charlie whipped their heads to look at Ron with curious expressions. "You heard me," Ron said before either of them could question him. "She's here for four days; prepare her to fight." Charlie stared at his brother for a long moment before snorting.

"Fine, I haven't got anything better to do."

Dinner continued calmly after that, and Regan managed to force herself to eat even though she wasn't really that hungry. The food was simple, but Regan could tell that somebody had put a lot of effort into it. She was just grateful for the free food because she got the impression that it wasn't always easy to feed this many people. After they were done, Narcissa escorted her away back to what appeared to be her room.

"You're so skinny," Narcissa muttered, offering her a small smirk. "But don't worry, Molly will get you nice and plump." They went to Narcissa's room and pulled out the couch, making up the bed for Regan. They prepared quietly for bed, neither really sure what to say to the other.

"You know…you'll have to forgive Charlie's attitude, he does mean well."

"Could have fooled me," Regan muttered.

"He's lost many loved ones, family, almost family, friends…we've all struggled." Regan wanted to ask Narcissa what she meant by 'almost family', but she just let it pass since she was so tired.

"I'll keep that in mind tomorrow." She said, pushing back her blankets and crawling inside. Narcissa nodded, bidding her goodnight before disappearing into her own room. Regan fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, Regan woke up oddly cold. Not physically, mind you, but she just felt oddly...empty. She didn't know how to explain it and even after lying in bed for so long, she still didn't understand. She heard Narcissa get up to start her day, but Regan couldn't bring herself to move. She didn't know what was wrong, but she decided that she wouldn't solve anything by just lying here. She finally pushed herself up, only to be greeted by Narcissa's smile.

"I was just about to wake you." She commented, handling Regan a cup of tea. She accepted it, taking a slow sip with closed eyes. "Did you sleep all right?" Regan shook her head.

"I kept dreaming that Lucius found me," she muttered. Narcissa needed no further explanation; she understood Regan's fear.

"Nobody suspects Canada, that's why we settled here." It was sound reasoning; Regan honestly doubted that Lucius would even think of Canada as a threat.

"They said that you orchestrated this whole thing…why?" Narcissa shrugged, sitting beside Regan.

"I needed to find some way for Draco and his family to escape." She explained. "Draco has always been a good son, but he often fell under the influence of his father…as soon as I can, I want to be with my family again, but for now I must wait." Narcissa was a good woman, Regan could see that. She momentarily wished that she could get to know the woman better, but there would be no time for that. "Charlie is waiting for you, probably time to get up."

Regan slowly nodded, finishing her tea before pushing back her heavy blankets. She did her best to ignore the fact that Narcissa hadn't really answered her question. No doubt she was hesitant to share her private thoughts and feelings with Regan; perhaps one day she would confide in her, but that was not going to happen today. Regan got ready quietly, putting on a black sweater, jeans, and her boots from Oskar. Narcissa forced a piece of toast in her hand before she rushed out the door, toast in her left hand and wand in her right. Regan found Charlie lounging in the large community room, appearing to be very annoyed. His outfit was similar to what he had worn yesterday, only his sweater was a turtle neck that hid most of his burns.

"Took you long enough," he muttered, pushing up from his seat with a small grunt.

"I wasn't feeling well," Regan explained as he walked towards her.

"Well, do you feel better now?" Regan could hear his concern, but he was still obviously very annoyed with the fact that he had been forced to wait.

"I'm fine," she quietly insisted, but Charlie cocked an eyebrow as if he didn't believe her. She rolled her eyes, looking away from him. "You can go back to bed for all I care, I don't need you to take care and train me like I'm a teenager."

"You were never properly taught so somebody has to teach you these things." Regan finally looked back at him.

"Well, if you don't want to do it, then you should just unload me on somebody else." Charlie snorted.

"Everybody was too busy to take care of you."

"Oh, so you're not important enough to be too busy?" That was a sharp shot below the belt and Regan half regretted it when she said it. Charlie stared at her with hard eyes, a comeback right on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to say something cruel that would make her cry, but he bit his tongue and held back his comment.

"Let's get this over with," he grumbled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. Regan was actually surprised that he hadn't said anything, but she noticed that his grip was too tight and his movements too stiff. No doubt about it; he was pissed off.

"So I'm assuming that your DADA education ended when you were fifteen?" He asked once they had reached an overly used clearing.

"I suppose you could say that," she muttered.

"So did they ever let you practice or were you just taught the theory?"

"I know the spells!" She defended. "I just need to practice." She was tempted to practice one of the three unforgiveable curses on him. He was being mean and he was openly teasing her, which Regan did not appreciate.

"I just want you to be able to defend yourself." He said as he slowly pulled out his wand. "Lucius might try to hurt you, so you've got to know how to hurt him back."

...

A/N: I'm posting this before nap time, so bear with me here...

RashaTemple: Lucius will be coming back soon, I promise.

Amon: Well then the story would be over far too quickly for my tastes, so it shall always be updated Friday...except on those few occasions when I forget, then I update on Saturday...or I just post two chapters the next Friday.

Dragoon Dave: Well...you'll see what happened to Charlie and the dragons later, I think in the next few chapters. I know, I'm so happy to be reunited with my lovely ginger lover!