Chapter Eighteen
A/N: Thank you to Nevaeh -Rose Malfoy for reviewing the last chapter.
Once properly assimilated into Pureblood society, Narcissa suddenly found herself attending balls and dinners by the hundreds throughout the year, to the extent that she found her return to Hogwarts a blessed relief more often than not, if only for the sake of getting some rest. There was still a small part of her that believed in an alternative reason for her relief at Hogwarts, memories of her childhood spent in the halls and the woman she spent it with flashing before her eyes before she could stop them, but she tried not to think of that. It was too painful to have feelings she could not act upon, even after all this time.
The familiar routine had been broken somewhat when she reached her fourth year, with her eldest sister's departure from Hogwarts. Suddenly, Narcissa was left alone with Andromeda, who more often than not disappeared entirely from view and could not be located for hours on end.
To try and combat her loneliness, the girl had found herself spending more and more time with Lucius Malfoy and his gang of friends. Actually, she was not certain they could truly be called friends, when their only purpose seemed to be to hang on Lucius' every word, but Narcissa never commented on the issue. Besides, she always seemed to be treated rather differently to the rest of the group, by Lucius himself in particular. 'Perhaps it's a status issue.' she once thought. 'My Blood Status is the only one in the group that is equal to his, so it's surely natural he affords me more respect.'
It was not until that year that she considered the alternative.
Narcissa had planned to meet Lucius in Hogsmeade, for his traditional drink with the group in The Three Broomsticks, but had lagged behind a little, having had to fetch a scarf from the dormitories once she realised how cold it was that afternoon. She knew she ought to rush to catch up with the other Slytherins, but there was something about the silence of the corridors that caught her attention. The area was always bustling with pupils, so much so that it became functional rather than decorative; when she was alone, it was far easier to see how beautiful the castle really was.
A hushed whisper from nowhere broke Narcissa's reverie. It seemed she was not alone after all.
"Who's there?" Narcissa questioned, frowning in confusion. The first and second years had some sort of event planned in the Great Hall and all the other years were at Hogsmeade. Why would someone still be in the common room? Why would they be hiding? "I'm not going to ask you again. Come out or I'll hex you."
A curtain in the corner of the room rustled, rippling as two figures appeared behind it. Narcissa's face twisted with disgust as she realised the two must have been kissing, or worse, behind the fabric and prepared herself to chastise them for such sickening displays in public. The boy's face appeared first and Narcissa vaguely recognised him; a seventh-year Hufflepuff, Muggleborn, nice enough but with no reason to be in the Slytherin common room. She was about to question him on it. Then the girl appeared, and she almost let out a sob.
"Andromeda?" the young blonde questioned, hoping her eyes were deceiving her. It could not have been her own sister, cavorting with a Muggleborn. It could not be true.
"I thought you were in Hogsmeade." Andromeda mumbled, as if it made anything better that she had planned to lie.
"I came back to get my scarf." Narcissa explained, still not knowing why they were discussing such mundane things. "What are you doing?"
Andromeda blushed deeply but did not answer. For his part, the Hufflepuff boy looked as if he had wandered straight into a Basilisk's lair.
"Cissa, you cannot tell anyone." The brunette was pleading now, taking a few steps closer to her sister. Narcissa stumbled backwards slightly. "Please, you know what they'll do. I can't be seen with Ted, it's forbidden. Bellatrix would kill me and so would Aunt Walburga. Please, Cissa, please."
"I can't keep this a secret!" the young girl exclaimed. "Of all the things I've been taught over all these years, the most important was that pure blood must remain pure! You can't expect me to lie to our family about this. It's too big a secret to keep, Andromeda!"
With those words Narcissa fled the room, the corridors around her seeming to spin at a hundred miles per hour. In the space of a few seconds, Andromeda had transformed in her eyes, from her kindly elder sister to a brazen Blood Traitor. She did not even seem sorry for her transgression, only that she had been caught.
'How could she do something like this?' Narcissa asked herself, collapsing back against a wall as she tried to catch her breath. 'He's a Muggleborn. He's… he's a boy with magic, just like the rest of us.'
Suddenly her mind was swimming with lessons. Not the lessons she had been taught by the Purebloods, ever since she had become one of them, but the lessons she had been taught long before. That all magical children were equal, because they all possessed the same abilities and the same chances to use them. So called purity of blood did not matter, because they all had the same magic running through their veins.
Still weighed down by guilt, Narcissa began to walk, her feet tracing the path they had once known so well. It had been years since she had come here, except for her lessons of course. But in that moment, there was no one she wanted to see more.
It seemed strange, to see the room after so long, and yet have it not have changed at all. The same fire was roaring in the hearth, the same blanket was folded over the back of the same chair. The only thing that had changed was the face of the woman gaping at the doorway, her expression more one of shock than affection. Nonetheless, Narcissa proceeded, having to fight not to throw herself into the woman's arms.
"Professor McGonagall," she began, the words thick and heavy in her mouth. "I need to talk to you about something."
A/N: Sorry for cutting it off there, but I felt it worked better as two divided chapters. Next one coming soon. Please review!