A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews and love. I want to thank onecelestialbeing for being just amazing and VenusInHerHair for supporting this story so much, even though she is the best at Lucius/OC stories…seriously go check her out. Also, I want to thank my friend, and only male reader (that I know of?) Benkins for always helping me brainstorm. Love you guys.
~o0o~
"Remus, I love you," Narcissa's breathing had finally returned to normal as she lay in her lover's arms. The top of her head rested on his stubbly cheek and his expression was one of absolute shock, although she couldn't see it. They had been telling each other that they loved one another for a while now, in complete earnest, but since they had been together their sex hadn't truly reflected that. Remus knew she was sexually repressed after being dominated in the bedroom by Lucius for more than half of her life, and let her take control with him. Although it was a new sensation for him, he grew to thoroughly enjoy it, although he suspected if it involved her in any way he would have enjoyed it. The few days before the full moon, she took the submissive position. It had worked out nicely for the pair.
But tonight they had made love. They were equals in their coupling. It was slow, tender, and full of passion and love. Suddenly their relationship seemed so much more fragile, and both of them could feel the weight of it in his small bedroom.
"I love you," he whispered back, trying to hold back the emotion in his voice. He had always been the most emotional Marauder, but he was not about to let Narcissa see him shed a tear. He ran his fingers through her soft blonde hair for a moment before sitting up and finally looking at her beautiful face once again. She looked ten years younger, and was positively glowing, smiling from ear to ear as she pulled the bed sheets up around her, "How much longer?" he asked.
"One more month. Everything is almost set. My advisor just has to draw up a contract for divvying the assets. Then I tell him. And then it's over," usually her voice shook whenever she talked about presenting Lucius with divorce papers, but not this time. Remus ran his hand up and down over her smooth arm. For the last few weeks, things had been rocky between them, but Remus had chalked it up to the stress of Cissa sneaking around her husband.
"And then we can finally go out in public. I can't wait to be able to take you out to dinner like a normal couple, to…"
Naricissa placed her finger on his lips, and he shut them, turning them up into a smile as she kissed him sweetly, "I'll buy us a house. Wherever you want."
"No," he said suddenly, but not harshly. He had no intentions of ruining the blissful moment, "I will buy us a house, or rent us one, whatever I can come up with. I won't live on Lucius' money. You can do what you want with your share, but when it comes to us, I want to do it the old-fashioned way."
She sighed, mock-exasperatedly, but then kissed him again, "If it makes you happy then I am happy, but I have to go…"
He hugged her closer to him, "Stay, please for once just stay Cissa. Lacey hasn't come back. You won't be missed."
"Remus, darling, the sun is almost up," she smiled at him, "I've stayed almost the whole night," and it was true, the darkness outside the window was fading in favor of very early morning light, "One month more Remus, then you won't be able to even drag me out of your bed for breakfast."
"Have a lovely day then," Remus told her, pressing his lips to hers and running his tongue over her bottom lip, kissing her hard to show her exactly what she would miss for the rest of the day. She gave a small, sad groan as she pulled away and kissed him on the forehead before getting dressed and walking out of the room. He watched her go, his eyes drooping with sleep and a crooked smile on his face.
It wasn't as blissful across the hallway.
"Wake up Ginny, Cissy's awake, come on, go offer her some coffee or something…" Sirius nudged his sleeping girlfriend, even though his eyes were still closed. He had heard her dainty footfalls on the wood floor, and figured it was morning time. Ginny smacked him with her arm before propping herself up on the bed and looking for the clock.
"FUCK Sirius it's bloody fucking four in the morning! Are you kidding me? She can get her own damn coffee!" Ginny nearly shrieked, wide awake now and staring murderously down at the curled up form of her Animagus boyfriend. She hit him hard on the back and he finally opened his eyes.
"Sorry love, I just assumed…"
"You just assumed? Since when did I become her personal house elf? In case you haven't forgotten, you spent most of your adult lives hating each other. And now that she and your best friend are shacking up, you suddenly adore her? Oh my cousin this, oh my cousin that. I am bloody sick of it! And by the way, her demented sister almost killed ME and sent you through that Veil and thank Merlin for Hermione that she got you right back out. Can you imagine? And yet you just worship the ground she walks on…." Ginny ranted until she was red in the face. Sirius sat up, his expression stony, yet he let her continue.
"She may be blood, but you have other family. Remus is family, and Harry is, more than anyone else, and I a…" Ginny paused before she could complete her thought, blushing.
To her massive disappointment, Sirius completely ignored her almost comment, "Ginny you need to stop being so angry at Narcissa. She's done nothing to you…"
"Yeah except take over your house, wake me up at all hours, and prevent me from doing anything whatsoever with you. You're right Sirius, she's done nothing…" Ginny pouted and got out of bed, slipping on some pants.
"Gin, what are you doing? Come on…"
"No. Maybe I should have been the one to go seduce Malfoy instead of Lacey. Maybe then you'd be paying more attention to me!"
"Ginny stop it. You are being completely immature about this," Sirius nearly growled at her- his voice was so deep and angry. Ginny looked like she was about to burst out laughing in response.
"Immature? Me? The immature one? Oh you have got to be kidding me. Why don't you go get up and make your darling cousin some breakfast? I'm out of here," she threw on a shirt and some shoes and stormed off.
After staring at the open doorway for a moment and wondering if she would come back, Sirius heard Narcissa's voice resound in the fireplace downstairs, a large, theatrical groan from Ginny, and a subsequent pop of dissaparition. He groaned and fell back onto the bed, pulling the covers over him.
Unfortunately, he was only granted 15 minutes of reprieve when there was a violent bout of knocking on the front door. Sirius cursed foully, rolled out of bed, dragged a hand through his disheveled hair, threw on some pants and took the stairs two at a time until he was pulling open the door and finding himself face to face with Lacey.
"I hate women, I bloody fucking hate them," he grumbled.
"Nice to see you too," Lacey rolled her eyes, not waiting to be invited in and brushed past Sirius, "GIN I NEED YOU!"
"Keep it down witch, do you know what time it is?" Sirius' eyes looked as if they were about to bulge out of his head.
"Yes, I do, it's an emergency, where is she?"
"Dunno, left a few minutes ago. We got in a fight…" he replied sheepishly.
"Fuck, REMUS! REMUS GET DOWN HERE!" Lacey yelled, panic-stricken, before bolting into the kitchen. Sirius rubbed his eyes, exhausted, and followed her.
"Please explain to me what is going on."
"Only if you get copious amounts of firewhiskey and Remus and meet me in the library. I'm going to make food," Lacey said, whipping out her wand and already levitating food items towards her as she reached for a pan. Sirius was dumbfounded, and once again his eyes found the clock: 4:37 a.m.
"You are psychotic, I hope you know that," he grumbled, but not before grabbing a bottle of unopened firewhiskey and three tumblers before heading into the library.
Under ten minutes later, Lacey was opening the library door with a plate piled precariously high with cheese toasties. She had changed from earlier, popping home to put on some loose fitting jeans and a casual white v-neck, and thrown her hair up in a ponytail. She didn't want to look like she had been shagged, but she had been hoping for a much different audience in Ginny, to maybe help quell the utter fear that was building up inside of her. Instead, she had two annoyed and sleepy Marauders, but she would take what she could.
"This is all very concerning to me…" Sirius continued when he saw her again but Remus moved from his armchair and rescued the plate of sandwiches before they toppled onto the ground. He set them safely on the low table and gave Lacey a long, confused look.
Lacey plopped down onto the floor, forgoing the furniture, crossed her legs Indian-style, reached for the firewhiskey and poured herself an enormous glass and took a cheese toastie in one hand, beginning to munch on it. She completely disregarded the looks both men were giving her until Sirius reached for a glass.
"Fuck it, I've never started drinking this early, but there is a first time for anything," he said, pouring himself and a reluctant Remus a glass. After a mutual 'cheers' and some sips and devouring of toasties, everyone was starting to look more awake, and Lacey was even contemplating telling them what happened, although she was just thankful for the company. Something about the strange, erotic night made her feel that if she slept, she would dream about it. She wasn't sure if that would be a good thing or a bad thing.
"Drinking contest," she decided suddenly. Her brain was rapid-firing. Part of her wanted to get so drunk that she couldn't even remember the way Lucius' hands felt on her, despite the fact that she had work in a few short hours.
"Lacey, slow down, what is this all about?" Remus asked, reaching an arm out to stop Sirius from pouring shots of whiskey, "Stop that! You too!" he felt like he was babysitting two small children and failing at it as the girl and his best friend shot back the whiskey. Lacey didn't even cough.
"I will drink you under the table, I guarantee that Black," Lacey challenged, purposefully ignoring Remus and his frown. After one more, admittedly feeble attempt to stop them (what had now become a real game, both were on the floor, opposite each other, the bottle between them, taking shots quickly), Remus sat back and watched. He had what he wanted in life…Narcissa…and if it meant being up at quarter to five watching his best friend and former student attempt to outdrink one another, then that wasn't much of a problem.
"So, what happened tonight little Snake Charmer?" Sirius asked, setting his glass down. Fifteen minutes had passed and the clock in the hallway chimed eerily. Lacey slowed down and didn't reach for the almost empty bottle. Her head was delightfully warm, her stomach and throat faintly burning, her body loose. She was sure she had a ridiculous smile on her face, but Sirius looked just the same. She could handle her liquor, even more so than a Weasley. Her older brother and Irish father had taught her well, and even Sirius was impressed.
"Well, I charmed him alright…"
"And? How was it? Is he a completely fucked up kinky bastard?" Sirius asked, genuinely curious and Remus groaned.
"Pervert!" Lacy declared and Sirius didn't even try to deny it.
"Not what I wanted to happen, not at all, come on children, enough of the whiskey…" Remus said gently, reaching to take the bottle. Sirius beat him to it and hugged it possessively to his chest like a stubborn baby, "Lacey, for the sake of my sanity, do not answer that question."
"Oh shut up Moons, you are next. We want to know all about you and Mrs. Malfoy…" Sirius fell back on the floor with his bottle, guffawing like it was the funniest joke in the world. Lacey, although happily buzzed, still had her wits about her.
"Oh Merlin Sirius, you've lost your touch. I won't answer it Remus, don't worry. I was hoping Ginny would be around to discuss the details with but…maybe, maybe you can give me some advice?" she asked him. He was her second choice after all and his expression softened. He had been concerned about her ever since she had shown up.
"Of course Lacey…" Remus promised, but he knew Sirius would be a total distraction and he looked over at his best friend who was just now extracting himself from his curled-up laughing position on the floor.
"Really Lace, I need to know. Think of the blackmail possibilities!" Sirius announced, like he was surprised he had never thought of it before.
"Maybe another time, Sirius, okay? Sorry for drinking all of your whiskey, I'll buy you another bottle," she promised, but the man was already leaning up against the side of an armchair, eyes drooping.
"'Course, love," he winked at her, and seemed almost ready for more sleep. Remus got up for a moment, returned with two hangover potions. He gave one to Sirius and handed one to Lacey before leaving the near-delirious Marauder to sleep.
"Never a dull moment in this house," Remus chuckled as he led Lacey back into the kitchen. He busied himself with wiping off the empty toastie plate as she sat down at the long table, "What happened?"
"Besides the obvious…I thought the date went horribly. All I did was yell at him the entire time for reasons I am not even sure of…and when it came down to it…well, Remus, I know this is personal but were you scared of being intimate with Narcissa because she is so different? She used to be so…so…" Lacey struggled with the words but her loose tongue betrayed her, "Evil?"
Remus turned around from the sink with a sad smile and took a seat facing her, "Neither of the Malfoys…and not even Draco really, are evil. They all did some horrendous things, but I do think people can change. I believe Narcissa certainly has. But to answer your question…yes I was scared."
Lacey nodded, blushing a little bit. Although she was nearly a quarter of a century old, Remus saw the small child, nearly joined at the hip with Ginny Weasley, in his DADA class in her second year.
"She's mad at me, you know…"
"I figured as much when you left her hanging by her ankles in this very room," he chuckled softly, "Care to explain, as she didn't…"
Lacey wasn't surprised that Remus didn't know much about the altercation, but she would not give everything away, "She was really upset that we fell asleep together on the couch," she admitted and Remus just nodded, knowingly, and let her move on, "Remus…I saw his mark and I froze…"
Remus sighed deeply, closing his eyes and counting to ten in his head. At that moment he hated himself for what he had forced this young woman to do for him, "I am so sorry Lacey, if you want to walk away, please, I am fine with it. I will deal with Narcissa, you've done plenty…"
"No!" she said quickly, shocking both of them, "No, I'm not going to give up. It's not so much the mark, it's that I left him, in the middle of the night obviously," she added apologetically, "and I am afraid he will be really angry…"
Lacey normally was not afraid of any man. Sirius and his crude, cavalier ways hardly made her flinch. The twins couldn't even pull a prank on her anymore. It was precisely the reason that she was so scared of Lucius, because she was so unfamiliar with the feeling.
"If he lays a finger on you in that way, I will put him right back into Azkaban Lacey, I swear it," Remus said calmly, but with a deadly serious edge to his voice, "But I don't think he would…" She felt thankful towards him, and with a smile showed him so. She hadn't seen her family in ages, with them being in Ireland, and her not having the money to do so since she got let go from the Harpies. His reassuring look made her miss her father fiercely.
"Thanks Remus, really. I'll let you go and get a few more hours of sleep and maybe put the dog to bed?" she laughed and so did he, "Sorry for barging in like this…"
"Anytime Lacey," he let himself finally yawn and pushed away from the table, "Get home safely" he gave her a small hug and then headed back to the library. Lacey quietly let herself out, and as she stood on the porch, she thought about what Remus said…that he didn't think Lucius would physically hurt her. As much as that thought scared her, how rough he was with her in his bedroom, pulling on her hair, was something she could never admit to someone like Remus that she actually liked.
~o0o~
"Lacey, this place is so posh!" Ginny complimented her best friend, clearly impressed as she sat down at the two-person table by the window of a swanky eatery a few blocks away from the Ministry. Lacey smiled back, looking much better than she felt inside, having only a few hours' sleep, but quickly buried her head in her menu.
"Are you going to ignore me after you invited me to lunch?" Ginny probed after ordering two glasses of wine for them from the attractive waiter, "And you are wearing makeup…interesting…"
"I work now. At a real, paying job at the Ministry of fucking Magic, so yes, I am wearing makeup now. Do you want to shut the hell up Gin?" Lacey snapped. She felt bad immediately, but she was on edge for a number of reasons. The highest on her list being the little purple date book she kept flipping open behind the menu. She had magically pasted shrunken versions of Narcissa's copy of Lucius' datebook and put them in the girly book to carry around in her bag. She eyed the inscription again:
12 o'clock
Adella's
Draco
It wasn't much to go off of, but still, Lacey glanced at one of the trendy, sans-numbers, clocks on the wall. They still had a few minutes.
"Testy today aren't we? Are you on the rag or something? You are acting like such a bitch…but wait, that's normal," Ginny giggled, putting down the menu and staring Lacey directly in the eye. Lacey noticed her best friend looked a bit worse for wear at the moment as well.
"Ha, ha,"Lacey rolled her eyes, mouthing her laugh out exaggeratedly, "So, where did you sleep last night, since you weren't at Grimmauld…"
"When were you at Grimmauld!?" Ginny asked, her eyes going wide and signaling she was guilty.
"Around 5 in the morning, ring any bells? Your boyfriend…oh ick, I hate saying that Gin…come on we need a new name for him…anyway, Sirius said you guys got into a row about something," Lacey pursed her lips, giving her friend her very best 'I am Molly Weasley and I know you are about to lie to me' impression.
"Shit. Yeah we fought. Remember how you called Narcissa a Death Eater Bitch? Yeah, I'm jumping on that bandwagon," Ginny sighed, winking at the waiter when he brought their wine, "Oh look, speak of the Devils and they shall appear…"
Lacey turned her head and saw Lucius, in a grey suit, with Draco trailing behind him, in a similar black suit. They had left their robes behind and fit right into the fancy, expensive muggle restaurant. Lacey tried to hide behind Ginny, but it hardly worked seeing as she was nearly a foot taller, but the way they were seated, Lucius never came anywhere close to being within her eyesight. However, when they sat down, Draco was facing her and a look of instant recognition dawned on his face.
"So this is why you brought me here… to spy on him?" Ginny whispered, although they were out of earshot entirely.
"No I wanted to talk to you Ginny, let's just have lunch. But yes, Narcissa did want me to 'create' moments of opportunity," Lacey explained. Although Narcissa hadn't explicitly said any such thing, after the night before, Lacey couldn't help herself and the mere fact that he was within a fifteen foot radius of her made her heartbreak skyrocket.
"So, like shagging in the restroom?" Ginny giggled, nearly besides herself. Lacey was starting to understand why she and Sirius got on so well.
"You've been ignoring my question, where did you go last night?" Lacey redirected the conversation as she kept a light eye on the back of Lucius' head and tried to simultaneously avoid Draco's stare. It wasn't an easy feat.
"To the pub with Harry and Ron," Ginny continued, trying to pass it by her friend.
"At 5 in the morning? Try again," Lacey didn't miss a beat. She didn't practically grow up a Weasley for nothing.
"I crashed at Harry's place…"
"Mhmm, okay, Sirius is going to just love that," Lacey sighed, taking a pause to order pasta and hand over her menu, leaving her exposed and helpless.
"And we can talk about that later, so, since you are the color of Luna's radish earrings, why don't you tell me how the sex was?" Ginny raised and lowered her eyebrows salaciously.
~o0o~
"How was your outing with Astoria last night?" Lucius asked his son, trying to sound interested, but he was rather bored. They had scheduled lunches once every two weeks at the same restaurant in an attempt to 'bond' after the incident with Pansy. Some days were better than others.
"Fine, Father. She went back to her place rather early, and I stayed at the Manor," Draco replied, glancing over his father's shoulder at the brunette a few tables away that was avidly avoiding his eyes.
"Oh, you did, I didn't notice…" Lucius shrugged. Draco wanted to roll his eyes but refrained and tried to lean casually to get a better glimpse of the girl.
"Draco what in Merlin's name are you staring at?" Lucius snapped impatiently and Draco rose distractedly from his seat, brushing off his father and walked coolly over to Lacey and whom Draco had correctly guessed solely from the back of her head alone, was Ginny Weasley.
Lucius hated staring in public, it was so ill-mannered, but out of curiosity he turned himself in the chair so he could follow Draco's path and found him stopped in front of a table containing a rather surprised looking Lacey Delaney. His heart immediately dropped into his stomach. When he had awoken with only her black panties in his hand and a faint indent of her shape on his bed, he was both furious and turned on. The sight of her was presently causing more of the latter, much to his dismay, as her pretty, glowing face stared up at his handsome son. He felt a pang of jealousy, but it was sobered when he noticed the profile of her lunch companion. The little nose and straight fiery hair told him instantly that it was Ms. Weasley. Guilt overtook him and he turned back to his drink for a moment, for once, not knowing what to do.
A/N: What do you think Draco will say, Lucius? Favorite part? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks in advance!
