Wolf and Wings - Remus and Narcissa

Chapter 7

A/N The first section includes physical, but not sexual, scuffling between a man and woman. If that bothers you, skip to the first break.

Before Lucius Malfoy took a suspended Severus Snape back to Cokeworth in disgrace, Professor Slughorn told him the current password to the Slytherin common room and sent him in alone to meet his fiancée. It was late, but Narcissa Black was sitting in an armchair reading a novel translated out of Italian, dressed in one of her Muggle film star style dressing gowns, ruffles of black satin trimmed with something floaty and feathery. Lucius's Valentine's gift, the pearl hairclip, was fastened over her right ear, her platinum hair brushed to a warm lustre which usually would have made him wish he'd fussed over his own hair to bring it up to her level. But not tonight.

"You were expecting me," he said as he stepped into the firelit room.

She closed her book, not bothering to mark the page. "Yes, someone mentioned to me they'd seen you come in." She stood and took two swaying steps toward him. "I was hoping to see you, but you took so long."

He tilted his head, as if to see her better, differently. "Yes. I need to escort Severus out of the school tonight. He's waiting in Professor Slughorn's office. Two day's suspension for that scuffle with the Potter boy. Effective immediately. He'll be spending them at that filthy Muggle tenement in Cokeville."

"Cokeworth," she corrected, regretting it when his lip curled. She moved to placate him, linking her arm through his, as if they were about to stroll around the room. "It's good of you to take care of him like this. Poor Severus. I'm sure he's grateful."

"He is not," Lucius said. He covered her hand with his and stared across the room, at the large window looking into the lake. "So very dark down here. I'd forgotten how the moon doesn't penetrate below the water."

"But it does, my gloomy darling," she said, with a tinkling laugh. "The clouds must have rolled in. Trust me, the moon reaches us here."

He hummed. "Cissa, you were in the classroom where the attack happened, weren't you?"

"I was," she said, exaggerating a shudder against his arm. "It was ghastly. But word among the students is that Potter is recovering and won't suffer any lasting effects, so - "

"Word among the students," Lucius interrupted, turning to face her, holding her arms, "is also that Severus's attack was not completely unprovoked. Word is that there was a romantically active Veela in the classroom at the time the curse was cast. Explain this to me."

She forced a laugh that was little more than a breath. "I would be delighted if that were true. But as you've told me more than enough times, Lucius, I am no Veela. But if I was, what a compliment this would be to you, that my excitement about becoming your wife had been enough to disorder Severus's mind like that."

He lowered his eyelids, smiling crookedly. "Your headmaster wishes us to reschedule our wedding day for as soon as possible."

He watched as dread flickered over her features. "While I'm still at school?" she said.

"Because you are still at school," Lucius answered. "An unbound Veela is, clearly, a risk to the other students. Your influence fills them with mad impulses. So the headmaster has asked that you and I - bond. Sooner rather than later."

She didn't know what to say, standing limply in his hold. Lucius's hands were clamped around each of her arms, below her elbows, and almost too tightly. She would not move the wedding. But it was too soon to speak of breaking up. She hadn't spoken with her parents, or with Andromeda to find out how she escaped with her dowry. She needed more time.

"We need to know if there's anything to these speculations, Narcissa. Try to show me again," he said. "Squeeze your eyes closed and wrinkle your nose the way you used to when you wanted to convince me you were a Veela."