Nice (not quite stupid) mistake

HG//6//NB

,,I'll tell you something, no one knows about me... except my sister..." it was later in that night, and after a long walk, due none of them had spoken a single word, they just went back into their room. They showered after each other, and Hermione had caught herself in wishing, the door would be slightly open. Now she was lying on her recamiere, staring at the dark ceiling, and listening to Narcissa...

,,I was almost sorted into Ravenclaw..."

,,You're kidding..." Narcissa laughed, and continued: ,,Absolutely not... there was the time, Bellatrix had called me "the families bookworm". She'd always made fun of me, telling I would rather married a book, instead of a man... of course I laughed with her. It was a time, when I could laugh with my sisters. Andromeda had been the one, who had always brought me a new book, and even Bellatrix wanted to buy me a very expensive collection once."

,,What happened?"

,,Our mother had caught her... it wasn't as if our mother hated books, or something like that. She always taught us that Education is really important, and the best educated a pureblood is, the better for the children. That's also the reason, why we had grew up in two languages. English and French... and because none of us should made a fool of herself, if we would be marrying a pureblood from France. But Fairy tales were bullshit and unnecessary... at least in our mother's eyes... I never found out, what she had told Bella, but she had stopped making fun of me. At least she had stopped with those jokes, I could laugh about... she started saying mean things, telling me on our mother, who took one of my favorite books away from me, and made me burn it in front of her eyes..." she sighed, and Hermione stroke away a tear.

,,I've cried my eyes out, and stopped reading everything, that had nothing to do with school. But when it comes to my sorting, I was afraid... I was so nervous. The hat on my head whispered in my ear, that my intelligent would be good for Ravenclaw, but I nearly begged him, to place me into Slytherin. I was afraid of my mother... I still wasn't touching a single book for four years... until I met her..."

Hermione fought against the urge, to stand up, and to went over to Narcissa... she was about to stand up, but decided to stay, and let the woman speak...

,,Lily Evans... I always made fun of her, for reading everywhere, and every time. She was even reading during a Quidditch match. I swear to Salazar, her nose had been practically glued to her books... and every day it was a new one... I've mocked her... my fellow classmates were always laughing, when I just walked passed her, slapping the book out of her hand... but that one day I found her crying. I thought I had been to harsh to her... I thought I had crossed a line, so I had stopped nearby and watched her. She was kneeling over pieces of a book, and I've recognized the cover..."

,,Yours?" Hermione almost whispered into the darkness, and she could hear a faint: ,,Yes. It was the cover of my favorite book and I had seen myself in that moment, so I've stepped out of the darkness, pulled out my wand, and fixed it for her... I still remember, that she was looking at me, and I was looking in her eyes. It was the first time I saw something in her eyes, that wasn't even far away from my feelings. I'm not talking about love... it was more an... understanding. An understanding what it means to be lonely... you know, it was shortly after Bellatrix had changed... after she had found her dark side, and after our mother had kicked Dromeda out of the house. And with that those times had been over, were I had been having two sisters..."

,,I'm sorry..." Hermione just whispered... she didn't know why, but she felt as if she had to say something, and that had been the first that came to her mind.

,,Don't be... Dromeda had been there in secret, when I drank too much alcohol on my 16th Birthday, and when I threw up in our mother's roses... but... she had helped me. Lily, I mean... we never spoke... we met in secret, reading amounts of books, and I found back my love for them. We always met in the middle of the night... sitting as far as possible away from each other in the beginning, until I had just laid my head on her legs." Hermione couldn't held back a small chuckle, and heard Narcissa breath out with a laugh: ,,Yes, it was my personal moment of weakness and I loved it... I don't know if I loved her. I really can't tell you, but the moment you were lying there... in Malfoy Manor... reminded me of Lily. It reminded me of that one day, when I found her in the hospital wing. Some Slytherins had cursed her... it was that bad, that she had been send to St. Mungos... and one weekend I went to St. Mungos, and gave Lily a few stronger potions to heal her faster."

,,You had... brew for her?"

,,Yes... I had given her something... not quite legal for students, because it had been a really complex healing potion. I doesn't only heal outer wounds. It also healed inner wounds, and Lily hadn't had the money to pay for that potion, and I couldn't dare to buy it for her, because of my mother... that's also why I had to sneak into her room. And apparently Dromeda knows about that, but I didn't ask her how... I assume, she had been working on this day."

,,Did Lily know?"

,,No. I don't think so... let us try to get some sleep..." Hermione agreed to that, turned around, and tried to sleep, but she was thinking about everything Narcissa had just told her. There had been that one moment...

,,Perhaps that's the reason, why I never really hated you... I mean, yes I've ignored you, and I also was avoiding you. But I never hated you... it was something warm, I've felt... deep inside of me. It was as I've wanted to sleep in the Manor... I... I can't explain it."

,,I have cast a spell on your arm that it went numb... that was what you felt. Practically I've set your arm asleep. What you felt... that pain, was mostly mental."

,,So what? My own mental was... kinda sorta joking with me?"

,,Not exactly... Bellatrix wanted for you to feel the pain mentally and physically. I could only took one of those pains away, and in that moment your mental barrier was... really strong. If I would have guard your barrier, I would have either something damaged by accident, or... and that would have been the worst part... Bellatrix would have felt my presence. I had to chose something, her concentration was weaker on."

,,She really was a crazy Bitch..." Hermione whispered a few minutes later, and Narcissa was silent for a long time, so she thought, she might have crossed some sort of a line, until she heard a gently: ,,She was worse than that... try to sleep, Hermione."

TBC...