Hey, Soul Sister [Lucius/Narcissa]

Chapter Thirteen

For the duration of the walk back to the castle, Narcissa found herself unable to stop smiling. Part of her thought she was being ridiculous—It was just one kiss, Cissy, said the voice at the back of her mind—but she was too happy to be bothered by it. When she'd caught sight of her friends approaching, she'd prepared herself for the disappointing possibility that Lucius would let go of her hand and the two of them would have to pretend that nothing had happened. Instead, he'd held on. It wasn't until the group returned to the Common Room that Narcissa's and Lucius's hands separated as the two settled onto one of the black leather sofas and were forced to give Augustus room when he plopped down between them. Narcissa let out an irritated little sigh under her breath, giving her skirt a tug to free it from beneath the leg of Augustus, who had managed to sit on it. He yawned and stretched, raising his arms above his head and bringing them down to rest on the shoulders of Narcissa and Lucius as Walden and Lenore settled onto the sofa opposite theirs.

"Considering we're apparently being extra friendly, this evening," said Augustus by way of explanation for the placement of his arms, raising a brow as he glanced between the two sitting on either side of him. Narcissa looked away, unable to withstand his questioning gaze and more than slightly frustrated that he'd come quite literally between Lucius and herself when they'd only had a few moments to be alone since the kiss.

Figures, she thought, staring at a tapestry of a large, coiled snake hanging behind where Walden sat. I don't know why I expected them not to show up. Usually, I'd have been on the other side of all this, telling at least those three how bad of an idea it is to try to sneak out and how likely they'd be to get caught. I'd have kept my nose out of it, if it weren't for Andromeda. Narcissa knew her sister hadn't intended to get her in trouble, and she herself had thought about the consequences very little, were she to be found. That was, until she and Lucius had spotted McGonagall and Thomason, and Narcissa had very nearly snapped to her senses. Of course, that had all been thrown out the window when Lucius had kissed her.

He'd kissed her. She still couldn't believe it or entirely convince herself that she hadn't dreamt the whole thing, considering that the entire day felt like something far too strange to have taken place at all. In addition to everything else that had happened, she'd managed to sit through a decent conversation with the sister she hadn't seen in months and the man that sister had left the family for, and that man—that Muggleborn man, who was no doubt aware of the distaste everyone else at the table had been raised to feel toward his parentage—had bought them all drinks, including Lucius, who wasn't supposed to have been there in the first place.

If this term gets any stranger, I may need to check myself into St. Mungo's.

"They're not going to say anything, Rookwood," said Walden, and as Narcissa stared at the heavy stitching of the tapestry, she saw him shake his head in her periphery. "Be less subtle."

Narcissa let out a pained, indignant "Hey!" as Augustus thumped her on the back of the head. Lucius glared at the boy between them as he received a similar smack.

"Someone had better start explaining," said Augustus with exaggerated patience. "Or didn't you think we would notice?"

"It isn't exactly like you not to comment on things the second you notice them," said Narcissa, raising a brow, "so I was growing skeptical."

"We wanted to give you two a few moments." Augustus shrugged. "See what they do?" he asked, looking to Walden and Lenore. "We give them peace, out of the goodness of our hearts, and they complain."

"I didn't say anything." Lucius got to his feet, shaking his head and beginning to pace between the two couches. "I was perfectly fine with you lot keeping your mouths shut, and now you've gone and ruined it. For that reason and because it's getting ungodly late, the last person in this room gets a detention. And... go."