Hey, Soul Sister [Lucius/Narcissa]

Chapter Seventeen

Narcissa followed the passage Lucius had shown her back into the castle. She'd briefly considered returning to the Great Hall to finish breakfast, but it was now so late in the morning that everyone she knew had likely already gone, and the prospect of eating alone in a room full of people sitting in groups wasn't one that thrilled her.

As she emerged into the dungeons and started down the corridor, her attention was drawn by a set of shifting shadows accompanied by low whispers, and she started toward the row of columns from which the sounds had come, one hand moving for her wand.

"Hello?" she asked, her voice echoing down the stone corridor.

The whispers doubled in volume and then ceased altogether with a loud "Shh," and Narcissa raised a brow.

"Who's back there?"

Silence.

Narcissa sighed, muttering "Lumos" to give herself a small amount of light before leaning around the nearest column and catching the arm of the person behind it.

"Hey! That's not necessary!"

"Mhm. Come on."

She gave the arm a gentle pull and led its owner out into the brighter light of the lamps lining the corridor. Her eyes widened as she recognized the small, grey-eyed boy as her cousin. She let out a sigh.

"Sirius, what in Merlin's name are you doing down here?"

The boy shrugged, doing what Narcissa judged a very poor job of hiding his grin. Her cousin had been placed in Gryffindor, unlike the rest of their family, and though he was now in his second year of schooling, Narcissa had seen very little of him since he'd started at Hogwarts. The difference in their ages removed any chance of the two of them sharing classes, and apart from the occasional conversation in a passing period, she almost never encountered him.

"A shrug isn't an answer," she said, exasperated at his unwillingness to cooperate. She released her hold on his arm and returned her wand to her pocket.

"All right, all right." Sirius sighed, glancing toward the columns and beckoning the other unseen whisperers forward. Three more boys emerged, none of them meeting her eyes as they shuffled out from behind the pillars. "We wanted to see if we could get into the Slytherin Common Room," Sirius admitted.

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Don't you have anything better to do than sneak about? How're your lessons going?"

"Narcissa," Sirius groaned, "don't be so boring."

"Where'd you come from, anyway?" This question came from the bespectacled boy with dark, messy hair who stood a few paces to the left of Sirius. He was looking at Narcissa, now, though the other two were still staring pointedly at the floor and ceiling as though avoiding her gaze would keep them out of trouble. "It looked like you walked straight out of the wall."

"I... don't worry about it," she said, fairly certain that encouraging second-years to look for a secret passage she'd only just found out about was a terrible idea. "You lot should probably get upstairs before you run into someone who's less fun than I am. And I am not boring, Sirius." She reached out to pinch his cheek, smirking when he swatted her hand away.

"You're a pain in the arse," he muttered.

"I'm a Prefect, so hush and don't make me regret letting you go without embarrassing you in a grander way."

Sirius turned away with an irritated sigh, hurrying down the corridor with his friends in tow. Narcissa laughed quietly as she watched them go. They're lucky I'm the one who found them, she thought. I can list at least ten people who would've been very unpleasant toward a group of nosy Gryffindors.

The boys disappeared from view, and someone else entered the corridor, but Narcissa turned and started toward the Common Room without attempting to determine who it was.

"Talking to a bunch of Gryffindors... and such young ones, no less. What in the world are you doing with your life, Black?"

Narcissa's eyes narrowed. So much for getting to be alone.

She paused and looked back toward the approaching Alecto Carrow, who wore a smirk. Narcissa supposed the other girl's dark lipstick was intended to make her look bold, but it only had the effect of making Alecto seem like someone very young attempting to pass herself as older and more mature.

"Not getting points taken from our House for my stupidity, I can tell you that much. I'm surprised they're letting you walk about unsupervised."

Alecto laughed flatly. "They let me have a head start," she said, pausing in front of Narcissa and folding her arms as she glared. "I had a nice chat with Slughorn and Dumbledore, and now they've decided to send McGonagall to come inspect my room for anything else that they might take into account when deciding exactly how to punish me."

"How nice of them to let you go first," said Narcissa, raising a brow. "If you'll excuse me." She started to turn away, but Alecto caught her arm. Narcissa's entire body tensed.

"You just had to tell them I tried to hex you," Alecto snarled, her mouth twisting unpleasantly. "Had to get in that last comment while you were already ahead."

"Ahead?" Narcissa repeated, wrenching her arm out of Alecto's grip. "This isn't a competition, Alecto. You brought this on yourself."

"And you conveniently left out the part about you and Malfoy coming at me with your own wands!"

"To stop you from attacking Nickolas," said Narcissa, emphasizing each syllable. Really, how unreasonable could one person be? Didn't Alecto realize that it was Narcissa's job—and Lucius's, to an even greater degree—to maintain order within the student population?

"You need to keep your nose out of matters that don't concern you." Alecto took a step closer. Narcissa glanced to the other girl's hands, anticipating a move for her wand, but Alecto made no such move. Narcissa felt a stab of triumph as she realized Professor Slughorn probably hadn't returned the wand after she herself had confiscated it. Alecto knew her way around a curse, but without a wand, she looked less intimidating. Looks, Narcissa knew, tended to deceive. "I know you saw me with Malfoy earlier," Alecto pressed on, pride in the set of her lips. "I saw you starting to come up the steps. I got closer for your benefit, you know."

Narcissa forced in a deep breath, ordering herself to remain calm. She knew Alecto was trying to draw a reaction from her, and she wouldn't give in so easily.

"I'd imagine you know what we are, Lucius and me. After all, your sister's—"

"I'm going to stop you right there." Narcissa kept her tone firm and even, her expression amused. She didn't plan to let Alecto know that the attempt to agitate her had worked, and years of practice in the Black household had made her excellent at only demonstrating the emotions she wanted to show, when she focused. "There is," she went on, "no 'Lucius and you.' You may work together, but that's it. I'm fairly certain he thinks even less of you than I do, and I know for a fact that you're just taking out your frustration because you lost your ability to control Nickolas. Get a grip, Alecto."

Narcissa turned on her heel and started down the corridor in the direction where Sirius and the others had disappeared. She'd made it only a few steps when the shifting of a shadow along the wall arrested her attention, and she reacted on reflex, lunging to the side and narrowly missing the punch Alecto had aimed at her back. Narcissa faced her attacker, and for just a moment, her self-control snapped. She drew back her hand and slapped Alecto hard across the face, turning away before she the other girl had time to react and walking quickly in the direction of the staircase once more.

The sound of footsteps pursued her, but before they could reach her, Professor McGonagall came into view descending the stairs. An instant later, the sound of the footsteps ceased.

I've never been so glad to see the woman in my life, thought Narcissa, allowing the tension filling her to relax slightly. She inclined her head to McGonagall as she passed and started up the steps, trying hard not to think about how terrible of a decision she'd just made.

When Lucius gets back, I should probably avoid mentioning this.