Hey, Soul Sister [Lucius/Narcissa]

Chapter Twenty-Two

"What do you mean 'flooded'?" asked Lucius, trying hard not to glare at Gabriel Travers, who had pulled him aside in the corridor between classes to rave about something that had transpired in the Prefects' Bathroom.

Travers shrugged. "I don't know how it happened—by the time I walked in, the water was nearly out the door."

"And why are you telling me?"

"Well..." Travers blanched. "I just thought... you're head B—"

"Yes, and you're a Prefect." Lucius sighed. "Figure it out."

Travers huffed and turned away, starting down the hall, and Lucius strode off in the other direction. Lucius currently lacked the patience to deal with the incompetence of others. He had more than enough on his mind without adding the ineptitude of his schoolmates to the list. As though the stress inflicted by the situation with his father was not enough, his professors appeared to have taken it upon themselves to determine exactly how many assignments their students could withstand without ending up in St. Mungo's.

It's your last year, he reminded himself. Let them assign as much as they want—they still can't keep me here.

"Lucius!"

He looked toward the voice to find Narcissa darting toward him through the groups of students making their way from one class to another. She was pursued by a visibly-agitated Lenore.

Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

"I tried to keep her in the dormitory, but she hexed me. I do care about both of you, but I didn't sign up for that."

Lucius ignored Lenore and focused instead on the rapidly-approaching Narcissa. He recognized the set of her mouth as one she wore when determined to some end or another, but the look in her eyes was foreign—on her, at least; he'd seen others wear it, and as he recognized the emotion behind it, he blanched.

"Narcissa—"

As she reached him, she stretched upward and cut him off with a forceful kiss, gripping his shoulder tightly with one hand and resting the other at the back of his head to keep it near hers as she pushed him back against the wall. Lucius was startled, torn between the confusion that told him to pull away and the desire trying to persuade him to embrace the moment. Narcissa's lips worked hungrily against his, more passion within her kiss than any she'd shown before, and Lucius reached instinctively for her waist to pull her closer, but then his mind caught up with his reflexes, and he internally screamed at himself for allowing this to continue when something was obviously very wrong. This behavior was not at all like Narcissa. The hand that had rested on his shoulder drifted slowly down his chest, and as it began to move closer to his stomach, he reached out to catch her wrist, pulling his mouth back and gasping for air.

"What in Merlin's name has gotten into you?"

Narcissa frowned, leaning close again in an attempt to resume the kiss, but when Lucius turned his head, her lips met his jaw. He felt her frustrated sigh against his skin.

"Me?" she demanded. "Why are you being this way?"

His eyes wide with disbelief, Lucius laid his hands on Narcissa's shoulders and guided her gently backward just far enough that he could be certain she couldn't reach him to attempt to kiss him again. Normally, he would have never objected to that, but when she was so clearly not herself, he couldn't allow her to act in ways he knew she would later regret, no matter how strongly he wished she would kiss him that way when she'd returned to her senses.

"Narcissa," Lucius said slowly, "what's happened?"

"Nothing has happened," she insisted, attempting to wriggle out of his grasp, but he held fast to her shoulders, not trusting what she might do if she were to rid herself of his hands. "I've decided I'm tired of trying hide how much I love you for the sake of propriety. I don't care if the entire school sees us. In fact—you know, I'll tell them." She tilted her head backward to face the ceiling and drew in a large breath. "Lucius and I are in l—"

Oh hell. He reacted quickly as she started to shout, shifting position to slide behind her and clap a hand over her mouth as he used his other arm to guide her out of the path of the students passing by on the way to their lessons, several of whom were already watching the pair with expressions varying from the perplexed to the amused.

"Explain," Lucius snarled, glaring at Lenore, who rolled her eyes.

"Oh, yes, it's absolutely my fault."

"Lenore."

The girl sighed heavily. "Fine. There was a bottle of Butterbeer sitting on her dresser, and, well..."

Lucius glanced down to Narcissa, who had begun attempting to pry his hand from her mouth, and back to Lenore. "And she drank it?"

"Well, I... I may have implied that it was from you."

"Why would you do something like—?"

"Stop shouting!" Lenore huffed. "I figured it probably was, considering it wasn't from me and I didn't imagine Walden or Augustus had anything to do with it, so... anyway, the minute she drank it, she started raving about you and wouldn't shut up. If I hear one more word about the color of your eyes, I swear I'll kill something. Near as I can tell, the bottle was dosed with Amortentia. Why the hell someone would want to drug her to go even madder for you is beyond me."

"Did you touch the—ow! Would you stop that?" Lucius demanded, exasperated, shifting his arm from around Narcissa to gripping both her wrists to keep her from reaching around to pinch his bottom a second time. "Did you touch the bottle?" he asked Lenore.

"Yes, why?"

Lucius closed his eyes momentarily, forcing a deep breath into his lungs and letting it out again. Lenore's insistence on meddling had, for once, served to benefit the situation.

"The person who brewed the potion was the last to touch its container before you," he explained, opening his eyes again, "and she was supposed to be the next. Your magic interfered with the potion. Instead of connecting Narcissa to whoever it was meant to, it intensified the feelings she already had."

He'd read of mishaps leading to Amortentia instilling the wrong emotions in people, but this typically happened when someone other than the intended victim consumed it. Instances like this one were rare, Lucius knew, but he found himself incredibly grateful that Lenore had interfered, however inadvertent the action had been.

"Cissy," he said, turning her carefully around to face him and removing his hand from her mouth. "I need you to go back to the Common Room."

"But—" she began, but he spoke again with a shake of his head.

"Please don't argue. I'll be there shortly. Considering that everyone else should be in class, it'll be just us."

She said nothing for a moment, evidently considering, and then she nodded, leaning up to kiss him briefly but passionately before meeting his eyes with mischief in her own.

"Fine. Don't make me wait for too long."

With that, she turned on her heel and started off down the corridor. For a moment, Lucius stared at her, and then he turned to Lenore, who was watching him with a raised brow.

"What are you going to do?" asked Lenore.

"We are going to find a way to fix this. We need an antidote or... something. Considering that you're the one who let her drink the damn potion, you're going to help me undo it."

Lenore nodded stiffly, and Lucius motioned for her to follow as he started in the opposite direction of the class he was supposed to be attending. He tried to keep at bay the rage boiling within him at the person he knew beyond doubt had to be responsible and focus on helping Narcissa.

There would be time to murder Rowle afterward.