Hey, Soul Sister [Lucius/Narcissa]

Chapter Fifty

A/N: I'm sorry for the delay. College and directing/appearing in a play have been consuming my time, but now that all of that is over until the spring, I'll have more time to write.

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As he watched his mother heal and clean the deep tear Cygnus's Diffindo had left in his flesh, Lucius knew he should be in terrible pain. Perhaps he was, but his mind was too fogged to quantify or process it properly, and so as Seraphina worked, Lucius stole glances at his healing wound now and then when he removed his focus from the portrait on the study's north wall. Within the frame, Malfoy Manor stood stoic and peaceful, oblivious to the tension and anxiety filling its real-life counterpart.

"Cissy, dear, could you please go and tell Dobby what you'd like for supper?" asked Seraphina. "Anything you fancy—I've no preference."

Lucius looked from his mother to Narcissa, who nodded. Her face was several shades paler than normal, and she seemed to have difficulty standing from her spot on the floor beside the chaise.

Guilt twisted Lucius's stomach. I did this to her, he thought. This is my fault. He gave his head a tight shake.

"Call the elf here," he said. His throat was dry, and his voice left it hoarse. "You don't need to—"

"I'll be all right. I need air. I'll come right back—I'll bring you tea." Narcissa squeezed his hand and departed for the corridor.

When she'd gone, Lucius looked back to his mother, who was watching him with her lips pressed into a tight line.

"Tell me," she said at last. "All of it."

"You already know. Don't you?" Lucius's tone was soft, the conviction it had held a moment before all but evaporated.

"From this—" Seraphina glanced to the healed would and back to his face. "—and the fact that you've both clearly been crying, I'd say so. But I want to know why."

Lucius pulled in a long breath. "Because I love her too much to let him keep hurting her. Because I'm angry—because I'm furious. Mum, Narcissa deserves the world. She deserves so much better than being pushed around by Cygnus. She deserves to be safe, to be able to stay here with us or go home if she chooses without being afraid her own father will turn his wand on her." The thought made Lucius's blood boil, and he swallowed hard. "Besides, the Dark Lord wanted me to kill someone. Now I have, of my own will, and now he has no reason to force me to hurt anyone I love again."

Seraphina blinked and looked down at her folded hands in her lap, and Lucius felt another sickening pang of guilt as an image of his father falling to his Cruciatus Curse passed through his mind.

"Sorry, Mum," he muttered.

Seraphina shook her head. "Don't be. You're right." She closed her eyes and sighed.

How did we get here? thought Lucius. Six months ago, I wouldn't have dared—I wouldn't have so much as thought of doing something like this.

He pulled in a long breath. It didn't matter what had led him here, not now. It only mattered what happened next and how he handled the situation. He had to deal with the consequences of his actions in a way that would make his mother proud—that would've made his father proud.

"If the Ministry comes poking about," he began slowly, "Narcissa never went home. She only saw Cygnus; Druella would have no idea she was there unless he told her, and if you and I both state that she was here all along, Minister Jenkins will believe us over Druella."