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"Um...what did you just say, Bella?" I burst out loudly. At first, I thought I had not heard her right. Had she actually she told me that there was a rumor going around that Lucius and Natasha had had a child together? The thought obviously disturbed me and made the blood running through my veins turn to ice.

Rolling her eyes like it was really no big deal, Bellatrix repeated her sentence, "I said that Natasha got pregnant last year and people think it was Lucius' kid. Are you going deaf or something, Cissy?" I quickly shook my head while thinking over this news. I just couldn't get it through my head that Lucius could already have a child. That just didn't seem right. It just seemed plainly wrong. Lucius was too young and so was Natasha. But yet again, Natasha did seem like the kind of girl who would get pregnant at a young age. I remembered the way she had cornered Lucius in the common room on my first night at Hogwarts.

Suddenly, a new thought occurred to me and I voice it aloud to Bella in confusion, "But wait, didn't Lucius and Natasha break up or something? Lucius doesn't seem to want anything to do with her these days." It was true; Lucius had turned Natasha down every time I had seen the two of them together. That gave me the slightest hope that maybe the rumor wasn't true.

By now, Bellatrix and I had reached the Slytherin common room and were standing right outside of the door that led to it. Pausing outside the doorway, Bella went ahead and answered my question, "Yeah, they broke up." Bellatrix hesitated and then narrowed her eyebrows at me, "Wait...how do you already know all this stuff, Cissy? If I didn't know better, I would say you were stalking Lucius."

My cheeks turned bright red at that comment and I decided to just go ahead and ignore it. Instead, I continued on with my train of thought from earlier as I said, "Well, if they broke up, why would Lucius get her pregnant? That doesn't make any sense. They should've been more careful or something if they didn't think they were going to have a long term relationship."

"This really is none of our business, Cissy," Bellatrix commented, giving me a sidelong look. I shrugged, but didn't say anything. I knew my sister well enough to know that she couldn't resist gossiping. I was right because moments later, Bella said, "I guess you're right. I don't really know the whole 'Lucius/Natasha story' though. My only guess is that maybe Lucius got her pregnant as a sign of revenge or something? He knew she didn't want kids and he was the one to break up with her. I don't know though. It's just a random, far-fetched guess. If you really want to know what happened, I suggest you ask Lucius yourself."

Uh, no way would I be doing that. Giving Bella a you-know-me-better-than-that look, I shook my head and popped the door to the Slytherin common room open. Surprisingly enough, the room was already full. Many Slytherins were sitting around the long table in the center of the room. Tom was sitting at one end of it, looking very majestic and powerful. I could literally see the love for him in my sister's eyes as she gazed at him. She was certainly a hopeless case when it came to Tom Riddle.

"Ah, Bellatrix and Narcissa," Tom greeted us in a smooth voice, "Good to see that you've decided to join us. Please do sit down. Bellatrix, I want you on my right. Narcissa, you can sit here to my left." My heart sank nervously at Tom's request and Bellatrix looked like Christmas had come early. She literally flew over to her seat on Tom's right and inconspiciously pulled her chair even closer to Tom. I, on the other hand, slowly walked across the floor and perched on the seat on Tom's left.

Tom was really making me nervous tonight. I wasn't sure why, but he just was. My heart beat a little quicker around him and my breath came shorter. I wished I could've sat next to Walden at the opposite end of the table. At least he would've made me feel a little bit better. I knew he wouldn't let Tom do anything bad to me. At least...I didn't think he would.

"So Narcissa," Tom began, snapping my attention over to him. "You probably have had some questions since you've been placed in Slytherin. First of all, I must tell you that we are not like the three other houses. Slytherin is the best and is superior to all the other houses. Only the witches and wizards of the purest blood are placed in the noble house of Salazar Slytherin. As Slytherins, we have a duty to perform; a job that Salazar left unfinished."

Tom's last words were making my blood curdle. For some reason, I didn't like the way he said that Salazar had left a job unfinished. I could already see where this was going; Tom wanted us to complete Salazar's job whatever that may be. Unsure, I really wanted to know what the job was, I asked nervously, "So...um...what's the duty?"

Curling his lip into a smile, Tom said, "The duty is to clear all the mudbloods out of the wizarding world. We don't want their filthy blood on our perfect planet. Life would be so much better without them. Therefore, it is our duty to train so that once we're out of school, we can clear out the mudbloods. Every single one of them so that we will live in a completely pure blood society."

Tom's idea was an interesting one. At first, I didn't have a problem with it. I agreed that pure blood families were better than half-blood or mud-blood families. Still though, how exactly did Tom expect us to get "rid" of them? He didn't exactly expect us to kill them did he? No, of course not. That would be murder and Tom wouldn't want us to murder...

As if reading my thoughts, Tom spoke in a low and deadly tone, "Yes, Cissy, I do plan to kill them. It is unfortunate, but there is really no other way." Oh my god, maybe I was going deaf after all! I gazed around in shock and horror at all the other Slytherins to see what there reaction was. Most of them had calm expressions on their faces. Apparently, they had heard and accepted this story before. What was I suppose to do? Accept the story as well?

To be honest, I didn't really have a choice. I could accept the story or make enemies with a bunch of would-be murderers. Obviously, I would accept Tom's task as well as I could and pretend that it didn't bother me in the slightest. Taking a deep breath, I said, "Okay. So what's my role in all of this?"

Tom's grin widened at my question and he said, "Look at me, Cissy. Meet my eyes. I want to see what kind of warrior you are. I have a feeling you are not quite like your sister Bellatrix. I have a feeling you are more like Andromeda, however, I won't know that until I meet your eyes." With that, Tom snaked out his hand towards me and cupped my chin with one bony hand.

It felt like an uncomfortable jolt of lightning ran through my body as soon as Tom touched me. Instantly, I felt...exposed. It was like Tom was seeing straight through me. Recent thoughts and memories were brought to the front of my mind and for some reason, I had the strangest feeling that Tom was reading my mind. That was creepy. Really, really creepy.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just creepy; it was embarrassing too. The scene with me spying on Lucius and Natasha was brought to the front of my mind and my cheeks flushed bright red. Tom played with the memory for a few seconds before chuckling and dropping his hand from my chin. I instantly looked away from him, feeling strange and hollow.

"Yes, I was right," Tom confirmed in a knowing voice. "You are very different than Bellatrix. It can't hurt for you to be a Death Eater as well though. You know our secret at this point and you may be useful later on down the road. Only time will tell. Stretch out your left arm, Narcissa. I'm going to brand you with the Dark Mark."

Most all of Tom's last few sentences had confused me. I knew Tom wasn't really one I should mess with, but I had to get some answers before I was branded but some strange "Dark Mark". I mean, what the hell even was that? I had to definitely figure out what this "Dark Mark" was before I let someone randomly scar me with it.

"Um, what are Death Eaters and what's the Dark Mark?" I asked nervously, unable to keep the fear and hesitation out of my voice. From across the table, Bella gave me a warning look. I knew she was telling me not to question Tom and just be submissive, but I couldn't keep my questions to myself. All of this was so strange and I needed answers.

Luckily, Tom was willing to provide them for me. Giving me a knowing look, he said, "Good questions, Cissy. Very good questions indeed. I suppose I'd better explain all. First of all, our group of Slytherins are called Death Eaters. Everyone here is a Death Eater. I'm the leader of the group as is rather obvious. The Dark Mark is the tattoo of a skull/snake on your left forearm. When your mark lights up, it tells you that I am calling you and all the other members of the group. This is important, especially for later down the road when we will have to battle. For now, the Dark Mark just makes you physically part of the Death Eaters."

Oh god, what was I getting myself into? This didn't sound good. I didn't want a tattoo and I didn't think I wanted Tom to be able to call me to him. Nonetheless, I was much too shy and submissive to argue with him. So instead, I stretched out a shaking arm towards Tom and flipped it over so he could have access to my forearm.

Tom eagerly reached out and pulled the sleeve of my robe upwards so that he could get access to the naked, pale skin on my arm. His fingertips were cold as ice on my arm and I couldn't help but shiver. Whipping out his wand, Tom placed it against my arm and started murmuring a long, complicated spell that I couldn't really hear. Once he was done, he tapped my forearm once more and then withdrew it. For a long moment, nothing happened...but then something did.

My arm was burning. It felt like it was on fire. I swear it felt like someone was pressing hot embers from a fire against my arm and was holding it there. I couldn't help but whimper. The pain lasted for a good five seconds, but after that, it was completely gone. My arm felt rather numb, but there was no more pain. For a few moments, I did absolutely nothing. I didn't know if I dared to see what had become of my arm. Most likely, I didn't want to know. However, I supposed I was going to have to look at it sooner or later...

Looking down, I saw an ugly black skull with a snake as its tongue tattooed across my arm. It was hideous. I flinched from the sight and quickly pulled my sleeve back down. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tom and Bellatrix exchange knowing glances. I wondered what the two of them were thinking. They were probably thinking I was the weakling sister and that I was pretty useless to them. Once again, I was ranked second to Bella. I was never first; always second.

Suddenly, I felt very tired and very put out. I wanted to be by myself for a while or I wanted to yell at someone. As my raging, conflicted emotions pulsed through my veins, I looked up at Tom and asked, "Are we done for tonight or is there more?" It was a rather bold, straightforward question, but I was too tired to phrase it any nicer.

Bellatrix frowned at me, but Tom merely smiled. Nodding he said, "Sure, we'll be done for tonight. I must warn you though, Cissy, you do have duties now that you have become a Death Eater. Whenever your Dark Mark lights up, you must come to me at once. I hold meetings quite frequently. Sometimes we just discuss things and sometimes we practice magic. It depends. But for now, don't worry about that. Get your sleep. I'm sure you're tired and we don't need a weak Death Eater." Turning to the rest of the group, Tom said, "The rest of you are dismissed as well. I'm sure you have homework and other shit to do. See you tomorrow."

At Tom's words, everyone got up from their seats and dispersed around the room. For a minute, I just sat kind of stunned. All of this had happened so quickly and I wasn't sure what to think of all this. One thing was for certain though; I didn't think I wanted to be a Death Eater. And secondly, I didn't think I wanted to be branded with this ugly tattoo. Too bad there was nothing I could do about it. What was done was done and there really was no going back.

I looked up, still feeling sorry for myself, and met gazes with Lucius. Lucius gave me a cold look and a bit of a smirk. He looked me over as if I was a piece of shit before gracefully getting up from his chair and stepping out through the door and into the corridors. Typically, I would've felt hurt by Lucius and would've just sat around and cried over him.

But not today. I was pissed off and in a really crappy mood. I felt angry about this whole situation and just really wanted to slap someone. Lucius seemed like he needed a slap. Oh yeah, he needed a really hard slap right in that perfect stone face of his. Without really thinking about the consequences of my actions, I got up as if in a dream and traced Lucius' steps out towards the corridors. There was only one thing on my mind and I was determined to spit it all out to Lucius.