FicWad

Lucius and I didn't have much more of a chance to chit chat that morning. I had to run off to Transfiguration and Lucius had to go to Astrology. I didn't want him to leave me, but we didn't have much choice. Luckily, the morning classes went by rather quickly and now I was at Potions with Lucius. Professor Slughorn had said we could have partners for the potion we were creating, so Lucius and I immediately paired up and sat at a desk at the back of the room.

From a little ways away, I could see Molly the red-head who had had a crush on Lucius looking at me with envious eyes. I ignored her and turned my attention to Lucius instead. He was carefully chopping up some sort of herb that I had already forgotten the name of and I was doing nothing. Something Lucius had said earlier was bugging me though and I intended to talk to him about it now.

Trying to figure out what kind of mood he was in, I leaned forward and asked in a tentative voice, "Lucius?" At my voice, Lucius immediately looked up and fixed me with a concerned gray stare. How he continued to cut up the herb without looking at what he was doing would always be a mystery to me. If I were him, I would've cut up one of my fingers by now!

Now that I had his full attention, I went on, "I was kind of wondering about something you said earlier when we were talking to Walden." Lucius' jaw tensed at the mention of Walden's name and his eyes went cold and hard. Looking like he wanted to hit something, he asked, "Oh really? Exactly what were you wondering?"

"You said you'd kill him if we weren't in the Great Hall. You didn't really mean that though, did you?" I asked hesitantly, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer to this or not. Lucius didn't seem like a murderer to me, but things weren't always as they appeared. Ever since I had met Tom and realized the terrible things he had taught the Death Eaters to do, I had figured out that ruthlessness was apparently a quality that most Slytherins possessed.

Without a doubt in his voice, Lucius replied a-matter-of-factly, "Of course I would have. Nobody touches you like that. And I mean absolutely nobody." Lucius started chopping up the herb more viciously. His knife hit the table with a constant, rhythmic thudding noise. I guess I should be glad that the herb was the victim of Lucius' anger and not me.

Deciding that maybe I should try a different tactic, I asked Lucius, "Well...what if I didn't want you to hurt Walden? What if I just wanted you to leave him alone?" Lucius ignored my question for a few minutes and continued to take out his vegence on the herb. Finally, he said without looking at me, "I can't leave him alone. Not after what he's done to you. He's dangerous, Cissa. I need to take care of him. I won't rest peacefully until I know you're safe."

I totally appreciated Lucius' protectiveness. I felt safe around him. But still...I didn't exactly want him to go killing Walden. I knew there was a simple killing curse. All it took was two simple words to end a life, make a heart stop beating, and send a soul to heaven or hell. I didn't want Lucius to do this now. As a matter of fact, I never wanted Lucius to use that damned curse.

"I'm fine, Lucius," I told him, weaving a strand of my hair around my finger as I watched Lucius chop the herb. "As long as you're with me, everything will be alright. Just tell me that you won't hurt Walden. Please?" Lucius' response came back sharp like the tip of a knife, "No! Can't you see just how fucking stupid that would be for me?"

I was kind of shocked by Lucius' outburst and immediately recoiled. A few people sitting at the tables around us gave us curious looks and whispered amongst themselves. I decided I didn't want to know what they were saying. Hopefully, they weren't going to get Lucius in trouble for swearing. You weren't really suppose to swear at Hogwarts, but everyone did it anyways.

A few seconds later after an awkward silence, Lucius set his knife down with a sigh and scooted his chair over so he was sitting closer to me. I eyed him warily for a few moments, hoping he had snapped out of his bad mood. When he spoke, it was obvious he was feeling regretful for what he had said to me earlier, "I'm so sorry for snapping at you earlier. That was totally uncalled for. Can you please forgive me?" Lucius looked up at me with honest, clear eyes.

I didn't even have to think about my response, "Of course I forgive you. It's okay. I've been a bit short and snappy myself lately anyways." It was funny how easy it was for me to forgive Lucius. I guess it was something about his honesty. I just had a gut feeling that Lucius was always being honest with me. With Walden, I had just had a wrong feeling about him from the beginning.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Lucius continued to ignore the herb sitting across from him and continued to chat with me. Of course, I had no problem with that at all. Looking deep into my eyes, Lucius said, "It's just that I get so angry when I think of Walden. I can't imagine anyone ever hurting you or touching you. I can't imagine my life without you now. I need to keep you safe."

If it weren't for the honestly I saw within Lucius' eyes, I definitely would've laughed and had said he was lying. After all, how could it be that someone cared for me so much? This was a kind of love I had never felt or experienced before. It was perfect and I was going to do everything within my power not to let it go.

"I don't know what I'd do without you in my life," I told Lucius quietly, completely forgetting that we were suppose to be creating a potion right now. "Before you...I was just kind of lost. I didn't know what I wanted in life. You won't ever leave me, will you?" It was something I was always paranoid about. After all, you always hear about boyfriends getting tired of their girlfriends and moving on to someone new. I never wanted that to happen to Lucius and me.

"Never. I'll be here with you the entire way," Lucius' words got lost and reverberated around and around in my head. Lucius leaned forward and rested his head on my shoulder so that he could stare up at me with big, clear gray eyes. It was obviously a little act of intimacy and I noticed more than one head in our direction.

The whispering didn't faze me at all. Hell, I was ready to let the whole world know that I loved Lucius if that would prevent anyone else from making a move on him. Yes, I know, I'm very possessive. However, Lucius is the best thing that ever happened to me, so how can you blame me for never ever wanting to let him go?

I snuggled a little closer against Lucius, who was still leaning on my shoulder, and ran my hands through that soft, blonde hair of his. It was silky smooth to the touch and shone in the light. I just wanted to get lost in that hair or bury my face in it and forget about Walden, forget about Potions, and forget about Tom Riddle and his band of Death Eaters...

"Mr. Malfoy and Miss Black, how is that potion coming?" a voice startled Lucius and me from our daydreaming. I immediately jerked my hands out of Lucius' hair and turned bright red while Lucius lazily removed his head from my shoulder. Giving Professor Slughorn a winning smile, Lucius replied, "Quite well, Sir. I've just about chopped up the rest of these roots." Lucius motioned towards the neglected herb lying far across the table from us.

Trying to conceal a smile, Professor Slughorn replied, "Very well. But just as a warning, I might have to separate you two if it becomes too much of a distraction for the class." With that, Professor Slughorn turned to the next table to see how the potion making was coming. As soon as he was gone, Lucius and I exchanged the smiles of two little love birds and then went back to finishing the potion for Professor Slughorn.

~ ~ ~ ~

The rest of the day went well without incident. I mostly daydreamed about Lucius during the next few classes and about how his touch sent a shiver down the back of my spine and about how his spine make my heart beat a little faster. There was no doubt about it anymore; I was certainly in love. Unfortunately, being love can make you do very stupid things sometimes. I would soon figure that out. It's a lesson everyone has to learn though and it's better to learn it sooner than later.

It was evening and I had been working on Arithmancy homework for the last hour or so in the Great Hall. I chose to work there because it felt safer than the Slytherin common room. I had kind of been on edge all day after the encounter with Walden. I shouldn't have been worried though. People were always by my side to take care of me.

True to her word, my sister had found me right after my classes were done for the day and had sat with me ever since. She was currently plowing through some reading for history while I puzzled over Arithmancy. I thought it was such a pointless subject. I mean, what good is it ever going to do me in the real world someday?

I was trying to figure out how to remember all the different postulates we were suppose to be memorizing when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my lower arm. It was so severe and sudden that I actually let out a little yelp of pain and attracted a few glances towards were Bella and I were sitting. At my noise, Bella gave me a look of disapproval before turning and giving the people staring at us a few friendly smiles. Thankfully, they all returned to their work.

Now that nobody was looking at us, Bella frowned at me and said, "You shouldn't draw attention to yourself when the Dark Lord calls us. But oh well, too late for that now. Come on, let's go meet him up at the common room." There was an excited smile on Bella's face and her eyes sparkled excitedly. I felt completely the opposite of her.

Staying right where I was sitting, I protested, "But I'm busy right now. I have Arithmancy homework to do and..." I let my sentence trail off. I had been about to say that I didn't want to go see Tom, but I figured it wouldn't do me any good to say that. Bellatrix would probably have considered that sentence a crime with the way she worshiped Tom.

Rolling her eyes at me, Bella pulled me to my feet and stuffed my Arithmancy homework away in my bag, "The homework can wait. Tom cannot. Besides, we're going to do something special tonight. We're going to do some real magic that's going to prepare us for the tasks Tom wants us to do out there in the muggle world someday!"

This obviously excited Bellatrix more than anything else had in the last week or so. To be honest, I didn't even remember seeing her this excited and happy in a long time. On the contrary, I was far from happy and excited though. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach and anxiety cut through me like a knife.

I certainly didn't like Tom's plans about what we were "going to do in the muggle world someday". From what I knew, his master plan was to take over the wizarding and muggle world by killing off all the muggles and muggle-born wizards. Tom wasn't actually going to make us kill today...right? Panic made my eyes go wide and made me snatch my hand away from Bella.

Giving me a curious look, Bella asked, "Hey, is something wrong, Cissy? Are you feeling okay?" I hesitated before speaking. I didn't want to tell Bella what I was afraid of right here and now, but I wasn't exactly going to get another opportunity. Since nobody but the Death Eaters were allowed to know of Tom and his group, I leaned forward and whispered quietly in Bella's ear, "He's not...um...going to make us kill anyone today, right?"

Bella rolled her eyes at me and said, "No, we're not going to learn the killing curse today. That's for a future lesson." Future lesson? My face paled and I now felt like I was going to be sick. Bella didn't notice that though. Instead, she tugged on my hand harder and said, "Hurry up, will you, Cissy? It's not good to keep the Dark Lord waiting. You know that."

I did indeed know that. Keeping the Dark Lord waiting would bring me down to my knees someday. But nevermind that now. Doing the only thing that I could do really, I took a deep breath and followed Bellatrix down the corridors, through the hallways, and into the Slytherin common room to await my imminent doom.