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Tom obviously held Lucius' life in his arms. If he wanted, he could torture him to death. Lucius could die right here and now in this room if I wasn't careful. If I pissed Tom off too much, he might get upset and take out his revenge on my lover. Obviously not wanting that to happen, I tried a different tactic with Tom, "Please let him be. I promise to stay away from him from now on. Besides, why is it hurting you? Us being a couple really shouldn't have any influence on you at all."

Giving me a lazy look out of the corner of his eye, Tom flicked his wand upwards and summoned, "Accio knife!" Two seconds later, a knife came whizzing into the room and dropped at Tom's feet. My heart did a backwards somersault in my chest as I stared at the knife. I had no idea what Tom had planned with it, but it obviously couldn't be too good.

Before I had a chance to ask what exactly Tom was planning on doing with the knife, he turned to me and explained, "You know, you're so much like Natasha. That's exactly what she said about not doing me any harm. But anyways, you wanted to see how Imperio works. Let me show you. You see, it takes over a person's mind. When someone is under the Imperius Curse, you can make them do whatever you want and they must obey you. There is no choice in the matter."

Looking down his nose at Lucius' crumpled body on the group, Tom took a few steps toward him and kicked him hard in the side. I let out a little shriek and tried to figure out what to do. Lucius groaned at Tom's kick, but didn't move. Still looking down at him, Tom ordered, "Get up you little bastard. I'm not done with you yet. You've got to pay the price when you disobey the Dark Lord."

I didn't think that Lucius could get up. He looked so weak and broken lying there crumpled on the ground. However, at Tom's orders, Lucius staggered to his feet and remained standing by leaning back against the old, dingy chair that was placed in front of the fireplace. Pointing at the knife lying at his feet, Tom ordered in a dominating tone, "Take it."

As if in a trance, Lucius leaned forward and took the knife in his hand. The blade glittered under the light and made me gasp slightly. I couldn't bear this much longer. This Imperius Curse was certainly an unforgivable curse. What exactly was Tom going to make Lucius do with that knife? Did I even want to know?

Still pointing his wand at Lucius' chest, Tom made another command, "Take the knife and I want you to write on your forearm this: 'I must learn to obey the Dark Lord.'" Lucius stared towards Tom for a long moment. At first, I thought he was going to disobey Tom. However, at the last minute, he pulled the sleeve to his robe upwards to reveal deadly white, pale skin.

There was something wrong with Lucius. His eyes were cloudy and all of his movements were jerky and very unnatural. If it wasn't for the curse he was under, I assumed he would still be lying on the floor unconscious. Lucius brought the knife up to his arm and in a swift movement, cut through the skin there and started carving out the words "I must learn to obey the Dark Lord."

After the "I" was carved into his flesh, blood started spilling everywhere. It trickled down his arm and made a puddle of blood on the ground. Nonetheless, Lucius continued to keep cutting. He didn't have a choice. Panicking, I ran to Lucius and tried to grab the knife out of Lucius' hand. To my surprise, he wouldn't let go of it. Instead, he snatched his arm away from me and turned his back to me.

"Lucius!" I cried out, feeling hurt and quite hysterical. "Lucius, it's just me. Let me help you. You're going to end up killing yourself!" At my words, a low chuckle sounded out from behind me. Turning slightly, I saw that Tom was grinning with mirth. Once his laughter subsided, Tom explained, "Don't you see, Narcissa? Lucius wants to do this. He must obey."

Becoming weak at the sight of all the blood and at my lover cutting his life away one chop at a time, I fell to my knees and cried a river of tears. I didn't think Lucius would ever finish carving those horrendous words onto his arm. But when he finally did, his whole arm and most of his body was covered in sticky almost black blood.

"Alright, I suppose we've had enough of that now," Tom decided, eying Lucius curiously. He brought his wand away and Lucius immediately fell to the ground with a crash, making blood go flying everywhere. Some landed on the couch, some pooled onto the floor, and even the pictures on the wall had droplets of blood dripping down them.

"Narcissa, have you met Nagini yet?" Tom asked me in an amused voice. Nagini? Who the hell was Nagini? I certainly hadn't heard of any Naginis. And to be honest, I didn't care about Nagini right now. All that mattered was that my boyfriend might be dying and there was just no way for me to save him. Looking up at Tom, I shook my head absentmindedly.

"Well then," Tom announced, "You're about to then." In a strange voice that sounded like he was speaking in a different language, Tom uttered a few unknown words. A few seconds later, a small snake appeared. He wasn't too big; probably only four feet long and an inch thick. Still though, I didn't like dangerous snakes anywhere near me or Lucius.

Laughing once more, Tom announced, "Nagini smells blood. I might as well just let him have a little taste of it. It would be unfair not to let him have a taste, don't you agree?" Before I had a chnace to tell Tom just how strongly I disagreed, Tom spoke in that strange language once more. Nagini slithered across the floor and started circling Lucius' fallen figure.

Oh god, what could I do now? I hated how I was so pathetic, weak, and worthless in this situation. I hadn't done a single fucking thing to help and now Lucius was gotten to get bitten because of me as well. This was all my fault and I had no idea what to do. I wished I had payed more attention in Charms. Maybe I could've learned something there to have protected Lucius.

Nagini drew closer and closer to Lucius. I could tell he was going to strike at any time. I held my breath as my heart hammered painfully against my rib cage. Just as the snake reared up, I said, "Oh god, please no..." Of course my cries didn't stop the snake from striking. The snake slashed his fangs into the tender skin of Lucius' thigh and sank his teeth down into the flesh beneath. Blood spurted out from the gash and a few droplets even landed on my wrist.

Deciding that this was enough, Tom said something in that strange language to Nagini and then looked over at me with boredom, "There you go, Narcissa. I'm all done with your pathetic little lover now. Maybe next time you two will think twice before attempting to disobey me and have sex right under my nose. If not...well, I can only say that the torture will be far worse next time."

With that said, Tom turned and swept off into the boys' dormitories. As soon as he was gone, I flew to Lucius' side and flipped him over onto his back. He was breathing very faintly, but he was the color of snow and his pulse was barely even there. Blood continued to trickle down from his arm, which also meant the life from his body was seeping away.

As I knelt by his side, the door to the common room clicked open. Shit! If it was someone like Bella or Walden, I was going to scream. Luckily though, it was only Severus. As soon as he stepped through the doorway, his eyes widened at seeing Lucius' bloody figure lying prone on the ground with me kneeling over him.

Severus was instantly by my side. Staring at Lucius in horror, Severus yanked up the sleeve of his robe higher and asked me quickly, "What the hell happened here?" I could barely speak because of the tears flooding my eyes, but somehow I managed to explain, "It was Tom. He said he had to punish me and Lucius for...um...almost having sex."

That wasn't something I normally would've shared, but I was too upset right now to really think about what I was saying. Severus didn't take it too badly anyways. He just nodded like it was something he would've assumed. Yanking his robe out of his wand, Severus pointed it at Lucius' arm and murmured a couple incantations as he waved the wand over Lucius' arm. The wand seemed to suck up the blood that was pooling across Lucius' arm and spilling all over. The spell left his skin looking drained, weak, and pretty much dead.

Lucius hadn't opened his eyes or spoken during all of this. All I could do was watch him and pray that he would open his eyes and let me look into their grayish beauty very soon. Once all the blood from his arm was gone, Severus turned to me, "That's really all we can do for now. I'm not sure exactly all the things Tom did to him, but believe me, I don't exactly want the details."

That was all good with me. No way could I explain what Tom had done to Lucius in a steady voice. My tears and sobs were all over the place and my hands were shaking. Frowning, I raised an eyebrow at Severus and said, "So what are we going to do now? Are you sure that's all we can do for him? What if he...what if he...?" I let my sentence trail off, unable to finish it.

Severus knew what I was going to say. Wrapping a tight arm around my shoulder (that for all the wrong reasons made me shiver with delight), Severus looked deep into my eyes with his dark ones and said, "Narcissa, Lucius is going to be okay. There is no need to think like that. Right now, I'm going to take him up into the dormitory and get him into a bed. As soon as he awakes, there is a rejuvenating potion I can whip up for him. It's the least I can do, but I think it will be enough."

Severus' plan sounded good and all, but I didn't want to leave Lucius. I didn't want him out of my sight ever again. Frowning slightly, I said, "I want to come with him though. I can't leave him." A muscle by Severus' mouth seemed to twitch in irritation at my words. Hm, that was strange. I wondered what had caused that.

Finally, Severus replied, "You have to leave him. Don't tell me that you'd take any chances that this could happen again. You wouldn't, would you? I mean, Tom will almost certainly kill him next time if he catches you two together. How would you like to know that you had caused Lucius Malfoy's death, hm? You'd be guilty of murder for the rest of your life."

Whoa, that was intense. I didn't get why Severus had suddenly turned tables on me. Yeah, I totally got his point. I mean, I supposed I sort of agreed with him too. I did need to stay away from Lucius. But seriously, there had been no reason for him to be so harsh! Not meeting his eyes, I said in a defeated voice, "I'll stay away from Lucius. I won't see him again." Another tear leaked out of my eye.

Severus softened slightly at my words and tightened his arm around my shoulders in a comforting manner, "I know you won't. You love him too much to let anything like that happen to him. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so abrupt." Severus sounded sorry, but did he say that I loved him too much in almost a disdainful tone? Maybe I was starting to imagine things in my hysteria.

Deep in my soul, I knew this was the last time I should ever be this close up to Lucius. The thought made my heart twist and knot up painfully. How could I leave him? How could I let him go? I wasn't really sure. All I knew was that it was a necessity that I must follow through on. Taking a deep, shuddering gasp, I leaned down and kissed Lucius' mouth for the last time. His lips were as soft as ever, but they were cold and felt lifeless under my carress. Yes, I certainly had to let him go. This was all my fault.

Blinking back tears, I hurried to stumble to my feet. If I stayed her much longer, I would do something rash or I would cling to Lucius and never let him go. However, before entering the girls' dormitories, I looked back at Severus and said in a weak voice, "You'll help him, right? You'll do everything to save his life. And you'll take good care of him..." my sentence ended with a loud sob.

"I promise," Severus replied, looking deeply into my eyes as he swept both arms under Lucius' body to raise him from the ground. As he reached the dormitory as well, Severus added, "You know I keep my promises, Narcissa. I would never lie to you. I will get Lucius restored to his proper health sooner than later. But do your part and stay away from him, alright?"

I couldn't hear those words another time. They were killing me. Nodding, I turned and dashed into the dormitory. Tears clouded my vision once I was inside and as I hurried down the carpet strip in the middle of the room that separated the rows of beds, I accidentally knocked into something hard. Not bothering to see what it was, I continued on my way and didn't stop until I had reached my bed. Unfortunately, when I did reach it, a surprise was waiting for me. And sadly, it was not Natasha occupying it this time.