Voice of Love

10 | Patronus

Narcissa heard the dreaded knocking on the door, and knew Lucius Malfoy had arrived for their first tutoring session. She heard Druella hurrying to the door and her mother use the falsely sweet voice that was saved for honored guests.

"Do come in, dear. Please follow me and I will lead you to our library. Narcissa is already there waiting for you."

A couple moments later Narcissa saw Druella with her big fake smile walking into the library with a slightly bored looking blonde.

"You've got a beautiful library Lady Black," the blonde commented.

"Thank you, if you would like to borrow some of our books feel free to do so."

"How kind of you," Malfoy responded.

Druella stayed for a few moments to make sure Lucius was comfortable and everything was going smoothly before she closed the library door and left them alone. An awkward silence fell over the room, Lucius twirling his quill between his fingers and Narcissa resisting the urge to tap her foot, as it was unladylike.

"What subjects do you find yourself the worst at?" Malfoy asked, breaking the silence.

"I suppose I could improve on Defense Against the Dark Arts," Narcissa answered uncertainly.

"Alright, we can start there. We should head outside, we wouldn't want to blast one of the shelves off."

The two of them walked out of the house, Narcissa leading and Lucius closely following. She led them onto the Manor's grounds and carefully picked up her skirts to walk through the grass.

"Your skirts will get dirty anyway, save yourself the trouble," Lucius' deep voice rumbled near Narcissa's ear.

She gave a small jump and received a chuckle. She froze at the sound of his laughter. It made her feel so...happy. The youngest Black shook off the odd feeling of comfort and cheeriness. 

"Let's start off by learning how to cast a Patronus. Think of the happiest moment of your life and only focus on that thought. Now listen carefully as I demonstrate the wand movement and the correct pronunciation," Lucius ordered.

He raised his wand hand, aimed it at a faraway tree, and in a strong voice called out, "Expecto Patronum!"

A jet of blinding, silvery-blue, misty light shot out of the tip of his wand and took the form of what seemed to be a huge cat. The misty animal bounded in the air a couple of times. Lucius was wearing a funny look on his face, and he had forgotten to lower his hand.

"Is there a problem..?" Narcissa asked.

"My patronus...it used to be a peacock, and now it's a panther..." Lucius whispered.

Narcissa gave him a blank look.

"Let's just forget about what happened, why don't you have a turn?" Malfoy said.

She gave a half-shrug, raising her arm the way she saw Malfoy do it, and yelled in a clear voice, "Expecto Patronem!"

Nothing came out of the wand.

"It's pronounced 'Patronum,' and I don't think it took you half a second to think of something extremely happy, try again," Lucius said.

Narcissa's mouth formed a small O, and she raised her right arm once again and pointed it at the tree. Her mind flipped through different memories and landed on the day Augustus Rookwood had asked her to be his girlfriend. At first it worked and Narcissa felt happy, but when she remembered they weren't on speaking terms anymore, a wave of sadness washed over her. Shaking her head, Narcissa settled on her first day at Hogwarts. She was quite an intelligent girl and had given off an air of sophistication to her peers the moment she had stepped on the Hogwarts train.

Once Narcissa was sure she had a firm grasp on the memory, she yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

A feeble jet of misty light shot out of her wand. It was quite hard to tell what it was because of how weak the Patronus was. Narcissa squinted her eyes and saw the form of an elegant and sleek...panther. Curiously, Narcissa looked up at Lucius to find his hands buried in his face.

"Malfoy?" she asked, forgetting to be mean to him.

Although if she were being honest, she had dropped that demeanor long ago.

Lucius did not respond, his face still buried in his hands. Cautiously, Narcissa used Legilimens on him and slipped into his mind. The curiosity was just too much to bear.

How am I supposed to go on like this? How do I refrain from kissing her this whole summer and act like everything is fine? I'm lucky she doesn't know what the patronus means.

As quickly as she had entered, Narcissa exited his mind. Her cheeks were tinged a very deep red. Did Malfoy really fancy her, or was this some sort of twisted prank? But then again, Malfoy wasn't the type to pull pranks...

"Did you just do what I think you did?" Narcissa was brought out of her thoughts by Lucius' voice.

He was giving her a suspicious look, and Narcissa did everything she could to not have the blush creep onto her cheeks again.

"I don't know what you're talking about, mind explaining?" she asked in an innocent voice.

"Never mind then..." the blonde answered, not before giving her another suspicious look.

Narcissa merely raised an eyebrow. She was in Slytherin for Merlin's sake, did he really think he could find out if she was lying or not?

He gestured for Narcissa to follow him as they stalked back into the Manor. Before they could reach the door however, Lucius suddenly turned around with a strange look in his eyes and before she knew what he was doing, he had already placed his hands around her waist and pulled her close to him. Narcissa's eyes widened and her cheeks reddened more than was thought possible. The next thing she knew Lucius had locked his lips against her own and they were sharing a gentle yet passionate kiss. Warmth spread throughout Narcissa's whole body, down to her feet which left them tingling. She seemed to have forgotten that she only loved Augustus Rookwood in that moment, because she found herself wrapping her arms around Lucius' neck and trying to pull him closer to her still. For a long time the two had their lips against each other before finally letting go to catch their breaths.

Narcissa gave Lucius a small smile, her hair a little rumpled, her cheeks rosy, and her eyes shining with a new happiness she didn't think was possible.

With a new bond formed, the two decided to head back in before Druella got suspicious.

"All done?" Lady Black asked when she saw the two of them walk in. She assumed that the messy hair and rosy cheeks was due to a lot of practicing under the hot sun.

"Yes," Lucius replied.

"Thank you for tutoring my daughter, Mister Malfoy," she said.

"I should be thanking you. Have a wonderful rest of your afternoon," Lucius said.

He turned around and walked out of the Manor and past the Apparition points.