It had nearly been a month since Lucius had pulled that horrific stunt on Narcissa. She seemed to be struck with luck this year, given the fact that it had been an ideal final year so far.
Here’s an idea of what it had been like for her. The night that Lucius had left her on the staircase, he never returned. That wicked man. She had been up all night, biting her nails to the core and trying to think of something, anything, to do. Her thoughts kept melting into each other, changing from vindictive, to helpless, to angry.
Eventually by morning, whatever enchantment Lucius had cast had finally began to wear off. As soon as the distance had become pragmatic, Narcissa had jumped and ran as far away from the staircase as possible, her wits traumatized. Still clueless about the password for the common room, she’d proceeded into the Great Hall, awaiting the golden moment of breakfast.
It took nearly an hour until people began filling the Great Hall.
“Cissy!” came a high-pitched voice from across the hall. Hurried footsteps grew louder and louder, moving in her direction. Narcissa was far too dazed and fatigued to notice Nixie and Vesper approaching her.
“Oh dear,” Vesper muttered, covering her mouth. “Come on, Narcissa, you need to wash up.”
Without saying a word, they all made their way to the girl’s lavatory, which was thankfully empty. Narcissa splashed her face with cold, gratifying water, her eyes widening a bit at the sudden chill. She turned to face Nixie and Vesper, who were staring at her pitifully.
“Please you two, don’t treat me as if I’m a patient,” Narcissa snapped.
Her friends didn’t take her sudden outburst to heart. Instead they asked, “What on earth happened last night? Why didn’t you ever come back to the common room?”
At that, Narcissa did actually burst into tears. Luckily for her, it was in front of the two people she trusted most in the world, who rushed over and embraced her.
“Th-that wretched M-Malfoy!” she cried, and between sobs, went on to tell her friends about the dreadful night. They went on to gasp after almost every sentence, and she responded with a teary “I know” before continuing on.
“The nerve of that boy!” Vesper yelled, outraged. “You’re not just going to let him get away with it are you?”
“Of course not!” Narcissa exclaimed, blowing her nose. “But I’m not going to do anything drastic right away either. Honestly, I’m going to lay low and think about it. I want him to suffer as badly as I did. And besides, he’s going to have his guard up and ready, and I want to get him back when he least expects it.”
She threw her crumbled tissue on the ground and strutted out, Nixie and Vesper scurrying behind her hurriedly.
To make her day even worse, Narcissa just happened to have Lucius in every class. She first noticed him in Transfiguration. When he turned and snickered at her disheveled hair and baggy eyes, it took all of Narcissa’s strength to keep her from cursing him. Next, she came across him in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, and finally, Potions.
And here she found herself, a month later, sitting skittishly in Ancient Runes, with a cauldron full of fortune. Or so she sinuated. Seeing Lucius everyday made her boil with rage stronger than the day before, reminding her of that terrible night. She’d spent many more countless nights lying awake with Nixie and Vesper, trying to think of the perfect plan that would humiliate Lucius Malfoy.
Just as the Ancient Runes professor, Gregory Graphold, turned his back to the class, Narcissa pulled out the scribbled piece of paper she’d been working on.
Target: Lucius Malfoy a.k.a. Blonde Beast
Purpose: REVENGE
What he values most: pride, blood status, quidditch
Target value: ALL
She’d been working on this piece of paper for weeks now, stressing more than necessary. At first, she had been indecisive about how to humiliate him. Rather than choosing one aspect to offend, she had finally decided to structure out her plan so she could insult every bit of him that she could.
Vesper sat in front of her, doodling on the empty space beside her notes. Nixie sat to her left, conspicuously chewing a packed of droobles. She was dying to tell them about her plan, and she didn’t want to wait till class was over.
She kicked Vesper, who yelped loudly, and abruptly covered her mouth, mortified to have made such a noise. Narcissa bit her lip to keep from laughing, but the damage was done.
“Do you need to be excused, Ms. Hale?” Professor Graphold asked, his eyebrows arching.
“I’m sorry, Professor, I-I just had an epiphany.”
“Do share, will you?” the professor asked, taking a seat.
“Oh I’d rather not,” she breathed slowly, turning red.
“I insist.”
“Erm…well…I just realized I desperately need the loo,” she said quickly, biting her lip as soon as the words escaped her mouth.
“Would you like me to escort you?” came a taunting voice. Vesper turned to see none other than Lucius Malfoy’s cronnie, Dmitri Amador, flashing a cocky grin in her direction. Mortified, she faced the front, flushed by the comment. The classroom filled with laughter.
After giving Dmitri a disapproving look, Professor Graphold turned to Vesper, sighing, “Very well, Ms. Hale, I believe you’ve earned your leave.”
Vesper stood up too eagerly and left the classroom, but not before giving Narcissa the I’ll-deal-with-you-later look. Narcissa swelled up with guilt. She looked over at Nixie, only to find her silently laughing hysterically.
Vesper returned quickly, her face maintained and her expression unreadable. As Vesper quietly closed the door, Narcissa turned to the back and accidently caught Lucius’s icy stare. Though his eyes sent chills down her back, she continued glaring at him until he turned away. Wretched beast, she thought.
“Feel better, Ms. Hale?” Dmitri whispered as Vesper passed by.
Once again, her cheeks turned a deep red as she made her way over to her seat. She turned and glared deeply at Narcissa before returning to her notes.
“Vesper, I’m so sorry!” Narcissa whispered apologetically into her ear, hiding her smile. “I didn’t mean to kick you that hard. I was just trying to get your attention.”
“Well you’re not the only one who got my attention, isn’t that right?” Vesper muttered angrily, keeping her voice down to a mere grumble.
“I was just trying to show you this,” Narcissa explained, handing over her jotted plan.
Vesper examined it for a few moments, her eyes widening when catching the “ALL!” part. She waited till the time was right, then passed it over to Nixie, who was smiling eagerly. She snatched it and scanned over it, giggling excitedly.
Professor Graphold, who was at the moment writing on the board, paused and added, “Once again, the term Ehwaz is not to be confused with the term Eihwaz. Who can tell me the meaning of Ehwaz? Anyone? Yes, Ms. Fosner?”
“Ehnaz means Partnership,” answered Andrianna Fosner, a Ravenclaw.
“Muggle-borns,” whispered Nixie, referring to Andrianna. “Always need attention.”
“Excellent, Ms. Fosner,” declared the professor. Five points to Ravenclaw. Now who can give me the meaning of Eihwaz?”
This time, it was Vesper’s hand that shot up in the air.
“Yes, Ms. Hale? Another epiphany?”
“Eihwaz, Professor, means Defence,” Vesper said proudly, disregarding his comment as a few people snickered.
“Well done, Ms. Hale. Five points to Slytherin. It seems we have some competition in this class.”
“Yes we do,” smiled Vesper, her smug look directed towards Andrianna, who rolled her eyes dramatically.
Professor Graphold turned back to the board when a high pitched voice suddenly interrupted.
“Excuse me, Professor.” It was the one and only vile Cilia Hormitch, the Head Girl of Slytherin who had reported Narcissa on the Hogwarts Express. She flipped her short blonde hair out of her face before saying,” I couldn’t help but notice that Nixie and her friends are passing notes in class.”
Narcissa’s jaw tightened. What the bloody hell was wrong with this stupid girl? Could she never get over the fact that her boyfriend had left her for Narcissa in their third year? And the sad part was, Narcissa never even liked him! She’d told him straightaway that she had no interest in him and that he should go back to Cilia. She had even explained all this to Cilia, but that hadn’t made a difference. Cilia still blamed her to this day.
“Are you passing notes in my class ladies?” Professor Graphold asked, eyeing the three culprits.
Nixie was tongue-tied, Narcissa was burning with anger, and Vesper, well Vesper actually looked like she had it all together.
“Professor,” Vesper started, “Nixie was simply lending me her notebook so I could copy down the notes I’d missed.”
“Thank you, Ms. Hale,” Professor Graphold said, buying her story. “Ms. Hormitch, I’d appreciate it if you would pay attention to my class rather than my students. You may be Head Girl, but leave your patronizing for while you’re on prefect duty.”
“In short,” said Nixie, turning to face Cilia, “that means get your head out of your fat arse.”
The class erupted in laughter.
“Ms. Keating!” Professor Graphold yelled, slamming his hand on the table. “Five points from Slytherin.”
“Damn,” Nixie whispered.
“Well that was an interesting class,” Vesper laughed as they took a walk around the school grounds before Potions. The soft breeze of October had finally reached Hogwarts. The girls made their way through an endless fiery ocean of leaves, oblivious to the crackling sound of autumn that lay beneath their feet.
“Yeah, about that,” Nixie said guiltily, biting her lips. “Sorry for losing those five points you earned.”
“Oh it’s alright,” Vesper motioned with the wave of her hand. “Besides, it was so worth seeing the look on Hormitch’s face.”
“You know if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Dmitri has a thing for you, Vesper,” Nixie said, her face enlightened.
“Exactly what I was thinking, “Narcissa giggled, her lips slipping into a grin.
“Dmitri? Dmitri Amador? A thing for me?” Vesper exclaimed skeptically.
“Didn’t you see the way he was teasing you?” Nixie added.
“No thanks to Ms. Black’s kick over here,” Vesper said pessimistically.
Narcissa scrunched her face guiltily. “I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”
“Anyways,” Vesper said, brushing off Narcissa’s apology. “I’ve been thinking, and I have a few ideas about getting back at Malfoy.”
“Let’s hear them then,” Nixie said, jumping excitedly.
“I’ll tell you all about them in the common room tonight.”
“Tonight?” Narcissa complained. “Honestly, Vesper, I’m not as patient as you are. I can’t wait that long.”
“Consider this payback for that kick in class,” Vesper teased as Narcissa glared at her. After a few moments of silence, she added, “They’re quite amazing ideas actually. You’re going to love them.”
A/N: I'm so terribly sorry for taking forever to update! Life just got in the way I suppose. But nevermind that, I'm back, and excited to hear your thoughts on this chapter! I tried to portray Narcissa's friends more clearly, to show them all interacting with one another in the atmosphere of a classroom. I would love to read some fantastic reviews, so please, feel free to share your ideas and thoughts!
Do you think a romance will bloom between Dmitri and Vesper?
What do you think Vesper's plan is?
Write a Review Wicked Lies, Wicked Love: Epiphany, Epiphany, Epiphany
Printer Friendly Version
