Amortentia

Chapter Eight

Jenna whispered, "She's got a point there,"

"Now isn't the time, Cosette," Cygnus whispered back.

"Could we have a moment alone?" asked Lucius.

   Jenna shifted uncomfortably at the thought of leaving him alone with Narcissa. Her mother noticed this and gave her a comforting smile. She could protect herself. Cygnus stood and offered an arm to both of his girls. Lucius watched the trio leave before continuing.

"Cissa,"

"Don't call me that," her voice shook slightly.

  His heart shattered. He couldn't remember the last time he called her anything other than Cissa. What was he expecting? He had put himself in this situation.

"When did this happen?"

"Draco's birthday, I found out the day you asked for the annulment," Narcissa explained.

Lucius felt himself smile at the memory. Too much champagne had led to an incredible night of pleasure. He will never understand how no one in the manor heard them that night. Narcissa was never the silent type.

"Get your mind out of the bedroom,"

  He quickly noted how detached she was in the moment. Narcissa had taken pride in her past pregnancies, upon reaching a safe point, of course. She hardly touched her growing womb. It was something she had done every minute of every day with her past pregnancies.

"Narcissa, I'm sorry,"

________________________________

"He apologized?"

"What for?"

Jenna huffed, "If you two would be quiet, I could tell you," she pushed herself further against the crack of the door.

"Ara, are you alright? Ever since your separation from Brooks, you have been rather unhappy," Druella revealed.

  She watched as Jenna's body tensed, and she slowly raised herself off of the floor. Cygnus swirled his fire whiskey in his cup and thought of being anywhere else but here.

"Why does everyone say that?" demanded Jenna.

"Possibly, because it's true," suggested Cygnus.

"I don't understand. One moment we are talking about Lucius and Narcissa, and now, we are talking about my relationship? How on earth does that happen?"

Druella took both of her hands in her own, "You two were happy and in love. It's true, regardless of what you say. What you two shared was an uncommon bond. How do you decide to end something like that?"

She sighed, "When you love someone so much that you can't bear it," Jenna nervously bit her lip. "And know that you can't give them something they have waited their whole life for, it seems right. Why would you lead them on?"

"Whatever do you mean, Cosette?" Cygnus guided them away from the sitting room and into the parlor.

  He grabbed his wife and sat her near the warm fireplace. Druella grew exceptionally cold during the winter, and he hated to see her shiver. His granddaughter paced in front of the window.

"Arabella, what is it?" Druella grasped his hand for comfort.

"You two have to promise not to tell mother and father. I will tell them. I just haven't found the right moment. No one, not even Draco or Elliot, knows about this," her puppy dog eyes pulled at Cygnus's heart in a way he never thought possible.

"What happened?" Cygnus asked, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. Lucius and Narcissa could hear from where they were sitting. He couldn't alarm them.

"Remember last year when I placed that protection spell on you?" Jenna watched them nod their heads. "The spell required advanced ingredients that I didn't have lying around and had to travel to receive. One of them was water from a hidden sea, protected by a powerful sea nymph,"

"What did you do?" Druella's tone was deadly.

  She felt his hand tighten against hers in an attempt to calm her. They both knew it was too late for that. Jenna gulped, knowing this wasn't going to end well for her.

"It's not what I did!" Jenna squeaked. "It's what she did. To retrieve the water, Serena picks something to take from you. I thought she had taken some of my magic, but a couple of months ago, I was proven wrong,"

"Around the time you broke things off with Brooks?" asked Cygnus.

The younger woman nodded, "Brooks comes from a different lifestyle than we do. His family was close. He grew up with many siblings and cousins, he said half the time they all viewed the other as siblings. There was no other label. He wanted a family of his own with the same dynamic," a small tear ran down her round cheek.

"Oh, Ara!" Druella gasped.

  She walked over to her granddaughter and practically pulled her into her lap. She ran her fingers through her soft hair and whispered soothing words into her ear. Druella didn't need to hear the rest and already knew what was taken from her beautiful granddaughter.

_______________________________

  Narcissa slowly pushed away from the warm embrace of her husband. He pressed his forehead against her own and squeezed her tighter. She missed this feeling. The feeling of being loved and held by the person who loved you most, but she wasn't that to Lucius any longer.

Reality settled in, and she placed a hand on his chest, "Lucius, we can't,"

  A tear ran down her cheek at the thought of letting him go all over again. Lucius pulled her to him again and slowly fell to his knees. He pushed his face into her abdomen and began to cry. She ran her hand through his platinum blonde hair and allowed herself to cry as well.

"I'm so sorry, Narcissa. I didn't mean it,"

"If you didn't mean to, then why did you?" Her husband shook his head and carefully stood again.

"I'm sorry," with one last look, Lucius stepped into the fire place and was gone in a flash. Narcissa blinked, unable to comprehend how fast the events from the past hour had happened. Did Lucius Malfoy still love her?