Author's Note: This is the sequel to my first Narcissa/Remus pairing, White Flower, Silver Moon. While writing WF,SM, I was asked by several people to make the ending A/U. Because I already knew how I wanted the story to end, I have appeased them by taking up where the first story left off.
A Night Without Stars is A/U, and takes place a few months after the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There are several HBP spoilers, so if you haven't read it, and don't want it spoiled, you probably shouldn't be reading this. Also, you WILL NOT understand this story unless you have read the prequel, White Flower, Silver Moon, so I would suggest you read that first. I'm not trying to promote my own stories; just trying to make it a little easier for you. ;-)
Once again, I will say that I do not own the characters, places, or themes of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. All plotlines, however, are original and of my own creation.
I hope here I satisfy everyone who said they wanted an A/U ending.
Happy reading.
It was so terribly cold
in the prison. The presence of dementors kept the fortress so icy
that one could hardly breathe for their chattering teeth. Nobody
could be assigned the post of doorkeeper, so there was a sign-in
sheet standing before a locked door, and a bin for placing one's
wand.
The woman who had come to visit stepped forward, but did not remove her cloak. It was far too cold for that. With one hand, which did not shake, she picked up the quill and wrote:
Visitor: Narcissa Black Malfoy. Age: 36. Visiting Prisoner: #46543. Lucius Abraxas Malfoy.
Her hand slipped a little as she wrote the last name, but was steady as she placed the quill on the table, withdrew her wand, and placed it into the bin.
A mechanical-sounding voice said, "One wand, twelve inches, maple, phoenix-feather core. Property of Narcissa Black Malfoy, age 36."
The thick iron door in front of her slowly opened. She tensed.
"Prisoner #46453, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, Cell Block 6, Cell 694."
She slipped through the iron door, wrapping her cloak even closer around her, and started down the long, thin hall. There were no dementors to be found; thankfully, they were kept away during a conjugal visit. But even their absence did nothing to warm the freezing hallways. She shivered.
She was thankful that she could not see the occupants of most of the cells. Many of them were lying in their beds, silent – hopefully sleeping, but more likely gone completely mad. There on the wall, she could see it. The tiny wooden plaque, still fresh after only a year compared to some of the plaques.
"Prisoner #46453. Lucius Abraxas Malfoy. Charges: Death Eater Activity, Breaking and Entering Ministry of Magic, Attempted Murder, Usage of Unforgivable Curses. Sentence: To Be Sentenced In Future."
It was two days before Lucius' trial. Narcissa was shaking from head to toe now. She knew that conviction was more than likely. She read the plaque once again.
He has done all these things, she thought, but he is still my husband.
She touched the icy bars of his cell, "Lucius!"
He was sitting in the corner of his cell, knees drawn up to his face, arms wrapped around them, rocking back and forth. When he heard her voice, he lifted his head, and his gray eyes flickered with life.
"Narcissa!" he croaked.
He crawled over to the bars, desperately weak, and thrust his hand through them. Narcissa grabbed it, kissed it over and over again.
He was not the Lucius she had last seen a year ago. His long silver-blonde hair was limp and scraggly, and he had grown so very thin. Tears filled her eyes when she remembered the handsome, confidant man she had married. She could see very little of him in this man before her.
Lucius' voice was raspy, "Draco – where is my son?"
Narcissa's blue eyes filled with tears.
"I tried, Lucius, I tried so very hard."
Lucius closed his eyes, "He is dead?"
"No!" Narcissa clung to his hand more firmly, "But he could not carry out his orders, Lucius, I knew he could not."
"Then – how can he not be dead?" Lucius whispered. "How could he fail the Dark Lord, and still be alive today?"
"It doesn't matter now," Narcissa replied, "He is alive, and he is well, but I do not know when I will see him again."
Lucius shook his head, "I will never see him again, that is sure and certain."
"There is – still a possibility – "
"No," Lucius shook his head again, "I'm done for, Narcissa. This is the end. The sentencing takes place two days from now, at the Ministry. The dementors will perform their kiss – and that will be that." He shuddered convulsively.
"We have to have hope," she said fiercely, "I'm not giving you up without a fight. I love you."
Lucius stared at her. They'd been married almost twenty years, and she'd barely aged a day. Her beautiful gossamer blonde hair had barely begun to gray, and she had no wrinkles on that youthful, beautiful face. Only her eyes showed the pain and hurt that she'd had to endure as of late.
He knew that time was running out. Soon it would be too late. He'd be worse than dead, and Narcissa – Narcissa would be an empty shell, devoid of memory. She would forget him, forget her son – forget everyone.
He swallowed, "There is something – I must tell you – before – before it all happens."
Her eyes widened, "What is it?"
He shook his head, "Not yet. Someone else is coming to see me. You'll have to wait outside while I talk to him. Then I will tell you everything."
"Lucius," she asked, "who is he?"
"Someone who can ensure your survival. Someone who can help Draco," he replied, "if he so chooses to. With Dumbledore dead, I don't see what our chances are. But you will be alone, Narcissa – and you will forget me."
"Never," she said fiercely, "I love you, Lucius."
He looked at her sadly, "You love me because you had no other choice."
Lucius watched in dread as Narcissa was escorted out by a dementor. She cast a terrified look back at him as she left – she would be escorted back in as soon as his next meeting was over. He slumped against the bars and closed his eyes.
How could it all have gone so terribly wrong? He hadn't wanted to do it – any of it. But Bellatrix had put him into a hole so deep, he could not claw his way out. He sunk deeper and deeper into the quagmire, until there was no hope left. She escaped from Azkaban right before he was escorted there. She – the more ambitious, the more deadly of the two – was still loose, while he, who had only done as he had been ordered, would die in two days' time.
The other door opened, and a man stepped in. Lucius had not seen him in twenty years. His hair was longer than it had been, and very gray. His eyes were still blue, but they looked faded. He was worn and sickly-looking. His clothes were ragged. Life had been even more cruel to him than Lucius had imagined.
"Remus Lupin," Lucius croaked, trying to stand and slipping.
The man stepped forward and offered his hand to help him to his feet. Lucius tried to look grateful, but the man's expressionless face was motionless. He took his hand back.
"You requested I see you, Lucius," he said formally.
"Yes," Lucius managed, "There is something I need to tell you – and I haven't much time left."
"If it's about your son, there is nothing I can do," Remus said, "The Ministry has a bounty on him and anyone else who was involved in Dumbledore's murder."
"My son did not kill Dumbledore," Lucius broke in.
"Be that as it may," Remus went on, "the Ministry has it on good authority that he would have, had Snape not broken in and killed him himself."
"Snape? Snape killed Dumbledore?" Lucius could not believe his ears.
Remus looked away, "There are also rumors that he was forced to do so because he made the Unbreakable Vow on the request of your wife."
"Narcissa?" Lucius could not believe his ears, "What did Narcissa know of it?"
"I cannot say," Remus replied simply. "We can't prove it, of course. And there is little evidence that she would even be tried, much less convicted, as an accomplice. A mother's love is a very powerful thing. Many in the Ministry know she did what she did to protect her son."
"Narcissa would do anything to save Draco's life," Lucius interrupted.
Remus looked at his hands, as if this conversation was costing him pain. "Your wife is very loyal to you, Lucius."
"Remus."
Remus looked up. Lucius was looking at him with pain-filled eyes.
"Twenty years ago – when you last were at my home – "
"Don't say anything," Remus interrupted, "There is nothing to be said."
"There is, and you must hear it," Lucius pleaded, "There is very little time to say it. And she must be protected – I will not be there to do it anymore. I have made a mess of things from the start."
He took a deep breath and told Remus everything: about Bellatrix and Rodolphus' agreements with the Dark Lord, about their plot to bring Lucius into their inner circle, about Bellatrix drinking the Polyjuice Potion and posing as Narcissa in Hogsmeade, and most importantly, about the Auralium Curse that had robbed Narcissa of every memory she'd ever had of how much she'd been in love with Remus Lupin.
When he finished, Remus' face was white.
"So you're saying – when you die – she'll remember NOTHING?"
Lucius nodded miserably, "She'll be alone in the world. No memories, nobody to understand what has happened to her. She needs you, Remus."
"She won't go to me," Remus muttered, "she won't even remember me. You stole that from her!"
"You have to understand," Lucius stammered, "The Dark Lord – "
But Remus was infuriated, "We were in love, and you took that away! You entered into a bribe with the Dark Lord, by accident, of course, but payment due, like it always is! And rather than give up your own life, you took away the memories of an innocent child. She was seventeen, Lucius!"
"Listen to me!" Lucius shrieked, "I know what I did. I'm not proud that I did it. What I'm asking you is if you can sacrifice your pride and look after her for me when I'm gone, or not."
Remus was silent.
"I know what you have been through," Lucius said softly, "The betrayal of your friend Peter Pettigrew. The deaths of Lily and James Potter. And last year – the death of Narcissa's cousin Sirius." He swallowed, knowing that his name was one a list of those held responsible for Sirius' death, "I know that you are currently seeing Narcissa's niece, Nymphadora Tonks – "
"No, I'm not," Remus interrupted, "We broke it off a month ago. She – she couldn't understand why I was so distant."
"I am responsible. I won't say I'm not," Lucius spoke quickly, "But Narcissa is innocent. Draco, too, is innocent."
"Innocent?" Remus asked, "He tried to kill Dumbledore."
"And he wouldn't have, would he, if his father hadn't been involved with the Death Eaters since before he was born!" Lucius replied tartly. "Look, there isn't any time left. Will you help her, or won't you?"
Remus looked at Lucius' pale, desperate face. He closed his eyes and imagined Narcissa at seventeen, the last time he'd seen her. That beautiful face, those sapphire eyes open, pleading, loving. Her innocence. Her loyalty.
Of course she never would have betrayed him. How stupid he had been to believe that. How could he never have questioned it from the start?
He opened his eyes and nodded, "I will look after her. I will try to help your son."
Lucius closed his eyes and smiled, relieved.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Remus nodded again.
"Now," Lucius said, businesslike, "I must tell Narcissa."
"You can't do that," Remus started, "You can't. She won't remember it anyway, when you're gone. Let her watch you die believing that she fell in love with you of her own accord, not because of some curse. She deserves that much."
A few minutes later, Narcissa was escorted back in. She started a little at the sight of the man in faded, tattered robes standing outside her husband's cell.
"Lucius," she murmured, dropping down beside him and taking his icy hand through the bars. She saw the man look away.
"I'm sorry," she said to him, "I don't believe we've been introduced."
If anything, this seemed to cause the man more pain.
"Narcissa," Lucius said, "this is a – a friend, of mine. Remus Lupin. You he taught Draco at Hogwarts one year." The man looked fearful, and Lucius hastily said, "Remus, my wife, Narcissa Black Malfoy."
Narcissa rose and held out her hand. Remus took it and squeezed it gently.
"Thank you for visiting my husband at this time," she said softly.
"Don't mention it, Mrs. Malfoy," Remus said just as quietly.
"Narcissa," Lucius said faintly, and she knelt beside him again, "There isn't much time left. I've asked Remus to look after you when – when I'm gone."
"You're not going anywhere," Narcissa's voice cracked, "I won't let you leave me."
"I wouldn't if I didn't have to," Lucius whispered, "You know that, right?"
Narcissa nodded, tears spilling on to her face.
"Don't cry," Lucius murmured, touching the smooth curve of her cheek.
Remus turned away again.
"You have to go now," Lucius told her, "It's time to leave."
"No," she cried, "I can't leave you."
"Remus," Lucius implored.
Remus leaned forward and helped Narcissa to her feet. She was sobbing now. Tears filled Lucius' eyes as he watched the two of them walk to the door.
"I'm so sorry, Narcissa," he choked, "I never meant for this to happen."