Sorry to have been absent for so long! Thank you to all still reading, and I hope you enjoy this latest instalment.

Disclaimer: Simply put: I own nothing.

Chapter 40

A month passed and, for most people, what happened to cause Narcissa's "terrible fall" remained a mystery. For a few weeks she was particularly famous around school and through the wizarding community; she was sent flowers by many of the noble families and went home on two weekends to aid her recuperation. Some of the teachers were gentle with her, extending the deadlines on her assessments and homework, and refusing to call on her in class. Floss invented clever ways to arrange her mistress's hair to hide the bandage while it was still necessarily in place – Lady Black was thrilled that the healing could be achieved without damaging the aesthetics of her pretty youngest daughter.

Overtime her skull healed, but her mind was not so easily mended. Despite Madame' Pomfrey's prediction, some of Narcissa's memory loss was more long term. She could not remember the evening of the accident, but neither could she truly recall the incidents of Slughorn's party – a significant event from weeks before her fall. People told her of things that she should know, but had forgotten and she took care to remember them so that she might not be treated as invalid for so long. She also made pains not to take advantage of the concessions her teachers made for her, though this took a lot of effort. The blow to her head seemed to have slowed her mind somewhat, and her wits, which had once been quick and true, could be uncomfortably sluggish.

For three weeks she accepted the advice that all side effects (except, perhaps, for the short term memory loss) would quickly fade. By the fourth she was concerned that her mental capabilities could be permanently altered, and made an appointment with Madame Pomfrey to have the nurse check on her progress.

"Come on in Miss Black, how are you doing today?" It was Saturday morning, and the Matron ushered the first year into her office at the end of the long ward. Both ladies took seats, and Narcissa took a steadying breath as she prepared to admit a fear that had been playing on her mind for over a week.

"I'm well thank you, and I hope you are too," the elder witch nodded an affirmation "but the reason I wanted to speak to you is because I feel like some of the side effects are taking longer than we thought to ware off – other than the memory issue."

Madame Pomfrey hummed out a noise of consideration, too well trained to let either disbelief or alarm show on her face or in her manner. "Well, we've noted down the side effects you noticed at the start of your recovery. Which ones still seem to be giving you a bit of trouble?"

"It's mostly my… well my intelligence. I do remember what it felt like to be within my head before the incident and now… to put it bluntly, I feel dull. It's frustrating, my work takes longer than it should, I can't process things with much efficiency, I find myself getting overwhelmed during witty conversations…"

Madame Pomfrey made her thoughtful noise again. "I'll run some scans and see if they uncover anything to explain this. Perhaps you could call your house elf to unpin your hair while I prepare to record the diagnostics?"

Narcissa smiled gratefully and with new hope that a solution could be found, but shook her head to calling Floss. "That's alright, I can manage – I didn't want to unduly alarm my family."

"Quite right. Get to then." The medi-witch turned to a cabinet to prepare the scan equipment, and Narcissa hastened to uncoil her hair and remove all the grips that had been holding it up. She glanced around the room as she did so, noting its compact proportions and bright, clean air of competence, as well as the recognizable smell of medicine and cleanliness.

Soon the Matron was moving her wand with deliberation over all planes of Narcissa's head, and using her free hand to note down the information the wand seemed to somehow offer up. Narcissa was glad when the scan ended, if only because of the mild discomfort that came with staying perfectly still. Madame Pomfrey was beginning to explain the process of comparing the results of each scan to the results that could typically be expected from a person in full health, and that this could take a few days for her to work out around her other duties, when Marius burst through the door.

Although annoyed that he would show up like this when she deliberately told him that she would be generically 'busy' this morning, the look of outrage on Madame Pomfrey's obliged Narcissa not to mind, and to take his side.

"I'm so sorry Madame Pomfrey, I quite forgot the time I had agreed to meet Marius – I can't blame him for worrying about me when I was late."

The Matron huffed her disapproval, but sent Marius out with a look and promptly concluded that she would let Miss Black know of the results as soon as possible. Narcissa thanked the woman graciously, and headed out of the office to find her troublesome chum. She found him right outside, a guilty look on his sweet face.

"I'm sorry… I didn't have a right to come barging in there. But no-one had seen you all morning, and I was worried!" he defended himself well; sometimes it was hard to see why Marius was suited to Slytherin, but the way he could wheedle his way out of trouble – and wrap people around his little finger – showed where he belonged. "Besides, I had a feeling this injury was more serious than you were letting on… I mean, it would have to be, for you to miss the try outs because of it!"

"Oh Marius, I told you I was sorry about that!"

"You know I'm only teasing – although you are the best lucky charm a gent could have… I doubt you could've gotten me onto the team this year."

"There's always next time…"

"Sure, if Malfoy doesn't use his influence to keep me off."

Narcissa was pulled up short, half way down the corridor they had been traversing. "Would he do that?"

Marius scoffed, "Ha, I wouldn't put it past him. He's basically been confirmed as head chaser, he's sure to be Captain when Mason leaves next year."

"You don't know that, he's still young to be Captain. And I don't know if you've noticed, but he seems to care a lot about quidditch – he wouldn't jeopardise the team!"

"Oh really?" Marius gave Narcissa a disbelieving look but she kept her earnest expression. "He hates my Cissy: when we were finally allowed to visit you in the Hospital Wing, he was always already there, and he'd glare at me from across the bed – only pausing to cast these creepy, obsessive looks at you – while you were just lying there unconscious!"

"I still think it's sweet that he stayed there the whole time – "

Marius' face transformed into a scowl. "Narcissa, I told you what he did, about that night at the party, and how hurt you were. You were angry with him before this happened, you didn't want him around any more – and he should have respected that!"

"I know what you told me, and I believe you. But despite of the facts that you've reminded me of, it's hard to conjure up that feeling again. I don't remember being cross – or I sort of do… but I feel no connection to that emotion. Maybe this is the perfect opportunity to move on. He's been very kind to me while I've been recovering too."

"Narcissa – "

Marius' exclamation was cut off by Amelia, who had sped down the stairs when she had seen them in order to remind them of their picnic plans for this lunchtime. The three continued down the corridor together, chatting about nothing in particular, while Marius' mind cogitated on all that Narcissa had said.