Chapter 9
Narcissa has been enjoying it at Sirius and Remus's flat, sure it's cramped, but she would rather be here than at the hell hole that's called 'the Malfoy manor'. Narcissa can't stop thinking about Lucius and what he's thinking, she can't stop thinking about whether or not they can find her and then they'll also find her cousins and the children she has adopted as her own. They don't know Narcissa has adopted them, but she has, she's adopted Remus, Evan, Pandora, James, Lily- Everyone really, except her cousins, they're hers by blood, the others are by choice.
Narcissa doesn't know much about the dark marks, she knows she doesn't have one, she knows they aren't trackers, she knows there is no real way to get rid of them, she knows they are made from the morsmorde spell, she knows Voldemort can summon his death eaters using the dark marks, and she knows they burn when being summoned. Okay, maybe she knew more than she thought she did. Regulus told her the plan he said how he's making his own side of war because neither side is good, neither side is trying to help everyone. He told Narcissa how he wants to save everyone he cares about, that includes Narcissa, Andy and Bella. He wants to save Andy and Bella, he knows Andy will come but Bella will need some leverage. Maybe it's because Narcissa misses her sisters and cousins, maybe it's because Regulus and Narcissa have always had a special bond, whatever the reason is, she agreed to help him.
Regulus had mentioned to her how he's been trying to figure out a different place to go, somewhere safer than Sirius and Remus's flat, somewhere where everyone could have their own space. Narcissa would love to have her own space because everyone is sleeping in the living room now besides Sirius, James and Remus they are all sleeping in Sirius and Remus's bedroom. Regulus was asleep on the floor with his head in Pandoras lap while she was reading. Narcissa has always loved Regulus and Pandoras friendship, the only friendship Narcissa has gotten close to that was her friendship with Alice, which was more than a friendship. Narcissa misses Alice every day, she misses Alices short hair that felt like silk under Narcissa's fingers, she misses getting lost in Alices beautiful brown eyes, she misses the small fights they'd have which always ended in them having sex, and she misses the times when Narcissa would cry to Alice about her sisters or family in general and Alice would comfort her.
Narcissa wonders where Alice is, how she's doing, if she's happy. Narcissa has only ever dated two people, Alice and Lucius, and the only one she was happy with was Alice. Narcissa thinks she will only ever be truly happy in a relationship with Alice. Narcissa has a plan. There were two reasons for Alice and Narcissa breaking up, one was because of the arranged marriage with Lucius, and the other was because of Narcissa's family. Narcissa knows Alice joined Dumbledore's side of the war, Narcissa also knows that Alice is stubborn but the one thing Alice doesn't fuck around with is love. Narcissa would like to think that part of Alice is still in love with Narcissa, but the other part of Narcissa knows she isn't. Narcissa knows that Regulus is having certain people pretend to be on certain sides of the war while the others pretend they are on no side, Narcissa thinks or hopes that she can convince Regulus to let her pretend to be on Dumbledore's side, then she might be able to recruit Alice.
A couple hours later is when Regulus wakes up, Narcissa hopes that she can convince Regulus to let her pretend to be on Dumbledore's side. Narcissa had made food for everyone just a couple minutes before Regulus woke up, Narcissa knew that Regulus would wake up at the smell of Earl grey tea being made, and he did. Narcissa walked over to Pandora and Regulus with two plates of eggs and bacon and a cup of Earl grey tea. Pandora put her book down and grabbed the plates and cup of tea. She gave one of the plates to Regulus including the tea and looked back at Narcissa. "Thank you! But you really didn't have to" Pandora smiled at her.
"I know but I wanted to" Narcissa smiled back and walked back into the kitchen to get everyone else breakfast.
Narcissa had to wait until Regulus was alone to suggest her plan to him, which was very hard for two reasons. The first one being that they are in a small flat that is currently housing twelve people, the second being the fact that Regulus is the leader of this plan and his constantly being asked questions, and the third being that Pandora is very overprotective of Regulus and only lets certain people around him at certain times, why? Narcissa didn't have an answer for that.
Narcissa finally found the perfect opportunity to talk to Regulus, or well Regulus came to her. She was outside of the apartment smoking a fag Remus had borrowed her and Regulus came outside. He looked confused on to why she was out here and then he saw the fag, or well Narcissa thinks he smelt it before he saw it but in whatever order, he realized she was smoking. Narcissa knows he has always hated the smell of smoke and always hated it when people he cared about smoked so she quickly put out the fag, she was almost done with it anyway.
Narcissa has always taken care of Reg, or well her family in general but it was Regulus she comforted most. Narcissa always felt a strange protectiveness at those younger than her, yeah, she still was protective of her older sisters but was far more protective of Regulus and Sirius. "What are you doing out her baby star?" Narcissa said and threw her fag into the road. When they were all younger Narcissa had made nicknames for her sisters and her two cousins, they weren't the most creative, but they were nicknames she made for the people she cared about, and people were too scared of her to use them. Regulus was baby star, Sirius was star dust, Andromeda was galaxy or sometimes favorite galaxy, and Bellatrix was Trixy or warrior.
Regulus shrugged and leaned against the door. "I needed a breath of fresh air"
Narcissa nodded. Her and Regulus have never been good in crowded places, they've always thought the energy was too high and it always made them anxious. They both stood there in silence, Regulus leaning against the door and Narcissa leaning against the wall by the door. Narcissa doesn't know why but she thought of the time her and Regulus were younger. Narcissa was in her room reading when Regulus walked in, she had heard yelling from downstairs and knew it was Bellatrix yelling at Sirius, when younger Regulus had hated people getting mad at him or his brother. This was before Regulus had transitioned so Narcissa put her book down and walked over to Regulus or at the time Rhea. "Hey, R it's okay" Narcissa remembers herself saying and hugging young Regulus. She ran her hands through the long hair and let Rhea-now Regulus- crumble into Narcissa's arms and cry. Regulus used to be much more open with his feelings with his feelings before Sirius ran away.
After a few minutes in comfortable silence that Regulus and Narcissa easily fell into, Narcissa decided that know would most likely be the only time to ask Regulus. "Hey baby star?" Regulus looked at her and nodded in a gesture for her to continue. "I have a question, and I understand if I can't do it but... I'd like to do it" Narcissa sighed and decided to ask. "I think a good addition to this side of the war would be Alice," Narcissa really didn't want to say what she was going to say next, but she had to. "and Frank" She sighed again and continued. "Alice is very stubborn and loyal, if you can get her to turn her loyalties to you, there's nothing she won't do. And as much as I hate to admit it, Frank has some strengths too. He is good on a broom and would be a nice spy" Narcissa looked down at her feet and waited for Regulus's response.
Narcissa knows Regulus enough to know he nodded, she doesn't have to look at Regulus to know what he's doing, they have a bond that's impossible to create and destroy. "I think that's a wonderful idea Cissa. I personally didn't know either of them very well, but I know you used to date Alice and Potter and Sirius know Frank. And Cissa, if it means that you will be happy by seeing her again, it's all the better reason to do it. I'll call a meeting once we get inside, and we will all discuss how they would benefit the war, if everyone agrees we will think of a plan to get them on our side"
Narcissa knows Regulus cares, she's known this since Regulus was born, she's known this since Regulus came crying to her because Bella had yelled at Sirius, and she's reminded by every look Regulus gives her and everyone else in that flat right now. Narcissa looks up and looks at Regulus, she smiles and says in a tone so soft and gentle it's practically a whisper. "Thank you" Regulus nods and holds out his hand for Narcissa to take, she takes it, and they walk back into the flat. They are instantly met with chaos.
Barty and Marlene are yelling at each other because Barty apparently stole Marlenes nail polish, Narcissa noticed that his nails were painted a dark green. Narcissa lets go of Regulus's hand and walks over to the two bickering teenagers. "Okay, enough you two" She placed a hand on both of their shoulders and pushed them away from each other. Marlene shot a glare at Barty and Barty grinned. Marlene lunged forward to Barty but didn't get anywhere close because Narcissa had already grabbed her arm and was dragging her over to sit down on the couch.
Regulus sighed and left to go gather everyone for the meeting. Once Evan had turned the corner of the hallway into the living room followed by Pandora Barty immediately ran to Evan and hugged him. Evan hugged back. "As much as I love the hugs, why?"
"McKinnon is going to murder me" Barty said dramatically. Narcissa is weirdly reminded of Sirius at some of Barty's antics.
Lily walked into the living room followed by Mary, James, Sirius, Remus and Regulus. "Oh Merlin, what did you do now Crouch?" Lily said as she sat down next to Marlene with Mary following. "He stole my nail polish" Marlene said, her arms crossed glaring at Barty.
"Theres no way you guys are fighting over nail polish" Remus scoffed and sat down on the armchair, and Sirius sat on his lap. Narcissa is very happy for Sirius yet also jealous. Not because she wants to date Remus, no she's as straight as a contorted Mulberry branch. She's jealous because she wants that to feel that love again, she wants her Alice back.
Regulus rolls his eyes and gestures for everyone to sit. "Yeah, well they are" They all had to wait to start the meeting because Dorcas was in the bathroom. She returned a couple moments later and sat down by Pandora, Evan and Barty. "Okay, this meeting is very important so get your heads out of your arses and focus" Regulus said giving sharp, pointed looks at Marlene and Barty, who both nodded. "Narcissa suggested a-"
"I agree" Interrupted Pandora, Evan, Sirius and Remus at the same time. Narcissa knew this people cared for her, but she never knew how much until now.
"Yes, we all love Narcissa, but I need to say what her suggestion was" Regulus said and Narcissa noticed the corners of his lips curl up slightly. "Her suggestion was two people she thinks would be beneficial to the war. Those two people are Alice Fortescue and Frank Longbottom"
That made both James and Sirius gasp. "Frank would be an awesome edition to this side of war! He's fast on a broom, and good at defensive spells, moons is also good but we all know that, and it also wouldn't hurt to have another defense person" Sirius said, obviously trying to convince Regulus.
"Shut the fuck up Sirius, I'm already on board with Cissa's plan but we need to know all of the ways those two would help us in this war and then discuss how to get them to join us" Regulus said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Narcissa thinks the only people who can tell that annoyance is herself, Sirius and... James. Hm, that's odd. "Narcissa had said how Alice is stubborn and loyal, Cissa said how if we can get Fortescue to trust us then nothing could stop her. She also said how Frank is good on a broom" he said looking around the group.
"I think that they would be excellent editions to the war and would assist us in the war and benefit our actions that are to come" James said, his brows furrowed in thought.
"When did Potter learn such big boy words?" Barty said which made Evan and Dorcas snicker.
"Shut it Bartemius. How would they benefit us, Potter?" Regulus said and crossed his arms.
"Well, Frank is really good at defense spells and potions, like Sirius had said, but he's also good in the sky, he's hard to see when flying, he is passionate with the things he cares about and he's very overprotective of those he cares about. He's already friends with me and Sirius and is very overprotective of us, and he cares about Alice-" That made Narcissa's blood fucking boil. "-so if she joined us, so would he"
Narcissa is not a jealous person, she has never been a jealous person, well that was until she found out Frank Longbottom existed, and then found out him and Alice became good friends. Regulus nodded. "Cissa, what about Alice"
Narcissa likes this shift in conversation, she could easily talk about Alice. "Well, as I said before, she's stubborn and loyal. Her stubbornness will be a problem at first but if we can get her on our side, her being stubborn would mean that she wouldn't back down, her loyalty also helps with that. She's kind, but she can use that to manipulate people, she can pretend as if she cares about you and that your friends and then it's like a switch flipped and everything is different. She's also very overprotective and will stop at nothing to protect those she cares about or used to care about. She's good at potions, which would help Pandora exponentially because from what I remember, she is the one who's focusing on potions in this operation"
Regulus had his arms crossed and was looking at the floor, lost in thought. After a moment he sighed. "Okay, here's what we're going to do..."