Omnia Mors Perimit

After Draco had gone to bed, Narcissa poured two glasses of wine and handed one to her husband. "Darling, I cannot help the impression that we're short of a servant."

He sipped his drink, hoping she wouldn't notice his uneasiness. "Are we?"

"I think we are, yes. More precisely - you are. Or have you seen Dobby lately?"

"I'm happy to see as little of him as possible, my dear."

She smiled and strolled over to sit down on his lap, playing with a strand of his hair. He would have been pleased with such a display of affection, but he had the distinct feeling that she was up to something; there was a certain sparkle in her eye, her voice teasing in a fashion that didn't seem to lead to the exchange of caresses. "I have asked the other house-elves, and guess what?"

This wasn't good. The opposite of good, actually. "Hmm?"

"They pressed their hands to their mouths and suppressed crying."

"Did they now?"

"They did in fact, yes. Strange, don't you think?"

"Very, my love."

"So I called for Elsy and asked her. She's not the hysterical type. Still, she was very evasive, acting as if she was bound by some secret. Which is strange as well, isn't it? I'm her mistress, she's supposed to keep my secrets, so it is hard for me to imagine what she was up to, unless..." She bowed over and nibbled on his earlobe. Unfortunately, he knew his wife far too well to believe that she'd leave it at that and move on to more delightful issues. Her hands glided up his sides to cup his face, making him look straight into her eyes. "Unless they're all protecting their master's secrets, wouldn't you agree?"

"Would you be very cross with me if I told you that I really, really don't want to discuss this?"

She tightened her grip. "Just tell me that you haven't killed him."

"Cissa -"

She let go and moved away from him. "I know he's a pain in the back, but still, Lucius! You cannot dispose of our servants like that!"

"I have not killed him! I should have though, faithless little bastard that he is!"

"Is - well, that's good." She brushed a kiss on his forehead. "He'll learn. I'm sure he will. All he needs is a little correction here and there, and in time he'll be the perfect servant, like his parents. Give him time, mon amour."

"That one will never be up to any good, honey."

"Where is he, Lucius? Two weeks imprisonment in the dungeons ought to suffice."

"He's not in the dungeons."

"So where is he?"

"I haven't got a clue. I - I set him free."

She laughed out loud. "You did what?"

"I gave him clothes."

"But why did you do that? Oh dear! Ziggy will be so upset! Now I get all the crying, gee!"

"He was absolutely useless, Cissa. He was worse than useless - breaking anything he'd take in his hand. Boy, the little idiot will someday forget his own head! And what's most - he is a traitor, an abominable little cheat!"

She made him tell the whole story, inevitably. She could do that, she was excellent in making him do whatever she wanted, even when he'd have given anything to drop it like now. He gave in bit by bit, only confessing what he ought to, to remain consistent, but she was shrewd. She knew just what questions she had to ask, finally getting to the part which was worst.

"Diary? What diary?"

"I'm not sure... All I know is that it contained instructions to open the Chamber of Secrets."

She laughed incredulously. "Get out of here!"

"No, I'm afraid not. I got it from - him - and you know I had to get rid of it, with all those raids last summer."

"Hang on, hang on. So - are you telling me that the Chamber of Secrets has truly been opened? I thought it was a sham! And - you had your hands in it?!"

"It could impossibly be proven to me though!"

She had long got up from his lap to sit on the opposite armchair, but now she was pacing up and down, looking infuriated. There were but two people in the world that Lucius could be scared of, for entirely different reasons, and one of them was dead, hopefully. The other one he loved madly, devotedly, and she scowled at him right now.

"You've got to help me here, Lucius, I don't mean to get you wrong. You brought that - diary - the means to open the Chamber of Secrets - into the very school that your own son is attending?!"

"Listen, Cissa -"

"Are you out of your head?!"

"Draco was never in any danger!"

"What?! What sort of monster is in the Chamber? Tell me now, Lucius!"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure - but listen, Cissa, listen - the monster goes for mudbloods only, it -"

"You just said that you don't even know for sure what kind of beast it is, and now you think I'll believe that it would make a distinction between muggleborns and purebloods?! What about that Weasley girl - she is a pureblood, too!"

"The Weasleys are a bunch of blood traitors and -"

"Oh, bite your tongue, Lucius! Not only does the beast distinguish between different bloodlines - it can also sniff out the parents' Weltanschauung?!"

"Please, Narcissa, hear me out! I gave the girl the diary! She only got attacked because she was the one who held it in her hands, see -"

She angrily waved her hands, gesticulating that he should stop. Shaking her head, she poured herself a large whiskey and emptied it with one big sip, then shot around to glare at him again. "We'll get back to this, I promise! For now I'd like you to remind me why on earth you did this!"

Well, it had seemed like a sensible idea at that time, but seeing his wife in this moment, he thought that his explanation was beyond lame. He had to try nonetheless, because Narcissa would never abandon the issue. "A catalogue of reasons, really! For one I had to get rid of this cursed book, and then, I wanted to discredit Arthur Weasley, that wretched little man. I wanted him to stop sticking his nose into other people's business - their houses even - you remember how upset you were yourself when they came and raided the Manor! And I wanted to get Dumbledore fired - I wanted the world to see his utter incompetence! You believe in the value of a good education, Cissa! Just imagine what a place Hogwarts could be without the mad old egghead! I meant to see to it that Severus would take his place - you think highly of Severus, too - I had the other governors in my pocket, Cissa, they'd have done anything I demanded!"

"Are you finished? Those were your reasons? You want to know how this summary looks to me?" She drank another whiskey. "Addressing number one, getting rid of that book. Have you ever heard of, say, waste yards? Fireplaces? We own hundreds of houses and real estates where you could have hidden that thing, if you truly wanted to keep it for your collection! Number two - Arthur Weasley. Yes, he is an annoying, utterly pathetic cretin, with you on that one. But what's he to us? Get him fired from the Ministry, and some other moron will simply take his place! And his daughter hasn't done anything at all! It's not her fault that her father is an idiot! Besides - compromising Arthur Weasley could have been easier by implanting something with him, don't you think?! I got to admit that I completely agree with you on the third point though. Having Severus instead of Dumbledore in charge of our son's education would have been excellent indeed. But if the other governors do anything you want anyway, you could simply have told them to sack him!"

She stopped her pacing right before him, her hands in her sides. "So much for the reasons, let's now come to the effects actual or possible! According to the restraint coverage of the Daily Prophet, four students - not counting the Weasley girl - were severely injured, along with a ghost, and some cat, apparently. The way I see it, they could just as well have been killed - the last time, a girl was killed, wasn't she? Are you seriously telling me that you meant to put up with some arbitrary children dying in order to have Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley fired?! And not only did you endanger some strangers, you brought our son - our only son, Lucius! - in mortal peril! And for what, I ask you! For what?! And don't you tell me that nothing could be proven to you! Dumbledore's astute, and if Rufus Scrimgeour is assigned to the case - you know how it is! Nowadays, they can find out pretty much anything if they really want to! The Potter boy's already suspecting you? Bet all our money that he's run to Dumbledore already! What if they arrest you, Lucius? We've been through this before, and it took all the luck we've got to get out of it unscathed! How can you do that to me? To our boy? How -"

"I won't be arrested, Narcissa, take my word for it."

"No, because I'd strangle you before they could lead you away! We were so lucky back then, Lucius, so lucky! I don't get it! How could you be so reckless? How could you gamble with our lives like this?! Is this how you pay Severus back all he's done for us then? Dumbledore knows - he knows - who do you think was his first suspect when those things started to happen?!"

"Narcissa, please, I - don't be angry with me, I -"

"Angry? I'm not angry!" She spat the word, and emptied her forth glass of whiskey with one big swig. "I'm furious! I'm livid with rage, Lucius, if you truly want to know! I've never been remotely as furious with you as I am in this moment! Did you stop for one second and thought of me? Did you think of Draco?"

He didn't know what to say. The way she presented it, he was stumped with his own foolishness, ashamed of his thoughtlessness - he had let her down, hadn't he - he had vowed to always, always put her first. How could he have been so careless? This night was the first since they had got married where she wouldn't rest in his arms to sleep. She turned her back to him, and when he tried to at least put his arm around her, she pushed it away and made it clear that she was on the verge of sleeping in her own bedroom - which existed in theory, but which she hadn't used a single time in twenty years - if he didn't leave her alone.

After exploding like this, she ceased talking to him. In the next days, he would only hear her voice when she addressed Draco during the meals. She slept on her side of the huge bed, she left the room when he entered - it was dreadful, he suffered like a dog. He made a rather brave attempt to speak to her about this, receiving the cold answer, "You feel lonely, honey? Think how lonely a prison cell is!"

Luckily, Draco was so busy with his Quidditch practise that he hardly noticed his parents' fight. Usually, Narcissa didn't like to see her son flying about, training risky manoeuvres, but right now, she was glad to keep him out of this as good as she could. Her initial fury had quickly dripped away, but she kept her silence nonetheless. She wanted to make a lasting impression on her husband. He needed to understand, really understand what was at stake. The war was long over, there was no justification at all for taking risks! And such unnecessary risks, too!

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Prudentis... A wise man knows his limits.