Orpheus stretched out on the leather sofa in the common room. It was getting a bit late on Sunday night but there was no one around so he figured it wasn't a huge deal that he was taking up most of the room on the couch. If someone important came along he would be sure to move, otherwise he wasn't too interested.

He couldn't get the incident with Narcissa out of his head. She had been avoiding him since it happened and he hoped he hadn't been that awful of a kisser that she wouldn't ever talk to him again. As a matter of fact, she had made it a point of totally ignoring him it seemed. She hadn't looked at him since then as far as he knew. What had he done wrong?

Where had she left her compact? It was her best, her gold-plated one, that Bella had given her one Christmas. Narcissa stood in the middle of a messy dorm room, pouting. Where had she last left it? A slow smile quickly replaced her pout, and she brightened. Ah, yes, in the common room, on the small table by the couch. She didn't think anyone would palm it because just about every Slytherin had seen her with it, and secondly, her name was engraved in delicate script on the cover.

She gracefully decended the staircase. It was rather late and it was dark, but she could still see a gleam of gold. Triumphantly, she reached for it - and froze. A body was stretched out on the couch, a very familiar body. Orpheus.

Orpheus held up the compact. He had heard Narcissa coming down the stairs and realized it must have been the little gold square she was after. Really it was a simple little thing, but so essentially Cissa. "Bella would be upset if she knew how carelessly you took care of her gifts." His voice was light and teasing. He didn't want to make this more awkward that it probably already was.

He sat up, still holding the trinket out to her. "Come sit."

Narcissa suppressed a sigh. She had been avoiding Orpheus successfully out of sheer embarrassment - until now, it seemed. She accepted the small gold compact and obeyed, taking a seat besides him.

"Thank you," she said, a bit stiffly. "I was looking everywhere for it."

Orpheus smiled, a bit tightly however. "So glad I could help." He sat there awkwardly for a moment or two, trying to decide how to approach the subject they were both avoiding.

"Cissa," he began slowly, "I feel like you've been avoiding me." He turned to face her. "I hope I haven't done anything to offend you, because if I have, I am truly sorry." And he was. Snogging her really wasn't worth it if it meant their friendship. It was a close second, but really, things hadn't been all that bad before her tongue was in his mouth.

Narcissa drew a slow breath and tried to smile. (She failed.) "Well, Orpheus," she said, trying to her best to stay calm. "I'm very glad to hear that."

She shifted uncomfortably. There was an awkward silence for a good, long minute before she couldn't take it any more. "Right then, look, I've been avoiding you because I've just been so embarrassed about the whole Potions thing," she blurted.

Orpheus avoided her gaze for a moment. She had been embarrassed. Bloody hell - how he was embarrassing!

"There's no need to feel embarrassed," he began, looking at her again. "It was a love potion. It did what it was supposed to do." It wasn't her fault her had flung herself at him in desperate need of his strong arms and his loving - okay that wasn't helping. 

Narcissa digested his words quietly. She supposed that the past was done and she should move on, but still, she had threw herself on him and practically shagged him.

"That's true," she said slowly. "And we can put this embarrassing episode behind us. Or we should."

"Yes, we should," Orpheus added quietly. Well there it was. She had no interest in him. Such a shame.

He put on a fake smile. "So the past is behind us. Don't worry about it. It was a potion. Love potions make you do things," he sighed, "you wouldn't ordinairly do. No hard feelings." Sometimes life really had a way of kicking you in the side when you were down.

Narcissa placed a cool hand on his shoulder, and gave him her first genuine smile. "I'm so glad," she said sincerely.

Orpheus tried to smile. "Me too." Oh that was it, he was going to be sick. The idea of her kissing him was running through his head. He had one of two choices, kiss her now or be ill.

He stared at her. Which one was worse?

Narcissa withdrew her hand and twisted them in her lap. "It's just..." She sighed. "It's been hard for me to find a quality man, you know? Especially since Lucius never answered any of my owls."

She twisted her face in a snarl. She was still very angry about it. How dare he!

Orpheus was quite tempted to just grab Narcissa and snog her senseless at this point. She was speaking about Lucius with such disdain - but it was Lucius. Lucius was his friend and this was his woman. Orpheus sighed heavily, he would ruin two friendships with one kiss. Was it really worth what it would do to whatever relationship he and Cissa had? He didn't really give a damn about Lucius - but the idea of shagging his wife to be did seem to not be the sort of thing the man would be in favor of. He trusted Orpheus. Damn high society, damn friendships of convenience. He wanted Narcissa more than he had ever wanted any other woman. He really liked Laura, but it was Narcissa whom he wanted to have his children.

Orpheus straightened his collar and tried to look sympathetic rather then as pathetic as he felt. "Lucius cares for you," he said with as much feeling as he could muster, putting his hand on her shoulder. "He doesn't get to see you as often as he would like because he's busy securing your place in the world. The two of you are going to be great together." Salazar how he wished Drom hadn't gone and fucked everything up by marrying Tonks. She and Malfoy would have been married with children by now and he would be happily engaged to Cissa. Fuck the whole idea of arranged marriages sometimes!

"Don't worry," he said again, his eyes compassionate. "Everything will work out in the end. He really does care about you. You will be happy." He turned away from her to look at the fireplace. "I know Lucius. He will make you very happy."