"Master Lucius, la Dona is calling for you."

Lucius heard the servant only dimly. It took him a minute to realize he had fallen asleep with his orb (a/n: a small crystal ball that is basically an iPod) on and it was blasting music. He rolled over only to turn it off and ignored the servant, probably Maria, and attempted to go back but his mother had other plans.

"Lucius," she called. His mother had a great sense of privacy, simply not when it came to her children. At sixteen, Lucius was used to her simply barging into his room. "Get up. It is 9:30 in the morning. How could you possibly be asleep?"

"Easily," he muttered. He sat up to face his mother but his backtalk earned him a stern glance.

"Get dressed. We are going to the summer house," she told him. "Maria!"

"Si?" Maria, Lucius's personal servant, was already at his mother's side for her orders.

"Pack Lucius's bags for Spain." After being married to Abraxas Malfoy for twenty five years it was expected that Mercedes Malfoy would have a commanding voice but when remembered that she was Mercedes Malfoy de Castile, daughter of Spanish royalty, that commanding voice became ever more forceful. "We are going to the summer house."

"Si, Dona," bowed Maria. All of the servants that Mercedes had brought from Spain called her "Dona" a title of nobility. Occasionally they would call Lucius el Príncipe or his twin sister la Princesa but usually it was simply Master Lucius and Mistress Medusa.

"Maria, macharse," said Mercedes. Maria, go away. With another bow Maria took off and Mercedes turned back to her son.

"the Blacks are going to be staying with us—"

"—madre, por favor. No me gustan la familia. Todo la verano?"Mother, please. I don't like the Blacks. All summer? Lucius lapsed into Spanish when he wanted something from his mother. It made her happy to hear her son speaking her native tongue (a tongue that her husband had hardly learned) but it was not working today.

"For most of the summer. And you have to behave. Both you and Bellatrix turn seventeen this year. You are almost of marrying age," she reminded.

"No!" yelled Lucius. Mercedes knew that Lucius was less than fond of Bellatrix but there was something new behind his old argument of refusing to marry her. "Por favor, madre."

"She's your age, pureblood and from a very noble family." This argument was so old that she did not even have to think as she said it. "Unless, you have another suggestion for a bride?" That was what was new. Lucius, rather than looking annoyed and pissed at the idea of his marriage, rather looked panicked. Like there was someone else he would rather marry.

"No, madre," he muttered. Mercedes kept the word liar to herself, only smirking down upon her son.

"Good. Get ready, we are to leave within the hour," she told him. With a flick of her green skirt (her signature color) Mercedes left. As soon as the door had shut behind her, Lucius lay back down on his bed with a sigh.

"You look happy."

"Jesus Christ, Medusa!" Lucius hadn't seen his sister enter the room until she spoke. When he sat back up he found her standing at the edge of his bed, looking at her brother with the famous Malfoy smirk. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Annoying you," she told him with a grin before she threw herself onto his bed. "I think this is the first time I've seen the Blacks in five years. Remind me who they are again?"

"Fine," he muttered. Lucius and Medusa were possibly the most opposite of twins that could be found but that didn't mean they didn't love each other. Lucius was sixteen and going into his seventh year at Hogwarts. Medusa was also sixteen and entering her seventh year at a prestige school in Spain. When Mercedes had married Abraxas Malfoy she had demanded if they had a daughter that she would be educated as the Spanish royalty she was. Oftentimes, Medusa would simply stay at their Spanish house (really a castle) during the summer and met the family there. This year she had returned home first to celebrate her father's 50th birthday but now it seemed they were heading back home.

"There are three Black sisters. Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa," Lucius told her.

"Andromeda is the one who ran off with a muggle," Medusa interrupted. "I remember that one."

"Bellatrix is in my year, Slytherin," Lucius continued.

"And you hate her but madre and father want you to marry her. Pale skin, black hair, kind of like a vampire?" The last time Medusa had seen Bellatrix the Black girl had been 11 but the description held true to five years later.

"Yes. The youngest is Narcissa. She's going into her sixth year at Hogwarts, also Slytherin house," Lucius said.

"Narcissa? I don't remember her," Medusa said. "She's only a year younger than us?"

"Yeah." Lucius was about to describe her but Medusa suddenly smiled.

"Oh! Quiet scrawny little thing? Kind of plain with dirty blonde hair," Medusa rambled. "I remember her. And aren't there two boys?"

"Sirius and Regulus," Lucius told her. "Sirius is our age. He's in Gryffindor."

"But you don't mind him, right?" checked Medusa.

"No, he's fine. Regulus is—"

"really quiet shy, mama's boy," interrupted Medusa. "How old is he?"

"Two years below us," Lucius answered.

"Alright. How come madre and father don't want me to marry Sirius? Same age, pureblood, good family," Medusa said.

"He's in Gryffindor," Lucius repeated. "That takes him off the list."

"Oh. Ok. I'm going to go get ready," she decided before she bounced off back to her own room. Lucius responded by once again laying back on his bed to sleep just a little longer.

"Narcissa Grace Black, stop eating!"
Narcissa hadn't seen Bellatrix come up behind her and almost choked on the cookie she had stolen at the sound of her sister's voice.

"'M ungry," Narcissa argued. The mouthful of cookie prevented her from saying what she wanted to say and earned a disgusted look from her sister.

"Could you be any less of a lady?" Bellatrix asked. "Throw that out."

Simply to spite her sister, which Narcissa absolutely loved doing, she shoved the rest of the cookie (and there was quite a lot of it) into her mouth and dared her sister to say something .

"Did you just shove that whole cookie into your mouth?" Neither of the sisters had seen Sirius come into the kitchen but he had seen Narcissa's stunt. She nodded, her mouth far to full for her to say anything. "That's a useful talent."

"Asshole," Narcissa snapped.

"Language, Cissy. A lady does not swear," Bellatrix reminded. "And, Sirius I'm glad you're here."

"That's a first," he laughed. He had obviously just woken up and was getting his breakfast, barely paying attention to his cousin.

"Oh, how funny. Aunt Walburga has just informed me we are to be spending most of the summer at the Malfoy's Castle in Spain," Bellatrix told them.

Sirius responded by slamming the cabinet shut and letting a string of swears through. Narcissa in turn began to choke on her cookie once again but recovered quickly.

"All summer?" she gasped. "Lord, could we just kill me now?"

"No. The reason we are going is to look at arraigning a marriage between me and Lucius," Bellatrix explained. "If either of you two mess this up for me I can promise you I will personally kill you and use your bodies to feed the hippogriff outside. Do we understand?"

"Yes." There wasn't much use in arguing with Bellatrix, especially on a matter concerning Lucius Malfoy. It was not only Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion pushing the marriage (Narcissa and Bellatrix had come to live at Grimmlaud two years ago after their parent's violent murder) but Bellatrix herself. She had been obsessed with marrying Lucius since their fifth year and not that they were nearing age it seemed her dreams were coming true.

Her threat done, Bellatrix stormed out of the room and left Narcissa and Sirius to themselves.

"Fuck that." Lacking the Grace that made up her middle name, Narcissa dropped herself into a chair, her head slamming down onto the table. "This sucks. I hate the Malfoys."

"I now you do," Sirius said. "I'm not exactly fond of them either."

"At least you get along with Lucius," Narcissa argued. "I don't get along with any of them. Think his sister will actually be there?"

"Medusa? I don't know. If she goes to school in Spain, probably," he guessed. "And it's not like I'll get to talk to Lucius. Bellatrix will be all over him."

"I almost feel sorry for him." Narcissa gave a mirthless laugh, still pissed that her summer had been wrecked before it had started. "I'm gonna go drown myself in the tub."

"Alright. Make sure leave the stopper in this time!" Sirius called as she left. Narcissa constantly made empty suicide threats but she had never once carried through.

"What's going on?" Poor Regulus. The baby of the house, he always came into conversation a few minutes to late.

"Nothing," Sirius sighed. Regulus took that as it was and sat down to wait for a house elf to bring his breakfast.

By 4:00 (Spanish time) the Malfoys were situated at the castle. Lucius was already listening to his orb in his room, Abraxas Malfoy was reading the newspaper (translated Spanish wizarding paper and the Daily Prophet) while Mercedes and Medusa Malfoy prepared the house.

"So, what's Bellatrix like?" Medusa asked. Neither of them were actually working on preparing the house, rather surveying the preparations. It was all servant work as Mercedes was highly disturbed by house elves and had asked her husband get rid of them. Whatever Mercedes wanted Mercedes got; thus the Malfoys no longer employed a single house elf.

"She's a smart girl," Mercedes told her daughter. "She did very well at Hogwarts, I know that."

"I don't care," reminded Medusa. "Is she pretty? Or fun?"

"She's very pretty," said Mercedes.

"As I remember she's the prettiest of the Blacks," Medusa agreed.

"No longer," argued Mercedes. "You remember Narcissa?"

"Quiet, scrawny, plain little girl?" Medusa used the exact same description she had given to Lucius but Mercedes shook her head.

"No longer. Yes, she's still rather quiet but not at all plain. And certainly not scrawny," she added.

"Oh." Medusa could feel instant rivalry building up towards the girl she hadn't seen in five years. Medusa, inheriting not only the famous Malfoy hair, smirk and piercing blue eyes, had also inherited her mother's Spanish features, meaning she was tan with a sharp aristocratic face. She was always the most beautiful person in a room (unless her mother, famous for her looks, was there) but it sounded like she had finally found some competition. That would remain to be seen of course.

"You are jealous already," laughed Mercedes. "Medusa—"

"Dona Malfoy, los Blacks están aquí." Maria entered quickly, bowing as she did so. Mercedes smiled, a sign for the girl to go away before turning to her daughter.

"Are you ready, hija?" asked Mercedes with a laugh. "Fetch your father and brother and bring to the entrance foyer, love."

Medusa nodded and left the room but not before looking at herself in the mirror. For the occasion Medusa had donned a silver dress with diamond rose (Medusa's chosen symbol) on her chest. She truly looked a princess. Let's see little Narcissa beat this, she told herself before knocking on her father's door.

While her father headed to the foyer, Medusa headed upstairs to find her brother. A trait she had inherited from her mother, she walked without knocking to find her brother playing his precious guitar.

"Again? God, you're going to turn into one of those wimpy guys who write pussy love songs about how he's so in love with a girl he can't have," Medusa sighed. Lucius immediately stopped playing to glare at his sister.

"Knock first!" he yelled. She only laughed, knowing how touchy Lucius could get about his music. "What do you want?"

"The Blacks are here," Medusa told him. Given his professed hatred for them, she was surprised when her brother leapt to his feet and even (very discreetly but Medusa still caught it) took a look in his mirror to see how he looked. He looked amazing of course; he had all the pale pointed features of a Malfoy with only his mother's storm grey eyes but when that was matched with an all black outfit he looked like a prince. Then he was out the door, Medusa following at his heels.

"That's Sirius, right?" The stairs to lead to the foyer were so large that Lucius and Medusa had time to covertly whisper on their way down. She was in fact pointing at Sirius, who had for once donned a respectable button down shirt and nice pants, though he had adamantly refused to take off his sunglasses or make his hair nice.

"Yes. And that's Regulus," Lucius pointed. Compared to Sirius, who absolutely rocked the bad boy look and looked damn hot, Regulus was the good little church boy. Unlike Sirius, who had refused a tie and worn his shirt partially open, Regulus's was done all the way and matched with a green tie.

"Bellatrix?" guessed Medusa. "She does look like a vampire." The Black daughter was being fawned over by Mercedes, smiling dark red lips in the right spots and pushing the stray black curls that fell out of their fashionable bun away from her face. "She looks like she's going to burst or die of lack of oxygen." It was true. Bellatrix's beautiful black lace dress was done so tightly that it not only looked to be cutting off her oxygen but it shoved her chest so far up that it looked uncomfortable.

"Either would work," Lucius muttered. Medusa had already adopted her Malfoy stone face and prevented herself from laughing. At that time they were already at the bottom of the stair and Walburga Black had actually shoved Bellatrix forward.

"Hello, Lucius," she cooed. If Medusa hadn't put on her imaginary mask she would have vomited. Bellatrix had a great talent for making her voice like a demure girl with the proper hint of sexy behind it.

"Bellatrix," returned Lucius. Not until he noticed the glare from his mother did he remember to kiss her hand. It could not even be called a kiss; he had pressed his lips to her hand and immediately withdrew, dropping her hand and straightening up with haste.

"Medusa. It's been so long. My, you've grown," gushed Walburga. Medusa smiled, giving a slightly curtsy the Black lady

"Thank you, Walburga. It is very nice to see you and your family again," Medusa returned. "Though you seem to be missing one. Where is Narcissa?"

"She's—where's Narcissa?" Walburga had turned around to find your youngest niece and looked absolutely shocked to find she wasn't there.

"Sirius, where is she?" hissed Bellatrix. Sirius saw the daggers that Bellatrix was shooting from her eyes but could only shrug. Narcissa had been silent since her conversation with Sirius in the kitchen.

"I don't know. She might still be in the carriage. I'll go get her," he muttered. He hoped for Narcissa's sake she was injured or asleep because Walburga and Bellatrix were going to eat her alive.

"I'll apologize for Narcissa," Walburga said once Sirius left. "Abraxas, you remember her mother, God rest her soul. She wasn't quite right in the head. I believe that's passed onto Narcissa."

"Narcissa's fine," argued Regulus. His mother patted him on the head like a five year old rather than a fourteen year old boy.

"Sometimes, Regulus. Sometimes."

Medusa looked at Lucius to roll her eyes but found he was staring intently at Walburga. He looked angry; he was always angry at something but he looked actually angry at the Black. Before Medusa could think about this more the door opened and Sirius reappeared, all but dragging Narcissa by her elbow.

For the first time in her life, and what would later turn out to be one of four times, Medusa's mouth dropped open at the sight of Narcissa. Even with the most pissed off look on her face, she was absolutely breathtaking. Literally. The first thing that amazed Medusa was Narcissa's hair. It was so blonde that it appeared to be silver in the sunlight and gave her the appearance of an elf. Cream white skin and pouty lips that were (naturally?) the color of a soft rose made her look like an elf princess. Her dress, noted Medusa, was perfect for her. It was white with white lace roses embedded into the corset and light ruffles at the bottom. Even looking angry, Narcissa looked like she had descended from either heaven or fantasy world. Or maybe it was her anger that helped to make her beautiful; her checks were flushed the most perfect shade of red and her blue eyes, brighter even than the Malfoy's, were wide with fury.

"Narcissa, what were you doing?" Walburga demanded.

"Reading," answered Narcissa. Despite her delicate appearance her voice was anything but. "I wanted to finish my book."

"Give me that!" hissed Bellatrix, snatching the book out of Narcissa's hands and handing it to Regulus to hold.

"I wasn't done," Narcissa said but she seemed to know she was not going to see the book again.

"What were you reading?" asked Medusa in an attempt to break an awkward silence.

"Les Miserables," Narcissa answered. "Hello, Medusa."

"Les Mis?" repeated Medusa. She couldn't help but sneak a glance at her brother; his favorite musical was Les Mis. Like her, he seemed completely bowled over by Narcissa. To anyone but her, Lucius would have looked indifferent but his body had tightened and his eyes seemed to see nothing but the youngest Black daughter. "In French?" Medusa couldn't keep the awe out of voice; it was a 1,000+ page French novel.

"No. Gaelic." Sarcasm fit Narcissa's voice beautifully and Medusa found herself about to laugh. So not only was this girl but actually had a wit. That was not good for Medusa. "I'm sorry to have come in late." Narcissa had turned to Abraxas and Mercedes, giving them a low curtsy. Lucius was standing next to his parents and Medusa watched, with more than some interest, as his eyes traveled immediately to Narcissa's chest when she bowed.

"Lucius." Narcissa spoke his name through clenched teeth but he didn't seem to notice. Unlike with Bellatrix he did not have to be reminded to kiss Narcissa's hand. Instead he took it gently, like she was a porcelain doll, and actually kissed her hand. Medusa and Mercedes both noted that it was longer than necessary and that, unlike with Bellatrix, he did not drop her hand immediately but rather she attempted to pull it away.

"Walburga, would you like to se the house?" asked Mercedes once she had looked away from her son. "Lucius, you can show Bellatrix around."

"I'll come too," offered Medusa immediately. While Mercedes shot her a stern glance Lucius shot her a thankful one. "Sirius, Narcissa and Regulus can come too."

"Oh, yes. Of course." Mercedes attempted to keep her voice normal but was glaring at Medusa. She had wrecked her plan and done something that Mercedes certainly did not want happening this summer.

Under no circumstances did she want Lucius and Narcissa to be around each other and Medusa had unknowingly decided to blow that plan to hell.