(Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter)
(A/N: Written for the Challenge That Must Not Be Named. I hope you enjoy.)
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-Dearly Beloved-
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The world was spinning and warmth was bubbling in their veins. Bright lights assaulted them from all directions but the faces were still in shadows. Music was pounding their eardrums and laughter echoed in the background. The thrilling feel of the bodies pressing close drove elation to new heights. It felt so good. It felt too good.
She tugged his hand towards an exit.
He smiled in drunken stupor.
Stumbling away from the party, they found a cool escape in the night sky but it was still too warm. Clothing fell to the ground and they were free. They were young and invincible.
Nothing could go wrong tonight…
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Soft early light, birds twittering, warm skin despite the morning chill…Her mind woke slowly and took in these details from the surroundings. There was a blurry haze over the world that pounded in time to her aching head. Why did her head hurt?
Why did her lower regions ache?
Repulsion made her cheeks hot and red. Embarrassment fueled a rush of adrenaline that let her push away from the boy in one sudden movement.
"Bloody hell, Narcissa…" The rudely awakened boy grunted as he sat up. Narcissa was already hastily gathering her clothing and he couldn't help but smirk at the way she simultaneously struggled to be modest. He had already seen every detail, every flaw and perfection.
She turned her nose upward and scowled but refused eye contact, "Don't use my first name, Malfoy."
"What's wrong Narcissa? Last night was wonderful, an exciting way to celebrate the beginning of our seventh year." Lucius's crooked smile burned in her mind as he stood and walked forward to stroke her cheek. She averted her eyes, his blatant nudity a horrible reminder of what had transpired between them. "Well, what I remember of it, anyways."
"Exactly, we were both intoxicated." She pushed his hand away with a sneer and backed away. Mentally, Narcissa vowed to never indulge in firewhiskey again. "I don't want to talk about last night ever again...to anyone, do you understand that? If people found out-"
Tears stung behind her eyes.
"You were a virgin." The statement took her by surprise and his intense gaze caught everything; her blush, her frown, her furrowed brow. "I see." Lucius just nodded to himself, dressed in silence, and left her standing alone in the brightening courtyard with a newborn, smoldering hatred.
Lucius, meanwhile, began to formulate a plan to win over his newest conquest, his longtime lust obsession and dearly beloved. Though, 'winning over' could only be taken as a matter of speech. Narcissa would be his wife and possession soon enough, despite any emotional attachment on her part.
She would be a part of his twisted fairytale.
Anyone who might have delved into Lucius's mind would indeed have noticed very quickly how deeply his twisted morals, notions, and personality wove. Narcissa was something to be won in his mind, a very lovely prize in a competition no one else had entered.
A prize he loved so viciously, so deeply. Who ever said love had to be innocent and pure?
As months passed, he ignored her glares and as those faded he chuckled at her cold-shouldered attitudes. Later, he took her increasingly uncertain gazes quite well. Lucius would have her, it was only a matter of time before she would learn to love him in return.
"Malfoy…" Narcissa's clear voice swept through the otherwise empty common room one night. He met her doubtful expression steadily and smiled his crooked smile. "I was just wondering, I guess, you haven't told anyone about, you know, have you?"
His trap was set then and there.
"No." Before relief could spread through her body, he spoke again with a mischievous tone. "But secrets like these, they do nothing for my conscious." The angry red tint on her cheeks was all too endearing.
"And here I was, starting to think you weren't such a bad guy after all." Narcissa's voice was shaking now. "I was starting to doubt what some of the other girls were saying about you. Bad things about you."
"I'm not a bad guy, Narcissa." Lucius frowned. "I was only joking, I promise." Of course, he didn't believe himself to be the villain by any means. His eyes were so sincere she went to bed with an entirely sated mind. The morning after was an entirely different matter.
She woke up late, after breakfast had already ended, and noticed first the group of giggling sixth and seventh years about her bedside. Narcissa wiped the sleep from her eyes and watched them in confusion. It wasn't long at all before she understood.
"We heard Malfoy talking during breakfast-" One started.
"-did you two really have sex?" Another interrupted.
"In the courtyard?" Another added.
She lost track of who was asking what after that. Her mind was dazed with sleep, confusion, and hatred.
"Are you two going out?" The bombardment of questions stopped and they waited for an answer.
Narcissa blinked and thought rapidly, "Y-yes. We are." Her reputation was at stake, no one could ever find out that she, a proud Black, had a drunken one-night stand. "We're very happy and in love." A smile stretched across her face automatically as she began to share happy details of their relationship.
A relationship indeed. She hated him. She wished he were never born. She wanted him to drop dead. How could he? He promised!
That night she confronted Lucius again and demanded that he court her properly in private while keeping up a facade in public. At that last demand, Lucius smiled to himself. This was no facade; this was exactly what he had planned.
She was finally his.
"Of course, my dearly beloved." He knelt and kissed her hand, thinking of all the hopeless Romantics of love stories past who say that love will always prevail; they simply don't appreciate the many forms love can take.
Fin.