I was five and he was six
We rode on horses made of sticks
He wore black and I wore white
He would always win the fight
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Sonny & Cher, 1966
"This is Lucius," her parents her tell her when she's five years old. "You're going to marry him when you're older."
"Iew, I don't wanna marry!" she cries and runs away, sobbing.
-o0o-
"This is Narcissa," his parents tell him when he's six years old. "She's going to be your wife when you grow up."
"Iew, girls are stupid!" he cries and throws a fit.
-o0o-
"Lucius comes from a wealthy family," her parents tell her when she's eight.
"I don't care, I don't like to play with him!" she replies. "He's mean, he breaks my toys."
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"Narcissa's family is one of the most important wizarding family's in the country," his parents tell him when he's nine.
"I don't care, I don't like her," he retorts. "She ruined my tree house."
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"Lucius is going to Hogwarts next September," her parents her inform when she's ten.
"Good for him," is all she can say.
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"Narcissa will be sorted next fall, and she's bound to be in Slytherin too," his parents say to him one bright summer's day when he's twelve.
"Good for her," is his only reply.
-o0o-
She is thirteen and has trouble with her Transfiguration's homework. He stays up late to help her.
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He is fifteen when he is made Prefect. She is the only one to whom he can convey his relief at not having to disappoint his father.
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She is fifteen when her sister is blasted of the family tapestry for running off with a Mudblood. He is the only one with whom she can discuss how pained and betrayed she feels.
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He is seventeen when his mother dies. She is the only one who gets to see his tears and the only one to comfort him when standing at her grave is just too much.
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She is nineteen and he is twenty when they take their vows, wholeheartedly and with their minds set on the future they are going to build together.
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She is twenty-four and he his twenty-five when they can finally tell their families that the bloodline will be continued. Their families think it's only their duty, and scold them for putting it off so long. At night, they cry in each other's arms, for their parents don't know about the troubles they went through, don't know about the stillbirths, don't know about the pain of seeing their beautiful dream shattered time upon time.
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She is twenty-five when she gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. She wants to name him after a constellation, like her family has done for many generations.
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He is twenty-six when his son is born. A gorgeous baby who looks just like him. He wants to give him a historical name, like his family has done for many generations.
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They settle on Draco.
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She is forty when he is imprisoned because of their allegiance. She has no one to share her distress with and steels her heart for the outer world. But in the darkness of her bedroom, she cries for her husband.
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He is forty-two when he is released, forever changed from the crude experience. He doesn't have the heart to tell her how he's suffered, but he has a feeling that she knows, by the way she gently squeezes his hand whenever the subject comes up.
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She is forty-five when she reconciles with her sister, and they give up magic for a while. He is forty-eight when he realises that that is what saved their relationship, even though in the past three years he thought the contrary.
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She is sixty-nine and he is seventy when they celebrate their fiftieth wedding day with just the two of them, sitting in the garden of their Manor, thinking of times long gone and reminiscing about that childhood adversary that turned out a match made in heaven, and they laugh. They whisper their "I love you"s, and although life has always dealt them roses, it brought them where they are today, and they know that it is good.
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