O, she doth teach the torches to turn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a rich jewel in Ethiop's ear-
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellow shows...
Romeo and Juliet Act I Scene iv.

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Prologue to "The Blossoms and The Beast."
December 22, 1972
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Lucius is so proud of himself for finally wrapping the present he was planning to give to his crush for Christmas. He is very excited to give this to her. First of all, he never wrapped anything manually before and although it doesn't look as perfect as when he uses his wand, it didn't look half as bad either. It took him a few minutes figuring out what the how to use Muggle scissors and tape, while getting tangled with the ribbons, poked himself with the scissors and gave himself numerous paper cuts.

He looks at the wrapping again closely and feels that it was still not good enough for her. It had to be perfectly wrapped. Feeling defeated, he takes out his wand and uses Magic to fix the imperfect corners and fingerprint marks. The wrapping had to be perfect. His Empress is perfect and deserves everything to be perfect.

The second reason that he is excited is because Christmas is only a few days away. Everybody around him, including himself, had been busy starting to pack for the ten-day-long Christmas break. He knew that he'd feel much better giving her the present as soon as possible rather than send it to her by owl to Muggle world. And he definitely does not want to send his owl, Venom, to the Muggle world.

Lucius' crush is a Muggle-born. 'If only she wasn't,' screams his heart every time he sees her. And Lucius' family hated Muggle-borns. They found them dirty, disgusting, unhygienic and unworthy of the Wizarding privileges. But Lucius didn't care about what they think. He is even willing to risk being disowned by his family just so he could be with her. He loved her in secret. Before, all he did was write about her in his journal, referring to her as his "Jade Empress," his only love. But he no longer wants to hide his feelings about her from his own family. He decided to take his chances.

Lucius never really cared so much about anybody in the Wizarding world, except for the Jade Empress: Lillian Evans. Lily was the most beautiful first year Muggle-born that Lucius has ever seen and has had a crush on her for the past year. Lily had green eyes, both piercing and beautiful. Her lustrous red hair reminded him of blazing fire, lighting her face like flames are to embers of burning wood. Her smile was always welcoming, her gestures inviting. She had natural grace, poise, intellect and great attitude that even Lucius' usual cold, frozen heart turns to nothing but melted mush.

He had pursued her many times during the past year but she told him and many of her other pursuers that her heart is unsure but there are two men that own her heart. Lucius was sure he was one and James Potter was the other. James, or Jimmy- as Lucius noticed James' close friends call him- is a pureblood just like him, although the Potter family didn't hate Muggles. Lucius even heard that James' parents invited Lily over to their house for dinner during the summer. He knew he could never do that with Lily and he thinks that because of his family's feelings towards Muggle-borns, Lily leans more towards James than him. This is why Lucius tries to make her see the other side of Lucius Malfoy: his sweeter side. He sends her love notes, poems, singing letters, non-withering flowers, chocolates and even the finest jewelry as an expression of his love for her. But Lily remained passive towards him this past year, not showing any signs of hating him or wanting him to go away.

The third reason and final reason that Lucius why excited was because he bought Lily a 24-karat-gold necklace with a huge pearl pendant and a matching pair of pearl earrings to go with it. Although he is rich, he knows that if he asked his father for a large amount of money, he would ask what it's for and Lucius didn't want him to get any more suspicious than he already is. Lucius saved up his allowance during the whole year to be able to afford the best and most expensive of the necklace-earring set in the Wizarding world. He just couldn't wait to give the present to her.

Lucius heart starts to pound through his ribcage as he walks towards the Great Hall. He smiles nervously along the way, eager to see the expression on Lily's face when she tears the gift wrapper and finds the really nice surprise inside. His lungs heaves uncontrollably, his stomach starts to have butterflies, his palms practically dampening the gift wrapper and his throat starting to run dry. Either he about to have a heart attack right then and there or he is having one of the worst cases of food poisoning in the Wizarding world.

'There she is!' he thought as he readily sees Lily sitting on a table, her back facing the entrance of the Great Hall. She is crowded by her numerous friends, from her own and the other two non-Slytherin houses, laughing and talking loudly in front of her. He takes a deep breath and starts to walk fast towards her, scared that the crowd might make it harder for him to talk to her, when all of a sudden the crowd quieted down. He slows his pace, wondering if they had spotted him, but and as he does James emerges in front of Lily, probably from kneeling, with a huge smile on his face. On his outstretched hands is a gold jewelry box.

Lucius rolls his eyes at this. 'A jewelry box?' He screams in his head. 'A jewelry box without any…'

His thoughts and his feet stop when he notices that James was taking something out of the box. He then closes in on Lily, putting the necklace on her as she kisses him on the cheeks.

"Oh James! I would love to be your official girlfriend!" Lucius heard her scream. A second later, she jumps into his arms and James starts to twirl her around.

Lucius' jaw drops as his present hits the floor. He starts to hyperventilate as he picks it back up, his eyes starting to fill with tears. He runs to the Slytherin Common Room, trying not to shed a single tear for the love he just lost to James Potter.

He sits on the chair by the fire as he stares at the gift-wrapped present in his hands. He throws in on the chair, stands up beside the fireplace and starts to hit the walls.
"Lucius, I don't know what the fuss is. Why are you crying over that Mudblood?"

He kicks one more time before he stops and turns to face the speaker.

"Narcy?"

*~*~*
1978
*~*~*
"Do you, Lillian Evans, take James Potter to be your husband? To love and to cherish…"

*****

"Do you, Lucius Malfoy, take Narcissa Vasseur to be your wife? To love and to hold…"

*****

"I do."

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******FIN*****
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Okay, everyone. Reviews please!!!