"You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip." – Jonathan Carroll
Narcissa Black was in a foul mood the morning or September 1st; she had been packed for weeks but checking her trunk she knew things were missing. The walk to her older sister's bedroom seemed longer than usual and it filled the eleven year old with apprehension.
"Bella, were you in my trunk?" Narcissa felt apprehensive about asking her older sister, one never knew how the volatile girl would react.
"What? You think I took some of your things? Why would I want your stuff?" Her sister gave a cold look that could curdle fresh milk.
"Well, I didn't know. Some of my stuff is missing and I…" She stammered trying not to make eye contact with the fierce dark eyes of her sister.
"I'm messing with you, laugh a little bit. You don't want to introduce Hogwarts to the stammering ice queen. I couldn't find some of my shirts and I knew you had a lot so I took a few."
"Bella those aren't yours, they won't even fit right." The stammer was replaced by a cold hard voice.
"Lighten up Cissy," Bellatrix lounged back on her bed, "You'll never make friends if you're so unpleasant." Her voice took on a sing song tone as she flipped through a magazine from her dark mahogany nightstand.
"Just give me my clothes so I can leave and finish packing. We need to get going. I will not miss this train." Bellatrix sighed and tossed a few white shirts at Narcissa.
"You wrinkled my shirts. You're impossible!" Narcissa seethed as she stormed from her eldest sisters room fuming. She knew that there was no way this day could get any better. If a day started on a sour note, it would most likely end on a sour note as well.
Side-Along Apparation was a miserable way to travel. It messes up ones hair and gives them an awfully upset stomach. The scarlet train was a sight for most first years, but Narcissa had seen it three times seeing off her sisters. Bellatrix was in her third year, Andromeda in her second. As Narcissa secured a compartment far away from her sisters a sense of dread filled her stomach, she wished she could've just been homeschooled instead.
It wasn't that she didn't want to go to Hogwarts, well actually that was exactly the problem, she couldn't wait to get out of the house. She was tired of being babied by her parents, even at eleven all she wanted was her independence. Now that it was here, that she was actually on the train, she couldn't be more nervous. What house would she be sorted into? She would just die if she ended up in Hufflepuff. Usually, reading a good book helped but now even that wasn't calming her nerves.
"Is anyone going to be sitting here?" The girl who spoke was a mousy looking girl with lank brown hair and pale celery colored eyes, "My name is Violet, Violet Parkinson, it's nice to meet you."
She regarded the mousy girl's hand with mixed feelings, she usually didn't shake hands. She sucked it up and shook her hand, she wanted to make some friends and people didn't usually take too kindly to ignored handshakes.
"My name is Narcissa Black, a pleasure to meet you Violet." Violet unceremoniously plopped herself into a seat and began chattering away.
"I'm so excited to finally go to Hogwarts; I have wanted to go for a super long time. What house do you think you'll be in? I want to be in Ravenclaw, I think I have the smarts for it but you never can tell, can you?"
"Mmmm…" Narcissa pretended to be interested but she really hadn't heard a word that Violet said, she was too busy looking out the window. The sky had gone from a crisp blue to a dark grey with ominous clouds and lighting flashes ahead. This weather had to be some sort of omen.
"You girls should get your robes on; we'll be arriving at the school soon," a well-meaning prefect walking by let the two young girls know. The girls dressed in silence and the train slowed to a gentle stop, with the absence of the noise of the train the sound of the torrent of rain became incredibly loud. The noise was so encompassing that Narcissa could barely hear a gruff voice calling for the first years.
"We have to ride the boats, in the rain? We'll freeze to death," Violet whined trying to cover her hair. Narcissa gave her a look and rolled her eyes, a little rain never killed anyone. A wet boat ride later all of the first years were crowded in the antechamber of the great hall; most people were shivering and apprehensively waiting, not knowing what was going to happen next.
Professor McGonagall explained that she would be calling each student up and placing the sorting hat on their head and it would decide which house they would be a part of. She led the children into the Great Hall and started calling the students up alphabetically.
"Black, Narcissa," Professor McGonagall called out crisply. Narcissa walked to the stool and primly sat down, smoothing her skirt as she sat. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her smooth platinum hair and the Sorting Hat went to work.
"A great mind and a thirst for knowledge would do you well in Ravenclaw, but your shrewdness, determination, and ambition would be great in Slytherin. You would do great in any house, but better be… SLYTHERIN!" Narcissa sighed in relief and walked proudly to her house table. She could see the beaming faces of her sisters; she sat down and turned to watch the rest of the sorting, but not before seeing a boy with long white blond hair staring at her with piercing grey eyes. When the sorting was over and Narcissa was lying in her bed she couldn't get those eyes out of her head.
A/N: So, this is my first chapter of my first ever fan fiction. Reviews are appreciated, and if you have any suggestions on how I can make this better I would love to hear them! Thank you all readers, if any, and there will be more chapters to come.