When she was a child, she didn't even notice him. She was too busy minding her own business, and he was a year older than her, so they didn't really hang out in the same groups of people. Narcissa had never cared for those who were not close to her. That made it a bit hard finding new friends, but she was no lone wolf. After all, she did have a few friends, Bella and Andromeda had made sure of that. The kids in her own year had nothing against her, and to be quite honest, Narcissa was rather popular amongst the students of Slytherin House.
Narcissa had seen him in the corridors, of course. He didn't speak to her, neither did she speak to him, but sometimes she let her eyes lay on him for a moment or two. She had never seen him up-close, but she knew that he was beautiful. You didn't have to look twice to realise that Lucius Malfoy was very handsome. Handsome was a rather… grown-up description of someone's appearance. She couldn't think of a word that would fit him better, though, because Lucius Malfoy had always given her the impression of being trapped inside a child's body. He seemed to look down on all of them. In fact, he wore his head so high that he actually looked down on them. It bothered her.
Narcissa Black did not know anything else about Lucius Malfoy, neither did she care enough to try to overcome more information. He simply wasn't in her interest.
When she was in her fourth year, he spoke to her for the first time. It was at the Welcoming-Feast that he took the energy to move his lips to form words, just meant for her. He had spoken so lazily that it almost seemed as though he wanted her to feel honoured by only his presence.
"Since I am now declared a prefect for Slytherin House, I guess it's in place that I introduce myself" He didn't even smile, but for some reason, he had decided to sit next to her during the greeting of the students whom had been off for the summer. Narcissa raised an eyebrow and simply watched him. If it was so hard for him to speak to her, she wouldn't bore him out by telling him her name.
"I'm Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy"
She did not respond to his words. He put so much energy into the name of Malfoy that she barely heard his forename. She knew his name was Lucius since before, some of her friends had giggled about him for years. She, however, had never even thought of him more than for a second. When he passed her in the corridors or when she saw him in the common room, he did of course cross her mind, but nothing more than that.
He seemed rather confused by her silence, but his bewilderment was not the obvious sort. She could see in his eyes that he hadn't expected the lack of interest from her side, she couldn't really say what it was that made her so certain of his discomfort, just that it was something in his eyes. His face and body did not give away anything but confidence.
"And you are one of the Black sisters, I assume?" He said after a few moments of silence.
This time he seemed to be prepared for her non-existing answer, so quickly added;
"Narcissa Black, am I right?" It was obvious that he knew her name from earlier, but how or why she did not know.
"You have to forgive me if I seem a bit forward, knowing your name and all. But Purebloods must make sure to know their equals, don't we?" He said as an answer to her thoughts.
For the third time she ignored his words, but this time she showed her lack of interest in him not only with silence, but now with body language as well. She determinedly turned around and started talking to her friend Lysandra instead.
That was the first and, for at least year, last time Lucius Malfoy spoke to her.
The castle was filled with festive spirits and so was Narcissa. She was pleased to be able to say that she and her older sister Andromeda soon were about to be home for a well-earned winter-vacation. She had soon finished the first half of her fifth year at Hogwarts. Even though Narcissa wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself, she was almost burnt out. School had been rough on her, and with sisters like Andromeda and Bellatrix, she felt the worry of failing a class grow bigger in her chest.
Narcissa had always been in the shadows of her older sisters. Bellatrix with her daring beauty and passion for the family name, Andromeda with her soft magnificence and sharp intellect. And then there was Narcissa. She was the youngest of the three and did not look like any of the older. Her sisters could have been twins, with brown hair, floating down their backs like the shadows of their admirers. Their eyes were hooded and dark as the night. They were shorter than her, making them both more petite. Their length simply strengthened their personality traits, making Bella seem more fervent and Andromeda even more loveable.
Narcissa's hair was mutual to her sisters, but hers was less thick and therefore did not give the illusion of weightlessness. The colour of her own eyes was sparkly blue and combined with her dark hair she found her looks to be rather dull. Unlike her sisters she had grown to the full length of 5'9, her body almost seemed to be dragged out, leaving her with only a ghost of the curves that Bellatrix and Andromeda had inherited from their mother.
One week of school remained until Christmas and she was walking alone in the corridors. Bedtime was in about half an hour or so, so she tried to speed up her pace as she made her way down to the dungeons. Without a warning a voice came from behind;
"It's a funny name, Narcissa"
Within 3 seconds Narcissa had drawn her wand and turned around, facing the arrogant sneer belonging to Lucius Malfoy.
She hadn't seen much of him this year. He was still a prefect and he seemed to take his mission seriously, but there had been something slightly off with him. Since she did not know the boy, she couldn't tell if she was right about her theories of his emotional state or not.
"What do you want, Malfoy? And why sneak up on me like that? And for the record, if you're trying to compliment me, insulting my name is not the right way to go!"
After more than a year of silence, all those words came bubbling out of her mouth in an irritated sputter. Why on earth would he scare her like that?
Lucius Malfoy began to laugh, which made her even more certain about what an absolute prick he was.
"Merlin, calm down, Black! Lower that wand, you wouldn't want to find yourself in a duel with me!"
If that was supposed to make her lower her wand, it did not work.
"For your information I'm rather excellent at duelling, Mr. Malfoy. If I were in your clothes, I'd answer my questions and then leave"
She couldn't really tell why she disliked him so much. He had never really done anything to upset her, he had just… He had just always seemed so arrogant, and not once had he tried to be nice to her. Not even his introduction of himself had been polite as it seemed as though he was about to fall asleep by her mere existence.
He stopped laughing, leaving it to smirking only. He's lips were curled as though he knew something she did not. It was a rather mocking smile.
"It's not that I don't believe you, Black" He said as he suddenly reached for his own wand. This action made her slightly uncomfortable, but she firmly covered it up. "I just feel like you should take my advice on this one. Don't find yourself in a duel with me. And please, you shouldn't be mad at me. I come with nothing but peace"
"Then why are you pointing your wand at me?"
"Why are you pointing your wand at me?"
She admitted that he had a point, but never would she tell him that. He raised an eyebrow in pure satisfaction over her sudden quietness, as if he were to say "Exactly". She bit her lip, but did not lower her wand quite yet.
"As for your questions, I do find them fully reasonable. Of course I'll answer them!" He put his wand in his robes, and lifted his hands a little above his shoulders. Narcissa spotted visible veins on the back of his hands as he moved them. His pale skin stretched tightly over his rough hands. Who would have thought that a noble man like Lucius Malfoy would have the hands of a worker? "I did not "sneak up" on you, as you choose to call it. At least it wasn't my intention. And who has ever given you the idea that I would want to compliment you? I was simply stating the fact that Narcissa is an odd name!"
He made her blood boil! Normally Narcissa would have just left, since she did not earn anything from fighting him, but it was as though her wand acted by itself.
"Calvorio!"
Within a second all of Lucius Malfoy's hair had fallen to the ground and he had raised his wand once again.
"You little-!" He yelled, but she couldn't help but laughing. In front of her stood a bold Lucius Malfoy! It was absolutely hilarious!
"Cru-" He started to pronounce the name of a spell which she had not heard of, but he was suddenly interrupted by a calm voice.
"I would advise you to lower that wand, Mr. Malfoy"
He did not instantly do as he was told, but as he turned around and met the blue eyes of Professor Dumbledore, he put it down. Narcissa could see his jaw moving and his face suddenly went taut. He seemed to force a smile at Narcissas least-favourite professor.
"Of course, Professor Dumbledore, I was very foolish. I do apologize"
In some way; he managed to make the sentence sound like an insult. Dumbledore responded with a frustratingly calm smile as he spoke:
"No harm done yet, Mr. Malfoy. But if you wouldn't mind my opinion on the matter; if I were you I would not use that spell or anything like it in the future. A prefect should know better"
"Of course, Professor Dumbledore" Lucius Malfoy's nostrils moved with anger, Narcissa saw him clenching his fist with the empty smile still etched upon his face.
"Ah, I think that behaviour should give you… Let's say 30 points from Slytherin? Excellent spell-casting there, Ms. Black, but I'd prefer it if you kept it to the lessons. That will be 20 points from you as well. Oh, and Mr. Malfoy, I do believe Ms. Black her could help you with a simple hair-growth spell. I wouldn't recommend you to do it by yourself, though. No offence, but that bold look doesn't quite suite you"
With those words Professor Dumbledore left them to be alone in the dungeons once again. It was only when the humming no longer echoed in the corridors that they moved.
She had just opened her mouth to question Dumbledore's choice of punishment when she found herself pushed against the cold stonewall, face-to-face with Lucius Malfoy.
Narcissa breathed slowly, feeling his warm hand on her body, one pushing her shoulder hard, and another one around her throat, his breath against her forehead. He was very tall, even compared to her. She swallowed, watching him carefully for his next move. His pale skin had turned a bit pink on his cheeks, out of fury, she assumed.
"If you ever even think of cursing me again, I'll make sure it's the last thing you do"
He somehow managed to keep his lazy tone, but oddly enough, that just made her believe his words even more. And for the first time in Narcissa's life, she was scared of a man.
"I-" She began but her tongue fought to try to form actual words. His hand around her neck didn't have a tight grip, so there weren't really any reason for her not being able to talk. It was more of an indication on which one of them had the most power "I don't quite understand. I cursed you, you were only about to defend yourself, and yet he seemed to be more upset with you than with me?"
She stuttered! A Black never stuttered! The thought was ridiculous!
Lucius Malfoy snorted, swallowed in what seemed to be pure frustration.
"You are a silly little girl, you wouldn't even understand if I explained it to you!"
"I'm not silly, and I'm most certainly not little!" She answered, forgetting about his hand around her throat, forgetting about everything.
Malfoy seemed to find her words rather amusing, which surprised her a great deal. She bit her lip, observing his now bold head.
"Would you… Would you let me…?"
As an answer, he raised one eyebrow, as though he thought it was the very least he could expect from her. Narcissa lifted her wand, and without a word from any of them, his hair started growing back. It was a white kind of blonde, glistering like snow a dark midwinter night. She couldn't help it; she let it grow a little past his shoulders before she stopped. He didn't disapprove.
"Why?" He simply asked, still with one hand against her shoulder and one around her throat, but his grips had loosened a bit now.
"It suits you" Narcissa whispered, still fearing this man in a way she had never feared anyone else before.
There was a silence. It covered them both like gigantic cloak. Time passed by and she found herself staring into his charcoal grey eyes. They were so dark but yet so light?
Narcissa was the one who broke the silence.
"You never answered my questions"
"I most certainly did"
"Not the first one" What do you want, Malfoy? He had never told her what he wanted. If is goal was to insult her, he had succeeded.
For a second, she thought he would strangle her, but something changed in his eyes. She no longer feared him. For some reason, she felt safer than anywhere else in the world, and when he let go of her, she almost asked him not to. A sudden emptiness filled her and she could not for Merlin see why.
"I was just wondering if you might want to go to this Christmas party Professor Slughorn has arranged for the Slug Club"
She stared at him, now standing a few feet away from her, making the situation less intense between them.
"With me, I mean" He clarified as she raised an eyebrow.
With a sigh he turned around and started walking towards the Slytherin common room.
"Yes"
Why? Why had she said that? The boy was an obvious psychopath! Why did she even…
"What did you say?" He turned, facing her again, but now much more far away… He seemed to be as shocked over her answer as she was herself.
"I said yes. I would want to go to the Christmas party" She swallowed "With you"
