Author's Note: I've broken this fic into chapters to make it easier to read. Nothing else has changed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 2: Flowering Love
Narcissa never did get to punishing Severus for touching her stuff, although the creative punishment of poisoning with narcissus stems cut up into a stew was her favored plan if she ever felt the need. Another favorite idea she'd considered was giving him a threatening package and making him think she really was going to kill him, but it was instead a thank you gift. Mess with his little head for a bit and thank him for doing the favor at the same time. In the end nothing came out of the thoughts except a faster train ride home from Hogwarts.
Three years had passed after Narcissa's graduation from Hogwarts. Three painful years of doing whatever she could to avoid a fate worth than death, picking her damn suitor. Every day that passed her mother just rode her harder and harder to make a decision. Pictures of smiling suitors and letters filled with honest feelings of love from people she had never met arrived daily by owl.
The first year she had managed to hold off everything by saying that she wanted to travel around the world with some of her school friends. Her mother had indulged her and off she had apparated. Apparating was something Narcissa had mastered while in school and she could land wherever she wanted with only a tiny popping noise. She was also a skilled occlumens, a useful skill for a member of house Black who wanted to hide her thoughts from those around her. Everyone was so proud of her skill in the art, and the fact that she was an exemplary example of a proud Black family member that they didn't care about not being able to read her mind. Well, except for her older sister Bellatrix, but that suited Narcissa fine. She didn't hate her sister, but Bellatrix could be a little…intense at times. She hadn't gotten any better after joining a group called the 'Death Eaters' after graduating from Hogwarts. Their leader, some guy named Lord Voldemort, preached about blood superiority and the end of mudbloods. It was the same old song for Narcissa and she wasn't interested in hearing anymore on the subject from anyone outside her family.
After the excuse for wanderlust had run out, Narcissa had resorted to a different tactic. While traveling she had applied for a job at the Ministry of Magic. She had in fact gotten a job as secretary to the current Prime Minister of Magic, a job that kept her busy and away from the nagging of her family. But that excuse, which had lasted several years, was soon to run out. The Prime Minister was becoming increasingly unpopular and it was only a matter of time before he was replaced, and Narcissa with him. No excuse would save her from her family and the suitors then.
So it was that Narcissa found herself in Diagon Alley, doing some shopping for the Prime Minister. He had ordered some foot cream and had ordered her to pick it up. She resolved not to think about the job too hard and to enjoy the trip down the familiar alley. She planned to do shopping of her own while she was there, getting some stuff that her family needed around the house and for some new clothes, maybe other little trinkets for herself. But mostly she just planned to enjoy the experience. Everything was so full of memories shopping for school, something she had done since she had been a third year student. Her own little excursion into the world outside of her house; a bit of freedom.
She remembered shopping around the stores by herself, making new discoveries and coming across friends from school. The surprises were the spice of life, something not scripted out for her. As she walked past a coffee shop that used to be a tea shop, Narcissa remembered several years prior and the unexpected sight of a little red headed Gryffindor girl. Her reminiscence started to fill in the gaps and the little girl hopelessly reading a map was replaced by a confident teenager, a smile on her face as she studied a piece of paper. Narcissa shook her head lightly to chase away the strange apparition from her mind, but she persisted. The red headed teen looked right at her, surprise and then comprehension flickering across her face. She smiled and started to walk towards Narcissa who was frozen in place as if facing a dementor. Her breath had fled and she was shocked to see such a drastic changes in someone who had only existed in her mind as a child for the last several years. Lily clearly had more growing up to do, but she would be impressive when it was all done, that was clear.
"Narcissa!" called Lily, hurrying through the crowded street. She walked right up to Narcissa, a large smile on her face, and gave her a sudden hug. Narcissa grunted in surprise but neither fought or returned the embrace. Lily disengaged from the hug and frowned up at Narcissa. "Three years and you're still much taller than me. How is that fair?"
Narcissa just stared blankly at the fake-serious expression Lily was trying to keep on her face, a smile trying to fight its way through. The smile finally won out when Narcissa started to laugh; a good honest laugh that made her feel good as it bubbled out of her. When she was done laughing she flashed Lily a cocky smirk.
"I guess that little sneak Severus stole it all from you, last I saw in passing he was a gangly bean pole. He was still as sour looking as ever though," joked Narcissa. She was surprised though when mention of the Slytherin boy wiped the smile off of Lily's face, her expression turning downcast.
"Severus and I are no longer friends," said Lily sadly. "We got in a fight this past year and I doubt I'll talk to him again unless forced to."
Acting without any real conscious thought Narcissa grabbed Lily's arm and tugged her gently down the Alley. "Let's go get some drinks and catch up. Unless you're busy and have other things to do?"
"No, I was just doing some school shopping," replied Lily. She gave Narcissa and small smile. "I'd love to get a drink with you. It'll feel like my second year again."
The two young women walked through Daigon Alley, ending up in the same pub that they had stopped in several years prior. The place was just as crowded as always but Narcissa and Lily soon had a table to themselves in the back, two large drinks in front of them. They started drinking in silence, adjusting to the noise that permeated the room around them. Unsure how to start a conversation with someone she hadn't met in years, and had talked to very little at that, and never being a master of tact, Narcissa got right to the largest question hovering between them.
"What happened between you and Severus?" asked Narcissa. "You two seemed so inseparable several years ago."
"We just grew up," shrugged Lily. "I finally realized that he's a jerk and it wasn't worth having him around."
"That how you really feel?" asked Narcissa.
"Yes," replied Lily confidently.
"Well, that's fine then," shrugged Narcissa. "How have your studies been going?"
"Wait, that's it?" asked Lily, seeming thrown off and confused. "You're just dropping it like that?"
"You said you were fine," replied Narcissa. "Why should I press if it's not an issue?"
"But…" muttered Lily. "What if it was by chance still an issue?"
"Then if you'd like to talk about it I'd be fine with hearing it. Honestly, it'll be a change of pace from everyone around me who's been toting the goals to 'purify the wizarding bloodline' lately. All anyone at home cares about is the Death Eater cult."
"Oh, them…" said Lily darkly. It occurred to Narcissa that Lily might not be too happy to hear about a group that preached the end of all muggle witches and wizards, but it was too late to take back the comment. Lily's expression gained a fury that seemed out of place on her. "That lot has been all around Hogwarts. They're popular talk, especially among the Slytherins and when the Slytherin students want to threaten any of us not from wizarding families."
Lily took a deep breath, probably meant to calm herself down, and then continued speaking. "Severus has several friends who plan to join as soon as they graduate. They brag about it at every moment, except the ones where they're slinging slurs at the nearest muggle, and guess who that usually is? Severus would make jokes to diffuse things and walk away. He wouldn't cover for me or anything, it's not like he could just tell his new friends to eat a toad or something, right? And then, when I go and help him when that blasted James Potter is picking on him, what does he do? He says he doesn't need my help and calls me a dirty mudblood. Oh was he so sorry and apologetic immediately after, but you know what? I'd had enough of it. It all happened too often, why should I just stick around and take the insults if he has no intention of changing?"
Tears started to roll down Lily's cheeks and she took a slightly gasping sip of her drink before speaking again. "And you know what? I told him that. I lost my best friend, the one who introduced me to the world of magic."
"Good riddance then," said Narcissa. Lily looked up at her in surprise, tear tracks running down her cheeks. "If he's not good to have around you, then you don't need him. Why would staying with him make him change if this has been going on for a long time? Either he'll mature without you and wholeheartedly apologize, or he won't; there's no need to worry yourself about it. Just enjoy your drink, enjoy your day and enjoy your life."
"That seems rather cold," replied Lily. Narcissa just shrugged.
"If you won't care for yourself and make sure you're living a good life, then who will? Care for yourself first and then help other people if you want once you can."
"That makes sense I guess," replied Lily, wiping away the tears with her sleeve. She took a deep breath followed by a large gulp of her drink. When she was done with those actions, she seemed to be much steadier. "So, what have you been up to since you graduated from Hogwarts?"
What followed was a long, and surprisingly animated conversation as the two young women talked about themselves as if they were old friends meeting after a long time. At one point Narcissa was surprised at the ease she talked to the younger girl and wondered if it was because she was in no way associated with the Blacks; or if there was another reason entirely. After they were done with their drinks they headed back onto Daigon Alley and walked from store to store, completing their shopping lists, with a few stops in other unrelated stores for fun. And it was fun, one of the most fun days she had had since leaving Hogwarts and the freedom it offered. But no matter how great of a day they had together, in the end they eventually had to go their separate ways.
"Thank you, for today," said Lily as they both stood on the now darkening and less crowded Diagon Alley. "You know, you have a weird way of making me feel better. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to meet with you again, before school starts up again. We can talk, I'm sure there's much more we could say."
"I think I'd like nothing more," replied Narcissa with a smile.
They never went out that second time before Lily returned to Hogwarts for her sixth year, but they did manage to start exchanging letters by owl. Roughly once a week a large brown barn owl with a slightly nasty temperament would arrive and drop off a letter from Lily, although it demanded payment of a cracker or two before it gave up its cargo. It would then leave and Narcissa would read over the letter several times, digesting its contents. She'd then go do something else that demanded her attention, drafting her own reply letter in her head. It would generally be the day after she received the letter that she'd write her own reply, laboring carefully over it. Once it was drafted she'd attach it to the leg of her own small pure bred black carrier owl and off her reply would go. With that done, Narcissa would go about the next few days without thinking about the letter until the arrival of the barn owl reminded her and she started the cycle again.
It was during one of the many rounds of letter trades that Narcissa opened up one and found among the usual pleasantries and descriptions of Hogwarts life a question aimed right at her. "Would you like to go on vacation with me around the countryside during my winter break?" asked the letter. Narcissa actually put the letter inside a magically locked drawer on her desk that could only be opened by herself, not even bothering reading any of the closing statements in the letter. She removed the contents from her mind and went about the rest of her day with extra enthusiasm. Her family commented on her slightly different behavior but she just comforted them that it was because she had received some good news in response to a correspondence of hers.
So it was, when she was preparing to turn in for the night that her mind once again turned to the letter. She carefully undid the magic locking the drawer, took out the haphazardly folded letter and read it once through fully. With that done she turned in for the night, her dreams haunted by Lily Evans and her silky red hair and enchanting green eyes. It was as the dream Lily pulled her into a passionate embrace, their lips brushing as their hands searched each other's bodies that Narcissa woke up.
Her mind still in turmoil, she threw herself into her daily tasks, finishing them with great fervor. It was mid-day when she found herself with nothing else to do, so she threw on a light coat and went for a walk around the town. With nowhere in mind she visited places she never had before, seeing sights she'd never witnessed. She walked far, farther than she had in any other day, and when she finally returned home, having missed dinner but having found it set aside for her. She had walked longer than ever before. Her family were all curious, and slightly disapproving of her actions, but she had no answers for them. She could have always apparated home, but the walk had just felt right. Sadly it hadn't yielded any answers, so she went to sleep once again, her unasked question unanswered.
Narcissa once again dreamed of Lily, this time her dream picked up from where it had left off. Narcissa saw herself from a strange third person point of view as she stripped Lily of her clothes, the scene jumping frames in a jerking motion as her mind sped toward its goal. The two young women passionately kissed and Narcissa saw herself inserting a finger into Lily, who gasped in pleasure. Then, opening her eyes, Lily and her piercing green eyes looked right at the peeping Narcissa and not her dream self. The red headed young woman gave a coy smile and beckoned with a free hand. Then Narcissa once again woke up, this time aware of what her answer would be.
It was only with a faint popping noise that Narcissa and her trunk apparated into the middle of a suburb in Cokeworth. The muggles around her paid no head to her due to the charm she had cast on herself to make herself seem utterly uninteresting to them. She walked to the address that she had long memorized, slowly dropping the charm to allow herself to be noticed again. As the charm disappeared the muggles buzzing around her would have noticed a rather striking young woman in black pants, with a black silk blouse and black sneakers. The pants and blouse were slightly too loose on her due to her unfamiliarity with Muggle clothing when she had bought them on her own, and the sneakers pinched her feet slightly. She cursed slightly at the annoyance, but knew that the simple clothes would be the best disguise for her current trip.
As Narcissa walked towards the address given to her she was distressed by how similar all of the muggle buildings around her were. They were all of similar sizes and painted in what seemed to be half a dozen differing shades of the same drab colors. The area wasn't very pleasant and it wasn't very charming. Black ancestral land tended to be depressing or dark, but it had character and a charm of its own. The area around her though was just boring and felt like it had never had any life to it. It was a mystery to her how anyone could live in such an area.
The numbers written on each house indicated that she had arrived at her destination, but it didn't look any different from any of the other houses around it. Narcissa walked up to the front door of the house and after looking around for a bit to figure out what to do, grabbed the knocker on the door and clanked it against the door. She heard footsteps from inside, followed by the sound of a lock turning. The door opened up and Narcissa was greeted by a plain young woman with a long neck and a much practiced frown on her face.
"What do you want?" asked the woman curtly.
"I'm here for Lily Evans, I'm a friend of hers," said Narcissa, resisting the urge to cast a hex on the woman. Assuming she had the right house this had to be the much talked about Petunia, Lily's older sister. Her descriptions of Petunia's looks and attitude had been much, much more charitable than how Narcissa would have described her to someone just after this very brief meeting. Petunia studied her for a moment, her frown somehow becoming larger.
"She doesn't have normal friends," replied Petunia judgmentally. "You from that wacko school of hers?"
"Yes, I know her from Hogwarts," replied Narcissa, counting slowly in her head to keep calm. "My name is Narcissa Black. Is Lily home? She was supposed to be expecting me around now. I am a little early though."
"She's in the shower and should be out any moment," replied Petunia. The two women just stood there for a minute staring at each other in silence as Petunia failed to invite her inside to wait. Narcissa wondered if the young woman had no manners drilled into her whatsoever or if she was just choosing to ignore them for some reason. After more than a minute of awkward silence had passed, Petunia spoke up again. "You look a little too old to know my sister from school, what's really going on?"
Narcissa was kind of surprised by how astute of a person the insufferable Petunia really was, but it was definitely not going to help endear the other girl to her. "You're right, I'm one of her seniors from school. We met a few times over the course of my time at the school, I helped her out with a few problems she had, and now we've been exchanging letters and have decided to travel a bit during vacation. Is that satisfactory enough of an answer to allow you to gain manners and let me inside to wait like you should have a long time ago?"
Petunia started to turn very red in the face and looked like she would explode in anger an second, possibly taking the whole house with her in the blast. But a flash of red came into Narcissa's sight and soon Lily was at the front door, a smile on her face.
"Narcissa!" greeted the young girl excitedly. She gave Narcissa a hug and smiled gratefully at her sister. "Thank you for answering the door Petunia. I hope you two enjoyed chatting for a bit? Well, I'm just going to quickly grab my stuff and then we can go. Why don't you come on upstairs Narcissa?"
"Don't mind if I do," replied Narcissa, giving a small smile. Petunia stepped aside, a slight frown on her face, but somehow different than the ones she had been giving prior.
Lily led Narcissa upstairs, allowing her to leave her trunk down stairs, and into a room in which the walls were all painted light blue. One corner had a desk pushed into it, while another wall was taken up by two bookshelves and a dresser. Another wall was dominated by a large window that had the blinds drawn but no doubt looked out into the dreary suburbs of Cokeworth. A bed was pushed up against the far wall, an open trunk half filled with neatly folded clothes sitting on top of it.
Lily turned to Narcissa and gestured to the chair pushed into the desk. "Sorry, I'm running a little behind on packing. Take a seat, I should be done shortly."
Narcissa closed the door, wanting to avoid the no doubt prying eyes of Petunia should they appear, and took a seat on the offered chair. As was casual Black Family practice, Narcissa waved her wand and cast a spell of silence on the room, so that no one outside could hear anything said inside of it. As Lily bustled about, picking, folding and packing clothes, Narcissa studied the room around her. Everything was neat, tidy and organized. On one of the book shelves were all of Lily's school books from throughout the years, organized by year and clearly well kept. The other bookshelf was full of muggle books that meant nothing to Narcissa. She recognized none of the titles, but the books were spilling out of their neat slots on the book shelf as more books were contained on them than was meant to be.
Narcissa tried to study the rest of the room but found her gaze being drawn to Lily. The young woman was facing away from her, the muggle clothes hugging her growing curves much more tightly than the wizarding robes she was used to seeing her in. Her gaze started to focus in more until all Narcissa could see was the swaying of Lily's hips as she packed.
"I want to apologize for Petunia's behavior," said Lily, breaking Narcissa out of her trance. She looked up and met Lily's beautiful bright green eyes. "She's usually pretty nice for an older sister, but she doesn't really like the topic of magic or anyone associated with it. It's…a sore spot for her."
"I'd imagine," replied Narcissa. "Especially with such a talented witch for a sister. Your sister can't use magic, correct?"
"Yeah," replied Lily. "She doesn't really understand why I can while she can't. Her only real experience meeting a wizard was Severus, who was quite rude to her sadly."
"I bet," chuckled Narcissa.
Lily shut her trunk and locked it up. "Ok, ready to go!"
"Let me get that," said Narcissa, standing up. She waved her wand and the trunk lifted off of the bed. She opened the door, lifting the silence spell, and gently directed the drunk out of the room and down the stairs. They followed closely behind and Narcissa deposited the trunk onto the floor next to her own.
"My parents are out and I said goodbye to them earlier, but let me just say good bye to Petunia quickly and we can leave."
"Just take your weird friend and leave for your trip already!" yelled Petunia from the other room. Lily looked momentarily hurt by her older sister's reaction, but she was soon smiling again.
"Ok, we're heading out then! Have a good time while I'm away!" shouted Lily into the other room. Narcissa grabbed Lily's arm gently with her hand, causing the younger girl to look at her.
"Are you ready to go?" asked Narcissa.
"Yeah," replied Lily, nodding.
"Okay then, we're going to apparate, grab a hold of your trunk and just relax." Lily did as she was told and in the pause between a second they were gone, no signs left that they had been standing in the house.
"That magician's tricks were pretty good, but I think they're wasted on entertaining muggles," commented Narcissa between bites of food.
"He's not a real wizard," replied Lily, laughing slightly. "He just uses tricks of light and sleight of hand to make the audience think he is."
"That is both more and less impressive then if he had been using magic," marveled Narcissa.
It was the first night of their trip and Narcissa was already enjoying it. Since she could apparate them around the time spent traveling was very little, allowing for more time to enjoy the amusements in their first stop after dropping their trunks off at the hotel. Lily had chosen to take them to a so called "Magic Show", and Narcissa had been pleasantly surprised by the show. Now they were finishing up eating at a small restaurant near the hotel. Just talking and being together with another person like this was a new experience for her, one she was greatly enjoying. She knew that when night came that would only be a pause in the fun, with many more days of travel and amusement to come.
When they had finished eating they headed back to the hotel, Lily flopping down on the single bed that she had claimed when they had arrived. Narcissa was kind of disappointed that they weren't sharing a bed, but she wasn't really sure how Lily would respond to the urges she had been feeling for several weeks now. Every time she saw the red head she felt almost a physical need to touch her, to feel her skin next to her own. To feel their lips pressed together in passion... It was overpowering and she wondered if she'd be able to resist the urges during the trip or be driven mad while trying to enjoy Lily's company. So she just settled for sitting down on her bed, feeling the mattress squeak underneath her.
"Ah, we didn't really do much today but I'm already so tired," mused Lily. "And yet, I'd still like to do more before I turn in. We can always talk I guess, do you have any other activities we could do?"
"We could always kiss," replied Narcissa, not realizing what she was saying until it was already out. Lily sat up in bed and looked quizzically at her, and she just replied with a smile, hoping to pass off the comment as a joke. Lily just seemed to study her harder with each passing moment, and Narcissa wondered what she was looking for, and what she could see. She was surprised when Lily stood up, walked over and sat down right next to her on her bed.
They just sat there together for several minutes, neither saying a word nor looking at the other. Then, Narcissa noticed movement and turning slightly saw Lily looking right up at her, studying her. She just kept up that glance as minutes passed by and Narcissa had to look away. She could still feel Lily's stare burning into the side of her head. Underneath her shirt, a certain metal flower seemed to burn into her chest. Her heart started to beat faster and her face flushed red. She couldn't stand the silence, the waiting, anymore. So she turned to look at Lily to try to confront her with an explanation and found the red headed girl just centimeters away, looking right up at her.
Narcissa's voice caught in her throat at that moment, and as she tried to mumble out an excuse only three words found their way out.
"I love you."
Lily then stood up, stood in front of Narcissa and cupped her hand around her face. The red head leaned down and kissed Narcissa, the brush of their lips sending Narcissa's mind reeling. Eventually Lily pulled back and smiled softly at her.
"I love you too."
Narcissa was tired. The labor had not been easy and it had been a long night. She wanted to sleep, to sleep for a long, long time. But first, she had another thing to do. Crying filled her ears as she gazed upon the bundle of blankets being held out before her. She grabbed it and cradled it gently in her arms. Peeling back the blanket she saw a newborn baby boy looking right up at her, demanding her love and attention. He had wisps of blonde hair on him and clear blue eyes; eyes that were nothing like Lily's. At that moment Narcissa finally stopped holding it all in and she cried; cried tears of joy at such a beautiful baby who looked nothing like the woman she loved.
Author's Notes: Well, this went much longer than I had originally planned. Seriously, a 10k word one-shot? What was I thinking? I've had this idea for a Lily/Narcissa fic for over a year now and I'm finally glad that I got it out. There's not too much info on how the mothers act when younger, Narcissa being older, bitter and caring only for Draco is basically all we see of her. Doing research I also found that she was roughly five years older than Lily and Severus, with Lucius Malfoy being a year older than her. It's kind of amazing that Snape was able to befriend people who were so much older than him at Hogwarts, in High School I barely knew who was in just a grade below or above me. Research also showed (although this is from Wikipedia, so anyone with actual knowledge on this feel free to enlighten me) but at the point this story would have been happening I think the minimum age of consent was 12, so Narcissa is not committing a crime in this story. Although I tried to make things as age appropriate and as consensual as possible. Also, interestingly enough, while there was a ban on Gay relationships in England at the time, there wasn't one on Lesbian relationships and the bill to ban them had in fact been repealed twice. Rumor (probably myth) has it that this is because the British Government "didn't want to give women any ideas". That is probably one of the most sexist reasons I have ever heard for something that was really in the favor of Lesbian and bi-sexual women. Another story has it that Queen Victoria didn't allow it because she couldn't imagine women doing such things to each other, which is again, hilarious and awful at the same time.
