The shopping trip with Jemima had been a complete success, having bought a lilac, A-line one shouldered, beaded sleeveless, floor-length dress with diamonds embedded in with the beading. Make-up lightly applied with a minimal blush and pale pink lipstick added and her long blonde locks curled tightly and swept over her left shoulder and pinned into place. There was a light knock on her bedroom door and she turned just as Henri entered her bedroom.

She was lucky to have found Henri and her mother approved of him the first time he had met her parents, having said that they would produce beautiful girls who would have Narcissa's looks and the boys would inherit their father's dark brown hair, muddy brown eyes and strong jaw. Henri was rather handsome and was perfectly nice but little did her parents know that their courtship was all an act.

"You look beautiful." Henri complimented.

"Thank you, I like your robes. The black and gold compliment each other." Narcissa replied.

"Your mother is quite the expert in colour schemes for dress robes." said Henri, closing the door behind him.

Narcissa smiled, "Are you sure you still want to do this? I won't hold it against you if you decide to back out of our arrangement." she said quietly.

"We've talked about this many times Narcissa, I'm perfectly sure that I want to keep this up. Once you are reunited with Lucius and I am reunited with Isabel then we can end this charade. The whole point of this is to keep our families off our backs about finding someone to marry when we really want to be with those we love." Henri whispered.

"I know that but I fear it may be harder for me because the love of my life is married to another." Narcissa muttered.

"Then I must play my part very well and make him so jealous that he'll divorce. Now we have to go downstairs because the party is starting in ten minutes, are you ready?"

She nodded her confirmation, linking her arm in his as they left her bedroom and walked down the stairs to enter the small ballroom in her family manor. Some of the guests had already started to arrive, Jemima rushed over with Neil Greengrass to greet them and to get a formal introduction to Henri. Narcissa smiled as Henri enlightened her best friend by answering all questions that Jemima put to him, stating that he was the eldest of three boys and grew up in Versailles, he attended Beauxbatons before going into employment with the French Ministry and met Narcissa at a party through her Aunt Blanche; who's cousin was his father making him and Narcissa distant relatives.

Narcissa excused herself to go and help herself to a drink, heading over to one of the hired waiters who were walking around with circular trays that held glasses of champagne. She took one and took a sip, feeling a hand on her shoulder; she turned and her eyes narrowed when she saw who it was.

"Mr Malfoy." she greeted coldly.

"Narcissa, you look well." Abraxas replied.

"Thank you, France is good for a getaway."

"Indeed. I agreed with your father's decision when he told me that he was sending you to Beauxbatons, it was nice of him to get you away from all the scandal that was happening here." said Abraxas, almost tauntingly.

Narcissa didn't stop glaring at the old man, "Forgive me, Mr Malfoy, but the 'scandal' was not of my making and nor do I intend to associate myself with it further. You didn't help matters for the part you played in my exile." she replied icily.

"Of course my dear. I understand that you would hold some ill will toward me and I can assure you that the past is in the past. Come, I have someone that I would like you to meet." Abraxas requested, placing an arm over her shoulder and leading her through the crowd.

She didn't want to even speak with any member of the Malfoy family at present, she just wanted to get through this party and make it known to everyone in attendance that she was more than a bloodtraitor's sister.

"Cecily, where is Lucius?" Abraxas asked as the two of them reached a brunette.

The woman turned, smiling her greeting with white and slightly crooked teeth. Her eyes were a shade of mint green that sat under a wide forehead and oddly shaped eyebrows. Her pale, round face gave her the impression that she had a friendly demeanour but Narcissa knew that appearances could be deceptive, perhaps better than most people.

"He's gone to speak with some business associates he met through the Ministry." Cecily answered.

"May I introduce you to Narcissa Black, she's the daughter of my close friend Cygnus." Abraxas said.

Cecily took her hand and shook it gently, "Were you not betrothed to Lucius at one point?" she asked.

Narcissa nodded, "I was." she confirmed.

Abraxas moved away from the two women causing Narcissa to silently curse the man who was so determined to torment her over what she had lost.

"I suppose it's for the best that you didn't marry him, otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity." Cecily said quietly, almost smugly.

Narcissa smiled her best fake smile and leaned a little closer, "That may be true but alas I have moved on to someone who is more worthy of a Black. Just remember that no matter how much jewellery you wear or how many times you spend those galleons in the Malfoy vault at Gringotts, never forget that I know him better than you ever will and I have something of his which you will never own." she whispered.

Cecily frowned, "He's my husband, not yours." the woman hissed.

Narcissa smiled tauntingly at her, "It won't last long." she vowed.

Without saying anything further, she turned and left Lucius's wife stood there looking shocked, confused and outraged which only made Narcissa smile in triumph; there was no way that she was going to allow a stranger to taunt her about what she had gone through when she was all the more determined to get back what she had lost.

She met the eye of Lucius as he made his way back to his wife as he carried two champagne flutes but nothing was said, his look was that of curiosity and wonder to which that she found herself thinking if he had spent the last year wondering what if Abraxas hadn't broken their engagement and she hadn't been sent to France. But thoughts of Lucius were soon put out of her head when the announcement of Bellatrix's arrival reached her and she soon hurried over to her sister to greet her.

"Cissy, it's been too long." Bella drawled, not even pretending to be remotely interested in a conversation.

"Nice to see you too Bella." Narcissa replied.

"I have other places to be but father insisted that I come for appearances sake." Bella said with a slight yawn.

The yawn she couldn't make out whether it was down to tiredness or boredom but she soon decided, having known Bella's reluctance to attend these parties and that her sister could function on very little sleep due to her duties for the Dark Lord, it was the latter.

"I shan't keep you then but perhaps we could go for a drink somewhere to catch up properly?" Narcissa asked.

"The Cracked Cauldron in Knockturn Alley in three days time, meet me there at noon if you like. I'll be there with a few friends of mine." said Bella, turning on her heel and heading off through the crowd; most likely to try and find Rodolphus to sneak off to do something that she found more exciting than being at a party with their family and their father's closest friends.

It was such a crowded room that Narcissa found herself getting quite hot and needing some air. Politely moving past people who were stood in her way, she reached the doors that led on to the terrace and decided to go for a short walk to cool down, heading off towards the part of the grounds that were covered by trees; lost in remembrance of her and Lucius as she walked underneath the canopy of trees.

"I've been thinking about the other night quite a lot." Lucius admitted.

Narcissa smiled as they continued to walk around the gardens, the sun shining down upon them; causing the summer heat to make them head under the canopy of trees.

"Which part exactly? Men always like it when a girl loses at poker to them, it's quite a good boost to their ego." Narcissa replied.

"The part which occurred after you lost to me."

Narcissa looked at him, rolling her eyes at the smirk on his face, "Well it was part of the dare, the loser has to kiss the winner." she said.

"It wasn't how I imagined having a first kiss with you."

"Why are you imagining such things? We're just friends Lucius and besides it hardly counts due to the circumstances. But I will admit that you're quite a good kisser." Narcissa teased.

"Quite good? I've been told by many that I'm the best kisser in Slytherin." Lucius asked, slightly offended.

Narcissa shrugged, "I can't really hold a judgement considering the circumstances on which I was forced to kiss you." she replied.

"I would hardly say you were forced-"

"And if girls are telling you that you are the best kisser in our house than I'd say you've been kissing far too many girls, I'd worry about your reputation as a womaniser." Narcissa teased.

They stopped walking for a moment, with Lucius gazing at her with a smirk. She only ever was like this with him, everyone else didn't get to see her laughter, her teasing nature, her grins or smirks. In all their years of friendship he wanted that to change and he was certain that she wanted it to change to. But as he was about to make a move closer to her, she grinned and turned; running off into the canopy of trees laughing because she knew that he was going to make her pay for her last comment. Lucius ran too, pulling out his wand and muttering a spell; causing Narcissa to trip on the raised tree root that he had caused to momentarily pop out of the ground. He reached her when the tree root had vanished, she turned on to her back and groaned at the unexpected tumble she had taken. Lucius lay on top of her, pinning her arms above her head as she glared at him.

"Are you okay?" Lucius whispered.

"No! What in Merlin's name did you do that for?!" Narcissa shrieked.

"Call it revenge for your womaniser comment." Lucius replied.

"You're insane Malfoy!" Narcissa whispered, trying to wriggle free of his grasp but he held her even more tightly.

Nothing else was said as Lucius crashed his lips down on to hers, sucking on that bottom lip that had taunted him since their kiss after the poker game. Narcissa didn't hold back, she opened her mouth to him and tongues battled the other. Narcissa felt the flutterings in her stomach that she had felt the other night as Lucius released her hands and broke the kiss; kissing along her jaw and down her neck...

"I thought you'd be out here." said a voice.

Narcissa turned, heart beating faster and faster as she saw that her private moment of remembrance had been interrupted by the one person she had been reminiscing about. All evening she had managed to avoid talking with him, all evening all they had exchanged was mere glances that lasted a second longer than it should have done. But now here he was, stood before her as if nothing had happened.

"I needed some air it was getting too hot inside." Narcissa replied stiffly.

"You look well, France seems to have agreed with you." Lucius complimented.

Narcissa scoffed, "I'm still the sister of a blood-traitor in your father's eyes." she replied icily.

She wasn't going to allow him to treat her in the way that he was, that time hadn't passed and they hadn't been separated. She wasn't going to allow Lucius to act as if he hadn't broken their engagement a year ago which had left her heartbroken.

"Narcissa you should let me explain-"

"Explain what? That the man I loved and was supposed to marry broke our engagement because my sister decided to run off with a mudblood rather than marry into the Nott family? It was all Andromeda, not me. Your apologies and explanations mean nothing to me." Narcissa sneered.

"You know what my father is like, he is a bitter fool. When the news of Andromeda's desertion went public he believed that all the Blacks were bad seeds all you had to do was look at Bellatrix and Andromeda and he believed you to be the same-"

She scoffed again, "I always knew you were many things, I never knew that you were a coward." she shot at him bitterly.

"I am no such thing!" Lucius growled, stepping towards her angrily.

"You are because you failed to fight for our engagement, you failed to fight for me when I was prepared to defy your father and marry you." Narcissa hissed.

"Your parents sent you off to France because of Andromeda's mistake, the fault isn't mine it's that of our parents." Lucius replied defensively.

"I know that part is their fault and believe me, I will be speaking to them about it. The one letter that I received from you when I first got to Beauxbatons promised that you were going to wait for me and on my return home I hear the news that you're someone else's!" Narcissa almost yelled.

"I had no choice and besides you're with that fancy French imposter-"

"I am now."

"I don't love her, she's simply a woman I married to keep my father happy and satisfied." said Lucius.

"But you married her all the same." Narcissa hissed.

Lucius stepped away from her. Narcissa looked at him and felt surprised that she was this angry with him about everything that had happened. She was angry with everyone, Abraxas for thinking that his oldest friend's youngest daughter was just like the blood-traitor and breaking their engagement, Lucius for allowing it to happen and marrying someone else, her parents for sending her away to avoid further gossiping from the public and most of all Andromeda because she was the one to cause all of this mess by running off with that Hufflepuff mudblood.

"Forgive me for taking up so much of your time. I merely thought that because you were in the same spot that we shared our first real kiss that you would want me to talk with you. I can see now that it was a mistake and I won't bother you again. Congratulations on your engagement, I hope that Henri Rosier realises that he is a lucky man." Lucius said, almost sorrowfully.

"We aren't those teenagers any more Lucius, I'm not that fourteen year old that you first kissed and neither are you that fifteen year old. I am eighteen now and you nineteen and married. I hope that one day in the future I can get past my anger towards everyone for everything that has occurred. Go back to your wife Lucius, I'm sure that she will give you the Malfoy heir that your father desperately wants." Narcissa replied.

Without another word, Narcissa left and walked back towards the manor. In time she hoped that she would be able to get over her anger and sort out her life the way she wanted it to go but she knew that it was going to be hard. As she reached the terrace, Henri was waiting for her. She greeted him with a smile and took hold of his hands that were reaching out to her.

"Did you speak with him?" Henri muttered.

Narcissa nodded, "He doesn't love his wife so I suppose that's good news." she replied quietly.

"That wasn't part of the plan, him getting married. If we want to defy our parents and get those we truly love back into our lives then we have to rethink the fact that yours is married." Henri whispered.

"Are you certain you want to carry on with this? I mean our parents are none the wiser but I don't want anyone to get hurt." said Narcissa.

Henri smiled, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Lucius was approaching the manor. He took out his hand and stroked her cheek slowly, hoping that it would give off the impression of affection.

"We just have to make this as believable as possible if we are going to keep this going." Henri whispered.

Narcissa nodded, seeing that Henri was getting closer to her she closed her eyes. It was all part of the act, part of their agreement to be engaged. She didn't love Henri and Henri didn't love her, they would simply be engaged for a year whilst they secretly worked to get the love of their lives back whatever the cost. Henri lightly kissed her before pulling away, smiling as his gaze briefly went away from her to look at Lucius.

She heard the footsteps behind her, turning to see that Lucius had brushed past them to re-enter the house; giving her a look of regret as he went. She hadn't meant to get this angry with him but she couldn't help it. The saying that time is a healer would only remain to be seen in her case, she hoped that in time she wouldn't feel this angry with the love of her life and in time she hoped that she and Lucius would one day be reunited.