Author's Note: I am so very sorry for the delay in updates on all of my stories. Life has been especially crazy for me...But I think that I am going to be able to update better than I have been. I hope you will continue to read and review this story...This is a "filler chapter," but it's about to get very good - I promise!

Best wishes and many thanks always! I look forward to hearing your comments.


The First Years


Year Three and Five:


Narcissa's first years at Hogwarts went off without anything remarkable happening in her life. She had quickly become the most popular girl in her year, though she never seemed to care – making the other girls' pull towards and interest in her even stronger. She and Lucius resolutely maintained a thin façade of formal pleasantries when absolutely necessary at school (both preferring to avoid the other). Otherwise, she left him to his devices and she explored her own … unless they were at home. In which case, Lucius and Narcissa acted as though they actually knew the other for the sake of the adults scrutinizing them. It wasn't until Narcissa's third year that any of this changed…


"Lucius, dear, please be good this year." Lucine smiled as she stood with her son at the Hogwarts Express, preparing to send him off for his fifth year. "And please try and form a genuine interest in Narcissa. It will do you both better in the future if you did." She sighed quietly as she saw her son's ingenuine smile and nod.

"Certainly, Mother." He smiled as Margarethe Thurkell strutted past him with a saucy smile his way.

Lucine moved so that she obstructed her son's line of vision. "I know you don't believe me Lucius, but one day you will look up to find that Narcissa isn't the child she once was." She watched as her son stared at her unblinkingly. "And it will be too late, for you won't be the only boy to have noticed her; and you certainly won't be the first to notice her."

"It matters very little seeing as she's already mine." He sighed with an eyeroll, causing his Mother to murmur a spell under her breath, leaving his cheek stinging as if she had truly slapped him.

"And that arrogance will ensure that she never will be." She shook her head, her anger boiling as she saw her once sweet son turning into an image of her father before her – deeply arrogant and self-centered. "You are merely bonded. A promise very easily broken, especially for the heiress of the noble House of Black. She is your equal or above your equal in every way imaginable, Lucius. And I assure you that her beauty and her breeding have ensured that she will no doubt give you a run for your ignorance if you do not come round soon." She shook her head as her son stared in slight shock at her, apparently still not over the fact that she had slapped him.

"Lucine!" Druella smiled as she approached the other woman with a genuine smile, her daughters languidly following behind her with their father towing behind them. "How have you been?" She smiled as she kissed the air beside the older woman's thin pink cheeks.

"Well, thank you." She smiled as she looked over the family. Cygnus seemed as tired as ever. Andromeda's eyes were darting down the platform trying to find someone. Bella looked disgruntled as she slouched beside her father, her black hair in a bun that looked much more like the starts of a beehive – if her hair were just a bit longer.

"Mother, I've found Uncle Evanston and Aunt Odette." Narcissa smiled, her long blonde hair falling down her back with a silk black headband holding it into place prettily. "Oh, I'm sorry. Hello, Mrs. Malfoy…Lucius." She smiled, her lips tinged cranberry by lipstick.

"Narcissa, hello." Lucine smiled with a nod. "Well, it certainly seems as if summering in Italy agreed with everyone." She smiled at the entire tan family (bar Narcissa and Bella's creamy white skin). Narcissa was so fair she didn't tan…And Bella was determined to keep herself from becoming tan and ruining her "sense of style."

"Well, I thought a summer on the continent would be a nice thing…before Bella becomes a part of someone else's family…" She smiled as she and Lucine spoke. Her husband inching away to speak with an old school chum down the way.

Lucius couldn't help but look at Narcissa in a slightly bewildered way. She wasn't attractive like Margarethe, but his mother was right – she wasn't exactly a child anymore either. She turned away, the ends of her blonde hair hitting against his cheek, just as he was about to speak to her, to hug Evan Rosier.

"Evan!" Narcissa grinned as she almost barreled over the much taller boy. "I was hoping I'd see you! We must sit on the train together. I haven't gotten to tell you all about Italy and Greece yet…And you haven't told me anything about your summer at all either." She smiled as the older boy laughed.

"Alright Cissy." He smiled at his younger cousin, who was always affectionate and easy to get on with…not like his own bonded, who he now focused his attentions on. "How did you enjoy the trip this summer, Dromeda?" He smiled as the brunette looked at him confusedly.

Bella snorted at Andromeda's clear selective hearing of Evan. "He wants to know how you liked the hell our parents took us on this summer and called 'fun.'" She smiled pertly as Evan's cheeks tinged pink, embarrassed that Andromeda once again was brushing him off.

She smiled a curt smile as she spotted some Hufflepuff friends down the strip. "Fine, thank you." As he began to speak she cut him off promptly, causing his observant father to go a purple shade in the face at her impertinence and disreguard. "Actually, I've just spotted Caro, so I'll be off." She kissed her mother and father dutifully on the cheek exchanging short goodbyes before promptly leaving the rest of the group.

"Well, I'll see you all on the train." Bella smiled at Evan and Cissy before glaring at Lucius in a way that made his blood curdle slightly. "Bye, Mother. Enjoy your peace without me. I know I won't miss home or this summer!" She kissed her irritated mother's cheek before hopping onto the train; and waving to her father with a slightly manic smile.

"Girls of that age…" Odette smiled at Lucine and Druella, clearly trying to make light of the situation. "…I think it's what makes leaving one's own home to start another easier. It's just a necessary stage of life for daughters, I believe."

"Yes, so true." Lucine smiled kindly as Narcissa stepped up to them.

"I'll see you at Christmas, Mother." She kissed both of her mother's cheeks before kissing her aunt's cheek and smiling warmly at Mrs. Malfoy. "I'm excited to attend your annual party this year, Mrs. Malfoy."

"It will be an honor to have you, Narcissa." Lucine smiled as her son listened in on their conversation.

"Well I had better be leaving as well Mother." Lucius hugged his mother before smiling at the other ladies and making his way onto the train, leaving Narcissa to pack her own trunk on.


"Honestly Cissy, I don't know how you put up with your sisters…" Evan sighed as he lounged in a compartment with Narcissa. "…It's embarrassing how Andromeda treats me."

"I'm sorry, Evan." Narcissa shook her head as Bella threw open the door to the compartment, her hair a wild mess.

"Have either of you seen Roddy?" Her eyes were gleaming in the light streaming through the windows, her chest heaving whether from mischief or a desire to kill the boy Narcissa and Evan didn't know.

"No." Evan was curt as he gave Bella a withering glare of his own, irritated at how she seemed to find Andromeda's poor treatment of him amusing.

"Oh Evan, stop glaring like a pouty baby." Bella rolled her eyes as she plopped unceremoniously into the seat beside Cissy. "Andromeda always treats you like yesterday's news…" She rolled her eyes as Evan pursed his lips. "You know, normally I'd be ready to ring her neck for it….But honestly, with how wet of a dishtowel you are, I don't even blame her. Where's the excitement in that?"

"I thought you were looking for Rodolphus." He sighed as Bella threw her feet up into the chair beside him.

She shrugged as she twirled a wild curl around her finger before pushing it into her mess of a hair-do. "He'll find me if he really wants me…" She looked over to find Lucius Malfoy in the doorway of their compartment, Margarethe plastered to his side like a cheap two-bit whore (in Bella's opinion). "And the prodigal boy finds his way." She looked him up and down, giving Margarethe a look that sent her deeper into Lucius' side, to his annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Bella." He rolled his eyes as he pushed her feet off of the seat and sat across from her, Margarethe standing at the carriage door uncertainly.

"You can leave now that you've serviced him. Your job is done." Bella smiled wickedly at the younger girl before quite literally slamming the carriage door to, almost catching the girl's nose in it in the process. "I don't know why you keep her around Lucius. She's disgusting – the way she's so easy." She looked between Lucius and Evan and rolled her eyes. "I don't get why you keep an easy girl…And I don't know why you act like one."

Narcissa's cheeks tinged pink as she looked out the window, unwilling to let any of them know exactly how embarrassing this conversation was to her.

"I prefer a chase myself…" Bella smiled wickedly, a mischevious glint gleaming in her eyes.

"We know." Evan shook his head. "You always did prefer to play with your prey before delivering the final blow – in chess games, in duels, with Rodolphus…"

"She's just a way to fill up some time." Lucius shrugged as his eyes darted toward Narcissa who was resolutely avoiding his or anyone else's gaze.

"Well, you'll be my next prey Lucius Malfoy if you dare to ever bring that whore around my family." Bella's eyes slanted like two sharp razors as the boy in front of her refused to show any weaknesses. "No respectable pure blooded man keeps his trollip out for the world to see." She whipped her head in a fast motion that made a near cracking sound. "So Cissy, have you told Evan that you'll likely be staying with him over break since our parents are going to vacation in Greece for their anniversary?" She smirked slyly at Lucius, knowing what a jealous child he could still be.

"She hadn't." Evan smiled as Narcissa faced them all again, a small smile on her lips.

"Mother and Father are just discussing it right now, Bella." She smiled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But since I'm thirteen, Mrs. Malfoy is technically allowed to request that I stay with them….But I don't think she will, seeing as I'm sure Lucius wouldn't want to entertain me. And I'd love to help Isolde and your mother prepare for her bonding!" She smiled as Evan nodded.

"Isa would love that, I'm sure." He smiled genuinely as he loosened the tie around his neck. "So would we get you and Dromeda then? Two for the price of one…" He winked jokingly as Narcissa rolled her eyes.

Lucius could feel his jaw tensing as he watched the banter between Narcissa and Evan. He couldn't understand why he felt his heart thudding with anger when he didn't even like Narcissa. He'd always found her to be a goody-goody baby…a people-pleaser. A quality he didn't find attractive, seeing as he believed people should work to please him and those he associated with, not the other way round.

Narcissa smiled coyly from her seat. "Only in your dreams, Evan…" She winked as an interested expression found its way onto Bella and Lucius' faces. "After all, I'm no freebie – it'd take serious chasing and work to be with me. So you'd better get started." She stood up, grabbing a small dragon-skinned purse, before walking out the cabin door to buy a pastry from the old woman who peddled sweets every train ride.

Evan through his head back in laughter as Bella smirked in an almost proud way. "She's right. A lot has happened since you've come back from the continent."

"She's a Black, Evan." Bella began rummaging through her own purse as she spoke to the younger boys. "Did you really expect her to stay so falsely sweet? 'Sides, anyone that knows her knows she's got a way of getting exactly what she wants at all costs without ever getting her own hands dirty – always has."

Lucius found that although he had been listening to the cousins' conversation, his eyes were instead trained to the cabin door, attempting to catch a glimpse of the youngest Black daughter. She certainly wasn't as outlandish as Andromeda was – off making mates out of mudbloods and half-bloods alike….but nor was she like Bella – with one loose screw often sending her off the handle. She was quieter…sneakier…less obviously conniving, yet just as mischevious.

"Damn it to Gryffindor!" Bella half-shrieked unable to find her money pouch. "Cissy! Buy me a pumpkin pasty and some of those treckle tarts, won't you?" Her head was peering round the door as Narcissa merely nodded and made her way back into the cabin, swishing her index finger once behind her – wordlessly and wand-lessly closing the door.

Narcissa had barely settled herself back into her seat between the window and her sister when the cabin door was thrown open and Rodolphus jumped inside the carriage before slamming the door with a ghastly bang and snogging Bella square on the lips before picking her up to make room for himself on the bench.

"Roddy!" Bella shrieked as her bottom hit the middle of the bench, pushing Narcissa flush against the window, she grunted as she glared at the boy who merely kissed her head and tore a piece off of her pasty and popped it in his mouth.

"Malfoy. Rosier." Rodolphus smiled as he nodded and relaxed against the bench. One arm pulling Bella tightly against his side. "So what've I missed then?"

And just like that Narcissa watched as the rest of the compartment fell into conversation about quidditch and upcoming unsanctioned trips into Hogsmeade. She stared out the window beside her, secretly watching Lucius through the reflection – trying to figure out the older boy that seemed to stare at her puzzled when no one else would notice.


AN: Thank you so much for reading this chapter! I am going to try my best to update soon. So, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! :D