The A-Team
Narcissa/Sirius
[The Book Thief Competition: "Somewhere in all the snow, she could see her broken heart, in two pieces."]
[Off The Block Competition: FREESTYLE Medium - write your NOTP (one pairing you'd never ever ship in a million years)]
[Legendary Gods & Goddesses Challenge: Nephthys - write about an arranged marriage.]
[Duct Tape Challenge: Lips - write about your OHP - one hated pairing]
White lips, pale face
Breathing in the snowflakes
"I don't wanna marry Narcissa!"
"Sirius, don't make a scene." His mother bent to straighten his little bowtie.
"Mum!" He pulled away. "She's my cousin!"
"Hush."
He scowled. "I won't do it," he mumbled, but his mother shushed him again and shooed him out into the ballroom with the other relatives.
Narcissa stood off to the side with her sisters. Sirius made a beeline for her white-blonde head. "Narcissa!"
They were the same age - both nearly eight - but she was nearly a head taller. Her dress, embroidered with lacey snowflakes that matched the color of her skin, swished around her knees as she turned. "Yes?"
"I'm not gonna marry you."
Bellatrix laughed. "Yes, you are. Mummy's already told us."
"Why don't you wanna marry her?" Andromeda asked.
"Because she's my cousin."
"Your parents are cousins," Andromeda said.
"You think I want to be anything like my parents?"
"Your bowtie is crooked," Narcissa said quietly. She leaned down to adjust it for him.
"Stop it!" He pushed her off. She stumbled.
"Don't hurt our sister," Bellatrix warned. "Don't you dare." Her wand was suddenly clutched in her fist. "I'll curse you if you hurt her."
"You're a second year. What curses could you possibly know?"
Bella grinned. "Crucio," she whispered, and Sirius felt his muscles burn.
He managed to remain standing. "Come on," he said."You can do better than that."
She growled. "Cru - "
"Ah, here are my lovely nieces!" said Sirius' father, and Bella quickly hid her wand behind her back. "Come on, Sirius, ask your betrothed for a dance!"
"But Dad -"
"Sirius." His eyes were stony, and Sirius sighed and took Narcissa's hands.
"D'you waltz?" she asked.
He snorted. "No. Dancing's for girls."
"Fine." Suddenly her hand was at his waist. "I suppose I'll have to lead." And then she was pushing him around the dance floor like a mop. "You'd better take lessons before our wedding," she said. "You're terrible."
"There isn't going to be a wedding."
She turned them in a smooth circle. "Are you afraid of your father, Sirius?"
"No."
"Then why did you agree to dance with me?"
He didn't answer.
Her pale smile was not unkind. "So either you're afraid of your father, or you're in love with me. Either way, Sirius, there'll be a wedding."
We're all under the upper hand
Go mad for a couple grams
Narcissa caught him in the corridor just after the Sorting. "Sirius," she whispered, eyes wide. "What have you done?"
"What d'you mean?"
"Gryffindor?"
"Oh." He shrugged. "Guess I'm not like the rest of the Blacks. Pity, that." He started to walk away, but she grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. "What?"
"I can't marry a Gryffindor. I'll be the disgrace of the family. I'll go mad."
"Guess you'd better find a new husband, then."
"You know it's not that easy. Go find Professor Dumbledore and fix this."
"The Hat put me in Gryffindor," he said, "and that's where I'll stay. So long, Cissy. See you at the wedding." He loped off to the Gryffindor common room.
"Sirius!"
But he didn't turn around.
She don't wanna go outside
Tonight
He was on his knees in the snow, wincing as pain shot through every nerve in his body, but he didn't care, he'd done it, he'd finally stood up to his father, he'd finally broken free from his family.
"Sirius," Narcissa whispered behind him. She sounded haunted. "I saw - all of it."
He let out a bark of laughter. "What, my dad torturing me? Thanks for stepping in."
"What did he mean when he said - you weren't a Black anymore?"
"I'm out of the family. Disowned. Off the Tree. You probably don't have to marry me now," he added. "Lucky you."
"But who - " She looked confused, and scared, and cold. "Who am I going to marry, then?"
Sirius shrugged. "Whoever you love. That's what normal people do."
Narcissa shook her head rapidly to discourage the snowflakes settling into her ivory hair. "Look, maybe if you go back in and apologize," she began, but he cut her off.
"Apologize? Why?"
"Don't you want back in the family?"
"No." He stood. "I've wanted out of this family ever since they told me to marry my cousin."
She looked shocked, as if someone had ripped out her heart and left it to freeze in the snow. "I didn't want to marry you, either," she said quietly, but he saw the pain in her eyes, and a part of him thought that maybe that wasn't so true.
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
He had to get to the Ministry, had to save Harry, had to find Moony, had to go now -
"Sirius?"
He froze. "Cissy?" Of course, the one person walking down this street at midnight was her.
She looked at him through wide eyes. "I thought you were dead."
He shook his head. "Just on the run." Run. Go. Have to find Harry.
But he didn't go, not yet. "You got married after all, I hear. Malfoy. Excellent choice. Sure your mummy was proud." He couldn't help but say it bitterly.
She bit her white lip. "Lucius is a good man," she said firmly as she put a hand on her shoulder, and his chest was slammed with the memory of a clumsy waltz with a girl dressed in snowflakes. "But he was never what I wanted."
Sirius fought the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm sorry you didn't get the wedding you dreamed of as a kid," he said. "I'm sorry you were bettrothed against your will to the family disappointment. But Cissy, I really have to - "
"I chose you, actually."
"What?"
She had to tilt her chin all the way back to see his face. "My mother sat us down and asked which purebloods we wanted to marry. Bella said Rodolphus. Andromeda said Travers. And I chose you."
"You wanted to - but why?"
"Because you're not like the rest of them! I don't want to be like the rest of them, not since they disowned Dromeda. Before that, even." She took a deep breath. "I want to be like you."
He shook his head. "Cissy . . . I can't . . . I have to go . . . "
She closed her eyes. "I know."
She looked pitiful, though and so he pulled her into his arms and held her there awhile. "I'll come back," he murmured in her ear. "For you."
He had no intention of keeping that promise.
(Turns out he couldn't have if he'd wanted to.)
