August 1972

It was said to be the hottest day of the summer but in every room that Narcissa went in Black Manor, she was freezing cold. Her mother had cast cooling charms on the entire house just to keep everyone from getting hot and bothered to which Narcissa had said to her mother that there were other means of keeping cool than setting the house up to become the new Artic. She shut herself away in her bedroom, perched on the window seat with her legs outstretched, and her right foot tucked under her left. Her blonde hair tied up into a messy bun, having decided to have a lazy day at home that she couldn't be bothered to make herself presentable; much to her mother's dismay.

Her wand was tied up into her hair, a thing she usually did when she had no pockets and no use for it but still wanted it on her. Narcissa turned the freshly new page of her book, finding it more fascinating the more she read about the ancient Egyptian wizards and their methods of alchemy. Her father had bought her the book as a very early Christmas present after she had been reading the first page to see whether it had taken her interest.

There was a knock on the door and without lifting her head up, she called at the person to enter and in stepped a house elf. She didn't look up from the book but told the elf to say what it had to and to leave again.

"Mistress, the master is requesting a talk in his study."

Narcissa sighed, wishing that she could be left alone to enjoy the book. The book snapped shut and she left it on the window seat, leaving the comforts of her bedroom as she wrapped a cardigan around her shoulders; trying to keep herself a little warmer from the cold atmosphere outside her bedroom. She hurried down the stairs, wondering what her father would want to speak to her about.

She rapped her knuckles on the door to her father's study lightly and pulled her wand out of her hair. Closing her eyes and saying the incantation non-verbally, her hair tidied itself up into a neater bun; not wanting her father to criticise her for not looking presentable when speaking with him.

"Enter."

Narcissa let herself into the study, closing the door quietly behind her before taking a seat opposite her father.

"Narcissa, tell me, how do you feel about Augustus Rookwood?" Cygnus asked.

She hesitated, wondering why her father had asked her this when he was the one who had set her up to be courted by Rookwood. Truth be told, she liked Augustus; he was perfectly nice but rather self centered. She never really got a word in edgeways when it came to having a conversation with her suitor because all he spoke about was how great his job was and how nice the Minister was.

"May I speak honestly?" Narcissa asked.

Cygnus nodded, "Of course, I want to know your true feelings toward Augustus." he replied.

"Father, he is a nice person but I do not have romantic feelings toward him."

To her surprise, Cygnus starting smiling which caused her to frown.

"Narcissa, I have decided not to betrothe you to anyone at my end of summer ball. I want you to meet someone and grow to love them naturally without me forcing the issues." Cygnus said.

"Have I done something to offend you?" Narcissa questioned.

Cygnus laughed slightly, "No Narcissa you have not. Lately I have been questioning the decisions that I made in regard to your elder sisters and I do not want to make the same mistakes with you. I want you to be happy." he answered.

Narcissa was lost for words as she hugged her father and left the study. Ever since her admission to Lucius that she didn't want to be betrothed to Rookwood at the end of August, she had been dreading the month's arrival because she knew what was waiting for her at the end of it. Now that August was here, she fel relieved that she wasn't going to be trapped in a loveless marriage.

She returned to her bedroom, noticing that the family owl had dropped a letter addressed to her on her desk. Narcissa sat at it, feeling a little surprised to recognise the handwriting of Lucius Malfoy on the envelope; he had never written to her before and she believed that he had no reason to.

Dear Narcissa,

I know this is not a day where we would usually meet but my father was supposed to take my mother to dinner tonight and has unexpectedly fallen ill with heat stroke and is unable to make the reservations. My mother has requested that I go in their place and take someone with me and naturally, I thought of you. The reservation is at seven o'clock, if you are agreeable then I shall pick you up from your residence at six o'clock to take you to the restaurant.

I apologise for the short notice but I hope you will attend dinner with me tonight.

Best Regards,

Lucius Malfoy.

Feeling a little stunned she pulled out the parchment from the desk drawer to write a reply. She knew that her father would be okay with her dining with Lucius, he and Druella were going to spend the evening with Walburga and Orion. Narcissa silently debated whether dinner with Lucius would be better versus and evening home alone reading the rest of the book that she had been reading for the majority of the day. The last time that she had gone out for a meal with Lucius, she had enjoyed herself but her book was rather interesting and if her father hadn't interupted her then she would most likely be finishing it off by now. Sighing, she pressed her quill to the parchment to write the reply, heart pounding as she was unsure whether she was making the right choice.

Dear Lucius,

You are correct when you say it is short notice but I hope that your father feels better soon and perhaps be educated about staying protected when out in the sunshine to prevent this from happening again. I would like to dine with you tonight, I have nothing better to do and a change of scenery would be most enjoyable. I shall see you at six o'clock this evening.

Best Regards,

Narcissa Black.

A/N: So I'm leaving it there for the time being but I will be updating again hopefully by New Year or just after. In the mean time I will be updating the next few chapters of To Love and To Cherish and chapter two of A Time For Love. If any of you are Once Upon A Time/OutlawQueen fans then I've started writing my own fanfiction called London Calling so feel free to check that out.

As a Christmas treat I'll give you a few things to look forward to for this story, the next chapter will be Narcissa and Lucius's dinner. For future chapters there will be a discussion with Evelyn and Abraxas and Lucius's initiation to the Death Eaters.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year :)