"Oh, I'm not going to Hogsmeade," Lucius promises Narcissa, holding her close as she practically sits on his lap. "Not until you get to come with me. I am more than content to spend time working on your quidditch technique."
Narcissa laughs, shaking her head and tapping his nose scoldingly. "I'm already a better flier than you and you're just ashamed to admit it. The great Lucius Malfoy, bested by a little girl."
Lucius laughs, running his hand absent-mindedly along her leg. "No girl could ever best me," he says. "I'm the greatest quidditch player this school has ever seen. You must have a touch of dragon pox, little girl, thinking you could compete with my manly physique."
Narcissa hits his chest, aghast. She rearranges herself, straddling him so that she can look him in the face, her skirt hiking up her things. "Little girl?" she demands. "Did you just call me 'little girl'?"
Lucius laughs softly. "Me? Of course not. I would never. Though I do believe if we were to replay the conversation, we'd find that you called yourself a little girl first."
"I," Narcissa says indignantly, "am a noble and refined woman. I am the peak of civilization. I am the culmination of pure blood and elegance. Generations of pureblood wizard families have evolved to create the perfection that is Narcissa Black."
Lucius smiles over her slowly, reaching up and tracing the outline of her face, his fingers moving up from her cheek and then down her nose. He slowly traces around her lips and Narcissa can't help but smile at the studious nature in his eyes. "You're right," he says. "You're absolutely right. You're perfect, my darling. I can't seem to find a single fault."
Narcissa leans in and bites his ear playfully. "Perhaps you should look a little closer."
A book comes flying across the commons room and Lucius has to swat at it so that it doesn't hit the back of Narcissa's head. "Commons room," comes the incredulous cry from Regulus from the other side of the throw. "The two of you are in the commons room. In case the definition of that term eludes the two of you heathens, it means that there are other people here."
Lucius laughs and kicks the book away so that Regulus will have to get up to retrieve it. "Come on, little girl," he says to Narcissa. "Let's go find somewhere less…" he looks directly at Regulus, "common."
Narcissa slides off of Lucius's lap and follows him out into the hallway, holding onto his hand. "It's warm enough we can go to the lake," she suggests. "Just like our first real date."
"Only so long as the water is warmer than that time," he laughs. "I was sure the both of us would get pneumonia."
Narcissa laughs and slides her hand into Lucius's, walking with him out to the lake. They walk for a minute along the shore, picking up a few stones and throwing them out onto the water. Narcissa finds some doubts creeping up on her as they walk together, her mind conjuring Walden up to torment her and make her question her relationship with Lucius.
"Lucius," Narcissa finally says, stopping and climbing on a small boulder to sit. "Do you hate that I'm young?"
"That you're young?" he asks, standing before her, their hands still twined.
"You're so much older than me, Lucius. You'll be graduating soon and I'll be stuck in Hogwarts, all alone. You must think I'm a child sometimes, spoiled and silly. Do you resent me for being so young?"
"Of course not, Cissa. And it'll only be a few years until you graduate as well and we can get married, all proper like." He smiles at her, trying to encourage her fancy.
"I'm serious, Lucius," Narcissa says, and for once, her face portrays the stoic nature of her thoughts. "Wouldn't you rather be with a girl your own age? Someone who didn't get into as much trouble as I seem to. I'm sure you feel like you're babysitting me half the time."
"Oh, I've had older girls, and not one of them could compare to my little sprite."
"You're not taking me seriously," Narcissa says angrily, sliding off the boulder and breaking her hand hold with Lucius. "This just goes to prove it. You don't think I'm even capable of having a real conversation with you."
"Narcissa…" Lucius says with a sigh, putting a hand on her shoulder. "That's not true at all. Of course I think about how young you are. It'd be hard not to. But it's mostly just to try and prepare myself for those years I'll have to wait for you to finish school. And then I mean it, little Cissa. I'm going to marry you. And our wedding will be the most grand, remarkable affair that the wizarding world has ever seen. And you'll look so stunning in white, Cissa. Like the angel you are. I know you're young now, and it might seem like a lot, but once we get older, it won't seem so terrible at all. We've got time together now, my darling. You shouldn't let the rest worry you."
"And what if you find someone else those years I'm trapped here without you? What if you find a girl and she's charming, and smart, and you think she's oh-so-beautiful and you forget all about silly ole Cissa Black and then I'm left with a terrible broken heart and I have no other choice but to throw myself from the owlery? What then?"
"Why, then, my love, I'd write you the most beautiful eulogy." He nudges her, trying to get her to lighten her mood, but Narcissa just frowns more intensely. Lucius sighs again and tilts her chin up so that she's looking at him. "I love you, Narcissa. I'm never going to stop loving you. And if you were to ever throw yourself from the owlery, I'd throw myself, too, because I don't want to be on this planet if you're not here with me. I know it's going to be hard not being together for a few years, but we're going to make it through it. And then I'm going to marry you, and I'll never have to leave you again."
"You don't know that," she says sharply, feeling her eyes start to fill with tears. "You don't know that we'll get married. You'll have to marry whatever girl your parents uncover for you and I'll have to marry some terrible man and then you'll make love to her and put little babies in her and she'll give you a dozens sons and you'll forget all about me."
"Never," Lucius says. "Cissa, never. I told you, I would do whatever I have to to make sure you're mine, and I mean it. We swore to each other that we'd be together forever, and I am going to make sure that happens. Okay, Cissa? Do you hear that? I'll make you an Unbreakable right now, if that eases your mind. You are mine. Forever."
Narcissa looks him over solemnly. She wanted to believe him. He was saying everything right, making her all the promises she wanted to hear, but there was still doubt. She could remember that passing comment Walden had made when he had drugged her. Something about trying to get Lucius to give up his claim. Claim. That meant Lucius was trying to marry her, or at least his parents were trying to arrange it. But it meant that Walden was, too. So there was a chance, a chance that she'd be Walden's wife, not his. And if Walden had gone so far as to drug her to get the advantage, that meant he was serious about wedding her. There was a chance that Lucius would lose. There was a chance that she would never marry this beautiful boy with long blood hair. And as long as there was that chance, Narcissa felt herself pulling away. It would hurt too much to lose him. She didn't know if she could live through that. No, better to pull away now and save herself from heartbreak later on.
"Let's go inside," she says softly. "It's getting late."
