A/N: This is a work in progress, but I've got the first 6 chapters done so I plan to update once a week for the time being. It will probably be around 20-25 chapters long when finished.

[Update: it's pretty much finished! It will be 22 chapters long plus an epilogue.]

This version of Marlene McKinnon might be a bit different from the one found in some Marauders-era fics. I've made her the same age as Narcissa and put her in Hufflepuff because I liked the dynamic it created between them.

Rated M for non-explicit sexual content and some adult themes in upcoming chapters. The characters will be adults by then.

Thanks so much for reading and feel free to let me know what you think!

Narcissa pulled her cloak more tightly around herself, clutching the letter in her other hand. She barely noticed the bright moonlight or the bare branches of the trees in the Forbidden Forest or the flock of crows that flew up when she walked by, circling in the air before landing back down on the grass. All her thoughts were with the letter, and Andromeda.

There were enough rooms in the Black house for her and her sisters to have their own , but she and Andromeda had shared one anyway, so they could have extra time to talk and play before they went to sleep. They used to drape a sheet over their chairs and Andromeda would make a light appear with magic and they would there and tell each other stories, trying to see who scare each other the most. Andromeda scared her so badly one night, with a story about a werewolf, that Narcissa had to sleep with the lights on. Bellatrix gave her shit about it when they told her the next morning, but Andromeda had stood up for her, like she always did.

Once the two of them found an abandoned barn while they were out walking in the fields beyond their estate. They ran up to get a close look, and Andromeda tugged at Narcissa's sleeve.

"Let's go inside," she said. Before Narcissa could answer, Andromeda had grabbed the sleeve of her robes and was pulling her towards it.

The barn door creaked loudly into the silence, and Narcissa tensed a little, imagining that someone was inside it, ready to jump out at them. It was dim except for a few shafts of light coming in through the cracks in the roof.

Andromeda looked all around the barn. "Let's climb up to the hayloft," she whispered.

Narcissa had no idea why she'd followed her; maybe it was because she didn't want to look scared, or maybe it was because she could never say no to her. The ladder looked like it was about to fall apart. The wood was peeling and Narcissa got a sliver in her finger. She silently cursed Andromeda all the way up.

They looked down and saw a deep pile of sawdust. Andromeda stepped to the edge.

"What are you doing?" Narcissa's voice was tight.

"It's deep enough jump in," Andromeda said. "Jump with me Cissy."

"No," she said. She backed away, but Andromeda came over to her and took her hand. It was warm on hers.

"It's alright. Just close your eyes." Narcissa walked to the edge, took a deep breath, and closed them. Her stomach was tight and she was shaking.

"On the count of three then. One, two, three..."

She was free, she was the air and the sky and the light. The sawdust was so soft, it hardly felt like she was landing at all. They jumped over and over again. Narcissa remembered it like she had just been there.

She didn't really know where she was going now; her feet were moving and she wasn't seeing anything. She thought vaguely of making her way to the gates, so she could Apparate to wherever Andromeda was and talk some sense into her, though what she would say, she didn't know.

A piercing howl hit her ears.

"Get down!"

Someone had grabbed her around the waist, but whoever it was overbalanced and the two of them fell the the ground. Narcissa looked into the face of a girl who was looking back at her, eyes wide. The girl's arms were wrapped tightly around her and their faces were so close Narcissa could feel her breath.

Some part of her, some small, strange part of her, wanted to stay there, with the girl's soft body pressed against her, her face close. But she pushed it away, the force of her anger propelling her as she rolled onto her side and stood up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The girl tugged at Narcissa's robes. She'd crouched behind a fir tree. "Get down! Now!" Narcissa knew what the howling was, and her muscles tightened, but she stayed where she was.

"Didn't you hear that howling?" The girl sounded slightly hysterical. "Greyback is out there."

"Greyback wouldn't dare attack me."

The girl's eyes were wide and she was breathing fast, but she raised an eyebrow. "What, Greyback is a close personal friend of yours?"

Narcissa glared down at her. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Well, yeah," the girl said. "You're Narcissa Black, right?" The girl looked at her a bit strangely, and it was obvious she didn't have a clue how high in status her family was, nor did she seem to think it important.

There was shouting from somewhere in the grounds; Narcissa turned to see Dumbledore striding towards the forest with his wand drawn, followed by Professor McGonagall and the oaf Hagrid.

"Well," said the girl, her voice shaking a little. "I reckon it's safe now." She stood up slowly, unsteady on her feet, and held out her hand. "I'm Marlene McKinnon," she said. Narcissa kept her hands at her sides and said nothing.

The girl looked at her, a question in her eyes. "Aren't you going to thank me?"

"What on earth do you mean? What do I have to thank you for?"

"I was trying to save your life wasn't I? I heard Greyback was on the loose and I saw you leave the castle, so I followed you. You were walking right towards the forest." The girl gave a quick nod in the direction of the forest, and Narcissa saw that it wasn't more than a few hundred yards away.

"So are you going to thank me or what?"

Narcissa glanced at the badge on the girl's robes. "You're a Hufflepuff aren't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

Narcissa said nothing to this, just looked the girl over. She was stocky and her robes were wrinkled and strands of auburn hair were coming loose from her slapdash-looking ponytail. Narcissa recognized the name, McKinnon. The girl wasn't a Mudblood, but it was obvious she had no sense of dignity or pride. Narcissa turned on her heel and walked back to the castle.

Just before she reached out to grab the handle of the front doors, she turned her head to look back at the grounds. The girl had her arms crossed over her chest and was looking away from her, and Narcissa thought with some satisfaction that she looked insulted.

She made her way down to the dungeons absently, her feet carrying her there. Just as she reached the stone wall where the entrance to the common room was concealed she felt a hand on her arm.

"Where did you disappear to?" Lucius was standing in front of her, looking down into her face.

"Nowhere," she said.

"You weren't out in the grounds, I hope? People are saying Greyback is out there."

"No." For some reason she did not want to tell him what had happened.

Lucius looked at her closely. "Something wrong?"

Narcissa glanced away from him. She didn't feel like telling him now.

"What's that you've got there?"

"Nothing."

He snatched the letter out of her hand. Narcissa held her breath and waited as he read it.

"Good lord," he said softly. "She's throwing her life away." He handed the letter back to her. "Was it a wizarding ceremony?"

"It must have been. I don't think she'd stoop that low."

Lucius locked eyes with her, and an understanding passed between them. Marriage contracts in the wizarding world were sealed with powerful magic, and very difficult to break-something Narcissa was often grateful for, or her own parents would have broken it off years ago, and she'd have been left at the mercy of her mother.

Lucius pulled her close, and she rested her head on his chest. It was hard and smelled clean, like soap and cologne.

"I hope you're not too upset over it," he said into her hair. "You're better off without her."

"I know," she murmured into his robes. She supposed it was true. But she didn't really believe it.

He held her for awhile, then they turned to the stone wall. "Fortuna," she muttered.

As she made her way across the room her friend Aster Parkinson got up to meet her, kissing her on the cheek. Narcissa had seen the way people kept their distance in the Muggle world, as though surrounded by glass walls, and she was grateful for this easy affection, even if it was hard for her to reciprocate. "Something wrong Cissy?" she asked.

"Well...why don't we go sit down." Aster followed her to the black leather sofa by the fire, where they always sat. Lucius sat down near them, beside a small, dirty-haired second-year named Severus whom he'd taken under his wing. Narcissa found it endearing, the way he cared for the boy. Just the other night Lucius been teaching him to play wizard chess, and she wanted to wrap her arms around him.

Aster sat next to Narcissa, so close that they were touching. Narcissa was sitting on the edge, playing with the folds of her robes and not looking at anyone.

"It's just...Andromeda has run off with a Mudblood," she said. "They eloped. About a week ago."

She felt Aster looking at her, and knew she was shocked. "You're joking?"

"I wish I were. I'm sure mother's having a fit right now. She'll be disowned, obviously." Narcissa could see it in her mind, her mother standing in front of the family tapestry and stamping out Andromeda's picture like it was some hideous insect.

The three of them were quiet for a moment. Then she heard a small voice.

"Is it bad? To marry a...Mudblood?"

Narcissa turned and saw Severus looking at her, an earnest, serious expression on his face. She stopped herself saying anything sharp; she felt sorry for the boy.

"It's very bad," spoke up Lucius. "Unless you think diluting our magic isn't bad?"

The boy didn't say anything, but gave the smallest shake of the head.

"Can you imagine if they have children?" said Narcissa. "The poor things will likely end up Squibs." She stared into the fire without really seeing it. "I just don't know how she could be so selfish." She put a hand to the bridge of her nose and started rubbing it. Aster took her other hand and squeezed it.

"I think I'll go to bed," Narcissa said, standing up. Lucius nodded to her, and Aster got up and followed her to the dormitory.

Narcissa sat back on her bed, and Aster sat down besider her. Her stomach fluttered as Aster put an arm around her, and she tried to convince herself that it was nothing more than nerves, stress over what had just happened. It was accepted, in their world, what she was trying so hard not to feel, but she was a Black. She was above it.

"I'm sorry, Cissy."

Narcissa wanted to lay her head on Aster's shoulder, to sink down into the bed with her head on Aster's chest, but she kept it upright and didn't look at her. "I'll be fine," she said.

"You sure?"

Narcissa turned to look at her. "I'm sure," she said.

Aster squeezed her hand. "'Night, Cissy."

"Goodnight."

She closed the green velvet hangings around her bed, then changed into her nightdress and pulled the covers over herself, drawing them in tight. As she fell asleep a thought came to her, one of those unconcious, unwanted thoughts, of that girl's arms around her as they fell to the ground, her face close to hers. She pushed it away.