~*Chapter Two: The Ball*~

A week later, Narcissa Wells strolled through the African gardens, happily soaking up the sun rays that filtered through the bright green leaves. She sat down on a wooden bench and looked up into the tree that enveloped her in its dark shadow. "It's so beautiful." She sighed, playing with the thin strap of her tank top.
"Narcissa! Darling!" Her mother called from the nearby African sunroom. "Please, come here!"
Narcissa stood up and walked into the sunroom. "Yes, Mum?"
"It's mother, Narcissa. How many times must I tell you?" Her mother was lounging on a chaise lounge wearing a hideous pink sundress and a white hat and holding a tiny cocktail glass.
"Sorry mother."
"Now, darling. I have called you here to tell you something of utmost importance. There is to be a formal ball tomorrow night at the Nott's mansion. I am under the impression that you do not have a beau, so you need to find one for tomorrow. You must attend, and you can only do so if you have a date."
"What about Xavier Nott?" Narcissa asked.
"He's going with Alicia Hoover. Now, off you go! Tell your date your dress is a periwinkle blue, so he can match."
Narcissa sighed, nodded, and strolled out of the gardens and out of the mansion. "I need a beau? How ridiculous!" She said aloud, her high-heeled sandals clicking along on the sidewalk.
Suddenly, something rammed into her hard, causing her to land on the sidewalk. Her hand stung with pain and dripped with blood.
"Oh. I'm so sorry." Someone said. He helped her up, and their eyes met.
"Sirius!" Narcissa exclaimed. "Why were you running?"
"I'm so sorry, Narcissa. I had to get away from James. I said one slightly offensive thing about Lily, and he tried to kill me! I thought we were like brothers!" Sirius explained.
"Oh." Narcissa said softly, wincing at the scrape on her palm.
"Are you okay?" Sirius took her cut hand and examined it for a minute, before pulling out his wand, muttering Bandicio, and spinning bandages around it.
Narcissa giggled. "I just needed one bandage, Sirius, not four hundred."
"It's just a safety precaution, my dear."
Narcissa smiled up at him. "My dear? Don't be-" Suddenly, a thought struck her. "Sirius…" She said slowly. "Have you ever been to a ball?"
"No."
"Would like to go to one? With me? Tomorrow? I'm wearing periwinkle blue."
"Of course I'll go with you. But why do I care what you're wearing? I don't have any periwinkle blue suits. I'm not gay!"
Narcissa sighed. "Wear gray dress pants, a periwinkle shirt, and a gray dinner jacket. And a white tie. And do something with your mop of hair." She added as Sirius shook his head to get his hair out of his brown eyes.
"I'll pick you up at…"
"Five thirty, please." She smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow." Waving over her shoulder, she walked back up the sidewalk and into her mansion.

"Ow, ow, ow. OW!" Narcissa screeched. "I told you I have enough bobby pins in my hair. Now let go!"
She sat down at her vanity, rearranging a curl of blonde hair that had fallen in front of her face and examining her elaborate bun decorated with diamond glitter. She smoothed on pink lipstick, glided on a glob of Vaseline, highlighted her eyes with eyeliner, mascara, and blue eye shadow, and added a bit of blush to her high, prominent cheek bones.
"You look lovely, Miss Narcissa." A maid said, curtsying.
"Thank you." Narcissa said quickly, standing up, her periwinkle skirts swirling around her. She adjusted her thin straps and looked at herself in her full-length mirror.
As she twirled on her tiny periwinkle high heels, her skirt spinning around her like a silky Cinderella dress, the door bell rang, echoing through the large, empty house. She stopped suddenly, almost toppling over, and grabbed her sheer periwinkle shawl.
Slowly and carefully she walked out of her large bedroom and began her descent of the spiraling staircase. Finally, the stairs stopped their crazy looping pattern and opened up into the large entrance hall.
Narcissa smiled down at Sirius who was wearing exactly what she had told him to wear. Much to her delight, he had done nothing with his hair, and it fell stubbornly into his eyes.
"You look…amazing." He breathed, taking her hand as she reached him.
"I see you didn't fix your hair." Narcissa said with a smile.
"I couldn't. I like it like this."
"Well, so do I, as a matter of fact."
"Are we allowed to leave, or do your parents have to take pictures?"
"My parents? Take pictures? My father is working, and my mother is at a spa. They don't care one bit about what is going on in my life."
"Bloody hell." Sirius whispered.
"Well. That's encouraging. Can we just leave?" Narcissa said with a faint smile.
Sirius led her outside, where a blue car sat parked on the curb. "That's a beautiful car." Narcissa remarked.
"It's a 1957 Thunderbird. I bought it from my cousin in America two years ago. He actually got it in England before he moved to America. He can't drive it there, so he was happy to let me buy it."
"Why couldn't you buy it here?" Narcissa asked as Sirius opened the passenger side door and she climbed in.
"There weren't any '57's here." Sirius replied, sitting down in the driver's seat.
"Why does the year matter?"
"This is the best year."
"Oh. Well, I know nothing about cars. I don't even have a car, actually."
"You don't?" He looked at her as they stopped at a red light. "How can you be eighteen and not have a car?"
"I either walk or take my limo." Narcissa shrugged. "Turn left. Up this road. I'll tell you when to turn in. There will probably be a lot of limos outside the house."
"What is this party for?"
"It's a ball, Sirius. I believe it's to celebrate Xavier Nott's engagement."
"Already? He's only eighteen. And who would want to marry that prat?"
"Alicia Hoover. She's his fiancée."
"At least Lily and James are waiting until they're nineteen." Sirius smiled.
"Oh, yes. It's such a big difference. Get into this line." Narcissa told Sirius as she spotted a long line of limos.
"Don't I park in the driveway?"
"Driveway? The Nott's don't have a driveway that is accessible to guests. The valet parks the car in a parking lot this whole neighborhood shares for when they have guests."
"How do I get my car back?"
"You have to give notice of your departure, and the valet will bring your car back."
"Sir. You may step out of your car and give me the keys." The valet said, approaching the car.
"You might want to move, or I'll probably hit you with my door." Sirius said. Narcissa tried to muffle her giggle, but the valet heard her and glared.
Sirius climbed out of the car, gave the valet his keys, and opened Narcissa's door.
"Narcissa?" Sirius asked as they walked to the front door.
"Yes?"
"Do you have a nickname? Narcissa is a beautiful name, but it's rather long to say every time I want to get your attention."
"My friends at Hogwarts called my Cissa, Cissy, or Cis."
"Okay. I'll call you Cissa."
"That one is my favorite."
They stepped into the elaborately decorated ballroom, complete with a large bar on one end of the room, table with waiters on the other, a large dance floor in the center, and a stage where and orchestra was playing a slow waltz at the front of the room.
"This is in someone's house?" Sirius breathed.
"Well, they actually magicked away things, such as the staircase and other rooms. No one actually has a large ball room in their house." Narcissa replied.
"Narcissa!" Someone yelled in a high pitched, excited voice. Narcissa looked up and saw Clarissa Renaldi walking over to her, Lucius Malfoy right behind her.
"Clarissa! What a pleasure to see you again!" Narcissa said, feigning excitement and kissing both her cheeks in a greeting.
"Oh, don't be so formal. It's Rissa, remember Cissy?" Clarissa said, smiling widely. "Oooh. And who is this?" Her eyes traveled to Sirius, and her smiled widened.
"I'm Sirius Black." He said.
"Is he your beau? Are you two getting married?"
"Well, actually-" Sirius began, but stopped when Narcissa elbowed him swiftly in the ribs.
"Of course he is! We have no wedding plans at the moment, but you never know!"
"You two could have a double wedding with us!" Clarissa squealed. "Wouldn't that be lovely, Lucius?"
Lucius glared coldly as Sirius, and didn't even reply.
"We have plans." Sirius said quickly, since Narcissa was looking up at him, a nervous expression in her bright blue eyes.
"That's too bad."
"Yes. It is." Lucius said, finally speaking. "Well, don't you look lovely Narcissa. Would you care to dance?"
Narcissa looked into Lucius eyes, and realized how cold and dark they really were. "No thank you."
"You must dance with me, Narcissa. I insist." Lucius grabbed her arm, and pulled her towards the dance floor.
"I said no. Lucius, I want to dance with Sirius."
"No, you want to dance with me."
"She said she doesn't want to dance with her. Let go!" Sirius demanded.
Lucius laughed, and strange, cold laugh. "She's to good for you. She deserves someone like Severus. She's going to dance with me, and there is nothing you can do about it."
Narcissa stepped back quickly as Lucius hit the ground from the force of Sirius's punch. She smiled at Sirius. "I would say I could have done that, but I don't think I could have."
"How about a dance, Cissa?"
"I'd love to dance with you, Sirius."
They stepped onto the dance floor, and Sirius pulled Narcissa toward him, taking her gently into his arms. They began twirling to a slow, gentle waltz, and Narcissa slowly closed her eyes, carefully laying her head on Sirius's strong shoulder.
"I don't really know how to dance." Sirius whispered.
"Mmm-hmmm." Narcissa murmured, giving him the signal that he wasn't supposed to be talking.
The danced in silence, Narcissa twirling in Sirius's arms. The feeling seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it.
As the song slowly ended, Narcissa opened her eyes and looked up into Sirius's warm brown eyes. Sirius smiled at her. "Do you want to go outside? Maybe into a garden or something?" He asked.
Narcissa nodded and let Sirius lead her to a door near the stage and outside, into a large garden. She looked up into the sky, which was covered with twinkling stars. The moon hung sleepily amidst all the glittering dots, casting its white glow upon the earth.
Narcissa sat down on a bench by a fountain, her skirts swirling around her, and looked up at Sirius. "It's much cooler out here." She remarked, and Sirius nodded.
Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He handed it to Narcissa. "It's not that great, but I thought it was beautiful."
Narcissa opened the box and saw a gold bracelet, from which an emerald heart hung. "It's…it's beautiful, Sirius. Thank you so much."
Carefully, Sirius bent down and helped her clasp it around her wrist. As she admired it, Narcissa couldn't help standing up and throwing her arms around his neck. "I love it. Thank you."
Slowly, Narcissa realized why everything had seemed so familiar. She had a dream so similar to this it was spooky. She had danced with Lucius, he had given her a necklace with a heart, and they had kissed. But her dream had never, and would never, come true.
Narcissa looked up into Sirius's eyes, and felt herself being pulled closer and closer to him. And as their lips met, Narcissa realized that her dream had come true. This was her real dream, not a fairytale romance with Lucius, but a real, everlasting romance with Sirius.
"Sirius I-" Narcissa began when the kiss had ended. Sirius put a finger to her lips to silence her.
"Narcissa Wells, I think I'm falling in love with you." He whispered.
"Well, Sirius Black, I know I'm falling in love with you."
They smiled at each other for a moment, before Sirius bent down, and their lips met again in another sweet kiss.