Disclaimer: Not my fault.

I love days off of school. I love spare time. I love updating.

I'm in a loving mood, by the way. Just in case that wasn't already apparent. -spreads the love-

"May angels lead you in ... hear you me, my friend ... on sleepless roads, the sleepless go ... may angels lead you in ..." -'Hear You Me,' Jimmy Eat World

Chapter Seven:
The Villain

There is a change in Sirius when Narcissa next sees him. This next time is when they're on the Hogwarts express, heading off towards their second year. They're both twelve. She can't tell what the change in him is, but something about him is definitely different. More restrained. They haven't seen each other since the end of their first year – she hasn't even received a letter from him all summer. When she asks him why, he shrugs carelessly, though there is a different emotion in his eyes. "My parents wouldn't let me."

She frowns. "Are they angry at you?"

He hesitates before nodding and, again, she wonders why he's acting this way. "Yeah. They say that I must have done something wrong to get sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. They hardly spoke to me all summer."

"And they wouldn't let you speak to me? Not even once?"

"Not even once," he says, shaking his head. "You know my parents. They're mental."

She doesn't agree, but this is simply out of politeness. "Maybe it will be better at Christmas," she says optimistically.

He sighs. "I hope so."

They talk for a few more minutes before Lily suddenly appears, taking Sirius by the arm. "Here you are," she says, grinning at him with her pretty green eyes. "We've been looking for you for ages!" She waves at Narcissa before dragging Sirius off towards his other friends.

Narcissa wonders if Lily even sees the glare she's sending in her direction.

In October, a little before Halloween, Narcissa is studying quietly by herself in the library. Severus said that he might join her later if he had time – he was serving a detention with Sirius and the black-haired boy for some trouble they'd caused. Narcissa is thinking about all three of them, lost in both her thoughts and her concentration on her homework, so she doesn't notice when two people sneak up behind her with very mischievous grins on their faces.

Suddenly, a pair of hands comes from behind her and covers her eyes. She drops her quill in surprise, and her hands instinctively go up to free her eyes. There's chuckling behind her as she struggles, and this is what betrays her perpetrator's identity. "Sirius!" she hisses, trying to pry his fingers off her face, "Stop that! Let go of me!"

"Quiet!" the librarian hisses.

Sirius drops his hands and seats himself in the chair next to Narcissa's. As her eyes are readjusting to the light, she sees that his black-haired friend is with him. He quietly takes the chair across from her.

"Don't do that again," she scolds Sirius, though now she's smirking too. "And aren't you still supposed to be in detention?"

He shrugs. "We got bored, and James had a brilliant escape plan that he's been dying to use. Speaking of which – look who I've brought to see you!" He motions towards his friend, who's still smirking. He salutes Narcissa, and she smiles politely back at him.

"Narcissa," Sirius continues, "this is my friend James."

"James Potter," James elaborates, sticking his hand out towards Narcissa.

She doesn't want to shake his hand, but she puts hers out anyway, remembering her manners. Instead of shaking it, however, James takes it in his own, draws it to his mouth, and plants a kiss on its surface – all very dramatically and ridiculously. "Such a pleasure, really. I didn't know that Sirius had any good-looking relatives."

Narcissa quickly takes her hand away. Under the table where neither of the boys can see, she wipes it off on her skirt.

Sirius looks between them, obviously very pleased with his introduction. "I just wanted you two to meet each other," he says. "My two best friends."

He and James then bid her farewell, rise from the table, and saunter merrily out of the library.

Narcissa looks down so that no one in the library can see the tears in her eyes.

In January, Lucius finds her.

She's been very good at avoiding him all year, but on the one day that she lets her guard down, he finds her. She's late for class and is hurrying through the corridor, not paying attention to what's in the hall in front of her. As she rounds a corner, she smacks hard into someone and stumbles to the ground, dropping her books, parchment, and quills everywhere.

She doesn't even have to look up to know that it's him. She can tell that it's him by his shoes, his knees. She doesn't dare look up at him, she doesn't even mumble an apology – she instead hurries to gather up all of her belongings so that she can leave him as quickly as possible.

He acts just as she fears he will and kneels down to help her. "Well, well, well," he says, lifting her chin so that she's forced to make eye contact with him. "If it isn't my little beauty."

A hot mixture of anger and embarrassment wells up in her stomach and makes her cheeks flush pink. She glares at him. She jerks her chin out of his hand and goes back to gathering her things.

He's surprised. "Why so cold all of a sudden?"

She bites her tongue to keep from speaking. She won't give him that reward.

"Oh," he says, chuckling a little, "I see what it is. You're still angry with me for that little episode in the Great Hall last year, aren't you?"

Still, she doesn't answer him. He reaches out to pick up one of her books, but she quickly snaps, "Please, don't."

He's taken aback. "Look, Narcissa – " and for once his tone is sincere – "it was just a little fun with my friends … I didn't mean to offend you … it was just a bit of joking."

She grabs the last of her parchment, stuffs it in her bag, gets to her feet, and then looks him straight in the eyes with a boldness she never knew she possessed. "You humiliated me in front of all of your friends. You treated me like an inferior, and I am not inferior to you. Now please, leave me alone," she says, voice tight and determined. "I never want to speak to you again."

And she pushes past him to continue on to her class, to which she is already ten minutes late.

He doesn't stop her.

He does, however, get to her in a different way. In April, he finds Severus.

She doesn't know when exactly it happens, or where, or why he's chosen Severus, but one afternoon, when Severus has agreed to take a walk around the lake with Narcissa, it begins.

It's cold outside as Narcissa stands under a tree, waiting for Severus to arrive. She feels a drop of rain every now and then, though it's certainly far from drizzling. She sees Remus sitting a little far off from her, under a different tree, reading quietly by himself. He's often reading somewhere by himself – she wonders why. He seems nice enough … for a Gryffindor, at least … though he doesn't seem to have many friends. He reminds her of Severus. Both of them always seem to be reading, and both of them seem to be outcasts. She wonders why.

Severus arrives twenty minutes later than he said he would. This is unusual – he's always taken pride in being punctual. "Sorry," he says, out of breath and laden with books.

She shrugs. "That's okay. Did something come up?"

He shifts uncomfortably. "Actually … yes."

She waits. "And?"

"I was talking with someone. A seventh year boy – he wanted to – to – well – he heard about my talent and interest in the Dark Arts, and he's interested in the same thing, so – he was just talking to me about it." He pauses. "He really knows a lot about it. Him and all of his friends. It was fascinating to listen to them talking about it all … about all their theories, everything they've read …"

She's afraid to ask, but she does anyway, already knowing what the answer will be. "What's his name?"

"Lucius Malfoy." Another pause. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I can't go walking with you now. He asked if I'd show him some of my books."

She shakes her head and smiles, as if it's nothing. "You don't have to ask me for permission."

He shifts again. "I know, but … I don't know." Yet another pause. "It's just … no one has ever taken an interest in me like this, Narcissa. No one has ever actually sought out to be my friend – never."

He turns and leaves. The trees are the only ones to hear her whisper, "I wanted to be your friend, Severus."