A.N. WOW. An overwhelming amount of people wanted me to update this... -sweatdrop- eh-heh-heh... Right. I am very - pained- to announce that neither this chapter, nor the next, focus on Draco, but the 5th chapter does, I SWEAR!
vherie: Heh-heh.. I meant Hedwig... sorry. (though I personally wouldn't mind more Remus') Thanks for telling me about that error.
fatlazikat : Yeah, I'm trying to update more quickly (I'm usually rather slooooow)
Ryo-sama: Thanks Ryo. You save me again. Sorry that I don't review too much, but I still love you!
lita-2003: Ta-da. One chapter, nice and fresh!
Arwen Rayne: Yes, I took care of that ummm, out burst of mine. Won't happen again. I'm glad I have people to keep me in line :)
The-Ever-Lazy-One: Ummm... Draco will be explained, I swear (It may take awhile though...) Narcissa is more of a friend to Harry really, but you'll understand after this chapter. Yay! I'm respected! Umm, I try my hardest to purge my chapters of grammatical errors, but if you spot something, don't hesitate to point it out.
TheSecretCharacter: Oh, ALL of them please. E-mail me. (I like the way you think)
Kitty Maxwell-Yuy: Oh, yes. All will be revealed... I love making Narcissa nice... it's so ...easy.
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Chapter 3- Chocolate Kisses and Memories
When Harry reached the dining room, he was surprised to find it utterly empty. "Narcissa?" he called.
"In here," Narcissa's voice came from the kitchen.
Harry pushed open the door and was shocked to see Narcissa with an apron on and her curly blonde hair pinned delicately back.
"Grab an apron and a spoon," she said pointing her spoon over towards a spare apron. "I'm making cookies," she explained to the befuddled boy as she scooped a spoonful of dough onto a cookie sheet.
"Ummm... ok," said Harry as he tied the apron.
"You look surprised," Narcissa said after spotting Harry gaping at the Muggle oven. "There's a reason I do it this way," she assured him. "Here's a spoon. Scoop." Harry nodded and dug his spoon into the dough
"When I was still in school, I spent a good portion of my breaks away from my own house. I would always, since third year, spend a few weeks at Lily's house. Now, as you know, your mother was Muggle-born, so when we were at her house, we had to do everything the Muggle way. One rainy afternoon...
-flashback-
It had been raining heavily since early that morning, so Lily and Narcissa were stuck inside. Both girls were busy flipping through magazines on Lily's bed.
Lily looked up abruptly. "Narcissa?" she asked.
Narcissa looked up at her friend. "Hmm?"
"Let's make cookies!"
"What?"
"Oh, c'mon." Lily urged. "Petunia's over at a friends house, so she won't be in the way. Besides, we have nothing better to do and mum won't mind."
"Welllll... I guess so..." Narcissa said, closing her magazine.
Lily and Narcissa went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Lily began taking the ingredients out of various cupboards.
"So," Narcissa began," what kind of cookies are we making?"
"Peanut butter of course," Lily answered as though it should have been obvious. "With chocolate kisses on top. Anyway, James Potter asked me out again on the train."
"Yum," Narcissa said. "The kisses, not Potter. So this makes, what, the ten thousandth time?"
"Just about," said Lily with a nod. "Get me the milk would ya? Thanks. So...?"
"So what?" Narcissa asked as she handed over the milk. "You could do worse than James Potter."
Lily cast her friend a skeptical sidelong glance. "Oh yeah? Like who?"
"Plenty of people," Narcissa assured her. "Now stand still so I can tie your apron. It came undone."
"Example?"
"Oh, fine! Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snape... my fiancee... Sirius Black... Narcissa paused to unwrap and chocolate and popped it into her mouth.
"EWW! I would so never date your cousin!" Lily squealed. "And quit eating the ingredients. Besides, more than half of your examples are invalid. Black doesn't like me, Snape doesn't like me, Malfoy doesn't like me...thank God. What's it like being engaged to a creep?"
"Uh-uh," Narcissa said, eating another chocolate and giving one to Lily. "You're changing the subject. Snape is in love with you. My God! You know the other day when it was really hot and we'd all undone the top button or two on our shirts?"
"Yes, I remember. Why?"
"Welllllll... on Potions, when you bent down to get your quill, Snape got a nice glimpse down you shirt. He looked like he wanted to jump you and rape you right there in class."
"EWW! NO! Gross! That is sooo wrong!"
Narcissa grinned. "Wanna try and invalidate anymore of my examples?"
"Malfoy."
"Ugh, Don't even get me started. I swear, he's dangerous. Lucius wants you Lills You should be careful," Narcissa warned.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Wow, so serious Cissa."
"I'm very serious."
"Alright. Avoid Lucius Malfoy," Lily said. "There. It's on my mental to-do list. Like it wasn't already anyways... One more year and I'll never have to see him again."
"Except when you visit me," Narcissa reminded her. "I have to marry the jerk, remember?"
"Ewww, yeah. What about kids?"
Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Heirs. Don't even remind me. I hope I have a girl, though. At least one."
"Me too," Lily sighed. "I'd name her 'Heather'."
"Mmm... that's a pretty name," Narcissa said.
"Yes, Lily said," it is, isn't it? Hey! Let's make a promise!"
"Huh? Promise?"
"Yeah! Whichever of us has a girl first, we'll name her 'Heather'," said Lily.
Narcissa thought for a moment. "O.k... hmmm... Heather Lily Malfoy."
"Lily?" Lily asked.
"Yep. It sounds good with 'Heather'."
"Heather Lily.." Lily paused, realizing that she didn't have a last name to give her future baby.
"Potter," Narcissa finished for her.
"Cissa!"
"Admit it," Narcissa said. "He's funny and good looking..."
Lily nodded, blushing. "Heather Lily... Potter," she whispered.
-end flashback-
Narcissa laughed out loud."We ended up eating more of the kisses than ended up getting put on cookies. At least half of our cookies were chocolate-less."
"Sooo.. there never was a 'Heather Lily', then...?" Harry asked.
"Weeellll... yes... no.. sort of.." said Narcissa.
"What do you mean sort of?" Harry asked. "Both of you only ever one son."
"Actually, no," Narcissa said. Harry looked up at her in shock. "My first born was a girl. A beautiful little girl. Her first name was Heather, as Lily and I had promised way back in sixth year. I desperately wanted her middle name to be 'Lily', after your mother, my best friend, of course, but I knew Lucius wouldn't allow it, so her middle name was 'Rose'."
"What happened to her?" Harry asked in a whisper.
"She was born with a severe and rare magical disease," Narcissa explained, her pretty voice wavering. "We knew that she wouldn't live very long. She died at two and a half, nine days before Draco was born."
Harry considered this. "So.. I should have married her..."
Narcissa nodded, wiped her damp eyes and removed the golden-brown cookies from the oven. "Yes, well, part of the promise was that if the first born of either individual should die, it would fall to the second born and so on until someone from one family eventually married someone form the other family."
"How'd... Draco... react to the news?" Harry asked, mentally flinching as he said 'Draco'. He couldn't rightly call him 'Malfoy' to Narcissa, now could he?
Narcissa chuckled. "Oh, he was furious. Wouldn't talk to me for a week or two after I told him He still sulks and locks himself in his room quite often. Here, now. The cookies are cool enough to put the kisses on top."
Harry sighed. "So he's moody then?"
"Oh, yes," Narcissa answered. "Very. You, on the other hand, seem to be taking this quite well."
"Oh, yes, marvelously well," Harry said sarcastically. "After this, I'll probably lock myself in my room and refuse to come out for days."
Narcissa giggled. "Well, now, at least you're honest. You may get rather hungry though. I'll arrange to have your meals brought up to you."
Harry gawked at her. "You take all the fun out of sulking!"
Narcissa grinned and ate another chocolate. "I know. But really, you're taking this whole arranged marriage thing rather well."
"I don't think it's had time to sink in yet," said Harry with a forlorn sigh. "I'm going to bed."
"Alright. Here, take some cookies with you," Narcissa said, handing Harry a couple of cookies on a napkin. "OH! We never talked about you speaking to your mother, now did we? Oh well, I'll tell you tomorrow when I bring you breakfast, ok?"
Harry nodded. "I suppose I can wait."
"Good night Harry. And... Happy Birthday."
-tbc-
