Word Count: 484
It starts out simple enough. Barty is a boy with haunted eyes and a broken smile, and Narcissa is a girl who just wants an escape. They paths cross at the Astronomy Tower. After that, it happens over and over.
…
"Shooting star," Barty tells her. "Make a wish."
She laughs because it's silly. She is fifteen and much too old to be wishing on stars. And yet…
Her parents have announced her betrothal to Lucius Malfoy. The idea of being married to him is enough to make her stomach knot. Maybe they're a good family, and it's her duty, but she wants so much more.
Her gaze shifts to Barty.
She wants him.
And so she makes a wish.
…
When he kisses her, she thinks that maybe wishes can come true. After all, it's only a week after her wish. The universe has to be listening.
…
"You know what we're doing is dangerous, don't you?" he whispers to her as she peels away his jacket.
"I don't care."
…
She wants to believe. Each night, she falls a little more in love with him.
…
Wishes mean nothing in the end. She is Lucius', though only by name.
"Smile, Cissa," he tells her, and it's so clearly not a request. "It's your wedding day."
And she tries to smile because it's expected of her, but the twitch of her lips just feels wrong.
…
The morning the news comes, she breaks. It is not her sister's arrest that moves her to tears, but Barty's.
"Bella was reckless," Lucius says.
Numb, Narcissa can only nod.
…
There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't think of him. He was her first kiss, her first love, her first everything.
Lucius doesn't love her. He only seeks to possess her, like she is some pretty little trinket to collect. He doesn't value her at all.
But Barty did. There was never a doubt in her mind that he loved her.
She sits outside the garden, watching the peacocks strut across the yard. Her eyes drift to the sky, and she makes a wish on the first star she sees.
…
When he appears at her door, her heart drops to her stomach. Against all odds, Barty has found her again.
But he is different. Though she would recognize him anywhere, this is not her Barty. There's a madness in his eyes that causes her to step away, to recoil with a shocked gasp.
"Did you miss me, Cissy?"
And she did. Of course she did. But this is a stranger, a monster wearing her lover's clothes. Her heart races, and she feels like her body might shut down. "They say you died."
He laughs. "Only part of me."
Despite her fear, she allows him to pull her close and kiss her. It isn't right. It isn't him.
Maybe wishes don't come true.