First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, subscribed or favourite this story, the response to the first chapter was something I didn't expect! Secondly, I apologise for the delay of this second chapter! I've been away for a week, away from a computer, and seeing the reviews really inspired me to write! This chapter took a lot of work though, and I'm still not entirely happy with it... but I'm moving away from Hogwarts for the next chapter, and wanted at least one more Hogwarts experience. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the first!
Narcissa awoke that morning with a chill. Monday mornings were never especially kind to her, but this morning was particularly cruel. Winter was upon them and as she dragged herself up to breakfast, Cissy saw a thin blanket of snow covered the lawns around the castle. She groaned inwardly at the thought of the greenhouses in such weather, dreading her first period Herbology and sat down heavily at the Slytherin table. Without even noticing which box she grabbed, she began eating cereal straight out of the packet and chewed mechanically as her eyes drooped closed again.
"Morning, sleepy," said a voice in her ear.
She jumped. "Merlin's beard, Lucius!" she exclaimed as he sat next to her on the bench, grinning. "You nearly gave me a heart-attack!"
"That was my intention." She gave him a reproachful look. "Anyway, I actually came over here to talk to you."
"Do I have to partake in the conversation in any way?" Narcissa asked lazily, having returned to eating out of the cereal box.
"Not if you don't want to." He watched her chew with a smirk.
"Go ahead."
"Well, perhaps you are aware of my standing with old Slughorn, but as an esteemed member of the Slug Club, I've been invited to one of his little parties on Christmas Eve – fourth years and above. It'll be formal I assume, with dress robes – oh how Mother will enjoy hearing about that – and it'll be expected that we bring female company. I'll be escorting you." He watched her carefully as she finished her mouthful, looking for any kind of reaction.
"Is that so?" she asked, not looking at him. Instead, she studied the back of the box with mild interest.
"Yes, I'm afraid it is."
"Why me?"
"Because I asked Dromeda and she said no."
"Is that a joke?"
"Maybe."
"And what if I don't want to go?"
"Not an option."
She sighed theatrically and turned the cereal box around. "I suppose I have no choice."
"It certainly seems that way."
"And what am I to wear to this event?"
"Anything. You look good in anything." He watched her chew.
"Is that the best line you have?" she snorted, turning to him with a cocked brow.
"Quite possibly. Is it good enough for a daughter of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?" He flashed his most charming smile.
She rolled her eyes. "We'll see."
"Excellent. I'll leave you to your cereal." He pushed himself off the bench and paused behind her for a moment. Cissy felt something small and soft press on the top of her head. It wasn't until the sound of his footsteps had left the Great Hall did she realise he had kissed her.
The weeks leading up to Christmas were merry, as always at Hogwarts. There were the usual twelve Christmas trees lining the Great Hall, each with candles, icicles, angels and an array of multi-coloured baubles. The corridors were lined with strings of fir branches whilst each classroom had holly wreaths on them – Flitwick's even shouted festive greetings to anyone who happened to walk by. Mistletoe was hung here and there along the ceilings and it had come into fashion with the sixth year boys to carry a twig of it with them and spring on unsuspecting passers-by, which was very irritating. Narcissa was especially horrified when a sixth year Hufflepuff pounced on her as she was on her way to lunch one Thursday. She was too taken by surprise to curse him, although the passing Lucius showed no hesitation in attacking him. Through the sound of hexes hitting him, she heard the boy's plea for forgiveness. He insisted that he had thought she was Andromeda. Narcissa failed to see that as a valid excuse, and wasn't sorry when she saw him two days later with steam still coming out of his ears. This trend was stopped quickly enough, however, when one boy thoughtlessly ambushed McGonagall. Never had the students seen Peeves so gleeful.
Narcissa had reluctantly written to her mother, telling her of her Christmas plans and why she would not be returning to the estate for Christmas. Naturally, Druella Black was thrilled at the prospect of her youngest daughter courting a son of Malfoy blood and sent over a new set of dress robes. The package came in with the morning post, carried between two large screech owls that landed on the table, ruffling their feathers and sending flecks of snow into the scrambled egg. Bellatrix and Andromeda looked up at their sister curiously from their seats down the table.
"What've you got?" Bella asked, sat almost opposite her.
"Something from Mother?" Dromeda called up the table. Cissy nodded, and her elder sister got up to join the other two. "Well open it then! Mother's taste is always so entertaining; I bet it's garish whatever it is. Oh, I hope it has frills!"
"You're so cruel," Cissy remarked as Bella sniggered and ripped the box open. Inside sat a green item covered in lace.
Dromeda covered her smile as best she could as Bella threw her head back and crowed with laughter. Narcissa stared at it, dumbfound. She didn't even want to touch it.
"What's all this noise, Bella?" said a familiar drawling voice.
"Oh Lucius, don't look at it," Cissy begged as he and his cronies came closer.
"Why, what is it Cissy?" he asked curiously, looking into the box. "A nice new pair of curtains?"
"Or her dress for old Sluggy's do," Dromeda said with a burst of laughter. Lucius gingerly picked the garment out by the tips of his fingers as Cissy buried her face in her hands.
"Your mother always had an unfailing choice in clothes," he said uneasily, turning the dress round. It had a high lace neck and frills leading down to the floor, all in a violent green.
"You're going to look like one of Lestrange's potions!" cackled Bella, prompting Rodolphus to send a silencing charm in her direction. He missed her, causing a second year Gryffindor sat behind them spent the rest of the morning a rather befuddled mute.
"Oh it's awful," Cissy cried. "That witch is nothing more than a nuisance!"
"It's not so bad," Dromeda tried to comfort her sister as Bella laughed. "Oh Bella, do shut up."
"But they're frightfully ghastly!" she cackled. "Oh this is better than the Christmas someone got Father a pair of bloomers, thinking they were pyjamas!"
"What an odd thing to purchase," Lucius remarked, still holding the dress at arms' length. "Isn't there something that can be done about all these... frills?" he added cautiously. Cissy moaned loader at his words, burying her head in her arms.
"I'll see what I can do," Dromeda promised quietly, taking the dress from his hands and stuffing it back in its box. "We'll see you later."
Lucius nodded his head to Dromeda and the still gleeful Bella. "You'll still look beautiful," he said quietly into Cissy's ear. His hot breath tickled her ear and she looked up to see him strut out of the hall, flanked by his two cronies.
Christmas Eve rolled around quickly enough, bringing with it the usual flurry of snow. Narcissa awoke to an empty dormitory. The girls she shared with had gone home for Christmas, and the room seemed empty. She had never spent the festive season in the castle before, and hadn't quite realised how big it was before. The corridors were usually lined with hundreds of other students, the Great Hall always littered with people, the grounds hosting a scatter of teachers and pupils, but most students and a handful of staff had left four days prior to return home for the holidays, leaving Hogwarts quite and echoing. Cissy sat up in bed and breathed in. Already she could smell Christmas puddings being prepared, mince pies, root vegetables, pumpkin pasties, cakes and biscuit, bread and the comforting smell of a wholesome soup. Despite there only being small numbers of people in the castle during the break, the house elves always made enough food for a hundred people or more, and the smell was, as always, intoxicating. Dragging herself out of bed reluctantly, Cissy slid on her slippers and padded to the bathroom, readying herself for the day.
In little more than half an hour she was plodding up the stairs to the Great Hall in her woolliest pair of tights, an old skirt, a blouse and her warmest cardigan, not caring who saw her. Both her sisters had returned home as their mother had arranged for another one of her awful dinners, in the hope of selling Bellatrix and Andromeda off to a Yaxley or a Bulstrode, something that neither sister was looking forwards to. Cissy's absence was only allowed as Druella Black saw her youngest daughter's Christmas arrangements as along the same lines as her own, and with such a pure young wizard, she and her husband could do nothing but approve.
In the Great Hall, the house tables had been dispersed with, leaving four circular tables in the middle, each holding about ten people. Three of the tables were empty, but the one on the far left seated two twitchy first-years, a few sullen-looking third year boys, one merry Horace Slughorn and Albus Dumbledore himself. Cissy took an empty seat on the table, not looking at either teacher and pulling a jug of pumpkin juice towards her.
"Ah, Mistress Black!" Dumbledore said happily, noticing her arrival. She glanced up at his smiling face, avoiding those piercing blue eyes that could see right through her façade.
"Good morning, professor," she mumbled into her goblet, not wishing for any more attention to be drawn to her. She was suddenly ashamed at how scruffy she looked.
"It's a surprise to see you up so early," Slughorn laughed fondly, "we hardly see you at breakfast these days!"
"The smell of such a wonderful breakfast must have awoken me," she smiled as graciously as she could, secretly wishing that she hadn't bothered getting up at all. "It all looks so wonderful. Those house elves must be working their fingers to the bone!"
"Oh yes," Dumbledore mused. "I'll be paying half of them overtime."
Narcissa looked up, surprised. He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye and she glared down into her empty plate, enraged at the thought of house elves getting paid anything at all, let alone overtime.
"Will I be seeing you this evening, Miss Black?" Slughorn enquired, sensing a downturn in the atmosphere. "I do think you'd enjoy one of my parties, that sister of yours Andromeda used to have a wonderful time! I see her less and less now, I think her taste for them has faded somewhat."
"She will be attending," said a cool voice next to her. She looked to her left and saw Lucius drawing up the stool next to her. He never seemed to greet her nowadays; he just seemed to pop out of nowhere. "She'll be coming with me." And he turned to her with a flashing smile.
"Oh how wonderful," replied Slughorn cheerily. "What a fine pair you'll make!"
"Thank you, sir," Cissy bowed her head. "Now if you'll excuse me." She got up to leave, embarrassed and already tired of the prying company. Lucius caught her hand as she turned.
"Not going because of me, are you?" he asked, looking up with his grey eyes warm.
"Of course not, Lucius. I just..." she faltered, trying to think of a valid reason, and finding none, she pulled her hand out of his grasp. "I'll see you later." She smiled at Slughorn and Dumbledore, her chin up, and strutted out of the room, one end of her tatty cardigan trailing on the floor.
By six in the evening, Cissy couldn't put it off anymore. She reluctantly put her books back on the shelves under Madam Pince's hawk-like stare and wandered back to the common room. Lucius was sat in front of the fire, already in dark robes.
"You're ready so soon?" she asked, surprised.
He glanced up from his book. "I don't like to be late, and quite frankly I had nothing else to do."
"Well, I won't be long," she mumbled, making her way to the stairs.
"Don't be. Your company is much too pleasing to be wasted on an empty dormitory." She paused at this remark, and turned round to say something, only to see that he had already returned to his book.
The dress had certainly gone under reconstruction, and it didn't look as bad as Cissy had originally thought. Any extra flair of lace had been removed and the colour had been faded to a more subtle green. The fact still remained that it was an awful dress. Dragging a brush through her long blonde hair, she shuffled down the stairs.
"You don't look half bad, Black," Lucius said appraisingly from the sofa, watching her emerge through the door.
"Are you sure?" she asked nervously, pulling at her sleeve, walking slowly towards him. He stood up and straightened his robes before stepping towards her until they were within a few feet of each other. She paused, not knowing what to do next.
"I'm sure," replied Lucius quietly. He took another small step forward and raised his hand to tuck a small lock of hair behind her ear. "There. Now you're perfect."
Narcissa looked up at him, the light of the fire flickering over his strong jaw, over the curve of his lips, shining off the long blonde hair he kept back in a neat bow. He was a Malfoy through and through.
"Are you making a study of me, Cissy?" he inquired with a raised brow.
"I'm just wondering."
"Wondering what?" His hand was still hovering somewhere near her ear.
"How one person can be so... changing? When we were children, we were such great friends, I adored the days when you would come round and play with me. And then that summer after your first year here, you were so haughty and cruel, I could hardly stand you! Yet, three and a half years on, I can't make you out. One minute you're that proud, swaggering young wizard who'll blast any Mudbloods in your path, and the next you're like this; quiet, kind and really rather pleasant. I hardly know who you are today, who you'll be tomorrow, or what you'll be in years to come, and oh, I don't know - I wish I did."
"Why do you care so much?" he asked curiously, lowering his hand. He let his thumb trace across her shoulder and down her arm, resting a few fingers in-between hers. Her eyes locked with his.
"Because you're my friend."
"Am I?" He began slowly moving his hand, stroking her palm and brushing the tips of her fingers. "Is that all I am to you? A mere friend?"
"Yes, I suppose..."
"Are you sure that's true?"
"Well, you're... my parents would want... I don't..." She trailed off as he stepped very slowly towards her once more, leaving inches between them. He bent his head towards her, pausing just above her lips.
"Friends?" he breathed.
"Yes..."
Cissy found her eyes closing as she realised what he was to her – what she wanted him to be. Her fingers closed over his as she felt his lips, warm and soft, press against hers. A hand wove into her hair gently and she felt his lips part slightly in a quiet moan. Before she could respond, he had pulled away.
"Old Sluggy will be wondering where we were," he said briskly, taking in a deep breath to steady himself.
"Quite..." Cissy replied, unnerved at his abrupt mood change. "We'll be quite missed."
"C'mon," he grinned, taking the hand that was still holding his. "No one can host a party quite like Slughorn!"
"Wait, Lucius," she demanded, tugging at his hand. "What was that?"
"What was what?" he asked, doing his best to look confused.
"You know what."
"An experiment."
"An experiment?" she repeated incredulously. "And the results?"
He half-smiled. "Quite positive."