Chapter 5
As November drew to a close and winter wrapped its frosty fingers around Hogwarts, the school began to prepare for Christmas. The Great Hall was all but transformed into a winter wonderland with twelve towering fur-trees lining the walls in place of the house banners, decorated with glittering intricate snowflakes enlarged just so much as you could see their delicately woven structures; large glass balls hung off of the branches, house coloured fairies glowing inside them. The school was buzzing as the end of term begun to creep closer and both teachers and pupils started to find it increasingly hard to focus in lessons.
On the first Saturday of December Narcissa and Hermione woke to find the grounds covered in a thick layer of snow. Hermione dragged Narcissa outside grinning at the carnage that had unfolded at the back of the school. Narcissa groaned as she watched the first year Gryffindor's and Slytherin's pelting each other with snowballs. She rolled her eyes as she watched Regulus join the battle and Hermione laughed at her.
"You can't honestly tell me that you don't like the snow," she said incredulously. Narcissa looked from her young lover, to the chaos around them and sniffed disdainfully.
"I grew out of this years ago," she said. Hermione looked at her sceptically.
"Oh come on," she grinned, "No one grows out of a good snowball fight." No sooner had she finished her sentence did a large snowball crash into the back of Narcissa's perfectly styled head, spraying them both with snow and ice. Hermione squealed and burst into fits of laughter as Narcissa stood, eyes wide with shock and fury, whiping the snow from her face. They turned around to find a young Sirius grinning at them, James, Remus and Peter Pettigrew all guffawing behind him.
"You little rat!" she growled. She tore her wand from her inside pocket and with an extravagant flourish sent a torrent of snowballs at her cousin's startled face. At this, a full-scale snow war erupted between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins, during which many of the teacher were caught in the cross fire and subsequently drawn into the battle. Hermione screamed and laughed with Narcissa as they sent line after line of high speed snowballs at Sirius and the other Marauders.
A wave of snow came roaring towards the Slytherins and Hermione grabbed Narcissa's hand and pulled her out of the way, sending them toppling to the ground and down the little bank that they were standing next to. They fell down the small hill, a mixture of laughing and screaming escaping them as they rolled, Hermione landing squarely on top of Narcissa. The young blond giggled as she looked up into Hermione's light hazel eyes. Hermione kissed her quickly, but she pushed her off.
"Not here," she giggled. "People will see." Hermione grinned and jumped up, pulling her to her feet in the process.
"Come one then," she grinned, and grabbing Narcissa's hand she ran under the cover of the trees until they found a little clearing not far from the school. They stopped and simply gazed at each other for a moment. Narcissa was breathing heavily, her blue eyes glittering, cheeks flushed with excitement and cold.
"I told you no one ever grows out of a good snowball fight," Hermione grinned smugly. Narcissa smiled mischievously and pushed her up against the back of a tree, roughly capturing the brunette's lips with her own. She pressed the length of her body against Hermione's and a rush of adrenaline coursed through her as she felt her small breasts pressed against her own, rising and falling with hers, felt her hand slip inside her thick winter coat to caress the soft skin of her back with her cold fingers. A little moan of pleasure escaped her lips as she lost her self in the other woman's arms.
When they finally pulled apart (somewhat reluctantly) Narcissa's eyes were shining and a beautiful smile had unfolded across her face.
"You're so beautiful when you smile," Hermione said softly. "I've never seen you smile like that before."
"I've never had a reason to smile like this before," she whispered, leaning her head against Hermione's and closing her eyes. "Because I have never been this happy before."
That evening Hermione and Narcissa sat by the fire in the common room, waiting for the last few people to leave. Narcissa gazed blindly into the flames, her beautiful blue eyes glassy with thought.
"Where are you?" Hermione asked softly as Lucius, the last to leave, headed towards the boys' dormitories.
"I was thinking about my sisters," she said, turning to smile half-heartedly at Hermione.
"Are you okay?" she asked, gently stroking a strand of white blond from her eyes.
"I was just remembering how it used to be with us," she said. "When we were little, everything seemed so perfect, even with Dromida. She was always the quiet one, the thoughtful one. It came in handy too; she always used to come up with the most wonderful excuses to get Bella out of trouble and nine times out of ten they worked." She smiled to her self. "Bella was wild, uncontrollable even, but she had a soft side to her. Though if anyone even suspected it she would make them believe otherwise. She was so protective over us, and still is over me. No one could ever bully us, except her." Hermione had never realised just how close Narcissa was with her sisters. She took her hand in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze, making her look up. "I miss them Hermione," she said quietly. "I miss how it used to be." Hermione pulled the girl into her arms and hugged her tight and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"It's not to late you know," she said. "It doesn't have to be like this." But Narcissa shook her head.
"They have changed," she sighed. "Especially Bella. Ever since she met Rodolphus she's felt the need to prove herself. She's grown cold, unforgiving. She hates Dromida. I'm the only one she will show any warmth to and even that is rare."
"But it is still there," Hermione reassured her. "You just have to show her what is really important Cissy." Narcissa looked up at her and smiled, tracing the line of her face with her fingertips.
"Thank you Hermione." She smiled.
"For what?"
"For being there. For coming into my life." And as she kissed her, Hermione felt a stab of guilt at her heart. Lying to her was becoming impossible. But what other choice did she have?
That night, once Narcissa was asleep, Hermione eased herself out of bed and retrieved the little red diary from her locked trunk. She opened it, dipped her quill into the ink, and scrawled a quick message across the page.
Professor,
Think it is becoming more possible to turn NM. If so, might be able to get to BL also. Key is to get all three to reconcile.
-H
A single tear slid down her face as Narcissa's words rattled around her brain. She had to try and save her. She loved her too much to see her suffer as she had seen in the future. But she could no longer achieve that by lying to her. Though the thought terrified her, she had to tell her the truth.