The first time she noticed, Narcissa was on the pitch.
Gryffindor against Slytherin, one of the most brutal of matches Narcissa had flown in. Flashing teeth and skin, blood flying loose like the wind. And in the midst of it all, there was the aftershock of a disaster.
She was the thunder after the lightning, the hidden aftershocks after an earthquake. She was fiery and angry, forest green eyes flashing as she flew through the players, and cheeks red from exertion. She was, above all of that, and in the midst of it, beautiful.
Narcissa stopped halfway across the pitch, high above the players, but eyes caught, stuck, baited and reeled in, on the girl with the quaffle in her hands. The Gryffindor captain, though nearing the goalposts, didn't once slow. The Slytherin keeper flinched back as she flew nearer, until finally, the quaffle left her hands and flew in cleanly through the right goalpost. Alice Fortescue made a sharp turn, before grinning at her teammates, the smile lighting up her face.
Yes, Narcissa thought, beautiful.
Alice Fortescue was sixteen when she noticed, a smirk playing on her lips as she leaned in close to the other girl. "Keep your team from playing dirty, Black." She said, eyes narrowed in a glare.
"Scared you'll lose?" Narcissa taunted, blue eyes bright. The blonde smirked back, leaning casually against the wall as if she had nothing to fear.
Alice leaned in close, closer, until Narcissa was swallowing, pale cheeks suddenly flushed as she was backed up completely against the wall. Alice smiled. "Careful what you say, Narcissa."
"Watch yourself, Alice."
But Alice was too busy staring, staring at the cherry-red lips in front of her, staring at the pretty blush making its way across the blonde's face, staring at the pale blue eyes that stared back at her, cool and calculated.
The frost in winter's morning, the cool stream in the summer. The dim light of the sun before it ducked beneath clouds, and the rain that fell from them, showering down on the Earth.
Hm. Perhaps Sirius was right.
Maybe those Black genes do have an effect on me after all.
Skin against skin, a smattering of kisses pressed to her neck before the other withdrew, a sing-song voice drifting through the silence that followed. "Are you sure?" A singular nod. Then she leaned in close again, mouth drifting down, lower and lower.
Narcissa jolted awake.
"You know," Alice hummed, "You're really pretty."
The world was a flash of lights and colour around the perhaps slightly-more-than drunk Gryffindor. She stumbled, barely managing to grasp onto Naricssa's shoulders before righting herself. "Liar." Said the other girl, before backing out of sight.
It started out slow.
"You weren't lying?"
"I wouldn't lie about this."
"Okay."
"Don't think I'll go easy on you now."
"Believe me, we don't need you to go easy on us."
"Play with me?"
"Sure, Black, sure."
"You're beautiful too, you know."
"No, no, I'm not."
"You are to me."
But sometimes, things weren't meant to be slow.
"I think I love you, sometimes, like now," Narcissa mumbled, long, slender fingers searching for Alice's as they lay beside each other. "I think I might actually love you."
Alice tilted her head slightly so she could see Narcissa completely. "Is it scary?"
"No." Narcissa answered thoughtfully, "I think I fell for you so long ago I can't remember what it's like to get up anymore."
Alice laughed.
"Sleep, flower, sleep."
She waited until Narcissa's breathing evened out before whispering, "I love you too."
"Would you," Alice paused, hesitating, "Would you want to be with me, forever, I mean?" The words hung in the air, swallowed up almost immediately by the thick silence, but Narcissa heard, and she knew the answer.
Narcissa closed her eyes, breathed in deeply and smiled, "I would."
And sometimes, things were just meant to be.
Narcissa Black was eighteen when she turned up in the common room with a flower crown on her head and a matching one on her ring finger.
Alice Fortescue was nineteen when she whispered two soft words, before dipping down the girl she had fallen for, smiling down at her before closing the distance between them.