Tribulations and associations
Narcissa went to move out of the way of whomever she had bumped into before she glanced up and froze.
“Sirius?”
Her younger cousin stared at her in surprise.
He looked almost every inch the black heir he was supposed to be. He had a fair complexion, with pale skin that seemed to glow in the sunlight. His hair was as dark as midnight, with a slight wave to it that gave it a touch of mystery. His eyes were a striking shade of grey, like storm clouds on a winter's day, and they seemed to hold a depth of emotion that was both captivating and enigmatic. His high cheekbones added a sense of refinement to his features. But his wrong coloured tie was slightly askew, the crest on his robes marking him as no longer one of her own.
After a long pause, his shock seemed to turn to confusion. “What were you doing in the Gryffindor common room, Cissa? No Black should ever be there” he added sarcastically.
“Looking for you!” she blurted out, realising she didn't want him to know about her budding friendship with Alice.
“You were looking for me, the cousin you were told not to speak to, in the Gryffindor common room?” he questioned, incredulous.
“Yes” she replied. And it wasn't a lie, she really had been meaning to speak to him.
“I know what it's like to feel a little lonely, and I don't think you deserve to be iced out for simply sorting wrong. The others are just being dramatic.”
“So you still want to speak to me?” Sirius said, looking hopeful now.
“Yes of course, but not in public. I don't want to be cut off too” Narcissa answered.
Her cousin's face fell a little, before he grinned.
“Better than nothing”
“I really must be getting to charms now, but if you'd like we could meet at the stands by the quidditch pitch next Friday after classes and watch the practice together” she asked hesitantly.
“I'll be there" he said with a grin before waving her goodbye as he climbed through the portrait hole she'd just clambered out of herself. It was very befitting if Gryffindor, much less dignified than Slytherins entrance, she thought to herself as she walked away.
“Are you sure no one will see her there?” Azalea asked a final time as they watched her anxiously preparing to leave.
“Don't worry Az, we checked yesterday, she's completely covered” Zahara confirmed before turning to the somewhat more flustered than usual Narcissa.
“But are you sure that this is a good idea? He might talk and then you'll be done for”
“Sirius wouldn't” she replied although she seemed to be trying to reassure herself rather than her friends. She cast a quick tempus before fastening her cloak.
“I'm off then” she said, leaving the dorm as the girls called after her to be careful.
“You realise once he's officially disowned we can't condone this, right?” Azalea clarified.
“I know,” Zahara acknowledged with a sigh. “I hope this meeting may highlight to her why she should distance herself from him, for her own good”.
Narcissa sat, not in her regular seat but in one hidden by old stands, looking around to see if she could spot her cousin, which she failed to do. She was there on the dot she supposed, but Sirius should really have the same manners. She saw the red and gold clad figures armed with brooms make their way onto the pitch and commence their warm up drills. After those were finished she cast another look around. Still no Sirius.
A few drills later Narcissa concluded that he was not coming. The audacity! She had taken such a risk to attempt to meet him, when she shouldn't even be looking in his direction and he had the nerve to stand her up? Maybe her family were right after all (underneath all her cold anger she ignored the sharp ache of being abandoned again, and refused to acknowledge the lone tear she wiped from her face)
She was ripped from her thoughts by a harsh scream followed by a cry of “Alice!”. She turned to see Alice lying on the ground, her leg bent at an unnatural angle. All notions of who she should be seen with and what she should be doing seemed to vacate her head and she found herself running onto the pitch to kneel by the fallen girl's side.
“Narcissa?” Alice questioned feebly.
“Yes it's me don't worry, I can help you, I've studied healing for years” She told her before assessing the injury. It was a nasty break, but nothing to difficult (for Narcissa at least, although it was a NEWT level spell)
“This will only hurt a little” she assured Alice,and with a loud crack her leg snapped back into place. At this point, a member of the Gryffindor team had returned with madam Pomfrey in tow.
“I've fixed the break madam, she should only need a pain relieving potion now” she smiled up at the older witch who stared at her in shock.
After checking the mend herself, she turned to the small girl before her. “This is good work, what year are you in?” she questioned.
“I'm a second year madam” Narcissa replied, feeling a little smug at the way the mediwitch’s eyebrows shot up at this.
“My my, you're very advanced! Although you clearly know what you're doing I'm afraid I will have to ask you to refrain from treating people in the future, just in case something does go wrong” madam pomfrey told her,before turning to Alice with an order to come to her for a pain relief potion once she was showered before she made her way back to the castle. Narcissa offered out a hand to the girl who took it and stood up, thankfully without issue.
“Narcissa, that was amazing!” she exclaimed in awe. “Thank you so much”.
“It's nothing” she replied, following Alice's now slightly forlorn look to where her broom was lying snapped into pieces.
“i'm sorry about your broom” Narcissa sympathized, knowing she would be distraught if her own had been rendered in that state.
“Guess I'll be flying on the useless school ones” she said. “That one was new so we don't have the budget to buy another right now”
“i'm sure you'll still fly annoyingly well” Narcissa joked as they walked towards the castle, trying to imagine living on a budget.Their conversation about the brooms on the market was brought to a halt where their paths split.
“Feel better Alice” she smiled at the still slightly limping girl.
”See you soon Narcissa” Alice grinned at her in response before turning away.
As Narcissa made her way to the common room, she was so caught up on the fact that Alice had said soon (that meant she wanted to see her again!) That she almost forgot that Sirius had left her waiting.
On her trek back to the common room, Narcissa’s thoughts gradually started to drift from Alice's smile at her and her promise to meet soon to remembering that Sirius stood her up.
How dare he! He was lucky she even entertained the idea of meeting with a scorned traitor like him and he has the audacity to stand her up?
As she stalked down the corridor ruminating in her affrontement she was suddenly able to name the emotion stirring in her chest. It was the same when Bellatrix would admonish her with harsh words, or when Andromeda left without so much as a farwell. She was hurt.
She put her neck on the line trying to make her cousin feel less alone and he didn't care enough to even show up. Maybe her friends were right and it was for the best, she thought as she turned the corner before she was abruptly pulled behind a tapestry.
“Get your hands off m-” she started to yell before she noticed who it was who had snatched her away.
“Oh, Sirius” she asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Care to enlighten me on why you decided it was a better idea to meet me an hour later than planned behind a tapestry?”. At this Sirius looked a little sheepish.
“Okay it's not my fault I swear” he began.
“Reassuring start” Narcissa remarked sarcastically.
“It genuinely wasn't though! You said you wanted to meet in secret but I saw Rita Skeeter sitting under the stands” he gushed.
“She would've heard everything, and you know what she's like, two hours later and the whole school would know!” Sirius exclaimed, not untruthfully.
Narcissa was suddenly very grateful for being stood up. Her cousin was right in the sense that Rita was an infamous gossip among the halls of Hogwarts, but what he didn't know about was Rita's relationship with her sister, Bellatrix.
She found out by accident, one day when she was looking for Bellatrix to inquire about a family book she believed was in the older girl's possession and she had been told her sister had gone into an old classroom to study.
But when she opened the door she was greeted with the sight of her sister kissing none other than the blonde ravenclaw herself.
The pair had broken off and turned to find her standing, staring in confusion at them. She didn't know girls could do that. Bellatrix had quickly told her that girls practiced sometimes so they would be prepared for their betrothed but wouldn't have to be made unpure by any other men, which made perfect sense, Narcissa thought. They must be very close friends, she had thought as she lay in bed that night.
So thank Merlin Seeker hadn't overheard, or surely she would've reported back to Bellatrix and Narcissa would've been done for.
“Oh, it really wasn't your fault” she told her cousin with a slight smile. “Good thinking, that could have been disastrous”
“I know right?” Sirius said, shoulders dropping in relief. “But I really do want to meet up properly, not hidden in a corridor” he continued.
“indeed” Narcissa agreed.
“I must be going now, my friends will begin to wonder where I am” she said, “but do write, under a pseudonym of course”
“I will!” He called enthusiastically as Narcissa slipped back into the corridor and continued on her way to her dorm. What an eventful day she pondered. I guess that's what happens when you start hanging around with gryffindors, she sighed to herself.