Sempre Tu?

The first time they'd met the air was hot and almost unbearable to breathe. Yet, their parents had thrown them together anyway. Well, not really. His parents had dropped him off at her aunt and uncle's house to visit with Sirius and later that day her parents rounded up her and her sisters and proceeded to dump them at 12 Grimmauld Place without any warning whatsoever.

They were only six then and full of curiosity. Narcissa, being the individual and adventurer that she was, had immediately deserted her older sisters and began wandering around the mansion on her own. Her sisters just waved her off and ran to the kitchens to torture the house-elves, not even giving their baby sister a second thought. They were used to it by now and knew that Narcissa knew she only had to scream if something went awry and her protectors would be there in seconds.

By the time Narcissa had wandered into the gardens, her curiosity was beginning to dwindle. She'd been to this house thousands of times and she had already studied every inch. In short, the mystery was gone and she'd become bored. Hell, even her home was more mysterious and new than this one. This was most likely due to the fact that she'd spent much more time at this home than her own.

After wandering for such a long time, her little legs began to tire and she began searching for somewhere to sit. Having already made rounds through her aunt's garden on more than one occasion (at least twenty-five was more likely) she knew that she only had to cross the bridge over the small stream, follow the dirt path through the roses, and take a direct right to find her favorite bench.

When she reached her destination, the smile on her lips fell. There, on her bench sat a boy no older than herself carefully using his eyeglasses to kill an innocent ant. After a moment of glaring, Narcissa put her hands to her hips and marched angrily over to the boy and snatched the glasses from his hands.

"Hey," the boy cried. "What'd you do that for?"

"It isn't nice to kill innocent creatures," Narcissa scolded, the glasses dangling from her hand. She watched as the ant the boy was trying to kill scurried over the side of the bench and waited until she saw there were no more ants for the boy to torture before she handed his glasses back to him.

"It's just an ant," the boy said as he placed the small, wire glasses on his nose and behind his ears.

"And you don't think ants have feelings?" Narcissa demanded, her hands flying to her hips again. "How would that poor ant's mother have felt if he'd died?"

"I don't know," the boy shrugged and cocked his head. "Do ants have mothers?"

"Of course," Narcissa said. "Everyone has a mother."

"Not everyone," James said. "My friend Billy Crabbe doesn't have a mother."

"Well he did at one point," Narcissa said. "Or else he couldn't have been born."

"Oh."

"Do you have a mother?" She asked, trying to get her point across to the gangly boy sitting on her bench.

"Yes," he nodded. "Do you?"

"Yes," Narcissa said slowly. "I guess."

"What does that mean?" The boy asked.

"I... Well I have a mother," Narcissa bit her lip. "She's just never really around."

"Mine is," the boy told her. "She's my favorite person in the whole world."

"Well my favorite person in the whole world is my big sister Andromeda," Narcissa told him with a curt nod. "She's perfect."

"Really?"

"Of course," Narcissa rolled her eyes.

The boy smiled. "What's your name?"

"Narcissa," she told him. "Narcissa Black."

"James," he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. "James Potter."

"It's nice to meet you James," Narcissa said quietly as her tiny cheeks reddened slightly.

"Would you like to join me?" James asked, gesturing to the bench. "I'm playing hide-and-seek with Sirius and Regulus, but Sirius is a horrible seeker."

"Oh?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," James nodded his head and helped Narcissa climb on the bench. "Just awful. I'm a good seeker though. I can spot anything a mile away."

"Which is the reason you have to wear glasses?" Narcissa said sarcastically.

"Hey," James grinned, "they give me more than perfect vision."

"Nothing can be more than perfect," Narcissa told him.

"You are."

Narcissa looked at him and her smile practically touched her ears. "Well, maybe some things can be more than perfect."

They laughed then and enjoyed each other's company as they waited for Sirius to come find James. After nearly two hours of sitting on the bench Narcissa began to fidget and become restless. She'd never been one to sit for more than a few minutes without having to move and almost two hours of doing nothing but sitting was starting to tear at her. So, without a word, Narcissa hopped off the bench.

"Where are you going?" James asked as he plopped down beside her.

"If Sirius is too dense to find us, then maybe we should just find him," Narcissa said with a shrug and started to walk off. "Besides, my bum was starting to fall asleep."

"Mine too," James said and punctuated his words by rubbing his butt with his hands. "So, where do you think we'll find him?"

"Knowing Sirius and his lack of smartness, he's probably forgotten all about finding you and went to kick the house elves with Andromeda and Bella," Narcissa told him as she pushed aside a branch from the rosebush. She must have gripped the branch too hard though, because a thorn slashed a thin red line onto her finger. "Ow!"

"What?" James asked and quickly made his way to her side.

"I got cut," she told him and held out her finger for him to see.

"Hmm, that looks pretty deep," James nodded his head. "Does it hurt?"

"A little," Narcissa looked up at him. "Yes."

James smiled and placed a small kiss on her finger. "There, did that help? My mum always kisses me whenever I get a scratch. It makes the hurt go away. Did it work?"

"Yes," Narcissa said quietly.

James grinned and began the trek back up to the mansion, Narcissa following right behind. It only took them a few moments to make it from the tiny nook in the rosebushes to the mansion. Once inside they headed to the kitchens, Narcissa leading the way this time.

"Bella?" Narcissa called as she and James reached the doors to the kitchens. "Andromeda? Hey, where are you two?"

"Right here," they heard Bellatrix call back from across the kitchens. "Hurry up Cissa. You have to see this."

James and Narcissa looked at each other for a second before both shrugged and followed Bellatrix's voice. They found her and Andromeda standing over Sirius, laughing.

"What's going on?" James asked as they reached the girls' sides.

"Ickle Siri got ahold of Andromeda's wand," Bellatrix laughed and pointed. "He accidentally turned his face purple."

"It wasn't my fault," Sirius defended as Narcissa and James began shaking with laughter. "It wasn't. I'm telling my mum."

"Oh do tattle Siri," Andromeda said through her giggles. "We'll just tell her our own version of what happened."

"Two against one," Bellatrix grinned. "Who do you think she'll believe?"

"Me!" Sirius shouted.

"Oh," Bellatrix sat down on the floor and continued to laugh. "This is just too funny."

"I think I'm going to die laughing," Andromeda said as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Is that possible?" James asked Narcissa quietly.

Narcissa shrugged.

"Too funny," Bellatrix put her face in her hands. "...Hysterical."

"Come on guys," Sirius whined. "It's not funny anymore. Someone turn my face back to normal. Please? Andromeda?"

"Fine," Andromeda shook her head as if to shake away the giggles. Her face went straight for a moment, but just as she reached out for her wand, she fell into hysterics again. "I'm sorry Siri. You look so funny."

"Cissa?" Sirius' pleading look turned to his youngest cousin. "Do something?"

"Fine," Narcissa rolled her eyes, grabbed the wand from Andromeda's hand, and mumbled the counter-jinx. "Happy?"

"Thanks Cissa," Sirius said gratefully as the purple melted away and his face went back to its normal color. "I owe you."

"Yes, you do," she told him. She held out her hand to him and quickly pulled him to his feet. "Come on now. I think I saw a huge pile of chocolate frogs when I passed by Regulus' room earlier."

Sirius grinned and took off running.

"Hey," Andromeda stopped Narcissa and James, "don't spoil your appetite. We've got supper in thirty minutes and I don't need Aunt Lucinda screaming at me for letting you binge on chocolate and ruining your dinner. Understood?"

The two nodded their heads obediently and ran through the house after Sirius. They found him in Regulus' room, sucking down chocolate frogs like they were his life support. Ten minutes later the whole pile of frogs was completely gone and three six-year-olds sat groaning as their stomachs began to churn.

Later that night as James and Narcissa huddled under the covers of Sirius' bed he asked her quietly, "When are you're mum and dad coming to pick you up?"

Narcissa shrugged. "Could be tomorrow or the next day or even tonight. I'm not really sure."

"They didn't tell you?" James asked. "My mum made sure I knew when she was coming to pick me up. The stroke of ten."

"I never know when my parents will come get me," Narcissa whispered as she pulled her knees to her chest. "Sometimes I don't think they ever will."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"But why?"

"I don't know," she sighed and rested her chin on her sun-kissed knees. "Sometimes they leave us here for a week and then will just show up one day and take us home."

"Why?"

"Sometimes I think..." She sighed again. "Sometimes I think the only people in the world who love me at all are my sisters."

"But what about your aunt and uncle?" James asked. "Surely they love you?"

Narcissa closed her eyes. "Sometimes when I close my eyes I can see my papa lifting me into his arms and hugging me real tight. And sometimes I can see my mama bending over me while I sleep and smiling as she wakes me up to go home. And sometimes I can even see all of us, my whole family, singing happily at Christmas time and laughing as I blow out candles on my birthday cake. But when I open my eyes, it never happens. The only ones who smile are Andry and Bella. They're the only ones who pick me up and hold me when I cry or when I get sick. They're the only ones who love me."

"I'll love you," James promised as he leaned forward and wrapped his short, pudgy arms around Narcissa.

She leaned into his embrace and, through her tears, asked softly, "Always?"

"Always."