Sempre Tu?

"James," Narcissa smiled two months later as she took his hand and led him away from the potions classroom, "walk with me."

He smiled then and let her lead him to the lake outside. The air was crisp and he could tell she was cold in her Hogwarts uniform; it took all he had not to wrap his arms around her and so, instead, handed her his cloak. When they reached the edge of the lake Narcissa sighed and inched closer to James' side.

Since the night Narcissa had appeared in his common room, James had only fallen deeper in love with the girl. She wasn't marrying Malfoy to save her hide or gain pride for her family. She wasn't protecting those who remained, but those who had gone. Narcissa was giving the one thing that no one else would ever be able to give Andromeda and Sirius: amnesty.

She'd traded her life to guarantee theirs and James felt he'd never met one as noble as the youngest Miss Black.

"I don't want to marry Lucius," Narcissa said softly after long minutes of silence. "He's very nice and very charming, but I don't love him."

"Cissa please," James whispered, barely trusting himself to speak. Lately, he'd avoided her more than usual because even being in the same vicinity of her reminded him of what he yearned for so deeply, yet would never attain. It was killing him.

"Bella and Rodolphus will be married next week," she said, her gaze never leaving the lake. "I'm to be the maid of honor."

"That's exciting," James said, hoping that he sounded encouraging.

"She loves him. Somehow, some way, she fell in love with him." She paused. "Do you think I'll grow to love Lucius?"

"I... I'm sure that you will," he whispered as his heart threatened to give out on him.

"But how can I love him when I love another?"
"What?" James asked as his neck snapped in her direction, clearly curious.

"Sometimes I think there's no one who loves me," Narcissa said softly. "My parents don't, I know that for sure. Andromeda, Bella, Sirius... They're all too busy with their new lives to stop for me. Even my fiancee doesn't love me."

"I love you."

"Always?"

"Always."

She grinned and turned to him. "You know, I never tire of hearing you say that."

"Then I may just have to say it every day for the rest of my life," he said and pulled her to his chest. "Would you tire of it then?"
"Never."
"What if I said it twice a day for the rest of my life?"
"Never."
"Three?"
"I'll never, not even if you tell me a billion times," she looked up and rested her chin on his chest, "tire of hearing those words from your lips."
"Well then, it seems to me that I should say it again." James' grin turned serious as he whispered, "I love you."
Narcissa sighed and turned her head so her cheek was now resting on his chest. After a moment she closed her eyes and whispered back to him, "I love you too."

___________________________________________________________________________________

It was as if she'd released a breath she'd been holding in forever. Over the past ten years, he'd told her he loved her... Well, she didn't know how many times, but it had to be well over a thousand. None of those times felt the same though. To her they had always been whispered promises of lifelong friends. They were not those of someone who was actually in love.

Now, Narcissa Black had made many mistakes in her life, many mistakes that she had come to think quite sentimentally as regrets. The first and foremost in her mind was being born at all. She was a mistake or a 'surprise' as her parents had told her once, and was discarded because. Actually, when she thought about it, hadn't her parents said that both her sisters were 'surprises' as well?

The second regret she had was not trying to stop Andromeda the day she left. Narcissa would never forget the day. It was one of the few times that summer that Sirius and James had been invited to her house to play, or, as they were twelve by then and didn't do such childish things as 'play', to hang out. Andromeda had swooped into the house in a pair of muggle jeans and a muggle T-shirt and started to gather her things.

When the screaming started the three children looked at each other before unanimously agreeing to investigate. Andromeda and Druella Black had reached the top of the grand staircase by the time the three of them had come rushing in and the two were screaming as if there were no tomorrow. Once Narcissa realized what was happening she'd just frozen on spot. She didn't move, didn't do anything, when Andromeda stormed past her, only stopping to plant a brief kiss on her littlest sister's and her favorite cousin's foreheads.

It was a day she'd always remember and regret.

After her older sister's disappearance, Bellatrix had begun taking Narcissa under her wing. She wasn't cut off from her cousin and James, but with Bellatrix looming over her shoulder at every turn spouting off ramblings of the importance of purity it had been quite hard for Narcissa to get in time for herself much less anyone else. It was especially hard when she began believing in her sister's message.

Sirius had not been amused when Narcissa used the M-word to describe one of his friends their third year and, subsequently, a rift had begun to divide them. It wasn't a huge rift, at least not at first. But after a few months of Bellatrix's words coming from Narcissa's mouth, Sirius hardly wanted to be around her.

They were still close though and if anyone messed with either, the consequences would be dire. Sirius almost got expelled from school when David Smith started a rumor that Narcissa had let him go up her shirt. David's stay in the hospital wing was at least a week long. Narcissa's methods of revenge for anyone who messed with Sirius were a bit more Slytherin. When Anita Lancing broke Sirius' heart in their fourth year by cheating on him with Bill Davies, Narcissa made sure Anita's life was a living hell.
Obviously their little bit of cousin-ly overprotection had not been enough to squash Sirius' hate for their family and, at the age of sixteen, he'd left. If she'd known he would commit such a heinous act, she would have tried harder to keep him happy. If anything, losing touch with Sirius was probably her worst regret.

She would, however, never regret what had transpired between James and her. For the rest of her life she would carry that moment around with her and treasure it above all else. She'd finally felt what it was like to be loved and nothing could take that away from her. Not even the man who was standing in front of her, waiting for her to accompany him to her sister's wedding.

When Narcissa first heard she could bring a date to Bellatrix's wedding, she had automatically thought of James. But, after a few moments of further cognition, she realized that there was no way a Potter was going to be allowed in her house, especially after harboring Sirius after he'd run away. She also realized that when her mother had mentioned bringing a date it wasn't to be one of her choosing, but more of a preliminary date for her and the Best Man, Lucius Malfoy.

"Miss Black," Lucius said silkily as he held out his hand to help her down the steps. "You look simply breathtaking."

She smiled, as would any girl in her spot, and took his offered hand. "Well thank you Mr. Malfoy. I must say, you look quite smashing yourself."

He chuckled lightly. "Thank you, but you mustn't call me Mr. Malfoy. My friends call me Lucius and I would love for you to do the same."

"I will," she said with a nod. "And do call me Narcissa."

"I will."

They stood in silence for a few moments, waiting for Vivian and Renton Parkinson to appear so they could get going. After noticing Lucius glance at his watch more than once Narcissa said amusedly, "In a bit of a hurry?"

"No, not at all." He looked down and smiled at her. "It's just that you're shaking and I don't want you to catch a cold because the Parkinsons couldn't be on time. Would you like my cloak?"

"Yes please," Narcissa said shyly and couldn't help but blush slightly as Lucius shrugged off his cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Better?"

"Much."

After a few more minutes of waiting, the Parkinson siblings arrived and the foursome quickly made their way to the carriage that was waiting to take them to the edge of Hogwarts where Lucius would apparate for all of them, none of them noticed the boy watching sadly from above.
___________________________________________________________________________________

James had known that one day he would have to stand tall and proud as Lucius Malfoy took the hand of the girl her loved and led her away from him. However, he didn't think it would have happened so soon.

Narcissa told him earlier in the week that she, along with Rosier and Parkinson, were going to meet Lucius in Hogsmeade and travel by floo to her home. So when he'd gone up to the tower to watch her go, he hadn't planned on seeing Lucius Malfoy pacing on the steps below. James was about to digress back to his childhood and throw a tantrum and then proceed to throw a carefully aimed hex when Narcissa swept out from the castle, her ice-blue gown bunched lightly in her hand to keep it from dragging.

He stopped glaring and watched her, completely mesmerized by her beauty.

And then she'd taken the hand of her fiancee and the hate he felt for Lucius Malfoy ignited in his chest. Hell, the hatred James felt towards Lucius clearly exceeded any amount of animosity he'd ever had with Severus Snape, Snape was a little boy's rivalry. The hate he felt for Lucius Malfoy would never include tripping hexes or pranks. No, the hate he felt for Lucius Malfoy was much more deadly.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Lucius Malfoy was known for his late-night exploits.

Since he entered Hogwarts nine years earlier he was at all times being pursued by one girl or another. Most of the Slytherin girls, and some from the other three houses, in his class at one point or another had had a crush on him. Even the older girls would help him with his homework or sneak down to the kitchens for him if he were hungry. He was born to one of the most noble and powerful pureblooded families in Britain, and they all knew it.

It was only natural that, with the amount of attention he received, as he grew older he would perfect the role of rich playboy to a tee. And that he did. It was quite common to see girls sneaking out of his dorm at all hours, and, usually, they were not seen again. By the time he graduated he'd compiled quite a long list of conquests and happily went out into the real world to find more.

But his plans had all come to a screeching halt the moment his father told him he was to marry. Lucius had fought tooth and nail to get out of the agreement, but Cassius Malfoy told him the deed had already been done and Lucius would not be getting his way this time. So Lucius took to sulking around his magnificent manor for the rest of the day.

By the time dinner rolled around, and the first formal meeting between he and his betrothed, Lucius had come up with the perfect plan to rid himself of this little girl. He would make a complete and utter ass out of himself and pray to all the Gods above that her parents would snatch her away without a glance back.

The moment he stepped into the parlor that evening though, his plan took a complete nose-dive. This girl, this little girl that had always talked back and never gave a damn what he said, was no longer a child. Three years... Only three years after he'd graduated and left behind the tiresome little schoolgirl, she'd grown into something only found in Fairy Tales. No, not even a Fairy Tale princess could compete with the likes of Narcissa Black. Only sixteen with hair of spun gold and eyes the color of sapphires.

Lucius nearly swooned.

Of course, Malfoys certainly did not swoon and at the last moment made his legs go ramrod straight. However, concentrating on keeping his knees from buckling, in no way helped to quell the look of pure shock on his face.

"Lucius," his father raised an eyebrow and gestured to the Blacks. "Don't just stand there, greet our guests."

Snapping out of his daze, Lucius quickly moved to the center of the room and shook his future father-in-law's hand. "Hello Mr. Black, Mrs. Black." He took a step to the side and slowly took Narcissa's hand in his own. He turned it over and pressed his lips gently into her palm. "Miss Black..."
"Mr. Malfoy," she said softly.

And that was all it took for Lucius to fall head-over-heels in love with her.