Narlily One Shots

Summer or Spring

Ever since you were born

You were cold as the snow

You were so scared to melt

Narcissa had to get away. The voices of other Slytherin students around her were beginning to sound even higher pitched and more annoying than usual– she couldn't stand another second of it.

"I have to go study!"

"You can just study here, Cissy-" Cissy. The stupid nickname Bellatrix had called her while she was still at Hogwarts. None of the Slytherins could get the hint that Narcissa hated it profusely.

"No!" She shouted this a bit too loudly, "I mean, there's um, a book, yeah, a book, that I need from the library. So, I'll just study there. Bye."

Narcissa scurried out of the Slytherin common room and let out a sigh of relief. In her first and second years, Narcissa didn't mind being a shadow of her oldest sister. After all, she wanted friends and Bella came with a whole pack of them. But in her third year, Bella's seventh, Narcissa realized what that group talked about. Muggle-borns and half-bloods and pure-bloods. It all shocked Narcissa at first, but after thinking, it made perfect sense.

The blood purity that the Black family, and other pure-blood families, were so obsessed with only became more prevalent as the years passed by. For a while, Narcissa was able to pretend it wasn't there due to how hidden this hatred was. Eventually though, Narcissa and her sisters were being scolded for just sitting next to muggle-borns in classes.

Narcissa was no Gryffindor. She had no courage to stand up to her family, so she simply obeyed them. She did as she was told.

Narcissa Black was the perfect, pure-blooded, ice-cold, princess. Only slightly behind Bellatrix, who didn't hesitate to speak of her hatred toward non-pure-bloods, thus pleasing their parents to no end. Andromeda held up appearances for a while, but just this Christmas she revealed to almost the entire Black family how she had fallen in love with a muggle-born Hufflepuff she had met during her final year at Hogwarts. Her name was burned off of the tapestry soon after.

Andromeda was a name not to be spoken in the Black house.

The library was nearly empty, a few students from Ravenclaw seemed to be studying something, other than that there were no people in the library. This wasn't unusual, spring had begun to show itself a few days ago, and Hogwarts students loved to sit on the grounds and study whenever weather would allow.

Narcissa hadn't truly needed to study, or even needed a book from the library at all. She simply needed a break.

She walked to the last row of bookshelves before the restricted section began, and sat on the bench nestled all the way in the back. It was quite the peculiar place for a bench, not many students knew it was even there. Narcissa had found it in fourth year and it quickly became a place for her to get away from her life. Her life, which was, slowly but surely, tumbling down the largest set of stairs she had ever seen into dreadfulness.

Narcissa Black did not cry. She had grown too accustomed to her surroundings for crying to be worth anything. She instead sat on her beloved bench and closed her eyes.

Her breathing never came in any way other than steadily, but for just a second, as she sat on the silly bench she loved so dearly, she felt her breath catch in her throat.

She tried to avoid thinking of her future, of her life in general. Those thoughts came with nothing good. But as she sat here, that was all she could think about. She would be forced to marry a dreadful man whom she felt no attraction to right when her sixth year was over. Her family had waited until after Hogwarts with Bella, but the war was brewing, and since Andromeda was a newly discovered blood traitor; Narcissa had to take her place. She was of age, a ripe seventeen years old, and her marriage would be loveless. Yet she would keep up her appearances. Narcissa Black was stronger than anyone could imagine.