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Lucius and Narcissa had met on Narcissa's first day at Hogwarts. Bellatrix had clumsily bumped into her, hurtling Narcissa's books everywhere. Whilst everyone else walked past her, Luicus bent down to help.
Narcissa was grateful, although seething at her sister who had walked away smirking. From that day on, Lucius seemed to pop up whenever she had a problem, no matter what it was.
When fellow Slytherins took the mick out of her because of Andromeda, Lucius stood in and defended her. Narcissa had no idea why he had taken her under his wing; she wasn't special, especially not compared to some of the girls in their year.
Lucius was constantly having romantic relations with the girls of Slytherin house, though Narcissa was never one of them. She usually caught them sneaking out of his dorm late at night, when she'd stay up to read. It was during those times that Lucius came and sat down with her, and they'd talk into the early hours of the morning while the fire slowly died out.
Until her mother, Druella, had suggested the match, she never thought she'd ever have a chance with him. Secretly, she'd had this crush on him since the very first day, and her heart always twinged with jealousy at the half naked girls leaving his dorm every now and then.
Of course, her sister Bella was no idiot. She knew Narcissa dreamt about him in class and often teased her when he was around, leading to Narcissa being paranoid he would overhear and find out, possibly ending their late night chats and their friendship.
By the time they were both sixteen, the match had been proposed, and the two of them had dutifully accepted. Narcissa was over the moon, but she wondered whether Lucius was just doing it because of his family. After all the girls he'd slept with at Hogwarts, Narcissa didn't think she could be a match for him like that, and worried he would continue his naughty affairs after they were wed.
It was during their sixth year together that they befriended Severus Snape. Only a first year, he was constantly getting into trouble with that wretched Potter boy and his friends. Even though he could handle himself, having a vast knowledge of the Dark Arts already, Lucius and Narcissa cared for Severus and they became a group of three, hanging around together.
Now Lucius and Narcissa knew they were to be wed, they spent all their time together, and a lot of it with Severus - when they weren't casting Bat Bogey Hexes at Narcissa's hideous cousin Sirius Black.
Narcissa found that her sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts went very fast, and much of their last year was spent planning the wedding, which a thirteen year old Severus had no interest in. They drifted apart, and Severus found his own crowd; a group of darker Slytherins that Lucius and Narcissa had stayed away from.
It was four years after Severus left Hogwarts, when Lucius and Narcissa were in their late twenties, that the three of them met again. Severus knocked on the door of Malfoy Manor, explaining where his loyalties lay and asking them to join him.
Narcissa, being the pureblood wife that she was, refused. Especially after hearing about all the things Bellatrix had gotten up to.
Lucius, however, gladly accepted and took the mark within a matter of days. It was clear now, to everyone they had ever known, to which side they had placed their bets, but unbeknownst to Narcissa it would give out more prizes than she could handle.
Lucius and Severus had missions together often, which they never spoke of to Narcissa about when they came back. She just opened a bottle of mead for them and the three of them chatted away in front of the fireplace like old times. Conversations were a little more serious now though.
Working a little for the Ministry, Lucius often had business trips, on which occassions he instructed Severus to look after Narcissa. He trusted him greatly, and Narcissa enjoyed his company. It could get so lonely in that manor when there was nobody else around.
Narcissa knew about Severus' love for Lily Evans, and was there for him on the night she and James Potter got married. It was a real blow to him, and after all the mead Narcissa and Severus had, things got slightly out of hand. There was a drunken kiss, a little fumbling and finally some harsh words from Narcissa about her being married.
Severus still had to stay with Narcissa when Lucius was on business after that. It wouldn't do for him to be suspicious. After all, they were all good friends, so he couldn't just stop without reason. It would be obvious something was up.
Alas, tensions were high between them and their evenings were usually spent in an awkward silence. They also toned down on the alcohol, no matter how much each one of them wanted to drink it just to make themselves feel better.
When the Ministry held it's annual ball, Lucius instructed Severus to take Narcissa. He was away on business and it just wouldn't do if none of the Malfoy family were there, he'd said.
Narcissa remembered how she'd sighed and cussed at this. It was as though he was trying to force the two of them together. Although their drunken kiss had been a mistake, an accident that Lucius never need know about, and Severus couldn't possibly attach any meaning to since he still loved Lily, it had meant something more to Narcissa. She just couldn't place her in mind exactly what it was.
Narcissa had spent ages getting ready for the ball, doing her make up and hair, picking her dress. As much as it could take her two seconds with her wand, she found it more pleasing to do it manually.
"Ready?" She heard Severus call; he'd been waiting down there quite some time, but Narcissa knew she couldn't rush beauty. Dabbing on some lipstick, she checked herself in the mirror and made her way down the grand staircase, where Seveurs was waiting at the bottom for her.
"Wow." He said as he took in her breathtaking beauty, watching her glide down the stairs. "You look amazing."
Narcissa couldn't help but let out a little smile; Lucius never complimented her like this. He always saw it as a weakness to show your true feelings to a woman. "Thank you."
Their apparition to the ball was brief, which Narcissa was thankful for because she hated the process. She preferered side-along to avoid getting herself into any strange predicaments. After that time she had lost her leg, she vowed never to do it on her own again.
"Welcome Mrs. Malfoy, Mr. Snape." The doorman greeted them kindly, taking Severus' coat and showing them inside.
The room was magnificant, decorated in red and gold with many circular tables throughout the room. Each table had six gold chairs, a pristine clean white tablecloth and a vase of red and gold lillies. In front of all the tables, in the dead centre of the room, in front of the band, was the dancefloor. It was large and there were already many couples dancing and enjoying themselves.
Narcissa and Severus took their usual places at the table in the centre of the front row. Their seating was important because Lucius was a valued man at the ministry, even though he couldn't be there, so they had to be seen.
Just as they were getting comfortable, a photographer for the Daily Prophet turned up, snapping pictures of the two together.
"No Mr Malfoy tonight, Mrs Malfoy?" He asked while lining up shots.
"I'm afraid not. He is away on important Ministry business." Narcissa replied, almost with a bone of contention in her voice.
"Isn't he always?" Severus replied as the photographer shuffled himself away.
Narcissa sighed. "It certainly seems so."
"You don't think he..." Severus didn't want to finish the sentence, but it was clear from Narcissa's expression she knew exactly what he meant.
"...cheats on me?" She pursed her lips. "Possibly."
There was an awkward silence between the two of them, but it was soon broken when others joined them. Aurors John Dawlish and Kingsley Shacklebolt sat next to Severus, and soon Reginald Cattermole and Dirk Cresswell arrived to fill up their table.
"No wife tonight, Reginald?" Severus asked quietly.
"She couldn't make it." The man replied, wiping his noise on a hankerchief.
Severus coughed lightly. "My apologies." He looked over at the dancefloor, where a fair number of people had gotten up to dance to the wizard rock playing. "Care to dance?" He asked Narcissa, holding his hand out to her.
Narcissa took one look around the table and agreed. "I'd love to."
As they made their way over to the dancefloor, Narcissa felt something...electric. There was something in the way their hands were touching, something magical that she couldn't just describe. As he put his hands around her waist, she tried to ignore it and concentrate on her steps. Although when she looked him dead in the eyes, she got a warm feeling. 'No' She thought. 'I can't be falling for Severus Snape!'
"Everything okay?" Severus asked Narcissa as they waltzed around the room. Her eyes were glazed over, as though she was deep in thought.
"Sorry, sorry..." she said quickly, shaking herself out of it. She was just being silly. "My mind was just wandering. You know how it is."
"Certainly." He said, though he wasn't convinced that was it. The rest of the dance they did not speak; they barely even looked at each other. They were both very uncomfortable, and not quite sure why.
"Thank you." Narcissa said politely once the dance was over, and they made their way back to their seats.
After ten minutes silence, Severus could not stand it no longer, and blurted out what he had been holding in for quite some time. "I have to go abroad."
Narcissa looked around sharply. "What?"
"For..." He hushed his voice even further. "Business."
"How long will you be gone?"
"A week." Severus looked awkwardly around the table, hoping nobody nearby was listening in. "I want you to come with me."
Narcissa's mouth gaped open. "Come with you? I can't possibly come with you!" Her voice was a little raised, and it turned the heads of Kingsley and Reginald, who she simply smiled politey at until they turned around again. "What would Lucius say?"
"He doesn't have to know." Severus said with a sigh.
"I can't lie to my husband, Severus." Narcissa wanted to go. She didn't much fancy the thought of being in Malfoy Manor alone with neither Lucius or Severus in the country. "And he might be back by then, anyway!"
"When is he back?" Severus asked casually.
Narcissa folded her arms. "I have no idea. He didn't say."
"Come on, Cissy. Come with me." Severus was almost pleading with her now. He told himself he wanted her to go for friendship reasons, but since their kiss and fumble, he'd had other thoughts about her. Her glazed look on the dancefloor told him she had felt the same.
"No!" Narcissa jumped up from the table and calmly walked out of the room and into the hallway outside. It was quiet here, and there was a breeze coming in from outside. If she said yes, and Lucius came back to an empty home, there would be trouble. But she thought the consequences of that might just be worth it. At hearing clicking on the marble floor, she turned to see Severus stood behind her, hands in his pockets. "I'll go."
"Thank you, Narcissa." He took her hand and kissed it. "You have made a wise choice. We leave tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Narcissa gasped as Severus left the ball. She was just about to bring him back to call it off, but he knew her well and didn't give her chance. 'Shit' she thought. 'Now I'll have to take that damn nightbus home.'
OOO
"Ready?" Severus asked Narcissa as he walked into Malfoy Manor the next morning. He saw her standing by three suitcases, with a grubby little elf by her feet looking up at him solemly.
Narcissa nodded and gulped. She didn't want to say anything. She was afraid if she spoke she would cancel the whole thing.
"Goodbye, Mistress!" The little elf squeaked as she shut the door, her bags flying alongside her.
"You're sure about this?" Seveurs asked her before he took her arm to apparate.
Narcissa nodded, and this time managed to speak. "Yes."
Severus smiled, and this in itself was a rare thing. "That's the girl I knew at Hogwarts."
"You were a mere child when I was at Hogwarts, Severus."
Severus hated being referred to in that manner, but since it was Narcissa, he chose to ignore it. "Take my arm."
Narcissa clung for dear life; she knew they'd be apparating as far as they could, and then apparating again. Wherever they were going, she knew it would be too far to apparate in one go. "Where are we?" She asked after the landed.
"Dover." Severus said simply, looking around at the white cliffs and getting his breath back. "From here we go to Calais, which is where I'm recruiting."
"Recruiting?" Narcissa asked. "So that's what you're doing for Him, then."
Severus nodded. "We need as many people on our side as possible. I thought you could, perhaps, charm the French men?"
Narcissa gave a callous laugh. "I'm a married woman, Severus. You do expect far too much of me, you know."
"Ready to go again?" He took her arm and felt her nails dig into his skin.
She shook her head. "Let's do it anyway, though."
Once they were there, Narcissa's nausea started to wear off and the sunshine made her forget how much her back was aching. Where they landed was beautiful; a little French town with market sellers all along the street.
"Where are we staying?" She asked politely, looking around for a hotel of some sorts.
Severus scanned the street until he saw a tall buliding with a wooden sign hanging outside. "There." He pointed at it and dragged Narcissa along with him.
"Oh..." It wasn't quite the luxury that Narcissa was used to, but it would have to do all the same. "It's...quaint."
"Reservation for Snape." He said quietly to the receptionist, and took his room card from the desk.
"Room two." The receptionist said, eyeing Narcissa curiously, as though she had just wondered out of a fancy dress shop.
Narcissa looked the girl up and down and felt herself seethe. "Muggles." She muttered under her breath. "Such a disgrace."
"Cissy!" Severus hissed, taking her luggage and hauling it up the stairs. "Up here."
"Why are we staying here?" Narcissa asked when they were out of sight. "We both hate muggles."
"Because we need to stay hidden. Nobody can know what I'm doing - you shouldn't even know." Severus plonked the bags onto the bed and looked around the room. It was small and very minimalistic, with just two chairs, a table, a bed and wardrobe, but it would do for the duration of their stay.
"Still." Narcissa pursed her lips. Muggles disgusted her. "And one bed? Do we have to share?"
"Right." Severus ignored her question and grabbed his wallet from the table. "We'd better get going."
"Already?" Gasped Narcissa. "We've only just got here. I wanted a break."
"I'm here on business, Cissy. You knew that." He cleared his throat before opening the door for her, which she reluctantly went through.
"Fine." Narcissa held her bag and coat close to her, not wanting to touch the walls as they went down the stairs. She wasn't too impressed with Severus' taste. The streets he dragged her through were so twisted and windy she felt sick, and she found herself almost running to keep up with him. "Where are we going?" She finally asked when she couldn't take it any longer.
"It's not too far now."
Narcissa surely hoped that it wasn't. As beautiful as the little French town was, all she wanted to do was rest, but with Severus' agenda, she didn't think she'd be doing much of that soon.
"In here." Severus said, when they reached a small building with plants growing on the side of it. It looked unkept and the windows were boarded up. Narcissa wasn't sure her day could get any worse.
"Are you sure?" She asked, inspecting as best she could through the little holes in the boards. "It doesn't look -"
Severus said nothing, but gave her an annoyed look as he ushered her inside.
The first room they entered was small and empty. Old wallpaper was falling off the walls, and the floorboards were partly coming up. Narcissa had to step carefully to not catch her shoes in any of the holes as Severus pointed her through to the room on the right.
"Ahh. Severus."
As Narcissa entered, she had to adjust her eyes; it was even darker in here than it was in the first room. The man who had spoke was sat at a large, round table with four other men surrounding him. There were cards on the table, and from Lucius' tales, she suspected they were gambling.
"Lawrence." Severus said smoothly, holding out one of the chairs for Narcissa to sit down on. "May we join your game?"
"Certainly." Lawrence said, but there was something about his voice that Narcissa didn't quite trust. "And who is the lovely lady?"
Severus answered for her before she had a chance to. "Narcissa Malfoy."
"Wife of the great Lucius Malfoy?" One of the men at the table asked. "Sorry," he said, realising his rudeness and holding his hand out to Narcissa. "Selwyn."
"Yes." Narcissa said, though she didn't realise Lucius was big in these circles. "How do you know him?"
"He gets around." Lawrence said, which somewhat unnerved Narcissa as she clutched at her bag. "Are you sure she should be playing, Severus?" He looked at Narcissa oddly as she gathered her cards. "I've never known a woman to be good at poker."
Severus curled his mouth. He hated Lawrence's gang, but he really needed them on Voldemort's side. "She's a good player. We have played many times together."
"Oh?" Selwyn perked up. "Spend a lot of time alone together, do you?"
He had a good feeling where this was going, and he didn't like it. "Lucius instructs me to look after Narcissa when he is away. That's all."
"And I'm sure you do that very well." Lawrence replied, sarcasm in his voice.
The game went quite well, though for Narcissa and Severus, the company was not the best. They two of them won a round each, and the conversation seemed to get more tense as time went on.
"I know why you're here, Severus." Lawrence said finally. "And you won't convince me."
"You do? And I won't? We shall see about that." As the next round finished, Severus briskly stood up and nodded to the men around the table. "We'd better be going now."
"Have a good night." Lawrence called after them, though they knew he wasn't being polite. Narcissa only hoped he hadn't sensed too much tension between the two of them.
"So why did we leave if we didn't get him on our side?" Narcissa hissed as they left the building quickly. It was now nighttime; very dark and cold with few people on the streets.
"Trust me," Severus said. "We have him on our side. Now let's get some rest."
OOO
Throughout the rest of the week, Severus and Narcissa visited many different types of people, though they were mostly all males. They drank with them, played card games with them - anything to get them on their side. As much as Narcissa hated to admit it, she did charm them as best she could.
The day before they were due to go home, Lawrence came to find them, telling Severus he had reconsidered and would be honoured to join the Dark Lord's side. Narcissa didn't know how on earth Severus had known he would come round, but since he was one of the most important ones they'd seen that week, she was glad.
Despite the many sleezy people they'd had to hang around with that week, Narcissa was sad the day before they had to leave. She didn't want to go; she'd had an amazing time here with Severus and the awkwardness that was there are the very start of the week had gone away. Perhaps it was the close proximity, or the fact that he counted her as useful in his endeavours, whereas Lucius didn't, but they'd got on together like a house on fire.
The evening before they were due to leave, Lawrence had invited them for dinner at his house to meet his family. Narcissa had spent ages getting ready, whereas it'd taken Severus only a matter of minutes, and he wasn't exactly the most patient of men.
"Narcissa we are going to be late at this rate. Please hurry up."
"All right, all right!" She said hurridly, grabbing her handbag. "I'm done."
Lawrence's house was grand, but it was no patch on Malfoy Manor. Narcissa was just happy to be somewhere that wasn't full of muggles and had some class thrown in too.
"You look lovely, Narcissa," said Lawrence as he bent down to kiss her hand.
"Thank you."
Lawrence turned to the woman stood behind him. "This is my wife, Anabelle."
Narcissa bent forward to kiss Anabelle's cheek and took in the woman's radiant beauty. Her long, brown hair was flowing around her shoulders and the red dress she wore looked absolutely stunning on her. "You're beautiful."
"Why, thank you." Anabelle responded politey. "Shall we?"
Narcissa followed Anabelle's gestured hand into the parlour, whilst Severus and Lawrence went off towards the dining room.
"I get so bored during their business chats, don't you, Narcissa?" Anabelle said sweetly, pouring some tea into an empty cup in front of Narcissa.
"Yes, dear." Truth was, she found them quite interesting, but it wouldn't do to let Anabelle know that. Whatever Severus was doing tonight, she knew it was important and didn't want to mess it up for him.
"So," Anabelle leant back in her chair, bring her right hand up to stroke her chin. "What's it like being Lucius Malfoy's wife?"
"Oh, you know," Narcissa started to say, but realised she didn't really have an answer. "He's away on business a lot, so I get quite lonely."
Anabelle laughed. "Don't you have any friends?"
"Not particularly. There's my sister, Bellatrix -"
"Bellatrix Lestrange? Ahh, I heard she was insane!" Anabelle clearly hadn't picked up how annoyed this made Narcissa. After all, it was her sister. "In fact, come to think of it, the whole Black family is in a bit of a shambles, really, isn't it? I mean, Andromeda disgracing you all by running off with a mudblood..."
Narcissa sighed and pursed her lips. "It seems you like your gossip."
"Gossip?" Anabelle asked, taking a sip of her tea. "So it's not true then?"
"Can we please change the subject?" Narcissa asked haughtily, not knowing if she could hold her tongue any longer.
"Indeed. My apologies, Narcissa. Do not think of me as rude, now."
Before Narcissa got a chance to respond to that, Severus and Lawrence came back into the room.
"I do believe the house elf said dinner was ready, Anabelle." Lawrence had a small glass of whiskey in his hand and was swishing it around slowly. "Severus and I had a nice little chat. How did you two ladies get on?"
Anabelle cleared her throat and got quickly up from her seat. "Let's go eat, shall we?"
Severus cast Narcissa a knowing look; it was soon obvious to him that the two women hadn't gotten on at all, but Lawrence was apparently oblivious.
The meal went fairly smoothly, with Severus and Lawrence talking for the majority of the time whilst Narcissa and Anabelle kept fairly quiet. After all, Narcissa had always been told 'If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all', though it didn't seem to have rubbed off much on Bella.
Halfway through desert, the doorbell rang and Anabelle excused herself to answer it. Narcissa almost threw up the food in her mouth once she realised who was at the door.
"Lucius?"
"I'm sorry, Severus." Lawrence said, though it was obvious by his tone that he had invited him.
"Come, Narcissa. We're leaving now." Lucius took one look around the room and said no more. He was seriously outraged, and was struggling to control his temper as it was.
"Don't be hasty, Lucius," Severus tried to compromise with him. "We can talk about this -"
This fuelled Lucius' anger. "Talk about this? I don't want to talk about you shagging my wife, Severus."
Severus raised his eyebrows; clearly Lawrence had been spreading lies about him and Narcissa. "Me and Cissy aren't -!"
"Cissy?" Lucius ran forward, grabbing Severus by his robes and pushing him against the wall. "You dare call my wife that and say you aren't fucking her?" He turned his attentions to Narcissa, not loosening his grip on Severus in the slightest. "Is he good, Cissy? Tell me, does this greasy, black hair do it for you?"
"It really isn't what you think, Lucius..." Narcissa got up from her chair and walked towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.
Lucius pushed her off him. "Fuck this." He grabbed Narcissa and pulled towards the hall viciously.
Before Narcissa could stop herself, she blurted out something she'd only thought about before. "I think I'm in love with him!"
Lucius was too stunned to do anything but stop in his tracks and drop his hold on his wife. After quite an awkward silence between everyone in the room - though Anabelle was smiling sweetly at the situation unfolding in front of her - he spoke, albeit quietly. "What?" He looked directly at Severus, who shrugged.
"I still love you..." She reasoned with him.
"I will not have a wife who claims to be in love with me and someone I called a friend. I will be filing for divorce on Monday." With that, Lucius left the house quickly, his robes fluttering after him.
Narcissa was so stunned at what had just happened she couldn't speak. Her hands gripped the back of her chair to steady herself.
"We'll be leaving now." Severus said, yanking his coat off the back of his chair and escorting Narcissa out. He held tightly onto her hand so she wouldn't stumble and be further humiliated. "I'm so very sorry, Cissy." He said when they were outside. As he put on his coat, he saw a solitary tear run down her cheek and wiped it away softly with his hand.
OOO
When Severus and Narcissa arrived back in the UK, they went straight to Severus' place. He figured it would be a lot less awkward for her than to try and reconcile with Lucius. He was a stubborn man, and not one to take being humiliated - especially not by a woman - lightly.
Sure enough, as soon as they got through the door, they found a long, brown envelope on the ground for Narcissa. Upon opening, Severus' suspicions were correct: it was the divorce papers.
"Once again, Cissy, I'm -"
Narcissa waved her hand to silence him. She was sick of hearing the word 'sorry'. "Don't." She plonked the papers down on the table and dropped herself into an armchair. "What am I going to do now, Severus?"
"You can stay here for as long as you need, you know..."
And indeed she did. In fact, Narcissa stayed with Severus' until his untimely death in 1998. Several months after Lucius had made his trip to see them, their divorce was final, and Narcissa felt free again. One thing she was glad about was that she wouldn't be left alone in that dreadful manor anymore.
When she occassionally met Lucius, times were tense and often arguments occured. She was still frightfully upset that he didn't believe she and Severus hadn't slept together, though it really didn't help her case when the two of them got together.
Three years after 'the incident', as it was known to her and Severus, they married in a quiet ceremony with just the two of them and random witnesses from off the street. Too much fuss wouldn't do, and they didn't want to attract Lucius' attention if it reached the Daily Prophet.
One issue Severus had was that he always wondered whether Narcissa still loved Lucius, or whether it had dwindled into nothing over time. He hated it whenever the two met at Ministry functions or out on the street. He tried to contain it, but sometimes it just came out in heated arguments, which just made the situation worse.
When Severus died, Narcissa decided that that was it for her, she didn't want to love again and she would certainly not go back to Lucius. Not only could she not bear to lose anyone again, but she wasn't even sure if it was worth it.