With Love, || N.B.

𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒚-𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆

Friday
2nd September, 1994

It was quite possibly the longest twenty-four hours of Narcissa's life. She laid beneath the safety and warmth of the grey duvet, eyes heavy from a restless night as she stared off into space at the small park outside the window. Only when a light tapping sounded outside on the glass of the French doors did she stir. Narcissa climbed out of bed, wearing nothing but a night slip as her bare arms and legs became riddled with goosebumps. She opened the doors to the balconette, smiling as she took the letter from the owl.

"Thank you, Dixie," she said, giving her a light scratch under her beak before moving back into the room. Narcissa smiled to herself as she sat down on the bed and eagerly tore open the letter that presented the Hogwarts crest on the red wax seal.

Good morning sleepyhead,

If you're not reading this in the morning, then I hope you'll forgive me. I hope you know (and I'm sure you can relate) that this has been the longest and most torturest twenty-four hours of my life. But I thought you should know that I got a glance of Draco at last night's welcoming feast. And I'm sure to your utmost happiness, I found him smiling and surrounded by his friends. I can only hope that his first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson on Monday goes well. I truly do believe that while he says he refuses to talk to you, a part of him misses you dreadfully, just as I do. I should hope to see you in my dreams, unless your legilimency has gotten a bit rusty within the past few years.

Jokes aside, I've been informed that the first Hogsmeade trip will be 29th October so I thought we could take a little weekend trip away from all the kerfuffle. As I understand, you haven't seen my home, and I think it's only fair that I show you. And to give you something to look even more forward to, it will be a whole uninterrupted 48 hours all to ourselves. Once again I have been tasked with the duty to keep an eye on Harry due to the incident at the World Cup. As classes will be starting, I apologise for an absence of letters. As always, I love you more than the sun loves the moon, more than the stars love the night, and more than Orpheus loves Eurydice. And because I know he'll be offended if I don't, tell your pet dog I say hi.

With Love,

Nora

'I love you more than the sun loves the moon, more than the stars love the night, and more than Orpheus loves Eurydice.'

The words repeated over and over in her head, thumb brushing over the dried ink. Without another thought, she quickly made her way to the writing desk and took out parchment and an inkwell. With a quill Narcissa found in the drawer, she wrote her love a letter, a fluttering inside her chest.

My love,

I was very pleased to see Dixie again. Something in me always gets excited when I see her, knowing the letter will be from you. This, too, has been the longest and most dreadful 24 hours of my life. However the thought of spending 48 uninterrupted hours away from this bleak house and in your arms gives me hope for a much, much better future.

To know that Draco is still safe gives me reassurance, but under the watchful eyes of his father my concern is that all of it is a facade. He's been known to hide his true feelings behind a mask, and in that household, I can't say I blame him. I do hope your first lesson goes well. If it does, I've attached a letter for him to this one. Don't force him to read it, but please make sure it gets to him.

And to answer your question, no, my legilimency has not gone rusty, and I will happily prove it to you if you'd like. I'd give my entire bank vault to see you again and it hasn't even been two days-I think that shows the prospects of our relationship quite well. However, I won't be giving up my bank vault as I believe Sirius would, quite literally, kill me.