Hey, Soul Sister [Lucius/Narcissa]

Chapter One

Author's Note: Hello! This story started out on when I took fic requests on tumblr and thorkys asked for a soulmate AU in which Hogwarts-age Lucius and Narcissa fell in love for the first time. I intended this to be a short fic back in 2015, but these two had other plans for me. Now it's been almost five years, the story is over 118k, and I'll graduate with my MFA in 2020. I've learned a lot about writing that I didn't know when I started HSS, but I've never stopped loving this story, and I intend to stick with it as long as Lucius and Narcissa will let me. Lots of love. x

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Chapter One

Narcissa sat at the foot of the bed in the room that had been vacant for the last several months, taking in the feeling of being here for the last time. She knew her parents had only refrained from removing the last of Andromeda's things out of either laziness or disinterest and that they would surely grow tired of these reminders of their middle daughter sooner or later. Narcissa wanted one more moment to pretend her sister might walk through the door at any time and ask her to listen to some thrilling story told in that breathless, passionate way Andromeda had always spoken in when she'd allowed herself to enjoy her life outside of the restrictions Cygnus and Druella imposed on their daughters.

As Narcissa ran her fingertips gently over the shape her sister had carved into the edge of the footboard, she remembered Andromeda's explanation of why the image was so important.

***

"It's just like the one on my shoulder, Cissy. See?" Andromeda shrugged her robe from her shoulder and pulled her wavy brown hair to the side, allowing her younger sister a better view of the smooth silver lines that had materialized on her pale skin overnight in the outline of a dog. With her free hand, Andromeda tapped the spot on the footboard where she had used a spell to replicate the image.

"Why do you want it there?" asked Narcissa, nodding toward the carving as she leaned back against her sister's pillows. "Aren't you worried Mum and Dad will strangle you?"

Andromeda laughed, pulling her robe back up over her nightgown and letting her hair fall into place again before she scooted back to sit beside Narcissa.

"I can't see the one on my shoulder very well, and having it on the bed gives me a way to remind myself that things are going to be okay. I really don't care what they think of it. It just proves they have no idea what they're talking about, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"You know how it works, don't you?" Andromeda lay down, propping her elbow on the pillows and resting her chin on her hand as she watched Narcissa closely. The younger Black fidgeted a bit, glancing away from her sister as she felt the heat beginning to rise in her cheeks.

"Sort of," said Narcissa. "I know an animal of some sort shows up somewhere on a witch or wizard's body when the person has met their soulmate."

"Well, almost. It's when you really form a connection with the person you're meant to spend your life with—your soulmate, yes. It's not enough to just meet them."

Narcissa sighed lightly. "Okay, you have to connect with them. I understand."

"And the animal that appears isn't random," said Andromeda. "It's your soulmate's patronus. Essentially, it's like having a representation of that person's soul appear on you when you're ready to embrace the idea that you're meant to be together. Isn't that romantic?"

Narcissa nodded, but she said nothing. She agreed. It was probably the most romantic idea she'd ever heard, and the magic responsible for such a thing must've been ancient and highly powerful, to affect anyone in the Wizarding population at any given time. Still, she couldn't imagine the pressure it would put on someone to be living normally one day and find out the next that she'd met the one person who she could ever truly be happy with. She'd heard of too many instances of people attempting to defy this magic to find the idea completely comforting. Andromeda had said the patronus image appeared when someone was ready, but in Narcissa's experience, the people who had acquired the tattoo-like images hadn't always considered themselves ready for the idea. The magic had deemed them prepared, but she'd known at least three of her classmates to refuse to cooperate, continuing in other relationships despite the knowledge that they were doomed to unhappiness and alienating their soulmates in the process. Nickolas Crabbe and Rosalyn Selwyn had been close friends until the appearance of their images had made things incredibly awkward within their group, as Nickolas had been dating Alecto Carrow at the time and refused to end the relationship based on the emergence of a fox on his upper arm.