Hey, Soul Sister [Lucius/Narcissa]

Chapter Thirty-One

By the time the holidays arrived, Narcissa was still thoroughly unprepared to return home. She did her best to keep her head high as she made her way onto the Hogwarts Express, the train's loud whistle stinging her ears, and strode quickly through the steadily-filling compartments toward the Prefects' carriage. She smiled at familiar faces as she passed and offered a polite greeting now and then, but her thoughts were far from the train.

In her most recent letter, Andromeda had expressed a desire to see Narcissa again and to bring Ted along with her. Andromeda wanted to offer congratulations to her sister's engagement in person and to discuss any plans Narcissa might have for the wedding. Just the idea of trying to arrange another meeting with her sister tied Narcissa's stomach in knots, particularly when she was already so anxious about what her parents were going to say about the engagement.

Narcissa yelped as arms wound around her waist the moment she entered the Prefects' carriage and pulled her into the corner. A ripple of panic passed through her stomach. She turned within her captor's grasp at the same moment he pressed a kiss to her temple. Narcissa let out a relieved sigh.

"Don't scare me like that." She looked up into the face of Lucius to find him smirking, and though her pulse still hadn't returned to a normal rate after he'd startled her, she found a smile creeping onto her lips.

"Terribly sorry." Lucius chuckled. He glanced down the compartment, and Narcissa followed his gaze to find that none of the other Prefects had yet arrived. She felt the warmth of his fingers on her chin as he guided it toward him once again and lifted it as he leaned down to touch his lips to hers softly. Despite her tension, Narcissa started to allow herself to relax. Lucius shifted his hands to rest on her waist and draw her closer, and she closed her eyes, kissing him more deeply the longer their lips were joined and forgetting, for the moment, about everything else.

How does he do this? She thought. How does he make everything so much—?

"I'm to going to pretend I don't see that, Malfoy. And—you, too, Black? Excellent examples you're setting for the students."

Lucius pulled back with a sigh, and Narcissa turned her head toward the voice she knew belonged to Dorcas Meadowes, who had entered the compartment from the other side without making a sound. Narcissa's cheeks burned.

"Oh, come off it, Meadowes," said Lucius flatly. "No one else saw." When Dorcas shook her head and settled into a seat at the back of the compartment, Lucius leaned downward, and Narcissa heard his voice at her ear. "But if they had, they might've learned something."

Narcissa thumped him lightly on the chest and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the seats. She knew they would have to serve shifts keeping order on the train, but for the moment, obligation had not yet called to them. As they settled into adjoining seats and Narcissa leaned her head against Lucius's shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, she forced herself not to think of the first-years she would have to wrangle or the people awaiting her at home. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to be content.

***

The only sounds in the dining room were those of cutlery scraping against plates and a clock ticking from the corner, measuring the seconds Narcissa spent wishing she was anywhere but here. Now and then, she glanced up at her parents as they ate, wondering what they were thinking and how much they'd heard, if anything, of what she'd agreed to without their consent.

"Narcissa."

She looked to her father, who had paused with a bite of steak on his fork to watch her closely.