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Alice Fortescue isn’t someone the Black family would like.
Narcissa’s almost cripplingly aware of that fact. The fortunate thing, at least for Narcissa’s state of mind, is that they would hate Alice regardless of her blood status and alliances.
It’s something she feels remorse for when she thinks of Sirius and James’ friendship. If James Potter was anyone else in the pureblood world, the Blacks would be over the moon at Sirius being his loyal puppy dog. James has confidence, undeniable charm, and far too proudly wears his heart on his sleeve.
Alice Fortescue has many, if not most, of James Potter’s best qualities. That doesn’t necessarily mean that those qualities will get received the same by anyone- let alone the Black family.
Narcissa has seen Alice be reprimanded for her deafening voice when it starts to raise ever so slightly in excitement. Narcissa isn’t oblivious or delusional, Alice does have a strong voice and it can get overbearing when she gets too unaware of her surroundings, but Narcissa can’t count how many times she has heard some of the Gryffindor boys approaching long before ever getting any glimpse of them.
Narcissa has seen Alice’s charm being admonished due to her being arrogant, has seen her confidence be confused as conceitedness, and any mention of ambitions talked about too excitedly as being presumptuous.
Alice had adjusted around these things . She had her own charm, one that was painfully self-debasing courteousness that devolved into something much more brash as she got comfortable.
She has seemingly managed her expectations, well until you actually got closer to her in which case you were subjected to hearing of her delusions of grandeur. Though those weren’t even real expectations, more she just liked to fantasize of exorbitance every now and then.
Over the years little by little, Narcissa observed in passing as Alice broke herself down more into much more palatable fragmented pieces. And still, it was a futile thing- even as minimized as Alice presented herself, she would still be seen as distastefully hoydenish. Especially in the eyes of those like the Black family. Even in the most private of moments, Narcissa can see Alice correcting herself to be more subdued and to take up as little space as possible. Narcissa watches the Gryffindor try to mimic how she does things and something about that never fails to put a rancid taste in her mouth.
So it’s not unwelcome, but it is unexpected when Alice waltzes in. Narcissa can hear Alice’s steps long before the door to the astronomy tower even opens- she also notes that when it does open it’s practically swung open.
There’s no anger in the action, Alice glanced back to check that the door didn’t hit the wall too hard, but there is an undeniable recklessness to her actions. It becomes even more apparent when she kicks her shoes off haphazardly- Narcissa watches the pair of boots fly off across the room in opposite directions.
“Hello Narcy.” Alice’s words are more slurred together giggles that Narcissa is able to decipher more from context than anything else. The last syllable of Narcissa’s nickname is stretched out for several beats too long and it feels like Alice’s making her voice deeper by the second.
“Someone’s feeling good.” Narcissa drawled, not turning to look at Alice fully yet. She heard the paddling of bare feet against stone as Alice hobbled to lean on the wall next to her.
“Big win.” Alice hummed, there was the sound of a half empty- or half full, if you asked Alice- bottle of fire whiskey hitting the stone wall when she swayed. “You didn’t watch the game.”
It’s the years of knowing Alice that tell Narcissa that she had meant to just say that as a plain statement, but the alcohol is rapidly melting away her nonchalance. The statement is instead more of a petulant pout and there’s the faintest hint of a whine at the end of the sentence. It brings a small grin to the blonde's face.
“How would it look if I was rooting for the opposing team?” Narcissa hummed.
“It was against Slytherin.” Alice grumbled, Narcissa can hear her knocking against the wall with each shift. Even drunk with heavy limbs, Alice can’t help herself from fidgeting a little. “Didn’t have to go to the party, could’ve just come to the game.”
“I didn’t know that actually.” Narcissa blinked, she winced when she heard a thunk as Alice seemed to move around the room. She kept her eyes on the night horizon, amusing herself by listening as the other girl shuffled around. Alice was looking for something. “You know I don’t keep up with quidditch.”
“School quidditch.” Alice muttered with faux offense. “The professionals you give the time of day to, but I can’t even get a glance- Aha! Sirius Black, you beautiful bastard.”
The last part is exclaimed in an unbridled excitement and some more loud shuffling and heaving that now has Narcissa curious enough to actually turn around.
“It’s important to me you’re not confusing me with my cousin-”
Narcissa’s sarcastic drawl is cut off by finally proper taking in Alice’s state. She’s adjusting a record player- that Narcissa can only assume is what she’s praising Sirius for- and looking through records. What really makes her stop is that Alice is wearing red leather pants littered with gold glitter that hang precariously off of her, they fit well in the hips but seem to be too long in the legs. She’s got on a white collared shirt that seems just slightly too big half tucked in her pants, there’s three buttons undone, and Narcissa is immediately able to acknowledge the lack of cleavage. The least surprising thing about the outfit is the Gryffindor tie wrapped around her head.
When Alice finally stops looking through records and meets Narcissa’s eyes, the blonde immediately takes note of a drawn on thin pencil mustache. It looks very well done, there’s attention to detail to it that tells Narcissa that it wasn’t something Alice haphazardly did by herself or that someone else did as a joke.
There’s a smudge on her chin and cheek where clearly the artist seemed to attempt some stubble but then thought better of it and tried rubbing it off. It doesn’t look like stubble now, just smudge and something about that adds to the boyish charm of Alice’s looks. There’s a bruise under her right eye that definitely wasn’t part of the look, it’s fresh but Narcissa can’t tell if it started to blossom during the game or the after party. Suddenly she wishes she had attended the match.
She must’ve been staring too long, must’ve looked like she was scrutinizing the brunette because she saw when Alice seemed to curl inward ever so minutely.
“I thought we could dance?” Alice’s holding an album up weakly, like an offering and defense in one. She won’t directly address her ensemble and the more Narcissa stands in silence the more frantic Alice looks. Her eyes moving around, her body curling in more, and she looks like she’s thinking a mile a minute for excuses and explanations.
“You look…” Narcissa is always very deliberate with her words and now it feels even more apparent to choose right. Every second Narcissa rolls around different outcomes in her mind, Alice was steeling herself to handle the brunt of a decimating response. “Handsome.”
Alice beams at that, glowing so brightly it almost hurts to look at her directly. Suddenly she’s sitting up straighter and is back to occupying space with ease. Alice then starts rambling about whatever album she’s decided to put on, she’s always excited to show Narcissa muggle music and songs she thinks the other would like. Alice doesn’t keep up with the lives of the musicians she listens to, so sometimes she’ll ask someone to tell her about a certain band or artist. Narcissa doesn’t retain any of the information that Alice feeds back to her, but it’s nice to see her look excited about teaching something.
“Who helped you with your… look?” Narcissa wanted to say make-up more specifically, because the longer she looked she noticed there was more makeup involved defining Alice’s cheekbones and sharpening soft features, but wasn’t sure how that would go over. This topic felt like dancing on ice that would crack any second.
“Your cousin actually.” Alice grinned up, finally done fiddling with the record player and its volume. “Fabian and Gideon started a bit of a drag thing at the party, naturally Sirius had to outshine them. He’s flouncing around in some of my clothes right now.”
Narcissa glanced again over at the outfit and then at the record player, “Does Sirius know that you’re…?”
“No.” Alice snorted, rolling up her sleeves. “I didn’t tell Sirius that I was going to run off to sha-… snog his cousin. He never would’ve let me leave. He didn’t even mention the record player to me directly, I just overheard him talking about it to someone else.”
“You were going to say something else?” Narcissa quirked an eyebrow up, making sure to keep her face stern but her tone amused.
“I didn’t want to be presumptuous,” Alice purred. “You’re a real proper lady after all, Madam Black.”
“Thinking we’re going to snog, as you oh so crassly put it, is presumptuous enough.”
“Oh my goodness, you’re right!” Alice exclaimed theatrically and fell to her knees before Narcissa, who winced at the sound of bone hitting the stone. “Oh, dear sweet Lady of the house of Black, won’t you forgive me?”
“Oh so it’s the pants that make Sirius like that.” Narcissa noted, easily dismissing Alice’s dramatics.
“Maybe.” Alice grinned, grabbing Narcissa’s hands to get back on her feet. “I feel good. These certainly aren’t helping my egotism.”
“They’re so… glittery.” Narcissa watched as gold glitter fluttered onto the ground as Alice started to move around more.
“That’s not the fault of the pants.” Alice waved a hand at the notion. “We got a glitter cannon to celebrate- well, the team tested a glitter cannon. Very violently and trigger happy.”
“I don’t want glitter on me.” Narcissa said simply, she was happy to see Alice pout and then even more so when Alice started to shake like a dog.
Shaking her legs this way and that, hopping by the ledge of the window trying to get as much glitter off as possible. When she seemed satisfied enough with her job well done, she glanced over at Narcissa for approval. Narcissa made a dusting gesture on her legs and waited for Alice to copy it, when she did just that only then did Narcissa nod for her to move closer.
“Any on your hands?” Narcissa asked before Alice could get too close to her. Alice sighed loud and huffed, but still checked and then presented her hands.
“May I have this dance?” Alice flourished her right hand. Alice also seemed more impatient, she had perked up as the second song in the album started to come on. A song she recognized, something she had specifically wanted to dance to with Narcissa.
“Who am I to deny such a charming man?”
Alice grinned at the term but still couldn’t help herself to make a joke even as Narcissa took her hand, “A sapphist probably.”
Narcissa flicked Alice’s ear at the comment, but was pleased to hear her snicker at the reprimanding nonetheless. There was a comforting silence after that as they swayed and Alice started to sing the lyrics softly under her breath.
There’s a port on a western bay and it serves a hundred ships a day..
“You know it turns out I might not be as completely put off by men romantically.” Narcissa said casually. “I mean one man has caught my eye.”
“Oh?”
Narcissa could feel Alice stiffen. The hand in here gripped a little tighter, and the hand on the Slytherin’s waist seemed to freeze completely. Narcissa let an affectionate grin take over, observing each little reaction and thought display over Alice’s face. Alice was the most expressive person she knew.
“Mhm.” Narcissa hummed warmly, letting Alice spin her. When she was turned back around and they were reunited, Narcissa made even more of a point of staring more intently at Alice, at softly grasping her hand. “He’s a bit thick in the skull.”
Alice, to her credit, caught on quicker than expected and seemed to easily relax. And then she laughed, boisterously and with her head back as she grinned, “Thank god.”
“Thank god?” Narcissa teased. Alice spun her more dramatically this time and even dipped her, it didn’t work with the rhythm of the song but Narcissa indulged it.
“I thought your family pushing Malfoy finally got you.”.
Narcissa cringed slightly, what she thought was undetectable, but Alice seemed to immediately notice and laugh harder.
“Sod off.”
“It was cute.” Alice grinned and there was another comfortable silence of the two enjoying each other's company and warmth.
The calm movements became more bold when Narcissa started softly humming along closer to the end of the song, and Alice took this as endorsement to start horribly serenading her.
“The sailors say Cissy you’re a fine girl, what a good wife you would be!”
The song concluded with another dramatic spin that didn’t fit at all and Narcissa had rolled her eyes at Alice grinning. Alice didn’t ask for another dance as the next song came on, instead she shuffled over to reclaim the fire whisky she had put down and offered the bottle to Narcissa who declined.
“Can I ask something?” Narcissa asked when the two made their way to a window ledge, looking at the night sky.
“Is it about my lack of tits?”
Narcissa didn’t try to hide the wrinkle of her nose at the crassness.
“Or the bulge in my pants?”
Narcissa didn’t notice anything earlier, typically she would have known better to look down, but it had been an odd night and she would put much past Alice at the moment. Alice snickered when Narcissa looked down and was met with nothing.
“I was going to ask about your shit starter stache.” Narcissa glared, while Alice’s chuckling dwindled down.
“Sirius also did it. Was going for a classic Hollywood look.” Alice framed her hands around her own face and gaze with a dazzling smile. “Very Errol Flynn… Right, I forgot you’ve never seen a movie. You like it though?”
“It seems very French.”
“I thought you’d like that.”
“It’s a bit dippy.” Narcissa said she let Alice deflate for a bit before amending herself. “It suits you though.”
Alice’s wolfish grin was quick to make an encore appearance, “Oh so you love it?”
“I said no such thing.” Narcissa waved a hand.
“You didn’t need to.” Alice grinned, sitting up straighter and more proudly. Narcissa let her head fall on Alice’s shoulder in lieu of response.
“I like how self assured you are right now.” Narcissa spoke quietly, it was only thanks to their proximity that Alice was able to hear her.
Alice didn’t say anything, she just gave Narcissa a soft kiss to her forehead.