Chapter Text
It almost burned, but she clung to it like a lifeline. The tile around her seemed to melt, closing in on her as hot spikes of water pelted her skin.
How had it gotten this out of hand? It was never supposed to end like this. She’d known- she’d known. She’d tried to warn her, back when they were young and free, when life was still golden at the edges. Tears dripped down her cheeks, mixing with the water and swirling away down the drain, and she let them carry her away.
**********
The first time Narcissa Black noticed Alice Prewett was at dinner one night, midway through her fifth year. She’d seen Alice before, of course. It was impossible not to. But she’d never paid her any mind. Sure, Alice was exponentially more beautiful than the rest of the girls in their year, but she didn’t exactly have an impact on her day-to-day life. She was loud and obnoxious and so ridiculously Gryffindor. There was no place for her in Narcissa’s world.
Alice stood over next to the Ravenclaw table, her face lit like a star as she laughed. Narcissa looked away. She didn’t want to look at how Alice’s head tipped back, how her dark black hair spilled out over her shoulders. Ink streaking out across parchment.
Eyes down. Head down. Keep moving.
As she swept past the Ravenclaw table, Alice stepped back. Narcissa’s eyes widened, but it was too late to step away. Their arms brushed. Narcissa blinked, feeling the heat of the touch spread to the rest of her body. It was warm, like the creaky old fireplace in the common room. She jumped back instinctively.
“Oi, watch it!” one of the Ravenclaws yelped, glaring at Narcissa as the plate of biscuits in her hands tumbled to the ground. The heat turned to annoyance, and Narcissa let her lip curl into a sneer as she stepped over the pile and towards the corridor. She tilted her nose up and brushed her hair over her shoulder. The House of Black bows for none.
Her footsteps echoed across the corridor, but they were drowned out by a voice behind her. “Hey! Black!”
Narcissa turned around, her heart stuttering in her chest. She forced her lips into a frown. “What do you want, Prewett?”
Alice’s face was full of righteous fury. “What the hell was that?” she spat, her cheekbones flushed pink. “I understand that you’ve got the whole reputation of being cold and unfeeling, but that’s no excuse to be an asshole.”
Narcissa’s mouth dropped open. “Excuse you?”
“You heard me.” Alice crossed her arms, glaring her down. “Go back and help clean up. And apologize to my friend.”
“I don’t- I’m- what?” Narcissa narrowed her eyes, finally recovering control of her facial expressions. “If anything, it was your fault.”
Alice stepped forward, uncrossing her arms and planting them on her hips. “Please explain how you possibly reached that conclusion.”
“You bumped into me,” Narcissa hissed, stepping back hastily. They weren’t standing close, but even a few inches felt suffocating. “Forgive me for not wanting to share airspace with you longer than I have to.”
Alice’s face went blank, and an arrow of hurt pierced Narcissa’s heart. She hadn’t noticed, then. It hadn’t burned for Alice, like it had for her. “If that’s all you wanted to discuss, Prewett, feel free to get out of the way.”
Alice didn’t move. She muttered a few choice words under her breath before taking another step closer. “I’ll pick up the biscuits, but you’re apologizing. That’s nonnegotiable.”
Narcissa snorted. “What, are you going to physically drag me?”
“And what if I do?”
Her heart thudded against her chest, and she blinked rapidly. “You couldn’t.”
“Fucking watch me, Black.” And then Alice’s arm was wrapping around her arm, and she was yanked forward. She yelped, feeling heat rush to her face as Alice’s arm reached out to grip her shoulder. She met Narcissa’s eyes, looking a little sheepish for the first time in this interaction. “You alright?”
“You’re stronger than I expected,” Narcissa said, fighting to keep her voice even.
Alice grinned a bit, pulling up her sleeve and flexing her biceps. Her incredibly toned biceps. “Quidditch practice pays off. Now, are you going to cooperate this time?”
“Okay.” Her voice came out as a squeak, more like a weevil than any sort of human sound. Alice smiled in satisfaction before tugging at Narcissa’s elbow. Gentler this time, but Narcissa could still see the muscles rippling beneath her sleeves. She swallowed.
“What’s her name?” She whispered as Alice pulled her towards the dark-haired girl. She shouldn’t care- she didn’t-, but anyone who could make Alice Prewett laugh like that maybe deserved some semblance of an apology.
Alice rolled her eyes, her jaw clenching in a way that definitely wasn’t attractive. Not at all. “That’s Sarah Bones, and she happens to be a good friend of mine. So you’ll do this right, Black, or I’ll hex you so badly you’ll be stuck as an iguana for the rest of term.”
Narcissa’s lips twitched upwards. Traitorous emotions. “Iguana doesn’t sound too bad. At least I could skip out on my transfiguration homework.”
Alice turned away, but her nose was scrunched like she was fighting a smile. “Oi, Sarah! Come here for a moment!”
The girl with the long black hair- Sarah, apparently- looked a bit cautious as she walked over, but she met Narcissa’s eyes with a frown. Narcissa frowned right back.
“Go on,” Alice hissed, elbowing her in the side. “Apologize.”
Narcissa sighed loudly. “I’m terribly sorry for the very minor inconvenience that is spilling your biscuits.” Alice jabbed her again, and she rolled her eyes. “And for acting like a prat, I suppose.”
“Right,” the girl said, narrowing her eyes. “Alright then.”
A spark of anger flared up at that reaction to her extremely heartfelt apology. She opened her mouth, but Alice yanked her away before she could say anything. “Good, great, see you later Sarah!”
The warmth was back, curling in her stomach as Alice dragged her out of the noise of the Great Hall. “Thanks for doing that,” Alice murmured in her ear. Narcissa shivered as her breath ghosted her neck. Alice paused her pace, slowly raising an eyebrow at her. “Well?”
“Well what?” Narcissa could hardly hear her voice over the pounding in her ears.
“Sorry, Alice, for putting you through the absolute ringer trying it drag an apology out of me,” Alice mimicked, making fake-Narcissa’s voice higher and breathier than it was in real life. “You’re so great for helping your friend like that, not to mention ridiculously good looking.”
Narcissa couldn’t bite back her laugh. “Sorry, Alice, for making you forcibly drag an apology out of me,” she teased, mocking the voice Alice had given fake-her. “You’re so great for helping your friend, and incredibly good looking.”
Alice tossed her dark hair, cheeks flushed pink with smugness. “See, that wasn’t so hard.” She brushed her hand against Narcissa’s shoulder, fingers shockingly cool against Narcissa’s burning skin. “See you around, Black.”
“I hope not!” Narcissa called after her. Alice’s laughter echoed behind her as she walked away. And then she was alone, left with a coil of heat in her stomach and the feeling that something had just happened. She wasn’t sure what, but it was something.
**********
Alice knew that Narcissa was a posh, spoiled brat. An ethereal, angelic brat, but a brat nonetheless. The biscuit fiasco had only proved her right. Sure, Narcissa might’ve been funny in her own dry way, and sure, hearing her call Alice good looking had brought a blush to her face, but it had proven her right. Narcissa Black was a cold, callous person who only cared about herself.
That didn’t mean Alice was immune to her, exactly. She wasn’t blind. She could go about her day, admiring Narcissa from afar, and they could go about their separate lives.
Until that day in the greenhouse, of course.
Herbology might’ve been Alice’s favorite class. Saying that she got a rush from dealing with plants sounded ridiculous, but the greenhouse was always filled with something new and exotic that could kill you if you made a wrong move. Plus, it was the only class they had with the Slytherins. An hour and a half of deadly plants and staring at Narcissa Black wasn’t exactly a horrible day. There was also gossip. When they weren’t wearing earmuffs, it was the perfect time to hear all about who was dating who, what so-and-so said to what’s-his-name, and where to avoid in case Peeves was plotting something.
That particular day had been long, and shoveling fertilizer into Dragon Trap pots under the hot sun was little more than misery. The general atmosphere was pissy and annoyed, and the gossip was harsher than usual.
“That slut-”
“Oh, he pisses me right off-”
“Yes, Black, the younger one-”
Alice’s ears pricked, and she locked onto the last conversation. Two students in her year stood close together, exchanging hushed words over their shovels. “Regulus- yes, that’s his name.”
“You’re right, he’s a downright little creep.”
“Oh, is he?”
The gossipers whipped around, coming face-to-face with one Narcissa Black.
“That’s- that not- we just meant…” the first one tried desperately to form a coherent sentence. Alice symphonized. She too was having a hard time thinking anything except pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty.
“Don’t let me disrupt you,” Narcissa smiled sweetly, voice dripping with poisoned honey. “I’m just here, doing my work. And I certainly didn’t hear anything about my family. But if I ever did?” Her smile sharpened and she tilted her head to the side, stepping closer to the cowering students. “I’d hex that person so badly, the Aurors would never find all of them.”
The students’ faces went ghostly pale. Alice, on the other hand, felt like her face was on fire. Her heart was beating so loudly, she was surprised that the rest of Britain couldn’t hear it.
Narcissa was still smiling, sweet as sugar. “Glad we understand each other.” Then she turned and walked back to the other Slytherins, leaving the two students shaking and Alice with an internal personal crisis.
That night at dinner, Alice couldn’t stop sneaking glances at the Slytherin table. Narcissa was sat like a guard dog in the middle of a group of second-years, glaring at anyone who so much as glanced their way.
She spoke softly to the little black haired boy and kept sliding food his way, nudging his shoulder until he took a bite. Her face was softer than Alice had ever seen it. She paid attention to the dark skinned blond boy when he talked, and she laughed at the animated boy with brown hair. Other little Slytherins clamored for her attention, and Narcissa gave it freely, beaming and talking, even letting the littler ones lean against her shoulder.
I wish that was me.
The thought snuck into her head before she could stop it, but once it was there, she couldn’t stop picturing it. Her, resting her head against Narcissa’s shoulder, playing with the ends of her long blonde hair.
Her face heated up and her heart beat quicker, and suddenly she knew. She was absolutely, irrevocably enamored by Narcissa Black. And now she just had to do something about it.