AN: When I say I'm rewriting this, I really mean I'm rewriting this. Every. Chapter. I have no excuse for being absent for... a year? Nearly two years. Oh boy I'm sorry but I am amazed at those who still stayed regardless, like, wow. Anyway, enjoy.

After rummaging through her trunk, Narcissa stuck the golden contraption into her pockets and dashed towards the common room, slamming the door behind her and ignoring the cries of dissent from her roommates who were trying to sleep and passing Malfoy - who opted to abandon his plan to retreat to his room and follow her.

She found the person she was looking for sitting on the couch positioned near the fireplace and he wasn't alone. Her cousin had a book on his lap, one she recognized to be one of the fifth year students' required textbooks, and seated beside him was Snape. They were talking animatedly but stopped the moment they spotted her ten feet away, and never before had Narcissa felt so much like an intruder.

"Snape?" she heard Malfoy say behind her, voice full of strange disgust - strange because Narcissa had nothing against Snape, she didn't know why it seemed like everyone else in Hogwarts had an issue with him, only finding another exception with the mudblood, Lily Evans - and it made annoyance flare within her. Malfoy either didn't notice her roll her eyes or he's deliberately being a headache. "What do you want with Snape? I think your attentions are much better off elsewhere."

"Yes, they're much better off with my cousin. And Snape."

Then Narcissa pretended he wasn't there and breached the distance between her and Regulus, sitting on the couch across her cousin. Malfoy made an attempt to sit beside her but she glared at the blonde who had been a thorn in her side since they were introduced to each other when they were toddlers.

"He's a nice young man, Narcissa."

"He'd be a good husband for you."

Narcissa tried not to visibly shudder at the memory of her parents' conversation a few months ago at the beginning of summer. And it wasn't their first conversation with that topic either. She's lost count by then. Sometimes she wondered why it seemed as if everything around her was stuck in the 1800s.

Thankfully, it seemed Malfoy somehow got some tact, noticed her agitation, and sat next to Regulus instead. Narcissa caught the beginnings of a smile on her cousin's face and her mood began to brighten once again, also reminding her why she was there in the first place-

"Reg, Snape, do you know what a time-turner is?"

Regulus nodded and Snape replied, "It's a timepiece with a charm encased in it and as the name implies, it reverses time." Regulus gave her a quizzical look. "Why do you ask, Cissa?"

Narcissa stuck her hand in her pocket and grasped the chain. "Well, you do know how I'm taking more lessons than everyone else, right?"

"No." said Snape at the same time Regulus said, "Yes, you talked about it when we went to visit your family during summer."

"And during dinner earlier," Malfoy added, "How do you even plan on doing that?"

Narcissa smiled, "Mother lent me one of the family time-turners so I can attend all my classes. Ancient Runes occurs at the same time Care for Magical Creatures does," she held her hand out, showing the golden timepiece in question. "With this, I can go and attend both classes and also weave through others which may happen at same hours. Speaking of which, I should really check my schedule."

"Oh." Regulus and Snape chimed.

"I suppose you have a goal of being the top student yet again?"

"Of course!" she placed the necklace around her neck, feeling the cool sensation of it on her skin. And not just that, she can actually attend the classes that she wanted to attend, not just the classes her family wanted her to attend. Not that she hates those classes and would rather not touch the subjects with a ten foot pole, it's just that only the part of her that wants to please her parents wants to attend those classes while the other part wants to attend Care of Magical Creatures.

She's basically halved. It's not a pretty feeling.

"Well, well, well. Little Cissy's getting ambitious! Hey now, didn't mother say that you're not allowed to brag around the whole house?"

"Good evening, Bellatrix," Regulus said dryly at the same time Malfoy groaned, "Oh no, it's her."

Narcissa felt… something awful bubbling up in the pits of her stomach which she tried to ignore. It was definitely not rage, hatred, envy, among other things. It was annoyance, she told herself. Simply annoyance and not one of the factors that may someday cause her to raise her wand and strike her sister down.

Calm down.

"What do you want, sister?" she looked up. Bellatrix looked lovely but also manic at the same time. Her curls weren't pinned up and combined with the golden hues of the fire reflected in her eyes, she looked like the picture-perfect crazy person. Bella smiled.

"I want to know why my dear little sister is preaching about mommy's trinket," Narcissa caught the flash of emotion in her sister's eyes. It was strange, something she couldn't identify, and it made her wonder just how good she truly was at reading people. Probably not that good.

Bella paced a few moments before sitting down on the armrest of the couch Narcissa sat on. "Mother told you not to tell anyone."

"And I'm not telling anyone," Narcissa retorted, "I'm telling our cousin, his friend, and Malfoy. I told Regulus because unbeknownst to you-"

"I can believe you said unbeknownst like an old person-"

"Mother actually allowed me to tell 'our most esteemed cousin and even allowed me to lend it to him, should the need arise'. Mother's words, not mine," Regulus opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off, "and no, Regulus, I do not know why mother thinks you'll need the time-turner." Regulus closed his mouth. "And another thing, I told Snape because he's already here and it would be rude to make him leave - unlike someone, I have manners." Narcissa shrugged, "Malfoy's himself, he's nosy-"

"Hey."

Narcissa grinned, "He's bound to know sooner or later. And besides, it's not like they'll say anything."

"We could, though." Malfoy protested.

"But you won't, you love me." She teased, and that made Malfoy grow redder than a tomato.

Regulus and Snape snickered, Narcissa snorted and even Bella let out a small bark of laughter. It eased the atmosphere of the room and Bella slid off the armrest to sit next to Narcissa, leaning her head on the smaller girl's shoulder, ignoring her comments of "Bella, you're heavy!" It was as if a moment ago Bella wasn't poised like a lioness and Narcissa wasn't contemplating future scenes in which she disposes of her older sister.

She's not a stranger to Malfoy's feelings regarding her. But it's just an infatuation caused by her parents' little comments about how cute they'd be together and it's nothing serious, so Narcissa refused to feel bad about teasing him. All the more, she refuses to feel bad about it when it made it so much easier to breathe. That was becoming more and more of a rarity these days.

Narcissa was brought out of her musings when Malfoy, still red as a tomato, grabbed one of the couch's pillows and threw it as response. It hit her sister square in the face.

"Oh no."

And so it goes- Bella retaliated by launching the same pillow back. But her aim was off and it hit Snape instead. Narcissa watched Regulus sigh and mutter "Children, please,". It was admittedly nice, the way the common room became filled with muffled laughter, awful attempts at being quiet. Somewhere in the boys' dormitories, someone shouted 'shut it' but otherwise did nothing to stop them from being loud way past bedtime.

It was fun, the sort of feeling she never felt back home because someone couldn't stop going to her meetings to actually spend time with her sisters. And when she did, it somehow always ended with someone feeling inferior, either her or Andromeda.

...And then it ended.

Bella tripped over a discarded pillow and hit the floor with a resounding thud. Malfoy, Regulus, and Snape looked alarmed for the smallest moments before looking confused. Narcissa followed his eyes and saw what he was looking at. The awful feeling built up again, threatening to swallow her whole as she looked at the small pieces of glass that spilled from her sister's pocket and the golden sand that accompanied it.

"Really, Bella?"

Her sister had the grace to look apologetic before light engulfed them.