Finally living my dream of writing the story of Lucius and Narcissa right from the beginning. I just love them and their devotion to one another so much, and I can't wait to dive more into their relationship and how they deal with all the difficulties of war along the way. I also think we never saw enough of the Black sisters in the books, and they are super interesting in my eyes so I definitely want to play with that a little bit. I hope you guys enjoy this start!

The title is from the Florence + the Machine song Howl: Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers/Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters

At Malfoy Manor, there is a small picture framed and placed on the mantelpiece of a tiny, toddler Lucius grinning like crazy as a baby Narcissa Black is placed in his outstretched arms. He's sitting in an armchair surrounded by pillows (clearly no one really trusted him to do the job), but he holds the little bundle with reverence and delight. On the back the words New friends, 1957 are written in spidery script, because that's all the two were ever meant to be, really. Just friends.

Originally, Andromeda had been promised to Lucius. His parents had thought Bellatrix, although nearly the exact same age as him, too rough, and Narcissa too young, but they were taken with Andromeda's sweet nature in her younger years. It was important to keep all the pureblood families close; these kinds of agreements were completely accepted in elite circles.

They had all grown up together, first rolling about in the dirt and then later, when the girls began to be reprimanded for that sort of behavior, holding tea parties that Lucius would attend under the threat of duress from Bellatrix.

"Thank you so much for letting him play with them," his mother would always say to theirs. "It's hard on him being an only, and there aren't many other children I really think of as being up to caliber. You know those Lestrange boys are rather rough."

That last bit always came out in a whisper, and Druella would nod her head and purse her lips.

"We had all better hope they outgrow it. Such a good family, what a shame."

Narcissa knew about these conversations because she and Lucius would always go press their ears against the sitting room door when his mother came to fetch him. For some reason it was only she who was selected for this task, and she never turned it down. Any time alone with him was golden to her, even at the youngest age, and when she finally got to go to Hogwarts too, it hurt her that they were never able to spend much time with one another. Occasionally, he would come down early to weekend breakfasts and sit next to her, closer than they knew they should be.

"What have you been up to?" he would always ask, and for some reason she would blush and be unable to look to him.

"Same as always," she would say, and he would laugh kindly.

"There must be something new. We never get to talk."

So she would launch into tales of her latest failed Transfiguration attempt or of the fight she was having with her roommates, and he always seemed, without fail, incredibly interested.

Lucius and Andromeda had been allowed to go on a few unsupervised dates together as the date and details of their wedding began to be finalized. Narcissa would stand at the window above the front door and watch him walk up to the house, wishing he was hers.

Andromeda always returned home from these outings in a mood, and Narcissa could never understand why. She would beg her sister for the details, and by all accounts Lucius was a perfect suitor, polite and generous.

"You would like him, Cissy," Andromeda would say, and Narcissa knew it was the truth. There was nothing she would like more than to be escorted about town and to all the most important functions by a tall, handsome Lucius Malfoy. As the youngest, her parents were putting off matching her with someone until her sisters were settled down, and she was really beginning to feel left out. Bellatrix had finally paired herself off with Rodolphus, although she didn't seem to be particularly in love with him to Narcissa's eyes. Oftentimes she would still spend the night in the family home, rather than with her husband, and they couldn't ever get her to say one kind word about him.

"It's normal," their mother would say, nervous smile on her face. "Perfectly normal for a young girl just married to be shy this way. They'll warm up to one another."

But Bellatrix had never been shy before, and Narcissa and Andromeda would glance at one another when their mother made these justifications, remembering her old misgivings about what sort of crowd the Lestrange boys ran with.

The family was thrown into crisis when Andromeda disappeared, right after she graduated and right before the wedding date. The note she had left on her bed warned them in no uncertain terms to not try and find her, not unless they wanted to suffer the consequences of angering the entire Order of the Phoenix.

And he's Muggle-born, too, she wrote, so I'm guessing you won't be wanting to see me again anyway.

Narcissa read this note in tears after she picked it out of the wastebin where her mother had tossed it after only one quick reading. She tried to smooth it out in vain, hands shaking. In the other room, she could hear them discussing the wedding that was only a few weeks away.

"Cancel everything," she heard her mother say, voice like ice. "Even if…well, even if something can be sorted, we can't have the ceremony so soon."

"Would it really be so bad to just keep the arrangements set?" her father asked.

"It would be a scandal beyond scandals to do it so quickly, Cygnus. Let the thought leave your mind."

Narcissa was crying on her window seat, apparently the only family member upset by the news, as she watched an owl fly away, and then return about an hour later bearing a very impressive piece of stationary.

A sigh of relief came from her parents' room.

"They've agreed," her mother said.

Narcissa went to bed that night at her usual time, but didn't fall asleep. She tried to understand what her parents could have been whispering about, what could have been more important than the disappearance of their daughter. She thought briefly of Lucius Malfoy, presumably heartbroken over this news…

Just as she was on the dizzying edge of sleep, Bellatrix burst through door and leaped onto Narcissa's bed, shaking her.

"Cissy, Cissy, how does it feel?"

"How does what feel? You're hurting me, Bella."

"How does it feel to be the new Mrs. Malfoy?"

"You're out of your mind," Narcissa said, trying to sound calm as her stomach plummeted.

"Not in the least. He's coming to get you tomorrow." And then she was gone, as quickly as she had come.

As Narcissa lay awake that night, considering her fate, she was conflicted between every indecent thought she had ever had about Lucius Malfoy, and the idea that she was to become a wife much sooner than she had ever hoped.

When Narcissa woke, after only a few hours of very restless sleep, it was because someone was knocking on the door.

"Narcissa, I'm coming in," she finally heard them say, and the door opened to reveal her mother, dressed very finely. "It's time to get up, dear. We have guests."

Suddenly Narcissa remembered her conversation with Bellatrix the night before, and she sat straight up in bed.

"Don't let them take me!" she practically shouted, barely thinking.

"Let who take you where?" Druella was still matter-of-factly selecting something from her daughter's closet.

"Don't let Lucius Malfoy take me away."

Her mother looked at her, shocked.

"No one is taking you anywhere. Who told you that?"

Able to breathe again, Narcissa relaxed a little.

"Bella."

"Of course she did. She's always one to rile people up." Druella sighed and sat down at the foot of the bed, stroking her daughter's leg through the covers.

"The Malfoys are here," she went on, "and they are here to discuss you and Lucius getting married, but only someday. You still need to finish school, and he'll need to get his head around the change. But you are going to have to get up and pull yourself together just a bit, darling. And why don't you wear this?" She held out a set of robes that Narcissa usually only wore on very special occasions. She took the hanger and got out of bed, headed to the bathroom to make something of herself.

Narcissa tried not to take too long to get ready despite the foreboding feeling in the pit of her stomach; she didn't want anyone thinking that she was spoiled, or high maintenance. Shaking, she opened the door to her bedroom and began what felt like the longest walk of her life.

As she neared the sitting room, she could hear the rumble of low voices. Getting closer, she overheard her name, and a mention of Hogwarts.

Beautiful, someone said.

Narcissa pushed the door open, and just stood there for a moment, observing the scene. It seemed that the only person who noticed her right away was Lucius, who was standing with his back to the wall and arms crossed on his chest. He smiled lazily at her when she entered, and rolled his eyes. She was amazed by how calm he seemed. Their parents were sitting in the center of the room, tea cooling on the table in front of them. She wanted to yell out and remind them that one of their number had just gone missing, disappeared from their lives forever. Instead of worrying, they were laughing and having an apparently wonderful time. Cygnus's head finally turned to her, and he jumped up.

"Narcissa, what on earth are you doing just standing there? Announce yourself, child!" But he was still laughing, and he went to her to lead her into the fray.

After they had been sitting there for about 15 minutes, talking about nothing in particular as Narcissa slowly folded and unfolded her handkerchief many times over, Lucius went to his father and whispered something in his ear. Abraxas nodded, and Lucius straightened up.

"Why don't we let the young lovers go off on their own for a bit, while we iron out all the ugly money business? Just into the front garden, where we can see them."

Everyone agreed, and Narcissa soon found herself on Lucius's arm. They went out into the tangle that was the Black's front yard; their ancestors had been some of the first to truly settle in London, and the house was set on an unusually large lot. All around the bench Lucius settled them on, magical plants were growing, including some that would bite those who weren't careful with their hands.

"How are you taking this news?" he asked her. Narcissa looked up and into the front window where she could see that the grownup's conversation had turned more serious. Her father was writing something on a piece of parchment, and Lucius's mother's brow was furrowed. Behind her, life in Muggle London continued beyond the dense shrubbery.

"I haven't taken it too much at all, if I'm being honest. It's just starting to sink in, and really I've been thinking more of Andy…not that there aren't things concerning us to think of, but it's all come as such a shock to me. Apparently I'm the only one."

"No offense taken. But you have to know that your sister wasn't happy. I could always see it, and to be honest I wondered how she and I could make a go at it together."

"Really?"

"Really. Know that she'll be happier wherever she's gone, Narcissa."

"That's very sweet of you to say," she said, absentmindedly wondering what it would be like to hold his hand.

"I'm a very sweet man, you'll find. No different from when we were young." She looked up, and he had that same lazy smile on. It had been a long time since they had been alone together, a whole year since he had left school and they had been able to have breakfast, and he was really looking so much more adult that she remembered.

"I guess I can only hope so." She was smiling too.

On her last first day at Hogwarts, she received a letter by way of a very handsome eagle owl.

"Who's it from?" Cecily Parkinson asked her, leaning over into Narcissa's space at the table.

"Mind your own business, Cecily," said Narcissa, who had noticed the seal on the parchment and worried that she was rapidly turning bright red. "It's just something from home anyway."

"Oh, like fun it is. I see the look on your face, and you've been acting strange since the train. Something happened this summer that you're not telling."

"Maybe I can't tell, and you're being exceptionally rude. Considered that?"

Narcissa stood up, leaving her breakfast untouched.

"I'll see you in Potions," she said as she left, envelope clutched to her chest.

She found a little niche in the dungeon hallway, and sat with her letter. An M cast in glittering green wax winked up at her, and carefully, as if she might never see anything so lovely again, she broke the seal, trying to keep it as intact as possible.

Lovely Narcissa,

I've been thinking about you quite a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that I must just be the luckiest man alive. The thought of you locked away at Hogwarts is almost too much to bear, and I hope you won't mind finding me waiting in Hogsmeade when you have your first weekend out.

I must confess, truly, that while I did care for your sister in a familial sort of way, your introduction into my life is really a godsend. I hope that we can really love each other in the way couples should; personally, I'm already most of the way there.

Maybe this letter is a bit forward, but I couldn't let you forget about me. Just one year, darling, and then we'll really get to know one another, away from sitting room doors and the Slytherin table.

Love,

Lucius

Narcissa's head was spinning; although boys would often lay it on thick to try and charm her into giving them her affections, this felt very different indeed. Already she was thinking of what to wear to Hogsmeade and how to write back in such a way as to keep him wanting more. With the word love still flashing before her eyes, she got up and, somewhat unsteadily, made her way down the hall to Potions.

Next up: their first real date in Hogsmeade!

If you really love Lucissa and you want to read something else before this story updates again, try out my oneshot Shifting! It's about their relationship and also a really cool headcanon about Narcissa I have.

xoxo