Title: Rising Stars
Author name: Morgane
Rating: G at the moment, but will increase as Narcissa gets older
Spoilers: well, it takes place in the past, so...
Summary: A not-so-brief history of Narcissa Black's childhood and teen years, including sister love, Slytherin politics, crazy family members, dark magic and one fatal attraction (WIP)
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author notes: Well, as you can see, I have started over. I haven't felt happy with it for quite a long time because I found myself loathing the characterizations and the circumstances in which people found themselves in. I revised all of my plans and made the whole thing a lot longer...I want to write more about Lucius´s school time! Another thing I have to mention is that I don't have a beta reader this time, so you might find some major spelling or grammar mistakes :-(

Prologue

A house in London.

Huge and forbidden looking, built to shelter the endless branches of a great family but by no means a homely place, the house imparts an incredible feeling of solitude. Nothing about it, not the self-contained walls and surely not the absolute silence reigning the place, makes the hearts of the three children standing on its pavement any lighter.

They are sisters.

For a week they have been orphans.

They are all still too young to know that time will heal their wounds.

Their father was a Black, of course, the elder of two brothers and the unquestionable head of the family until the unfortunate accident that had taken both his and his young wife's life. Their mother was a Montclair, an exquisite creature with porcelain skin, long golden hair and dark blue eyes that were the precise shape of ever-so-lightly tilted almonds. The youngest of the three girls is the only one, who has inherited her looks, but a trained eye would always find something else in her, a cold, self-sufficient strength Nymphadora Montclair had never known herself. In spite of appearance, Narcissa Black would prove to be her father's daughter the most.

But she does not know this yet. The only things Narcissa is aware of are the way Bellatrix grips her hand way too tightly and the silent tears on Andromeda´s face when a tall, austere looking woman with steely eyes and a thin mouth approaches them.

Aunt Perdita musters them coldly. "So there you are", she finally speaks. "Come on in. It's your home now, whether we like it or not."

It doesn't sound like an invitation and no one understands it as one.

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Chapter One: Standing apart

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Diagon Alley, for all its pretensions and aspirations to grandeur, would always be a crude and jangling place to her, twelve-year-old Narcissa Black decided resolutely as she tried to shut out some of the ambient noise that surrounded her. It was too loud, too dirty and far too chaotic for her taste. Fighting a sigh, she brushed a strand of long golden hair back from her eyes. She should have known that it would turn out to be a disaster when she had agreed to accompany her relatives this morning - everything always did whenever more than two family members were together. Since she had no money with her, all she could do now was wait until Sirius and her sisters were done at Madam Malkins´s where they got their new evening robes.

For a moment she considered walking over to Flourish and Blotts but remembering that she would probably find her aunt and Regulus there, she quickly dismissed the idea.

She'd had enough of her family for one day.

Narcissa's eyes darkened as she thought back to the turn their afternoon tea at Florean Fortescue´s Ice-Cream Parlour had taken. It had begun quite normally. Bellatrix and Sirius were fighting over nothing, Regulus was babbling nonsense, Andromeda was trying to become invisible and Aunt Perdita had looked as though she was on the verge of exploding. Nothing had been out of the ordinary until Sirius spat out a contemptuous insult about Slytherin House - which was always a wrong topic among the Blacks.

To put it into a nutshell, the afternoon tea had ended like most other meals: with everybody hissing scathing insults at everybody else. Only she and Andromeda had been silent, Narcissa because making scenes bored her to death, and Andromeda because she always suffered when the family was fighting.

Narcissa wrinkled her nose. At times she couldn't help but feel deeply and hopelessly sad for Andromeda. The middle of the three sisters was a tender and loving soul who felt everything way too deeply and who would therefore never be at home in this family, which lived and breathed darkness. Andromeda would always stand apart, even more than Narcissa herself.

Compressing her lips to a thin line, Narcissa recalled the sight of her family sitting at Florean´s again. She saw her sisters and cousins so often, and in such familiar circumstances, that she seldom noticed how much alike they looked. They all had luxuriant black hair, although Bellatrix and Sirius managed to use theirs to greater effect; each sported startling, almond-shaped dark eyes; and each possessed a natural grace that Bella and Sirius exploited and Andromeda and Regulus seemed determined to conceal. Despite her better judgement, Narcissa had felt a sharp pang of jealousy. No one would ever guess her to be a Black if they didn't know better - a fact her aunts liked to remind her of at every family gathering. Her mother's long, sweeping golden hair, her mother's pale, delicate sculptured face with its high aristocratic cheekbones, her mother's impossible dark blue eyes, but wasn't the curve of her chin just like Old Uncle Orion's?

Narcissa made a mental grimace. She hated the ordeal of endless comparisons, wherein the noses and foreheads of those dead and gone would be dragged out and fitted on her face, but when you were just twelve years old, there was little you could do but endure them.

Sitting down on a stone bench, she decided to stop her mindless wandering and simply wait until four o´ clock when she was expected to meet the rest of her family in front of the Apothecary. At least this was a quiet spot - she was already dangerously near the entrance to Knockturn Alley.

Thoughtfully she looked over at the corner where the two streets met. Knockturn Alley was a place that had stirred her curiosity since the day her father had taken her along to Borgin and Burkes when she was just four years old. While Diagon Alley was always bustling and loud, she remembered its dark counterpart to be as quiet as a graveyard. Had it not been for her father, Narcissa would probably never have set so much as a foot onto that street. However, being Perseus Black's favourite daughter, and knowing how jealous Bellatrix, her eldest sister, would be, she had insisted on accompanying him. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering her father's laughter with surprising clarity. "You aren't afraid of anything, are you, Cissa-child?" he had asked her. "You will never bow your head to anyone, no matter what."

A wry little smile began to flicker on Narcissa's face. No, daddy, I am not afraid of anything.

"Staring holes into the air, Black?"

Narcissa almost jumped. Turning around, she found herself face to face with the mocking sneer of a slightly older boy who had dark eyes and greasy, shoulder-length black hair. Severus Snape.

"Severus", she eventually greeted him in a cold, neutral voice. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that it is impolite to suddenly appear right behind someone? You could have scared me."

The boy smirked slightly. "I doubt that you frighten that easily, Black."

She didn't reply, but watched him furtively, trying to figure out why the elder boy had addressed at all. Even though Severus was a Slytherin like herself, the two of them had never been close. He was thirteen like Sirius, a year older than herself and three years younger than Bellatrix, and he was the complete opposite of her handsome and popular relatives. With a long hooked nose, sallow cheeks and limp, stringy hair, he not only lacked any physical attractiveness, but was also one of Hogwarts least liked students. As a matter of fact, he was hated by almost everyone: by the other houses for being a Slytherin, by his classmates for his talents, and by his teachers for the condescending way he demonstrated his knowledge in their lessons. The only reason why Bellatrix accepted his presence among her close circle of friends was his almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Forbidden Curses. Still, Narcissa knew very well that her sister would let Snape fall without a second thought if he lost his usefulness and therefore abandon him to the doubtful mercy of Sirius and his brothers-in-crime who obviously considered torturing their classmate sort of an amusing hobby.

Studying him, she tried to determine her own feelings for the black-haired boy. It was just as easy to admire Severus for his intelligence and his sharp wit as to hate him for his cruelty and his scathing sarcasm. Those were qualities and faults that everybody could see, but there was more to him. Narcissa had the impression that he was also broken, self-absorbed and quite scandalously bitter. The most irritating aspect about Snape's complicated personality, however, was the fact that this lonely, dark, unloved oddball was Lucius Malfoy´s cousin.

Narcissa's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Lucius Malfoy was the only son of a well-known pureblood family. He was intelligent, too rich for his own good and quite devastingly handsome. Supported by his clique of Slytherin friends, namely Augustus Rookwood, Walden Macnair, Rabastan Lestrange, Travers and Mulcipher, the Quidditch captain was the indisputable king of the Serpent's House. Apart from her sister Andromeda, who despised him utterly, there wasn't a single girl in Hogwarts who didn't kiss the ground he walked on and from what she heard, he never hesitated about taking advantage of that. Being five years her senior, Lucius naturally never spoke to her when they met in the school corridors, but Narcissa couldn't deny a certain fascination about the elder boy. There was something about him, some strange, unnameable power surrounding him like an invisible cloak that beckoned her like honey to a bee.

Furtively, she mustered Severus, who was still smiling mockily at her. What the hell did Lucius Malfoy´s cousin want from her?

"By the way, what are you doing here, Snape?" she asked him casually. "I would have expected an intellectual wonder like you to have bought his school things weeks ago."

Raven-black eyes assessed her intently. "I could ask you the same, Black", he answered flatly. "Did your family wander off and leave you?"

"I asked you first."

The boy shrugged. "I'm here to meet with my cousin. He needs my assistance in a certain task."

"Your cousin Lucius?"

He rolled his eyes. "Differently from you, I have but one cousin. What brings me back to the question what you are doing here all by yourself. Another family feud?"

Narcissa frowned, almost imperceptibly. "That's none of your business."

Malice began to glitter in the depths of his dark eyes. "Oh, it is another family feud", the boy concluded in an overly self-satisfied tone. "Let me guess, what could it be about? Perhaps your hopelessly weak-hearted Ravenclaw sister? Or your godforsaken cousin?"

Despite herself, Narcissa almost laughed at the hopeful glee in Severus´s face. "You've almost guessed: it's about Sirius and his plan to become an hermit", she answered in an overly confidential tone. "You'd know all about that sort of life, wouldn't you, Snape? No pals, no fun?"

The older boy's lips thinned, but before he could return anything, a rich, beguiling laughter suddenly sounded behind him. "You're friend has quite a sharp tongue, Severus", a velvety male voice remarked with amusement.

Spinning around, Narcissa found herself staring into the pale, slightly pointed face of boy with cold grey eyes and oddly sensuous lips who looked to be about seventeen years old. Against her will, Narcissa felt a glow suffuse her cheeks. It was Lucius Malfoy.

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Lucius Malfoy´s delicately shaped mouth curled into a half-mocking smile as he bend down to shake her hand. "One of the Blacks, I presume?" he asked in a smooth voice, assessing her so intently that she almost wanted to shrink away and shield her body from his eyes. "Andromeda´s and Bellatrix´s little sister if I recall correctly?"

Narcissa's mind went blank under his level gaze, but for once luck was with her, and her mouth began to speak on its own. "You do", she replied, relieved that her voice sounded exactly as cold and disinterested as usual even though this was the first time she had ever actually spoke to the Malfoy heir. "I'm Narcissa."

"Narcissa? I thought all Blacks were named after stars." He arched an eyebrow as his eyes lingered on her gleaming hair. "Well, it's not the only aspect that makes you stand apart."

Before Narcissa could even think of a witty response, Severus interjected loudly. "I wouldn't recommend that approach", he warned his cousin, casually folding his arms in front of his chest. "All the first years know that 'But you don't resemble the rest of your family at all', is a really bad way to start things off with Cissy. Last year she actually hexed someone for it."

"Is that so?" Cold grey eyes flickered over her with amusement. "Well, tell me, Narcissa Black, have the people who deny you any resemblance to your sisters also mentioned how pretty that golden mane of yours is?"

She gave him an appraising glance, trying to detect if he was mocking her. Maybe he was, she decided, but he also liked to look at her. Yes, indeed, he liked to look at her. "It's no historical first, but thank you anyway."

His lips twitched. "I'll try to be more creative the next time. And now you have to excuse us. Severus and I have things to do."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to keep you from your...appointment", she answered, playing the part of the pretty, well-mannered little girl so well that anyone who didn't know her, would never have suspected that it was all an act. Watching them walk away, her rare wintry smile suddenly broke out on her face. "For now at least", she added softly.

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For your information: Narcissa and Regulus will enter their second year, Sirius his third, Andromeda her fifth and Bella her sixth.