He knew that his attempt at humor might not go down well with the beautiful girl standing to his right, and it appeared that he had been correct as she narrowed her eyes and began drinking as though her life depended on finishing the cup all at once. He knew that the joke really hadn’t been the thing to annoy her, but that she must think that he had betrayed her trust in telling Alice about the two of them. He hadn’t been able to help himself, he had needed to tell someone.
In an attempt rectify the situation he explained as best he could why he had told Alice and hoped, prayed even, that she would understand that he had not meant to upset her or break her trust. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made that comment. I speak before I think” he said, running a hand through his hair. When she asked him how long he had liked her for, he could see the curiosity in her eyes and the small smile that she was fighting to hold back. “I don’t know a precise measurement of time but if I had to put a date on it?” he asked, sighing slightly, “last April time maybe”.
“I wish she hadn’t, I wish she hadn’t said anything. I told her not too” he said, a little anger seeping into his voice at the thought of his best friend’s actions. She might have thought she had been doing the best thing for James but she had been very wrong and he was finding it hard to feel forgiveness for that. She had hurt Narcissa, and upset them both. “Okay” he said softly, leading the way. He didn’t look back, so as not to cause suspicion and greeted a few people along the way, as he moved towards a door at the other end of the room.
He slipped through it and into a deserted hallway. The front door of the house that led to the cold world outside was at the other end and the foot of the stairs to it’s right. He walked over and stood against the wall at the foot of the stairs as he heard the door to the hallway open and close once more. The sound of the party was abrupt and loud for only a second before it became muffled once more. As soon as she reached him, he reached out and placed his hands on her waist and pulled her in close to him. “I’m sorry, love, please forgive me”.
She was smiling a bit wider, doing her best to think back to April, wondering what she could have possibly done to draw him in. Sirius hadn’t left them by that time so there wasn’t as much fear to interact with him publicly and James and the others didn’t feel like the enemy. Still, she wasn’t sure what made him see her differently then, but whatever it was she was glad that it happened.
Narcissa could notice his anger building up and she hadn’t meant to get Alice in trouble for this...well not completely anyway. She didn’t want him to be upset or choose her over his friend, all she wanted was some clarification on why he had to spill their secret. He explained it well though, and even though his reasonings for why he told her were enough to ease her mind, Alice’s warning was still lingering. Reaching out her hand for a second, Narcissa was planning on resting it on his arm as comfort but realized that would be unwise of her and ended up placing her hand back on the counter top. ❝Look, don’t be too upset with her...both of you are on thin ice for talking. But if she’s not going to tell anyone else it’ll be fine.❞
She lingered for a few moments before walking in the same direction James had gone. She was mostly examining the party around her, wondering if she could spot Regulus having a good time anywhere and watching everyone enjoy themselves. Narcissa contemplated if coming to this was a good idea. She could have stayed home, seen James when they returned to Hogwarts instead of here and her rose coloured glasses would still be intact. When she saw him slip through the doorway she made her way over, quickly opening and closing the door behind her and hoping everyone was too busy having their own fun to notice.
As he put his hands on her waist, she took a second before carefully resting her hands on his arms, gently letting her fingers run slowly across his skin. Pushing herself up on the tips of her toes, her hands made their way up to the back of his neck to bring him in to close the gap between them. She tasted all the spiked punch on his lips as she kissed him softly to make up for the fact she couldn’t do it when he was telling her all the kind things she didn’t expect to hear.
❝I forgive you, I just...❞ Narcissa spoke as she pulled away, pausing and taking a deep breath as she avoided eye contact before saying what was on her mind. ❝I know that you’re not worried but maybe...maybe you should be?❞ her words slipped out slowly, barely even wanting to say it but knowing it had to be said. ❝We know this isn’t meant to last, at some point someone is going to get hurt and now I can’t help but worry about hurting you down the line...❞