FicWad

Normally when someone looks at me, I usually look away either from embarrassment or shyness. I don't like being the center of attention unlike my dear sister, Bella. Attention has always made me feel uncomfortable and awkward. It also feels like whenever someone looks at me, my cheeks turn an ugly tomato red shade. Unfortunately, it's quite obvious when I'm blushing because my skin is such a pale color. So usually when people meet my eyes, I look away to avoid this predicament.

Today was different though. Some strange feeling deep inside my gut was keeping me from looking away. It was odd. A part of me wanted to look away and yet another part of me was much to curious to look away. I mean, I hadn't really seen this Lucius guy before and it wouldn't hurt to know what he looked like. So against my better judgment, I raised my eyes just a little bit to meet Lucius's gaze which was directed right at me.

Our eyes met and I found myself looking into the palest blue eyes I had ever seen before. Lucius was as pale as a ghost; even paler than me if you can imagine that. His eyes were reflections of a light blue sky and a long sheet of light blonde hair fell to his shoulders. To me, Lucius looked like some angel sent to earth from heaven.

I didn't usually find guys attractive, but this time...well...maybe I was developing a little crush. At this thought, my face flushed as usual and I decided it was time to look away. I whipped my eyes downward and tugged at a piece of my hair so that it covered part of my face and hid my pink cheeks. For not the first time, I wished I didn't get so uncomfortable around strangers.

After a few moments, I dared to glance back up to the table across the room. Surprisingly enough, Lucius was still gazing at me with his head tilted slightly to one side. As I glanced back up at him, I noticed a guy to Lucius' left peer over at me with interest to see what had caught Lucius' eye.

"Who's that?" the guy sitting to Lucius' left piped up curiously. Oh no, he was talking about me. For a moment, I was tempted to get up and run away to the bedrooms. I guess being the center of attention was one of the things that scared me most. As soon as the dark-haired guy pronounced the question, everyone sitting at Tom's table turned around to stare at me.

I gulped as several pairs of eyes bore into me from all directions. I tried offering a tentative smile, but I think it came out as more of a grimace versus anything else. Bella took one glimpse at me and rolled her eyes as she explained in her loud, condescending voice, "Oh, that's just my little sister, Narcissa. It's her first year here. Did I forget to introduce her to you all?"

Everyone nodded and continued to stare at me. I was starting to feel really uncomfortable and wasn't sure what to do. Was I suppose to go over and shake everyone's hands? Or was I suppose to tell a little bit about myself? Oh god, why do introductions have to be so damn hard?

Finally, the guy with the short dark hair sitting on Lucius' left waved a rather large hand over at me and motioned for me to come over to the table where all the other Slytherins were sitting. In what was a rather friendly voice, he called out, "Come and sit over here with us, girl! There's no need for you to isolate yourself over there unless you're hiding something."

Obviously not wanting anyone to think I was "hiding anything", I didn't really have a choice but to get up and join the other Slytherins. As slowly as I could, I got up from my little, solitary table and crept tentatively over to where everyone else was sitting. Once I got there, the same guy pulled out a chair next to him for me and said, "Come on and sit down. Don't be shy."

"T-thank you," I stuttered nervously as I perched myself on the edge of the chair next to the guy. I wondered why he was being so nice to me. I wasn't use to special treatment like this. I didn't really get any special treatment at home. On the contrary, Bellatrix was the one that was always favored over me. I figured this was because she was older and knew more magic.

"So you're Narcissa, hm?" asked a red-headed guy with pale skin sitting across the table from me. To answer his question, I simply nodded so I wouldn't have to speak and risk the embarrassment of stammering again. Tom looked over at me with those creepy, piercing eyes of his and made a general statement, "Wow, you don't look at all like your sister. Are you sure the two of you are related, Bellatrix? It looks like you two were born on opposite sides of the country."

Bella chuckled that way-too-loud laugh of hers and rested a hand on Tom's arm as she said, "Oh, I'm quite sure, Tom. Cissy is just really different from me. That's not always such a bad thing though. Someone like her may be quite useful to us, don't you think, Tom? I mean, she's-"

Tom cut off Bella's sentence as he put a finger to her lips and silently shook his head. Bella immediately fell silent and lowered her eyes in shame as she whispered, "Sorry. I did not mean to offend." After that little scene, I could immediately tell that something was off. Something was just not quite right here. I mean, since when did Bellatrix ever apologize for anything? Also, what had Bella meant when she said I could be quite useful? I had many questions, but didn't dare ask them.

To get rid of the awkward silence that had now fallen, the dark haired guy who had pulled the chair out for me, turned to face me and stuck out one of his big hands as he said, "I'm Walden Macnair. I'm a second-year student here like your sister." Macnair paused as he shook my hand and then continued, "And you're Narcissa Black. Would you rather go by Cissy?"

Cissy was the nickname Bellatrix had chosen for me as soon as I was born. It had stuck and I had been Cissy ever since to the family. Narcissa just seemed too long and cold. Cissy was so much easier to say. Not seeing any reason why the people here shouldn't use my nickname, I replied, "Cissy is fine. It's nice to meet you Walden."

I couldn't help but notice that Walden seemed to shake my hand a little bit longer than necessarily. His fingers gripped my hand tightly and I was started to wonder if he was ever going to let go until the pale, red-headed guy shot him a warning look from across the table. Walden rolled his eyes and let go of my hand, but continued to look at me with interest.

Switching his gaze from Walden to me, the red-head introduced himself, "I'm Avery. I'm a fourth-year here and probably the oldest of the bunch." Avery motioned to everyone sitting at the table. To be honest, I found it rather surprisingly that Avery was the oldest. He was almost too slender and almost sickly looking. Tom, on the other hand, looked much more fit and handsome. I would've guessed he was the eldest here, but apparently not.

Bellatrix turned her attention to me for the first time all day and smiled a full, red-lipped smile at me as she said, "You haven't been fully introduced to Tom yet, have you?" I shook my head. I had heard about Tom from Bellatrix on several occasions, but I had never really met him before this point of time.

"Well then, let me have the pleasure of doing the introduction!" Bellatrix boomed in a cheery voice as if Christmas had come early. Motioning to me, she turned to Tom and said, "Tom, meet my younger sis, Narcissa." Then turning to me, Bella placed a hand on Tom's shoulder and said, "Cissy, this is Tom Riddle. He's the leader here. You do whatever he says, okay?"

Once again, I started to feel that something was not quite right here. How come there was a leader among the Slytherin clan? I had never heard that each house was suppose to have a leader before. Was this something unqiue to Slytherins? Knowing better than to question anything Bellatrix said, I simply nodded in consent.

As if sensing my nervousness, Walden clapped a hand on my back and said in what was meant to be a reassuring voice, "It's okay, Cissy. You'll fit in here in no time. After all, we're technically your new family, aren't we guys?" Walden looked around to all the guys on the table. Luckily, they all murmured agreement. That was good I guess. At least they were willing to accept me.

A new voice that I hadn't heard speak before spoke in a low tone across the table. The guy was tall, dark, handsome, and very well built. A guy who was almost his reflection sat besides him in silence. I wondered if these guys were twins since they looked so familiar. Before I could contemplate this further, the guy spoke up, "I'm Rodolphus Lestrange and this is my brother, Rabastan. This is our third-year at Hogwarts like Lucius over there."

My head immediately perked up at Lucius' name. I had kind of forgotten all about him in the chaos of meeting all these new Slytherins. As my head turned towards the attractive blonde, Lucius took the time to introduce himself to me. Fixing me with that penetrating, blue-eyed stare, he slithered his hand out towards me and introduced himself, "Lucius Malfoy. It's good to have you here, Narcissa. I think we'll all get along just fine."

My heart started hammering as I reached out and shook Lucius' hand. Shaking his hand was way different from shaking Walden's big, sweaty hand. Lucius' hand was smooth, cool, and felt good to the touch. I could've kept shaking his hand all day, but for some reason, my cheeks were flushing again as I looked like him. My body was way too good at betraying my emotions.

I nodded to Lucius' statement and settled back into my chair. There was so much to think about tonight. What was the secret to Bellatrix and Tom? Surely there was a secret. I could feel it in my gut that something was strange between them. Would I be able to unlock this secret? Only time would tell.