Based on the prompt: My character guarding yours - Narcissa "protecting" her friends from girls
Saturdays were their days and this particular Saturday was one of those beautifully sunny days. Far too nice to spend time inside, even though their work was piling up. The other two had decided that homework was more important though, so it was just Narcissa, Theo, Ben and unfortunately Tobias.
The boys had landed and were in the process of showing off for a bunch of giggling idiots from their year. It was so pathetic that Narcissa couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She watched for a few moment but when Ben and Tobias started to flex their arms, she decided enough was enough. The girls were obviously about to throw themselves on the boys. She was going to stop this before it went any further. Theo deserved a nice pureblood girl, even if he didn’t think so. Narcissa couldn’t have cared less about Tobias, but it would be nice to get him back for the other day. Plus Narcissa knew if Tobias somehow managed to convince someone to date him that he would bring her to everything, just to annoy Narcissa. And Ben was Ben. He needed her, otherwise he would end up with some awful troll who would look like she had been hit with a bludger and would probably have the personality of a sock.
“Hey boys,” she called out happily. They ignored her and carried on talking with their backs turned. Narcissa tried again, this time raising her hand to wave at the, “Boys!” Unable to ignore her that time, the entire group turned to face Narcissa. “Shouldn’t you be getting to the hospital wing? Those boils aren’t going to cure themselves you know,” she sang out. The boys had looks of angry confusion on their faces, while the girls all appeared to be laughing behind their hands. Determined to really drive her point home Narcissa started to nod her head in a concerned way and added, “Such unfortunate placing really.” It worked. Within a minute Ben, Theo and Tobias were making their way back to where she was sitting.
“Bitch,” Tobias muttered darkly as he sat down as far away from her as possible.
Indignant at his rudeness, Narcissa turned to Theo, “Theo, did you hear what he just called me?” He didn’t say anything, choosing to glare darkly at her. Ben wasn’t any help either. He scrunched his face, shook his head and sat so close to Tobias that he was almost sitting on Tobias. They were all such babies Narcissa decided as she settled back into the grass, shutting her eyes. She had being trying to help. They would thank her one day.
Narcissa and Ben's friendship from their first year to their fourth.
Narcissa knew it was wrong to be friends with Ben. Somehow though, she couldn’t help herself. And even though he could be an idiot, he became her idiot.
Not that she ever hated him. It was just that at first, on the rare occasions she bothered to notice him, he annoyed her. He was always smiling in this inane way. It was awful. He reminded Narcissa of a puppy. Not a cute one though. An annoying one. He was all blonde and jumpy and Narcissa just wanted to tap him on the nose and tell him to calm down.
He wasn’t all bad though, for a half blood. Sometimes he could make her laugh. Not that he aimed his jokes at her specifically, but sometimes she couldn’t help overhearing and she would have to supress a giggle. It was normally the jokes about how awful class was. Everyone else seemed so interested all the time, which Narcissa could never understand. Yes magic was great, blah blah blah. Their classes were awful though and Narcissa was glad at least one other person felt the same way as her. Once Ben had heard her laughing and he had whipped around to face her. “Did I just make you laugh Black?” He seemed so excited Narcissa forgot her sarcastic retort and instead sighed dramatically before replying, “I’ll give you this one Mckinnon.”
By the end of their first year he had started trying to make her laugh, and more often than not he succeeded.
—
It was sometime in their second year they discovered they had quite a bit in common.
It had all started over a particularly boring potions essay. It wasn’t that Narcissa didn’t know the work. Of course she did. She just really hadn’t felt like slaving over some pointless piece of paper. Why should she bother, when someone like Betty did such a good job, and she could just copy that? Unfortunately Ben had reached Betty first, leaving Narcissa in a bit of a tight spot. The essay was due in a couple hours and she couldn’t afford to not hand it in. So Narcissa had somehow ended up in the unfortunate position of practically begging Ben to hand over the work.
“Benjamin Mckinnon! You give that back right now.”
He had been taller than Narcissa and standing on his toes, he dangled the parchment just out of reach. She just knew he was loving every minute of this.
Narcissa really didn’t want to have to jump. But she needed the essay desperately. So even though her brain was screaming at her not to, Narcissa leapt up. It was a severe miscalculation. She completely missed the paper, and instead of landing gracefully she slipped and crashed. It wasn’t her finest moment. She ended up splayed over the ground, in the most unladylike manner possible.
Narcissa normally wouldn’t have found anything about the situation humorous. Somehow though, she ended up giggling uncontrollably. Maybe it was the ridiculousness of the situation. Maybe it was the fact she was just exhausted and would have found anything funny. Or maybe it was because it was impossible not to laugh along when Ben had exploded with laughter. No matter the reason, it had happened. And somehow, weirdly, it had been a bonding moment. After that Narcissa and Ben had formed a homework sharing pact. Spending all that time working together, it was unavoidable that they started to get to know each other.
By the end of their second year Ben and Narcissa got on like a house on fire.
—
By the start of their third year Narcissa no longer called him Mckinnon.
By then he was only Ben. Or Benjamin if he was annoying her. Ignoring his last name made it easier to ignore the fact that they probably shouldn’t have been friends. He still called her Black, not that Narcissa minded. Mainly it was Narcissa, which she preferred. Or sometimes, rarely, it was Cissa, because it was in their third year that he started calling her that.
The first time he called her Cissa, she had just stared blankly at him. It hadn’t been a big deal. There was no massive pronouncement that now they were officially good friends. It just slipped out in conversation, while he had been making some joke. Obviously they were friends now. In fact, Ben was maybe the only person in their year that Narcissa didn’t have to try really hard to get on with. But still, she hadn’t expected it. It was a nickname that no one their age, besides Reg obviously, had ever used. Narcissa found that she didn’t mind though. So after her little pause, she had laughed at his joke and let him continue.
By the end of their third year Narcissa was used to Ben calling her whatever he felt like.
—
Narcissa wasn’t sure she could have handled their fourth year without Ben.
They never talked about serious issues. It wasn’t their thing. At all. Theirs was a carefree friendship. Besides, if they had talked about serious things Narcissa was sure it would have ended in a fight. So in general they just glided along happily, laughing at their inside jokes.
But even though they didn’t talk about it, Narcissa knew Ben could tell when she was upset. Fourth year was the year that things with her cousin really started to deteriorate. Before she had been mildly oblivious. But that year she had had realised how bad things had truly gotten and it showed.
Ben never said anything. Narcissa would have told him to butt out if he had tried. He just smiled extra hard, as if his smiles had some magic ability to cheer her up. Which, Narcissa found, they did. Somehow he pulled her down to his childish level and Narcissa was fine with that. Sometimes it was easier to be a child, to not have to worry. Ben helped her forget, and for that she was always grateful.
She had stopped thinking his grin was annoying a long time ago. Now to Narcissa it represented their friendship. Bright and fun and above all effortless.
By the end of their fourth year Narcissa wondered if maybe Ben was one of her best friends. Maybe the best friend.
