Norman had always been a very strange child, Narcissa couldn't help but think as she watched her oldest butter his toast, a seemingly serene smile on his lips.

Yes, Norman Malfoy had always been strangely aloof, always smiling politely while his eyes remained cold. Always aware, always analyzing every aspect of a situation in order to turn the spoils in his favor.

In short, the perfect Slytherin.

Narcissa held back a sigh as she delicately sipped on her tea, barely acknowledging the house-elf that removed her finished plate from the table.

Her youngest was also busy, busy trying to gain his big brother's attention, no matter in what form.

Draco had always looked up to his brother but rarely had he gotten any of the positive attention that he so desperately craved. Norman had always seemed annoyed by the younger's fruitless attempt, in fact, he had always seemed annoyed by any interaction that he had with the other young heirs and heiresses. Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Parkinson, none of the children had been shown anything other than cold politeness from the Malfoy heir. Or well, the past Malfoy heir if Norman's discussion with Lucius the other day were to be believed.

Narcissa shook her head as she watched her oldest take a bite out of the sandwich, an open book placed beside him that he idly glanced over at every few minutes. Yes, her oldest was very strange indeed but she couldn't fathom having him in any other way.

The first time Norman Malfoy had cried had been when he realized how alone he was. He had cried almost constantly for the second half of his first year in this life. Neither Narcissa nor Lucius had been able to wrap their heads around this strange, nearly constant, crying.

Previous to Norman's crying spell, he'd been a perfectly silent and content child. Rarely making a sound other than when he was watching something that fascinated him. Only then would his big blue eyes widen and his lips quirk up, tiny fingers would wave excitedly in the air as he tried to grab onto whatever was the focus of his fascination.

So it was to the surprise of no one when both Narcissa and Lucius flustered over their so usually quiet child's epic temper tantrum. Only after weeks and weeks of Norman constantly crying until he cried himself unconscious did he quiet down again. As relieved as the new parents were they still to this day couldn't for the life of them figure out what had been wrong in the first place.

Only Norman knew, only Norman knew who his small fingers had been trying to grab onto, and so it would remain.

When Norman and Draco celebrated their 6th birthday something changed. Very, very drastically.

Draco was still always toddling after Norman, trying to copy his, strangely enough, paler twin as he walked around most of the time outright ignoring his younger brother in favor of observing his surroundings.

Narcissa was still worried about her oldest indifference towards her youngest but mostly let things be. It wasn't as if Norman went out of his way to taunt or otherwise turn the younger away, he simply didn't care.

Lucius didn't really see the problem, but unlike Narcissa Malfoy neé Black he had never had any siblings and was therefore not an expert on the matter. Narcissa, on the other hand, was more than aware of the different typical sibling relationships and a grand total of none applied to this situation.

There was no rivalry, no close comradeship, no power struggles, there was just… Nothing at all that indicated that the two of them were brothers, nevermind twins. The only thing that spoke of their true relationship was the way Draco would trail after Norman, not completely unlike a puppy. Narcissa didn't share her worries with her husband but she was worried. Both over Draco's obvious need for comradeship but also Norman's standoffish behavior. In truth, she needn't worry about Norman, the solution, surprising and unorthodox as it was, came strolling into their life all on its own.

The 5th of June, a party was thrown in the twins' honor and a lot changed after that day.

Draco had, unsurprisedly, been surrounded by his friends. It had been obvious that the younger boy enjoyed absorbing the attention he didn't receive from his brother. He was for once, not toddling after Norman like he usually did. He truly flourished under the attention of young Pansy Parkinson and the far larger but definitely duller Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe.

Norman was, unsurprisingly, unbothered by the lack of his humanoid tail and took turns between visiting the adults for polite chatter and hide away under one of the trees, an open book in his lap that he had gotten from Narcissa earlier that very same day.

And then Severus Snape and his son had turned up.

Lucius had been unsurprised by the boy's presence, he had known for a long time that his close friend and children's godfather had his own son, even though he hadn't seen the boy since the child had been a baby.

Ray Snape looked up at him, a neutral mask facing the word while intelligent eyes scanned his entire being. In a way, Lucius had been reminded of his oldest son. The boy had nodded politely and then looked at the side before freezing. Curious, Lucius and Snape had exchanged a look before turning towards whatever had caught the black-haired child's attention.

Norman stood a short distance away, his book carelessly laid out on the ground while the boy stared wide-eyed at Ray.

Neither of the boys moved.

Lucius frowned, unsure what was the cause of his otherwise so stoic child's strange behavior, he opened his mouth, prepared to ask what was wrong but was immediately interrupted as Ray practically levitated towards Norman's still stiff form.

He stopped shortly before the white-haired child, absorbing the features before breaking out in a shaky but exhilarated grin.

"Hello, stupid Norman."

Lucius and Severus flinched as if hit, Severus eyebrows almost disappearing in his hairline as he stared, borderline gaping at his son's strange behavior and outrageous greeting. Norman blinked a couple of times, clearly struggling to wrap his head around the other boy's appearance but quickly returned the dark haired boy's smile with one of his own dazzling, genuine smiles.

"Hi, idiot Ray."

Lucius and Severus were quickly lost in translation. They exchanged a wary glance with each other before they began to retreat towards Narcissa who still remained blissfully unaware of this strange turn of events. Busy as she was with entertaining the guests and keeping an eye on Draco, it was no wonder she'd miss this strange interaction but she would no doubt want to hear about it.

Ray and Norman were inseparable from this day onward.

"Do you think she's here?" Norman asked as he leaned against Ray's side.

Ray didn't answer immediately, he didn't even look up from his book but instead turned the page as he gently bumped his head against Norman's.

"Probably." He answered after a moment. "Knowing her, there's no way she'd stay behind if we're here."

Norman smiled.

Draco Malfoy was not impressive, was the short and rather final opinion that Ray had concerning the youngest Malfoy. He was whiny, spoiled and in general a headache that wouldn't leave them alone.

Norman 'befriending' Ray had apparently been the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a dying flame. Ray had silently despaired as he'd been introduced to the younger Malfoy twin and wasn't that a shock, Norman had a twin. Draco had taken one good look at him, seen the way Norman held an ironclad grasp around his hand while smiling benevolently towards Ray and had promptly declared the son of Snape his rival.

Ray had in turn taken one good look at the interaction between the twins and gotten to the uncomfortable conclusion that Norman simply didn't like Draco. Norman not liking someone wasn't strange in itself, it was just the unholy combination of Norman not liking someone that obviously wanted to be liked by him.

For being such a genius, Norman sure as hell could be dumb.

Which is why he was stuck in this uncomfortable position.

Norman was happily leaning against him, buried in whatever book he'd gotten ahold of while affectionately nuzzling the top of his head against Ray's jaw. Ray didn't mind, not really, he just wasn't as immune against the startled stares from their parents, nor was he immune against the youngest jealous glares.

"Are you trying to get me murdered?" He accused under his breath as he changed page. The book was rather interesting, he couldn't wait until he could get access to the more complicated rune-books.

Norman paused mid-nuzzle, eyed him before giving him a close-eyed smile before continuing to brush his head against Ray's.

"If the brat tries anything I'll throw him off the roof." Ray winced. Draco must have fucked up royally then.

"Emma wouldn't approve." He tried uneasily, gently closing his book (he'd continue with it whenever he got home) and placing it beside him.

Norman remained quiet.

Ray sighed and leaned his head against the wall, filing away whatever arguments for treating the kid less cooly for another date. For now, he'd just bask in Norman's presence.

"I bet you'll be a Ravenclaw." Norman suddenly voiced from where he sat, practically on top of Ray.

"I bet you'll be a Slytherin," Ray said instead as he turned the page. He sighed a bit as he rested his head on his right hand, feeling the weight of Norman who practically laid spread out over his back. Truth to be told he hadn't put much thought into the sorting. "Doubt you're much of a Gryffindor, that's more up Emma's alley."

Norman merely hummed, neither agreeing or disagreeing. Ray had noticed very early into their reunion that Norman struggled with the topic of Emma. Apparently, the trauma of being separated from them once again, and this time for a much longer time, had caused a lot of Norman's inner fears to crawl back from whatever corner that Norman had swept them into. Ray had been worried in the beginning and had tried his hardest to keep Norman's clinginess to a minimum around their parents. They were already suspicious enough without the 180° turn regarding Norman's opinion when it came to physical affection. Not that they knew that Norman actually was rather affectionate and Ray usually was the more private person.

Sometimes, however, nothing would stop Norman from clinging onto Ray like a lifeline and most of the time, Ray would allow it, feeling bad for essentially forbidding Norman from the reassuring touch he knew that the other needed.

"Just another year until Hogwarts." Ray wrinkled his nose at the name while Norman let out a breathy laugh. "Maybe we'll meet her there."

"Maybe." Norman allowed before burying his face into Ray's back, refusing to ponder more on the subject and set himself up for the crushing disappointment.

When she came back to them, it was in the form of a red tornado.

They had been walking around in Diagon Alley, gathering whatever they needed for their first term. Truth to be told, neither of them were overly excited at the prospect of spending their next seven years apart, because it would be apart from each other, that they knew. Despite the fact that neither could quite outdo the other when it came to knowledge and strategic thinking both were all too aware that they were far from each other personality wise. The chance that they'd end up in the same house was close to zero.

So it was with a rather forced neutrality that they walked around the Alley, hand in hand and curiously peering around the different shops. They had ditched Narcissa and Draco a while back and would no doubt be scolded later, but for now, they enjoyed each other while they still could .

So it was to no one's surprise that they were run over just as they were falling into a rhythm of indifference.

Neither had noticed her quickly approaching footsteps until it was over and they all laid spread over the ground like toppled bottles.

Norman merely blinked, not really registering that he had indeed been collided with and was now, in fact, laying on the ground. Ray was in a similar state of shock but was much closer to snapping out of it and go off in a bout of rage directed towards the offender.

A burst of bell-like laughter filled their ears.

"I found you!" A voice they both had doubted they'd ever hear again exclaimed as arms that didn't belong to them wrapped around them tightly, a cascade of red filling their immediate line of sight.

Ray turned towards her, because who else could it possibly be.

"Emma?" The blinding smile that greeted them said enough.

Norman let out a strangled cry as he threw himself against her, collapsing into the warm comfort while keeping a tight grip around her. Ray didn't know when the decision to join his two idiots were made, he just knew that his nose was buried in her red hair and his arms tightly wound around his two most important people.

"Did you miss me?" Emma asked as if she didn't already know the answer, as if she hadn't missed them just as desperately as they had missed her.

Neither answered other than Ray's mumbled exclamation that she was an idiot. They just sat there in the middle of the road, ignoring the bustling around them.

No one let go for a very long time.