2017– Nineteen years later...
Narcissa lost a lot during and after the war, a husband, a sister and more painfully than that a son. The son she had fought so hard to protect was gone; all that remain was a cold, callous and unfeeling shell of a man. No, he had not died in the war but his heart had withered and turned black, she not only despised the monster he had become she feared him. He refused to return to Hogwarts to finish his education instead he sat at home and drank himself stupid. She could always hear and smell him coming, but it didn't matter because she always froze, she was never quick enough. Narcissa had rejoiced in the fact that the man that had beat her into submission and threatened the safety of their own child , to keep her by his side, was securely locked in Azkaban, but it turns out behind every corner lurks a new evil. She fought so hard to make sure Draco was nothing like his father but sure enough that old Malfoy charm creep in and swallowed him whole. When she stood front of the mirror she was disgusted by her appearance, she no longer recognised her own reflection, she looked gaunt and ill. Black bags encircled her eyes and every single bone in her chest poked out through the skin.
She was not allowed out without being accompanied by one of Draco's goons, it was usually Blaise. He had taken her wand from her and locked it away so she couldn't even defend herself. He controlled her every move, had her constantly walking on eggshells afraid to put even a toe out of line. This is what she had been reduced to, shaken to her very core by her own flesh and blood.
Draco had done this to her among other things. The one thing his father was never around to teach him he did so well, he would punish her but he would make damn sure no one could see it first. That was at the start as time went on that also changed. There was very little she could do that didn't merit a beating in Draco's eyes. Asking him to stop drinking had ended in a broken rib, telling him to get a job apparently warranted him beating her till she passed out and the final straw for Narcissa was one evening, when she stepped into her room and found him waiting for her. He lunged at her and pinned her to ground, his hands wrapped tightly around her throat. He drew his fist back and it connected with her face a millisecond later with a sickening crunch, he no longer seemed to care if someone saw, who would ever suspect him anyway. Again and again his fisted and feet connected with different parts of her body, each stronger and more powerful than the next. Her whole body went numb and her eyes heavy, eventually they closed and when she woke she was alone and broken. She forced herself to her feet, thanking Merlin her legs hadn't been broken, the same could not be said for her ribs and left forearm.
She found Draco in his bed passed out from his endless consumption of firewhiskey. Her heart raced in her chest but she had to find her wand or at least his wand, she could not stay here any longer. She crept quietly into the room and sifted through the drawers and then the wardrobe, no joy but she spied her son's wand by the bed. As she inched closer he began to stir and she panicked, but he merely grunted and turned over, remaining comatose.
Without a second thought she picked his wand up off the ground and apparated out of the house, she had stayed to try and help him but she had come finally to the shocking conclusion that he could not be saved. She didn't really know where to go to begin with and she was sure she wouldn't be welcome, where she turned up. She apparated to the location but, apparating in her weakened state had caused her to splinch, she looked down at her right side and noticed a rather large gaping wound, she squealed but soon everything turned black once more. She woke up three days later in a rather unfamiliar room, in someone else's bed; she was surprised to still be alive. "You know most people pop round for tea, and a chat after years of separation but you always were the dramatic one." She knew the voices owner immediately and was shocked that even after everything she had done; her sister had not only let her in her home but also saved her life. As she tried to push herself into a seated position she felt a hand on her shoulder push her back down, "Please just rest, Narcissa, rest you are safe here." She laid back, no objections. Her eyes finally came into focus and looked across at the owner of the voice, her sister Andromeda. It sometimes frightened Narcissa how much she looked like Bellatrix. "Your heart was always too big for you own good, Andy." She noticed a sadness creep into her sisters eyes when she spoke, "It has been a long time since you called me that Cissy, and my heart is as it should be, Thank you."
"Are you going to tell me what in merlins name is going on, I mean when I find you near dead on my door step, I think I deserve and explanation." She trailed a soft hand down Narcissa cheek affectionately, "Who did this you, butterfly?" Tears welled in Narcissa eyes, even after everything that had happened it was clear in that moment that Andromeda had never stopped loving her. "Like father, like son. " She choked out before bursting into tears. She heard Andromeda gasp before she felt her loving arms engulf her in a soft embrace. Giant sobs wracked the blonde witch's body, as she cried harder Andromeda's grip got tighter. In all the commotion neither woman had heard the front door open and close, the footsteps come up the stairs or the door of the bedroom gently opening. "Nan...What is going on?...What the bloody hell is she doing here?" Andromeda leapt from the bed due to fright as the young man's voice boomed behind her. "Teddy darling, I didn't hear you come in, please I will explain, just please sit and calm yourself."
"Calm myself, this woman is probably partially responsible for my parent's death and you want me to stay calm." Narcissa head shot up at the insinuation that she had anything to do with her niece's death. "How dare you?" She whispered as fresh tears rolled down her cheek, "I will have you know that the only reason I was there for that blasted battle was to protect my son. My wand was not raised to anyone." Teddy could see the sincerity in her statement and silently took a seat as his grandmother explained the situation. Teddy sat his mouth hanging opened, so overwhelmed; he hoped he would never know the anger that forced someone to do this to a loved one. He figured it must have been the same anger that coursed through Bellatrix's veins as she murdered his mother and father.
After everything had been explained, Andromeda noticed that Narcissa had fallen asleep, so quietly she and Teddy left the room. The next few days saw Narcissa bedridden, she was still so weak and Andromeda was extremely persistent. However, day by day she grew stronger and there was no news of whether Draco was looking for her. One evening Andromeda had decided to root out all the pictures she had kept from their childhood. They sat for hours laughing, most were of the three of them, and the three black sisters were inseparable when they were younger. Andromeda sifted through the pictures trying to find the best ones, when she came across one of the three girls and their mother and father. "Do you remember them?" Narcissa asked, she had been quite young when they died. Andromeda nodded and shook her head at the same time, "not so much mother, I remember she spent too much time with her nose in the air to remember she had children. As for father, I will remember his lessons for the rest of my life."
"I don't remember mother at all, she is a blur,it is quite sad really." Andromeda looked to her little sister, so deeply saddened by the fact that she could not remember her mother. "There is one way, I could show you..." Narcissa looked intrigued, "Well see as Harry is Teddy's God father and extremely protective of him, he insisted I take his cloak. And my Teddy the rather brilliant child has managed to tweak my time turner to go back years not hours." Narcissa still looked slightly confused. "We can go back in time, you can see what mother was like and with the cloak we don't have to worry about anyone seeing us."
"Isn't that a little dangerous and we will be taken back in time to this very same spot and then we will have to find ourselves." Narcissa was sceptical of whether this plan would work, but she was intrigued by the possibility of seeing her mother again. "OH, butterfly have no fear, as long as we think of the person we seek, and the date etc we will arrive back in time where ever they are." Andromeda left the room and returned swiftly with the cloak and time turner, "So what date will we return to?" She asked her sister, "February 12th 1959, the day after my third birthday." Andromeda tried hard but couldn't seemed to remember the day at all, she thought it strange as she would have been five at the time and well aware of what was going on round her. "Ok, let's put the time turner round our necks and the then put on the cloak. So, think of mother and February 12th 1959."
They were surprised to find themselves in the middle of a rather ornate gardan, it did not belong to the Black's Manor. In fact neither of them knew where they were. As they took a few small steps forward a loud crack could be heard from their right. Both women spun around to find a woman, tall well dressed, long brown curly hair that blew wildly in the wind. Though, on her porcelain white cheek was a rather purple angry looking bruise and it ruined her rather perfect demeanour. On her hips hung two sleeping children, one with hair much like her own and the other had hair whiter than snow. An older child stood by her side, clinging to her robes, the little girl had a mass of curly black hair and piercing eyes. They soon realised who stood before them but not where were they and why could they not remember this place. All eyes shifted towards the rather large house situated close by as a young woman came bounding down the garden calling their mother's name in an exceedingly familiar Scottish lilt. As the young woman came closer she too was familiar, it was none other than Minerva McGonagall.
The sisters stood dumfounded, Narcissa looked to her sister to see if this had registered with her, but Andromeda's face said it all. Minerva quickly ushered their mother towards the house, she had their mother sit by the fire to get heated up. Druella had yet to open her mouth; she sat stone faced and remarkably still. "Druella dear, I am just going to put the children to bed; I will be back in a minute, I promise." She then gently levitated the two sleeping black children and the third stretched her arms out to be lifted, Andromeda watched as her sister rested her head on their ex-professors shoulder and snuggled in close. She appeared to be familiar with the woman this was not their first encounter. They followed Minerva to what appeared to be one of many guest bedrooms; she gently placed the two of them on the bed followed by Bellatrix. She pulled the quilt up around them and turned to leave, when she was stopped by a small frail voice, "Minnie, I am scared." Minerva's eyes filled with tears as she looked down at the little girl who owned the voice, "Oh Bella, I am sorry but I promise you this there is not one thing that can hurt you inside these walls." She settled herself on the bed beside the little girl, who once again flung her arms around Minerva's neck. "Oh my sweet girl, I need you to be really brave for me and get a good night's sleeps and I will explain more in the morning." Even though she was only six Bellatrix mature well beyond her years, "Ok..." she croaked out softly and place a gentle kiss on Minerva's cheek and Minerva did the same to the little girl's forehead. "Goodnight Minnie."
"Goodnight Kitten." Minerva left the room and the older witches followed, they were completely confused it was like they had entered some alternative reality. "Druella, Druella..." Their mother was nowhere to be seen, then Minerva noticed a shadow outside she bolted for the door and found Druella standing in the rain transfixed by the stars. "Druella what in merlins name do you think you are doing out here, you catch your death please come inside." She wrapped her arms around the shaken witch and once again ushered her inside, once she had her seated by the fire again, she went to fetch a towel. When she came back she gently dried the woman's face and hair and then conjured some dry clothes. "Druella, you need to take off these wet clothes. Please Druella..." The woman did not move merely gazed at something in front of her that wasn't really there. Without another word she finally plucked up the courage and just began to undress the witch herself. The woman did not try and stop her nor help her. When Minerva peeled back their mother's robes it became clear that the bruise on her face was not the only one she had received.
Her chest was covered; they all looked like point of impact injuries, that bastard had cursed her; Minerva reached her hand out and traced one of the bruises with her fingertips. "Oh Ella what has he done?" At first Druella flinched with the sudden contact, then she grabbed Minerva's hand as she tried to pull it away and pulled it tight to her chest, so Minerva could feel how fast her heart was beating. She then lifted the other woman's hand to her mouth and placed several small kisses on her palm. Tears still trickled down both women's faces and then to both Narcissa and Andromeda's surprise the two women's lips crashed together in a rather passionate and unforeseen embrace. The two of them stood rooted to the spot, what the hell was going on here. Their mother was kissing Minerva McGonagall. The women soon pulled apart for air, Minerva proceeded to redress the younger witch and escort her to a bedroom, her own bedroom to be exact. She made sure she in the bed tuck in and she gently place chaste kiss on the woman's lips. "Sleep well, my love from now on the healing begins." Minerva waited until she was sure Druella was asleep before she left and just as she closed the door she heard a faint voice calling her name.
It was one of the girls and she rushed quickly down the corridor, waiting for her was a rather sleepy Andromeda with her arms out-stretched. She picked the small girl up and pressed her tight against her chest. "Why is we here, Minnie? Has daddy done somhing bad aden?" Minerva gently rocked the little girl her arms, "Yes I am afraid he has bumblebee, but now is the time for sleep not worry." She played absentmindedly with the girl's hair. "Sing me a song, Minnie paweease!" Minerva happily obliged, she sat herself in the seat at the window and sang until both of them drifted off, Andromeda's head rested on her chest. The soothing sound of her voice and her heartbeat had put her straight to sleep.