The largest armchair in the smallest lounge faced directly out onto the garden of Malfoy Manor.
Narcissa Malfoy stared blankly at the wide expanse of green before her, eyes seemingly seeing everything, but acknowledging nothing. For the first time since she had said 'I do', she was pleased Lucius wasn't there. The constant pacing he appeared to have taken up lately would have driven her to distraction, and she had enough on her mind as it was.
In her hand, she held tightly onto a small, aged photograph. It wasn't something she had shared with anyone but her husband, though it had been years since even he had seen it. It wasn't that it was a particularly exciting image; nothing that would cause scandal in the pureblood society or, at worst, the wrath of the Dark Lord, but at times like these, Narcissa felt as though it was the most precious thing she owned.
Glancing down at it, she gently stroked a finger over the face of one of the moving occupants, a small smile gracing her lips as she remembered the day.
It had been just an hour after she had given birth to her only son that the photograph was taken, snapped by a helpful healer in their private suite on the maternity ward of St Mungo's. Only an hour old and her son was the love of her life. Such a tiny little thing, she knew at that moment she would do whatever it took to protect her child. It was her son that warmed her heart on the tattered scrap in her hands. Curled in her arms, his almost white hair just visible beneath the blanket he was wrapped in. Her son made the photograph precious, but he was not the only reason it was so dear to her.
On the opposite side was Lucius himself; his aristocratic features had barely changed over the years, though his Azkaban sentence had aged him considerably. While Draco warmed her heart, Lucius filled her with such a deep sorrow that she cold not control the tears that leaked from the corners of her eyes. She wept for the man that had stooped down by her side for that photograph. The man that had gazed at his newborn son with such awe and wonder the healers had to laugh. He seemed too scared to touch him, fearful he'd break him somehow; his heir. That was the man she had married, the man she had fallen in love with.
She wept because that man had disappeared, drowned by the hunger for power and the lost in the desire to serve the Dark Lord. She had lost the husband she had once doted upon, as he rarely had time for her now. After the ministry fiasco, the Dark Lord had no patience with Lucius and he was determined that their son would pay for his father's mistakes.
Narcissa returned her gaze to the window, reaching a hand up to loosen the clip holding her hair. As it fell around her shoulders in soft, blonde waves, she tried to imagine her worries falling away too – floating to the ground like tiny white feathers. She closed her eyes and prayed to Merlin that her family would make it through in one piece.
A cold wind suddenly filled the room as the front door was thrown open. It slammed closed seconds later and was followed by the sound of Lucius storming up the stairs and heading straight for his study. She knew as soon as he reached his desk, the firewhiskey would come out of the bottom drawer and not return until the early hours of the morning. She knew this routine like the back of her hand, as it happened almost every night the Dark Lord requested his presence, though this evening he seemed even angrier than usual.
The silence returned, and Narcissa found herself staring at the photograph once again. With a pop that echoed in the silent room, a house elf wearing a ragged pillowcase appeared by the side of her chair. She eyed it and snapped,
'What is it?'
'Master Lucius sent Tipsy with a message for the Mistress.'
'Well what is it? Get on with it, elf.' The elf gulped and clutched his hands to his chest.
'Master Lucius says the Dark Lord has decided on Master Draco's mission.' Narcissa felt what little colour there was drain from her face. This was the news that had caused sleep to elude her; the fate of her son was a heavy weight in her heart. Tipsy looked anxious, too afraid to continue and deliver the bad news to his Mistress.
'Just tell me, don't stall.'
'Master Draco must…Master Draco must kill the Headmaster of Hogwarts. He must kill Albus Dumbledore.'
Narcissa dismissed Tipsy with a wave of the hand, the lump in her throat would not permit her to speak. Tipsy fled, eager to leave Narcissa to her sorrow. It was only when the room was once again empty that she allowed the tears the fall thick and fast into her lap. Her fingers curled around the photograph once more, clinging to it like a lifeline.
That explained Lucius' mood this evening. As much as he had changed, he still cared a great deal for his family.
'My boy,' she whispered, grief clouding her vision, 'My only little boy.' She allowed herself to fall apart in that armchair, in the dark where no one could see her. In the dark, she wept once more for the things she had no control over.
'No.' She told herself to snap out of it and summoned a handkerchief to dry her cheeks.
'No.' She stood from her chair and made her way, silently, to her room, where she changed into clean robes and re-clipped her hair.
'No.' She wrote a small note to Bellatrix, requesting she meet her in the lounge and sent it zooming to her room with a flick of her wand.
'No.' She paused outside of Draco's bedroom and felt a surge of reassurance that she was doing the right thing.
'No.' They would not take her son from her. There was nothing she wouldn't do to protect her Draco, and she'd be damned if she did nothing to save him now.
The door to Lucius' study was locked and, with no noise from within, she guessed a silencing charm had been cast. It must have been, she decided, Lucius was not one to suffer in silence.
Back in the smallest lounge, Bellatrix stood by the fireplace, floo powder in hand. Her face showed a mixture of anger and sadness.
'You shouldn't do this, Cissy. You can't trust that traitor.
'Will you come with me?' Bellatrix stared her hard in the face. The desolation was written clearly in the blue eyes that stared back. With a deep sigh expressing her disapproval, she nodded.
'Of course I will.'
The two sisters stepped into the fireplace, one by one turning the flames green with a sprinkling of the powder in Bellatrix's hand. They reappeared in Knockturn Alley, but lingered for mere seconds before apparating to Spinner's End. Bellatrix gripped Narcissa's arm before she hurried on through the rain and spun her around to face her.
'This should be an honour, Cissy. Draco will be rewarded so greatly if he succeeds.' She almost sounded as though she was pleading with her sister to return home, and allow what would happen to do so. Narcissa set her jaw and frowned.
'Don't you see, Bella? He won't succeed! That's the whole point! This is to punish Lucius! I will not have my son destroyed, Bella. I just won't.' She turned and strode down a dank and dingy street, hoping and praying that the man she was headed to see would help her. Someone had to help her. Anyone. She needed to take back the control that was stolen from her.
Her last hope lay with the man from Spinner's End, one of the Dark Lord's greatest followers and spy extraordinaire; Severus Snape.
A.N: I don't know what I think of this one. I just can't decide whether I like it or not. Reviews would be awesome to tell me if you do!
Maddison x