He didn't have a choice in the matter. He had to do it. There was no other way.

Draco Malfoy stared blankly at the piece of parchment he was holding. It seemed simple enough, really, as it only contained three words scrawled hastily in ink. But it was what those three words were that complicated everything.

Kill Narcissa Malfoy

That was it. Nothing else. Only three words that decreed his next assignment from the Dark Lord. During the three years Draco had been in his service, Voldemort had asked some extenuating deeds of the boy, but never something like this.

Draco pushed a strand of platinum hair that had fallen over his cold grey eyes away absently, wondering how his mission could possibly be completed. Kill Narcissa Malfoy...

It wasn't so much the matter that she was Lucius Malfoy's wife as was because she was Draco's mother. She had brought him into this world, raised him, and helped him become who he was to the day. How could he bring himself to kill her?

If it was Lucius, Draco pondered, I would be able to do it. Lucius had been the one responsible for everything bad in the teen's life, from the day he was born up to the time when Lucius offered Draco up for sacrifice on a particularly dangerous mission. Yes, there was no doubt about it. If he was willing to give up his son for the sake of the Dark Lord, Draco would be more than ready to do the same to him.

But it wasn't Lucius the note decreed be exterminated. It couldn't have been Lucius, because that would be easy, so easy to finally pay him back for all the torment and suffering that Draco had been forced to endure throughout his life. But it wasn't Lucius. It was Narcissa, and Draco wondered why the Dark Lord would ask this of him.

A conversation between his father and the Dark Lord came to mind. Draco had been crouched behind a statue of a serpent (ironic, isn't it?), waiting for the perfect opportunity to test out a new curse he had just perfected when it happened.

"So you really believe her to be that great a threat, My Lord? To my knowledge, Narcissa has been nothing but faithful to Your Lordship since entering your ranks many years ago. She would never do anything to betray you."

"Your knowledge is insufficient, then, Lucius, to think that someone such as her would never go against my will. There is something she cares about more than my service, and she would do whatever it takes to protect him."

"'Him', My Lord?"

"Yes, Lucius. Him. The one of which I speak is none other than your son, Draco."

"But Draco-"

"Has never done anything to betray me, of that I am aware. However, the same can not be said of his mother. She may be willing to defect back to the other side if her son is threatened. This, I can not have among my ranks."

"I understand, My Lord. She will be terminated."

"Yes, she will. But you will not be the one to finish her."

"Then who-?"

"It will be Draco."

Draco shuddered as he recalled the sly grin that had appeared on the Dark Lord's face as he proclaimed Narcissa's fate. Somehow, he knew that Draco was lurking around the corner, and made a point of emphasizing exactly who would be carrying out the orders. Ironic, Draco thought, closing his eyes against the outside world, To think, the one who brought the son into the world will be destroyed by the one she would do anything to protect.

Draco winced at the sound of the words in his head. He didn't mean that, and he was unclear as to why he had even thought it. Then the Deatheater in him began to take over, and Draco saw things in a different light.

She would betray our master for me. That can not be tolerated. She must be dealt with.

But she's my mother. I can't just kill her just like that.

But she is willing to put us all in danger just so she would not feel pain. That is something that our master can not have in his followers.

But she's my mother. I've known her all my life. She's never done anything to me that would make me want to kill her.

Not yet, but maybe, just maybe, the chance hasn't arisen as of yet. Besides, the Dark Lord wants her dead, and we are pledged to do the Dark Lord's bidding.

Exactly.

The darkness won, and Draco brandished his wand. Like he said, it was only a matter of time before they were all placed in jeopardy because of one silly women who wants to protect her child. If she really wanted to protect him, she never should have let him join the Deatheaters in the first place.

Draco sneered a sneer that was worthy of his father and the esteemed Malfoy line. There was business to attend to, and the Dark Lord waits for no man.

He Apparated to the Malfoy Manor, where he knew his mother - now known as the target - would be. With a nasty grin he kicked the heavy wood door open, wand out, casting his gaze around the neighboring rooms until he found her.

Narcissa caught her son's gaze and froze where she stood. She knew what he was going to do.

"Draco?"

Fin.

So, the idea was brought to my attention that I could actually improve this fic by adding some more flashback and such. If you want to see a longer version, please let me know and I'll get on it.