Narcissa stood at the doorway to the baby's room, nervously fiddling with her fingers. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning. The owls had been coming for hours, with letters panicking. There were so many rumors going around. Some people thought that You-Know-Who had been killed, which Narcissa was afraid to believe. If he was dead, then she didn't dare to think what would happen to her and Lucius. And Draco. Some of the letters were warning her to flee the country, which she wanted to do. She wanted Lucius to come home and to take Draco and go as far away from England as possible.

She didn't even know if Lucius was coming home. Of all of the people that she had heard from, there were two she wanted to hear from: her sister and her husband. Almost as soon as she heard the rumors, Andromeda had sent her an owl.

She heard a noise in the house and clutched her wand tighter. Then she swore that she could hear the thud of footsteps in the foyer and a hushed whisper. As quietly as possible, she closed the door.

"Colloportus." She breathed. The door made a loud squelching sound.

"Shit."

She carefully picked up Draco from the floor. It was way past time for him to sleep, but she had not even thought about putting him to sleep. He had been fussy earlier, in the same way that all babies are fussy when you really don't need them to be, but miraculously now he was silent as she bounced him.

It took her about two seconds to realize that she could not protect Draco well in this position, because she could not access her wand. She put him in the crib and stood in front of it, wand outstretched. She heard confident footsteps coming up the stairs, footsteps that meant business.

Her mind raced, trying to figure out who it could be. They couldn't send out Aurors yet. Or could they? Or maybe the rumors were false. Maybe You-Know-Who hadn't failed and he was coming to punish them. It couldn't be Lucius, because Lucius would send her an owl or something to tell her that he was alive.

She would kill them. Whoever they were. She would kill them and take Draco and go somewhere far away. Maybe Lucius would find them again. Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he was dead. The notion of not seeing him again struck her like a Cruciatus Curse and she felt a tear slide down her face.

The door was flung open and Narcissa felt the first syllable of the killing curse leave her mouth before she saw the white-blond hair and the wand fell out of her hand. She flew up to him and punched him.

"It's been hours." She screeched. "You could have sent an owl or a Patronus or anything to let me know that you're not dead. You could have shown up for two seconds-"

"Narcissa." Lucius interrupted.

"Narcissa, I'm not dead. I made it through the night." Her voice kept rising in pitch.

"Narcissa."

She stopped. Lucius looked like he had been through hell. There was a scar on his hand and there were dark shadows under his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and he sank to the floor. For a very long while, the two of them stayed on the floor, holding each other. Narcissa closed her eyes and paid attention to Lucius's breathing. It was very quick at first, but it slowed down after a while and grew slow and regular.

The sky was beginning to light up when Narcissa spoke again.

"Is it true?"

Lucius took a deep breath, but instead of answering, he reached up to her hair and brushed a strand of it back. Normally, she loved it when he did that, but she was too impatient. She wanted to know so that she could think.

"Lucius." She said warningly. He pulled away from her and took his hands off of her, but did not take his eyes away from hers

"Yes," He said after a few seconds. "He's dead."

"Will anyone come after us?"

"From which side?"

"Either."

"I'll become powerful." Lucius said. "I'll get protection from the Ministry."

"They won't take you. You're one of his top lieutenants."

"I'll make something up." Lucius said, moving closer to her again, so that his face was an inch from her face. He then started kissing her, in the same way that she had thought about when she thought she'd never see him again.

"Imperio." Narcissa whispered.

Lucius pulled away quickly. "What?"

"Say you were under the Imperius Curse."

He hesitated, while he thought about it, then leaned forward again. "I love you when you're brilliant."

Narcissa smiled. "Show me."