Pen Pals

Dear Mrs. Malfoy,

Thank you for helping me back at the Forbidden Forest, I know it wasn't easy to lie to Voldemort. Even though you were only trying to save your son, you saved me too.

Yours sincerely,

Harry Potter

Narcissa stared at the long piece of parchment delivered to her by an over excited minute owl. It was still flying and twittering above her, slowly testing her patience.

"Calm yourself." she said sharply and it obliged, landing on the dining table.

The tall woman reread the letter several times, she couldn't believe Harry Potter was thanking her when her family and many others had supported the Dark Lord. She felt a pang of guilt when she thought about what the Death Eaters had done, what her husband had done. Narcissa herself had never directly contributed to anything but she had watched it all to happen.

"Mother?" came a voice from in front of her, snapping her out of her daze. Draco sat on the other end of the table, he was staring at the owl that was now helping itself to some of their breakfast. Narcissa looked at her son, her one and only son as tears fell down her face.

Draco seemed stunned and walked over to her, unsure of what to do or say. The witch had briefly imagined her baby in Harry Potter's shoes and it had pained her so much she was unable to contain her emotions. Guilt consumed her heart as she pulled Draco into a tight hug. As Draco hugged back, she made up her mind to reply to Harry Potter. The boy who thanked her for her selfish actions. The boy who saved her son.

~.~

Dear Harry Potter,

I am not worthy of your gratitude. I know that a feeble apology is not enough for the pain you have gone through but I can't think of what else to say. I am sorry for all that has happened.

And thank you. Thank you for saving my son. I know you two were enemies at Hogwarts, but you saw passed it and saved his life. For that, I am forever grateful.

Hope you are well,

Narcissa Malfoy

When Harry had decided to write a letter to Mrs. Malfoy, he was met with a lot of resistance from Ron and Hermione.

"Why in the world are you thanking her for? We saved Malfoy from the Room of Requirement! I'd say that's even enough, seeing as how we almost died trying to save the git." Ron said exasperatedly.

"He does have a point," Hermione agreed. Harry ignored them both and sent the letter off with Pigwedgion. What he didn't expect however, was a reply. He had just finished reading her letter to Ron and Hermione, who were looking more and more skeptical.

"Sounds dodgy to me," Ron said, poking at the parchment with his wand. "What if it's cursed?"

"Well, do I look cursed?" Harry mused.

"Don't you remember when we first spoke to her in Madam Mulkins, don't you remember how much of a-" he called Mrs. Malfoy something dreadful, making Hermione hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"Ron!"

"I don't know, it seems, genuine." Harry said. He himself had no idea why he felt that Mrs. Malfoy was being truthful until he lightly grazed the parchment and noticed blotches of smeared ink around some of the words.

"She cried," Harry exclaimed, "she was crying when she wrote this letter."

"Rubbish!" Ron retorted as he snatched the parchment out of Harry's hands. He and Hermione examined it together. Their furrowed brows told him they felt the same but didn't want to admit it. Although his friends remained suspicious of Mrs. Malfoy, Harry decided to start on a reply. It was more difficult than he'd thought.

Dear Mrs. Malfoy,

How have you been?

Harry, over the many months, had adopted more of a forgiving nature. After Snape's death, he realised that there is a lot hidden behind people's actions, that he could only hope to understand one day. He thought about why Draco was the way he was. And he had almost, almost, forgiven him. He couldn't, however, wrap his head around forgiving Lucius Malfoy and didn't like much the idea of wishing him well. And so he wrote…

Dear Mrs. Malfoy,

How have you been? I hope you and Draco are well.

He stared at the two sentences he had written. What now?

~.~

Narcissa unfolded the small piece of parchment and decided to dismiss the small owl, she would use her own if she wanted to reply. The owl looked dejected as she waved it away, but it left all the same. She sat to read the letter, which didn't take long. Noticing that Harry Potter's wishes didn't extend to her husband, she felt a little tense. Of course she understood why he wouldn't want to ask about Lucius. She was surprised he even cared about her and Draco.

And so the exchange of letters continued and Narcissa started to grow fond of Harry whether she wanted to or not. Narcissa had begun sending food parcels and once, even stunning new robes on Harry's birthday. She had picked them out herself, with the price of having her son find out.

"Mother, what the hell are you writing to Potter for?"

But she ignored him, and sent the robes off, along with an invitation to dinner, in which her husband would be absent. She had spent the next few days being complained to by her son who had started talking about Harry again.

~.~

Harry was surprised to see the new robes in the mail. As he tried them on, he felt a familiar warmth bubbling in his stomach. It was like everytime Mrs. Weasley gave him a hug or put extra sausages on his plate. The feeling of a mother's affections. He decided to go to the dinner. Harry bid the Weasleys farewell on the fated night; he had been staying at their house ever since the war and headed to the gate where he could apparate from. Harry had nervously tried to flatten his hair to look smart and presentable. Once he was out of the Weasley's gate, he apparated to arrive in front of a mansion and was surprised to see Draco wandering outside his door.

"Hey, Malfoy" he greeted the blonde, feeling a pang of annoyance just looking at the prat's pointy face. Draco looked around and his face contorted into a strange expression, almost as if he was trying not to smile. The blonde waved his wand and his gate clanged opened.

"You look fancy," Harry commented, trying to sound civil. Draco did seem indeed overdressed. He sneered at this.

"Well, Mother said an important guest was coming, I didn't know it was you." He drawled, glaring at Harry. Harry glared back, hoping he wouldn't be attending dinner.

When inside Narcissa greeted him warmly, she seemed to enjoy the sight of her 'two sons' standing side by side. She gave Harry an awkward hug and beckoned them to the table. The spread was rich, something Harry wasn't quite used to. He had been eating Mrs. Weasley's delicious home cooked meals too long to enjoy the fancy food, but he ate it all the same.

As he ate, he noticed Draco constantly sneaking glances at him. When Narcissa left the table he aimed a kick at Draco from underneath.

"Ow!"

"What are you staring at me for?" Harry whispered furiously.

"I wasn't staring, Potter!" Draco sniped back, his face a little coloured. Harry frowned, why was this git turning all pink?

Out of instinct he reached out and placed his palm on Draco's forehead. The blonde fell backwards in his chair while trying to avoid Harry's touch. The loud sound attracted Narcissa as she returned, dessert in hand, wondering what had happened. Harry was wondering what had happened too.

Draco stood up, face redder than the Weasleys' hair and ran up the stairs.

Narcissa sighed and placed the dessert on the table, scooping up a large piece for Harry.

"Draco's been…a bit too excited."

"Excited?" Harry repeated skeptically.

Narcissa chuckled as she sat back down, taking a dainty bite.

"Ever since he found out we were in contact, he's been talking about you all day and night, just like when you two were at Hogwarts."

For some reason, this made Harry flush too.

"Complaining you mean." he said, poking at his dessert.

Narcissa didn't say anything to this but continued smiling.

They talked spiritedly about mundane things, Harry thought he hit the lottery when she started talking about Draco and all his embarrassing moments, thinking of all the laughs Ron, Hermione and he were going to get out of it when he got home. Finally, it was time to say goodbye for the night and Narcissa urged Harry to say bye to Draco before he went. Out of politeness, he made his way upstairs, walking briskly. Portraits peered down at him with sneering looks. The entire mansion reminded him of Grimmauld place and he tried to push down a hot streak of anger that briefly coursed through his fingers at the thought of Sirius and Bellatrix.

He paused in front of Draco's door, the realisation that Narcissa was her sister dawning on him. But he didn't let that deter his newly set opinion of Mrs. Malfoy, especially since both his godfather and Mrs. Tonks were related to Bellatrix too.

Harry considered knocking for a brief second before dismissing the thought and turning the knob.

~.~

Draco Malfoy had exactly three most humiliating experiences in his life. The first was when Harry Potter refused to shake his hand when he offered his friendship. The second was when Harry Potter had seen him get slapped across the face by that Mudblood Granger. And the third was when he was bounced around as a ferret in front of a whole crowd of students which happened to include Harry Potter.

And so, he never thought to find himself in yet another humiliating experience as none other than Harry Potter stood in his doorway, staring at him with his trousers halfway up his legs. They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, though to Draco it felt like several years before the black haired wizard shut the door with a soft thud.

The Slytherin was frozen on the spot, as his trousers slipped down to the floor. He felt his face grow hot and he collapsed into a ball, wondering how Harry Potter could still be so hot.

~.~

Harry tried to forget the sight of Draco's…package and went down the stairs slowly, now completely ignoring all the portraits, a certain image still fresh in his mind. Narcissa was at the bottom of the stairs and she seemed to be holding a parcel for him to take home.

"I want you to give it to the Weasleys. Don't say it's from me or they won't take it,"

He nodded, taking the parcel from her. She hesitated, then conjured up a pair of wildly patterned socks. This made Harry raise an eyebrow.

"If you ever visit Dobby, I'd…I'd like you to leave this for him."

Harry stared at the socks, dumbstruck. In a few of the letters, Harry had eventually told Mrs. Malfoy about the fate of Dobby but not much was revealed to him about how she felt about it. He took the socks and hugged her again.

Narcissa seemed surprised but a smile crossed her lips and she patted his head.

"Stay well,"

"You too."

Later that night, Harry gave Mrs. Weasley the parcel without telling her where it was from, but judging from the sad smile, she knew who the sender was. She hugged him tightly and told him to get to bed because it was late. He headed upstairs to Ron's room to find Ron and Hermione still awake.

"How was it mate? Glad to know you're not poisoned, though we still can't be too sure." Ron said as Harry entered through the door. Harry took off his coat and sat down, grinning.

"It was fun."

~.~

Based on a post on tumblr by sea-rogue.

Ps. Would have loved to have Draco say "Mother, what the fuck." but he isn't really the type to say that so.