"Add the fluxweed one piece at a time," Narcissa instructed, "And then stir clockwise three times."

The steaming potion turned from blue to deep pink and Draco's mother nodded approvingly. She was all business as they prepared the potion in the Manor's dedicated workroom, wearing sensible robes and with her hair scraped back into a severe bun that would not have looked amiss on Professor McGonagall. Narcissa was often dismissed as a mere trophy wife, but Draco knew that his aptitude for potions owed a great deal to his mother's careful tutelage.

"What's the next step?" Draco asked, silver ladle still in hand.

She consulted the battered old grimoire in her hand. "Simmer for five minutes and stir in the powdered bicorn horn."

Draco set his wand to act as a timer and carefully measured the next ingredient.

"How did it go yesterday with the Granger girl after I left?" his mother asked casually.

"She was surprisingly calm, probably because she knows the only other use for human hair is Polyjuice potion and I'm not likely to disguise myself as a four-year-old." Draco smirked at the thought. "I think her intellectual curiosity overcame her anger. Eventually."

Narcissa looked smug. "It's an obscure potion and not something they teach at Hogwarts." Draco raised an eyebrow and she hastily reassured him. "Not because it's Dark! All the ingredients are perfectly legal. It's simply become less necessary - or perhaps less socially acceptable - for pure-blood wizards to demand proof of paternity from their wives as we've moved away from arranged marriages."

"How did you find out about it, mother?"

"Your grandfather Cygnus used it on me when I was six," Narcissa informed him with a twisted smile. "He was concerned when my hair didn't turn dark like both my sisters. My mother also had been 'keeping company,' as they say, with one of the blond Avery brothers. Of course, the potion confirmed that I was a Black, but that didn't stop Bella from calling me a little bastard until she finally left for Hogwarts."

"She was a right bitch," Draco said, hoping to console his mother.

Narcissa nodded in silent agreement. "I had a choice when I was seventeen to side with Bella or Andy. I often think that I chose wrong."

The Malfoys were not a demonstrative family, but Draco still reached out to pat his mother's hand. "We both made bad decisions at the age, mum."

"Speaking of Andromeda," his mother said brightly, eager to change the subject, "was Miss Granger able to explain why she asked her to look after Reg when he was a newborn instead of that Weasley woman?"

"She said the Weasleys were too much of a target. Also, Andromeda could pass off Reg as Teddy Lupin to anyone who asked, since one baby pretty much looks like another."

"So Miss Granger claimed the blond-haired baby I saw was Teddy?"

"No," Draco shook his head. "She told me that was a Granger family trait, to have light hair as a baby that darkens later. Even offered to show me her own baby pictures."

"It's plausible, I suppose," Narcissa considered. "She's a clever young woman - you'll need all your cunning if you hope to catch her in a lie. I asked Andy, but she said Miss Granger never told her who was the father, just begged her to take the baby."

Draco was acutely uncomfortable at the idea of Granger being so desperate as to leave her child with a virtual stranger, and was relieved when his wand buzzed, providing a distraction.

"Now add the unicorn hairs, stir counter-clockwise until dissolved, and remove the cauldron from heat," Narcissa told him.

"Do I add these now?" Draco inquired, holding up a parchment envelope with three red hairs.

His mother shook her head. "The potion needs to brew until the next new moon. Then you can test Reg's hair. For now, just cover it and let it steep."

A younger Draco would have pouted at the delay. Now, he shrugged it off, noting the date in chalk on the lid of the now-covered cauldron. "'Til November 4, then. Hopefully that gives me enough time to win over his mother."