The fireplace in Severus' office lit up, and his wife and daughter stepped out. A bright smile spreading across his face, he rushed over to greet them. He'd had duty the night before and hadn't gotten home until late, and although he once would have considered it pathetic, he wasn't the least bit ashamed to admit how much he had missed them. "Daddy!" Carina exclaimed as she ran into his arms.

"Hello, my darling girl! How was your day?"

"Mummy and I went shopping, an' I got a new doll!" She held out the golden-haired porcelain doll for his inspection. "See, it's got yellow hair like Mummy's. Isn't she pretty?"

"She is," Severus agreed.

"Don't I get a kiss, too?" Narcissa asked Severus with a bit of a pout. He knew she wasn't really jealous and could never be jealous of their daughter. He stood up to embrace her, and then there was a knock at the door. "It's Draco!" Narcissa rushed past him, a flash of perfumed taffeta and excitement. She pulled open the door and grabbed her son in a fervent embrace. "Oh, my sweetheart, how I've missed you!"

Draco hastened to close the door behind him. "I've missed you too, Mother, but it's only been a few weeks."

"You must tell me everything!" she said, dragging the boy over to the carefully laid table that Severus had prepared for them.

Severus turned the tables on her. "Don't I get a kiss too?" His facial expression mocked her pout perfectly, and his tone was sardonic.

Meanwhile, Carina had spotted her brother. "Draco! Draco! Draco!"

Draco picked her up, hugged her, and shielded her eyes. "Avert your eyes, Carina! It's that mushy stuff again!"

Severus had taken his wife in his arms and kissed her lovingly, but chastely. "I missed you, my sweet," he whispered in her ear.

"Eww!" Carina squealed with wide-eyed glee. Neither of them were actually disgusted when their parents kissed, but this was a little game of theirs. "Mushy stuff!"

"Shall we have dinner?" Severus asked. He had transfigured his desk into a small dining table earlier, and they all gathered around it. He glanced over at Narcissa, who was positively beaming, and was extremely glad Dumbledore had granted him this perk. Draco wasn't allowed to leave Hogwarts during the term, but at least they could all have dinner together in his office every once in a while. He rang a bell, and cups of lobster bisque appeared before each of them.

"This is wonderful." Narcissa's joy radiated out of her like sunshine.

"The soup is quite good," Draco said.

Narcissa slapped his shoulder playfully. "Not the bisque, you silly! I meant, this, us, having dinner together. How are your studies?"

"Very good, thanks, Mother. I'm learning something new every day."

"He's top of the class at Potions, of course," Severus said proudly. "And the other professors all tell me he's doing splendidly."

"Excellent, Draco," Narcissa purred. "How are Harry, Neville, and Ron? Do you see much of them?"

"They're doing fine. I see them every day."

"Have you made any new friends?" she asked.

"Oh, yes. I've become quite close with Blaise Zabini, and I'm also friends with Padma Patil and Hermione Granger."

"I recognize the names Patil and Zabini," Narcissa said. "But I'm unfamiliar with Granger. Who are her parents?"

Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "They're dentists, I think."

Severus could see that his son was somewhat distressed. "She's the brilliant girl I told you about, dear. She's quite talented at Potions, although nowhere near as skilled as Draco."

"What are dentists?" Narcissa asked.

Draco gave a half-hearted shrug. "Umm…I'm not sure."

"They care for people's teeth," Severus explained.

Narcissa looked puzzled. "I've never heard of that before."

Draco turned a bit red. "She's muggle-born."

"Oh, of course. I seem to remember Catharine mentioning a sweet little muggle-born girl who attended Harry and Neville's birthday party. I think it's marvelous that you've become friends with her."

"You do?" Draco asked, his relief plainly showing on his face and in his voice. Severus wondered if his son had detected the slight emphasis his wife placed on the word "friends". Draco had always been precociously perceptive, but he hadn't seemed to pick up on it.

"Absolutely, my darling! Is she adjusting well to wizarding society?"

Draco nodded. "She learns very quickly, and she's studying harder than anyone else." He looked around the table and dissolved into giggles when he saw what his baby sister had gotten up to while they were otherwise occupied. "Oh, Mother, look at Carina!"

Carina's face was barely visible underneath a thick coating of lobster bisque. "Yummy!" She said triumphantly.

"Oh, darling, you are positively covered in bisque. Let's get you cleaned up. My goodness, I think you've managed to wear more than you've eaten!" Narcissa siphoned off the worst of the mess with her wand, and then she conjured a flannel, dampened it with an aguamenti spell, warmed it with a warming charm, and gently wiped the remainder of the soup from her daughter's face, neck, arms, and hands.

Later that evening, Severus reclined in bed watching his wife take down her long, blonde hair and brush it out in smooth strokes. He liked her hair best this way, loose and flowing, and tonight it tumbled over her pale shoulders that were left bare by her long, sleeveless silver nightgown. Gorgeous, his wife was. He was about to tell her so, when she turned and made a comment that he missed due to his rather ensorcelled state. "I'm sorry, darling. I wasn't listening properly. I'm afraid I was altogether too entranced by your beauty."

She smiled at him. Narcissa wasn't one for false modesty; she knew her positive attributes well, and beauty was certainly among them. "I was just saying how nice it was to be able to see Draco tonight. I miss him so, and I get a bit jealous that you get to see him every day."

"Yes, well, most days it's only during my class or a glimpse of him in the Great Hall during lunchtime. I haven't had a chance to really speak with him much other than when he came to speak to me about getting out of flying lessons."

"Do you think he's adjusting all right? He doesn't seem too homesick, does he?" Worry lines temporarily creased her flawless forehead.

"He seems to be doing very well, although he's not socializing with his housemates other than Zabini."

"Why do you think that is, Severus?"

"For the most part, I've no idea. He had a bit of trouble with Nott at the beginning of term, like I told you, but I haven't heard of any problems other than that."

"What do you think of this Granger girl?"

"She's exceptionally bright, eager to learn, and she's adjusting to Hogwarts quite well." Severus considered Narcissa's lengthy adjustment period to Sirius dating Catharine. "Does it bother you that Draco is socializing with a muggle-born child?"

She sighed. "I've no problems with Draco making friends with muggle-born children, no, but I hope it's just that. I have high hopes for Draco, and an unwise marriage would make things so much more difficult for him."

"Marriage! Narcissa, they're eleven!"

"They won't be eleven forever. It seems like he's quite taken with the girl already."

"What in the world makes you say that? I haven't gotten the slightest hint that Draco's even interested in girls yet."

She raised an elegantly shaped eyebrow at him. "Call it mother's intuition."

"What if he did marry a muggle-born? What would you do? Disown him? Spurn the girl?"

"Of course not! But, Severus, consider the position Draco currently occupies. He is the last of a once-proud line, now brought low by his biological father's imprisonment. If he marries wisely—to one of the Greengrass girls, one of the Patil twins, or even Ginevra Weasley—you know, a pure-blood of good standing, but with moderate views on blood purity…just think of the influence they could wield within the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

"More so than if he married a talented witch of muggle parents?"

"Don't pretend to be naive, Severus. It's difficult enough for Sirius to make his voice heard on that council, and he has more true friends there than Draco will likely have. If he marries a muggle-born, blood supremacists will despise him for sullying the Malfoy line, and everyone else will contend that he's just trying to shake off the taint of Lucius being a death eater."

"It's not as if the council wields any actual power any more. They don't even get a seat on the Wizengamot any longer."

"Oh, I suppose that's why the Prophet covers their meetings, because they're so powerless." She put her hair brush back on her vanity and sat on the bed beside him.

Her ivory skin beckoned him from the low drape of the back of her nightgown. He'd been irritated with her only a moment before, yet now he found himself reaching a hand to caress her back. He forced himself to withdraw his hand as he struggled to remain focused on their conversation. There was a question he'd been wanting to ask her for a long time. "What changed your mind about Catharine? Was it just that you got to know her, or was there something else?"

"After a while, there just didn't seem to be any point opposing the union. I'd hoped, at first, that Sirius' relationship with her was just a casual thing and that he could be swayed to see reason, but when it became clear to me that he loved her, well, what good would it have done to continue? I'd have lost him, and then I wouldn't even have been able to guide her in navigating wizarding society."

Severus nodded. He'd thought as much. Narcissa's tendency to be pragmatic in all matters save fashion was one of the many things he loved about her. "And now, can you imagine our lives without her?"

Her smile was pure and radiant. "No, I honestly can't. She's like a sister to me, and her fashion sense is impeccable, both magical and muggle."

"So maybe you should just let Draco choose his own path, and everything will work itself out."

"Severus Snape, when did you become such the optimist?" she giggled as she lay down beside him.

"I had to, I suppose, or I never would've had the courage to propose to you." He pulled her close as she snuggled her head against his chest. He knew this wouldn't be the last of this sort of conversation, and he chided himself for not asking the other question he'd both wanted and dreaded to ask. For now, though, he decided to let it be.