Making the future history
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and many of the places mentioned in this story. The plot is the only thing created by me.
GoddessonmyKnees:- I'm glad I managed to make it hot and sweet- I always get a bit concerned when I'm writing sex scenes haha.
Saintsational:- I'm glad you enjoyed it.
T'Arrah:- I'm happy that seeing Sev and Harry together was good. Hope you like Narcissa's role in this chapter.
TheSlytherinShadow:- I'm sorry for keeping you away from your dinner but I'm glad you wanted to read my chapter that much.
DawnCloud221:- Yes the plot bunny is very evil to me sometimes but I've managed to make friends with it at the moment. We'll see how long that lasts. As for the happy ending…well I wouldn't want to give anything away. ;)
Jaffa Jaffa:- I'm glad you enjoyed the sex scene and the detail in it haha.
Paon:- I was missing Sev too- perhaps more than Harry was. My view on Narcissa is very much the same as yours- I feel bad for her, considering her life is controlled by Lucius' choices and idiocy.
Limelight12:- I needed to lighten the mood somehow- especially before the tone of this chapter and bringing Sev back seemed the best way to do this. You will see more of Narcissa in this chapter- hope you like it!
KingdomOfYourHeart:- The break in chapter is here! So you'll see how it goes now. I wish I could put Harry and Sev back together now but unfortunately Harry's life just isn't that easy! Keep reading!
Chapter 37:- Malfoy Manor
Although much preparation had gone into the day, Harry was extremely nervous about what might happen. He would never admit this to either Ron or Hermione because it just wasn't the same for them. Sure they were helping him with this mission and he greatly appreciated it but if they wanted to, either one or both of them could back out at any moment. This wasn't true for Harry: he had a prophecy to fulfil and if he didn't manage to kill Voldemort, he knew that inevitably it would be him that would die. 'Neither can live while the other survives' repeated in his head constantly while Hermione sat fretting about not knowing enough counter curses for what might lie in the basement of Malfoy Manor. It was 11:45 and far too late to be worried about not knowing enough spells as far as Harry was concerned. They needed to try this today; they had been avoiding the inevitable for too long and they were not going to waste any more time.
As soon as it was 11:59, the trio apparated to their usual spot on the left side of the Manor, concealing themselves as soon as they could. Hermione had cast disillusionment charms on herself and Ron, while Harry hid under his invisibility cloak. They looked into the house and saw a troubled looking Narcissa with blonde hair covering her face, which she soon swept back with shaking hands to reveal a puffy and tear-stained face. She often looked like this when they spied on her, in fact on the odd occasion Harry had watched her cry for the entirety of his watch. Eventually after calming down, Narcissa stood up and cast a spell on herself that they couldn't hear through the glass. The bags under her eyes disappeared, her cheeks were less puffy and her redness had changed back to the usual pale complexion that Harry would only ever associate with Draco or his mother. Holding her chin up slightly higher than looked natural, Narcissa spun on her heel and apparated to pay her daily visit to Voldemort.
Only a few seconds later, Hermione encouraged them to apparate inside the building. They concentrated on what they could see of the living room, hoping that it would be enough to get them inside. Luckily when they opened their eyes, all three of them were standing in the house, looking around at how different it looked when there was no pane of glass standing between them. Harry immediately left the room and began searching for the basement. The three of them filled out into the hallway, which was narrower than Harry had expected in such a big house. Hermione led them through to the kitchen, which was where they had seen a door on their previous visits that Narcissa hadn't ever opened. The kitchen was large and as dark as the rest of the house but everything appeared to be untouched. Paying attention to nothing in there, the three ran immediately to the door; unsurprisingly it was locked when Ron tried to pull it open.
'ALOHOMORA!' he shouted pointing his wand to the lock. Nothing happened. Harry was irritated. Sure he had expected the room to be locked but that was the only spell that he knew of that would have opened it. After all the planning they had done before daring to break in, their plan was failing due to an intensive locking charm.
'Hermione, you must know another spell that might open it?'
'No that's the only one I know unless you want to break the door but I hardly think we can do that without her noticing someone's been here!' Harry kicked at a chair in frustration, trying his best to think through all books of magical spells that he had read to try and remember if he had seen another unlocking spell at any point. However, he was fairly certain that alohomora was the only one that he had ever seen and it had never failed them before. Suddenly an idea struck him and hope filled him once more.
'Hermione. Cast alohomora!'
'Harry, Ron just tried that- you saw him' Hermione looked at her friend very confused.
'Your wand has a spell strengthener. Please try it!'
'Alohomora' said Hermione with no emotion, as she was not expecting the spell to work at all. Luckily, this happened to be one of those very rare times when Hermione was wrong and the door unlocked with a satisfying click. Harry pushed it open without even allowing his friends time to bask in their shock.
'Come on! She'll be home soon!' They closed the door behind them and used Hermione's lumos to guide their way deep down into the basement, careful to move quietly and carefully, knowing that Narcissa would soon be home. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Harry let out a disappointed sigh. The room was jam-packed with loads of different items that seemed to be entirely unorganised, which contrasted to what they had seen of the rest of the house. Harry could only assume that while Narcissa clearly cared about the organisation of the house, it appeared that Lucius did not. This was clearly his room for storing artefacts that even his wife was not allowed to see. He bared this in mind as he searched through all of the useless items, not touching any by hand, worrying about there being a curse on any of them. It was only last year that Lucius' son Draco had brought a cursed necklace from Borgin and Burkes so it was anyone's guess what could be contained in the darkest depths of Malfoy Manor.
After a full half an hour of looking through the items, Harry was almost certain that the horcrux wasn't there. It pained him to admit it though as this had been their only lead to it. Admittedly, this had always been a longshot but after the amount of time that they had spent obsessing over this, it was a complete pain to not find anything.
'Harry, I think we should go. It isn't here and we're only endangering ourselves by staying any longer.' Irritated, Harry didn't respond to his friend and angrily spun on his heel intending to apparate back to Grimmauld Place. Instead, he spun in a full circle before falling to the floor, dizzy. He hadn't been able to apparate. Panicking now, he urged Ron to try, who also failed.
'Oh great. We plan to get in here for about a month, get here, find nothing and now we can't bloody get out!' moaned Ron.
'Ron don't shout! We have to get out of here. There are clearly anti-apparation enchantments and for all we know, someone could know that we tried to apparate.'
'The only way out is going back out there. Hardly a plan is it?' Ron snapped.
'I'd sooner face my chances with Malfoy's mum than hang around to see if anyone else turns up!' Harry retorted, heading towards the steps. Reluctantly, Ron agreed and the three of them quietly but quickly made their way back up the steps and paused when they reached the door. Hermione pressed her ear up against it, irritated that they didn't bring any extendable ears. Upon hearing nothing, Hermione recast the enchantments on herself and Ron and allowed Harry time to pull on his cloak before slowly opening the door. Ron tried to apparate as soon as it was open, failing but not managing to fall over this time. Hermione shut the door and as soon as the wood hit the frame, their hearts stopped as they heard a cry of 'EXPELLIAMUS!' All three of them had attempted to apparate upon hearing the beginning of the spell but Harry's luck had his wand flying out of his hand and into Narcissa's as he felt his friends leave his side.
As much as he was irritated for being the one left in this situation, he hoped that Ron and Hermione weren't stupid enough to come back for him.
'Who's there?' Narcissa said shakily, 'you may as well answer me considering you have no wand.' Harry looked at the moment in front of him, wishing that he had any other option other than to reveal himself. Narcissa's glamour was once again off her face and Harry could see brand new tear stains on her cheeks. He would have to reveal himself. If it came to it, he was sure that he would be able to physically overcome the fragile woman in front of him and get his wand back. There was nothing else to do and so heart beating very fast, Harry removed the cloak from himself and allowed Narcissa to eye him up and down in shock.
'Harry Potter?' she questioned, 'what are you doing in my house?' She tried to appear confident but Harry could see her wand arm shaking as she continued to point it at him.
'I'm sure you know that I can't really tell you that.'
'I deserve to know why someone is in my house! Don't you think my life is disrupted enough as it is without having people intruding in my house?' Harry could see the woman getting very distressed and he was sure that at any moment she would reach breaking point. Perhaps then he would be able to get his wand back from her when she was feeling vulnerable.
'I really am sorry Mrs Malfoy. I don't mean to distress you but anything I tell you will get back to the one person that can't hear about it.'
'You mean the Dark Lord? You're here because of him?'
'Sort of, yeah.'
'Everyone thinks you're in hiding. Too scared to face him. You're a lot braver than I thought. I wish my family were as brave as you.' Harry felt for her, knowing the cowardice of her husband who was supposed to look after her and her son, who unwillingly followed in his father's footsteps. 'I probably disgust you getting tied up into this war when I don't belong in it' she continued. Perhaps it was time to try a new tact- Harry just didn't have it in him to attack such a fragile person.
'Mrs Malfoy you do not disgust me. There are many people that have been dragged into this war when they don't belong in it. The only difference between you and them is that you were dragged onto the wrong side.'
'I don't want this anymore. I'm tired of people keeping an eye on me and I'm sick of not being able to do what I want. I want my family safe.' Harry only just caught the last couple of words, as she had started crying.
'No one would want that and it isn't your fault.'
'You are the one that's supposed to stop him' she looked as though she was about to lower her wand but seemed to think better of it.
'Yes. You see I've been forced into this myself. I'm 17 and I'm expected to defeat a Dark wizard.'
'You're so young. Just like my Draco. He doesn't want any of this either. He won't say that but I know him better than he thinks. I suppose you think he's a coward like his father.'
'I understand why Draco is doing what he is. I know that he would rather stay out of it but I think he knows that not joining Voldemort'- Narcissa flinched as her said the name 'would put his family in danger. He's doing it for the same reason that you are.' At this, Narcissa did lower her wand- Harry knew that sympathising with her would make her feel less threatened.
'You need to defeat him. Too many people have suffered because of him and that includes the ones that are supposed to be his followers. Whatever you were looking for here won't be here. He doesn't trust us. He knows that Lucius is a coward.' Harry had never even spoken to Malfoy's mother before but the fact that she was standing in front of him, defeated and begging him to defeat Voldemort, immediately made him drop his assumptions of her. She was a broken woman that had followed the wrong path, due to the stupid decisions of her husband and eventually that had all given in to fear.
'Mrs Malfoy, it is never too late to change you know. No one would blame you for going into hiding with your family.'
'Lucius wouldn't have it. He thinks he's getting higher up in the Dark Lord's ranks- he's the only one that can't see how useless he really is.'
'Then leave him. Take Draco and leave. I doubt Voldemort would spend his time looking for you when he has other things to be worrying about.' Narcissa was considering his idea so much that she had not objected to the use of her husband's master's name.
'I wish I could believe that but my sister would never forgive me. She is too close to the Dark Lord and she genuinely terrifies me when she's angry. She would come looking for me.'
'I don't think I can pass comment on Bellatrix without my blood boiling but instead of worrying about her, why don't you compare yourself to your other sister? Andromeda is a member of the Order of the Phoenix at the cost of being disowned by her family. I've only met her a couple of times but I know that she is a very brave woman that did not turn to the dark side. Try to be brave like her, rather than compare yourself to Bellatrix.'
'Maybe I should leave. In the Christmas holidays, Draco and I can flee. But I wouldn't want to flee. I'd want to help fight against him. I want him to lose everything like he has done to everyone else. But I have nowhere to go.'
'Mrs Malfoy I'm sure that if we called an Order meeting about this, someone would take you in. I know you haven't spoken in years but your sister is not a cold-hearted woman. She would accept you and Draco into her home.'
'You're right' sighed Narcissa, 'I can't go on pretending to be something that I'm not. I'm just so weak. Everyone walks all over me and I just can't take it anymore.' She handed Harry his wand back before burying her face in her hands in tears. Harry knew he should apparate at that moment but he couldn't seem to leave her feeling like this. Christmas was a month away and that would be her first opportunity to leave. She was crumbling in front of him and he didn't know that the fragile woman in front of him would last that long.
'Please don't be upset Mrs Malfoy. You've made the right decision.'
'Please call me Narcissa, Harry. I don't wish to be associated with my husband any longer. He makes me feel weaker than I already am.'
'Mrs- Narcissa, you are not weak and you shouldn't take notice of people that put you down. You are above them. You have made a brave decision and I will do all I can to help you.'
'Thank you.' Just then, two things happened at once: Harry heard an aggressive knock at the front door and a small pop beside him. Before even considering what was happening, Narcissa went to answer the door as the newly-appeared Hermione pointed her wand at her retreating back and yelled 'OBLIVIATE!' before grabbing Harry and apparating away with him. Perhaps if Harry hadn't reached out to Narcissa as Hermione had turned, everything would have been fine but as it turned out, he did reach out to her. And so seconds later, the two of them arrived in the entrance hall of Grimmauld Place with Hermione holding an unconscious, blood-covered Harry, screaming for Ron. Harry Potter had been splinched.
I am so excited to release this. I know it was a lot of talking towards the end but I felt that it was necessary for everyone to understand Narcissa's situation. Also, splinching Harry was a very last minute decision but I went with it. :P It gives me a reason to add something in the next chapter that I was looking for an excuse for. Also just want your opinion on something- was planning on setting the next chapter when Harry has recovered from his injury and doing a few flashbacks of what happened when he reached Grimmauld Place and then a couple of important events after that- Do you think I can pull that odd? Please read and review. :)