A/N: Alright guys, it's the chapter you've all been waiting for. It's time we finally meet the one and only: Narcissa Malfoy...

Tallyho!

Chapter 13:

December. Ron's arm was almost completely healed which allowed them to go back to more rigorous training. However, Draco was becoming more irritable by the day as he still received no news from Kingsley about his mother. During the last Order meeting, Kingsley could give him no information on the rescue mission which in turn led Draco to have horrible nightmares for the next few evenings. Hermione had to brew him a Dreamless Sleep Potion to ease the nightmares but he would still wake up exhausted from the stress over worrying about Narcissa.

Hermione tried to get him to play the piano again in order to ease his stress but he didn't play with the same conviction that he used to play with. It may have been his sanctuary but it was also just a sad reminder of his mother.

Then, finally, he got some information.

Kingsley pulled him aside at an Order meeting and told him that everything was set to go and the rescue mission would take place within the next few days. For a split second, Draco was relieved, but in a flash it was gone as he started to worry about how well the rescue mission would play out. Kingsley had told him the plan so he knew every detail but, still, he worried; what if Snape couldn't get the aurors into the mansion? What if one of the Death Eaters saw them? What if Narcissa was too frail to move? He worried and stressed to the point that he made himself sick. Repeatedly, he found himself on the bathroom floor throwing up what little contents his stomach held (since he was too stressed to eat) into the toilet. Hermione managed to find an herbal tea that helped calm his stomach and ease his nausea but he still stressed and was hardly sleeping at night. Whenever he did sleep, it was at odd hours of the day. Hermione made sure to keep Ron and Harry away from Draco for the time being since she knew he needed his space and it would hopefully allow him to get some sleep whenever he did manage to get some.

In the meantime, she, Harry, and Ron continued to train and discuss where the next horcrux might be and how to get it. After Harry had a vivid dream one night, they were able to determine that one of the horcruxes was at Hogwarts and that another one was at Gringotts; which one was where, they didn't know but it was better than nothing.

A couple more days passed and they still hadn't heard anything from Kingsley about how the rescue mission went. Draco was still miserable but Hermione had managed to coax him to go downstairs and play the piano for a while since it might lift his spirits. He played a slow, melancholic song halfheartedly. Hermione sighed and kissed the top of his head before walking out of the room. She was sitting in the living room watching Harry and Ron play wizard's chess when she heard the front door open. When she looked up to the door frame, she saw Kingsley walk in.

"Is she-?" she asked.

A small smile formed on Kingsley's lips as he nodded. "They're bringing her in right now."

Hermione shot up from the couch and uttered a quick thank you to Kingsley before going to the piano room to get Draco. He was still playing the same song, his head fallen dejected.

She walked up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Hey."

"Hey." he said quietly.

She leaned down and gave him a soft kiss where his neck met his shoulder. "I have a surprise for you."

"It's not more of that tea is it?"

She chuckled. "No, this is something better. Much better."

He sighed as he stopped playing and looked at her with sad eyes. She gave him a small smile. "It's worth it. I promise."

Trusting her, he grabbed her outstretched hand and let her lead him to the hallway. She let go of his hand as she put a supporting hand on his back and led him to meet his surprise. He looked up towards the front door and saw Snape, his aunt Andromeda, and a hooded figure standing in between them. He was about to ask what they were doing here when the hooded figure dropped her hood. Draco's breath hitched in his throat.

There, in between Snape and Andromeda, stood Narcissa Malfoy.

Her blonde hair had lost it's platinum sheen, she looked skinnier than was good for her, and her eyes held fear and apprehension but she was here, in Grimmauld Place. And she was alive. It was as if Christmas had come early for Draco. Narcissa's eyes scanned the foyer of the house that she hadn't been in in years. Her eyes froze when she saw her son standing in front of her.

Neither said a word for a moment as they stared at one another. It was as if time was standing still.

"M-mum?" Draco said timidly.

She said nothing. Only stared.

Getting a small nudge from Hermione, he took a tentative step forward. And then another. He kept taking them until he was right in front of her. "Mum… it's me."

Narcissa lifted a shaking hand to Draco's face but hesitated before touching him. She softly stroked his cheek as his eyes began to water.

"Draco," she said, her voice hoarse. "You're alive?"

He bit his lip and nodded. "Yeah, I'm alive." he whispered.

All at once, time began to move again as Narcissa pulled Draco in for a bone crushing hug which he returned full-heartedly. Both had tears streaming down their faces as Draco rushed out a series of apologies. Shortly after, Draco led Narcissa to the dining room followed by Snape and Andromeda while Kingsley took leave. Out of kindness and, dare they say it, respect, Harry and Ron stayed in the living room continuing their game while Draco and his mother were reunited. Hermione went back to watching them but were soon joined by Andromeda who sat next to Hermione on the couch.

Taking Hermione's hand in hers, Andromeda looked at her with nothing but gratefulness in her eyes. "Thank you." she said.

Hermione smiled. "I'm flattered by your gratitude, Andy, but I'm not the one you should be thanking. It's the Aurors who rescued Mrs. Malfoy."

Andromeda gave her a knowing smile. "I already have thanked them for the wonderful job they have done in rescuing my sister. But you, my dear, you set the ball in motion by saving Draco and talking to Kingsley about rescuing Narcissa. I will forever be grateful."

"I'm glad I could help." Hermione said smiling.

Just then, someone cleared their throat. The four looked to the door frame to find Snape standing there. "Andromeda," he said, "Narcissa is asking for you."

Andromeda looked at Hermione and gave her hand a small pat before walking out of the room to tend to her sister. "I will be taking my leave," he said, "Goodbye Miss Granger. Potter, Weasley."

"Goodbye Professor," Harry said before returning to his game with Ron. If Harry was bothered by Snape's presence in the house, he did a great job hiding it. In fact, he seemed completely unfazed by everything that had happened within the last hour as did Ron. Hermione just assumed it was because they either had other things on their mind or they just didn't care. She wasn't sure which she preferred.

Getting up from the couch, Hermione followed Snape into the foyer.

"Professor," she started. Snape turned around and faced her. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"W-well…" she hesitated, "Are you going to be okay? I- I mean, from You-Know-Who?"

A ghost of a smirk appeared on his face. "I've had an alibi for quite a while now and I'm quite skilled in Occlumency in case the Dark Lord has any suspicions. So, yes, I will be just fine."

She nodded. "Professor, I just wanted to say thank you for all the help you've given us. A lot of this wouldn't have been possible without you so, thank you."

He merely nodded and turned towards the door. Right before he walked out, he turned his head back to her. "Take care of yourself, Miss Granger."

"You as well, Professor."

She wasn't sure, but she swore she saw Snape smile before he left.

Hearing a noise behind her, she turned around to find Andromeda walking out of the dining room with Narcissa by her side and Draco following close behind. She walked up to the sisters with a small smile.

"Mrs. Malfoy, I don't think we've ever formally met." she said putting her hand out, "I'm Hermione Granger."

A small smile formed on Narcissa's lips as she shook Hermione's hand. Despite her haggard appearance, Hermione was surprised at how strong Narcissa's grip was. "Miss Granger, it's a pleasure to meet you. And an honor. Draco told me what you did. Not many people would work as diligently as you have to help us Malfoys. Thank you."

"I'm glad I was able to help. If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know."

Narcissa smiled and nodded as Andromeda led her upstairs to where she would be staying. Draco followed but gave Hermione's hand a quick squeeze first. She went back to the living room to tell Harry and Ron goodnight before going into her and Draco's room to wait for him.

Draco watched his aunt give his mother a sleeping draught so that she might get some rest. Both he and Narcissa wanted to talk and explain everything to each other but Andromeda insisted that his mother get some well deserved rest and a chance to absorb everything that had happened. She then insisted that Draco get some rest too since his appearance was only slightly better than his mother's. Giving his mom one last hug for the night, he followed Andromeda out of the room to let her sleep. He and Andromeda stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"It's good to see you, Draco."

"It's good to see you too, Aunt Andy."

She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't look good, sweetie."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I kind of went crazy with worry during Mum's rescue. But I'll be okay. Now that she's here, I can breathe easier."

She nodded in understanding. "Well you take care of your mum but take care of yourself too, okay?"

He nodded. "Good," she said, "I'll be back later in the week to check on her."

He nodded and then his aunt left. He walked into his room to find Hermione sitting on the bed waiting for him with a bag next to her on the floor. His brows furrowed. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Just to the next room. I don't think it's appropriate for us to stay in the same room while your mother's here. She's gone through enough shock as it is; I don't think she needs anymore by finding out that her son is living in sin with a muggleborn."

He raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you care about living in sin?"

"Since your mother got here." She stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It won't be that big of a change. I'll just be down the hall for now."

He rolled his eyes but sighed in defeat. "I hate it when you're right."

"Which is all the time." she joked smiling.

He smiled at her in return before leaning in to kiss her. She leaned her forehead against his as they embraced, both enjoying their moment of peace.

"I love you." Draco said before he could stop himself. Hermione pulled back and looked at him as he squeezed his eyes shut out of embarrassment and frustration at himself. He visibly relaxed when he opened his eyes and saw a smile on Hermione's face.

"I love you too." she said before kissing him again. While kissing her, he leaned behind him and locked the door. "Draco," she warned against his lips.

"Oh come on, Hermione," he said not removing his lips from hers, "don't spoil the moment."

He could feel her try to resist him for a moment but when she sighed into the kiss, he knew she wasn't going to leave tonight. If he had anything to do with it, she wouldn't switch rooms at all. He could see where she was coming from with his mother staying in the house now but he did intend to tell his mother about him and Hermione so there was no point in trying to hide it.

The million dollar question was: how would she handle it?

Hermione caved when Draco asked her to stay with him in his room despite her protestations about his mother only being a few doors down. However, they managed to keep quiet and Narcissa was none the wiser; or so they thought.

Narcissa was getting better by the day. Within the first couple of days, her skin color returned to normal, her eyes no longer had a glassy, distant look to them, and her hair was starting to brighten. As for Draco, he was no longer stressing himself out to the point that he was getting sick, he was able to keep his food down, and was sleeping through the night again. It seemed that reuniting Narcissa and Draco was just what he needed to remember why he left the Dark Lord's clutches in the first place.

After Narcissa was making visible improvements with her health, Hermione made Draco return to training with her and Harry and Ron. Although none of the boys would admit it, they liked working with each other now and after figuring out a system to work with each other, they all knew that they made a good team. Draco still refused to teach Hermione the Fiendfyre charm, however, because he didn't feel confident that'd he'd be able to teach her properly and he didn't want to put her that kind of danger while teaching her.

The Order meetings continued, Andromeda visited frequently, and life continued as normal as it could during a war. One evening, as Order members were arriving for a meeting, Draco was up in Narcissa's room talking to her.

"Don't be so hard on your dad, Draco, he's just made some bad choices."

"And those choices turned him into a bad person! He's not the man you married and he's not the man I grew up to know as my father. Mum, that man is gone. And he's not coming back."

Narcissa fought the tears that threatened to escape. Draco grasped his mother's hand and shut his eyes tightly. "I'm sorry. I've just-"

"No," Narcissa said, her free hand caressing his cheek as he opened his eyes, "Don't apologize. You don't need to explain yourself. I may have seen the same things that you've seen but I have only experienced a fraction of what you have. You've seen a side of your father that, unfortunately, may have tainted your image of him forever. But he is still my husband, Draco, and I know that deep down he loves us both." Draco scoffed.

"Please understand that, in the beginning, what your father did was to protect us; but it was only when he began to spiral down a dark road with no return that he became the man he is now. But please, know that the man who I fell in love with, the man who raised you is still in there somewhere. He's just been severely mislead."

Draco sighed as he stroked Narcissa's hand with his thumb. "Mum… that misguidedness ended up getting his own son caught into a war he didn't want to fight."

She nodded sadly. "I know, but you know you don't have to fight, Draco. You could just go into hiding and be safe."

"I can't do that, Mum; all this training would be a waste if I did that. Plus, I'm in too deep now. Granger started training me because I said that I wanted to fight and I meant it. I won't run away when this is just as much my war as everyone else's. The Order… they helped me; I won't turn my back on them when they need my help."

Narcissa sighed and put her other hand on Draco's. "You're too determined for your own good, you know that? But I won't stop you. You're right; this is everyone's war and, unfortunately, everyone must fight now. But I trust you and I know that you'll do the right thing."

Draco smiled at his mom and was about to respond when there was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," Narcissa called.

The door cracked open and Hermione peeked her head in. "Hi," she said quietly giving a small smile. Draco had to force himself to not break out into a grin as he saw his girlfriend. He hadn't had a chance to break the news to Narcissa yet and he didn't want to make her suspicious.

Narcissa smiled. "Hello, Miss Granger. Come in, please."

Hermione opened the door wider and walked into the room. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better, thank you. I finally feel like myself again."

"I'm glad to hear it." She looked at Draco. "The meeting's going to start soon, if you wanted to join us?"

He nodded. "I'll be down in a moment."

Hermione nodded and bit her lip as she looked back at Narcissa. "You're welcome to join us too, if you'd like, Mrs. Malfoy."

Narcissa chuckled. "Thank you, Miss Granger, but I think I'll stay up here for the evening."

"Alright," Hermione said as she began to walk out of the room, "well, if there's anything I can do for you, feel free to ask."

"Thank you Miss Granger."

As Hermione walked out of the room, she and Draco shared one last quick glance before she closed the door. Draco didn't realize it but he stared at the door for a moment too long; something that Narcissa did not miss.

She cleared her throat which caused Draco to look at her. She gave him a knowing glance with an eyebrow raised and a small smirk on her lips.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

"What?" he said tilting his head.

"Nothing, you've just… you've grown up so much in the past year."

He shrugged. "War does that to you."

She nodded. "I suppose it does. Go. They're waiting for you."

He stood up and walked towards the door. "You sure you'll be okay? I can stay."

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Draco, I'm sick, not dying! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Go."

Draco smirked at his mother and left the room. He went downstairs to the dining room to join the Order where he heard a clamor of voices. As he got closer he was able to distinguish which voice was which.

"Mum, you can't be serious!" Fred said.

"I'm completely serious!" Mrs. Weasley replied. "Why shouldn't we celebrate?"

"Um, because there's a war on and it seems a bit of absurd to want to celebrate Christmas in the middle of it!" George said.

"The war being on is the exact reason why we need to celebrate, George! Life is short and there's too much darkness in this world right now. We could do with some light and happiness!"

"Molly's right." Kingsley agreed. "There haven't been too many disturbances right now and Merlin knows how much longer that will last. It's important that we enjoy it while we can."

There was a mumbling of agreement amongst everyone in the room. Draco came up behind Hermione and lightly touched the small of her back (which did not go unnoticed by the Weasley twins) to let her know that he was there.

"What's going on?" he asked quietly.

"Mrs. Weasley wants to have a Christmas get-together with the Order while we have the time. Voldemort's been quiet for the last few days and we want to take advantage of that while we can before all hell breaks loose."

He nodded in understanding. Despite Narcissa's rescue (or disappearance as it would appear to the Dark Lord, Lucius, and the rest of the Death Eaters), attacks had been minimal and the Daily Prophet hadn't reported anything new yet. It was strange for Voldemort to be so quiet but Snape had confirmed that he was recruiting more allies in the mountain ranges in the Northwestern part of the country. Christmas was, for most people, a time of happiness and a chance to enjoy life no matter what's going on at the time so Draco could understand why Mrs. Weasley would want to have everyone together to enjoy what little good was left in the world while they had the chance.

"I think it's a wonderful idea." Andromeda interjected. "It shows the Dark Lord that he can't take all the happiness from us. Plus, we've been working incredibly hard, we all deserve a break."

There was a mumbling of agreement amongst the Order members. "Then it's decided," Molly said. The rest of the Order meeting was spent discussing plans for the Christmas celebrations with a few interjections about what was going on in the outside world. There more smiles at that one meeting then there had been in a long time.

It was the most pleasant Order meeting Draco had been to.