A.N. Oh boy. Whoops! Its accidentally been several months since I updated again. Just so you all know, we are definitely getting towards the end of this fic. I imagine it will probably be about 5-7 more chapters depending on how my current pacing goes. Let me tell you, writing Narcissa and Lucius is so hard for me and yet I keep doing it. Life has been super stressful recently, so writing this chapter was a really great way to kind of relax and take time for myself. Thank you all for your continued support and for staying with me despite my hectic life and schedule making updates sporadic
Hermione was sleeping in her room when her alarm charm silently alerted her to people in her house. By the glow of the lights, it seemed to be three people. Taking quick stock of her surroundings, she reached for the wand she kept under her pillow. Without time to worry about her hair or state of dress being combat ready, she swung out of her covers, slightly chilled by the cool summer evening air. Even as it approached the heat of August, the nights retained their eerie cold.
Wand at the ready, Hermione could hear simultaneously the less-grizzled Mad-Eye of her current time and the older one from her time shouting in her head, "Constant Vigilance lass!"
Quieting her footsteps in the old home was no simple feat, with the soft-grey wood having deteriorated during the time it had laid unstopped on after Ariana Dumbledore's death. It may have seemed irregular to most, for Hermione to wander around the house on her days off finding paths that creaked less or would keep her silent altogether, but both the Moodys weren't fools to have Constant Vigilance as their call.
As she approached the end of the hallway, she knew she had to turn out the light at the tip of her wand if she wanted to sneak up on whoever these intruders were. Shifting her weight to the bottom of her heels and changing into her battle stance, Hermione went dark.
The sitting room had a large open entryway off the kitchen and hallway, with a screen separating the floo from the rest of the room. She had learned her lesson after the second time Sirius had 'popped' by only to find Hermione in her dressing gown caught entirely unawares.
Voices drifted in the still air of the night, carrying gently to Hermione. As she approached, it became clear who's precise voice that was. What was he doing here?
Lifting her wand once more and relaxing just slightly, Hermione cast a lumos spell and pushed away the screen. In front of her stood Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco Malfoy huddled together in the exit of her floo.
"Lucius?" Hermione burst, confusion and concern eating away at all the possibilities her brain had begun creating. "Bloody hell. Come in." As she pushed in the screen, so it folded to the side, the light from her wand seemed to stir the sleeping baby.
Draco began to cry softly, and Narcissa, looking to her husband with the most clear look of 'you will explain yourself later', sat and began to nurse him. It only took a moment for him to soothe, but Lucius had waited to explain until his wife and child had been settled.
"I went to Gringotts with Rabastan. Everything went according to plan. Idiot fool was so busy gawking at the meaningless bauble I'd given him for Zabini he never even noticed I was gone. However…" A haunted expression formed on Lucius's already gaunt features. Hermione held her hand up as a signal for him to pause and other than a wrinkle on his nose at the distaste of having been silenced, he didn't fight her.
"Let me make tea and start a real fire. Do you need food? I have some meat pie leftover from dinner." Lucius seemed to begin to decline, finding some poncy aristocratic way to refuse her help, but Narcissa interrupted.
"That would be lovely thank you. Although I must say, I am at a disadvantage. I do not know who you are, although you and my husband seem to be…" Narcissa paused, and in that moment, it was almost as if her eyes transformed into the eyes of a predator, eyeing down her prey moments before the feast. "very close."
"Let me get the tea and food started and then I will explain…what I can." Hermione used the lumos she had already cast to turn on the lamps in the sitting room and kitchen, filling the dreary and dark space with some much-needed illumination. Due to the open nature of the doorways, she could still hear the Malfoys as she rushed to summon her cups and plates and heat the food. She hadn't seen much on Lucius or Narcissa's expressions, slytherin as always, but there had been a tone of fear in Lucius' voice she had never heard before.
She boiled the kettle the muggle way, allowing herself some precious time to process exactly what was going on. This was the last horcrux they needed. She'd retrieved the diadem, the locket, the diary, the ring, and now the cup. Voldemort was so close to defeat and everything had gone up in smoke. Without Lucius in place, Snape was her only hope now. If he'd been compromised, then their entire plan was in danger.
Pulling out her coin necklace, she rubbed it lightly, debating on whether to call Sirius. They'd been in an awkward stage of romantic tension every since Harry was born, but she needed him. Taking a deep breath, she realized that nothing good could come from telling him now. Casting the protean charm, she sent a message to her companions about a need for an emergency meeting in the morning.
Putting her necklace back under the neckline of her dressing gown, Hermione turned off the hob as the gentle beginning whistle of the kettle broke through her tense silence. The meat pies had been a gift from Alice Longbottom, who in her emergent motherhood had apparently turned into a happy housewife. Or as Remus had put it upon delivery, "She said, 'Tell Hermione that she hasn't come round yet, and I will keep sending her food to guilt her into visiting until the dreadful war is over and I come kick her arse myself and drag her to dinner."
Hermione hadn't meant to avoid the Longbottoms, particularly since Neville was born, but as time moved forward, she couldn't waste any of it. Voldemort was more vulnerable now than ever and she had just over a year left before the date where Lily and James Potter died. Her plan had gone fairly smoothly so far, which is why she always worried something would go wrong. She'd barely been sleeping, much less eating or visiting friends. Every waking moment was dedicated to protecting the people she loved.
Finally, the oven timer dinged as the meat pies completed their warming up. Placing the tea and pies on a tray, she levitated them behind he as she returned to the awkward and stressful current dilemma in her sitting room.
Narcissa thanked her with that way purebloods had about them of politeness. It was amazing that even in whatever situation had brought them here, the Black sister's etiquette training would not allow her to be anything less than perfect.
For a few moments, the only sounds in the small sitting room were the clinking of forks and spoons as tea was prepared and pies were eaten. As anxious as Hermione was to know what had befallen her co-conspirator, it was obvious in both their presence and their faces that something grave had occurred.
Finally, after a few minutes of drinking an eating, Lucius fixed his eyes on Hermione.
"When I touched the cup…" He looked to where Narcissa was slowly rocking Draco against her chest. There was a brief flicker of worry in his face, that Hermione may not have noticed had she not spent so much time with the Slytherin. "He saw me. He saw into my mind, even to the parts I had thought so occluded that even I wouldn't remember them."
Narcissa's already tight frown turned down even more as her brow furrowed. It must have been difficult for her, not knowing anything about what was going on, only to be pushed from your home into the waiting arms of a stranger.
"What does he know?" Hermione asked, folding her hands as if to remain calm. Secretly though, her fingernails were digging so hard into her skin, it felt like she may have drawn blood.
"I don't know."
With that answer, a terrified shiver ran down her back. "Does he know about Snape?"
Lucius simply shook his head. "I can't really describe it, the feeling of whatever that thing was in my head. But I don't think it got much past my current transgression. What I do know is it called me, by name."
Hermione pursed her lips and gave him a small nod of understanding. Turning her attentions to Narcissa, she smiled at the woman, trying not to let her anxiety and fear show through.
"You were a Gryffindor weren't you?" Narcissa's voice was crisp, not a single fleck of emotion passing through her stony expression.
Hermione just nodded, nervously adjusting the edges of her dressing gown. "Narcissa, please hand Draco to Lucius."
The woman seemed to bristle at the instruction, but Lucius placed a hand on her shoulder as if to say 'not now'. Incredibly reluctantly, the new mother handed over her baby to Lucius.
"What I am about to say sounds absolutely insane, but I promise you that it is 100% the truth. In order for me to tell you though, you will need to make a vow." Hermione continued on to explain her altered spell and how it was for all of their safety. Narcissa originally refused, even standing and trying to take Draco from Lucius, but he stopped her.
"Cissa, you have to do this." Hermione had never heard Lucius refer to his wife by this pet name before in the knowing presence of others, and it was an incredibly uncomfortable experience once again feeling like an intruder into this private family matter.
"Fine. But you will answer my questions after Lucius, and if I don't like the answers, I will take Draco to my grandmother's cottage and we will never see you again." Lucius just nodded, glancing a cautious look at Hermione. Narcissa sat back down on the chaise lounge next to the chair that Hermione was seated in. Reaching out her right hand, Narcissa waited for whatever was to be her fate.
The spell worked as it had the many times Hermione had performed it, and once the pale gold light of the residual magic faded, the story began.
Hermione had told the story so many times at this point that it was a mindless repetition. Narcissa, to her credit, sat and listened to the entire story. When they arrived at Lucius' involvement, the blonde witch turned to stare for a long moment at her husband.
"That is quite a story Ms. Granger. I would normally accuse you of having lied or deceived me and insisted my husband be checked for potions and enchantments, but something about your story resonates with me." Narcissa stood and straightened her gown through a heavy pause in her statement. "I know what it is to love someone so much you would change the world to ensure their happiness."
Draco stirred in Lucius's arms as Narcissa approached and grabbed her son. "You've placed my family in great danger Ms. Granger. However if I am to believe your tale, then you have also made possible a future for my son where he is not a pawn for the greatest dark wizard of our time."
Hermione looked up in that moment as Narcissa fixed Lucius with the most brutal and cold glare she'd ever seen. It wasn't even aimed at her and yet the hairs on her neck stood up.
"In this future that may not be, you sacrifice our son to be marked for life out of fear. Slytherins may be cunning, calculated, often-times cruel, but I never took you to be a coward." Narcissa placed a hand on Lucius's face, too soft and kind for the cruel look in her eyes. "You have made a better choice here Lucius." The wickedness of her smile melted away as pure relief washed in her eyes.
"It took me years to have a son and if we have to assist a mudblood to keep him safe than so be it." Narcissa's use of the slur didn't even phase Hermione as the two Slytherins embraced.
"I'll go set up a guest room for you. I've never had guests before so I will do what I can to make the room comfortable." Hermione hoped that it wasn't too obvious that she was running away as she sped-walked down the hall. On her left, was one of the rooms that she had left untouched, believing it to be Aberforth's old room.
Opening the door, she took stock of the meager decorations. There was a poster of a Quidditch player so faded, that Hermione could hardly tell what team or number they were. A single lamp sat unlit on a chest of drawers that had a thick layer of dust collecting over top of it. She pulled her wand out of her sleeve once again to transfigure the chest of drawers into a crib for Draco as well as trying to make the ancient bed's mattress a little softer. Overall, there wasn't much she could do to the room but when she left, it was at least a slightly improved accommodation.
"Lucius." Narcissa whispered as soon as that woman was out of her sight. "What have you gotten us involved in?"
Lucius brushed aside a piece of Narcissa's hair that had fallen slightly above her brow, returning it to its place atop her head.
"I know what it seems love, but when I saw her memories. When I saw what I do to our son, what the Dark Lord does to our son, I couldn't allow myself to hold onto my pride."
"And what of Abraxas? You've left your father to die. The Dark Lord will kill him. You know he will." Lucius looked away for a moment, guilt eating away at his conscience.
"Hermione says Abraxas dies later this year of the Dragon Pox anyway." Even as he said it, he understood how cruel it was. He'd never been overly fond of his father, but he still had raised him. Abraxas would've beaten him blue with a dragon chain if he'd ever learned that not only was Lucius regularly interacting with a mudblood, but helping to take down Voldemort as well.
"We're so close Cissa. He's got…" Lucius looked around him despite the emptiness of the hall and hushed his voice even further. "He's made horcruxes."
A look of abject horror crossed Narcissa's face. Granger had not mentioned anything about horcruxes in her version of events. A shiver ran down he spine as she recalled what her grandfather had once told her about the dark magic of horcruxes. He'd said that only someone lacking any sense of humanity or sanity would ever dare the feat. Narcissa had joked them, saying that it would be perfect for Bella, but the joke wasn't so funny anymore.
"And this cup, this…" Her voice caught in her throat as she struggled to even say the word. "This horcrux. It knew you? Its connected to his consciousness?"
Lucius nodded, placing a lithe hand on top of hers as she hugged Draco even tighter to herself.
"Do you see now why we had to leave? Even now we are unsafe. Any moment he could burn my mark, make my body turn to fire from the inside out. You and Draco need to flee. Tomorrow we'll get you to France. My mother had a secret cottage in Bordeaux she liked to use as an escape when she was upset with father. He never discovered its location, but she took me once. The summer before I took my mark." A sad smile crossed Lucius's tight features as the irony of the situation hit him. "She never wanted me to be marked. She wanted me to stay out of it, to stay safe."
"As I do for Draco. When I married you, it was you I married, not this mark. I know what must be done, but you promise me one thing Lucius." Tears blurred the edges of Narcissa's eyes as she looked harshly up at her husband. He nodded curtly, "Anything my love."
"You will win this war. Kill that man. Then you will come fetch me and Draco. We have a chance here to protect our boy, to protect his future. Don't let Him endanger our family ever again."
Hermione peaked her head back out towards the sitting room. "I've urm…I've done what I could. The bed might not be as comfortable as you are used to but it'll do. I've also transfigured a crib for Draco if you like."
Lucius and Narcissa remained silent as they nodded their heads. Hermione realized as she looked at them that the exhaustion they must be feeling seemed to be settling into their bones. It was nearly 3 in the morning by the time they'd gotten everything settled.
"My wards are utterly impenetrable. It took Snape 4 hours to break through them last time and they've been strengthened since. I know…I know it doesn't mean much to you, but try to get some sleep. We can figure this all out in the morning." Turning her gaze exclusively to Lucius, she informed him that she would be calling an emergency meeting in the morning. She was supposed to have time, almost a year to piece together a masterpiece, but time had run out.
"We have all the pieces in place, so let's checkmate the King."