Draco anxiously paced the length of Azkaban's waiting area. Excited as he was to see his mother again, he knew her appearance would reflect the time she'd spent in the cold, damp prison. He wasn't sure he would be able to cope with that.

Hermione's hand on his arm made him jump. "It'll be okay," she said softly. "She'll be okay."

"How can you know for sure?" He challenged. The worry gnawing at him was making him snippy, and he felt guilty for being short with her. She was only trying to be supportive — Hermione was the whole reason Mother was being released early.

"I'm sorry. I'm… I'm scared. But I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

She smiled and took his hand, squeezing it gently. "You're forgiven. It's an anxious time, and this horrible place doesn't help. I can feel the misery. It seeps into your mind. If you're already in a low headspace, it just compounds what you're already feeling."

"What if…" Draco pulled her to the hard, uncomfortable chairs and dropped into one. Hermione sat beside him and took his other hand. She watched him intently, silently encouraging him to continue.

"What if she's damaged? Physically, or…" He paused, gathering the courage to utter the thing that worried him the most. "Knowing how badly this place has affected the mental state of countless prisoners, what if she's never the same again? What if it's destroyed a part of who she used to be?"

Hermione sighed. She looked sad. "That's something we probably won't know right away," she said. "It is a potential risk, but not an inevitability. We can encourage her to visit a mind Healer — it will help her process not only her time here, but other traumas from her past. Other than that, all we can do is be there for her and give her as much support as we can while she adjusts to being free. And, as I'm sure you know from your own experience, it will take time."

An inner door opened, and they both looked up. A guard stepped through, leading Narcissa by the arm. Draco watched, frozen. She looked like her, and yet… not like her. She did not appear to be in good health, but nor did she appear to be at death's door — a fear he'd kept hidden even from Hermione. Yet, her appearance caused his chest to tighten. No longer did she carry herself with pride and dignity. Her hair and skin clearly showed the ravages of Azkaban. But when she saw him and smiled the way she always had, the special smile she'd had only for him, all Draco's apprehension melted away. The guard tapped the magical bindings around Narcissa's wrists, freeing her. Immediately, she extended her arms.

Draco ran to her, not even caring if the guard saw the tears that flowed freely down his cheeks. She pulled him into her embrace, rubbed his back and shushed him as he sobbed into her shoulder, the way she had when he was small. In that moment, he felt like everything would turn out okay.

"Here's your room, Mother. The washroom is opposite. I'm sure you'll want to bathe. Or maybe sleep. Would you like to rest, first? I could order you something to eat? You really should eat, you need to get your strength back."

Narcissa laid a hand on Draco's arm and smiled. "Don't fuss so, my Dragon. I may be down, but I'm not out. I'll bathe, first, I think, then decide what to do next after that."

"All right, Mother. If you're sure," Draco said, doubtfully. He desperately wanted to fuss, because Azkaban had not been at all kind to her and it had shaken him deeply. She had taken care of him all his life — now he wanted to take care of her. At the same time, he knew he had to allow her some space to breathe and adjust. "Just… Please don't overexert yourself. Hermione and I will see to it you have everything you need."

"That's right," Hermione agreed. "When you're feeling up to it, I'll show you the spa. It's heavenly and I'm sure you'll love it."

"I'd like that very much," Narcissa replied. "In the meantime, Hermione dear, I wonder if you would be so kind as to help me wash my hair?"

"Of course. You gather your things and I'll run the water."

Both women kissed Draco on the cheek before disappearing into the washroom. He dithered for several moments afterwards, at a loss as to what to do with himself while Hermione and his mother were occupied. He wanted to be near in case they needed anything, but he knew that Hermione would have everything well in hand.

It was then he remembered the elves. In all the excitement, he hadn't had a chance to give them the news. They would be beside themselves with excitement, and likely upset he hadn't informed them immediately. Perhaps he'd best do that now, and give them some initial directions.

He knocked lightly on the washroom door and announced he was popping to the Manor, then made his way out of the hotel.

"Mistress is free?"

"Where is she? We will go to her!"

We must tends to her immediately!"

"Please tell us what to do, Master Draco!"

"We has missed her so!"

Draco chuckled. As he'd expected, the elves had flown into a state as soon as they heard the news. "Settle down, everyone. Mother will be staying at the hotel with Hermione and I, initially. I know it's not what you'd prefer—" he crouched down to their level in response to the disappointment that immediately appeared on their faces "—but there's some work to do before we can welcome her home. The lingering Dark magic will need to be cleared away, and the main rooms aired out. If anything remains that might remind her of Voldemort or the Death Eaters, it should be destroyed. The rooms he occupied have all been sealed off, correct?"

Tippy stopped forward. "Yes, Master Draco. Everything is sealed and warded."

"Good. Now, I know you'll all want to greet her, but please remember she's going to be recovering from her imprisonment. She's likely to tire easily. Find us at the hotel, but make sure you're not seen by Muggles — we have a butler, and he pops in and out quite regularly."

"We could do that Muggle's job," Arby said. He, and all the others, looked put out at the idea of someone else serving the family they were bound to.

"I know, but he came with the room," Draco said with a small smile. "It's not a reflection on any of you, I promise."

"When may we see the Mistress?" Pria asked.

"Well, she was bathing when I left, with Hermione helping," Draco replied. "I don't know what she'll do afterwards — she might want to rest. I'll return and check with her, and then summon you all when she's ready to receive visitors, all right?"

"Thank you, Master Draco," they chorused.

"Good, then that's settled. I'll see you all soon."

When he got back to the hotel room, he could hear the low hum of conversation. He entered the sitting room to see Hermione and Narcissa seated on the sofa, each with mugs in their hands.

"...I stuck her in a jar with an unbreakable charm on it, and told her I'd rat her out unless she kept her quill to herself for a whole year."

Narcissa threw back her head and laughed. The sound inspired a bittersweet feeling — it was wonderful to hear her laughing again, but how long had it been since she'd been able to express such simple joy? From the time of Voldemort's return at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, joy had begun to ebb away from their lives. And when Voldemort took over the Manor, it vanished altogether. Draco felt tears pricking at his eyes again and took a deep breath to calm himself. Those times had been dark and seemingly hopeless, but Voldemort was gone and his mother was free. They could experience joy again, and heal. Together.

They saw him then, and both smiled at him. "Come and join us, darling," Narcissa invited.

"We're having hot chocolate," Hermione added. "It's divine. I've never tasted anything like it." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "It's even better than what the Hogwarts elves made."

"That's a bold claim, but I'm intrigued," Draco said. He moved to sit down between them, and Hermione poured him a serving from a silver jug. One sip had him convinced that Hermione was right — it was better than the Hogwarts hot chocolate.

"Warming charm?" he asked her as he blew on the liquid.

"Of course."

He turned to Narcissa. "How are you feeling, Mother?"

"A thousand times better after that bath," Narcissa said. "Although I do confess, Muggles' bathtubs leave something to be desired. It's practically criminal — how can anyone truly enjoy a good soak in such tiny things?"

"It's quite difficult," Draco agreed. "Actually, the one in that washroom is larger than most. The one in my flat is so small, my knees practically sit around my ears. I don't use it at all."

Narcissa looked scandalised. "You didn't need to stay in such a small space, darling. I understand you didn't want to stay in the Manor, and your desire to take a step back from the wizarding world, but surely you could have found more comfortable accommodations?"

He looked down at his mug, suddenly embarrassed. He thought he'd had good reason then — had thought so as recently as a couple of months ago — but now, he realised he'd simply been punishing himself.

"I felt like I didn't deserve it," he admitted. "After everything that happened, everything I did… I felt like I needed to pay a penance. Living in a Muggle neighbourhood, in a small, simple flat and keeping to myself… I thought that if I gave up the things I was accustomed to, it would somehow ease my guilt."

"And did it?" Narcissa asked.

Draco hung his head. "No."

"The guilt is something we all must learn to live with, son. We can't run away from it, or bury it. Not really. It will always be there."

"I realise that, now." He felt a hand slide over his and looked up to see Hermione watching him, a look of understanding in her eyes. He gave her a small smile and wound his fingers through hers, then returned his gaze to Narcissa. "You're right. The guilt will always be there. But Hermione has helped me begin to come to terms with it."

"I'm glad. You have your whole life ahead of you. It would be a shame to waste it on regret," she said. "I suppose you're preparing the Manor for my eventual return. Truthfully, I am not in any great hurry, but I suppose we must go eventually. It's still our home."

"Yes. I still need to do some more work to get rid of the last of the Dark magic residue, but in the meantime I asked the elves to begin preparing the main rooms. Which reminds me — they're very anxious to see you. I promised I would summon them as soon as you're ready for visitors."

"Well then, I won't make them wait any longer. Malfoy elves, you may come."

Their arrival was immediate. They gathered in a huddle before her, bowing and clamouring excitedly. Narcissa smiled broadly. "Hello, everyone. It's good to see you all."

Pria stepped forward. "Mistress, forgive Pria for saying so, but you are looking terribly thin. You must lets us take care of you. You needs to regain your health."

"Of course you may," Narcissa said. "But with a minimum of fuss, if you please."

The telephone rang and Hermione went to answer it.

"Hello…? Oh, Hi Harry. That's right, she was released this morning and is here with us. No, I don't think that will be necessary, but I'll ask." she paused for a moment, listening. Her lips twitched, as if she were trying to suppress a laugh. "Well, you're forgiven. Just take a moment next time, will you? Yes, I can imagine the way he would have delivered my message. Has the DMLE mentioned whether they've started investigating the other information in the notebook yet? Draco and I never did get around to looking into those Gringotts accounts…. No, we're not entirely certain, but I daresay they hold ill-gotten gains… Well, I'll speak with Kingsley myself, if necessary, and ask him to make sure that any gold seized goes to worthy causes."

The next thing she heard caused Hermione to glance over at Draco with her eyebrows raised. "Oh, she does, does she? Why am I not surprised? She's got a real cheek…! Yes, I did hear about that, Draco told me. Absurd and insulting. She won't get away with that, I'm telling you now. I'll be lodging a complaint on the basis of defamation with malicious intent, let's see how long she keeps that editor's job after all that. And she actually thought I would grant her—" she laughed cynically. "You can tell her to shove her interview up her arse. I'll call Luna, she'll be more than happy to print the exclusive in the Quibbler. Right, okay then… A few more days, I think, until the Manor has been prepared… oh yes, could you? That would be fantastic, if he's available. All right. Thanks, Harry. Give my love to everyone. Bye now."

Hermione hung up and turned back to Draco and Narcissa. "Harry sends his well-wishes, Narcissa, and wants to know if you'd like an Auror escort when you return to the Manor. He's also offered to ask Bill Weasley if he's available to help with any particularly nasty Dark magic or curses that might be lingering in or around the property."

"How kind. I don't think an escort will be necessary, but if Mr Weasley is able to help with the cleansing, that would be wonderful. I seem to recall that before the war, they were predicting he was on his way to becoming one of the most skilled curse-breakers in Europe. Parts of the Manor will most certainly still be tainted."

"He is very skilled, Mother," Draco said. "He helped me clear all the curses from the books in our library. I wouldn't have managed on my own, and even if I were able to take care of the worst ones safely, it would have taken me weeks."

"Excellent," Narcissa replied. "Now, I'm feeling rather peckish. Perhaps—"

"We'll fetch you somethings, Mistress!" Arby piped up before she could finish her sentence.

"Yes, yes, tell us what you will be wanting!" The others added, jostling each other in their efforts to get closer to her.

"Nothing too heavy or rich," Narcissa cautioned. "I've been on very basic fare for nearly eighteen months, and it's going to take my body some time to readjust to different foods. Soup and fresh bread will do nicely for now."

"Yes Mistress," they chorused, and disappeared at once.

"I hope I'm not intruding, Hermione — but what were you speaking with Mr Potter about earlier? Who defamed you?" Narcissa said. "It wasn't that vile Skeeter woman, was it?"

"It was," Hermione said. "Apparently, while I was still being held by Mercer and his cronies, she made some ridiculous trumped-up insinuation that I was the leader of a new band of Death Eaters, and responsible for those attacks on Muggleborn families that I told you about."

"She said what?" Narcissa hissed. Her expression, usually carefully curated, morphed into one of extreme displeasure.

It was another look Draco hadn't seen since before Voldemort's return, and it heartened him even further to know his mother still had the spirit he remembered from his younger days. Back then, she had been a force to be reckoned with. He hoped that, with time, that force would permanently return.

"To make matters worse, she said it in the Ministry atrium," Draco added. "In front of a large group that included members of the public and press. No doubt trying to cause some sort of disturbance."

"Draco was almost arrested, or so he tells me," Hermione told Narcissa. "He drew his wand, but Harry disarmed him before he could do anything foolish."

"Hmph. And here I'd started to think more favourably of Mr Potter. I may have to reconsider my good opinion of him," she said jokingly.

"Harry has a habit of disarming people. It can be extremely aggravating," Hermione said with a small laugh. "But all wasn't lost. Lavender Brown apparently whispered in Skeeter's ear that if she'd been the one to discover her in her Animagus form, she'd have crushed Skeeter under her heel. Skeeter tried to have Lav arrested, but regrettably, no one else heard the threat, and there was nothing the Aurors could do."

"How terribly unfortunate," Narcissa said, a smirk playing about her lips.

"Yes, quite. Anyway, when we go back to Wizarding London, Skeeter's going to have me to contend with. I can't believe she had the audacity to try and go through Harry to get an interview with me about my 'terrible ordeal' as he says she put it, after she tried to paint me as the villain."

A pop signalled the return of the elves, who had brought with them not one type of soup but half a dozen, along with a range of breads to choose from. It was enough to feed at least double their number. At least they'd be able to keep the leftovers under preservation charms, so it wouldn't go to waste. Draco smiled as Hermione and Narcissa continued to discuss Skeeter while they helped themselves to food.

He found himself marvelling once again at the turn his life had taken. Having Hermione by his side and being reunited with his mother early were wonderful in themselves, but to see them getting along so well was like the icing on the cake. Whatever might be thrown at him from here on out, he knew he would be able to face it head-on.

Several days later, they finally departed Claridges.

As he'd anticipated, his mother embraced the spa after Hermione introduced her to the facilities. The two witches visited daily, and Narcissa declared that the services of the establishment alone were doing wonders for her recovery. She'd used glamours, of course, so the staff wouldn't notice her painfully thin frame and suspect something was amiss.

When they arrived at the Manor, it felt like home again. Bill Weasley had indeed been available, and agreed to help Draco and the elves with the last of the cleansing. With their combined efforts, they managed to revert the ancestral Malfoy home to its previous state, and no traces of Voldemort's occupation remained.

Narcissa smiled — something she'd done frequently since her release, and she was already looking far better than the day they took her away from Azkaban — and immediately made for the conservatory with Hermione in tow.

"...I dread to think of what state it will be in. After Voldemort took over, I wasn't able to spend as much time there as I would have liked. I'm also fairly certain he had his minions raid my magical plants on a regular basis. But I'm not afraid of a bit of hard work; In fact, I'm certain it will be therapeutic…"

"...what magical plants did you grow? Do you enjoy Potions and Herbology? I suppose you must, if you cultivated your own nursery…"

Draco shook his head in amusement as the voices of Hermione and his mother faded. Behind him, the Floo chimed. He went to answer it, and was not terribly surprised to see Harry's face in the flames.

"Hi, Harry. Do you want to come through instead of talking on your knees?"

"Yeah, thanks, Draco. I don't know how Magical people do it. A telephone is far more comfortable—" he withdrew while Draco adjusted the Floo access, and a moment later he was in the Manor, brushing soot from his robes.

"I take it there were no problems?" Harry said.

"None at all. We used glamours as we were leaving. There were a couple of people sitting across from the hotel that I'm pretty sure were from the Prophet or something, but they obviously didn't think to use any detection spells and we got away unnoticed."

"Good, I'm glad." Harry looked around. "Where are Hermione and your mum?"

"Mother has whisked Hermione away to her conservatory," Draco replied. "She used it as a nursery to grow magical plants. They're getting along famously. It's quite concerning, really."

"Jealous, Malfoy?" Harry said with a smirk.

"I might be," he admitted, laughing. "I was always the apple of Mother's eye, and Hermione says she loves me, but if this keeps up I fear I'll be yesterday's news."

"It'll never happen. No matter how close they become, rest assured they'll both still like you. There's something about that ferrety, annoying face that seems to have some sort of appeal."

"Piss off, Potter," Draco grinned.

Harry grinned back. "Anyway, the other reason I got in touch is to tell you the DMLE has finally followed up on those Gringotts accounts. We got the authorisation to examine them, and it looks like they're definitely ill-gotten gains from the first war, at the very least. It's quite a substantial amount of money. Over two hundred thousand Galleons, all up."

Draco let out a low whistle. "I'm surprised Voldemort didn't use any of that when he came back. He was relying on Father and the other wealthy families to fund his efforts."

"He probably hoped to hoard it for himself," Harry said. "At any rate, we have to go through a whole new process to seize everything. The Goblins aren't making it easy, but we should get there eventually. The Minister's already given his tentative approval for it to be used for charitable causes, if we can get our hands on it."

"That's great," Draco said. It really was. He felt a sense of vindication — some good might just come of some of the crimes his father had been complicit in.

"Well, I really just wanted to deliver the news. Can you pass it on to Hermione?"

"Of course. Thanks, Harry." He held out a hand, and Harry took it without hesitation.

"You're really not a bad bloke at all," Harry said. "I'm glad you and Hermione are together. She deserves some happiness. You do, too."

Draco smiled. "I'm even starting to believe that myself."

"Right, I'm off. Say hi to Hermione and your mum for me, will you?"

"I'll do that. Bye, Harry. And thanks again."

Harry smiled. "See you."

He disappeared through the flames, and Draco headed to the conservatory, still smiling.

A/N: Only one more chapter to go following this one!