Severus watched Narcissa stare into her tea, and finally she looked up at him.

"Is it weird or something?"

"What?"

"You know.you and me."

"I don't know.depends on how you mean that." He looked calm.

"Well."

"I don't think it makes complete nonsense of itself."

She smiled warmly. "The Weasleys go here, don't they?"

"Yeah. A bunch of 'em."

She nodded. "And the girl? The dirty blond with frizz."

"Ahh, Granger. She's a smart one.disturbingly geeky."

Now she laughed-real progress there.

"And what of your daughter?"

Now he smiled. This always brought a smile to his face.

"She's beautiful-all the boys think so, that's the problem-"

"No, that's good. Healthy, even."

"Well," He continued. "She's a prefect since last year, Slytherin, of course, but personally she's too good. I mean, she's really smart, all my co-workers love her, they're always bragging about what she's done now in the staff room. Real popular too, much more than me, and she's got a boyfriend now, I think. I believe he's a Gryffindor, but he's a good boy- treats her right."

Narcissa nodded. "Sounds really perfect. It doesn't seem likely she'll get into a mess like me with money and get herself beat up."

"Oh, no. She knows self-defense-I'm teaching her to duel."

"Really." This sounded promising. "Could you teach me?"

He looked surprised. "Um.yeah. OK."

Narcissa leaned over and stared up into those familiar eyes.

"I mean, you know Lucius, don't you?"