Disclaimer: I just own the plot.

Review Reponses:

Errisar - Are you reading my mind somehow? How did you know that Daily Prophet gossip columns would be coming in to this? You haven't been trained in Leglimancy have you? LOL! We will see the Daily Prophet gossip column, or as they like to term it 'society section', in chapters 17 and 18! I don't know how you saw that one coming but I'm impressed at your deductive skills, particularly as I don't think there's anything you could have deduced it from. Patricia could use a good cruciatius but perhaps it is for the best that Severus stepped in, we really don't want to see Narcissa in Azkaban! You like the Weasleys? I love the Weasleys, I guess my penname kind of gives that away though! Who's your favourite Weasley? Personally I find it difficult to choose but it could well be Percy! That story will hopefully go up not long after this one finishes being updated. That's why I'm updating this slowly to give myself time to write the other fic, I hate having to write quickly because an update's due so I like to get a good way into the story before I start to post. Glad to hear it will have at least one reader as I was unsure as to how much interest it would attract, then again I didn't think the life of Narcissa Malfoy would attract this much interest either! Thanks for the review!

Dark Comet - I plan on getting as many 'Awws!' as possible, I love writing fluff! Yep, Ms Myriades was Morgana and it was a really low blow from the evil monkeys! Hogwarts isn't until chapter seventeen, you've got some time to get used to the idea. No the other Slytherins may not be too welcoming but we'll have to wait and see. The mini monkeys wouldn't be much of a loss anyway! Thanks for the review!

Bonezz - Yeah Sev so has a soft side but you don't want to get on his bad side! Veiled threats do spice things up a bit! I'll be watching out for your update! You'll see what happens with the Goyles in chapter 17. Thanks for the review!

I Found a Little Courage to Call it Off

**Narcissa's Thoughts**

Chapter 14

The party at the ministry had left Narcissa subdued and Severus worried. He was sure that the Goyles had been all too serious in their less than subtle threat and Narcissa was spending a lot of time leafing through old photo albums.

"Narcissa, what are you looking at?" he asked, having seen her poring over the same book on several different occasions.

"Just a year book Greg and I put together before we left Hogwarts. You know it's kind of creepy, I'm the only Slytherin girl from my year who's still alive. I mean there were only four of us to start with; Morgana's dead, Isabella, Greg's wife, died about ten years ago and Madeleine Wilkes died in one of the Death Eaters mad magical experiments. It's just me left."

"Yes well, my own year group was pretty depleted as well. I don't even know what happened to some of them. Our generation did not fare well in the last war." He paused for a moment in thought before asking, "Narcissa, did you ever go and see Morgana's parents after she died?"

"How could I? They were always so nice to me, I know her father's reputation was dubious at best but he really cared for his wife and daughter. I couldn't face them after I found out what had happened. Besides there was the trial and everything to deal with."

"Have you ever thought about going to see them?"

"I guess, at times, I just don't think I could do it. Why?"

"I just thought it might help you and I think they deserve to know what happened to their daughter. She's still officially listed as missing you know, she is presumed dead but that's never been confirmed by the ministry. Why don't you go and talk to them?"

Narcissa hesitated, "They'd hate me."

"I don't think they would. I'll go with you if you want."

"I'll think about it Sev, I'm not sure."

Severus expected not to hear anything more about visiting Morgana's parents but a few days later Narcissa said, out of the blue, "You were right. I'm going to go and see Morgana's parents and I'd be grateful if you'd come with me."

"Alright, when do you want to go?"

"Tomorrow afternoon?" **Before I lose my nerve!**

He nodded, "I'll meet you here at one o'clock."

*******

As Narcissa reached up to ring the iron bell pull at the Myriades' front door the next day she realised her hand was shaking. **This is ridiculous, I can deal with this.** She gave it a determined pull and heard a faint jangling within the house. The door was opened by a house elf that led them through to a parlour where the Myriades' were sitting.

"Narcissa?!" Mrs Myriades sprang to her feet and embraced the younger woman, "Oh, we've been reading all about what happened in the papers dear, are you alright?"

Guilt welled up inside Narcissa, "Yes, I'm fine thank you. This is Severus Snape, I'm sure you've read about him in the papers too."

"We certainly have," Mr Myriades shook Severus' hand, "We're very grateful to you, we always thought of Narcissa as almost our own daughter and I can't thank you enough for helping her."

Severus smiled, "I didn't really do anything."

"Mrs Myriades," Narcissa began, unable to take anymore talk of how they had been concerned for her, "I need to talk to you about Morgana."

The other woman smiled sadly, "Sit down, I'll call for some tea."

Once they were all seated and drinking the tea, (Narcissa noticed they still remembered how she took it), Mr Myriades started, "Narcissa, if you've come here to tell us she's dead we accepted that a long time ago."

Narcissa swallowed, "That's not all I came here to say, but yes she is dead. She was killed by the Death Eaters eighteen years ago. We'd had a fight, Lucius and I were dating and she was a little suspicious of him. When I told her that I'd found out he was a Death Eater she told me to leave him and when I refused we got into a fight and she left. I was upset and went to see Lucius and told him what had happened, I never saw her again. When I got back to our flat I found a note she had written telling me she was leaving and her things gone. For a couple of years I assumed she simply didn't want to see me, then I wrote to you and you told me she was missing and I became worried so I preformed a spell to trace her and it failed. I then used a vision spell to see what had happened in the flat the night she left it, she did write that note but when she got outside," Narcissa's voice began to break a bit and she drank some more of the hot tea, "When she got outside a pair of Death Eaters were laying in wait for her and they killed her. I'm pretty sure it was all because of what I'd said to Lucius, I believe he thought she was a threat to them and so had her killed."

There was silence in the room for a moment until Mrs Myriades took hold of Narcissa's hand, "It's not your fault dear, Morgana was as stubborn as you were, if your positions had been reversed I'm sure she wouldn't have listened to you about Lucius either. Thank you for coming here."

"I brought you this," Narcissa reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver chain with a small charm on it. "Morgana forgot to take it with her when she packed up her stuff, I don't know what happened to everything else."

Mrs Myriades took the necklace and her husband put an arm round her, "We gave her that for her eighteenth birthday," he said quietly.

"I know, I'd borrowed it for a date with Lucius and it was still in my jewellery box when she left. I used it for the vision spell because I needed a link to her. I'm sorry I never thought to return it before."

Mrs Myriades put the necklace back in her hand, "You keep it dear. I think she'd have liked that."

Suddenly Narcissa couldn't hold it in anymore and she was crying and Mrs Myriades was crying. As the two of them hugged each other Mr Myriades rolled his eyes and glanced at Sev, "Women!" he exclaimed, though his voice didn't sound too steady.

Severus watched them with interest; he had to admit Morgana's parents were not what he would have expected. From what Narcissa had told him Mr Myriades had been involved in some rather dodgy dealings but had chickened out at the last moment, leaving the others to get caught by the ministry. He was now thoroughly distrusted by the ministry and criminals alike, but then he'd never really needed that money anyway as he had inherited a small fortune from his father's dodgy dealings. Apparently he had just enjoyed the thrill, until it all got a bit too thrilling for him and he turned his friends in. The man clearly had cared for his daughter though and as he slipped an arm around his wife once she let go of Narcissa Severus could see that he cared for her too.

Once the women had calmed down a little out came the photo albums and the two of them cried some more while Severus was given a stern lecture from Mr Myriades on how to look after Narcissa.

"I can see that you're a good person and that you make her happy but you better be careful with that girl! I still think of her like my daughter and you don't want to deal with an angry father if you've upset her! You make sure you treat her right or I'll make sure you regret laying eyes on her."

"Mr Myriades I assure you I will take care of her, I love her and I don't intend to hurt her."

"Good! Now let's see if they've stopped crying yet!"

They went back into the parlour to find that they had not stopped crying but were laughing through their tears over some old story from Narcissa and Morgana's school days.

They parted with a promise to visit again sometime and an open invitation to the manor as the Myriades were keen to meet Draco, not having any grandchildren of their own.

*******

Narcissa's spirits were much improved by the visit, the Myriades wrote shortly after saying that she shouldn't let people threaten her and that next time she should try giving them a taste of their own medicine. Severus was concerned when Narcissa seemed to take to this idea and hoped that she and Goyles would not be meeting again anytime soon.

Meanwhile Draco seemed as down as his mother had been and Severus decided to have a chat with him before his mother could notice and be upset by it. He found him sitting out in the garden one day, a book open on his lap but clearly forgotten as Draco simply stared into space.

Severus sat next to him, "Draco, what's wrong?"

Draco managed a very unconvincing, "Nothing."

"Really?" Severus raised an eyebrow. "Then why have you been so down for the last few days?"

Draco sighed, "I wrote to Pansy, she didn't write back."

"When did you write?"

"A week ago, she's had plenty of time to reply!"

"Well, maybe she's been busy?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it." He sighed again, "She doesn't want to have anything to do with me, does she?"

"I don't know Draco. Give her a chance, she may have gone away or something."

"Yeah, ok."

*******

Severus realised that this situation was beyond his ability to deal with and that the boy needed his mother. He approached her later that day, "Narcissa, I think you should talk to Draco, he seems upset."

She sighed, "I'd noticed, I thought it might just be about Lucius, but I'm starting to think it could be something else. I'll go and talk to him."

Narcissa sought out her son and found him in his room sprawled on the bed.

"Hi sweetheart, you alright?"

"Yeah, fine."

"No you're not," she sat down on the bed beside him and brushed his hair out of his face, "Tell me what's wrong."

"It's just, people are always going to look at me and remember who's son I am, people judge us based on our family name!"

"Draco, I haven't decided what I am going to do about that but you don't have to keep the Malfoy name. You could take my maiden name instead, I have to admit I've considered reverting to it myself. I think Draco Moriarty would go rather well. Not that 'Moriarty' has any better connections than 'Malfoy' really, but at least the bad connections are less recent."

Draco shook his head, "No. I'm a Malfoy, I'll stay a Malfoy; someone needs to change people's opinion of our family. Besides anything else everyone knows I'm a Malfoy, I'll have to face the other students no matter what my name is."

"You know you don't have to go back to Hogwarts if you don't want to, I could send you somewhere else, we could even see about home tutoring."

"No, I want to go back to school. I want to go back to my friends, if I still have any."

"Draco, things will change. Your friends may not treat you the way they used to. You'll just have to wait and see."

"I know. I somehow don't think Crabbe and Goyle will be too welcoming."

"They may be," Narcissa said, more in an attempt to reassure her son than because she genuinely believed it, "And you have other friends, don't you?"

"Not really, other than Pansy and I don't even know who her parents support."

"What's her family name?"

"Parkinson."

**Now that's a surprise, she never sounded much like a Parkinson, then again it would be no bad thing if she weren't!** "They weren't Death Eaters but they did support Voldemort, just not actively. I know nothing about Pansy though and her parents are liable to choose whatever looks like the winning side."

"I don't know what Pansy will do, I sent her an owl but she didn't reply. She's not like Crabbe and Goyle though, she has a mind of her own."

"I'm sure she does. In the mean time you seem to be getting on well with Ron," Draco pulled a face as if to deny he would ever willingly socialise with a Weasley but his mother wisely ignored it, "And I'd like to urge you to speak to Blaise Zabini at some point. I was very fond of his father and I don't think he's had things easy."

"Blaise is ok. I suppose I could speak to him. Crabbe and Goyle just followed me around because they were too stupid to deal with things for themselves! I hate them," he punched a pillow. "Why couldn't they like me for _me_!"

"They might, you'll just have to wait and see," Narcissa hugged her son tightly, before continuing, "But even if they don't, don't hate them, pity them. They've been brainwashed into their parents' way of thinking and god knows what their future's going to be."

"Things shouldn't be like this."

"No they shouldn't sweetheart. Are you sure you want to go back to Hogwarts?"

He nodded determinedly, "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Alright. Well don't worry about it yet anyway, just enjoy what's left of summer."

*******

The three of them did enjoy the rest of summer, the grounds of the manor were in full bloom and Narcissa often invited the Weasleys over for dinner or a picnic in the grounds. Invitations Molly readily accepted on behalf of her family. Ron and Draco were continuing to get along, while pretending not to, and Severus and Arthur were becoming friends as well, even though Severus still hadn't got over the fact that the man collected plugs.

Narcissa however was secretly dreading Draco and Severus returning to Hogwarts, leaving her alone again. It was for this reason that when a letter arrived with an intriguing proposal she began to seriously consider it.

"Severus, I got a letter this morning."

"What was that about?"

"It's a job offer. From a woman who's husband works at the ministry, she worked on translating my note book back into English. Apparently she's impressed with my fluency and accuracy and is offering me a job as a professional translator, you know books and ancient documents and things."

Severus laughed, "What? You? Work?!"

Narcissa's voice turned icy cold, "And what is wrong with that idea precisely?"

"Nothing, just that you've never done a days work in your life, you've never even had a job before!"

"I've never been offered one before! What do you expect me to do when you swan off back to your career, stay home and do some needlework?"

"Career? I'm a teacher, and I'm that by default because I needed a way for it to look like I was spying on Dumbledore for Voldemort rather than the other way around!"

"Oh, so just because you don't have a career I'm not allowed to have one?!"

"I didn't say anything like that!"

Narcissa snorted, "Well I've got news for you, I'm going to take this job and you can just..."

Severus suddenly realised that there was only one way to shut her up, regrettable but necessary.

Narcissa continued to ramble and rant about how she refused to be a lady of leisure and that she could work as well as the next person. She was however suddenly surprised by being cut off mid sentence. It being of course a little difficult to speak and return a kiss at the same time. Despite her desperate desire to keep informing Sev that she could do anything he could do, and much better, common sense won out and she gave in.

He drew back and smiled at her and she had the feeling she was being laughed at a little, though it did seem affectionate. "Narcissa, I am not against you taking this job, I think it's a wonderful idea I just didn't think you'd want to."

She opened her mouth to speak again, frowning, but found he had silenced her with a gentle hand across her mouth. "Narcissa, don't. I don't know why you're having a go at me about this but I really wasn't trying to argue with you. Ok?"

He removed his hand, "You think you can just kiss me and make me stop being mad at you?!" she asked indignantly.

He smirked, "Yes."

"I'd yell some more but you're right," she hit his arm playfully. "You really think it's a good idea?"

"Yes. You had a point about what you're going to do when I'm at Hogwarts, though I will try and see you at the weekends."

"I'm going to miss you, both of you! Don't go Sev! You don't need the money, I'm loaded!"

He laughed, "Narcissa I am not going to live off your inheritance! You knew I'd go back and I promise to be back here as often as possible. You could floo to Hogwarts and see me of an evening if you like. We could have dinner?"

"Ok, but I'll still miss you, which is why I hope the job will take my mind off things."

"Well I'm not going just yet and I think the job sounds like a great idea."

"I'm going to write back to her this evening telling her I accept. I can work from home most of the time and I always did love Ancient Runes. Of course I did get an O in my NEWTs, then again I got O's in all my NEWTs!"

"Show off! You didn't do all magical subjects, there's no practical exam in Ancient Runes or in History of Magic!"

"I did Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts as well, I think that proves I'm good at the practical side of magic!"

"Ok, how did we get back into an argument?"

"I haven't the slightest idea."

The two of them had a somewhat tempestuous relationship and argued with astonishing regularity but it was never serious. They were both stubborn and unused to accommodating other people in their lives, Severus because he was used to being alone and Narcissa because she had always done her best to get in Lucius' way rather than accommodate him. However, their fights never meant anything and more often than not they'd end up laughing together. So when Draco walked in to find them fighting again he simply rolled his eyes and walked out, not wishing to get caught in the crossfire. Besides they'd most likely kiss and make up in a few minutes and he really didn't want to be around for that!

*******

What do you think of Narcissa's maiden name? I decided on it ages ago (it was actually the brilliant suggestion of honest_iago) but never found a point to put it in before. It won't really be an issue but yes I am implying that Moriarty was a real person and one of her ancestors.

Next chapter: prefects and a bit of Ron and Hermione, can't leave the Gryffindors out of it completely I suppose. No Harry though, he's not coming into this for a very long time! The lovely Ron will be here though!

Please Review!! The last chapter only got three reviews, is interest waning? Or is just becuase I posted this one rather quickly?