Author's Notes: It's been over a month since I last posted. I apologize to my readers for the delay, but I've had an enormous amount of stuff happening in my life that have left me emotionally and physically drained. I've had NO time to edit the last few chapters of this fic, but I didn't want to leave you hanging when it might be six months before I have the energy to work on this again. So I'm posting the remaining few chapters starting today, in their rough draft format. I apologize for any spelling, grammar or out of character characters or plot holes there are ahead of time. At some point I may come back and edit these last chapters and added scenes that I'm sure need to be added. When that happens I'll update the chapters, but for now I have to slip into the shadows of lurkdom in Harry Potter fandom. Thank you all for reading this to both those who have and haven't commented.

Narcissa was sitting alone in her solar carefully touching up a painting that she'd been working on. It was small, delicate work that required a steady hand. After a month her latest masterpiece was almost complete, not that Lucius would care. She planned on showing it to Draco along with all her other work, if he ever bothered to return home. Six years, it'd been six years since he'd gone to Germany to study and not a word from him. Well, none that she'd seen. Lucius occasionally told her he'd received a letter, but only if she pestered him about it.

Her son had always appreciated her work. He did have a good eye and if he'd been able to, would've spent more time learning to paint. It was a wonderful hobby and one the aristocracy admired. Unfortunately, Lucius had insisted he learn things that weren't delicate in nature or sparked imagination. Those same things might help him catch a proper witch wife. It didn't hurt to have a husband who might appreciate a finely crafted chair or decorated home. At least she'd won the battle to have Draco attend Hogwarts. That was one more feather in her bonnet.

Dipping her brush into the oil paints arranged on her palette, she chose her next color with a critical eye. A bright yellow would work beautifully as a highlight color. Wiping off the extra, she returned to the canvas using tiny strokes to add just the right effect to bring the painting to life.

Suddenly the whole room shook. Her hand jerked, smearing the yellow across half the picture.

Gazing down at her ruined work, she mentally swore. She didn't know what had caused it, but she would bet anything it had to do with Lucius. He'd been skulking around ever since the bookcase fell on him dislocating his shoulders and cracking ribs back in June. It served him right for experimenting. He and all his 'forbidden' artifacts could go fly without a broomstick. They were dangerous to keep around and belonged in a museum or safely locked up. Well, she'd put a stop to his tinkering for the day.

For years she'd put up with many things, keeping her mind to herself. Narcissa was the proper witch wife. She deferred most decisions to her husband, made her home a prime example of what all families should strive for, flitted about social circles forwarding Lucius' ideals, and made sure there were no scandals to bring the family down. She'd given him a son and heir, made sure Draco had the proper English wizard education and all she asked for in return was a few minor things, like not disturbing her while she painted.

Standing she tromped out of the solar with a firm tongue lashing in mind. Down the hall, across the landing, down the staircase, and through the double doors leading from the east wing to the main part of the manor she went. Narcissa was pretty sure she knew where he was. Rounding a corner, she made her way to the west wing. She was almost there when she noticed one of her still life paintings from the eighteenth century was tilted. The poor flowers were spilling out of their vase.

Promptly straightening it she heard voices coming from the adjoining room. Moving she saw the shattered doors. Someone was sobbing, it sounded like a child. There shouldn't be children, there shouldn't be shattered doors, there shouldn't be her husband strangling a man in black. Sweeping the area she couldn't believe all the damage. Her nice, painstakingly decorated, soirée room was completely destroyed.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Narcissa roared. Lucius froze. "LUCIUS DROP THAT MAN AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF."

Lucius let Snape go as Narcissa stomped into the room. She was like a delicate cat who'd finally shown her wild side. Lucius did as he was ordered more out of fear of the curse his wife would cast if he didn't. She'd learned a few that involved his most sensitive area and he'd like to not have it knotted and handed to him. It was almost worse than having Voldemort angry with him. He'd only upset her to the point where she yelled at him twice before. Both times had involved three months of pain and mental anguish.

"Are those Death Eaters? Didn't I tell you I didn't want them in the house! If you were caught, what do you think would happen?" Her voice carried over the groaning of the injured and Cassie's crying. "There are people everywhere! Are they even breathing?"

The room looked like a war zone. Where the little girl sat was eerily clean and undisturbed, but about half a meter away was a man, or what was left of a man. Blood pooled around him proving that he was dead. Beyond him were more bodies, also obviously deceased with various bits of furniture splintered and strewn about. Some pieces had speared the corpses or hewn them in two. After that people were crawling and gurgling along the floor with no direction. They didn't seem to understand what had happened. In that Narcissa was with them.

Those closer to Lucius were far more lucid, being able to make intelligent sounds. She thought she heard someone call for Voldemort and it made her all the madder.

"You PROMISED you'd keep your Death Eater friends OUT of my house! My furniture! My expensive, Louis XIV furniture! That was a wedding gift from my grandmother!" She hollered bemoaning the gorgeous antiques. The lounging sofa had been ripped in three pieces one of which was imbedded in the wall, straight through one of her favorite paintings. "The only piece left is the chair the child is on! WHERE DID YOU GET THE CHILD?" Lucius flinched.

Narcissa scanned the room again noticing more of her precious belongings in shambles. The little girl with black braids and a pleated skirt was weeping, most likely scared to death the woman reasoned.

"Merlin! Were you going to sacrifice her? There is blood all over my hard wood floor! MY MING AND CHING VASES! Do you have any idea how hard it was to find them! Is there even ONE left whole?"

Sweeping about the room, she stepped on or over several people, ignoring their pleas. Approaching Cassie, she flicked her wand and freed her.

"There. Now you come with me child," she said lowering her voice for a moment. Cassie just stared at her like she was going to be bitten. "I promise I won't let Lucius hurt you." The little girl wasn't sure what she was to do. The woman was yelling at Lucius, so she didn't like him, which made her a good guy, right?

Taking her reluctant hand, Narcissa pulled her off the chair. As she did she noticed the windows broken out. There were two pairs of feet sticking up above the ledge. Straining she realized what they were resting on.

"You've even managed to smash my prize roses! If they've broken them I will never forgive you!"

Lucius doubted she'd forgive him for a lot of things right now. As it was he was thinking of fleeing quite rapidly out the doorway. Inching his way towards it, he prayed she wouldn't notice his exit.

Snape had taken off his mask and was pulling down his hood as the man retreated. With Lucius' attention on his wife, he decided he should probably remove Cassie from the situation. At the moment he was the only friendly face she knew and hopefully it'd be enough to get her away from the furious woman.

"Do you have any idea how much it'll cost to replace these window fixings," she spat turning back to her husband. Her eyes widened as she caught something. "IS THAT THE CHANDELIER? That's Reuber craftsmanship! A one of a kind piece done by the genius artist wizard himself! I PAID TEN GALLEONS EIGHT SICKLES AND ELEVEN KNUTS FOR IT!"

The poor piece of artwork had been twisted, smashed and bent. It'd taken out a section of the wall and was currently residing in the adjoining room. A trail of broken crystal showed its flight pattern. The chain from whence it had originally hung was still swaying above Cassie's chair. The huge item had apparently been ripped off by a tremendous wind. In fact as Narcissa thought about it, it was as if a whirlwind had blown through. Perhaps hurricane force for what else could be powerful enough to send a Tang dynasty bronze horse statue into a wall?

The wallpaper was ruined, not to mention the patterned hardwood floor, the furniture, the paintings, the fireplace, the vases, the doors, the walls, and windows. The only thing that seemed to have survived was the one Louis XIV chair and little girl. Everything else was gone. It'd take her weeks to repair the damage and years to replace all the fixings. She'd had it.

"DON'T YOU SNEAK OFF LUCIUS MALFOY! I'M NOT THROUGH!" Her voice echoed throughout the room. The injured Death Eaters fell silent knowing that it wasn't in their best interest to make a sound right now. "I've a good mind to summon the Aurors! I've enough of this foolishness. I told you never to bring your work home with you, but you didn't listen. You just had to do this. Look at what's it's done! A little girl is scared out of her mind; this room in completely destroyed and you were strangling…PROFESSOR SNAPE! No, forget it! I AM summoning the Aurors! Cool your heels in Azkaban, it'll do you some good!"

Cassie tugged at Narcissa's dress.

"Lady?" She sniffed.

"Yes, child?" she replied immediately lowering her voice again.

"Papa's an Auror, so's Uncle Ron and Mr. Longbottom," Cassie quietly said staring up at her. Narcissa's eyes grew large.

"You're papa is an Auror?" she repeated attempting not to sneer at her husband's choice in sacrifices. Cassie nodded. "What is your papa's name?"

Lucius started backing up faster. He turned and started to move around the now unconscious body in the doorway.

"Going somewhere Father?"

Lucius froze. This day just got worse.

In front of him, Draco and Harry blocked his escape route. The elder Malfoy regarded his son with fear. Madness held his eyes, the same that currently was in his mother's. For the first time in a very long time Lucius swore out loud.

Draco glided forward with a frightening grace, like a tiger coming upon an injured antelope. He was eye to eye with him in a moment. Lucius took a step back. Draco had grown taller in the past five years; they were now the exact height. It wasn't a comforting thought, especially with the look of pure malice he was getting.

"Now Draco, don't do anything you'd regret," Harry said softly glaring at Lucius.

"I won't regret any of it," The blond replied smiling enough to show his molars.

"DADDY!" Cassie cried spotting them in the doorway. Narcissa looked up and spotted the familiar robes of the Aurors. Well, they'd certainly gotten here fast she thought deciding that she should return the girl to her father. The one with glasses must be him for he and the girl had the same hair color. But it was the blond man she hadn't noticed because Lucius was blocking her view that stepped forward.

"Cassie!" The little girl bolted to him while the one with black hair took Lucius into custody. Other people joined him. Two more wore Auror's robes while everyone else seemed to be a hodgepodge of witches and wizards. Something told Narcissa that Lucius had picked the wrong child to kidnap.

"Daddy, Daddy, I was so scared. I was playing with Fang and this guy grabbed me. He smelled awful and Lucy-us called him Wormtail and they took my wand and froze me to a chair. Then this really ugly guy showed up with all the bad men in black. Then they were talking and talking and I didn't understand," Cassie babbled sobbing as her father caught her. He held her tightly thankful she wasn't hurt.

"I'm sorry Snapdragon. I'm sorry this happened to you," he told her, the madness giving way to relief. "I promise you Lucius won't hurt you again. He's going away, far away. Papa'll make sure of it."

"And then this one guy tried to take my necklace! The one you told me to never ever EVER take off," she whimpered. Draco paused and for the first time he looked around the room.

"Did your necklace do this?" Noting the bleeding bodies and lifeless corpses, Draco took an estimate of the total damage. Cassie nodded.

"It was a BIG explosion with a lot of wind. People screamed, but I couldn't cover my ears. Then it was over and this lady came in shouting and Lucy-us. I don't think she likes him," Cassie whispered the last phrase into his ear, but it was loud enough that Harry could hear it from where he was. He shoved Lucius off on Ron and Neville before he did something he wouldn't regret and joined his family.

Narcissa stood in shock. From the abridged version Cassie had told she could figure out what had happened, but she didn't know why Lucius had taken the child to begin with. She couldn't imagine why. Suddenly her thought processed stalled. She recognized the man, except when she'd last seen him he was still a boy. He'd grown his hair out and had it bound at the nape of his neck. Her heart fluttered with relief and confusion.

"Draco?" She called not quite believing her eyes. The man stood lifting the child as he did. Beside him the Auror whispered something to him and he turned to give Cassie to him. It was then she saw the scar on his forehead. Harry Potter, she thought in astonishment. Something didn't add up, something wasn't right.

"Yes Mother," Draco answered calmly, brushing a stray lock of blond hair out of his eyes.

It was him! Picking up her skirts, she strode over a body and hurried to him, her eyes filled with tears. He'd changed so much since she'd seen him last, but it was still her son, she could tell by his face.

"Why didn't you come home? I was worried. I wanted to send you owls posts, but your father said it would disturb your studies," she gushed finally reaching his side. He gave her an odd look.

"Studies? Mother what did Lucius tell you I was doing?"

"He said you were in Germany studying the Dark Arts." She frowned. "You weren't were you?" Draco shook his head. "The little girl?"

"Is my daughter," he told her. She blinked away her tears, narrowed her eyes and screamed.

"LUCIUS! YOU WERE GOING TO SACRIFICE OUR GRANDDAUGHTER!"

The wrath in her voice was enough to make even Percy want to hide. Lucius dipped his head in defeat. He grumbled to Ron to just take him to Azkaban, it'd be quieter there.

"Actually, he's been trying to murder her since she was born," Harry commented rocking Cassie back and forth. The little girl had wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder, still sniffling.

"MURDER?" Narcissa looked ready to do that herself.

"Yes, I wouldn't let him so he disowned me. I was never in Germany, but I have been living in New Zealand," Draco added noticing the nice effect his mother's voice had on Lucius.

"DISOWNED OUR ONLY SON!"

"Papa, she's awfully loud." Cassie muttered lifting her head. Harry clucked and told her it'd be over soon, that Mrs. Malfoy was just a little upset with her husband right now.

Narcissa stared at them. The child had just called Harry, Papa and Draco, Daddy. Her son could see her confusion and decided formal introductions were in order, not to mention Cassie's removal from the battlefield.

"Mother, I'd like you to meet the most important lady in my life." He moved back so he was beside Harry and Cassie. "Narcissa Malfoy meet Cassiopeia Malfoy, your granddaughter. Cassie, meet your grandmother, Narcissa."

"'ello." Cassie murmured. Harry just smiled weakly.

"Hello. My you have pretty black hair, is it from your mommy?"

"Nope, it's from Papa," Cassie stated. Harry chuckled a bit as Narcissa took in the three with a growing uneasiness.

"I believe the rest of this tale should be told elsewhere, like the drawing room. Perhaps one of the House Elves would fetch us some tea," Draco suggested. Narcissa nodded slowly. He offered her his arm and she took it. With Harry toting Cassie behind them, they left the mess for the others to sort through.