Narcissa and Remus returned to Grimmauld Place to find it in chaos. Draco was clawing at his face, shouting obscenities at Ginny, who looked rather pleased with her Bat-Bogey Hex. Harry was shouting, and he seemed to be suffering from the same affliction. Remus and Narcissa sported equally shocked expressions when they walked through the front door.
"They were driving me mad," Ginny explained, "So I jinxed them both."
"Ginny!" Remus shouted. He hastily murmured the counter curse at Draco, then Harry, and both boys were relieved. They glared at each other, and Ginny, too.
"What on earth?" Narcissa asked faintly. Remus noticed, with some pleasure, that she didn't rush right to her son's defense.
"They wouldn't stop fighting and cursing each other," Ginny said, "I couldn't take it anymore."
"That's it!" Remus shouted angrily, "I've had it with both of you. We're in the middle of a war, a fight between moral good and evil, and the two of you can't set aside a schoolboy argument. Well, I'm finished with it. Tomorrow, Ginny is going back to the Burrow."
Ginny's eyes widened in disbelief, "But I didn't do anything!"
"You help antagonize them," Remus accused her, "Don't even deny it. And Harry, I would have expected more from you. Even your father and Snape managed to put aside school torments when they reached your age. Your immaturity is unforgivable."
Harry looked defiant, but hurt. Remus turned to Draco.
"Draco, I'll leave your reprimanding to your own mother."
"Please don't," Narcissa broke in, surprising them all. She put her hands on her slender hips, "I expected better from you as well, Draco."
Draco's mouth dropped open, "You can't be taking Potter's side!"
"I'm not taking sides. I'm saying that the two of you are being irresponsible and that we have bigger problems to deal with than the two of you – or three of you, counting Ginny – fighting." She took a deep breath, "Your Aunt Andromeda is dead, Draco. Aunt Trixie killed her. And I think she'll be coming after us next."
To her surprise, Draco sneered.
"You can't really be all that surprised, Mum. Did you really think she was just going to let me run away, let me betray the Dark Lord? You are so naïve. She's going to kill me, and you, too – and anyone else who happens to be around." He glanced suggestively at Remus and Harry.
Narcissa swallowed, "Then we should leave at once."
"No!" Remus broke in, "I'm not letting you two leave so you can be butchered!"
"I won't let you and Harry martyr yourselves for our sakes," Narcissa replied.
Harry snorted, "We can take them. I've beaten Bellatrix Lestrange in a fair fight before. She's getting older."
Draco looked at him in disbelief, "You're an idiot, Potter. She'll kill you before you can open your mouth to hex her."
"Right," Harry retorted. The two of them glared at each other.
"I'm not leaving if Harry stays here," Ginny broke in stubbornly, "I'm sixteen now, Remus, you can't tell me what to do."
Remus threw his hands in the air, "It's late, we should be getting lunch on the table, and I'm not going to discuss this now. Ginny, Draco, Harry – I'm giving you all one more chance to act like adults. Narcissa, you and Draco are not leaving this house. Is that clear?"
Her face darkened with anger, "I'm not going to let you order me around, Remus. You can't make me do anything I don't want to. And I'm sick of being ordered around; I've listened to it all my life." She turned on her heel and stomped out of the room.
Draco, Harry, and Ginny all watched her, somewhat surprised. Remus felt his face growing red. He bristled at the looks on their faces.
"Well, get on with it!" he snapped, "I have work to do." He left them in the kitchen, staring at each other wordlessly.
"This is all your fault," Ginny snapped at Draco.
"You shut up, Weasley," Draco did not even manage a snappy retort.
"What's your problem, Malfoy?" Harry inquired, "You've been acting like a nervous cat all day."
"Don't you idiots understand?" Draco burst out, "They're going to come. Here. They're going to find us. They're going to try and kill me and my mother. And they'll kill you, too. If Lupin's too much a fool to understand, maybe you aren't. Run while you can. Because you won't last ten minutes – I know what's going to come."
"Get off it, Malfoy," Harry scoffed, "We've gone up against your dad's mates before. We know what we're getting into."
"Maybe you do," Draco hissed, "But my mother doesn't. And I'm NOT letting her be killed."
Remus couldn't sleep. He had tossed and turned for the past three hours, and still nothing. He stared at the ceiling. All he could think about was Narcissa's angry face, and how much she had looked like her niece, Tonks, when she was mad.
He got out of bed and put on his bathrobe. His throat felt dry. It was almost full moon – unbelievable, how quickly the months passed by. Another night or so – and he'd have to retire to Harry's basement. He wasn't going to risk leaving them alone again, if what Draco thought was true, and Bellatrix was coming for them.
He padded down the stairs towards the kitchen. Then he stopped. Someone had left a candle burning – or someone was still in there.
He took his wand from his pocket and held it out in front of him. Then he slowly pushed the door open.
Narcissa was sitting at the kitchen table, pieces of parchment and torn envelopes scattered all around her. She was reading Andromeda's letters.
She looked up when she heard the door open. In the pale light, her face reddened.
"I'm sorry," Remus muttered, "I just wanted a drink of water. I'll let you go."
"Please don't," Narcissa replied, kicking one of the chairs out towards him, "Sit."
Remus poured a glass of water and sat in the proffered chair.
"I've been going over Andromeda's letters," she explained awkwardly, "Trying to remember anything I can. But they're all so vague – they all take place after I turned seventeen or so."
Remus felt a fresh stab of pain. Seventeen – when she'd left him for Lucius. Why? When was this going to go away? He quashed his hurt feelings and put on a concerned face.
Narcissa seemed preoccupied, "They're all pretty cryptic – I don't know why Trixie wanted to kill her."
"Trixie?" Remus asked mildly.
Narcissa nodded, "That's what we used to call her. When we were little."
Remus remembered this. But the "Trixie" he remembered was a tall, forbidding woman who may have once been pretty, but who now was so evil she seemed ugly to the core. He picked up a letter, "Do you mind?"
"Go right ahead. I haven't been able to remember much from reading them."
Remus unfolded the sheet of paper, "It's dated ten years ago," he said.
"That's one of the later ones," Narcissa replied, "Here's the earliest. I'll read it to you. It's dated twenty years ago." She cleared her throat.
"Dear Narcissa,
I received your latest letter with a heavy heart. I am sorry to hear of your misfortunes, of the betrayal of your friends, and that you have left school. Please remember that it is not too late to change your mind and return. Heaven knows that an education is invaluable, and you shouldn't give it up.
Narcissa, darling, I know that you were in love, and that you are upset, but you must understand that these are not reasons to throw your life away on someone like Lucius Malfoy, who does not love you. You have seen what happened to Trixie – how cold and hardened she is. That is what happens to girls who enter arranged marriages with men they don't love. And she wasn't even that kind to begin with; I shudder to imagine what a girl with your sweet nature would be like after a few years of marriage to someone like Lucius. Narcissa, it pains me to think of it.
My dear one, there is still time. I will speak to your former fiancé, I will try to work this out. There is a chance that this was all a misunderstanding, and I can't bear to think of you marrying the wrong man if the right one is still in love with you. I hope you will not hate me for trying to intercede on your behalf. Please know that I do this because I love you, and that I miss you very, very much.
Stay strong, darling. I will write soon.
Yours,
Andromeda."
Narcissa looked at Remus, "Fiancé?"
Remus could not look back at her. He studied his fingernails, trying to ignore her as she stared at him with her big blue eyes full of questions he could not bear to answer.
"What does she mean by fiancé?"
"Don't ask me; I don't know," Remus said too quickly.
But Narcissa at thirty-seven was every bit as sharp at spotting an evasion.
"You know something," she replied.
"No, I don't," Remus said, willing his voice to remain clear.
"You know something, and you won't tell me what it is!"
"I told you, I can't tell you anything you don't remember by yourself."
"That's bull and you know it! You told me I had a sister! You told me today, when Andromeda was dead!"
"And look how it turned out!"
"What do you mean?" Narcissa cried, "If you had told me before, perhaps I might have had a chance to reconcile with her! Perhaps she and her husband would still be alive!"
"Do not put that on my conscience!" Remus jumped to his feet. "Don't blame me for things that aren't my fault!"
"I didn't say it was your fault! But you're keeping something from me, and I need to know what it is. Someone else could be in danger!"
"How do you figure?"
"How do I – Remus, open your eyes!" Narcissa gestured around her, "Haven't you noticed that the people who are associated with me have a tendency to end up dead? Someone is coming for me, Remus, for me and Draco. If this fiancé of mine has any answers, or could possibly be in danger, I have to find him!"
"Trust me," Remus said bitterly, "He can take care of himself."
"Why are you being like this?" Narcissa asked, "Do you want me to live in this darkness for the rest of my life?"
"No!" Remus shouted, "I want you to see clearly. I want you to remember what you should remember and to forget the things you had no business remembering in the first place. And trust me, this is one of those things you shouldn't remember."
"Why is that?"
"Because you shouldn't."
"I had a fiancé? And I left him for Lucius?"
"He left you."
"Why did he leave me?"
"Because you weren't meant for each other."
"Why? Why weren't we meant for each other?"
"Just let it go, Narcissa. Trust me, he doesn't want to remember. If he could, he'd have forgotten you by now." Remus' gaze turned bitter, "It isn't as if you remember him, after all."
Narcissa went still, "That's not fair, and you know it."
Remus looked away, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It wasn't my place."
"No," she replied, "You shouldn't have said it because it wasn't true. I forgot everything because Lucius cursed me."
And then she stood stock-still. For a minute, Remus wondered if she was having a heart attack.
Then she murmured, "The curse – Remus – was that why I was cursed?"
Remus didn't answer.
"Did Lucius curse me because he wanted me and he knew I was in love with someone else?"
No answer.
"That's the reason! He wanted me to forget about my fiancé, to forget I was ever in love with someone else – and to marry him! That's it!"
Remus could feel his fingers trembling. He willed himself to stay still.
Narcissa grabbed the front of his bathrobe.
"You know who it is," she whispered, "Remus, please tell me!"
"It wouldn't make a difference if I did," Remus answered.
"Because he hates me?" she asked.
"No," Remus whispered, "Because you could not bring yourself to fall in love with him again."
"Tell me who he is!"
"I can't!"
"Remus, please!"
Remus yanked the bathrobe out of her hands, "No! I won't tell you."
He was breathing heavily.
"You've figured out this much, Narcissa. Let's see if you can figure out the rest. Goodnight."
He picked up his glass of water and walked out, leaving Narcissa alone, surrounded with sheets of paper, and unanswered questions.