"Has the Wizengamot reached a decision?"
Griselda Marchbanks stood up, "We have, Minister."
"Then will the defendant please rise?"
Draco Lucius Malfoy, eighteen years old, stood up nervously and squared his shoulders. Remus Lupin stood up beside him, trying to quash the urgent feeling in his chest. Everything is going to be fine, he kept telling himself.
The difficult part was believing it.
Griselda Marchbanks cleared her throat and looked at Draco over the edge of her spectacles.
"With the evidence given to the court by multiple witnesses, and on the advice of the Minister to drop the charges of Death Eater activity, attempted murder, and attempt to use the Unforgivable Curses. Therefore, of the charge of resisting Ministry arrest, we find the defendant, Draco Lucius Malfoy, guilty."
The crowd began to murmur. Draco's face broke into a look of amazed relief. Remus clapped him on the shoulder.
Rufus Scrimgeour rose, "We sentence the defendant to two years' probation and government by a Ministry-approved official. Remus Lupin, the Wizengamot has accepted your petition to act as guardian to Draco Malfoy. Are you still amicable to the position?"
"I am, Minister," Remus' voice was strong and clear.
"Court is adjourned," Scrimgeour declared.
Draco hugged Remus abruptly, then let go and smiled at the first row of the courtroom. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley were all sitting there, grinning back at him. Draco walked over and was embraced by Mrs. Weasley. Remus felt his heart swell with pride.
In the past year, he'd watched Draco grow and change in a way that had shocked everyone who had ever known him. His appearance had changed noticeably – his ice-blonde Malfoy hair had darkened slightly to pale ashy color, and he had a more rugged look about him. But he'd grown stronger and tenderer in the past year.
As soon as he'd been healthy enough, the Ministry had summoned him to court and questioned him about his activity as a Death Eater, and about the murder of Albus Dumbledore. Remus had gone with him, and Draco had answered honestly and forthrightly. But the thing that had saved him in the end was his offer to provide the Ministry with something it had knowledge of before – the location of Voldemort's hidden headquarters.
The Ministry had conducted a raid, and several Death Eaters were captured and taken into custody. One of them was Bellatrix Lestrange's husband, Rodolphus. Unfortunately, as with all the times before, Voldemort had fled before they could apprehend him.
That was the next step.
Scrimgeour approached Remus and said in a low voice, "Are you still in earnest, Remus?"
Remus nodded, "We're leaving tomorrow morning – Draco, Harry, Ron, and I."
"Good, good," Scrimgeour replied. He cast an appraising glance in Draco's direction and commented, "You know, Lupin - if you'll forgive me - I knew Draco and Lucius of old, and since - well, since last year - there's not a hint of his father in that boy."
"Not so much anymore," Remus replied knowingly, "But I see a great deal of his mother in him."
Narcissa was waiting, sitting on the porch of 1722 Earlscourt Road, her knuckles practically white from nerves. When she saw them Apparate at the end of the walk, she leapt to her feet and ran down the steps of Remus' house, her whole face a question.
"Mum," Draco shouted, running towards her, "the charges were dropped!"
Narcissa threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
"I knew it!" she cried, "I knew they'd let you go after everything that's happened!"
"Two years' probation," Remus told her, ambling up behind him and giving her his crooked smile. Narcissa smiled at him, a smile reminiscent of her carefree days when she was seventeen years old, twenty-one years ago. The tiny diamond that Remus had given her all those years ago sparkled again on her wedding-ring finger.
He remembered how she'd cried with happiness when he'd given it to her last year, the night that Draco came home from the hospital. She couldn't believe that he'd saved it all those years.
"I couldn't bear to part with it," Remus had told her as he slipped it onto her finger.
Her eyes had shone that night like huge sapphires. But that night, there had still been the worry that her only child would be thrown into prison, or killed. Now, for the first time in so long, she was truly happy.
"I've got to go pack," Draco announced. He broke free from his mother's grasp and ran up the steps into the house.
Narcissa looked at Remus questioningly.
"I'm sorry," Remus told her, "I know I promised you that we'd be married as soon as Draco's trial was over."
"You're going away, aren't you?" Narcissa asked.
"First thing in the morning. I'm sorry it's such short notice, but I have a feeling that it's an unspoken condition of Draco's probation. We may not find the Dark Lord," Remus narrowed his eyes, "but we're certainly going to make a go at it."
Narcissa nodded, "I understand."
"Are you feeling better?" Remus asked, "Draco was surprised when you didn't go to the trial with us. Were you sick all morning?"
"I'm fine," Narcissa said, "But there's something I have to tell you."
"What?" Remus asked.
But as he looked at the mischievous smile that crept across her face, he realized what she meant.
"You're not – you can't be," he stammered, grabbing her hands, "Narcissa, are you serious?"
She nodded, her grin as bright as sunlight.
Remus' eyes widened.
"Is that okay?" she asked.
"Okay?" Remus stammered, "I can't believe it. We're – well, is it a boy or a girl?"
"Goose!" Narcissa slapped his hand, "I can't tell what it is yet. It's far too early."
Remus' eyes were as big as saucers. Narcissa laughed.
"Oh, you have a lot to learn about children!" she giggled, "But it will be all right. You'll see."
"But I – Narcissa, I can't leave you now," he told her, "I'll tell Scrimgeour that we're not leaving tomorrow."
"You mustn't do that," she interrupted, "I've had a baby before; I know what to do. This is far more important than me right now. You've got the opportunity to save everyone in our world, Remus. And that's more important than anything you would be doing here."
Remus looked imploring, "Cissa."
"No," she insisted, silencing him with her hand, "Remus, the most important thing you can do right now is go with them. Look out for Draco. It's what you promised to do – to the Ministry, and to his father." She smiled at him and kissed him lightly, "We'll be waiting for you when you return."
"I will come back to you," Remus promised, grasping her hands in his.
"I know," Narcissa replied, smiling, "You always have."
The next morning dawned clear and cold. Remus, Draco, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had assembled on the front lawn of 1722 Earlscourt Road.
At the last minute, Hermione and Ginny had beaten everyone down and insisted on coming as well.
"I told you," Ginny said to Harry, "I'm not letting you go. Imagine what sorts of trouble you could get into without me."
Harry rolled his eyes, "There's just no fighting with them, is there?" he asked Ron.
"I'm telling you, mate," Ron replied, "We're well shook of them." Hermione cuffed him upside the head but said nothing.
Narcissa was tucking some last-minute odds and ends into Draco's knapsack and issuing an endless stream of motherly warnings, most of which Draco was brushing off with good-natured and embarrassed mutterings of, "Mum, get off, I'll be fine!"
"I know," she replied, "Humor me, all right?" She hugged him tightly, "Please, please be careful. Come home safe."
"I will, Mum," Draco replied honestly, hugging her back. "And I'll take good care of Remus as well, shall I?"
Remus cuffed him upside the head. Draco snickered and ambled over to Ron and Harry, who grinned at him. The three of them began chatting amicably. Remus and Narcissa were alone.
Remus' eyes swept over her. After twenty-one years, she still was as beautiful as ever, if not more so. Was it just his imagination, or was there a tiny bump already forming around her midsection?
"What are you staring at me for?" Narcissa teased as she slid her arms around his waist.
Remus grinned, "I want to carry the memory of you in my mind, just like this, the entire time I'm gone."
"Oh, don't," Narcissa protested, "It's six in the morning, and my hair is a mess, and I'm half-dressed."
"You've never looked more beautiful," Remus interrupted.
Narcissa's brave face faltered somewhat. She stood up on tiptoe and kissed him long on the lips. The teenagers tactfully pretended not to see.
When they broke apart, Remus opened his eyes and looked straight into her sapphire ones.
"Be careful," he murmured.
"You be even more so," she replied, "I'll be right here waiting when you get back."
Remus kissed her hair lightly, "I love you, Narcissa."
"And I love you."
He broke away from her and walked back over to the others, "Come on, kids, let's get moving."
They moved away together, down the walkway, towards the darkness where the sun had barely lit. At the end of the walk, as they stood together to Disapparate, Remus looked back for one final glance.
Narcissa stood there watching him, backlit by the rising sun, her beautiful face composed with beauty, pride, and hope, reflecting happiness at long last.
THE END