A/N: Here's another one for all you lovely readers! It's a long one, so I hope it's worth the wait! 😊

Friday was an interesting day at work. We made some good headway on our case, but we were still missing something that could really help us close in on Lestrange. We worked well into the evening, sharing dinner together in the office long after all the others had gone. I actually came in on Saturday for a few hours as well. Draco offered to come, but I told him to focus on our dinner and that I would manage.

I made sure that I had plenty of time to head home and ready for the evening. I was to arrive at five on the nose according to Draco's instructions. Knowing his mother, I wanted to ensure I wore something appropriate.

Flipping through my closet I found a lovely navy V-neck dress with enough lace and chiffon that was sure to placate the matriarch. Since we were staying in, I left my hair down in loose waves and kept the make up to a minimum.

Checking my watch, I saw it was 4:45. I grabbed a simple pair of black stilettos, with a cushioning charm of course, and my purse before making the short walk to Draco's. Any time I could avoid the floo was ok by me and the three-block journey to his flat gave me a chance to get a bit of fresh air and calm my nerves.

I knocked on his door and was surprised when a well-built, dark-skinned man opened it.

"Ah! There she is. The woman who has thawed the ice of my best friends' heart." He bowed and motioned for me to come in.

Draco appeared as I crossed the threshold, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. The move was oddly domestic and I found it sexy as hell. Of course, now was not the time for those types of thoughts!

"Hello, darling. You look stunning as always." I was glad I had opted for the dress as Draco was wearing a crisp dress shirt and slacks and I could see his jacked on the back of one of the chairs. "I told mum 5:30. That will give me time to finish up in here and I thought you might like to get to know Blaise a bit before she arrives."

I raise a brow at Draco. "You know, we have met before." Then I turned to Blaise. "It's lovely to see you again. Draco speaks very highly of you."

Draco stooped down to kiss my cheek and whisper, "Damn, I love when you wear heels." Before turning to us both and saying, "Right, I forget sometimes that Blaise wasn't as big of a jerk as I was in school. Why don't the two of you take these," He handed Blaise a firewhiskey and me a glass of wine, "And go sit down and get settled. I have a few things left to do in the kitchen.

I didn't know what he was making, but the smells were wonderful and my stomach was glad to put some distance between the kitchen.

Blaise sat on the couch and I sat across from him in an oversized chair. "You must know from Draco what I've been up to since we're partners. Have you gotten into anything interesting since school?"

He took a sip of his firewhiskey. "A little of this and a little of that. I've been traveling a lot actually. I do professional photography. It's always been a hobby of mine and the family vault has left me in a position to pursue it." He paused to give me a smirk. "Perhaps you and Draco will allow me to photograph your wedding."

I nearly spat out my wine. "Excuse me? We've barely been together a month. I think wedding talks are a little premature."

He shook his head and relaxed into the couch with his ankle perched over his knee. "Nah. You've always been it for Draco. He wouldn't talk about it in school because he was trying to protect you, but being his best friend means I see through his crap. You're quite literally the girl of his dreams. Ask him about that by the way." He gave a devilish smirk before continuing. "You could ask him for anything, and he would move mountains to make it happen." I gave him a disbelieving look. "I'm serious! If a mountain was blocking your view, I'm sure he would find a way to move it. That man has it bad."

Draco entered the room then and sat on the arm of my chair. I offered to scoot over, but he declined and instead put a protective hand on my back.

"No need to stop talking about me on my account." He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "You can say it to my face."

"Just telling Hermione here what an arrogant prick you are." Blaise raised his glass in a mock salute as he smiled wide.

Draco snorted in return. "Hermione has known me well enough to know I am definitely arrogant and can sometimes be a prick."

"Yes," I interjected. "But I also know you are usually arrogant with good reason and you're only a prick these days when someone deserves it."

Blaise looked between us. "This is weird."

We laughed at that just as there was a knock at the door.

"Are you ready for this darling?"

I took a large sip of my wine. "As I'll ever be."

Draco strode to the door and I stood to smooth out my dress.

I overheard their greetings and tried to tamp down the feeling of panic that was rising in my chest. There was no escaping how huge this moment was for so many reasons.

Narcissa Malfoy strode gracefully into the room on the arm of her only child.

"Mother, I would like you to officially meet my girlfriend, Hermione Granger." He turned to me. "Hermione, meet my mother."

Mrs. Malfoy extended her hand and gave a warm smile which I returned. "It's a pleasure to officially meet you Mrs. Malfoy."

"Please, you'd better get used to calling me Narcissa now. If my son has his way you may well be a Mrs. Malfoy yourself sometime soon."

"Mother! You can't just say that!" Draco's face pinked and I couldn't help but giggle at the way his mother had undone him so easily.

"Oh please, Draco. You've talked of the girl since you were a child." It seemed everyone knew of his fascination but me. She turned somber as she turned back to me. "Dear girl, we best get this out of the way so we can have a proper chance at a positive relationship. I must formally apologize for any and all pain and suffering my family has put you through. I know doesn't make up for what's been done..."

I cut her off. "No need to apologize. The past is in the past and we were all in unthinkable situations. I'd prefer to look forward and start anew."

"That is good to hear. Now that that is done with," She brushed her hands together as if to dust them off and her face softened. "I hear Draco here has cooked us a meal. Really, I had no idea he had picked up that skill. I hope it's edible."

We began to walk towards the living room. "Oh, I assure you, Draco has cooked for me several times and it's always been wonderful."

She stopped walking then and once again turned to her son. "Clearly this is something you've been practicing for some time. Why have you not cooked for me before?"

I could already see the patience for his mother's guilt wearing down on him. "It's something I picked up in France. I had no idea you would like me to cook for you. I'd be happy to do so more often."

Draco headed towards the kitchen to grab the food. When his back was to us, Narcissa gave me a cunning smile and a wink. She knew exactly how her guilt was affecting him. Seems she was going to be full of surprises tonight. I should have been more prepared to see the Slytherin side of her.

When we got to the dining room, Draco was levitating a full spread to the table. He had clearly spent a great deal of time preparing the five-course meal and I was stuffed at the end.

Draco began to clear the table, but Narcissa stopped him. "You cooked. Why don't you and Blaise go for a walk and Hermione and I will wash up." A nervous look crossed Draco's face as he looked in my direction, trying to gauge if that's something I would be comfortable with. "It's nothing bad, dear. I promise. I just have a few things I would like to talk to Hermione about and they are topics you would rather not sit through again."

"It's ok, Draco. I'll be fine." Her comment had piqued my interest and I wanted to hear her out.

The conversation during dinner had been pleasant enough, I was no longer scared to be alone with her.

Jaw tight, he took in my earnest expression and nodded once. "Blaise and I will go on a walk through the park. We'll be back in no more than one hour."

"Understood, son. Have a good time."

Narcissa waved as the boys left us to it. When the door shut, she took one look at the mess from dinner and waved her hand to start it all cleaning itself up.

"Now that that's out of the way. I think we need some tea."

I helped her ready a full tea service, something that just couldn't be rushed with a wand, and we took it in the sitting room. My curiosity is in full swing as I try to piece together what she could possibly have to say to me that Draco wouldn't want to hear.

The Malfoy matriarch didn't waste any time. She poured and passed me some tea before taking some for herself.

"Now, Hermione, we talked of my charity contributions and volunteering that keep me busy over our dinner, but I wanted to elaborate." I was really confused now. Did Draco have an issue with his mother volunteering? "The organization I work most closely with is the orphanage. I've actually taken in quite a few foster children. Some have aged out and are on their own now. Some were later adopted, and others still were able to get in contact with family members who had been in hiding due to the war."

My mouth physically dropped open and I had little control as the words slipped from my lips. "How is that possible? I know you've been cleared of all charges and Draco has given me some context as to what you went through, but your home was the physical headquarters for Voldemort. How were you able to get approved to foster children at Malfoy Manor?"

She set down her tea and smoothed the skirt of her dress. "I completely understand your concern and don't fault you for a minute. My past is no secret, but this is the part that is difficult for Draco to sit through if he doesn't have to. I need you to understand a bit more about my family history. Really it's a bit of pureblood customs." She placed her hand on my knee. "And I don't say this to scare you or out of any kind of disrespect. I have personally learned so much since the war and I simply want you to understand a bit of history and how I allowed myself to end up where I did. For someone as strong as you, it might seem like there was an obvious point to just stand up for myself, but it's more complicated than that and I'm hoping you'll hear me out."

"Of course. I care about Draco and if you think this is important, I'll listen with an open mind."

Her face visibly relaxed. "Thank you. Let's see, where to start. I suppose I should tell you that I did not come to these realizations on my own. Shortly after the war I began to see a mind healer. She is a muggleborn and her parents are in the mind healing field for muggles so she has a bit of a unique perspective. She understands the brain and thought processes as someone who is removed from our world as well as someone immersed in it. I was nervous at first, but she helped me see that many of our pureblood traditions are quite dated and harmful and that there is no reason to continue them."

She picked back up her tea and took a deep breath before continuing. "In the pureblood families, the so called sacred 28, arranged marriages are expected to keep up the integrity of our bloodlines. I was taught from a very young age that love was a myth and it was always known to me that picking my own husband would not be an option. As a result, I never had those little girl dreams of marrying for love. By my eleventh birthday, I knew I would be engaged in a betrothal contract of my father's choosing. Neither of my parents were what you would call kind or loving and I accepted the tradition for what it was. I knew before I attended Hogwarts for the first time that I was to marry Lucius Malfoy. I had never met the boy before, but knew he was in the grade above me. We didn't interact much in school, I kept to myself mostly and Lucius was a pompous arse who loved attention."

I was shocked by her crass words, but if she noticed, she didn't let on.

"I was hoping he would outgrow some of his attention seeking behavior by the time we were to be married, my seventeenth birthday, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Lucius had everything at school. Wealth, confidence, athletic ability, you name it. He used that to his advantage to manipulate people and keep himself on top. I was not attracted to him in the least, but I knew I had no choice. Shortly before my own wedding, my older sister, I think you know Andromeda, was disowned after falling for a muggle. It wasn't until after the war that I got to hear her side of the story. All I witnessed was the uproar it caused our family and the increased discipline and abuse that came my and Bella's way as well as added pressure to carry on our family's traditions and not bring further shame. If I had wanted out before, after Andromeda left, I knew there would be no escaping my arrangement. From that point on, I accepted my fate the best I could."

"After quite a bit of therapy, I know now that I was trying to compartmentalize the best I could and deal with the situation I was given by detaching myself emotionally. As a result, I became hardened and feeling emotions was difficult. I essentially did as I was told by Lucius, who was even more controlling than my father, and resigned myself to my fate. My days were filled with all the socialist responsibilities that came with being a wealthy pureblood wife along with the pressure to produce an heir to the family as soon as possible."

Her face changed as she talked of becoming a mother. "When Draco came along, those buried emotions within me stirred. I did everything I could to protect him and it still wasn't enough. Lucius was getting deeper and deeper involved in dark undertakings and our relationship was near nonexistent now that we had an heir. In talking with my therapist, I have come to realize the deep seeded mental and emotional abuse that I suffered at the hands of both my parents and Lucius. I understand how this effected my abilities as a mother, though I tried my absolute best to be better, less cold, than my own mother. I still failed to protect Draco when it mattered."

"However, there was a major event that shifted something inside me and broke that hold that my family had over me. I was forced to watch Draco take the dark mark and was filled in on his task to murder Dumbledore. Watching that madman laugh as my son writhed in pain as he was told that he would fail and the cost would be both his life and mine, I was filled with an inner rage that I could barely contain."

I continued to listen in rapt silence to the horrors that this woman in front of me has been through.

"Please understand that from birth I was taught that women don't question men and as a wife my duty was to my husband. The moment that I realized my husband's actions led to my only child being branded by someone so obviously crazy, I knew that I couldn't stand by anymore. From that point on, I did anything I could to protect Draco. I enlisted Severus' help to make sure his task was completed and tried my hardest to make up for not being stronger before that moment. That was when I began to fight. There wasn't much I could do with how deep we were involved and it was mostly just survival at that point, but there were little things like the help from Severus, and keeping Draco in check when you were brought to the manor."

Her face darkened then and I could see the weight of her life on her shoulders. "While I don't claim to ever understand how hard that day was for you, I hope you know by now how difficult it was for Draco and myself as well. Did he ever tell you he was taking some of the pain from the curse for you?" I gasped in shock and shook my head, too surprised to speak. "I didn't think so. He is a gifted Occlumens and Ligillimens. He was able to share some of the effects of the curse. By the hold he had on my hand, he must have taken quite a bit. For my part. I whispered reminders that he must stay silent if he was going to be involved. Draco and I had many talks after that night. We talked of my past, our family, and how he didn't believe in any of the pureblood nonsense Lucius and Voldemort were spewing. We grew as a family then, the two of us. Every night we would sit up together and talk of what life might be like if Mr. Potter won. Even if that meant Azkaban for us, we would take if it meant being able to be free from our current situation. Since sleep was hard to come by, much of the time we spent fantasizing about what life would be like if we escaped a sentence and I vowed to Draco that we would be different and break the cycle."

She sighed and finished her tea. "Hermione, I'm aware this has been rather long winded. I guess my point to all of this is that I want you to know I am not the monster you think I am. I have been through years of therapy and I know the reasons as to why I ended up the situation I did and I will never allow that to happen again. The years of emotional, physical and mental abuse are over. As long as I live, I will spend my days trying to make a difference in the Wizarding World for the better. If I can foster pureblood children and wipe away the ideology that was so ingrained in my own mind, I will do it. If that means taking in muggleborns who have been abandoned by family that is now scared of their abilities, I will. And I hope you understand that this means you and Draco have my full support. This isn't an act. I don't have a hidden agenda. I just want what's best for my son. He has wanted you for so long and I will not stand in the way of his happiness. It's the least I can do."

I sat there for what felt like hours but was probably minutes just absolutely stunned.

Never in a million years did I expect to be sitting across from Narcissa Malfoy hearing her stories of an abusive upbringing and the change she wants to make in the Wizarding World because of it.

Truthfully, I was in awe of the woman. She had clearly overcome much more than I had ever realized. I might have fought for the light and freedom from Voldemort, but it was with little understanding and empathy for what pure blood children really went through. We were so quick to condemn the Slytherins, but they were just as much victims as we were, just in a different way.

The silence was stretching to its limits and I knew it was up to me to break it. "I really appreciate you being open and honest with me. Draco shared with me some of the traumas of his past, but I don't think I truly understood the mutigenerational influence and expectations. I really admire you opening up about it and what you're trying to do."

With that, I got up and crossed the room. Arms opened wide; I hugged the woman before me. "Thank you for being there for Draco. Thank you for telling him it's ok to be different. Thank you for working on yourself so he can be free from the past."

At this point, we were both standing there awkwardly hugging, tears coming down our cheeks. Of course, that's the moment Draco and Blaise returned.

"Um, I think this might be a good time for me to head out." Blaise's words made me aware of their presence and he quickly said his goodbyes before taking the floo home.

Draco rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I take it you two had a good talk."

Narcissa composed herself. "Yes. I'd say it went well. It's late though and I don't want to over stay my welcome." She turned to me. "Hermione, I'd love to get tea sometime. Owl me when you have a moment."

There was a brief moment of awkwardness when she left before I threw myself into Draco's arms. He tensed, unsure of what was going on.

"You're so brave, Draco." He relaxed and allowed his arms to wrap around me. "But I have to ask. Your mother has a pretty amazing story. Why do you leave when she tells it?"

He unwrapped his arms from around me, but clasped my hand in his as he led me back to the couch and sat beside me.

I could tell he wasn't sure exactly how to phrase what he was about to say.

Finally, he took a deep breath and began. "I am incredibly proud of my mother. She has a strength I have seen in few others. I've heard her story and it's absolutely remarkable, don't get me wrong. I just don't need to sit through it repeatedly to respect her for what she has gone through. I've lived through a good portion of it myself. I'm downright ashamed of being a pure blood and that none of my ancestors showed the same strength that she has aside from Andromeda. Being reminded I come from anyone other than my mother is not something I choose to dwell on. The future is bright and I prefer to look towards that and focus on being part of the change instead of getting caught up in the past. I'm not sure I'm making any sense, but I hope that helps you understand."

"Draco, I think it's very admirable what you and your mother are doing. If not being exposed to your past repeatedly is what helps you get passed everything, then that's what you need to do."

Several minutes of comfortable silence passed as I laid my head on his shoulder and he played with my hair.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" I looked up and searched his eyes for what he was feeling. "Just to sleep. I promise. I just don't want to be alone tonight."

He swallowed hard and I understood. We both have dark pasts and the night can often be the hardest when reminders pop up.

"Yeah, I'll stay. I'll just pop home quick to grab some pajamas."

"No need. I'm sure I have something you can sleep in."

We readied for bed and I changed into one of Draco's shirts to sleep in. While I had seen his room before, this would be my first time in his bed and my nerves were on high alert as my heart raced furiously.

Draco pulled the covers back and we both climbed in. "I promise, I won't try anything. You can come closer."

I did so, resting my head on his chest. It really had been a long day and before I could overthink this next step or make it awkward, we were both fast asleep.