The three of them stepped out of the floo in one of the smaller estates of House Black. Just a small lodge somewhere in the British countryside. It was dust-free, but a simple house. They had taken this place to sleep for the night, just used it because the floo wasn't so long from here to the burrow and the home of Harry's friend Hermione Granger tomorrow. Narcissa stepped out still being the Ice-Queen she had become when coming to Hogwarts. Harry, on the other hand, didn't bother with that, stretching for a moment, making his shirt lift and showing his flat, almost thin stomach.
Narcissa coughed slightly, raising her eyebrow when Harry looked at her. The boy looked down, seeing this reveal, quickly putting down his arms sheepishly. Sirius winked at him. Harry chuckled, still blushing a little and they sat down in the sitting room for a moment. Kreacher brought them tea, for which Harry thanked him, making the small elf bow deeply to him. Then the boy turned to Narcissa, thoughtful.
"So Narcissa, how did you like it?" He asked carefully holding his hot teacup to his lips. The woman herself took a sip, taking a moment to think about it, giving him a firm answer.
"It was...nice." She stated, carefully placing her words. Harry sighed shaking his head while placing down the cup.
"I mean what do you really think. You can be honest I don't mind, just...be friendly about it."
The woman now herself sat down her cup, looking at this young boy, into green warm eyes. She sighed.
"It...was better than I thought. There were a lot of things that round me up a tree, all the cheap and clutter. That house, I...this isn't my kind of thing, BUT." She raised her finger before Harry could say anything.
"I still didn't feel like I had to leave like I would be less if I stayed there. It had a very warm feeling to itself. That was a house where people were content for what they are. It isn't...It's maybe not a bad thing, it's just not my way of seeing things." Sirius raised his eyebrow. That was more than he had expected from his, well stuck up, cousin.
Harry slowly nodded, tilting his head slightly.
"And...and they themselves?" Harry asked very carefully. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know but after yesterday evening he wanted to see if she could see things outside her own box.
Narcissa bristled a little.
"That...is a mixed thing. They are loud and...wild. The lack of manners is very obvious, especially from her youngest son, who lacks these in totality. "
Harry winced a little. Yeah, Ron wasn't very tactful and his table manners were the absolute worst. He made a mental note to talk about this with him. Someday he would like to get to know a girl and eating that way will not help his friend.
"The boy needs to learn that soon if he ever wants to be able to pursue someone of the fair gender." Narcissa spoke like she could read Harry's mind, making him chuckle a little. "He needs to learn a lot about social skills and about when to talk and when he shouldn't."
"Yeah, sorry about that, I will talk to him." The black-blond haired women nodded, her hair still covering her face and the bruise. Sirius' eyes were caught by the veil of hair and he felt his anger flare up again. Lucius fucking Malfoy would pay for that sooner than later.
"That would be a good idea, Harry. His brothers have this mischievous way I know from SOMEONE." She pointedly looked at her cousin, who in return smirked. Yeah, the twins reminded him of himself at their age and of James. They were funny, quippy and a delight.
"And while I understand that people find this kind of being charming because it is light and fun-loving, I'm not quite fond of it, because up until I was eleven, I had to deal with that quite often and it can be annoying." Sirius shot her a stink eye, bristling about the talking down at his wonderful jokes and humour.
"But they seem pretty bright and if they would learn to use that they could get something done. They don't lack manners, they just purposely ignore it when they think it will get them ahead. This kind of cunning I can respect as a Slytherin. In this, they have something ahead of their predecessors as school troublemakers."
Harry chuckled to himself while Narcissa smirked slightly. Sirius grumbled into himself because while he had been compared to the twins all evening by his cousin, with raised eyebrows and non verbal commentary, this time when there was something she agreed on he was left out, but he also knew she did this to tease him, so he didn't grumble too much. Harry, on the other hand, made a mental note to write to Fred and George, telling them that Lady Malfoy had said she respected their Slytherin-ness.
"The girl." Narcissa resumed her observation, making it clear she would go through all the members of family Weasley she met, now with a wide smile "is utterly in love with you Harry." Harry who just took a sip from his tea choked at the words, coughing while Sirius did his best not to laugh at his godson's misery. He failed, laughing out in a barking kind of way. Harry shot him a look.
"W-What?" He asked while trying his hardest to look oblivious. He had noticed Ginny's stares over the years and while she could talk to him now, her crush on him hadn't lessened over the whole Chamber of Secrets business. She had followed him around school last year, always turning away when he saw her and he had still no idea how to act around the girl.
Narcissa on the other hand, while humoured continued her statement.
"It is quite obvious. These longing stares, the clumsy attempts to pick up a dialogue with you, always trying her hardest to be near you. That girl is totally smitten by you, even Sirius noticed."
Harry turned his head to his godfather, who still chuckled to himself before he winked at Harry and nodded.
"She is right, little Ginny is probably doodling hearts around your name with quill and paper." He chuckled again while Harry groaned and smacked him on the arm.
"Stop it Padfoot." He grumbled, trying to hide his blush, sinking into the couch more. Sirius leaned over, grinning.
"Oh Prongslet, it's my duty as your godfather to tease you about this." Harry stared at him, then he shook his head, looking thoughtful.
"She isn't in love with me." He stated, lowly. Sirius smirked.
"Now now Harry I." But the boy stopped him, by raising his hand.
"I mean, she isn't in love with Harry. She is in love with Harry Potter, the boy who lived." He stated firmly, glaring at Sirius. "She isn't in love with me, she is in love with the idea of me, of the "hero" who rescued her from the Chamber. She can't see the real me. Like so many others." He grumbled, looking into his cup.
This was a difficult point for Harry. He disliked the whole boy-who-lived thing. He hadn't defeated Tom, his mother's love had done so. He had just been the conduit for that and he hated being famous. Well, not exactly being famous, but being famous for being the baby that survived because his mother died. He hadn't decided if he wanted to be famous, he had just been. And not for himself. He wouldn't mind being famous for being the best Seeker in the world or finding a cure for something or becoming headmaster of Hogwarts or whatever. But not this. He never would have to get famous on his own, in his own way.
Sirius leaned over, placing his hand on Harry's knee. His face was soft and he was smiling. Narcissa felt the urge to place her hand on the boy too, comfort him, but that wouldn't be proper and good.
"Prongslet, you have friends who see you for who you really are. They see this wonderful, brave, caring, sweet and utterly funny boy I see. When I was young, all I was seen as was heir Black. All people saw was my name and that was it, no one cared about me myself. Males saw a rival or a business partner, females a potential bachelor with a lot of money. That was all I was something anonymous. Until I met your dad on the train, in first year. He didn't care what my name was or who my family was. He just wanted to make friends and then we met Remus and..." Sirius stopped short, but he knew he couldn't cut out Wormtail of everything.
"Peter and they were my friends. The people to whom House Black meant nothing. It's your friends who are important not some fame or gold diggers. It's okay if that Weasley girl learns to want to know you for you but if she doesn't she isn't worth it."
Harry nodded, not looking at his godfather, staring into his teacup. Narcissa carefully stared into her own. This feeling of Harry's she could relate to more than she would have thought a few days ago. That feeling was something she felt herself when Lucius hit her, berated her, yelled at her. She had been a breeding mare, nothing more, just a piece of meat with the right label for Draco to have a claim to the Black money. He had never loved her, he had never cared for her, herself.
"Thanks, Padfoot." Harry said, shooting his godfather a weak smile. The man patted his knee again, before turning to his cousin, winking once again.
"Aren't we still missing two Weasleys Cissy?" Narcissa looked up from her tea, nodding slowly. She was thankful for the distraction, so she raised her voice again.
"Well, Mr Weasley is a weird man to me. I don't understand his muggle-interest and he seems rather flunky in the head, but on the other hand, he always infuriated Lucius, something I deeply appreciate about him now." She chuckled a little. "He seems like a good man, just with really strange and to me alien ideas." Harry chuckled. It was a pretty good assessment of Arthur Weasley. Good man but with strange ideas.
Narcissa sighed, looking down into her teacup again.
"Mrs Weasley..."A moment of silences came down on the table. "She is unrefined, sweet, stubborn, angry, loyal, uneducated and honest. I could see how much she loves her family, loves her children and for that, I can deeply respect her. She has a tendency to coddle her children and that makes me want to strangle her. Children need to learn for the world so they don't break down under its weight, but she tries to keep them from every harm or influence she deems even the slightest uncomfortable. She is more Gryffindor than any other of the bunch and for that, I will never understand her way of handling life, but I can respect her because we hold the same things dear to yourself and while we have different ways of looking at the world, I think we came to an understanding."
Harry raised his eyebrow, while Sirius nodded. This was Cissy, cut to the point. To the family, she never had seen a need to sugar coat her words, even if these were mean. Bella had never been able to accept that, making her angry at her sister sometimes. Then Narcissa shut her eyes, her face getting brittle.
"And I envy her." Sirius raised an eyebrow, while Harry leaned forward.
"Envy?" The woman nodded, slowly letting her breath go.
"She is loved by her family. She is strong and holds her head high, not bowing down against force, only against compassion, like she did when Harry stood up for me on our arrival. Her children listen to her, not out of fear...well okay maybe a little out of fear but mostly out of love. They are happy she is their mother and she is happy being their mother. And her husband shows that more than anyone around that table. He adores his wife and she adores him." It got silent after that heavy moment.
Then Harry slowly stood up, before Sirius caught himself, walked over and sat down next to the woman who still stared at her lap. He carefully, like reaching out to a deer, took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the back of it. Hermione had done that quite a few times over the years when she tried to calm him down and he picked it up pretty easily.
"We are here for you Narcissa. Now, tomorrow, next week, as long as you want us to." He stated. Narcissa looked up, little tears in her eyes. He looked into her ice-blue eyes and she in his emerald green once, feeling the calm coming back to her. Sirius leaned back, realizing his godson had it all under control, once again speaking in his mind to his dead best friend and his sister in heart, telling them what a wonderful son they had.
Narcissa reached up, her hand brushing Harry's hair out of his forehead, brushing fingertips over his cheek after a moment. A weak smile formed on her lips, and she blinked the tears away.
"Thank you, Harry."