Chapter 7

Narcissa lay back on the chaise, took a languid breath, and basked in the beauty of her children's combined magic. They were in the solarium. Draco and Hermione were seated on the floor, cross-legged and facing each other working with their magic.

Normally, Narcissa would have found the position rather unseemly, as a general rule Malfoys did not sit on the floor, but they had discovered that these little exercises worked better when Hermione and Draco were focused solely on each other. Even positioning themselves on a piece of furniture could prove too distracting, and disastrous for the piece of furniture. The magical backlash had ruined two sofas and an entire dining set before they'd figured it out.

Draco was now capable of conjuring his own bluebell flames wandlessly, as well as performing some simple levitation and color change charms. But what they were capable of separately paled in comparison to what they could do together. When they worked in tandem Narcissa had found that she could sense their magic from several rooms away.

Currently, they had their arms extended in front of them and their palms pressed together; they appeared to be glowing. It looked beautiful and felt soothing. Narcissa didn't even know a structured spell that could produce the same effect. That was another thing they'd discovered: if they tried to use specific spells when they worked this way it only held them back.

According to their descriptions they relied on the feeling of what they wanted to do and manipulated their magic into making it happen, no Latin words or wand movements necessary. It was their magic working in tandem, each magical core feeding the other to produce a desired effect. It seemed the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

By their own explanation sometimes Hermione led, sometimes Draco, but usually they worked as one. Narcissa could only theorize about the phenomenon. They trusted each other without question, it was humbling to watch. She imagined it had something to do with the bond they shared, which seemed to have grown into a tangible thing between them. They were as much the other as they were themselves, at least they were when they opened themselves up to work together as they were doing at the moment.

She believed that, theoretically, any magical being was capable of this, but she hardly envision another pair who would trust each other enough to accomplish it. It was the most intimate thing she could possibly imagine. They were completely at each other's mercy, absolutely vulnerable to the will of the other. However, she also knew that it never occurred to either of them to exploit it, their connection was too pure.

Claire was also seated on the floor, but several yards away from them, watching them in abject fascination. Her golden hair in a plaited crown around her head that Hermione had crafted earlier that morning when the three of them had been sharing some girl time.

Her niece had just arrived from France three days before with a plan to spend a couple of weeks in her uncle's home. As a child she had spent the whole summer in Narcissa and Lucius' care, Lucius' sister Adele was a lovely woman, but she took after her own mother and was a rather aloof parent. Claire had preferred to spend her free time with her more doting aunt and uncle and the cousin she thought of as a little brother.

Adele had apparently never worried about Claire being exposed to Abraxas. He'd ignored his eldest child in favor of his heir who had come along just eighteen months after her birth, and had sent her off to be educated in France without a second thought. He had been even less interested in his granddaughter than he had been his daughter, and if Narcissa hadn't occasionally heard him mention the girl to an associate like the loving grandfather he'd pretended to be, she would have wondered if he even knew Claire's name, he certainly never addressed her directly.

His disinterest had never bothered Claire either. She was a clever girl and she knew it was better that way. And she was happy to stay ensconced in her uncle's wing in rooms that had been designated for her at birth for weeks at a time without becoming homesick.

That had slowly changed. When she started Beauxbatons she spent some of her summer at home, so that she could see her friends over the holidays, but the majority of the time was still spent in England. This was the first summer the opposite was true.

Narcissa had dreaded it for years, the day that the two and a half year age gap and gender difference would catch up with the cousins. At nearly fifteen, Claire had little in common with a twelve year old Draco, except their shared history. It made Narcissa more thankful for Hermione than ever, not only did her presence make Claire's absence less obvious, but she was helping bridge the gap between them now that Claire was here. Closer to Draco's age and a fellow Hogwarts student, it was clear she also looked up to the older girl and Claire seemed to enjoy taking on something of a mentor role with her, and they seemed to feel at ease spending time as a threesome.

The first month of the summer preceding Claire's arrival had passed in a rush. Narcissa had the difficult task of deciding how much to tell the Grangers about the current situation in magical Britain, and the less difficult task of getting them to agree to accept Dobby into their home; she'd never known anybody to refuse the services of a house elf, they were simply too helpful.

In the end she told them the truth, well she told Helen the truth and let the poor woman find a way to explain it to her husband. But she only explained the situation in general terms. She could tell how upset her friend had been over it all, but she accepted things with grace, and Narcissa realized that she simply hadn't had much choice.

As muggles the Grangers couldn't do anything to change things in the magical world. And if they pulled Hermione out of Hogwarts they would all have their memories altered, leaving Hermione vulnerable as a known muggleborn and an untrained witch. It must have been a terrible thing to realize that they were essentially stuck.

To an extent Narcissa could sympathize, she was feeling rather helpless too. She could take Draco out of Hogwarts, send him to Beauxbatons with Claire, but even France seemed too far away. Unlike her sister-in-law, she wasn't content to leave her child's care to another, even his own aunt, uncle, and grandmother.

And then there was the fact that as a muggleborn Hermione would not be allowed to withdraw from Hogwarts, even to transfer to a different magical school, until she'd taken her O.W.L.s. If Draco was sent away they would be separated, and that seemed cruel.

Actually, she had a feeling they would both react quite strongly to even the suggestion. Narcissa noticed that Draco tended to be rather listless on those days when Hermione didn't come to the Manor. A long term separation would surely be painful for them.

She could take the drastic step of smuggling them both out of England, but they'd have to go half a world away to be safe. The Dark Lord had influence all over the Continent and she didn't think she could bear to be more than apparition's distance from them. That meant she would have to accompany them, and she could not abandon her husband.

No, for all their wealth and power they were in many ways absolutely stuck too. And their plan for the Dark Lord's eventual return was sketchy at best. They simply didn't have enough information, and the information gathering was slow and tedious.

On a positive note the Grangers had gratefully accepted Dobby into their home. Even if they had been a little overwhelmed by his abilities, and especially his enthusiasm. But he was thrilled to be in charge of his own household and Narcissa rested a little bit easier when she saw how quickly he took to each member of the family, knowing he would do anything to protect them.

Also, Draco had finally stopped flinching and averting his eyes whenever his father entered the room. Lucius had pretended this only bothered him because it demonstrated Draco's inability to mask his emotions, but she knew it tore at his heart every time his son showed such open fear and disapproval of him. He had been a strict parent, but he had wanted Draco to respect him, and to want to please him because of that respect. He'd never wanted to be feared as he'd feared his own father.

Their other lessons were going well, not just these little forays into magical experimentation, but dueling, occlumency, and some more informal work in herbology and potions; interests that she and Draco shared which they were now also sharing with Hermione. Lucius was alternately exasperated and bursting with pride in the two of them. Narcissa was just proud.

Hermione had a way of getting Draco interested in his political training that Lucius had been unable to inspire in his son and therefore envied. But he had been so thrilled to have an enthusiastic student that he included Hermione as often as was appropriate. When they were discussing topics that needed to be kept between Lord and Scion he would subtly pass her to Narcissa who had quietly begun to teach the girl how to fulfill her own eventual role as Lady of this House.

But it was in their fighting lessons where Lucius most often found himself at loose ends. Because while quick and powerful individually, they automatically defaulted into a joint fighting style that was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, and they were far more powerful and efficient that way.

"They have to be able to defend themselves on their own," he'd groused to her, "in the event of an attack there is no guarantee they'll be together. But at the same time I can't ignore how effective what they are doing is, and they are only twelve, once they reach maturity they will be a force to be reckoned with."

He'd eventually settled on holding some of their sessions one-on-one, him with each of them in turn, so that they didn't have the option to rely on each other; and some consisting of the three, or the four of them. Narcissa had not forgotten her desire to make sure she knew how to fight.

As they spent more time together in these various activities Narcissa had the pleasure of watching her husband and Hermione forge their own bond.

"You're wrong," Hermione had said huffily, nearly throwing herself into her chair before lunch one rare afternoon when all four of them had been in attendance for a meal, glaring at Lucius with narrowed eyes.

The room had gone silent, she could practically feel her son shrinking in on himself. Even she was wincing internally at the girls daring words. She even forgot to scold her for her unladylike behavior.

But then the oddest thing had happened, her husband had started to chuckle. Low and genuinely amused it was something she rarely heard outside of their private chambers.

"Spitfire," he'd murmured fondly.

"Would the two of you like to share with us what this disagreement is about?" she asked daintily, never letting on that she was on the edge of her seat.

Lucius caught her eye and the slight upward tick to his lips reassured her that all was well.

"Lucius," Hermione pronounced his name very primly, as if she was still testing it out, "thinks that I need to learn to ride a broom," she said petulantly.

Narcissa nearly dropped her fork. Draco actually did.

"Any witch worth her salt knows how to fly, Mignonette."

"I just don't think it's for me," she pouted, "you should see me, I'm useless."

Draco was now staring open mouthed between them.

"I have seen you," Lucius responded, tapping one finger against his temple, "you are not lacking talent or power, you were simply ill-taught and on top of that you have had some frightening experiences. It has ruined your confidence. We will get you a proper training broom, and teach you how you should have been taught in the first place," he'd paused dramatically and looked at his wife, "I might have to have a word with the Board, they aren't even properly teaching children how to fly at Hogwarts anymore."

She tilted her head regally in agreement, too flabbergasted to do anything else. She was certainly thankful for it, but she couldn't imagine what had occurred between Lucius and Hermione in the past couple of hours that had them addressing each other so informally, and dare she think it, affectionately. But she was distracted when Lucius then turned his attention to Draco.

"And Son, were are going to be having a discussion about your behavior at school."

Draco cringed and Hermione shot him a sheepish look.

Narcissa anxiously awaited her husband in bed that evening, because it was the first opportunity they had to speak privately and she very much wanted an explanation.

"What was that?" she'd demanded, seated so that the bedclothes intentionally covered her up to her armpits.

"What was what?" he wondered, and she almost would have assumed the inquiry to be innocent except for the way he slowly removed his dressing gown, teasingly revealing his upper body to her.

She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, knowing he was having fun toying with her, but it was a poor attempt at distraction.

"She called you Lucius, Lucius, how did you get her to do that!? I can barely get her to stray from your title, 'Mr. Malfoy,' is as informal as she's ever been."

He climbed into bed and tried to pull her into his arms, but she stopped him with a hand to the bare chest he'd been taunting her with.

"Hermione and I have come to an agreement."

"Oh?" she asked with a pointedly arched brow.

He sighed.

"Surely you've noticed that I've been...warning to her presence in our lives."

Narcissa nodded. Lucius had been more than impressed by Hermione's magical abilities and her dedication to learning right from the start. And he'd been happy enough to act as her teacher. It was overcoming a lifetime of prejudice and accepting the presence of a muggleborn into his home and into his family that had been holding him back from forming a more personal relationship with her.

But as he spent more time with her over the weeks Narcissa had noticed a growing tenderness in his demeanor towards her, so subtle that she was probably the only one who could have noticed it, but it was definitely there. She hadn't said anything because she wanted it to progress naturally, and because she didn't it want to make Lucius, who could be surprisingly sensitive, self-conscious about his behavior.

"I expected her to loathe me," he said, "after that day in my study, I did essentially confess to being a member of a group that endorsed the wholesale slaughter of her kind, after all. I'm not sure she fully understood that, but she understood enough to have good reason to hate me."

"It was more complicated than that," Narcissa interrupted quietly.

He shrugged.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. Still, I expected to feel open fear from her, at least to the extent Draco demonstrated after that day."

Narcissa wanted to say something comforting, but he just continued on before she come up with anything appropriate.

"But she never flinched, at first I assumed it was Gryffindor bravado that would wear off, but she came here, day after day, week after week, she trusted me to use offensive spells on her in order to teach her how to fight, she sat at my table and ate my food, she loved my wife and my son. But she never flinched or showed any emotion aside from being slightly intimidated by my presence, and being eager to please me. I could not help but admire it, and be grateful that she didn't use the influence she clearly has on Draco to turn him against me."

"She wouldn't do that," Narcissa hurried to assure him.

"I know that now. She holds him too dear to take his father from him. And she is just essentially kind. And she is a pleasure to have around, sometimes she's overly enthusiastic, but I suppose she gives me hope that we will survive this, whatever it is exactly that's coming."

Narcissa just smiled to herself.

"And then this morning, Cissa, she trusted me to test her mental defenses."

Narcissa gasped quietly. She'd known it would have to happen eventually. They had been teaching the children occlumency using a series of mental exercises to help them to learn to organize and defend their minds, but they would never truly know how far they'd come in their efforts until they tested them using legilimency.

Narcissa was a skilled occlumens. She'd been instructed in the basics of the art as a child, as most pureblooded children of means were. And then she'd perfected her abilities by practicing for thousands of hours over the years, to be sure she could hide her gift from anybody talented enough to sneak into her mind.

But legilimency was a separate art, part natural ability, part learned skill, and she simply lacked the natural ability. She suspected her sensitivity to magic actually hindered her in this, because it rather blinded her to the subtleties one needed to be able to pick up on to enter another's mind.

Lucius, on the other hand, was a skilled legilimens, having been taught from a young age by his father to unobtrusively scan thoughts. It had been Abraxas' most effective political tool. It also meant Lucius would have to be the one to test the children, and they'd been putting it off for that reason. Draco could barely look at his father, it could do real damage to his psyche to allow him into his mind before they were back to a more trusting relationship.

"Why did you ask her to let you do that?" Narcissa wondered.

She knew Lucius had simply planned to practice shielding with Hermione that morning while she was at the healer's with Draco for a routine appointment. He'd also planned to allow her some time in his private library as a treat. There had been no mention of legilimency.

"That's just the thing Cissa, I didn't, she requested it," Lucius explained, his silver eyes shining in the candlelight.

"What?" Narcissa gasped.

"She said she knew that she couldn't be sure of her progress until she was tested and she didn't want to keep working for it all just to come to nothing. She's sharp, she knows her mental shields might be important for keeping her association with us a secret, and she's worried about it. She didn't come right out and say that, but it was obvious, and she was absolutely determined. In fact, I think she intentionally waited for a time when both you and Draco would be out of the house in case I tried to refuse her so that she would have more opportunity to convince me," he smirked with obvious pride.

If he was right, then perhaps their resident lion was more of a snake than she'd imagined.

"And you agreed?" she asked, certain his initial reaction would have been to put her off.

"I was hesitant, I made certain she understood what it would entail, and that she trusted that I would not look any further into her mind once I breached her defences. I did not want to risk her becoming panicked and end up hurting herself fighting me. But she was absolutely insistent, Narcissa, she almost reminded me of you, so proud and stubborn," he chuckled fondly.

She felt a flush of pleasure at his analysis, on Hermione's behalf, as well as her own.

"So we sat down," he continued, "and she took my hand, completely trusting. I had told her that skin contact made the process easier and less stressful for us both, but I never expected her to do that. I simply intended for her to have as much information as possible so that she would be comfortable," he took a deep breath, "it's as we suspected. She has a natural talent for the art. It stands to reason that her mind is organized, being such a talented student, it made sense to her to add defences on top of the organization she already had in place."

"And you saw something in her mind that has increased your fondness for her?" she surmised.

"I know that your understanding of legilimency is largely academic, so I must impress upon you that it is unlike your gift. I see memories, thoughts, impressions, but I do not feel anything. Any belief I gain about things is through observation and intuition, not emotion."

"I know this, of course Lucius, it was this that led you to be able to mislead the Dark Lord when you started to have doubts."

"I just wanted to make sure you remembered that. That you understood that despite the fact that I could not feel her emotions she made quite an impression."

"Alright," she ventured hesitantly.

"Just from perusing her surface thoughts I learned much. She has an impressive mind, in more ways than we knew, her memories are rich and detailed. She adores you, Narcissa, almost above anybody other than her parents. There was a grandmother who was very important to her as well. But you are prevalent in her thoughts, I had not realized she'd become quite so attached."

"Does that bother you?" she asked, it didn't seem to, but Lucius could be very possessive of his family.

"Not at all, I was just startled, I was foolishly concerned that my misdeeds would make her recalcitrant with you."

He took a deep breath.

"I hope it does not injure you to hear that this barely compares to the way that she thinks of Draco."

She finally allowed herself to curl into his side.

"No, I'm certainly not upset, but I am interested to hear what it looked like from your point of view, and why it doesn't anger you."

He huffed but placed his arm around her and drew her even closer to him.

"Her thoughts revolve around him. It might be troubling if it wasn't so reassuring. Because it is not an obsession, it is just connection and consideration, he is the most important person in the world to her, and that is reflected in her thoughts. I assume I would see something similar in his thoughts, I saw enough to know it is not one-sided."

"And that doesn't bother you, further proof of their connection?"

"She is powerful, smart, thoughtful, she seems meant to be for us," he conceded, but he sounded far from unhappy about it.

She looked at him dubiously, that seemed almost like capitulation, and she didn't believe he was capable of that without irrefutable evidence.

"What did you do?" she asked, a foreboding feeling arising within her.

"Nothing beyond what you would approve," he defended quickly, "I simply asked if I could see more. She is already talented enough to be able to choose memories to show me, rather than just having me wander around in her mind. So, I asked if she would do that for me, show me some of her time at Hogwarts this year. She agreed, she almost seemed anxious for me to see. She is so trusting, it is as refreshing as it is disconcerting," he said almost wistfully.

"And?" she promoted, too anxious to address that at the moment.

"It was almost all Draco, it was clear that it was simply her first inclination to think of him, because I'm sure there are a few she would have left out if she had been sorting them more thoroughly," he chuckled, his eyes far away and obviously lost in thought, probably remembering the things Hermione had shown him.

"I suppose that's what your sudden desire to speak to Draco about his behavior stems from?" she guessed.

He nodded.

"We may have underestimated how badly we spoiled him, Narcissa. He can be an entitled bugger. His behavior has not been a credit to the Malfoy name," he groused, but he didn't sound too terribly disappointed in their boy.

She hummed in agreement.

"He has gotten better though, I truly believe that, Hermione smooths his rough edges."

It was his turn to hum in agreement.

"You were right, on the very first night you met her you were right," he admitted.

"About what?"

"About Hermione, about what she is to Draco and what they have and could be together, it is all I could ever want for my son. She could be for him what you are for me, it is comforting to know, given recent events, that even if something should happen to me she will be here for him."

She turned her face to kiss the place over his heart to hide the tears in her eyes, but she was unable to speak. They lay there for several moments in silence, her forehead pressed gently against his bare chest.

"So, when she finished feeding me her memories we had a long talk," he resumed his story.

"And you told her to call you Lucius, was that the agreement you came to?" she asked, grateful to have regained her ability to speak without betraying her emotions.

"Amongst other things. I let the conversation go where it wanted, I realized I'd never spoken to her before without a very specific purpose."

"I take it, it went well?"

"It did, she rather forgot to be intimidated by me, and once she remembered, she had said enough to realize that I would not punish her for speaking her mind. I found it rather refreshing, only you and Severus are really comfortable doing that, and talking to Severus can be like walking through a maze filled with booby traps," he noted dryly.

They both laughed lightly.

"Well, that's wonderful," she sighed.

He chuckled.

"It was a surprising morning."

"And that pet name you called her? 'Mignonette?'"

She looked up to see his reaction, and she couldn't be sure in the low light of their bedroom, but she would have sworn she saw his cheeks pinken slightly.

"She has a fierce heart, but she is just so small, it seemed appropriate," he shrugged helplessly.

She looked back down so that he could not see the large smile she could not prevent from blossoming on her face. She thought this made it official. Her body might have failed her, but she'd gotten them a daughter anyway.

Author's note: So, I promise I'm not turning Lucius into a teddy bear, he's just feeling a little sentimental at the moment ;) Thank you for the continued enthusiastic response to this story. It means so much that others seem to enjoy this. I'm sorry I haven't had time to reply to reviews this week, I promise I read and treasure each one, but I figured you'd rather me spend my time getting this update out. I treasure all the faves and follows too! Enjoy this and thanks for reading!