Chapter 10

Lucius watched his wife from a discreet distance as she combed through the attics carefully for… something. He was chagrined to say he had no idea what that might be.

He feared he'd lost touch with her in the last weeks. He couldn't help but feel he'd let her down. He knew she was fretting about the threat the Dark Lord presented, and He was only a danger to her because of him. Married to a different man and she'd be free, as would her children. He wasn't usually one for self deprecation, but the feeling of letting his family down was a hard pill to swallow; he'd managed to smooth things over with Draco but now he was afraid that in the meantime he'd inadvertently alienated Narcissa.

It started out simply enough, after Draco returned to Hogwarts she claimed that the house elves were restless. Because it had been years, if not generations, since they'd had so few people to care for. He didn't know how she determined that, they seemed the same as usual to him, but they were under her direction and he respected her opinion. So she set upon several projects to keep them all busy and as a result the Manor was in a state of frenzy.

He had thought, at first, that she was merely bored and missing Draco and Hermione. There had been a similar adjustment period last year when Draco had gone away to school for the first time and she'd missed him terribly. They both had, if Lucius was being honest. He assumed that essentially losing two children this year would be just as, if not more, painful for her. But while last year she'd planned and hosted several social events to keep herself busy, that was not an option this year, because the House was officially still in mourning for his father.

So, he said nothing when she had the elves start to reorganize the library, according to her instructions, even as his fingers actually itched to put a stop to it. The library was much more his territory than hers and he liked the way it was arranged. But he didn't, she'd never let him down before when it came to managing their home, and if worse came to worse he could always set it back to rights if her new system proved disastrous.

After that she took on the task of closing down the wing where his parents had once resided, something she'd put off out of respect. But when his mother made a short visit over the summer and it became perfectly clear that she was happy to stay with them upon further visits, Narcissa declared that it was time to put that area in stasis until it was needed once more. It was an intensive magical process that kept her occupied for over a week.

When she was done with that she started concentrating on making some changes to the public areas of the house. Areas that had, until very recently, been his mother's domain as Mistress of the Manor. His mother's tastes were fussier than his wife's and he knew she'd been wanting to put her own mark on things for years. He could hardly fault her for that so he didn't even complain about the string of decorators she brought in to assist, even though he loathed having strangers in house. As long as she was content he would just bunker down in his study and bear it.

But he'd become concerned when she'd begun redecorating her boudoir. She hadn't even said anything about it, just had the elves strip the room of its old furniture. She'd spent only a handful of nights in that room the entire length of their marriage, and then it had only been when Draco was an infant and unwilling to settle; she'd taken the baby to sleep in the next room to avoid disturbing him. It had never been her regular bedroom, the one set aside for the Master was their's.

He remembered that decision like it was yesterday. In the months leading up to their wedding she'd toured the wing where they were to live with his mother, so that she could have it decorated to her liking. She laughed with him later about her boudoir, called it 'superfluous.' And then she'd done something he'd never seen before; she'd become very shy. She hesitantly asked him if he wanted them to keep separate bedrooms. He hadn't hesitated to deny it, and that had been the first time he'd consciously processed how different his marriage was going to be from that of his parents. It set part of his soul free.

She had her boudoir redecorated all those years ago along with the rest of the wing to keep from scandalizing his mother with the idea that they planned to share a bedroom, but that was the only reason. So, her sudden interest in the room felt like a punch to the gut. The elves restlessness was not going to be a good enough excuse for that.

He'd gone searching for an explanation and he found her in the attics along with Jema. He paused when he caught sight of her to take the opportunity to observe her unnoticed. Twenty years together and she still stopped him in his tracks. He resolved that he was not letting her go, even just to the next bedroom, without a fight.

Fall had come and there was a crispness in the air, but she still wore only a light day dress which accentuated her willowy figure, unaccompanied by robes. Her face was flushed with exertion and her hair was piled on top of her head as haphazardly as he'd ever seen it. It reminded him of the way she looked at Hogwarts on the rare moments he'd found her buried in her school work, and was not perfectly put together as she usually was; or the less rare moments when he'd found them some privacy, and his hands had become the reason for her dishevelment. He considered winning her to be one of his greatest achievements, second only to Draco, and he loved that he was the only one she'd willingly allow to see her looking so natural.

She could still easily pass for a woman in her mid-twenties. She momentarily took his breath away. But then he remembered why he'd sought her out and his course became determined.

"Could you leave us?" he addressed the elf as he stepped fully into the space.

"Of course Master," she curtsied.

"I'll call you back when I need you Jema, thank you," said Narcissa, eyeing him in silent censure that he'd overstepped his purview and undermined her authority with the elf.

Jema nodded, gave one more curtsey and popped away.

"Lucius," she frowned, "is there something the matter?" she was a combination of annoyed and concerned.

He was aware that he generally left her to her own devices during the day while he saw to his own responsibilities and that his sudden appearance was odd, and he was also aware he'd just overstepped his boundaries in dismissing Jema when she'd been assisting Narcissa. She would forget about the impropriety immediately, she understood the relationship between the newest Lord and Lady, but some of the younger elves others would not if they were to have witnessed it. The last thing he wanted to do was make them think he didn't respect their Mistress. He sighed. It was beginning to feel like he was mucking things up at every turn

"I apologize. I was not thinking, it will not happen again. I was simply anxious to speak with you."

She nodded graciously and waited patiently for him to explain himself.

"To answer your question, I don't know if something is the matter. What is going on here?" he gestured around them.

She released her hair from its baret and it fell down all around her to her waist, shimmering even in the low light of the attic; damn witch, she knew what that did to him. But she seemed completely unwitting of her actions as she automatically just started pulling it up again without looking at him, lost in thought.

"What do you mean? I'm looking for a desk, it seems a waste to buy or have one made, I just need something practical. I'm sure there's something acceptable up here."

And now he was lost.

"A desk, whatever for?"

"For the lady's bedroom in our suite."

He blinked at her as he attempted to solve that puzzle.

"What does the bedroom need a desk for?"

"I'm turning it into a study," she said, though her tone of voice suggested that what she was really saying was, 'do please keep up!'

That caught him flat footed.

"A study?"

The feeling of tightness in his chest that he hadn't even been aware of before began to loosen.

"Yes, I need a place to work where nobody can just stumble upon what I'm doing, the wards in that room make it the best possible choice as only you or I can enter on our own. Why, what did you think I was doing?"

He hesitated, feeling more sheepish by the moment, but he knew if he didn't admit it, it would just be a matter of time before she figured it out, and that would be even more embarrassing.

"I thought you were redecorating in preparation for moving in there."

She froze and just stared at him, the only thing moving were her rapidly blinking eyelids, until she suddenly took three very determined steps towards him and looped her arms around his neck.

"You ridiculous man! Why would you ever think I would want to move out of our bedroom?"

He shrugged with practiced nonchalance, it was an automatic reaction, the act would be useless on her, she could read him like a book.

"Much has changed as of late. I thought perhaps, however unintentionally, I may have been neglecting you."

It would not be an exaggeration to say that more things had changed in the last year and a half than had stayed the same. His father fell ill, which led to his parents quitting England. Draco had gone off to Hogwarts. His father had died and now his mother lived permanently in France. They practically adopted a muggleborn witch and his niece had cut down substantially on the amount of time she spent at the Manor. Then last, but certainly not least, they had learned that the world was not free of the Dark Lord. And the only one of these events he'd been even slightly prepared for was Draco going off to school.

He'd fully expected to have thirty years or more before he became Head of House, at the very least he'd expected Draco to be out of Hogwarts and be able to share some of the responsibilities of the House. But his son was only twelve, which left Lucius to fulfill the duties of Lord and Scion both, while finding the time to train Draco for his eventual duties, which was more important than ever now with the news of the Dark Lord. Should something happen to Lucius he needed to ensure Draco would be prepared.

And then there was all the time he'd spent training Draco and Hermione over the summer, they had been quite busy. He would only spend more in the future as their magical cores grew and stabilized and could withstand more stress. He may have to look into hiring some discreet tutors, though he refused to trust them to others completely. He'd have to be even better organized in the coming months and years to make sure nothing fell by the wayside.

It would have been a lot of responsibility even if everything was going smoothly, but it was not. In both the Wizengamot and on the Hogwarts Board of Governors, Dumbledore seemed determined thwart him at every turn. In terms of gathering information about the Dark Lord, it didn't seem to matter how many feelers he put out or how many palms he greased, he couldn't seem to find anything. He didn't know if that meant the evil wizard was just that deeply underground, or worse, that he'd lost the trust of his vast network of contacts and informants, which would mean they were truly flying blind. And don't even get him started on that Merlin forsaken journal of the Dark Lord's. No, when he took it all into consideration it was not out of the realm of possibility that he'd been neglecting his wife.

"I have no complaints, it was wonderful to watch you with the children this summer. And I understood the consequences of your added responsibilities. I am perfectly capable of keeping myself occupied. If I ever did become discontented you would know about it long before I contemplated moving to a new bedroom," she said, laying a hand over his heart.

"I am just concerned I am going to drop the quaffle somewhere along the way, perhaps without even noticing."

She chuckled, "that's what you have me for, to point out those things to you. Honestly Lucius, I'm so proud of the way you've comported yourself over the past year," there was a beat of silence, "I don't sleep well without you, you know, even when you're simply away on business for a night or two. I'm not going anywhere, not even to the next room. You're my constant and my touchstone, I hope you consider me to be that for you as well."

"The thought of you even one room away turned me into a Hufflepuff, Narcissa, of course I feel the same way."

Her trilling laughter was music to his ears.

"The last thing you could ever be, Husband, is a Hufflepuff, you're simply not soft enough," she poked his firm chest for emphasis.

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"So, why the need for such a well guarded study?" he wondered, she had her own already, though she didn't use it often, preferring to tend to her correspondence in a sitting room.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "I should have told you more of my plans, but as you said, you've been so busy lately I didn't think you needed more to occupy your mind. But to answer your question, I am formulating contingency plans."

He frowned, "Contingency plans for what?"

"For everything. You remember the last time, the worst thing about when the Dark Lord was in power was how trapped we felt? All we could do was keep our heads down and hope to survive?"

"Yes," he replied, full of shame, he'd been helpless to protect his young family.

"I don't ever want to experience that again. My original intention was just to find a way to get that mark out of your arm," she reached down and cupped his forearm above his Dark Mark.

His heart lurched, there is nothing he could desire more than that. If she could accomplish it, he could keep his family away from the Dark Lord, but he didn't think it was possible. It seemed too much to hope for.

"But then I realized it would be foolish to put all of our eggs in one basket," she looked at him apologetically.

"No, you're absolutely right. So, what other plans?"

"Well, I started thinking about all the things we have to take into account. The Grangers, for instance, they'll need protection. Dobby is a good start, but probably not enough."

Lucius nodded thoughtfully.

"And then there is Draco and Hermione, it's one thing to train them but they are still so young. We believe we have time before the Dark Lord can return to full power, but it may be even longer until they're capable of defending themselves in any significant way. The last thing I want to do is send them away, but we still need to plan for it, because we may not have a choice."

"Whatever keeps them alive," he conceded.

"And then there's Claire, she's vulnerable as well, even if she would probably be in less immediate danger."

He sighed, so much to consider that he hadn't thought of, Narcissa was more of a gift from the gods everyday.

"I take your point, there are a lot of angles to consider."

"I assume you would have told me if you had any news of the Dark Lord?" she questioned.

"Yes, unfortunately I just keep hitting dead ends."

She nodded, obviously unsurprised, "I was also thinking of something Hermione told me."

"What's that?"

"Apparently the Dark Lord, even in Quirrell's body, couldn't touch Potter. According to Dumbledore, when his mother sacrificed herself for him it left a blood protection against the Dark Lord on the boy. And it is so powerful it stopped him all those years ago, and it killed Quirrell and drove Him away once again in June."

"Love and sacrifice, that's powerful magic," he admitted thoughtfully, it was also something the Dark Lord never would have thought of, given how dismissive he had been of the old ways.

"A mother's love," she clarified.

He froze.

"Cissa…"

"No, Lucius, if there is even the slightest chance, I must at least look into it. And not all blood magic requires sacrifice, a witch's magic on behalf of a child can be very powerful on its own. Most of it had been lost though, it will take some work to uncover the possibilities."

He closed his eyes, fighting back his panic. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost her, but he also couldn't blame her for being willing to do whatever possible to protect Draco...and Hermione too.

"Alright," he conceded, "but promise me you will not do anything foolish."

"I already told you I don't plan on going anywhere," she gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

That would have to be good enough for now.

"That leads me to one last thing. Do we know why the Dark Lord was after Potter? I do not believe his mother's sacrifice would have worked to protect him unless he was after the baby specifically, she had to be exchanging her life for his. I had just been under the impression he wanted to eradicate the family for defying him so often, but that no longer makes sense."

Lucius winced.

"There was talk of a prophecy."

He hadn't wanted to believe the Dark Lord could be so foolish, people who chased prophecies often spelled their own doom. Not that he'd cared if the wizard had condemned himself, he just hadn't wanted him taking the rest of them down with him. But Narcissa had a point, it sounded like the fool had been after baby Harry Potter.

Narcissa snorted, "he was really revealing himself as a half-blood, then."

A wizard from a magical family of any substance knew to be wary of prophecies, it was too easy to trigger the foretold events, Oedipus being a prime example, but their histories were full of similar tales.

"That's something to consider though, it explains why he is apparently still after the boy. Otherwise you'd think he'd want to avoid the person who caused his vanquishment. Quite unfortunate for Hermione."

"Are you certain she can't be convinced to distance herself from the boy?"

"She is aware of my concerns, but no, she would view it as an abandonment. She has and too few friends in her life to consider that. On top of which, she is very fond of him, speaks of him almost like a younger sibling. She has a big heart and she decided somewhere along the way that it is her job to make sure he's taken care of. I can't exactly fault her for that."

"I suppose not," he sighed, "we should have Severus over for dinner."

"You think he knows something?"

"I think he is close to Dumbledore, even if it's just in proximity. And I think I'd like to get what impressions he is willing to share about the situation at Hogwarts. The Board of Governors only gets things second or third hand, he will speak more candidly to us directly, even though he is as slippery as any snake."

"That seems wise," she bowed her head in agreement.

He smirked at her, "I'd also like to hear what he thinks about our Miss Granger."

Narcissa scoffed.

"She's a Gryffindor, she may be the most brilliant student to come through that school in a generation, but his thoughts still won't be favorable," she rolled her eyes, and then something seemed to have occurred to her, "I don't know if you remember this, but when they came to Hogwarts, Severus was quite close to a girl called Lily Evans, they were childhood friends. She later became Lily Potter."

Lucius reared back in surprise.

"You think he may have his own vested interest in the Potter boy?"

"I think he will at least be watching him closely, and Severus is very observant."

"We will have to tread carefully, but that is, indeed, very interesting. It might be the very thing we need to begin making progress, he may be stuck in Scotland for most of the year, but if anybody knows anything it will be Severus."

"I'll have the elves prepare his favorites, he's especially fond of Raffie's ginger cake."

"I'll leave the details to you, now I do believe I know of a desk that will fit your purposes, I believe it is this way," he said taking her hand and leading her to find the requested piece.

"How do you know that?" she wondered.

"I used to play up here as a boy."

"I didn't know that!"

"I think I'd forgotten until now, I can't be sure but I believe Mother suggested it, there is plenty to explore and nobody would have thought to search for me here."

"Draco would have had fun amongst all this," she gestured around them to the varied assortment of old furniture, "there would have been an array of creative forts, I believe."

He pulled her close, "I would be sorry, but perhaps we can preserve this secret to share with his children, I quite relish the idea of being the fun grandfather."

The blinding smile she rewarded him with upon this request was so much more than he ever could have hoped for when he'd sought her out, and it bolstered his spirits: they would find a way through this.

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Draco was lonely, it was not a feeling he was accustomed to. As an only child who rarely went out in public, and grew up in a household where he'd been expected to be seen and not heard, he'd learned to appreciate his own company. As much as he loved Claire, she was an only child as well, and they enjoyed their time together but they mostly existed in their own separate, if parallel orbits. It was one of the reasons they got along so well, they both appreciated their solitude.

Hermione had gone and ruined that completely. He'd gotten used to her for Salazar's sake! Not just used to her, he'd grown sadly dependent on her company.

It was hard to watch her with her friends. He'd never hated Potter and Weasley more. And now there was even Longbottom, who she was spending more and more time with. She told him it was just because he was nice, quiet company. That didn't really make him feel better. It also made it impossible to ignore that, aside from Hermione herself, he didn't have any real friends.

He had plenty of influence, especially inside Slytherin, even as a second year, but that wasn't the same as companionship. Crabbe and Goyle were mere space fillers, they gravitated towards him as their fathers did towards his father, but they could barely string a couple of sentences together. Draco was continually surprised they had enough magic to warrant getting Hogwarts letters. Pansy was an obnoxious sycophant, she obviously already had a betrothal in mind, almost certainly at her parents' instruction. The Parkinsons could use a boost from the Malfoy name and vaults, and Pansy didn't seem to have any interest in actually getting to know him. But he wanted a marriage like his parents' and goodness, if he was going to consider marrying anybody at this juncture, well it most certainly would not be his prissy housemate.

Blaise had his own agenda and Nott kept to himself to the point that Draco regularly forgot he was around. The other girls in his year were mere faces in the crowd. And it wouldn't do to socialize outside of Slytherin, if the prejudiced masses would have even deigned to speak to him.

That left Hermione, and he wasn't allowed to be seen with her. He knew that wasn't her fault, in fact she made an effort to seek him out whenever possible. That didn't take the sting out of his loneliness, or keep him from being annoyed. But he couldn't do anything about it but bide his time until the holidays.

When a school owl landed in front of him at breakfast one morning in November, he barely suppressed a sneer. It was best not to insult a post owl, they could be vicious. However, he'd never received a delivery from a Hogwarts bird before and it made him wary. But then he'd seen Hermione's distinctive scrawl on the parchment, and he'd quickly grabbed the letter and then carefully-he valued his fingers- fed the owl some of his bacon. It made sense, if she needed to send him an owl she couldn't use Atalanta, the little bird his mother had chosen for her was very distinctive. He'd have to think of another means for them to communicate lest the regular reception of school owls sully his reputation.

Still, he was pleased to get her not and upon her request he met her in a back corner of the library that night, just half an hour before curfew.

"Hi!" she beamed at him, "we'll have to be quick, but I have something to show you," and without further ado she grabbed his hand and pulled him along around the perimeter of the library.

She eventually stopped in front of a bookcase that looked like it hadn't been touched in a hundred years. It and all the books it stored were covered in a thick blanket of dust that made Draco's nose itch. Did the harridan of a librarian refuse to let the castle elves clean in here? Surely they wouldn't abide by this.

Hermione pulled on a book about the medieval ogre wars as if to remove it and murmured the word 'veritas' just loudly enough for him to hear it. He then heard a quiet 'click' and she turned them with a tug on his hand so that he could see that the wall next to them appeared to have cracked open. She stuck her fingers in the crack and a section of the wall swung open easily, surely as a result of magic, to reveal a chamber behind it.

It was a small turret, the starry night sky was clearly visible from above, as the upper portion of the circular room was almost entirely composed of windows. There were a few study carrels pushed against the walls, a couple of armchairs and a sofa in the middle of the floor on top of a plush looking oriental rug facing a cozy fireplace.

She pulled him inside and he looked around in amazement.

"I've found us somewhere to meet where nobody can find us or bother us!" she bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement.

He couldn't even make fun of her lack of compartment, this was too amazing.

"How?" he wondered, voice barely above a whisper.

"I've been chronologically going through all the editions of 'Hogwarts: A History,' most people don't know it, but with each subsequent addition they remove things to make room for new information so the book doesn't become too long. So, there are things in some of these books that time has essentially forgotten. I found one with an alternative blueprint of the library. I noticed it looked different than the others I'd seen, and I spotted this room. With a little deciphering I figured out how to get in."

"And nobody else knows about it?" he asked, eyes wide, he could quite believe their good luck.

"I've been keeping watch for two weeks, nobody has so much as approached the bookshelf where the entrance is. So I reset the password and sent you an owl."

She bit her lip and waited, clearly hoping for his approval.

"You brilliant girl," he grinned, she beamed back, "'veritas?'" he questioned.

She shrugged.

"It seemed appropriate, we can be our true selves here."

He didn't think about it, he just swept her up in his arms.

"I take it you approve?"

"Brilliant, brilliant girl," he repeated, hugging her tight.

Author's note: Thanks for reading and enjoy! Also, massive kudos to anybody who spots the X-Files reference :)