Chapter 54

Sirius paced around the reception room closest to the floo entry at Malfoy Manor while eyeing Narcissa who was reorganizing a pile of healing supplies.

"Why don't you tell me the story of how you ordered your elves to poison Bellatrix again?" He asked, his teasing manner did not match his nervous behavior. "Truly Narcissa," he continued, "your mother must be bursting with pride, taking a page out of her book like that," he let out one of his manic giggles. He'd spent what seemed like hours rolling on the floor, giggling, a few days before when she'd explained what she was doing to Bellatrix, and especially the help she had in that endeavor.

While Narcissa appreciated his attempt to distract her, she was not in the mood for his peculiar brand of humor tonight, and she especially did not appreciate the comparison to her mother.

"Oh, do sit down!" She snapped. Francesca let out a low whine and Narcissa apologized quietly, the puppy was very sensitive to her mistress' moods.

Sirius, on the other hand, appeared unaffected, but he at least listened. "I'm glad I didn't bring my dogs over for you to scare," he grumbled as he threw himself onto a sofa and stretched his long legs out in front of him.

"I don't know who's more dangerous to my furniture, you or Bellatrix," she hissed in return.

"Low blow Cousin. I'm here, out of the goodness of my heart, to keep you company and you're comparing me to your victim? Should I start testing the refreshments your elves offer me?"

"Fortunately for you, you're more use to me alive and hale. And you wouldn't know how to detect a non-magical product in your food or drink any more than the Dark Lord does," she retorted.

He waved her off. "I would at least consider the idea that you might be using something muggle. But still, touche. It's a good thing I intend to stay on your good side."

She didn't respond and just began checking over the healing supplies yet again.

"Cissy, what's going on? I've never seen you this agitated."

She spun around, balling her fists at her side in frustration. "What's going on?" She bit out, "my husband is with the Dark Lord!"

His eyes went wide, surely surprised at her unusual display of temper. "Your husband is often with him. I've been with you many times when he was, but I've still never seen you like this."

"They've gone to retrieve the prophecy," she anunciated slowly, like he was very stupid, which is exactly what she was thinking at the moment.

"I'm aware of that, that's why I'm here."

"Yes," she responded with as much patience as she could muster, "which means that the Dark Lord is going to hear the full prophecy tonight. He is going to be furious and he is going to consider it to be Lucius' fault! I trust you are not unaware of how the Dark Lord treats those who he believes to have failed him?"

"But this was Lucius' idea! Why did he suggest it?"

She gave him a long, hard look. "Because it was the best way to protect Harry. He believed it was worth the risk."

Sirius gasped and Narcissa narrowed her eyes. "Did you not believe he was invested in Harry's safety?"

"Perhaps I underestimated his commitment to it," he admitted. "Why did he move up the timeline of retrieving the prophecy though? As I recall he had planned to put it off for awhile longer, maybe he could have come up with something safe since you both apparently believe this is practically suicide."

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Because as you recall you returned from the Order meeting this weekend all concerned that the Dark Lord was going to plan some kind of major attack out of frustration with Bellatrix's illness, so Lucius decided that he needed to be distracted from the situation with Bellatrix that didn't involve innocent bloodshed."

"This is why you should have told me your plans for Bellatrix in the first place," he pouted. "I can't believe you let Helen and Hermione help, and not me."

"You think you could have predicted how the Dark Lord would react better than Lucius or even I could?"

He let out a non-committal little grunt.

"And don't be such a child. Hermione had the right after what Bellatrix did to Draco, and to her, and we needed Helen's medical expertise. Also," she continued, "we agreed a long time ago that everything was on a need to know basis, and you certainly didn't need to know about that. You're just angry because Severus knew before you did."

"You're just lucky you hardly ever have to deal with his self important arse."

Narcissa rolled her eyes but when she glanced at Sirius to retort she realized immediately that he had stopped truly arguing with her and was once again being intentionally provocative in an attempt to distract her from the matter at hand- and probably had been doing so for a while now. "Hermione's birthday is in just a matter of hours. I don't want her to remember her coming of age as the day she lost Lucius," she admitted.

He released a large breath and jumped up. He crossed the space between them and took her into his arms. "Lucius is a tough bastard, he's not going to let that son of a bitch kill him, especially not on his Mignonette's birthday, okay?"

She nodded and shifted so that she could look up at him, but she didn't pull out of his embrace. For all his annoying quirks Sirius was easy to talk to, and she appreciated that she didn't have to hide from him, she imagined her relationship with him was like having a sibling she could actually trust. "He purchased a bolt hole for us- Draco and I, I mean- during the first war, while I was pregnant actually. If anything happened to him I was to take Draco and run. I know what you think about him, but all he's ever really cared about was our safety."

"It's been a long time since I admitted that my opinion of his was...misguided, "he sighed and squeezed her. "If it hadn't been I never would have let Harry anywhere near him, I'd have let the vows the pair of you put me under kill me first. But he changed his entire world view for the two of you, and Hermione too, I suppose. I'm not a fool, I know what that means."

She nodded.

"That doesn't mean I like him, of course."

"Of course," she answered wryly. "I admit I wish that it was still an option to take my children and run," she paused and bit her lip to try and hold back the sob threatening to overwhelm her. "I don't want to do this without him," she added in a small voice.

He searched her face and seemed to come to a decision. "If something were to happen to him we could do just that."

She blinked up at him in surprise. "You would do that? Abandon Britain and the Order? Even the Potters didn't do that."

"And it got them killed. I'm not twenty-one years old anymore. I understand where my true responsibilities lie, and it's with the three kids at Hogwarts. They are the key, Narcissa, and I think you know it. I think you've known it for a long time."

She gasped but when she searched herself she found that she was unsurprised by his insight. "It doesn't matter. They'd never agree to such a thing and it would be impossible to take them against their will."

"I wouldn't do that, even if it were possible, they'd never trust us again and I wouldn't blame them, the betrayal of it would be insurmountable. But I think, in that scenario, we could convince them that a tactical retreat is our best option."

She took a step back and studied him. "Explain."

He gestured to the sofa he had abandoned. She nodded and took a seat; he settled next to her.

"This plan always hinged on Lucius being a spy, and to a lesser extent what you could learn and do as his wife. It's a good plan, to essentially take the Dark down from the inside out, but Lucius also ties us to Britain through his Mark."

He looked at her, willed her to understand without needing to say it. She decided to cut him some slack. "I know what you're implying- without Lucius we lose the basis for our plan, but- on the plus side- we also cannot be tracked through him. Losing him would free the rest of us." The words felt like ash on her tongue, but she pressed forward. "But that won't change the children's minds, Sirius, they're deeply committed to defeating the Dark Lord. In fact, I'm convinced that if something were to happen to Lucius, they would just double down on that commitment."

"I'm deeply committed to taking him down, just as much as they are," he countered. "But in many respects they are wasting their time at Hogwarts. Their time and energy would be better spent training full time, and we all know it. They're still here because they need to be in order to maintain the charade. But if it is no longer necessary to keep your family's cover then we can convince them their time is better served elsewhere, somewhere they aren't constantly putting on an act and watching their backs, somewhere they can fully commit to learning to win this fight."

"You're right," she admitted. It was such a simple and clear argument but she hadn't seen it, because she'd never been willing to truly formulate a plan that accounted for the loss of Lucius. She remembered a conversation with her husband just days before she'd given birth to Draco. He'd confessed to purchasing the bolt hole she'd just told Sirius about, and instructed her to run if something happened to him and he was no longer around to protect her. And when she'd asked him why he hadn't told her about it before, he'd said he didn't want to worry her while she was still pregnant and had only told her then because she'd specifically asked how she could protect their child without him.

She looked at Sirius and suddenly his absolute insistence on being present here tonight took on a whole new meaning. She'd assumed he was bored and wanted to be near the action and she'd allowed herself to believe that. She'd been completely convinced he'd just seized the opportunity to pester and tease her about keeping secrets from him without Lucius being present to intervene.

"The two of you discussed this, didn't you? You're here at his behest."

"Yes," he admitted, studying her face. "But I would have come if you had just asked for some company, you wouldn't have had to tell me all this."

"Did I tell you a single thing tonight that you didn't already know?"

He shrugged. "More details. He certainly downplayed the danger he is in."

"I should be furious with you both."

"Too bad you understand the importance of a need to know basis," his words were teasing but his eyes were grave.

"You really are an arsehole."

He let out one of his bark-like laughs. "You know I wasn't at all surprised to learn you were slowly murdering your own sister, but hearing you use foul language is kind of astonishing."

"I'm glad I can keep you on your feet." She considered if she wanted to know the answer to her last question very carefully before she asked it. "Did he know you were going to discuss this with me?"

"He didn't specifically suggest it, if that's what you mean, but I think he probably assumed that I would. It only makes sense for us to have decided what we're going to do...in case. And you're certainly not the kind of witch to just go along with whatever a wizard tells you to do and nobody knows that better than him."

She huffed in agreement. "Is there anything else?"

"No."

"I don't like it that you were able to play me like a cheap violin."

"Don't take it too much to heart, Cissy. I was raised in the same kind of house that you were, and I was taught to be opaque just as you were as well. It's possible that it was expected from me even more than you as I was the heir to the House and you were merely the very superfluous third daughter."

"Which made it all the more important for me," she scoffed in retort, "it was essential that I secure a good match. I had to be exactly the right type of witch. You were permitted to behave however you pleased. Uncle Arcturus didn't disown you when you were sorted into Gryffindor or even when you ran away from home!" She crossed her arms over her chest and even allowed a little petulance to color her tone, she was rewarded with a grin for her efforts.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"I think you owe me a secret," she countered.

He snickered. "The hat only put me in Gryffindor because I told it to, it was convinced I would have fit very well into Slytherin. It wanted to put Harry there too but he asked for anything but, apparently your little snake made a particularly obnoxious first impression on him."

"I cannot believe you just told me that," she chuckled.

"What can I say, you Slytherins have grown on me. Some of you, not all of you," he clarified. "Definitely not Snivellus."

"And here you were behaving maturely."

"You can't make me like him."

"I'm not asking you to like him, I have never asked you to like him, furthermore I don't care if you like him. What I am asking you is to handle it like a grown man and not an eleven year old boy. At least in front of me, as it grates on my nerves and so I would consider it a personal favor, but especially in front of the children as they have to co-exist in the same castle as him and you're only making it more difficult for them to treat him with the respect due a professor."

"I can't believe Harry voluntarily went back to class with him."

"It was a mature decision. He was absolutely right. His classmates look up to him to teach them defense in their little group, it would only breed resentment if he avoided their school lessons in that subject."

Sirius sighed. "I'm trying, okay? But I can't help it, he grates on my nerves."

"I don't understand why you rise to his bait, he obviously enjoys getting under your skin. If you just stopped he probably would too, and you would infuriate him in the process."

Surprisingly this made him laugh.

"What's amusing?"

"I once heard Hermione give almost exactly the same advice to Harry in regards to Draco."

"Well she's a smart girl," she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Alright, alright. While you're at it do you have any advice for tolerating Dumbledore's insufferable god complex?"

"My technique is avoiding him and I'm afraid I can't advise that. Inept though they are, I don't think we want to relinquish your place in the Order at this time."

"You're such a snob," he snorted.

"So are you, in your own way. I'm just more honest about it."

He opened his mouth to retort but she reached out to stop him, exasperated with herself.

"You're baiting me right now, to keep me distracted, aren't you?"

"It's working," he sang.

"We should find something worthwhile to discuss," she said, instead of admitting it.

He sat back and shrugged. "I was actually serious about Dumbledore. I'm getting tired of indulging his eccentricities. He's obviously angry that he wasn't informed about this whole Bellatrix thing but it's not like he ever tells us anything unless he absolutely has to. He's MIA more often than not and he's being really squirrely about the latest horcrux. I don't want him going after it alone, I have a bad feeling about it."

"You think we should go after it without him?"

"No," he sighed. "Therein lies the rub. He understands Voldemort in a way that none of us do, even considering Lucius' position in the inner circle, and he's the only one who has a chance of besting him magically- Harry notwithstanding. And the traps on this one are ridiculous, it would be foolish of us to try and overcome them ourselves when we have him."

Narcissa considered this. She too had noticed the way that Dumbledore was avoiding retrieving the next horcrux. He was hardly even being subtle about it, and that in and of itself was troubling because Dumbledore could have just as easily been sorted into Slytherin as any of the rest of them.

She knew it irked him that they were holding onto the horcruxes they'd already located. He didn't fully trust them, and she could hardly blame him for that, as they didn't fully trust him either. But she wouldn't put it past him to try and secure a horcrux on his own simply to attempt to level the playing field. However, she doubted that he wouldn't dare cross them like that.

They'd created and maintained possession of the device used to locate the horcruxes. And whatever his other motives, she did believe that defeating the Dark Lord was his first priority and she hoped that he wouldn't risk that mission by alienating them and removing his access to the device in question. Unless, of course, he had another means to locate them. She said as much to Sirius.

"Jesus, Cissy, don't give me nightmares. I really like thinking we have the market on horcrux hunting cornered. I don't even want Dumbledore going solo much less anybody else."

"You really don't think anybody in the Order knows about them?"

"If they do, they figured it out on their own, nothing of the sort has ever been discussed. It's like none of them have even wondered how the man came back from the 're all very easily led, it's how Dumbledore has structured the organization. So no, I don't," he paused and seemed to consider something. "I don't know why I feel like this is relevant, but I can't stop thinking that Dumbledore's preoccupation with getting Slughorn back inside Hogwarts is beyond bizarre. Perhaps I'm just trying to find one explanation for all of his incongruous behavior, which is probably foolish with somebody as brilliant as Dumbledore, he always has about a thousand balls in the air."

"I wouldn't ignore your instincts, though. But in regards to Slughorn, they've known each other for the better part of a century. You don't think it's just his way of getting another set of trustworthy eyes in Hogwarts? He's preoccupied by the school too. Remember how focused he was on keeping it open even through the crisis with the basilisk?"

"jYes, but what about his insistence that Harry get to know the man? He already has McGonagall to keep an eye on him, and Harry already trusts her. If he thought ordering Harry to suck up to a professor was going to be popular, then he doesn't understand him at all. The kid could not be more uncomfortable with his fame and he's not exactly quiet about it. Dumbledore lost a lot of points with Harry the day I asked him to do that, and even more so, I would reckon, because he didn't even ask him himself but had me do it."

Narcissa had thought the same thing, but she didn't know what it meant, or if it was important. "He implied that Slughorn might have information that we might need?" She asked.

"Didn't just imply, said it straight out. So maybe he does understand Harry a little bit, I think he might have dug his heels in without some explanation."

Narcissa nodded but a thought occurred to her that hadn't before, which was that Dumbledore had had no such instructions for Draco or Hermione. If it was simply information he was after, each of them were more naturally inclined to finding a way to endear themselves to the man and ferret out whatever he may know, and as a team they were even more formidable. She felt herself developing a headache.

"Would you like to duel?"

He laughed. "Let's see what you've got Lady Malfoy."

She was dripping sweat but fairly pleased with her performance- she was under no illusions that Sirius wasn't a skilled fighter- when they were interrupted by the sound of a portkey arrival.

They looked at each other and sprinted for the floo room, if Lucius had activated his emergency portkey it couldn't be good. She grabbed Sirius's arm so that he couldn't outpace her and didn't protest when he practically dragged her along. They came to a halt at the sight of Lucius, still in his Death Eater robes, propped up against the form of Severus Snape. Sirius drew his wand.

"Black stop," ordered Lucius, though his voice slurred, "need him." Then he turned his head ever so slightly and met her eyes with his own glazed, unfocused ones. "Cissa," he spoke her name more of a sigh than a word, "love you."

And then he fainted.

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Hermione awoke to the sound of her mirror vibrating on the bedside table. She snatched her hand away as her brain engaged and stopped her from answering it automatically. Because the only person who would normally call her in the middle of the night was currently wrapped around her. Unless it was an emergency, in which case she needed to think before she acted.

She gathered herself and shook her bedmate vigorously. She rarely regretted that Draco was such a heavy sleeper as it generally made sharing a bed with him a lot simpler given her propensity to wake up in the middle of the night with an insatiable desire to read or scribble down a thought her unconscious mind had revealed to her, but it was very inconvenient at the moment.

"Wake up!" she ordered, and then she reached out and gave him a little magical shove. He sat up like a shot. "Mirror call," she informed him, then she picked up the device in question and turned it so that they could both see the person on the other end.

"Listen to me, follow my instructions exactly, time is of the essence!" Sirius barked without a greeting.

"Understood."

"Draco, get your mirror, call Harry and tell him to grab his cloak and the map and wait for the pair of you outside the Slytherin dorms. Hermione, stay on with me."

They both nodded. Hermione already had a million questions but they had briefly discussed how to behave in such a scenario and she knew that Sirius would only tell her exactly what she needed to know, and she could find out why later, because- as he'd said- time was the most important factor.

Her determination was severely tested within moments when Sirius began instructing her to break into Professor Snape's quarters. She opened her mouth but one sentence had her snapping it closed again: "He has an antivenom in there that we need, Lucius has been bitten by Nagini." And then he briefly turned the mirror so that she had a view of the prone form of the man she considered to be a second father, half naked and covered in blood. Professor Snape and Narcissa were hovering over him. He had his wand drawn and was casting furiously and she appeared to be applying pressure to a wound, whispering something in a voice that was two low for Hermione to make out.

Now she knew why Sirius had called her and not Draco. He had almost certainly assumed that they would be together, but on the off chance that they weren't and he had to speak to one of them alone, she was the better bet. Not only was she the more logical thinker, but the Malfoy family's magical imperative to protect the patriarch didn't hold the same sway over her, her duties to the House were different. So, in this case, she could be counted upon to keep a cooler head.

Her betrothed had turned away to speak to Harry but he'd clearly heard what Sirius had said about his father. His magic swelled with panic and she pushed back with as much calm as she could muster. She put the mirror down so that she was out of Sirius' view and could pull on some real clothing. She tuned out Draco's conversation with Harry and focused on what Sirius was telling her, making certain to memorize it. She needed to end the call before they left the privacy of Draco's room.

It took only a couple of minutes, though Hermione once again almost lost her resolve not to ask any questions when Sirius asserted that Snape's quarters were protected by only the most basic of wards which she could easily disable. Whatever her personal opinions about the Professor, he was a talented wizard and it seemed out of character for him to be so lax.

Fortunately, Sirius anticipated her doubt. "He says that when he's summoned he only leaves up the minimum protections in place, in case he's too magically fatigued to deal with anything more complicated when he gets back."

Hermione nodded her understanding.

When she was certain she understood her instructions in full she signed off with Sirius and turned to Draco. He held out his hand for hers and, in tandem, they disillusioned themselves.

They didn't encounter anybody in the corridor, it really was just that late, and they quickly made it to their Head of House's office, which was open. They moved through it silently to the entrance to his quarters. Hermione quickly discovered that Sirius had been correct, the wards were laughably simple, put in place only because it would have been suspicious for him to leave his private space completely unguarded.

Retrieving the antivenom was just as uneventful and Hermione was grateful that Snape was so fastidious. It occurred to her how shocking it was that he had shared enough detail to make this task simple, with Sirius of all people. It seemed like the professor was on their side, at least for the night. The thought did nothing to ease her worry for Lucius.

Draco remained silent and merely followed her lead, which she knew was a herculean task for him at the moment, yet she felt only love and gratitude coming from him- the clarity of which was yet another thing to consider later. She knew Draco almost as well as she knew herself, and in some ways better. Seeking out his magic was the work of nothing, instinctual, but in all their experiments trying to get a hold of the unique connection that seemed to exist between them, they'd never before been able to intentionally project emotions at each other. Something she knew, without a doubt, she'd been doing to him earlier and it seemed that he was doing the same.

Once she'd found the antivenom she automatically reached out for Draco again and he immediately took her hand and she dragged him back outside, down the corridor, through the common room, and out of the Slytherin dorms. She waited for Draco to do something as he was the one who had spoken to Harry and she assumed they'd come up with some kind of plan to locate each other, when all of a sudden she was enveloped by a wave of magic, almost as familiar to her as Draco's, but she'd never felt it with such clarity before. She looked up to see Harry staring at her, apparently completely unencumbered by her disillusionment charm, all three of them were covered by his cloak.

It should have been impossible. The cloak had never been able to accommodate them all, even when they'd experimented with ways to try and make it, like having Hermione riding on one of their backs. She just shook her head and added the mystery to her mental list. Harry held out the open Marauder's Map and gestured towards the secret passageway out of the castle that was guarded by the statue of the one-eyed witch. She nodded, Draco squeezed her hand in what she knew was agreement, and they started in that direction.

They moved effortlessly together, through the castle, into the passageway and the moment she felt them cross the wards she wrapped her arms around both wizards and Draco activated his portkey to Malfoy Manor and whatever might await them there.

All of this was accomplished without them speaking a single word.

Author's Note: You're not hallucinating, it's another update! I know this leaves you in the middle of a lot, but the next chapter is a doozy and I think I can promise to have it out shortly. Thanks for reading!