Chapter 25

Hermione stormed away from her confrontation with Draco and entered her office. She carefully set Scorpius on the floor with his bag next to him and pulled out her wand to erect a series of security charms. This floor was locked down, but she didn't feel like she could be too careful with the baby's safety.

Not to mention, if she locked herself in she might just be less tempted to do something really stupid like hunt down the queen and berate her in front of Parliament for crimes heretofore unknown while she was already acting like an idiot. Because she couldn't believe what she'd just done.

However, she'd barely begun to cast when there was a rapid knock at the door.

"Come in!" She called.

Her first godchild opened the door and snuck in through the smallest gap he could have possibly made to squeeze himself between the door and the doorframe. He looked at her, obviously somewhat tentative and her heart sank. Teddy was such a sensitive child, but they were very close, she hated that she might have scared him with her vitriol; or that he might be frightened by the night's events in any way. He had more reason than most to be.

"Can I sit in here with you?" He asked.

"Of course, love," she waved him forward. "I'm sorry you had to see that, I shouldn't have yelled like that."

She blew out a breath as her actions sunk in. Merlin, she'd called Draco a Death Eater in front of Teddy! She hadn't meant it as an condemnation, but Teddy was probably too young to quite understand what he'd just witnessed.

He closed the door behind him and fully entered the room.

She picked up Scorpius and made her way to the sofa in the corner of her office, motioning for Teddy to join her.

"You know Draco is a good man, right?" She asked as he sat down beside her. "We just had a disagreement, and it's been a difficult night. But still, I shouldn't have lost my temper and shouted at him like that."

He shrugged again. "You're not supposed to hit people, I'd get in trouble if I did."

"Well, that's true," she conceded.

"Even if Mr. Ron isn't very nice," he continued and she had to keep herself from smiling. Teddy was not Ron's biggest fan, which she felt slightly guilty about because she knew it was at least partly due to the tension between Ron and herself. But then again Ron should be nicer.

There was a pause. "Do people really want to put Draco in jail...because of the war." He cut her eyes in her direction and she could see the concern in them.

Hermione took a deep, shuddering breath, she was frightened enough for her own part, she hadn't meant to scare Teddy. And he already knew far too much for his mere eight years.

"Some people believe he's dangerous, so yes, they think he belongs in jail. But they have no reason to send him there. And like I said, he's a good man, he won't do anything to get himself sent there even if he was a little...reckless tonight."

He nodded, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the carpet. "It's stupid though," he cut his eyes to her again waiting to be scolded for his choice of words. "I'm sorry but it is. I like Draco and he has a kid," he placed his hand on Scorpius' back, "you shouldn't take parents from their kids."

Hermione's eyes fell shut. This child had been through too much.

"Nobody is going to take Draco from Scorpius," it was a stupid, reckless promise to make, but she knew that she'd sacrifice her own life to keep it.

He just nodded.

A couple of hours later she was snoozing on the couch with Scorpius while Teddy sat at her desk playing games on her laptop when there was a familiar knock at the door. Three sharp raps: Harry. She called for him to come in but, in a somewhat petty move, because she was still annoyed with him, she made him do the work of disassembling her security charms. He'd been the one to insist she teach him how to do it in case of emergency, afterall. He could use he practice.

After a few minutes the door cracked open and an arm inched into the room, the hand waving a white handkerchief like a flag of surrender. She rolled her eyes.

"Very cute," she said, "come in Harry."

He walked into the room, smiling at her in that way which he knew was difficult for her to resist, but then he frowned as he looked around the office. "They said you were in here, but I figured you'd buried yourself in work to distract yourself. But that's obviously not the case, and why do you have the kids?"

She help up a hand, motioning that he should give her a moment before he said anything else, then she cast a muffliato. Teddy didn't need to hear any more details of the intricacies of adult relationships tonight. She waved Harry over and carefully sat up to avoid waking Scorpius.

"I'm pretty much just laying here trying to decide if it's possible to die of embarrassment." She answered when she was upright.

He cocked his head in question.

"I just told Draco off like some kind of...harridan in front of his entire family."

"Why are you mad at Malfoy? I mean, I support you in any endeavour which includes him coming face to face with your wrath; or pretty much any endeavour you feel like undertaking, actually." He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes. "And it's not exactly unlike you to lose your temper but- wait, is this about the naked thing? Because a quick memory charm and I'll be good as new, no harm done." He grinned at her again.

"No!" She hissed, "it's about him hitting Ron!"

"Him hitting Ron? Why?" He frowned. "If I wasn't Head Auror, and we hadn't been at the Ministry, I'd have punched him too, and I don't think I would have restrained myself to one. He was way out of line earlier, even for Ron."

She snorted "Don't we say that every time he pulls something?"

Harry let out a long breath. "Seems like it, doesn't it? I've sent him home by the way, I wouldn't have called him in in the first place but I called in all the reserves and it would have been odd if I'd left him out, it would have looked like sour grapes this soon after my divorce."

She nodded and rubbed her temples. "I understand. But that's the thing Harry, you remembered that you were Head Auror and where you were. Draco didn't take any of that into consideration, he just kept goading him."

Harry opened his mouth but Hermione continued.

"Then again, I'm a hypocrite. How many years did it take me to learn to stop from rising to Ron's bait? It's just, it really scared me Harry. Most of your aurors are good people, but most of them are also like Ron in that they see things in black and white. which means they're no fans of Draco. I just couldn't stand to see him get in trouble, especially for something so stupid. I just got them Harry, and I already couldn't stand to lose them!" She wailed.

Harry sat down on the couch beside her and carefully pulled her into his arms. "Shhhh," he soothed. "Everything is going to be fine. You're due something good and I think this is it." He paused. "If you tell Malfoy I said that, I'll deny it."

She chuckled, then sighed. She was being paranoid about the possibility of losing her new family, she realized that, but this was still a discussion she needed to have with Draco. "Anyway, I know you didn't come find me to talk about this, so what do you want?"

He raked his hand through his hair and looked at her sheepishly. She knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

"The people you have on the case can't make heads or tails of the readings they're getting at Malfoy Manor and you need my help?" She guessed.

"Basically."

"Do we have to do this every time, Harry?" She let out an exasperated breath.

He set his jaw. "The Lestranges are horrible, awful people."

"Yes," she agreed.

She almost didn't know why she was bothering with this argument, they had the same one every time the Lestrange brothers poked their nasty, evil little heads out of whatever hidey holes they'd been tucked away in.

"They almost killed you and Teddy," he continued.

Oh, there is was.

"That!" She pointed at him. "That is so annoying. Don't treat me like some damsel in distress. Yes, they tried to hurt us. They snuck into Andromeda's house when her wards were weak after the war. They made their 'evil villain' speech and then I cut off Rodolphus' wand arm and they apparated off with their tails between their legs. Give me some credit, I can take care of myself- not to mention the people that I love!"

"You shouldn't have to," he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest mulishly.

She huffed. "I went into law enforcement, Harry, just like you did, albeit by a more circuitous route. But still, I quite literally signed up for this. Now, I know I'm not as intensely field trained as you are, but I know what I'm doing! Stop acting like you always have to be the first line of defense between me and danger! Also, shame on you for putting Kingsley in the middle."

"He could have overruled me if he didn't agree," he argued, but he was starting to look like a petulant teenager.

She rolled her eyes. "Not without causing a riot within the auror corps. You're their leader, on top of the fact that you're Harry-freaking-Potter. You know exactly what you did. You took advantage of who you are to play overprotective brother, own it," she again poked a finger in his direction, but she had moderated her voice to try and keep from waking Scorpius, so she wasn't sure how intimidating she actually sounded.

He wouldn't look at her.

"Fine. Whatever. Be like that," she snapped. "So, what do you want me to do?" She insisted.

"Look over their findings, and tell me what's really going on."

"That's it?" she huffed.

"If you don't want to help, of course I can't force you."

"Of course I'm going to help, no matter how annoyed I am with you. People I love are in danger, and even if they weren't, it just wouldn't be right to ignore this because you're being a prat. Now give me what you have."

She reached out with her free arm and then, realizing that she'd need both hands to properly look over the documents he'd brought with him, she carefully transferred Scorpius into Harry's arms because she knew if she just set him on the sofa he would almost certainly wake up to protest. Harry didn't even hesitate to take him, and she smiled to herself as she watched him cradle the baby and automatically start rocking him.

She'd wanted to strangle him multiple times tonight, but he had such a good heart. He'd never let his past with Draco color his interactions with Scorpius and had bonded with him right from the start. It was sweet, as always, to see them together.

"He called you 'Mum' hum?" Harry's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Well that's not exactly what he said, but yeah."

"Congratulations."

"You're not going to freak out?"

"I know what that bracelet means, Mione. Malfoy isn't going to just walk away from you. This kid needs a mum, you're dying to be one and you adore each other." He gazed down at the baby and gently ran a hand over his head.

"Thank you Harry," she answered, voice rough with emotion.

"Fix this Hermione, help me figure out what happened tonight, and keep your family safe. There's something very wrong here. I wouldn't have come to you otherwise."

The improvement in her mood that occurred watching Harry and Scorpius together was soured the moment she laid eyes on the documentation Harry had brought her. It was a disaster, it made no sense. It was clear that none of the aurors in question had ever scanned a place like Malfoy Manor, such a vast property with ancient wards. They were baffled by what they'd encountered; Hermione bit back a vicious retort in Harry's direction as she read it, and not just for Scorpius' sake. Harry meant well, was desperate to protect her, but he'd done more damage than good by keeping her out of the loop, even if it had only been for a few hours.

She took a deep breath and began writing intensive instructions for Harry to give to his team. He took them with a kiss to her cheek.

It took them two more tries for them to gather everything she needed, she grew more frustrated each time.

She worked while Harry was away, piecing it all together as quickly as she could. Thankfully Teddy had gotten tired and decided to voluntarily go to sleep along side Scorpius so she didn't have to worry about him.

She was especially thankful that they were asleep once she got the final report and calculated the results. Because when she'd realized the implications of these wards for Draco she'd barely held her temper, and when she'd remembered that Astoria had experienced two miscarriages prior to her pregnancy with Scorpius, she'd picked up the same paperweight Draco enjoyed tossing about on the few occasions when he visited her at work, and hurled it at the wall.

She couldn't prove that this had caused the miscarriages. But she did know that the state of the wards rendered the Manor unsafe for any child of Draco's, and fetuses were especially fragile. Scorpius was even more of a miracle than she'd known.

Without bothering to fix the dent in the wall or repair the shattered knick-knack she began to check her findings a second time. And when she got the same results she checked them again.

Her whole body was shaking when she finally admitted that she wasn't going to get a different result no matter how many times she ran the calculations. And after she spent a few minutes composing herself, she sent for Draco.

It was difficult for her not to run to him the moment he stepped into her office, but she was trying to remain somewhat professional. And then there was the fact that her new knowledge made her feel dirty. How was she supposed to explain to him what she'd discovered? It was beyond monstrous.

But she had no choice, she couldn't just allow things to remain as they were, it was far too dangerous. And she needed Draco to confirm her findings. She didn't believe for a moment that his parents would believe her on her word alone.

She explained things to him, as best she could. Proud that- for the most part- she kept outwardly calm while she was inwardly panicking. Breaking down wouldn't be helpful.

Almost as soon as Draco had exited the office to fetch his parents, Scorpius stirred. Hermione assumed that he had sensed his father's sudden absence. He was highly attuned to both her and Draco's magic and this had been such an unusual night, he was probably more sensitive than usual. He began to whine and Hermione scooped him up so that he wouldn't wake Teddy.

She was pacing around the office trying to get him to calm down and hopefully go back to sleep when Draco returned with his parents.

"Hey Scorp, look, Daddy's back. And see who he's brought with him it's…" she frowned and then smiled at the elder Malfoys tentatively. "I'm sorry I don't know what you want him to call you."

"Grandmother and Grandfather," Draco provided when his parents remained silent.

Lucius was glowering at her but Narcissa basically ignored her, busy studying the baby. Scorpius regarded them gravely and then smashed his face back against Hermione's neck. "I'm sorry, it's been a long night," she apologized, and then felt strange for doing so, it seemed presumptuous. She looked at Draco for help but he just shrugged. This was incredibly awkward.

But Narcissa gave her a commiserating ook and stepped forward to rub Scorpius' back. "Draco never did well when he was woken in the middle of the night either."

Scorpius whipped around at her touch and regarded her for a moment and then he reached for her. Narcissa was obviously startled but after only a moment's hesitation, she took him into her arms. Hermione looked at Draco again, he seemed rather stunned. But Narcissa had placed her cheek against Scorpius' and he'd taken hold of a lock of her hair, and Hermione practically melted. This child was going to be the death of her.

Also, they'd have to watch it or he'd be spoiled silly because she was fairly certain he'd just erased whatever reticence Narcissa had felt with him.

"Miss Granger," Lucius interrupted what had turned into such a lovely moment. "Did you or did you not have something to show us?"

"I did Lord Malfoy," she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, and led them over to her desk.

Draco made his way to her, placed his arm around her waist and kissed her temple.

"It'll be okay," she assured him. "We'll fix this."

"I know, you're brilliant and I have faith in you."

Lucius cleared his throat again. "This seems rather unprofessional."

Hermione made a concerted effort not to glare at the man while she wondered if he practiced being an arsehole, or if it just came naturally.

"Stop it, Father," Draco snapped. "Hermione has already gone above and beyond for us and she is about to go further. If you would just listen to her you would understand why I'm feeling a little bit shaken."

Hermione nudged him gently, this was not the time to antagonize him- she only hoped she could remember that herself. "I do apologize," she addressed Lucius, "normally I wouldn't be so casual at work, but what I've discovered has left me feeling shaken as well and to be frank, this has become more personal than it is professional."

She continued to spread the documents across her desk as she had done for Draco. But it was quickly clear to her that neither of his parents understood what they were seeing as well as he had. Lucius' face was carefully blank whereas Narcissa's looked troubled, if slightly puzzled.

"Is this," Narcissa questioned, "what I think it is," running the index finger of the hand which wasn't supporting Scorpius across one of the scrolls; against the portion which included the Black warding scheme.

"Yes, I had Draco confirm it," Hermione answered.

"What is it?" Lucius asked. "It doesn't look familiar to me."

"Black wards interwoven into Malfoy wards," Draco answered his father.

"That's not possible."

"Not under normal circumstances," Hermione conceded, "but these were not normal circumstances. Bellatrix built a backdoor, or maybe it would be more appropriately termed a secret passageway, through your wards." Then she launched in to the same explanation she'd given Draco, emphasizing how dangerous the current state of the wards were for him, that they would continue to draw on his magic, more and more as time passed. That they would do the same, if to a lesser extent to Scorpius.

"What you are describing is not possible," Lucius reiterated.

"I still don't understand," said Narcissa, still tracing her fingers over Hermione's work.

"I-" Hermione tugged at her hair in frustration. She really didn't want to spell this out any more for them.

It blew her mind that Lucius wasn't more knowledgeable about runes and ward building, because he had an enormous estate, along with the wards of that estate to look after. But this fact was also completely consistent with what she knew about purebloods. The old families had become so consumed by their own superiority that they had total faith in their ancient wards; never believing they could fail or have need to be updated, and fathers taught their sons the bare minimum to upkeep those same wards and concentrated on educating them in other aspects of estate management.

Most other families didn't have the money and/or meet the magical requirements to place the long term wards on their homes which would require a master to create a scheme for. Which was why warding had, in many ways, become a lost art. The average person relied on protective charms and generic schemes. It drove her barmy, but was also probably a large part of the reason she'd pursued the subject in the wake of the war; she was always drawn to the esoteric. This is why she'd had no doubt that Harry would need her assistance tonight.

"May I present an analogy?" She asked them.

Narcissa nodded while Lucius simply sneered. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes in the man's direction. While, still at her side, Draco sighed.

"Wards are like magical walls. The taller, the more substantial, the more well guarded they are, the harder they are to breach. Metaphorically, of course."

Lucius scowled, obviously unimpressed by her mundane reference.

"Wards like those at the Manor, in theory, they should turn your property into a veritable fortress."

"It is," Lucius hissed.

"I'm certain it was at one time," she allowed. "Your ancestors chose a magically powerful location on which to build, and they did some beautiful work to protect it. But then you threw the gates and the doors and the windows wide open to a madman." She cringed- perhaps that was a little harsh.

"I had no choice."

She shrugged. "I'm not here to judge you for that. I'm simply saying that the Manor was vulnerable. You would have had little to no active notification as to what was happening within its walls for at least a year. And during that time Bellatrix used the opportunity to build herself a way through, which survived even when you shut down your wards again after the war."

"Again that's not possible. You say it was blood magic, it should have collapsed after her death."

"Lord Malfoy, for the purposes of blood magic your wife and Bellatrix are essentially the same person."

He opened his mouth and then closed it again, and if she'd had to have guessed of his thoughts it was not that he was unaware of this fact, but that he'd discounted it. In fact, if she had to guess, he'd long ago disassociated Narcissa and Bellatrix as sisters. It was one thing she couldn't blame him for. She didn't blame Draco for being Bellatrix's nephew, but she also did her level best not to think about it.

"If the Lestrange brothers had an ounce of subtlety in them," she continued, "if they'd truly been trying to sneak in, instead of trying to make a point, I believe they would have succeeded before you'd ever have noticed."

Lucius narrowed his eyes at her, but she refused to back down.

"You said this thing is drawing from Draco's magic?" Narcissa asked, interrupting their standoff.

Hermione whipped her head in the other woman's direction, she knew that Draco's mother was her best chance in convincing him of what they needed to do. "Yes. Anchored to you, but using him to keep it charged and active."

"He no longer lives at the Manor," Lucius interjected.

"Yes, which means that it will eventually fail, but I can't guarantee that the magical backlash won't kill him. It's been attached to him for so many years it's bound to do him damage, despite the distance. It wouldn't be healthy for Scorpius either."

"So what do we do now?" Narcissa asked, and held a hand out to stop her husband's protests when he immediately started sputtering about her statement. "Miss Granger, I'd very like to know what do you recommend that we do now?"

"For Draco's safety, this so called secret passage needs to be disassembled."

"And how do you propose to do so?" Lucius intoned as if he didn't really expect her to have an answer.

"Lord Malfoy, you release the wards to Draco. Then we ritually reset them. I'll perform the ritual with Draco as the focus."

He sucked in a breath. "You don't know what you ask of me."

"I do." She cocked an eyebrow in his direction, she may have been a muggleborn but she was not ignorant. "You're worried that if you release the wards that your family magic will judge Draco more worthy and they won't return to you."

He said nothing but his hard gaze spoke volumes.

"Is that truly anything to you in the face of your son's life? Of your grandson's safety? Do you not trust your own heir? He's better prepared to take care of them than you are anyway."

Narcissa gasped but said nothing, Draco shifted at her side, probably preparing to defend her, and Lucius entire countenance hardened except for a hand which twitched on his walking stick. She was certain he was resisting the urge to draw his wand. She refused to look away from him. She had known this wasn't going to be an easy sell, but she hadn't counted on how much that fact would infuriate her. Was his pride truly worth more than his child's life?

"I could participate in the ritual, then there would be no need for me to release the wards in the first place," he eventually countered.

She shook her head. "I refuse to perform this with you as the focus and even if I was willing, I don't think it would work."

He just shot her a challenging look.

"Black wards shoved into Malfoy wards, all of it based on blood magic. You are only a Malfoy. Draco is a Black and a Malfoy." She resisted the urge to add, 'are you an idiot?' For somebody so obsessed with blood he was acting awfully dense.

She almost wished he was stupid, but she suspected he was simply being stubborn and prideful.

"And what if I want a second opinion?"

"Enough Lucius," Narcissa snapped, her voice harsh and full of a myriad of emotion. "I wasn't going to interfere because I was certain that you'd see reason but I'm beginning to become ashamed of you. If Draco is master of the wards at the Manor from now on, then so be it! What is that compared to his life? We have made our mistakes, it is high time to admit that and stop making him pay for them."

"Cissa." He reached out a hand to her.

She visibly recoiled and Hermione instinctively grabbed Draco's hand.

"Don't you 'Cissa' me."

Hermione's eyes went wide at the similarities to her own earlier altercation with Draco.

"Miss Granger was tortured in that house, in our home and by the very person who created this monstrosity and yet she is willing to return there, to perform ritual magic there! And all for Draco's sake! And yet his own father-" her voice cracked and she slapped her free hand over her mouth. Scorpius whimpered and she immediately moved the hand from her mouth to the back of his head. "It's alright, darling," she cooed, then turned back to her husband. "Release the wards to Draco, today, or I will move to the cottage I inherited from Grandmother Rosier and have Miss Granger ward it to keep you out! Something I'm quite certain she would be willing to do for Draco's mother and Scorpius' grandmother," she hissed.

There was an almost feral look on her face, and for the first time she saw the resemblance between her and her eldest sister, but far from being disturbed, Hermione wanted to cheer. But if the shocked look on Lucius' face wasn't telling enough the fact that Draco was shaking beside her indicated that this was not the way things usually went between the couple. His hold on her hand was actually painful, but she squeezed him even tighter, trying to soothe him.

Lucius just stared at his wife but then, after what felt like an eternity, he gave her a sharp nod. And Narcissa turned back to herself and Draco.

"Can this be done today?"

"Yes," answered Hermione, "that's my preference."

"Just yourself and Draco? Do you not need a larger circle for such an extensive undertaking?"

"I was going to ask Harry to help with the power requirements, he has it to burn."

"And Mr. Potter will agree to do this for us?"

"He'll agree because I asked." She shrugged. "And then there's the fact that he owes you a life debt, this won't fulfill that, but he'll consider it a matter of honor."

She nodded. "You should have another witch for balance, somebody with an emotional connection to Draco."

Hermione almost breathed a sigh of relief that Draco's mother had brought this up on her own and managed to just smirk at the woman. "Well, you wouldn't happen to know somebody like that, would you?"

She smiled, it was a little bit scary. "I would be happy to help," she practically growled in her husband's direction. "Now, Miss Granger, may I speak with you privately for a moment?"

"Mother-" Draco started to interrupt.

"It's fine, Draco," she turned to look at him and caught his eyes. He held her gaze, seeming to search for something. He finally nodded and released her hand, then reached out to take Scorpius from his mother and Hermione gestured for Narcissa to precede her out of the office.

"I know what you must think of me, Miss Granger, but I love my son very much," Narcissa began after they started strolling down the corridor.

Hermione blanched and had to stop herself from reaching for the other witch and stopping her in her tracks. "Lady Malfoy, my impression of you has not always been favorable, I will admit that. But I have never had any doubts about your love for Draco and if I had, what I just witnessed in there would have resolved them."

The other woman stopped for a moment, searched Hermione's face, gave her a curt nod and then continued on. "We thought we were doing the right thing, finding a match for him after the war. We believed it would be good for him to move past it all and have a family to concentrate on."

"Oh?" Hermione was surprised, the last thing she thought Narcissa would want to discuss was Astoria, but she was also very interested.

"You think we were foolish."

"That's not for me to say," Hermione shrugged.

"Really?"

"I wasn't there. I know how it ended, but that doesn't mean you didn't have Draco's best interests at heart at the beginning. I also know that I could barely tell up from down after the war. I did not always make the best decisions. Far be it for me to judge anybody else for their actions."

"Thank you for saying that, but we were. Foolish that is, and particularly about Astoria."

"Oh?" She questioned again.

"You are not as transparent as most Gryffindors." She stopped and looked Hermione up and down. "You are actually quite difficult to read when you so choose."

Hermione smiled to herself. "That's quite a compliment coming from a Slytherin."

Narcissa chuckled, then sighed. "He probably wasn't ready for a relationship of any kind. He was still healing, we all were. I can see that clearly now. But at the time I believed Astoria was a good fit for him. I thought she was a simple, sweet girl whose parents had kept her away from the war."

Hermione just nodded.

"I thought that was what he needed; an escape. She was far more mercenary than I realized, of course, but I see now that even had she been exactly what I thought she was, she wouldn't have been good for him. He needed somebody who could understand what he had been through. He needed passion and depth and somebody capable of challenging him. He has that now."

"I'm sorry, but what are you saying?"

Narcissa brought her up short with a gentle hand to her shoulder, then lifted the wrist bearing her charm bracelet to eye level. "This is a beautiful gift, not given lightly."

"Your son is thoughtful and has exquisite tastes."

"He's devoted to you."

"I'm devoted to him."

Narcissa graced her with a smile, and for the first time it seemed genuine. "I do not understand the world you come from nor do I understand your lifestyle," she gestured around her. "But you make Draco and Scorpius happy, so I'm going to try. Please be patient with me."

"Of course Lady Malfoy, and thank you."

"Perhaps we could start with you calling me Narcissa?"

Hermione smiled and extended her hand. "Hello Narcissa, I'm Hermione."