A/N: Part one of the Battle Chapter

Summary: Narcissa wants to talk to Hermione alone, but whyyy?

Enjoy.

"Nothing, Draco. If she's going to be part of the family, then I want to get to know her" Narcissa said, watching her son with slight interest. Noticing that he still looked suspicious she added "Draco, I'm not like your Father"

Draco nodded, unsure of whether he should believe her or not. They stood in an awkward silence waiting for Hermione to return, which she did, 5 minutes later. She had thrown on a green fleece and jeans and stood nervously between Draco and Narcissa.

"We'll be back later, Draco" Narcissa smiled, and then she turned and walked out of the Manor, Hermione in tow. Hermione gave one last uneasy glance at Draco and then they turned the corner and he was gone.

Narcissa led her out to the gardens behind the Manor. Hermione had to admit they looked amazing, there was a path going down the middle with red, pink and white roses down either side of the path. Everywhere she looked was colourful, a mixture of greens, blues, pinks and reds. Like a sea of sweets. Whoever looked after these gardens had good taste and took great pride in their work, Narcissa could see Hermione looking around in awe and smiled.

"These are my creation" She said, pointing at the sea of flowers.

"You d-did this?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Oh yes, Whenever Lucius was - angry - I would come out here and tend to these. They were all I had when Draco left. In fact the day he left, was the day I planted them"

"They've gone fast" Hermione said, bending over to smell a pink rose.

"With a little bit of Magic of course" Narcissa smiled.

They walked to the end of the garden and sat down on a patch of grass under a large oak tree. The Sun shone down on their faces, and Hermione could see Narcissa close her eyes slightly, enjoying the warmth. After a few minutes she opened her eyes again, and studied Hermione.

"You think I hate you, don't you?" She asked.

Hermione shook her head slightly, "It's not that it's just - you think I'm a - Mudblood and Draco's Pureblood"

"i'm not perfect Hermione. I was bought up by a Pureblood family who thought Blood status was law. My parents kept telling me only go for purebloods Narcissa. Don't be like your sister. So that's what I did. I went out and found Lucius. My parents were thrilled, of course. The Malfoys are a big name, as you can probably tell, so when I told my parents about him they were ecstatic. I was ecstatic at the beginning, he was everything I wanted, but then I grew blind. Blind to who he really was and what he really was like."

She stopped, gazing around the garden thoughtfully, then carried on.

"We'd only been dating for a few months when it all began, he would hit me and then say I deserved it, or he would call me names and say I started it."

"Why did you stay?" Hermione whispered

"Because I was stupid, when you're in love, or think you're in love, you seem to drown out all the bad stuff and just think about the good things. Lucius was smart, he would say nice stuff to keep me there. Say I was beautiful or I was the one for him, all that stuff. And I fell for it, and I walked around in a little cloud of my own, smiling like the Cheshire cat whilst having bruises on my arm." She smiled slightly.

"Hermione, you don't know how - relieved - I am to know Draco hasn't turned out like Lucius. Draco has such a heart, yet he hides it. Scared to show Lucius any weakness. Silly boy"

Hermione sat there stunned.

"Hermione, I brought you out here to apologise. I was nasty to you, and I am truly sorry, and I hope that one day you can forgive me"

"Of course, Mrs Malfoy" Hermione said faintly, still slightly shocked by it all.

"And I hope, that once this all over, we can start again. Without Lucius though" Narcissa whispered.

"We would like that, Mrs Malfoy" Hermione smiled.

"Call me Narcissa, you're going to be part of the family soon. Speaking of which, we need to get back before the Order arrive" Narcissa said, getting to her feet slowly. She held out a hand for Hermione and pulled her up, then together they walked back towards the Manor.

Draco's POV

Draco was getting seriously stressed out, partly because he was wondering whether or not his mother had scared Hermione off, and also because the Order will be arriving soon, and he didn't want to face them alone. Severus was sat in a chair by the fire, reading a book and looking totally unconcerned.

"Draco sit down! you'll wear the carpet out" He hissed

"What if she's killed Hermione, Severus" Draco panicked. He wanted to run out there and find her but every time he tried Snape would stun him. His bum was sore after falling on it 10 times in a row.

He threw a dirty look at Snape and sat down, only to jump up again when he heard the door open. He ran towards it before Snape could stun him again and threw himself on Hermione, clinging tightly to her neck.

"You're alive!" He crooned.

Both Narcissa and Hermione rolled their eyes, with Narcissa saying "Stop being such a drama queen, Draco"

All three of them walked back into the living room, it was quarter to six and they were all getting anxious. Severus stood up and walked out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a large bottle of Firewhiskey and four glasses. He pulled each of them a glass, handed it to them and then sat back down, his eyes watching the fire.

At precisely 6 o'clock Kingsley arrived in the fireplace, shortly followed by Ron, Harry, George, Arthur, Molly, Percy, Pansy, Blaise and Goyle. Hermione ran over to Harry and practically jumped on him, hugging him tight. Pansy, Blaise and Goyle walked over to Draco looking slightly nervous, he in turn just looked stunned.

"What are you doing here?" He asked amazed. He thought they hated him after Voldemort was defeated.

"We're here to help you mate" Blaise said, grinning slightly. He pulled Draco into an awkward sort of hug, which Draco returned. When they pulled away he couldn't help but grin himself. Pansy threw her arms round him and giggled,

"I missed you Drakey -Poo" She soothed, smiling at his disgusted look.

Draco looked around the room, still grinning. Dawlish and Kingsley were talking to Severus and Narcissa, while Molly, Arthur,George and Percy watched. Hermione was busy chatting to Harry and Ron, although she kept glancing over at him. Lucius had now been moved to the cellar, seeing as no one wanted to look at him anymore.

Kinsgley walked up to the dining table and banged his fist down, everyone turned to look in his direction, and he motioned for them all to sit down. Draco sat next to Hermione, and saw Ron glaring at him every minute or so. He smirked back at the Weasel, feeling better about the whole situation.

"Right everyone, this is our one chance to get those final pieces of scum and lock them up. You all agreed and I would like to say thanks. We need all the help we can get, Voldemort -" Arthur, Molly and George flinched "may be gone but the Death Eaters are still here and still angry. So lets get them all"

"For Fred!" George yelled.

"For Lupin and Tonks!" Ron yelled,

"For all of us" Kinsgley said. "Let's finish this war for good, yes?"

"YES!" They all cried in unison.

"Right. This is the plan - Severus you will call the Death Eaters to the Manor. Get them in this room. Me, Molly, Arthur and Percy will be in hiding just outside the doors. Pansy, Blaise, Ron and Harry will all hide in this room. We can't have too many people in here as there aren't many places to hide. George will be outside, hidden of course under Harry's cloak. He will keep look out for more and if any arrive he'll give us the signal. Draco, Hermione and Narcissa, you three will be out the back watching for any Death Eaters that way. If this goes correctly we will have the place surrounded. Severus once the Death Eaters arrive say the secret code which is "Yaxley". When we hear that we will all attack, try and round them up, but if you cant - kill them before we lose anymore people"

He paused and took a deep breath, "Into positions people! Severus, are you ready?"

Severus nodded. Harry handed George his cloak, watching as he disappeared under it. Draco, Hermione and Narcissa all made their way out to the back of the Manor. It was dark outside now, and Hermione shivered slightly in the cold.

"I really hope this works" She said, rubbing her hands to keep warm.

"It will" Draco smiled, pulling her close. Narcissa pulled out her wand and studied the darkness for any signs of movement.

Back inside the Manor Severus was stood by the fire, his robes pulled up past his arm, revealing the Dark Mark. He took a deep breath, counted to 5 in his head and then pressed the Mark with his other hand..

I have to cut this into 2 chapters, otherwise it will be like 4,000 words long. :) The second bit will be up soon and that's where it all kicks off..