"Darling," Narcissa says sweetly, eyes on the group of seven Death Eaters that are approaching her and Draco with their wands out, "Do be a dear and finish packing up. I'm afraid that our travel plans shall have to be… expedited."
Draco looks over to her in bewildered horror.
"Mother! I can't just pack up while you try to keep them away! Let me fight, you pack." Draco is certain that he is a better fighter than his mother, it was his father that taught him how to fight after all and his father was an amazing fighter. Not to mention the tutoring that Draco's godfather, Severus Snape, had given him growing up. The Death Eaters would beat his mother and then his mother would be injured or dead and then he would have to fight and they might not make it out of the Mulciber's godforsaken manor.
"Draco!" Narcissa barks, voice uncharacteristically loud and harsh in the echoing halls. The Death Eaters are getting closer, nearly within distance for spellfire. "Pack! Now! And put that portkey I showed you separate from the packing. It can't be summoned, so you'll have to find it manually if it gets put away. Get out your broom as well, dear."
Draco hesitates for a moment more, palming his wand. The Death Eaters are close enough to fire now. Before Draco can do anything however, Narcissa strikes. She doesn't use incantations, her wand nearly a blur as she rains down curse after curse on the seven Death Eaters that are threatening her and her son. One wand movement is chained together with the next, combining simplified and traditional movements to create a masterfully long spell chain. The chain is only broken when one of the men manages to scrape enough time to cast the Killing Curse, the bright green light illuminating the hallway. Draco jolts slightly, reaching forward to yank his mother out of the way, but she merely conjures a stone to take the hit for her, sending the shards that explode out of it careening back down the hallway, transfiguring them all into gleaming metal spikes. Draco stares in slack-jawed awe as two men are impaled and another wounded, leaving only two able bodied Death Eaters to continue the attack, the first two dead from the barrage of spells Narcissa had already fired.
Narcissa speaks her first incantation of the fight, Avada Kedavra, and hits the wounded man in the shoulder. She barely pauses before saying another incantation, this one a spell that Draco doesn't recognize. It flies through the hastily erected shield on the other end of the hall, slamming into the man on the right. There is a loud crack as the man crumples, his limbs collapsing in on themselves. He lets out an agonizing shriek that is oddly muffled, but Draco's attention is pulled to the last man. This one appears to be actually talented, moderately at least, which is surprising given the showing of the rest. Several curses fly back and forth between Draco's mother and the last Death Eater before the man makes his final error. The man -Draco belatedly realises that it is Vincenzo Avery, an Italian cousin of the Avery family that has joined the Dark Lord's service- turns toward Draco and unleashes the Killing Curse. Draco is ashamed to say that he merely stands there like a moron, watching the green speed towards him. It would have connected too, undoubtedly, if not for Narcissa quickly transfiguring the wall so that it jutted out in front of her son.
She doesn't comment, but snarls out her next spell. She watches with vicious satisfaction as it hits the Avery directly on his wand hand. He goes limp, his eyes open and panicked as he falls to lie on the marble floors. Draco still doesn't move as he watches his mother wave her wand once, her appearance fixing itself so that it's at its normal state of flawlessness. Another wave has the hall repairing itself, then another that piles all the Death Eaters together. One more has all of the men's wands flying into his mother's hands, where she promptly drops them on the floor, crushes them under heel, and sets fire to the splintered remnants.
Narcissa turns and sees that Draco still hasn't moved.
"Really, Draco? You didn't pack at all?" She shakes her head in slight despair before flicking her wand and sending all their belongings to lay neatly inside an enchanted bag. The portkey, a silver and onyx bracelet that Lucius had given Narcissa after Draco went away to school (They were very very rich and Narcissa was missing her little boy. Lucius decided to distract her with gifts of shiny and expensive things. It had been a very good time), is sat next to the bag, waiting to whisk the two Malfoys away as soon as they departed the wards. Narcissa flicks her wand once more before stowing it in a hidden holster; her son's broom floating out of the corner to hover next to Draco's hip.
"Mother?" Draco questions, bewildered by his mother's display of impressive (terrifying) dueling.
"Hm?" Narcissa hums as she glances over the room to make sure they aren't leaving anything behind.
"How can you fight like that? What were those last two curses? Where did you learn them?" Draco demands of his mother, too confused to worry about anything.
Narcissa's lips quirk up and she laughs a little, just slightly, under her breath. "Well, Dragon, those last two curses were Ossa Pulveris and Cerebrum Coquo.The first causes every bone in the human body to crumble to ash and the second slowly raises the body's temperature until the brain cooks in the skull, while the victim is fully aware and unable to move," She smiles brightly at Draco then and he is struck by the realization that his mother is the most terrifying person he's ever met. "As for where I learned them and how I can fight, it's the same answer for both. I may be a Malfoy now, darling, but I was and always will be a Black first. All Blacks learn to fight; how do you think your Aunt Bella became so good at dueling? Quite a bit of that is natural talent, of course, but every Black can at least hold their own."
She claps her hands together, ignoring Draco's dumbstruck expression. "Now, onto the broom, it's time to get going. I'm supposed to be meeting Lady Zabini for tea."
Now translated into Russian! On Ficbook at /readfic/6471093