I am just playing with J.K. Rowlings world. All characters, places, names and things recognizable belong to her and her alone.

Thank you for the reviews and interests in the story, I still hope to update as fast as possible.

Chapter Two

Narcissa stayed in Harry's room on the ground and cradled her godson in her lap. It hurt her to see that this boy of almost seventeen years already had endured so much. Her face darkened, as she thought of the things Severus told her about Harry. About the abuse he had suffered at the Dursleys and the many emotional ups and downs during his school years. She had cried together with him, when he told her under tears how he had to be so mean to Lily's son that he hated him even more than the Dursleys. She couldn't understand the pain Severus had had to go through all these years. For the sake of his double role as spy he had to show the world that he despised the offspring of James Potter, his nemesis in Hogwarts.

She herself had been devastated, when Lucius had told her of the murder of her best friend. Lucius was a Death Eater and she could not tell her of her loss. The fact that he was in Azkaban right now, was very good. She hoped that she didn't have to deal with him anymore. It had been his fault that Draco had been dragged into the whole mess. Now her son was marked as a Death Eater also and had been given an impossible task to fulfill which in the end had resulted in the death of Albus Dumbledore and the flight of Severus and Draco from Hogwarts. Draco's dislike of Harry had been real until a few days ago when Narcissa had let him in on her most guarded secret. Immediately he had renounced his Death Eater ties, at least in front of Narcissa and Severus, and had agreed to help Harry in his quest. The quest, which Severus was aware of. Narcissa didn't know the details but she trusted Severus completely. Now it was paramount to convince Harry of the truth and to get him on their side. She had listened at the door and knew what Harry had said when he reappeared from the Pensieve and now she could plan her strategy. She wasn't a Slytherin for nothing, so she knew how to achieve her goals.

She continued stroking Harry hair. After a long time, Harry finally stirred. He had rolled onto his back and his head was comfortably placed in her lap. He blinked several times and the fixed her with his stare. He didn't move. He was silent for a few moments and then started to speak.

"You are my godmother, right?"

Narcissa was perplexed. How did he know about that? Her amazement must have shown on her face because he smiled slightly. "I saw it in the Pensieve. Dumbledore knew about it from Severus. I know the whole story. You don't have to tell me."

Narcissa looked at him with tears in his eyes. "Can you forgive me for not being there when you parents died?" When Harry nodded, she continued, "I could not do anything. My hands were bound with Lucius being there. You know that I had to marry him, it was an arranged marriage, and I had no choice. I had to make sure that Draco was safe, I hope you understand that." Harry nodded again and then looked at her in an unsure way.

"Can I now stay with you?" he asked. As an answer Narcissa took him in her arms and held him there for a long time. She had started crying again and also Harry had tears in her eyes again.

"Come on, let's sit down over there," she said and pointed to a little table and two chairs in front of on of the huge windows. They went over there and sat down. Harry faced her and then asked, "What about Severus and Draco? I said some really terrible things to them. I didn't know the truth then, but still …, they were terrible." Narcissa put her hand comfortingly on his arm. "Don't worry. They will be fine. They did some terrible things too. Of course you were mad at them, because Severus had to kill Albus. But he had no choice and Albus and him had already agreed on doing it this way instead of having Draco killing him. It was fortunate that Albus would have died anyways through the curse on the ring, so they could play along with Voldemort's plans. I know, this sounds horrible, but I think, Albus was secretly pleased that things developed that way. Severus knows everything about the lessons that you received from Albus last year. It would be a good idea to sit down together with Draco and Severus to figure out how to proceed from here." That had been a very long speech for her, but Harry had listened intently.

"Can I see them?" he asked.

"Let me get them and then you can talk. But before that I would like to clarify a few things, now that you know about my status as your godmother." Narcissa looked at Harry and he suddenly had a hopeful expression on his face.

"Well, as your godmother, on the day after your parents' death I received a letter from Gringotts with the will of your parents. Your godfather, Sirius, was not availably since he at that time was chasing Pettigrew and then he got thrown into Azakaban without a trial, so the goblins couldn't give him the will. I went to Dumbledore immediately and told him all the facts."

Harry interrupted her. "Why couldn't he reverse the decision, when he learned of you status as my godmother?" Narcissa looked at him sadly. "He didn't want to place you with Lucius. He was highly suspicious of him at that time. It would have been very hard to keep you from falling into Voldemort's hand, had you lived with us. It broke my heart that I couldn't be there for you, but I had to trust Dumbledore. I couldn't even contact you since Dumbledore told me of the deep mistrust your relatives have against magic. But I don't think he knew exactly what you had to go through." She was silent for a moment, but then she pulled her chair closer to him and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Now, everything will change. I will tell you the content of the will and we will take matters into our own hands now. Together with Severus and Draco we will fight Voldemort and I think, with the information, Dumbledore gave you in your lessons, you three will be able to defeat him, I am sure of that." She squeezed his shoulders reassuringly and the snipped her fingers. A house elf appeared in front of them.

"What can I do for mistress?" he squeaked.

"Please fetch me the roll of parchment that is in the upper drawer of my nightstand in the master bedroom." The elf nodded and was gone with crack. Seconds later he returned with a scroll in his hands. It was bound with a silver ribbon and the seal of Gringotts hang off from one end. Harry became very excited. He had not known of a will from his parents. He had just assumed that everything had been consumed by the explosion that had destroyed his parents' house in Godric's Hollow. Now he would finally know what his parents had in store for him.

Narcissa took the scroll from the elf and opened it. She turned to Harry.

"First, I am to tell you, when you are old enough, about Peverell Manor, which lies in the Scottish Highlands. It is unplottable and the oldest such property in the Wizarding World. The reason for this is the fact that your family descends from the Peverell family which is, together with the families of the founders of Hogwarts, the oldest Wizarding family in the world. The Peverell Family in their time was to the wizards what the Royals nowadays are to the Muggles. It was forgotten that they are the ancestors of the Potter family. The male line of the family died out during the 18th century, but was continued through the female lines. Your grandmother was a descendant from the Peverell line and it has passed to you through your father." Narcissa was quiet for a moment and let Harry digest all this information.

"Does that mean that I am rich?" Harry asked. Narcissa nodded. "Richer than anybody in the world," she assured him. Harry had to think about that for a while and then said, "Okay, what else?"

Narcissa smiled at him. She returned back to the will.

"You have also inherited Potter Manor, which is situated in the south of England near the white cliffs of Dover. Since the Potter family is also a very old family, you inherit with that title a lot of wealth and property. You inherit also the seats on the Wizengamot for the Potter and the Peverell family, which have now been empty for the last seventeen years. With that comes a lot of prestige and power that you need to use very carefully." She looked at Harry and almost saw the wheels turning in his head. Then he asked. "But why was the Peverell seat empty. Shouldn't my dad have inherited it, as I do now?"

Narcissa thought for a moment. "Your dad did inherit it, but it was reserved for you to now fully claim it. There come other things with the title of the Lord Peverell. for the first, you inherit the famous Invisible Cloak of Ignotus Peverell, your ancestor. Your further inherit the Resurrection Stone and the Elder Wand. Do you know what this means?"

Harry knew about the Invisibility Cloak, of course, but he had no idea about the other two items.

"Where are they now," he asked.

"Nobody knows," Narcissa said. "But Severus has some very serious suspicions about where they could be. You should talk with him about it. But what I wanted to say with this: When you have assembled all three of those items, you will have assembled the Deathly Hallows. These Hallows will make you the master of Death. You won't be able to die, not if you don't want to. You will also have the power to get into contact with deceased people …" Narcissa broke off, when she saw Harry's hopeful and desperate face.

"No, Harry," she said sharply. Harry looked up, suddenly frightened. He hadn't expected such an explosion from her. Narcissa softened immediately.

"Harry," she said gently. "I didn't want to frighten you. But you have to understand. It won't do to get into contact with your dead parents, just because you want to see them. This power is only for very desperate moments. Don't use it lightly, because it can have the worst consequences. The tale is told from the brother of Ignotus, who got the stone from Death itself, that he called back his fiancé who had died, and couldn't get himself to let her go and so he wasted away and in the end killed himself, just to be with her. He didn't appreciate life anymore and that is precisely the danger of that power. You need to appreciate life, the good and the bad moments. It's your decision and you need to make it now, to give you boundaries so that you won't misuse this power. But, to fight evil, real true evil, you can use this power to call the dead and let them fight for you. They will be better and more loyal fighters than any living wizard can ever be."

Harry was very thoughtful after that. Then he said, "So, we need to find the Stone and the Wand. I need to speak with Severus. There are several things that we need to discuss." Narcissa acknowledged that with a nod but she was not finished.

"I want to ask you, if you want to live with us now. I know that you are seventeen and can choose for yourselves now. I don't have legal guardianship over you any longer, but I hope that you will stay with us and get to know me, Draco and Severus a little better. I promise you that we will do everything in our power to help you come to terms with your inheritance and also help in the battle against Voldemort. We don't want you harm."

Harry was silent after that. He stood up, walked over to one of the high-ceilinged windows and stared outside into the grounds. For a long moment he was silent. There was complete silence in the room. Suddenly Harry lifted his head as if he was listening to somebody or something. He started smiling. And then Narcissa heard it also. It was a faint song, the most beautiful song, she had ever heard, and her heart melted. She could not think about their problems anymore, about Voldemort and Lucius, about Harry's problems and the danger he was in, she felt good. She felt happy. And then with a quiet whoosh, Fawkes appeared in the study and went straight to Harry. Harry lifted one arm and Fawkes landed on it. He looked at Harry with his huge round eyes and blinked once. Harry looked back and then laughed. This laughter was so addicting, that Narcissa also started laughing. When they had ended, Harry conjured up a perch for Fawkes and the bird hopped on it.

"He says, he would like to stay with me for a while. He didn't specify, how long the "while" is, but I get the feeling that he is looking for another human to bond with and I am his first choice. I thanked him, of course, for this honor and asked if he could help us with the task, Dumbledore set me to do. He confirmed that and now I have a new familiar." He sounded very proud about that. Narcissa too was very surprised, for she knew that phoenixes normally bonded with a human for life and when this human died than the phoenix would die, too. Fawked didn't, and this indicated that Dumbledore had arranged that before his death.

"That was quite surprising," Narcissa said after a moment or two. "Now let's get on with the will."

"Is there more?" Harry asked, amazed. "This has already been so much!" he exclaimed.

"Well, not that much. The house in Godric's Hollow is yours now too, the house at Grimmauld place is yours after Sirius's death and everything that belonged to the Black family." Narcissa said and stood up.

"I do hope that I could explain everything to you in a satisfactory way. We need to stay low for the moment and we must hope that Voldemort won't come here to the Manor for the time being, because that would complicate matters hugely."

Harry also stood up. There was an awkward pause, but suddenly he stepped up to the blond woman and hugged her. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you for explaining everything to me and making me feel welcome for once in my life. And yes, I would very much like to stay here." He stepped back and Narcissa had to blink rapidly so that the tears wouldn't flow freely. This move surprised her more than anything. How could a child express so much love and forgiveness after what he had been through? She couldn't believe it and it amazed her, what power Harry already had over her. Just through his amazing ability to love, she thought. Yes, this was definitely the right way. It would not be the easiest way to get rid of Voldemort, but it would be well worth it.

Author's note: I hope you liked the talk between Narcissa and Harry. Please review so that I know what you like, what you dislike, so that I can erase any future mistakes.