Thursday, September 13, 2001
Draco wrote to his mother all about the evening at the embassy, mentioning his reunion with the Slytherins and the new alliances he made within the diplomatic community. Harry Potter may be treated like a faceless employee in his home country but abroad he clearly got a lot more respect, and he had been using that to leverage for Draco's freedom.
He detailed his conversation with Ambassador Edmunde Séverin and how he had almost blown it by mistaking her for her husband, which she must get a lot because of her name, but still. She had found him later in the night and the two had chatted, about the conditions in Azkaban, his recovery, how the Ministry had been treating him since.
He had powerful allies in this strange post-war world and it was all thanks for Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
He noticed as he wrote letter after letter to his mother that he mentioned them both more and more. He knew he'd had a somewhat unhealthy fixation on Potter in school but this didn't quite compare. He remembered looking at Hermione in her deep blue dress on the night of the embassy party – and even recalled fixating on her on the night of the barbecue they threw for Weasley – and not for a second did he think of her as the girl she was in school but instead admired her more for the woman she was now, the woman who had saved his life and wanted nothing from him in return.
He found he rarely compared them to the people they were as children, but as he pondered that while readying Thursday morning, he realized he never really knew them then in order to properly compare.
Wearing a respectable pair of pants and a cashmere sweater to stave off the chilling air, he went downstairs to find Harry and Hermione sitting at the kitchen nook while an old house elf busied itself around the kitchen.
"Master Malfoy!" it creaked, earning a wince from Draco, who'd yet to have his morning coffee. The small being immediately brought Draco a steaming mug of coffee, prepared just right, and ushered him to the breakfast nook with the others.
"Draco, meet Kreacher. He's come to prepare the house for Narcissa's visit this afternoon," Hermione said, her tone measured as she obviously tried her hardest to sound pleasant about the development. Harry had a smirk on his face that suggested this was something to enjoy, so Draco nodded and sipped his coffee, watching as the elf and the witch occasionally interacted, seemingly to both of their displeasure.
"Mistress Narcissa will be here shortly and Kreacher has been preparing all of the favorite breakfasts. Hazelnut Belgium waffles for Master Harry, an apple cinnamon brioche for the Master Draco, pomegranate cream crêpes for Mistress Cissa – oh how she loves Kreacher's crêpes – and fruit for Miss Granger."
Draco and Harry did everything to hold their laughter in as Hermione's eye twitched. Harry, so determined to keep the laughter in, started choking and coughing, making Draco struggle twice as hard as he thumped the man on the back but kept his laughter locked down tight.
"Thank you, Kreacher," Hermione managed to grind out, returning to her morning tea and newspaper to ignore the two men silent tearing up across from her.
They sat in agreeable silence for maybe twenty minutes before Kreacher alerted the group that Mistress Cissa would be arriving in the foyer in a moment, leading the charge himself to take her coat. Draco fidgeted nervously with the hem of his sweater, which Hermione noticed but said nothing about.
When the blonde witch did come through the floo, graceful and dressed more for an afternoon tea with nobility rather than a late breakfast with her son and his roommates, Draco wondered how he should greet his mother after all the time apart, but she acted first. As put together as she seemed, the sight of her son cracked her well practiced mask and immediately heels clicked hard on the hardwood as she crossed the length of the room and wrapped her son in her arms tightly.
"Oh my dragon," she whispered as she somehow managed to cling tighter, bringing tears to Draco's eyes. He wrapped his mother in his arms and held her tightly for a good long minute before letting go, discretely wiping at his eyes and smiling at the woman in front of him.
"Mother."
"Draco, dear. You look so much better than I could have hoped from what your letters described," Narcissa complimented, regaining her composure as she turned to Harry and Hermione, who had stepped back to give the Malfoys a moment alone together. She took Harry in her arms first, then hugged Hermione, kissing the witch on one cheek, then the other.
"Mistress Cissa, the solarium has been prepared to receive you this morning," the small elf injected, taking Narcissa's coat as she stripped it off and linked arms with Hermione. They led the way to the furthest back most room, one Draco had never noticed, which had been cleaned up by the ambitious elf. Draco took out his mother's seat at the white circular table in the centre of the room, giving her a wonderful view of the garden, while Harry and Hermione took their own, smiling at the matriarch as Draco sat down last.
He had expected that his mother would grill him, albeit discretely, from the moment she entered the house but was wrong. She spoke with Hermione for the first twenty or so minutes, of Wizengamot members and laws and of charities the two were interested in and families they were both acquainted with. At some point that French guy Harry had dated, Marcus, was brought up and then the conversation shifted to focus more on Harry and how he was and how the auror department was doing and how Nymphadora was. Draco noticed that his aunt Andromeda went unmentioned and made a note to inquire later.
This all took place over coffee and tea and was briefly interrupted by Kreacher, who came into the room and announced that breakfast was ready. A simple snap of his fingers and suddenly decadent and artfully plated meals appeared on the table, equally as unfitting with the simple event as his mothers attire.
Is this something new or am I just noticing now?
Kreacher, for all of his posturing and pretending to like Hermione less than the others, did more than just place fruit in a bowl for her, as Draco had secretly hoped. She received a lovely fruit tart and gave Harry and Draco looks daring them to laugh now, followed by a tight smile to the elf. Draco bit his top lip to refrain, clearly infuriating the witch.
"Draco, you said in your last letter that you had reacquainted yourself with the Greengrass girls. I've had the pleasure of seeing the older sister several times in Paris but I'd lost track of the younger one," Narcissa interrupted, prompting him to tell about Astoria's engagement with Theo Nott and how surprised he was to see so many old friends at the party last week.
"We are Slytherins, dear. We may not be as brave as our red banner counterparts but we do not run when things are temporarily difficult. We overcome them," Narcissa said, her tone even but her eyes blazing. The conversation continued on normally from there, the topics always light, and eventually Draco's anxiety began to wane.
Hermione had mentioned a book on the value of multi-lingual bonds she had ordered last week and left the table to find it. Narcissa asked Harry if he had the bank documents and family crested paperwork she would need to regain access to the Malfoy vaults now that the matter had been cleared through the goblin horde and Harry immediately excused himself to find those.
Alone with his mother and that look in her eyes, Draco felt his anxiety come back.
"They won't come back until we ask," Narcissa said, setting down her cutlery and removing the napkin from her lap, bracing herself for the yelling her son had probably bottled up over three years. Draco watched her, trying to make sense of her actions but perhaps they'd been apart for too long because he had been misreading her the whole morning.
Draco stood and walked to his mother's side, hesitating for a moment when she let out an involuntary flinch and knelt at her side. She had otherwise kept her eyes locked with his, her gaze soft and undemanding. Draco took her hand and kissed the knuckles.
"I understand," he whispered, holding her hand still as her set it back on her lap. "Mother, I'm not angry with you. I have no resentment for you, just a hole where our love used to be." A single tear trailed down Narcissa's cheek as she tightened her grip on Draco's hand. "But that's okay," he continued, unfazed. "We can learn again."
Narcissa regarded this man in her son's body but there was no sign of falsehood. She had raised a young man who, for all of his many virtues, had a temper and was prone to shouting. Narcissa had held off visiting her son because she felt he needed time to heal without her wounds and her sadness getting in the way. She thought she was coming over today to submit herself to his rage, an overdue and necessary step in his recovery, but there was nothing.
"Being away has changed you," she murmured, raising a hand and tracing along her son's face. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the intimate gesture, relieved his mother was back in his life beyond her letters. He knew she had suffered alone, as he had, and he would be there for her but yelling would do nothing to assuage his pain, so why add to hers?
"Or perhaps it is where you are now that has changed you?" Narcissa asked aloud, her viper like smile returned in full power.
Draco's eyes widened immediately in shock and scandal as his mother put to words his unspoken fears from earlier.
So sorry this chapter has taken so long! I had perfectly imagined their reunion since the day this fic was conceived but when I sat down to write it, nothing fit any more. Rewriting it was difficult, both because of the sharp departure from my original expectations and because I love Narcissa so much that I fear misrepresenting her more than anyone else. Hopefully this holds up. On the bright side, I have the next chapter more than written up (I will either half to split it in two or cut it down, but it's doneish)