So this is a two-part chapter, and the second half with be posted sooooooon (well, sooner than this chapter was posted). Sorry for the two-month gap between updates :(
The forest was very quiet. The sound of those who had gone to the edges of the forest in search of the boy was long gone, and all that was left was the noise of twigs breaking under Bellatrix's frantic pace. Cold eyes watched her from the loose circle that stood uneasily around her and the Dark Lord who remained still. Narcissa shifted slightly to her left, her hand searching for her husband's. Their fingers met, and they were still once more. Embers from the fire lit up the otherwise black hollow in which they all stood, the corpse of a gigantic spider casting sinister shadows over the masked faces of those who had not yet died in the battle. The battle for what? Narcissa didn't know anymore. All she knew was that her husband may be the only one left to live for; all she knew was that she hadn't seen Draco since the first attack. For all she knew, their son was dead.
There was a rustle of branches, and the two Death Eaters sent to search the north side of the forest re-joined the circle. At last, the Dark Lord looked up and Bellatrix was still.
One of the men, Dolohov, spoke. "No sign of him, my Lord."
"My Lord-" Bellatrix began, moving towards him with her hand slightly outstretched. Opposite Narcissa in the circle, Rodolphus recoiled slightly, his blood-streaked face looking uneasy. Even after all these years and all they had gone through, Bellatrix would never look at her husband beside her beloved Dark Lord. Rodolphus remained devoted to her.
The Dark Lord closed his eyes and raised a bone-white hand to silence her. When his eyelids lifted again, she was silent. "I thought he would come. I expected him to come." His voice was ice. His eyes were fire. "It seems I was mistaken."
There was a rustle of leaves and twigs as someone new approached. "You weren't."
There was a brief pause after Harry Potter spoke those two words on the other side of the clearing before the camp exploded. There were cries, jibes, shouts and a screeching cackle from Bellatrix as the Dark Lord's followers celebrated the break of the great Harry Potter. Narcissa looked at Lucius, whose eyes were wide and fearful.
"It's over," she said to him, a smile breaking over her face, the first smile in what felt like years. "We can find Draco in the castle once Potter dies, and we can leave. We are safe, at last!"
Lucius turned to her, anguish in her eyes. "Safe – but for how long?"
She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off almost immediately.
"NO! NO! HAARY, WHAT'RE YEH - ?" the oaf Hagrid roared.
"QUIET!" shouted a Death Eater, and silence fell on the group once more. The air was tense in the sudden silence. Narcissa watched every muscle movement in the Dark Lord's neck, face, hand, and saw his glacial lips move. "Harry Potter," he said very quietly. "The boy who lived."
Nobody moved, nobody said anything at all. The Dark Lord's snake slithered back and forth mid-air in her luminous cage, surveying the scene carefully. Slowly, the Dark Lord raised his wand. The boy did nothing.
"AVADA KERDAVRA!" came the terrifyingly familiar scream of Lord Voldemort suddenly and the world flashed green. Where the great Harry Potter had been standing, there was nothing but a crumpled body, lit only by the dying flames of the fire. Everything was now as it should be – the boy dead, the Dark Lord victorious.
But something was wrong, something was very wrong. No cries of victory pierced the air, no sparks sent into the night sky; only Bellatrix's fraught voice sounded as she knelt beside the second fallen man. Narcissa stepped forwards slightly, held back only by the grip Lucius had on her hand. The Dark Lord had been blown back by his own spell once again, because of Harry Potter, once again. Narcissa's insides turned to ice as she thought of the possibility that he had disappeared, as he did on that Hallowe'en night seventeen years ago. Despite all he had cost them, the Malfoys needed the Dark Lord for the safety he provided; without his protection they would lose it all. Not that they now had much left to lose.
"That will do."
The familiar high-pitched voice of the Dark Lord rang out, and the bone-white man with the blood-red eyes stumbled to his feet, pushing the hopeful Lestrange aside. He was not gone, after all, merely… knocked back.
"My Lord," she said hopefully, "let me-"
"I do not require assistance," he replied icily, his wand twitching in her direction. She fell back into line, glancing quickly at her sister who stood behind her. Narcissa looked back, agonised.
"The boy – is he dead?" he asked, sounding wary. He looked about him and saw Bellatrix and Narcissa's exchange. He pointed his wand at Bellatrix's and there was a bang. "You. Tell me whether he is dead."
Narcissa cried out in pain slightly but swiftly obeyed. She walked to what she hoped would be a corpse, praying with every step that this would all be over and that she and her broken family could be left in a shattered peace. As she passed the Dark Lord she felt a chill go over her, and realised that even if the boy was dead, it would not be over. It would never be over.
All eyes were on her as she knelt down next to the body. It was the only body from which she had felt warmth in a long time. Her breath quickened with her heartbeat as she slid a cold hand under Harry Potter's shirt, letting it rest over his ruthlessly pounding heart.
He lived. Harry Potter lived and there was no end for him, or for her. She knew that unless the boy was dead, the Dark Lord's followers would not be allowed to go to the castle and she would not be able to search for her son, dead or alive. With the boy alive, there was nothing Narcissa could do for her own son. And if her son had been killed, what had she left at all?
She bent her head low over his face and felt the slight tickle of his shallow breath on her cheek. "Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?" she whispered, scarcely loud enough for him to hear.
"Yes," he breathed back.
She had no time to think.
"He is dead!" she called, sitting up straight and forcing a smile on her face. Across the clearing she saw Lucius' terrified face melt into relief at the temporary safety they now had. She stood up and walked briskly to her husband's side amid the celebrations of the Dark Lord's followers.
She dared not to tell Lucius the truth as the victorious party marched out of the Forest, setting trees alight and sparks flying to the stars, convinced that the end was finally upon them all. Son the trees began to thin and the Malfoys saw the broken castle at last. They had heard the thunder of the battle from their safe hollow in the Forest and imagined what the fights had done to the building, but nothing could have prepared them for the horror that now stood before them. Against the slowly brightening sky stood Hogwarts, now nothing but a majestic ruin for all to see. Towers were burning in the hour of peace, windows smashed and walls obliterated. Statues and gargoyles littered the grounds along with rubble from the building that had been such a stronghold mere hours ago. Grass was splattered with blood and dew, trees uprooted and the edge of the Black Lake rippled around the shattered hourglass that contained the emeralds of Slytherin's house points, the silver serpent bent and warped out of shape.
The Dark Lord paced in front of them and shouted words to the survivors of the other side who lingered inside the remaining walls of the castle. The noise was deafening, but she took no notice to the man who was now nothing but a barrier between herself and her son. It had been a long time coming, but now was the end. Her blind allegiance, her dutiful bidding and endless sacrifice for Tom Riddle was over, and when the moment came, she ran. In the commotion of Potter's disappearance, Narcissa knew she could be Riddle's first target once Potter was captured, but she didn't care now. All she cared about as she ran through the spells and explosions around her was her son.
"DRACO!" she screamed, looking about in anguish, wandless and without of hope of finding him in the fray. "Draco, where are you?"
Lucius ran up behind her and grabbed her wrist. "What are you doing?" he shouted over the roar of the crowd, looking confused and frightened.
"Potter is alive," she cried, hysteria building within her, "and I don't know if Draco still is, and all I want to do is find him and leave."
Lucius dragged her up the lawn ahead of the crowd that was steadily growing and moving towards the great oak doors that, despite being once so powerful, were now hanging off their hinges, and blasted people out of their way with his crudely made wand.
"Draco!" they cried, looking all around them as they ran past duels and ducked from explosions, up the marble staircase and paused on the landing, sheltering behind a pillar for a moment.
"Where will he be?" Narcissa panted frantically, running a hand through her dirty hair as Lucius glanced about him, terrified. "How will we find him in this place?"
On their blind run through the castle, Narcissa was struck by memories she hardly knew she possessed. As they passed what was once Slughorn's office, a fifteen year old Lucius flashed before her eyes and she felt his lips on hers for the first time. The burning Quidditch pitch she glimpsed out of a cracked window showed her Lucius' flowing silver and emerald robes dart past her in the stands at the height of the House Cup and her overwhelming pride as he grasped the Snitch. As they stumbled past a painting of a ballet dancing troll she felt the warmth she had felt the first time Lucius made love to her in the most wonderful room somewhere nearby, in a place she could almost remember…
This was the castle she loved with the man she loved, together for the first time in years and it was being destroyed in front of her eyes. Her world was literally shattering around her. But the one thing that stayed constant, even in the days to end all days, was her family. And this was the one thing that kept her running when she wanted to collapse.
Again, thank you for your continuing support of this fic of mine, your interest in this constantly flatters me and keeps me wanting to write more! I know this part was lacking in Lucius/Narcissa-ness, but there will be more next chapter – the LAST chapter of this fic! Watch this space for the final instalment…