A/N : I own nothing your honour.

Chapter 13, I'm not superstitious but I really hope this chapter doesn't suck.

Thanks to mercersburgrachel for constantly poking me with the stick of inspiration, and all who review and suggest stuff, you are all wonderful.

Enjoy xD

Update : I've made a few changes, tried to erase some of my tense blindness, specsavers don't do glasses for that I'm afraid, and it's been updated even further

Chapter Thirteen

Harry's cup of tea stood forgotten and cold, for the umpteenth time he ran his fingers over the spot on Hermione's arm where Bellatrix's mark used to be, at first it was amusing but now her elbow was beginning to ache, she had no choice but to pull her arm free. Harry smiled, embarrassed, he fumbled for the handle of his cup and took a swig, grimacing slightly, a quick heating charm made it drinkable. He looked over at his friend, she had become lost in thought and was staring off into space, he waved a hand up and down vigorously in front of her face.

"What's on your mind? You completely zoned out just then"

"Even after seeing you together, I still can't quite believe it, I mean, you and her, she's so intimidating and yet you are more comfortable with her than you ever were with Ginny"

"Intimidating?"

"Yes, she scares the shit out of me, she has a presence that fills the room, piercing eyes with none of Dumbledore's warmth, her tone of voice almost has the same effect as McGonagall's, and yet I saw all that melt away the second you came home"

He thought on what Hermione had just said and drained his mug, setting it down. Truth be told, he was so used to Narcissa being around, everything she did had slipped into the realms of normality, but this was the first time she'd had to deal with anyone from his circle of friends.

"I think she was braced for hostility, you have every right to feel that way, but that's not what she's like now"

"I know, I was shocked at how open she was with me, and she saw fit to help me, what did you do to open her mind?"

"I don't think I had that much to do with it, I think it started with the way her family was treated during the war, Lucius played a large part in changing her priorities, he was willing to sacrifice everything to regain his status, for her the price was too high"

"She cares for you so much, she's worried that your relationship with her will turn your friends against you"

"I've thought about it, some won't be able to deal with it, others will come round, as long as I have you and Ron, I think I'll survive the backlash, it's time for me to have something I want for a change"

"We might have to prepare Narcissa for her first meeting with Ron, or just avoid giving him any kind of food when she's around"

"I shudder at the thought, right Miss Granger, we can't spend all weekend stuck inside, Narcisssa won't be back until after dinner tonight, I think I'll treat us to some lunch, Diagon Alley?"

Hermione left the table and headed up to her room to change, Harry needed to retrieve a few things from his own room and soon they were walking down the entrance hall, a brief exchange with Mrs Black and they stepped out into a warm and pleasant day, he offered his elbow to his female companion, who curtsied and took it, seconds later they walked, laughing into the Leaky Cauldron.

Tom greeted them both warmly and they happily accepted the free drinks, they drank their butterbeer at the bar and ordered some lunch, they moved over to a table, occasionally, people would drift over to them for a few words, they saw a few of their old school friends, when the socialising was over the barman appeared with their food, they ate at a leisurely pace and once finished they stepped out into the back yard and opened up the archway. They walked arm in arm along the cobbles chatting.

"Are you actually going to tell me where you went the other day, or what's in those boxes you are carrying?"

"I went to get these" he gestured to the boxes

"Very helpful Harry" she playfully barged him with her shoulder

"Ok, I'll stop teasing you" his face became suddenly solemn "after the battle at Hogwarts, a group of Aurors, sent by Kingsley, gathered up all the wands of the fallen, friend and Death Eater. We didn't know what to do with them, they were just locked away under my guard, somehow they even managed to get Tom's wand but that will never see the light of day again, I decided that the best thing I could do was return them to Ollivander"

They meandered along the street, Hermione pulled him over to look at the displays in the windows, this was going well until they reached the front of Quality Quidditch Supplies, the whole window was dressed up to display the broom of the moment, it took all her strength to pull Harry away from it.

"Don't give me that look, when was the last time you flew a broom?"

"I can't remember, and there's no reason to look so smug"

Grudgingly he allowed himself to be steered away from the shop, and was half dragged towards the familiar frontage of Flourish and Blotts.

"I don't believe there can be a book that you haven't already got or already read"

"For your information, I need a few books for school"

She pushed through the doors and Harry followed her dutifully, thankfully she knew exactly what she wanted and with the transaction complete they went back outside. They continued on their way, they both looked up as they passed Gringotts, exchanging guilty looks, they hurried past. It occurred to them that neither of them had set foot in Ollivander's since they came here to purchase their first wand, Harry stepped forward and pushed the door open for Hermione, somewhere in the depths of the shop a bell tinkled.

"Mr Potter, what an unexpected surprise, and Miss Granger, what can I do for you both today?"

Harry walked over to the counter and placed the boxes down in front of the ancient wandmaker, his eyebrows rose up above those unnerving silvery orbs, Hermione and Ollivander watched as Harry tapped each box with his wand, returning them to their original size, he gestured for Mr Ollivander to open them.

"It's good to see you again Sir, you are looking well, these are all the wands that were recovered after the battle for Hogwarts, we didn't know what to do with them, and I thought you might like them"

"Very kind of you Mr Potter, no sign of the elder wand or Mr Riddle's wand I suppose"

"No, I'm afraid not Sir, we believe they were destroyed during our last two duels"

Ollivander held Harry's gaze for a little bit longer than was comfortable before returning his attention to the wands of the fallen. Several uncomfortably silent minutes passed, the wandmaker seemed to have forgotten about his visitors, the pair decided to depart and leave the strange man to it, they said farewell and he acknowledged it with a small wave.

Diagon Alley felt refreshingly cool after the dimly lit and somewhat stuffy shop interior, Hermione let out a short burst of laughter.

"That was awkward, as we are so close, shall we visit Ronald?"

Upon entering the luridly coloured building they were greeted by dozens of indoor fireworks, a banner stretched from one side of the shop to the other informing all who entered of the special offer, Harry plucked one from the air and threw it between his hands before throwing it back up into the air. A black haired girl in the joke shop uniform approached them, her face changed almost instantaneously as she recognised them, stuttering slightly she offered to help them with anything they wanted, unfortunately Ron was out so they politely asked if she could let him know that they had visited, she was more than happy to oblige, she shook Harry by the hand and pulled Hermione into a hug, it was brief but the bushy haired brunette looked a little shaken, her smile was more like a grimace, they thanked her and left in a hurry.

They didn't head back to Grimmauld Place straight away, they did some more window shopping, and made a few small purchases, Harry tried his best to discreetly buy a box of Narcissa's favourite chocolates, but Hermione had finished browsing and came back just as he was paying at the counter.

He did his best to ignore the knowing looks and smiles aimed at him, as they walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron he managed to distract her with an ice cream from Florean's, soon enough, they stepped out into muggle London and apparated to the square outside number 12 and headed inside, Walburga was fast asleep in her frame, the pair tip toed past, lest they wake her.

Hermione disappeared up to her room and Harry descended the stairs to the kitchen, he made them drinks and carried them up to the living room, he checked the clock and was surprised to see that it was fast approaching 5pm, still too early for dinner as they'd had some ice cream not that long ago, deciding that he would try to beat Hermione at a game of Scrabble he collected it from the cupboard, when his companion returned he was disappointed to see her carrying a large pile of parchment.

"Let me guess, school work needs marking?"

"Yes, sorry, I thought I could catch up while we caught up"

"I guess I could play Solitaire, on my own, by myself"

"Don't you dare try and make me feel guilty, you could help me"

"How?"

With a flick of her wand a comparative essay landed in Harry's lap.

"It's simple, it's first year stuff and you just need to check for errors and compare the content against the parchment I just gave you"

He scanned the document, it all seemed pretty straight forward.

"Hermione, this is your essay"

"Yeah, my marks have set the benchmark, it was McGonagall's idea" she said as airily as possible

He chuckled as she turned an interesting shade of red, she cleared her throat and sorted the pile, handing half of them over, Harry summoned a quill and ink and set to work, it was much easier than he first imagined and felt another pang of regret for not taking up teaching.

The pile of work was dwindling nicely when Kreacher appeared with food, feeling instantly starved, the work was soon abandoned, they ate mostly in silence, Harry was impressed with Kreacher's efforts and had grown quite fond of the elf, towards the end of the meal Narcissa had returned, Harry's eyes didn't leave the woman until she had crossed the room to sit beside him.

Unable to stop smiling, she kissed him on the cheek and pinched a cut of meat from off of his plate, she placed it in her mouth and licked her thumb and forefinger suggestively.

"Would you like anything?" he made a move to recall Kreacher, but a soft hand stopped him

"No thank you, I ate with Draco and Astoria"

Narcissa kicked off her heels and stowed them beneath the sofa, Harry finished with his food and put the plate down by the side of the chair, he put his arm around her waist and pulled her close, he kissed her head, breathing in her scent, she pulled her feet up and settled against him and into the embrace, her eyes fluttered closed as he gently teased his fingers through her hair.

"How was Draco?"

"A little annoyed, he's still getting used to the idea, Astoria is pleased for us, and that doesn't seem to improve his mood. What did you and Hermione do today?"

"We went to Diagon Alley to drop a few things in to Ollivander's, then we shopped a bit, which reminds me, I have something for you"

She sat up and allowed him to move, he walked over to the sideboard and returned with a box, he handed it to her and sat back down. The box was white and gold, it shimmered, she ran her nails under the edges of the box, unsealing it, inside was another box, deep red in colour, upon seeing it she clutched the box to her chest and drummed her feet on the back of the sofa with childish glee.

"My favourite, not sure I know what I've done to deserve these, thank you, you know me so well"

Narcissa leaned back across Harry's lap and pulled him in for a kiss, as their lips part she stroked the side of his face tenderly, the outer box was soon discarded and the red box was opened, she perused the contents and slipped the selected chocolate between parted red lips. She selected a second and pushed it into Harry's mouth, he mumbled a thank you and she shook her head at his lack of manners, she held the box out to Hermione along with a recommendation.

"Oh my, they are good" the blonde smiled and nodded

"How about a friendly game of Scrabble? I'm quite taken with that muggle game"

"Friendly game? Don't be fooled, Narcissa makes it more brutal than Wizard's Chess"

That earned him a slap on the arm, laughing at the pair, Hermione set aside her paperwork and placed the board on the table, the room was silent except for the occasional click of plastic tiles, Harry looked at the tiles in front of him with disgust, his letters looked like a scream of pain from a comic book, he was glad when the game ended, Narcissa just edged a victory over the younger woman, they elected to have another game while he decided, emphatically, to sit it out.

The second game was interrupted half way through by the noisy arrival of one Ronald Weasley. He was carrying a bucket of chicken from some take out place, and munched away on a greasy thigh, blissfully ignorant of the captive audience in front of him, Harry and Hermione traded looks of horror with each other and mouthed silent apologies to the blonde witch.

"I'm guessing you have already eaten so I picked myself up some food on the way, Charlotte told me you came into the shop today, I've brought doughnuts and some drinks for this evening, I left them in the kitchen"

He stopped talking, the way he stopped walking gave the impression he had walked into an invisible barrier, his eyes darted around the room as they took in the scene before him, Hermione was wearing a sort of rictus grin, Harry just smiled in earnest at his friend, Narcissa remained the picture of composure.

"Oh bloody hell" the lanky ginger swallowed his mouthful and to the disgust of everyone, wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"Evening Ron, good day?"

"Yeah, not bad Mione, what did you think of Charlotte?"

"Please don't call me that, I hate it" she looked to Harry for support "She's nice, exuberant, I'm guessing that she and you" she didn't need to finish her sentence, Ron grinned and nodded "well I'll say this, she's better than Lavender Brown"

"You're not wrong, no idea what I was thinking, she was mental"

Ron collapsed into an empty chair and continued to devour the remains of his chicken bucket. The women returned to their game, after a few turns, Narcissa asked Harry to take over for her and excused herself, before she departed she whispered something in his ear and gave him a peck on the cheek. When it was safe to assume the coast was clear, Hermione leaned towards Harry.

"Where has Narcissa gone?"

"She's going to have a bath"

"I have been wanting to do that all day" there was a slight whine in her voice

"I promise that you will have it all to yourself tomorrow" he crossed his heart with his forefinger

"I'll hold you to that"

"Ron?"

"Yeah mate"

"Can you just take over from me, currently you're winning"

He pushed his Scrabble letters into Ron's unresisting hand and walked out of the room, two pairs of eyes watched him leave.

"Where the hell is he going? I've only just got here and he's sodded off"

"Ron, you can be so incredibly dense"

Harry rushed up the stairs, the door to the bathroom was still ajar, she hadn't made it that far yet, he opened the door to his bedroom, she didn't turn around, she was sat at the dressing table brushing her hair, he walked up behind her, the carpet muffled his footsteps, she didn't bat an eyelid when he scooped her hair to one side and kissed the shell of her ear, he gently nibbled on the lobe before kissing down her neck.

"I had hoped you'd follow me"

"I couldn't resist, I've missed you"

She turned to face him and held out her hand for him to take, his soft, warm fingers ran down hers and he held it in a firm but gentle grip, he helped pull her up and she stepped right into his personal space, she pressed her body flush against his. Warm hands roamed across her upper back, she shimmied her shoulders hoping he would get the hint to move down her back, she bit her lip as he resumed the attack on her neck, teeth grazed over her pulse point making her release a small moan.

Narcissa let out an unexpected squeak of shock as strong hands cupped her backside, he lifted her up and sat her on the dresser, several items got scattered unceremoniously to the floor, thumping softly onto the carpet, hands starting at her hips moved to her waist, they slid effortlessly across the material of her dress and across the plane of her stomach, her breath caught in her throat as they moved upwards, he lingered at the swell of her breasts, her back arched and she wrapped her legs around him trying to press her body closer to him.

"You will not distract me from my bath" the breathlessness of her voice betrayed her conviction

"I wasn't planning on it, I was coming to scrub your back" he kissed her parted lips, her hot sweet breath filled his mouth

"For a time I was worried my choice of clothing was going to be wasted"

Harry straightened up to look at the woman, she pointed to the zip at the nape of her neck, with that undone the dress slid off her shoulders and pooled around her waist, her pale skin glowed and hungry green eyes blazed with lust, she pulled at his t-shirt, untucking it from his waistband, he helped her pull off the clothes from his upper body, she ran her nails down his chest to his toned stomach leaving a trail of red welts.

She relished the effect that had, muscles twitched beneath smooth skin, she licked her lips and kissed along his collar bone and down his chest, she kissed along the scratches she had made, soothing them with her soft lips.

With shaking fingers the clasps of her bustier relinquished their hold and the item was swiftly removed, she gave Harry quite a predatory look as she raised her arms and draped them around his neck, his chest rose and fell rapidly as she pressed her voluptuous curves against him.

"Bathroom, now!"

He nodded, temporarily struck dumb, he made it to the door on autopilot and instructed Kreacher to run a bath suitable for his Mistress, the delighted elf was only too happy to oblige. Turning back to the room he caught a glimpse of a very naked Narcissa wrapping herself in a robe, smirking at the look on his face she threw something at him and he snatched it out of the air with a seeker's instinct, the red lace passed through his fingers and once released, drifted to the floor.

"You threw your knickers at me?" she grabbed him as she passed and they almost fell into the hall.

Giggling like kids they crashed into the bathroom, enveloped in thick perfumed steam, he yanked the cord of her robe, it fell open, he helped remove it and threw it to the floor, his trousers and boxers quickly joined it, she was already sliding into the hot water, she slipped forward and Harry slid in behind her, she settled comfortably between his legs before laying back against his chest, his arms encircled her torso, unable to resist the temptation, his hand ran up her inner thigh, the other across her chest, she threw her head back and their lips met, they kissed greedily and with their tongues they fought for dominance.

The act of bathing was long forgotten, Narcissa shifted her position, the battle for control had long been won by her, water and suds poured over the lip of the bath, both were past caring, allowing her more animalistic side to rise to the surface she left her mark, timid at first, Harry had kept up with her, she would have a few marks herself in the morning and she would happily wear them.

In the cosy bliss that followed Harry soaped and scrubbed her pale skin, and she returned the gesture, she adored the feeling of his fingers as they worked the shampoo into her scalp, clean and exhausted, they dried and returned to the bedroom.

Narcissa walked naked to the bed and sighed at the sensation of the cool sheets caressing her heated flesh, Harry joined her, she positioned his arms so that she was cocooned against him.

"I love you Narcissa"

"I will never tire of hearing you say that, I feel so lucky"

"You deserve it, I can't thank you enough for what you did for Hermione"

"It was my pleasure" kisses peppered her neck, her body reacted with a shiver of pleasure

"I'm planning on seeing Andromeda and Teddy tomorrow, I'll come home as soon as I can"

"OK, good" she kissed him "I do miss Andi, maybe one day we'll be able to put the past aside"

"I'm sure it will happen, I'm almost certain it will"

His arms squeezed her tight, he couldn't see the tears that sprung up at the corners of her eyes, feeling happy and reassured she slipped into sleep.