Words : 1,350

Warning: Self-harm, May Trigger

"Mum?" Draco asked as he heard his own glass shatter.

Narcissa was lying on the couch with her hands near her face. The blood from her wrist was all but dried up; however, there was dried blood on her face and in her hair. Draco heard the sigh of his father has he came into the room.

"What's wrong with her?" Draco yelled. "What happened to her?"

"Calm down Draco. I promise you it's not as bad as it looks. Why don't you go upstairs while I help your mother? I'll be up in a little while to explain everything." Lucius said calmly.

"No! I want to know why my mother is lying in a pool of blood!" Draco yelled back at his father.

"Draco you need to go upstairs and calm down." his father replied. "Now."

Lucius and Draco both stopped what they were doing as a weak voice from the couch said, "Listen to your father Draco. I'm fine." Narcissa still had her eyes closed, but her voice was enough to make Draco turn towards the steps and make his way to his room.

Lucius watched Draco climb the staircase. He didn't realize Narcissa trying to sit up. "What are you doing?" Lucius asked her, "Lay back down, I'll clean this up."

"Lucius, I'm fine. Go talk to Draco. He needs you more than I do right now. " she said as she fully sat up. They both flinched as they heard Draco's door slam shut loudly.

"I'll give him some time to cool down, I'll help you up to our room Cissy."

"Go to him, now. He needs you. Try to be patient with him, not many people understand this." she said while he was watching her. "I'm fine, I promise. I will clean this up and meet you in our room."

Lucius looked at her, he didn't like leaving her like this. He knew she could deal with cleaning up, but ever since he found out he didn't like to let her clean up. It was bad enough she had to go through it the first time. "Are you sure Ciss?"

"Positive."

Lucius made his way up to Draco's room as Narcissa started to clean up. "Tergeo." she muttered waving her wand over the couch. She muttered it again as she pointed her wand at her wrist. The couch looked like new, and her wrist was cleared of any dried blood; however, there were still puffy pink lines starting to form scars near the other, older scars. She gingerly moved her arm, careful not to bother the cuts in any way. She walked towards the kitchen as she whispered "Reparo." pointing her wand at the broken glass. "Terego" she said again as the firewhiskey from the carpet vanished. She took the glass into the kitchen and left it by the dishes from earlier. She picked up the full glass of firewhiskey that Lucius must have left when he heard Draco. Narcissa took the glass and slowly started towards their bedroom thinking about Draco. She wondered what he must be thinking at this point. She was always afraid for him to find out about her habit. She was afraid that he would act angrily towards her or even himself. She loved Draco, he meant everything to her.

o.O

Lucius entered Draco's room after knocking. Draco was sitting on the edge of his bed staring down into his lap. He barely noticed his father walk in.

"Your mother is dealing with a lot of things right now." he said calmly. "She has a problem that she needs help to overcome."

Draco lashed back quickly. "Why is she doing this? What did you do to her?"

"Draco, your mother has struggled with this since she was at Hogwarts."

"Why didn't you guys tell me?" he yelled. "I could have done something!"

"No, Draco, you really couldn't have. I can't even do anything. No matter how much I try, she won't let me help her with this." Lucius said realizing it for the first time. "She often cuts in cycles. When she gets really stressed out or angry, she does it all the time. If she's having good days she won't. But if she's having a bad day, any little thing can make her do it."

Draco was taking deep breaths trying to calm down. "Why did it look so bad?"

"The way your mother cuts isn't to end her life, she's not trying to escape any of us. She's trying to escape her own emotions. From the things she tells me is that she feels relieved and exhausted after she does it. The cuts bleed a lot, but they never are fatal." Lucius said looking at his son.

"This is all my fault. What if she slips? What if she goes to deep?" Draco said to himself.

"Draco, this isn't your fault, I promise." his father replied reassuring himself as much as his son.

"I want her to stop." Draco said, "I need her too."

"I know you do Draco. I want her to also, but it's not that easy." Lucius told him.

"Yes it is! Just tell her to not do it! She listens to you father."

"This is different Draco, your mother needs this."

"No! She doesn't!" Draco interrupted.

Lucius was quickly losing patience with Draco as he started to lose his temper. He wanted to stay strong through this for Draco; however, Narcissa was always the one who was able to keep Lucius calm when Draco upset him. He didn't know what to do. Lucius wanted to keep his role as the supporting husband and father, but he felt it slipping from him. "Draco, you will stop yelling at me. Listen to me now," his father said harshly, "you will be going back to Hogwarts soon, you will not worry about your mother. You will focus on the task that The Dark Lord has given you. It would be nice of you to write to your mother once in a while, but you best make sure that nothing you write will upset her. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, father." he replied.

"Now, go find your mother and apologize to her." Lucius ordered.

"Yes sir." Draco said as he left the room. He walked down the hallway and headed for his parents room. The door was shut, so he figured that his mother was in there.

He knocked on the door and entered as he heard his mother's voice softly say "Come in."

"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier, mother." Draco said as he moved towards his mother. She was sitting in a chair near the bed.

"It's okay, Draco. I don't want you to worry about me when you go back to Hogwarts. Okay?"

"I won't" he said as his mother stood up and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for stopping father earlier."

"Don't thank me, it's my role as your mother Draco. I have to protect you." she said to him as she stepped back to look at him.

"I'm sorry for yelling about what you had Severus do for me. I was stressed and angry at all of you. I just felt like you guys didn't believe in me." her son confessed to her.

"I'd rather you lash out at us than do what I do Draco." she said with a slight smile. Draco didn't return the smile.

"I'm going to get to bed I think." Draco said starting for the door.

"Goodnight, son."

"I love you mum." Draco whispered from the doorway.

"I love you too, Draco." she replied, "I always will."

Lucius passed Draco in the hallway as he made his way to their bedroom.

"I brought you this from the kitchen." Narcissa said as he entered the room. She held out his glass of firewhiskey.

"Thank you. Was Draco all right when he came in here?" her husband asked carefully taking a sip of the drink she had handed him.

"Yeah. He seemed pretty okay." she said.

"Good." he said said setting his glass down and grabbing his wife.

A/N: Well, here's another chapter for you all. I will hopefully have the next one up soon and the one after that still needs beta'd. Hope you all are enjoying it. Let me know what you think!