Chapter Forty One

A/N: No reviewers.

Though the promise was almost impossible to make, by Hallowe'en Lucius had remained true to his word, and Draco seemed to be flourishing at Hogwarts. He had written the same night he left for the school, eager to confirm the Sorting Hat's decision, though his parents had been almost certain of it since the day he was born. Afterwards, the steady stream of letters died down to a trickle, until Narcissa would spend her evenings watching from the windows, hoping for the sight of Draco's owl on the horizon.

"Narcissa, come away from the window." Lucius asked. His voice was soft, compassionate, but there was a slight edge of irritation buried inside of it. "Draco will write when he wants to write. Watching for an owl will not make a blind bit of difference."

"I know that." the woman replied. She still did not look away. "I just can't stop worrying about him. I am his mother."

"Concern is one thing, obsession is another." Lucius crossed the room in three quick strides, leaning against the windowsill beside her. "Narcissa, he is alright. Hogwarts is safe enough, and he has an abundance of friends to keep him company. Actually, I'm not sure if they're quite friends…"

"Hmm, that's what I thought." the woman agreed. For the first time, she turned her attention to her husband, smiling impishly. "Those boys seem like more of an entourage if you ask me. Like father, like son."

"I had friends at school!" he argued, looking adorably petulant for a moment.

"Name one." Narcissa retorted, eyebrow raised.

Lucius' face went blank. He ran a list of names through his mind, searching for one that would be plausible enough to convince her. "You."

Narcissa did not answer, only chuckled affectionately and stood from the window seat at last, crossing to the small settee beside the fireplace. Lucius joined her there a few moments later, lacing her hand with his own.

"I suppose I'm not used to the quiet yet." Narcissa reasoned, leaning into her husband's side. "For eleven years, life has been full of bustle and noise, just like we hoped ever since we were married. Now, without Draco, it all seems so… empty."

"It won't be for much longer." Lucius attempted, squeezing his wife's hand a little tighter. Even after all these years and all they had been through, comfort did not come as easily to him as it did to Narcissa. "Just a few weeks more and the Christmas holidays will be here. Draco will be shrieking through the halls again in no time."

In spite of herself, the woman began to laugh. "And when he is, we'll probably long for the quiet again."

Lucius laughed along with her, watching her eyes sparkle in the firelight. It seemed like forever since they had been so happy. "Well, I must admit there are some advantages to a quiet home. We never had peaceful moments like these to ourselves, just to sit together and talk. If I'm absolutely honest, I didn't realise how much I missed you until I had you back."

Shaking her head affectionately, Narcissa leant up to place a kiss on her husband's cheek. When she pulled away, she sat bolt upright, as if the two of them were in a classroom once more. "Alright then. We're going to have a proper conversation. Go ahead, you can start."

The blonde looked expectantly at her husband, who stared back at her. The room was so quiet they could hear the peacocks calling on the lawn. Eventually, Lucius cleared his throat, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Alright. I've got a question for you. When was the first moment you knew that you loved me?"

"Is that honestly your question?" Narcissa raised her eyebrows, smirking a little. Her husband nodded. "Well, I was flirting with you ever since the Silver Serpents days; a blind man could have seen it. But that wasn't love, not yet. If I'm entirely honest, it was more about proving my worth in those days. I thought if I could catch your eye, then people might... notice me, as myself and not just Bella's sister. But the more we saw each other, the more that started to change. By the time I realised it had happened, I was already head over heels with you. I still don't know quite when it happened."

It took Lucius a few seconds after she finished speaking to realise she was staring at him. "Ah. I should have known this was coming."

"You got yourself into this mess." Narcissa joked, nuzzling into his side. But her expression was clear enough that she would not let the question slide.

Lucius' gulped down the rush of saliva that had suddenly filled his mouth, trying to find a way to phrase his answer that did not sound either desperate or predatory. "The day you fell into the Black Lake. I'd already noticed you before that- whatever you were trying to do to catch my eye in the Silver Serpents was working- but I'd never imagined it would be anything… serious. Then you fell into the water and my heart stopped beating. I was running towards you before I realised I'd moved, like my instincts had completely taken over me. I couldn't rest until I knew you were alright. That was when I knew."

Narcissa looked at her husband, mouth open in shock. She had never considered her husband's school days much, especially not once they were married. It hardly seemed to matter. Lucius was always popular, with none more than the girls that swooned each time he looked their way, and yet he had known for so long that she was the girl for him.

"So, for all that time, you knew that you would marry me?" Narcissa's voice was quiet with disbelief. Lucius pressed his lips gently to hers, smiling.

"My father raised me to let nothing stand between myself and the things I wanted." There was a certain innocent pride in the puff of his chest that Draco had inherited, and it made the woman's heart melt. "And I never have, nor ever will, want anything more than you."

The two embraced until long after the fire had burnt down to cinder, at which point they finally conceded exhaustion and headed upstairs to bed. The next night, Narcissa did not sit at the window. Instead, she sat by her husband's side in front of the fire and talked, laughing and crying at the memories they had buried inside themselves. In those quiet conversations and affectionate gestures, the two found peace at last.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, guys! I do actually have a feeling Lucius fell for Narcissa first, because there's a shyness to Narcissa that would have assumed he would never want to be with her, even though she was flirting shamelessly at the time! Anyway, please review!