A/N: Oh my Rowling! It's good to be back ^_^ nothing makes me smilier than to see people enjoying my fic again ^_^ Thank you lovelies for reviewing! GOOD NEWS! In a moment of epiphany-like magnitude, I have worked out the ending, how to get to that ending, how to keep it relatively canon and how to put in all the bits I originally wanted to! in other words THIS FIC WILL BE COMPLETED! Yaaaaaay! 3 Good times :D Enjoy the chapter! Lily xxxx

Several days passed the residents of Spinner's End by and still there was no sign of Severus, either in writing or in person. Peace existed within the walls of the house but an atmosphere of uncomfortable dissatisfaction lingered, making both the elder Snapes and Draco fidgety and unable to relax. On the plus side, there had also been no murmur from Malfoy Manor or any unwelcome visit from the Auror Department. In that respect, no news was most certainly good news, but it was not enough to release them for the limbo-like state in which they were trapped.

None of them talked about it – What was there to say? – but it was on each of their minds and they all knew what the others were thinking , every time the front door didn't open and every time the post didn't come.

Anything was better than nothing, anything allowed them to take a step forward, anything was progress… But no anything came.

"We can't go on like this for much longer," Eileen muttered to her husband after a whole week had bid them good-day and taken its leave. "Something has to be done."

"Mmm…" replied Tobias, not sounding at all convinced. His eyes drifted through the murky glass of the kitchen window to settle upon Draco, who was crouched besides a bed of yellow marigolds, carefully pulling up the weeds as he had been shown earlier. "It just seems a shame to spoil things."

With a sigh, Eileen followed his gaze, biting her lip regretfully. He was right, she supposed, in a way. But still…

"He isn't happy you know," she said, as though it explained everything.

"He isn't unhappy either," came the quick response. "Isn't that the main thing?"

"What about Severus?"

"Severus is an adult. He can take care of himself."

Eileen's countenance darkened at the coldness of her husband's words. It was odd, she noticed, she had never worried much about Severus whilst he was growing up, but now… She was keenly feeling all the maternal anxieties she ought to have felt a long time ago, and they were all coming at once.

A hand was laid gently upon her shoulder. "Don't go chasing him, Eileen," Tobias warned her. "You know that he won't thank you for it."

"Yes," she agreed reluctantly, "I know."

'But what if he's been arrested?' her mind screamed. 'What if he's been murdered and fed to a pack of Krups?'

"Chin up Chick," Tobias squeezed his wife's shoulders and pecked her on the forehead, leaning down to do so. "You know what that boy's like. He'll only appear when you've stopped worrying about him. Like buses."

And with that final piece of wisdom imparted, he left Eileen to go out and inspect the marigolds, very much hoping that Draco hadn't pulled up all the flowers and left the weeds to blossom.

Frowning, Eileen turned back to the colander of potatoes she had left by the sink; accompanied by the distinctly niggling suspicion that Tobias' metaphor was not quite right.

She told no-one that she was going when, finally, she could no longer bear to sit idly by and read Dickens. Eileen waited until Draco and Tobias were safely preoccupied with the harvest of the extensive crop of green-beans, before tiptoeing upstairs to retrieve her old wand from the back of her bottom draw.

The smooth, deliciously familiar yew tingled in welcome beneath her touch – warmth flooding from the tips of her fingers to the soles of her feet. Eileen smiled to herself, remembering back to the first time she had felt that warmth, all those years ago in Olivander's shop…

Oh how she had missed this!

Creeping quickly back downstairs, Eileen scrawled a brief note to Draco and Tobias – Gone out for the afternoon. Will be back asap. E. – before slipping out the door and disapparating in a whirl of dark hair.

Eileen did not wait to be announced upon her arrival at Malfoy Manor; she strode straight past the house-elf who opened the door to her, ignored the surprised stare of Narcissa as she looked up from her reading in the sitting-room and marched straight up the staircase and along the corridor to where Lucius Malfoy was sure to be hiding; She was certain that, had she hesitated for even a moment, her nerves would definitely cripple her.

Arriving at her desired location, Eileen gave herself a moment to put on her best 'I-am-your-elder-and-better' face took a deep breath, and walked swiftly into the study, head held high.

She was greeted with a scowl, a quirked eyebrow and a petulant, "What do you want? Go away!"

"Don't be silly please." Eileen fought back a smile as she shut the door behind her. "I'm glad to see your up and walking again."

The scowl deepened even further. "I suppose you were told the whole story by your damnable son?"

"No," she took the seat that was not offered to her. "By yours actually. Severus has disappeared for a while."

"What?" Lucius stared furiously. "So where is Draco now?"

"At home. You needn't worry."

With a hiss, Lucius pushed himself back in his chair. "So he kidnaps my son and dumps him with you? And I thought his idiocy could no longer surprise me…" Sharp grey flashed up, "I expect the boy to be returned to me soon, you know." It was not a request.

Eileen rearranged her skirts about her knees. "And that is why I have come."

"Oh yes?" Lucius could not keep the surprise from his voice. "I admit, I was expecting more of a struggle-"

"I'm not giving him back," Eileen snapped. "Not right away anyway. I believe that Severus acted for the right reasons, removing Draco, and I intend to support them both."

"I could have you both arrested," snarled Lucius temper snapping. "I could have the Ministry bring Draco back and you both thrown into Azkaban!"

"And what good would that do?" She met his eyes unflinchingly. "Don't be childish, Lucius, you are perfectly capable of fighting your own battles."

"This is a battle I should not have to fight! It is completely ridiculous that any of this is happening at all!"

"Then why haven't you?" Eileen asked quietly, with a knowing, Snape-ish air.

"Why haven't I what?"

"Why haven't you summoned the Aurors?"

Lucius' expression shifted from angry, to sullen, to faintly regretful. He looked away from the older woman.

Eileen's face softened. "Severus didn't want to do what he did," she told him, "He had no choice."

"Of course he did," Lucius spat, "Don't try and tell me that he was Imperio'd." He frowned as Eileen looked suddenly anxious. "What? What is it?"

She swallowed, reluctant to tell him. Then finally, quietly, "It was Draco. He said… He said that, if Severus didn't take him, he would… and he almost…" But she couldn't say it out loud, the words stuck in her throat.

"What?" Impatience burst from Lucius' mouth. "He almost what?"

Eileen's answer came almost apologetically, "Draco nearly pushed himself out his bedroom window."

Lucius paled instantly; any trace of anger replaced by an equal combination of fear and hurt, rendering the man speechless.

"He's okay," Eileen tried hopelessly. "Severus managed to stop him. He's okay now."

Swearing under his breath, Lucius shook his head and shut his eyes, as though by not acknowledging it, he could pretend that it hadn't happened. Eileen watched Lucius closely, waiting in silence for him to speak. She would make him face this, she thought grimly. Even if she had to sit here all day, she would not let him disregard this.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this," Lucius muttered after many minutes had stretched between them. He spoke more to himself than to her. "It should never have become this complicated."

"Being a parent is never simple," Eileen gently offered. "And being a good one is near impossible."

"If he had just left us alone," a flash of anger had returned, "then none of this would have happened!"

Eileen's patience was thinning. "It is not everyone else's fault!" she snapped back. "Unless you grow up and start accepting responsibility, at least partly, for what has happened, you will lose your son. Is that what you want?"

"What I want is to be left alone!"

"Will you not listen?" Eileen was blazing. "If you had been 'left alone', Draco would be dead! Do you not understand?" she was half pleading with him. "If you had been left alone, that Southard man would still be-"

"That wasn't my fault!" Hands were slammed down hard upon the dark wood of the desk, grey eyes desperately defensive. "I stopped that! I got rid of him!"

"It's not enough, Lucius! Do you not know why that happened in the first place?"

"I don't want to know!" Eileen was quite sure the man was just moments away from actually putting his fingers in his ears. "It doesn't matter, it's over now!"

She surveyed him coldly, then said to him slowly, "If you do not make changes, history will be repeated."

Lucius Malfoy flinched.

"I know," Eileen continued, "that you are only trying to do what is right, but you are breaking him. Severus is the only thing holding that boy together, but it's not enough. He loves you, Lucius, he needs his father."

With a small sigh, Lucius averted his eyes. "No he doesn't. He hates me. He told me so himself."

"Well, it's not as though you have given him much choice in the matter, is it?"

"It is better to be obeyed than to be loved," intoned Lucius.

A Snapeish eyebrow was raised, "Why?"

"Well…" Lucius pondered this for a moment, not having ever considered such an answer before. "It's more practical," he answered with slight uncertainty, "Logistically."

'Well that just about sums it up,' Eileen through grimly. 'Deary me…'

"It's not working very well though, is it?" she retorted, "Logistically."

"I have tried. I have always tried." Bitterness sharpened his words.

Seeing an opportunity, Eileen pressed him further, "But…?"

"But it isn't working."

"So…?"

Lucius glared at her, before conceding, "So something has to change."

"See?" Eileen smiled brightly, if a little smugly, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Easier said than done," Lucius ground out. "I can do nothing with Severus encouraging rebellion and Draco hanging onto his every word. Surely you understand that I cannot allow that?"

"I do. But," she put in quickly, before Lucius got the wrong idea, "Nothing will be achieved if I simply send Draco home, we'll just be right back to where we are now in a month or less."

"Then what do you propose?"

"I propose," Eileen sat up a little straighter, hands folded carefully in her lap, "That Draco returns to you and that you bring him up as you see fit, but he comes to us when you find yourself…not coping as well as you'd like."

The implication that he could not cope grated on Lucius' nerves. "I am perfectly capable-"

"I never said you weren't," snapped Eileen, cutting short the rant before it could begin. "But if you want to fix your relationship with your son, you are going to have to accept help.

Lucius opened his mouth instinctively to argue and then shut it again promptly. He sighed, long and defeated, "I know."

"Then you will try?"

"Yes, I will try."

Relief spread through Eileen's bones like a bath of warm water. "And you will send Draco to us when you think either he or yourself is becoming uncontrollable?"

Lucius nodded. "I will." Then, as an afterthought, "Why are you doing this? Why are you so keen to help?"

"Because," Eileen shrugged, "Draco's a good kid and we enjoy having him around. Because it is important to Severus. And because I remember, when you were fourteen, saying how much you didn't want to turn into your father. Do you remember saying that, Lucius?"

Proud features twitched into an expression that Eileen, nor anyone else, had seen for many years. "Yes. Frequently."

It was as though clarity had finally descended upon the man who had been so set upon one goal that he forgotten how to achieve it. As understanding cleared the cobwebs that had clouded Lucius' vision for so long, Eileen dearly wished that Severus could have been here to see it…

"Not to mention," she added lightly, "that Draco is most likely going to be the closest thing to a grandchild I'll ever have. So you'd be doing us a favor really, he's brought out a new side of my husband."

"I hope that I get to see this Draco that people are always telling me about," said Lucius a little regretfully. "I don't recognize my son in the way you or Severus talks about him."

"You will," Eileen assured him positively. "It might take a while, but when it does, the choices Severus has made will make sense to you," the end of the sentence was left hanging hopefully. "Forgive him, Lucius, he meant nothing by it. You have been friends for so long, I would hate for it to be thrown away."

"He saved my son's life, I can only thank him," said Lucius simply. "Where is he? I'll write."

The lightness Eileen was feeling diminished slightly. "I don't know where he is," she admitted. "He hasn't been in contact with any of us since dropping Draco off."

"He'll turn up eventually. He always does."

"So I've been told…" Eileen sighed and rose to her feet. "I'd better get back," she said. "I didn't tell anyone I was coming here. Anyway, write to Draco and let him come back to you. I'm sure it won't take long."

Lucius got up to shake her hand, everything that needed be said was passed through the warmth of that one grip.

Except, "Thank you." That needed to be said anyway.