After finally leaving Greengrass' office, Narcissa was literally fuming… actually, no, that was inaccurate. She may have been fuming after her new allies spontaneously decided to invade her home to rescue some prisoners. And with little regard to how her family might be affected by this action! Narcissa also had to meet their old treacherous house elf again and was then lectured like a school girl about her family's supposedly poor treatment of him.

This alone left her livid.

But then, as the final insult, she also learned that some mudblood would be the one to travel to her home and rescue the prisoners.

Narcissa was incandescent with rage! And she had no outlet for it… none except one.

Although Daphne explicitly told her not to hold anything that had been said and done against Astoria, Narcissa could not help but think that her lousy day was ultimately the result of her future daughter-in-law's actions. After all, it was Astoria who had lured her into this trap.

"You! Where is the servant's mess hall?" she arrogantly snapped at one of the guards who then hurriedly explained the route to her. For some reason, Astoria requested to meet her in the corridor just outside that place. It was on the other side of the manor and having to walk so far annoyed Narcissa even more than she already was. To make matters even worse, by the time she finally arrived at her destination the girl was nowhere in sight, forcing Narcissa to wait!

She impatiently tapped her foot on the floor for a few minutes before she decided she had just about enough. She was about to go find some guards who could point her in Astoria's direction when the door of the servant's mess hall opened and a girl entered the corridor – but it wasn't her future daughter-in-law. Instead, it was a person who easily scored the top places on the list of Narcissa's least favorite people. A person she dearly hoped would be dead by now…

"Granger!" she hissed and her hand instinctively went to the empty wand holster on her wrist before she recalled that she did not have a wand with her.

Earlier that day, her husband borrowed her wand. He has been forced to do that ever since the dark lord destroyed his wand in one of his stupid attempts to capture Potter last summer. It was yet another failure and like always, the dark lord blamed Lucius for it. The half-blood bastard had the nerve to declare that Lucius had taken poor care of his wand and that it was the reason why Potter escaped. As a punishment, the dark lord prohibited him from obtaining a new wand, forcing on him the humiliation of having to borrow a wand from his wife.

In any case, it was just as well that she did not have a wand on herself or the mudblood whore would have been a recipient of some very nasty curse right now. In the mood Narcissa was in, she would have shown no restraint. She was about to physically advance on that damnable cretin when she finally took note of the girl's clothes – a servant's garb. She also noticed a guard shadowing the mudblood's every step. As for the mudblood herself, the girl froze on the spot as she stared at Narcissa in utter shock.

The three people looked at each other awkwardly for a few seconds. Nobody moved until the guard stepped forward and nudged the mudbloods shoulder while whispering something into her ear. At first, the mudblood sighed with an expression of annoyance but then something truly impossible happened – the girl looked at Narcissa and made a passable curtsy in her direction while saying. "Good evening, my lady."

Caught completely off guard and with million thoughts running through her head, Narcissa stared at her with an open mouth before tentatively stepping forward and replying, "Good evening… mudblood," she stressed the last word and smirked when the girl tensed but otherwise said nothing. "So… you serve the Greengrasses now?" Narcissa asked gleefully as she was starting to understand the situation. She would never believe it had the proof not been standing right in front of her.

The girl opened her mouth to reply but before she could the guard answered for her. "Miss Granger is a prisoner, not a servant… she refused that prestigious honor," he explained in chastising tone while looking down at the filth. The girl shivered at his words and her lip started to quiver while Narcissa's demure smile slowly turned into a rictus of ecstasy.

"Miss Granger just finished her dinner and now she must go back to her cell," the guard continued to explain, seemingly oblivious to how his words were being received by the two women. How they were crushing the mudblood's spirit while Narcissa's was soaring through the roof.

"I see," Narcissa said calmly while doing her best to suppress the urge to laugh hysterically. Her eyes met with the mudblood's and it was a moment of pure catharsis for Narcissa. The last time she saw the filth was at Madam Malkin's almost two years ago. Back then, the girl had held an expression of supreme confidence and power, both so much inappropriate for someone of her blood status.

While now… there was still a shadow of fire in her eyes but it was dulled to almost nothing. Most importantly, the confidence and power was gone entirely and Hermione Granger was now looking at her with fear. The girl knew that Narcissa held power over her and was afraid! The only thing missing from that look was awe and respect. Add that and Granger would be a picture-perfect example of what a mudblood should look like when in presence of her pureblood superiors.

"Well, in that case, I must not keep Miss Granger any longer," Narcissa said as she stepped out of their way. And just as the two of them were about slip by her, she grabbed Granger's arm with her hand and whispered. "It was lovely to see you, mudblood. Now that I know you are here, I might come visit you one day," she told her ominously before letting go.

Of course, Narcissa had no intention of going anywhere near the filth unless she had to. Unlike Bellatrix, she never enjoyed tormenting mudbloods. Never found joy in the idea of repeatedly carving slurs into their flesh as her sister loved to do. Although with Granger… she was seriously tempted. An image of the mudblood girl completely ruined and tortured into insanity by Bella flashed through her mind.

Meanwhile the mudblood looked at her with judgement that reminded Narcissa of their meeting two years ago. Back then, the girl would have surely started to rant about her equal rights at the very mention of the word 'mudblood'. Narcissa could tell that the urge to do so was still within the girl, confirming her mind and spirit wasn't broken. But they were censured and collared by whatever she had been put through with the Greengrasses. And then there was the fear. Fear that Narcissa wasn't japing and the crushing knowledge that she had the full power to make good on her threats. Without saying anything, the mudblood proceeded to walk away as fast as possible without actually running, the guard hot on her trail.

After they left the corridor and the doors closed behind them, Narcissa waited few more seconds before letting out the laugh she had been holding. It was an expression of pure unadultered joy at what she had just seen. Narcissa could feel the stress of what happened earlier falling away from her. No matter what else she had experienced today, or what might still happen, seeing the 'brightest muggleborn witch of their age' beaten down and on a leash more than made up for it. She only stopped laughing when she was out of breath.

"So… I guess you enjoyed the show," she heard Astoria's voice as her future daughter-in-law stepped out of the shadows over at the far side of the corridor. The girl strode towards Narcissa while saying, "No doubt Harry and Daphne kept grilling you for hours… I figured you could use something to unwind," she finished with a smile.

"You set this up?" Narcissa asked in shock. She had trouble believing that the young girl would really go this far, given Astoria's annoyingly positive opinions about the mudbloods.

"I made arrangements so that you would meet Granger here today," Astoria answered. "But if you mean her current situation, then no. That was all Daphne's doing."

'Ah, that would explain it,' Narcissa thought before telling her eagerly, "Tell me about it."

She then listened as Astoria recounted what has been happening to the mudblood ever since she arrived at the Greengrass manor. At the end of the story, Narcissa let out another hearty laugh. The mighty, confident, and untouchable Miss Granger turned into a proper mudblood? It hardly seemed possible that was truly Daphne's plan. It seemed even more surreal that the Greengrass heiress apparently somehow managed to convince Harry Potter to go along with it. Suddenly, Narcissa felt much easier about their alliance. Because if Daphne could convince Potter that submission to purebloods was in Granger's best interest, she can surely convince him of anything.

Astoria smiled uncertainly at her while Narcissa laughed. "I suppose- I suppose you think that she doesn't deserve what's happening to her, right?" she asked once she caught her breath again and noticed Astoria's expression.

"No, not really…" the girl replied with a frown before shrugging. "But I am sure it beats the hell out of the alternatives that Daphne had in mind for her."

Narcissa nodded, figuring that was probably very much true. She had no doubt that Granger would have come to a sticky end if not for Potter's relationship with Daphne. In that sense, she supposed that the mudblood really was lucky.

Afterwards, Astoria invited her to have a dinner with her mother and her and Narcissa immediately agreed.

"I hope one day, you will truly see how beneath us mudbloods really are… that the only option is to keep them on a very tight leash," Narcissa told her wistfully. It was the most ardent wish she had for her future daughter-in-law as otherwise, the girl was all but perfect. Astoria narrowed her eyes at hearing that comment but then her lips curled as she said, "Well… I did break her nose once," she told Narcissa with a hint of pride.

"WHAT?!"

Astoria then explained how shortly after the mudblood's imprisonment, she broke the girl's nose in revenge for her doing the same to Draco. "But please don't tell Draco… I want it to be a surprise for him," she pleaded, much to Narcissa's amusement. After that, she hooked her arm with hers as they walked, feeling more certain of the choice of Draco's wife, now more than ever. "I won't say anything, you have my word, dear. I am sure Draco will like that," she told her and the girl smiled at her gratefully.

Narcissa also figured that hearing and seeing the memory of that story would once and for all destroy any feelings her son might have for the mudblood. She suspected that on an unconscious level, Draco came to respect Granger's intelligence and magical power even though he would never care to admit it. Knowing that it was his fiancé and her family who took that power away and put the mudblood firmly into her place would most certainly demolish that respect and endear Astoria to him even more. It was perfect. "Perhaps there's a hope for you yet, dear," Narcissa told her and smirked as the girl blushed at what she was suggesting.

"Don't count on it," Astoria growled. "I didn't do it because she's a mudblood but because she hurt Draco!" she stressed. "I would have broken her nose even if her blood was as pure as ours!"

Narcissa expected that answer but still felt there was hope for the girl. Perhaps even a chance that her future grandchildren will grow up knowing that mudbloods were inferior. "As you say, Astoria," Narcissa said with a wink, making the girl even more indignant before she sighed and said, "You know, we'll be family one day. You can just call me Tori… if you'd like."

Narcissa briefly considered that before agreeing. "And you can call me Cissy," she told her, thinking that this was a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Perhaps it was a good day, after all.