Hello people….I hope all of you are having a good day.

I have the next chapter for you and I won't keep you much longer. You can read ahead on my patr30n portal and you can find the link on my profile.

Enjoy your day…

Chapter 3- Narcissa's Question

"Don't take that tone with me, boy!" Alistair snapped, smashing the drink in his hand onto the floor. "Never speak to me that way." The man left the room in anger.

"Curb your tongue for a bit, Antioch. That is no way to speak to somebody, least of all Father." Cadmus chided his brother gently. "You know how he is when he is drunk."

"What happened, Mr Williams?" Ignotus cut in. His eldest brother was very similar to their father. He had a penchant for running his mouth, which would make him come off as harsh. He means well, but that didn't change that he would run his mouth off.

"Why was that man interested in meeting father? I remember you telling us that Father himself went to meet that man. Why was it?"

"All I know is that your father received a message from Cook. He had me join him early in the morning, and we travelled. When we reached that farmhouse, I felt something off, but it was not my place to question Mr Peverell. I know he could take care of himself."

"The next thing I knew, I was dragged inside, and it was then that I observed your father captured by them. They didn't ask much. They roughened me up, so the message sunk in and left me to come find you three." Williams muttered.

"I have no idea what the issue was all about. All I know is that it was troubling if it has shaken up your father this badly." Williams bid the three young men farewell and left the room quietly.

"I don't get it." Cadmus broke the silence. "What did that man want with father? It has to be something else, and Father is not stupid enough to waste his time and put himself in danger." He continued.

"What did that man want with father in the first place?"

"Father warned the man to stay away from the village. Maybe it had something to do with the village?" Antioch spoke up.

"He is a factionist. There is a strong chance it had something to do with the village. We know how sensitive Father is regarding Godric's Hollow."

"Whatever it is, we should stop bothering Father. He will talk when we leave him be." Ignotus muttered. "Whatever it may be, it is not something we cannot deal with." The other two agreed reluctantly.

"Antioch?" He faced his elder brother.

"It is not something often that leads to Father being withdrawn from us. He never thought twice about sharing anything with us; this practice has existed since our childhood. I doubt Father would be very hesitant with us now. Give him some space." He requested.

Antioch deflated slightly. "It has been a week, Ignotus. He has not stepped out of the house and is always drunk. I have been very patient since the event, but it has been nagging me that he has chosen silence over talking to us. I couldn't stop myself from questioning him, and I let myself go in the heat of the moment."

Ignotus offered his brother a sympathetic nod. "I understand. I have never seen him this way, and I want nothing more than for the man to talk. But now, he needs his space. And we," He pointed to the three of them. "Should do nothing more than wait."

"Are we clear?" The two elder brothers nodded. Ignotus was and will always remain the most level-headed brother among the three. The other two were thankful that he could think straight when there was a necessity instead of jumping into a situation. Antioch and Cadmus always followed Ignotus when it came to such a scenario.

He was understanding. People could open up and talk to him like he was their family. Conversations were easy around Ignotus.

But this was the reason why they were worried. Ignotus could make anybody talk to him, but they feared it might be severe if he could not.

"Harry…" He was roused from his nap when he heard a series of knocks on his door. "Harry…" He listened to another round of knocks. He pushed himself off the chair he had fallen asleep in and stretched his arms lazily. It was the first time since the night in the Hospital Wing that he had seen this dream. He had wondered why they stopped, but apparently, they had not. It seems like he was in a movie, but one that was pertinent to him. That is the only explanation he can provide, and he had something to do with it. Why would he dream about people he did not know if not for some relation between them?

"Oh, for the love of Merlin, would you calm down, Sirius?" He groaned as he opened his door to face the grinning man. "What are you doing?" He questioned as Sirius stepped in.

"You were sleeping in the middle of the day?" Sirius questioned. "Why were you sleeping in the middle of the day?"

"I couldn't bear the noises coming out of your room." He cringed slightly. "Did you forget that there is something called silencing charms?"

"Where did you even find that woman in the first place?" Harry was surprised when Sirius returned with a woman in tow. He said he needed some air and would get something to drink on the way. He didn't think much of it. It was dark already, and Sirius knew better than to invite trouble.

"I stopped at a muggle bar nearby. I knew not to venture into the Diagon Alley. Taking a walk was refreshing; frankly, the muggles come up with much better drinks than us wizards. Well, the muggles and the French." He chuckled.

"She was looking for a good time; I was looking for some companionship. Well, you know what happened next." He smirked.

Harry had to slap his hands on his ears, shaking his head. "One word. One word about your…uhm…adventure…yes, let's call it an adventure. One more word about it, and you will have another swollen cheek for another week."

"Okay. Okay." Sirius relented as he sat down on the chair. "I had something to talk to you about." Harry dropped down on his bed, listening to the man.

"I wanted to write to Remus and Andromeda." Harry shook his head immediately.

"No." He denied. "You are not writing to anybody. Just no." Harry stood up and began pacing around the room.

"When will you get it through that head of yours, Sirius? We don't have a choice. You are a criminal, and I am aiding a criminal. Remus, I can understand, but your cousin Andromeda. Not a good idea, Sirius. Considering she is an advocate and her daughter, an Auror."

"But try to see reason, Harry. Andromeda is not as complicated as you think. She would get it. She always used to get it. Trust me, that woman is more than able to see reason. She was one of the sane ones in my family of insane. You should have the balls to say no to this family and its name." Sirius chuckled, and despite everything, Harry smiled as well. He had heard about Andromeda Tonks and the wonder she pulled off. A Black marries a muggle-born, and defying her family is an achievement. He still didn't understand how the woman hadn't ended up in Gryffindor.

"Remus, though, would see right through it." Sirius continued confidently. "There is no way Remus is missing it once it is in front of his eyes. Trust me, but when it comes to our transformations, we can identify each of our forms in our sleep and, if revealed, what did occur that night and about the dementors attack, I think he would believe us."

"I don't know Sirius. The risks outweigh the results. So much could go wrong to the point where it might be too late to salvage it." Harry said, unsure about the very idea of Sirius talking to anybody. The man would be chucked into Azkaban without question and administered the Dementor's Kiss.

"Trust me on this one, kiddo. Let us talk to Remus. We can deal with Andromeda later if necessary." Harry nodded, albeit hesitantly. He was not sure, but if the man wanted it, they would do it, consequences be damned.

"Anyway, what about those friends of yours? Have they written to you?" They had not. He was not annoyed, but he felt let down. His first two friends are on the verge of going their separate ways just because he spoke something different from their expectations. It had been nearly three months, and he had hoped they would write to him. He had given in and written two letters to them to receive no reply.

"Well, maybe they are busy." Harry attempted to play it off, but Sirius shook his head. "Trust me when I say this, Harry, but when they don't want to be with you, you just have to let them go. If they do not support you, don't have anything to do with them again. Simple as that. Letting go of friends is not easy, but you can save a lot of drama when you know when to do what is necessary."

"It is entirely normal. As time passes, we tend to move on. Friends change; they grow up, move on, and grow apart. It is a process that is normal. All we can do is push forward and continue to grow."

Harry nodded as Sirius finished speaking. The man was right. There was little he could do. His relationship with Ron and Hermione would never be the same again. From this point onwards, there will always be a lingering doubt that would always plague the three. As Sirius explained, he has to move on. He would never push them away. He would always stop for them. He would always greet them, eat with them, sit with them, but apart from that, everything else would change.

"When did you become an expert on friendships?" Harry questioned jokingly.

"When one of my friends turned on us, led death onto your doorstep. When he killed your parents and took away my life. When our entire world crumbled into ashes." Sirius stood up and, with a sad smile, walked out of the room.

Harry fell back into his bed, and his mood dropped considerably as Sirius left. Pettigrew was a sore topic for Sirius and, by extension, himself. He rued his mistake that night. He should have done better. He should have caught the man when he had the chance. Had he been captured, Sirius would not have had to watch behind his back every time he stepped out.

Harry had promised himself that he would get Sirius free if it were the last thing he did. He intends to keep up that promise. Pettigrew would not have the chance to escape once again.

The next time Harry sets his eyes on Pettigrew, it would be to obtain justice for all the injustice he had caused. The next time he gets his hands on Pettigrew will be when he breathes his last.

BREAK

"So gentlemen," Lucius addressed his companions who had joined him in his manor. Today was supposed to be a significant gathering, specifically ordered by the Dark Lord. He had refrained from attending, handing over the ropes for Lucius to manage. The Dark Lord was not too keen to address a gathering. He had plans and would reveal himself when the time was right.

"I have been thinking about a way to stir things up." He continued. The others gathered around the table and sat up expectantly. "The Quidditch World Cup is around the corner, giving us the perfect opportunity to do something."

"All of a sudden?" One of the men seated questioned.

"My reasons are my own." Lucius continued. "I have reasons for avoiding what we were supposed to do and why I decided the time was right. Don't worry," He assured the men around him. "When the time is right, you will all know."

"We should never have stopped in the first place." Theodore Nott Sr spoke up.

"We had something going that had been built with much effort. The Dark Lord's demise should not have been something that should have stopped us. We should have kept the process going, and that would have turned out for the better. We would have never relinquished our hold in the first place. Things would have been much, much better."

Lucius knew that the man was right. He had only one explanation for that. They didn't possess the nerve to continue what they were doing with the security of the Dark Lord absent. The man ensured they made it out whenever they were in trouble. He was furious every time he had to resort to helping them, and they would face his wrath, but he would come for them every time they were in problems.

The news of his defeat sent them into an overload of panic, and they had to abandon their plans. They were being closed down from various angles, and there was nothing they could do but give up. They had to save faces and emerge as the innocent party.

A hefty sum of galleons from each of their coffers and the fact that there was a money-hungry Minister of Magic who was too eager to turn the other way helped a long way in the process.

Most of the magical population still knew that the men sitting in this room were supporters of pureblood doctrines. But a lot of them were made to be convinced that they were genuinely imperious victims. Despite all, they remain the most powerful and upstanding people in their society.

"Now is not the time, Theodore." Lucius cut in after a few moments of silence. "Let bygones be bygones. We should have continued, but that is not the case. It's fine. We are not incapable now, are we?"

The man nodded casually. "Very well," Lucius smirked at the man and continued addressing the men around him.

"Our plans for the start of the match would be the same. We will attend the match. It has been centuries since the last time a Quidditch World Cup final was organised in Britain, and there would be thousands of audiences worldwide. The end of the match would be chaos. They would be drunk and boisterous, which would play to our advantage. It will make our jobs more manageable, and we will take them by surprise."

"Make sure we are incognito. And make sure that it stays that way. Not once should any of us take off our masks. I will come out and say this in the beginning. If you are caught, you are on your own. We would not come to get you if you were the reason for us getting compromised. Every man is on his own if things go out of hand. Make your arrangements. Portkeys, brooms, whatever you need, have it ready." Lucius was solemn as he regarded everybody.

"I will repeat it once again. Each is on his own. We will look out for each other, but that is the most we can manage. If you are caught, fight. Kill your way out, but remember that each would be alone if you were revealed. We won't return if it is dangerous for the rest of us, and if asked, we deny."

Lucius watched as the men nodded their agreement and began making their way out, speaking to each other—all but one. Lucius had expected this man to put two and two together.

"This is not accidental now, is it, Lucius?" Theodore Nott questioned. "I would like to think I am not foolish enough to believe this is coincidental."

"It is not." Lucius sighed. "You would have guessed what is happening and why I did this." He nodded towards their arms. Nott smirked as he nodded.

"Good. I will leave without any questions, Lucius." Nott began walking away. "Convey my regards to our Lord."

'That man is too intelligent for his own good.' Lucius thought as he exited the room after the man. "Draco?" He called for his son as he reached his study.

"Draco!?" He yelled once again, and his son appeared in front of him, walking briskly.

"For your sake, you better be right, Draco." The man warned as he took his seat, his son occupying the one opposite. "Do you think he would be present at the World Cup?"

"Absolutely," Draco replied confidently. "He is a Quidditch fanatic, and Weasley is one too. I would guess that they would be there together. If not, I am pretty sure you would be able to manage it."

"Very well." Lucius nodded. "Make sure you would not speak of this to nobody."

BREAK-

"Draco?" Narcissa intercepted the boy before he could reach into his bedroom. "Mother." The boy frowned as he stood in wait for the woman to speak.

He observed his mother closely. She was not her usual self. Her eyes, which were usually brimming with confidence, seemed to be filled with uncertainty. He was sure that she had lost her weight and had grown paler. For the first time, he felt his mother to be a shadow of her former self. She was jumpy, always looking behind her shoulder at every instance, muttering something illegible most of the time, her wand always present in her hand, which was concerning because the woman never lost her composure.

"Mother, is something the matter?" Draco questioned. "You seem jumpy. Your behaviour is suspicious, Mother."

"Draco?" She whispered, turning back quickly to make sure they were alone. "Come with me."

The young man was confused. "Come with you?" He frowned. "Where to?"

"Away from all of this." She whispered, taking a deep breath. "Away from your father. Away from this place. We will go somewhere far away. "

"What is the matter with you, Mother? Why do you want to go away from Father?" Draco questioned. "Where do you want to go? This is our place. Where else would we go?"

"Don't ask questions. Just listen to me. Listen to me this time and our lives will be golden, son." She pleaded desperately. "Your father is an evil man. He is not somebody who you should be looking up to. He would lead you to death. Listening to your father would bring misery and pain."

"He will make you just like him. He will ask you to join him in serving…that man…" Narcissa was crying by now, her hands clutching his shoulder.

"The Dark Lord…" She almost jumped out of her skin as she spoke about him. "You don't know what it was. You will suffer. You will…" She hesitated. "You will die!" She snapped, her hands now increasing their hold over his shoulder.

"Are you mental?" Draco questioned, prying himself away from her grip. "This is where I belong. How dare you tell me to disagree with everything I have been taught." He glared at the woman.

"We are Wizarding Royalty, Mother. We are the Malfoys. We are superior to anybody out there. And the reason for that is our superiority. The Dark Lord's ideas have always been beneficial for us. He is the one who rallied for our purpose. He is the one who will always fight for us." He explained.

"Your father throws all the money his coffers possess to gain reputation. He buys his reputation. If you think for a second that this family maintains any semblance of reputation just for your name, you are a bigger fool than your father."

"The entire Wizarding world hates the name Malfoy. Whatever respect your father garners is because of the money he has thrown around. Not reputation. They have no reputation at all to begin with."

The woman wiped her eyes as she stepped back from the young man. She regarded him once more, and her eyes hardened. She forced a smirk onto her lips.

"The only achievement of your family is getting married to my family." Her pride was back in full force as she looked down upon her son. "Any importance this family possesses is because of my name. The name 'Black'."

"Reputation. Wizarding Royalty?" She scoffed. "You want to speak about Wizarding Royalty? Go and do it with Potter." She said.

"The Potter family would chew and spit us out if you talk about reputation and money. Do you have any idea just how big his name is? Now that is reputation. That is history, and that is heritage."

Draco's face was now red as Potter was brought up. He clenched his fists and bit his cheek as his breathing became laboured.

"Then go!" He yelled at the woman as he regained his voice. "Go to your family." He smirked condescendingly at the woman.

"Who would you go to, Mother? Your sister who is in Azkaban? Your cousin who is dead? Your other cousin who is roaming from place to place trying to escape from his death? Or the blood traitor whore of your other sister who shacked up with a mudblood…"

"THWACK!" A resounding slap rang through the hallway as Narcissa smacked her son on the cheek. Draco stumbled back a few steps at the force of the impact, a red mark appearing on his cheek.

"Hold your tongue." She hissed, her voice low and chilled as ice. She took a step forward so that she was facing down on him. The boy's gaze could have burned her to ashes if possible, but that was not the gaze. "Speak with some respect, boy!" She snapped as she let anger take control over her body.

The prevalent emotions from a while back were absent as the woman glared hatefully at the boy. "One more word out of your pampered arse…" She muttered as she stepped back.

"I thought you had a chance. I believed you would be much better than your father and his father, but you are a replica of the two. Your grandmother loved her husband and son so much and strived hard for their approval and got nothing out of it—a husband who never cared for her and a son who didn't remember her existence."

"I pitied the poor woman who lived alone and died alone in this," She pointed around. "Prison."

"No emotions, no happiness, no love and no laughter. This place might seem decadent, but you live in a dump, Draco Malfoy. Imagine the life of that woman who had to live in this place for the better part of her life since arriving here as a seventeen-year-old girl who never had her husband's love nor her son's love. "

"I watched that poor soul hold her breath from the morning till the night until the two stepped back in safely. I would see her exhale a sigh of relief every time your father and grandfather returned from their activities, grateful that they were not injured."

"I also watched that woman waste away her life in this, and one day, just like that, she passed away. It was three days later that the men in her life came to know about it. She slaved away all her life for two people who never knew that the woman was dead for three whole days." She shook her head as she looked away, the memory of her finding the woman dead in her chambers still firmly etched in her mind.

"I see the same scenario for me a few years from now. You don't care about me. Your father stopped giving any attention to me after you were born. Will mine be the same scenario?" She questioned rhetorically.

"Will my dead body be found after days or months, or maybe you will never know if I have passed away at all? I am not even surprised by the last possibility. If I stay here, that would be how I end up."

"If this is the greatness you speak so proudly of, I would instead be related to an Azkaban prisoner, a criminal on the run and the so-called whore of a sister."

She steeled herself as she spoke up again. "Goodbye, Draco. One day, you will find yourself neck-deep in trouble due to your decision to support that bastard. That day, when your father can't save you, you will remember everything I spoke of. You will regret this day and the missed chance for the rest of your miserable life."

She deflated slightly. "All these days, I held on to the hope that you would change. You will see reason and become a man your father was not and will never be. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part. Or perhaps it was a reactionary thought to the fact that I gave birth to a son who is nothing more than a man I never wished for him to be."

She turned away from the young man, still rooted to the spot, and walked a few feet before pausing. "Goodbye, Draco. Please convey my regards to the man you call your father. Tell him everything I told you just now. Tell him I would never forgive him for what he did to my life."

BREAK-

She walked out in anger, her head held high and a bit of haste, which she realised after she left the manor and stood at the entrance of Gringotts. She saved her private stash for this day, which she knew would eventually arrive. She always knew that one day, she would eventually leave that house and have to find someplace, but she did not think of a place to reside.

One place came to her mind, and right after, she retrieved some money from her vault. She doubted if she would get there, but trying wouldn't hurt.

She made her way to the apparition point, and with a light pop, she disappeared from Diagon Alley.

It had been years since she had visited this place—so many memories. She approached the building and stopped short when she saw the house between eleven and thirteen missing. She frowned. There were muggle-repelling wards as far as she remembered, but she never remembered the presence of a fidelius charm.

There was no necessity for a fidelius charm on the Black family manor. The protections already imbued since their ancestors were deadly. There was not a person who could claim that they had ever stepped into the Black family manor and ever felt comfortable enough to breathe heavily.

"Sirius!" She exclaimed as she put two and two together. If somebody were capable of making such changes to the place and somebody who wanted to change the place, it would have to be Sirius. He never did like that place, and if given the chance, he had expressed his desire to change the place completely.

The Lordship has passed on to Sirius. That was the only explanation she could garner. Andi would not care about this place. Bella, well, she was locked up. She had never spared a moment to think about this house. If this place had a Fidelius charm, Sirius must be inside. He was the only one among them capable of pulling off this feat, excluding Bellatrix, of course.

Would Sirius even let her into his house? She knew that Sirius could never betray James Potter and his wife. People would not know it, but she knew how close James and Sirius were. The man was a brother to Sirius, more so than Regulus ever could hope to be. There was no chance of him betraying the Potters.

The Potters aside, Sirius never agreed to the ways of the tradtionists. He was never in agreement with the Dark Lord's ideology. The Dark Lord's ways were everything that Sirius stood against, and he would sooner die than give up his identity. The identity that described Sirius Black, the white sheep of the Black family.

The crux of the matter was that she married Lucius Malfoy. Sirius loathes that man. He would not even get anywhere close to her if he could help. As much as she hates it, Lucius is exceptionally well-connected within the ministry, and the entire Wizarding World knows it. Until and unless she can convince him of their current relationship status, Sirius will not even try to listen to her.

How was she supposed to do that? She will not write a letter to him. That was out of the question. If anything, she had to convince him that she was serious. Narcissa decided to come to Grimmauld because she knew the place was empty, and she could reside somewhere she knew. Now that she knows Sirius is here, she wants to tell him about the Dark Lord. She didn't care if she could stay in the house, but she would talk to him. He should know that his Godson, whose parents died to save him, was in danger once again.

She returned to the spot she had apparated into and cast a muggle-repelling charm around her. A chair was conjured next, and she sat down, waiting for the man to see her. She would do this every day till the man came and met her or at least allowed her into his house. A part of her was disgusted that she would have to beg for something after years of a sheltered life and extravagant lifestyle, but another part was desperate to get into this place. This was where her life began and where she wanted to rebuild her life. She could manage to stay elsewhere, but she had a few personal reasons why she wanted to stay here and knowing that Sirius was staying in the place only fueled her desire. All it would take for Sirius to talk to him. She hoped that she was making the right choice.

BREAK-

Harry had noticed the woman the first day she had arrived in front of the house. She had followed up with making an appearance every day for the past week and would do nothing but sit down and watch the house. Neither he nor Sirius stepped outside the place, and Harry refrained from informing Sirius about her presence. He did not want the man to expose himself to a woman who was married to a right bastard.

From what little he had learned about politics, Draco Malfoy was a viable candidate for the ascension as the Lord of the Black family. His mother being Black and the absence of any others who possess the first claim, he would have gotten it. However, with Sirius being alive, there was no chance it would be handed over to a Malfoy of all people.

Lucius was the most to gain out of a suitable arrangement. Sirius was the only obstacle for the Lordship, and with him out of the way, Draco became a direct candidate for the Lordship and, in turn, left it at his father's hands. All the power, influence and wealth of the Black family, which he knew by now, was not something small to be given into the hands of a right bastard.

A bastard no less, but a man with the ear of the Minister in his hands. If Narcissa does see him, it is all over for Sirius. He concluded that she knew somebody was in this house. Why would anybody in their right mind sit down and watch a house of all things if they didn't suspect something? It was strange that a woman he and Sirius recognised was sent here. She was his cousin, and he knew her from the station stunt he had pulled.

When the same procedure continued the next day and the next, he was convinced that the woman was here for something else. He still didn't understand why Lucius Malfoy would appoint his wife, of all people, to watch somebody. He was sure that there was something else.

He decided to speak to the woman. His speaking would mean very little, and what more could they do if they saw him in an admittedly muggle neighbourhood if they ever ventured this far?

He stepped out of his room and arrived at Sirius's door. He checked in on the man, who seemed to be in a deep sleep. He nodded satisfactorily and closed the door behind him. He walked down the stairs and crossed the portrait of Walburga.

"If you scream, woman, that will be the last thing you would do." He warned as he faced the portrait of the former lady of the house and Sirius's mother. "You wouldn't dare," She muttered, glaring at Harry. "Nothing ever can take me out of this house. Not even you, Potter."

"Are you sure about that? There was nobody who lived after being hit with a killing curse head-on. Yet," He spread his arms, smiling at the portrait. "Here I am." He took satisfaction in the way her sneer vanished from her face.

"Don't test me, Mrs Black." He waved as he strolled out of the corridor towards the main door. The woman, when spoken to right, could behave.

He stepped out of the Black family house and slowly walked across the road, keeping his eyes and ears open for interference or presence. The woman noticed him coming and immediately stood up. She stood her ground as Harry reached her and frowned at the young man.

"Mr Potter?" She greeted the young man, still surprised by his appearance. The boy regarded her carefully before looking around once. "It has been a week now. I have seen you here every day for the last week; it is weird for some reason."

"What are you doing here, Mrs Malfoy?" The woman hesitated for a moment. "I…" She paused.

"I was waiting for Sirius to see me." Harry stiffened slightly, which many would have missed if not for Narcissa. She had not expected it, but Sirius and Potter lived there.

"Sirius…" Harry hesitated. "Sirius…?" The woman shot him a deadpan look. "The Fidelius Charm might hide the house, Mr Potter, but don't forget that I was born and raised there. I will not forget this neighbourhood so easily. You could not have entered this place if not for cousin Sirius."

"Judging by your expression, you would be correct in assuming the worst, but I urge you not to."

The young man could not help but snort. "Forgive me, but I am not making any assumptions right now, Mrs Malfoy. Trust me. Things would have been different if you had been a threat to me."

The woman raised an eyebrow curiously as the boy continued. "What is it you want?" He questioned, his tone devoid of any emotion.

"Can we talk about it…" She was interrupted by Harry, who held up his hand. "I am sorry, Mrs Malfoy. I can't say I know you well and vice versa, but do you take me for a fool?" He shook his head. "Whatever it is, the space is vast out here. Talk."

"I left my family." She announced softly, and Harry, sure he would not have been surprised by whatever she told him, was wrong. "I walked out of the Malfoy family. My marriage is over."

Harry didn't know how to respond to that information. "Good for you…?" He replied uncertainly, sure that some form of rebuttal would be thrown towards him. He was shocked once again when the woman agreed with him.

"You might think differently, but my life is not all flowers, Mr Potter." She muttered sadly. "This decision of mine to walk away has been not a plan of today, yesterday, or a week. I had wanted to step out of that marriage for a decade and a half now."

Okay. The surprise keeps on building. The woman was piling it up one on top of the other.

"I had endured it for one reason, and that is Draco. But not anymore. Not since he returned." She shuddered. "I had always kept it together for Draco and his future. But his decisions have left me with no choice but to step away. Instead, He decided to proceed with his delusions of grandeur rather than live in reality."

"The Dark Lord is back." She finished looking at Harry in the eye. "Okay." He shrugged simply. Whatever the response the woman was looking for, this was not it.

"Potter, that man destroyed your life. He is the reason you…" She trailed off as the young man nodded. "You seem too casual."

Harry chuckled. "Apart from telling me about your failed marriage, there is nothing you are telling me that I don't know." He explained.

"And about Voldemort, I knew that he was alive." He didn't miss the slight flinch at the name of the Dark Lord.

"He has never been dead to come back. He has always been alive. It is just that people have never stopped to think further. Who in their right mind would be convinced that a baby barely a year old could stop the most dangerous Dark Lord in recent times?" He shook his head.

"People just don't want to come out of their mindset that he was dead. They are not stopping to think about what took place. The fact that he disappeared was all that mattered. People had seen and felt enough trouble to last their lifetimes. They wanted that comfort of being free and not having to look back on every instance to ensure they had not managed to draw his ire."

The two remained silent for a while as Harry finished speaking. He nodded to himself as he contemplated something. "You know what?" He stepped back a few feet and turned around.

"Give me a few minutes."

He disappeared from view for some time before returning a few minutes later. He approached the woman and motioned for her to follow him. Narcissa complied and followed Harry towards the group of houses across the road.

When they stood before houses eleven and thirteen, Potter reached into his pocket and pulled out a small parchment, which he held out for her to read.

"THE BLACK FAMILY HOME IS AT NUMBER 12 GRIMMAULD PLACE"

Narcissa looked up from the parchment, and sure enough, the houses eleven and twelve suddenly began to move apart from each other, and number twelve came into sight.

"Come," Harry instructed as she walked up the familiar stairs behind him.

It was the same passage that she had stepped into. It had not changed since the last time she had been here. Everything that her eyes could make out was the same. The place had fallen apart, but it was still the same.

As soon as she walked further inside, she was assaulted by a familiar shrill voice that she had been accustomed to her childhood. "Aunt Walburga?" She gasped, realising the woman might still be alive. Harry shook his head. "A copy." He muttered. "A damn ear-blasting copy." He shook his head.

"Was she always like that?" He questioned as they arrived at the portrait. Narcissa understood what Harry meant by a copy. She was surprised to see a giant portrait of her Aunt shouting at her cousin Sirius.

Her eyes met those of Sirius, who frowned slightly. "Cousin Sirius." She nodded slightly and received one in return. "Hello, Narcissa." Sirius greeted.

"Narcissa, my dear…" Walburga's portrait addressed the young woman. Narcissa looked at the woman for the first time in almost a decade and a half. The reality of her current situation came crashing down on her. Everything went downhill after this woman made her decision. Her Uncle didn't have the nerve to stand up to her. Her father was too invested in the fact that he was not second in line after her Grandfather and that his brother was. Her mother was the only one who cared, and she had zero power to stop what was happening.

It was this woman who was dead set on this marriage. She was adamant that Lucius Malfoy would make a great partner for her.

"Are you happy?" Narcissa questioned as she stood opposite the portrait, facing the woman. "Have you seen what our current state is? Can you see what you have reduced us into?" She questioned.

"Is this what you wanted? One in Azkaban, one an escapee of Azkaban, one dead, one trapped in a loveless marriage, your entire fortune being of no use to any of us, the seat of power of the proud Blacks, broken, depreciated and dead. Is this your so-called vision you always tried to grill grandfather about?"

The woman in the portrait had frozen in surprise as Narcissa delivered a dressing down.

"Grandfather was adamant that you would be the downfall of the family. He was always right. He tried so hard and brought us so far, yet this is the state of the House of Blacks."

Harry and Sirius watched the interaction with a hint of amusement and interest. They were surprised when the air around the woman went rigid, her grey eyes taking on an unprecedented coldness that stilled the portly woman in the portrait.

"Shame on you, Walburga Black. Shame on you. Shame on you for all your mistakes that invariably destroyed five lives. Shame on you."

Harry and Sirius watched as the portrait of the woman caught flames. What was shocking was the screams that emanated from the portrait. The flames should have burned the portrait, nothing more. But the result of Narcissa's anger was affecting Walburga inside the portrait. The woman in the portrait covered her face as she shrieked painfully.

Harry raised his hand and pushed towards the portrait. A wave of magic surrounded Narcissa and Walburga's portrait, dowsing the flames and moving the angry woman far away from the portrait. The screams of the woman stopped as she regained her composure.

"Is this what you wanted, Mrs Black?" Harry questioned as he gestured for Sirius to take the woman away from that place. The older man complied and pulled his cousin inside the house by her hand.

"Is this how you envisioned your family's future? If so, then I have nothing much to say." He shrugged. "If not, you have nothing much to say. So, it would be better never to open your mouth unless asked to. Am I clear?" He didn't wait for the woman to answer and followed the two further into the manor.

Narcissa was seated opposite Sirius; her breathing laboured as she tried to calm herself. Sirius was watching the woman like a hawk. The tension in the room was palpable. Harry sat further away from the two, waiting to hear what they had to say.

Five minutes passed, and ten passed. Harry, who had been silent for all the while, stood up. "If you need some space…"

"What are you doing here?" Sirius questioned, taking advantage of Harry's distraction. "I just told her." She nodded back at the corridor. "My marriage is over. I walked away."

"Now?" Sirius cut in. "Now you walk away?" He chuckled humourlessly. "After fifteen years of comfort, you walk away now."

"Shut up!" Narcissa yelled as she stood up. "How dare you?" She stepped closer to Sirius as she said so. "How dare you pin this on me?"

"When it mattered the most, when we needed you the most, you walked away." She explained, her eyes taking on the same cold grey once again.

"The entire family was vulnerable. Grandfather was the only one holding things together, and he always hoped that you would take it forward. But you ran away." She scoffed.

"We waited. The decisions that were happening in the house were out of bounds. We could not speak. The thing is, the decisions that were taking place were regarding us girls, and yet we could not interrupt them. Bella was tied up with Lestrange, me with Lucius and Andromeda with Nott. What could we do? Nothing."

"Andromeda ran away, but we didn't. Why should we run?" She questioned. "Running from my people just because they failed to understand what we need is a low I would never willingly stoop to. What is the purpose of a family if that is the case?"

"I waited, knowing you would come back." Sirius frowned questioningly. "I knew that Grandfather would never leave the Lordship of the family into our elder's hands. Nobody could make the tough decisions, and they were all pushovers. Not you."

"Whenever our marriages were discussed, I hoped everything would be fine once you returned. You would never have agreed to those matches." She said. "Years went by, and the next thing we heard about you was that you had betrayed the Potters and were being booted to Azkaban."

"So tell me, Sirius," She sneered at the shocked man who was clutching the arms of his chair tightly. "You asked why I walked away. Why did you walk away?"

"Why did you walk away, leaving everything behind?" She seemed to be searching for an answer, but when it was clear that she would not get any, she chuckled.

"I had to get that off my chest. I had nobody to go to. I thought about coming here, thinking this place was empty, and when I guessed that you would be here, I could not resist. I have spoken with Potter, and apparently, he knew what I wanted to convey. My job here is done."

"That temper of yours was never your friend, Sirius." She muttered as she stopped by the door. "That temper led to so many things that could never be turned back. You should have looked back before you walked away." She turned back to face him.

"You had more people relying on you than you thought, Sirius. You had some of us depending upon you." She began walking back to the exit.

"Mrs Malfoy?" Harry spoke after a long bout of silence. The woman paused and faced the young man questioningly. "Where are you staying?" At her frown, he continued. "You said you wanted to come here thinking it was empty. Where were you staying this whole week?"

"The Leaky Cauldron." He looked between the two of them and sighed. "Why don't you stay here?"

Her eyes flitted towards Sirius, and she was about to decline, but he cut in. "Don't look towards him. He won't say anything. This place is your house, too, and you can stay here."

The woman nodded her thanks and left behind Harry and a stunned Sirius, who had yet to recover from the question the woman posed. Harry could not begin to understand what was going through his mind, but these past few months have been a reality check for the older wizard. Everything he had done up to this point was now under question. It was harsh, but at the same time, it was necessary.

If the points have been driven home, he should start watching himself and thinking about the people around him. He should know that his decisions would alter a few people's lives. He should know now never to take a wrong step.

He left the living room silently, ensuring not to disturb the man. He would need his space right now, and they would speak when he was ready to talk.

TBC—-