A/N - Had a message saying they'd thought the Wizengamot session was going to much sooner after I posted the last chapter. This will happen in the next chapter, I know quite a few of you have been looking forward to it. Please comment/review.

Chapter 34 - Secrets and Sorrows

"For fuck's sake!" Harry yelled as he landed hard on his backside on the hard Chamber floor, both frustrated by his recent blunder and his continued struggle with teleportation-based magical transportation.

"Harry, are you alright?" inquired Salazar Slytherin from his portrait on the wall.

Harry released a big huff, dusting himself off as he got to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry snarled, "I'm just a fucking idiot."

"I could've told you that," said Salazar with a chuckle before the portrait's face turned kind, "What happened?"

Harry vented to his mentor, recounting, not just in Herbology, but everything that had transpired since their last conversation.

"So, you made a mistake," Slytherin said comfortingly, "It's easily done and it is commendable how you want to protect her. How jumpy you were and how you talk about her does make me think she had a point."

"Well, what do you expect?" Harry snapped.

"Hey, don't start having a go at me," Salazar warned sternly, raising his bushy grey eyebrows.

"Sorry," Harry grumbled.

"It's normal you would be jumpy after what happened. Your life is often in danger, you've been through more trauma than most experience in their entire lives, and now Daphne has been brought into your world. Tell me, how well do you sleep?"

Harry snorted irritably, "No problems falling asleep, but I get nightmares a lot, most nights. Ever since the graveyard, but now she's in them too. On the astronomy tower, with him ."

"As I thought. I believe you fall asleep easily because during the day you are constantly on alert. This is a natural response to what you have experienced. Even when you feel safe, your mind assesses and evaluates any potential threats around you, even if you aren't doing it consciously. This constant vigilance tires you out and makes you more emotionally unstable, less able to concentrate and less productive. Don't think I haven't noticed. You need to do something about it."

"Like what?"

"Two things. Your main priority is to complete my occlumency ritual. The book is the third from the right on shelf fifteen, but you will need several ingredients for the ritual and accompanying potion, most of which are foreign so you will need to purchase them. You must do it in the evening as you will be magically exhausted and will likely sleep for a long time until you recover. The potion element takes three days to brew. In the meantime, I suggest getting some Dreamless Sleep potion for the Hospital Wing. It's highly addictive and toxic after repeated use so the matron may be reluctant to give it to you, but discuss your needs and the ritual with this Poppy, so that she knows you aren't planning for long-term use. She is your mentor as well as I, but don't discuss the ritual's nature. It contains elements of blood magic, and such rituals are frowned upon, but the mind-calming ritual is something that is undertaken by many undertake after trauma."

"Okay," Harry nodded, "I'll go get the book and write a letter to send off for the ingredients."

"Wait a moment," the portrait called, stopping Harry as he turned towards the bookcase, "First we need to discuss the Wizengamot session. You may wish to do more than just send off for ingredients after we discuss my plan. Take a seat."

Harry dragged the small wooden chair from behind the main study desk in front of the portrait and sat tentatively on the ancient thing, staring up at his mentor.

"Tomorrow it is almost guaranteed that the Head of the house of Rookwood will challenge you to a duel to the death. With the blood feud in place, you will have no choice but to accept the challenge, and he will undoubtedly have a plan that you must disrupt. You must not let him set all the terms. Often in my day when setting a duel, the challenger often tried to get away with the idea that he set all of the terms of what was to come. This is not the case. Once the challenge is accepted, one of you may set a date, while one of you may set the location. The challenger does, however, make the first choice. The location is the most important, as he will likely not select neutral ground. You must goad him into choosing the time, which must be at least one day after the challenge, giving you both time to prepare. Have a location planned in advance, somewhere that gives you an advantage. Do you have anywhere in mind?"

Harry chewed his thumbnail in thought. Where would be a good location? Somewhere where he had control, somewhere he knew well.

' Trouble is ,' he thought, ' Apart from Hogwarts, the Burrow, Greengrass Manor, or Diagon Alley, there's nowhere I know well enough where someone might not get hurt. I'd love to do it at Privet Drive, I know that neighbourhood like the back of my hand, but there's the Statute of Secrecy. No, it needs to be closed off, like the Wizengamot Chamber, but without the crowds. I'd even do it in there if I could guarantee people's safety, but there's no way the DMLE would let me get away with it...hang on a sec.'

"I have an idea, I was offered the use of the Auror training arena in the past, for my training, but I don't see why they wouldn't let me use it for a duel. They would be able to control what happened, the refereeing would have to be fair, and with a viewing gallery, Rookwood casting particularly dark spells in there would affect his standing even if he did win. He won't, but obviously he'll be planning to."

"An excellent idea."

"The Minister also asked me for her support in the upcoming election just this morning."

"Perfect, I would request the use of this today, advising her you expect such a challenge. Are you on good terms with her?"

"She and Sirius are together."

"Excellent, you have friends in high places. I assume he is your Second? He is a Hitwizard, is he not?"

Harry blinked. He'd forgotten about the need for a second.

"He is. But why do I need one? I'm not exactly planning to die and I'm the last of my line."

"For honour!" Salazar snapped, slamming his painted hand onto the desk he was seated behind in the frame, the glass of red wine atop it audibly sloshing in its goblet, "For revenge! Satisfaction! Not just for yourself beyond the grave, but for the one you trust above all others to avenge you. This is if you die of course or are permanently incapacitated."

"I see," Harry nodded, "I'm sure Daphne would want revenge above all others, but Sirius is the best I've ever duelled and if I was killed I know he would win."

"There you are then," Slytherin said with a smile of grim satisfaction and leaning back in his high-backed chair, "Now about this 'Void magic'. I saw something similar to what you describe in my thirties. Before Godric and I joined the others in the school's founding, we were often hired by cursebreakers. I, because of my knowledge of ancient magics, and Godric because of his knowledge of wards and cursebreaking. We happened upon a set of hieroglyphs in an Egyptian tomb with the power to absorb magic. After it claimed its first victim, an assistant of ours named Nironimus, we spent many weeks studying it. It would kill its victim or at the very least make them unable to defend against the other defences we were sure we could sense within. It's possible that the magic of other tombs with these hieroglyphs may have been emulated or extrapolated directly."

"That would make some sense, its creator worked in the Department of Mysteries."

"It of course doesn't mean it's the same magic, the destroyal of one's magic is a concept as old as magic itself, but the defences I speak of couldn't be broken and required us to destroy the ward completely. Unfortunately, this meant a catastrophic failure that closed down the access to the entire tomb for months."

"How did it work?"

"The magic only worked after connection to the victim's magic, the one breaking in had to cast first, which for Nironimus was caused by a simple Lumos. Wand magic usually has to be more direct. I imagine that for them to use it on you, you would need to cast a spell at them directly and they would be able to latch on to your magic and drain it as if through a pipe. With your wand attached to theirs, you would have no way of casting a spell and as your life force is attached to your magic, you would likely become incapacitated after a short time."

"I see. But I have two wands."

"You do," Salazar said with a devious smirk, "As long as Rookwood doesn't have two as well, which he likely doesn't, you would be free to use the other wand. But I don't know how quickly the spell will drain your magic, you will need to act swiftly."

"What if I lose a wand?" Harry mused, frowning.

"Hmm. I don't know. My advice: Don't."

Daphne sighed as she sat down in the Great Hall for lunch, seeing that Harry hadn't elected to join them. She understood, of course, she knew he must be feeling embarrassed, but this had blown way out of proportion, way too fast.

Why wouldn't he understand that she could take care of herself? She didn't need him to act as her personal bodyguard. They were meant to be equals, that was what he'd promised her, but this didn't feel like that at all. It felt like now he'd got her under his thumb, that he needed to hold onto her so tightly that it felt suffocating.

Maybe she was overreacting, she thought. She'd only been out of hospital since Saturday morning and it was only Monday afternoon. Every time, from the moment that any visitors had left her room in St Mungo's she'd just kept flashing back to that night, to seeing Rookwood towering over her and the white-hot pain of the Cruciatus slowly driving her mad with agony. Powerless. She'd felt utterly powerless. Didn't Harry know how that felt? Now that she was back at school, she knew she hadn't sorted through her feelings about what had happened. All she knew was that she could never feel like that again.

It wasn't like she had any doubts about their relationship or how she felt about him, but now she worried things would be different, that he saw her differently. Even after what Hermione had said, he'd turned around and proved to her that he'd thought she'd be so careless as to put her bare hand into the mouth of a Venomous Tentacula of all things. Her! The daughter of the head of the biggest Apothecary company in the country!

But then, she had taken off her glove to show Hermione her ring, hadn't she? And Susan did walk past as she put her glove back on and went to scoop out the nectar. It had been a mistake and in the heat of the moment she'd snapped at him, insulted him. She never wanted him to look at her like that again, but she needed him to not make her feel like a pretty vase on a pedestal. They would need to talk.

She ate her dinner in silence, and though she tried, she wasn't really receptive to any of Tracey's attempts to cheer her up. Now she was glad that the Slytherins weren't in the class, how ironic. Spotting Astoria getting up with the others in her year and looking decidedly rushed, she shouted for her to come over.

"Yes, darling sister?" Astoria said with a roll of her eyes, "How may I help you on this fine day."

"Are you alright?" Daphne asked, "Feeling okay? You look flustered. Have you got everything you need for class? Do you need me to walk with you?"

"I'm fine, Daph," Astoria said patronisingly, "I'm cured, remember? And I've got everything, so no, I don't need you to walk me. You don't need to treat me like I'm made of glass and will shatter any moment."

Daphne swallowed and felt tears sting her eyes.

"Daph, you okay?" Astoria asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Daphne nodded but felt many pairs of eyes on her and swept from the Great Hall. The rest of her dinner lay uneaten.

"Daph!, Daph! Stop there!" Tracey called as she chased after her friend into the Slytherin common room. Daphne flicked her head towards her but didn't stop walking and trotted down the stairs and towards the tapestry covering her new quarters. She unlocked the door quickly, wanting to be alone, but Tracey caught the door as it began to swing shut and marched in behind her.

Tracey didn't comment on her friend's new room and simply sat next to her on the edge of the bed, stroking Daphne's back, who had her head in her hands.

"What's happened?" Tracey asked softly.

She looked up and stared at Tracey, tears trickling down her cheek and then started to explain.

"I knew something was off at lunch," Tracey said once Daphne was done, "I get how you feel, Daph, I really do. You've always been obsessed with looking as strong as you could, ever since Flint, and you know I've supported you. It's good that you've realised that Harry must feel a little bit like you've felt before."

"I know. I've just not had a chance to think about how he's felt about everything."

"How do you think he felt? There was a time when he thought he was watching you die. You know what that's like with Astoria. He slept in your hospital wing for nearly a week, Daph, terrified you wouldn't wake up, just like I was. You know he's gonna blame himself for what happened as well, just like I did."

"I know," Daphne said, her lip trembling again, Tracey's words of consolation not working at all but instead serving to make her feel worse.

"I know it's not nice to hear, but it's tough love," Tracey said with a weak smile, placing her hand on Daphne's knee, "That's not to say you haven't got a right to be mad, but him being overly protective isn't the problem. It's more that because he's been worried about your safety to the point he's not thinking about how you feel about it all and trying to control your actions. You need to remember, he's an orphan and it's obvious just by the muggle clothes he wore in our first four years just how much the muggles he lived with didn't care about him. That's why he loves you so much, he doesn't love you just because of who you are, but what you represent and now you're going to be the family he's never had. It's pretty intense, to be honest, I couldn't handle it."

"I can handle it," Daphne said, wiping a tear away, "Gods, I've really fucked this up, haven't I? I just want us to be equals."

"Of course you haven't," Tracey replied with a kind smile, "It was your Dad who wanted you to switch classes. Harry didn't even think of it, but he would never pass up an opportunity to be with you, you know that, and he probably just thinks he's doing right by you and your Dad in making sure nothing like what happened happens again. You are equals, you just need to talk with him about boundaries. Just as my mum says, "Communication is key." He'll get it. When you talk to him, you need to make sure you discuss how you feel after what's happened, and how it's affecting you. This is both your first proper and hopefully final real relationship, you're going to need to make sure you talk all the more because it's harder to understand how you both feel about things. Both of you need just get your head outta your arses already."

"Thanks, Trace," Daphne said, then rolling her eyes in exasperation, "Ugh, I did insult him though. How am I gonna make it up to him?"

"I've got a few ideas," Tracey replied, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows.

"Not like that, you harlot," Daphne said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm just kidding…though I'm not. Seriously though, just talk to him."

"I will."

"Come on, go to History. It's a shame that Binns would catch you chatting with him if you tried in class, it's not like we ever got any work done when we had the class together anyway."

After skipping the rest of Herbology and lunch because he was still too mortified with himself to face his peers, Harry spent the time before his next class penning three items of mail: A letter to Cyrus requesting ingredients for the ritual potion, one to Amelia, advising that he would be happy to support her and asking for the use of the Auror Arena for the duel, and a short column for the Daily Prophet to really hammer down that support. When he was finished, he had just under an hour before his next class, during which he spent practising his mid-flight casting, though that was quite difficult to do, with the Chamber of Secrets having a ceiling, as high as it was.

Stomach rumbling, he asked Dobby to get him a sandwich upon exiting the Chamber and he ate it while he strolled to his next class, steadily, not wanting to be the first one there and have to endure any jibes or teasing.

He entered History of Magic as quietly as he could and gritted his teeth at a few of the sniggers that went his way. Of the five rows of individual tables and chairs set within the dim, dusty classroom, he managed to snag a seat at the back left, directly behind Daphne. She turned her head and gave a sad sort of smile, but then the ethereal, floating, droning form of Professor Binns began his lecture.

Once the class had suitably started to doze off under the weight of Binns' sedentary, monotone drawl, Harry saw Daphne's hand reach out behind her. It was holding his Memorandus tablet, so leaned forward to take it quietly and sitting back, found there was already a message written for him.

—- As always, Harry in bold, Daphne in italics. - —

I'm sorry.

Harry picked up his quill and replied.

I'm sorry too.

I just don't want you to look at me like I'm not your equal.

I never saw you like that. You've always been my equal, we're in this together.

It didn't feel that way, but I get why you get worried. I used to worry about Astoria. Still do.

I'm not doing great with everything, to be honest. Salazar thinks I'm having a problem because I can't switch off from always looking for threats, even when I'm not consciously looking.

Makes sense. You get pretty tense sometimes, your shoulders go up and I can see your knuckles go white. You were the same in Diagon that day and you put your hand on your wand way more often than you think. It's like a safety thing.

I didn't know that. Salazar thinks there's a risk to my productivity and it would also affect my emotions. I just felt so embarrassed in Herbology with everyone just staring at me after I'd been mistaken and then after what you said, it made that worse and I was too mad at me and you and just... embarrassed.

I get it. Professor Sprout told me to tell you you have detention on Friday, though. I'm sorry for calling you a moron. I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated. I'm shit at saying things I don't mean when my back is up.

It's okay, I get it.

It's not, I hated the way you looked at me when I said it. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry too.

I need to talk to you about boundaries though, and how you're acting. We need to talk about feelings more than ever because it's our first real relationship.

Okay…

Look. It's not nice to be so blunt, but you can't dictate that you have to accompany me wherever I go or even when just because you're worried about keeping me safe. You're worried about my safety, sure, but please think how I'm feeling about what happened. It's not just that everyone knows that Rookwood nearly killed me, but that I do as well, I lived it. I was helpless, Harry, I couldn't do anything. I thought I was going to die. You know what I'm like about control and when that was happening I've never felt more out of control. Everything has been happening so fast it's like a whirlwind but if you try to dictate what I can and can't do alone or who I can do it with it's like you don't trust me. Rookwood ambushed me, I didn't get a chance to fight, but now knowing that could happen at any moment makes me feel almost even more out of control because it highlights how I can't control what's happening around me. You need to give me the opportunity to keep myself safe and to control my own actions. You should do that anyway, as my fiance, but even more so because I feel like I don't have control of things myself right now, I need a chance to take it back.

Harry stared at the tablet, mortified and red-faced. She was right. He hadn't even thought about how she'd felt after everything. Pretty fucking ironic considering the life change he'd made after the Graveyard. He cared for her more than anyone else he knew, but what was the first thing about care he'd read about in his medical textbooks? Holistic care, physical, mental and emotional well-being. You care for the whole person, but he hadn't. He'd been self-centred, worried about keeping her safe; preserving her physical health, but neglecting to think about how she was mentally or emotionally as a result of the incident itself. Two days, two days she'd been back, and he was already fucking it up. He wrote the letter ' I' on the tablet, but he had no clue where to start, thankfully, more words continued to form on the slate.

I know it will be hard for you, but we have all our classes together, but in between you don't need to walk me everywhere. We're together so often anyway now and it was nice to have Hermione to talk to in class, we get on really well, but I need things like girl time with Tracey and sometimes I just need to be alone, even if it's just the library to study.

I'm so sorry. I've just been so worried and so absorbed in how worried I've been and I've really struggled to get out of it. I only just found out you were well enough to come out of hospital three days ago. It's been hard readjusting.

I do trust you. It was amazing when you woke up and came back to me and it's like I have to make sure there's no way anything like that could happen again. I promise you can go wherever you want, do whatever you want and I'm not going to force you to allow me to go with you. I know you can keep yourself safe. You're the brightest witch I know, you're as smart as Hermione, but you're not just book smarts like she is - don't tell her I said that though. I'm just like you said - I'm a moron. I just get this horrible feeling in my chest when I don't know where you are, but I'll work on it.

Do you need to know where I am, though, or do you just need to know that I'm safe?

Fair point, but how do I do that if I'm not where you -

What if I ask Dobby to be available to you when you call for him, and if you call for him saying "Dobby, please," he just brings you to where I am? He always knows where I am because of our connection. That way I won't need to worry as much.

That's perfect. See, we just needed to talk. I knew we could communicate.

Are we okay?

Course we can! We're always okay, sweetheart. I love you.

I love you too, fiancé.

Eee don't make me blush in the middle of class, it doesn't look good on a guy.

I think it's cute - I -

But both of them were distracted by the scraping of chairs and people around them getting to their feet. The class was over, both of them having learned nothing at all about the History of Magic that is. They got to their feet and as Daphne turned to Harry, she felt it again, those butterflies in her chest, now feeling even more pronounced after feeling as she had all day. She grabbed her things and they left the classroom together, hand in hand. Hermione smiled at them as she rushed past to get to the library and Neville smiled and waved as he walked past when Daphne stopped them halfway down the corridor. They waited while even Professor Binns floated past and she looked around. The coast was clear. Harry hadn't really thought about the reasons why she'd stopped them where she had, but understood a moment later she pulled him into the broom closet to her left and silenced the doors.

What Daphne had intended was purely a quick snog in the closet, just to feel close to him after what had happened, but one thing soon led to another. Once her lips had been upon his being cramped together in the darkness in such a small space, she'd quickly changed her mind and her hands had gone for the front of his robes. Less than a minute later, her skirt was lost in the darkness somewhere. Harry had picked her up by her waist, she'd wrapped her legs around him, and after pinning her against the wall, she'd guided him inside her. He'd dragged her up and down his length, the sex was fast, frenetic and over far quicker than they would've liked, but they grinned at each other when they came back into the light of the corridor. There was no reason they couldn't do that again.

"We could've just gone back to the room, you know," Harry chuckled as they stepped onto the Grand Staircase.

"That was more though, wasn't it? Besides, I wasn't expecting it to go that far. I'm gonna go and find Tracey to look over some wedding stuff, what are you gonna do?"

Harry looked at her, the tight feeling of worry rising in him like an angry viper. He swallowed. This was exactly what they'd just talked about.

"I'm gonna speak to Dobby and then I need to pop to the owlery and to Madam Pomfrey for some potions."

"Everything alright?" Daphne asked with a frown.

"Yeah, I just need to get better sleep at the moment, having too many nightmares."

"You do jerk in your sleep sometimes. See you at the feast?" she offered with a smile.

"See you at the feast," Harry echoed. He let her walk out of his sight before calling for Dobby. After the little elf had agreed to come whenever she called, Harry had to admit he felt a lot better.

He made the trip to the owlery first before the sun started to set and it started to get too cold before heading to the hospital wing. Just as Salazar had predicted, Madam Pomfrey was dubious about his request for the Dreamless Sleep potions, to begin with, but gave him a repeat prescription when he told her he'd be doing a ritual to help with his Occlumency and manage his emotions better.

Harry didn't sit with Daphne and the other Slytherins at the feast and did what he had done that morning and sat with the Gryffindors to try to hammer the point home that he did trust her and wanted her to be independent. After having just a sandwich for lunch, he was starving and unknowingly competed with Ron with how briskly he ate. At the end of the feast, he knew he'd made the right decision in sitting where he had when caught her smiling at him from across the hall. He was pleased, but even though he knew he was probably being paranoid, he still had a nagging feeling at the back of his mind. What if Dobby couldn't get to her, for whatever reason? Dobby couldn't get into the Greengrass wards, for example. He needed a solution, something that would work, even something so she could get a message to him if needed. He remembered what had happened yesterday when Madam Pomfrey had sent an urgent message via Patronus. He didn't know whether or not Daphne could cast one, but he could teach her.

The problem was, he didn't know how to send a message with one himself, but who could he ask? Dumbledore wasn't at the feast to ask him, but he supposed he could ask Flitwick or McGonagall, it was the Patronus ' Charm' after all. He supposed he could look it up in the library, but he had a better, more amusing idea. It was a defence spell, so why not Professor Malfoy? They'd never spoken alone and it would be interesting to get more of a gauge on what she was like. He'd watched her get up quite early into the feast and leave the hall and so hoped she'd be in her office.

After a healthy dose of treacle tart, Tracey and Daphne turned up at the Gryffindor table and Blaise soon joined them. He and Hermione had planned to spend the evening in the library, so the other four offered to join them, not wanting to encroach on their private time together by just assuming they should. With all in agreement, they'd just set off on their journey when Harry spotted Draco hurrying past with Astoria, which reminded him of his earlier plan.

"I've gotta go see a Professor about something guys, I'll meet you there in a little while," he said, and began his detour to the Defence Against The Dark Arts Classroom, leaving the others puzzled.

After he'd knocked patiently on the classroom door, Harry heard Narcissa's lilting aristocratic voice say, "Come in."

"Professor Malfoy, I just wondered if I could have a few moments of your time," Harry said, poking his head around the door to see her sitting at her desk and writing something with a very long and elegant-looking quill.

"Lord Slytherin-Potter'" Narcissa said in surprise, getting to her feet and curtsying quickly before sitting back down, "Come in. I'm surprised you've sought me out outside of class, what with the storied enmity between yourself and Draco, not to mention your little kerfuffle with my husband at the Ministry. You know whom he serves."

"I do," Harry admitted, though it was obvious, making his way to her desk, "Draco and I are now on more neutral terms. We haven't got on well in the past, but he's shown me he can think for himself and he is in love with my fiancee's sister. He's not his father. I appreciate you will have loyalty to Lucius, but I come to you as your student, not his enemy."

"I've always got time for my students," Narcissa replied with a courteous smile and nod, "And I too am neutral, at least at Hogwarts. How can I help?"

"How do you send a message by Patronus?"

"Hmm, well," Narcissa started, steepling her fingers together, "I understand how, but I've never done it. I'm afraid the Patronus Charm evades me, in its corporeal form, at least. That's not because I'm, shall you say dark, if you subscribe to that sort of ideology, but unlike others in my family, I don't dabble in the use of what you might call dark enough magics that could affect my ability to cast it in its full form. I simply find myself unable to think of a sufficiently happy memory that would suffice."

"I see," Harry said simply. It was an odd thought, and it was obvious that Narcissa loved her son, surely she could use the love she'd felt when he was born to cast the spell. Was she not happy then? He wasn't going to ask more about it though, simply her admitting the reasons for being unable to cast the charm showed a level of honesty which surprised him and showed that she would act as the neutral, professional, Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher that she was, for now at least. Unless she was lying, but where was the need for her to lie about it?

"However, I do know, that to get the Patronus to send a message is simple," she continued, "Just ask it to send to whom you wish to receive it, give the message and it will go to the person your magic feels is the correct person."

"Wow," Harry replied with a smile, "That really is simple, thank you."

"Happy to help," Narcissa replied, glancing down at the pile of marking she still had to do, "Is there anything else?"

"No, you've been a great help. I'll see you on Friday, Professor, I'm at the Ministry tomorrow."

"The best of luck to you," she replied.

Harry turned to leave the room, thinking about what had been said. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her, not having a memory of love that would suffice, but that wasn't what she said, was it? He opened the door to leave but paused under the threshold and turned to speak.

"For what it's worth Professor, I'm sorry you can't cast a corporeal Patronus, and I appreciate you were just very honest with me. If it helps, mine isn't strong when I'm focusing on reliving and filling myself up with just a happy memory. I tried that over and over again with no luck. The first memory that worked was from when I saw a moving, true likeness of my mum and dad in a very magical mirror and felt my love for them and theirs for me, and I've garnered better memories since. I think there's a misunderstanding in the education. I think the corporeal Patronus is only cast when it's a memory about love, not just happiness, the opposite of the feeling the dementors give you. I bet Draco would have no problems at all. He hasn't told any of us explicitly, but it's easy to tell how much he loves Astoria."

Narcissa looked up and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I see. Thank you, Lord Slytherin-Potter."

Harry nodded and left. Narcissa stared at the door for a moment, thinking. Then, she stood up from the desk and stepped into the centre of the classroom. She closed her eyes and tried the first thing that sprang to mind.

She'd been at home in the parlour, Lucius had been off Merlin knows where and she'd just settled down to read a book after settling Draco to take his afternoon nap. The tottering of footsteps approaching from down the corridor had broken her concentration and it had both exasperated and amused her when her three-year-old son burst into the room, all bounces and smiles.

"Draco," she'd said, gently admonishing him, "It's meant to be nap time."

"I knows," her blond bundle of joy had replied as he'd stumbled up to her as toddlers do and climbed onto her lap, knocking the wind out of her slightly, "I wanted to tell you somethings."

"What would you like to tell me, Draco?" she'd asked, stroking the blonde hair that was exactly like his father's.

.

"You know in da storybook when da niffler picks his favourite shiny jewels?" he'd said, blushing as he played with the neckline of her blouse, "You're my favourite shiny jewels, mummy."

Her heart had soared.

Professor Malfoy, in the dim light of her classroom, took a deep breath and drew her wand, pointing at the space in front of her.

"Expecto Patronum."

A gleaming silver baby dragon burst forth from her wand, soaring around the room before sitting on her shoulder and filling the room with the very same feeling she'd had that day all those years ago. She was so shocked that she dropped her wand and the Patronus disappeared as quickly as it had come.

As she picked her wand up from the floor, she thought about Lucius, thought about her best day with him - their wedding day, a day on which she'd been so full of hope for what was to come. She'd been infatuated with him and had believed she could love him, foolishly ignoring the whispers she'd heard regarding how he'd sometimes behave when they were apart. Still, he'd looked so handsome in his robes and had treated her with honour and kindness, but before she even raised her wand to cast she knew what the result would be. She'd tried that memory before, had filled herself up with all of the positive emotion that day had it could bring with no luck. Her throat was not sore, but the swallow she made felt almost painful as she tried to come to terms with something she'd always known but never dared to admit to herself: Even though she'd had the best of intentions, and even though she'd tried, she'd never fallen in love with Lucius or with any other man at all.

Aside from the clearly biased reports from Draco over the years, she'd never heard anything about Harry Slytherin-Potter that would cause any discord between them, or make him her enemy as he had been with Draco and certainly was with the Dark Lord and her husband. Now though, his words swelled in her mind, words that she knew she shouldn't hate him for, but right now, she did.

"I bet Draco would have no problems at all. He hasn't told any of us explicitly, but it's easy to tell how much he loves Astoria."

She dropped to her knees, her wand clattered to the floor once again. Her head in her hands, Narcissa Malfoy sobbed.