No sooner had Narcissa's skin made contact with the brass knocker of her parents' front door, before it swung open and in the doorway stood her family's latest House Elf. He did not look happy to have been summoned, but greeted Narcissa with curt politeness.

"Mistress Cissy."

Narcissa stared haughtily down at him. "Mag, inform the Lady of the House of my arrival with Master Draco and his... friend. Tell her that I must urgently speak with her."

"Yes, Mistress," the funny little creature bobbed his head before scurrying off down the enormous corridor.

Harry took a second to get his bearings. The inside of the mansion was huge, and extremely dark - there were large windows but the storm outside was obscuring the last of the afternoon sun, and there were very few candles dotted around to illuminate the rest of the place. It was scrupulously clean though, that much Harry could see. The staff were evidently worked hard here.

Draco still had Casper up his jumper, who had thankfully succumbed to the tide of sleep after all the excitement and upset, and was breathing lightly against his father's chest. Harry could see that Draco was trying not to tremble too hard and wake the baby up, but it was clearly an effort.

He fought back the urge to leap at him and hug him tight, knowing just how badly that would go down with Narcissa. She's probably had people killed for less, he thought to himself with a flash of nausea.

Footsteps came sharply echoing down the hall, louder and louder until Druella Black appeared from round the corner, her husband Cygnus in her wake.

Neither of them were particularly tall people, and both were certainly old, yet their posture and their attire made them appear as if they were young and formidable, and for a moment Harry was stuck to decide who was more intimidating.

Druella was dressed all in black, right up to a beaded black hairpiece, which overall gave the impression of mourning clothes, whereas Draco's grandfather wore an odd suit of a copper sheen, and carried a cane in his left hand. Both, however, wore the same trademark curled-lipped sneer which Harry had seen from Draco so many times when the boys were younger. It was not an attractive expression on his grandparents.

"Narcissa, darling, what a pleasant surprise," drawled Druella, though something in her tone revealed how far from the truth this really was. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

Narcissa's breath caught slightly in her throat. "Just a passing visit," she said stiffly. "We got somewhat caught in the rain."

"Come to the drawing room, Mag will collect more wood for the fire," Cygnus suggested coolly, but it was clear his wife wasn't satisfied enough with Narcissa's answers to leave it at that.

"You appeared in such a hurry, dear!" Druella pressed on with a forced smile. "And you've brought Draco too... and a friend?"

"Harry Parkinson, Grandmother," Draco interjected quickly as she leaned in to scrutinise the other boy. "And his.... his baby cousin who's been staying with us."

He cursed himself for not having chosen a different first name for Harry, but hopefully Druella wouldn't notice his scar at least, since he'd brushed his hair forwards.

It sounded so unrealistic, Draco was literally embarrassed by what he'd said. But luckily his grandparents appeared to buy it.

And "Parkinson" had been a good choice rather than "Zabini" in the end: the Parkinsons were one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight wizarding families, which should relieve some of the pressure off Harry in his new role.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Black," Harry stammered, and she nodded, appeased.

"Likewise, Mr. Parkinson," she responded with a tone marginally less frosty than before. "I believe your mother Oria was a good friend of Bellatrix's at Hogwarts, before she married Vilis. Good wizarding family, the Parkinsons. Fine Slytherins. Excellent bloodline."

"I knew Vilis Parkinson many years ago myself, through Ministry contacts," Cygnus chipped in. "We lost touch after he moved away. Always thought he and Oria had a daughter, though, for some reason."

"She- she died," Harry said, after an awkward pause. The words rang out louder than he'd expected around the Hall, and he cringed internally. Maybe this would ward off awkward family questions, though.

The Blacks showed little sympathy (not that Harry had expected any), and soon they were all sat in the front drawing room in front of a toasty fire, which did surprisingly little to warm or illuminate the room. Black House by name, black house by nature, Harry thought.

"Tell me, Parkinson," Druella said, as Mag stoked the fire up with fresh pine logs, and Harry rummaged through his bag for Casper's bottle. "How are your parents?"

Harry tried not to look at Draco for reassurance as he responded. "They're well, thank you," he said. "I'll... tell them you asked after them."

"Do," nodded Druella curtly. "And whose infant is that, precisely? I believe you said there was a sick aunt?"

"His name's Casper," interrupted Draco, seeing how uncomfortable his grandmother was making Harry. "He's Oria's sister's son. She's not seriously ill, but Harry likes to look after him now and again anyway; it keeps him provided for by the family."

"Casper," repeated Druella.

His name sounded foreign and awful in her mouth, and both boys internally cringed. Narcissa, meanwhile, looked as though she was chewing glass throughout the entire exchange. Harry half expected her to blow him up at any second, but supposed she had enough love for Draco not to do that. Not yet, at least.

A few awkward hours later, the family had dined, and Harry, Draco, and Narcissa were shown to their three rooms for the night by Mag. Harry's was right down the corridor from Draco's, on the top floor of the mansion and he smiled wryly as he got ready for bed that evening.

It looked to Harry like the two of them would be sneaking around again later on like they did when they were younger; he certainly didn't want to sleep without Draco in this spooky house.

"Come here, poppet," he said gently as he swapped Casper's clothes from the day for a soft sleepsuit and a fresh clean nappy. "Let's go and see Daddy."

He was met on the dark corridor, however, by an extremely unwelcome shape - that of an infuriated Narcissa Malfoy, wand already out and pointed at Harry's throat.

"Leave my son alone, you sick freak," she hissed with poisonous malice. "I know you're trying to pollute him. I think it's revolting, what your kind get up to. Absolutely revolting."

"Pollute him?" Harry laughed nastily. "We have a baby together. I think any pollution occurred long ago. And personally, Narcissa, I happen to think it's more revolting to let your husband torture your son for years and nearly kill him, but I was going to keep that to myself."

"You take one step closer to his door with that brat, you depraved faggot, and see what happens."

"What will happen, Mother?" Draco asked, his voice dripping with ice. Narcissa jumped.

"What?" he asked, mock innocently. "You going to murder my boyfriend because I let him do me up the arse? Does that make you feel sick, Mother? Make you want to hex him? I wonder how Grandmother would feel if you murdered the Parkinson heir in her favourite guest suite."

"He is not the Parkinson heir, Draco, he's Harry fucking Potter," Narcissa snapped. "And don't think I won't hurt him all the same. I'm just trying to protect you."

At that, Draco laughed a short, cold laugh. He drew his own wand, and walked slowly towards his mother. His hand was as steady as Harry had ever seen it.

"Pick your fucking battles, you crazy bitch," he snarled as he walked. "You couldn't protect me from Father when I was screaming in agony for you, yet you want to protect me from the only love I've ever had."

Harry's heart went out in awe of his boyfriend. He'd never seen Draco stand up to his parents before, and he was demonstrating amazing confidence.

To both of their surprise, Narcissa suddenly broke down in tears. "I couldn't stop him," she wept. "Don't you see that, Draco? Or he'd do it to me."

"He used Unforgivable Curses on me as a child!" Draco yelled, so close to her face now she could feel small flecks of his spit as he spoke. "A fucking child, Mother! Now get the hell out of my way before I use one on you. God, you disgust me."

"Draco, please," she sobbed. "Please believe me. I tried so hard..."

"I won't. I won't believe you."

"Please. Please. Draco. Don't go to him. Listen to me-"

"He said no, Narcissa," Harry said quietly. "I think you've done enough damage to him now."

"You were going to make me get the fucking Dark Mark tonight," Draco shook his head in disbelief. "I'm sixteen years old and you were going to make me sign my life away like that. And you expect me to trust you."

Narcissa choked on her tears. "Draco, I stopped you from getting the Mark tonight. I have risked my own life in evacuating you. The Dark Lord will not look upon me favourably for what I did to save you tonight. And neither will your father."

"So we won't be safe here for long?" Draco checked. "Surely they'll know we came here?"

Narcissa bit her lip, obviously deciding whether to lie. "They'll know," she said eventually. "But there are powerful protection Charms on this house so we're safe for now."

"For now?" Draco repeated. He didn't like the sound of that. "Harry and I are taking Casper away tomorrow, in that case. You're not to come with us."

Fresh tears spilled down Narcissa's face in the gloom. "I can look after you," she tried, but Draco pushed past her.

"You've proved that you can do the exact opposite of that, sadly," he informed her. "I appreciate what you did tonight, but it doesn't excuse what happened before. I won't forget it. And we are definitely going tomorrow."

He took hold of Harry's hand and pulled him and Casper down the corridor behind him, leaving Narcissa sobbing breathlessly behind them. It was a small victory at least, Draco supposed.

________________________________

a/n: thank you so much for reading so far! i'm sorry it's getting so angsty but i just feel it's important stuff that has to be addressed, important character development and all that

so where are harry and draco going tomorrow? what will happen to narcissa?

sorry if this was a confusing one but bear with me, it has a clear path in my mind!!

lots of love.

~ paradisedraco