He was tense as he eyed her sleeping son, denying looking into her eyes despite her searching gaze.

She absently wondered what he was afraid of.

Harry looked up at him with badly concealed pain and Severus’ lips pursed. He gathered his child near him and simply held him, rocking slightly on the boy’s bed. Narcissa bit her lip as she watched him, clasping her own child’s thin, pale hand with both of her own.

“Mum…”

She quickly looked down at her son, smiling tenderly at him and brushing an errant strand from his eyes. His grey eyes narrowed at her a bit, but he still seemed weary. She picked up her cloth and wiped at his face in the places the blood had been. It was pink now from scrubbing but still she cleaned it gently again.

Both of them knew why. To them, the blood never went away.

“Yes, love?”

He looked around him but he didn’t have the strength to lift his body up from the conjured cot he lay on. “Where’s Granger?”

Narcissa picked up her son’s other hand and slowly moved it, gently dropping it gently on Granger’s head where it lay on the edge of his bed. Draco’s hand twitched and Narcissa placed it on his chest. He looked over at his mother.

“What does she want?” He snarled, twisting her face away from her sleeping form.

“Draco, in her eyes, she nearly saw you die. That does something to a person.” He was quiet for a long time, staring into his mother’s eyes before giving up and staring at the ceiling.

“You saw something, didn’t you?”

Narcissa tensed and Severus eyes snapped up immediately. “Saw what exactly, Narcissa?”

She swallowed and then licked her lips. She stood regally, the scratching chair ruining the effect. Hermione’s eyes snapped open and she sat straight up in her chair. Her eyes flittered all around the room before landing on Narcissa’s standing figure. She offered the girl a small smile before looking back at Severus.

“Professor, I believe we have things to discuss.”

***

“They locked us in!” Granger exclaimed, very much affronted. She let go of the doorknob (“You didn’t have to twist so hard, missy!” it screeched) and plopped back into her chair. She looked at Draco who scowled at her. He turned his head, hearing movement to the other side of him as the smaller boy crawled into his window seat, staring down at Ravenclaw’s Quidditch practice.

Staring down, that really seemed quite odd.

“So, Potter, or…” Draco’s brows furrowed. “What do we call you now?”

“You could call him ‘Harry’.” Granger quipped, going over to sit beside Harry. “You are his housemate after all.”

“And your housemates call you by your given name too, I imagine.” He snapped at her, smirking when her face flushed bright red.

“That’s different,” she mumbled.

“I think not, Granger.” Draco said, trying to lift his head off the pillow and managing a bit. “You and Potter are both outcasts in your own houses.”

Harry looked incredibly sad, turning his gaze ones more toward the enchanted glass. Hermione, however, was not to be swayed. “So then, what are you? Slytherin’s little prince?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“You certainly have your little court around you everyday!”

“Those are my friends, Granger…” He sneered at her, the area around his eyes and nose growing dark. “You do know what friends are?”

A short pause then Hermione sniffled.

“Malfoy, stop it!” Harry screamed, jumping up. His cheeks were red and his breathing was labored. Draco and Hermione watched in amazement and fear as white lightning surged between Harry’s fingers. His eyes seemed unnaturally bright and green, too green almost.

“Mercy, Potter, don’t blow up the castle,” Draco snapped, ignoring Harry and plopping back down on the cot. His eyes went back to the ceiling.

It was quiet for a while before Draco looked back over toward the pair where they now sat quietly side by side. Granger’s hand was in Harry’s own and the boy had a tear coursing down one pale cheek. Granger looked up Draco, locking shining brown eyes with his own.

“He couldn’t really blow up the castle… could he?”

Harry looked miserably up at him, wiping at his tears with the back of his hand.

“Well, maybe not the castle, but after what he did to Fester–”

“How do you know about that?” Harry asked, head snapping up to look at him, glasses hanging lopsided on his face.

Draco smirked. “There is a lot that you don’t know about me, Potter.” Then his smirk grew into a half-smile. “Snape.”

***

“I’m a seer, Severus.”

“Narcissa, I don’t have time for foolishness.”

Severus knocked back the small glass of Firewhiskey and then braced himself against the table with both hands. His hair hung down, concealing his face, shielding him like a curtain – like a veil.

She shut her eyes tightly only to see colors swirling and hear a girl’s lofty voice over the whispering of thousands, millions.

“You can hear them too, Harry?”

Her eyes snapped open, finding herself back in the present once more. Narcissa sighed, blinking tears back from her eyes. She walked forward, tentatively placing a hand on Severus’ shoulder. He tensed but eventually made his body relax. She bit her lip and laid her forehead against his back.

His head rose to stare straight ahead.

“You were my best friend for nearly a decade, Severus,” she whispered. “You and Lily both, but I kept so much you... Of course, I told Lily most of it, eventually, but we thought it would be best not to tell you… Don’t ask me why. I don’t think I know anymore…”

“I could always tell when you were lying.”

She straightened up to hug him from behind. He was stiff and tall but she buried her face in the back of his robes regardless. “Do you think I’m lying now?”

“I don’t know what to believe, Narcissa.”

They stood in silence for what seemed like forever and only moments at the same time. Until finally, Severus gently moved her arms off of him. He went and sat down at the table, sitting for a while oblivious to her presence, even when she sat down opposite him.

“What was so important that you needed to see Harry today, of all days? After years of no contact?”

“Even though I saw that it would work, even though I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Harry was your son, I needed to see it with my own eyes.”

“How did you know? How could you possibly–” He looked up into her sad smile. “You saw it happen.”

“Yes,” she whispered. Her eyes were bright with the tears she kept back, refusing to lower herself to feel so much. “There are rules to being a seer, rules I am supposed to follow, without question, without interference. We are called seers because we see not because we use our information at all.

“I went against all this when I told Lily about the potion. It’s possible that she could have found it on her own, but I wasn’t going to take that chance.” One tear fell finally and she swiped at it roughly, disgusted with herself. “Lily deserved better. You deserved better and I was going to be damned if I let Potter win.”

“Then you saw it would work?”

“I never told that part to Lily but I think she might have read it in me somehow…” She let out a breathy laugh through her nose. “She was good at that.”

“…Thank you, Narcissa.”

Severus’ normally cold onyx eyes bore into hers. She smiled at him, feeling the barrier between them close a little, the bond broken at her marriage heal a bit. Leaning across the table, she gripped his cold hands with her own.

“He’s my godson, Severus, and I know you detest me at this time. But please, I have not been apart of his life at all. I promised Lily I would love him like my own. Don’t deny me this.”

“Lucius Malfoy will never come near my son,” Severus growled, leaning his face toward hers.

“Oh, Severus…” She cupped his face with one hand. “If I could get Draco away from him, I would.”

“Draco is my godson, Narcissa and as such, I believe I deserve an explanation.”

She leaned back looking at him with forlorn eyes, seemingly broken like the first year girl, tormented by her cousin and his friends.

“Two years ago, Lucius – through some form of communication, it’s unclear to me – was told that the Dark Lord is alive and well.” Severus nodded as this part was old news to him. As a former Death Eater he, too, had been told about the Dark Lord’s survival.

“But Lucius was told something else as well… told that the Dark Lord is looking for an heir.” Severus stared wide-eyed at her and she ducked her head, tracing the patterns on the tabletop with one long fingernail. When she spoke again, her voice was filled with such hatred that he didn’t recognize it.

“Lucius was determined that his son would be the next Dark Lord. He cast a spell on my baby that would supposedly double Draco’s magical energy–” She looked up, tears flowing down her face, makeup smearing. “–or kill him.”

“Lucius achieved neither, obviously,” she said swiping once more at her tears, scowling at the wetness on her fingers. “Since then, Draco has been violently sick. His magic and the curse are warring against each other. However, his episodes have been infrequent and easily taken care of with the proper medication though he suffers with pain constantly however, muscle aches. But today, he’s never had an attack so soon after taking his medicine.”

She drew in a shaky breath. “It makes me wonder if works any more.”

“I promise to help him, Narcissa.”

“Severus, you have your own child to worry about. Harry has as many problems, more than what Draco faces.”

“I’m his godfather. You can’t tell me that requires no responsibility.”

She leaned forward and patted his face. “You are already the father to him that Lucius could never be.” She looked into his eyes, searching for something. “Despite everything, Lily was the lucky one.”

He gently took her hand away from his face but held it, looking down at it. “Why did you marry Lucius?”

She smiled sadly. “I saw it.”

“But you said you only see. That’s not necessarily the future.”

“Not for seers. What seers see about themselves is that which is inevitable.”

***

Hermione sat by watching as Harry and Draco played chess. She had helped Harry – despite Malfoy’s disapproval – prop the boy up. Harry had plopped down a game box on Draco’s lap that he had found in one of the dresser drawers. Draco had rolled his eyes but instructed Harry on where to set the pieces, once Harry confirmed he’d never played before.

But Malfoy had explained the game to Harry patiently, even when the boy made mistakes. Now, Harry had back Malfoy’s king into a corner.

After instructing his knight to move, Harry surveyed the board before breaking out into a brilliant smile. “I win.”

“Checkmate.”

“What?” Harry asked.

Hermione snickered. Malfoy shook his head. “Checkmate.”

“What?”

“Malfoy, don’t treat him that way!” She looked up from peering out the enchanted window. “Harry, in chess, when you win, you say ‘checkmate’.”

“Oh.”

“Really though,” Draco began, lifting a shaking arm and throwing some pieces haphazardly into the box despite their protests at being mishandled. “Don’t muggles have chess?”

“Yes, muggles have chess!”

“Was I addressing you, Granger?” He drawled lazily, giving up and letting Harry put the game away, ignoring Harry as he sent him quick glare.

“The Dursleys aren’t ones for chess… or games… or anything really besides gossiping and eating,” Harry mumbled, putting the game under the cot.

“Are they the reason you’re so spineless?” Draco asked, staring at Harry with hard eyes.

“Malfoy!” Hermione screeched, her back snapping straight up.

Draco and Harry stared into each others eyes for a while before Draco relaxed into his pillows. “You really should stick up for yourself.” Then he smirked. “Congratulations on having one up on Fester. He really is a bastard.”

“Language, Draco.”

The boy’s face colored at this as the other watched Narcissa and Severus walked back into the room, leaving the door open. Narcissa walked over to give Draco a kiss on his forehead and sat in the chair Harry vacated to walk over to his father. Severus placed one hand on his son’s head.

“Have you three behaved?” he asked, looking at all three children.

“No one’s dead,” Draco retorted, smiling cheekily.

“Who’s a bastard exactly?” asked Narcissa, brushing hair from Draco’s eyes. He pushed her away weakly, face red with embarrassment.

“Lando Fester.” Draco growled, swatting at his mother.

Narcissa looked searchingly at Severus who shook her head at him shortly. She rolled her eyes and looked back at her son.

“Mother,” Draco started, “I need to get back to the dormitory. I know the girls are worried.”

Silence became thick and heavily before Narcissa said quietly to her son, fully aware of the three sets of eyes watching them, “Love, you won’t be going back to the dormitory.”

***

12:36am

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Severus asked, coming to sit near Harry as he stared into the flames.

“Malfoy was angry.”

“Yes, but Draco knows he has no choice.”

“He’s really sick, isn’t he? That’s why he’s staying here?”

“Yes…” Severus, too, found his eyes straying towards the fire. “But that does not change anything.”

Harry looked up at his father and Severus turned back to Harry. He reached out and ran his fingertips through his son’s hair, loosely curling now, like his mother’s had been. He took Harry’s chin and surveyed Harry’s face again like he had done earlier. “You have more of your mother in you now. Good thing.”

Harry looked at him quizzically and Severus looked sad. “Harry, I’m certainly not a man you would chose to be your father.”

“Sir, I think I did choose you.” Severus’ brows furrowed. “Before today.” A small smile crossed his lips. “I used to wish you would adopt me.”

Severus pulled Harry into his arms. “I love you. I loved you even when I thought you were his.”

Harry was silent but he smiled.

***

Narcissa sat straight up in bed, breaths coming in short gasps. Sweat pouring from her hairline. Her blond locks stuck to her warm face and she quickly pushed the covers away from her. Sitting up on the edge of her bed, she closed her eyes.

Colors. Fire.

The Granger girl. Screaming. Tears. Pain. Blood.

“So the Malfoy boy has it, Draco, is it? Your father was a good servant. I know what he did to you hoping to please me.” Then the bastard spoke to him like he was a toddler. “Shame he’s incompetent.” Then he smiled, sickeningly. “Give it to me, boy!”

“Come and get it, snake face!”

Unnatural movement. A thump. Blood. So much blood.

“Draco!”

The Granger girl again. Movement. Tears. A heartbeat.

“You stay were you are, mudblood, or they die faster.”

A whimper. Fear. Suddenly, wonder. Then, discovery.

A scuffle. An unnatural scream of pain. The smell of burning flesh.

“HARRY!”