"Draco, can I have a moment?" Narcissa stood at the bedroom door, watching Draco read to a half-asleep Harry.

Draco looked up from the book. "Of course, Mother. Just let me finish here."

She nodded. "I'll be in the sitting room."

Draco finished reading the book and looked over to find Harry sound asleep, his face buried in his pillow. Draco set the book aside and leaned over to press a kiss to Harry's forehead. "You're going to come back to us, Harry," he murmured as he did nearly every night. "I promise we'll find a way. I want a chance to find out if we can be real friends." He stroked a hand down Harry's back, then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Draco walked into the sitting room and sat on the sofa. "Mother," he said softly to the woman sitting in the armchair across from him. "Why are you here?"

Narcissa hesitated, her hands twisting slightly in her lap. "Is it not enough that I was desperate to find you after all this time?" she hedged.

"No, Mother, it isn't." Draco sat back and crossed his legs. "You know perfectly well why I left and why I did so with no notice. Lucius was going to take the opportunity that Harry had handed him on a silver platter and destroy it. I wasn't going to stay around for that."

Narcissa flushed. "I do know that and I understand."

"But?" Draco asked.

"When Minerva told me that she might know where you were…I would have done…anything to see you again."

"And what about Lucius?"

Narcissa shook her head. "I told Severus that I would need to be back at the Manor on weekends, but I doubt I'll even need to be there that much. Lucius takes no notice of me any longer. I believe that he harbors some resentment that I lied to the Dark Lord and therefore aided the other side. He has chosen to forget how low we were brought, how humiliated he was when the Dark Lord took his wand."

Draco contemplated his mother's face. "What do you plan to do now that you're here?"

Narcissa smiled faintly. "I want us to be a family again."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Family? As in…you and me?"

"Family, meaning you, me, Severus, and Harry for as long as he needs us." She looked away from Draco. "I want the opportunity to start again and hopefully do it right this time."

Draco nodded. It was the correct answer and he was relieved that there seemed to be no deception hiding in his mother's words. "How are you going to get books we need out of the Manor's library without Lucius noticing?" he asked, changing the subject.

Narcissa visibly relaxed. "I will have Timmy help. He's going to bring books to Minerva's office and then take back the one's that we no longer need. We will only be able to bring three or four books at a time, but I think we can do it several times a week. Also, I will use part of the time that I'm back at the Manor to pull anything else from the library that we may need."

"You're going to have to be very cautious. Lucius knows more of what's in that library than anyone else."

"I know," Narcissa sighed. "But I can't think of any other way to do it."

"If you're caught…"

"I'll think of something," she said. "I won't be able to tell him the truth because of the Unbreakable Vow, but I'll work on coming up with something."

"I'll help you as much as I can," Draco said, standing.

"Thank you," Narcissa whispered, holding out her hand.

Draco impulsively leaned over and hugged her. "Good night, Mother," he whispered. "I'm glad you're here."

~hp~ss~dm~hp~ss~dm~

"Mummy, Mummy!" Severus heard Harry yelling from his room. Severus dragged himself out of bed with a look at the clock. He opened his bedroom door just as Harry came bounding out of his room and down the hall toward the guest room, where Narcissa was sleeping.

"Mr. Potter," Severus said, trying to clear the fog from his head. "What are you doing?"

Harry stopped and turned to Severus. "Going to see my mummy," he said grinning and then he was off again.

"Harry!" Severus said sharply. "It is five in the morning, you will not wake Narcissa."

Harry stopped just in front of Narcissa's door. He stomped his feet and growled, but then shuffled back into his room. As he grabbed hold of the doorframe, Severus said, "Do not slam that door, Mr. Potter, or you will spend the entire day in your room, without Mummy."

The door closed softly and Severus could hear Draco's voice behind from behind the door followed by Harry whining. He couldn't stop a smirk from forming at the thought of that conversation. Harry hated to be told that he was wrong.

Severus looked up from his contemplation to see Narcissa smiling at him from the doorway as she belted her robe around her. She crooked her fingers at him and he followed her back into her room.

"Has he always been like this?" she asked, sitting on the bed, while Severus took the one chair in the room.

"No, only since last year. Now, he is hotheaded, stubborn and determined to get his way." Severus laughed shortly. "With the exception of the constant desire to remove his clothing, he is exactly as I accused him of being all those years in school."

Narcissa tilted her head at him. "You accused him of those things, but he wasn't like that?" she asked.

Severus shook his head. "No," he said bitterly, nearly choking on the word. "He never was, but I refused to see anything but James in him. It wasn't until after he was…injured, that I realised how wrong I had been."

"And now, you're getting an overabundance of that attitude and no way of stopping it." Narcissa laughed at Severus's scowl. "It's a little bit of justice, don't you think?"

Severus glared at her, then left the room to go back to his own bed.

~hp~ss~dm~hp~ss~dm~

Late March

Draco was sitting down to breakfast with Severus when a yell from Harry and the sound of running feet came from down the hall. "Harry James Potter!" Narcissa's voice was firm, but not loud. The feet skidded to a halt as Draco laughed, spraying tea all over the table. Severus was hiding his face behind the Daily Prophet, but Draco knew that Severus was trying not to laugh as well. Draco reached for a towel and began wiping the tea from the table. "If I'd known before that the solution to our problems with Harry was Narcissa Malfoy, I'd have brought her in long ago," Draco said with a smirk. Severus looked up from the paper with a small smile. "It is quite amazing how well he responds to her." A rebellious looking, but quiet Harry came into the kitchen and sat down in his chair next to Draco with a low "Hmph!" Narcissa entered a moment later.

Draco looked at his mother as she sat across the table from them. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun and her clothes were more casual than Draco had ever seen. She was wearing trousers, something she had never done before. He had seen her looking like this almost every morning for the last two weeks and it still amazed him.

"Ray," Harry whispered and Draco turned to look at him, while Narcissa lifted an eyebrow in their direction. Severus went back to hiding behind the paper.

"What is it Harry?" Draco asked placidly, tying the dishtowel around Harry's neck and then plating up his eggs and toast.

"Wanna baf," Harry said unhappily, as he struggled to get some eggs on his spoon. "Wanna play wif the duckies."

"No bath today," Draco said firmly. "Mummy said you didn't go to bed when you were supposed to last night."

Harry's mouth turned down and he started to pull his hand back in anticipation of throwing the spoonful of egg.

"Don't do it, Harry," Narcissa said calmly. "Unless you want to spend the day with your face in the corner."

"Why's you so mean?" Harry whined. "Daddy Sev's the meany. You's a mummy and mummy's not s'posed to be mean."

Severus set the paper down and smirked at Narcissa. Narcissa simply stirred her tea in gentle circles.

"I'm only mean when one of my boys doesn't do as they're told," she said as she took a sip of tea.

Harry looked over at Draco. "Ray…"

"Don't look at me, Harry," Draco said. "She's my mother, too."

Harry's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Hmph!"

~hp~ss~dm~hp~ss~dm~

Severus looked up from the latest book that Timmy had retrieved from the Manor's library. He was trying to decipher the thousand-year-old text when he realised that there was no sound coming from the boys' bedroom. Narcissa was at the Manor for the afternoon and Harry had dragged Draco to their room to play after Severus had issued a firm "No" to going outside.

He walked down the hallway and silently pushed the door to the bedroom open. Draco was on his bed asleep with his arm wound around Harry, who was lying next to him holding tightly onto one of his stuffed dragons. Harry's eyes were open and glazed. They seemed to be looking at something only Harry could see. Slowly Severus entered the room and walked over to stand in front of Harry. He waited for a moment, but nothing happened, Harry's eyes continued to stare unseeingly at some distant point.

Severus put a hand on Draco's shoulder and felt Draco stir and then raise his head. "Sev…" He started to speak but Severus cut him off with a slight squeeze of his hand on Draco's shoulder. Then he lifted his hand slowly to point at Harry. Draco cautiously shifted until he was looking at Harry's face. He gazed at him for a moment, then looked over at Severus.

"Try to wake him," Severus whispered.

Draco leaned over. "Harry," he said softly.

There was no movement, so Draco placed a hand on Harry's chest. "Harry," he said again.

"Draco," Harry said in a faint voice, and Severus was shocked. Draco apparently felt the same thing because his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Harry was speaking in the adult voice that no one had heard for almost a year.

"Draco," Harry said again, shifting slightly.

"Harry, where are you?" Draco asked.

"Safe," Harry breathed. "I saved us."

Severus was frantically trying to figure out what was happening and who Harry thought he had saved, when Harry suddenly blinked and looked up at Draco with confusion.

"Harry," Draco said and Harry blinked again and smiled.

"Ray!" Harry exclaimed excitedly, the child-like voice returning. "We tooks a nap!"

Draco's smile was strained. "We did. Are you ready to get up?"

"Yup!" Harry rolled out of the bed and bounded out the door, still clutching the stuffed dragon. "Come on Ray!"

Draco sat up slowly, scrubbing a hand over his face. "What just happened?"

Severus perched on the edge of the bed. "I have no idea. I'll talk to Narcissa and Minerva later, maybe they'll have some clue. Have you ever seen him do anything like this before?"

Draco shook his head. "No, never. I would have told you straightaway if it had. Although, it certainly could have happened before now. I would have never known this time if you hadn't come into the room."

"This means something," Severus mused. "Something important."

"But what is it?"

"Ray!" Harry's voice came from the hallway. "Come on!"

Severus pushed to his feet. "I may want to look at your memory when I talk to Minerva."

"It's not a problem," Draco said, walking towards the door. "Just get me an empty vial and I'll do it after Harry's in bed tonight."

~hp~ss~dm~hp~ss~dm~

Severus watched as the two women emerged from the Pensieve with identical expressions of sorrow and frustration. Narcissa quickly sat down and poured herself a cup of tea, while Minerva paced back and forth behind her desk.

Just as Severus was about to speak, she turned to look at one of the portraits on the wall. "Phineas," she said, calling out to Phineas Nigellus. A moment later, the former headmaster appeared in his frame with a scowl on his face. Severus wondered what it was Minerva thought she could get from a portrait.

"What is it?" Phineas snapped, as if reading Severus's thoughts.

"I have a question regarding Harry Potter's situation," she said.

"Who?" Phineas yawned overtly, not bothering to cover his painted mouth. "I have no idea whom you're speaking of."

"Stop that, Phineas," Minerva said, irritated at his attitude. "You know very well who I'm talking about. You ran around the country with him for the better part of a year, stuffed into Miss Granger's handbag."

"Oh, yes. Him." Phineas waved a negligent hand as if to dismiss Harry as inconsequential, although his face was tight with remembered disgust.

"I also know that you've heard everything that's been discussed in this office about Mr. Potter," Minerva replied, glaring at the painted image. "I need your help trying to figure this out."

His eyes narrowed, but he bowed slightly. "Always willing to help, Headmistress," he said, sarcasm evident in his voice. "But don't you think Albus would suit you better?"

Minerva rolled her eyes and Severus barely contained a laugh. "Right," she said drolly. "Albus is off in some other portrait, as you very well know, you insolent fool."

Narcissa leaned forward in her seat. "Phineas," she said softly and his eyes snapped to hers.

"Mistress Black, a true pleasure to see you," Phineas said with real respect and a true bow. "How may I serve you?"

"You can serve me by answering the headmistress's questions," Narcissa said with an arrogant tilt to her head and haughty disdain in her voice. "Truthfully."

Phineas's lip curled with contempt, but he turned to Minerva. "What is it you want?" he snarled.

Quickly, Minerva summarised Harry's affliction and then described the memory she had just viewed. "Do you know of any dark spell that could cause such brain damage, or the reaction Harry had yesterday?"

Phineas adopted a contemplative expression as he sat back in his painted chair to think. "There is no spell that I know of that would cause an adult to become a child mentally, but not physically," he said seriously as he tilted his head back and appeared to study the frame surrounding his portrait. "However, have you considered that his brain retreating to a child-like state is not because of the spell, but his magic's attempt to protect Potter from the spell?"

Sudden clarity hit Severus and he leapt from his chair. "He said 'I saved us.' What if he did something just as the spell hit him and Miss Granger that was an attempt to protect them from the curse?"

Narcissa was nodding. "Yes," she said, her voice calm, but her eyes radiated excitement. "He could have recognised the spell and done something to try and counteract it."

"Or, it could have been accidental magic," Minerva added. "Otherwise, he would have had to react with almost inhuman speed. Accidental magic would need no conscious thought."

Severus nodded agreement. "That does make more sense. Harry's wild magic has always been very strong and unpredictable."

"But what was the spell that he was cursed with?" Phineas asked from his frame. "It had to have been one that would have seriously injured or killed them, otherwise Potter's magic would not have reacted the way that it did."

Severus considered Phineas's words. "When I attempted Legilimency on him, he nearly died. When anyone does magic in front of him, he has an overwhelmingly negative reaction."

Minerva spoke up. "It may be that his mental fortifications can't stand against any type of magic and that's the only way it has of protecting him."

"So what do we do?" Narcissa asked. "How do we solve this?"

Severus looked at Narcissa and then at Minerva. "I don't know," he finally said.