Draco and Harry were both under restriction, which gave them both time to think as restriction meant staying in ones room except for meals.

Harry hated it perhaps more so than Draco did because he hated knowing that he was not allowed to leave his room and felt as if he was caged in. Thankfully, his parents did allow him to leave his door open so that he would know if he had to leave, he would be able too.

They had discovered when Harry was seven that he had a fear of being closed in when he had been put in a time out in his room. He had been living with his family for about six months at the time and had finally felt comfortable enough to show a bit of defiance.

It had happened one morning shortly after breakfast. It was the January right after Severus had gone back to school for the second term. Harry spent his days with Draco and Hermione under Narcissa’s care and tutelage, and Rosemerta and Lucius were usually both home by three or so in the afternoon.

That morning, however, Harry had been especially difficult. He had been having a hard time with the fact that Severus had left him again, and it was possible that he would only see him for one weekend a month until summer. It was hard for a little boy who had just realized that he had a family who really cared about him to see his father walk out the door so often. The only thing that helped was that Rosemerta was at the manor during nights when Harry needed to be reassured or needed to have one on one time with an adult.

That morning, however, both Severus and Rosemerta left at the same time, something that did not happen normally. Harry watched them leave while he was eating breakfast and practically the minute they had both floo’d out of the house, Harry refused to eat any breakfast. Deep down, the little boy was terrified that they were never coming back for him since they had left together. Not long after that, Draco had asked him if he wanted to play exploding snap after they had lessons and Harry had pushed the other little boy down.

Draco, who had never been near any violence in his short seven, nearly eight years, was astounded. He didn’t understand what had just happened.

Narcissa watched the entire thing and immediately sent Harry to his room, following him there to make sure that he didn’t detour. He didn’t detour, but he purposely knocked several pictures and vases to the floor, shattering them.

Narcissa, who was used to temper tantrums from her own child on occasion, made sure that Harry was sitting on his bed, told him to stay there until she came back in seven minutes, and shut the door.

The minute the door shut, Harry panicked. He crawled under the bed and started to cry, his accidental magic causing things to fly around the room.

Narcissa barely got down the hallway when she heard things hitting the wall and felt the impulse of magic coming from Harry’s room.

She turned around and quickly made her way to the little boy’s room and opened the door.

“Harry?” she asked softly, sitting in a chair close to the door so that she was well away from Harry’s magic, but in a position so that she could still see Harry. She felt his magic, and knew from past experiences growing up, with Draco, and even with Hermione and Harry, that a child’s accidental magic could lash out if they felt threatened or hurt.

“Harry, can you tell me what is wrong? I wasn’t going to be gone long, Sweetheart.”

Harry was silent except for heart wrenching sobs at first. Then, so quietly Narcissa almost didn’t hear what he said: “I’m sorry I was bad. I am sorry. I don’t want to be locked in the cupboard.”

It made her heart stop for a moment.

“Come here, Harry. You are not bad, sweetie.”

It took Narcissa several moments, but Harry finally flew out from under the bed and into her arms.

Narcissa fire-called Rose soon after and explained everything to her, and later that day both Rose and Severus came home and talked to Harry for a long time about why he had reacted as he had.

Now they made sure to prevent anything that would make him have those feelings. Keeping his door open while he was being punished was just one of the ways that they made sure he felt comfortable. Just because the child was in trouble did not mean that he had to be afraid or need to remember what happened to him while he was at his relatives. In fact, the entire family usually went out of their way to make sure that he didn’t.

With the boys on restriction, Hermione had even more time to get to know her mother, and spent it with her, often staying up at all hours of the night to finish the school work that she was supposed to be doing during the day, unbeknownst to Lucius and Narcissa.

Things, however, were happening fast.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione sat on the floor in front of Bellatrix while the older woman brushed her hair.

“Mum?”

“Yes, Love?” Bellatrix asked her while continuing to brush her hair.

“What was Aunt Cissy like when she was small? I mean, it is hard for me to picture her as small

sometimes.” Hermione whispered.

Bellatrix thought about it for a moment.

“She was always the sweetest child. She was the youngest, so we all…our parents, Dromeda, and me… we doted on her every whim. I knew though, that she would be an amazing mother. Even from the time she was three or four, she would mother everyone. Especially when someone was ill. She always wanted to simply take care of everyone. I am more than thankful that you were found and given to her. I would never have wanted anyone else to raise my child. And look how you turned out. Brilliantly.”

Hermione stared into the fire for several moments. What would her mother have been like if she had been the one raising her?

“I was supposed to be with you. Does it bother you? That they took me from you?”

Bellatrix stopped brushing Hermione’s hair and pulled her shoulder around with one hand and placed her fingers under her daughter’s chin so that she could look into the caramel eyes of her child.

“I hated every moment that I was gone from, you, but you have turned out better than I ever could have hoped. Narcissa loves you more than you will ever understand. She would risk her life to keep you safe.”

“But you are my mother.” Hermione whispered.

“And Cissy raised you, love. I have watched you the last couple of weeks, skirting around her. You are hurting Cissy, love. You can’t do that. It isn’t fair.”

Hermione backed away from her mother’s hand and stared at her for a moment.

“She is being unreasonable. She made me write lines for two days for getting you to let me into the potions lab!”

“As well she should have. You tricked me with that little scandal, young lady. Cissy wasn’t too happy with me either. In fact, she wouldn’t talk to me for several days after that.” Bellatrix told her daughter.

“But you are my mother! You should make the rules now, not Aunt Cissy! That isn’t fair. Aunt Cissy shouldn’t have the right to punish me when you told me that it was okay!” Hermione hissed at her mother.

Bellatrix took a deep breath and then looked down at her child.

“Hermione, you cannot do this. You cannot play me against Cissy. I may be biologically your mother, but I haven’t been here for you. I was never there for you. I didn’t get to raise you. I

didn’t get to take care of you when you were sick. I didn’t get to take you shopping, or see you off to school. I didn’t get the chance to worry about you when you let your Gryffindor tendencies get you into trouble. I wasn’t here. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be. It was because I wasn’t given that chance. Cissy raised you though. She did get to do all of those things. She has sat with you when you were sick, or crying, or hurt. She has stayed up late at night with you when you couldn’t sleep. She treated you exactly like she treated her biological son. And she did that, Hermione, because you are her child. You will always be her child before you are mine. I gave birth to you, but I will never be able to be the mother that Cissy is for you. I know that you want that, you feel like that is the right choice, but it will never be that way. That choice was taken away from us a long time ago.” Bellatrix had tears streaming down her face. That had, perhaps, been the hardest thing she would ever have to say to her child.

Hermione backed away from her mother and stared at her in shock. This was not how things were supposed to work out. Her mother was supposed to be there for her always.

“I don’t understand.” Hermione whispered, tears also falling freely down her cheeks.

Through her tears, Bellatrix nodded, “I know you don’t, love. But, one day you will. One day you will realize that everything I have said is true.”

Bellatrix didn’t have the chance to say anything else because Hermione stood up and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Not daring to move at that moment, Bellatrix stared into the fire as her tears coursed down her cheeks and dripped onto her midnight blue dress, leaving small wet patches.

It had hurt her to tell her child, her only child, the only child she would ever give birth to, that she was not her mother. Not in the sense of the word. But, Bellatrix knew that it was the truth. One could not miss fifteen years of life, waltz back into that life, and still call herself a mother.

Oh, she was a biological mother and she loved her child more than anything in the world.

But, Cissy was something more. More than Bellatrix could ever hope to be. However, Bellatrix knew that her daughter had turned out better than she could have hoped, and that if Hermione had spent her years with her, she never would have turned out nearly as good as she had.

The facts all hurt, and there was nothing that could soften them.

One day, her daughter, her child, Narcissa’s daughter, would forgive her. One day, perhaps, she would look back on this day and realize that it was the moment she finally realized that she had had her true mother all along.

Or, maybe, one day, she would be able to look back to this day, this exact moment, and realize that she had always known that Cissy was her real mother, and that Bellatrix was merely an unknown and fascinating entity that she only wanted to know more about.

One thing was for certain though: Bellatrix would always look back on this day and know that, even though it had hurt her more than words could ever describe, she had done the right thing.

~*~*~*~*~

Several days passed. They passed slowly and quietly. No one really said anything about how on edge they felt, nor did they say anything about how confused they all were. One thing was for certain though, there was going to be another meeting tonight. One that they, Harry, Draco, and Hermione, were once again not allowed to attend.

They were just finishing up supper when they heard the ‘special’ floo in the parlor spring to life. That entrance into the manor was protected in such a way that no one could get through the floo unless he or she was both invited and had a special password.

This time, however, supper had gone longer than normal, so the children were not surprised when they heard the floo go off. They were surprised, however, when someone walking towards the dining room tripped and fell. Hard.

“Nymphadora! How many times must I tell you to be careful!” a woman chastised her. Hermione and Harry looked at one another, their eyes growing wide with delight.

“Don’t. Call. Me. Nymphadora!”

“I am your mother, I named you, I shall call you whatever I wish! Now go into the dining room.”

The door opened and in walked Tonks, her hair a brilliant shade of random greens, pinks, and purples, her eyes amazingly silver.

“Aunt Cissy!” Tonks yelled, and ran, nearly tripping, to her aunt and flung her arms around the older woman. Narcissa hugged her niece tightly. It had been ages since they had seen each other.

“Wow, wow, wow. Tonks?” Harry said, his eyes wide. What the heck!

“Hiya, Harry! Hermione! Been a long time!” She smiled at the duo, then at Draco. Even he had not known that Tonks obviously didn’t hate his family.

“How….what?” Harry stuttered.

“Oh no worries! Someone had to be on the outside, on the inside, to keep you two safe at Grimmauld Place! That would be me! We all know that you two love trouble, and since Uncle Sev can’t really be there all the time without suspicion, it was up to me to keep you safe and out of all the trouble you two like to find! I think I did a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself!” Tonks smiled charmingly, and Harry and Hermione stared.

“So, how long have you known?” Hermione asked.

“About you two? Only recently. I mean, I always knew that Mum and Aunt Cissy and Aunt Trixie weren’t really at odds, but we only ever got to see Aunt Cissy when she was at the manor alone. They always said that it wasn’t safe and for some time Mum had to occlude for me until Uncle Sev taught me, with Mum’s help, when I was nine. Mum finally told me everything last summer when we knew that you two would have to go to Grimmauld Place for two weeks, and someone had to stay and make sure you stayed out of trouble.”

“Nymph, breathe, child. They are taking in a lot of information right now.” Andromeda said.

“No, Aunt Dromeda, it is okay. We are used to taking in a lot of information lately.” Draco panned out. He was still a bit upset with his parents, even if they had been making it a point to talk to him more about his feelings, about everything that was going on.

Not that that made it any better. It was a hard time for everyone.

“Okay, Hermione, Draco, Harry, go to your rooms, please.” Rosemerta said. She was, at the current time, the only parent that no one seemed to be angry with, and even that was sometimes iffy.

It was the curse of children who felt they were grown.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione went to the library. She was still looking for information about Dumbledore. Every bit of information would be helpful.

No matter how small.

~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Draco went into Draco’s room and sat on the floor playing exploding snap.

“Draco, it is going to happen soon." Harry said. Draco was one person that Harry talked to about nearly everything, once they finally had the chance to actually sit down together during the summer. Usually, however, it happened after they got over their normal end of school/beginning of summer spat. The boys had grown up together and were like cousins, but after everything that they had to live through during the school term, it was normal for tempers and emotions to run high.

"Harry, you know that when it comes down to it, we will fight together. It will be each of us. We are destined for this fight, Harry. We always have been."

"Draco, you know what I think of most when I think about this whole stupid war?" Harry said, suddenly looking at the ceiling and dropping his cards to the floor.

"What?"

"That all I want is my Mum and Dad."

"Your biological mum and Uncle Sev?" Draco asked. Sometimes, one could not tell with Harry when he started talking philosophically.

"Nah. I love her because I know that she loved me. I mean, she died to protect me, so of course she loved me. Everyone talks about what a wonderful person she was, but I don't know her. As much as she wanted to raise me and take care of me, she didn't get too. I am talking about my Mum now. Sometimes I wish that I was still little and could just sit on her lap so that she could just make everything go away. But now, now I have a duty. I have to protect people."

"Harry, you are just a kid. Just like me and Mione, even if we do all try to act like we aren’t. Of course we want our mums. Never let anyone tell you that there is anything wrong with it. If they do…well, if they do, I will hex them for you. We are going to go through a war. Harry, just because people don't want to acknowledge it doesn't mean that it isn't true. But, right now, until it is our time to fight, we have to live."

Harry smiled at Draco.

"Just promise me one thing, Draco." Harry said, looking over Draco’s shoulder to the window. The stars were shining. The moon was full too. It made Harry automatically wonder how Remus was doing, and if the man was on their side or Dumbledore’s.

He had been a friend of James’ as it was. But, who could tell anymore?

"Yes…" Draco said, though he was already not sure if he wanted to make any promises to Harry. Sometimes it was dangerous to do so.

"When it does come down to it, when the last blow has felled, make sure that you protect Mione. If nothing else, you have to protect Mione. She will sacrifice herself for me. Just like my mum, Lily, did. You cannot allow that to happen."

Draco looked straight at Harry. His cousin, his best friend…his brother.

"I promise, Harry. I promise.

Both boys looked at one another intensely for a minute, and Harry barely had time to nod in appreciation, when Hermione banged the door open and ran into the room with a small book.

“I found something! I found something!” she said, launching herself onto Draco’s bed with the book.

Draco and Harry looked at one another, both having the same thought: she really is nuts, isn’t she?

Both smiled at one another and barely contained their laughter.

“Be serious! The both of you. I don’t know how we all missed this, except that it was pushed behind a lot of other books and it hasn’t been in print in decades!” Hermione reprimanded them.

“Yes, yes. What did you find, little sister?” Draco asked. Hermione shot him a look, yet didn’t say anything to him because, in all honesty, she did think of Draco as a brother. She always had.

But the fact was, that at that moment, so soon after her Mum had told her that Narcissa was her true mother, well, it hurt to think about it.

“So, what did you find?” Harry asked, turning to crawl on the bed beside Hermione to look at the book she had brought into the room.

“It’s about Dumbledore! And you guys aren’t going to believe what I found out! Read this section that I highlighted! Except…don’t tell Uncle Lucius… If he finds out that I marked in this book he won’t let me go into the library anymore!”

Harry and Draco both shook their heads, but then leaned over to read the text.

Albus Dumbledore is known to have many likes where candy is concerned. He is particularly fond of chocolate and taffy, especially jumping taffy frogs. His one downfall, however, is the lemon drop, as he is allergic to an ingredient in the hard candy and nearly died from an allergic reaction when he was six years old.

Harry read the section several times. What the bloody hell? Was he reading it right?

Draco was having the same thoughts.

“What the bloody hell? That doesn’t make sense! The man devours lemon drops!” Draco said.

Hermione looked at them both.

“I know.” She said, thinking.

For several moments, it was quiet in the room. Too quiet.

Finally, Harry spoke.

“It’s time. Guys, it is time. I can feel it. It is time for us to go. While they are having the meeting. This is the time that we have been waiting for.” Harry said quietly, already getting up so that he could go to his room and grab the things they would need.

Neither Draco or Hermione said anything.

Because they had felt something too.

It was time to go and fight.