lomonaaeren

Part Three.

Part One.

Title: Narcissa Watchful (4/9)
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairing: Established Harry/Draco and Narcissa/Lucius
Rating: PG-13
Content Notes: Angst, violence, crack, AU
Summary: Narcissa will search out the Horcruxes. She will remove the Horcrux from her foster son’s head. She will give her cousin Sirius a purpose in life. She will free her husband from his ill-thought-out allegiance to the Dark Lord. She will do something else then, because that is not enough to fill her life.
Author’s Notes: Sixth in a series of stories where Narcissa is an in-demand spy and assassin and Harry’s foster mother. Don’t read this one without reading the others first, seriously.

Thank you again for all the reviews!

Part Four

“Mother, I need to talk to you.”

Draco’s voice was low and grave, and Narcissa glanced at him and nodded once. He had spoken softly enough, and late enough in the Astronomy class, that she doubted the students struggling with their eyelids had heard him. “In a few minutes,” she said, and then walked past the desks on her final patrol, encouraging them to finish up their notes about what new magical symbols they had seen among the stars.

“But aren’t all the symbols we see in the stars just imagined there?” Dean Thomas said, turning around to look at Narcissa earnestly. “I mean, like the constellations. The stars don’t really make them up. We just think they do.”

Narcissa smiled at him. “You are learning, Mr. Thomas. But the power of your belief is what guides magical Astronomy. If you can see those constellations, or runes, or other figures, then you can use them. If you do not believe they exist, you can’t.”

Thomas blinked and turned back to his paper, as did several of the other students in Narcissa’s NEWT Astronomy class. Harry was smiling slightly as he wrote down the last flourish of what looked like a complicated explanation.

“Please guard the door of the classroom while Draco and I speak,” Narcissa murmured as she walked past him.

“Yes, Mother.”

Narcissa paused in mid-step and let her eyelids droop for a moment. Mother. Harry had used it before, but never this casually, and she wanted to hold the revelation to herself and caress it.

They were in public, however, so she forced her head up and continued to walk, praising Miss Granger’s innovative finding of several uncommon runes among the stars in Orion and Miss Parkinson’s several imaginative uses of the constellation Draco. At least she no longer suspected, as she had last year, that Miss Parkinson might have chosen that particular constellation because she was nursing a doomed crush on the living Draco in the classroom. She had moved on gracefully.

When the class finished and most of the students had turned in their notes and stumbled off to bed, Harry strolled to the door and stepped outside it. A complicated ward snapped into existence a few seconds later. Narcissa smiled and turned to Draco.

Draco hesitated for long enough that Narcissa wondered if he was suffering a crisis of self-doubt. Then he reached up and waved his wand near his face.

Narcissa slammed the discipline down around herself as she saw the sunburst-shaped burn mark on his cheek. “How did that happen?” she asked, and her voice did not shake in rage, and her focus did not narrow to revenge plans. It was important to pay attention to her son’s words.

“Just from being in the same room as the Defense professor, Mother. She didn’t touch me, but this is what happened.”

Narcissa blinked, then blinked again. That indicated a closeness to the Dark Arts that she had never suspected Draco had inherited. She had been sure that Harry would be the one to have trouble.

Then again, their discipline drew on a wide variety of neutral devices and spells allied to neither Light nor Dark, as well. Narcissa stopped her scolding of herself for not noticing before—it would do no good now—and asked simply, “Do you want me to do something about it?” She suspected not. If Draco had had that pure and uncomplicated desire, he would have come to her the minute it happened.

“No. I want to solve this problem on my own. I’ll get nowhere if I have to let you and Harry keep doing things for me.”

You would get to safety, Narcissa thought but did not say. She nodded. “All right. How will you endure classes with her if you are in pain?”

“I found a Dark shielding spell that’s based on thoughts of how much you want your enemy to suffer. I can cast it without—Mother.” Draco smiled a little, despite the obviously painful way that his burned cheek stretched. “I cast it the first time, without practice, even though I got one of the wand movements wrong!”

Narcissa placed a hand on his shoulder, and then leaned down and embraced him when he looked at her expectantly. She hadn’t wanted to embarrass him, but it seemed this kind of thing would not embarrass Draco, not yet. Thank Merlin. “I’m sorry for never noticing and nurturing your talent before, Draco.”

“I wanted to do it myself. I’ve looked up some books in Father’s library and performed some spells, but, well—it’s the sort of thing that’s hard to do right unless you have an enemy.”

Narcissa nodded. “I will only ask that you not perform an actual spell on Professor Freyadaughter or attack her unless she attacks you. I had an idea the other day that might make her useful.”

“But if she attacks me or Harry…”

“Of course. No one will ever be that useful.”

Draco smiled at her and leaned up to kiss her on the cheek. “Thank you, Mother. Getting burned just being around her Light magic startled me, you know. That’s never happened before.”

“It could be that your sensitivity has increased with age, and it could be that she burns so Light she is a new experience for you. I would wager on it being both.”

“That’s what I thought it was, too,” Draco said, in contentment. “Anyway. I’ll take care of it. I’ve got several ideas.” He beamed at her and ran over to the door, rapping on it lightly. Harry’s locking spell broke at his touch, and the door swung open.

Harry took Draco’s arm lightly, eyes fixed on the unconcealed burn. Draco raised the glamour and a challenging eyebrow at the same time. After a moment of tension that Narcissa thought would explode in violence, Harry nodded.

They left together, her boys. Narcissa doused the torches in the classroom and followed, so full of pride that the long staircase seemed to have turned to air.

*

“You would not have come to me without a good reason.”

“You are right. I would not have.” Narcissa stared at the handkerchief she was twisting around her fingers, and kept her gaze on it until Idunna sighed and opened the door of her quarters to let her in.

The quarters were ablaze with mirrors and candles. Narcissa angled her head a little so the dazzle of light wouldn’t blind her, and turned around to face Idunna, swallowing.

“Do you know of Horcruxes?”

Idunna’s wand was drawn in an instant, a spark of magic like rising dawn dancing down her fingers. “Where did you hear that word?”

“It is more than a word,” Narcissa said, keeping her voice small. She looked again at the handkerchief, although this time it was mostly so she wouldn’t laugh. “It is a thing. Many things. The Dark Lord made them. More than one. I have managed to destroy one, and I think the person it corrupted will be all right now. But—I know there are others. And I’ve started dreaming about the Dark Lord lately.”

“Call him by his right name. Call him Voldemort.”

Narcissa gave a flinch that was exaggerated, but then again, Idunna wasn’t to know that Narcissa had been using his name for years. “I’m afraid to in his presence,” she whispered. “The Horcruxes haunt my dreams. I think there must be one nearby. But I don’t know where it is, or how to find it.”

That Voldemort would have hidden a Horcrux in the school seemed to Narcissa entirely possible. He had been obsessed with Founders’ artifacts at one point, if what Lucius had told her of some of his ravings in the Death Eater meetings was true. (And it must be true; Lucius would not dare to lie to her). He had wanted to teach at Hogwarts at one point. He had made speeches about how he would restore Hogwarts’ ancient glory.

And if Narcissa could use Idunna as her hound on a leash to find it, she would be happy about the minimum of wasted effort it would cost her.

“Why do you think one must be nearby?”

Narcissa backed up a step and gave Idunna the eyes of a frightened deer. “B-because I didn’t have any dreams like this at home! And I’ve found myself—I never had such hostility to the Light before. But now I do. I find myself wanting to curse you at dinner.”

Idunna lapped that up, as of course she would. Nothing Narcissa said was a lie, only a technical truth, counting that she had not had dreams of Horcruxes in Malfoy Manor. And most of the time, she had no particular hostility to Light wizards and witches who were not trying to hurt her family.

“I should have known that someone with your reputation would not go Dark so suddenly.”

“My reputation?”

“Calm and quiet and graceful, and influential in persuading your husband to hold back when he might sometimes trample over others with his might and money.”

“Oh.” Narcissa clasped her fingers tighter and tighter, until Idunna reached out and gently plucked the handkerchief from her hands.

“Do not break bones,” she whispered, Light glowing from her and playing along her wand and reflecting from the walls. “I will find this Horcrux. I promise you. And when it is destroyed, then your corruption should cease.”

Narcissa bowed her head. “Thank you, my lady.”

“Idunna, that’s what you should call me. We are fellow professors, and more united in the struggle against the Dark than I knew.”

Narcissa bowed and stumbled and fumbled her way out of Idunna’s quarters, then went to mark essays. This particular ploy would give her some breathing room to concentrate on things other than Horcruxes, and Light magic was probably better-suited to finding them than the Divination methods Narcissa had intended to employ.

She could watch Draco’s progress in the Dark Arts, and continue Harry’s training, Lucius’s freedom, and Voldemort’s punishment. That Idunna, reliant on the ability to detect lies that often came along with such bright magic, would believe her an ally only made things all the sweeter.

*

“Watch, Mother!”

Narcissa stopped in the door of the small room she had adopted as her training room this year with Harry, and watched as Draco raised a shield around himself. For a second, it glowed as blue-black as a piece of night sky, shaped and polished and stolen from the stars. Then it thinned and vanished.

Narcissa reached out carefully with a hand. She felt nothing solid, but the air seemed to thicken around her fingers as they approached Draco.

“You’ve mastered another shield?”

“Yes. This one just surrounds my face with Darkness and makes sure that none of her Light magic can touch me.” Draco laughed and dropped the glamour on his face. The sunburst-sharped sunburn had already healed, Narcissa saw with sharp gladness. “I’m working on making sure I can have one for my hands, too, so I don’t get burned when she hands my essays back.”

“A wise decision.” Narcissa looked across the room and saw Harry tossing his knives in the air, playing with them, but also proving that he could catch them and lie safely in the middle of a whirlwind of steel. He looked back at her and winked.

Then he gave Draco a smile that was as soft as the wind and as deep as that shield’s color. And Narcissa felt another sharp gladness. Her son would have a more equal marriage than she had.

“I’m going to teach Harry how to defend against a certain kind of mental attack, Draco,” she said, and saw the way her son waved his wand to dismiss the shield. “You will want to learn this, too, although the technique for you will be different.”

“Why can’t I learn the way Harry is?”

“Because you were never a Horcrux. You don’t have that wound there. The way you defend your mind and soul will have to be different.”

Draco paused, with his head tilted, and then nodded and sat on the chair in front of her that he must have conjured; Harry was better at arts other than conjuration. Harry sat on the floor beside him, calm and attentive.

“Now,” Narcissa said, “there are certain people who can detect lies, and you can’t do anything about that. A master Legilimens like Voldemort. A Light witch like Professor Freyadaughter, who burns so with radiance that she would burn through even the murk of lies in her own mind. You can, however, make sure that they do not influence you into telling the truth.”

“How would they do that?” Draco had turned pale.

Narcissa approved of his caution. “A master Legilimens might impose her will upon you. A strong Light witch or wizard might tilt you more towards the Light the more time you spend with them. I suspect that is one reason that Professor Freyadaughter was willing to take up a position at Hogwarts when it is both in another country from hers and cursed. She wishes to save her students.”

“Will she turn me into being more Light, then?”

“Not you, Draco. I think your natural affinity for the Dark is too strong. But there may be a chance of it harming others.”

Harry inclined his head as Narcissa looked at him. “So that’s what you’re going to teach me to defend against?”

“Yes. And I will teach Draco the form of the attack that will keep a Legilimens from swaying him simply by being in the same room.”

“Do, please, Mother.” Draco looked revolted. “I know I can’t resist the Imperius Curse yet like Harry can, but I want to make sure that I don’t just crumble and do whatever Voldemort wants.”

“You’ve been testing the Imperius Curse on him, Harry?”

“Yes.” Harry’s glance back at her was entirely unapologetic.

Narcissa sighed. “Well, make sure that you don’t do it at Hogwarts outside this room, which has the wards to prevent anyone else from sensing an Unforgivable. Now, Draco, this is like Occlumency, but you imagine yourself constantly and fluidly moving, making a shield of the motion, instead of building a solid one like most people do in Occlumency…”

*

“I believe I have located the Horcrux.”

Narcissa turned at once to Idunna, who had taken the seat beside her at dinner. “You have?” she asked, and let her surprise color her voice as worship. “That is impressive work!”

“When I know what I am looking for, it is not.”

Of course not, since I gave you the first clue. Would you have looked for a Horcrux in the school at all if I had not informed you? But Narcissa let her eyelashes veil her eyes as if in modesty and murmured, “Do you need any help to destroy it?”

“No. I know several ways of poisoning such foul things. But I would like you to witness me destroy it. You can tell me if the heavy weight of your dreams and your hostility to the Light begins to fade when you confront it, or if they continue. If they continue, that would suggest another Horcrux exists.”

I already told you that others exist, idiot.

“I would be most grateful, Idunna,” Narcissa said, and went back to eating her meal, while making quiet plans to order Harry and Draco to stay in Gryffindor Tower and the dungeons and not venture out after curfew as they often did. She didn’t want them anywhere near the scene of a Horcrux’s destruction they didn’t have a reason to be intimately a part of.

*

“The radiation of the Darkness is here?”

“Inside a wall, Idunna?”

“Ah, that is what I thought, as well. But I asked the Headmistress, and she said she believed that there had been a classroom here at one point. Or at least a room. A hidden door. I suspect Voldemort thought he was being clever.”

There are times he borders on it, Narcissa thought, and stood back against the tapestry of dancing trolls as Idunna aimed her wand at the wall.

“I am the Light against the Dark,” Idunna intoned, and then went on, speaking more words in a language Narcissa was not going to admit she knew. The golden ornaments she had braided into her hair today began to spin on their small chains, picking up the light that seemed to exude from Idunna’s wand. Idunna finally raised her wand and brought it down in a single, savage motion that made the floor tremble.

But nothing happened to the wall in front of her. Narcissa moved a hand across her mouth as if to conceal a gasp.

“That spell should not have failed,” Idunna said, in a voice that sounded dazed from how much magic she had expended. Then she returned to shouting at the stone, threatening it, trying to crack it, and even stirring up what Narcissa recognized as a minor earthquake. Nothing happened. Voldemort’s hiding place remained solid and secure.

“Have you tried asking it?” Narcissa murmured.

“What?” Idunna whirled to face her, her hair singed.

“Like this,” Narcissa said, and reached over to knock on the solid wall. “Will you open unto us and show us the room where Voldemort hid everything he did not want others to find?”

There was a responsive shimmer of magic from the wall, and the outline of a door appeared. Narcissa began to move back and forth in front of it, and on the third pass, the door appeared fully.

“How did you know to do that?” Idunna’s suspicious voice demanded behind her.

“I thought asking might work better than demanding,” Narcissa said mildly, and slipped inside. Idunna came right behind her. Narcissa didn’t mind that. The woman’s magic was still the best chance they had to identify the Horcrux.

And I might have visited the Headmistress before we came up here, too.