Chapter 17
“Narcissa invited us for tea,” Lily commanded aloud. It wasn’t really a question or a statement, moreso an irrefutable declaration as if she had just passed a bill in the Ministry.
When the parchment arrived addressed to “Lily Potter,” the house had gone up in chaos- Sirius peeking past the drapes and checking out of the windows, James holding his wand up as if someone was hiding in the very room they were in, Harry standing dumbly watching all of his so-called guardians, and Lily only inspected the seal before sitting down calmly on the sofa.
“Lily don’t open it,” James hissed as if the mere parchment itself was poison.
“It has the Malfoy crest on it, if they wanted to kill me they’d have more creative ways of doing it,” she drawled.
“How do you know the Malfoy crest?” Sirius asked suspiciously.
She rolled her eyes and read it once to herself and then out loud to her intrigued audience.
“It’s tomorrow,” she settled.
“You’re not actually going are you?” James asked, dumbfounded.
Harry thought it was rather sweet actually, knowing Draco wanted at least their mum’s to meet. He didn’t know how Lucius would react but it was best to keep him locked up in his side of the wing anyhow.
“Oh my gods can I come?” Sirius questioned, much more interested now. He looked between him and Lily like a child asking his parents for sweets and they both shrugged.
The matter was easily settled.
“Well I’ll be back,” Harry called out, heading towards the floo to go to Andromeda’s to pick up Teddy.
While he had a usually set schedule with Teddy, he admittedly had been slacking recently with the many upheavals of his life but he still wanted Sirius to meet the boy and Andromeda to have a day to herself.
He left and came back almost immediately with a happy Teddy and a go-bag strapped across his shoulders.
Everyone was settled all around the sitting room just as before and while James and Lily looked up and smiled, Sirius jumped up in shock.
As Sirius closed in on them, Teddy giggled and changed his features, his sandy brown hair turned jet black and his normally golden eyes shifted to reveal grey ones.
Sirius ended up short, “Oh my gods, he’s a metamorphmagus too?”
“Mhm and a very active one at that,” Harry smiled before setting the boy down to run into Lily’s outstretched arms.
She scooped the boy up with ease despite his ever increasing height and weight and began to tickle him, relishing in the sound of his laughter.
“What does he normally look like?” Sirius asked.
“He’s basically a carbon copy of Remus but everything else is from Tonks,” Harry answered easily.
Teddy, having had enough playtime with Lily, switched gears and looked at Sirius shyly before hiding his face behind James’ outstretched legs. His interest was obvious though because while he pretended to not care, he stared at Sirius quite obviously when he thought he wasn’t looking.
“Teddy, this is Sirius, he’s my uncle,” Harry introduced them, pulling Teddy’s small fist towards them.
Sirius waved in a way that he must have meant to be comforting but came out a bit tensely. It took Harry a while to be comfortable around babies as well, especially ones that meant this much to him.
Sirius flourished his hand and a small lolly appeared in his hand and he pretended to marvel at it, wondering how it had got there.
Harry couldn’t even lie, he was a bit tempted as well.
Teddy awed at it, small mouth rounding out to an ‘O’ as he looked at James and Lily, as if asking for permission to approach. They nodded and he climbed over James’ leg, instead of walking around, and toddled unsteadily over to Sirius.
He accepted the candy and from then on, Harry could see an already beautiful friendship blossoming.
While Harry desperately wanted to stay at home, he knew he had to go to the Auror Office next and inform Robbards of his very sudden career change and hand in his badge and uniform.
He went to the apparition point and landed in the vast atrium of the Ministry in which he had frequented many times, first as only a teenager in trouble for using underage magic in front of muggles to an employee to now as just a civilian.
Suffering through the incredibly slow flat ride down to the offices, he strolled in, saying hello to his coworkers and asking others about their kids, only delaying the inevitable beating he’d be receiving from the Head Auror who was a right arse, though Harry couldn’t blame him, he deserved it now.
He never checked back in at work after he’d run out of free days, never messaged anyone or let them know if he was okay, never told Robbards about his plans, and never told anyone that he’d broken just about every time travel law that would certainly excite the Unspeakables who dealt with those sorts of matters.
He knocked lightly on Robbards’ door and slowly entered with a sheepish smile on his face after he barked his assent to enter through the door.
When the gruff man looked up at Harry with a face of poorly concealed fury, he immediately ripped him a new one, “Auror Potter, how nice of you to grace us with your presence. I take it your holiday was restful? Why are you joining us so soon? Please feel free to take another three months while you’re at it.”
Harry just nodded, accepting the sarcasm, “I apologise sir but-”
He lifted a meaty finger then and stood up from his desk, “No time for excuses boy, I ought to fire you now.”
“Well then, I suppose I’ll just be leaving my things here then,” Harry shrugged, holding out everything he’d brought with him, glad to clear this matter up quickly.
If he was fired, he was free.
“Wait what?” Robbards asked, faltering.
“I’m fired, I get it,” Harry replied, dropping everything on Robbard’s little chair in the corner.
“Oh come on now, I was just trying to teach a little discipline Mr. Potter, let us not be so hasty,” the man backtracked, not wanting to lose the Chosen One so soon.
“No, no sir, I wouldn’t want special treatment,” Harry said mock-wistfully, making a show of this being entirely genuine.
He already began inching to the door, “I’ll go ahead and clear my desk.”
“Mr. Potter,” the man spluttered, stomping around his desk, “I’m sure we could work something out-.”
“No sir, I understand clearly, I’ll just go before I start getting too emotional.”
At that Harry sped out of the office, sending a wink to Ron with a small smirk before making his way to Draco’s office at the end of the hall.
“I’ve been fired,” he said, walking in and interrupting whatever it was that his boyfriend was so diligently working on.
“Have you? Well I must admit I’ve been expecting this for a while, clearly you couldn’t handle it unlike some people, such as mys-,” Draco went on, twirling the quill between his fingers.
“Oh shut up,” Harry laughed, shutting the door and locking it behind him.
Once he had done that, thoroughly, Harry went over to his desk to pick up two of Neville’s dying plants and whatever junk he hid in his desk. Draco was also not lying when describing the stack of paperwork left on his desk and he felt very bad for whoever was to take on that task once he was gone.
He sorted through them a bit by date and importance and Finley, who worked in the Magical Archives, came by, “Hey Harry! I heard what happened, I’m sorry to see you go.”
“How?” Harry asked, dumbfounded. He checked the clock, it hadn’t been that long.
“Well the papers in the archive magically update so when yours flashed, I checked and saw,” they quirked, flipping a curtain of purple hair over their shoulder. “I wanted to let you know that I finally found something on the woman you asked me to look into.”
He thought hard about who they were referencing and perked up once it came to him, “Oh really, I’ll have to look through this stack again, I’m sorry I missed it.”
“I have it with me at my desk, c’mon,” they said, shuffling out of his office and into the lifts to go down a few more levels.
Harry didn’t make the trip down to the archives often but he was taken aback each time. It was like the Hall of Prophecies except instead of life changing magical balls, like Draco’s, each aisle was lined floor to ceiling with boxes
Finley’s desk was tucked between two aisles and they began to rummage around in their desks until finally coming upon an unusually thin file, “So, there wasn’t much on Mary MacDonald. She was born in Troyes, France to Alexandre and Reine MacDonald. She has one brother who is non-magical and resides in London as an author. She is listed as a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the first war but her involvement must have been only in-title. She was listed as married to one ‘Emmeline Vance’ but her file is practically equal to Mary’s. After the war, both their trails ran dry and we couldn’t find anything else.”
Harry flipped through the file as Finley spoke and looked at the small picture clipped into the pages. It was a Hogwarts’s school picture, told by the distinct Gryffindor uniform and how young the woman looked.
He asked Finley to look into Mary once Lily had mentioned her and wanted to perhaps offer her a nugget of information about her past. The desire to do so only intensified at Sirius’ arrival.
“Thank you Finley,” Harry said, wishing for more.
“I’ve included her brother, Pierre's address below, that might be a good place to start,” they offered helpfully.
He saw it and thanked Finley for their efforts before shrinking it, putting it in his pocket, and going home once more.
_____
He arrived back home to an interesting sight indeed.
Teddy, his parents, and Sirius, were all sitting on the floor around the living room table. Sirius had a small glittering crown sitting askew on his head with pink fluff popping out of it and a matching pink feather boa looped around his neck. Lily had a green dress on that was at least twice her size, fanning out all around her like a halo and James had on a metal suit like the armours that were proudly displayed around Hogwarts.
They all had small purple tea cups and trays set in front of each of them with Teddy, who had a small bowtie on, directing Kreacher to put small biscuits on each plate and fill each cup with tea.
He managed to stifle his laughter long enough to summon his camera and capture multiple magical pictures of the scene in front of him. Once that was done, he barked out a laugh, unable to contain himself at the sight of the three of them.
Sirius and James looked up at Harry for help but Lily only looked delighted, “Prince Harry is here! Please come join us,” she asked graciously like a queen inviting the peasant for a night away.
Teddy ran over and grabbed two of Harry’s fingers, dragging him to the table. When he sat down though, Teddy looked over him in distaste, frowning at his muggle jeans and shirt.
Harry, knowing the man was right, flourished his wand over his clothes and transfigured them into a set of regal looking robes and when Teddy nodded once, he knew he was pleased.
They continued the tea party, any empty spots dutifully filled up by Teddy’s teddys.
“How did this happen?” Harry whispered over the table.
“We do as master says,” Sirius responded and Harry had to put his hand over his mouth to giggle when Teddy looked up at them, trying to suss out what they were saying.
“You know, this reminds me…I have no nice robes,” Lily mentioned.
The three of them looked up, “What do you need robes for?” James asked.
“The actual tea party tomorrow,” she sighed, holding her pinky up graciously when she took a sip from the comically small cup. “I was thinking of going to Madam Malkin’s.”
“Fat chance, how are you going to manage that?” Sirius inquired, munching on a biscuit with the crumbs falling into his boa.
“I’ll have you know that I am exceptional at glamours, I make a good Harry don’t I,” she turned to Harry.
He had to nod because she was quite right.
“Do you think Hermione might be interested in coming with me? I know she might not consider me a friend or anything and it might be weird but- actually, nevermind it’s fine,” Lily floundered, waving her hands.
“I’m sure she’d love to, I’ll firecall her right now,” Harry reassured her, putting a comforting hand on her arm that she grasped onto.
It was little moments like this that reminded Harry just how young his parents were, not only when they died, but still were.
Lily was only twenty-two, which was practically naught for wizards who lived very long lives. She died so shortly after Hogwarts and still yearned to be just like all the other young women her age. She became a mother young but that didn’t mean that she was homely or matronly but she still had the burning vitality of youth with no true outlet.
Those that she did spend her time with have all since passed or disappeared and it would make sense that with her new setting, she would start to feel aged, that she couldn’t have as much fun as she used to but it didn’t need to be that way.
Harry called Hermione once Teddy had fallen asleep with his face in a plate of biscuits. She came over at once and the two of them linked arms and left to Diagon Alley, leaving the three of the boys together to lounge around as usual.
_____
Lily refused to show them what she had bought while out and now it was James’ turn to worry about what to wear. Unfortunately for him, this epiphany came about an hour before they had to leave the following day so he had no time to try and shop for a different option.
“Mate, why are you trying to dress up for Lucius,” Sirius asked, looking over his shoulder from his spot in the mirror.
“I don’t care about Lucius but now that Lily’s getting all dressed up I don’t want to look like some half rate next to her,” he complained, pulling clothes out of the very limited armoire.
Sirius sighed, “Harry, I’m sure Regulus and I had left clothes back here, do you know where those might be now?”
He thought about it for a moment, “Er, Regulus’ clothes were gone but I think Kreacher probably had something to do with that, your closet was empty but based on the scorch marks, I’d say your mum burnt them all.”
He rolled his eyes, “Course she would. Well, Regulus had a million pairs of dress robes, with preservation and adjustment charms of course, maybe you can ask Kreacher for a set.”
James’ expression was unreadable but he stepped out of the room to find the elf nonetheless.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit weird for him to wear Regulus’ robes?” Harry asked a bit awkwardly.
“If there’s one thing Reg hated more than our mum was being underdressed for an occasion, Merlin forbid he show up anywhere looking like me. I’m sure he’d be happy James was dressing up for something for once,” he smirked.
Harry thought that was all he was going to say but he spoke once more, “When I found out about James and Regulus I admittedly overreacted. I said a lot of stuff that I regretted and still do. It was just before he disappeared, before they’d ended things. I don’t know why I was so angry about it, I proved them right in not telling me because I shut them both out for so long. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had never gotten mad, maybe shown them support instead of whatever I’d done,” he sighed before straightening up, snapping out of whatever memory he had become trapped in, “Nonetheless, I am happy Regulus had known love before he had gone off to do what he did. He made fun of Gryffindors for their saviour complex but ended up just like the rest of us.”
Harry smiled a bit at the sentiment before James had walked in.
He was wearing a pair of emerald green robes, it was perhaps the most formal he had ever seen James, in real life or in pictures and he looked rather dashing.
“Would you look at that Prongs, you clean up nice don’t you,” Sirius added cheekily, coming out when he decided his hair was styled to his liking.
“I can’t say the same about you because I wouldn’t know,” James teased, eyeing Sirius’ current outfit of choice.
“Don’t hate what you don’t understand,” Sirius said with a pointed finger.
Sirius’ style was always a bit eccentric from what Harry had seen before and could see now. He was wearing a pair of black trousers with a button up sheer black top though the buttons were more unbuttoned than buttoned, keeping most of his tattoos on display. On top of that was a wildly patterned green coat that wouldn’t look right on anyone else but seemed to work perfectly for him.
Harry had dressed up a bit nicer, wearing a black suit trousers and a crisp blue button up top and while his hair was hopeless, he hoped the rest of the outfit made up for that unfortunate detail.
“Hey, grandfather invented Sleekeazy's didn’t he?” Harry asked James.
“Yes he did!” James smiled, pleased Harry knew that detail.
“And yet it doesn’t work on either of our hair,” he frowned.
James shook his head sadly, pointing at the bird’s nest resting atop his head.
Lily had arrived into the room a moment later. She was wearing a lovely set of aubergine robes that complimented her features in the loveliest way, bringing out a sparkle in her eyes and setting her already fiery hair alight in contrast. The soft material hugged her figure exactly under a much lighter cloak that seemed to float on a phantom wind around her.
James looked like he was ready to faint and Harry and Sirius both worked to pick his jaw up off the floor.
“You look absolutely beautiful Lily,” he finally managed to say, bringing her in for a kiss.
“You don’t look too bad yourself,” she smiled with a wink. She ran her hands along the soft material of James’ cloak, fixing one silver clasp before turning to Harry and Sirius.
“Lily, if I was straight I guarantee you I would fight James for your hand,” Sirius said seriously, raising Lily’s hand to his lips for a kiss. She laughed delightedly.
“You look amazing mum, I hope you and Hermione had fun,” Harry said sincerely to which she nodded.
Once last minute adjustments had been made and everyone had been wrangled, they stepped outside to apparate to Malfoy manor, choosing to brave the walk up the drive to the house rather than all arrive in the floo like a bumbling train.
Malfoy Manor stood as imperiously as ever amidst the natural greenery surrounding the home. The skies were clear which helped the house look less haunted but the black gates that slowly creaked open to allow them entry were still a bit ominous.
“Man I hated this place,” Sirius grumbled, squinting his eyes against the sun.
“Did you come here often?” Harry asked.
“Not really, the last time I came here was during Cissy’s wedding. Andromeda and I got so pissed that Lucius locked us in the cellar until after the ceremony. He clearly forgot that the rest of the alcohol was stored in there so Andromeda and I got straight to work,” Sirius winked at Harry.
“He brought back so much alcohol to school the next term everyone legitimately thought he had some shady underground business deals going on. He single handedly funded Gryffindor parties for two years after that,” James went on, applauding Sirius’ great contribution.
Once they had arrived at the front door, they only had to knock once before Draco opened the door with a tight smile, “Welcome.”
Harry immediately caught on to it, “What is it?” he asked after brushing a light kiss to his cheek.
“Nothing,” Draco tried to assuage Harry and though he didn’t believe it, there was a light tapping noise approaching them that drew their attention.
Narcissa Malfoy appeared around the corner. She had always been a lithe woman but after the war, she had become even frailer than before and used a cane to support herself. Harry suspected it used to be Lucius’ though he only ever used it for aesthetic reasons. Her hair was now more white than it was black and her eyes seemed to hold a perpetual tiredness but they lightened when she saw her guests in the foyer.
When she neared them, she took pause, her eyes holding onto Sirius the longest, “Draco told me you were back but I never…”
“Cissy!” Sirius greeted, already going in for the hug.
He picked Narcissa up easily and she laughed delightedly in his arms, looking younger than she had in a long time.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said, resting a hand on Sirius cheek, scanning his face and committing it to memory.
“I’m only sorry it’s taken us so long,” he replied, setting her back down gently. “Even after I got out of Azkaban I never…I’m sorry.”
“Don’t, I understand why,” Narcissa reasoned easily. She turned then to James and Lily and awed softly, “Draco also told me about you two but I just never…”
“It’s been a lot for us too,” James finished lightly.
“I always wanted to reach out to you. I’m not sure if you know this but Draco was due to be born in July, just as Harry and Neville were. I was just as scared as you were and went into hiding myself. The war was quite a scary time,” she said sadly. “But we’re not here to talk about that, come now” she smiled, picking up her cane with one hand and bypassing Draco to hold onto Harry’s arm with her other.
She led them to her favourite space in the home, the sunroom. It was a few degrees warmer here than in any other part of the house and was connected to the conservatory where she did most of her gardening, a long held passion of hers.
A small elf, Bippy, was standing there waiting for them all. Bippy was quite a flamboyant elf with large pearl earrings hanging from her ears and a large knitted scarf draped over her in the likeness of a dress. She made her status as a free elf very well known but stayed with the Malfoys out of her own free will.
They all took spots around the small table where the elf was doling out tea and small plates piled with sandwiches and other finger foods for them to indulge in.
“How are you all finding the year 2000?” she asked with a touch of humour.
“Depressing,” Sirius summed it all up quite well. “But I am incredibly grateful to Harry for stopping by the Department of Mysteries all that time ago and taking me with him.”
Narcissa nodded, “So I have heard. When I first found out about your death from Lucius I admit it hurt me…When I found out it was from Bella’s wand, I couldn’t believe she had truly done it. We always knew she was unhinged in her later years but never did I think she had the capacity for such cruelty.”
“I did,” he snorted. “But you always had more hope in her than the rest of us,” he amended, placing his hand atop hers comfortingly.
“I’m quite thankful for Harry for allowing me the opportunity to meet my son’s partner’s parents, for the second time I suppose,” she began, turning to James and Lily. Harry remembered that while Narcissa and Lucius were older, they weren’t so far apart that they’d have never seen each other. While James and Lily first arrived at Hogwarts, they were preparing to leave.
“I’ve seen the way Draco treats Harry and we are so grateful for him and the love they share, it’s clearly attributed to you,” Lily commented honestly.
Narcissa looked wistfully at Draco, “Lucius was always harsh with Draco growing up, treating him as an heir not as a son. I could only hope that any lesson I taught him was not buried underneath all of his.”
“I can imagine,” James huffed and Lily jabbed him with her elbow at being sassy to their host.
“Oh no he’s quite right. I admit I was blinded when I was young by the love we shared but he never lost his ambition or cruelty that festered under the surface, manifesting into becoming his slave. He is the reason I am alive but also why I may never walk unassisted or sleep for a full night again,” she admitted.
“I wanted to thank you, for the role you played in the war. Harry told us what you did- how you saved his life,” Lily offered, her eyes already shining under the warm light that filtered in.
They continued talking after that, chatting about light and serious topics all the same, jumping in and out of them with ease and Harry and Draco began their own side conversations, talking about Harry’s future at Hogwarts and his at the Auror office and Sirius interjected to casually interrogate Draco.
None of them noticed the passage of time as the sun crawled across the blue expanse of the sky, spinning the shadows of the room around until a loud sound of shattering glass broke the small bubble they had created for themselves in there.
Everyone looked up in alarm as the sound was accompanied by the sound of shouting.
Harry, Draco, and Narcissa knew exactly what had happened.
“I’ll go,” Draco said, standing up quickly and leaving, shutting the door to the room firmly behind him.
Soon, the sound of Draco shouting could be audible though his words were muffled and unclear.
Their voices increased in volume and tempo and more glass was shattered and Harry became increasingly worried. Draco preferred to deal with Lucius and his episodes on his own and he had told Harry as much clearly and while Harry respected those boundaries, it didn’t make listening to them any more easy.
Narcissa’s lighthearted demeanour from before dissipated and she now just looked timidly at the floor, cringing every time Lucius’ voice was especially distinct from the cacophony of noise.
Suddenly, the voices got louder until the door to the Conservatory was blasted open, the glass shattering everywhere. Thankfully they were seated faraway enough that it didn’t land on any of them but the noise jolted Narcissa, sending her into a panic as she grasped at something to hold onto.
Lucius looked nothing like he used to. His hair was shorn short and hung just above his shoulders in a dull curtain. He wore plain grey robes that hung off of his thin frame but his aged face was still construed into one of a man used to power and authority. He didn’t seem to realise that he didn’t have either of those things anymore.
“What do we have here?” he seethed, stepping onto the glass with his bare feet and if he felt any sort of pain, none of it showed on his face.
Draco ran in a moment after him with a face of disappointment, “Lucius-”
He whirled around, “You will treat me with respect. You will address me as father.”
“And what have you done to deserve that respect?” Sirius jumped in, standing up now.
“Sirius-” Narcissa called out from where she was sitting between James and Lily who guarded her.
“Hush woman, it seems Black has come back from the dead to haunt us,” Lucius spat angrily. His eyes were wide and manic as he just looked at them all. Harry couldn’t tell if he processed James or Lily because he made no comment on them.
His eyes focused on Harry or specifically, the lightning scar on his forehead, “You,” he seethed, “You get out of my house!” his voice boomed, bouncing off of the glass panes.
“You’re the only one unwanted here,” James shot out.
“Draco, throw them out, now,” he ordered Draco who stood quietly behind him, unmoved by his words.
He was outraged by the lack of action from his heir and flourished his wand and with a single slash, all of the glass surrounding them broke, raining down on them.
Harry cast a protection charm quickly and the glass merely slid off of it and down onto the floor.
The room, if it could even be called that anymore, was silent except for the sound of Lucius’ heavy breathing and with that, Draco stepped forward, aiming his wand at his father’s back and petrified him instantly. He then walked around his form and snatched the wand out of his hand. Draco scanned the black jewelled wand for a long moment before snapping it in half and dropping the now useless pieces onto the ground.
Draco looked at his mum for a long moment, exhaling deeply and heavily but Narcissa made no move to protest, just clutched onto Sirius for support.
“Lucius Malfoy I am placing you under arrest for unlawful use of magic,” Draco said with a tone of finality, pulling magical cuffs out of his pocket to place around Lucius’ hands.
The cuffs doubled as a portkey and just as quickly as Lucius stormed in, he was gone.
No one seemed to know what to do as Narcissa softly cried into Sirius’ shoulder.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered aloud, “I shouldn’t have invited you all here, I should’ve-”
“Don’t you dare apologise,” Sirius said not unkindly towards her.
“Let’s get this cleaned up,” Lily said, already waving her wand in tandem with James, levitating the glass off the floor and melding the pieces together, fixing what they could.
Harry stepped up to Draco and stepped out of the room with him, “Are you okay?” Because really, there was no other question to ask.
He knew Draco didn’t love Lucius, especially not in the way a son loved his father but they still had a sort of relationship. They gave Lucius his wand at home which they technically hadn’t been allowed to do but Narcissa allowed her sympathy to overpower the law and he used it to wreak havoc, even in the diminished state he was in.
Draco ran a hand through his hair, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back, “Is it bad that I’ve wanted to do that for years.”
Harry smiled lightly to match Draco’s expression, “No.”
“He should’ve gone to a penitentiary a long time ago but Mum wanted him to stay and I respected her wishes but it’s clear he was too far gone, I only hope she can cope without him,” he sighed, looking back into the room.
“She will,” Harry assured him, “She’s not alone.”
Draco nodded seriously, “Please apologise to your parents, I have to go to the Ministry now to deal with that but I am sorry this happened.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Harry said easily, kissing Draco goodbye before heading back in. Most of the windows and fixtures in the room were fixed but there were still a few holes.
“What do you say we turn this tea party into a picnic in the garden,” Sirius grinned, calling Bippy to ask her nicely if they could move everything.
Lily and James joined enthusiastically, smiling and leading Narcissa outside. She wasn’t necessarily distraught, already having known that Lucius was far gone but she was incredibly embarrassed.
“He’ll be okay, he’ll get the help he needs,” Harry promised Narcissa.
“I think…I think it’s best that Lucius stays somewhere else he can be cared for…The manor wasn’t good for him,” Narcissa said with a tone of finality and honesty even she hadn’t expected.
Harry knew the issue of Lucius had loomed over both Draco and Narcissa for years and his presence seemed to root both of them in the past when all they wanted to do was move forward. He continuously pestered Draco and terrorised Narcissa who deserved a life of peace.
Draco came back and joined them a few hours later, assuring them that Lucius had been moved to St. Mungo’s for the time being where he would receive treatment.
He walked with his back a bit straighter, as if a weight had been lifted, and Narcissa allowed herself a bit more freedom as she let her hair loose from its usually tight bun and smiled a bit wider than before, surrounded by her rose garden against the setting sun.
Harry couldn’t help but feel a dark chapter of their life had closed and a new one had opened, one full of hope and happiness for the mother and son who had endured a lifetime of abuse from the hands of a man who valued pride over them.
“This has been the best picnic ever, seriously,” Sirius grinned, laying back on the picnic blanket to watch the sunset. “Something chaotic always happens at an event where there’s more than two Blacks present.”
Narcissa laughed loudly at that, clinking her glass against Sirius’ in a toast.
Harry looked over at Draco, “I think Sirius approves of you.”
“As if I was vying for his approval,” he tried to say casually though Harry could see the pleased smile that graced his features.
“You know I love you right?” Harry asked genuinely. Draco had never looked quite so beautiful to Harry as he did now, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, his features set peacefully as he rested his head right by Harry’s as they lay side by side, their fingers linked together between them.
“I do but I wouldn’t mind hearing it a couple hundred more times,” he grinned cheekily before turning and kissing him back, “and I love you.”
As the pieces of Harry’s future began to fall into place, he found that Draco comprised a very large piece of it and as he played with the fingers on Draco’s left hand, he wonder what it might be like to feel a wedding band across one of his fingers, how it might sound clinking against a twin one on Harry’s hand.
Oh what a sight it would be indeed.
_____
Harry went off on a mission the following day, apparating to a small house in the suburbs of London.
He knocked one, twice, at the door before a man opened the door. He was rather young, perhaps only a few years older than Harry. His hair was tied up in an intricate pattern of braids and he had an easy atmosphere about him as he leaned against the entryway with a pristine, “Hello?”
He had a strong french accent and was grateful for all his time spent with Fleur that he could understand him.
“Are you Pierre MacDonald?” Harry asked hopefully.
“I am,” he replied easily.
“I’ve come to ask about your sister, Mary MacDonald,” he announced.
A Pierre’s sharp intake of breath, he wasn’t sure he was ready to hear what news the man held about his parents’ last friend.