Confused Beauty

Finding Out

I suck in a deep breath at the sight of the blonde woman. I slowly finish walking down the stairs with shaky legs and hands. My left hand gripped the rail, but my right was gripping my robes as I tried to stay calm. I don't speak or move to greet our guest when I reach the last step until Blaise and Draco are next to me, even then I am still unsure what to do. I stay on the last step and Draco and Blaise stand in front of me, slightly below me but because of their heights they are still taller than me. Blaise takes my hand as he passes the last step, but releases it when he stands in front of me. Draco is the first to speak.

"Mother," Draco says in greeting, nodding his head towards her.

"Draco, come here." Narcissa Malfoy says, opening her arms like she wanted to give her son an embrace, something I had not seen a Malfoy do.

The phrase makes me tense and flinch slightly. I knew Narcissa Malfoy was not a Death Eater, I wasn't sure she even had the Death Mark. Nothing about her scared me because I knew she was a good person, but she was there. She was there when I was tortured, there when Voldemort killed Harry for the second time, there when Voldemort was killed, and there when Aurora was with the Zabini's. She was the woman who tried to kill me and everyone I love's sister. She was supposedly an extremely nice person, but her presence and voice brought back memories that were easier to face when I could wake up and stop thinking about them. When you begin thinking thoughts you don't want to have they tend to stay in your mind longer than normal thoughts. I don't like having to face thoughts of war.

Draco stays where he is, "How did you know I was back?" Draco asks, sounding more and more like the scared boy I knew and saw in war. So he didn't know who the guests were going to be after all, I note.

"After the war when you left along with your father," Narcissa pauses and puts her arms down. "I placed special wards on the house that were similar to the Zabini's. No one could come to the house unless they were of my blood." She glances from me to Draco. "On Monday, the wards went off, informing me that there was a Malfoy and a guest in the Manor. Obviously it couldn't have been my husband, seeing as he has his own cell in Azkaban. I apparated home and heard yelling in the drawing-room," Draco and I both tense up at thought of the drawing-room. "When I entered the room I saw Draco following a woman into the fireplace. I assume, I hope, that it was you, Aurora."

"It's Hermione." The three of us reply. My voice was a whisper, Blaise's sounding far away, and Draco's tight and angry. Blaise steps back and laid a hand on my arm, knowing I was in slight shock.

"Of course," Narcissa smiles in my direction. "The only word I caught was Zabini, so of course, I immediately got in contact with Circe and began planning. After all I am your godmother and amount other things." She explains, implying other things were going on. Narcissa looks to Circe and Felix. Both of the older Zabini's were holding hands and looking at us with the same look Blaise had when I arrived earlier. They all seemed wary about Narcissa's presence. Maybe they weren't as close to her as Narcissa was implying. Or maybe things were going on behind their front of calm. "Why don't we get started?"

Circe let's go of Felix's hand and walks forward looking at the three of us and not Narcissa. "Are you three hungry?" She asks, looking at her son only. The question was simple, but I still didn't reply. Blaise understood what was going on better than I did.

"I'm hungry," Blaise replies in monotone.

Crice nods, trying to keep a smile, and turns to Narcissa. "Come, Cissy, our elves have been working all day on a fantastic dinner." She walks to Cissy and both woman walk down the hall with one glance back at their children.

Felix stay behind and look at us. I was still stunned from the choice of words Narcissa used, words that were exactly the same as the ones she used to call Draco over to see if Harry was who everyone thought he was during the war. Draco was staring after his mother in confusion, still unsure of her intention. Blaise was looking between Felix and I, making circles on my arm to try to soothe me.