A Mother's Love

Prologue

     Narcissa Malfoy fled for her life. Her husband was in far too deep with the Dark Lord and today, watching Draco talk about he was going to grow up and rid the world of filthy mudbloods just like his father...It was more than she could take. Her little boy was full of hate and racism. Sure, some of it was on her. She could've stepped up. Challenged Lucius. Finally out of range, Narcissa disapparated at random, in panic. They were very close to catching her, she had been certain of that.

     A quick look around let her realize she was most definitely in a muggle neighborhood. It was quiet and had rows of uniform houses. It looked respectable, by their standards at least. She hurried along the darkened street until a noise that any mother dreads to hear caught her ear. The high pitched sound of a child squealing in pain.

     She stopped and navigated in the dark, coming to 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging. Just through the door she could continued cries of fear. Narcissa listened closely, a sense of unease stealing over her. There was a thump and another cry. "Stop whimpering you little animal!" She heard a gruff man's voice rasping. Rage filled her. Lucius had thought physical punishments were nothing, often taking them a step too far. Once he refused to let her feed Draco for three days because he made friends with a young squib.

     Narcissa drew her wand and whispered in the dark. "Alohomora." The door swung open to reveal a beefy round man with a mustache hitting a small figure on the floor. She raised the wand once more. "Stupefy." He was thrown into the wall from the force of the hex. Crouching over the figure, she tried to get the child to stand.

     She could feel the magic in the child's veins even before he looked up and revealed the all telling scar on his forehead. "Harry Potter." She whispered. "Come on. We have to go." What was she doing? Running away, kidnapping the Boy Who Lived?

     "Vernon?" A scared female voice came from upstairs. Narcissa drew the hood over her head and grabbed the emaciated boy on the floor. Out the door she went.

X

     Although he was ten years old, Harry weighed maybe as much as a seven year old Draco had. Narcissa fussed over him as he lay beaten unconcious in her arms. Where could they go? The entire wizarding world knew their stories, the both of them. She could think of one man. When she knocked on his door late at night, she didn't expect him to answer right away. His lip curled. "Mrs. Malfoy."

     "Severus please I-"

     "I know. Lucius has already sent out Patronus messages to the entirety of the Death Eaters." His eyes flicked to the child she held. "You didn't."

     "They were beating him." She was firm. "And starving him. Just like-" She didn't finish, but they both knew. Lucius wasn't known for his kindness or patience with children.

     "What do you expect me to do?" He gestured for her to come in. She swept in, laying Harry on the couch. Severus immediately began inspecting the vials on his shelf for essence of dittany. He passed it to Narcissa when found and she rolled up Harry's shirt to apply. Angry welps and faded scars of all ages told of his years of abuse. She bit her lip. This was hard to look at and she had seen people murdered in the name of the Dark Lord.

     "Severus. I kept my own account separate from...his. I have money. What I need is help. A place to settle where he will never find us." She looked up to meet his eyes. "Not for me. For Harry. For..." She didn't have to finish it. They both knew he was Lily's child. Knew that Severus would have already decided to do anything he could for the boy, even if he did it in a way that made him seem mean or rough.

     "Alright, Narcissa."

     "Be the Keeper of my Fidelius Charm." She blurted, knowing as she spoke it was a big thing to just say. Severus said nothing for a long moment.

     "If you really need me to."

X

          With Harry sleeping quietly in a clean bed, Narcissa relaxed. They had their own house in a muggle suburb two towns over from the Dursleys. She would have to get a muggle job so that she could earn muggle money to pay the bills, but it was worth it. Safe in her charmed house she felt like she could finally let go. Think about the day she'd had.

     It had started with Lucius mounting her in bed. Something she had never quiet enjoyed. He was too rough for her liking and had never been concerned with Narcissa's pleasure. Then it segued into Draco asking his father to teach him the killing curse at breakfast. He of course told him that Draco would have to wait until the Dark Lord decided he was needed. Her child actually pouted and her heart sank at how eager he was to learn the ways of death. She wished more every day that she had married her cousin Regulus the way she was supposed to. He was a very nice man. But she had been stupid and fell in love with a man like Lucius, who knew how to share her with false kindness.

     A tear slipped from her face and she stopped thinking about her day and the marriage she was trapped in. She needed to sleep. Needed to be ready to answer all of Harry's questions. Be prepared for the possibility he wanted to go back and think of ways to convince him was safer here. With her. On the run. Narcissa groaned. It was always going to be dangerous for Harry. He was the Boy Who Lived.

       Eventually, unable to find enough peace for her ravaged mind to drift off to even troubled sleep, Narcissa got out of bed and went to watch Harry sleep in a chair. She should be there, in case he had a nightmare.

X

     Snape rolled his wand in his hands. He had hated Lily's child at one point yes, but now Harry was all he had of the woman he had loved. And Harry had not been living the good life his mother would've wished for him. Snape felt like he must speak to Dumbledore, although he felt it would do little good. And it was over now. Harry would be safer with the ex-wife of a Death Eater than he had been with a family of related muggles. How ironic.

     He cast the Patronus charm and watched the doe prance around him in his living room. "I'm sorry Lily. I'll be there for him now."

X

     Harry slept, dreaming of car crashes and flashes of green light that made his forehead ache. But for the first time, under the dream like panic, he felt the peace and warmth of love sitting at his side. He was hardly even scared.