Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Narcissa Apparated to her Ardres estate and quickly made her way to her sitting room. She had to come up with a way for Lucius to find out about Alex. She called for a house-elf to bring her tea and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening coming up with a plan worthy of any Slytherin.

The first part of her strategy was to have someone discreetly watch the comings and goings of Madam Sutton when she was unable to. Her routine needed to be known. She also needed to know Severus' schedule, what times and days his classes met. Lastly, she had to come up with a reason that would require Lucius to come to France and then carefully arrange his 'accidental' discovery of Hermione and his son.

"First things first," she said to herself as she sat down at her desk and took her quill in hand. She had enough friends in France that one would surely know a discreet wizard who, for enough Galleons, would be willing to follow a woman and child.

***********************************

Hermione a.k.a. Hestia was concerned about her husband. He had been acting strange the last few days... well, strange for him. Asking her daily if anything out of the ordinary had happened during her day seemed to have become a habit. Every time they went out, he appeared to be waiting and watching for someone to appear. He added more wards to their home, and they argued about applying a glamour to Alex when they went out. She didn't know if this behavior was due to their proximity to England and the bad memories associated with it or something else. Did something happen that he neglected to inform her about? One thing was certain, she would find out and soon.

That evening Syl stood at the window in the sitting room just watching as if he were waiting for something to happen. "I think it would be a good idea to disillusion these windows, so no one can see in," he said.

"Really, you're being paranoid, Syl. Who would be looking in our windows? What is wrong with you lately?"

He turned toward her, his face void of expression. Ah, the mask is in place. Yes, something is definitely wrong, Hermione thought to herself.

"What could possibly be wrong?" he asked.

"I'm not sure what it could be, Syl, so why don't we skip the back and forth banter? It does tend to get boring rather quickly. Besides, you know I'll just keep on asking until you do tell me," she said as she folded her arms over her chest and gave him the 'I can be as stubborn as you' look.

Syl sighed, "Nothing is wrong, Hestia." He turned and started walking towards his home lab.

She walked up behind him, grabbed his arm and led him to the bedroom where she promptly locked the door and added a silencing charm. Hermione turned to him, her temper starting to run short with his stubborn insistence that nothing was wrong. "I've known you too long, Severus, not to know when there is something bothering you. Now out with it!"

"You know better than to use that name," he hissed. "What if someone had overheard?"

"Do you take me for a fool? Really, what did you think the Silencing Charm was for? Laughs and giggles? Now, enough stalling, Severus, I want to know what is wrong!"

He noted the volume of her voice rising ever steadily. He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. "I wish you wouldn't have argued with me about placing a glamour on Alex. It would have prevented..."

"Prevented what, Severus?" she asked.

He turned his face from her, wishing he could find a way not to answer her question. "I fear that someone has questioned Alexander's paternity, Hermione. He does bear an uncanny resemblance to Draco when he was that age."

Her heart started pounding rapidly in her chest, and she could feel the beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. "Who, besides you, in Calais could possibly know what Draco looked like as a little boy?" she asked, trying to hold back the trembling in her voice.

"Oh, someone who has known him ALL his life, perhaps," he said with a bit of sarcasm.

Hermione felt the blood drain from her face at the thought that it could be him. "Nnn... not..."

"No, not him. Narcissa."

"Hhhhow... wwwhen... what do we do, Severus? We'll have to leave Calais as soon as possible!" Hermione said as she felt herself losing control. Panic was setting in quickly.

Severus grabbed hold of her, bringing her into his arms and holding her closely. "Shhh, love, we're not going anywhere. She saw you last week, disillusioned herself and followed you and Alex. She knew immediately who Alex was... who his natural father is at any rate. I confronted her when I left you and Alex at the bookstore."

"Oh, Merlin, she's told him by now."

"No, she has not. I made her take a Wizard's Oath to never tell him what she knew."

"Do you think that will stop her?"

"She knows the consequences of breaking an oath. We're safe for now, love." He kissed the top of her head and continued to hold her tightly.

Later that evening neither could sleep. Hermione worried that somehow Narcissa would find a way to get word to him; she couldn't deal with seeing him. Not yet... she wasn't ready for that. She knew, deep down inside, that it would happen one day. It was only a matter of time. Maybe he would want nothing to do with the child; after all, he was a half-blood, and surely, he wouldn't want to taint his precious bloodline by acknowledging such a child.

Severus' thoughts were racing also. To the world, Alex was his son, even if he and Hermione knew that was in name only. It didn't matter to him; Alex was his son and Hermione was his wife. He’d be damned if he let the likes of Lucius Malfoy come in and claim Alex. Although he had heard through his source that Lucius had reformed, so to speak. He was no longer the pureblood supremacist he had once been. Claiming a half-blood child would silence those who still held doubt of his being truly repentant.

**************************

Weeks passed as the plan slowly came together. Narcissa secretly watched Hermione and the child, finding out her daily routine/weekly routine. It was essential to her plan; she could leave nothing to chance. She only hoped that she would be able to convince Lucius to come to France when the time was right.