Chapter 3

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A/N: We just want to thank those that have been supportive of this fic. We're trying something new and having a good time. Thanks for the reviews so far. We'll try to keep updating quickly.

Thanks go to NSS for beta reading this for us!

Hermione was glad to finally arrive at headquarters. Flying always made her nervous, even when she flew at her own speed on her own broom...like when she played a mock game of Quidditch at the Burrow. It was just a little scarier with someone else in control of the broom. After they were inside and the portrait of Mrs. Black was silenced, Hermione ran into Molly Weasley's welcoming arms.

"Hermione, Harry, it's good to have you two here where I know you will be safe. I worry so for everyone's safety, what with Severus on the loose."

"Too right," Arthur agreed. "Come on in out of the doorway. Sorry I couldn't be part of the escort, but I had to contact the Order members for our emergency meeting. In the wake of all that's happened, we felt the sooner we had one the better."

"It's all right, Mr. Weasley," Harry assured. "All was well."

Saying nothing, Hermione only hugged her harder. After she finally released Hermione, Molly turned to give Harry a hug. Hermione looked up to see Harry smothered in Mrs. Weasley's arms and thought about how much Ginny loved Harry...and how Harry loved Ginny, for that matter...but she also understood Harry's reasoning behind his breaking up with the only Weasley daughter to a certain extent. Ginny was a part of things, after all, whether she was with Harry or not. It saddened Hermione when thinking of how depressed Ginny was on the train home.

"Where is Ginny? I was hoping to get to see her today," Hermione inquired.

"Oh, there's a sore subject!" George said.

"Too right," Fred agreed. "Had a big row about being made to stay at the Burrow with Bill and Fleur. Got a right temper, that one!"

Patting Harry on the back, George teased, "You made a narrow escape there, mate!"

"George!" Hermione exclaimed. "Ginny loves Harry! How could you..."

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Hermione! I was only pissing around! They are soul mates!"

"Yes," said Fred, continuing his brother's sarcastic voice before taking a serious note. "And if the bloke is lucky, my wonderful, ill-tempered sister will have him back when he comes to his senses!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and went to Harry. She knew he was hurting, even though he was trying to play it off. "Come on, Harry." Turing to Ron, who was looking at some object Fred was showing him, Hermione asked, "Ron, are you coming?"

"Sure," he answered.

"We are going in search of doxies," George informed the trio conspiratorially after Molly and Arthur went into the kitchen. "Doesn't hurt to get a few free while we can."

When the twins sprinted up the stairs, Tonks turned to the trio and said, "Remus has a great bottle of Ogden's for later...care to join us? It will only be us five left here to do the warding."

"Sure..."

"You bet..."

"Um, I don't know if we should..."

"Come on, Hermione! We will be here at headquarters all night! It's not like we are going anywhere! We're of age, and it's Harry's house! Besides, we will be with Tonks and Remus, for Merlin's sake!" Ron practically pleaded.

Hermione turned to look into Harry's pleading eyes and gave in. Her best friend had to give up so much already; what was one night of fun? All too soon they would have to forgo any recreations and get down to finding the Horcruxes and figure out how to destroy Voldemort once and for all. She just wanted to make sure they warded the house first.

"Oh, all right." She was actually quite nervous, not having had anything stronger than a lowly butterbeer, which only had trace amounts of liquor.

"Great!" Tonks exclaimed. "There is going to be an Order meeting after supper, and then when everyone leaves, we'll meet in the sitting room."

Remus kept quiet about Harry joining him and Tonks for a drink. He knew that James, Sirius, Peter and himself started getting pissed in their fifth year.

"As for the meeting? I assume that we will be privy to this one, all things considered?" Harry asked. He was not about to be excluded from any more important discussions. It was past time they realized that he, Ron, and Hermione were more a part of this than anyone else.

"Yes," Remus assured him. "But you must understand that Molly insists that Ginny not be told what's going on if it can be helped."

"Well, I agree with that," Harry said.

"Harry James Potter! How can you say that?" Hermione demanded. "She is a part of this, no matter how much you want to protect her. You know how dangerous it is to keep someone in the dark! Especially someone who is determined not to be in the dark."

"Enough, Hermione," Ron gently scolded. If he had his way, Ginny and Hermione both would stay locked in headquarters until the ruddy war was over. "Harry is just doing what he thinks is best. Leave off."

Folding her arms across her chest, Hermione said, "Right, and we have all seen what happens when someone makes the decision to keep important information from others. Look at Professor Dumbledore! He was also doing what he thought was best, and look what Snape did to him." She glanced at Harry, worried of his reaction, but felt he needed to be reminded of what happens when you keep things from the ones you love. It always backfired.

"Hermione!" Remus couldn't believe she had just said that. "Now, I know that you think..."

"No, Remus. It's time to stop tiptoeing around this. It's painful...trust me, I know...but we have to discuss what happened and reason it out."

"Reason? You think there is reason for what Snape did? Well, I can tell you what the reason is right now! He is truly a Death Eater and did just what his Dark Lord asked him to do! If you could have seen the look of pure hatred on his face... you wouldn't question it, Hermione. I was there, and I know what I saw." Harry was heaving, having gotten so worked up.

Very gently, Hermione said, "Harry, you have got to set your hatred of Professor Snape aside for a moment and simply think. Now, for those past two days I was at home, I did nothing except think, and what I have concluded is..."

"Hermione, we will discuss all this at the meeting tonight," Remus told her. "I will say this now, though. None of the Order members trust Snape, and we have to ward this house against him. Albus is still the Secret Keeper, even in death, until the house owner breaks that vow," he nodded towards Harry, "so we have no worries about other Death Eaters showing up here, but as for Snape, he is just a risk we are not willing to take. Now, no more talk of this until tonight."

Sighing with defeat, Hermione conceded. "All right, but I would just like to say this. I am not saying that we should tell Ginny everything, but I don't feel right excluding her either. As for Snape, I just wish we could come up with a plausible reason why he did what he did!"

"Tonight," was all that Tonks said.

Suddenly, they heard Mrs. Weasley call out, "Supper! Wash up!"

The meal was a strained affair. Harry was upset with both Hermione and the situation with keeping things from Ginny, and Ron felt as if he was in the middle of Harry and Hermione, being pulled in both directions.

When the last bite was eaten and the last dish was washed, Molly told everyone it was time for the Order to have the meeting. "Why don't we have pie in the library?"

When Harry walked into the library, they were already in a deep discussion, seemingly about Snape. It seemed that some were still surprised about what had happened, and some acted as if they weren't surprised in the least, never having fully trusted Snape. And although Snape had killed Professor Dumbledore, Hermione just hoped there was more to it than what they knew. The consequences of Snape being a true Death Eater were too scary to her. She'd always respected him and had even stood up for him.

"Well," Hermione wondered, "did anyone ever get Professor Dumbledore's portrait to say anything about it? Harry said that he didn't say anything when he saw it. I am not saying that Professor Snape is innocent by any means; I am saying that we should discuss all other possibilities. Professor Dumbledore trusted in him..."

"I have spoken with his portrait," McGonagall said shortly, "but he doesn't say anything about this. Claims he will in time."

Hermione nodded. "I think that if we could figure out why he..."

"That's enough of this nonsense, girl!" Moody exclaimed, making several people in the room jump. "Snape is a traitor, plain and simple. There is your only possibility. Now, I don't want to waste anymore time talking about him tonight. We've other, more important things to go over."

"Agreed," Kingsley said, ignoring the hurt look in Hermione's eyes. Turning to Arthur, he asked, "Are you still planning to go back to the Burrow tonight?"

"Yes," Arthur told him. "Now that we have made sure Harry and Hermione arrived safely, we need to go back to the Burrow after this meeting, what with us needing to vote on a new leader and all, to get things set up for the wedding."

"So much for talking about it in the meeting," Hermione mumbled to herself, feeling slighted.

"I wonder if that boy shouldn't postpone this wedding," Moody said, ignoring her. "It's too big a risk!"

"Well," Molly said, "I think Bill is past the age where we can order him about, Moody! Besides, Arthur and I were wondering if maybe we couldn't ward the Burrow's grounds as well, enabling us to screen anyone visiting that we haven't directed the wards to allow through. It's a good idea with Harry staying there in any case."

"I agree," Kingsley told them. "It never hurts to take extra precautions with everything that's going on."

"I think before we go any further, we should appoint a new leader," Arthur said. "It should be someone we all agree on and trust."

"I agree," said Harry, speaking for the first time since the meeting started. "I think Professor McGonagall would be a good choice."

"Well, what about Moody?" Mudungus Fletcher said. "Always vigilant, that one!"

Harry spun at the sound of that voice. "What is he doing here?" Looking at Mundungus, he told him, "I want you out of my house now, you thieving, rotten..."

"Harry Potter!" Molly exclaimed. "That will be enough of that, young man!"

Looking Molly right in the eyes, Harry calmly told her, "No disrespect intended, Mrs. Weasley, but this is my house, and I don't want him in it. He stole from me, the git! Was probably just waiting for Sirius to leave the house so he'd have a chance to take something!"

"Now, now, let's let bygones be, boy! I didn't do you any harm!" Mundungus said apologetically, voice tinged with a bit of fear as he backed away when Harry stood up.

Thinking of the things that had belonged to Sirius being missing and that this was the man that had taken them, although Sirius hadn't wanted most of it, Harry lunged. Suddenly, it was all too much. Before he could reach his target, each twin had taken Harry by an arm. "Now's not the time for this, mate. Try to calm down!"

Harry roughly shook the twins off and turned his back to Mundungus. If Harry's glare was filled with wandless magic, his gaze would have seriously injured Mundungus.

"Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I think Professor McGonagall would be a great choice."

Hestia Jones nodded. "I agree with Harry, I do. Minerva would be just the one to follow in Albus' footsteps." She grinned toothily at Harry. "Right trustworthy, Minerva is."

"Dumbledore would agree with tha'," Hagrid said solemnly.

Moody spoke gruffly, saying, "I'm not interested in leading anything. I'm interested in catching Death Eaters. I haven't the want to hang back while there's tasks to be done."

Kingsley boomed, "Motion made and seconded. No controversy from the other mentioned party. All in favor of Minerva becoming the Order's new leader?"

Unanimous 'ayes' came from everyone in the room. Harry grinned as the Weasley twins pointed to their purposely bulging eyes while agreeing with the others. There were several members present and only a handful missing. Harry swelled with pride and determination, knowing that these people were loyal to Dumbledore and were willing to sacrifice their time and possibly their lives for the cause he'd led.

Minerva rose and faced everyone. "I accept. Thank you." She gazed at Harry and gave him a tight smile. "I think we should all be aware of the warding placed on headquarters. They will be designed to alert anyone within the house if Severus comes near the property, giving them time to alert Aurors and any of us."

"What if he comes by in the night real sneaky like," Dedalus Diggle asked. "I don't think 'e's thick enough to come in broad daylight while we're possibly all about."

Moody stood. "I'll handle that. There's lots of ways to keep someone unwanted from entering your place. Lots of work with that, I have. By the time he dismantles all the wards and gets past what I can set up, it'll be too late. Someone'll be here to get him."

Kingsley said, "The warding is easy enough, but you, Harry, will have to do the main one, allowing it to recognize all of us."

"What if Snape comes when nobody is about? How would we ever know?" Ron asked, suddenly serious. "I mean, he's trained in the Dark arts. I'm sure he can get past a few..."

"Too right," Lupin agreed. "Severus is no fool. He'll be expecting traps."

"Which is why he'll likely not come here," Minerva put in. "There's really no good reason he would. He'd be foolish to do so. These are just precautions. Surely he wouldn't think that we'd leave the place unprotected or Harry unguarded."

"In any event," Tonks added, "the wards can be set so that no matter who is here, Harry would still know...even if he is not. Aurors would still be alerted."

Elphias Doge called out, "Right then. It's settled," before looking at the timepiece on the mantle. "It's quite late already, and I've got to take over the watch at Hogwarts shortly."

"Fair enough," Minerva said. Eyeing Tonks and Lupin, she added, "You two, you're going to oversee that it's all done?"

"Yes," they replied in unison.

"Very well. This meeting will be adjourned. We'll still have the regular Saturday meeting, so I'll see you here at the normal time then." She smiled sadly. "I thank you all for continuing with Albus' cause. He gave his life for this. Now, we must be the ones to see it through."

Tonks, Remus, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all began putting up the warding as they'd discussed in the meeting... as soon as everyone had left. It hadn't taken very long, even when they tested it to make certain it worked. Moody agreed to return the next day to add his finishing touches. Deciding enough was enough, they retired to the sitting room to open the large bottle of Ogden's.

A few rounds of drinks had gotten everyone loosened up. Sighing, Tonks said, "I think it's very romantic that Bill and Fleur are still going on with the wedding. With this war and all, we need a happy occasion, I say!" She looked a Remus wistfully, causing him to blush. "She doesn't care about his injuries Greyback inflicted."

"Yes, I agree," said Hermione. "She must love him more than we all thought to accept him with those injuries. It made me rethink how I thought of her. I never thought she would be into the 'beauty and the beast' thing, though! Although, Bill is no beast," she told them seriously.

"Aw, Hermione, don't 'cha have any romance in ya?" Ron was well on his way to becoming very drunk. "She is very beautiful, you know!"

Giggling, Hermione said, "Harry, look at your best mate! He's right pissed, he is!"

Harry smiled. "You sound pissed yourself!"

"Maybe some, but not as much as Ron, I'd say!"

Grabbing Hermione and pulling her on his lap, Ron said, "Nope! Not pissed, just feeling really good!" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Give us a kiss then!" He leaned forward and kissed her until she was breathless.

Harry watched his two best friends, sulking, thinking of the girl at the Burrow who loved him and wondering why he broke things off. Right now, he couldn't wrap his mind around a single good reason.

Clearing his throat, Remus told the trio, "It's time to turn in. We have a busy day tomorrow. Goodnight."

After everyone said their goodnights, Harry watched Remus take Tonks' hand and lead her to his room and smiled, glad that Remus had finally found someone to share his life with.

Ron told him, "You go on, Harry. I am just going to walk Hermione to her room."

Grinning, Harry said, "Right! Night, mates!" On the inside, he was lonely. He missed Ginny more than he could admit, but he had to finish this with Voldemort and try to keep her safe in the process.

When they were alone in the sitting room, Ron turned back to Hermione and gently cupped her face, pulling her to him and kissing her softly. Enjoying his tenderness, Hermione leaned into him and responded eagerly to his kiss.

Feeling her slip her tongue into his mouth, Ron groaned, tasting the whisky and Hermione. Pulling her closer, he ran his hands up and down her sides. When she didn't stop him, he gently cupped her breasts on the outside of her shirt.

She groaned, arching into his hands. It felt so good. Becoming emboldened by her reactions, Ron deepened the kiss. He kept one hand on her breast and moved one hand down her body. She shivered in response.

When he reached the top of her jeans, Ron deftly slipped a hand in without unbuttoning them and rubbed the outside of her lower lips before slipping one finger inside her and moving it around gently. Oh, this feels much better and different when he does this than when I do it myself... Wait...I have to stop this! She gasped and suddenly came to her senses.

"Ron, stop." It was as if he didn't hear her, and he kept gently moving his finger inside of her, beginning to grind his hips a little in time with his hand. She gave in to the wonderful pressure for one more second and then said more forcefully, "Ron, no!" She pulled at his arm to get his hand off of her.

Groaning, with disappointment this time, he said, "Hermione, what's wrong, love? Did I do something wrong?"

She went to move and felt his erection, and it made her blush. "No, nothing wrong, it's just, I want to do these things sober. And, to be honest, I am not quite sure how far I want to go yet, but I know if we carry on right now, I'll likely not be able to stop you."

"Hermione, please," Ron begged. "You know I care for you. I would never hurt you. Never. I want to love you."

"I know. I feel it, too. That's why I know you won't be mad that I want...need...to stop. Now, I am going to go to bed. You stay here until you... get some control. I will see you in the morning." She turned and left without kissing him again. She wasn't sure she would be able to stop if they started back.

When she walked out of the room, Ron raised his hand and sniffed his finger. Sighing contentedly, he decided what he needed at the moment was a shower and the relief of a good wank.

Narcissa wiped her mouth with the crisp, unsoiled napkin, though she'd barely eaten anything. Her stomach was churning too much, thanks to her nervousness. Severus had told her that this would be the night for their coupling and had already given her two phials of potions to drink. She'd watched him through dinner, and nothing he did belied any nervousness. His hands didn't shake as hers did while he cut into his steak. Nor did his appetite appear to suffer. She bitterly assumed that he was likely more excited than nervous.

"Severus, I think I will retire to my chambers," she said quietly.

He looked up at her, face expressionless. "Did you need any firewhisky?" he asked before taking a bite of his pie.

Mesmerized by his mouth as he chewed, she simply nodded. It would indeed help to calm her nerves and give her the resolve to get through their situation. She trusted him. When he'd told her that he would do his best to put her at ease, she believed him.

Flicking his wand, he summoned an opened bottle of liquor to the table. He quickly poured himself a generous glass and then passed the remainder to her. "Take your time," he said silkily. "When you turn your lights down, I will come for you. Is that agreeable?"

"Yes," she said, taking the proffered bottle and rising. As she approached her doorway, she glanced back to see him watching her. She could have sworn that he was smiling smugly before turning back to the rest of his meal. Of course he is smug, he is getting exactly what he wants.

Stepping through her doorway, she closed the door and leaned against it. "I can do this," she said determinedly, closing her eyes. She had only been a blushing virgin once in her life. She'd easily found that she thoroughly enjoyed sex, especially with Lucius' expertise. She was never left wanting or frustrated. The only reason she felt some trepidation was because this was another man.

Would he feel the same? How would their bodies fit together? What if he didn't find her as appealing as her husband did? She smirked at this. Of course he would find her appealing. Moving away from the doorway, she tossed the bottle onto the bed and quickly went to the bathroom to wash up. After scrubbing herself clean, she slipped into a sheer, silvery nightgown and unpinned her hair so that it flowed down her back.

Once she sat on the bed, she opened the bottle of Ogden's and sniffed the liquor, wrinkling her nose. It smelled quite strong. Shrugging, she took the glass from her nightstand and poured a dash into it. She downed it, choking as it burned her throat. "Good Lord," she murmured, aghast at the sensation, holding one hand out in front of her. There was no discernible shake to her fingers. She quickly poured another drink and drank it immediately, relishing the warmth in her belly. She placed the glass and the bottle on the nightstand, ready to do what must be done.

The potions he'd given her to drink hadn't been unpleasant, and she hadn't noticed any difference in herself. She could only hope that the potions truly did work as well as he believed they would and that this one coupling would be enough to conceive. A hand lifted to caress her stomach. "I'm going to be a mother again," she said quietly, happy yet saddened. "Oh, Lucius, what were you thinking getting us mixed up with the Dark Lord?"

Pushing all thoughts of her incarcerated husband from her mind, she leaned over and turned down the lamp next to the bed, leaving it with only a dim shine and shrouding the room into shadow. Seconds later, the handle on the door twisted and clicked open. He must have been standing outside my doorway waiting, she thought sulkily. Feeling a bit eager, are you?

"Narcissa?" he called from the doorway.

"I am here," she said, knowing he could see her silhouette if nothing else.

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him before striding towards the bed. Once he was just to her left, he began disrobing without any pretense. She was about to ask if she should take off her gown when he spoke.

"You needn't worry. I don't believe it will take long."

"I am not worried about that," she said more confidently than she felt, wanting to also put him at ease.

She sank back against her pillows in hopes of luring him into a light conversation to ease the tension between them, but he was now undressed, save his underpants, and moving onto the bed with her, nudging at her legs just below her knees to get her to open them.

"What are you about?" she asked, closing them tighter.

He stared at her for a moment, seeming uncertain. "We agreed that we would..."

"Yes, I know, but what are you doing? I'm still dressed," she nodded to his underpants, "as are you."

He looked down at his body, then at hers, and then met her eyes. "I thought it would be easier for you if there was less intimacy."

"I agreed to do this," she began indignantly, "and I will, but I won't have you treating me like some random Madame! This is not putting me at ease. It's making me feel like a common trollop!"

She noticed his eyes narrowing, but he said nothing, sliding away from her and pulling down his underpants. He stood before her, eyebrow raised arrogantly, and allowed her to look her fill. He was quite thin, chest lightly dusted with dark hair that angled down into a line and into a thick patch, surrounding his generous erection. Fair is fair, she thought, moving to sit at the edge of the bed, hiking up her gown to rest about her waist for a moment, allowing him to gaze at her bare thighs. Once she'd pulled it up and off of her, leaving her completely naked, she dared to look up into his face, and for the first time, she saw emotion flickering there.

"I don't need to be completely naked to see to your needs, Narcissa," he said. The deep timbre of his voice as he lowered his lips to her ear caused her to shiver. "However, since you insist..." His tongue traced her earlobe, startling a slight gasp from her and sending jolts of tingles through her body. Of its own volition, her head tilted to the side, giving him more access to her neck, which he greedily accepted.

A long-fingered hand came up to brush back her hair while his mouth lowered to suckle the sensitive bit of flesh just behind her lobe, giving her gooseflesh on her arms and legs. Perhaps this will not be so bad after all, she thought, enjoying the feel of his lips against her flesh. If only his mouth can make my blood heat, what can the rest of him do?

She didn't have to wait long to find out, for his hand slid down to explore her body. His mouth nibbled a trail from her neck to her lips where his tongue probed to enter. Upon opening her mouth, she found herself suddenly laid back with him over her, one hand teasing her nipples, the other lost beneath her, kneading her arse.

Their kiss wasn't broken until one practiced finger slid into her. She moaned, throwing her head back, and thrust her pelvis against his hand, searching for more. He obliged by inserting another finger and using his thumb to circle her clit lazily.

"Good God," she moaned.

"That I am," he said arrogantly, voice sounding much like the contented purr of a feline. A minute of teasing passed by, and his mouth began a path at her collarbone, venturing down to the valley between her breasts, circling each soft mound, nibbling the underside heatedly, laving the hardened nipples hungrily, before moving lower still.

He's going to... "Severus, no," she mumbled.

"No?" he asked quietly before nipping at the skin of her stomach.

"Just... take me now," she said, desire at its peak. Many months of being lonely and refraining from giving herself pleasure was quickly building into a frenzied need for release. "I do need it," she said aloud, sounding as if she was convincing herself.

Within seconds, his body was nestling more firmly between her thighs, and he was guiding his girth into her slowly. From the sound of his sharpened intake of breath, she could only imagine that he was pleased with the feel of her. There were no words, only heavy breathing and a few grunts that joined her encouraging mumblings and moans. His pelvic bone ground against her perfectly at his current angle. She needed only to eagerly meet his strokes to achieve the building sensation of climax.

"Don't... don't stop," she heard herself say.

"Nearly... there," he replied, steadily plunging into her, seeking release.

In the next instant, nothing mattered. She felt as if she were shattering into a million pieces, feeling more satisfied than she'd been in ages, tears of gratification sliding down her face. If only Lucius were out of Azkaban... She opened her eyes to find him staring down at her intently while he indulged in a few more thrusts with his nearly flaccid prick. Compelled, she brought a hand up to touch the side of his face. He didn't flinch this time. Allowing her hand to guide his face to hers, she kissed him full on the lips, sealing their coupling.

"I'll go," he said quietly, beginning to pull away from her.

Remembering that she wanted to give him one night's solace, she whispered, "Stay just this night and hold me." It would feel good to have a man's body pressed against her back once again, even if it was not the man she wanted it to be.

Long after he'd used his wand to clean their bodies, Narcissa stayed awake, thinking about what they'd shared. She'd never again be able to think of Severus as just a friend. He would be the father of her child. She moved one hand down to her stomach to cover his, which had been resting there possessively since he'd fallen asleep. Did we succeed, Severus? Are we to be parents?

She smiled softly, thinking of holding a little bundle once again, blue eyes staring up at her inquisitively. Her smile faltered. This child might have dark eyes like his father. That changed everything. A few tears of guilt slid down her cheeks as she thought of the cool silvery grey eyes of her husband...eyes that often filled with warmth and desire while making love with her...eyes that her son had inherited.

In his sleep, Severus mumbled and held her more tightly. She hoped that this wouldn't end up hurting him in the long run. How would he feel if Lucius were the one to tuck his child in each night, not that he would, mind, but if their son or daughter lived at Malfoy Manor, Severus wouldn't be privy to every part of his or her life.

Thinking back to their conversation, she wondered if she'd even be allowed to raise the child at Malfoy Manor, remembering that the Dark Lord wanted Severus to influence this child...not Lucius. Surely she wasn't supposed to stay in residence with Severus. They would simply work something out. That was all there was to it. She sighed sadly. From the way Severus had been so thorough and gentle, it was clear he cared about her. In fact, after she'd come down from her high and saw him staring at her in such a way, she knew instantly that he was in love with her. Please don't fall too hard, Severus. I am a married woman. While you'll always be close to my heart for all you've done for me and mine, you'll never be inside of it. Lucius owns that.

Southern's Notes: Things are about to get very interesting. :) Evil grin.

Christy's Notes: Wow, a lot in this chapter! The trio is together again and a new leader appointed. Severus and Narcissa (hopefully) created a life. Looks like Narcissa is going to try and fight the Dark Lord's orders for her to stay away from the baby.