Call Me Psyche - Dramione

23

Draco hung his head.

Narcissa tapped Luna's wand against her temple, thinking hard. She turned to face Draco. "I'm sorry, darling. It can't be helped."

With a push of magic, she was in his mind. There was her Triad wand, concealed in the leg of Draco's trousers, the spell wearing off more and more every minute. Draco let her in that far without resistance. With more effort she saw Andromeda and Tonks crouched at a window, watching the countryside burning outside. She saw Remus Lupin cradling a fussy baby, his wand out and ready to evacuate. And then the scene darkened as it moved backward in time, shrinking into a small room with a single window. Narcissa couldn't see much but she heard a voice, a woman speaking sweetly, laughing, and somehow teary, melancholy all the same. The woman was telling Draco goodbye.

The vision ended, Draco's Occlumency rising like a stormy tide, washing Narcissa out of his mind before she'd see any more of what happened in his bedroom, alone with Hermione.

They returned to their senses to find Bellatrix pacing the hall, still ranting. "I should never have let Andromeda get away. I should have burned her house to the ground, scattered her offspring, taken her wand by force."

Narcissa shook her head. "You'd still only have one wand of the Triad. My wand is with Snape. It's confirmed. Not to mention Potter still has yours. Draco couldn't possibly have united the wands to resist the call."

"So you believe him?" Bellatrix wailed. Draco ducked as her wand arm swooped in his direction. "You believe him even though he's clearly been tampering with the tapestry?"

At this, Narcissa finally frowned. "Tampering? The tapestry is ancient magic. It's above tampering."

Draco leapt out in front of this questioning. "Auntie discovered an irregularity near my image. She thinks the – erm – dating I did over the winter – that it – um – "

"He's got some slut pregnant," Bellatrix finished. "I can feel the image of a new family member rising out of the tapestry's fibres. Here."

Narcissa bent to investigate for herself, smoothing her fingers over the embroidery concealed by Andromeda's wand. For once, she made no move to defend Draco. She did give a heavy sigh as she let the fabric slip through her fingers. "Draco, this is very bad."

He sighed, leaning his forehead against her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said, going along with the story that the new member was a baby, not a wife. "But even if Auntie is right, we have years for me to sort it. If there is a new baby in the House of Black, it won't be able to use a wand for eleven years after it's born."

Narcissa stiffened. "Draco, we do not refer to heirs of the House of Black as 'it.' No, this is very bad. We will deal with it, but not today. First things first. Bella is right that we can't take you into the presence of the Dark Lord, but we can find somewhere else where you'll be safe."

She was threading her arm through his, preparing to disapparate. No one liked it. Bella was baring her teeth, snarling at the sight of Draco getting away unpunished. Draco himself was rigid and straining against his mother's arm, knowing that in his family there was often little distinction between staying safe and being imprisoned.

But Narcissa had her way. Grimmauld Place disappeared from view. Bellatrix Lestrange disappeared from view. In place of them was a plain, barren room. It was the inside of a building so small it wasn't a cottage but a shack. Cold draughts blew through the spaces between the slats that made up the walls, whistling as they went.

Chilled, Draco hugged himself. "Where are we?"

"In the north," Narcissa said. "My cousin Regulus knew this place. There's a cave nearby. A place of magic so dark no one would ever expect someone hiding from the Dark Lord would come here."