"I almost pity Potter," Harry said after a moment, and the three at the table looked at him as if he had lost his head.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, think about it, he's so arrogant that he thinks this is going to win. He's going to have to face dad, uncle Luc, and Lord Nott as they face him down, but, not only that, Marvolo is going to be there to chew Dumbledore up and spit him out and so Potter is going to be alone." Harry was smirking when he finished and Draco laughed.
"I see what you mean."
"He's extremely foolish to take anything against the Blacks to court." Narcissa mused.
"Especially given his precarious media position." Remus added, "When he loses he is going to look worse."
"I bet he didn't even consider that." Harry said with a smirk.
"Poor thing." Draco put in convincingly.
"Well, let us not linger. Dragon, go and get ready for the day before Theodore gets here."
"Yes, Mother." Draco nodded to the guests and left the room.
"Excuse me, Remus, Harry." Narcissa said, rising to her feet, "I shall return momentarily."
"Of course,"
"You know, I haven't had this much drama in the past ten years."
"It's simply because I am just that amazing." Harry stated, and Remus chuckled.
"You definitely have something special, Cub."
Harry rolled his eyes. They both looked around when Draco walked back in and he wasn't alone, Theo walked along next to him and Harry grinned.
"Theo!"
"Hello, Harrison." The Nott Heir greeted brightly, "I see you haven't actually taken a holiday yet."
"You know me," Harry joked. Harry went to stand by his friends while Remus held out his arm for the approaching Narcissa, they headed towards the floo room and Harry went first to allow Theo in to the Black Manor. Harry led Draco and Theo out in to the entrance hall and waited for the adults.
"You three are free to do as you will, as long as you do not leave the manor or the grounds." Remus stated and they nodded and ran off.
"Shall we go and check on Miss Evans?" Narcissa suggested and Remus smiled.
"Yes, lets. I am sure she would welcome the company."
"Where has Severus disappeared to today?" Cissa asked,
"I do not know, he merely informed us that he was leaving." Remus told her.
"Oh? I would hasten to guess it is something potions related." Narcissa said thoughtfully, "Though, with Severus, it could be anything."
"He has been thinking of something as of late, but he has not mentioned anything." Remus remembered, "Maybe it has something to do with that."
"We shall have to wait until he returns. It is a shame he's so mysterious."
"I remember, when we were in school, James got really jealous because he heard a group of girls in Ravenclaw whispering about how Snape's mysterious nature made him attractive. He was in a bad mood for weeks."
"Oh Merlin," Narcissa released a delicate giggle.
"And, given his recent change in appearance and the rumours that circulated, Severus has found himself known as the 'dark and mysterious' Professor."
"I am sure he loved that."
"It was very funny, I think he wanted to kill Harrison at one point."
"Didn't he attack Sirius?"
"Oh yes, he threw a cauldron at his head." Remus laughed and Narcissa shook her head chuckling.
"Such children,"
They arrived outside Lily's door and Remus knocked softly, Lily's voice called them to enter and Cissa stepped in first with a warm smile on her face. Lily blinked in surprise but returned the smile.
"Hello, Cissa, Remus,"
"Good morning, Lily dear," Cissa returned, "I thought it best for me to run a few final checks."
"Ok, well I'm feeling better than I have in years." Lily said brightly.
"Wonderful," Cissa said, she waved her wand over the red head and nodded approvingly, "Well, I am pleased to announce that you are returned to full health."
"Does that mean I can move around again?" Lily asked, "Sev absolutely refuses to allow me to do anything without help, he said that until I was in full health then I would have to receive aid." She rolled her eyes and Remus grinned.
"I bet that was killing you."
"Oh Merlin, Remus, you just can't argue with that man. He is so stubborn." Lily wasn't pouting but it was close and Remus laughed.
"I do not even try to argue with Severus. I don't think anyone does."
"I remember why." She grumbled before she sighed, "I suppose now I'm fully cleared I can't hide here anymore. I'll have to get up and face the world."
"We'll be here," Cissa pointed out, "Besides, you will be able to stand tall and proud and work with us, you'll fit right in."
"How? I mean, he forbid anything that even resembled Pureblood mannerisms." Lily told them sadly.
"Ah, but we have a secret weapon." Remus mock whispered, "We have our very own Narcissa."
Cissa threw him a rueful look before smiling as Lily laughed.
"Remus is right, I can teach you everything that you need to know. We won't let you fail, and when you feel ready you can do as you wish." Narcissa assured.
"Thank you,"
"Now, do you want to go for a small walk to celebrate your clean bill of health?" Remus asked and Lily looked delighted.
"Yes, please," She went to get up before remembering something, "My bag?"
"Top drawer," Narcissa reminded.
"How's my magic?" Lily asked.
"Perfectly fine," Cissa assured and Lily smiled. She waved her hand and unshrunk her back, reaching in and pulling out the only set of robes she had in there; the green and gold ones.
"You can do wandless magic?" Remus asked surprised, but Lily shook her head.
"I wouldn't say so," She denied, "Shrinking and unshrinking is about as far as it goes. Severus taught me when we were younger so we could have an easier time with our trunks, being that we lived in the muggle world."
"That makes sense."
Lily vanished in to the bathroom and returned when she was dressed, her fiery auburn hair flowing in loose waves to her waist. She looked very pretty and Narcissa smiled, Lily really had nothing to worry about when it came to fitting in. Remus led her down to the library and Lily was amazed, she was used to Pureblood manors, but even compared to the ones she had seen the Black Manor just seemed like more. When she stepped in to the library she couldn't help her eyes widening in shock, it was absolutely huge! No wonder there were always rumours circulating about the Black Family library if this is what they had access to.
"Wow," She whispered, and the others smiled.
"Sirius will be so ashamed that you like it." Remus joked and Lily chucked.
"He still has his aversion to books?"
"Grows stronger every day." Remus agreed seriously. Lily wandered in to the library and she naturally drifted towards Charms, she seemed to have such a relaxed expression of her face and Remus knew that Charms was her speciality. Yes Lily was good at almost anything, Potions and Charms were the ones she excelled at and Charms was her subject. There was no one he knew that was better at Charms, they just seemed to dance for her. That made Remus remembered something,
"We will have to get you a new wand." He said and Lily looked around blinking.
"Oh yes," She rubbed her wrist where a holster would sit, "I miss my wand."
"Do not worry, there is a hidden little shop in Knockturn that sells wands. I have been told they are much better quality than Olivanders." Narcissa informed her, and Lily nodded, not even blinking at the mention of the supposedly 'dark' alley.
"That would be wonderful,"
"Did you ever get your mastery in Charms?" Remus asked her, picking up the book he had been reading.
"No, He never allowed it. He said I would not need it." Lily answered and Remus looked at her in surprise.
"But you teach at Hogwarts, you need a mastery to do that."
"And Hogwarts is run by Dumbledore." Lily pointed out, "If Dumbledore wants something then Dumbledore usually gets something."
"Well I never."
"I suppose I can go in for my mastery now." Lily mused, and Narcissa nodded pleased.
"Most definitely, it will be good for you. And no one said anything that you need to act upon it, I haven't officially." Narcissa pointed out.
"Of course, you have a mastery in healing." Lily remembered, "I could go in for Charms and maybe Arithmancy, I would have to work on the second, but I don't know if I can remember my numerical chain." Lily frowned, "I shall have to ask Sev if he would be willing to pick it out of my mind. I am sure he will be able to find it."
"Will he be able to access your mind that easily?" Narcissa asked astonished, to let someone do that showed an astounding amount of trust in a person. Lily didn't seem to notice the change in the Lady Malfoy's tone because she answered absently.
"Of course he will, Severus is a genius when it comes to the mind arts and we used to do it all the time when we were younger. I was his guinea pig when it came to practicing the intricacies of Legilimency and he was the one who taught me Occlumency. We used to spend hours running around in my mind, trying to build the perfect place to hide."
"Did you know that that is practically unheard of? Very few people trust others to access their mind in such a way, never mind just to practice. It shows an amazing amount of trust, more so than usual." Narcissa said and Lily shook her head ruefully.
"Why wouldn't I trust Severus? He has done nothing to remove that trust. I expect he knows me more than I know myself, I trust him with my life."
"You do know he used to be a Death Eater?" Remus hedged.
"Yes, I know."
"Does it not bother you?" Narcissa questioned, genuinely curious.
"Why should it?"
"Well, the Dark and anything related to it is 'evil'."
Lily rolled her eyes.
"I made the mistake of labelling the darker side of magic evil before, I won't be making the same mistake again. I know nothing about it truly and when Severus tried to explain things the first time I was too arrogant to listen. I have lost everything I am and everything I was when I was on the supposed 'light' side, I lost friends, family and more with those who championed good; the dark side cannot be any worse." Lily stated fiercely, "I will listen this time and only then will I find an opinion, I may not ever support the dark ideas but I will never again support the light."
Narcissa looked delighted at her answer and Remus surprised but pleased, it would be much easier for them if Lily remained neutral or went dark. That way, they didn't lose Severus, for there was no doubt that Severus would be permanently attached to Lily for the distant future, and they could protect her. If she went dark then even better, it would let them drop the secrecy, the biggest one being the Dark Lord himself and Harry's connection with him.
"Besides, I know the uh Dark Lord has returned." She added offhandedly.
"Why do you believe that?" Narcissa inquired, neither denying nor agreeing.
"He went on an hour long rant about how Sirius has finally threw himself in with the 'bad lot' fully as he was seen talking to Lord Slytherin-Le Fey after Dumbledore came and explained that it was in fact the Dark Lord." Lily explained, she accepted the cup of tea Remus had called for gratefully.
"What made you believe that it was actually the Dark Lord though?"
"Well, I remember the rumours back when I was in school, how the Dark Lord was the only remaining Heir of Slytherin and how he had looks and Charms that could make the strongest of people follow him." Lily said with a shrug, "I do not like to believe in coincidences and Dumbledore all but threw a fit himself after the Lord Slytherin-Le Fey was announced."
"I see,"
"Anyway, I have enough problems of my own to worry about the Dark Lord's return for now." Lily smiled and turned to her book. Narcissa and Remus shared a significant look as she read, this was a lot different to what they were expecting, but not unwelcome.
"I wonder where the children have gotten to." Narcissa mused.
"I have no doubt that we shall be seeing them soon." Remus said with a small smile, "Harrison cannot help but come to the library and I know Mr Nott is fond of reading."
"Yes, he is."
"Let's hope they don't break anything major before they get here."
"Where is Sirius today?" Lily asked and Remus shifted.
"There has been a Wizengamot session called today." Remus said, "It seems Potter has tried to call for an overruling."
Lily blinked twice.
"What?"
"We know about as much as you at this point. Sirius, Lucius and Izar are there now and they shall inform us when they return."
"Surely he doesn't think that this will actually work." Lily exclaimed, "Not only will he be refuting all of the other evidence, it will be subtly saying he does not believe Madam Bones is capable of leading an investigation. The repercussions of this will be much bigger when it fails."
"Oh Merlin, I didn't think of that!" Narcissa gasped before she smirked, "Madam Bones is going to love this."
"Sirius will probably talk to Amelia after, Potter really is thick." Remus shook his head, and Lily did the same except she had a look of disgust on her face.
"What was I thinking?" She muttered to herself.
"We will just have to wait and see how it goes." Narcissa decided.
"It does depend on how the wizengamot is feeling and just what little tricks Dumbledore has pulled." Remus sighed, "Oh I miss the days of peace."
"You wouldn't change it." Narcissa stated and Remus grinned.
"No I wouldn't,"