It was not until a good few hours later that Draco dragged Harry out of bed and showed him to an en suite bathroom that was bigger than the prefects' bathroom at Hogwarts. Here he left him, telling him that he'd be back with some clothes once he'd cleaned up himself. Draco had also mentioned something about meeting his mother, which had sent Harry into nervous fits, making the whole process of bathing that much more important.

Somehow in his mind Harry had never factored Narcissa into the equation of himself and Draco, and he really did not know what to think. The only memory of the woman he had was of the Quidditch World Cup where she had been cold, not very nice, and a little scary. That he had fundamentally altered her son and single-handedly destroyed any marriage plans Draco's family may have had for him, was at the forefront of his mind as he walked back into the bedroom in nothing but a towel. He found Narcissa Malfoy sitting on the end of the bed in the one spot where the covers had not been rucked up by what he and Draco had been up to, and he thought his heart might stop.

His hand automatically went to his waist to check that the towel was completely secure and then he just stared because he had no idea what to say.

"Good afternoon," Draco's mother greeted, "I apologise for intruding, but I wished to speak with you without my son, and Draco would be unlikely to leave you alone in my presence given a choice."

That begged the question 'why?', but Harry didn't want to think about that too closely.

"Hello," he returned politely, wondering if there was any way to escape.

"Draco probably believes I wish to curse you from the manor," the regal-looking woman continued, "and although earlier today he may have been correct, I have decided to reserve judgement. He is remarkably protective of you given that he professes not to even like you; however, I believe that has changed as well."

The woman looked at him with the same steel grey eyes Draco possessed and they pinned him down just as well, although with Narcissa it was for an entirely different reason. Harry tried very hard not to squirm.

"Before today I was willing to make you pay dearly for what you have done to my son," Narcissa said openly, "he has been miserable from the moment he came home, but I believe I understand at least part of that now. I have not seen the look of joy on Draco's face which graced his features as you collapsed on our doorstep, since before his father was killed. For that I am willing to forgive a great deal. I also took it upon myself to listen to your conversations today."

The heat filled Harry's face instantly as he realised what Draco's mother must have also heard, but Narcissa appeared to be tactfully ignoring that for now.

"I have one question and one question only," she said pointedly: "Did you mean it when you told him you wished to learn to love him?"

In that moment, in Harry's mind, Narcissa went from the wife of Voldemort's right-hand man, to a mother worried about her child, and it had the most remarkable effect on his psyche. He walked forward and looked the mother of his mate straight in the eye.

"Mrs Malfoy," he said slowly and firmly, "I would do anything."

Narcissa stood up and crossed what was left of the distance between them. She was a tall woman not that much shorter than Harry, and at that moment, he felt something akin to what he always felt around Molly Weasley; although he was the bigger in stature, he felt the smaller presence.

"In that case, Mr Potter," she said, never letting his gaze go, "please call me Narcissa."

Harry was, quite frankly, stunned and it must have shown on his face because Narcissa smiled slightly before turning to leave.

"Harry," he managed to stutter, just as she reached the door.

Turning back, the poised woman inclined her head in a slight nod.

"Harry," she said and walked through the door.

For a long moment Harry was not sure if he was going to ever recover from the trauma of meeting Draco's mother wearing only a towel and he just stood there. In fact, he was still standing there when Draco came charging through the door looking very worried.

"Harry?" Draco asked somewhat hesitantly.

He turned and blinked at Draco, trying to sort out in his brain what exactly had just happened.

"Mum didn't hex you or anything did she?" Draco actually looked as if he thought this was a real possibility.

Harry opened his mouth, not sure what to say and closed it again.

"Harry?" moving a little closer Draco now appeared very concerned.

"She told me to call her Narcissa," Harry eventually found his voice.

Draco went from worried to dumb-founded in under a second and dropped the clothes he was holding over one arm.

"Bloody hell," wash is mate's distinct opinion and then he smiled. "Mum's known people for twenty years who still call her Mrs Malfoy."

Then his expression became worried again.

"What?" Harry asked, not liking the look on his lover's face.

"She's probably planning the engagement party," Draco said and Harry went white.

~*~

By the time Harry had pulled himself into the very nice clothes Draco had appeared with, and his lover had straightened him out to a point where Draco would be seen anywhere but the bedroom with him, Narcissa was nowhere to be found. Draco mentioned something about his mother being in her private quarters and since the doors were closed visitors were likely to find themselves in the lake behind the house, and so dragged Harry into the dining room. There Draco called up a pleased looking house elf and ordered more food than Harry thought they could possibly eat.

Two slices of game pie, a huge mountain of bubble-and-squeak, a selection of pickles, fours slices of turkey and three cups of tea later and Harry still wasn't finished. It seems that flying in a thunderstorm took a lot out of even Seraphim and he needed to replace the energy. Draco had been sitting watching him with what appeared to be interest since his mate had finished a more normal amount of food.

Luckily Harry had not learned his table manners from Ron, so even requiring the calories did not lead him to shovel mode. Draco seemed quite happy to just look and smiled slightly every time Harry glanced up, but he couldn't quite tell if his lover was amused at him or simply enjoying the moment. He'd never seen Draco this relaxed, and it was a little odd.

It was thoughts about exactly what he was going to say once his mouth wasn't full anymore, which kept his mind distracted and caused him to almost fall out of his chair when he heard a familiar voice.

"Oi, Harry," Ron was the last person he expected to encounter in Malfoy Mansion, "what were you thinking disappearing into a bloody storm?"

"Ron!" was about the most sensible thing Harry could find to say.

"I would have asked the same question, Weasley," Draco said, his usual disdainful tones back in place, "but we've been rather busy."

"Draco," Narcissa's calm tones came through the door, closely followed by the woman herself and the rest of those who had been at the Burrow, "please be polite to our guests."

Draco appeared shocked for just a second and then his mask was firmly in place; Harry did not like the separation he suddenly felt. Without thinking about what he was doing he scooted out of his chair and walked around to beside his mate. Having Ron and Draco in the same room was never a good thing and Harry was feeling strangely protective.

"Harry, Love," Molly Weasley came bustling over as if everything was perfectly normal and virtually the whole Weasley clan and a werewolf were not standing in the Malfoy dining room, "at least you look like you're in one piece."

Then she wrapped him in a hug before he could do anything about it, and he found the breath being squeezed out of him.

"Don't your ever do that again, young man," Molly said sternly as she finally pulled back. "Twice in a mother's life is quite enough to see one of her children disappear into danger."

If he had been anywhere but where he was, Harry might have burst into tears at the emotion that welled up in his heart at Molly's words. He knew the woman looked on him as almost one of the family, but she had never said it quite like that before. Even after his brush with Voldemort she had had time to calm down by the time he woke up, and although she had given him a stern talking to Molly had not quite used those terms. As it was, he managed to grapple with his feelings and kept some semblance of calm.

"Okay," he said in a rather tight voice, "I promise."

"You look like a right ponce, mate," Ron broke the mood completely with his forthright opinion.

It was the wrong thing to say and Molly spun on the spot.

"Ronald Weasley," the woman said in a tone that would have frightened Voldemort himself had the man not been six feet under, "how dare you. Harry looks lovely, and you will be polite while we are under this roof."

Ron went rather pale.

"Yes Mum," he said in a sheepish tone.

Draco could not keep the smirk off his face, but Harry didn't really blame his lover since Ron did deserve it.

"Harry," Remus said, walking into the room properly, "I was so worried. Are you okay?"

Now the guilt started inside him and Harry had to admit that he had done something very stupid by taking off into the storm. Rational thought had not had a lot to do with his actions, but now that logic was back in play, he could not help but feel dreadful about putting everyone through so much worry.

"At least you weren't unconscious for two months this time, Harry," either Fred or George tried to lighten the mood.

"I'm sorry," Harry said quietly, "I had to do something. Thanks to Narcissa I'm fine."

Surprisingly he felt a hand on his arm, and he looked up to find Draco observing him calmly and giving him support in a very Slytherin like way.

"My mother is a fair healer," Draco said politely and turned towards those in the room as if they were now worth his interest.

As several eyes turned to Narcissa she smiled modestly and moved to the table.

"Now that everyone is here," she said pleasantly, "why don't we have something light to eat."

With a clap of her hands everything on the table disappeared and the same house elf who had served Harry and Draco appeared. Narcissa bent down and talked quietly to the small creature that bobbed up and down excitedly before disappearing again. It was not long before the table was covered in even more food with settings for every person in the room. Everyone sat down eyeing each other awkwardly and Harry tried very hard not to squirm every time someone looked at him.

Quite frankly Ginny was the scariest since each time he caught her gaze she went misty eyed and smiled at him. It was most disconcerting to have one of the most feared chasers in the school Quidditch cup going all girlie on him.

"Please, help yourselves," Narcissa invited them all, "the house elves will be most upset if we don't at least eat something."

You did not have to tell a Weasley male twice and all the red heads dived in, although under their mother's watchful eye their table manners were impeccable.

"This is a wonderful spread, Narcissa," Molly said cheerfully, "it was awfully nice of you to invite us to lunch."

Draco looked even more stunned than he had when the Weasleys had appeared as Molly used his mother's first name. He almost dropped the slice of meat he was putting on his plate and Harry reached over to him and squeezed his lover's knee in what he hoped was a supportive gesture. Too much culture shock in one day was getting to Draco.

"Not at all," Narcissa replied with a smile, and Harry would have sworn she and Molly had been friends for years if he had not known better. "Admittedly I was a little surprised to find Harry on our doorstep, but once the situation became clear I could not leave you all wondering about him. There is always so much food in the house at Christmas time that I thought a luncheon would be the perfect opportunity to meet everyone properly."

"Absolutely lovely," was Arthur's comment on the matter.

It was so difficult to tell what was the mask and what was genuine sentiment when it came to a Malfoy, and Harry knew so little about Narcissa that he simply gave up trying to read her at all. He was sure she would do anything for her son, and this seemed to be part of that.

"Mrs Malfoy," Remus said in his quiet, unassuming tone.

"Now, Mr Lupin," Narcissa replied, "I thought I asked you to call me Narcissa."

"Narcissa," Remus acquiesced politely, "and please call me Remus. If I do not appear too rude, I must say you are taking this remarkably calmly."

Narcissa smiled and nodded her head once.

"I will admit that when my son returned to me thoroughly depressed, I had thoughts of keeping him here with me until he was recovered," the regal woman said, causing Draco to put down his fork and stare at his mother. This was obviously not something a Malfoy usually talked about. "However, then Harry arrived, and it became quite obvious why Draco was so cowed. They simply cannot be apart."

As Harry watched, Narcissa's eyes glanced around the table before she looked back at Remus.

"I had a choice," she continued calmly; "reject any notion of Harry having anything to do with my family and see my son descend into misery, or accept Harry and all that this entails and allow the future to find its own course. I am finding this course of action to be far more pleasant than I was ever led to believe."

Harry let a smile slowly spread on his face. It took a lot to stun the Weasley clan into silence, but Narcissa had done so triumphantly. In truth she had done so to the whole table, including Draco, but Harry definitely gave her more points for his surrogate family. There was just a possibility that this madness might work.

"So, Draco," Ginny launched into the silence much to everyone's relief, "that last Quidditch game was incredible; so close, don't you agree?"

A Quidditch discussion between Gryffindors and a Slytherin; now this was going to be interesting and Harry felt his own darker side coming to the forefront as he sat back to watch them all try and be polite about it.