When the party appeared in the front hall of Malfoy Manor Narcissa and the others were waiting for them.

     "Take him upstairs," she mumbled to Draco. He nodded, his eyes shining as he looked uncertainly at his mother before he began to help Harry up the staircase. Hermione watched in silence, her thoughts were spiralling around her brain, spinning uncontrollably as she struggled to imagine under what conceivable circumstances those two, whom she had known as perpetual enemies, could ever have become lovers. Narcissa looked at her stunned face and smirked a little.

     "I'll explain later," she muttered, taking Hermione's hand and leading her up the stairs.

Harry was sitting on one of the grand guest room beds, talking fervently under his breath to Draco. As they entered Hermione saw his hand drop from the other boy's face and Draco turned to look imploringly at his mother. She looked back at him, refusing to say anything, the inevitable conclusions of many a conversation and argument circulating between them, unspoken yet so acutely obvious to the rest of the room.

     "Are you ready Harry?" Narcissa asked, breaking the intolerably heavy silence that had momentarily befallen the room. He nodded. "And Severus has explained everything to you?" Again he nodded. "Okay. Lie back." Hermione watched as her friend lay back on the plump pillows and Draco moved to the other side of the bed, away from his mother, to take his lover's hand in his own. Everyone was silent as Narcissa carefully inserted a long needle, which was connected to a small phial containing an inky black liquid, into Harry's forearm. She then held her wand, suspended above Harry's chest, directly above his heart, murmuring to herself, and a long red thread wove it's way from her want tip and began to trace his heart rate, hovering just above his chest as it did so. Then, once everything had been prepared, she tipped the little phial upside down in it's clamp stand and the room watched as the Basilisk venom trickled down the tube into Harry's arm.

Harry winced as the poison began to drain directly into his blood-stream. The trace above his chest began to quicken as the phial emptied. Harry grimaced in pain and he gripped his lovers hand. As the trace grew quicker and quicker, the poison spreading throughout his body, he cried out as Draco desperately tried to calm him. Hermione looked over to see that Ron was crying, and when she reached up she found that her own face was wet with tears also. But all she could do was stand back and watch.

The trace stilled. Silence dropped, heavy and suffocating over the room. A single, continuous red thread lay suspended above Harry's chest as his screaming stopped, and he lost consciousness. Narcissa puled the needle from his arm and instead filled a syringe with a clear liquid from a small bottle at her side, ripping Harry's shirt open and inserting the needle into the skin directly above his heart. Phoenix tears.

     "Mother it's not working," Draco hissed.

     "Just give it a minute," Narcissa said calmly. The room watched in silent desperation, waiting for the trace to reappear. Hermione let out a choked sob and turned away, unable to watch any more as Draco ran his frantic hands though his hair, tears streaming down his face.

     "Mother do something!" he cried. Narcissa grabbed a small round device and placed it over Harry's heart. The device emitted small amount of red sparks as it shocked him. Harry's lifeless body convulsed and then lay still again. She shocked him again, two, three times. Nothing. But as the last of the little sparks sank into his chest he let out a gasp, eyes snapping open as he sucked the air back into his lungs. The room seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief with him. Draco laughed and pulled the boy into his arms. Once Draco had released him, Harry looked around at the room.

     "It's done."

Hermione was sitting on the great ornate bed in the master bedroom of Malfoy Manner. Her hands were shaking. She watched them with a mild curiosity. She could still hear the blood pounding in her ears. Narcissa's white hands wrapped themselves around her own and she looked up to see her lover sitting besides her on the bed. Narcissa kissed her, gently, carefully on the lips, and Hermione wrapped her arms around the older witch, pulling her into a much needed hug. 

     "I thought we were going to loose him at one point," Narcissa whispered. "I don't know if I would have been able to handle that. Not with Draco in the room."

     "You were amazing." Hermione pulled back and held her lover's face in her hands. "You were so calm. And so brave. You bought him back, and destroyed the horcrux. Now we have a real chance at ending this war."

     "I don't know whether Draco would have ever forgiven me if I had let him die."

     "He seems to love him very much." And he did. She could see it. But she couldn't help but look at them both a little differently. The way the others looked at her and Narcissa she supposed.

     "I suppose I had better explain."

     "Yes please."

And so Narcissa told Hermione how Harry had formed a friendship with Draco right from first year, determined (as they both were) to break down the barrier between houses. She told her how Harry had been there for him when Lucius was arrested and how, during the Christmas holidays of sixth year, they had found the courage to tell each other how they really felt.

     "You four have all been friends right from the beginning," she explained. "And even when the relationship developed, it didn't impact the strength of the group as a whole. At least I don't think it did." It was all Hermione could do to star at her, shocked into silence. Narcissa laughed. "My my, Hermione Granger lost for words. This is not a common occurrence. I see it didn't happen like that in your reality."

     "No. Not really." Narcissa chuckled again.

     "You'll get used to it. Just as people will grow used to the idea of us."

     "Are you sure?"

     "I am. If they love you at least half as much as I do, they will learn to accept us."