A/N – This is a companion piece to Jas' (DelisionalDoll) fic, For My Son, which is told from Narcissa's perspective.

They were woken by an incessant banging resounding through the old house.

"Ugh, make it stop," Sirius groaned, rolling over and pulling his pillow over his head.

"It's the door," Remus mumbled, dragging himself to his feet.

"Get rid of it." Sirius' reply was muffled by the fabric of his pillow. Remus yawned; not bothering to give a reply as he yanked the duvet off Sirius and left the other man shivering at the unexpected loss of warmth. "Alright, fine." Sirius threw his pillow blindly, missing Remus by almost a meter. It landed on the floor with a loud thwump in the otherwise silence of the room.

Remus was unimpressed.

"I think they've gone, anyway," Sirius spoke through a yawn, the garbled words barely out of his mouth before the knocking started up again. "Ah, never mind."

"Will you hurry up?" Remus said as he threw a brown threadbare dressing gown on over his old plaid pyjamas. "It could be someone from the order.

"No one's scheduled back for at least another week." Sirius stretched out on the bed, clad in only a pair of boxers.

"Which makes it all the more likely that there's an emergency! And you're going to face a possible Death Eater attack in your- Are those Superman boxers?"

"Well, would you look at who's not taking things seriously now." Sirius finally got out of bed, ignoring his pillow - they both knew he'd be stealing Remus' as soon as they were able to get back into bed - and grabbing another pair of Remus' pyjama bottoms.

The knocking was getting louder and, impossibly, more frantic.

"Let's go fight some Death Eaters," Sirius' voice was inappropriately chipper as he grabbed his newly acquired wand from the bedside table - one of the Order members had brought it back; Remus hadn't wanted to question it - and bounded from the room.

Remus reached the doorway in time to see Sirius leaping down the stairs two at a time, somehow already wide awake. He waited for Remus by the front door, and they stood for a few seconds, preparing themselves; wands held firmly, aimed at the unknown attacker beyond the door.

They shared a glance, both expressions serious.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

They each took a deep breath and, on Sirius' nod, Remus threw open the door. Both men held their wands aloft, aiming bright light out into the near-deserted street.

The woman - neither of them could immediately recognise her - immediately covered her eyes with her hand, holding the other above her head to show the lack of a wand.

Remus slowly lowered his wand, nudging Sirius with his elbow to get him to do the same, but they kept their wands pointed to the ground, ready to attack if need-be.

The woman waited a few beats before shakily lowering her hand, still squinting from the light of the hallway, water forming in the corner of her eyes from the strain. She still had her hood up, her hair covering a lot of what it didn't. Blonde strands cutting across a sharp cheekbone, and-

"Narcissa?"

- they came to the realisation almost simultaneously.

She still hadn't spoken, and she made no move to lower her hood, but it was clear to both of them who she was. Why she was here, on the other hand, they couldn't guess. Remus lowered his wand slowly, seeing no threat in her hunched and vulnerable form, but Sirius keeps his eyes trained suspiciously on his cousin, one wrong move on her part away from attacking.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" Her voice shakes almost imperceptibly - Remus probably wouldn't have noticed if adrenalin weren't still coursing through his veins, heightening his senses - though her words are still laced with a vague sense of superiority.

Remus steps aside, but Sirius is quick to fill the opening he'd created.

"Why are you here?" Sirius' tone is harsh, words punctuated by a sharp gesture with his wand.

"Let me in and I'll tell you," she says, lifting her head slightly; her tone is definitely haughty now, as though she weren't the one who so clearly needed them. He couldn't help but admire that; admire the way she was trying to stay strong when she was so obviously falling apart.

He stepped closer to Sirius, almost pressing himself against his back, but not quite.

"She won't tell us anything out here," Remus leant down slightly to whisper in his ear, "so we might as well let her in. She's alone."

"Fine," Sirius hissed through clenched teeth. "Fine," he repeated louder, for Narcissa's benefit. "You can come in, but-" he aimed his wand at her face when she made to enter "-I want your wand."

"My wand?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry, did you think I would trust you?" The look he gave her showed how idiotic he thought that idea was. "Your wand."

Both cousins stood there, for a moment, glaring from opposite sides of the door; Remus briefly wondered if they knew how clear the family resemblance was at that moment, but he pushed the thought aside in favour of more pressing matters.

Narcissa hissed something under her breath, the words too quiet and too rushed for Remus to be able to make out, but she slapped her wand into Sirius' open palm. It was clear to Remus how much she hated being reduced to this; he wondered what could have brought her here.

"Now, shall we begin?" Sirius' tone was falsely sweet, as he stepped aside with an exaggerated bow.

Narcissa stepped inside wordlessly, glaring at her cousin and completely ignoring Remus.

"Kitchen?" Remus suggested, and Sirius grabbed his cousin by the shoulders, forcefully steering her in the correct direction, when she made to ignore Remus and continue on into the living room.

"This is entirely unnecessary," she snapped, pushing Sirius away and entering the kitchen under her own steam.

She sat stiffly in a chair, looking around the kitchen in disgust and being careful to keep her hands from the table.

"Alright," Remus spoke calmly, sitting across the table from her. "How did you get here?"

"What?" Sirius interrupted before Narcissa could speak. "That's not-"

"We need to know how she got here so that we can prevent others from doing the same."

"I am a Black, the wards do not-"

"We've added a lot to them, that wouldn't have helped you. Only Albus could give you access." Remus ignored Sirius' obvious annoyance, keeping his tone calm and his words precise.

"This house remembers-"

"No. How did you really get past the wards?" Remus could feel his own irritation growing, but he concealed it from both Sirius and Narcissa.

"Well," she hesitated slightly. "Kreacher-"

"I'll kill that bloody-" Sirius hissed, before Remus cut him off with his own hushed words.

"Not now, Sirius," Remus whispered harshly. "So, Kreacher let you past the wards? How?" he said to Narcissa.

"He- Is this really necessary? This isn't what I came here to discuss."

"We're not going by your agenda," Sirius growled, barely keeping himself in his seat.

"Answer our questions, Narcissa, and-"

"Mrs. Malfoy," she hissed, eyes burning with rage. "I will not be addressed with such familiarity by a- by-"

"Enough," Sirius yelled, slamming his palms down loudly onto the table, standing and leaning over so he towered over his cousin. "You will not come here and insult Remus. He has more right to be here than you, so you can just-"

"It's okay, Sirius," Remus murmured, before continuing in a louder tone. "She can't leave until we know that no one else will follow her."

"My husband will-"

"Let him." Remus shrugged. There was a pregnant pause, both sides of the table watching the opposite carefully, waiting for any indication they would give in.

"He- Kreacher, he-" Narcissa was the first to cave; she obviously had more to lose. "He still obeys ou- my orders."

"I'll kill that little-"

"Our? You were going to say our? Who else knows of this?"

"No one. Only me," she spoke quickly. Remus regarded her for a moment, contemplating, before giving a slight nod.

"We can make it so that she can't tell anyone," he spoke quietly to Sirius.

"That won't be necessary, I-"

"We will decide what's necessary, and – for the record – we do not trust you," Sirius enunciated the last part of his sentence carefully.

"I was under no illusions that you did." There was disgust under her carefully painted exterior of disinterest, and even further buried Remus could see the desperation that fuelled her actions.

"Alright, so we've cleared that up. Now why are you here?" Remus tried to direct the conversation back to its original track.

"I need your help," she replied simply.

"We had already guessed that, thanks," Sirius muttered, glaring at his cousin.

"Why come to us?" Remus ignored Sirius' comment.

"Because," she paused slightly, before visible deflating. "Because there was no one else."

"Don't you have friends?" Remus asked before Sirius had a chance to comment.

"I have- In a way. But no one I can trust with this."

"And you trust us?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"I trust you to help those who need it. That is what you people do, after all," scorn laced her voice, but she softened her tone before continuing. "Please. There is no one else who could help."

"You haven't even said what you need help with! You keep skirting around it like we'd be stupid enough to agree before we know everything," Sirius yelled, clearly more than a little annoyed at this point.

"I- It's Draco."

"That stuck up brat-"

"Sirius!," Remus hissed into his ear. "What about him?" he said to Narcissa.

"He- He's just a boy – a child. Surely you can understand that I don't want him involved in this; that I never wanted him involved in this. My husband- It is too late for Lucius; all I can do for him now is remain by his side. But Draco- please! There is a chance to save him from this!" she implored, the desperation now clear on her face for all to see, all masks finally dropped.

"How do you think we can help him?" Remus asked quietly, feeling pity for this woman even though she had done nothing to deserve their kindness.

"I don't know!" she yelled, her voice cracking; her cheeks were reddened and her eyes wild, far from the proud woman Remus was used to seeing; it was almost hard to believe this was Narcissa Malfoy. "I don't know," she repeated, quieter.

"If you don't even know, then what do you expect us to-"

"Sirius, not now," Remus whispered. "What is it you think we can do?" Remus asked her.

"I don't know!" she suppressed a sob. "I don't know. Just- Just get him out of this! He's a child, he needs-" she broke off suddenly, breathing harshly, clearly trying to reign in her emotions.

"Why not go to Dumbledore? He could do more for your son than we could," Remus asked.

"How could that old fool help?" she snapped.

"If you're that desperate, shouldn't you be willing to accept whatever help you can get?" Sirius regarded his cousin suspiciously. "Unless you're just here to waste our time."

"No! Of course not. I just... Dumbledore is too obvious a choice. They'll know if he's trying to help Draco, and that would be so much worse than if he didn't. You don't think I've thought about this?"

"So what brought you to us?"

"I came for Sirius. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else here, but... But that could be good. It means you can keep people hidden; safe."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Malfoy," Remus said, feeling terrible for what he knew he must say. "But he can't stay here. He needs to be at school; people will look for him if he isn't, and... I'm sorry, I wish-"

"I don't need you pity," she snapped, eyed turning cold once more. "And if you can't do anything," she said as she rose from her seat, pulling a second wand from the holster in her sleeve. Remus' eyes widened in surprise, and he imagined Sirius' expression probably mirrored his own; they should have checked her. Properly.

She pointed it at the both of them, expression hard.

"Obliviate."

Remus opened his eyes, looking around the kitchen of Grimmauld Place in confusion.

What were they doing here?