Narcissa was in one of the main sitting rooms reading a book with her afternoon tea when Draco slowly trudged by the open doorway to the main hall. She didn't move her head, but kept her eyes trained on him. She knew there was something wrong instantly.

"Draco, darling? Come here for a moment."

He looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

She dropped all pretense of being cordial and raised her head, glaring at him. After quickly slamming her book closed, Narcissa held it up.

"So I can hit you over the head with this. Come over here. Now."

Draco scowled. He didn't want to talk to her. She knew soemthing was wrong with him. Which there was. Not near as much as there had been before Ginny got a hold of him last night, but he was still a bit tender today, and some of the potions she'd sent him with were making him a bit funny, but Draco had always had funny reactions to potions. That was usually why he only took things Blaise brewed specifically for him. Blaise tended to add things that made Draco not act wonky if he knew the potions were for him. Snape as well.

Draco sat near his mother and peered at her nervously. "I would prefer you did not hit me. What's going on then?"

"That's the question I'll be asking you. You are acting very peculiar, and it is vexing me. You are too quiet and anti-social of late, even though I saw you at Halloween." Her glare intensified. "And about that, Draco Orion Malfoy, have you no shame?"

"Not particularly, no. Shame was never my forte. I'm just... there's stuff. I don't want to trouble you, Mother."

She was still glaring.

I've been getting death threats and Alecto Carrow tried to off me yesterday. "I had to dress appropriately for telling Ginny I wasn't gay, didn't I?"

She snorted before she could stop herself. "And such an outfit couldn't have been worn in private? I know as my role as mother it is my duty to like you as you are, but you lit up the black streets of Hogsmeade like a permanent Lumos. Speaking of which, how did your telling Miss Weasley of your heterosexual tendencies go, or were you interrupted by the slight glitch in the firework display?"

Draco visibly bristled. He tried not to, but the Dark Mark in the sky again was the stuff of his nightmares.

"She punched me in my face, but I think we might have gotten past all of that last eve. I am never to lie to her again."

Narcissa gave him a small grin. "Well, I'm glad you're finally talking sense. Now, what is bothering you? It obviously isn't Miss Weasley, since you claim to have 'gotten past all that', so tell me the problem. I'll find out eventually; you know this. It is best for me to hear it from you than someone else. You're never going to lie to Miss Weasley again, why not extend the same courtesy to your own mother?"

"Because you're going to be terribly angry."

And that was the very wrong thing to say because now she had her start talking NOW look on her face.

Draco sighed, "I've sort of been getting death threats by owl."

Her eyes widened. "How do you 'sort of' get death threats? Do they say 'I sort of want to kill you'?"

"Well, the most inventive one said something about grinding my bones to make their bread. I did think it was just someone trying to scare me until..."

"Until what exactly," Narcissa prompted.

"I went to the Malfoy family crypt and Alecto Carrow was there very much not dead like the Ministry thinks and trying to hex my face off my head for sending Amycus to Azkaban. Did you know he died in there? She's kind of pissed."

When Narcissa pulled out her wand, Draco leaned back, but she ignored him and stood up, heading towards the front door.

"Mother, where are you going?"

"To kill that bitch Carrow for touching my son!"

"Bloody hell!" Draco scrambled after her. "Mother, no! She's likely not still hanging about Father's grave waiting for me. Just calm down. I'm fine. I went to Gin, and she healed me just fine. I'm all right."

He decided not to mention the waiting at Mungo's for hours before that. He didn't want his mother popping in there and throwing hexes. Draco was absolutely shocked though. He had to admit he was shocked. Quite shocked, yes. He knew he should never doubt how much his mother cared about him, but somehow it always managed to surprise him that someone loved him, HIM, that much.

Suddenly, Narcissa turned on Draco, her expression furious. "How dare you keep something like this from me? Do you think I wouldn't want to know when my own son was in danger? We could have protected you!" When Draco opened his mouth, she viciously cut him off. "If you say you didn't want me to worry, by Salazar, I will make the Carrows look like innocent first years! Did you think I didn't worry about you when you ran off? When I didn't know if you were alive or dead? I finally got you back and I nearly lose you all over again!"

She stopped and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. "You will tell me if anyone so much as hints that they have any ill intent towards you, are we clear?" Narcissa opened her eyes and stared coolly at Draco.

What was with everybody ordering him to tell them his business lately? Speaking of, he should probably owl Greg so he wouldn't have a hissy fit about this later.

"Blaise tells me he's going to hex me every other day. Does that count?"

Her wand was under his chin in an instant. "What do you think?" she asked slowly.

"Right. Bad to make jokes when Mother is all pissed off. Sorry then."

Draco moved very slowly to take wrist. He moved her wand from digging into the underside of his chin.

"I'll tell you. Just calm down. I'm an adult, you know. I made this mess for myself. I can get out of it."

"I just want my only son to be safe," Narcissa said firmly. "That being said, I want you to clear your schedule. We're going to see a friend of mine."

"I'm having lunch at Gulliver's with Pans and Trace tomorrow. I won't miss that. I need to see Trace, but beyond that I'm free. What... friend? You have friends?"

"I have many friends," she said with a smirk. "Some closer than others."

"All right," Draco said nervously. Now he was thinking about that Dark Mark in the sky and how his mother had watched it. "Just let me know what day... I suppose."

"Don't you worry, sweetheart. Maria will make sure you won't get any more threats."

Draco's eyebrow was up. Why did he find it slightly alarming that his mother had a friend she seemed to think could make his death threats go away?


{SUMMARY} Narcissa finds out about the threats on Draco's life. She reacts as any Slytherin mother hen would. She's ready to hex someone.