The door clicked gently shut behind Narcissa as she strolled regally into her study. With the calm disregard that was her mask against the world, she glided to the desk in the corner and pretended to go through some papers. There was a timid tapping on the study door, and she glanced up after a suitable pause.

A young house-elf nervously twisted a corner of her pillowcase as she hesitated in the doorway. Narcissa nodded calmingly. “You may enter. Please close the door behind you.”

“Yes, Mistress. Silke is only telling her Mistress that Master has left for his...meeting. Silke does not want to disturb Mistress in her private room, but Mistress did say...”

Narcissa held up her hand. “You may relax. With that piece of news you may interrupt me anywhere.” She hesitated, casting a glance at the window through which the darkness was creeping. Lucius would be gone for most of the night, at least...

Narcissa swung back to the house-elf. “Silke, you need not bother bringing up my dinner tonight. I will fend for myself. However, I would have you prepare a hot bath for a few hours from now, just below scalding. And when I am finished, you may feel free to enjoy a soak. I will not be needing you for the remainder of the night.”

Silke bowed deeply, her long ears trembling with excitement. “Yes, Mistress! Thank you, Mistress! It will be ready for you.” She scrambled from the study.

Narcissa allowed herself a smile very different from the ones that usually adorned her face. Lucius and all of his speeches about the proper treatment of house-elves. Funny that he never seemed to be able to inspire their loyalty the way she did. Not that he needed to know that, however.

She turned and, with a pace set deliberately slow, walked over to the balcony doors and slipped out onto the small platform. Her gaze swept over the almost unseen gardens; a predator surveying her territory. She never hurried this part; there was a savage pleasure in the combined tide of excitement and tension that rose within her. One more moment, just one more...and then her emotions rose so high she didn’t even bother containing them.

She focused her mind on a single thought and held it, feeling her body twist and change for an eternity. And then, in a heartbeat, it was over. Narcissa lashed her slender tail, then gave a twisting leap to one side for the sheer pleasure of motion, the sickle claws adorning her feet clicking loudly on the tile. The times when she dared allow herself to transform were so far and few between that each one felt like the first. A spring nowhere near her full capabilities carried her over the balcony railing. The ground was two stories below, but that didn’t matter in this form. She ran, exulting in the power and agility of her body.

A rustle in a bush nearby caught her attention and she whirled, snapping at the hare, as it turned out. It gave a great leap in its attempt to escape, but she was relentless, snatching it up after only a few strides. A snap of her jaws and it hung limp. It was gone in a few quick gulps. Never mind that normally she would have reacted in simulated horror at the mere idea of hunting down her own meal; never mind that the civilized mannerisms that normally entrapped her had vanished. In their place was a primal pleasure that allowed her to shed the stresses and cares of the everyday world.

Her jaws opened in a simulation of the human smile, yet it held only a reptilian malevolence. Few people indeed knew of the forbidden pleasure that kept her sane. That same person was the only one who knew just how much of her Animagus mind showed through the veil of civilization.

The night that she had first transformed, Narcissa had stared into a mirror for almost an hour. And yet, once she saw herself, she had felt no puzzlement over her body’s choice of form. She knew herself better than most people did themselves, and had long ago acknowledged the depths of the mind that so many liked to pretend didn’t exist. It was as if she had always known who she was.

The manor loomed ahead, and she felt a very real impulse to turn and flee back to the grounds. Yet she continued forward, and sprang effortlessly to another balcony. Draco’s face appeared at the glass doors, then they sprang open as he let her into his room. He watched intently as she changed back into her human form. She allowed herself a moment of pride as she studied him in her turn. Not for a second did his demeanor change, though she scented his excitement.

At a nod from her, Draco pulled his wand from its holster and seated himself on the floor. She lightly dropped into a sitting position facing him. “You have been practicing the incantation?”

He nodded, seemingly bored. Only the hint of eagerness in his voice betrayed him. “Every night.”

She smiled. “Good. I want to hear you say it a couple times, then I think that it’s time to start adding the wand. I’ll help you through the change the first several times; then you can start seeing if you can transform on your own. Remember, from now on, no practicing unless I’m there. I don’t need you to get stuck halfway through.”

“I understand. How long will it be before I won’t need the wand for the transformation?”

She reached out and touched him lightly on the shoulder. “I’m afraid that probably won’t be until around the Christmas holidays, seeing as we won’t be able to get in more than a lesson or two before the end of the summer.”

Draco pursed his lips slightly. “Have you taken into account the fact that Father is likely to be gone more often now that the Dark Lord has returned? Which reminds me, Father has been speaking lately of having me join the Death Eater ranks. What are your views on the matter? I trust your judgement more than his, nowadays.”

Even as she considered her response, she felt another surge of pride run through her. So calm, so collected, and yet she could make out the feral gleam in the back of his eyes. The night they had scryed for his Animagus form, it had come as no surprise that they held it in common.

Once more she allowed herself a smile, which Draco returned. If Lucius only knew. His arrogance kept him from seeing his wife and son as anything other than carefully cultivated extensions of himself. Never once had it crossed his mind that he was not the only predator in the household. Never once had he suspected the pair of raptors who watched him from behind carefully shielded eyes.