Narcissa Malfoy sat on the sofa, in her luxurious living room, pulling at her long blonde hair, and staring at her husband with pleading eyes. At first, she had tried to hold back her tears; she knew how Lucius felt about crying, but she could hold back no more. She allowed the tears to stream freely down her face.

Lucius showed no sign that he was irritated by his wife’s tears. He sat down beside her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him, and allowing her to cry into his chest.

“I know you’re scared, Cissy,” he said softly. “So am I, but it’s not like the Dark Lord is going to do it tomorrow. He’s only beginning to consider Draco for a Death Eater. He’ll have more time.”

“So what if he has more time?” Narcissa snapped at her husband. “The end result will be the same. He will be the property of that monster, just like you, just like Bella. I can’t watch that happen to my son. Lucius, I can’t.”

He tried to hold her tighter, but she pulled away. She glared at him, through her tears. The look made Lucius feel as though he had been slapped.

“Don’t you remember the first time you killed?” she demanded. Neither of them had spoken about this night, since it happened, but it couldn’t be avoided any longer. “Because if you can’t remember I can. I held you all night. I held you while you sobbed. I was afraid you would die, right there in my arms. When I first walked into the room, I didn’t think you even knew who I was. I have never seen a person in that kind of pain. Is that really what you want for our son?”

“Of course, that’s not what I want for him. If it were up to me, Draco would never meet the Dark Lord. And don’t think that I have somehow managed to forget that night. Even after all this time, and all the murders since then, I still remember. I still have nightmares about it. I can still hear that woman screaming. But dwelling on it will do no good, just like crying over Draco’s destiny will do no good. We cannot save him from this, Narcissa. He is my son; therefore, the Dark Lord presumes that he owns him. If we fight him, he will kill Draco. At least this way, he’ll be alive.”

Narcissa started to sob louder. He might have known that mentioning their son’s death was not going to help calm her. He didn’t know what to say to her. He didn’t want Draco to be a Death Eater. But there was nothing that could be done to stop it. When the time came, the Dark Lord would want him, and standing in the way would only result in Draco’s death, and likely theirs as well.

He reached for his wife again; this time she did not pull away. She fell into his arms, and allowed him to hold her.

“Is there nothing you can say that would change his mind?” she asked him. “What about Bella or Severus? Couldn’t someone make him reconsider?”

Lucius ran his fingers through his wife’s hair. Somehow touching her brought a certain amount of comfort to him. He sighed, knowing that he would have to answer her questions, and knowing that she would not like his response.

“Bella, Severus, and I are held in high regard with the Dark Lord, at least for the moment, but that does not mean that he will allow any of us to make decisions for him. He calls the shots. We stay on our knees, and always respond with, ‘yes, my Lord.’ If any of us were to approach him about this, it would only make things worse for Draco. I wish there was something that we could do, but there isn’t.”

“What if he just disappeared?” she pleaded. “We could send him away.”

“The Dark Lord has unimaginable resources. We could not hide Draco from him. He would find him, and he would kill him. I don’t like telling you that over and over, but you need to understand. If our son doesn’t do this, he will be killed. We cannot protect him. Bella cannot protect him. Severus cannot protect him. This is his destiny. This is what he was born into.”

“Some people have fought their destiny and won,” Narcissa reminded him. “Sirius never joined the Dark Lord, despite what people believed. And my sister, she left our family; she went on to live a normal life. Why can’t my son do that?”

Lucius was slightly taken aback. Narcissa had not mentioned Andromeda since she was a child. She always pretended that she had only one sister, the way her parents wanted her to.

“They got out before it was too late,” he said, carefully. Sirius and Andromeda were touchy topics at the best of times. “Neither of them ever showed any inclination to join the Dark Lord. Draco has boosted time and time again about wishing to follow him. When they left, the Dark Lord hardly knew who they were; he had no reason to pursue them. That’s just not the way it is for our son. Cissy, you need to stop looking for a way out. I have been through this a thousand times in my mind; there is no way out. I’m sorry. This isn’t what I want, but I can’t fix it.”

Narcissa said nothing, for a few moments. She buried her face in her husband’s chest. They may have never been in love, but they had grown to care about each other. She had grown to like the feeling of his touch. However, it held little comfort for her then.

A few minutes later, she pulled away. She sat up straight, and stared at the floor. Finally, she said the words she had been bursting to say for many years. “Andromeda was right to leave. I should have gone with her, when she asked me. We all should have left when we were young, and we still had a fighting chance. I’m glad at least one of my sisters got to have a life.”

Lucius nodded. He agreed with his wife. When Andromeda left, they had all thought her the perfect fool. She ran away from a life of luxury for a worthless Mudblood, but she got the last laugh. When all was said and done, she had a life. All they had was a master, a very cruel and demanding master. Andromeda had been the smart one, and they had been the fools. But there was no going back.

Lucius looked out the window. The sky was beginning to darken. He had a mission that night. He was due at the Department of Mysteries. He should have left fifteen minutes ago. His master would not be pleased, but he couldn’t leave Narcissa in such a state.

“Go,” she said, as if reading his mind. “I know that you are supposed to be somewhere tonight. I don’t want you to anger him. I need you to come home. I need you with me. I can’t do this alone.”

He kissed her softly.

“I’ll be home,” he promised. “I won’t let you face it alone.”

With that he left the room, without the slightest inkling that he had just lied to his wife.