The Kiss

The Kiss

Later that evening, the two began fighting over who would sleep in the bed.

"You take it," Harry was saying. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"You take it," Draco insisted. "You need it more than I do. You've been sleeping on the bloody floor all month," he said. "It's high time you took the bed."

Harry shook his head. "Why?" he asked. "I don't sleep anyway."

"You are taking the bed," Draco said firmly. "And even if you don't, I'm sleeping on the floor, so you may as well just take it."

Harry sighed in frustration. "Fine," he said shortly. "But don't come crying to me when your back aches in the morning."

"With that attitude, who would want to go crying to you?" Draco asked. "You'd send them off worse than when they came to you."

"Shove off," Harry nearly yelled. Draco was taken aback. No one had ever, in his entire seventeen years, talked to him as Harry had. Harry was the only one who seemed to know just what to say to push his buttons and then make him feel freer than ever before.

Draco let the silence grow as the two of them stood at opposite ends of the room, staring each other down. Draco suddenly felt the unmistakable urge to go to Harry and pull him into his arms. However, he held himself back, knowing that Harry wasn't like that. He knew, perhaps better than anyone else, that Harry was straight.

That didn't stop the lust Draco felt for him. After all, Draco had never been straight in his entire life. A part of him wondered why he ever pretended to be.

Finally Harry looked away and went over to the bed.

That night, Draco stayed awake while Harry slept for what had to be the first time in a week. He sat at the table watching, in the dim light, as Harry's chest rose and fell with every breath he took. He was in awe at everything that had happened to him in the two months since Dumbledore's untimely death. Had it really only been two months? It seemed like a year had gone by...

He would have never thought he'd be on the road with Harry Potter and his two little bloodhounds. He would have never thought that he'd be running away from the Death Eaters, after all, being one of them had become a life-long ambition. He would have never thought his own father would have tried to kill him either.

It was then that he realized, with a slight shock, that he was the last Malfoy alive. Sure his mother was still around and she had the name, but she didn't have the Malfoy blood. She didn't count.

He wondered what would happen, should he die without leaving an heir. Would the entire Malfoy fortune be lost, or would it be passed to the closest relatives? Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange.

Draco sighed and rest his head on his folded arms. He soon fell asleep.

"Hey," he heard someone say.

"How did it go? I see you didn't kill each other last night."

"We nearly did." That was Harry.

"We thought we'd come up early. Ron sent a letter to Mr. Weasley last night about your Apparation licenses. We thought that maybe he could get us into the Ministry. Fred and George say that they've closed it to the general public."

"That's what I figured after seeing Diagon Alley yesterday," Harry said.

Draco lifted his head and stretched his neck. "Why am I always the last one awake?" he asked, stretching the rest of his body.

"Because you're the one who stays up the longest," Granger said, sitting down on the bed Harry had occupied. Draco pulled his wand from the inner pocket of his robes and conjured himself a cup of coffee. Harry laughed at him.

"What?" he asked defensively.

"I told you you wouldn't sleep well," he said.

"Sod off," Draco muttered, sipping the hot liquid. He waited until the caffeine hit his brain before he attempted to follow the conversation again.

"Fred and George reckon dad will send an owl back sometime today so we can stay here until we get word."

"And then what?" Draco asked.

"Depends on what dad says," Weasley answered. "If he says he can get us in, we'll get your licenses, if not then we'll continue without them."

"And what happens when they want to arrest me the second I step into the Ministry?" Draco asked. "Are you three going to stick up for me or am I going to spend my days in Azkaban after all?"

"Snape is the one who is a wanted wizard, Malfoy," Weasley said. "Not you."

Draco shrugged. "That means nothing," he said. "Both my parents are Death Eaters, after all, it makes sense that they'd want to catch me before I got into it."

"You've already gotten into it," Granger said. "Now you're out of it. We'll testify for you if we have to, though I doubt we will."

"Are all Gryffindors this noble or is it just you three?"

"Most of us are," Granger said with a slight smirk on her lips. "Some of us I'm not so sure of. Are all of you Slytherins Death Eaters?"

"Some of us are," Draco said dryly, throwing her words back at her. "Some of us I'm not so sure of."

"Why don't you save the fight for a later time?" Harry asked, breaking the staring contest Draco was having with the only girl in the group.

"How long will we have to wait?" Harry asked, turning his attention to Ron.

Ron shrugged. "We could always Apparate..." he said slowly. "I know you can do it, Harry," he said.

Harry nodded. "I can even drag someone along with me," he said. A shadow seemed to cross his face as he said it and Draco wondered if it had anything to do with Dumbledore.

"Ron, it's too risky. What if they get caught?"

"I don't see how we're going to get answers."

"Floo," she said. "We could Floo to the Burrow."

Ron shrugged. "Let me call ahead to make sure it's alright if we all barge in."

"I'm sure your mother wouldn't mind," Granger said softly. "She hasn't seen us in a while and you know how she gets."

Ron nodded. "I'm calling just to make sure," he said.

Draco watched as the redhead walked over to the fireplace and threw a handful of Floo powder into the grate. He shoved his head in and called out for his mother. He pulled his head out five minutes later. "Let's go," he said.

"Am I welcome?" Draco asked, remembering well what had happened the last time he'd come across a Weasley family member.

"Yeah," Weasley said. "I made sure mom knew you were coming."

Draco sighed and stood up. He watched as Weasley and Granger went through the fireplace.

"You next," Harry said.

Draco sighed, knowing that Harry was far too stubborn to have done anything less. "What is this place called again?" he asked as he stepped into the fireplace.

"The Burrow," Harry answered.

Draco came tumbling from the fireplace in what looked like the Weasley's kitchen. He stood up and looked around, torn between horror and awe at what he saw. There was clutter everywhere and the house seemed to be held together purely by magic. Draco looked behind him where a stack of freshly laundered towels stood and saw a clock that wasn't a clock at all. In fact, it had nine hands. Draco walked up to it, seeing that each hand was pointed to 'Mortal Peril' and let out a breathy chuckle. He hadn't known that a family such as this could afford a clock as expensive as that.

Looking around as Harry came tumbling in, he saw that the dishes in the sink were washing themselves, that, if he angled his head just right and could see though to the living room, a blanket was knitting itself, and, turning around once more, the rickety staircase seemed ready to give way. Yet, as someone came running down, was proven stable as ever.

A redheaded girl of about sixteen came running into the room. She smiled brightly at seeing Harry and ran to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. Harry, with an odd look on his face, encircled her in his embrace. Draco found himself jealous, though he couldn't bring himself to admit why. He knew very well what was going on, and he refused to let himself get sucked into something that was sure to lead to heartache.

"I'm so glad you're safe," the girl said thickly. "I was worried," she continued. "You haven't answered any of my owls."

"I've been busy, Gin," Harry answered. "I haven't had a chance."

Draco looked over just in time to see that Weasley was glaring at his best friend, knowing that the boy wonder was lying.

A woman Draco assumed to be the Weasley matron came walking in with a smile on her face. "Welcome home, Ron," she said as she pulled her son into a vice-like hug. She looked up at Granger and beckoned her to join them. Granger obliged and Draco noticed that the woman was crying.

He felt like an intruder.

He felt unwelcome.

He wanted to leave.

He looked back towards the door in the kitchen and took a step towards it. Harry seemed to choose that time to come to his senses.

"Draco," he said.

Draco froze, not only not expecting to be noticed in the midst of the welcoming, but shocked at hearing Harry say his first name.

His one word seemed to bring everyone back to reality.

"Sit down, sit down," Mrs. Weasley said motioning for them all to sit down at the table. "I'll get some breakfast started," she said. "You four can't be eating right out there."

The five of them sat down around the table. Granger and Weasley next to each other on one side, Harry and the girl Weasley on the other, Draco at the end closest to the door--which just so happened to be right next to Harry and Granger.

"Your father hasn't been home yet, Ron," Mrs. Weasley said as she put a pan on the stove. "Your letter's just arrived."

"Pig and Hedwig are upstairs," the girl Weasley said. "They've been here off and on all month."

"Are you staying for the wedding?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "Bill and Fleur are getting married next week."

"She's not so bad now," Harry's girlfriend said. "I've stopped calling her Phlegm anyway. She's a lot better now that she's actually been forced to accept that there are casualties in war."

"How is Bill?" Granger asked.

"Oh, he's fine," Mrs. Weasley said as she threw some bacon into the frying pan with the eggs. He's been up and about quite a bit, helping Fleur with the wedding plans. We're doing it in the back yard and the entire Order is invited. Sometimes I'm amazed we're still together...."

"Who's running it now?" Harry asked.

"Lupin is," Mrs. Weasley said. "Lupin, Mad Eye, and Minerva."

"They've closed the school," the girl said. "McGonagall said she went to the Governors to see if the school should be kept open or not and they voted it down. They said that the focus needed to be on the war, not training a bunch of kids."

"I can't believe it myself," Mrs. Weasley said softly. "They've never closed Hogwarts before, not once since it was opened."

"A headmaster hasn't been murdered on the property by a member of the staff either," Granger said softly. "Sometimes it just can't be helped."

"You weren't going back anyway, were you?" the girl asked. "Any of you?"

"No," Harry said softly. "No, there's something I have to do."

"And we're helping," Granger said softly. "All of us."

"And what are you doing here?" the girl asked, turning to Draco for the first time since coming down. Draco could hear the bitterness and loathing in her voice and chose to ignore it.

"I failed didn't I?" he asked. "The Dark Lord wants me dead, so obviously I'm not a Death Eater any longer. I had information Potter needed and they haven't allowed me to leave since."

"So you really were one then?" she asked. "You weren't just under orders or anything?"

Draco pulled up his left sleeve and showed her his Dark Mark. "I was under orders," he said. "But since I failed, he ordered my death. No, you weren't just guessing for no reason."

"Why?" she asked. "What's the point? What does he offer that makes you want to follow him?"

"It's not what he offers that makes people follow him," Draco answered. "It's the things he makes you believe in. You should know this, you were possessed by him for a year, remember? You know all about the Dark Lord."

She shook her head. "No, I know about Tom Riddle," she said. "Tom Riddle and You Know Who are two very different people, even if they are one and the same."

"They're not that different," Harry said softly, his voice rough. Mrs. Weasley placed plates and cutlery in front of each of the teens. "They've got the same ambitions, the same desires, the same cruelty.... The only difference is that Tom Riddle couldn't do very much and Voldemort is nearly unstoppable."

"Nearly?" the Weasley girl asked.

"Nearly," Harry confirmed with a nod. "Dumbledore and I found what may be his one weakness. That's why we're doing what we are."

"And what information did you have?" she asked, turning to Draco.

"That's enough now," Mrs. Weasley said as she set the breakfast down on the table. "Eat up."

"Fred and George say hi," Weasley said as his mother sat down at the opposite end of the table from Draco. "Hermione and I stayed with them last night."

"Not you two?" Mrs. Weasley asked, turning to Harry and Draco.

Harry shook his head. "They didn't want Draco in their house," Harry explained. "I didn't think it was fair for him to be left out in the cold so we went and got a room at the Leaky Cauldron."

"I thought Tom said the place was booked."

"All but for one room," Harry said. "All the way up at the top with one really small bed."

"Draco was asleep at the table when we showed up earlier," Granger added.

"At the table?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "What were you doing there?"

Draco, who was not used to the attention he was receiving, avoided the answer by shoving a bite of eggs into his mouth.

"He refused to sleep anywhere else," Harry answered for him. "He's stubborn like that."
"You're worse than I am," Draco said in his own defense.

"Am not!" Harry protested.

"Not again," Granger sighed. "They do this every day."

"You are so!"

"You're worse than me!"

"It doesn't stop," Weasley added.

"I am not!"

"Would you two SHUT UP?" the girl next to Harry shouted. "Bill's trying to sleep up stairs you know."

"Sorry," Harry said, turning back to his breakfast.

"But it ends as quickly as it starts," Granger said with a smile. "They don't fight for long."
"Well now that you two have stopped bickering, someone needs to," Harry said.

"Ron and I do not bicker!" Granger cried.

"Not anymore you don't," Harry agreed.

Mr. Weasley didn't return to the Burrow until that night and when he did, it was with very bad news.

"You Know Who's attacked," he said. "Nearly half the Order has casualties. We're in shambles without Dumbledore and the Ministry is absolutely chaotic right now. Scrimgeour's pulled every non-fighting or non-secrecy division into combat." He sighed as he sank into his chair. "You wouldn't believe the hell out there."

"What did Voldemort do?" Harry asked. The whole room seemed to hold its breath.

"He attacked a Muggle orphanage," Mr. Weasley said softly.

Draco saw something in Harry's eyes change and knew that there was a connection there.

"Where is it?" he asked.

"Downtown London," Mr. Weasley answered. "Why?"

"I'll be back," Harry said, walking across the fairly large room in three giant strides. Draco, Granger, and Weasley all scrambled to go after him.

"What is it?" Granger asked when they all exited through the back door.

"Voldemort grew up in a Muggle orphanage," Harry informed them. "Maybe there's a Horcrux he left behind."

"Are you sure that going there tonight is a good idea?" Granger asked. "What if there are still Death Eaters around?"

"I'll have to take my chances," Harry said. "I want you three to stay here."

"No," Draco said flatly. "There's no way in hell I'm staying."

"We're not staying either," Weasley said.

"I'm not risking it," Harry said. "Not after what happened at the Ministry."

"And what happens when this proves to be a trap?" Granger asked.

"Draco can come with me," he said. "He knows the Death Eaters, he knows a way to get around it."

"Hurry," Weasley ordered as Granger opened her mouth to protest. "If you're not back in an hour--two at the most--we're coming after you."

Harry nodded once. "Fine," he said. "Don't tell anyone we're Apparating."

Weasley and Granger nodded. "Be safe," Granger said, giving Harry a quick kiss on the cheek. Even that, a gesture of friendship, caused Draco to become jealous.

"I don't know where we're going," Draco said as he and Harry began to walk away.

"Then grab my arm," Harry said.

Draco did just that.