The war had ended. Voldemort had been vanquished by Harry's hand as the prophecy had said. The light side rejoiced; parties covered every street as everyone left their houses for the first time in months. Even Hogwarts, in its decapitated state, stood tall and proud as light shone from every window.
There were of course casualties after the war but mourning could occur later. Right now all the student and teachers alike were crowded in the Great Hall, music blaring out from every corner. Everyone was happy. At the centre of it all Harry, Ron, and Hermione were being celebrated as heroes while Ron excitedly recounted their trek across Britain searching for Horcrux's while the younger years crowded around. The elder year merely laughed and had more fun than they had had in years.
Suddenly the music stopped and everyone quietened as McGonagall, the new headmistress, stood and spoke.
"Throughout these years you have seen more horrors than most people experience in their lifetime. You were unfortunate to grow up in such dark times but where there is darkness there will always be some light and throughout all of it, you all held onto the light and goodness in your heart even when the darkness seemed to overwhelm us all. You all showed bravery, kindness, intelligence and even cunning to survive this war and you have done Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world proud."
"However most of all we must thank Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley who were always a beacon of hope to those who needed it. They took on task no child their age should have had to and did so without complaint or reservation. You should all be proud to consider these people you housemates and friends."
With the end of those words the hall erupted in cheers and shouts of joy. People clapped the three of them on the back and hugged them nearly to death.
As the night went on the celebrations eventually ceased as everyone either collapsed from too much fire whiskey or dragged themselves to bed. Harry was in the latter group and happily collapsed onto his bed in Gryffindor tower. It had been so long since he had slept in a bed he'd almost forgotten what it felt liked. Without a second thought sleep claimed him and for the first time in years he slept deep with no fear of death, no visions and no pain from his scar. He was finally at peace.
It was a few days later. The mood in the castle had collapsed as the extent of the damage both in terms of the building and the loss of life hit people. People mourned or waited at the bedsides of loved ones waiting for them to either recover or pass on.
Harry had hardly left Gryffindor tower since the end of the party. He had seen enough death and destruction from the war first hand without having to endure the clean-up. So he Hermione and Ron sat up in the common room playing exploding snap or chess or merely enjoying the quiet. Ron continued to recount their tales to everyone who wanted to listen. The only time they left Gryffindor tower was to eat in the great hall.
They didn't talk much; there wasn't anything to talk about. Ginny had come to see harry and they had talked quietly, recounting memories and just enjoying each other's presence.
Ginny was another sore point for Harry. He liked Ginny. She was a nice girl but that was it. She was nice. Nothing more, nothing less. The only reason he hadn't dumped her the second after the war finished was because he was unsure of how Ron would react and he didn't want to lose a friend over some stupid teenage drama.
He therefore felt some trepidation when she asked Harry if they could talk privately. He could tell form her voice this wasn't a talk he would enjoy but followed her anyway to a secluded section of the common room.
Ginny took a deep breath before words started pouring out of her mouth
"Harry. I love you. You know I do more than anything. But it's only been recently, when we were separated thanks to Voldemort that I have truly realised how deep these feeling are. Harry I don't think I could survive without you, my heart would break in two and no sorrow would be worse than mine. I know it is normally the guy who asks this but well screw tradition. Harry will you marry me?"
Harry gaped at her in shock. Thoughts coursed through his head, most on the lines of how the hell do people say no to that kind of question. He took a deep breath and calmed his mind. Gathering his thoughts he prepared a speech, about how much he cared for her but simply wasn't ready for that kind of commitment but when he opened his mouth all that came out was:
"I want to break up"
It was only then that Harry realised how much guilt had built up inside of him over stringing Ginny along for such a time. As the guilt coursed out of his body he felt more free than he had in a long time. Then he saw the hurt in Ginny's eyes and suddenly the guilt was back twice as bad. Ginny, tears running down her face turned and ran out of the portrait hole as fast as she could.
All eyes in Gryffindor common room turned to stare at him. He quickly muttered something about being tired and fled up to his dormitory. He curled up on his four poster bed and spelled the curtains closed.
It was only seconds later that the curtains were being thrown open and he had Ron glaring daggers at him, yelling stuff about how he's betrayed Ginny and his family.
Eventually Harry's tempered snapped and he yelled "Well would you have rather I dragged Ginny into a loveless marriage and we were both miserable for the rest of our lives"
Ron was silent for a moment then sighed "sorry mate, but y'now how protective I get of Ginny I just don't like seeing her upset."
Surprised by Ron suddenly backing down harry blinked in astonishment. In the past they would have ended up in a yelling match which nobody won until Ron finally caved months later.
Seeing Harry's expression Ron replied "Before Dumbledore y'now. He talked to me about my anger and controlling it. He tried to get me to understand that there are some battles that aren't worth fighting. Of course I didn't realise how important what he was telling me was until I left you in the forest. It was only once I'd calmed down I realised this was what Dumbledore was getting at. It always held me back, stopped me being as loyal to my friends and stopped me as much use in the war. I might not have Hermione's brains but when it comes to strategy no-one beats me when I think things through and actually work at things"
Harry gaped at Ron in shock. He had never known his best friend to follow advice or for that matter even listen to it. But Harry smiled, this was a good thing. It would make Ron happy and would help him when he became an auror. Someone who he knew he could rely on.
"It's alright Ron; I probably could have handled that better anyway."
"Yeah mate. Oh and I'd watch out for Hermione she's livid at the moment. It was all I could do to stop her coming up here herself."
"Oh joy. I'll deal with her in the morning right now I'm just going to sleep"
"Sure thing. Oh I meant to ask are you going to come back and re-take seventh year."
"Yeah. If we want to become aurors we need all the training we can get and while I expect we're well beyond newt level in DADA in potions we are most certainly not."
"Excellent so we'll all be here next year. I think most of our year is retaking but anyway I'll let you get some rest. See you in the morning Harry"
"Goodnight Ron"
And with that harry closed his curtains on his four-poster bed and fell asleep in seconds.
Harry headed down to breakfast the next morning after explaining everything to Hermione and carefully planning it so he didn't run into Ginny or any of her friends. As such, once he reached breakfast, what remained of the great hall was practically empty.
He had barely entered the hall when professor McGonagall came up behind him
"Mr Potter, come with me to my office please". She turned around quickly but harry could see the glint of sadness in her eyes. This wasn't a good sign for him and so he slowly followed dragging his feet, dreading every step closer he got to her office.
The gargoyle leapt aside for them and as harry entered her office the sight that greeted him was not a hopeful one.
Inside was Kingsley. That meant it had something to do with the death eaters still at large and Harry really didn't want anything to do with them at the moment. He had had more than enough death eaters for the moment but it looked like they would be thrown at him once again whether he wanted them to or not.
"Harry. I don't know if you were aware but earlier today were the Malfoy's trial. Unfortunately, the result wasn't what we were hoping for. The Wizardingot deemed both of them to be innocent of all crimes they were accused. It seemed that they were in fact coerced into joining him. Furthermore a brief inspection of their house came up with no dark artefact and no dark books. Without more evidence available the two of them were released. However, we were at least given permission to put someone inside there to look around for the summer.
Unfortunately, I have all my aurors working on finding some of the death eaters still at large. Although sometimes don't know why I bother. Most seem to escape without a scratch like the Parkinson's, Zabini's and Nott's, although the Crabbe's and Goyle's are in Azkaban with the Lestranges which is something I suppose.
Anyway back to the Malfoys as my department is so busy we don't have someone who we could send away for the entire summer. As such, we were hoping you would be willing to do it?"
"What! No way. No no no I'm done with the war. I did my part that is it. I am 17 and I'm going to enjoy for once in my life. Finally there is no-one wanting me dead. That is it have done enough."
"Harry" McGonagall interrupted "I know that this isn't ideal but it's either this or return to the Dursleys. They are still your legal guardian and it would take months to have them renounced as your legal guardians after 17 years. Besides Malfoy Manor is huge, you'd hardly see Mr. Malfoy or his son."
Harry hated this. He hated being stuck in such a tight spot after everything he'd done for the wizarding world and still things didn't go his way. Even so it wasn't much of a choice. There was no way he was returning to the Dursleys and it was hardly like the Malfoys could hurt him without bringing even greater suspicion down on their heads.
"Fine. I'll stay at Malfoy Manor but I'm not happy about this."
Harry stumbled out of the floo into Malfoy Manor. The Hogwarts Express had just taken all the student home for the summer while leaving the teachers and ministry members to rebuild Hogwarts ready for next year.
Harry glanced around the room he'd stumbled into. While Harry hated to admit it, he was impressed. The floor was covered in a soft green carpet and on top of it there was a plethora of sofa's and arm chairs making the room seem almost homely. The room on its own was much bigger than an entire floor on the Dursley's house and the ceiling stretched high above him, with figures and mythical creatures carved out of the wall. A glass chandelier held in place by magic was floating high above him filling the room with light. There were also several doors which lead off this room.
Before Harry could decide which door he should try first, the one on the far right opened and the Malfoy patriarch entered. He did not seem so much to walk as to glide. While his feet definitely left the floor, there was no gap between his steps. He approached harry and looked down upon him his grey eyes staring coolly at the emeralds that were Harry's.
"Mr. Potter. So kind of you to join us for the holidays. I'm sure Draco will be thrilled." The pure contempt in Lucius's voice was obvious although no such emotion reached his face that was composed mask.
"It's my pleasure Mr. Malfoy" Harry glared up into his eyes and his face clearly showed how he felt about the eldest Malfoy.
"Don't you know it's rude to stand around in the entrance hall. Come. Trilly!"
A small house-elf popped into sight and cowered at the feet of her master.
"Y-y-yes m-m-master."
"Take our guests bags to his room."
With a frightened squeak and a pop the house-elf disappeared along with Harry's bags.
Glaring at Malfoy Harry said "You don't have to be mean to them. I mean they never did anything to you. You could try to be nice once in your life"
Malfoy merely sneered at harry and replied "I'll be sure to take you advice into consideration. Now come I have no desire to stand around here all day"
With that he spun on his heels and left striding towards the door he had entered through. Harry hardly had a moment to think before he was scrambling after him trying to keep up with Malfoy and having to practically jog through the corridors to keep up with Malfoy's longer stride. Being so focused on not falling over he didn't take note of where they were going until he suddenly crashed into something in front of him. Looking up he realised Malfoy had stopped and he'd knocked right into him. Malfoy merely looked down at him and sneered before saying "try to watch where you're going Mr. Potter"
Harry scrambled to his feet with none of the elegance Malfoy had and looked around. He was inside an entrance hall that clearly would have been the entrance hall had they come through the main door which stood to Harry's right. It was grand, such as those seen in old muggle fortresses. Looking around harry could see that directly in front of the door was a staircase that lead up to another set of double doors although much smaller than the entrance doors. The corridor continued to the right and left of the door leading off to somewhere which harry couldn't see. Returning his attention to the entrance hall he could see another corridor similar to the one they had just walked along but much smaller. Unlike the one they had just walked along which, now harry looked at it, was rather grand with portraits of Malfoy family members lining the wall. Mosaics covered the floor flowing along the corridor and joining into the intricate design that covered the floor of the entrance way.
"As you can see Mr. Potter the house is divided into 4 sections. The kitchen and the servants courters can be found along there" He said casually gesturing towards the plain corridor. "The corridor we just walked along leads to the floo rooms, the meeting room and the apparition points. The wards are set so no one can apparate in or out so if you wish to leave that way you will have to leave from the apparition room. The gardens are through the main door and the private courters, family rooms and guest rooms are all up the stairs." Throughout this Malfoy hardly glanced at Harry merely gesturing towards the relevant areas with a bored expression.
"I would ask you not to snoop around mine or Draco's personal quarters although I doubt that will stop you. My office is up those stairs and through the door but I will be working at the ministry most days and Draco will be visiting his friends so don't feel the need to talk to us. I'm sure this misunderstanding between me and the ministry will be over soon."
"Trilly will show you to the guest quarters which will be your residence while staying here. She will be able to show you where everything is. I hope to see very little of you over the next two months. Good day Mr. Potter"
And with that he walked up the stairs with his usual grace, snake-head cane in hand and entered his office closing the door behind him.
Harry glared after him wondering if it was possible to set fire to Malfoy with his eyes. Sighing he looked around. He knew he would have to poke around at some point but at that moment he was too exhausted. The train journey had tired him out so he made to go to his room. Until he realised he had no idea where it was. Remembering Malfoy's words he said experimentally "Trilly." With a pop the house-elf was in front of him head bowed and shaking.
"Y-y-y-yes m-m-master Potter"
"Do you know where my rooms are?"
"Yes master Potter Trilly will take you there at once Master Potter"
She then headed off in the direction Malfoy had gone, up the stairs, but rather than heading through the double doors, turned right. Harry hurried to follow and continued to as she led him down what seemed to be a maze of corridors. Eventually in front of a large pair of double doors Trilly slowed to a halt
"If you's be interested Master Potter this is the library. Master Malfoy said Harry may use the library at any point should he need to master Potter." Trilly then continued on past more doors and corridors with Harry getting thoroughly lost along the way. Eventually Trilly reached a door and said " this is being master Potters room is there anything else I can get for Master Potter"
"No thank you Trilly" Harry replied
He looked back and saw an expression of awe on Trilly's face followed by an excited squeak as she disappeared.
Harry was exhausted and so just collapsed onto the giant king sized, four poster bed that despite its impressive size barely filled any of the room. He promptly fell asleep, while dreaming about all of the things that could go wrong with his 'mission' and how he'd let himself be talked into living in the same house as the two Malfoys. He was just thankful he hadn't needed to deal with Malfoy the younger yet.