If Harry and his friends had been concerned that the sounds of their apparition onto the front lawn of Malfoy Manor would give them away, they needn't have worried. They could scarcely be heard over the sound of their former classmate yelling and the roar of a werewolf as it crashed through shrubbery and stone alike. Less than a second after Harry, Ron, and Hermione had appeared on his lawn, Draco Malfoy plowed straight into them. Tangled in a pile of bodies on the ground, his eyes met Harry's own and he spared a quick moment to gasp, "Potter? What-" before he interrupted himself, scrambling up, instinctively pulling Harry with him as he yelled, "FUCKING RUN!"

It had been a very good plan. Horcruxes needed finding. The Order wasn't telling them anything, and the Burrow was growing progressively more depressing as its motley crew of inhabitants and guests made their way through.

The Hogwarts term had started a month ago, and although the adult members of the Order had long since stopped pressuring the trio to return for their final year, they still looked on with disapproval as the three poured over books surreptitiously obtained from the Hogwarts library, and refused to tell anyone outside their circle what it was they sought. They fell into a routine, Order members passing through, meetings they were rarely included in, snippets of information from the outside world, and books. Lots of books.

There had been two major breaks in their routine, one wonderful and one quite awful. Bill and Fleur's wedding had been a splendid event, with fascinating guests from all over the world. Hermione and Ginny had looked resplendent in their gowns and had managed to coax more than a few dances from a very reluctant Harry and Ron. Bill had never looked happier and Fleur had never looked more beautiful.

The second interruption to their routine came about a week later. Bill and Fleur had left for their honeymoon, and The Burrow was mostly quiet when Severus Snape walked through and door and Harry unceremoniously tried to kill him. After much shouting, Kingsley Shacklebolt putting him in a full body-bind, and Fred and George sitting on his chest, Harry finally listened as Snape's final promise to Dumbledore was explained. When Snape asked to speak to Harry alone, Fred and George reluctantly got off of him and left, loudly remarking, "I'd leave that body-bind on if I were you. Bloke's faster with his fists than with his wand."

Snape, with as much courtesy as he could muster in the face of Harry's antipathy (so, about as much courtesy as usual), had pledged to assist Harry and the group in locating and destroying the rest of the Horcruxes. However, he said, his work with Voldemort would keep him busy, and he could make no promise of when he would return. That had been weeks ago and the group was growing restless. That was when Ron hit on the brilliant plan.

"Bloody buggering hell! I bet if sodding Malfoy needed the horcruxes, Snape would hop-to." He tossed his quill down and swigged pumpkin juice defiantly. Hermione raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Sitting across the table from Ron, Harry steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them, thinking.

"You know, Ron, that's not a bad idea?"

Ron furrowed his brow in confusion. "What? Tell Snape that Malfoy needs the horcruxes?"

Harry shook his head. "No, tell Snape that Malfoy might already have them. We know there was at least one entrusted to the Malfoy's- the diary-, and we know that Malfoy Manor is overflowing with dark objects. Who's to say there wouldn't be another horcrux there?"

Hermione frowned slightly. "That's a nice idea, Harry, but we haven't heard from Snape in weeks. We don't even know when he'll be back. I think we should just keep researching."

"Or we could go to Malfoy Manor ourselves." Harry and Hermione regarded Ron with measured surprise. "No, I'm serious. We know Voldemort's holed up in that abandoned castle on the coast. Snape said the Death Eaters are based there, so we probably wouldn't even see Arsehole and Arsehole junior. The only one we'd have to maybe contend with is Malfoy's mum, and how hard could that be?"

Motivated largely by sheer boredom and the prospect of a break in the monotony, Harry and Ron spent the better evening talking Hermione around. What finally convinced her was Ron's wheedling, "And you know there'll be loads of dark objects with historical value at Malfoy's house. Think of what you could learn. You could even nick a few of them." Though she was loath to condone breaking, entering, and stealing, Hermione's eye did start to sparkle when she talked about the educational value of seeing inside one of the most infamous homes in Wizarding Britain.

With Hermione onboard, the three made their plan over the next few days, retired to their rooms on the appointed night, and waited for The Burrow to fall asleep.

Now, it was the wee hours of the morning, no one knew where they were, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were well on their way to becoming a snack for an enormous, slavering werewolf. As they ran, hot on Draco's heels, Hermione could be heard muttering, "We picked the night of the full moon. Why did I think it was okay to pick the night of the full moon?" Hazarding a glance behind them, Ron shoved her lightly to speed her along and wailed, "Shut up and run."

In front of them, Draco had almost reached the front door of the Manor when he tripped. Ron stumbled over him and Harry and Hermione skidded to a halt to help them up. Facing the way they came, Draco was the first one to see the werewolf gaining on them. "Oh, no." He looked around desperately, but the door was too far the reach before the werewolf would overtake them. The first to reach her wand, Hermione threw a stunner and it hit the wolf square in the chest, hard enough to knock him down.

Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her back, hastening toward the Manor. "That won't keep him down for long? Malfoy, why the hell is there a werewolf chasing you?"

Face contorted in misery, Malfoy moaned, "It's Fenrir Greyback." That was all the answer they needed. The four teenagers scrambled for the door, but behind them, Fenrir was back on his feet and preparing to leap.

That was when the Manor door opened, there was a loud crack, and Greyback's head exploded.