"No. No way."
"Come on, Ron. We can't leave him here. You know that," Harry said for what seemed like the thousandth time.
The three of them were gathered in a spare bedroom Fleur had quickly made up for Hermione who had just woken up from a much needed rest. Harry sat at the foot of the bed while Ron stood his ground, leaning his back against the door with arms folded.
While Hermione slept Harry had mulled over every possible option and in the end he could see only one: Malfoy had to stay with them.
Now, it was a matter of convincing Ron and Hermione of the same thing, which was proving as difficult as could be expected. Ron wasn't willing to even entertain the idea, while Hermione was relying on her maddening logic to shoot down every argument Harry had.
Hermione sat up in bed and gave him a skeptical look. "Harry, how are we supposed to bring Malfoy along but not tell him anything? He's not stupid, you know. He'll figure it out eventually."
"Figure out what? What's the likelihood that he'll know what a Horcrux even is?"
Hermione sighed in exasperation. "He'll at least figure out that we're looking for something, and if we get caught, he's a liability."
"He's a liability no matter what," Harry reasoned. "At least if he's with us, we'll know where he is and what he's up to. Besides, he doesn't have a wand now, does he?" He pulled out the wands he'd taken from Malfoy back at the Manor and weighed them in his hands. He dearly wished to have his own back. "How much of a liability is he without a wand?"
"Yes, but if we get caught…"
"If we get caught then we're dead either way, aren't we? Dead or worse…"
It was Ron's turn to speak up now. "I still don't trust him. How do we know he's not communicating with the Death Eaters somehow? Like he did last year at Hogwarts? He probably came with us to try and lead them to us."
"How would he do that?" Hermione asked. "No one knew that we'd show up at the Malfoy's. It's not as if this was his plan all along."
"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Ron asked heatedly.
Hermione rolled her eyes and settled back into the pillows, playing with a loose thread in the quilt. "I'm just trying to think logically, Ron. That's all. I'm on Harry's side, and if Harry thinks we have to bring Malfoy along, I just want to make sure that's the only option that we have. So let's think, shall we?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Think. What do we do with him if he doesn't come along? Leave him here with Bill and Fleur?"
"Not a chance," Ron said. "They've got enough trouble on their hands."
"Exactly. I can't ask anyone else to babysit him for us. And seeing as the Order doesn't have a proper headquarters anymore there isn't a safe place to keep him anyway. Besides…" Harry paused, choosing his words carefully. "Besides, he might actually make himself useful. He knows what the Death Eaters are up to and how to avoid them."
"For someone who was so suspicious of Malfoy last year, you seem to have a different attitude now," Ron said darkly.
"Considering I was right about Malfoy last year, you'd think my opinion was worth something," Harry snapped.
Hermione's gaze shifted back and forth between the two, her eyes wide. "Merlin, what has gotten into the two of you?"
Ron sulked and scuffed his feet against the carpet, muttering something under his breath. Harry only glared at the ceiling. The three of them had just gotten back to their usual selves after Ron had come back to them and now Malfoy's appearance was ruining everything. Harry didn't want to strain his friendship with Ron- he'd missed him more than he'd ever say aloud- but the decision was already made.
"Malfoy's coming," Harry said. He got up from off the bed and approached the door. Ron shifted so that he could get by. "If you have a problem with it…" Harry trailed off, not really wanting to finish that thought. It was enough that the other two seemed to understand the sentiment. Ron nodded grimly and Hermione shot him a sympathetic look.
Harry took a deep breath before opening the door. "I'm going to go talk to him."
"Harry," Hermione said quietly. "Don't you think you should rest?"
Harry shook his head and walked out closing the door behind him. He was exhausted. In fact, all he wanted was to curl up in bed and sleep for an eternity and forget about Dobby and the Horcruxes and the pain prickling in his scar. But first, he had to see Malfoy.
Bill was sitting at the kitchen table when Harry entered. "You all right?"
Harry nodded. "Well enough. How are the others?"
"They're all on the mend. Luna's outside with Dean. Griphook and Mr. Ollivander are resting. I don't have much room, I'm afraid, so you and Ron will have to share the couch. It pulls out into a bed. A bit lumpy but it'll do."
"And Malfoy?"
Bill sighed and gave Harry a grim smile. "He's in the shed like you asked. Fleur didn't like that at all. Neither did I to tell you the truth."
"I know," Harry said. He rubbed the back of his neck and did his best to ignore the guilt gnawing at his insides. "I don't like it either, but like you said, there's not much room and I think it's best to keep him away from the others. For now anyway."
Bill reached across the table and held out a plate with a sandwich on it and a bottle of water. "Make sure you give this to him when you go."
"Thanks," Harry said. "For everything. I didn't mean for all this to happen. We'll be gone soon, I promise."
"Take all the time you need, Harry. I'm happy to help. Just be careful, all right?"
"Yeah," Harry responded. He took the food, stuck the bottle of water beneath his arm, and made his way outside toward the little shed beside Fleur's garden.
A few hundred yards away Luna and Dean were sitting beneath a tree. Luna was speaking animatedly about something, holding her hands above her head and waving them about. If Harry had to guess, he'd say she was doing a Nargle mating dance, but he also knew that there was no telling with Luna. To his credit, Dean actually seemed fairly interested.
Harry unlocked the shed with a wave of the wand he'd claimed from Malfoy. The magic didn't feel as effortless as it did with his old wand, but it seemed to work just fine. It was a hard loss to bear but he supposed the new wand would just have to do.
The door creaked as he entered the little shed, and he lit the wand to illuminate the inside. Malfoy was sitting on a wooden counter, legs dangling. He was digging a trowel into the wood, carving out splintered pieces and tossing them aside.
"What do you want?" he asked, not looking up at Harry.
Harry set the plate of food down beside him. "Hungry?"
"Maybe."
Malfoy stuck the point of the trowel as deep into the wood as possible. Harry didn't see the point in wasting time with idle chatter. "Why did you come with us?"
Malfoy furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why? Why do you think? I wasn't about to let you lot escape and leave me in that hell hole."
"Fair enough."
Malfoy swung his legs back and forth before finally giving in to temptation and pulled the plate toward him. He hazarded a glance up at Harry and paused with the sandwich halfway to his mouth. "That's my wand."
Harry tried to arrange his face into a passive expression. "Is it?"
Malfoy held out his free hand. "I'll have it back."
Harry shook his head. "Afraid not. Sorry."
Malfoy's grey eyes flashed silver with anger and fear. "So what now? You're going to punish me for coming along? Sorry if I wanted a chance to save my skin too. Didn't mean to ruin the party."
"Ha! Party? Is that what you think this is?" Harry took a step forward, holding up the light to illuminate the space between them. "For your information, we haven't had the greatest time of it either, and now that you've decided to join us, you're going to get to see for yourself. And no, you won't be getting your wand back. Can't have you sneaking off."
"Where do you think I'll sneak off to?" Draco asked. "I have nowhere to go."
There was a hint of bitterness in his voice that Harry could only acknowledge as genuine. He had to admit that Ron had every reason to suspect him, but the Draco Malfoy sitting on the counter in Bill's shed was not the same Draco Malfoy from a year ago. Harry knew that. He didn't know how to explain it to Ron or Hermione but he just knew it the way he knew Parseltongue without ever having learned.
He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I can't give you your wand back. I need it, and it's important that you stay with us no matter what. If it means resorting to taking your wand away then so be it. Desperate times and all that."
"You need it." Draco repeated. "Where's yours?"
"Broken," Harry said bitterly. "And I don't think Ollivander can fix it."
"I doubt you'll need it anyway," Draco said. "We seem rather safe here."
"We're not staying here. We're moving on. We'll take a few days to recover and then we're off."
Draco groaned. "But why?"
"I can't tell you why," Harry said. "That's why it's so important that you listen to me. If you don't, it'll be trouble for all of us. All I will say is Dumbledore left me something to do and nobody else knows what it is. And it's going to stay that way. Don't ask questions and no arguing. Understood?"
Malfoy sat up straight and arched a brow. "I'm not sure I like your tone."
"And I'm not sure you realize how much danger you're in," Harry responded. He closed the distance between the two of them in a few steps so that he had to look up to meet Malfoy's eye. "I'm the last person you want to be associated with right now. I'm Undesirable Number One, Ron wants to kill you, and Hermione probably knows more curses than she lets on. So I'm telling you, Malfoy, don't do anything stupid."
The other boy blinked once and set his jaw in determination. "Fine," he finally said, sarcasm leaking through gritted teeth. "Whatever you say, Potter."
"Right then," Harry said. He turned to go. "I'll check on you later."
And with that, he left Malfoy to the darkness of the shed. On his way back to the cottage he thought he heard the muffled sound of metal against wood followed by a curse or two. It seemed no one was happy with the current arrangement, but Harry felt a little better now that Malfoy knew what to expect. He was sarcastic as ever, but he seemed compliant enough. Enough for Harry at least.
He found Ron in the spare bedroom with Hermione. Both had fallen sleep, Hermione beneath the covers and Ron on a makeshift bed of pillows on the floor. Harry followed suit and took over the couch in the living room, grateful for the blessed relief of sleep, and very soon was dead to the world.
Thanks so much for reading, everyone! This was a quick update. I can't promise the rest of this story will be up so fast but seeing as it's written, I wanted to post it. What do you think?
