After Draco left, Harry went to the couch and sat down. His head was throbbing and he was starting to feel nauseous. He did not want to throw up. He considered calling Kreacher for more tea but couldn't bring himself to do it. it had been such a very long day. His worry for Draco's safety was eating at him but he tried to push it aside. There was nothing he could do about it. He had to trust that Malfoy could take care of himself.
Even though Harry knew that was not true. Draco needed saving constantly. How many times did they save his life during the final battle? He really needed Harry to look after him.
Harry.
His name was spoken so slowly, he was not sure what was being said at first. He looked up and glanced around the room and it happened again.
Harry.
He stood up now.
"Ginny?" he yelled out. There was no answer.
Harry.
"Ginny, I'm in the living room!" He said as he moved to the hallway.
He could not understand it though, how did she get back in the house without using the door or the Floo? He made it to the kitchen to find Kreacher preparing a large tray with muffins and he laughed and leaned against the doorway.
"Malfoy left a couple minutes ago, Kreacher. Sorry."
The elf turned his large watery eyes on him and huffed.
"Master should have informed Kreacher. Kreacher likes the Malfoy boy."
"I know you do, I will make sure to let you say goodbye in the future," Harry said and grabbed one of the muffins. "Where is Ginny? When did she return anyway?"
Kreacher frowned and clicked his fingers. The muffin Harry had disappeared.
"Hey!"
"Master should eat dinner before sweets. Mistress is not home, Kreacher has not seen her since she left two days ago. Would Master want pork roast tonight?"
But Harry had stopped listening. He drew his wand instead and stepped out of the room. He had heard a voice. He knew he had!
"Homenum Revelio!"
And yet the spell did not reveal anyone. Harry stood staring at it for a long time. He had been so sure...The voice had been slow but sill it was clearly there and real. Had someone been in his home and left? He went to the Floo. It was late but he needed to see Ginny, to be sure she was okay and had not been here.
He grabbed the little black and grey decorative pot off the fire place and dug out some of the green powder. He tossed it in and the flames roared as they turned green. Harry stepped into it and called out, "The Burrow!"
The Burrow was dark and quiet when he got there. Harry paused awkwardly as the flames died down behind him. Now that he was here, he felt silly coming so late at night to check on his wife who was scared of him. Would it not give her more reason to worry? Perhaps he could manage just to get a glimpse of her to be sure she was okay before leaving.
He was sure she would be in her old room, the Weasley's had left it as a guest room once she had moved. The Burrow was actually quite empty now that the children had all grown and moved away. It made Harry feel a bit sad and he was sure Mr. and Mrs Weasley felt the same, if not more so than he.
He tried to push the door open quietly but it creaked and immediately Ginny was up. He saw her move for her wand and he grabbed her wrist.
"Ginny! It is me, it is Harry. It is okay. I just wanted to check on you," he said in a rush. He let go over her wrist and sat on the edge of her bed as she shifted over. She was rubbing her eyes now, her red hair standing up at all angles. She yawned and blinked at him.
"What time is it? Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine. I thought you had stopped by the house earlier…" he trailed off, not sure how to put it without sounding crazy but he must have already came off that way because she was looking at him wearily.
"Harry… What happened? Tell me the truth, you have always been a terrible liar," she said.
"I thought I heard you calling my name, Ginny."
"I have not been home since I left."
"I know, that is what Kreacher said as well. But I heard a voice calling me and someone had taken down the wards-"
"someone?" Ginny cut him off. Her eyes were hard. "Who? Why would someone attack your wards?"
"Well that is the thing, Ginny. They were not attacked, it looks like I took them down but it happened while I was sleeping. Draco woke me up-"
"And you do not think he did it?" she demanded. "He wanted you dead, Harry."
"He never wanted me dead," he said in response and crossed his arms. "Besides, it is not like I took him for his word. I did check. There was no evidence that they had been forced down."
"So you did it in your sleep?" she asked.
"Well….I guess it is possible."
"But you do not think that is what happened?" she demanded. He shifted in his seat. She was clearly getting upset. He stood up and ran a hand through his hair.
"I wanted to be sure you were okay, I am going home now Ginny. I will talk to you tomorrow maybe."
He was out her door before she spoke again.
"I'm worried about you Harry."
He gripped the frame of her doorway hard. She really did think he was insane. He could not bring himself to reply so instead he grunted and went to the Floo. He was going to go home and sleep this off.
Harry was concerned to find Ginny and George at his house, early in the morning. Ginny was packing his clothes into bags. George was pointedly looking at anywhere besides Harry.
"what is going on?" he demanded as he watched her packing his belongings. He saw her pause before she slammed the suitcase shut and rounded on him.
"You need help, Harry! This is not normal. You are hearing voices, your magic is doing things while you are asleep, what if you hurt yourself? Or me? or our children?" She asked. She was crying and Harry reached out to her but she moved away and shook her head. "i cant I cant. You need to get help. You are sick. Let George talk you to see a Healer-"
"I already saw one, Ginny!" he snapped. "They could not find anything wrong."
"If -if it is all-"
"If it is all in my head because Harry Potter has to be insane. Ginny, I am tired of people calling me crazy! I had to deal with that all through Hogwarts!" he was yelling now but he did not care. Enough was enough. He needed Ginny to back him up, not this, whatever this was. He could not believe his wife was essentially turning against him.
"Harry, it would not hurt to talk to them again, would it?" George asked him. Harry glared at him.
"So you think I'm nuts too?" he demanded.
"No, I think you have been through a lot of pain in your life," George said simply. He met Harry's eyes now. "Let us help you."
"No thanks," Harry said coldly. He grabbed his cloak off the hanger. "I'm leaving."
"Harry! It is your house!" Ginny cried but he ignored her and slammed the door behind him.
He was not sure where he was going to go. The Weasley's were out of the question. Malfoy might kill him for showing up but he wanted something to take his mind off of his traitorous family. So once he was clear of the wards, he Apparated to Malfoy Manor.
To say he was not nervous as he approached the gates and felt the wards burn against his skin in warning, would be an understatement. He knew Malfoy was going to be bloody livid that he showed up like this not even a day after they found out Draco was being watched. He could not help it though. He felt so alone and he needed to be around someone who believed him. Besides, Malfoy may say he thought Harry was insane but he could tell Malfoy didn't really mean it/
It took a couple minutes of Harry standing there and allowing his magic to press against the wards but eventually he felt them slide away and he was allowed entrance. He smiled and walked down the long winding path. He could see Draco standing outside now, dressed in black robes. It was not until he got closer that he could see the scowl on his face.
"Are you mad?" Draco hissed as he grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him inside. "You know I am being watched, what is wrong with you?"
"Apparently, everything. I am mad, remember?" Harry shot back and crossed his arms. He was wrong. This was not any better than being alone. He was ready to leave and just be alone when Draco offered him a drink.
"Father is not here, obviously, but it was stupid of you to come here. They are probably watching me, this gives them reason to doubt my intentions."
"Yeah, well I'm sorry. I just needed to get out of there."
He did not want to talk about it, he would not-
"Why are you here, Potter?"
"They think I'm mad!" he blurted out. He had sloshed his tea and Malfoy had jumped back, clearly startled, but he did not care. "This morning my wife and her brother are in my house, packing my bags to send me to the Janus Thickey Ward!"
Draco snorted in amusement.
"I always looked forward to the day you would be seen as the nutter I knew you were."
Harry glared at him for a moment but Draco just lifted an eyebrow and smiled. There was a long pause and Harry laughed, lifting his glass.
"Cheers, Draco."
Just as he was getting ready to drink, Draco grabbed his arm.
"Malfoy, do not start calling me Draco now. It will ruin our thing."
"We have a thing?" Harry asked with some surprise.
"Well, it is not a friendship and I am not sure what you could call this, but you will ruin it by calling me Draco."
He was dead serious, Harry thought. It really seemed to matter that he was called Malfoy and not Draco.
And the prat called him crazy!
Harry shook his head.
"Whatever you want, Malfoy."
"How long are you planning on hiding in my home?" Malfoy asked some time later. They had enjoyed a breakfast together and now were sitting in the library with the dying embers of the previous evenings fire warming the room.
"As long as you will allow me," Harry said immediately. "You do not understand the Weasleys, they are probably still there or have switched out with someone else or -"
"Owled for reinforcements?" Draco offered. "There are many of them, they breed like Kneazles."
"Malfoy," Harry warned. There was no real bite to it though.
"If I am being watched, it is going to look very odd if we are here much longer," Malfoy pointed out. "I believe it would be beneficial if you lead me out as if you were arresting me and then using Side-Along Apparition to take us for lunch."
"Oh?" Harry said. "That is a good idea. I am not in uniform though."
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Potter, they are Death Eaters. They are not exactly known for their intelligence. The smartest they had was Severus and he was not really on their side was he?"
"What about your Aunt and Father?" Harry asked.
Draco shrugged.
"Aunt Bella was a nut and Father was…" He trailed off and did not complete his sentence. Harry was curious but did not want to push the issue. They were getting along, there was no reason to push the dragon now.
Harry took them to the Leaky Cauldron. One look at Draco revealed a rainbow of emotion.
"Here?" He asked scandalized. "Really, Potter? The Leaky Cauldron? Ugh, no, I can't-"
"They will give us a private room, Tom does not like how people swarm me when I come here but he does not want to send me away. Hey, Tom!"
Every time he came here, the memory of Tom Riddle Jr as a child would come back to him and how he did not like that this Tom had the same first name. Too common of a name for Voldemort.
He shook his head and managed a grin for the barkeeper. He was already leading them upstairs.
**********
"I am sure Slytherin Common Room was much better than Gryffindor's Common Room. All that gaudy red? No, thanks."
"Mlafoy, have you ever been in Gryffindor?" Harry asked. He was a bit nettled. Red was a fine color, it was not gaudy.
"No," he replied and cut his biscuit. Harry never had witnessed someone cut up everything and eat their food so daintily. He was impressed.
"Well I have been in Slytherin, Gryffindor is much better, much warmer even. The winter must be harsh for you Slytherins," Harry said.
"You have not been in Slytherin House," Draco said quite forcefully.
"I have, so has Ron."
"No Weasley has ever dirtied our House, take it back or I will shove my fork up your-"
He was jabbing his fork in Harry's direction threateningly but Harry snatched it out of his grasp. Malfoy lunged across the table to get it but only managed to knock over his tea. Scowling, he sat back and tried mopping up the mess he had made.
"I hate you, Potter. I could have died happily never knowing that," he slammed his hand down. "How did you get in there anyway?"
"You let us in,the password was pureblood. Ridiculous, if you ask me." Harry replied smugly. Malfoy was turning pink from his indignation.
"I would never let you or Weasel into Slytherin. Now I know you are lying."
"Draco-"
Malfoy kicked him under the table and deepened his glare. Scowling, Harry rubbed at the spot.
"Malfoy, it is not like you knew it was us."
Draco's nostrils flared and Harry laughed. He was cute when he was upse-
He squashed that thought, feeling the heat in his face and coughed.
"We thought you were the Heir of Slytherin, but we needed proof."
This seemed to placate Draco and he settled in his chair again.
"So Hermione brewed Polyjuice Pot-"
"Potter, we were in our second year. You do not expect me to believe a 12 year old Mu-"
"Malfoy," Harry warned. Draco rolled his eyes.
"I was going to say Muggle Born. You should not assume, Potter," he said.
Harry rolled his eyes this time.
"Sure, please continue."
"Right, she was 12 years old at the time. I do not believe she could have done it successfully," Draco stated and picked up his spoon now. "So you are a liar."
"You are threatening me with a spoon now?" Harry asked, eyeing the spoon that was being jabbed in his direction.
"Do not underestimate me, Potter. I can use anything on this table to attack you."
Harry lunged forward and wrestled the spoon from him as well.
"Merlin!" Draco swore and kicked Harry under the table. "I hate you."
"Everyone knows that," Harry said. "Back on topic though, it is not like Hermione did it perfectly. She did make a mistake."
"What? What did perfect Granger mess up?" he was eager to hear more now, leaning forward without any utensils to threaten him with. Although, that could be because he was holding on to his knife for later.
"I am not telling you that, Hermione would hate me," Harry said and shifted in his seat. It was time to change the subject.
"I am not going to help you unless you tell me," Draco threatened. "We need to be able to trust each other. So trust that I will not make fun of her or bring it up to her."
"It will stay between us?" Harry asked and then shook his head. "It does not matter. Pick something else, she is my friend and I can't break her trust on that. How good would my word be then?"
Draco did not respond but instead held eye contact with him. Harry smiled nervously and then memories rushed to the front of his mind. His hands snapped up his head and he yelled, "No!"
There was a bang and he was pushed backward, falling out of his chair and sliding across the floor. He scrambled to his feet and drew his wand.
"What is wrong with you?" He yelled. Draco was on the ground rubbing his arm. From the burn on his clothes, it looked like Harry might have tried to set him on fire. "You were just talking about trust!"
"You can't trust anyone, Potter. That is your first lesson," he got to his feet and scowled. "You ruined these robes."
Harry pointed his wand at Draco's robes again.
"Incendio!"
"POTTER!" he yelped and sprayed the fire with water.
"Do not go forcing yourself into my mind, Malfoy!"
"Your mind should not be so easy to break into!" Draco snarled. He had his wand out now.
"Shut your mouth!"
"So Granger used cat hair, did she?" Draco taunted. "I bet she made a better cat than-"
Harry shot off a stinging jinx that Draco deflected. He smirked and for a moment Harry's heart skipped a beat.
"Are you going to duel me, Potter?"
"Only if you stick around. I seem to recall the first time you challenged me to a duel, you never showed."
"I was 11!" Draco yelled. "That is hardly fair to hold that against me."
"Excuses, Malfoy. You apparently have many of them."
Draco frowned at him.
"I need my utensils back in order to eat, Potter."
