Authors Note: …...errr... . I'm sorry!
Okay, first off, I didn't mean to take this long, I really really didn't. Just about a billion things happened at once, I got the flu twice in a month, my dad had surgery so I had to take care of him, not to mention all the holidays and such (Happy New Years, Christmas, and every other holiday by the way!) and... yeah, I'm just terribly sorry for the extremely long wait.
I hope you all forgive me and enjoy the story! It will not EVER never ever ever be abandoned or anything of that sort, so please do not think I would do so.
(Also, if Carling – an amazing reviewer – made an account to review next time, I'd really like to thank you personally, you helped me quite a bit with your reviews ^_^ ) This message actually goes to all my reviewers, I really do appreciate it so much and thank you all so much.
Okay, enough rambling from me, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 10: Nervous Reunion
Draco drank the pain potion Misty gave him gratefully, leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes as it began to take effect. He'd woken up a couple of hours before noon with one of the worst hangovers he'd had in a long time; he couldn't even get out of bed for an hour, add that with the burning ache in his right shoulder – he assumed he must've hit it against something in his drunken state the previous night, though he saw no marks on his skin – and he simply had to look at Misty before she'd gotten him the potion.
He now sat in his office, just a few minutes left until he'd have to leave in order to make it to the burrow precisely 10 minutes before noon – early, but not seemingly desperate by Pureblood standards. Draco placed the empty potions bottle down and rubbed his shoulder gently. It still ached slightly, but it was bearable.
He stood and straightened his outer robe. Today he wore a black and silver robe with a Malfoy insignia over simple black slacks and a gray dress shirt. He didn't look too fancy, not wanting the Weasley's to feel like he was flaunting his wealth. Though the Malfoys weren't nearly as wealthy as they were during and before the war, his family's vaults were still a decent size and he generally dressed to show that fact as not to appear weak.
A couple minutes later he was walking out the door, apparating to the Burrow once outside of his gates.
The Burrow didn't look as horrid as he'd always thought it would – he used to insult it while back in school, but the truth was he'd never even laid eyes on it before now. He just believed his father's words. It was actually quite breathtaking – not in the way his own home was of course, but it just seemed to give off a nice welcoming feeling... the feeling of a home.
Draco only found out minutes later that the welcoming feeling did not seem to truly apply to him, or do anything to ease his nerves. He stood in front of the door with his fist raised in the air, waiting for his limbs to unfreeze and allow him to knock.
In the middle of mentally throwing any swear words he could think of towards himself, the door suddenly flew open to reveal two gingers staring at him. Not wearing smiles in greeting, but not frowning either. Arthur Weasley stood next to Ronald Weasley, both stepping back slightly to allow him inside. Draco quickly let his arm fall back to his side and bowed slightly in greeting.
"Good to see you, Malfoy." Arthur greeted, "Come on in, most of everyone is already here, though Ginny's running a bit late, but she'll be here shortly I'm sure."
Draco swallowed thickly and nodded his head, walking past the two and stopping a few steps inside to reply, "Thank you Mr Weasley."
"Living room's over here." Ron said shortly, walking past him and turning through the first doorway inside. Draco followed him, nervousness coming back in full force when the many voices coming from that room registered in his mind. He heard Arthur follow behind him though, so he continued forward.
Draco turned into the room and the voices faltered slightly, though the silence lasted merely a moment before everyone went back to their conversations.
By now, he'd done enough research to know every Weasley by the back of their heads. Draco saw Arthur move to stand beside Molly, who was setting a tray of biscuits on top of a coffee table which was already overflowing with other foods. George Weasley was sitting on a very large couch beside the table and immediately went for one of the biscuits, though he didn't look away from a conversation with Hermione Granger.
Draco tensed at the realization that he'd be speaking with another person who he'd given a debt to. While he did want to speak with her, it hadn't crossed his mind that he'd have to do so today, so he wasn't prepared. He took a deep breath past his nerves and forced his eyes to leave her.
Next to Granger sat Percy Weasley, he was wearing Ministry robes and staring down at a scroll in his hands. Sitting down on a very plush chair in the back of the large room was a pregnant Fleur Delacour, with Charlie and William Weasley – Bill, Draco remembered he'd liked to be called - leaning against the wall next to her, all three seemingly deep in conversation.
"Ron, dear, let's not have our guest standing all day now." Molly said after pecking Arthur on the cheek. "Offer him a seat and I'll finish getting lunch ready."
Ron gave a very short nod and sat himself on an empty couch on the other side of the coffee table, gesturing vaguely to the area next to him. Though the ginger never looked at him during this, Draco still nodded and took a seat, making sure there was a generous amount of room between them on the large couch.
"So," Ron said and coughed slightly, "I hear you made Hagrid a pen?"
Draco smiled, hoping to himself that he wouldn't screw up this chance at small talk. "Yes, and I plan on going back to visit the goat soon."
He saw Ron raise an eyebrow and braced himself for some sort of insult or jab about the past. "You do? But why?" Ron instead asked, seeming completely dumbfounded.
Arthur then came over and sat on Draco's other side, leaning forward and giving a soft glare at Ron. Draco could clearly see the love inside those eyes though, and a bittersweet feeling nearly overwhelmed him before he squashed it down and tossed it to the back of his mind.
"Now, now, Ron," Arthur said with a slight shake of his head, "Let it be." He looked at Draco and smiled, "Do you want something to drink, Malfoy?"
Draco swallowed again and shook his head. "Not right now, thank you," After a slightly pause, he added, "also, if you'd like to, you can call me by my given name, sir."
Arthur continued to smile and gave a short nod. After a moment of silence, George spoke up from a few feet away, across the table. It was then that Draco really noticed everyone was staring at him now - with the exception of Percy, who continued to stare at the scroll. "What have you been doing since Hogwarts, Draco?" George inquired, then took a rather large bite of his biscuit.
"Well, the past couple of years has been centered almost entirely on the orphanage I founded," Draco began, "before that I just tried to get used to being the head of my family, really..." He smiled slightly, hoping they'd be satisfied with that story.
George nodded, swallowing down his food and accepting a napkin from Granger, though he only placed it on his knee. Draco could tell he was about to speak, but instead it was William – Bill, Draco told himself – who spoke. "How is that, being head of a family at your age?"
Draco raised an eyebrow, not having expected that question. He decided in that moment he'd answer truthfully though, rather than putting up a tough front that came all too naturally now, "It's difficult. I've been taught everything about it since I could talk, yet it still doesn't completely prepare you for it. Especially in my position, where my family has a dark," he frowned, but continued on, "reputation. It's hard getting people to see you as you are when they're too focused on the past." Draco sighed, shaking his head to get back on track. "It's simply a lot of work, though I think that's the truth for everyone, regardless of age." he finished, and everyone turned back to their previous conversations, with the exception of Bill, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.
A few minutes later, Bill and Arthur were in a discussion about how to simplify the job of being head of a family. Ron, Hermione and George were talking about further ideas about the latter Weasley's shop, while Charlie and Fleur were speaking softly about her pregnancy. That left Draco to help Molly when she walked in with an enormous tray of sliced meat.
"Oh," she said as Draco took the platter from her, "You don't have to, dear."
Draco shook his head to dismiss her worries, not able to speak while trying to support the platter without looking as if it strained him to do so, which it certainly did. The tray was at least a meter long, and practically overflowing with juices and meat. Thankfully the tray seemed charmed to not burn him, since the heat coming off the meat was certainly enough to make his brow break a sweat.
Molly sighed, though she was smiling at Draco. "If you insist, just set it on the edge there, thank you," she gestured to the only empty corner of the coffee table. Draco raised an eyebrow, not seeing that it would fit there at all, but before his eyes the table grew larger and taller. He looked up to see Arthur smiling gratefully at him, while Bill had his wand out to enlarge the table. Draco moved and set his burden down with a quiet relieved sigh.
"Well, now," Molly said happily, flicking her own wand to configure the couches to many chairs around the table, "Ginny fire-called, she'll be here with Harry before we know it. So boys, go get washed."
Draco looked up from the table, where he was taking in all the food that got larger with the spell."P- Mr. Potter is going to be here as well?" he asked uncertainly.
Molly nodded. "Ginny said he was working near where the Harpies were training, so she was going to pull him away with her for lunch here." She smiled kindly at him, but she sent a soft glare at George when he cast a cleaning charm on himself, but gave it up when everyone else did the same afterward. She shook her head and continued, "Is that a problem, dear? We can wait to talk about the debt after we eat if you'd prefer Harry not be here for it."
Ron cut in after he charmed himself, "Mum, Harry already knows about what we want, should be fine if he's here." He turned to Draco and raised an eyebrow, "Right?"
Draco took a deep breath to calm his nerves and nodded. "Of course."
Molly smiled once more at Draco, "Now, I'm going to make sure the deserts are going well. No picking at the food until Gin gets here - George and Ron, I'm talking to you." She sent the both of them a fierce glare, to which they replied with sighs – then of course they chuckled at one another – and she left for the kitchen once more.
Nearly as soon as she walked out, everyone in the living room heard greetings coming from the next room and Draco's palms began to sweat. The thought of being in the same room with so many of the people who were in charge of his future at once was getting to him. He almost wished he hadn't taken a pain potion that morning – it would at least give him something to distract himself with, especially since even the dull ache from that morning was completely gone.
Before he could really dwell any further on it though, two figures walked in to the room. Draco's eyes immediately landed on Potter and they stared at each other for a mere second before Potter looked away to greet everyone else. Draco sighed and stayed where he was by the edge of the table. He felt truly out of place there, with every one else cheerful chatting away, while he couldn't even hold simple small talk with anyone there.
"Draco," Ginny walked up to him and he started from his position, not having expected anyone to come up to him. "It's nice to see you." She smiled at him, patting him, awkwardly - for him at least, on the arm before walking away toward Ron before he could even open his mouth to respond.
Shaking his head, Draco swallowed for what felt like the millionth time that day and stared down at the table again.
"That hungry, hm?" A deep voice interrupted his thoughts.
Draco started again and looked up, not at all expecting to see Potter there, which made him feel even more like a fool for not understanding what he was asking. "P-Pardon?"
Potter grinned and pointed at the food, where Draco was previously staring quite intently at. "Are you hungry? I'm sure Molly won't really care if you eat now." He glanced toward the doorway and shrugged. "Besides, she always tells me I'm too small and that I need to eat more, and you're definitely smaller than me."
Draco frowned. "I'm not hungry, and I'm not at all small either." He nearly slapped himself when he heard how childishly defensive that sounded, even more so when he realized how hungry he actually was.
Sitting in one of the chairs at the table beside them, Potter smirked up to Draco, "If you say so, though you look a lot like you did in sixth year."
Ron came over and grabbed one of the seats next to Potter, and Draco sat in the chair closest to him when he saw everyone else was starting to take seats. He sat on Potter's other side and Arthur came to sit next to him at the head of the table.
"You talking about Malfoy back in school?" Ron raised an eyebrow, lounging in his chair.
Potter nodded. "Yeah, remember how he looked all through sixth year? All pale and sickly looking."
Draco swallowed; in sixth year he had too many things going on, he didn't worry much about how he looked then.
"Not really," Ron replied, must to Draco's relief, "Though you were practically stalking him so it's no wonder you noticed something like that."
He raised an eyebrow at that and Potter spoke in a loud defensive tone to Ron, "I did not!" then he turned to speak to Draco, "I didn't, really."
Ron laughed loudly and patted Potter on the back. Granger spoke up from Ron's other side then. "You know Harry had his reasons for that. Though I do side with Ron as well; you did go a tad overboard at times." She grinned at Ron and leaned back in her seat to place a napkin in her lap.
Draco frowned, looking over Potter and at Ron now; he felt he could get more detailed answers from him, "Overboard how?"
Ron smirked – a look that fit him a bit too well, in Draco's opinion – and spoke before Potter could protest. "Just following you around at all ends of the night, skipping meals to watch you and always talking mine and Hermione's ear off about you." He chuckled softly at the glare Potter sent him and continued, "Though really, it was all for a good reason in the end. We didn't know that though." He gestured between himself and Granger during the 'we' and sat up quickly in his seat when Molly walked in to the room.
Draco nodded and dropped the subject, not really wanting the reminder in why it was such a good reason. He noticed that Potter glanced at him but he didn't feel the need to return it, so he instead smiled at Molly as she sat in the chair across from him.
"Sorry for the wait, dears." Immediately after she finished speaking, Draco saw everyone start reaching for food and filling their plates. It unnerved him how much it reminded him of starved animals. The only ones who remained calm were himself, Fleur – though Bill was making her plate – Granger, and Molly. Ron nearly leaped over Potter when the man reached for some of the meat. Still, everyone was laughing happily. It was very unlike the meals Draco was used to having, especially since he found himself smiling as well.
…and then I leave it at a cliffhanger. I'M SORRYY! . Should I ask for reviews...? …... :D... YES! Please Please Review. Please. Pretty Please. *waves the trusty review flag*