A/N: Beta'd by Raisinous Fiendling

Chapter Twelve

A Slow Search Begins

--

The next day, Draco woke extra early and made breakfast. When Harry came downstairs, he had just finished setting the table. Harry sat down and smiled warmly at Draco.

"This is nice," he said. "Did you find everything okay?" He knew Draco was a wonderful cook who, nevertheless, hated being in the kitchen and hardly ever offered to make a meal.

Draco laughed. "Yeah. I had a little bit of trouble finding flour, so I transfigured the sugar."

Draco sat in the chair beside Harry, and the bespectacled boy leaned in to kiss him good morning. They pulled apart slowly and Harry took Draco's hand in his.

"You're wonderful," he said easily--glowingly. He looked Draco in the eye and he felt more emotions than he ever thought possible. This was the man he would spend the rest of his life with, the man he would love for an eternity. It was on the tip of Harry's tongue to say the words he was beginning to feel so deeply, but he found himself hesitating. He couldn't--not yet.

They ate in companionable silence, Draco with his left hand, as his other hand continued to be held warmly within Harry's. After breakfast, Harry didn't hesitate to begin the clean up.

Draco watched as Harry took the plates and carried them to the sink. He set the soap and the sponge to cleaning and continued to bustle about, putting things away. When Harry came back to the table to put away the place settings, Draco stopped him with a hand on his back.

Harry turned to look questioningly at him. "Hey," he said, smiling at the blond.

Their eyes met and Draco leaned towards him, to kiss his lips. He felt Harry's love for him, a sensation he thought he'd have to wait forever to feel, but there it was, on Harry's lips and on his face and in his eyes. Love.

When they pulled apart, Harry's cheeks were flushed and his lips swollen. He blushed slightly. "Are we still going to Headquarters today?"

Draco nodded. "We need to find that locket."

Harry's eyes were suddenly clouded with some unreadable emotion. "I know." He smiled again and Draco forgot all about it.

---

The moment they arrived at Grimmauld Place, Ron and Hermione greeted them. Draco, at least, had skipped meeting them the day before, but he had known it was not something he'd be lucky enough to skip again.

"Malfoy." Ron nodded curtly. Hermione inclined her head slightly but said nothing. Instead, she turned to Harry.

"You've told him everything then?"

Harry nodded, and she looked exasperated, but not all that surprised. "Well, we'd better get started."

They followed her up the stairs to the attic.

"There are boxes and things that we never got to up here," she said to Harry. "We can start there because I don't honestly think it's in any of the rooms we cleaned--we would have noticed if it was."

Harry readily agreed and the four of them began their search. For once, the house was devoid of visitors. After their run-in with Fred and Bill, Harry had sent a letter to Hermione asking her to make sure everyone would be out when they arrived. The rest of Ron's family was visiting Fred and George in Diagon Alley, and Tonks had owled to say that as far as she knew, there wasn't a meeting that day.

Even though the four of them were alone, Draco stuck pretty close to Harry through the entire day. He was surprised by the amount of civility he received from Weasley and he chalked it up to Gryffindor courage and Hufflepuff loyalty--to Harry, of course. Yet, they were far from being friends and Draco found it difficult to start a conversation with him.

With Ron he found civility, but this was not the case with Hermione. Her disdain for him was palpable, but he found he could not blame her. Out of the three, he had perhaps been the most evil to Hermione and she seemed out to take revenge for every insult he had ever thrown at her.

At lunchtime, it was she who went down to get their meal. When she returned, rather then offer Draco any sandwiches, she laid the remainder on a table near to him. Both Harry and Weasley looked astonished at this degree of coldness.

And before they left for the day, with no progress made towards finding the Horcrux, she pulled Harry into an adjacent room.

---

Harry was reluctant to follow his friend. He had noticed her behavior towards Draco and was not pleased by it.

"What is this about, Hermione?" he asked testily as she locked the door behind them. She had led him to the main closet in the hall.

"How much do you know about Destined veela, Harry?"

Harry sighed. "You're kidding, right? Hermione, do you honestly think I'd bind my life--my life!--to someone without knowing what I was doing? Do you think I'm that stupid?" They stared at each other. "You know what, don't answer that, Hermione. You'll be very surprised to find that Draco has told me everything. He tells me everything. I know what I'm getting into."

Hermione looked away from him; her eyes were wet. "I just don't understand, Harry. You haven't fully bonded, have you?"

In this type of situation, Harry felt the normal course of action would be to give his friend a good telling off, but he refrained and said, "Not that it's any of your business, but no, we haven't."

"But you will?"

Harry could feel his cheeks burn and his stomach leap into his throat. "Yeah."

She turned towards him, her look accusatory. "Even though it puts you at jeopardy? Even though it makes it easier to get to you? We're at war, Harry."

He moved towards her. His patience with her was running thin. "DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT, HERMIONE?"

"I DON'T THINK YOU DO!" She had risen to meet him in tone and anger. "It's not just your life that's at stake! We're all at risk! Nothing will stop Voldemort if you die, you know that! Dumbledore told you that!"

"You think I've forgotten? Do you think I spend my days thinking about anything else?"

Hermione was breathing heavily and angry tears were streaming down her cheeks. "While you're fucking Malfoy, people are dying. Don't you care?"

Harry laughed. "He's my one chance to have any happiness, don't you care about that?"

"Harry. You're being childish about this. He's not your one chance. You are his one chance. You can live without him..."

He interjected. "You think I'd want to? Do you think I want to know what that would be like?"

She met his eyes. "I think it would probably be for the best. You have to remember, Harry, if you bond and he dies, you die too. And if it happens before Voldemort is defeated, then what?"

"When did you start to care about prophecies? A lot of them don't happen, and you know it. Someone else..."

"Who, Harry? Who knows what you know? What Dumbledore knew?"

Harry pursed his lips. "I've told you everything I know. You're smarter than I am anyway."

"Harry." Her voice softened. "That's not--I'm not... You're the only one who can, you know that. You have to. I can't."

"But you think that because of Draco I won't?"

She nodded.

"Hermione, the prophecy says I have a power the Dark Lord knows not, remember?" She nodded. "And what did Dumbledore think that was?"

"Love," she whispered.

"Dumbledore died because he thought Draco and I being together was worth the risk. He made a promise to my parents to protect both of us. Dumbledore wanted me to defeat Voldemort but he also wanted me to find love."

Hermione wiped her face. "You can love him, you can keep him with you and tell him everything you want. But would it really make a difference if you didn't bond with him?"

Harry laughed. "You really don't want me to?"

Hermione shook her head. "I think you should wait until it's over."

"What if that's years away, Hermione? You don't understand what that would do to Draco. He's only alive because I made the vow to bond with him. His happiness right now is completely dependent on me. He's not free to be himself, and I want him to be." He pleaded with her to understand and he could see the conflicting emotions in her eyes. Freedom, he knew, was something Hermione strove for, for every creature.

Finally, she took a deep breath and answered him. "I never really understood why people in films say 'sometimes you have to make a sacrifice' and then they off themselves for a cause. But I can't help thinking that in winning this war, in defeating Voldemort we're all going to make sacrifices. We're going to lose people we love and we're going to have to give up some of the things we love. The sacrifice would be worth it."

Harry ran a disgruntled hand through his hair. "I hate to say it, Hermione, but I've made more sacrifices than anyone. I know what it's like and I know that Draco isn't something I'm willing to sacrifice."

Her eyes widened in evidence that she had underestimated Harry's feelings for the blond.

"Harry," she started softly, "I'm not trying to make your life difficult. I am glad you've found someone to love, even if it's Malfoy. I just don't want you to take more risk than is absolutely necessary. Can't you see that this is very risky?"

Harry laughed bitterly. "Walking down the street is risky, Hermione."

"I know that! And I'd advise you never to take a walk down the street." He stared at her and her seriousness dissipated slightly. He smirked and she smiled indulgently back. "Okay, okay, that's ridiculous, I know. But I'm worried, Harry."

"I'm worried, too, Hermione. I'm worried that nothing I could ever do will prepare me to kill Voldemort. I worry every day that I'm going to fail."

She went to him instantly and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Oh, Harry."

He squeezed her tightly for a second and marveled and how different it was to hug someone who wasn't Draco. It wasn't nearly as nice. She was too curvy--too bumpy.

She let go and he sighed. "I... I can't explain how I feel, Hermione. I care about him more than anything and I really feel like... like I could love him. And you don't know how weird it is to think that I have these kinds of feelings for Draco Malfoy, but I do. If you think... Our bond would never be about sex, you know?"

Hermione nodded.

Harry licked his lips and continued, "It's about me wanting him to know I'd give my life for him, that I love him enough to want him safe."

Hermione sighed. "Don't you think he already knows?"

He stared at her. "Well, yeah, but... not in a concrete way."

"Harry, he knows. You don't have to show him like this. You could wait, if you wanted to. If you thought it was best."

"I feel like, I can't not do it because I don't want him to make me vulnerable. That can't be the reason not to do it," he said wearily. He did not like having to explain himself to Hermione but he hoped to make her understand.

She nodded. "Then don't do it because you want to wait until you can offer him the security he deserves."

Harry had thought about this many times before. He didn't want to put Draco in more danger than he was already in. It was one of his own hesitations about the bond.

In the end, he nodded. "Okay. We'll wait."

---

Harry and Hermione reappeared and Draco was immediately at Harry's side. The dark-haired boy appeared more distracted than he had been beforehand. Something was definitely bothering him that hadn't before he had disappeared into the closet.

Hermione, on the other hand, had changed perceptively since last leaving the drawing room. She smiled sweetly as she walked over to them, "Mal--no, Draco, before you leave, I wanted to talk to you a bit about your mother." She was smiling and her voice was kind.

Draco looked to Harry, who shrugged and moved away from him. Draco looked after him concernedly. What did she say to him?

"Did I miss something, Hermione?" His voice was steady as he tried to keep calm.

"Like what?" she answered innocently.

"Like why you come out of the closet looking bright and cheerful and Harry comes out looking like the weight of another world was added to his shoulders?" She seemed surprised that he had noticed, which only caused his irritation to swell.

"He's fine, it's nothing," she said lightly, nearly too pleasant. "He tells you everything, right? He'll tell you later, right now's not the time." Her voice was growing harder and only caused Draco to worry more.

"Do you want to hear about your mother or not?" she snapped suddenly.

Draco shook his head, wanting to move away from her. "Not from you, no." They parted and Draco was glad to have her go. He walked towards Harry, hoping to convince the boy to end their search for the day.

He tapped on Harry's shoulder and the other boy turned and searched his face. "Draco, what's wrong?"

Draco closed his eyes and shook his head. "Later."

"Is it your mother?"

Draco looked Harry in the eye and found that love and adoration he had sensed earlier. He trusted Harry, even if he didn't trust his friends. He nodded. "Can we go home?" he asked quietly.

Harry nodded and put an arm around his waist. He kissed Draco's cheek. "Of course."

Harry said his good-bye to Ron and Hermione, the latter of whom refused to acknowledge Draco once again. Harry sighed heavily, making Draco feel guilty. He did not want to be the cause of a rift in Harry's relationship with his friends.

Before they could leave the room, however, the front door was opened and the group exchanged worried looks. Ron automatically moved towards the door to peek out and see who it was. Harry pulled Draco closer to him.

"It's members of the Order," Ron said, closing the door.

"They can't see Malfoy, Harry," said Hermione. So, it's Malfoy again, Draco thought bitterly.

"Why not? Fred and Bill did..."

"But they're Weasleys, Harry. Anyone else and he'll be arrested." She had a point and Harry sighed, reaching into his knapsack. He pulled his Invisibility Cloak free and handed it to Draco without a word. The reformed Death Eater tried not to feel like a criminal as he fastened it shut.

Harry put a hand on his invisible back and guided him to the door.

The members of the Order were lingering in the foyer when they emerged. Harry tried his best to blend into the wall but they seemed to have spotted him.

"Potter! Just the wizard we need to see," growled Moody, directing all attention to him.

"Harry?" questioned Lupin, his eyebrow raised in a question. He had to know Draco would be there with him, because they had let Tonks know the night before where they would be. Harry motioned to the air in front of him and the werewolf nodded.

"Harry Potter?" asked an elderly witch, coming forward. "I've always wanted to meet the famous Harry Potter. You'll be joining the meeting then, won't you?"

Harry threw Lupin a desperate look.

"No, Harry will not be joining us," said Lupin smoothly. "He is not a member of the Order, and..."

"Bollocks!" shouted Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Next you'll say Dumbledore didn't want Harry in the Order and I'd bet anything he did!"

There seemed to be a general uproar amongst the group and it did not seem to be in favor of Harry going home. Ron and Hermione, who had emerged from the drawing room, stepped behind Harry.

"Harry," Hermione whispered hurriedly, "we should go, it could be important. They won't know." He knew instinctively that she meant Draco. At the thought, he looked to Moody and the aged Auror met his eyes. Harry moved forward carefully, hiding Draco from Mad-Eye's probing eye. He met Moody's stare directly, unflinchingly.

Meanwhile, Lupin had given in to the crowd. "We'll have to wait for McGonagall. She makes the decisions."

Draco had heard Hermione's whisper and he became aware of what the opportunity the meeting could provide to the both of them. Harry could use it to rally support, not just for the fight against the Dark Lord, but for Draco's own innocence.

Thinking quickly, he stepped close to Harry and whispered, "Go to the meeting, you need their support."

Harry nodded, seemingly to himself. He looked to the group assembled. "The three of us are willing to join."

Lupin looked at him sharply but nodded. Moody was contemplating Harry, measuring him and making him feel uncomfortable. Draco became aware, the moment Moody's eyes met his, that the madman could see through Invisibility Cloaks with that eye of his. He didn't even want to contemplate the politics that kept Moody's mouth shut. He knew Harry would have clout with these people, but he had never thought about the amount.

McGonagall arrived a few seconds later, and hot on her heels were Professor Snape and Tonks. Draco was buoyed by their presence. Tonks had become his friend--the only one he had anymore--and Snape was someone he trusted, whom he had wanted to talk to. They both saw Harry, Ron and Hermione and drew the correct conclusions about Draco's proximity.

Tonks walked over to them. "Wotcha, Harry," she said casually, and then her voice dropped, "Didn't find out about the meeting 'til this morning, sorry... Draco?" Draco touched her shoulder and her eyes widened. "Right. Uh..." She stood up straighter and took Harry's side, seemingly taking it upon herself to guard them.

Meanwhile, Moody, Lupin and McGonagall were engaged in a deep conversation. It seemed to be regarding Harry and the meeting but Draco couldn't figure out how it was going. McGonagall seemed skeptical and against the idea, and yet the other two seemed in favor of it. Now that he had noticed it, Draco could feel Moody's magical eye on him and it was disturbing. Had that man ever heard of privacy?

The group broke apart and McGonagall looked to Harry, startled to find both Tonks and Professor Snape standing around him--for Snape had wandered over after a minute's hesitation.

McGonagall saw something in Harry and the way he stood there, proud and in command of himself, that caused her entire demeanor to change. She was prepared to reprimand him for being out of his house without a full escort, but something in his countenance changed her mind. Harry noticed her watching him with a degree of surprise.

"Mr. Potter, it is good to have you here," she said, letting surprise wash away and inclining her head towards him.

"Thank you, Professor," Harry answered gracefully, the pink in his cheeks minimal.

"There seems to be an outcry for your joining our meeting this afternoon. Are you willing?"

Harry nodded.

"Well then, lets go down into the kitchen." She sighed and her eyes were a little wet as she led them down into the basement kitchen. The rest waited for Harry to follow before they moved. Harry wasn't sure he understood any part of what had gone on, but he felt Draco at his back, moving with him, and he had all the confidence he needed. In the kitchen, they were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George, and Bill and Fleur. Mrs. Weasley was surprised to see Harry but it wasn't until she saw Ron following him that she really hit her stride.

"Professor, I cannot allow you to let my children join the..."

"Mum!" Ron broke in, going bright red. However, Mr. Weasley saved him the trouble of arguing with her by pulling his wife back to her seat and whispering furiously into her ear. She turned and took in the crowd before her; everyone was watching Harry, so she said no more.

Ron and Hermione took seats by the Weasleys, though Draco noticed Ron chose the spot furthest from his parents. He, on the other hand, was guided to the back of the room by Tonks and Lupin. Snape also wandered into their corner, leaving Harry standing beside Professor McGonagall at the head of the table.

Harry was nervous and wished that Tonks hadn't taken Draco away. He liked knowing he had the veela's presence near him.

"Order, please!" McGonagall called, and, slowly, silence fell. The room was densely packed, as if they had known the boy who lived was making an appearance. There had to be at least fifty people in the room and they all turned to face them. "Today is the... fifth day of September and this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is officially called to order."

A Quick-Quotes Quill by McGonagall's side began to frantically move across the piece of parchment on the table.

"Last week, the Daily Prophet's headquarters in Diagon Alley were ransacked and, of course, the Ministry is denying Death Eater involvement, but..."

"Do we know who did it?" someone called.

"No," answered McGonagall curtly. "But we have some ideas..."

"If it was a Death Eater attack, why wasn't the Dark Mark used? Do you think they've changed their tactics?" someone else asked.

"We don't know..."

"Why are we worried about the Daily Prophet being ransacked anyway? Shouldn't we be more worried about the prisoners that broke out of Azkaban? Where's Lucius Malfoy, eh?"

"I've got a better question," an Irish Wizard in the back of the room came forward, "where's Draco Malfoy? One week, he let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts so they could kill Dumbledore and the next week, you let the Death Eater that killed Dumbledore come to Headquarters to tell us that Malfoy's innocent. So where is he and why should I believe you?"

McGonagall looked too weary to deal with any of the questions. She didn't have any of the confidence that Dumbledore had and she didn't put across any of the strength that Dumbledore did. There was no reason to trust her or to believe that she could protect them.

"You should believe me," Harry broke in, his voice tight, "because I was there. And I know that Draco Malfoy is not a Death Eater and neither is Severus Snape, and as long as you are members of this Order, you will never refer to them as such. Understood?"

Some people, the ones that didn't know Harry very well, were not surprised by the confidence with which Harry spoke. Others, the people that knew him, saw a Harry they had never known before.

"The Order of the Phoenix is here to defeat Voldemort," he continued firmly. "If finding out who ransacked the Daily Prophet will help us defeat Voldemort, then we ought to do it. It doesn't mean that we're not trying to find the Death Eaters that escaped Azkaban. I'm going to assume that everyone came here, just as I did, to find out what the Order is doing about these things. So if we're going to sit around and argue, if we're going to question everything that's said... well, we should just go home, shouldn't we? Because we won't defeat Voldemort that way."

It took a moment after Harry had finished speaking for McGonagall to find her footing and for silence to fall once more. She gave orders and collected reports, and for the most part, Harry found nothing useful in the information at all.

Finally, she called on Professor Snape. "Severus, what have you to report?"

---

From the moment the meeting had started, Draco was engaged in a whispered conversation with his ex-professor. "Have you bonded?" the older man asked automatically.

"We exchanged vows," Draco answered.

"Why haven't you bonded?" Snape asked in a manner that both made Draco uncomfortable and angry.

"Why does it matter? We're waiting."

"For what? Do you realize how vulnerable you are right now? No power, no bond, what if you were found? What do you think will protect you?"

Draco looked to Harry. "I'm not worried."

Snape grabbed his arm, bringing his attention back to him. "Don't be foolish. The bond will keep you alive and strengthen his magical powers. He needs it just as much as you do. It's foolish of you to wait. It is not safe."

"He won't," Draco admitted finally, fighting to keep his voice level.

"What?" Snape whispered fiercely, not caring when the witch beside him turned to stare. He moved them deeper into the corner and continued, "Convince him."

"I can't. He... it's difficult. I don't want to push." Draco tried to keep the sullenness out of his voice.

"Potter is difficult, but he has to know how important this is. It's not something he can forget about. He's not ready on his own."

"Why's it always about the Dark Lord?" Draco whispered angrily.

"Draco, everything is about the Dark Lord... especially with Potter." Draco's face darkened and Snape watched him closely. "Has he told you everything?" Draco nodded. "Are you frightened?"

Draco neither said nor did anything in response.

Snape sighed. "Our paths are not easy. The world we are forced to endure is not easy, but that does not mean that we stop enduring."

McGonagall called for Snape, and Draco slunk into the corner to listen.

"The Dark Lord is interested only in Hogwarts," stated Snape curtly. "He believes that once he takes the school he will be seen as victorious and the Ministry will crumble. After the events this June, he thinks he can capture it easily with little opposition."

McGonagall nodded grimly; this information was not new to her. "And the escaped prisoners?"

"Lucius Malfoy and a few others have returned to the Dark Lord's service. Malfoy has been ordered to find and kill his wife and son."

"Any word on the young Mr. Malfoy?" asked McGonagall wearily.

All across the room, knowing eyes met one another and people who knew the truth looked on and said nothing. A few were even surprised that the headmistress had not been told.

"I believe he is safe," said Snape flatly.

Harry, who had always believed Tonks had worked on Professor McGonagall's orders, met her eyes. She shook her head sadly and shrugged. Moody was watching Harry again.

"And the progress on Mrs. Malfoy's wounds?"

The witch sitting beside Hermione at the table spoke up, "Our newest developments show the situation to be better than we feared. The wound itself is not magical, but the spell protecting it is unclear. It seems that there is a way to lift it, we just haven't found it yet. But once the spell is lifted, the wound can be healed by normal means."

McGonagall nodded and the meeting continued. Soon it was over, and nearly everyone left. The Weasleys, Mad-Eye Moody, Lupin, Tonks, Snape and McGonagall remained with the trio and Draco.

McGonagall put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Thank you, Harry, for your support. And I must admit that I have been wrong. Dumbledore believed that you were ready to be a member of the Order, but I chose to ignore his wishes. I see my mistake and I hope to correct it. In saying so, I hope you will join us from now on."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Professor."

She squeezed his shoulder slightly and left. Ron whispered to his dad and the rest of the Weasleys were ushered out of the room. Ron and Hermione stood by the door and Hermione put the best locking charm she could on it.

"Lift the cloak, Draco," commanded Snape. Draco did as he was told.

"Why hasn't McGonagall been told?" Harry asked immediately.

Tonks sighed. "She... Harry, you have to understand, everything we did in Little Whinging wasn't under McGonagall's orders. It was Dumbledore's orders that we were following--that is, Kingsley, Remus and myself were the only Order members that knew. When it came to McGonagall's attention that Severus and Draco were innocent, well, she didn't believe it. It was you that finally got her to change her mind. When you saw Severus and accepted that he was telling the truth. But we still couldn't risk her knowing about Draco."

"How long has the boy been with you?" Mad-Eye asked Harry.

"Since school let out."

"And who else knows?" he asked, his eye interrogating every person in the room.

"Bill and Fred know," said Ron.

"And Kingsley," said Tonks.

"And Narcissa," added Hermione.

"Hold on," Harry looked at Tonks, "you said McGonagall worked on the spells for our house herself."

Tonks nodded. "For you. She thought you'd be there with Ron and Hermione. I don't think she's noticed that Ron and Hermione don't live there. In fact, it's what everyone thinks."

Harry looked guiltily at his friends.

"Is there anyone else that needs to know?" Mad-Eye asked seriously.

"Well," Lupin said, "does McGonagall need to know?"

No one seemed to know how or want to answer. In the end, they all looked at Harry.

"Eventually, the Order will need to know," stated the Chosen One firmly. "For now, no one else knows unless there is an emergency."

Everyone agreed and Harry and Draco were finally free to leave. Draco was stuffed back into the cloak and Harry led him out. They walked away from the house with their thoughts full, much fuller than they had been when they'd arrived. Life had been simpler for them until they decided to visit Grimmauld Place.