Author's note: Okay, this chapter was very hard to write, and the next will be even harder. I hope you will understand why after you read it. Just know that I have no control over what they do anymore. None of this is my choice. It's theirs, and I don't like it any more than you do.
Disclaimer: JK Rowling's romance stories all worked out. It's not fair!
--Tamara

Andromeda

Despite their rather pathetic O.W.L. scores, the twins really knew their stuff when it came to their products. They guided Harry and Draco through the procedure efficiently and professionally, giving both boys a very clear picture of what to expect. They were to tap the silver things with their wands, speak their destination loudly and clearly, and swallow. That was all. They were not, and the twins were very clear on this point, to try any spells while still 'under the influence' of the apparatuses.

Harry did his best to take it all in. By the time they were done, his head was spinning slightly, and he was eyeing the silver balls with considerably more respect. He didn't have to be a genius or a great wizard to know that the twins had created something extraordinary.

He shot a glance at Draco, only to find the blond boy standing rigidly away from Harry, his eyes fixed on the apparatuses. Well, that was only to be expected: being here was bound to be uncomfortable for Draco. It would be better once they'd arrived at Tonks' parents' house.

George handed them each a silver apparatus. "Don't forget," he warned, stepping back to rejoin Fred. "You owe us a report of how it goes."

Harry nodded. "We'll do it. And thanks. For everything."

Fred grinned. "Thank us afterwards," he advised. "When you're sure there won't be any side-effects."

They vanished with identical cracks, leaving Harry and Draco alone in the workshop. Harry glanced at Draco. "Shall we?"

Draco shrugged stiffly. "You're in charge here."

Harry frowned. "What's wrong with you?" he demanded.

Draco shrugged again. "Me? Nothing at all. Shall we get on with it? I would rather be safe sooner rather than later." He fished his wand out, still not looking at Harry, and tapped his apparatus. "We're going to 17 Cloister Road, London." He swallowed it and vanished. Harry looked at the place he'd been moments before, frowning. What was wrong with Draco? Then he shook his head. He would figure it out later. For now, he had a safe-house to find. Then he could deal with his boyfriend's bizarre mood-swings.

He tapped his own apparatus, speaking his destination loudly and clearly, just as he'd been instructed to. With a slightly dubious glance at it, he popped it into his mouth and swallowed, grimacing more out of reflex than because of the taste. In all truth, it didn't actually taste all that bad, but he'd grown up with vile-tasting pills, and so he was accustomed to making faces as he took them.

He appeared in a neat kitchen. Draco was already there, as was a tall brown-haired woman. Harry tensed as he saw her, his wand out in a flash. It couldn't be! But it had to be! It had all been a trap! He tensed as Bellatrix Lestrange eyed him scornfully.

"Tell your little Gryffindor that I don't bite," she told Draco.

Draco glared at Harry. "What exactly do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

Harry looked from Draco to Bellatrix, suddenly unsure of himself. Had it all been a trick? Had Draco been planning this all along? Suddenly he wasn't sure, and the emotion filled him with a kind of sick terror. "What… Draco?"

Draco frowned at his reaction, then looked at Bellatrix. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he moved swiftly to Harry's side. "It's all right!" he assured Harry urgently. "Harry, it's not her! Listen to me, it's not Bellatrix."

"Of course it is," Harry croaked. His voice hardly sounded like his own as his inner self demanded to know why he was just standing there.

"No, it's not. Harry, look at her! This is Andromeda. Please, just look. Let yourself see. You're safe. Harry, damn it, it's not her!"

Despite himself, Harry looked, and, as he looked, he realized that Draco was right. Bellatrix had black hair; this woman's hair was brown. Bellatrix's eyes shone with hard cruelty; this woman's merely reflected anger. Bellatrix would have attacked him on sight; this woman only eyed him mockingly as she waited for him to regain his senses. Slowly, he took a deep breath, his wand falling to his side. He did not offer an explanation, nor did he look at Draco.

Draco, however, glanced up at Bella… at Andromeda. "He had a bad experience with your sister," he explained shortly.

"So I gathered," Andromeda agreed dryly. "Does it have anything to do with why you two have suddenly appeared in my kitchen?"

Draco shrugged. "Indirectly."

"Go on. I'm waiting for an explanation."

Draco, with a glance at Harry, gave her one, not stinting on any of the details, not even the ones that included himself and Harry. Harry could barely look at Andromeda as he listened; he focused his attention on the floor instead, and used his ears to gauge her reaction.

She didn't sound shocked, at least. She only remarked, "You certainly go for the whole show, don't you. Though, I suppose it's only to be expected, considering your companion."

Draco snorted and didn't answer.

She shifted her weight slightly. "So why exactly did you come to me?"

"My father won't look here," Draco told her bluntly. "And we needed a place to hide."

"So you came to me and endangered my family." She sounded like she was getting angry.

"Yes."

"Even though you know how hard I've worked to distance myself from all… this."

"Yes."

"And you have no excuses? No peace offerings? No payment?"

"No."

There was a long pause – one that was far too long as far as Harry was concerned – and then she began to laugh. Despite himself, he looked up, startled. Why was she laughing? Surely there wasn't anything funny in this! He gripped his wand again, just in case. If she was going to attack, he wanted to be ready.

"Oh that is just brilliant! Do you have any idea of the risks you took getting here? Not to mention the ones that you took just by escaping my brother-in-law?"

Draco scowled. "Please explain yourself," he said coldly, his words clipped and under iron control.

She surveyed them closely. "No, you don't, do you? I'm surprised at you. I would have thought you, at least, would have more sense than that." She nodded at Draco, whose scowl deepened.

"That's not what I asked," Draco snapped, his voice icy. "I asked you to explain yourself."

Andromeda's eyebrows rose. "You got that from my sister," she remarked idly.

Draco's teeth clenched, and she laughed again. Then she sobered, looking at the two of them.

"You want answers?"

Draco nodded tightly.

"Answer you won't like?"

Draco's smile was crooked and humorless. "Are there any other kind?"

She laughed again. "Perhaps not. Come with me." Without a second glance, she turned and walked out of the kitchen, expecting them to follow. They did, though Harry's scowl deepened considerably as he did so. Part of it was directed at Draco. Draco was entirely too comfortable here. He bantered back and forth with his aunt as though they had all the time in the world. Didn't they realize how precious their time really was? Why did they bother with witty repartee when they could be doing more important things, such as making plans for how to survive the near future?

Andromeda glanced back and met his eye. She raised an eyebrow and turned her glance towards Draco. "You should see to your Gryffindor," she advised. "He's getting antsy."

Draco shot a glower at Harry, his eyes hard. "He's not my Gryffindor, and he's quite capable of looking after himself."

Harry stared at Draco in shock, wondering, for one wild moment, whether it really was Draco. The Draco he'd come to know would never say that… would he? No, of course not! The Draco he knew craved reassurance and approval. He would never write off their relationship like that… would he? Yet, as Harry gazed at Draco, he realized, with a much larger sinking feeling, that it really was Draco. It was Draco who was saying those things to him, and Draco who was looking coldly at him, and Draco who was turning away with a jerky, angry motion. It was like last year, only worse. Last year, at least there had been pain to go with the rejection. This was just rejection, nothing more.

Andromeda's eyebrows were raised as she looked from Harry to Draco. She shook her head. "You two are dealing with this one on your own," she informed them. "But please refrain from cursing each other in my house. You can go into the backyard if you wish – it's muggle-proof and concealed from the Ministry – but if you destroy any of my furniture, I will turn you out onto the streets. God strike me down if I lie."

"That won't be necessary," Draco said stiffly. "We won't be requiring room to duel."

"You say that now," she muttered. "But, who am I to understand young love? You two will have to settle this by yourselves."

"We will," Draco informed her. "We never asked you for advice. As I recall, you were going to tell us why we're stupid for coming here."

"So I was," she agreed. "Well, come on then." She started walking again, and the two started following, carefully not looking at each other. Harry felt a numbness begin to settle into his chest, one that promised to stay for quite a long time.

Andromeda led them into a well furnished sitting room. They took armchairs at opposite ends of the room, not looking at each other. She pretended not to notice. Instead, she seated herself on the emerald-colored sofa in the center.

"If I've got the story right, you two escaped from my sister's house in the dead of night and have been running ever since, yes?"

Draco nodded.

"And my brother-in-law doesn't seem to have found you yet?"

Shake.

"And from that, you assume that he won't ever find you?"

"We assume that he's still looking."

She shook her head. "You assume wrong. He knows."

Harry's eyes flew wide open and he fixed her with a death glare. She met his gaze squarely. "And he doesn't know from me, I assure you. Slytherin I might be; Death Eater I am not. Don't forget, it was my cousin that they killed two years ago. If I ever had any sympathies in that direction, they vanished when he did."

Cousin. Oh, right. Sirius. The pain of the loss hit Harry once more, but it was a duller pain, one that couldn't penetrate the soul-deep pain he already felt. There just wasn't room in him for it to hurt any more.

"Go on," Draco urged after a moment.

"As I was saying, he learned you were bound here. I can only assume he was eavesdropping; it seems like his style." Draco's lips twisted into a bitter smile, confirming her words. "He will arrive here shortly, almost certainly with his master alongside him. Once again, I would ask that you do any fighting outside of my house."

Harry stared at her. He couldn't believe this woman! A war was being fought here, and all she cared about was her décor. "Aren't there more important things to be worrying about?" he demanded sharply.

She didn't look at him. "Perhaps. But my house will be here long after the Dark Lord is gone, and the bills for repairing it won't go away. My mother wrote me out of the Black family fortune when she wrote me out of her will, you know."

Harry ignored this. "It's still not important," he insisted.

"On the contrary, it's extremely important. But you won't understand, not until you grow older and have a home of your own. Then you'll realize." She turned her head back towards Draco, signaling the end of the conversation. "Do you have a plan?"

Draco shook his head. "Not as such, no."

She sighed. "Are your next words going to be a plea for help?"

"Of course not!"

"Oh?'

"Well… not a plea, as such. You should know better than that."

"So I do. Well, whether you phrase it as a plea or not, my answer remains the same: no. You will do your own fighting."

"So why did you even bother helping us?" Harry demanded bitterly. "All you're doing is prophesizing doom and gloom and then refusing to help us."

"May I remind you that it was you who appeared in my kitchen, not the other way around?"

"That doesn't change anything. There isn't any middle ground anymore. You're either with us, or you're a Death Eater. That's all there is to it."

She shrugged. "Have it as you will. My answer remains unchanged."

Draco stood. "Well, then we won't impose on you any longer." He turned to go, only glancing momentarily towards Harry before forcing his eyes away. Harry stayed where he was, his eyes fixed on Andromeda.

She finally met his gaze, and her eyes softened just a touch. "Remember that you aren't alone. You don't have to face him on your own."

Harry's eyes were glacial as he stared at her. "Yes," he said flatly. "I do."