OOO

"I don't suppose he'll be back until late," Narcissa sighed after Draco had flooed away.

"Probably not." Lucius grimaced and poured himself a drink. "At least we had last night to spend as a family. His sense of familial obligation isn't gone yet, even if his sense of decorum is."

"What about that present he gave you? Have you looked at it yet?"

"That ridiculous book? Of course not. It's gathering dust in a drawer in my study."

"You did promise Lucius."

"I did. But I never specified a time." He smirked and sipped his scotch. "Besides, Draco knows how I feel about that. Oh, I suppose I'll read it eventually, to make him happy. In private, of course. But for now – Draco is gone and I think we have better ways to spend our time, Mrs. Malfoy."

"That we do," she replied, walking over and kissing him. "That we do."

OOO

"Another slice Draco dear?" Mrs. Weasley tried to pass a plate with cake on it towards him but he shook his head.

"I don't think I can. At least not now. If I eat another bite right now I think I'm going to burst."

"I'll take it!" Fred swooped down and snatched the cake out of his mother's hands then went back over to sit with his twin and Millicent, who had been invited for the day.

"Is there anymore ice cream left, mum?" Ginny asked, scraping icing off of her plate.

"Do you want the chocolate or the strawberry? I'm afraid we're out of the vanilla."

"I'll take the strawberry then," she said, passing down a bowl.

"So do you want your present now?" Harry grinned.

"Yes!" Draco bolted upright and practically shouted. "I've been waiting all day!"

"You kept fidgeting during Nott's reading," Luna pointed out with a dreamy smile.

"Yes, I saw that." Nott glared at him. "You could pay a little attention."

Millicent snorted. "I can't believe you guys have been spending all summer reading."

"It's education! Improves your mind," Nott replied icily with an affronted air.

"Besides, it's pretty good stuff once you get into it." Ginny grinned and licked ice cream off of her spoon. "I though the part with Hektor scaring his little boy was just too cute."

"And I think we're all forgetting something very important," Draco interrupted patiently. "Present?!"

"Alright, alright," Harry sighed and took a bandanna out of his pocket.

"What's that for?" Draco regarded him with suspicion.

"We need to cover your eyes," Harry explained, unfolding the fabric. "Alright?"

"You couldn't have just wrapped it?" Draco grumbled as Harry knotted it behind his head.

"It's a bit big for that," Ginny giggled.

"A bit big?" Her mother looked over in alarm and suspicion. "What on earth did you get him?"

"You'll see!" She replied.

"Well my eyes are covered. Can I get it now?"

"Sure thing." Harry clapped him on the shoulder. "It should be right outside."

"Daddy agreed to bring it over while we had the party," Luna explained. "So you wouldn't see."

"You wouldn't believe what a pain it was getting it here from Hogwarts though," Theo grumbled as he opened up the door for Draco.

"From Hogwarts? What on earth did you get me?" Draco stepped outside unsteadily.

"Take off the bandanna and see for yourself," Harry replied.

Draco yanked away the fabric and stared at the sight in front of him, first in disbelief and then in ecstasy.

"Oh my goodness," Mrs. Weasley gasped.

"Fluffy!" Draco cried, bounding over to the three-headed dog that was blocking the path up to the house. He buried his face in the dog's fur while Dragon padded up to him. "I can't believe you guys! How come he isn't trying to rip my head off?"

"Apart from the fact that you're you, we got him a special collar," Nott explained. "It plays music for him so that he'll always stay calm."

"Then why can't I hear it?" Draco scratched the dog.

"It's playing at a frequency that only dogs can hear. So he stays calm and you don't have to hear Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on loop every time you want to play with him."

"We got you this too." Luna handed him a bright yellow kickball. "It's big enough and light enough that you can play! And it's enchanted so that he won't pop it by biting it."

"Excellent!" Draco laughed, tossed the ball into the air experimentally, and then kicked it into the field across from the Burrow. The beast bounded after the ball and returned with it in the second head. When he dropped it in front of Draco, the toy was slick with slobber, but he only wiped it off on the grass and then kicked it away again.

"Knew you'd like it!" Ginny nudged him.

"I love it!" He couldn't erase the smile that had spread across his face. "This is the best birthday present ever! How did you guys know? What made you think of it?"

"Luna's idea," Nott said as the dog returned the second time. "We went to Hogwarts, asked Hagrid what was going to be done with the dog. He said something about a nature preserve in Greece but we assured him that your woods would be a perfect place for a dog like this – and that you would be a perfect caretaker when you were around."

"And when he's not?" Mrs. Weasley look at the group of them with a furious glint in her eye and the twins motioned for Millicent, who was now petting the dog along with Harry and Luna, to back away. "And what about his parents? And getting it back to his home in the first place? I can't believe you children would just go out and get him something so… so…"

"Irresponsible?" Nott suggested.

"Don't give her help!" Fred hissed through clenched teeth.

"How are you going to get that thing home?" She asked the children in general, gesturing to the hound that was licking Harry and Draco simultaneously.

"Portkey," Nott answered promptly. "Got Dumbledore to help with that one. It will take Fluffy there to a nice big cave far back on the Malfoy property the moment the dog – or anybody touching the dog – touches it."

The matronly red-head sighed. "You are going to get in over your heads one day if you're not careful."

"Not today though." Ginny picked up the kickball. "Come on! Let's see how far he'll go to fetch it!"

OOO

"I think I was rather impressive out there!" Ron helped Pansy gather up the china plates after all the guests were gone. The girl had explained that they would have the elves do it, but her mother was very particular about these plates. They had been a wedding gift from her mother and she didn't want to see them broken.

"Your dancing was a dream," she assured him.

"Crabbe's however…" He trailed off into laughter in which Pansy joined him.

"Well, he always was a lost cause."

"Tell me about it! Daphne's feet are going to be black and blue for a week."

"Poor girl, she really does deserve better. I do hope that this year's crop of Slytherins will bring in a few more… high caliber students, shall we say. It would be our rotten luck to end up in a class with the likes of Crabbe, Goyle and that cow Bulstrode. At least Crabbe and Goyle are… you know."

Ron, still somewhat uncomfortable, kept silent. "So I hear Daphne's got a younger sister?" He hoped his changing of the subject wasn't too obvious.

"Yes, Astoria. She was here for a short while but I believe mother took her in to floo her back home. Felt a bit out of place, or so she said. I do hope that will dissipate once she gets to know her housemates better. She can't expect to be a proper Slytherin and not socially network."

"Speaking of which – who was that guy talking to everybody?"

"Him?" Pansy's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "That was Horace Slughorn. Former head of Slytherin house, used to teach potions at the school."

"Really? Wish we had him instead of Snape."

Pansy nodded. "Mother says he was no where near as difficult. We might learn more with Snape but I certainly don't enjoy it."

"Why was he here with the parents anyway? He doesn't have a kid in our year."

"No, but he keeps tabs on many of the more successful Slytherin alumni that he taught." She gave a punctuated laughed. "Calls them his 'Slug Club' or some such nonsense – or at least that was the name for it back in school. Now there is a man who knows how to network. With all sorts even – including the other houses. The Gryffindor bit doesn't sit well with some but he's well connected enough that most would rather not make an issue of it." Setting a stack of plates aside, she poured herself a watery glass of lemonade, warm now that most of the ice had melted.

"He visits alumni? Really? Does he visit the Malfoys?"

She shook her head. "Dad says he soured on Draco's father after the trial."

"Wasn't he cleared?"

Pansy smirked over the rim of her glass. "Technically? Yes. But as mother always says – where there's smoke, there's fire. Regardless, Horace Slughorn is much too shrew to take a chance. More brains by half than that idiot minister we have – though he's substantially lazier too."

"And your dad?" Ron asked in a guarded tone.

"Keeps his opinions to himself and does his best for us. Really, what more could you want in a father? Better that than an embarrassment," she said in a lofty tone. Then, noticing the look on Ron's face, she added darkly, "Or a careless power-monger who might not come home at night."

"Yeah. I guess." He sighed. "We'd better get these dishes back in before it gets dark."

Pansy nodded then picked up the stack again and took them in to the sink, setting them down for her mother to clean.

OOO

"Where's Lupin?" Ginny asked when they stepped out of the fireplace.

"I think he said something about running errands," Theo explained. "And I see Draco and Harry aren't here yet."

"If we give them time, I'm sure they'll show," she reassured him.

"I hope so. I'm tired of waiting – school is getting closer and it's time we learned this before we have to go back and face Snape again."

"Well, I think I'm only going to watch," she explained nervously. "I mean, it sounds pretty rough."

"It can't be that bad," Nott reasoned. "I mean, it's not a skill people commonly train but there's nothing in the literature I read about there being excess pain or anything like that."

"It messes with your mind though," she pointed out. "That's not very… I don't know."

"Better than having Snape mess with it."

"Yes but… well, the Stone is gone now. And he wasn't even the one trying to get it. I don't understand why you have to do this now. Couldn't it wait, at least until you're a little bit older?"

"You'll understand when you meet him this fall," Nott explained then fell silent. Harry and Draco came through the fireplace ten minutes later, followed by Sirius who apparated directly into the room.

"Been studying," Sirius told them with a forced grin on his face. "Think I just about have this down. Should be able to train with you lot, no problem. So," he said in a voice that was slightly too loud, betraying his anxiety, "who wants to go first?"

"I will," Nott replied immediately. "My idea, my books… besides," he said, giving Draco and Harry a lopsided grin, "I think this is the type of exercise that I might pick up more easily than you two."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco bristled.

"Nothing negative. Only that you wear your hearts on your sleeves, so to speak. Occlumency requires the ability to suppress thoughts and feelings in order to prevent the legilimens from reading them. Besides, you'll get a chance. Just watch for now and see if you can pick anything up."

He took his place and stood across from Sirius as the older man took a deep breath and lifted his wand.

"Brace yourself," he whispered before murmuring the incantation.

A shudder of sensation ripped through both of them, causing Ginny to gasp from the side. Sirius' eyes grew wide as he mentally watched snatches of scenes unfold before him. A boy standing in a room, a woman on a bed, a man in a room and the boy again. Whispered words, a scent that he couldn't place and then a flash of a spell being fired.

In his minds eye, Theo could feel something breaking, something coming apart. The last vestiges of something that had been wearing away. You could deny it, pretend it wasn't there, but you could only hide for so long. Things came out in the end, they always did and now they knew… He issued a strangled cry and fell to the floor.

"I told him this was a bad idea," Ginny burst out in fury and concern, and then turned away.

"Theo?" Draco and Harry ran over to him and knelt by his side.

"Did I hurt you?" Sirius lowered his wand and rushed over as well.

Theo sucked in deep breaths and stared at the floor, not responding to any of them. Dismayed, Draco gave him a light shake.

"Theo?"

"Get away from me!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and ran up the stairs.

Draco followed him into one of the upper parlors, one that had a floo fireplace as well. He caught a sight of Theo disappearing just as the flames were dying down, but couldn't catch him. With a sigh, he went back down, meeting the others on the stairs.

"Where's Theo?" Sirius asked.

"Gone," Draco muttered.

"I'll check where." Sirius pushed past him, going up to check the location of the last floo.

"I told him," Ginny sighed again.

"What do you think triggered that?" Harry wondered.

"I don't know, but I'm not doing this." Draco shook his head. "I'm starting to think this was all a bad idea."

"That's what Lupin said." Harry muttered.

"And me!" Ginny looked at them. "Theo… he tries too hard!" She looked pained. "He always wants to do more and advance further and read more and… I don't think he was ready! I don't think any of us would be."

Sirius re-entered then, breathing heavily.

"He went back to your house," he said, nodding to Ginny. "But that's all I know."

"I'll go and check on him." She looked at Harry and Draco. "You two had better get home. Theo seemed pretty upset and I'm guessing that the fewer who see him, the better, at least for now. I'll send you an owl as soon as possible."

"Alright," Draco nodded. "But remember – leave Sirius out of this."

"I'll try. But how do we explain…?"

"Make something up!" He retorted, agitated. "But leave him out of this! My parents can't find out about this and the fewer who know about Sirius…"

"… the better," she finished. "I know. Look, Theo…"

"Go." Draco sighed as she went through the fireplace.

"What happened?" Harry asked Sirius once he was gone. "Did you see anything weird?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's hard for me to know since I don't have much occlumency experience. It felt like I was pushing up against a wall at first, and then it gave and I saw all these images. Nothing weird; I think it might have been Theo when he was younger. But nothing that seemed particularly traumatic. I mean, I think one memory was of his mother, but that's all I could think of."

"Perhaps it was her death?" Draco suggested. "It's the reason he can see Thestrals you know. I mean, I wouldn't relish having to live through it again. It's probably different from regular memory isn't it?"

He nodded. "Much more vivid, like you're actually there."

"Then maybe that is it," Harry agreed. "If it is, that's an argument for me to never learn."

"What do you mean?" Draco turned towards him.

"Think of what I might remember. Things that happened when I was a baby? That sort of thing?" He muttered.

"Oh. Yeah. Well… I don't know. Maybe it gets easier when you're older?"

"Maybe it was just me," Sirius sighed. "I'm sure there are better teachers out there."

"But probably not ones willing to do this," Draco pointed out.

"I know. And now I'm going to have to tell Remus that he was right all along, that this was probably a terrible idea."

"Well, let's wait and see how Theo is. Maybe he was just unused to it since it was his first time on the end of the spell. Freshness of the memory and all that. Give him a day or two and he might be perfectly alright."

His voice betrayed his doubt, however, and as they left, each shared a sense that things had changed and that whatever had happened in Grimmauld place would not easily be forgotten or undone.

OOO

Ginny knocked lightly on the door.

"Theo?" When there was no response, she opened the door and saw him sitting on the bed, tears still streaming down his face. "Theo, are you…"

"Leave me alone," he whispered in a thick voice. "Is that too much to ask?"

She stood there for a moment, looking at him and feeling terribly shut out. Then she left the way she came, shutting the door behind her. Her mother met her on the steps, looking worried.

"Was Theo crying?" She asked. "Did you have a fight?"

"He needs some alone time," Ginny told her without explaining further. "That's all. Leave him alone and I'm sure he'll be fine."

Mrs. Weasley looked at her as she went to her room, not quite believing her daughter. Nevertheless, she went back downstairs to prepare dinner, leaving the door to Theodore's room firmly closed.

OOO

A/N: And… yeah. I think it's somewhat obvious where this is going. Things will start to move a bit more rapidly now – we should be at Hogwarts shortly, which will mean it's time for another sorting. As promised the CD cover has been taken down – so I hope all who wanted to go a look. And as always, I hope you enjoyed and will return for the next chapter.