Two days time brought the team as close to the next Horcrux as a Mermaid to the desert. Maybe it was the lack of communications with Ginny that made him so high strung, or the inability to work as a unit, Draco did not know. What he did know, however, was that the Golden Trio constantly aggravated him.
Hermione had gone straight up the bats nest when she woke the previous morning to find Harry missing from the drawing room, the area of their sleeping destination. Then she, after she had woken Draco and Ron with terrified glances, she proceeded to find Harry in Sirius' old room. Having had little to no sleep, Draco was very disgruntled to have been woken at six that morning.
Ron, Harry and Hermione had then proceeded to devour the full amount of breakfast Kreature had made leaving Draco only two pieces of toast that he found in the cupboard and some burn eggs.
"Why didn't you save anything?" Draco had interrogated when he had entered the kitchen after a few more hours of sleep.
"Ya snooze ya loose." Ron told his gruffly from behind a stack of papers with which he was idly folding.
"Excuse me for having to take a double shift because somebody never woke up, Potter." Draco snarled at Harry's direction.
"I finally had a deep sleep. I'm sorry." Harry mumbled.
"I haven't gotten a moment of peaceful sleep this whole damn summer. Then after I gave my shift to Granger, you decide to wake up and stroll around the house. But don't bother telling Granger, she wouldn't wake me up to try and find you." Draco continued.
"I found a letter my mum wrote." Harry explained.
"Big deal, Potter. You didn't grow up with a mum. That doesn't give you any excuse to disappear without telling anyone you woke up and decided to explore." Draco reprimanded.
"No excuse! You have no idea what it was like to grow up without parents! Do you? What it was like to wake up on your birthday and know that they didn't make you a birthday cake? Or tuck you into bed?" Harry yelled. On the opposite side of the table, Ron and Hermione looked sympathetically towards Harry trying to convey comfort to him.
"Listen to me, Potter, and listen carefully. We are on a mission to find and destroy the Horcruxes. In case you haven't noticed, time is a luxury we cannot afford. If you ever want to get back to whatever life you had, then I suggest you sit your winy buttocks down and we find these damned things." Draco's deadly voice stage whispered.
"I don't take orders from Death Eaters." Harry snarled in reply.
A life where lions and lambs are friends is a nonexistent one. Thus, the brilliant idea of a Slytherin and Gryffindor working together, let alone a branded Slytherin and 'Golden Boy' Potter, was quickly diminished as a well aimed fist collided with his opponent's' famously scared head. As Draco defended to his grave, he knew exactly where to hit as not to permanently hurt Harry, but give him a good headache for a few hours. Harry, on the other hand, claimed that he did no wrong, and Draco's sudden outburst can only be reasoned as, "Malfoy's inability to have human dignity".
Following Draco's strike of furry, Ron promptly jumped Draco, only to be body slammed on the kitchen floor. Stunned, Hermione stayed silent in her seat as Draco heaved and looked intently at Harry. Still recovering from his blow, Harry's head pounded as blood rushed to the pained area.
"What the bloody hell?!" Ron yelled from the ground.
"Don't you ever say that again." Draco whispered in a deadly voice.
With Draco's constant and unhealthy obsession to find all of the Horcruxes, the group had found, and destroyed, two Horcruxes. Presently standing guard outside the battered tent, Draco once again opened the leather bound journal. He knew to be careful, not to say anything that could be read by unwanted eyes, as did Ginny. Though it was painful for the two to write in the journal without being able to freely communicate, they found peace in knowing the other was alive. The problem was, no matter how careful one believes he is, a person of suspect is never careful enough. No matter how hard one tries, they will slip up. Draco was raised by that law, and utilized that law constantly, yet he slipped up. His error was a price very dear to him, one that made him wish he had never kissed Ginny Weasley.
They say all is fair in love and war. Harry believed that whatever he wanted, he should be allowed to have. He battled Voldemort multiple times, outdoing many talented and highly trained Arrors. Besides, the hero always gets the girl, right? But nothing is what it seems. Nothing is black and white, just mixtures of grey. Many nights the trio had stayed awake discussing the reason to Draco's sudden decision to join the order that summer. Theories of being a spy for You-Know-Who constantly ran, but a few weeks after Harry's arrival at the Burrow gave Harry the answer, an answer he kept to himself.
Per his usual, Harry woke suddenly from a nightmare, the t-shirt he wore to bed now drenched with sweat. Pink and orange, the sunrise had barely begun, but bright enough for Harry to see two figures running outside. Intrigued by the sight, Harry traveled to the window to investigate further. The two residences of the Burrow were racing each other to the large weeping willow that stood next to the small stream about one hundred feet from the Burrow. When the red headed female finished before the platinum blonde male, she danced in victory which caused a large smile to spread across the boy's face. After a minute of proclaiming her victory, she drew very close to the boy, too close for Harry's liking. Then suddenly, they were kissing. Kissing. Malfoy and Ginny were kissing.
As if a switch had been flicked in Harry's mind, he finally realized all of the theories that Harry, Ron and Hermione were constructing were very far from the truth. Draco joined the Order because of Ginny. Ginny was supposed to be Harry's. Everyone knew that. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were ecstatic for Harry. He was supposed to get the girl, not Malfoy. So, though Harry held his peace, he vowed to do everything he possibly could to pull Draco from her life. After all, Harry was just helping fate.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked accusingly as he approached Draco outside the tent. Immediately, Draco snapped the journal closed and tucked it close to him.
"Nothing." Draco answered in a manner that would have most likely passed had Harry not been watching Draco for some time.
"Who are you talking to?" Harry asked.
"Nobody of your importance." Draco answered curtly, his eyes scanning the forest.
"Letting Voldemort know what you are doing?" Harry asked.
"Shut up! They'll find us!" Draco hissed.
"Tell me who you were talking to." Harry commanded.
"No." Draco answered, his now large eyes searching for Greyback.
"Tell-" Harry began louder, but Draco clamped his hand over Harry's mouth. Not far in the distance, a group of people Draco identified as Death Eaters began searching the nearby area.
"Remember to keep Potter alive." The leader told the group.
"And if they're others?" Greyback's distinct voice asked.
"Whatever you need to do." The leader answered.
"Who?" Harry breathed.
"Montclair, Greyback, most likely Nott, Crabb maybe Goyle." Draco answered already heading into the tent to warn Hermione and Ron, "Give me my bag."
"Why, so you can run free?" Harry asked.
"So I can send it to a safe house. We cannot let them get ahold of some of those objects." Draco answered grabbing Hermione's purse as he went.
"Granger, Weasley wake now." Draco told the two figures sleeping close together.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked wide awake.
"Death Eaters found us." Draco answered grabbing his bag from Harry. Pulling out his wand, he whispered a spell the trio had not heard before, and watched the bags glow before disappearing quickly.
"Hello, Malfoy." Greyback greeted the four teens while sending chills down the trio's spines.
"Ah, Mr. Greyback, what a surprise. Though I do have to admit, this visit was not unexpected." Draco answered politely.
"Ya shouldn't 've left us, boy." Greyback answered as the remaining group entered the tent.
"Maybe." Draco answered with a casual shrug as Montclair and Greyback advanced, their wands drawn.
"Your father is going to be happy to see you." Montclair taunted.
"I somehow doubt that." Draco replied with a sneer. Before anyone could react, Draco burned a large hole into the side of the tent closest to the trio and himself. Greyback and Montclair began firing spells at Draco, who began dueling the two Death Eaters providing an easy escape for the trio. Nott, Crabb and Goyle dashed out of the tent, and after several minutes and a soft 'crack', returned empty handed. Montclair's cheek had been slashed, and bleeding profusely, Greyback had a singe mark on his pant leg and Draco had a deep cut on his side.
"Get them!" Greyback hissed to his companions, "I'll take the boy. Its five against one boy, you might as well give up now."
"And miss the chance to take down two Death Eaters?" Draco mocked, preparing his stance and circling Greyback, "Maybe next time."
"I'd love to see you try." Greyback taunted. Smilingly, Draco slashed his wand across his body, fire erupting from the tip. Screams from inside the tent followed him as he dove for the opening in the tent, Greyback hot on his heels. Searing hot pain met his calf, but he kept running, he was too close to escaping to stop now. He threw the Cruciatus curse behind him as he ran, but did not bother to see if it hit Greyback or not. As he reached the edge of the barrier, a flash of red hit his shoulder and he fell into the snow, inches away from escape.