Chapter Thirty Nine - Malfoy Manor

Severus returned to Draco's side later that same morning, he had decided that if Draco and Ron were to go with Will then it might as well be sooner rather than later. He needed to modify the potion and the peace and quiet would give him the opportunity to research as well as pay an adequate enough amount of time to his Kin. First of all he needed to discuss the potion situation with Draco, they would then make arrangements at Will's house, then the two would be taken to Sgoil Dhubh under cover of darkness that evening.

"Would you prefer some more of the existing potion to be made up too?" Severus asked Draco who was awake, "There is not much left and the new potion may take some time."

"Will making the old potion delay the new one?" Draco asked.

"Undoubtedly."

"Well I will have to stay like this for a while," Draco answered, quite bravely Severus thought, "You don't want me to get up anyway."

"There is some left, enough so you'll be able to hold a book in a day or two."

"Great!" Draco grumbled, "Do we have to spend all our time at this Muggle's house studying?"

"No," Severus replied, "I imagine that Will has some adequate entertainments lined up for you both."

"I suppose it must be tolerated," Draco continued to grumble, all efforts at bravery forgotten in relation to his having to stay in the house of a Muggle.

"Will is a very un-Muggle kind of Muggle and considering your recent penchant for Muggle curry you should find his kind of hospitality very agreeable," Severus said firmly to Draco showing him clearly that he would not listen to any more nonsense.

Severus looked at Ron briefly with disdain before he left, he was curled up in the armchair again and was sleeping, it was as if all the boy could be bothered to do now was feed Draco and then go back to sleep.

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Harry and Severus introduced Will to the lunchtime hall and for a while after lunch Professor Trelawney took Will away to her tower. When it had actually come to the event Will hadn't looked that keen on going with her anymore but when he returned to the Headmaster's quarters later that afternoon he seemed happy enough and remarkably tight-lipped about his experience.

Harry and Severus had been taking the time to prepare for the imminent school year, as it seemed that the rest of the week would be spent in potion making. Will had sat himself down by the fire with a cup of tea and Severus was in his usual position at his desk. He hadn't yet started using the Headmaster's desk out in the office yet; there would be time enough for sitting out there once school actually started.

Harry was a little bit more restless although his inability to sit still did help Severus from time to time, when he wanted something he didn't need to get up for it himself.

"You're looking very shapely Harry," Severus said to his Kin as Harry came to stand by the desk.

Severus was feeling a little more cheerful and settled now that he had managed to get a bit more order back into his life. Although Draco's situation was still troublesome at least he had a plan and the likelihood of some peace in which to put it into action.

"Really?" Harry asked smoothing his clothes over himself.

Severus bent his head to the parchment lying in front of him, "Really," He confirmed, "You appear to be advancing nicely, perhaps now in the chest area too."

"What? I didn't think about that," Harry said looking quite shocked, he began to examine his chest for enlargement, "Hey, I am not getting bigger there!"

"I know," Severus said without breaking a smile, "Made you look."

"That's not funny Sev," Harry argued smiling all the same.

"Oh yes it is," Severus insisted as he seemingly continued to read.

Harry wandered over to the sofa but he had begun to think, "How am I going to feed my baby though?" He asked Severus after a while.

"With transfigured milk, just like everybody else in the wizarding world," Severus answered.

"Oh."

"Although I believe there are a silly group of wizards who insist that the Muggle way is best and that using magic is cheating and that transfigured milk isn't as good for the baby, but I can say that there is no difference at all save for the fact that you can control the formulation of transfigured milk a whole lot easier."

Harry had to realise that Severus had been reading up on the current topic quite a bit.

"I would say that if there had been any real advantage then surely the ability given to us Kin would have included the provision of breasts, so there you go." Severus added.

Harry wondered if Severus wasn't just a little bit madly jealous of those 'silly wizards'.

"Is it possible to create them with a potion?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Severus replied simply, "I imagine so," He added as if he hadn't looked.

"So you could."

"But I won't," Severus insisted, "It is not necessary."

"Right," Harry said smiling to himself.

"You two are weird," Will commented from his place by the fire.

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That evening as the light began to fade and the sun disappeared over the mountain Severus turned Draco's bed into a portkey so that they could all be transported to just outside the wards at Sgoil Dhubh. Thanks to Will's front door being quite wide they were able to levitate Draco's bed a few inches off the ground and push it into the hallway without having to lift him out of it. The interior doors were a little narrower so it was with relative privacy that the medicloak was used to complete the process of turning the living room into Draco's new bedroom.

Severus and Harry had made their excuses and left as soon as they decently could, Draco noted, as Ron unsociably dozed on a sofa nearby and Will apparently was making what he called 'tea' in the kitchen. There was a large grey thing by the window and Draco glowered at it with suspicion, he had heard of such ridiculous Muggle inventions and he wanted no part of it. He wanted his supper and he wanted his potions and then he wanted to be left alone to sleep.

Will came through from the kitchen after a while.

"I see sleeping beauty is still snoozing, I must say your friend is excellent company, are you sure you wouldn't like the TV on?" Will asked trying to build some kind of relations with the strange and hostile blond wizard.

"Yes, quite sure," Draco said stubbornly, he would have crossed his arms to show determination if he had been capable.

"I see," Will snapped, he picked up the remote control anyway and turned the TV on, "Well I like the background noise," He announced putting the satellite receiver onto a channel which was showing an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer before returning to the kitchen.

Draco was just thinking that he had been abandoned in some strange Muggle hell and it was confirmed when a perky young lady popped up on the TV screen and announced herself to be a witch. Draco watched the rest with mounting horror until Will at last returned and switched the channel over for the news.

"Are you quite insane?" Draco asked, "I have never before seen anything so….so…."

Will was not in the least bit offended, "It has often been said, aye."

"Muggles!" Draco added with disdain.

"Why do I get the feeling that that isn't entirely complementary?" Will challenged.

"Because it isn't," Draco attempted to face Will down.

"What is a Muggle?" Will persevered.

"A non magical person, a person who cannot do magic."

"But I am a gifted, Professor Trelawney said so."

Draco scoffed at the mention of the divination professor's name, "So you said".

"So you don't like her either," Will pondered, "Is she a Muggle too?"

"No," Draco was forced to admit, "But she's not much good and she's insane."

"Just like me?" Will asked.

"Yes actually, though you sound more like a male version of another Professor, McGonagall she's called."

"You see I have a problem, have had for a while," Will conversed whether Draco wanted to listen or not, "I have seen things, prophecies, futures, pasts. I could see death in a person's eyes no matter how well they were breathing. I used to tell when I saw these things. I think I know what you mean by a Muggle, I have met them and they have shunned me. But I am no wizard either and I must weather your disapproval now too it seems. Where did one so young learn to hate so deeply, to close themselves so solidly?"

"My father says…" Draco began before trailing off.

"Would this be the same father who did this to you?" Will asked gesturing to the bed.

Draco turned away from Will, "I only had the one, apparently now he's dead so that's that, and yes I know that it was Harry who killed him."

"He told me," Will answered holding back what he had seen when he touched the boy.

"Unfortunately his magic doesn't seem to fade with his passing and so I am stuck in the middle of a Kin household with all their obsessions and babies and… yuk."

"As I understand it Harry and Severus will be visiting your old family home in order to seek out a cure for you," Will reminded Draco, "Risking who knows what in the process."

"Yes," Draco grimaced, "I should be eternally grateful I know."

"Tea is nearly ready," Will said as he stood up and left the room.

When Will returned he was carrying a tray with a couple of mugs of tea and a plate of sandwiches on it. He placed the tray on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa alongside Draco.

"Is that all that you Muggles have in the evening?" Draco sneered at the small plate of food.

Will ignored Draco's animosity and replied in as calm a voice as he could manage, "This is what we have early in the evening as a snack, our evening meal will be later."

"But it is already late," Draco complained.

Will sighed, "Yes, but we are a little behind schedule today and supper isn't ready yet. Have you ever had sandwiches before?"

"Yes, of course I have." Draco snapped.

Will picked up the mug of tea that had a drinking straw immersed in it and held it close enough for Draco to take a sip.

"I can manage that myself," Draco said stubbornly. He managed to shakily drag his hand towards the cup and wrapped his fingers around it as best he could. He took a sip through the straw.

"I was told that you wouldn't be able to," Will defended,

"I am not completely useless yet," Draco snapped.

Will sighed, he was determined to make some progress before the friend woke up, "So what is it about Muggles that makes you so angry?"

"They control the world and we are the more powerful and we live in the shadows, hiding from discovery, it is unacceptable." Draco answered.

Will frowned, "I don't understand, Harry and Severus have tried to explain this to me, and as far as I understood it, this is what the Death Eaters have a problem with."

"They would kill Muggles and mud bloods, I would be quite happy for them to remain alive if they knew their place." Draco said, for a moment taking on his old familiar haughty pure blood tone of voice.

Will had to wonder what kind of person he had allowed into his home, he didn't know what to say and so remained silent till Draco had finished his sandwich. He then took the cup and plate back to the kitchen and remained there for a while.

Will was beginning to regret his rather rash decision and he didn't go back into the living room till he heard the two young men talking to each other. Even though he knew Draco couldn't harm him he didn't really feel comfortable being alone with him any longer.

Will brought the dinner and three fresh mugs of tea in on a tray, he held one out for Draco to take.

"Hey, you can't give him that!" Ron protested.

Will looked Draco in the eye, or at least attempted to since the boy wouldn't meet his gaze, "That's strange, because he took it from me before, insisted in fact."

Draco glowered at Will then and Will faced him down.

"Draco!" Ron turned on his friend, "You know fine well who will get the blame, me." He grabbed his hand and seemed to be sensing for a moment, "He can move his arms," Ron explained to Will whilst he still glared at Draco, "But he isn't supposed to because it causes him a lot of pain, stupid stubborn idiot."

"Well, it can't be easy," Will said in Draco's defence, hoping it might ease relations between them.

"I know that," Ron grumbled reaching down for the potions case at his feet.

Will watched Ron administer the pain potion but then he took his own dinner through to the kitchen. Despite all his best efforts he came to the conclusion that the two wizards were best left on their own after all, at least until they became accustomed to their new surroundings anyhow.

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When Harry had finished getting washed and dressed the next morning he searched the headmaster's quarters for Severus with a slight bounce in his step, it was their first full day with their home in its new peaceful state and he was glad of it. He found Severus in the potions room sitting at his desk and his spirits were immediately dampened when he saw that he was looking rather sternly at a potions text.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, he wasn't exactly looking forward to the answer.

"The potion Draco was taking while he was on the run, it might save a lot of effort if I had some, a lot of effort, this could take weeks otherwise," Severus explained without looking up.

Harry had known that he wasn't going to like it, "The most likely place to look is the shrieking shack but I don't remember seeing any empty phials and he was there when he was either running out of it or already had none left. Most of it would have been taken while he was amongst Muggles."

"Indeed, all over the country." Severus agreed.

"The only other place we could look would be Malfoy Manor and Malfoy senior may not be dead," Harry added.

Severus sighed, "To think that I always wished that you would to learn to think more," he mused, "You have come a long way Harry, you are quite correct. Unfortunately."

"We're going there aren't we?" Harry said with an awful feeling building in his stomach.

"Yes," Severus replied looking up at Harry with a similar amount of dread evident in his expression, "I know we had already discussed that we might have to do this but I was trying so hard to find a way of avoiding it. It looks as if we can't, not unless we leave Draco in that state for some considerable time."

But Malfoy killed Alexian, Harry remembered, when he was Kin with Severus. He didn't say anything to Severus; he didn't want to place the thought in his Kin's head if it wasn't already there.

"We will not be parted," Severus said with gravity and Harry realised that Severus remembered only too well without any reminders.

There were no preparations that Harry could make before they went. He didn't want any breakfast any more and Severus hadn't seemed too keen to go down to the hall either. They agreed to go that morning and so Harry picked an object to use as the portkey and took his sword up in his hand.

Harry joined Severus in the living room where he was waiting, "Let's go now," he suggested. He wanted to get the ordeal over with before he could start to think about all the things that could go wrong.

Severus stood, his own sword in his hand and the other taking the portkey from Harry. Harry realised that as soon as he had had a hand free it had come to rest on his slightly enlarged abdomen, not that it would help protect him or his unborn child if it came down to it.

"I would not imagine that we would be weakened in combat in our condition, the swords will protect us," Severus tried to reassure as he held out the portkey to Harry.

"Hope you're right," Harry said as he touched his hand to the object.

Within seconds Harry and Severus were standing by the gatehouse to a large estate, they could just see the gothic style mansion in the distance at the end of the long and winding drive.

"Well if he's in there he's going to get plenty of notice of our arrival," Harry said observing that the main house was surrounded entirely by lawn.

"It would have allowed Lucius a clear sight of Draco as he tried to leave," Severus added, "His aim was always very good."

Harry reached out for Severus' hand as they set off along the driveway, with so much open ground they thought that there was very little point in trying to sneak around the back.

"Why are the wards letting us in?" Harry asked.

"Two possible reasons, firstly the Malfoy family did always like to do it like this, lure their enemies in, confident in the knowledge that they were doomed and could not escape."

"A spider's web," Harry commented not feeling very happy at all.

"Secondly, I am a Snape and Malfoy never found out that it was Dumbledore, could be the wards are letting us pass without setting any alarms off at all."

"Could we be that lucky?"

"Could also be that the place is deserted."

"How will we know which is the case?" Harry asked gripping Severus' hand more tightly.

"We won't, not until they show themselves or we've searched the entire building."

"Fantastic, wonderful," Harry grumbled.

When Harry and Severus reached the large main door to the house Severus reached in front of him with his sword and nudged it open a fraction. The hinges screeched in such a way that rendered any magical alarms unnecessary.

They entered the large marble floored entrance hall and their shoes clicked on the stone and the sound echoed with every step. To Harry the place seemed very empty indeed but he knew the danger of letting his guard down. Certainly a place of this size would surely always feel empty, whether it was or not.

There was something else apart from the emptiness; Harry thought as they advanced along the dark ground floor corridor, he could smell the negative energies of the Death Eaters hanging in the air. At least he thought that was what it was; maybe it was that the interior of the house was so much colder than outside, the air dank and still.

All the doors were closed, they had to cautiously open every one with no idea what they might find beyond. They looked in on a study and a few sitting rooms and met no one at all. They would search the rooms for useful items once they knew that they were alone.

Once Harry and Severus had covered the ground floor they then went to the lower floor where Severus knew there had been a potions room. For once Harry was glad for Severus' past, it was certainly helping them to find their way around.

"What do you feel about this house?" Severus asked as they walked along the corridor having ascertained that the basement too was deserted.

"There's nobody here and hasn't been for a while but they didn't exactly pack much before they went, it's as if they walked out one day, intending to return but they never came back." Harry answered.

"I think that too," Severus agreed, "Just as Draco must have spent little time planning his departure, I wonder if he took the potions and then returned to his room before he left or whether he just snatched them as he left."

"Doesn't matter, he wouldn't have left any behind in his room, he would have made sure, he knew that he was leaving for good and wouldn't be amongst wizards."

"So, if there is any, we must return to the potions room, but first we must make sure this place is as empty as it feels."

Once Harry and Severus had finished searching the house Harry felt somewhat dejected though it wasn't because he had been robbed of a fight. It seemed sad somehow, the emptiness. They had spent some time in Draco's bedroom, looking around. The evidence of his father's indulgence was still there in the room, left untouched once the young man had fled the house. Everything that a young wizard could be greedy for could be found in that room, everything except what Draco needed from a father. They hadn't taken anything; Harry doubted that Draco would want any of his old clothes or anything else that would remind him of what had gone before.

"We can either spend all day searching through all these," Severus began gesturing to the racks full of potion phials.

"Or we can just take the lot and sort it out later," Harry added producing a pillowcase that he had stolen from one of the cupboards on the upper floor.

Severus stepped close to Harry, "Not just a handsome face," He breathed warmly on his neck.

Harry smiled, "Later Sev."

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The next morning Will took the two young men their breakfast and left them alone to manage eating it but after a long hot soak in the bath he rejoined them, willing to give it another try. He had already been out to the shops to purchase a few bottles of single malt and he knew that they liked that; he hoped that it would help break the ice.

"So what do you two think about inviting Hermione up for tea once we get back?" Will asked once he had got himself settled.

Ron grizzled angrily but didn't say anything and Draco sniggered but also didn't enlighten him as to why.

"What have I done now?" Will asked, "I am trying here."

"Hermione is Ron's ex girlfriend," Draco supplied.

"Oh, I see."

"She cheated on him and they split up," Draco added.

"Draco!" Ron warned.

"But don't you want to see her anyway? She is pregnant after all." Will added.

Ron merely glowered.

Draco chose to ignore Ron's protests for a while, "The baby isn't his you know."

"Shut up!" Ron hissed.

"Oh, I see, you dumped her when you found out that she was pregnant? Do you still love her? She's ended up a bit on her own you know." Will continued.

"What is this? Yes, we split up when she told me that she was pregnant." Ron began to rant, "I'm on my own too you know, what was I supposed to do? She tells me this other wizard is the father and he's already dead, so that's very convenient. What was I supposed to do?"

"You could have forgiven her," Will unhelpfully suggested.

"You manage to tolerate my company now, can it be any worse than that?" Draco added.

Quiet fell on the group, Ron was speechless for a while, "Yes, I still love her," He spoke after a while.

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Next Chapter 40: Looking At The Sun - Ron continues to rethink his life and both he and Draco settle into life at Sgoil Dhubh while Severus works on the potion. Will and Harry try to befriend Hermione but get more than they bargained for.

A/N: I have already started writing the above chapter so the next update should be quite soon.