Draco cleared his throat, all eyes pointed at him and every one of them burrowing holes into his flesh. He rubbed his hand along his left arm, and tried to steady his breathing.

"Um." He tested his voice and he sounded afraid, like the Order was somehow worse than the Dark Lord. He laughed at the thought and the Weasley girl looked at him like he was deranged. "Sorry. Right, so the Manor."

"This is going to take all night if he blubbers like this." Granger's raspy voice echoed into the room. Draco flushed. He faced torture and rose to his feet standing steadier than he was now.

"Give him a moment." Luna said gently, and Draco warmed at the sound and looked at her. She was swaying gently on her feet, her hair like a pendulum at her shoulders. He could look at her forever. "He's trying." Someone scoffed but Draco didn't care.

"The Manor is bound by blood to obey and protect the Malfoys, that is to say my family's bloodline and anyone who has married into it." Draco felt cold trickle in at the thought of Astoria, wondering if their marriage would bind the Manor to her will. He couldn't be sure and thought he might bring it up in the end. Minor detail. "I can apparate into and out of the Manor directly, but I cannot bring an outsider via side along apparition."

"Fucking hell." Bill swore under his breath. Draco barrelled on.

"If we had a house elf, and they were willing to help, then all of you can get in via apparition." Draco tread carefully, knowing that Dobby's name was just a slip away and he could be blamed for his death. He loved Dobby very much, and never got to mourn him. He knew Luna cared for him and he had only found out about his death from Kreacher.

"Kreacher!" Draco thought brightly.

"He disappeared, we assumed he returned to Malfoy Manor." Weasley said sharply.

"He's never left Grimmauld Place." Luna placated. "He wouldn't."

"Didn't the Death- wasn't it destroyed?" Draco asked, frowning.

"They ransacked the place, but the magic held the walls together." Granger sighed and sank against the table, her impatience apparent.

"Okay." Draco acknowledged. He thought of Kreacher and wondered if the elf were willing, would he possibly help them? Draco did consider using one house elf from inside the Manor, but having them leave and return sounded risky somehow, and with them as free elves, he wasn't sure they would come. "I can disarm the front gates, and the back gates to the grounds which would allow non Death Eaters in. There are usually guards at night, not mercenaries so you can't scare them off." He looked at Luna who was staring unblinkingly at him, the dancing lights mirrored in her eyes and sparkling like trapped fireflies. Still swaying as if in a dream on her feet.

"My mother and father are usually kept- well they stay- in their master suite, they're not a problem. They've been wanting to break free since before the Battle. I uh-" He held up his arm, the bandaged stump tingled and phantom fingers flexed. "I've been wanting to leave, myself. But I couldn't abandon my parents, the Manor. Not until I was motivated enough to." He looked at Luna and he longed for her affection, only receiving a small smile and it squeezed his heart because it wasn't more.

"Not until he did more to me, he threatened her." Draco inhaled through his nose, his chest expanded painfully. Draco looked at Luna again, ten feet away from him, in the same room. They were in the same room . He had found her and relief flooded him that she was still alive, and safe. His eyes seared in an effort to refrain his tears.

"The Dark Lord," Draco disliked the title on his tongue, it tasted bitter and coated his mouth all the way to his throat. " Him , he will be in the Drawing Room. I don't know if he sleeps, or if he does where he chooses to… There are twenty bedrooms, ten of them adjoined. There is a dungeon, and there are Dark Artifacts there that the Dark- that he gifted to buy allegiances, but I saved some. They're in my hidden room, and can come in use."

"Why would we need Dark Artifacts?" Granger frowned, but he couldn't see her eyes in the dark and wondered if she were joking. He laughed a little, the sound was only his breaths.

"I've seen how she duels." Draco jabbed his remaining thumb in Luna's direction. With her hair wild and lit like starlight on the night he had found her, her ferocity and brutality. A chill had crept up his spine and settled there nurturing unfamiliarity with who she had become. It was a pinprick in paper, because she mattered more than her deeds.

Hermione tilted her head side to side as she considered his words.

Draco steeled himself against the battering ram in his chest. "He forced me to marry Astoria." he said finally.

Luna blinked. Then she stood still, her gentle swaying stopped.

"I don't know if it's legally binding." Draco hastened onward. "Because his idea was to create a baby Malfoy he could raise, to better control the Manor."

Luna's hands had balled into fists, and while he knew he was hurting her, it sparked hope so bright in him, his heart sped faster than he could count. She cared.

"Why would he need a child if the marriage was acknowledged by the old magic. He would just have Astoria as his puppet." Draco explained needlessly, then said quickly, "I didn't sleep with her."

Bill cleared his throat, Aberforth made a snorting sound and Draco realised he had lulled into a sleep on the chair. Embarrassment lit his cheeks and he glanced around the room before back at Luna whose hands were now limp at her sides.

"I can-" Draco's throat felt dry and he coughed, "I can get us in around three am. There's a lull in the security at that time. I've heard Dolohov complain on his shift. He goes into the Manor for snacks, soon everyone else thought it was okay to do."

Granger moved some pieces around on the table with the flick of her wand, a map outline of the Manor started etching itself, like burn marks, into the parchment laid out there. She studied it and Draco cautiously approached her to look at the map.

"You need to extend that part, and also the western edge is longer." Draco gestured at the lines. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, and he put space between them while she did some complicated movements with her wand and the Manor began looking more like the home he knew. "Where did you get the plans? This looks like the Manor plans from fifty years ago."

"Archives." Granger said flatly. Draco knew better than to expect her to elaborate.

"The peacocks aren't a threat, don't harm them." Draco heard someone laugh by exhaling through their nose but couldn't tell who. "I can make the Manor either stand down, or activate all defences. But it's complicated. Having my father there, the Dark Lord-" again, his mouth became acrid, "-he could force control because of seniority over the Manor."

"So we have to move quickly." Granger's arms were folded across her chest as she reclined against the table, her ankles crossed.

"Right. I get you in, I get to my parents by apparating in, and I can return to fight whoever needs fighting along the way." Draco began mapping in his mind the corridors he would take and mentally catalogued the duelling capabilities of each enemy he could think of.

"How many men?" Granger tilted her head.

"There aren't many Death Eaters left. No new members were accepted. He became paranoid. He thought everyone was his enemy, and that's why mercenaries were hired." Draco counted in his mind. "Fifteen Death Eaters. Then mother and father, Astoria, and … him ."

Draco frowned. "Sometimes, he would have dark creatures along. Relations had grown thin, and I think he was intending on having heads over, renegotiate or whatever, their terms of cooperation."

"Dark creatures like what exactly?" Granger had turned again to the table and was weaving her wand over it, figures morphed and shifted on the surface.

"Vampires, two minimum. Werewolf, three maybe. I've seen Dementors in and out, but I could never count them. Goblins have refused since the war, but I heard there was a clan willing to meet to discuss terms. I think they will avoid fighting, so they're not much of a threat. The house elves will leave at my command, I know we won't want them fighting. I have freed a lot of them, but they remained in the Manor for my mother."

"What are the odds that these creatures would be there when we plan our attack?" Granger's back still to him as she transfigured chess pieces into dark creature miniatures.

"I don't know. I think with me deviating, if they found my arm, they would assume the worst. He might try to keep them there for as long as possible, until they find my body I guess, as a kind of safeguard." Draco rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"Why hasn't Voldy tried to overrule the magic of the Manor?" Granger turned now to look at him, her hand in a fist around her wand as she put it on her hip.

"I've seen what the wand can do." Draco admitted. "He's done some insane things, I won't-" he shook his head, the images rolling loose in his mind. "I can't say he hasn't tried, but the magic is generations old. Malfoy upon Malfoy have died and imbued themselves into the Manor. He can't break that."

"Like Lily dying for Harry? That's interesting, that magic is very powerful. Can we duel without fear of repercussions?" Granger chewed her bottom lip, her eyes unfocused.

"The Manor won't retaliate if it's damaged, if that's what you're asking. And I'm not personally offended if my home-turned-prison sustains damages as a byproduct." Draco had thought about it. The condition of the Manor had slowly deteriorated over time anyway, and it would be gutted and rebuilt if he had it at the end of the war. Hermione nodded and fell silent.

"So we have about thirty bodies in the Manor." Granger closed her eyes. Draco assumed she was thinking. "We have…" she looked at Aberforth, rolled her eyes, then looked at Weasley. "Twelve? Twelve active members of the Order, and allies we won't drag into this."

"Twelve against thirty?" Draco paled. He looked at his useless arm and his thin frame. He couldn't duel for longer than a minute in his current condition.

"Don't worry, we'll fix you up." Granger gave him a wary look. "That's why we risked showing all our faces here at once. Gin can help with adjustment, I do the science, and Luna…" Hermione sighed. "My lab is downstairs."

"I get my arm back?" Draco asked hopefully, stupidly.

Granger rolled her eyes. "I'll fit you with a prosthetic." Granger looked at Weasley and her expression softened, the scars along her face melting away in the dancing lights. "Babe, can you see about attack plan options?"

"I got it. Take the dummy to get fitted." Weasley walked up to Granger and kissed her lightly on the lips and Draco blinked. He did not see that coming. He thought they were just friends. Weasley tiptoed and it was then he noticed that one of her feet was metal, padded with black material at the sole for what Draco assumed was noise cancellation. He wondered if Granger did that too.

"Come on." Luna's voice floated to his ears. He looked around to find her, and she was close enough that her breath tickled his skin on his neck. But then she grabbed his hand and pulled him along, his feet followed reactively. "You need to eat."

His stomach rumbled in agreement, but all his focus had gone to the feel of her hand in his.