Draco and Harry had slept at an inn at Diagon Alley the night before, and were now relatively refreshed enough to continue their task.
As they walked up the final, narrow dirt road that led to the Weasley's house, they discussed in a low voice how to best undertake their task of finding suspicious items, evidence, or anything that would help them on their dangerous assignment.
Harry had first suggested using simple common sense to help them search; out of love and respect for Ron's family and Hermione, he wanted to put them through as little additional pain as possible. However, Draco nixed that idea quickly, saying this event, if not handled properly, could lead to war all over again, and the Light side, would, in all gloomy likelihood, not win this time.
Harry had to admit he was right, though he wondered at Draco's attude toward the whole deal. Draco had been exceedingly calm ever since his brief outburst as they had walked to the french cafe back in California. Harry knew he couldn't possibly be as calm inside as his cool attitude appeared, but he didn't seem to want to discuss anything personal. He referred to his father as "Lucius", and seemed to have no qualms about telling Harry how exactly the Ministry was going to treat "Lucius", once they captured him, so anyone besides Harry would have been easily led to believe Draco was accepting the fact that his officially-pronounced-dead father was still alive, and had captured his boyfriend's best friend about a week ago very well.
Harry had known Draco too long, though, to believe he was perfectly fine with the recent turn of events, but he also knew very well from past experiences that the best course of action would be to wait until Draco was ready to talk about it.
Thus they chatted casually up to the Burrow, Harry being careful never to mention "Lucius"'s or Ron's name in direct relationship with Draco's.
Then they had reached the gate in front of the Burrow, and a fresh wave of memories came rushing up to Harry. He pushed them aside forcefully. //Now is not the time.//
Harry pulled open the unlocked gate, and he and Draco stepped into the Weasley's front yard.
A slender young woman with red hair was the only person in sight. She was tending the garden, peacefully planting bulbs for the following spring and tending the late summer and autumn flowers. She was apparantly quite engrossed in her work, as she didn't realize anyone else was around until Harry and Draco had gotten halfway up to her. She looked up casually, pushing a stray hand of hair out of her face as she did so, and, spotting Harry and Draco, but mostly Harry, her eyes widened with shock. She blinked several times, while Harry just stood there akwardly, and Draco waited beside him.
Then, the girl, who, Harry realized with a shock, was little Ginny Weasley, shrieked, threw down her spade and the clump of dirt she'd been handling, and came running toward them.
Harry stepped back, a little startled, but Ginny was remarkably fast, and before Harry knew it, she was in front of him, then threw her arms around his neck and said very fast, "Harry! It's you! You came back! How does it feel? How's America? I want to go someday! I missed you so much! And you wrote, of course, but it wasn't the same! Oh dear! Of course I start crying! I'm too sensitive!"
Harry had been hugging her, also, after his initial shock, and smiled at her lovingly. Ginny had become one of his good friends around fifth year, after he realized how much fun she was and what good comapny she was when Ron and Hermione were off by themselves in some dark room somewhere.
Ginny stepped back, wiped her eyes, and grinned at Harry. She then looked nervously at Draco, to Harry's left. She took a deep breathe, and said formally, "How are you, Draco?"
He looked appalled at her nerve to speak to him. Ginny looked torn between anger and her naturally good natured self, but cheerfullness prevailed, and she smiled anyway at Draco, and before he knew what was coming, she had hugged him, too, and annonced, "I missed you also, believe it or not, you big meanie."
Harry laughed at Ginny's childish statement, and even Draco grinned reluctantly. Ginny pranced over to Harry and said, "Come on, you have to see everyone. Fred and George'll be home tonight, but everyone else," here she paused and looked at Harry sadly. "I don't want to talk about Ron now," she said firmly. Harry nodded understandingly, and Ginny continued, "and Bill's back for a week visited, and you won't believe it, but Percy got a tattoo..."
And so Harry and Draco, continued up to the front door.
As they walked up the final, narrow dirt road that led to the Weasley's house, they discussed in a low voice how to best undertake their task of finding suspicious items, evidence, or anything that would help them on their dangerous assignment.
Harry had first suggested using simple common sense to help them search; out of love and respect for Ron's family and Hermione, he wanted to put them through as little additional pain as possible. However, Draco nixed that idea quickly, saying this event, if not handled properly, could lead to war all over again, and the Light side, would, in all gloomy likelihood, not win this time.
Harry had to admit he was right, though he wondered at Draco's attude toward the whole deal. Draco had been exceedingly calm ever since his brief outburst as they had walked to the french cafe back in California. Harry knew he couldn't possibly be as calm inside as his cool attitude appeared, but he didn't seem to want to discuss anything personal. He referred to his father as "Lucius", and seemed to have no qualms about telling Harry how exactly the Ministry was going to treat "Lucius", once they captured him, so anyone besides Harry would have been easily led to believe Draco was accepting the fact that his officially-pronounced-dead father was still alive, and had captured his boyfriend's best friend about a week ago very well.
Harry had known Draco too long, though, to believe he was perfectly fine with the recent turn of events, but he also knew very well from past experiences that the best course of action would be to wait until Draco was ready to talk about it.
Thus they chatted casually up to the Burrow, Harry being careful never to mention "Lucius"'s or Ron's name in direct relationship with Draco's.
Then they had reached the gate in front of the Burrow, and a fresh wave of memories came rushing up to Harry. He pushed them aside forcefully. //Now is not the time.//
Harry pulled open the unlocked gate, and he and Draco stepped into the Weasley's front yard.
A slender young woman with red hair was the only person in sight. She was tending the garden, peacefully planting bulbs for the following spring and tending the late summer and autumn flowers. She was apparantly quite engrossed in her work, as she didn't realize anyone else was around until Harry and Draco had gotten halfway up to her. She looked up casually, pushing a stray hand of hair out of her face as she did so, and, spotting Harry and Draco, but mostly Harry, her eyes widened with shock. She blinked several times, while Harry just stood there akwardly, and Draco waited beside him.
Then, the girl, who, Harry realized with a shock, was little Ginny Weasley, shrieked, threw down her spade and the clump of dirt she'd been handling, and came running toward them.
Harry stepped back, a little startled, but Ginny was remarkably fast, and before Harry knew it, she was in front of him, then threw her arms around his neck and said very fast, "Harry! It's you! You came back! How does it feel? How's America? I want to go someday! I missed you so much! And you wrote, of course, but it wasn't the same! Oh dear! Of course I start crying! I'm too sensitive!"
Harry had been hugging her, also, after his initial shock, and smiled at her lovingly. Ginny had become one of his good friends around fifth year, after he realized how much fun she was and what good comapny she was when Ron and Hermione were off by themselves in some dark room somewhere.
Ginny stepped back, wiped her eyes, and grinned at Harry. She then looked nervously at Draco, to Harry's left. She took a deep breathe, and said formally, "How are you, Draco?"
He looked appalled at her nerve to speak to him. Ginny looked torn between anger and her naturally good natured self, but cheerfullness prevailed, and she smiled anyway at Draco, and before he knew what was coming, she had hugged him, too, and annonced, "I missed you also, believe it or not, you big meanie."
Harry laughed at Ginny's childish statement, and even Draco grinned reluctantly. Ginny pranced over to Harry and said, "Come on, you have to see everyone. Fred and George'll be home tonight, but everyone else," here she paused and looked at Harry sadly. "I don't want to talk about Ron now," she said firmly. Harry nodded understandingly, and Ginny continued, "and Bill's back for a week visited, and you won't believe it, but Percy got a tattoo..."
And so Harry and Draco, continued up to the front door.
