Chapter 9- And Now They Know

Draco had a hard time sleeping last night.  He couldn't keep his mind from thinking about what Harry had told Ron last night. He was immensely irritated that he was asked to leave them room.  He had only come help, but he was rudely dismissed so he decided to stick around in the hallway and eavesdrop on their conversation.  Somehow the slytherin in him wasn't going to give up, and this was the only way to fulfill his curiosity.

Hearing Harry's account of what happened to him was heart breaking.  Although he would never admit it, at one point Draco had slid down the wall crying in anguish over the physical and emotional pain Harry must have been feeling. It was all a little too familiar as Draco could relate to many of the things that Harry confessed to Ron.  He returned to the twins' bedroom when he heard Ron and Harry begin fighting.  He didn't want to get caught overhearing their conversation.  Sure enough, Ron came out of the room a short while later and proceeded downstairs.

Draco was still surprisingly tired and decided to go back to bed.  This time he made sure to undress and put on proper night clothing. His sleep wasn't restful to say the least.  All the things Harry said kept running through his head, and Draco found himself drifting in out of sleep dreaming about his father. 

He awoke early the next morning and decided to skip showering for the time being when he began to smell breakfast wafting through the air. His stomach growled hungrily at the prospect of eating again.  He had recently developed a healthy appetite with during his growth spurt.  Draco went downstairs to find Ron surprisingly cooking their morning meal.  He noticed that Harry hadn't come down yet.

"Hi," said Ron. "Hungry?'

"A little," admitted Draco.  "Harry still sleeping?'

"I guess so. I haven't been back up to check on him since I got kicked out of the room last night… I know you heard everything from the hallway," said Ron knowingly.

Draco's face blushed bright red with embarrassment over being caught.  "I am sorry. I was just curious."

"Don't ever repeat what you heard to anyone, or I will hex you until there is no tomorrow. You got it?" Ron said heatedly.

"Sure, no problem," said Draco as he grabbed a rasher of bacon.

At that point Bill joined them in the kitchen.  "Well, wonders will never cease little brother. Ron, are you actually cooking?" he joked with his kid brother.

"Bill, listen. I need to tell you something..," Ron began, but he was unable to finish because there was the sound of two large cracks just outside the Burrow.

Mr. Weasley quickly came in the kitchen door closely followed by Remus Lupin.  They looked very distraught over something.  Draco noticed that Remus in particular looked like he was in a really bad way.  Life had not treated him kindly and he was definitely taking Sirius's death harder than anyone expected.  His clothes looked even more frayed than they had when he was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts in their third year.

"Ron, I am so glad you are up.  There is something I need to tell you.  Harry is missing, but we don't suspect that You-Know-Who is behind it. He may have run away.  The order has been searching for him all night.  Do you know where he may have gone?  We checked all of Surrey, headquarters, Diagon Alley, and Hermione's house so far."  Mr. Weasley spoke with a quick and firm voice.

"Dad, I was just going to tell Bill that Harry is here! He came in really late last night on the Knight Bus," said Ron.

Draco noticed that both Remus and Arthur looked at one another with relief.  They looked as though they hadn't slept in a really long time.  Everyone had longed since forgotten about their breakfast.  Remus glanced upstairs as if he could sense where Harry was.

"This is wonderful!  We never imagined that he would have gotten this far.  He was a smart boy for taking the Knight Bus.  Is he alright?  Do you know why he left the Dursleys?" Mr. Weasley asked his son.

"Yeah, I do. But I want to know something from you first.  I thought that the order had someone watching over him at all times in order to keep him out of harms way.  What happened to that glorious plan?"  Ron asked angrily. Remus was about to go upstairs, but stopped when he heard Ron's question. The man slowly turned around to face Ron curiously.

"What do you mean?  Of course we have someone watching over him.  The order has a rotation schedule.  Whoever is on duty must patrol the perimeter of the wards and search for possible invasions by death eaters or dementors," said Remus

"Did they ever check on Harry at the house?  Did they ever wonder why he never came outside?"  Draco questioned.

"We were given strict orders to only approach the house during the night when everyone would be asleep.  To check on him during the day would possibly compromise our position," Mr. Weasley interjected.  "Besides, Remus had received a letter from him saying that he was fine.  Has something happened?"

"Yes something horrible has happened!  Before I tell you I want to know one last thing.  When did you discover that Harry had left the Dursleys?"

Draco looked nervously over at his former professor.  Ron was really dragging this whole thing out in revenge. Remus looked like he was going to kill someone. It was quite unnerving. He began to tell Ron what happened.  Every word sounded laced with venom.

"That pathetic excuse of a human being Mundungus Fletcher fell asleep on the job!  When he awoke he realized that he was no longer able to detect Harry's magical signature in the house.  The wards were in tact so it couldn't have been the death eaters.  That could only mean that he had left at some point in the night.  Dung contacted the order straight away, and we have been searching for him through the night.  Now, WHAT IS WRONG WITH HARRY?" bellowed Remus.

Ron sighed heavily, "He doesn't even want me telling you this right now because he is terrified of what will happen to him. He tried to make me promise that I would keep everything a secret.  His uncle has been beating the crap out of Harry all summer.  He finally decided that he couldn't take it any longer and ran away.  He is hurt pretty bad.  I think he might need a doctor to heal him properly."

Draco nearly jumped out of his seat as a horrified Remus Lupin tore up the stairs to check on Harry.  He obviously cared about the boy a great deal.  Draco felt stupidly jealous as he watched the man disappear.  He wondered if anyone would ever be that outraged to learn that he had ever come to harm.  Harry was lucky to have these people on his side.

Turning his attention back to the room he noticed that Mr. Weasley had sat down and put his elbows on the table and his head in his hands.  He was shaking his head slowly back and forth and seemed distraught in light of this new information.  Finally, he was able to speak to his son.

"Ron, I am sorry we didn't listen to you about needing to bring Harry here to the Burrow at the beginning of the summer.  Did you know this was going on?"

"No," said Ron.

"You realize that I am going to have to fire call Dumbledore, right?"

"Yes, I know," Ron said sadly.  Draco knew that Harry had specifically told Ron not to tell Dumbledore.  By doing so, he was breaking his friend's trust. 

Draco looked over to him and said, "You are doing the right thing. I wish I had a friend like you to look over me when I needed the help."

Ron smiled at the blond haired boy.

"Did you know about this Bill?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"No, I slept through the night.  I can't believe that Ron didn't tell me straight away," said the oldest son.

"I didn't want to wake you until I knew what was going on," Ron argued.

"Why didn't you immediately owl me when Harry arrived at the Burrow?" asked Mr. Weasley

"I didn't realize that you had been searching for him.  I was going to tell you this morning.  It took him quite a while to tell me what had happened.  He was pretty out of it."


"Alright.  At least he is safe now."  Mr. Weasley went to the family's fireplace, threw in some powder, and in a clear voice said "Dumbledore."

Professor Dumbledore's head appeared in the green flames.  "Arthur, have you been able to located Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, Albus.  He is here at the Burrow.  I am afraid that you will need to come here immediately and bring Madame Pomfrey with you as well.  It is rather urgent."

After a few moments, the two adults came out of the fireplace.  They quickly dusted the soot off and asked where Harry was.

Draco watched as Arthur and Bill led them upstairs.  Ron stayed behind.  He was probably afraid to face Harry after betraying his trust.  After being quiet for so long, Draco felt compelled for some much needed conversation.

"You know, he is not going to hate you forever. He will see that what you did was the right thing.  He was hurt pretty bad," Draco offered.

"Maybe," replied Ron.

"Don't ever tell anyone I said this to you because I will hex you senseless, but I am jealous of you."

"WHAT! Are you out of your mind?  What are you playing at?" Ron responded suspiciously.

"No really.  You have things I have always wanted that I will never be able to have."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Like family. You have lots of brothers and a cute kid sister. You have parents that love you unconditionally.  And you are friends with Harry," Draco added softly.  He wasn't sure why he felt the need to reveal all this information, but it was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"So, you have…had money. My family rarely sees the stuff," said Ron.

Draco snorted at Ron's last remark.  "Yeah, and look where it got me. I don't have any friends that I can trust.  And now I have to live off the kindness of your family.  This isn't easy for me you know.  I have had to swallow my pride in gaping mouthfuls."  Draco smirked at Ron.

Ron chuckled.  Draco had an odd sense of humor.  "Why are you jealous of my friendship with Harry?"

If he only knew how loaded that question was.  Not willing to divulge any other personal information, Draco replied with a polite, "I don't know."

The two boys sat quietly with one another waiting for someone to return with some news about Harry.  Soon Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Professor Dumbledore returned from upstairs.

Dumbledore began, "Ron, thank you for taking such good care of Harry.  The healing balm you used was quiet helpful.  He will be staying at the Burrow for the remainder of the summer since there are wards already in place because of Draco." Draco gave a small leap for joy in his heart. They were finally going to get a chance to know one another.

"As for next year, that remains to be seen.  Remus will be stopping by to check on him periodically.  He is reasonably upset that the Dursleys have hurt Harry in this manner. He feels responsible for what has happened," said Dumbledore.

"I must leave immediately in order to determine what will happen to the Dursleys. We have not had a case like this involving muggles in a very long time.  It needs to be handled delicately.  I will return once I have more information. Thank you, Arthur, for allowing both these boys to stay with your family. I am deeply indebted to you."  And with that he gabbed some flew powder, yelled "Hogwarts," and disappeared.

"I can't believe this happened to poor Harry. He has already had to deal with so much with Sirius and everything," said Bill.

"I know.  We will have to help him make it through.  I am sure that Draco and Ron here will do their very best to help him as well. Am I right?" said Mr. Weasley.

"Absolutely," said Ron.

"Yeah, I will help too," said Draco

"I will have to owl your mother straight away. Oh, she is going to be so upset over this," said Mr. Weasley. He looked up inquisitively.  They could hear voices coming from above.

"I am going to kill that bastard for what he did to Harry!" Remus shouted angrily.

"Now, now Remus.  Please don't do anything rash. I don't think he would be able to bear if you went to Azkaban. Let Dumbledore take care of this properly," Madame Pomfrey tried.

They could hear their conversation coming down the stairs. Madame Pomfrey and Remus appeared in the kitchen, and it got very quiet. No one seemed to know what to say.

Finally Draco asked what he had been thinking about for the last few minutes, "Is Harry going to be okay?"

"Yes, of course, dear. I have been able heal him, but he will be quite sore for a few days. He had numerous bruises, cuts, and sprains and his ribs were slightly fractured. Because the injuries were inflicted by a muggle he will have some scarring on his back.  The scarring is minimal, however, and not that noticeable, thank goodness."

"Oh, that's good," said Ron.

"Harry is sleeping right now.  I have left some potions that will help with his injuries and a dreamless sleeping potion if his nightmares get too bad," she informed everyone. 

"Make sure, Mr. Weasley, that your wife does what she can to make him eat when she returns home. He is far too thin. I must be one my way.  Inform me immediately if his condition begins to deteriorate," Madame Pomfrey used the fireplace, just as Dumbledore had earlier, to floo away.

Remus had remained behind looking like he wanted to tear someone apart. Draco knew that the man was a werewolf, and his current disposition was frightening to say the least.

"Arthur, may I stick around to make sure Harry is okay?"

"Absolutely.  Why don't we try to salvage this breakfast and eat.  I am sure everyone could use good meal right now," said Mr. Weasley.

Draco and Ron nodded at one another, and set about making breakfast once again.  He really didn't know what to do since he always had house elves to make his meals so he made a pot of tea. It felt good to do something useful for once, even if it was just a small gesture.  It made Draco feel like he had a purpose.  Almost like he belonged.

A/N:  Remember, they have to floo from Hogwarts because you can apparate or disapparate from there. There will be HP/DM fluff later on!  They have a lot to resolve first.