Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: The idea for this story came when I saw an action figure of Harry Potter called Extreme Quidditch... Many thanks to Veer for beta-work, inspiration, help with some of the dialogue (and the fun following attempts) and down right silly conversations!

Thank you to you who reviewed: HedwigSasso, Sheree, sak, Sowen and catnap713

Chapter 6

POOF

Ginny apparated back into the kitchen of The Burrow, still looking extremely upset. Molly took one look at her, motioned her to sit down at the kitchen table and poured her a cup of tea.

"Do you want to tell me what's made you so upset?", Molly asked.

"I went to The Manor to have a shout at Malfoy", Ginny said. "And I did say everything I wanted to but then I saw him.............." She gulped some tea.

"And......?", Arthur asked.

"He looks almost as bad as Harry does.", Ginny said. "I'm just so mad! Harry's given up a lot because he's asked it of him, yet he does everything he likes and Harry won't say anything of it. He even defends him!"

"Why did you go, Ginny?", Arthur now asked.

"Because it's killing me to see Harry this......... empty. He's even worse than when we first met him!", she exclaimed.

Molly and Arthur looked at each other, then nodded.

"What?", Ginny asked.

"We'll talk to them.", Molly said.

The next morning, Harry came down for breakfast. A first in the almost two weeks since he'd been staying at The Burrow.

"Hey, Harry.", said George as he took the seat beside Harry. "Fred and I have some interesting news......"

"What's that then?", Harry asked politely while nibbling on a piece of toast.

"We think Ginny has a new guy she's been seeing.", Fred said, who sat on Harry's other side.

"Really? And why are you telling me this?", Harry now asked.

"Well, she won't tell us who it is, and seeing as how you and Ginny are such good friends maybe you could ask?"

"Hmmmm, and why would I do that?", Harry wanted to know.

"Because he has to be Weasley-tested first! We won't let him near her if we don't think he is good enough! Surely you know by now how we work, Harry! You're our adopted brother!", George said.

"And what will you do when you find out who it is?"

"He's going to get the Weasley Questionnaire to fill out!", Fred said with a satisfied sigh.

"But,", Harry felt compelled to ask, "what makes you think that she's seeing someone?"

George and Fred shared a look that made Harry shudder involantarily.

"She's very cheerful lately, she sometimes stares into nothing and then suddenly start to smile..", George summed up.

"Don't forget the new haircut, George.", Fred put in. "Or the fact that she isn't home a lot of evenings. We came to visit her last week, a surprise visit because we were in the neighbourhood, and she wasn't there. And she won't tell us where she's been."

"So you see, Harry", George continued, "that there are signs that she's seeing someone."

"We'll be watching Ginny very closely from now on. Sooner or later she's bound to let something slip!"Fred took over.

"Now we have to go and open the shop. We'll talk to you later, Harry!"

And then they apparated out of the kitchen. Leaving Harry very determined to talk to Ginny (and Oliver) soon and thinking that now would be a good idea to see if he could persuade Molly and Arthur to be on his side in this.

"Molly, is Arthur still here?", Harry now asked.

"Yes he is Harry, do you want me to call him?"

Harry nodded. The twins' little talk had put a nice plan in his brain. Something to keep him occupied with and – even more importantly – distracted from Draco.

"So, Harry, what do you want to talk to us about?", Arthur said as he came in. When Molly had called for him, saying that Harry wanted to talk to the both of them, they suspected it had something to do with Draco.

"Is everybody out of the house?", Harry asked Molly. Molly took a look at the family clock and nodded.

"Good, because there's something you need to know. And after that I want to ask for your help."

When Molly and Arthur nodded, he told them the story of Ginny and Oliver and then, as if it had a will of its own, he also told them the Extreme Quidditch story.

"And what exactly is it you want our help with, Harry?", Arthur now asked him.

"Fred and George came to talk to me this morning. They apparently have the idea that Ginny is seeing someone and they wanted my help to find out who it is, so they can scare him away. I've never helped them, but kept myself away from it all. This time, however, I'd like to help Ginny and Oliver out."

"What can we do, Harry?", Molly now asked, eyes shining at the sheer idea of helping to pull a prank on her own sons. She was especially enjoying the thought of fooling Fred and George. Payback time is here!

"Well, I was hoping if you'd help keeping the boys guessing and such and helping Gin and Oliver meet..... Draco and I had decided to help them until they either announce their engagement or marriage. Judging by what Ginny told me the last time we talked about this, things are going alright." Harry now looked at the both of them, expectantly.

Arthur broke out in a huge grin. "Of course we'll help, Harry! This is exactly what we've been waiting for! We've tried talking to those boys, but that just doesn't seem to help! We'll talk to Ginny about it too, so that she knows to trust us with it."

Satisfied that he'd managed that, Harry nodded and gave them a small smile.

"Now, I need to go somewhere, so I'll see the two of you tonight,", Arthur said. He gave Molly a kiss, Harry a pat on the shoulder and then apparated to his appointment. Unbeknownst to Harry, that appointment was Malfoy Manor.

Now, Molly thought, might be the time to talk to Harry.

"Harry, dear, I think it's time for you to talk to me about what happened with you and Draco.", she said in a firm voice. "And I mean about why he has moved out."

Harry looked at her.

"Didn't you tell me he you got into a fight and then moved out after being silent for a couple of days? Isn't it time that you told me rest of the story?" Molly looked sympathetically at him.

Harry nodded, and then told her the entire story. About meeting Oliver, making plans and not wanting to tell Draco because he worries so much. And then about how Draco found out, and the way he reacted to it.

"Why do you think that is? And you know what, don't answer that. It's time that I told you something that I should've told you before." Molly said, with a little frown on her forehead. "What do you remember from after the war?"

"Well, I remember killing Voldemort and then somehow making his dead body explode. Then everything went black. The next thing I remember is that I am in a hospital looking at the entire Weasley family. Why?"

"You did have other visitors there, you know.", Molly said softly.

Harry nodded. "Yes, I know that Remus was there, Hermione of course although I count her as part of the Weasley family. Let's see, I know that even Snape came to visit me, hard to believe as that is."

"Did you know that Draco was there too?"

"Well, he did tell me that he had been at the hospital...."

"He didn't tell you that he was practically living there? Harry, he found you after you killed Voldemort! He was frantic when he apparated the both of you into that hospital! He was all Malfoy and wouldn't leave your side. When they had you diagnosed and put up in that bed, he simply burst out in tears. That was the first and last time I've ever seen him cry. After that he wasn't so shaken up as before, but he still was upset. He almost got into a nasty fight with one of the doctors because he refused to leave the room when they wanted to examine you. In those weeks he hardly slept. Arthur had to put a body bind spell on him and levitate him to his bed for his own health! So when you came to, Draco was at The Manor sleeping because he nearly collapsed...."

Harry was looking at her wide eyed. "He never wants to talk about it, you know. I've tried so many times! He just tenses up and then changes the subject or he simply walks away. After a while I stopped trying.... It does explain why he is so afraid of something happening to me... But he hasn't said anything about the bruises I had after playing Quidditch in the last few weeks..." Harry shook his head.

"Those bruises were bad ones, Harry. I've seen them on my boys. Maybe he was just too busy taking care of them?", Molly suggested.

"Could be.", Harry said. "And then he just moved out." "How can you be sure, dear?", Molly asked him, a bit worried at the lost tone.

"He took ALL of his hare care products, Molly. He's never taken them all when he went on one of his trips. I don't think he's coming back."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"I've written him so many letters, but he hasn't answered even one of them. Hedwig at least hasn't brought them back, so I'm telling myself that that could mean something, but quite frankly I'm not hoping anymore."

"If letters aren't doing it for you, then maybe you could do something else?", Molly said, pondering what that might be.

"If I knew what to do I would certainly try......", Harry said.

"Wait a minute! While you were in that dreadful coma, Draco was always there, just like I said. I have been there a lot too. Because there wasn't anything else to do, we started talking. First it was all about you and I could clearly see how much he cared and cares for you, Harry. But later on, he told me a lot about himself. It appears that he is a great admirer of Hubertus Morgensternus.", Molly told him.

Harry was trying to remember why that name was familiar to him. Suddenly he knew. Hubertus Morgensternus had been the first wizard to discover that the flame produced by the Antipodean Opaleye[1] could be used as a medical tool. Draco was very interested in things concerning dragons and would read anything about them that he could get his hands on.

"Yes, now I remember that Dray has mentioned him a time or two.", Harry nodded.

"Hmm. He told me that it was a childhood dream of his to maybe one day meet him. But seeing as he is Lucius Malfoy's son and Lucius' reputation and connection to The Dark Lord, he didn't think that a request of his to meet Hubertus wouldn't be taken all that well. He literally said to me "When they see my last name, they will automatically send an owl declining my request even if they haven't read my letter. It's the last name, you see. In this respect it's become a curse to me."

"What are you saying, Molly? That I should write the letter?", Harry said, clearly catching on.

Molly nodded. "Isn't his birthday coming up in a couple of weeks? Maybe you could arrange something on that day, even if you two aren't speaking to each other? It might tell him how much he means to you if you can arrange for him to meet with Mr Morgensternus."

"That's a good idea. Thank you Molly.", Harry said as he got up.

He gave Molly a hug and a kiss on her cheek. "And not just for that idea, but for this conversation and being a mother to me all these years."

As he walked out, he didn't see Molly quietly wipe tears from her cheek.

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Thanks for reading! – Nat –

----------------------- [1] Antipodean Opaleye: a type of dragon, from New Zealand that produces a very mild scarlet flame. By dragon standards not particularly aggressive and only kills when hungry. Prof. Morgensternus discovered that, when properly communicated to the dragon it is willing to assist in operations in difficult surroundings, providing a clean cut where needed.