Disclaimer: I own the Harry Potter books. No really, I do! They're sitting on my bookshelf as we speak…I don't, however, own the stories in the books or the characters, that belongs to J.K. Rowling.

(Readers exhale in relief)

Yes, this chapter is extremely long, but please don't hate me! I just couldn't stop writing! Curse these hands!!!

Chapter 2

Welcome to the Weasleys

Draco Malfoy was not a very happy person, not happy at all. It was exactly 48 hours since he was taken from his home and kept in custody by the ministry, he was now on his way to hell. No, not hell, hell was an act of mercy compared to this! He was on his way to the Weasleys. Draco scowled in the backseat of the ministry vehicle he was riding in and reflected on exactly how he got into the mess he was in.

He was sitting in one of the offices at the Ministry of Magic when Dumbledore entered.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy." He greeted Draco. Draco didn't reply. "I do hope they have been treating you well."

"You hope they've been treating me well?!" yelled Draco. Dumbledore was getting on his last nerve. It had already been a day since he was taken from his home and he hadn't got one speck of sleep. "They took me from my bloody home and have been keeping me in this damn building for past 24 hours! I demand to leave this instant!"

"Mr. Malfoy you know that you cannot stay in your home by yourself, you are an underage wizard it is against the law." Said Dumbledore calmly.

"I want to go back to Malfoy Manor. My mother is missing and I need to be there if she comes back!" Malfoy yelled, standing up and running a hand through his already disheveled blond hair. All he wanted to do was go home and get some rest. The past few days were wearing on him. He sat back down, defeated. "I just want to go home." He whispered quietly so Dumbledore had to strain to hear him.

"I know you do, Draco." Said the older wizard calling him by his first name and showing true concern for him. "But as your father is an escaped prisoner and your mother is missing we cannot allow you to go back to your manor."

"Then where am I supposed to stay?" Draco said his previous anger returning full force. "Some kind of wizarding orphanage? I have no other place to go!"

At this Dumbledore smiled widely, his blue eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Do not worry, Draco. We have arranged for you to stay with a wizarding family until you are of age to live on your own."

"What wizarding family?" Dumbledore paused before replying.

"The Weasleys have agreed to take you in."

Draco stood stock-still. He could've sworn Dumbledore just said he was staying with the Weasleys. 'I must have heard him wrong' thought Draco.

"I'm sorry professor, but I must have heard you wrong. Did you say the Weasleys?"

"Yes, Draco, I did." Said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling merrily. (a/n does he like to make his eyes twinkle?)

Draco felt the heat rising to his face. "I am not staying with those Weasels." He said trying to keep his voice steady, although he seemed to be losing the battle.

"The paperwork has already been done, you will be at the Weasleys this time tomorrow. I'm sure you will find the Weasley household, if not up to your standards, very welcoming."

"I AM NOT STAYING WITH THE WEASLEYS!" Draco yelled, causing the passing Aurors to stop in stare. "I REFUSE TO STAY WITH THEM! I AM GOING HOME!"

"I'm afraid you have no choice, Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore replied calmly. "Aurors will escort you to your home tomorrow to pack and then will bring you to the Weasleys."

Draco was so infuriated the only thing he could do was sit there with his arms crossed over his chest, breathing deep breaths. He knew it was childish, especially for a sixteen year-old such as himself, but there was no way in hell that they were going to send him to live with those pathetic excuse of wizards.

"I'm terribly sorry about your mother, Draco, but I hope you can see that the Weasleys are only trying to help." Draco didn't answer and soon the Headmaster left, leaving Draco alone to dwell on his own.

In the morning, (Draco barely got any sleep) Aurors escorted him to his house and he packed his stuff. After he was packed, the Aurors immediately took his wand and grabbed his arms to prevent him from escaping. Which was just his luck because that was exactly what he had half a mind to do.

The car stopped. Draco looked out the window, the car was parked in front of a large make-shift building that was about the size of the servant's quarters at the Manor. There was a sign close to the house that read 'The Burrow'. The door of the house opened and a plump woman with short, red hair Draco recognized to be Mrs. Weasley stepped out, followed by a very disgruntled Ron and Ginny Weasley. 'Great. The whole bloody family must be in there.'

Draco slowly climbed out of the car with his best looking scowl on his face. How the hell could they have sent him to this craphole? Draco stopped his inspection of the house when he heard banging from behind him.

"Be careful with my things, or you'll be paying for them." He said to the two idiotic Aurors. Instead of placing his last trunk down the lady Auror with bright pink hair threw it with more force then the last. Draco glared at her. She ignored him and walked over to Mrs. Weasley.

"Hello, Molly." Said the Auror to Mrs. Weasley. "How have you been."

"I've been fine, Tonks, thank you." Replied Mrs. Weasley with a small smile, then whispered. "How is he?" referring to Draco.

"He's being quite the bloody brat, that one." Tonks replied. "If his mother wasn't missing, I'd give him a piece of my mind." Ron and Ginny snorted. Draco scowled. They obviously thought he couldn't hear him.

"Quite awful what happened to his mother. Poor boy." Said Mrs. Weasley, looking at Draco with concern on her face.

"Yes, tragic. Really depressed, he is." Tonks said sarcastically. "We'd better get going. Quite a busy day at the Ministry of Magic this morning. It seems that three families were attacked and killed yesterday evening by Death Eaters."

"Yes, I read about it in the Daily Prophet this morning, they didn't give the names of the families though. It seems You-Know-Who is finally coming out of hiding."

"Yes, but Dumbledore thinks that the families were pin-pointed for a reason. It is quite uncanny that the families all were neighbors."

"What are the names of the families, do you know?"

"I'm afraid I haven't found out yet, I'll come by later when I have more information."

"Come around dinner time, I'm expecting the boys to be over later."

"All of them?"

"Yes, except for Percy." Mrs. Weasley seemed to tense up when she said this and Tonks quickly changed the subject. 'What's going on with that Weasley?' thought Draco. He remembered Percy from his third year when he was Head Boy.

"Did Dumbledore come over yesterday to set up the extra wards?" asked Tonks.

"Yes, he seemed to think that the wards around our house were good but he added some more here and there."

"Good, do you know if Harry is going to be staying here? I say the boy needs some cheering up, he's in a right slump from what happened to Siri- to his godfather." Tonks finished, looking over at Draco worriedly.

"I'm afraid I don't know but I have been speaking to Dumbledore about it."

"Good, good. I'll be back later then, Molly. Bye Ron, Ginny." She said waving to Ron and Ginny.

"Bye Tonks." They answered. Tonks walked back to the car but before she stepped in she called to Draco.

"Hey, kid!" Draco turned, curious as to what she wanted. "Lighten up, it's not the end of the world." Draco scowled and she laughed which only made him scowl even more. Then her and her partner drove off down the road.

Draco stood where he was, waiting for someone to make the first move because he definitely wasn't. Mrs. Weasley was the first to talk.

"Well, Draco dear, why don't you come and rest inside the house. Ron get his trunks, Ginny you help." Ron and Ginny went to help reluctantly, Ron sending Draco a glare.

Draco walked into the house and Mrs. Weasley followed behind him.

"I hope you find our home comfortable enough for you." She said watching Draco eyeing the sitting room with extreme distaste. "You'll be staying in my older son, Charlie's room. When Ron comes back in I'll have him show you to it." Draco said nothing. "Please make yourself at home, Draco." Draco had to almost stop himself from snorting. 'Make himself at home'?

When Draco remained quiet, Mrs. Weasley went into the kitchen to start fixing supper. Ron and Ginny came in soon after, struggling with his heavy suitcases. Draco bit back a smile, happy to see the Weasels doing the work they were born to do. They dumped his trunks by the door.

"Watch it with my bags, Weasley, they're worth more than your life." Said Draco, speaking for the first time, to Ron.

Ginny's face darkened at his words and Ron rushed up to Draco, grabbed his robes, and pushed him roughly against the wall, his face livid.

"Listen to me, Malfoy, and listen good." He said trying to control his voice. "It wasn't my idea to have you stay at our bloody house- you can rot in hell for all I care- so don't take your frustration out on me. The only reason I'm not pummeling you into the bloody ground right now is because if I do I'd probably be sent to Azkaban for murder. I hate you. You hate me. You don't bother my family by being the pompous little ferret you are and we'll be fine." He then released his grip on Draco's robes and stalked off into the kitchen.

Draco was very surprised when the Weasel didn't throw a punch, he didn't think he had that much control over his anger. Draco smoothed down his robes and composed himself as much as possible. That's when he noticed that the other Weasley was still in the room.

"You know, you're very lucky Ron didn't do anything to you." Ginny said, glaring at Draco. "He doesn't usually control his anger, especially around you."

"Should I be thankful?" said Draco lazily.

"Yes, you should, Malfoy." She said her temper rising. "Because he really would have killed you." She walked into the kitchen also, leaving Draco to think about what she said.

He knew he was somewhat lucky that the Weasel didn't hit him, he wasn't prone to getting into fights without Crabbe and Goyle by his side. Not like they did much, but they were much bigger than he was.

Just then the door to the kitchen opened and Ron walked out. He walked past Draco and headed for the stairs, when Draco didn't follow he turned.

"Follow me, Malfoy, I have to show you to your room." Ron said, putting an extra emphasis on the words 'have to'. Draco followed, reluctantly.

When they reached the third floor of the house, Ron stopped abruptly outside a door that read "Charlie".

"This is where you stay." Ron said, then left.

Draco opened the door to his 'new' room. The room wasn't the epitome of poor, at least. Charlie had a very neat room, even if it was one-quarter the size of Draco's closet. The wall was a deep blue with drawings of Quidditch balls zooming around the room. Draco closed the door behind him and stepped further into the room.

Lining the walls were various pictures of (who Draco supposed was) Charlie Weasley. Some from when he was at Hogwarts and on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and some with him standing next to (Draco's eyes widened) dragons! No, not just standing next to them, he was even petting them and the dragons actually seemed to like it the way steam was coming out of their horns in an almost purr like way. Actually, there were a lot of dragons in the background. Draco picked up the picture and turned it around it said: "Greetings, from Romania!" 'He must live there' thought Draco, placing the picture back down.

Draco crossed the room and sat on the bed. It seemed comfortable enough. Not at all like his expensive handcrafted bed with the white-almost silver- silk comforter. The bed had midnight-blue and silver sheets. 'I guess this Weasel likes blue' Draco thought looking at the color theme of the room. He was broke out of his reverie by a knock on the door.

"Come in." he called staring at the door. Mrs. Weasley poked her head into the room.

"Dinner is going to be ready in a few minutes, dear, why don't you come down?" she said opening the door a little wider.

"I'm not hungry." Draco said staring out the window. He heard footsteps walk into the room and then felt the sinking of the bed as Mrs. Weasley sat on it.

"I know that you aren't happy here, Draco." She began softly, looking a Draco who's eyes still focused outside. "But it's only temporary and you'll have your house and wealth back as soon as you are seventeen. I promise. Until then, I'm afraid you'll just have to make do. I'll do my best to keep you as comfortable as possible during your stay at the Burrow, but I can only do so much. The rest is up to you, dear. Now, why don't you come downstairs and have something to eat?"

"I'm fine. I'm not hungry." Draco answered shortly. Mrs. Weasley sighed and after a pause got up and headed for the door.

"I'll send someone up later to bring you something to eat, you are not staying in my house with an empty stomach." She said in a motherly tone and closed the door quietly behind her.

Draco sighed and laid his head back staring out the window. The sun had gone down about a half-hour before and now the stars could be seen silhouetted against the black velvet sky. As Draco stared out the window, he felt his eyelids begin to droop. Soon afterward, he was in a deep sleep.

Downstairs Ron, Fred, George, Bill, Ginny, and Tonks were all busy discussing the sleeping boy upstairs, while waiting for dinner.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT FERRET IS IN OUR HOUSE!" shouted Fred. Mrs. Weasley had informed all her kids about the situation that morning. Needless to say, they were a little put out.

"Quite right, I think we should all barge up there and throw him out on his rich little butt!" said George standing up and hitting his fist into his hand.

"You certainly are not!" Said Mrs. Weasley poking her head out from the kitchen. "You leave that boy alone, Lord knows he's been through enough in the past few days."

"Why did you allow him to stay here, mum, the Malfoys have never been the most respected people to our family." Said Bill, who was sitting on the opposite side of Fred.

"Because he needed help, Bill, and I'm certainly not going to turn down someone who needs help. No matter who the person is. End of conversation." Mrs. Weasley said with finality.

"But mum!" cried George.

"I said that's the end of it, George!" She went back into the kitchen.

"Don't bother, guys." Said Ron at Fred and George's indignant looks. "Me and Ginny already tried to talk her out of it, she's not going to kick him out." Ron said looking disappointed.

"Did you talk to dad about it?" asked Bill. "He must have said something."

"Well, he's been at work a lot these days so we didn't really get to tell him much, but he wasn't too keen on having the son of the most hated Death Eater in our house, that's for sure."

"Well, of course he wasn't! Especially when the son is this close to become a Death Eater himself!" Fred showed the small amount of space between his finger and thumb.

"Speaking of Death Eater," said Ron, "Tonks, did you find out any more about the attacks?" At this, even Fred and George were quiet.

"Yes, actually." Tonks said addressing them all. "The three families were the Awayukis, the Nightwolfs, and the Hallows."

"I've heard of them! They're families were known for inventing the Veritaserum potion! They were very wealthy." Replied Ginny instantly. "You don't think that could have anything to do with the attack, do you?"

"No, Dumbledore thinks he was after something else." Tonks said.

"Did Harry have any…you know, dreams about it?" asked Ron. "Maybe he could help."

"No, Harry has been having regular Occlumency lessons with Dumbledore 3 times a week so he can't be placed into any more of You-Know-Who's thoughts."

"Well, there's got to be some reason why he attacked at this time on that particular family." Supplied Bill with a look of complete concentration on his face.

"The Ministry has no idea, but there was one thing very odd about the crime, indeed." Said Tonks trying remembering the details.

"What?" Everyone asked at the same time.

"Well, the daughters of the families were missing. The rest of the families were in their house but the daughters weren't. All three girls were gone without a trace."

"What were their names?" asked Bill.

"I think they were Kitana Awayuki, Enid Hallow, and Vale Nightwolf."

The doorbell rang. Mrs. Weasley walked out of the kitchen to open the front door. Standing in the doorway was a tall red head wearing brown khaki pants and a blue sweater.

"Charlie!" cried Mrs. Weasley as she hugged her son.

"Hey, mum." Said Charlie, bending down to hug his mother, whom he towered over.

"Oh, I've missed you so much." She cried squeezing his cheeks.

"Mum!" he cried. Laughing could be heard outside the door.

"Oh, Charlie have you brought someone with you." Asked Mrs. Weasley, moving him aside to see the stranger.

The stranger was a woman with long, shoulder-length brown hair and bright brown eyes. She seemed to be trying and failing to hold in her laughter.

"Mum, this is my partner from work, Sandra Simpson." Charlie said rubbing his cheeks where his mother had pinched them. "I hope you don't mind, I've invited her for dinner, it seems she's never had a home-cooked meal before."

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley, it's a pleasure to meet you." Said Sandra shaking the girl's hand.

"Oh no, the pleasure is all mine, dear. It's been so long since Charlie's brought a girl over." Said Mrs. Weasley, beaming. "Please, come in." Sandra entered and Mrs. Weasley closed the door behind them.

"Charlie, what are you doing wearing a sweater in the middle of July?" asked Bill, looking Charlie up and down.

"Oh, shush, Bill, I think he looks very handsome. Dinner will be ready in a minute." She said and hurried into the kitchen to set up more plates.

"So, Sandra, how long have you been dating our dear Charlie?" said Fred, striking up a conversation with the brunette.

"Oh, we're not dating. We're just friends." Replied Sandra.

"Why aren't you dating? Don't you find Charlie handsome?" pried George.

"I…uh-

"Don't you just want to go over and pinch his cheeks?" continued Fred.

"And we don't mean his face." Cut in George. Sandra blushed scarlet and Charlie was shooting death-glares at everyone in the room, who had their hands covering their face or were looking away trying to hide their laughter. Which they were failing at big time.

Luckily, Sandra and Charlie were saved from humiliation when Mrs. Weasley called them in for dinner.

They all sat down and dug into the delicious food until their stomachs ached. After the table had been cleared and people had digested enough to be able to talk, Mrs. Weasley got up and grabbed a plate off the counter.

"Ron, can you bring this up to Draco? I'm afraid the boy is going to starve to death." Said Mrs. Weasley.

"So let him starve." Said Fred very quietly getting a chuckle out of everyone except Mrs. Weasley, who didn't hear it.

"Mum, I already helped him today make someone else do it." Whined Ron.

"Fine, Fred or George would you take this up?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Sorry, mum." Answered George.

"But we're allergic to evil ferrets." Finished Fred.

"Honestly! Bill?" said Mrs. Weasley turning to Bill with the plate still in her hands.

"I would love to, mum, I really would," said Bill not sounding at all like that's he would want to do, "but it's Charlie's room he's staying in."

"Charlie take it!" yelled Mrs. Weasley.

"What?" said Charlie indignantly. "But-

"Now!"

"Why did I get stuck doing this?"

"Because, dear Charlie, we voted." Said Fred.

"And you lost." Said George, pinching Charlie's cheeks. (a/n: On his face!) Charlie smacked him in the back of the head.

"Oh, bugger off!" said Charlie as he left the kitchen to bring the food up to Malfoy.

Sandra watched as Charlie left the room, trying her hardest not to laugh at his distressed state. He really hated it when he got teased, she could tell. She didn't know why he would think so much of it, she would give anything to have a family as close as his. Sandra and her parents were never close; they were about as distant as strangers were. She never talked to them and they to her. It was just how it was in her family. Charlie was lucky.

"So, Sandra." Began Mrs. Weasley. "How long have you and my son been dating?" The entire table snorted, except Mrs. Weasley, who was completely lost. "What did I say?" This only caused the people at the table to laugh harder. Sandra buried her face in her hands to cover her embarrassment, maybe it wasn't that good to be in Charlie's place.

Charlie knocked on the door to his room. It felt very weird to do that, usually he would just walk right in. He knocked again. No answer. Opening the door slowly, he peaked into the room. It looked like Malfoy had fallen asleep. Well, his mum was going to kill him if the boy didn't eat, so he decided to wake him up.

"Hey, Malfoy!" Charlie whispered, shaking him slightly. "Malfoy, wake up."

"Hmm…what?" Malfoy said waking up. "What is it?"

"I just came to bring you some food. Are you hungry?" Charlie asked, handing Malfoy the plate of food his mother had made him.

"I guess." Answered Malfoy taking the plate.

"Well, goodbye." Charlie said heading for the door.

"Your name's Charlie, right?" called Malfoy from the bed. Charlie turned around, he really didn't feel like having this kid saying anything rude to him, not on his full stomach, at least.

"Yes, that's my name." Charlie answered.

"The pictures on the wall," Malfoy said pointing to Charlie's wall of pictures with his fork, "are those dragons your pets or something?"

Charlie smiled. He wasn't being rude, yet.

"I wish." Charlie said, stepping into the room. "Nope, I work with them in Romania."

"You work with dragons?" said Malfoy. He looked genuinely interested.

"Yes, they're the best creatures in the world, I think." Said Charlie walking over to the pictures of him at his job.

"Is it true that they have extremely high intelligence?"

"Yes, and they're extremely tough when it comes to trusting people. It took me a whole year just to get close enough to work with one dragon! But once one trusts you, usually the rest will follow suit rather quickly."

"Yes, I know."

"How do you know all this?" Charlie asked Malfoy. He was extremely impressed with Draco's interest in dragons.

"Oh, we have a library at Malfoy Manor with a whole section devoted to dragons and the like." Charlie nodded.

The door to the room opened and Sandra stuck her head in.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said to the both of them, "but, Charlie we have a big day tomorrow, remember we have to train Himeno."

"Oh, yes right." Charlie said, remembering the dragon that needed their attention the next day. "We were just discussing dragons."

"Oh really? Don't you just love dragons." Sandra said walking over to Draco. "My name is Sandra, by the way, Sandra Simpson. You must be Draco Malfoy." She extended her hand and Draco shook it.

"You work with dragons, too?" Draco asked.

"Yes, best creatures in the world, they are." Sandra said with a dreamy smile on her face. Draco turned to look at Charlie, who had a slight pink tint to his face.

"Well, we'd better be going. See you." He said to Draco before he left.

"Bye, Draco." Sandra said, before she, too, left.

Draco sat up thinking about dragons for quite some time. He didn't know why he talked to Charlie about it, but he had always found dragons to be fascinating and after seeing Charlie with all those dragons he had to ask. He was glad Sandra came in when she did. The conversation was starting to get a little uncomfortable when Charlie asked how he knew so much about dragons. The truth was he had wanted a dragon since he was little, a dragon was something not even his parents could get him. When he saw that the oaf Hagrid had a dragon in his first year, he was so jealous he told McGonagall about it. Of course, most of it was about getting Potter kicked out of school.

Draco smiled and thought of a million different ways to get Potter kicked out and soon, once again, he was in a deep sleep.