A Currently Non-Existent Relationship

He was awake before anyone else and found Ron asleep with his head on the kitchen counter-top, holding a mug of what was presumably once warm milk. It was a wonder his snoring hadn't yet awoken the whole house. Ron looked the same as ever. His red hair, a bit longer than it used to be, was sticking up at all angles, his persistent smattering of freckles still covering his cheeks and nose, and his clothes were still rather patched and frayed, as well as several inches too short. Harry smiled to see him there like it was his house rather than Hermione's.

This was, surprisingly, the first time Harry had ever been to Hermione's house and he now wondered why he and Ron had never come to stay. Harry and Hermione had always escaped to the Burrow or Grimmauld Place. Harry's thoughts shifted quickly away from there. Looking around he saw that the kitchen was the complete opposite of the one at the Burrow. It was void of magical phenomena such as self-washing dishes, and flashing knitting needles. It was also much roomier. It was like the Dursleys' kitchen but without Aunt Petunia's frill. He surveyed the kitchen and noticed a door across the room to his right. He crossed the shiny floor, and turned the doorknob. He opened it slightly and saw another hallway, much like the one that led to the kitchen, dining room, and sitting area, but which was remarkably shorter. In fact the only thing the hallway led to was a door at the very end, which bore a pale blue sign with squiggly purple writing that read: Grace's room. As he made his way to open the door a red head shot out of the door to the kitchen.

"Don't!" said Ron.

"Why not?"

"They're still sleeping, you idiot."

"Who?"

"Hermione and her sister."

"Right," Harry said looking mildly surprised. He had totally forgotten that Hermione had a younger sister. Now that he thought of it he vaguely remembered her mentioning her at the beginning of first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had never actually seen her, though, because he had never been here before and she had never accompanied Hermione to Platform nine and three quarters. Maybe, Harry thought, it was because she was as brainy as Hermione, and couldn't miss out on the wonderful opportunity to learn the alphabet. That idea made him smile.

He walked back into the kitchen after Ron and sat down where Ron had been sleeping.

"Such a nice hello," Harry said, feigning hurt. "After a whole two weeks you don't even say hello. So nice to have friends who care."

"Sorry mate, I forgot, I guess." Ron looked down, his ears going slightly pink. Harry grinned.

"Have you seen her?" he asked curiously.

"Who? Her sister?" Ron asked looking grateful for a change of subject. Harry nodded.

"Oh yeah," Ron said. "I saw her yesterday when I came. She didn't talk much though."

"How old is she?"

"I dunno, but she was pretty titchy, so she can't have been more than six."

"Maybe she looks titchy because you're a marauding giant," Harry suggested with a broad grin on his face. Ron was sitting on the counter-top and still looked incredibly tall. He appeared to have grown again. He was at least a half a head taller than Harry now, who had also grown a few inches in the time they had been away from Hogwarts.

"Shut up, you git," Ron said in response to this unwelcome comment. "By the way have you heard from Hagrid this summer?"

"Yeah, once." Hagrid had written Harry a particularly tense letter. He seemed to be trying his best not to raise the topic of his godfather. Harry had stuffed the letter in his pocket a few weeks ago, and now tugged out the rather crumpled piece of parchment.

Dear Harry,

How's your summer bin? Nothing much's been happening 'round here. I bin making loads of progress with…well…you-know-who…He ain't so quick to attack anymore, so I'm grateful. He even knows your name, I think. Just wanted to see how you were doing, an make sure the Muggles are treating you right, but I suppose you got loads of people looking out for you now, though. Say hi to beaky for me if you're…uh…there.

Hagrid

"He didn't mention much of anything, though," added Harry as an afterthought.

"Yeah well, doesn't have much to say does he?"

"So, who's here?" asked Harry, changing the subject.

"Just me and you, mate, and Hermione's parents when they aren't working." He gave Harry a mischievous grin and got one back.

"So, when d'you reckon we should wake them?" Harry looked down the corridor as though hoping for Hermione's bushy head to peek out the doorway.

"I dunno, but soon. I'm dead starving. I didn't eat last night."

Harry suddenly became aware of how hungry he was, too. "Me too." He glanced around the kitchen again and noticed his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage in the corner.

"Oh, yeah," said Ron, looking in the same place as Harry, "Lupin brought that over after I arrived."

"Where's Hedwig? Is she okay?" asked Harry, his forehead creasing into a frown. He now knew why her absence had been abnormally long, three days to be exact.

"She's up in my room," replied Ron, "with Pig".

"I take it Lupin brought her, too."

"Yep. She doesn't even have a scratch."

Harry's memory skipped over the events of the fast few hours, and his face darkened. He hadn't forgotten about his meeting with Voldemort, but he hadn't wished to be reminded of all the people he'd hurt. Ron seemed to have noticed because he gave a weak cough as if to clear his throat, opened his mouth to say something, and shut it again. Harry broke the silence.

"If you want to know what happened just ask."

Harry didn't want to talk about it at all but he knew the subject would arise sooner or later and now was as good a time as any.

"So, what happened?" Ron asked.

"I dunno, actually. I should probably be asking you the questions."

"All mum and dad told me was that Dumbledore got a letter from your aunt saying that you had left the house to give a warning about something you'd seen in a dream."

Harry wasn't fond of the word dream for such a thing, but he accepted it and continued the conversation.

"She's a Squib you know. And she never told me."

"Bugger," said Ron, frowning at the floor. "After everything you've been through you'd have thought she would have told you sooner."

"She didn't seem to be sorry she kept it from me for so long, though. I reckon she thought it would serve me right not to know. I sort of feel sorry for her in a way. When she told me, there was this defeated look in her eyes. Then she told me that she gave information to Voldemort when his Death Eaters came to her house."

"What in the bloody hell is wrong with her?" demanded Ron, looking enraged.

"They tortured her and so she told them my parents were staying with the Longbottoms."

No one spoke for a while after this. Harry had thought over this many times in Hermione's room, before he got the courage to come downstairs.

"What would you have done, Ron?" Harry asked, staring into space like Luna always did.

"I-I dunno," responded Ron thoughtfully.

"Would you have been able to stand endless torture?"

Ron didn't answer.

"I might have done the same thing," Harry said. "Does that make me as low as her?"

"Of course not!" Ron said emphatically.

"But how can I judge her if I'd have done the same thing? I'm so mixed up I can't even decide if I should hate her or not," Harry said.

"I dunno, mate. I just don't know."

Harry suddenly remembered everything else they had begun to chat about.

"Is Dumbledore, er… okay?" Harry stared down at his feet, not wanting to get anymore bad news.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I haven't seen anyone from the Order other than Lupin and he didn't stay, but I am sure they would have told us if something was wrong," he continued hastily, seeing the grim expression on Harry's face.

"Right," said Harry uncertainly, "so Dumbledore figured out where the Death Eaters had taken me and the Order came?"

"Well, sort of..." Ron said. Harry glared at him, knowing that he wasn't saying everything. "…okay, not really, but it's sort of weird how they found out." Harry was in no mood to play guessing games now. He wished Ron would just tell him straight out.

"Well?" prompted Harry, giving Ron a reproachful look.

"I got a letter and at first I didn't understand it, but then I heard mum and dad talking about how you were taken, and I showed it to them. They alerted Dumbledore, and then left. They got back late the night before yesterday, when Lupin brought you here, and they told us everything that happened. The letter was downright strange though…" Ron's speech was followed by a silence in which Harry stared at the floor.

"I suppose you know about Kingsley then," said Harry bitterly, but inside he was thinking I suppose you know of the second life I destroyed?

"Yeah…" said Ron. He tried not look or sound accusatory, but Harry could tell there was more feeling behind Ron's subtle voice. Harry tried to change the subject. He didn't want to think about death right now. He had had enough of it.

"Who was the letter from?"

"What?" said Ron flabbergasted. He was obviously expected an outburst from Harry.

"Who sent the letter?" asked Harry again, a bit annoyed that Ron was looking so shocked.

"Oh…er…"

"Just tell me."

"Okay…Malfoy. He sent the letter to me, and I told Hermione. I reckon he got hexed one too many times on the train." Ron said this in a very rushed manner, and several of his words got blended together so it sounded more like "Hesent the ledertome, anitol Mione. Irecko hegohexed onetoomany timz ondatrain," but Harry still got the idea.

"What!" Harry eyes snapped up from the floor to stare at Ron. Surely he was hallucinating, but he could have sworn that Ron just said Malfoy. Ron winced and stared at his overlarge feet, as if expecting another outburst, and when nothing came he fell back into his normal sitting position. Harry heard movement by the door across the room, and saw Hermione there. Her hair was matted and there was sleep in her eyes. She was still in her faded red pajamas standing in the doorframe, staring at Ron outraged.

"Ronald Weasley!" squeaked Hermione. "You didn't just…"

"He asked," Ron replied in self-defense.

"Yes, but," Hermione persisted.

"He has the right to know."

"Yes, but not yet."

"Why not?" Harry spat at her. He regretted his tone, as Hermione's face fell, but overlooked it and kept going. "Why am I always the one to be kept in dark, yet you two somehow have the right to know everything? I'm not who I used to be. I'm not that overemotional, insecure child with a scar across his face anymore. Why doesn't anyone get that?"

"Harry, I know but…" attempted Hermione, but he cut her off.

"No. It doesn't seem to have sunken in yet that I won't start raving about nothing like I did last year." His voice had risen slightly but he overlooked that as well.

"You're right," said Hermione. Her reaction was completely unexpected. She was almost always right and when she wasn't, she never admitted it as openly as she just had. Harry swore he heard Ron mutter 'for once' under his breath, and Harry retained a smile, but then he remembered what Ron had just said.

"So, Malfoy sent you a letter saying what the Death Eaters were up to?" He was having difficulty articulating his words as though this idea was too preposterous for words.

Ron nodded. Harry narrowed his eyes.

"That's not like him. At the end of last year he wanted me dead."

"Well," said Hermione in the dignified tone she used when stating a fact, "maybe Malfoy isn't the evil, horrible, heartless, soulless git with a madman for a father that he used to be, either".

"She could be right," said Ron, "here". Ron took a folded piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Harry. Harry read.

Weasel and Granger,

Potter is going to be taken Latidecerto road, which is in Underground London. Dumbledore knows all this already.

Draco

"After five years of hell on earth, he just…stops."

"Well, yeah, that's what it seems," concurred Ron.

A sudden thought occurred to Harry. "Malfoy saved my life?"

"Scary, isn't it?" said Ron again.

Harry was feeling very mixed up. Aunt Petunia's letter had alerted Dumbledore, and Malfoy had saved Harry's life. Well, he certainly felt less like the world was against him now, and he was forced to admit that he could not have asked for more. Malfoy, along with the whole affair, was suddenly wiped from his mind.

"Harry?" Ron asked. Harry looked up from his ponderings. "What exactly did you see?"

At first Harry couldn't quite pick up on what Ron had just asked, but he knew the question was sure to arise sometime.

"I saw…I saw Voldemort bringing his dead followers back to life," Harry sighed. He felt ashamed admitting to them how stupid of a thing it was to believe.

"But, how can that be--" started Hermione.

"I know. It doesn't seem possible, but it was so…" Harry paused to find the right word. "… real".

"That's why you left?" asked Ron. "To tell us that all Voldemort's dead followers were alive?"

"Yeah, I shouldn't have believed it but I just--couldn't think."

"What if it was real, though? What if it was real, and Voldemort just intended you to see what happened?" said Ron bewildered.

"Why would he want me to see one of his greatest, most evil plans, other than to lure me out of the house?" Harry asked disbelievingly.

"Well, maybe they knew that once you came to your senses you'd think it was just like what happened last year. Maybe they wanted you to believe what you'd seen was real but in the end come to the conclusion that it wasn't. Then his plans wouldn't be ruined because no one would believe it was true."

Ron looked amazed, either because of the fact that he might have just figured something out, or because of what he'd just revealed. Harry didn't know what to say. He certainly felt a lot better thinking that what he'd seen was real. That would make him less of the idiot than he felt he was.

"Harry, that makes sense," added Hermione. She stopped leaning on the wall and was now looking at him in shock. "Have you told Dumbledore?"

"I haven't talked to Dumbledore since last year in his office". Harry fell silent. When was he going to tell Ron and Hermione about the prophecy? They would have to know. Harry thought about it and decided against it. He wasn't ready for their reactions and he was interrupted anyway.

"What were the Headquarters like?" asked Ron.

"Ron!" said Hermione disapprovingly.

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said. He had started talking and he wasn't about to stop. He would get it over with once and for all. "The entrance is in a forest under a boulder. If you lift it up it has the Dark Mark under it and there's a hole in the ground. I didn't see all of it but there's a long tunnel underground that leads to a room. That was all I saw but there must have been more rooms because there were other doors in the room,"

"What happened down there?" asked Ron. He seemed to be very cautious about what he said. Harry explained everything from waking up to arriving in Grimmauld Place. He didn't hold back anything, not even the part about wanting to kill himself. Harry seemed to think that Ron and Hermione needed to know everything to fully understand what happened.

"I wonder if anyone knows about their headquarters," said Ron.

"Obviously they don't know about it," Hermione said, putting Ron in his place as usual. "They can't know about it. There are probably loads of spells and charms protecting people from finding it like there are on Grimmauld Place. Voldemort can't have wanted it to be found."

"Hang on a minute. How did the Order find it then?" asked Harry.

"Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard of the age. He must know something about breaking charms," said Hermione.

"Unless someone told him how to get through," said Harry.

"Like who?" asked Ron.

"Like Malfoy," said Harry.

Comprehension dawned on him. Malfoy said that Dumbledore knew all this which means he must have talked to him or written him a letter. Malfoy's father must have told him how to get through or Malfoy might have been there and seen it happen a few times. That would mean that Malfoy might be on Dumbledore's side. Or this all might be a trick to make them think Malfoy had gone good. But if Malfoy had given away Voldemort's secret place that would mean he was in a lot of danger. Voldemort would definitely know and so would his Death Eaters. That meant their kids would know too, including Crabbe, Goyle, and almost everyone from Slytherin house. What if Crabbe and Goyle had not switched sides like Malfoy, and Voldemort used them to hurt or kill Malfoy? Malfoy was in nearly as much danger as Harry, Ron, and Hermione were.

What Harry still couldn't understand was why he cared so much about what happened to Malfoy. Malfoy had been the known enemy ever since their first year. He was evil and foul. He clearly wanted Harry dead. Why the sudden change of heart? In fact, Harry thought, this served Malfoy right. All of his taunts and names made life difficult at school; there were times Harry wanted to murder Malfoy for calling Hermione a 'mudblood', for calling Ron poor, for the song the Slytherins sung to the Gryffindors during Quidditch, and for causing his suspension from the Gryffindor Quidditch team along with Fred and George.

"If Malfoy told the Order then that means he's on our side," said Ron.

"If he's on our side Voldemort would surely know," added Hermione.

"And that means that Malfoy isn't safe anymore, even at school," concluded Harry.

It seemed that Ron and Hermione had made the same connection Harry had and they were all working through it silently in their heads. All of them seemed to be at a loss for words. The only sound made was the ticking of the clock.

Suddenly they heard a loud crash. They jerked up their heads, startled, and went running into the living room to find none other than the two Weasley twins, themselves, who had knocked down the coffee table in their abrupt entrance through the fire. Harry grinned to see the two twins who were so similar they were almost indistinguishable. Fred and George stood wincing, brushing dust off their new and spectacular blue robes.

"Uh oh. Grace," and with that Hermione fled to her bedroom.

"What are you doing here, you prats?" burst Ron in a voice of mock outrage, "You're supposed to be looking after your bloody joke shop."

"I don't like your tone, little bro" said Fred tutting falsely.

"And you better watch your mouth or you might well find you can't get a family discount," said George, smiling with his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, that'll be a shame. I'll just have to pay one sickle more than the rest of the family."

"A right well valuable sickle that you could use elsewhere to enrich your happiness," said George sounding astounded.

"It's a pity," said Ron sarcastically.

"Have it your way then, little bro. We'll have to inform our manager," said Fred.

"And who would that be?" said Harry joining in the conversation.

"Us," said Fred and George in unison, now looking at Harry.

"Why are you really here, apart from excluding me in the family discount," said Ron annoyed.

"Why we thought that it would have been quite obvious," said George with a grin. "Three immature adolescents can't be trusted to look after themselves, so we're here."

"--on orders from mum…"

"--to make sure you don't get into any trouble."

Ron looked at them in disbelief. "Spit it out, you two. What are you really up to?"

"We're here, of course, babysitting ickle Ronnikins and his little friends."

"No offense to you, Harry," George added quickly.

"We don't need babysitting!" shouted Ron. His ears had gone scarlet. "Especially not from you two gits".

Ron seemed to be getting overly upset about this, Harry thought to himself. It was only Fred and George, and besides, a bit of company couldn't hurt. The twins, however, did not seem fazed by Ron's clear dislike of their presence.

"My dear Ronald, you are blind to the presence of a currently non-existent relationship, and we are here to monitor it," said Fred proudly, and with that they marched into the kitchen.

"Do they ever make sense?" asked Ron who turned to Harry.

"Well, I guess you sure are as blind as they say, Ronnikins," teased Harry.

A.N./ Please review! I sit in agony waiting for the moment during which you will press the magic button and give me your opinion. I apologize sincerely for not having posted before this.