The Face That Launched A Thousand Ships

Weasleys

A/N: I just wanted to apologize for the first two paragraphs of the first chapter. It was meant to be an author's note, sort of. It was kind of a prologue to what had happened and what was going to happen soon in the story. Anything I said about Malfoy, Deatheaters, DA or Order members, ministry officials, or Slytherins HAS NOT HAPPENED YET!!!! I'm sorry if it was confusing. I promise not to do that again. And I know I said that I would wait till I got 5 reviews before I updated but by the end of the week it was already 20 pages back probably. It's hard to get people to read it when they can't even find it. So I decided to go ahead and update now. I'm going on a trip for a few days and might update the next chapter when I get back from it. Read and review!

Three weeks later, Harry was standing, once again in the Weasley's kitchen. Only now he was standing by the fire, waiting his turn to travel by Floo Powder. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Charlie were on their way to Diagon Alley to get school supplies and to visit Fred and George.

"Mum, are you sure you and Dad don't want to come too?" Ginny asked for the second time, being polite. Molly Weasley smiled and shook her head.

"No, you kids can go alone this time. I got to go with you to buy the school books. That's enough for me," Mrs. Weasley said. And it was true; she had taken them to get their books. Today they were just getting the last minute supplies they'd forgotten. As the last few people stepped through the fire Mrs. Weasley added one last comment. "Just try and stay safe, please!" Harry, being the very last out of the kitchen, smiled at her reassuringly. Then he too walked through the flames.

When he turned around again he was standing under the mantle of the fireplace in the Leakey Cauldron. Harry hurried to catch up with the others. They stepped out of the dusty building, getting hit in the eyes with bright sunlight. "Weasley's Wizard Weazes are about a five minutes walk from here. We can go there first and make our way to the other places we need to go from there," Charlie directed. He had recently received and accepted Professor McGonagall's request to teach the following year; for this reason he had been extremely lighthearted the past few days. They all followed him up the street, heading towards Fred and George's store.

Once they got there everyone was hesitant to go in. It wasn't that they didn't want to see Fred and George; it was just that "Hellos" seemed to be much more awkward now that they could take their time. Everyone had gotten used to rushing about, only having time for a quick acknowledgement. It might take awhile before people got back to their careless selves. So they stood there for a moment, waiting for someone to do something. Finally Ron, rolling his eyes in the process, opened the door and walked in, not looking back. Everyone went after him, one at a time. Anyone who was already in the shop jumped when they heard the door close; it was almost as if people were waiting for the new-found safety to make way once again for terror to take hold. After a few seconds, everyone went back to being as normal as possible.

With the whole group now standing in the middle of the room, they were placed in an awkward pause yet another time. It was thankfully broken when Fred and George stepped out of a back room and, seeing their family and friends, rushed forward, beaming. They both greeted everyone, hugging Ginny twice. She was the main person they always worried about even though she was very capable of defending herself. It was just their protectiveness that comes to all brothers who have little sisters.

Ginny uncomfortably hugged them back, and George invited everyone to sit in their office (recently put in, and which they were both very proud of) so they could catch up on the events in everyone's lives.

After almost twenty minutes of that, Harry turned the conversation to the twins. "How's everything going with you two? Weasleys' Wizard Weazes seems to be doing well."

"Yeah it is. Actually, we've made quite a few connections with higher ranking businesses," Fred said, trying not to sound too proud. The other Weasleys, plus Harry and Hermione, offered them both congratulations.

George supplied a few details. "We've been invited to some dinner parties this month even; it's bizarre. Not all of them are even business-related. A couple were just social gatherings of, though mostly purebreds, loads of different wizards."

Fred picked it up from there. "Next week we were actually invited to come to a dinner with a lot of ministry officials and people that are important to them, celebrating You-Know-Who's defeat."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that; Mum and Dad were invited as well since he works there," Charlie said. "I think he said we could all come, it was allowed. For you who are still in school there is a party in a different room for teenagers." This time he addressed the others.

They carried on a conversation for another hour and a half. After that though, they all said their goodbyes since they still needed to buy supplies for school.

A week later Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny were all walking towards the room a witch had said to go. They were at the Ministry of Magic for Arthur, Fred, and George's 'formal dinner'. All the adults had gone off to the room a floor above them, where everyone else was meeting. The witch from the hallway had told them all underage witches and wizards were meeting in room 247 on the fourth floor. When they got there they saw a few people they knew. The Patil twins were there, as well as Lavender Brown, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and quite a few Slytherins and Ravenclaws they didn't know or just didn't relate with. Harry led the way over to greet Neville and Luna, who were standing by the drinks.

"Luna, Neville, hi! It's great to see you guys. How's your summer been so far?" Hermione asked them, hugging Luna, as did Ginny.

Luna replied. "We've been great. It's good to see you again too."

"Who are you here with?" Neville added quietly.

"We're with my Mum, Dad, and brothers. You?" Ron said.

"My grandmother is good friends with some ladies who work here. Luna's dad met her a few times, and she invited Luna and him to join us tonight."

Harry and the other three had to try hard to keep from laughing at the idea of Neville's strict grandmother being friends with Luna's dad, who is editor for a crazy wizarding magazine.

They six of them went on talking awhile longer. All was going fine till Malfoy came over to get something to drink. The group of friends got quiet, wondering what he would say to make fun of them. However, they were in for a surprise when Malfoy simply got his soda quietly and turned to leave. He acknowledged them with only a glance before going back to wherever he had been. "What was that? Malfoy didn't even try to be rude. Do you think he noticed us?" Ron asked, even though he knew full well that Malfoy saw them.

No one said anything for a few moments. But then Luna spoke up with a far away look in her eyes, watching nothing in particular. "Yes he saw us. He didn't however have any need to pick on us because his friends weren't around for him to impress."

"But he hates us. It was him who spent all sixth year trying to kill…" Ron faded of, looking pained at mentioning that year's events. Harry started talking, answering Ron's unsaid words.

"He was forced and pressured by the Deatheaters, even his own family, to do all that. In the end, he decided against doing that to…Dumbledore." His voice had become a whisper and he cleared his throat. "I watched everything. I saw it on his face; he didn't want to hurt Dumbledore at all. He never did."

Ron looked about to protest but Hermione held up a hand. She said, "Harry is right. He was the one who was there, and the one who has always been Malfoy's main target to mess with. If Harry doesn't hold it against Mal- no, if Harry doesn't hold it against Draco, none of us should." Hermione struggled to say his first name. "And Luna's right too. He only ever did and said any of those mean things because he was around certain people. Most of them were kids of Deatheaters so he of course had to play the part of spoiled rich kid around them. Otherwise, word might slip to their parents that Draco wasn't acting like a Slytherin. Then Draco would get in trouble. It makes sense if you consider it all." By the last time she said his name, it wasn't as forced.

Ginny joined in the conversation at this point. "I agree with you, Hermione. Draco Malfoy shouldn't be judged by what he has done to torment us all this time; he did it so he wouldn't be in danger with Voldemort's followers." Neville, Ron, and Luna nodded in agreement. Harry and Hermione kept still, but both agreed with what she was saying. "Obviously he's been shunned be all his friends for not completing his job about the Headmaster. I mean really, look around. All the Slytherins are ignoring him."

"No one deserves that," Neville said quietly.

"Not Malfoy," Ron added.

"Not anyone, no matter how mean they may be at first," Harry whispered. They all sat down and silently thought for a few minutes, ignoring the people around them. Then Luna spoke once again.

"I believe that Draco Malfoy is in for a hard school year this coming semester." Everyone nodded. "The other Slytherins may very well try to hurt him because he 'disobeyed orders' last year. I think it's up to us to make sure it doesn't happen. Or at least do that when we can; none of us are in the Slytherin common room. That means we have to protect Draco any other time we're around him."

"But he must not notice us. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be too happy if I knew my used to be enemies started following me around like bodyguards," Ron said.

"Then he won't know. Or at least not for as long as possible," Hermione declared, still quietly so they weren't overheard.

"This is so crazy. But I'm glad we're doing it," Ginny said. Harry and Neville simply sat there while trying to imagine what was coming next school year.

But then something dawned on Hermione. "But Neville, you can't help us."

Neville looked hurt and confused when she said this. "Why not?"

The others looked at Hermione questioningly as well. She sighed, once again having to proclaim the obvious. "Because you don't have to retake your seventh year. We do because of everything that happened with Voldemort, and Draco does because he was in hiding last year. But you're done with school."

Neville relaxed and smiled, somewhat proudly. "Actually no, I'm still going to be at Hogwarts next year. At the end of last year Professor Sprouts asked me to be her assistant this year. Once she retires in a few years, I get her spot on staff!"

"Neville, that's great!"

"Congratulations!"

"How cool!"

Everyone started talking at once. Neville thanked them, starting to turn kind of pink. After that, their conversation just left some how. No one brought up Malfoy again that night. Instead they talked about everything that would be happening next year. Soon they were going on about Quidditch and Hogsmeade, along with everything else to look forward to. They enjoyed their evening and all went home in peace.