Aww, so people didn't forget me! Though a lot did…

Anyways thank you to:

Steelo-

Zarroc

foxygemini

spix

Thank you for being the only four to review before I wrote this chapter- to everyone else who reads but doesn't review, I am soo sorry that it took me this long!

Also, on a quick note, I was looking at the stories that I wrote before but said I would cancel and rewrite, and I was looking at some of the reviews…anyhow, it took me a moment to remember that I haven't re written them yet…

So, I make this promise, of which, if I fail to keep, I will no longer write for Fanfiction- I will rewrite the ones I promised to re write AFTER doing Divination Again is finished, and Snake Goes For a Lion.

Please forgive me…anyway, here is the next chapter-

Harry and Ron were playing chess, while Ginny watched with a glassy expression on her face. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were sitting a little further down the table, having a quiet argument, while the twins were wrestling out of their parents view.

After ten minutes, Harry and the others all looked up- the twins having to untangle themselves, as Dumbledore entered, with a grave expression on his weathered face.

Ginny stood quickly, and looked passed him, hoping to see Hermione. But she didn't see anyone. She looked at the Headmaster with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Where is she?" Ginny asked, not liking how feeble her voice sounded, even to her. She felt a hand grip hers tightly and saw Harry standing beside her.

"I am afraid that Mr. Malfoy has gone with his father, back to his manor. Miss Granger is with them." Dumbledore said, sitting down. "The ball that you heard Miss Granger talking about before- I believe that she still intends to go."

"The ball?" Ron asked, his eyes widening. "You mean the ball that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is attending?"

Dumbledore nodded. "We must remember that this was her choice. She was not forced into it."

Ron snorted.

Mr. Weasley stood up, and started walking towards the doors. Molly stood and stopped him. "Arthur, where are you going?"

"Back to the Burrow. I want to know what Lucius was talking about." Arthur said, turning around to face them.

"Oh Arthur," Molly sighed. "He was probably just saying that to stir you up."

"But what if he wasn't molly?" Mr. Weasley said, staring at his wife.

"Or it's a trap dad." Ron chimed in.

"Well in that case-" Mr. Weasley pulled out his wand and twirled it. "I will be fine."

"I am going with you." Molly said, walking briskly towards him.

"No-" Arthur said, but at that moment, the twins joined them.

"We're coming to-" Fred began

"And you cant say no-" George grinned

"because we're adults now." Fred finished, folding his arms, satisfied.

"Well, I'm not staying behind, if the twins are going!" Ron said, walking up to them.

"Alright, me and Ginny will just tag along for the adventure." Harry said, and walked over, still holding Ginny's hand.

Dumbledore hid a smile.

"Well…we cant all go-" Mr. Weasley looked around for an excuse- he was quite happy to put himself in danger, but he refused to be responsible for his family, and Harry. His eyes fell on Dumbledore. "Albus needs company for a few days…er…besides, we barged in on his holidays, and so now you kids should spend the next few days making it up to him…moping floors, polishing statues…washing dishes…"

Dumbledore grinned at Arthur's terrible attempt.

"Well, no one said he couldn't come with us." Ginny said, turning to face Dumbledore, grinning madly.

Dumbledore chuckled. "No, I am afraid that I am far too old for an adventure."

"Nonsense!" Molly said, smiling at him. "Please Albus, come with us."

Dumbledore thought a moment, and looked at Arthur. "Well, as long as Arthur doesn't mind another nose to wipe- I will come!"

Fred and George cheered and laughed. "Come on Sir!"

Dumbledore sprang to his feet, and walked up to them, smiling. He rubbed his hands together, and looked at Harry. "I feel like a spring chicken."

Harry laughed, as Arthur rolled his eyes, and led the way. Gone were the days that Dumbledore was extremely cautious. When he was younger, Mr. Weasley suspected that Albus acted exactly like this- an excited kid going to a candy shop, then his middle years had come, maturing him. But now, as he got older, Albus seemed to relax again, and was a kid through and through.



As they had walked down the grounds to flag down the knight bus, Dumbledore had walked slightly behind them, while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley led the way.

Everyone had to admit that they felt assured with Dumbledore being there. They felt safer.

On the knight bus, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat together, the twins, Ron and Ginny, while Harry sat next to Dumbledore. Dumbledore insisted that he got the window set. Rolling his eyes, Harry let him, then sat down.



No one really spoke as they waited for the knight bus to drop them off at the top of the Burrow's driveway.

Mr. Weasley paid Stan, took a deep breath, then stepped off the bus. Mrs. Weasley grabbed his hand as they started walking, followed by the twins, Ginny, Ron, Harry and Dumbledore.

Harry kept his eyes on the ground as they neared the burrow. Then a smell wafted through his nostrils. Harry looked up in alarm, but the Burrow wasn't in site.

"Can anyone else smell that?" He asked.

Everyone nodded grimly.

They smelt smoke.

Their pace quickened, but everyone stopped dead when they approached the Burrow. Even Dumbledore, who had been comic relief, stopped, and his face hardened.

Harry heard Ginny start to sob, and put comforting arm around her shoulders. He looked at the sad and sorry state of the place he had considered being his home next to Hogwarts.



The Burrow was completely ruined. Not one wall stood. The roof had collapsed, breaking off here and there, leaving bits of debris everywhere.

Harry let Ginny go, and slowly walked forward, to get a better look.

Some of Mrs. Weasley's kitchen benches still stood. Half a wall had fallen on them, and was now balancing on a 45 degree angle.
The kitchen table had fallen over, with only one leg still attached. The other three were in broken pieces around it.
Glass shards lay everywhere- on the lawn, over various objects that had been in the Burrow.
Near the kitchen, half the stair case remained, just suddenly ending, with pieces of it broken off. The rest of the stair case was on the ground near by, after collapsing on a dinning room chair.

Harry neared closer, so he was now standing next to it.

Pictures had torn in their broken frames, and wood splintered everything. The front door had fallen out, cracking.

Harry carefully made his way over the wreckage, slipping on some parts of the wall, until he found his favorite clock.

The glass face had cracked, and all the hands were twisted and broken. The wooden frame had splintered and split.

Looking up, Harry saw some beds that had come down when the thing had fell. They stood on odd angles, their frames bent and scratched. Harry shifted a piece of roof, sliding it away, and saw a pink sweater. He tugged at it, until it was free, and climbed his way back out of the mess, and over to Ginny.

He wrapped it around her.

Mrs. Weasley couldn't look at it any more. She had her back to it, crying into Mr. Weasley's green jumper.

The twins ran towards it, and started salvaging what they could- some pictures, paintings, some of Mrs. Weasley's favorite cook wear that wasn't twisted or broken, some blankets, pillows that weren't slashed, and even brought the broken family clock.

While they had been searching, they had thrown all the roof parts off, creating a pile of it away from the house.

Dumbledore had stood there, with an extremely grave expression on his face. Ron just looked at it in disbelief.

Harry comforted Ginny, until Fred shouted for them to come and look. Running like the wind, with a sobering Ginny in tow, Harry ran to where Fred stood, looking at the once great garden.

This is why they could smell smoke. It was burnt. Completely and utterly charged, crisped and fried. The ground had patches of blackness, where someone had set something on fire. On closer inspection, Harry noticed that most of the piles had been books. Their burnt paper blew around softly in the light breeze.

"Oh, now I'm pissed!" George yelled.

Looking at him, Harry saw he carried a charred piece of wood, about the size of a broomstick towards them, the ends in bristly stumps. Then Harry realized that it was a broomstick.



"Who could have done this?" Ginny asked feebly later on.

They were all sitting down in the garden, in patches that weren't burnt. Dumbledore had offered Hogwarts as a home, and they had accepted, seeing as the Burrow couldn't be home anymore. But they wanted to stay there a little longer.

Molly sniffled. "I can guess."

"Now, now Molly, we cant assume that Lucius did this…" Mr. Weasley said, patting her back.

"But he told us-"

"Exactly. If he had done it, don't you think that he wouldn't have told us?"

Molly shrugged. "Maybe it slipped out?"

"I doubt that Molly dear." Arthur said, holding her hand.

"Well, I would like to get my hands on the mongrel who destroyed my home!" Molly said viciously.

"We all would, mum." George said, staring down glumly at his fried broomstick.

Ginny was leaning on Harry's shoulder, while Ron sat on Harry's other side, glaring at his dead home. Fred was picking at the ground. Dumbledore sat cross-legged, thinking.

"I cant stay here any longer Arthur." Molly said, standing up.

Ginny stood too and hugged her mum. "Don't worry mum, we can rebuild it." It was so much easier to joke about redecorating the Burrow when she was talking to Hermione at St. Mongo's, before the Burrow had been destroyed.

Molly looked down at her daughter sadly. "It's good to be positive Ginny, but…" She sighed heavily, not wanting to crush the hope that was in her daughters eyes. But she had no choice. "I just don't think we can." Mrs. Weasley pulled away, and started to walk back up the driveway.

"Is your offer about Hogwarts still good Albus?" Arthur asked, quickly getting to his feet.

"Of course Arthur-Hogwarts can be your home for as long as you wish." Albus said, elegantly getting up.

Arthur smiled at him before running after Mrs. Weasley.

"Come along, we should get you all settled in back at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said, holding out his hands. Harry stood with Ron and started walking with the twins and Ginny back up the driveway, Dumbledore following.



Lucius, Draco and Hermione didn't take the knight bus back to the manor. Instead, once they were out of Hogwarts grounds, they held onto lucius and there was a small pop.

They landed in a lounge room, that was beautifully furnished. Hermione looked around in awe, as Draco grinned at her.

"Would you mind helping me, dear?" A feminine asked from behind them. All three spun around and saw Narcassia, who was tied at her wrists and ankles, sitting on one of the couches.

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "My dear wife, what have you been up to?"

Narcassia rolled her eyes. "Nothing even remotely close to what you are thinking." She yawned. "Your friend, Wormtail was here, waiting for you."

Lucius's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "And what did the worm want?"

"He didn't say- he was too busy drinking our Firewiskey!" Narcassia spat, then nodded her head in the direction where Wormtail had thrown the glass bottle.

"I see. Then where is he?"

"He left a few hours ago, saying he had something else to do, but promising to return." Narcassia said, bored.

"Oh, excellent." Lucius said sarcastically. Then he looked at his wife suspiciously. "Why haven't the house elves cut you free?"

"How in Merlin's name should I know?" Narcassia said, now exasperated. She spotted Hermione. "Ah my dear! How lovely to- Lucius, for goodness sake, untie me so I can greet our guest!"

Lucius smirked at her, then untied the ropes around her ankles and wrists.

Narcassia stood, and walked smoothly over to her son and Hermione. "Now I can greet you properly my dear-" she held out her hand. Hermione shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you my dear. Ah, Draco!" The woman hugged her son tightly. "What the hell have you been doing?"

"It's a long story mother." Draco said when she had released him.

"Well, you have to tell me…I've been worried to the bone!"

"Father can tell you. He knows most of it."

Lucius had been hanging in the shadows. He stepped forward.

"Hermione and I will go find the house elves." Draco said, quickly grabbing Hermione's hand and leading her from the room.

He led her down a series of corridors, until he opened a set of double doors. He had taken her to the kitchen. Long wooden benches lined the walls, a few sinks, and a large metal stove.

In the middle of the room was a square table, but instead of plates or something the like, about ten or so little house elves were on their knees, their wrists and ankles bound, and apples in their mouths. Their wide eyes looked up, full of fear, at Hermione and Draco.

"Dear, dear." Hermione said, rushing forward and starting to untie their ropes.

"We is so sorry young Mister Malfoy!" one of them squeaked, bowing so low that his nose touched the floor. "He tied us up sos we couldn't help Mrs. Malfoy. We is so sorry…we will start to mop these floors right now-"

"No, no, it's fine!" Draco said, having to yell to cut him off. "Just, who tied you up?"

More of the others were free. "He has barged in the doors, Mrs. Malfoy asks him to leave and he refuses, sos then he takes himself and Mrs. Into the lounge room, then he starts to drink. Before he's lefts, he comes down here to ties us up."

Draco nodded. "Alright then, back to your chores."

Hermione watched in wonder as the little elves quickly jumped off the table, and grabbed a bucket and broom each, then scurried out of the kitchen.

Draco sighed. "Wormtail will be in so much trouble if he comes back."

"Do you think he cares?" Hermione asked, picking up one of the apples that had fallen to the ground. "After all, the Wormtail I know of wouldn't be that brave to barge in here."

"The Wormtail you knew no longer exists." Draco said darkly, leading the way out of the kitchen.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, coming up next to him.

"He changed…drastically." Draco muttered. "No longer weak and insecure. He is now, in fact, Voldermort's favorite Death Eater."

"Will he be at the ball?" Hermione asked, as they passed the lounge room, where they could hear Lucius retelling what he knew to Narcassia.

"I expect he would be." Draco said, leading her up a grand stair case.

Hermione nodded, then looked around. Her hand glided smoothly up the wooden hand rail of the stairs as her eyes studied the paintings on the walls. "Are these your relatives?"

"Most of them." Draco nodded. "Some are just friends of families…" he pointed to one portrait of an elderly woman, with long grey hair, and a wicked smile. "For example, that is Pansy Parkinson's Great- Grandmother."

"Really?" Hermione peered closer. "Doesn't look a thing like her."

The woman's teeth were slightly pointed, and her eyes were small and beady. Her hands were laced together, relaxing in her lap, but her arms looked frail, like one good gust of wind would break them off.

"True, she doesn't, but I don't know which one is better to look at."

Hermione flicked her eyes to look at him. "Oh, that was harsh."

Draco shrugged. "What do you expect?"

Hermione smiled. "I don't know…someone who was more of a gentleman."

Draco sneered at her.

They came to the top of the stairs, then started walking down a corridor that reminded Hermione of Hogwarts, with its armored statues, marble statues and paintings.

A dark green carpet muffled the sound of their footsteps, and half of the wall was thin wooden planks, pointing up, while the rest was the same green as the floor. Dark mahogany doors led off into rooms unknown.

Draco led her to the end of the corridor, to a small winding stair case. "This leads to my wing."

"You have your own wing?" Hermione asked, her mouth dropping open.

"Of course- nothing but the best for me."

"No, I suppose not." Hermione said, following him up the stairs, then along a small corridor, that was still green. But the paintings in this corridor were different- they were paintings of famous Quidditch players, Quidditch pitches, a few portraits of Draco himself, and some of his friends. But Hermione hardly recognized them.

He stopped at a set of double doors. "This, Miss. Granger, is my room." He said, formally opening the door for her.

"Thankyou." Hermione smiled sweetly then walked in.

They were sitting on Draco's bed, Hermione trying not to think of Aj or the up coming ball, when there was a knock on the door.

Narcassia opened it, and walked into the room. "So sorry Draco, but I would like to speak to you- Miss Granger, my husband is down stairs in the dining room- Oppy will show you the way."

Hermione smiled at Draco, then got up and left the room. A little house elf waited for her outside the room, and bowed when she saw Hermione. "Oppy will shows you the ways to the dining room."

Hermione nodded at the little elf, and followed her back down the corridor, down the winding stair case, and along the larger hall way.

"So Oppy, you've worked here long?" Hermione asked.

"Yes miss, Oppy has works here all her life." The little elf nodded, her ears flapping around.

"And you are treated well?" Hermione asked carefully.

"Of course." Oppy grinned. "We is treated good here."

"I'm glad to hear that." Hermione sighed.

"Is something bothering miss?" Oppy asked, shooting her a backwards glance.

"No, I'm fine." Hermione said quickly.

Oppy nodded again, her ears rocking back and forward.

They walked down the grand stair case, along a small corridor, and stopped at a heavy looking door. "Master is waiting for yous in there." Oppy said.

Hermione smiled and thanked the elf, before pushing the door open.

The room was fairly wide, with a long polished wooden table, that could probably sit twenty or more people.

Lucius sat at the head of the far end of the table, watching her carefully. "Please Miss Granger, come and sit up here."

Hermione walked carefully, aware that the portraits in this room could move, and were watching her every step. She could hear them muttering, but couldn't hear what they were saying.

Lucius gestured to a seat near him.

Hermione carefully sat down, and looked him in the eye.

Neither of them spoke for a minute, before Lucius sighed. "You were not what I was expecting."

"Excuse me?"

"By that I mean, I knew my son had fallen for a Muggle born, but I did not know that muggle born was you…"

"So sorry to disappoint." Hermione said sarcastically.

Lucius raised an eye brow. "I cannot help that now, I can see, but I will work on improving you."

"What?"

"I fear that you will attend this VIP ball, and make a fool out of yourself, and embarrass my son." Lucius continued, aware of the dangerous look passing over Hermione's face. "I understand that you have been through a lot, but my family has struggled with ten times as much. You, young lady, have not been brought up like my son, and therefore do not know how to behave at such occasions."

Well, Hermione couldn't argue with that- she hadn't been given everything she wanted as a child.

"I am offering, well actually, I am insisting that you take lessons from my wife."

"Lessons in what?" Hermione asked, scratching her nose.

"My wife will teach you how to walk, talk, sit," he looked at her posture. Hermione immediately straightened her back slightly. "Eat, dress, and act just like you are expected to at this occasion."

"But no one expects anything of me." Hermione mumbled.

"Exactly my point- if they expect nothing, then their opinion of you is already low!" Lucius snapped. "We must surprise them, and above all, you must act like you should-"

"But-"

"For example, you will learn not to interrupt while someone is speaking to you!" Lucius spat. He took a minute to calm. "So, starting from tonight, you will take these lessons."

Hermione raised an eye brow. "And what if, on this special occasion, I fail?"

Lucius's face darkened, and a wicked smile spread across his lips. "Then it will be pin the knife in the Mudblood." He said coldly.

Okay, another chapter and Hermione is going to get lessons!

Please don't cry over the burrow- I promise everything will be alright!

Aj