"Narcissa," Draco took a small step towards his mother. "Bellatrix and I had to visit Gringotts."

Narcissa glared at the group suspiciously. "No," she whispered, "I don't believe that you did have to. In fact, I know exactly where my husband and sister are." She started to walk towards them. "And I know very well that they are not in Diagon Alley."

An arm hit Harry in the stomach. He grabbed it and held tightly as Hermione reached towards Draco, Ron already holding tight to the blond's other hand. With a twist they disapparated.

But something was wrong. Harry could feel something tugging at them. The door of Grimmauld Place flashed in front of him and he fell to the ground on the front step, panting. He felt hands pull at him as the door swung open.

The front hall was filled with screaming as the portrait of Sirius' mother came to life. Harry cast his eyes around, trying to understand what was happening.

Hermione, looking like herself again, was standing with her wand pointed towards Draco, who had his hand twisted behind his back. Ron, still disguised, was backed into a corner, his wand on the floor across the hall.

"Grimmauld Place," Narcissa Malfoy said as she walked out from behind her son. The last bits of the Polyjuice left Draco and his face faded back into his own. "I should've known. Of course you would be hiding here." She stepped away from Draco and pointed her wand towards Hermione. "A mudblood," she spat as she surveyed the group. "And Potter himself over by the stairs, from the sound of it. I know we taught you better than this, Draco." Her gaze softened as she looked at her son. "You know, even without the Polyjuice, you look so much like your father."

Draco's face distorted with rage. "You taught me hate! I believed your lies! You watched as father taught me dark magic when I was a child. A child! And when I begged you to come with me you refused! We could have been safe together!"

Harry groped carefully for his wand, knowing that Narcissa could hear his movements.

"Draco, please, we taught you what we believe!" Narcissa implored. "We love you Draco. I love you. More than you can imagine." She took a step towards Draco, being careful to keep her wand hand far away from him.

Harry watched as Narcissa stepped closer to Draco, his wand pointed towards her.

"Draco, come back to me." Her wand hand drooped as she touched Draco's cheek.

"Stupefy!" Harry darted forward and scooped up Ron's wand as Narcissa flew backwards down the hall. He grabbed Draco and Hermione, who was clinging tightly to Ron, and spun on the spot as Hermione apparated them away.

They appeared in a forest. Draco collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face. Harry put his hand awkwardly on his shoulder as Hermione began to move around the group, erecting wards to keep them safe.

"We can't go back there," Hermione said as she walked back to the boys. "When Dumbledore died we became secret keepers, which means we just gave it away. It's not safe anymore."

"Where are we?" Ron asked.

"The woods where the Quidditch cup was held," Hermione answered softly. "It was the first place I could think of. She sank to the ground in front of Draco and gently rested her hand on his leg. He grabbed it with his own and she leaned in to give him a long hug. "You're so strong, Draco," she said as she pulled away and helped him to his feet. "I have a tent in my bag. Let's set it up and then we can all sit down and talk." Draco nodded numbly and helped Harry and Ron to put up the tent.

Harry was surprised to see that he recognized the tent. It was the same one that Mr. Weasley had borrowed for the Quidditch cup years earlier. It was quite roomy on the inside, complete with a kitchen, eating area, small living room, and bathroom. Hermione coughed nervously as they sat down.

"I didn't think we'd ever actually need to use this, and well-" she stuttered. "There's only two bedrooms. Someone will have to share with me." Her face flushed a deep red.

Harry looked at Ron. "Draco and I are happy to share."

Ron nodded. "I'll be a complete gentleman," he promised.

Harry turned towards Draco. Tears were running down his face and there was a vacant expression in his eyes.

"Draco?" Hermione called softly. He looked at her with a startled expression. "We're all here for you."

A tear slid from Draco's eye and dripped off his chin. "I haven't seen her in a year and a half," he whispered hoarsely.

Harry moved towards Draco and put a hand on his shoulder. "She's safe. At least you know that."

Draco ran a hand through his hair. "I can never go back."

Uncomfortable silence settled over the room as Draco dried his tears. He stood and walked towards one of the bedrooms. He pulled the door shut behind him.

Ron broke the silence. "Do we have any food?"

Hermione was startled out of her thoughts. "Yes. I brought some with us, just in case. It should be enough for a few days, but after that…"

Harry sighed and stood up. "After that we'll just have to do whatever we can. I have a little muggle money left, and plenty of wizarding money, though we can't exactly go to Diagon Alley. They know that we're running now."

"I have muggle money," Hermione said. "Enough for us to get by for a while. We can keep camping in the woods, and go into towns every few days to buy some food. It'll be tough, but we'll be okay."

Harry took a plate full of food to Draco that evening. Hermione was a good cook, and they sat in silence while Draco ate. To Harry's relief he was looking significantly better than earlier, and seemed to have come to terms with his confrontation with his mother.

"That was really good," Draco declared as he set aside his plate. "Thank you." He sighed. "I didn't mean to run away. I just… needed to be alone for a while. Today was really hard."

Harry nodded solemnly. "I know. We all know."

Draco sniffed. "Sometimes I'm jealous of them. When this is all over, if we're still alive, Ron can go home to his family, and Hermione can go to Australia and find her parents. And they'll still love them, and still want them. And they'll think that they're heroes. But to my parents I'll always be the enemy. And I'll be alone."

"You'll never be alone," Harry said. "I don't have any family to go home to either. If we manage to make it through this we'll need to be there for each other."

A small smile pricked at Draco's lips.

They stayed in the forest for several days before packing up the tent. Harry thought that it would be best if they didn't stay anywhere too long and the others agreed. Not only were they at the top of Voldemort's wanted list, they were carrying around two Horcruxes. If they were caught all would be lost.

Every few days one of them would go into a muggle town, either heavily transfigured or hidden under the Invisibility cloak, to buy several days worth of groceries. It was never the same town twice, and they didn't dare buy too much, afraid that it would make them look suspicious. Ron and Draco had to have Muggle money explained to them each time it was their turn.

The weeks stretched on. Harry wanted to go to Godric's Hollow, the place where both he and Dumbledore had once lived. But Hermione insisted, and he agreed, that it was too dangerous to go somewhere personal so soon after being seen.

So they waited, camping in the woods. Hermione and Draco buried themselves in the books Dumbledore had given them, scanning for hidden clues. Harry and Ron spent their days in debate about where to obtain Basilisk venom and the location of the final Horcrux.

Harry continued to have visions of Voldemort's activity. He was searching desperately for something. He had already interrogated Ollivander, as well as another, older wandmaker named Gregorovitch.


As February wore on tempers began to grow short. Their situation with food only aggravated the problem. Though they always had something to eat, it wasn't always particularly appetizing, and it often wasn't nearly as much as they would have liked.

Harry, used to not having much at the Dursley's, dealt with the lack of food rather well. Hermione, being quite stubborn, refused to acknowledge her hunger. Ron, who was used to his mother's cooking, and Draco, who had never wanted for anything, did not handle their circumstances so well. Both boys became moody and grumpy when supplies were running low.

"Isn't it time to go into town yet?" Draco asked one night over a meager plate of rice and vegetables. "This is bloody awful."

Hermione glanced at him as she chewed on her lip. "I think we can go tomorrow. I found another town that we haven't been to yet. It should be safe."

"Oh great, so we can skulk around a slightly different countryside," Ron muttered.

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione demanded.

"We've been wandering around the country doing nothing useful for almost two months!" Ron shouted. "You-Know-Who is out there hunting and killing people we love, and we're doing a fat load of nothing!"

"We found two Horcruxes," Hermione retorted. "That's far from nothing. Besides, what did you think we'd be doing? Stay in hotels, be done by Christmas? Who knows how long we'll be out here! We need to stay safe!"

"We found two horcruxes, now we need to keep going!" Draco stood up, banging his knee against the table. "We're no closer to getting rid of them than ever!" He began to pull at his hair as he paced across the tent. "We can't hide and do nothing forever!"

"We have to stay safe!" Hermione insisted. "If we get caught there's no point to any of this!"

"There's no point if we don't do anything!" Ron bellowed.

Harry stood up, his hand held in the air. "Listen, Hermione," he said, "Ron and Draco are right. It's been almost two months since Narcissa saw us. We have to do something."

Hermione glared at him. "And what exactly do you suggest we do? We don't know where the last Horcrux is, and the only Basilisk venom we know of is at the bottom of the Chamber of Secrets!"

"We need to go to Godric's Hollow," Harry insisted. "I lived there, and Dumbledore lived there. I'm sure that there must be some sort of answer waiting for us."

"Don't forget that Bagshot woman," Ron cut in. "We already know that she knows plenty about Dumbledore." He took a deep breath and turned to Hermione. "Look, I'm sorry for shouting. But really Hermione, we can't wait forever. And I think Harry's right about there being answers there."

Draco paced back to the table. "It's the only lead we have. We have to go, or else we'll just spend the rest of our lives on the run in a tent."

Hermione glanced around before looking down at the table. "You're right. We'll go to Godric's Hollow. But not until it's dark. There's no reason to take unnecessary risks."