Saturday, October 27, 2001

Ginny had reached a tentative truce with Draco, and from there she reached out to Hermione for the lunch date she had cancelled on over the summer. She and Harry had yet to speak to each other but Hermione came back from Fair Fortune reporting that Ginny was definitely over wanting to be the next Lady Potter.

Harry had been invited over to the Burrow to speak with Mr. Weasley about a bill he was proposing and came home smiling triumphantly. Arthur reported that Ginny was slowly coming back to her old self, rooting through Daily Prophets for flat listings and writing again for the weekend edition. She wasn't moping around anymore and she had definitely stopped going on about traditional values and marrying Harry, although he said that had started happening gradually a while ago.

To celebrate his daughter returning to normal, the patriarch invited Harry, Hermione and Draco over for dinner with the family.

Hermione decided to err on the side of caution and pick up a bottle of wine before the three were set to Apparate over. Draco, having had similar reservations, had with him a large bouquet of flowers. Hermione smirked at the sight but didn't tease Draco for his chosen armour.

They would have been much more nervous if they'd realized the dinner was to celebrate Molly's birthday, which was mid next week but being celebrated early while all the kids could visit.

"They're here!" erupted a small voice with a giggle as the three arrived in a field, Draco holding Hermione's hand for guidance. A small blonde child dashed through the grass, her radiant blonde curls trailing behind her as she raced them to the rook shaped home in the distance, long colourful streamers trailing behind her. Hermione explained that Victoire, at only two and a half years old, was the first of the grandchildren and thankfully the only one fully mobile, which Draco took to be a small blessing.

Several red headed men came out from the side of the house where they'd been playing to greet the trio, and by some miracle none of them openly resenting Draco. He shook hands with Arthur and thanked him for including him when making the invitation, making the older man smile bashfully and say it was nothing. Bill Weasley was holding his youngest child, a little girl not even a year old, gurling and making noises as she chewed on what looked like a spatula, but he nodded to Draco who nodded back.

George Weasley approached Draco hesitantly, one hand clasping the opposite elbow as the other rubbed the back of his neck, Percy firmly at his side. They shook hands and George let Draco know right away that he knew it wasn't him who had killed his brother. Draco promised yet again that he didn't but thanked the Weasley for saying it none the less. From there, Harry and Arthur went into the house to let Molly and the rest know that they'd arrived and left Draco to talk with Percy while Hermione hugged the final Weasley brother who came out from the shed, scars and dirt stains all up his arms.

"Oh Hermione!" Molly screeched, flying from her home and out into the yard to embrace the young witch. Perhaps she didn't know that Hermione was aware the matriarch had sided heavily against her in the rift between Harry and Ginny or perhaps it didn't matter, but Molly Weasley held Hermione like a long lost child – until she spotted Draco behind his bouquet of flowers.

"Filth! What is he doing here!" she shouted, removing herself from Hermione immediately and taking several steps back, her wand trained on the former Death Eater.

"Calm down, mum. Dominique's right here," Bill cautioned, reminding Molly of her precious grandchild while trying to diffuse the tension.

"Bill, take her inside, this instant!"

But the curse breaker stood his ground, his daughter laughing obliviously in his arms, pleading with his eyes for his mother to calm down. But she refused to lower her wand.

Draco, his face blanched and his hands trembling slightly, was instantly back to the day in Diagon Alley when the families of the deceased flocked him, demanding answers for their dead and missing children and friends. He knew he wasn't the one who had finished off Fred Weasley but the rumour had been started and Molly, a distraught mother, refused to believe anything to the contrary. Draco shrank from her as he shrank away from the others before, wanting more than anything to just curl up on the ground and hide.

"How dare you bring him into my home," Molly seethed, turning slightly to address Hermione, who stood with her hands on her hips, one still gripping the bottle of wine she had brought as a peace offering. She scoffed, prepared to launch into a lengthy defence and admonition, when Harry and Arthur poked their heads outside and saw what was happening.

"Mollywobbles, it's alright! I told them to bring him," Arthur said, walking up to his wife's side and placing a reassuring arm across her shoulders. In a huff she shook his arm off and trained her wand on him, a deathly look in her eye.

"And what made you think that would in any circumstance that would be alright? He slaughtered our son!" she shrieked, leading Dominique Weasley to break into tears in her father's arms, drawing the attention of all the adults. Bill took his daughter inside, not wanting to leave the scene outside less his mother fly off the handle and actually attack the poor kid but once Dominique started wailing, it would take intensive coddling for her to be quieted.

Charlie walked over to Draco, taking one side as Percy stood firmly on the other. George just watched his mother with the same sad eyes he had whenever she would talk about Fred. Most of the family had come around to Harry and Hermione's point of view on the issue of the Malfoy's but Molly had long since refused to acknowledge that any circumstance could make it okay to do what he did, and the sheer possibility that he was the one who took away Fred made his mere presence unbearable.

"Boys, come over here now," Molly demanded, fixing her wand back on Draco, who stood uncomfortably with his flowers as his defence. None of the Weasley's moved, Hermione and Harry joining them and stood in Molly's direct line of fire. "Mum, keep your hair on, he's armed with flowers for Pete's sake," tried George as he moved towards his mother with a mollifying tone but it seemed even he could not distract Molly from her rage.

"I will not allow him into my home," Molly responded resolutely, finally dropping her wand but sending glares around to every person defending Draco before locking eye with him. "You are not and never will be welcome here. You are a monster that ruined my family and so many others, and they should have left you to rot in Azkaban. It was better than you deserved."

And with that she left, walking back inside and slamming the door as she did. George broke the awkward silence first with a loud groan and turned to apologize to Draco at the same time Percy started to. Both started laughing, which helped Draco relax despite the words 'better than you deserved' bouncing around in his head with increasing volume and intensity. Arthur immediately apologized to Harry and Hermione, then again to Draco specifically. Charlie took the opportunity to properly introduce himself.

No one seemed to know what to do next.

They were interrupted by a loud and sudden crack, revealing Ron, Pansy and Ginny. The latter two were in a heated argument that was quelled with a single look at the group standing outside the Burrow. Ron, the first to guess from the looks his brothers were sending him, groaned loudly as well.

Hermione filled them in quickly, Pansy taking the bouquet of flowers still clutched in Draco's hands, and set them on the ground to properly hug her traumatized friend. Ginny looked around, watching as Harry and Hermione exchanged concerned looks and silent messages to catching her father speak in hushed and hurried tones with Percy and George, to Charlie resigning himself back to the shed to escape all the drama and pass the time before he could leave again.

Guess I'm moving back in with Pansy tonight after all.