After a few days being at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, it was finally decided by the headmaster that they would stay for the rest of the weekend. Harry was glad for this for he knew that Sirius was feeling down when Harry had to go back to school, and was glad for the extra time to spend with him. Ron and Sirius were in the dining room, playing Wizard Chess; Ron, Hermione, and Draco were watching, each taking it in turns to verse the winner.
"Knight to E5," Sirius said. Sirius' white knight moved in front of one of Harry's black pawns, knocking it into pieces.
"I always fall for that one," Harry said, contemplating his next move.
"You're not very good at this, are you?" Draco smirked from Harry's right. Harry only had three pawns left on the board, only managing to take four of Sirius' pieces.
"It's not that I'm not good. It's just that Sirius is better." Harry said, irritated. He was always a fairly good chess player, except when he played Ron, of course. But this was pathetic, for they only started the game ten minutes ago, and already he was losing miserably.
"Your father and I used to stay up during all hours of the night playing chess when we were supposed to be doing our homework," Sirius chuckled, leaning back on his chair so that two of the chair legs were in the air, waiting for Harry to make a move. "When we weren't causing trouble, of course."
"Yeah, well, I guess I didn't inherit his chess playing skills." Harry said. "Pawn to E4." The pawn moved so it was just a few squares away from the king.
"Your father wasn't very good at chess either. He was more of the sporty type. Queen to E4." The queen took another of Harry's pawns.
"At least I'm good at that," Harry said, sighing heavily. Just then, the kitchen door creaked open, emitting a maddened Kreacher. He appeared to be limping, his hands covered in a dark, blood-like substance.
"Nasty thing that bird is," Kreacher said menacingly, heading towards his room by the furnace. "Master thinks he can get away with keeping that beast here – oh what would mistress do!"
"What are you on about, Kreacher?" Sirius asked, wrinkling his nose at the sight of the house elf. "Not tormenting Buckbeak again, are you?"
"The bird had it coming to him. Tried to take a bite out of me as I was trying to clean his room. Why that bird gets a room to itself, I'll never know –"
"You weren't cleaning anything, Kreacher! You haven't cleaned anything since my poor mother died!" Sirius said in disgust.
"That bird won't be doing anything to me for a while now, will he?" Kreacher said as he gleefully disappeared into his room.
"What did you do to Buckbeak, Kreacher?!" Sirius shouted, standing up so fast that he upended his chair. When there was no reply from the furnace door, Sirius dashed up the stairs, taking it two steps at a time.
"Well, I guess we can say Sirius won that one." Ron said, picking up Sirius's chair and taking his spot at the board. "Did you want to verse me, Harry?"
"Nah, I think I'm done with chess for the day." Harry said, offering his chair to Hermione or Draco.
"I'm not really much of a chess person," Draco said, waving away Harry's offer.
"I'll play," Hermione offered, taking the vacated seat across from Ron.
"Wish there was stuff to do around here other than board games." Harry said, his arms resting on the back of Draco's chair. There was silence in the room as Ron and Hermione reset the chessboard.
"Hey, why don't you show me the Black Family tree?" Draco suggested, turning around in his seat excitedly. "I've always wanted to see it."
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Aren't you like, related to the Blacks or something?" Ron said absentmindedly, focusing on his first move.
"Sure, we can do that. Come on," Harry said, heading up the stairs, Draco behind him.
"Why is it you don't have some sort of replica of the tree? I mean, wouldn't other family members want it as well?" Harry asked, taking Draco to the room in which the tapestry tree was kept.
"I don't know, to be honest. I've been meaning to ask my grandmother, but it keeps slipping my mind."
They entered the room where the tapestry was kept. It was bigger than Draco thought it would be. He stared at it for a moment, open mouthed, before walking up to it, running his fingers through the rough material. Here it was; his family, every last one of them. His grandpa and grandma, then his mother and father, and underneath that was his own name.
"This is wicked," Draco said in awe, glancing at the other names on the tree. He noticed a few burns here and there of were there should have been names. "What happened to those people? How come they've been burned off?"
"Oh, Sirius told me because his mother didn't think them worthy enough to be purebloods." Harry explained, standing next to Draco to observe the burns. "This one right here was where Sirius was before he ran away and went to live with my dad. And this was where Tonks and her mother were before she ran off with a muggle."
"Tonks? That woman who escorted us off to the hospital the other day? Huh, I didn't realize I was related to her." Draco said, continuing to stare at all the names. They were silent for a moment or two, then – "You know, my grandpa would have done anything to have seen this before he died again. He loved to sit here and just read all the names, tracing his fingers along the branch." Draco reached his own fingers up, tracing the branches.
Harry watched Draco with fascination. He wished there was something he could do; maybe he could talk to Sirius or Hermione. There must be some way to recreate this tapestry. Harry reached up and gently grabbed Draco's hand, bringing it down to his side. He led Draco over to one of the chairs near the window. Planting a soft kiss on Draco's lips, he pulled him down as he sat on the chair. Draco slowly climbed onto Harry's lap, not once breaking the kiss. Harry placed his hands on either side of Draco's hips, bringing them closer together.
Draco's heart skipped a beat as Harry pulled him closer. He was uncomfortably aware of his junk pushing against Harry's and tried to think of disgusting things to tame his excitement; old ladies, rotten fish, old clothes, anything. But it was hard to think straight as Harry gradually slipped his tongue into Draco's mouth. Draco was stunned for a moment as Harry's tongue found his own. Draco wrapped his arms around Harry's neck, bringing them even closer as he slipped passed Harry's tongue and into his mouth.
"I guess I had to see it to believe it."
Draco and Harry sprang apart in alarm, their hearts racing. It was none other than Snape standing in the doorway, looking his usual gray, desolate self. Except for now, he looked absolutely disgusted, looking at the pair of them as if they were a gruesome two headed monster, and not his students. The two boys were standing side by side awkwardly looking anywhere but their professor.
"Er, w-what are you doing here Professor?" Draco asked, his nerves shot from being caught by one of their professors.
"Why I'm here does not concern you, Malfoy. It does, however, concern Potter." Snape said, not bothering to look at Draco. Harry looked at Snape with puzzlement.
"M-me? What did I do?" Harry asked shakily. Snape always made Harry feel as though he's done something wrong.
"Guilty conscious? It's not what you did; it's what's wanted of you." Snape said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh. What is it? Sir." Harry quickly added.
"If you'll give us a moment, Malfoy. This is for Potter's ears only." Snape said, again, not bothering to look at Draco. Draco briefly exchanged looks with Harry, who just nodded. Draco sighed and left the room, looking back as Snape shut the door behind him. Draco didn't know where to go from there. He didn't really want to go down to the dining room and watch the endless chess matches and he didn't really like the idea of leaving Harry alone with Snape. He knew that Harry could handle himself, but he also knew what Snape was like with him – any excuse to bully Harry with no one watching was a favorite of Snape's.
"Hey Draco! Where's Harry?" Draco turned around; Fred and George were coming down the stairs, stopping in front of him.
"I thought you two were attached at the hip." George said, giving a chuckle.
"Where is he, though?" Fred asked once more. "We wanted to ask him a question."
"He's in there being interrogated by Snape." Draco said, pointing at the room he had just left.
"Oh. That would explain why you look so shaken." Fred said, his facing becoming serious.
"That, and he just caught me and harry snogging," Draco said, his face turning red.
"Ooo, double whammy!" George said sympathetically. "What is Snape doing talking to Harry in the first place? Couldn't this have waited until we got back?"
"I don't know. He said it didn't concern me and kicked me out. But I'm sure Harry will tell me when he gets out." Draco said, leaning up against the wall.
"Well, when he gets out and recovers from this encounter, will you have him come see us?" George asked. Draco nodded his head. "Thanks." They headed back up the stairs. Just then, the door opened. Snape strode right passed him and out of the house without any hesitation. Draco stood up straight as Harry exited the room as well, looking very put-out.
"What's wrong? What did Snape want?" Draco asked.
"I have to take extra lessons with him this semester," Harry said, irritated.
"What kind of lessons?" Draco asked, confused.
"Occlumency," Harry said. "I'll explain it once we get Ron and Hermione. Come on," Harry said at the confused look on Draco's face. He followed Harry down the stairs to the dining room.
Snape's POV
Severus entered his dingy little apartment, throwing his traveling cloak aside. He glanced over to his clock; it was six thirty. It was nearly time for his meeting with the Dark Lord. Heading towards his grimy fireplace, Severus grabbed a handful of powder out of the vase on the end table. Stepping inside, he turned around so that he was facing his rather bleak sitting room, threw the powder down, and yelled, "Malfoy Manor!" With a swirl of green fire, Severus arrived at the mansion of Lucius Malfoy in less than a minute.
"Ah, Severus, perfect timing! We were just about to start the meeting." Lucius Malfoy stood up from the chair he was sitting in. It was clear he was waiting for his fellow Death Eater to arrive. "Why so tardy? You're usually one of the first to arrive."
"I apologize, Lucius. I had a previous engagement Dumbledore set for me involving Potter. I'm sure the Dark Lord will understand." Severus said, following Lucius out of the sitting room and into a grand dining room.
"Saint Potter!" Lucius spat, making a disgusted face. "I don't see what everyone's fascination is with that bastard! He's even hoodwinked my son! My son!" The two death eaters took a seat at the far end of the table.
"As you very well know, Arthur Weasley is in the hospital, leaving his children, Granger, and Potter to be out of school for a week – because, of course, they get special treatment – but your dear son was with them too." Severus said, watching Lucius closely for his reaction.
"What?! What do you mean he was with them? What was he doing?" Lucius asked, trying to be composed, but failing miserably. Snape wrinkled his nose at what was witnessed.
"He and Potter were snogging, most unfortunately. They nearly jumped out of their skins when I made myself present." Snape said, wanting the memory to go away. Lucius just looked at Severus with the look of utmost horror on his face.
"I'm sorry I asked. I want to know nothing of my son and his goings-on with that boy! It's a good thing I kicked him out when I did! Otherwise –"
"Wait a moment, you kicked Draco out?" Severus asked, looking at Lucius with great surprise. "Where has the boy been staying?"
"With his grandmother, according to Narcissa. She went to pay a visit to her mother and found them there. Disgusting, really. Now, I would prefer to steer this conversation away from my son, if you don't mind –"
"Am I hearing this correctly?" Both Severus and Lucius turned around to look at the voice that had spoken – and nearly toppled their chairs to stand up. The Dark Lord was standing in the doorway, glaring at the pair of them. "Your boy Draco, is dating the enemy, Potter?" He strode into the room, his eyes never leaving Lucius.
"Y-yes my Lord. That's c-correct." Lucius stammered.
"And yet, you failed to tell me. Why?" Voldemort stopped in front of the two, looking at Lucius expectedly.
"My Lord? Forgive me, but I don't understand why that is relevant?" Lucius asked, trying not to break eye contact with his master.
"Honestly, Lucius, sometimes I question your loyalty to me. You don't see the relevance? My death eater's son, dating the boy who brought my supposed downfall? This is an advantage to play on the boys ' emotions. We use Draco's newfound relationship to get to Potter." Voldemort said simply.
"Forgive me my Lord, but how exactly are we going to do that? Draco adores Potter, according to my wife. I don't think he will do anything to his little boyfriend willingly." Lucius explained.
"Of course I don't expect Draco to do anything for me willingly. But don't fret Lucius, for as we speak, a plan has already formed in my head. Sit down, and we will discuss what we came here to discuss." The two death eaters sat down on either side of Voldemort, who sat at the head of the table. "And then we shall discuss your son."