Tuesday afternoon, when Draco and the twins went down for their naps, Harry dropped Teddy off with Andy and apparated over to the Burrow. Hermione and Ron had sent an owl the day before asking him to come over, since Ron was about to start Auror training. Harry had met the current head Auror and been down to Auror headquarters a few times now; with Ron's nerves, he wanted Harry to come over and tell him every detail, so that he knew more about what he was getting into.
Harry apparated to their doorstep and instantly heard the sounds of curses hitting shield charms, running feet, and panting breaths. He heard Ron and Hermione's voices mixed in with the fray and thought someone was attacking them. The sound was coming from outside, so he drew his wand and followed the noise around the corner of the house until he reached the backyard. There he found Ron and Hermione dueling.
"Oh, it's just you two; I thought you were being attacked," Harry said, putting his wand away.
"Oi Harry, come duel with me," Ron said. While Ron was distracted, Hermione hit him with an expelliarmus and caught his wand in midair. "Oh come on! That was so not fair."
"Admit it; I just bested the new star Auror," Hermione replied with a giggle, before tossing Ron's wand back.
"Fine, you did, but only because I was talking to Harry," Ron replied.
"Alright Harry, your turn; I've been dueling with him all day," Hermione said, sitting down in one of the patio chairs.
"Um, no thank you," Harry replied, sitting down in the chair next to Hermione.
"Why not? I've got to practice; Auror training starts next Monday!" Ron exclaimed, walking over to Harry and Hermione, but not sitting down with them.
"Well for one, I was just dueling Draco's wand last night if you catch my drift and I'm not really up to a lot of physical activity after that. And for two, after that type of dueling, I might be pregnant. If Draco catches me dueling while I'm pregnant… well let's just say I'd rather not find out what happens after that," Harry replied. They had gone back to Grimmauld Place last night for another try at conceiving. Hopefully the fourth time would be the charm. If not, the activity was enjoyable enough that he was willing to keep trying.
"Ew! I did not want to know that!" Ron exclaimed.
Hermione smiled and said, "If you didn't want to know, you shouldn't have asked."
"And how many times did you tell me things about your love life I didn't want to know? Like in sixth year when you were snogging Lavender Brown, eck, and I wanted to puke hearing the details of what a girl's lips feel like," Harry said.
"Lavender," Ron said somberly. "We went to her funeral last week."
"Oh, that's right; she died didn't she?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling bad about bringing her up.
"Greyback did it; it was a closed casket," Hermione said.
"I saw her at Hogwarts. I helped move her body; it was bad," Ron added.
"I'm sorry," Harry said, not knowing what else to say.
"Why didn't you go to her funeral? Or Colin's? Why was it that the only funeral you went to last week was for a Death Eater who tried to kill us?" Ron asked accusingly.
"I went for Draco. Crabbe was his best friend. He felt responsible and needed closure," Harry answered.
"That's understandable. I'm glad you were there for him," Hermione replied.
"Me too. You could've asked me that Ron; you didn't have to go to the papers," Harry said. He left out that Draco had been in contact with the papers just that morning. He wanted this feud to stop and that was just the sort of thing that would fan the flames. Ron would probably find out eventually, but he'd deal with that when it happened.
"But it wasn't just that! The wanker left me completely out of the story! I was right there by your side, risking my life with you almost the entire time, while he was safe in hiding. But he gets all the credit and I get left out!" Ron exclaimed and Harry jumped up, matching his anger.
"Calm down Ronald," Hermione said, standing up and getting in between the two.
"Plenty of people mentioned you!" Harry exclaimed, letting off his frustration with his best friend. "I think everyone except for Draco mentioned you. You didn't like it when he did mention you and you started it with your interview, so I don't think you have any right to complain. He had to tell the story of how Professor Snape saved them, so that Snape can get the Order of Merlin he always wanted. After Snape sacrificed his life for us, getting him that award is the least we can do. Draco didn't call you names or sink nearly as low as you did in your interview about him, so I don't want to hear anymore complaining about him. I'm sick and tired of hearing you two bicker about each other!"
"But he lied-" Ron started to say, but Harry cut him off.
"I don't care. He's my husband. Do you know what that means?" Harry waited a moment for a response, but Ron just blinked his blue eyes. "That means that he takes care of my children and fucks me on a regular basis."
"But I'm your best mate. We've been friends since first year; you've only been with Malfoy f-" again, Ron was stopped by Harry cutting him off.
"No, don't even go there. I'm so sick of this. It has to stop, even if that means cutting one of you out of my life. I don't care how long we've been friends, I won't leave my children for you. That is what you're asking me to do, you know." Not to mention the sex he'd have to give up; really awesome sex so great that he didn't think anyone else could ever be as good.
"No, I'd never…"
"Then drop it. I don't care what he said. I've ask him several times now not to say anything bad about your family and I know he's trying. If you don't start trying too, then I don't see how our friendship can continue," Harry said.
Ron looked to Hermione, who nodded. Then Ron looked down at his feet and nodded too.
They were quiet for a while after that. The silence lasted so long in fact that Harry thought he might just prefer going home early and not spending the afternoon visiting with his friends. But then Molly came out and said, "Oh good, you're here Harry! I thought I heard your voice."
"Hi Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied sheepishly, imagining what Ron's mum had overheard.
"Oh come here." Molly pulled Harry in for a hug. When she released him she said, "Now about the baby shower for Teddy. It seems there is a slight problem with Grimmauld Place not being large enough for everybody who wants to come."
"Er, I don't want this party to be open to the public. Only people who actually know us should be invited," Harry replied.
"Yes dear, but have you any idea how many people you know? These things are normally only for women, but even then you know a lot of witches. Pretty much every girl in your year wants to come. And then there are professors, shop keepers, and Aurors who want to come. And then there are Tonks' friends and Andy's friends and Cissy's friends; it's a lot of witches dear," Molly said. "If we could just have the party here, there'd be plenty of room out on the lawn, but Grimmauld Place doesn't have a lawn."
"It's like you're the flavor of the month, mate, and everybody wants a taste," Ron said.
"Okay, well I'll think about it. Maybe Draco or his mum will know of a bigger place we can use," Harry replied. He knew Draco wouldn't be okay with having the party at the Burrow and that they'd have to come up with some other solution.
"Or maybe Andy might know; she's come by a couple of times now," Hermione said.
"Oh I didn't know that! I would've come with her," Harry replied.
"If you'd come, then there would've been no one to watch Teddy. She always says that you're watching him when she comes," Hermione replied.
"Yeah, Draco and I do most of the taking care of Teddy," Harry said.
"Well dear, let me show you what we've got planned so far," Molly said, before leading Harry and Hermione back into the house. Ron slowly followed after them, clearly not interested in the baby shower.
Molly and Hermione showed Harry the games they were going to play. Then Molly asked what he'd like to be on the cake she was making and what kind of cake Draco would like. Harry was just thinking that Molly was going to go on forever, when Ron saved him by pulling him back over to the sofa to talk about Auror stuff, such as what Robards was like. They talked until Harry's two hours were up and then he had to get back to the Villa before naptime was over to help Draco with the babies.
He stopped first at Andy's room to retrieve Teddy. And while he was there, he remembered the problem Molly had mentioned about not having a big enough space to throw the baby shower.
"What about having the shower on the Manor grounds," Andy suggested. "The house and the nearby yard are all protected by the fidelius, but the grounds are extensive and there's a lawn surrounding the guesthouse that shouldn't be under the fidelius."
"Yeah, maybe that could work. It's got looser wards that'd offer protection, but also let people with the current password through. We'll have to change the password after the party, but it'd still work," Harry replied.
Draco and Narcissa agreed to move the baby shower to the lawn outside the Manor guesthouse, so Andy wrote Molly a letter informing her of the change. Andy even took Molly over to the Manor guesthouse to show her around. And since Andy was no longer working on funeral arrangements, she was now making more frequent trips over to the Burrow to help Molly with the party arrangements.
Author's Note: I know Harry really should've given Draco the same lecture he gave Ron, but he's not going to. I want to leave it open, so that Draco has a chance to realize what this feud is doing to Harry and make the decision to stop it on his own. Please review!