A week later it was just another August day, like any other day. Harry was at home in the Manor with Draco and their three boys. Teddy had just learned to sit up and was showing off this skill on the carpet in the nursery. The baby was still wobbly, so Harry had put a cushioning charm on the floor around him, just in case. Sev was crawling all over the nursery and grabbing onto the furniture to pull himself up. Sev was currently holding onto the rails of the crib from the outside and taking short little steps forward. Scorp just sat there, like he always did, and played quietly with a toy.

Harry was sitting in the middle of it all, reading the boys a children's story, while Draco was in the next room reading. Then an owl came flying through the nursery window, landing on the floor right in front of Harry. Teddy, who was only a foot away from the owl, reached forward, overbalanced, and fell forward onto his little hands. Scorp, who was two feet away from the owl, said, "Owl!" and reached out both hands towards the bird, but didn't fall.

Sev, who was the farthest away, abandoned the crib rails, plopping back down onto all fours to crawl at top speed towards the bird, making excited grunting noises as he went. Harry just barely got the scroll of parchment off of the bird's leg before Sev was there, ambushing the bird. Harry picked Sev up and said, "Oi, no owl for Sev. Owls have sharp beaks and talons." The owl flew away immediately.

"Ta-osssss," Sev repeated.

"Yes Sev, talons," Harry said and put Sev back down, so that he could read the scroll.

Harry-

I'm at Auror training and they just caught another Death Eater. There's something you have to hear. Auror Robards told me to owl you immediately and get you down here. Come quickly.

-Ron

Harry wasn't sure what was so important about catching yet another Death Eater, but if Ron and Auror Robards both wanted him to come in right away, then he probably ought to go. He walked to the doorway and asked, "Draco, can you watch the boys for a while? Auror Robards needs me down at the Ministry."

Draco put his finger in his book to mark his place and looked up at Harry. "What for?" he asked. He was supposed to be studying for his NEWTs. He was not supposed to be watching the kids while Harry went off and did Auror stuff.

"They captured another Death Eater and need me to come in immediately," Harry replied.

"Yeah, alright, but don't take all day. I don't really see why they can't do their job without you," Draco replied, sitting his book down on the end table.

"Thanks," Harry said, walking over to Draco and giving him a quick kiss. During the kiss, they heard the loud bang of a little fist pounding on the wards. He turned around and saw Sev standing up at the nursery door, holding onto the door jam with one hand and pounding on the baby ward with the other.

"I'm coming, Sev," Draco said, pulling away and going into the nursery.

Harry turned on the spot and apparated away to the Auror department in the Ministry. He thought the place was deserted at first, but then when he walked towards the interrogation rooms, he found a bunch of Aurors waiting out in the hall. Ron was one of them and came towards him immediately.

"Harry, they brought in Marcus Flint and they've been interrogating him all day with veritaserum. You have to hear what he's saying," Ron said, leading Harry through the crowd of Aurors towards a closed door. They could see through an interior window that Marcus Flint was sitting at a table opposite an Auror, with several other Aurors in the room. Auror Robards was among them and opened the door for them to enter when they approached.

"Harry, good, you made it. I want you to hear something Flint told us," Robards said, pulling Harry further into the room. There was a pause in the interrogation while the other Aurors waited for Harry to enter. "Flint, did you attend the funeral of Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Yes," Flint answered in the flat voice of someone under the influence of veritaserum.

"Where was the funeral held?" Robards asked.

"I don't know."

"How did you get there?"

"Portkey from Madam Druella Black's house."

"Was Druella Black there?"

"Yes."

"Who else was there?"

Flint started to speak, but his tongue appeared to get stuck in his mouth and all that came out was a grunt and a gulping sound.

"Tongue tying curse; he can't tell us the names of anyone who was there," Robards explained. "Flint, was the Malfoy family aware that the funeral was going on?"

"Yes."

"When was the funeral?"

"Saturday May sixteenth," Flint said and Harry gasped. That was the date of Fred's funeral, when he and Andy took Teddy to the Burrow for half of the day. Narcissa and Lucius had been away that day, saying they were moving Druella back into her house; had it all been a lie to cover for Bellatrix's funeral? What had Draco been doing when Harry was away? Did Draco take Scorp and Sev to the funeral? Had Draco lied to him?

"Harry, let's go next door," Robards said, leading Harry out of the room and into the next interrogation room. Ron followed after them. "You can come too, Weasley."

Harry sat down in one of the chairs in a bit of shock as he tried to process this information. Ron stood next to him and Robards closed the door.

"I take it you were not aware that Bellatrix Lestrange's funeral had been rescheduled," Robards said.

"No, I wasn't," Harry replied.

"Do you remember what you were doing on May sixteenth?"

"I went to Fred Weasley's funeral with Andy and Teddy."

"Do you know what the Malfoys were doing that day?"
"I believe Draco stayed home all day with the twins. Lucius and Narcissa said they were moving Druella back home, but now I'm pretty sure that was a cover for the funeral."

"What did they tell you about the funeral?"

"Draco said that it got too hot, so they canceled it. No one ever said anything else."

"What did he mean by too hot?"

"I assumed that meant that the Death Eaters were worried the Aurors would show up. Seeing as we were planning on crashing it, I figured that somehow our plans had leaked out."

"How do you think they got out?"

"A spy here at the Ministry."

"You don't think there's any possibility that your house was bugged or you were overheard discussing it with someone?"

"Well I did discuss it with Hermione, but Draco was asleep and no one else was around. I really don't think the house is bugged. I think it's much more likely that there's a spy in the Ministry. Lucius said there were Aurors there when he was released."

"Yes, but we arrested Dawlish and Le Feuvre and three other Aurors who were also known to be working for Voldemort before the funeral."

"I don't know anything else."

"I know, son. I didn't think you did; I just thought you'd want to hear this for yourself."

"Thank you," Harry replied.

"Alright, I better get back to the interrogation. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want," Robards said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

"Harry, what are we gonna do about this?" Ron asked.

"What do you mean? There's not anything to do; it's over," Harry replied.

"Draco lied to you and told you the funeral was off. Those sneaky snakes scheduled Bellatrix's funeral for the same day and time as Fred's funeral, to distract you from it! You can't seriously sit here and tell me you're not gonna do anything about it!" Ron exclaimed.

"Let me think for a second." Harry thought about it for several minutes, trying to figure out if Draco or anyone else had said anything to indicate that the funeral was still on or had been rescheduled or had happened. Was there anything out of the usual that day? "Draco was home when I left for the Burrow and he was still home halfway through when I went back for the bouncer. When Andy and I left early, he was home. There's no way Draco or the babies were there."

"Even if he wasn't there, he knew."

"Why? Why would he have to know? Like you said, Lucius and Narcissa are sneaky snakes and they probably lied to their own son. They knew I was going to Fred's funeral. They were the ones gone. I think they probably did the whole thing without telling him."

"Mate, you're delusional here, don't you see? This is Dumbledore all over again. Draco didn't tell you about Voldemort ordering him to kill Dumbledore or that Snape was gonna do it that night. He just disappeared and left you. That's not exactly what I'd expect from a loving husband. He betrayed you, mate."

"But Dumbledore ordered Snape to do it and Draco knew that. He didn't tell me, because I couldn't know. I had to believe that Snape was really Voldemort's man or Snape wouldn't've been able to help me."

"What about when he poisoned me and cursed Katie?"

"He didn't do those things; maybe I thought he might've at the time, but it wasn't him."

"I know it was him, mate. He was trying to kill Dumbledore and both of those attacks were meant to get Dumbledore killed."

"Maybe the mead was meant for Dumbledore, but the necklace wasn't. Draco said that there were other budding Death Eaters in the school. One of the others probably tried to kill Dumbledore with the poisoned mead. Draco wasn't really working on killing Dumbledore, like he was supposed to be."

"If the mead wasn't him, then how was he going to do it?" Ron remembered what Draco had said about the cabinet during their meeting before Harry's birthday party, but he wanted to cast as much doubt in Harry's mind as he could.

"He wasn't; he was gonna fail."

"How many lies does Draco need to get caught in for you to see?"

"At least one more. I'm going home," Harry said, before apparating back to the Manor and leaving Ron hanging there at the Ministry.

Harry materialized in the sitting room and walked into the nursery, where he found Draco sitting on the bed nursing Scorp and Teddy and feeding Sev a bottle. "How'd it go?" Draco asked, looking up at Harry.

Harry walked in and sat next to Draco on the bed with a sigh, taking Sev's bottle from Draco so that Draco could have both hands to hold Scorp and Teddy. "They caught Marcus Flint."

"That sucks; he's my fourth cousin."

"He said he went to your aunt Bellatrix's funeral."

"My aunt's funeral was canceled, remember? We were all here that day."

"He said it was moved to the Saturday of Fred's funeral."

"Are you sure he wasn't lying?"

"He was under veritaserum and why would he lie about that?"

"Oh I don't know, to spite the Aurors maybe?"

"I think he was telling the truth. Are you telling me you honestly didn't know?" Harry asked looking Draco in the eyes for any hint of deception. He wanted to trust Draco, but Ron's words echoed in his head.

"I didn't know," Draco replied smoothly, making eye contact with Harry. "I suspected something was up, but I didn't know. Nothing ever came of it, so I forgot about it."

"Alright, I believe you, but I think your parents had to have known."

"What makes you think that? I'm sure my grandmother is more than capable of throwing a funeral by herself."

"Because your parents took her home and were moving her back into her house that day. She wouldn't've been able to sneak away to a funeral by herself."

"Well you're welcome to ask Mother, but I'm fairly certain that Father at least didn't go; he wasn't even invited."

"Yeah, alright," Harry said. Part of him felt defeated and dreaded the idea of confronting Narcissa with the issue and part of him was happy Draco wasn't involved.

"Do you know what they're charging Marcus with? He's always been nice to me and I'd hate to see his entire life ruined for getting caught up with the Death Eaters." Marcus' older brother Dax Flint on the other hand, Draco wouldn't mind seeing caught and brought up on charges; Dax was an arse.

"No, I didn't ask. Did you know he was a Death Eater?"

"I knew he took the mark, but he was a baby Death Eater and as far as I knew, he didn't ever do anything." Draco thought about telling Harry about Dax being a Death Eater too, because of his dislike for Dax, but he didn't want to turn family in. He thought he should give Dax a chance to turn his life around, because after all, Dax had a wife, two young children, and a baby on the way to support.

"Ron was there."

"And what did his Weasleyness have to say?"

"He accused you of knowing about it and lying to me. He brought up Dumbledore's death again, how you knew and didn't tell me. I told him that you had to keep quiet about it or you would've blown Snape's cover…"

"But he insisted that I'm lying Death Eater scum, yeah I know."

"I defended you."

"As you should."

"But I was wondering, did you know it was going to happen that night?"

"I wasn't positive exactly when, but I knew it was going to happen soon," Draco fibbed. He didn't think Harry wanted to hear that he knew the date almost a month in advance. "What else has Weasley accused me of? There haven't been any dead muggleborns turning up around town, have there?"

"No, but he did accuse you of cursing Katie Bell and poisoning him."

"I was dragged in to see Dumbledore over Bell when I wasn't even in Hogsmeade that day."

"Sorry about that; I was sure you'd done it at the time. What about poisoning Ron; do you know who did that?"

"I didn't even know he had been poisoned, until Weasley accused me of it before your birthday party. I told him then that I didn't know anything about it, but if I find out, I'll be sure to thank them for their efforts."

"That's not funny; Ron almost died."

The rebuke made a pit form in the bottom of Draco's stomach, which he didn't enjoy at all. "I assure you I was too preoccupied with my mother being in the control of the Dark Lord to bother with Weasley at the time."

"Yeah, I've told him that and that it must've been one of the other budding Death Eaters at the school. But he asked if it wasn't you, then how were you planning on killing Dumbledore?"

"I answered that question just last month when your friend interrogated me. Yeah, I had a plan and it was a good one too."

"What was it?"

"Do you remember when the Weasley twins shoved Graham Montague into a broken vanishing cabinet fifth year?"

"Um, no, not really."

"Graham was part of the inquisitorial squad with me and he deducted house points from the Weasley twins. They shoved him into a broken cabinet and he got stuck between the two cabinets for a long time, before he managed to apparate away."

"Oh yeah; he was in the hospital wing for a long time, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he was. He told me that when he was trapped, he could sometimes hear things that were happening inside of Hogwarts and at other times he could hear what was happening at Borgin and Burkes, meaning the cabinets were linked. I arranged to buy the cabinet at Borgin and Burkes and my plan was to fix the cabinet at Hogwarts. I moved it into the room of hidden things and tried to mend it, but gave up."

"How would a vanishing cabinet kill Dumbledore?"

"Do you know how vanishing cabinets work?"

"Um, they vanish things?"

"Very good, Malfoy, and they make them reappear in the other cabinet."

"Alright."

"I was gonna use the cabinets to open the school to Death Eaters, who would help me subdue and conquer Dumbledore."

"That's a bit mental, isn't it? Bringing Death Eaters into the school?"

"Well it's better than poisoning Weasley, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. But what did you mean when you said Ron interrogated you? At my birthday party?"

"No, before it. I didn't want to get into a fight with him during your party, so I arranged to meet him before your party, at Grimmauld Place. We hashed it out and agreed to a truce. Obviously he felt it was time to end it."

"That's really sweet of you; thank you. But I can't believe the two of you talked without killing each other."

Draco sat up straighter, his chest swelling with pride at Harry's praise. "Well that's why I invited Hermione, to make sure Weasley didn't kill me. Did his Weasleyness accuse me of anything else? I know he had a whole list of nonsense at the time."

"Yeah, of abandoning me without telling me where you were going when you went into hiding, even though it was my idea in the first place." Sev was finished with his bottle. Harry pulled the baby into his lap, but Sev just crawled away. Sev used the wall to pull himself up until standing.

"Have you thought about not seeing him anymore?" Weasley was a pain and a menace and it'd be better if Draco could get Weasley out of Harry's life. Then Draco wouldn't have to worry about his fights with Weasley hurting Harry.

"I don't see how that's possible; he's an Auror, Hermione's boyfriend, and I'm friends with his whole family."

"You might still see him in passing, but you don't need to talk to him or go visit him."

"I really wish the two of you would get along."

And the pit was back in Draco's stomach again. "He starts it every time, so I don't know why you're telling me that. I arranged the truce, not him. He's the one who broke it."

"You start it too sometimes. Why do you do things to antagonize him?"

"Because he does stuff to antagonize me, like trying to convince my husband that I'm lying to him about bloody Aunt Bella of all people. I hated the woman; she tortured me." Scorpius let go of Draco's nipple then and let out a loud piercing wail. Harry too didn't look too happy about what he'd said. "Sorry Scorp, Father's calming down right now."

"Alright, let's change the subject. Did you exercise Scorp's leg yet today?"

"Yeah, I did while you were gone," Draco said while patting Scorp's back as he and the baby calmed down.

Scorp and Teddy were done nursing, so Draco handed them over to Harry and went back to studying for his NEWTs. Harry was quickly immersed in childcare duties and forgot all about questioning Narcissa regarding Bellatrix's funeral.

Draco couldn't stop thinking about their argument while he was supposed to be studying. Harry had asked him again to get along with Ronald Weasley. That was an impossibility akin to asking fire to get on with ice. But then he couldn't push the image from his mind of the look on Harry's face when he'd been ranting about Ron. Harry had just seemed so disappointed in him; sad, and even a little defeated. He didn't ever want Harry to look at him like that again.

Author's Note: The truce between Ron and Draco wasn't permanent, so all it took was a trigger to set it off again. But the good news is that Draco has realized how much the fighting is hurting Harry and is of a mind for a more permanent truce. It couldn't happen soon enough, because they'll find out about Harry's pregnancy next chapter.

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