Harry woke early the next morning, well before the sun had come up, surprised that he had actually been able to sleep at all. He lay in his bed for a while, listening to the steady sound of Malfoy's breathing from across the room. He was almost surprised when he realized that Malfoy was still there, and he found that he was relieved to know that Malfoy had managed some sleep as well.

He felt a pang of hunger in his stomach, and decided to wander down to the kitchen. He doubted there would be anything edible, but at least he could look. Or, maybe Hermione had happened to pack some food in that bag of hers.

Harry crept quietly out of the room, cringing at the creak in the door, but Malfoy's still body didn't move. He lit his wand to illuminate the dark house and made his way down to the kitchen, deeply lost in thought.

Bringing Malfoy along had never, never been part of the plan. It was a stupid, impulsive decision. Harry wasn't really sure what they were supposed to do now. He still needed to find all the horcruxes and destroy them. Would Malfoy know anything about the horcruxes? Could they trust him enough to ask him? Harry thought they could, but he doubted his friends, particularly Ron, would agree. He wondered if there was another place they could send Malfoy that was safe. Surely there was, somewhere. Strangely, though, the thought of sending Malfoy away didn't sit well with Harry. He couldn't explain it, but he wanted Malfoy to stay.

Harry was nearing the kitchen. He saw a faint light emitting from the door as he got closer he recognized Ron and Hermione's hushed voices. He pushed the door open slowly and saw both of them startle at the sound. When they saw it was just him, they both relaxed in relief.

Hermione attempted a warm smile. "Good morning, Harry. Would you like some breakfast?" She said. Harry noticed that they were both eating scones with some apples. Harry flashed a brief smile in return.

"I wondered if you'd thought to pack us any food in that bag." He said appreciatively, and drew up a chair next to them.

"Yes, well, I didn't bring much. We'll have to figure out how to get more food soon." She replied with a hint of anxiety. Harry put his hand on her arm.

"We'll figure it out, don't worry," he said. Next to her, Ron murmured his agreement through a full mouth. Hermione gave a light laugh in response, followed by a sigh.

"Yes, I'm sure we will."

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Once they had all finished eating, Ron cleared his throat.

"By the way Harry, we saw something upstairs that you might want to see. We only figured you'd want to eat something first."

Harry's interest was piqued. "Yeah? What is it?" He'd helped clean this house top to bottom. What could Ron and Hermione have found that he hadn't already seen a dozen times?

"Well, we think we might have found R.A.B," Ron said significantly. Harry was on his feet at once.

"Show me."

OooOooO

Draco didn't sleep well, but at least he slept. He woke up the next morning to find the room empty, and realized very quickly that be wished it weren't. He started for the stairs almost immediately, anticipating what could happen next.

There were several things he expected. Yelling, fighting, ignoring, evicting. While he walked down the stairs in search of the others, he braced himself. He was ready.

The last thing Draco expected when he finally found the Golden Trio was to see them standing in front of a hideous, ancient, sobbing house elf hugging at Potter's ankles.

Even more surprising was when said house elf turned to Draco after Potter said a quick, embarassed, "Morning, Malfoy," and threw himself flat on the ground at his feet.

"Master Draco!" The elf cried loudly, "What an honor it is to meet you and to know that you are a friend of Master Harry's!"

Draco took a step back in surprise and slight repulsion. He looked up to Potter with his eyebrows raised, and was annoyed to see that Potter was very near laughing.

"Erm, Kreacher?" Potter said cautiously. The elf picked himself up off the floor and wiped his nose on his rags, turning to face Potter. "So, d'you think you could find Mundungus Fletcher for us? And, um, maybe also get us some food?"

Draco saw the elf give Potter a bow so low his dripping nose touched the floor before he disapparated with a loud crack. Draco looked to Potter again in confusion.

"Well, I guess you've met Kreacher then." Potter said in explanation, rubbing at the back of his neck. "He's, um, he's my house elf."

That took Draco by surprise. "You have a house elf, Potter? And you named him Kreacher?" Even his own family, poorly as they treated their elves, at least gave them decent enough names.

"Harry didn't name him, you prat." Weasley snorted from beside Potter. "He just came with the house."

Potter gave Weasley a somewhat reproachful look before turning back to Malfoy.

"This is your house then, Potter?" Draco said incredulously. He looked around with renewed interest. Hadn't Potter grown up with muggles? And, he could have sworn they said it belonged to Sirius Black. But, he was dead. So then...

"Sirius left it to me." Potter said with a strange edge to his voice. Draco looked back to him, but he had turned away. He noticed Weasley, beside Potter, eyeing him with annoyance. Draco sneered back. He was surprised, though, when Granger spoke to him hesitantly.

"Malfoy, would you like some breakfast?" She gestured with her hand to the table where a few apples and a single scone remained, alongside a pitcher of water. Draco's stomach churned at the thought and he swallowed dryly. Not wanting to draw their attention, Draco approached the table anyway and poured a glass of water. He decided to change the subject back to that hideous elf.

"So, why exactly are you sending your elf out to look for Mundungus Fletcher. I've heard about him. Isn't he some kind of criminal?" Draco tried to sound as conversational as possible. He was surprised at the turn the morning had taken, but hopeful that he might not get thrown out after all.

Potter, Weasley, and Granger all exchanged a significant look. Interesting.

"Well..." Potter started. "He's actually part of the Order too. And, well, he..." he trailed off.

"He took something of Harry's." Granger supplied matter-of-factly, rolling her eyes.

"Is that right?" Draco asked, leveling his gaze at Granger. She didn't falter. He wasn't planning to press the issue, it's not like they would tell him anything anyway.

"What's it to you anyway, Malfoy." Weasley started on him. Draco really wished he'd lay off. It's not like he asked to be here. Potter's the one who just had to drag him along. He wondered when he would finally get to decide what happened with his life.

"Ron," Potter said, sounding just as tired as Draco felt and giving Weasley an annoyed stare. Weasley glared at Draco for a second longer before backing down.

Draco could tell Weasley wasn't nearly finished voicing his dissatisfaction at his presence yet, but a slight reprieve would certainly be appreciated.

Draco turned back to his scone, picking it apart with his fingers. He heard the others whispering behind him, but payed them no mind. His thoughts strayed to the events of the previous night. The Dark Lord had finally succeeded in taking over the ministry. Draco suppressed a shiver, knowing what that would entail. What would it mean for all of them now? Draco was already presumed dead, but the others? They wouldn't be able to show their faces again, especially Granger. He could hardly believe how close he had come to being on that side of things, but he also couldn't really believe he was sitting here now as a member of the Order.

The wedding. Everything started going wrong at the wedding. He wished he had known what they were planning so he could have warned the Order. He would have told them...wouldn't he? Maybe not at first, but definitely in time for them to prepare. Definitely.

And...

Why had Potter called out to him? Why had Draco responded? Well, that was easy enough, he supposed. Panic can make people do crazy things. Crazy things...

Rowle's lifeless face flashed in his vision. Draco's breath caught and he suddenly felt very lightheaded. He dug his fingers into the table.

No. Not again. He couldn't do this right now. He gripped the edge of the table tightly.

But he couldn't stop it. Just like the night before, scenes from the fight at the café flooded his mind. The girl. Potter standing defenseless. Rowle's crazed grin. He aimed the wand.

A gentle hand suddenly landed on his arm and Draco jumped out of his seat, his eyes snapping open. He hadn't even realized they were closed. He looked to his left and saw Potter there gazing at him with worry. He was getting too familiar with that look. He pulled his arm back and placed it in his lap.

Potter continued looking at him contemplatively for a while and Draco couldn't seem to look away. Eventually, Potter said, "D'you, um, d'you wanna talk about it?"

Did he? Not really. He looked over his shoulder and saw that they were alone in the kitchen.

"Ron and Hermione wanted to go check on some things. Kreacher doesn't always take the best care of the place." Potter said in answer to Draco's unasked question. Draco turned back around, sharing at the shredded scone on the table. Really, he didn't want to talk about it. Potter continued to sit next to him for several minutes. Eventually, though, he must have figured that Draco wasn't going to say anything and he stood up from the table.

"Right, well, if you change your mind..." He said, trailing off as he started for the door.

Draco really, really, did not want to talk about it.

But, for some reason, he couldn't stop the words before the escaped his mouth.

"I'd never used that curse before."

He heard Potter's footsteps stop but he didn't turn around. Why did he say that?

"I didn't even think it would work."

Potter's steps were getting closer again.

"I just wanted to stop him. He had just killed the girl. And then he was aiming at you and it was the first thing that came to my mind. It just happened. I never wanted to be a murderer."

Why the fuck had be said all of that? Potter was sitting next to him now, but he didn't say anything. Draco wished he were better at Legilimency to get an idea of what he was thinking. Draco's heart started to pound harder in his chest. The air was getting harder to breathe. He forced himself to take deeper breaths in and out, willing the room to stop spinning. He was really starting to fall apart.

When Potter spoke, he chose his words very deliberately. "We're at war now, Malfoy. Things aren't going to be easy. People are going to get hurt and they are going to die. We can't...we can't play nice anymore. They certainly aren't going to."

Potter had turned towards Draco and was looking at him steadily. Draco, still staring at the table, nodded numbly, not quite ready to accept Potter's words. Trying to force the voice in his head to keep quiet. Potter apparently had nothing more to say, and he quietly walked away, leaving Draco alone to his thoughts in the kitchen.

It turns out, being alone with his thoughts was truly the last thing Draco needed, and before long he found himself roaming the halls of Potter's strange house. Traces of Dark magic lingered in rooms and hallways. Centuries of elf heads were mounted to the walls. That bloody mad painting behind the curtains was whispering quietly to itself. Several years ago he might have found the house exciting, now the entire house set Draco on edge.

He wandered into a room with a large tapestry on the wall, covered in faces and smattered with black holes. Some of them looked familiar. He stepped closer, and realized he was looking at a large family tree, depicting some of the most prominent pureblood families of recent history. His eyes landed on a very familiar face, his Aunt Bellatrix, looking nearly as haunted on the tapestry as she did in real life. On one side of her, a singed black hole. On the other, he saw his mother. Draco's breath caught in his throat. His eyes moved wildly over the faces now. His father was there too, connected to his mother by a thin gold line. And there, below them, he saw himself. Draco stared at his small family, a horrible ache growing in his chest. He walked forward and gently traced the lines connecting them with his fingers.

I'm so sorry.

He felt a hot tear run down his cheek and stepped back, wiping his face roughly. As a distraction, Draco let his eyes roam over the rest of his extended family. In particular, he was interested in the identities of those whose faces no longer remained. His Aunt Andromeda. She had been cut off after the married a mudbl-. Muggleborn. Her daughter, his cousin Tonks, had never even been added. He looked around for Sirius Black, the original owner of the house, and a known blood traitor, but he too was absent. All of the others, the missing faces, were people who had gone against blood purity. They no longer deserved a place in the family.

He looked back to his parents, and for the first time noticed the dates below their names. Birth and death. Tears again threatened to spill down his cheeks. This time he did not stop them. He looked again to his own face staring smugly back at him. He aimed his wand, muttered, "Reducto," and watched as he, too, was replaced by a singed black hole.

He felt just as empty.

OooOooO

Harry spent most of the day pacing around wildly in anticipation of Kreacher's return. He used some of his frantic energy to clean some of the cobwebs and grime that had settled in the house during it's year of inoccupancy. Ron and Hermione helped occasionslly, but mostly stayed out of his way. He didn't see Malfoy the rest of the morning or through the early afternoon, although he did happen across a freshly singed hole in the Black Family Tree. Looking at it sent a strange pain though his chest, and he soon left the room, locking the door behind him. Last night had changed a lot of things. Harry, for whatever reason, felt compelled to save Malfoy at the wedding. And Malfoy, for whatever reason, has chosen to save Harry in turn. Malfoy was clearly suffering because of it, and Harry found that he wanted to help, if he could figure out how.

By mid-afternoon, there had still been no sign of Kreacher or Mundungus. He hadn't expected it to take Kreacher to take this long. And, he was starting to feel hunger pangs again. If Kreacher didn't return soon, they would have to figure out a way to get food.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Moody's harsh voice echo through the house, followed by Mrs. Black's shrill screams. Kreacher wouldn't come through the front door. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and raced to the door. He heard others in the house do the same. He skidded to a halt in the entryway and could have laughed in relief when he saw Lupin firmly closing the curtains on Mrs. Black's portrait.

Ron and Hermione entered the room not two seconds later, and, Harry was surprised to hear Malfoy coming down the stairs as well.

Lupin smiled warmly at all of them and cast a knowing look to Malfoy.

"Molly will be overjoyed to know you are all safe." Lupin said.

Ron responded before anyone else, "Is everyone else all right? What happened last night?" He sounded very anxious.

"Everyone is fine. All of the guests were evacuated quickly and no one was harmed. They were looking for you three." Lupin said, nodding to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "But we told them we hadn't seen you in weeks. I'm certain they will try to get more information but, truly, no one knows what you are planning. We have nothing to tell."

Lupin produced a rolled up newspaper from his pocket and placed it on the nearby table. "For you to read later," he said in explanation. Harry opened his mouth to protest that Lupin did, in fact, have something to tell now that he'd found them, but Lupin raised his hand.

"I have plenty of experience keeping myself hidden, Harry." He said simply. Harry nodded in response. Lupin cast his gaze up to Malfoy.

"I was wondering if I would find you here, Draco." He said, still smiling. "I brought some things for you, just in case." He held out a worn bag and Harry heard Malfoy descend further down the stairs. He stepped aside. "Clothes," Lupin said in answer to Malfoy's puzzled expression. He took the bag without opening it and stepped back so he was standing beside Harry.

Harry realized he still hadn't completely relaxed his defensive position from when he first heard an intruder. He looked to Ron and Hermione and noticed the same. He turned his head back to Lupin.

"How do we know you are who you say you are." He said warily, gripping his wand tighter.

Lupin locked eyes with him, no longer smiling. "I am Remus Lupin, werewolf. Married to Nymphadora Tonks. Former Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. Member of the Order. Creator of the Marauder's Map. And...soon to be father." Harry was both satisfied and shocked.

Hermione gasped. "Tonks is pregnant?" Lupin nodded, looking solemn. "That's so wonderful! Congratulations!" She said excitedly. Ron and Harry said their congratulations as well. Malfoy remained silent.

"How are you both feeling about it?" Hermione asked. Harry could tell that Lupin was carefully considering his response.

"Tonks is, well, she's over the moon. I suppose I'm still... adjusting to the news." Harry could tell there was more that Lupin wasn't telling them. "We've known for a few months, but after yesterday's events, I-"

"Why didn't you tell them about the taboo?" Malfoy interrupted suddenly from behind Harry. Harry kicked himself for having already forgotten. He saw Lupin's eyes narrow slightly in Malfoy's direction. "Death Eaters found us in London last night after Potter ran his bloody mouth." Malfoy continued. Harry didn't have it in him to be angry at the jab. "They followed us into a café and..." He trailed off.

"What happened?" Lupin asked, quickly changing from suspicion to concern.

None of them answered.

"Answer Malfoy." Ron said from the other side of the hall. Harry noticed that he looked angry.

Lupin looked at all of their faces in turn, lingering slightly longer on Malfoy's than the others.

"We should have told you sooner. It was a grave oversight. We simply thought we had more time to prepare. I am, truly, very sorry. And I am equally grateful that you escaped the Death Eaters unscathed." Lupin finished.

Harry heard Malfoy scoff from beside him. He, too, wasn't quite sure he entirely believed Lupin.

"We knew you three were leaving. We thought we would have more time to talk about things, after the wedding but before you left, to help you get prepared. None of our informants knew the Ministry would fall so soon. It caught us all by surprise. I assure you, it will not happen again." Lupin sounded sincere and Harry could see the genuine remorse on his face. He loosened the grip on his wand.

No one spoke, and the silence started to grow uncomfortable.

"Well, I must admit I do have another reason for trying to find you." Lupin finally said. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Harry, I think it was very noble of you to help Draco escape safely last night. But, I spoke with Tonks and, we both agreed that you are welcome to stay at our home, Draco, if you would like. We can keep you safe." Lupin said, finally breaking the silence.

Harry looked over to Malfoy and saw the surprise on his face. He turned to meet Harry's eyes. No, it wasn't surprise. It was fear. He didn't want to leave. Harry turned back to Lupin.

"I was also thinking," Lupin continued. "That perhaps you three might might like me to accompany you for protection. I know Dumbledore gave you a mission, Harry, even if I do not know the details. And I know you three are capable, but I am a more skilled and experiences wizard. I would be able to..." Harry cut him off.

"You just said Tonks is having a baby." He said angrily.

"You can't be serious!" Hermione added hotly.

"You'd send Malfoy to your home with your pregnant wife while you're our adventuring with us? Did you really think we'd go for that?" Harry asked, incredulous.

"Tonks can take care of herself. She knew what she was getting into when she married me." Lupin said harshly.

Harry was taken aback by his demeanor.

"Yeah? She knew you'd knock her up and then abandon her?" Ron asked with malice.

Lupin seemed surprised by the reception he was receiving. He turned to Malfoy, but he remained silent.

"I think it's time for you to leave." Harry said with stern finality. "Tell everyone we are safe. Go to your family."

Lupin nodded. He started for the door, but hesitated. He turned back. "The café, was it on Tottenham Court Road?" He asked.

Again, none of them answered him, but Harry could tell Lupin didn't need them to. The Order must already know that a Death Eater was killed there last night. He appraised them all with knowing eyes. "I see. Well, Draco, the offer to stay with us still stands."

Harry looked over to Ron and Hermione. Hermione was chewing her lip anxiously. Ron looked furious. Harry knew there would be hell to pay for this, but it was his mission. He could bring along whoever he bloody well pleased.

"Goodbye, Lupin." Harry said, and Lupin departed through the door.