Wow, just wow - before chapter 81 the story had 429 reviews and now we are at 486 :D thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far (and a special thanks to Myra109 who is responsible for about 90% of the new reviews). I've had a few terrible weeks (and I doubt it'll get any better before July) and your favorites, follows and reviews really keep me going during such times. Here's an extra long chapter (I think the longest one yet) just for you guys :)

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers :)

Read, enjoy and review :)

Draco woke up early the next morning, unable to fall asleep again even though it was still dark outside and he still felt tired. His head hurt and he felt miserable. And why shouldn't he feel miserable? His family had abandoned him. Astoria probably did not want to have anything to do with him since she had found out that Draco knew about her illness. Voldemort was back. Cassius Warrington was dead and Nymphadora Tonks had been arrested for his murder. Rationally, he knew that the death of Cassius Warrington and the arrest of Nymphadora Tonks were not his fault - he had done everything in his power to keep everyone alive and safe - but emotions did not always adhere to reason.

He crawled out of bed, knowing full well that if he let his thoughts continue in this direction he would spend the whole day in bed moping. He reached for his wand which lay on the bedside table and cast Lumos. He was greeted with emerald and silver, which reminded him that he had slept in the former room of Regulus Black. The Slytherin colors were everywhere, draping the bed, the walls, and the windows. It seemed like where Sirius had sought to advertise his difference from the rest of the family, Regulus had striven to emphasize the opposite.

The Black family crest was painted over the bed, along with the words Toujours Pur. Beneath it was a collection of newspaper cuttings. Draco stepped closer to the bed and lifted his illuminated wand to examine them and found that they were all about Voldemort. Regulus must have been a huge fan even before he had joined the Death Eaters.

Another picture on the wall showed the Slytherin Quidditch team smiling and waving out of the frame. Regulus was sitting right in the middle. Draco spotted him instantly - He had the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of his brother, though he was smaller, slighter, and rather less handsome than Sirius had been.

Draco could tell right away that the boy had been Seeker in the Quidditch team. He was sitting right in the middle. Draco had had a similar photo in his room at Malfoy manor.

For a moment Draco wondered how much of Regulus Sirius saw in him. Had Sirius ever looked at him and thought of his little brother? Both Draco and Regulus were Black family members, both had been Seekers for the Slytherin Quidditch team, and both had thought that joining the Death Eaters was a neat idea. Even their rooms looked somewhat similar, even though that could probably be said for most Slytherin's rooms.

He wondered if Sirius ever thought of his little brother and if he had mourned him when he had learnt of his death. Draco had a hard time imagining that Sirius could hate a child so much after all this time simply for believing what his parents had told him. Then again, Sirius had told Draco several times that he wanted nothing to do with his family and that he despised them. Having interacted with Sirius' mother's portrait during his mother's cleaning offensive last summer, Draco could understand the sentiment.

Draco's mother had had another portrait commissioned for Walburga Black and had it put in their basement next to some other portraits that the Malfoys possessed but had no room or no patience to have them hung somewhere inside their living space. That way, Walburga was not constantly inside Grimmauld Place and the inhabitants could pass her painting without being assaulted every single time. Additionally, there was a curtain hanging in front of the painting.

The sun had risen by now; its light intensifying Draco's headache even through the drawn curtains. He decided to leave the room and see if anyone else was up already.

Arriving in the kitchen he found that he had indeed been the first to rise. He made some tea and was just about to pour a cup, when he heard a knocking at the window. He put the kettle back on the stove and walked to the window. It was a barn owl. He set his empty cup aside and opened the window. The bird flew in, dropped the Daily Prophet on the table and flew out again.

Draco closed the window behind it and grabbed the newspaper. It was rather thick and heavy - which was unsurprising. It was the day after the Triwizard Tournament, Voldemort was back and a Hogwarts student had died. Each event on its own would have deserved several pages devoted to it. The headlines "Tragedy at Triwizard Tournament" and "HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS" jumped right at him. Draco slumped into one of the many chairs in the room and began to read.

In a brief statement late Thursday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named has returned to this country and is active once more. "It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive and among us again," said Fudge, looking tired and flustered as he addressed reporters. "It is with almost equal regret that we report the mass revolt of the Dementors of Azkaban, who have shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's employ. We believe that the dementors are currently taking direction from Lord - Thingy. We urge the magical population to remain vigilant. The Ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary home and personal defence that will be delivered free to all wizarding homes within the coming month."

Draco skimmed the rest of the article, which was talking about the tournament, Cassius' death, and questioned Fudge as well as Dumbledore in their respective roles.

"Morning," mumbled a voice from behind him and Draco nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around and was only mildly surprised to see a disheveled Harry standing in the doorway.

"Good morning," replied Draco. "Trouble sleeping?"

Harry nodded his head. He poured two cups of tea and handed one to Draco. "Anything interesting?" he asked, looking at the Prophet.

"Thanks. Nothing we don't already know. Voldemort's back, Cassius... is dead,... nothing new there. But they are heavily criticizing Fudge and Dumbledore. As if it were their fault any of this happened. But I guess to an outsider having a student die and an evil psychopath reincarnate during a school event with half of the ministry present looks rather incompetent."

Harry sat down next to Draco. "You think he's in trouble?"

"Dumbledore?" Draco gave this some thought. The whole scenario was new. It had taken a whole year for anyone to believe that Voldemort had returned the first time around. So much had changed, it was hard to anticipate what would happen next. But Draco was a Slytherin and as such new that for the Death Eaters this was an enormous chance to discredit Dumbledore. "A student died under his watch. I doubt he'll win the headmaster of the year award. And the ministry is full of influential Death Eaters... If they want to get rid of him and Fudge, now would be the time to do so."

"They can't do that!" Harry said. "Voldemort has won already if they leave Hogwarts unprotected."

Draco sighed. Harry was being rather melodramatic, he thought, but he shared the sentiment. "Let's find the last three Horcruxes before the new school year starts and we'll be fine. I'm sure Dumbledore already has a few ideas where we might find them." One was the snake. Another one was probably the ring they had seen in the Pensieve. The third one was still a mystery to Draco, but if Harry had been able to find it after Dumbledore's death he was confident that Harry would be able to solve it with him alive as well.

Harry took a nip of his tea.

Draco flicked through the paper. "They don't mention her."

"Huh?"

"Tonks," Draco clarified. "Not a word about her."

"That's good, right?" asked Harry.

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. It means the Order is probably working on it. And it will definitely be easier to clear her name-"

A knock on the window interrupted him. Another owl was sitting in front of it. Draco's heart skipped a beat when he recognized the tiny saw-whet owl with it's huge yellow eyes and let it in.

"I've seen that one before," said Harry.

"It belongs to Astoria and Daphne."

"Er- Draco?"

"Yeah?" Draco replied while studying the envelope which had his name written on it in Astoria's neat handwriting.

"Did anything happen? Between the two of you?"

Draco looked up at him.

"I know Hermione went to talk to her because she was upset about something," he explained.

"We had a fight," Draco admitted, but did not offer anymore of an explanation. He opened the letter and began to read.

Dear Draco,

Are you and Harry okay? Daphne and I were terribly worried when we couldn't find you at the tournament. Neville and Theo, too. And then news spread that You-Know-Who was back... I feared the worst and thought that our last words were spoken during an argument.

Professor Dumbledore told the school that you two are alive but not much more. I hope the two of you are safe.

I feel terrible about the fight we had, especially considering what happened right after. But I am not sure if I can forgive you. I think the foundation of any relationship should be honesty and trust. Our relationship lacks both. Perhaps it always has and I just cared about you too much to see it.

Regardless, I want you to know that Daphne and I stand behind you and will do whatever it takes in the fight against You-Know-Who.

Astoria

Draco did not react for several seconds. He only stared at the letter blankly, uncomprehending. Then it all came crushing down - Astoria had broken up with him. The reason why he had traveled back in time in the first place, the mother of his unborn - now perhaps never born - child. Had he killed his own son in his selfish attempt to improve his own life. Breathing became more and more difficult-

"Draco!"

"What?" Draco looked up from the letter and at Harry, who looked like it hadn't been the first time he had called him.

"Is everything alright?"

"Astoria broke up with me," Draco hissed.

"What?" Harry blinked a couple of times. "I didn't- why? Did anything happen?"

"She thinks I keep too many secrets from her... Don't give me that look! I know I've kept stuff from her. I thought she'd be safe if she didn't know anything about Horcruxes and stuff like that."

Harry pondered that for a moment. "That's what people have been doing to me ever since I started Hogwarts. Dumbledore and McGonagall thought I would be safer not knowing about Nicholas Flamel and the philosopher's stone or about the chamber of secrets. They all thought I would be safer if I knew nothing about Sirius. Remus thought it would be better if I did not know he was friends with my father and with Sirius. Or that he is a werewolf. But you know what? Keeping all of this from me did not protect me. I still had to fight Voldemort for the philosopher's stone. I still ended up in the chamber of secrets. I still ended up in the Shrieking Shack with Sirius, Remus and Pettigrew. I found out eventually anyway and I would have been a lot safer had I known what was going on from the start." Harry took a deep breath. "You are not protecting Astoria if you keep things from her. She is a part of this now so she will eventually face Death Eaters and maybe even Voldemort himself. But you know what? You don't have to worry about her. She's smart and she can take care of herself. Do you remember the fire in the Room of Requirement?"

Draco looked at him in alarm but quickly realized that he was not referring to the Fiendfyre that had killed Crabbe. Harry was talking about the day they had destroyed the diadem, which had possessed Crabbe. "Yeah."

"Even as a second year," Harry continued, "she stayed totally calm throughout the whole ordeal and just copied the spell we were using to put out the flames."

Draco smiled at that.

"And when the Death Eaters attacked us in the forest? She certainly didn't need us to save her."

Draco laughed, remembering how she had sent a Death Eater flying with a simple Aqua Eructo. And more than that - it was only thanks to her thinking and telling Fred and George to get help if they did not return that they were all still alive today.

"What I'm trying to say is - Astoria can take care of herself. So can Neville and Theo. And Daphne. They are your friends. And Ron, Hermione and me - we are your friends, too. Whatever you are hiding - you can tell us."

Perhaps Harry was right. Draco had already realized after the attack in the Forbidden Forest that he had to tell the others at least a few things if he truly wanted to keep them safe. But what Harry and Astoria wanted to know could not be explained away with half truths. He would have to tell them the whole truth - including the time travel. Voldemort already knew about it - or at least strongly suspected. And being able to withstand his Legilimency under torture had probably only served as confirmation. Still, Draco doubted that having all of them know all of it would do them any good. So perhaps he would not tell all of them. But Astoria deserved to know and he should have realized it much sooner.

"I'll have to think about it," Draco sighed. "But I definitely won't tell you before Astoria."

Harry nodded. "And I'm sure Astoria will forgive you if you tell her everything."

Draco nodded. Forgive him? Yes. Astoria was very understanding. But if she still wanted to be with him knowing that his lies had gone much further than she could imagine and that he was actually old enough to be her father? That was another matter entirely.

"So... philosopher's stone, huh?" Draco asked, mostly to change the topic but also because he was genuinely interested.

Harry laughed. "I've been waiting for you to ask."

Draco shrugged and poured himself another cup of tea. It was probably going to be a long story.

"It all started in our first year... to be precise it started even before that. It started on the day Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley..."

The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully. Draco wrote a letter to Astoria. He told her that he would tell her everything she wanted to know but that he could not do so over a letter. He really hoped she'd give him another chance and that explaining everything would not make the whole situation worse.

Then there was an Order meeting which both Harry and Draco were allowed to attend. Draco was worried it would turn into a rather unpleasant affair. He could not imagine that Gryffindor headquarters would take well to two Slytherins amongst them. He strategically chose to sit next to Snape, who he suspected must have been at least as well liked and trusted among the Order as Draco himself. Snape sat right next to Dumbledore. On Dumbledore's other side sat Harry, followed by Sirius and Remus.

The first new arrival was the spitting image of aunt Bellatrix - his aunt Andromeda. Draco jumped up when he saw her walking towards him. Was she angry? Did she blame him for what had happened to Nymphadora?

"Ehm- I'm sorry about your daugh-ugh," Draco stuttered but was interrupted when he was pulled into a bear hug. He could hear a soft sob coming from her but when she pulled away again she looked as composed as his mother usually did. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Sirius grinning. Apparently he was welcome to this outcast strand of his family. He smiled awkwardly at Andromeda and sat down again. There were a lot more Slytherins in the room now than he had expected.

Andromeda was soon followed by her husband who Draco only briefly shook hands with.

Next entered the Longbottoms - Alice, Frank and Augusta. Together with them arrived Professor Helbert Spleen. They each greeted Draco warmly and he started to feel less anxious about the meeting. So far there weren't any people who disliked him and even if the rest of them did they would be in the minority.

Molly and Arthur Weasley arrived next together with one of their sons. Molly threw a disapproving look in Sirius' and Dumbledore's direction once she had spotted Harry and Draco.

The last people to arrive were Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt together with a few other people who Draco did not recognize.

The meeting began and was surprisingly peaceful. Most members shared any new information they had gathered.

"The Dark Lord..." Snape started his report but was soon interrupted.

"He's nothing more than Voldemort in this house," commented Sirius.

"... is still angry that Mr Potter escaped and that the public knows of his return," continued Severus as if he had not heard him. "It had been his plan to amass followers in secret and then reveal his rebirth with a show of force. He has charged his supporters with gathering new recruits. Greyback is to commune with the werewolves. Some followers are in charge of gaining the support of the giants. Macnair will try to gain the support of the goblins - although I see very little prospect of success there. However, the support of the Dementors can be taken as granted."

Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you, Severus. Hagrid and Madame Maxime of Beauxbatons have already gone abroad in order to convince the giants of our cause. Remus, I think we need you to try to make contact with as many unaffiliated packs as possible."

"Of course, Albus," agreed Lupin. "I'll research the whereabouts of the packs and get onto it."

"Thank you, Remus. Kingsely, are there any news regarding Miss Tonks?"

Kingley Shaklebolt briefly glanced in Andromeda's direction before he said, "unfortunately not. She is kept in a ministry holding cell awaiting her trial. We will do everything we can to free her of all charges but... witness accounts and Prior Incantato are working against us, even our own. I, myself, saw someone who looked like her cast the curse with her wand. We are pressing for the use of Veritaserum and a Pensieve. But even if those means are granted it might not be enough to convince the Wizengamot-"

"Don't worry, Andromeda," interrupted Sirius, reaching across the table for the hand of one very pale looking Andromeda Tonks. "If the Wizengamot doesn't know what's right and what's not, we'll take matters into our own hands."

Draco wondered if that would mean breaking her out of Azkaban or freeing her before she even got there. Either way it seemed a little risky for one member of their group. But perhaps that was the major difference between the Order and the Death Eaters. The Order members would do everything for each other, whereas the Death Eaters would do everything for themselves.

More reports followed by the other members of the Order and more tasks were distributed. Nothing particularly interesting for Draco and Harry but Draco liked that he knew what was going on.

When the meeting seemed to draw to a close Harry cleared his throat.

Dumbledore smiled at Harry encouragingly, "Yes?"

"What about us?" He pointed first at Draco and then at himself. "Are we going back to school? Or should we stay here? Is there anything we can do to help?"

"I believe that at the moment it is best for you to stay here at Grimmauld Place. There is only one week left in this school year, exams have already been held - there is little you would gain from returning now. Next year, however, is a matter we shall discuss once the situation in the ministry becomes clearer."

"Albus," Molly began, "the boys can't drop out of Hogwarts. They can't abandon their education. They are not even of age. They can't fight. That's what the Order is for, after all."

"And who, exactly, fought Voldemort yesterday?" Harry asked flatly. "I have faced Voldemort more often than any of you. I am old enough to fight and-"

"Mr. Potter," interrupted Snape with a scolding tone, "this is not about anyone's ability to fight. It is about your safety and whether or not you will be safe at Hogwarts next year."

"Why wouldn't I be safe at Hogwarts? Everyone's been telling me it's the safest place in the world!" Harry sounded irritated.

"I have always done my best to ensure the students at Hogwarts were safe and for the most part I have had teachers behind me who followed the same goal," said Dumbledore. "But Voldemort and his supporters are not idle. They will try to discredit me. They will try to strengthen their influence at the ministry. We might find ourselves in a situation in which the ministry decides who gets to teach at Hogwarts. We might find ourselves in a situation in which the position of headmaster will not be filled by me. Should such a situation occur - and be assured we are all doing our best to prevent such turns of events - Hogwarts will no longer be safe for the two of you."

Draco had already suspected as much. "Where will we stay, then?" he asked.

"Well, here, of course," replied Sirius with a big grin on his face. One that Draco saw instantly reflected on Harry's face.

Dumbledore sighed. "The choice is, of course, yours, Harry. Sirius has gained legal guardianship over you. But you should know that your mother's sacrifice lives on in your aunt's blood and as such you would be well protected there."

"You will of course also be well protected here," replied Sirius, ignoring the stern look Dumbledore gave him. "Grimmauld Place is one of the best protected wizarding homes in Great Britain. It is unplottable. Hidden under the Fidelius Charm. Filled with Order members. There's no safer place in the world."

Harry grinned and Draco knew that he had made his decision.

"Dedalus, Hestia," Dumbledore sighed, "I will need you to relocate Harry's family to a safe house."

A witch and a wizard who Draco did not know nodded their heads in agreement.

"That would be all for tonight," said Dumbledore, concluding the meeting. While everyone was leaving the room, Dumbledore motioned Harry and Draco to stay behind.

Once everyone else was gone, Dumbledore said, "I believe I have found another one."

"You..." Harry muttered, comprehension dawning slowly, "You've found one? You've found a Horcrux?"

"I believe so."

"Which Horcrux is it? Where is it?" asked Draco, now feeling excitement growing. Perhaps the whole war would be over sooner than even he could have expected.

"I am not sure which it is — though I think we can rule out the snake — but I believe it to be hidden in a cave on the coast many miles from here, a cave I have been trying to locate for a very long time: the cave in which Tom Riddle once terrorized two children from his orphanage."

"How is it protected?" asked Harry.

"I do not know. I have suspicions that may be entirely wrong." Dumbledore hesitated, then said, "Harry, I promised you that you could come with me, and I stand by that promise, but it would be very wrong of me not to warn you that this will be exceedingly dangerous."

"I'm coming," said Harry.

"What about me?" asked Draco.

"You may of course come as well," replied Dumbledore," but I thought you might rather stay here and have a chat with Mr. Weasley."

Draco looked at him in bewilderment. "Why would I want to do that?"

"My apologies. I am not speaking of Arthur Weasley, but his son Bill Weasley - a Curse-Breaker working for Gringotts."

A Curse-Breaker? Someone specialized in removing curses, hexes and jinxes? That might help him in his quest to lift the blood curse from Astoria more than anything else he had done so far. "Sir, thank you," Draco said, overcome by gratitude.

Dumbledore smiled at him. "He is waiting for you in the library."

Draco did not wait for a reply. Dumbledore and Harry had managed to retrieve the Horcruxes the first time around, they would be able to do so again without his help. He hurried out of the room and to the library, where a tall, thin Weasley was already waiting for him. He had long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. Bill grinned at Draco. "Nice to finally meet the Slytherin Fred and George wouldn't shut up about in their letters."

Draco laughed and shook Bill's hand.

"So you're a Curse-Breaker?"

"One of the best currently employed by Gringotts."

"And one of the most modest, I'm sure," replied Draco. "What exactly do you do for Gringotts?"

"I'm tasked with disabling and countering curses in ancient tombs or other historical sites in order to bring back gold and other treasures. I work mostly in Egypt and Africa. But as far as I've gathered you don't need help with an ancient tomb but with a person?"

"How much has Dumbledore told you?" asked Draco.

"Not much. Just that you have a friend who has been cursed."

"It's my... it's my girlfriend," Draco said after some internal debate of how much to tell this stranger. But Dumbledore trusted him and keeping things secret would not help anyone in this case. "A blood malediction, a serious one. An ancestor was cursed... it showed up in her. You know how these things can resurface after generations..."

Bill nodded in understanding. "I do also have experience with freeing humans of curses. Oftentimes it's not just a tomb that has been cursed, but a whole village. Sometimes they don't even know about it. Other times the curse on the tomb also has effects on the people living close by... What do you know about the original curse?"

"Not much. Most in her family believed it to just be a legend. Only when it showed up in her did they start to believe that there really was a curse."

Bill scratched his chin. "To break such a curse I have to know as much about it as I possibly can. The symptoms help, but with them I can only guess at what curse was used. That might do her more harm than good. Ideally we would need the name of the curse and the name of the ancestor who was cursed. The reason for the curse and who cast it might also be beneficial, but to work on a counter curse I at very least need to know what curse was used."

That wasn't what Draco had wanted to hear. They had of course looked into it. Her parents and Daphne had looked into it long before Draco even found out about the curse. But none of them knew where the curse had originated. "I know none of these things."

"Not to worry, not to worry. In my line of work the fun part if often only the end result of some very intense researching. Is she a pureblood?"

Draco nodded.

"That's good. It means we won't have much trouble tracking down her family tree. In Egypt I've learned that those curses often run through the maternal blood line so we should mostly focus on that. Find out when each family member died and of what. The curse may not show itself a lot these days but after it was placed it must have shown itself a lot for a couple of years. So we should look for a time period in which several female family members died early."

Draco was absolutely speechless. Bill made it sound... doable. Perhaps looking into healing had been the wrong approach all along. The healers had only ever fought the symptoms. But Bill knew how to take care of the underlying problem. "I've already done a lot of research on her family tree. But my notes are all at Hogwarts... I'll ask Snape or Dumbledore if they can get them for me."

"That's the spirit," said Bill. "Now, let's see if we can't find anything useful in this library."

Draco spent hours in the library, feeling new vigor. They had found a few old diaries that were linked to Astoria's family. Once they had narrowed down the list of possible ancestors the diaries would provide them with further information. And Draco would have the whole summer to study the books in the library and Bill's promise to help in whichever way he could.

When Draco walked into the drawing room once Bill had left, he was met with the strangest sight he had ever seen. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Severus Snape were sitting in front of the Fireplace, all a glass in hand, an almost empty bottle of Firewhisky in front of them, and laughing.

"Ah Draco," said Sirius, "why don't you come and sit with us?"

"Do I also get a glass?" Draco asked amused, sitting down next to Remus.

"Of course not," replied Sirius, "I am a responsible guardian."

For a moment everything was quiet, then the three adults burst out laughing.

"Okay," replied Draco. He seriously doubted that bottle of Firewhiskey was the first one they had had tonight. "Severus, I just wanted to ask if you could fetch a few of my things for me at Hogwarts."

"No problem, Draco," replied Severus, "I will ask one of the house elves to collect all of your things as soon as I return to Hogwarts."

"Thanks," replied Draco. "So, what were you talking about? You seemed to have a lot of fun."

"Ah, Moony here," replied Sirius, now laughing again, "was just telling us of how he worked undercover as a muggle to recruit werewolves during the last war."

"It was a group of werewolves who were sick of how they were treated in our world and decided to open a muggle movie theatre in London."

"What's a movie theatre?" asked Draco, intrigued by the story.

"It's moving images but huge," replied Remus.

"Like a television?"

Remus looked surprised. "You know what a... Like... you know actual muggle technology?"

Draco shrugged. "Severus owns one. We watched the Godfather."

"Electrickery! Brilliant!" laughed Sirius, patting Snape on the back. "I would have never guessed that you could do that. How's it work? You know, if you tell Arthur you can do that, he'll probably have to find Molly and make another Weasley in your honor on the spot."

Draco couldn't help himself - he laughed and was soon followed by Sirius and Remus.

"You are," drawled Snape, "an animal." But it was obvious he was trying to hide his own amusement.

"What happened then?" asked Draco.

"Well," continued Remus, "they would not talk to anyone from the magical world so I pretended to be a muggle and started to work there. First day there I had issues with one of the machines they wanted me to work with... so I used magic to try and fix the problem."

"Oh no," replied Draco.

"Oh yes," said Remus. "I should have known better. Everything went dark almost instantly. No lights, no machines, no movies. And guess who they asked to fix it?"

Draco laughed. "You?"

Remus nodded and everyone was laughing again.

Their laughing came to a sudden halt when the fireplace flared and two familiar figures stumbled into the room.

Dumbledore was on his knees, clutching Harry's arm to keep upright. Harry looked at the occupants of the room and shouted, "Help!"

TBC

AN: Okay, so the fun thing is that I really wanted to write a super uncomfortable Order meeting in which everyone mistrusts Draco and Snape, and Ron defends them, showing that they are finally all on the same side. Unfortunately, Ron and Hermione are still at school for another week and at this point in the story it also doesn't make much sense as Sirius and Snape get along now, Harry has no idea what to think of Snape at the moment so he is not openly going to challenge him, and absolutely no one has any reason to think Draco is a spy. Dumbledore, Harry, Lupin, Snape, Sirius and the Longbottoms+Helbert obviously trust Draco. Andromeda is going to feel close to another disowned family member. And Arthur Weasley was at the Quidditch World Cup and knows that Draco thought the Death Eaters. And everyone knows he got disowned. Well, perhaps I'll get to write such a scene another time, for another story.

That line from Sirius (about Arthur having to find Molly) is totally stolen from You Will Not Kiss Me by Prosperosdaughter. As an unfinished Remus/Snape smut fic it's probably not what you guys are looking for but similar to Draco trying to find a cure for Astoria it focuses on Snape trying to find out how to cure Remus from his lycantrophy and also Tonks from a curse that had been placed on the Black family. Anyway, I really thought the quote represents Sirius rather perfectly.

As always, I'd love to know what you think about this chapter. I probably won't be able to post any new chapters before Christmas as my new job is really rather stressful and the only reason I'm updating now is because all the stress has finally caught up with me and I am sick at home... Well, there seems to be a good side to everything.