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Returning to Sanity	By : AchillesTheGeek Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 31212 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books or films, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 59
- 60
- 61
60. Returning to a More Positive State of Mind
By prior arrangement, the four students Flooed into Flitwick's office from the Burrow. The professor greeted them happily. He had already received a report from McGonagall about the day's events, so he didn't ask any questions; once they had confirmed that they had had a pleasant day, he just waved them off to bed, after suggesting that they might like to spend the weekend at home explaining their new statuses to their parents.
To Draco's great relief, they managed to get to their room without meeting any other students. He really wasn't feeling up to talking to anyone else.
But Harry must have noticed something was amiss. "Strip to your boxers," he said when they got to their room, and his tone of voice brooked no rebuttal.
Draco, bemused, but happy to oblige his lover, did as he was asked.
"Lie on the bed, on your stomach," Harry said, still in a commanding voice.
Draco wasn't too sure about this. A small moment of panic passed through him. In theory he would do anything for Harry, but despite all his rational arguments that the Debt was a fact of life they had to live with, emotionally he was still conflicted about it. Was he ready for Harry to be inside him? Was that where this was going?
But nonetheless, he trusted his fiancé; so he did as he was bid. Harry stripped to his boxers and then retrieved a bottle of oil from their bathroom. He sat on top of Draco and gently rubbed oil on his back. "Relax, Dragon," he said, then started massaging his lover.
"Oh – oh – oooooooooohh …" Draco moaned, as Harry found all the knots in his back. Each one was found, and gently treated, and teased out. Draco found it to be one of the most amazing, tender, loving things anyone had ever done for him, and he was ashamed to think of his previous misgivings. How could he still have any doubts that Harry loved him and would always seek his best?
An hour later, Draco lay still, totally relaxed, and Harry carefully wiped the excess oil off him and covered him up so that he didn't get cold. Draco moved onto his side, and reached his arms up in silent invitation. Harry smiled. How could he resist?
They lay together cuddling, silent, comfortable. Eventually, it was Harry who broke the silence.
"So, what got you so tensed up?" he asked, taking care to keep his voice gentle and non-accusatory.
"First it was the ceremony," Draco answered. "There you three were, Dragonriders, Goblinfriends, and I was just a spectator. I guess I felt a bit jealous; but also, I felt like I didn't belong. Like I was intruding on a private ceremony for you and the goblins. And the McGonagall gave them the sword, and I just felt like I was the loser. I had nothing to give; I was just redundant, unnecessary."
Harry squeezed his lover tight, and shushed him. "Draco," he said, putting all the passion he could muster into his voice, "of course you belong. You always belong right by my side. I need you. I love you."
Draco felt a little embarrassed by this raw display of love and desire; his upbringing told him that Malfoys didn't do overt displays of affection. At the same time, he found himself absolutely loving and accepting the sincerity of his fiancé's declarations. The two thoughts warred in his mind for a while, until he told himself not to be so stupid. Deciding it was no longer time to talk, he captured Harry's lips in a long, slow kiss that so easily, so naturally, moved on to other sensual pleasures.
When they slept, they both slept very soundly that night.
Friday 24 July 1998
Harry and Draco were practically mobbed when they walked in to breakfast.
"The third Dragonrider Goblinfriend awakes!" Madame Dubois cried out.
"I see Hermione and Ron have been talking," Harry said as he took a seat next to Seamus and started helping himself to sausage and eggs. "Or was it Neville?"
"Neville isn't here yet, mate," Seamus replied, while Ron blushed bright red.
"Sorry, mate," Ron said. "They kept badgering me to tell them where we went yesterday and it was easier to tell them."
Harry looked over to see that Hermione was looking daggers at her fiancé. Harry smiled at them both.
"It's OK, Ron, really. Everyone is going to find out sooner or later."
"Can we see your medallion?" Eva Thillin asked.
Ron groaned. "Yeah, I showed them mine, and they made Hermione show them hers" he said, in response to the unasked question.
Harry fished his medallion out from under his shirt and let the Beauxbatons girls admire it. As they were 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing over the disc, Theo and Pansy walked into the Great Hall, with Neville following them. As they sat down, Blaise turned to the Slytherins.
"Did you have a good night?" he asked.
"Wait," Ron said, "Theo slept in the castle last night?"
"Well officially, he rooms with me," Neville replied.
"Oh, so what's he like as a room-mate?" Millicent asked Theo, who blushed.
"I wouldn't know," he mumbled.
"I wasn't here last night," Neville said cheerily. "Got a better offer."
"Oh!" said one of the Beauxbatons girls. "You must tell us all about it!"
"Please!" Neville replied with a wink. "I'm a very happily married man."
"Too much information," said Ron, as he worked out just where Neville had been. No wonder George had been so keen to finish up at the Burrow!
At this point, rather to Ron's relief, the conversation was interrupted by the usual morning flurry of owls arriving with the post. As everyone was busy with the mail, McGonagall wandered over to the table.
"Mr Weasley, I wonder if we could have a word," she said.
"Of course, Headmistress," Ron replied, rather mystified as to what the headmistress would want to talk to him about. "Um, here, or in your office?"
"Oh, I think we will be more comfortable in my office," she replied with a smile. "If you would follow me?"

In Friday morning's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Ionescu still had the visiting students to test for their Occlumency prowess. Rather than have the rest of the class sit around being bored, he first taught a couple more methods to deal with a Legilimens: one enabled the students to close their minds when they sensed an intrusion, while the other gave them a way to summon outside help if they needed it.
Armed with these two strategies, he taught the basic skill of Legilimency, and invited the students to volunteer themselves as targets for their peers. Naturally, this being dangerous, he had asked the two Aurors to be in attendance, both to audit the lesson for safety concerns and to provide assistance if required.
To Armand's surprise, the Hogwarts students seemed mostly quite happy to volunteer as targets for Legilimency.
"This level of trust," he said, "is quite remarkable. Normally, if I get three or four brave volunteers in a class it is a success, but here practically everyone seems to trust one another."
Harry spoke for them all when he replied, "I guess we all went through a war together, it's kind of knit us together, even if we were on opposing sides."
Armand then paired the class off, and gave them an exercise of five specific types of memories to recall; the idea being that the partner using Legilimens would have to extract them all, while the Occluding partner was to try different strategies out to resist attack, starting with no strategy at all to make sure that their partner was actually able to cast Legilimens.
"Do not be concerned if you cannot use Legilimency or Occlumency," he entreated them. "Many witches and wizards find the Mind Arts very difficult indeed. It is no reflection on you if you cannot perform them; some people are naturally gifted, but many are not. It says nothing about your scholastic abilities."
So saying, he went on to test the Beauxbatons students, or at least the ones who were willing, in their use of the Fortress technique, while the Aurors supervised the class. It turned out that two students were unwilling: neither Eva Thillin nor Marie Thibault wished to have Professor Ionescu use Legilimens on them.
"Of course it's all right," he reassured them when they demurred. "I will not harm you in any way; but if you do not wish me to even attempt, that is your right. I will not push you."
But Madame Dubois would have none of it.
"Now girls, don't be silly," she intoned imperiously. "You have nothing to be afraid of. Professor Ionescu is not going to pry. If you persist in this, he's going to think you have some dark secrets you don't want discovered."
"Please do not pressure them, madam," said Armand, "I will not do anything without the free consent of these young ladies. It would not only be unethical; it would be impolite." And it was clear from his tone that the latter was the worse crime, in his eyes.
"But we cannot disappoint Madame!" Marie said, a note of desperation in her voice.
"There's only about twenty minutes of class time left," Robin chipped in. "How would it be if we dismissed the other students and had a private session with just the two of you?"
This suggestion seemed to placate the two girls, and the rest of the class was rather ecstatic to have twenty minutes free, so a couple of minutes later, Robin and Armand were alone in the room with the two girls, who had asked that even Madame Dubois leave. The chaperone was not pleased about this; but she could hardly insist, given that her other charges were off doing who knew what while these two girls were being supervised by two Hogwarts Professors.
As soon as they were alone, Thibault broke down.
"I cannot keep pretending!" she sobbed. "Mr Auror, let me show you what I mean."
Robin, rather shell-shocked by this outburst, cast Legilimens on the student. And there in front of him, practically pushed into his face, was the image of a tall man wearing a mask that covered his entire head, brandishing a wand at two people who were tied up in front of him. To the side there was a girl crying: Thibault herself.
"You will do what I say," the man said, in an obviously disguised gruff, low voice, "or you will never see your parents again." At this, the three of them disappeared, leaving Thibault sobbing in the corner.
Robin came out of the Legilimens spell visibly shaken.
"Oh Merlin," he whispered. "Do you know who he was?"
"No," Thibault replied.
"So," Robin said gently, "you parents were abducted by some unknown wizard and you were blackmailed into attacking students, is that right?"
"Yes," Thibault replied, through tears, and proceeded to explain exactly how the man had sent her a package containing a candle, to be placed in Hermione Granger's room, and a book of galleons to be used against Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.
"But why?" Robin asked himself. "What is he trying to achieve?"
"I think we may have some more pressing matters, Auror Banks," Ionescu said gently, but the use of Robin's Ministry title made the point.
"Yes. Of course. I take it you were threatened with reprisals if you said anything to the Aurors?" he asked Thibault.
"Eet is zo," the girl replied, her accent, generally quite good, lapsing a little in the emotion of the moment. "Pleaze – you will not do anyzing? You will not let 'im know I have told? My parents –" and the poor girl broke down again and Eva Thillin put a comforting arm around her.
"And where do you come in, Miss Thillin?" he asked.
"Oh!" Eva replied. "I am an old friend of Marie's; she asked me to transfigure the candle for 'er, as she iz not zo good at eet. Zen when things were going not-so-good, she asked me to 'elp 'er, to spend time with 'er."
"What reason did she give for wanting the candle transfigured?"
"She said eet was some sort of – I think you say, 'prank'?"
"Yes," said Robin. "I guess you could see it as a prank. But not a particularly funny one. Miss Thibault, obviously this is a very tricky situation. I will have to discuss the matter with my colleagues. Obviously, we will try to find some way of tracking down your parents. In the meantime, please take no action. If he gets in touch with you again, please let us know."
"Zank you," Marie Thibault sniffled, and the two girls went off to their Transfiguration class.
Robin turned to Ionescu, who looked rather pensive.
"What do you think, sir?" he asked.
"Possible," the mind healer replied. "But there's something not quite right. I can't put my finger on it, but something doesn't gel."
"Hmm," Robin said. "Well, if you think of anything it could be, please let me know."
"Of course," the older man replied, and they left the classroom.

Much to Ron's chagrin, the interrupted conversation from breakfast was started up again at lunchtime.
"So Theo, Neville abandoned you all alone last night?" Seamus asked with a naughty twinkle in his eye.
"Not exactly," Theo replied with a smirk of his own. "Actually, Neville did me quite a good turn just before he left for the Burrow."
"It was only an Engorgio charm," Neville replied diffidently.
Seamus's eyes went wide, his curiosity piqued. But Theo answered before he could get a word in.
"Yes, but I couldn't have cast it, and you did, and we're very grateful."
Seamus couldn't help himself now. "Just what did you enlarge?" he asked Neville; then he turned to Theo. "And what do you mean 'we'?"
"My bed, of course," Theo replied drily. "What else did you have in mind?"
"And," Pansy chipped in, "'we' means two or more people. I thought you had a decent grasp of English?"
Seamus went red, but ploughed on, "I did know that, thanks Parkinson, but I was really wondering who the two - or more - might be. Apart from Theo, of course."
"Oh I think you'll work it out," Pansy replied with a grin.
"But..." Dean spluttered. "We thought you and Blaise..."
"Pfft," Pansy replied. "Blaise is like my brother. I visit his room to drag his sorry ass out of bed when he needs it. No, once it was clear that Draco was, ah, unavailable, Theo asked me if I was interested..."
"And to my delight, she was," Theo finished, leaning over to give her a peck on the cheek.
At this point the table erupted into noise; half the people there, including all the Beauxbatons students, said "awwww..." while the other half said "ewwww..."
Draco gave Pansy an encouraging grin as she sat back in her chair with a smirk and proceeded to continue her lunch as though nothing had happened.

She came back to consciousness slowly. Just what had happened last night? Where was she? Who was she?
She cast around groggily, searching for her wand. It was nowhere to be seen.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"Ah!" a voice said. "Sleeping Beauty awakes! Sorry, Dolores, but there's no handsome prince to save you!"
Dolores. That was her name. It started coming back to her. She sat bolt upright, and looked around.
She was seated on a low cot in the corner of a sitting room. There was a couch on the far wall, on which two men were sitting, watching her every mood. She did not like them, she knew that.
"Who are you?" she asked. "What have you done to me?"
"Augustus Rookwood and Tombinias Barnes, at your service," the taller, older man said with a bow, pointing first to himself then to the other man; but both the words and the bow were mocking her, she was sure of that. "As for what we have done, why, we have kidnapped you."
"Kidnapped me?"
"Yes. You see, we were all imprisoned in Azkaban and –"
"Azkaban?"
"Yes. The wizarding prison. Please try not to interrupt. We escaped; but we cast the Imperius charm on you, and took you with us, as our hostage for safe conduct. Only it seems you have had a nasty bump on the head, and forgotten a few things."
Dolores lay down again. Her head did feel awful, that was true; perhaps the rest was. She would have to think on it. And work out if there was a way she could escape from these two evil wizards. She closed her eyes, and was soon asleep again.
The two other wizards watched her closely until they were satisfied that she was indeed fast asleep.
"Well, the memory charm appears to be working," Barnes observed.
"She certainly seems to have forgotten what happened," Rookwood agreed. "But it's still fluid until we can seal it at the full moon."
"How long till then?" Barnes asked.
"It's on the eighth of August," Rookwood replied. "So just over two weeks."
Great, Barnes thought. Only two more weeks dealing with the old witch's whining. It was fine now that she was asleep, of course; but, given how she had just behaved, when she woke up she was obviously going to be even more obnoxious than before. He hadn't thought it was possible; apparently, he had been wrong. It was going to be a severe test of his patience.
And Tombinias Barnes wasn't a patient man at the best of times, never mind when he was shut up in a house with a wizard he wasn't sure he trusted and a witch he was quite sure he didn't trust as far as he could spit a vampire bat.
All in all, he wasn't sure they were all going to survive the next fortnight.

Draco Malfoy was feeling rather conflicted. He so wanted to talk to Harry about the party, to get his opinions about who should be invited and what he wanted to happen. On the other hand, while she had not exactly sworn him to secrecy, Molly Weasley had taken care to pull him aside and talk to him quietly, and he gathered that she sort of expected it to remain quiet.
As he pondered his predicament, the answer suddenly became clear: he should do exactly what Harry would have done in such a circumstance: talk to Hermione. The only problem, of course, was finding her.
Except that wasn't a problem. It was still early evening; people were still doing homework and other study. And that meant that she would be in the library. Grabbing his own books as a front, he made his way out of the common room in search of the bushy brunette. As he had hoped, he found her at a very private table near the back of the library.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked.
She looked up at him; her face showed that she was a little surprised, but not in any way hostile, and Draco took heart from this.
"Be my guest," she answered.
Once he had sat down, he decided to grasp the Minotaur by the horns.
"Can I talk to you about something?"
"School-related?" she asked.
"No, Harry-related," he replied.
"OK," she said, "can I finish the Transfiguration essay first?"
"Of course," Draco replied, pulling out his own essay. They each worked at their parchments in a peaceful silence. Eventually, Hermione put down her quill and put away her books; Draco, noticing the action, immediately did the same.
"Right, what do you want to talk about?" Hermione asked.
"Harry's birthday," Draco replied, after checking no-one was nearby. "Mrs Weasley has asked me if there's anything in particular that he would want, and given me the guest list to review. But I really don't have any ideas."
"OK," said Hermione, with a brilliant smile. She was glad that Draco's problem was something she could help with, and ecstatic that he had asked for her help. "Have you got the list?"
"Yes, sure," Draco said, pulling it out of his bag.
Hermione perused the guest list first. Draco had already added all the student names that she could think of; he had even, she noticed, added Katie Bell. She struck it out.
"I'm guessing you added Katie as a sort of olive branch?" she asked.
"Yes, something like that," Draco replied. "Too soon?"
"Definitely," Hermione replied. "And she was never really Harry's friend. No, don't torture yourself. But for the rest, I think you've done a great job with the list. Now, the ideas for the party?"
Draco handed her a second sheet of parchment.
Hermione read it through, and was impressed.
"Molly and Narcissa seem to have put a lot of work into this," she said. "I really can't think of anything else to add. In fact, the main thing will be to rein it in, I think; Harry really won't want a huge fuss made of him. Have you got him a present yet?"
"No," Draco replied ruefully. "I really can't think of anything."
"Good," Hermione said, which made Draco bristle a bit. Good? How was it good? But he decided to keep quiet. She obviously had something in mind. "Molly told me about what they're up to, and Ron said something this morning that gave me an idea for you."
Draco was all ears. And as Hermione continued, a big smile blossomed on his face.
"What do you think?" she asked, when she had finished outlining the idea.
"It's perfect," he replied. "I suppose I should owl Molly about it straight away."
He pulled out a piece of parchment and began writing.

When Draco got back to his dorm room, he found Harry waiting for him.
"You're back!" the raven-haired youth said, rather unnecessarily.
"Yes," Draco replied. "I've been in the Library. Sorry, were you waiting for me?"
"It's OK," Harry replied. "It's just that Robin wanted to talk to us."
"Oh! Well, we should go and see him then."
"Right," Harry said, jumping up. "Er, he did say to keep it quiet so …" and with this Harry pulled out the invisibility cloak.
"Skulking through Hogwarts again, Potter?" Draco said with a grin.
"Absolutely, Malfoy," Harry replied, equally cheerfully, as he covered them both with the cloak.

"Come in!" Robin called.
The door opened, then seemed to close again of its own accord. A moment later, Harry and Draco appeared.
"That's some pretty impressive magic," Robin said appreciatively.
"Invisibility cloak," Harry replied.
"Wow! They're really rare."
"Yeah, I inherited it from my father."
"You – hang on," Robin said, moving from appreciation to amazement, "you have an invisibility cloak that still works that well after twenty years? They normally wear thin after that time!"
"Er, yeah," Harry replied shyly. He really could do without having to talk about the Deathly Hallows again. "Um, you wanted to see us?"
"Oh," Robin said, bringing his mind off the subject of the cloak, with some effort. "Yes. I need to tell you about the interview we had after your Defense class this morning."
"With Marie Thibauld and Eva Thillin?" Draco asked.
"That's right," Robin agreed. "Normally, I would of course keep things confidential, but you need to know what is going on for your own safety."
The Auror then proceeded to explain the confession that had been given, and also Ionescu's reservations.
"The best thing I can suggest is probably to get away from here for the weekend," he finished up. "Whatever the story really is, if they don't know where you are, they can't attack you. Is there somewhere you could stay on no notice?"
"The Manor, perhaps?" Draco replied
"Yeah," Harry said, "but if you don't mind, maybe we could go to Grimmauld Place tonight? I kind of fancy being alone, just the two of us."
"That would be fine," Draco said, trying desperately hard to keep a salacious grin off his face as they bid farewell and donned the invisibility cloak. But, by the look Robin gave him as they left, he hadn't quite succeeded.
Saturday 25 July 1998
Taking up Flitwick's suggestion, after checking with Robin that he was happy for them to go off alone, Hermione and Ron Flooed to the Granger's house. Peter and Margaret were delighted to see them, and Miriam practically went ballistic, shrieking with joy. They spent the morning chatting with the parents and playing with the toddler. Margaret and Peter were appropriately amazed when Hermione told them about the goblins' awards and showed off their medallions.
"What is wrong with you people," Margaret said, once the excitement of the moment had worn off.
"How do you mean, Margaret?" Ron asked.
"You two and Harry were the team that practically saved the whole of Wizarding's necks, right?" Margaret asked, and Ron nodded, while Hermione suddenly got it.
"And it's the goblins who see fit to honour you? And not for killing the enemy, or winning the war, but for going for a joyride on a dragon?"
"Way to kill the mood, mum," Hermione said, but she was smiling as she said it. Her mother was like a Grim with a bone; at root, this was the 'kids sent off to do adults' jobs' thing all over again. "And it wasn't exactly a joyride, we were being chased by goblins shooting spears at us."
"What?" said Peter Granger. "And you went back there? And they said, 'well done'? What is this, one moment you were the evil enemy, the next it's all buddy-buddy?"
Hermione struggled to explain. "It's not really like that, dad. Goblins are warlike creatures. They are brilliant with finance mostly because they're brilliant with security. So, as we managed to defeat their security, they respect us hugely. And they wanted to show us. All right?"
"Hmm. I guess so," Peter replied. He wasn't really convinced; but then, it was very hard to understand the world his daughter moved in. It occurred to him that this must be how immigrant parents feel when their children learn the new country's system quickly and easily, while they never do.
"And I'm sure that the Wizarding world will recognise Harry's actions soon enough, mum," Hermione said. "We're all still recovering. I wouldn't be surprised if they wait till the first anniversary or something like that. That way, we'll be finished schooling, and things will be back to normal, and we'll all be able to feel it's really over and behind us."
"Yeah, there's still plenty of cleaning up going on," Ron continued. "Dad said they're still finding Muggleborn children – like Hermione – who were made orphans, and getting them into foster care; and there are still a couple of Death Eaters on the loose. Which is a point," he said suddenly, closing his eyes and extending his hand out. He made a soft whining noise in the back of his throat; and then they heard a twang, as if from a bowstring.
Ron opened his eyes, and smiled.
"What was that?" Peter asked.
"Ministry Wards," Ron replied. "The Ministry has warded this house. No Death Eater is going to get in."
"Doesn't that make us an obvious target?" Peter said, his mind immediately racing to the horrible prospect of being attacked by Wizards against whom he would have no defense.
"Nah," Ron said, "these wards are practically undetectable from outside. But I'll ask Dad about it if you want."
"Thinking of your parents, Ron," Margaret said, "have you told them about your awards?"
"Yeah, we went to the Burrow on Thursday night. Tell you what though, we didn't show them the medallions; nor did we tell them about the map…" said Ron, his voice trailing off as he remembered the rather astonishing events of that afternoon in Raredd's office.
"Map?" Margaret asked sharply. "What map?"
And with that prompt, with much talking over each other and backtracking, Ron and Hermione proceeded to explain the business of the Map of the Worlds to increasingly incredulous parents.
"Well!" Margaret said at last, "I should think they would see your medallions straight away! And you must tell them about the map. Go on, off you go, tell them all about it!"
"Thanks, Mrs Granger," Ron replied, as he gathered a handful of Floo powder. "The Burrow!"

Harry woke up to find himself alone in bed; must have overslept, he mused. He got up, showered and dressed, and made his way downstairs to find Draco already there, drinking tea and reading the Daily Prophet while Kreacher cooked them bacon and eggs.
"Morning," he said.
Draco raised his head and gave him a brilliant smile.
"I see you got Kreacher over to cook; don't fancy doing it yourself?" he said, jokingly.
"Master Draco is not to be doing cooking," Kreacher said sternly. "Master Draco is not being a house-elf. Master Draco and Master Harry are to sit down and eat."
With that, the house-elf levitated two rather full plates over to the table, together with a large mug of tea for Harry. The latter, a little abashed by the ferocity of Kreacher's announcement, sat at the table and began to eat.
"Anything in the Prophet?" he asked, once the edge of his hunger was dulled.
Draco looked up. "Not much," he said.
"That's good," Harry replied, then expanded as Draco looked puzzled, "any morning the Prophet isn't spouting lies about me is a good morning."
Draco smiled, but it was a sad smile.
"Hey," Harry said, picking up on the sadness. "Don't you go feeling guilty about it, all right? They've published a lot of shit about me, and started a few fires I could have done without; but I don't care any more."
"Even when I fuelled the fire?" Draco answered.
"Even then," said Harry gently, his heart melting to see the raw vulnerability in his fiancé's eyes. He stood up and leaned across the table to give Draco a kiss. "I've forgiven you, Draco. Completely."
Draco did not reply with words; but the shine in his eyes was reply enough for Harry.

After breakfast, they Flooed to the Manor, where Narcissa was delighted to see them. Lucius, she explained, was out on a couple of errands; the Ministry was running him ragged, it seems.
"It's a bit rich," Draco said. "I know he's supposed to be on probation and under a suspended sentence; but that shouldn't mean he's the Ministry's whipping boy!"
"Hush, Draco," Narcissa said, though her eyes sparkled with delight. "Your father is doing what he loves – hatching schemes. He's happy putting the finishing touches to a legal case being tried next week. Now, was there some special reason for this visit, or did you just come to call?"
"Oh! Yes!" Harry said. "We wanted to tell you about Thursday."
He explained about the invitation from Primak, and the awards that he, Hermione, and Ron had been given. Narcissa, who knew perfectly well how touchy the goblins were about their security, was suitably impressed, especially when Harry produced the medallion.
"That's very exciting, Harry," she said, continuing when he looked rather blank, "having favour from the goblins like that is very rare. Very rare indeed. There's only ever been a handful of wizards given the title of 'Goblinfriend'; for three to have it at the same time is unheard of."
Harry blushed in embarrassment, and looked at his feet. It was all Narcissa could do not to coo at the beautiful innocence of the man.
"You really are a very special man, Harry Potter," she said. "I'm so glad to have you in our family."
"Yes, indeed, mother," Draco replied. "But I think we've embarrassed Harry enough for the moment. How is the garden?"

Lucius returned from his appointment in time for lunch, which the four had together. Lucius looked very proud when he was told about the new titles Harry had been given.
"We must see about giving you a wizarding title," he said.
"Er, do we have to?" Harry asked. "Just Harry is fine."
Lucius fixed him with a look, which made Harry realise again just how formidable the man was as an opponent.
"We really can't have the Wizarding world being out-done by the goblins, Harry. That would not do. No, I shall have a chat with Kingsley. I take it the Prophet hasn't found out about this?"
"No," Draco said. "Rather strange. I would have thought the goblins would have said something."
"On the contrary," Lucius replied. "Goblins don't care what wizards think, in general. Though perhaps …"
His voice trailed off, and Harry worried to think what he might be plotting. But Narcissa clapped her hands and announced that this was quite enough serious talk for a lovely Saturday afternoon, and asked how classes were going at Hogwarts.
"Well, that's pretty serious, too, Mother," Draco replied, and they explained about the business with Eva Thillin and Marie Thibault.
"Oh dear," Narcissa said. "Well, at least you're away from there for the moment. Harry dear, have you told Molly about your awards?"
"Yes," Harry said. "Though they haven't seen the medallion. But I'm sure Ron and Hermione will show them theirs, so there's no need."
And now he had Narcissa fix him with a stare that, in its own way, was even more terrifying than Lucius's had been.
"Of course you need to. The woman sees you as her son, Harry; so as a dutiful son, you should go and show off your medallion."
And, just as Ron and Hermione had been shooed off by Margaret, so Draco and Harry now found themselves practically pushed through the Floo to the Burrow.

When Ron and Hermione reached the Burrow, they found Molly and Arthur in the kitchen, poring over some plans that were laid all over the table.
"Oh, hello dears," Molly said, sounding a bit startled. "Harry's not with you, is he?"
"No, mum," Ron answered.
"Thank goodness!" she said.
"Why?" Hermione asked, then saw all the papers on the kitchen table. "What are you up to?"
"Harry's birthday surprise," Arthur answered. With a flick of his wand, the papers rolled themselves up then floated over to hide in Molly's little alcove. "Now, how are you two? And are the rumours that reach me from Bill true? You told us about being in Gringotts on Thursday, but there was something about a map?"
"Yep," Ron replied proudly, and went on to retell the story of the map, to suitable 'ooh's and 'aah's from Molly. And then he remembered the medallions, and pulled his out.
"There's something else, mum. We have been given these!"
"Well!" she said when she had inspected his and Hermione's medallion. "You must stay for lunch! Does Harry have one?
Hermione and Ron nodded.
"Well, I suppose Harry is at the Manor, but we must see about the rest of your siblings! And Hermione, we should have your parents too!"
An hour later, a rather large impromptu party sat down to lunch: Bill and Fleur were delighted to come over, the twins gratefully accepted a free meal, bringing both Angelina and Neville with them, and Ginny and Ron made six younger Weasleys, while Peter and Margaret were very pleased to be invited. When they arrived, Miriam looked all around her.
"Teh?" she asked. "Teh?"
They couldn't work out what she was on about until suddenly Hermione grinned. "Teddy. She's looking for Teddy. He's always been here before. Sorry, love, he's not here."
But such was Molly's big heart that she immediately Floocalled Andromeda; and so when Harry and Draco called round, they found fourteen people sitting around the table, with two babies happily lying under Miriam's baby gym and babbling at each other.
"HARRY! DRACO!" Molly yelled as soon as she saw them coming through the Floo, much to George's consternation; he was sitting next to her and in the line from her to the fireplace, so he copped the shriek at full volume.
"Mother!" he cried out. "Do you want that ear to stop working again?"
"Sorry dear," Molly said reflexively, then continued, "Harry, Draco, come and sit down, loves. Ron and Hermione have told us all about the map and Harry, you must show us your medallion. And Draco, how were the tarts?"
Draco grinned. He had been feeling a bit left out: after all, he didn't have a medallion, or a new name. But Molly had noticed, and was clearly making an effort to include him. Or perhaps it was just her, he thought. Maybe she hadn't had to think about him being left out; maybe it was just natural to include him. And then Harry squeezed his leg, and told everyone that Draco would be a Goblinfriend when they were married, and Arthur was talking about how the Ministry needed to get off its bottom and sort something out for the four of them.
Once more he found himself drawn into this family. Once more he felt like he belonged here. It was such a strange, wonderful feeling.
He smiled. A warm, honest smile. Here he was in this tumble-down old house, totally different to the Manor; and it didn't matter a hill of beans. For now, he didn't care about Rookwood, Umbridge and Barnes, nor about the situation at Hogwarts.
Everyone got up, and walked around, and chatted to one another, and Draco found himself drawn into umpire an argument that Fred and Neville were having, while Harry sat and chatted to George about ... Draco couldn't quite hear. But it didn't matter.
For now, he was happy belonging to this weird, disparate group of people.
For now, he could sit here, and be part of the family.
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Returning to Sanity