Lunch wasn't as much of a disaster as Draco had thought it would be. It was quite the opposite actually. Throughout lunch, Arthur asked the boy random questions about the Manor, how the layout was, what you can do there, etc. Molly, meanwhile, kept passing food over to Draco, saying that he needed to fatten up, to which Harry smirked at.

Every time he had come to the Burrow, Molly fussed over him 24/7 and it became a little annoying.

Charlie, Bill, and Percy were at least trying to make civil conversation with Draco. Emphasis on the word trying. Draco was subdued during the meal, only talking when answering the questions that Mr. Weasley asked him.

The two younger Weasleys were content with ignoring the extra person and just talking with Hermione and Harry.

"So, Bill?" Hermione asked. "Where's Fleur?"

"Fleur stayed at home. She said she was feeling a bit ill and didn't want to ruin lunch so told me to go on ahead," Bill answered.

Harry leaned over to Draco, noting his confused expression, and whispered, "Fleur is Bill's wife." Draco nodded but didn't say anything else.

"So, Draco," Mr. Weasley said, leaning back in his chair. "After lunch, we can go to the Manor and get some of the stuff there," he said warily, careful not to put to much stress that it wasn't Draco's things anymore.

Draco looked at him. "Uh, yeah, yeah," he said. My stuff, he thought bitterly. He was suddenly fully aware of the small strip of black leather pressing against his throat. He stretched his neck and unconsciously tugged at the collar quickly before letting it be, though that didn't stop some others from seeing the action.

Lunch went on for another half hour. The conversations had dropped in noise considerably, but there was still some noise.

Although there were many glances cast at the timid death eater, there were no more blatant attempts to draw him into conversation. Most of them did notice however that he barely ate, despite Mrs. Weasley's urges to.

As the meal was wrapping up, Mr. Weasley got up and announced that he was ready to leave, to which Harry and Draco followed suit. He motioned for the two boys to follow him to the hall.

When they got there, the older Weasley turned on the two and explained the plan. "Now, we can't go there by floo since Malfoy Manor seems to have the place blocked." He gave a jokingly pointed look at Draco who wouldn't meet his eyes and was staring at the floor. "So we'll have to apparate there."

"Alright," Harry answered him while Draco just nodded as his mind was elsewhere.

He was going home. Wait, no, he thought. That will never be my home as long as the memory of the Dark Lord living there is still fixed in my mind. If he saw the place again, maybe he could come to love it just as before, in time. The Manor is the place that he grew up in, the only place he really knew... other than Hogwarts.

He then saw Harry inch towards him, fumbling with a string of black leather. He must have got it from Hermione as he passed her in the kitchen.

"Um, Malfoy," he stuttered, looking uncomfortable. "We're going outside so I need you to, um, wear this." He held up the leash in his hands.

Draco eyed the accessory emotionless and nodded. Harry attached it to his collar, looking more uncomfortable as he did so. Draco's eyes never left the floor as he did so.

When he was done, the raven-haired wizard stepped back and looked at Mr. Weasley, who had averted his eyes during the event in respect to Draco. Mr. Weasley nodded and they made their way out the door, Harry making sure to give as much slackness to the leash as possible.

Draco followed slightly behind Harry, feeling nervous about going back to the Manor and a little embarrassed. He was just glad that they were in a muggle neighbourhood and that it was in the middle of the week so that most of the kids were at school.

When they reached a good distance from Grimmauld Place, Harry held out his arm. Draco grimaced. He wasn't particularly a fan of side-along apparition for it usually made him nauseous afterwards, though he learned not to show it when he did it with his parents.

He hesitantly took Harry's arm and the next thing he knew he was spinning before landing in front of the gates of Malfoy Manor.

Harry looked over at Draco to see him bent down a bit and, as much as he tried to hide it, paler then usual. He smirked, "can't hold your lunch, Malfoy?"

Draco straightened up and busied himself with dusting off his suit. He looked over at Harry with annoyance. "Shut up, Potter."

Mr. Weasley looked at the two in amusement before shaking his head.

Malfoy Manor was huge; there was no other word for it. Harry hadn't been able to really look at it during his last, um, visit here. That event still sent shudders down his back.

The Manor looked like a castle out of a fairytale, with large windows and towers reaching for the sky. The fields surrounding the Manor were bigger than the ones around Hogwarts, Harry thought.

There were some reporters waiting outside the house, hoping that the young Malfoy heir would come back, if just for a bit, and they could get a word or picture. When they spotted the little group, they swarmed around them, but Mr. Weasley and Harry quickly tried to cover Draco from view and fought through the crowd, successfully dodging the questions but not the pictures.

When they reached the front, Mr. Weasley raised his wand to open the gates leading to Malfoy Manor and the iron gates creaked almost inaudibly as they were pushed apart to only admit the three wizards. They crossed the threshold of the Manor and entered the foyer. Harry took the leash away and put it in his pocket before Draco led them into the drawing room.

"Nicki! Luca!" Draco called out, his voice echoing through the almost empty house. Two, young house elves appeared in front of them. In spite of himself, Draco's features softened at the sight of the two familiar creatures.

"Oh, Master Draco. You bad, bad boy," Nicki scolded, even as she practically hopped up and down in her excitement at seeing him again. "We's been waiting and waiting for you."

"And Master Harry Potter," Luca said with full admiration. "What an honour it is to meet you. You's have no idea how thankful we house elves are."

"Would you's be liking anything to eat or drink?" Nicki asked. The two boys politely declined. "You, Master Weasley?"

"Oh, no thank you," Mr. Weasley said hurriedly. "How did you know my name?"

"Oh." The two elves looked at each other. "Us house elves be hearing talk about the Weasleys many times from Master Malfoy Senior."

Mr. Weasley nodded, knowing fully well what kind of "talk" they were talking about.

"But don't worry," Luca said. "We's don't believe all Master Malfoy Senior says about the Weasleys. Master Draco is much nicer."

"Ok, Luca, thank you," Draco interrupted, slightly embarrassed. Harry and Mr. Weasley had small smiles on their faces. "Would you please gather the others here in, say, a half hour?" Draco asked both house elves.

"Of course Master Draco," they said hurriedly and the two servants bowed before disapparating away.

Harry turned to Draco. "How many house elves do you have?" he asked.

"30," Draco answered. "Luca and Nicki are my personal house elves, three each for my parents, ten in the kitchens, five in the dining room, and the rest with jobs here and there." He then turned to his two companions. "Would you like to wait here or follow me?"

Mr. Weasley ended up waiting in the drawing room for Harry and Draco to get his things.

They went down a narrow corridor and up a flight of stairs that led into a formal dining room; then into the grand entrance hall and up another flight of stairs, wider than the first, with a fancy, carved balustrade. Then Draco led the way around corners, down more corridors, and up still more stairs, until Harry was completely lost.

"Good Godric, this place is big," Harry exclaimed while Draco smirked at him.

He had vague impressions of spacious rooms filled with gleaming antique furniture; tapestries on the walls and rugs on the stone floors, well-made but faded with the patina of age; wide corridors lined with mirrors and portraits of finely-dressed witches and wizards, some of whom called after them curiously.

At last, Draco stopped at the end of yet another hallway, and they went into a room. It was smaller than the others Harry had seen, but it was not so small as to be cramped. It contained a bed, two side tables, a desk and chair, and a chest of drawers. There wasn't much light in the room. The furniture in the room was a dark brown colour and the walls, curtains, rug, and bedspread were, unsurprising, green. There weren't much on the walls, just the occasional photo of the Malfoy family and a poster of the Falmouth Falcons quidditch team, his favourite, Harry guessed.

"This is...was... my room, Potter," Draco announced. "We might as well start packing some clothes." With that said, they got to work in silence. A few minutes passed as they worked with no sound except the rustling of clothes into a trunk not unlike their school trunk.

"So," Harry said, breaking the silence. "You like the Falmouth Falcons?"

"Um, yeah," Draco said awkwardly. "My father took me to see them vs. the Hollyhead Harpies when I was younger. It was a close game. The Falcons Seeker Hagglewater managed to get to the Snitch first, despite the loudly mewling cat that had been cursed onto the top of his head by one of the opposing team's supporters."

Draco and Harry shared a small laugh. "That must have been cool. Why is that the only poster you have of them? Or of anything, for that matter?"

"Well, my father wouldn't let me put anything on the walls. He expected my room to be presentable at all times, and that meant the walls needed to be bare. My mother had to force him to let me have at least one thing on my wall and I picked the poster," Draco explained.

"Oh," Harry said, but didn't say anything else on the subject.

They spent the next few minutes packing and talking about the little things like quidditch and school. Draco placed a photo of him and his family (the picture above) on the top of his neatly packed pile of clothes and shut his trunk. He grabbed the Nimbus 2001 that was leaning against the closet door frame and the beautiful eagle owl resting on its perch in its cage by the window.

"Wow," Harry said. "He's beautiful. What's his name?"

"His name is Osiris. It's the name of the Egyptian mythological god who dies and takes rebirth every year. The name means 'power' and 'strong eyesight.'

Harry nodded. "Sounds fitting for you."

Draco looked around the room once more and then nodded at Harry to show he was done.

"Okay," Harry said. "Let's get down to Mr. Weasley. I think we've left him waiting long enough."

They made their way down to the drawing room, Draco, of course, in the lead, the owl perched on his left shoulder and the broomstick in his right hand, and Harry following, levitating his trunk.

When they reached the drawing room, they saw Mr. Weasley sitting in one of the large couches in front of the fireplace and a bunch of house elves scuttling around him, hoping to please and help him with anything.

"Young Master Malfoy. A pleasure to see you," said one of the house elves, Lottie.

Mr. Weasley turned to the door and spotted the two boys making their way to him and stood up.

"Harry, Draco. Is everything ready?" he asked.

"Almost," Draco answered. He then turned to the group of house elves. "Now, no one's going to be at the Manor for quite awhile but I still need you to keep the Manor clean and efficient. Can you all do that?"

His question was greeted with many "of course Master Draco" and "as you wish young Master Malfoy."

"Good," Draco nodded, and, with that said, they all disapparated to do who knows what.

"Okay," Mr. Weasley said. "Lets get back."