"So," George said as soon as then had landed on a neatly mown meadow. The grass was still wet from the morning dew and Harry could feel his socks getting soaked through his beaten, hand down sneakers from Dudley. "What's the plan?"

Harry turned away from the Weasleys to eye the Malfoy Manor. He had not had much time to come up with a plan, too preoccupied with his vision about Draco.

Draco. Only a few walls separated them. Hoping he was alright, Harry tried not to let the horrible pictures of this morning distract him.

The Malfoy Manor was huge, not that he was surprised. Despite the obvious flair of wealth the old stonewalls and high towers emitted, the house felt somehow hostile and constrictive to look at. Maybe it was because all the high windows were divided in many small quadratic windows which resembled a muggle prison. Or maybe it was because of the wealthy atmosphere surrounding the building. Or maybe it was all in Harry's head and all he saw in the house was Draco being hurt by Voldemort.

Harry had to get in. There had to be a way to do that without alarming anyone unwanted.

"Are we gonna steal their Earl Grey tea?" Fred mocked with a posh accent.

"What are you doing?" At Ron's irritated question Harry turned back to the Weasleys. Fred leaned against a wooden pole with a blonde, long wig on his head and held his nose up high in an arrogant manner. George also had a wig which he was still struggling to put on without a bunch of Malfoy bright blonde hair hanging in his face.

"Just trying to fit in." Fred said.

"Where did you even get these?" Ron asked.

"How is that important right now?" Harry snapped at them.

"Do you have an idea?" Fred asked, swinging his pole around in circles effortlessly.

"We need a way to get in unseen." Harry said.

"Genius." George said sarcastically.

"Well, you could help too." Harry snapped.

"Alright." George held up his hands in defence.

"Got your invisibility cloak?" Ron asked.

"Yes." Harry reached into his pocket.

"That won't help you." George said.

"Don't you know what happens if you approach the Burrow unwanted?" Fred asked.

"This is an even older, probably much safer building." George threw his long blonde hair back over his shoulder. "Generations of proud, stuck-up blonde witches and wizards have messed with the security charms of this... Manor." He looked disgusted saying the last word. It was no surprise. The Weasley twins, more than anyone Harry knew, despised people who for one reason or another felt like they were worth more than others.

"Maybe they didn't charm the attic window." Fred said. "No one ever thinks of those."

George nodded. "It's the only invadable point in the Burrow."

"How do you know that?" Ron sounded upset. "And why do you not do something about this security issue."

"Do you feel unsafe, little brother?" Fred said faux-soothingly.

"Of course not." Ron defended. "Still, it's a little hurtful that you would let me sleep there even when you know it's the least safe room in the house."

"Come on, Ron." George said. "When was the Burrow ever invaded?"

"Besides." Fred said. "It can come in handy to have a leak."

"Yeah," Ron said. "For invaders." He threw his hands up in outrage.

"Can we focus on that when we get back?" Harry said. "The roof is our best shot. Do you think you can apparate us up there?"

"I wouldn't risk apparating this close to a pureblood castle." George said.

"Manor." Ron corrected.

"Whatever." George waved off. Harry looked up at the Manor and pondered about what to do next. If he was alone, he probably would have risked just trying to use his invisibility cloak and get through the front door.

"We could use brooms." Fred suggested.

"We don't have brooms." Ron said.

"We do." Fred said and put his wand in the pocket of his cloak. George did the same and they said, "Accio broom." Harry was slightly irritated when they pointed their wands at their seemingly empty hands, thinking they were pulling one of their jokes again. Simultaneously, like a routine they had practiced, they said, "Engorgio." And a second later, they each had a broom in their left hand.

"Huh." Ron said. "That is actually a great idea to carry around a load of crap."

"You're just jealous you didn't get our brains." George said.

"Or brawns." Fred said.

"Hermoine said brawn doesn't have a plural-"

"Great." Harry interrupted Ron. "Shall we?"

"Here." George handed his broom to Harry. "You two take this one. I'm gonna go with Fred."

"Thanks." Harry said and did not waste any time sitting on it. "Come on!" Harry spurred Ron when he did not follow right away and instead watched the twins arrange themselves on Fred's Cleansweep. It was a pretty dumb name for a broom that was meant for flying, Harry thought briefly while Ron finally swung himself behind him on George's broom.

Fred and George were already halfway the height of the Manor by the time Harry and Ron were ready to push themselves off the ground. "Harry!" Ron shouted when his best friend speed up as fast as he could. They flew into the sky almost vertically so they already were above the height of the Manor when they approached it. It reduced the likelihood of them being seen.

Harry even overtook Fred and George shortly before they reached the aimed height. "Great flight, Harry." Fred praised as they both stopped in the air and turned to the manor. It looked like a mix between a castle and a Catholic church from above. The dark grey roof plates did not make the building look very inviting.

"Let's go." Harry got to moving.

"Wait, wait, wait." George said. Harry looked back at them, caught between feeling annoyed and confused. He wanted to get Draco out of there as fast as he could. Why did everyone try to slow him down?

"We should go first." Fred said.

"I think we know what to watch out for better than you." George said.

"With us using many tricks ourselves." Fred said.

"Besides," George said. "As your older brothers we need to look out for you."

They did not specify whether they meant only Ron or Harry too, but either way, it was kind of sweet. Harry followed as Fred and George carefully approached the roof. George took something out of his pocket, engorgioed it, and threw it on the roof next to a roof window. When nothing happened except for the stone to roll down until it got stopped by a chimney, Fred manoeuvred the broom to where the stone had landed.

Harry briefly wondered why they did not just use the chimney, but he guessed there were many ways this could go wrong. Fred waved for Harry and Ron to land next to them while George was crouched down, operating something on the window frame. As Harry approached, he saw something that looked like a muggle metal tool disappearing back into George's pocket.

Harry and Ron landed on the roof as quietly as possible. George pressed one end of the window down and grinned up at his brother, who grinned back mischievously. They were having way too much fun with this, Harry thought, but he did not complain when they slid through the window one by one, and landed in the Malfoy Manor's attic, wands raised precautionary.

For an attic, the space was surprisingly clean. No spiderwebs on the wooden piles and no boxes strewn around, just dustless shelves and cabinets and a few glass cubes exhibiting dubious artefacts. But nothing moved to attack them. Harry gave George the broom, who reductioed it and put it in his pocket with the other reductioed broom.

Harry was the one who took the lead from there. He quietly opened the door and was relieved that this was not a normal attic with a shrieking door and a lose wooden floor that creaked with every step they took. Harry climbed down the wooden ladder. Waiting for the others to follow, Harry took a careful look around the hallway they had landed in. A big window behind him showed the forest in the morning light, providing the lighting to see the long corridor with several closed doors and a stairway at the other end. The walls were made of stone and the ceiling was painted with what looked like art from long passed centuries. But maybe that was just because Harry was clueless about art.

"Great." Ron whispered sarcastically once he had reached the bottom. Harry guessed he meant the long hallway that they had no choice but walk through without any kind of cover. If someone were to come up the stairs at the other side, they would be exposed. But Harry did not hear a sound, not from any of the rooms nor from anywhere else in the house.

Harry took out his invisibility cloak and held it up. "If we hear something, we all crouch down and I'll cover us." He whispered.

"Great plan." George whispered.

"But you still haven't told us how you plan on defeating You Know Who." Fred whispered.

Harry ignored them and carefully took a few steps into the hallway. The others followed him quietly. They made it to the staircase uneventfully and tiptoed down. They landed in another similar looking hallway, but this one was illuminated by torches and the stone walls were hung with portraits instead of painted with old artwork. Harry hoped none of the paintings was made to alert the house owners of intruders. It looked like the staircase was at the other side of the hallway again. Dang, Harry thought, living here must be a pain in the ass. He tiptoed into the hallway again, hearing the others follow.

They were about halfway through, when they heard footsteps approaching. Hurrying to crouch down, Harry covered them with his cloak hastily. Sure enough, a second later, someone came up the stairs into their hallway.

Harry stood up and let the invisibility cloak fall off of him. "Draco!" He regretted his exclaim immediately, but no one seemed to have heard him.

Draco froze for a few seconds and stared at Harry, and at the Weasleys who stood up behind him. Fred and George, who did not exactly know what was going on, had their wands raised. But Harry did not notice. He watched the blonde boy carefully. He saw his slightly hunched stance, his glazed eyes that looked like he had been suppressing the need to cry, now widened with surprise. He saw that his hair, while still looking orderly, was slightly ruffled, and there was a crumb of something a few millimetres next to the corner of this mouth. Harry had watched Draco many times during breakfast, and he knew that when something was troubling him, he only forced himself to eat a few bites to seem unbothered to others, but he took the tiniest bites with his canine teeth.

Draco's gaze finally left Harry's as he took in the defensive Weasley twins and a tense Ron, who looked back and forth between Harry and Draco. Suddenly, the Malfoy seemed to remember where he was and hastily looked behind himself before hurrying to get to the Gryffindors standing in his hallway. Opening a door behind them, he pushed them in the room. The room was probably a guestroom because there was a neatly done, blue double bed on the right and a few wooden, fancy looking furnishings as well as two still lifes hanging on the walls, but nothing personal was to be seen.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" Draco whispered.

"Well-", Fred went to answer with some witty comment, but Harry paid him no mind.

"Are you okay?" He took a step closer. He was incredibly relieved to see the Draco, not really safe, but sound.

The Slytherin gave him a confused look. "Why wouldn't I be?" Harry saw him subconsciously cross one arm over his middle in a protective manner, but other than that, he did a great job keeping his posture unaltered.

"I saw you this morning." Harry said and noticed Draco tensing up. "Being... you know. Tortured." Draco flinched.

"Being what?!" Fred and George exclaimed at the same time. Draco looked at the twins wide eyed, hastily turned back to the door, then shushed them sharply.

Finally, he turned back to Harry, looking confused, surprised, then terrified. Crossing his arms tightly in front of himself, he avoided Harry's gaze. Instead, he stared at an unknown spot on the floor. "How?" He whispered.

Harry took a careful step closer. He wanted nothing more than to hold Draco that moment, but he did not dare to. Who knew what this torture had done to him. Carefully, he raised his hand to rest on Draco's cheek. He did not move away. Instead, he followed the silent request to look up so Harry could finally see his eyes. "Sometimes," Harry said quietly, "In my dreams, I see what Voldemort is-"

Draco flinched and took a panicked step back. "Don't say his name." He said coldly and took a hasty look at the door again. The room was frozen for a few seconds where everyone was staring at the door, except for Harry, who was watching Draco.

Normally, Harry would say that it was stupid to have fear of something trivial as a name, but this was different. "Sorry." He said.

This brought Draco's attention back to him. "What are you doing here?" Draco repeated his first question.

"I told you," Harry said. "I saw you-"

"I got that part." Draco interrupted. "While I still got thousands of questions about that, it doesn't answer the question."

"I wanted to see if you're alright." Harry said. "And get you out of here."

"Actually," George interrupted.

"We thought we came her to fight You Know Who." Fred said.

Harry blushed. "Yeah." He looked sheepish. "Do you think there's a way?"

Draco stared at Harry in disbelief. "If you know he is here," He started startlingly calm, then anger dripped in his tone. "Then why in Salazar's name would you come here? Are you crazy?! You know he wants you dead. Absolutely no day passes where he doesn't talk about that. And how he needs you to return somehow, body and all. Don't ask me. I don't get it. But why would you come into the house where the psycho lives who wants you dead? Are you kidding me? Why on earth didn't you just inform the ministry?"

Harry was a bit startled by Draco's anger. Much calmer, he answered. "Your father is part of that ministry."

"So?" Draco asked, still angry but quieter because he had probably remembered that there was a chance for people to hear them.

"So," Harry said. "The ministry is not trustworthy."

"He does have a point." Fred said.

"We could have just called the Auror department." George said.

"Well, I wanted to see if you were alright." Harry said. "And," He added after a short pause, "I didn't think of that."

"Of course you haven't." Draco huffed, "You always think you have to save everyone yourself."

"I do not." Harry protested.

"Alright." Ron said, probably wanting to avoid a fight. "We'll inform Kingsley."

"No-" Harry protested.

"It's honestly the most logical thing to do." George said.

"But-"

"If you go in there," Draco interrupted Harry's protest, "There is a good chance he'll defeat us all and restore his body and then it will be a million times harder to defeat him."

Harry opened his mouth to protest again, but looking around the room, everyone seemed to think this was their best shot. And he mainly just wanted to avoid Draco getting hurt again. And of course, the world. He did not want the world to be tortured by Voldemort returning.

"In the meantime," He turned to Draco. "You can come with us."

"Are you kidding?" Draco stopped Harry, who was already turning to Fred and George to retrieve the brooms. "I can't just leave."

"Why not?" Harry turned back to him. "You can return once the Aurors have defeated Vold- I mean You Know Who."

"And if they don't?" Draco reasoned. "Not only will I be on his hit list, but my parents will have to pay for their son going rogue. I will not risk it."

Harry wanted to protest. He did not like leaving Draco here. The memories from his vision were still vivid and Draco's posture told Harry that the torture had not left him unaffected. But what Draco said was reasonable, Harry's desire to protect Draco from all harm in the world was not. "Alright." He finally said. "Then I'm staying here with you until the Aurors come."

"No, I want you to leave." Draco said.

"But-"

"You're more at risk than me if you stay here." Draco interrupted. "And the whole world is at risk if he finds you."

Harry hated that he was being so logical. Why could he not just stay with Draco, no matter if here or somewhere safer? "Draco, I-"

"I know." Draco interrupted and closed the distance between them. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around Harry. Just for a few seconds, Harry relaxed into the embrace, breathing in the scent that was so uniquely Draco. They had never been this close before. Sure, they had invaded each other's space before during their flirt-capades. But this was not teasing or trying to rile the other person up. This was comforting and everything Harry had wanted from Draco since he had realized his true feelings for the boy. Probably since before that even.

"Guys," George suddenly interrupted the silence. "Do you hear that?"

Harry did not move, but he tried to listen for a new sound. There was a gentle, periodic thud. It sounded a bit like-

"Footsteps." Draco let go of Harry hastily. "You need to-"

The door opened. Everyone in the room turned to the figure standing in the door. A familiar, rat-like face stared back at them, but Harry could not get a good look of Wormtail before a searing pain erupted from his scar. The last thing he saw before he fell to the ground were mean, red eyes.

"What do we have here?" The ugly, baby-sized Voldemort creature hissed from Wormtail's arms. Harry registered Draco and the Weasleys building a wall before him, wands drawn. "Good girl, Nagini."

Harry gritted through his teeth as the pain intensified and another hiss joined Voldemort's. A snake slid into the room and slithered around them one time before taking place next to Wormtail and her master.

"It's may be a bit of a waste, since they are purebloods," Voldemort whispered, "But we don't need those Weasleys. Ava-"

"NO!!!" Harry worked through the pain and stood up. It almost made him vomit. "Expelliarmus!"

The Voldemort creature blocked that spell and thus begun an exchange of hexes and curses. Even though they were five perfectly capable wizards, Voldemort was able to block every single one if their spells and even throw in some of his own.

All of a sudden, Wormtail fell to the ground and the disgusting creature fell next to him. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Wormtail did not move. Voldemort though, he straightened his wormlike body up and directed his red eyes on George. "Knock out my holder. Very clever."

Harry agreed silently. He had not thought of that between killing Voldemort and the searing pain in his head. But he did not wait for Voldemort to attack George as a revenge before sending another Expelliarmus his way. Again, Voldemort blocked it effortlessly, even though his wand was almost as big as he himself.

He seemed to get tired of all this back and forth, because all of a sudden, Voldemort spelled a blocking shield around himself, making all of their hexes just jump off of him. "I knew you were not completely loyal to me, Draco." He directed his malicious gaze to Draco, who no longer sent spells his way, but held his trembling wand still pointed at the Voldemort creature. The Weasleys and Harry also stopped spelling since it made no sense attacking Voldemort's shield. "Sssssstill," Voldemort continued. "I am really dissssappointed in you."

A tense silence spread in the room. No one moved, but Harry was ready to kill that creature if he even attempted raising his wand against Draco.

"You're gonna have to pay for that." Voldemort hissed. Harry sensed Draco's trembling intensifying. "You understand that, don't you, Narcissa?" For a second, Harry was confused, until Draco's mother stepped up to stand behind that Voldemort creature.

"Please, no." She said, her voice trembling. She looked at Draco with a look that Harry had always wished he could have gotten all these years. The love and the concern of a mother.

Voldemort seemed to notice the delicate situation he was in. "I suppose I could forgive him." Voldemort hissed with a piercing stare at Draco that made all colour disappear from Draco's face. Harry could not bear it, so he started another attack. With frustrating ease, Voldemort deflected all attacks. "Back me up here, Narcissa." He demanded.

Narcissa raised her wand and pointed it directly at Harry. "Mother, no!" Draco yelled between spells and deflections. Harry had to stop a hex abruptly when Draco stood in front of him. Over Draco's shoulder, Harry watched Narcissa whisper something, wand still pointed into their general direction and he wondered if she would really do that. Hex her son. He saw her whisper something and suddenly, a block broke away from the ceiling and fell, faster than anyone could react, on the creepy, baby-sized creature and the head of its pet snake.

Everyone froze and stared at the stone block, wearing a grimace from the squelching and cracking sound. The tail of Nagini twitched a few times before everything was still.

"Mum..." Draco finally whispered, sounding just as disbelieving as Harry felt.

"Baby." She said, stepped over the stone and pulled her son in for a hug. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? I'm so sorry. So, so sorry."

"Mum." Draco whispered, and somehow, he did not have to say it, but even Harry understood the undertone. I'm fine, it's not your fault.

Harry looked up to where a hole was in the ceiling now, showing the light yellow ceiling from the room above. Then he looked back down where the ceiling part had fell.

"Are you sure he's dead?" Ron whispered. Like Harry, he still did not dare to let his guard down.

"I think so." Harry said after a short pause. "My scar doesn't hurt anymore."

"We have to leave before aunt Bella comes back." Narcissa said, but she was clearly only talking to her son. "She's gonna flip out if she finds out what happened. Salazar knows she's lost her mind since she found out he's back."

"Only since then?" Fred asked sarcastically, earning a glare from Narcissa.

"How about you come back to the Burrow with us?" Harry asked.

"What?!" Fred exclaimed.

"Harry." Ron groaned.

"I'm sure the noble Malfoys have their own places to hide." George said.

"We do." Narcissa said.

"Actually," Draco said, glancing at Harry for comfort. "They would expect us there. I mean, wouldn't it be smarter to go somewhere not even father would expect us? Like... you know. The noble house of the... Weasels, I mean Weasleys."

"Draco." Narcissa said sternly. "We are not welcome there." She whispered, but everyone in the room was able to hear her.

Harry turned to the Weasleys. George looked thoughtful, probably seriously considering it. Ron looked like he really wanted to do Harry this favour, but was struggling to accept it. And Fred just looked like he agreed with Narcissa. They were not welcome in the Burrow. He guessed he could not blame them. If he saw it from their perspective, they would be putting their home and their entire family at risk. They probably would be fine with just Draco, knowing the kind of thing between him and Harry, but the mother?

"You know." Harry said. "She did just save the whole world from Volde-", Harry stopped himself at all the flinches and scared looks to the stone. "You Know Who." He finished.

"It doesn't matter." Narcissa said. "We're not coming with you. We'll be able to hide out until school starts. Then Draco will be safe anyways."

"What about you, mum?" Draco asked, a hint of anger in his tone.

"We'll worry about that later." She said. "Come on." She pulled her son out of the door in a hurry, careful not to touch the stone on the ground. "It will be a mess to clean that up." She muttered.

"Wait." Draco turned around.

"We'll be fine." Harry said. "We have brooms." He pointed to the window. Draco nodded, but still looked comprehensive. "Write me?" Harry said. "You know where I am."

"You'll see each other in five days." Fred rolled his eyes.

Of course. Because that was when school started again. "I'll write you." Draco gave him a small smile before hurrying to leave with his mother.

"Alright." Ron said. "Let's leave please. I feel uncomfortable in this room with that." He pointed at the stone. "Even if I know he is mush under there."

"Agreed." George said and retrieved the shrunk brooms from his pocket.

As they reached the Burrow and Fred and George made up some lie about a morning ride to excuse why they came home so early in the morning, it started to sink in.

Voldemort was dead. Harry's life was not constantly threatened anymore.

And Draco... Harry felt like he was finally willing to work it out with him.