The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy

Chapter 4: Breakthrough at the Burrow

Life at the Burrow was driving Draco mad. He didn't know how much more he could take. Along with Potter, Weasley, and Granger, he had four additional Weasleys to put up with. The parents always looked harassed, and Bill's scarred face made Draco's stomach lurch, and Ginny kept shooting looks of such longing after Potter that it made Draco feel nauseated. Then, on top of all that, was Fleur Delacour, who glided around delivering a never-ending monologue about ze wedding and treating them all like servants. At one point she actually told Draco to help with the streamers. As if he were a House Elf. He just looked at her, appalled, until his mother gripped him by the upper arm and steered him out of the kitchen.

Mostly, Draco and his parents spent their time at the foot of the gnome-infested, weed-ridden garden, as far away as they could get from the others. There was some satisfaction in this. Draco enjoyed sitting in the shade of a tree as Potter and Weasley shot filthy looks at him, pouring sweat, arranging white chairs under the beating sun.

Meals, though, had to be conducted outside, and for decorum's sake, the Malfoys were obliged to sit at the same trestle table as everybody else. These hours were so spectacularly awkward that Draco felt almost delirious with discomfort. Arthur Weasley in particular seemed incapable of looking at any of the Malfoys, let alone speaking to them like a normal person. "Could someone please pass the potatoes," Mr. Weasley would announce loudly to nobody, staring into the dusk, and when Lucius shoved them into his hand, Mr. Weasley would pretend the bowl had appeared there via some mysterious conjuration.

Draco had settled on a kind of silent non-aggression pact with Potter, Weasley, and Granger. Weasley still gave him angry and mistrustful looks whenever possible, but Potter seemed much more preoccupied by Lucius's presence than Draco's. This puzzled Draco at first, until he remembered that his father had fought all three of them, and Ginny, at the Department of Mysteries.

As for Granger, Draco had been suspicious at first that she might act differently toward him after their argument at her house. He found himself thinking about the possibility that she might corner him and try to make him speak about Dolohov, or about his father; he spent time thinking up responses to increasingly invasive questions that he imagined she would ask.

This was time wasted. She never approached him. Actually, of all the people in the Burrow, she was behaving the most tolerably toward him: she was brisk but polite, with no long, searching looks that suggested she was just waiting for him to press his Dark Mark and summon the Death Eaters. This was something all of the Weasleys, Potter, and occasionally even Fleur did.

All in all, the atmosphere was less than terrific. Draco hoped he wouldn't have to put up with it for too much longer, and two days after they arrived, his wish came true. Shortly after dinner, Mrs. Weasley beckoned him over.

"Yeah?" he said, unable to keep a sullen note from his voice. With the stern look on her face, he wondered what he'd done.

She took a deep breath. "Arthur's discussed with the rest of the Order," she said. "Kingsley Shacklebolt has agreed to help transport your family out of the country. We'll start making preparations after the wedding."

"Why not now?" Draco asked.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "You may have noticed we're a bit busy here at the moment. And things at the Ministry have deteriorated very quickly since... since Dumbledore..." Mrs. Weasley's voice quavered, and she shook her head, blinking rapidly. "We think multiple members of the Ministry have gone over, and with that being the case, you're lucky Hermione was able to get you here so quickly. The Floo network is being heavily monitored already, and they've put up a blanket Trace on the use of Portkeys. And obviously international Apparition is—"