"You ready Prince?"
"As ready as I'll ever be Scarhead. Too late to bring cuddles back to the table?", Draco asked nervously.
"We'll cuddle the whole night. Just have to make it through dinner."
"Okay."
With one last squeeze to Draco's hand, Harry knocked on the door.
"Harry, Draco! You're early, I must say I'm surprised."
"Hello Mrs. Weasley, it's nice to see you, Mother sends her regards."
"Of course. Won't you come in?"
Steeling himself, Draco went in first, with Harry closing the door behind them. They followed Mrs. Weasley into the kitchen to drop off the wine and cake.
"You both didn't have to bring anything, but thank you. Harry dear, we have parchment scattered across the house for you. Feel free to pick up any piece you see lying about. It's there for a purpose."
With a nod, the two men were shooed into the living room.
"Harry!"
"Fred, George!", he replied with a grin. "You remember Malfoy?"
"Course we do", George answered with a nod.
Malfoy was shocked when Fred pulled him in for a hug.
"Thank you."
"I don't know what for". Malfoy said airily.
"Yes, you do", Fred replied fiercely. "You don't need to be modest about this, you saved my life."
"Huh?"
As he had felt most of his life, Harry once again knew that something was being hidden from him.
"Malfoy hit me really hard with an Expelliarmus. So hard that I flew a good few feet backwards. As soon as I hit the ground, an explosion went off right where I had been standing. Got knocked in the head pretty good with some rubble. If Malfoy had just continued going past me, I would be dead.
I didn't understand it at first, but it made sense. It looked like I had been blasted by the rubble and I was dead. Gave Percy quite the scare. My wand was away from me too, which really added to the effect. No one would bother me if they thought I was dead.
You even made sure that I had the best healers assigned to me, and you helped cover some of the costs. I know that you did. So, I say thank you again, for everything. We'd like to start out on a clean slate. It's time old rivalries are put to rest. We accept your apology, and would like to move on."
"It was the least I could do", Draco admitted. "I would love to start over."
Both twins pulled Draco in for a hug, and Fred grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him in too.
"You're amazing", Harry whispered in Draco's ear.
Draco knew that tone meant they would be talking about this later. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the attention, Draco knew it would be a good time to get away for a bit.
"Would you like some help Mrs. Weasley?"
"That would be lovely dear."
Normally, she would decline, but she thought this could be a nice moment to get to know Draco without Harry hanging over his shoulder. She wanted to speak to him anyway.
"Excuse me", he said, as he headed into the kitchen.
"Thank you for offering to help dear."
"Of course. I do have to inform you that I'm not the most competent in the kitchen. I can chop and stir."
"Perfect. I trust you can chop some vegetables for me then, and then prepare a salad?"
"That is something I'm capable of, yes", Draco replied with a small chuckle that turned into a soft smile as he heard Harry laugh.
As they chopped in silence, Arthur entered through the front door.
"Harry my boy, how are you?!"
"Doing well sir, and yourself?"
"Absolutely splendid. Is young Mr. Malfoy here?"
"In the kitchen. And please Mr. Weasley, you can call me Draco, or just Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy is my father and I no longer wish to be associated with him in such a manner."
"Very well, Draco. How is your mother doing?"
"She's well, thank you. She sends her regards."
"Of course."
Arthur came into the kitchen to greet Molly, and Draco shook his hand.
"Arthur and I wanted to thank you Draco."
"Please, I should be thanking you after you've been so kind to me when I most certainly did not deserve it. I was unkind to all of you, and once again I sincerely apologize for that. I hope that one day I'll be able to work for your forgiveness."
"You already have. We know you weren't under any good influences Draco. When you broke away from that, we were able to see the man you always could have been. You're welcome in our home anytime."
"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Truly. If there's anything at all I can do for you, please let me know. I still feel terrible about all of the things I've said. You've honestly got such a wonderful family, Harry included."
Molly allowed Draco to help her finish up, but then she was ready to take her kitchen back over.
"Do you hear that Draco?"
"I don't hear anything."
"Yes, that's what I'm afraid of."
Silence in the Weasley household was always concerning. As Molly and Draco walked back into the living, Molly beamed at the sight before her. Harry and the twins were laughing and flinging folded up parchment notes at each other.
"I was worried that it was too quiet in here, but for once I had no reason to be concerned."
"Harry has us practicing our pendmenship", Fred said with a laugh.
"The ledgers are going to look great!", George chimed in.
"I'm done with Draco now, his help was appreciated. Don't eat any chocolates they give you dear."
"Aww c'mon mum!", Fred chided.
With a good natured roll of his eyes, Draco stretched out on the floor next to Harry and grabbed some parchment.
"Show them that paper crane you enchanted to fly at me in year 3.'
"Sending love notes huh Draco?", Fred teased.
"Poor foreshadowing on my part actually. It was a drawing of Potter getting struck by lightning during that quidditch match where he took that nasty fall. He wasn't the one who got struck though. Sorry about that by the way."
"Oh that's the day Wood tried to drown himself in the showers!", George said with a laugh.
"I'm sorry?"
"Oh yeah, Percy snagged a real winner with that one", Fred replied with a snicker.
"Wood and the prefect got together? An odd match, but I can see it."
"We always thought the only match for Oliver would be a quidditch match."
"Imagine if he was a year younger when the tournament canceled quidditch for a year", Harry's parchment chimed in.
"Wicked spell Harry!"
"Yeah, where'd you learn that?", George asked.
Harry nodded to Draco with a grin.
"You have to teach us Malfoy!"
When Molly came back into the living room later on she teared up at the sight of all of her children casting spells to make their parchment speak to accommodate Harry.
"Hey mum! Look at what Draco made for Harry!", George spoke, waving Molly over.
"I just taught him the basic spells, he figured out how to combine them on his own. He's much smarter than people give him credit for", Draco replied fondly.
She called Arthur in, and they spent the last half hour before dinner was ready learning the spells.
"You'll show us how to do the origami later right?", George asked.
"And how to enchant it?"
"Could be useful for the shop", George agreed with Fred.
"Get washed up now boys. Draco, would you help me set the table?"
"Of course."
Once everyone was gone and Draco had finished washing his hands in the kitchen sink, he turned around, only to be pulled into one of Molly's signature hugs.
"Thank you for making such an effort with him Draco. I hope you'll come back one day and help teach the rest of the family."
The implied meaning in regards to Ron was there.
"It would be a privilege."
"You're good for him, you know. I don't know what you were expecting to walk into tonight, but I'm glad to see that you're more comfortable now."
"Once I've taught everyone the spells, I'd like to have you all over to The Manor for dinner one day. I think Mother would enjoy it. She's still on house arrest as you know so she wouldn't be able to come here, but I think it's best if the rest of your family gets accustomed to me at first."
"You mean Ronald. He'll come around eventually, he always does. Harry knows it too."
Their conversation came to an end as everyone came back into the kitchen. Draco took a seat next to Harry, and he allowed Molly to pile food onto his plate.
"You doing alright?", Harry whispered quietly.
"Absolutely perfect", Draco replied with a large grin.
Harry was pleased to tell he meant it. It helped him relax a lot more. Dinner went off without a hitch, but they hit a small snag towards the end.
"So boys. I don't know whether you've heard anything or not, but Minerva has full intentions of opening Hogwarts back up in September. Do you think you'll be going back?"
Both men froze, and tightly grabbed each other's hands under the table.
"I don't know", Draco responded slowly. "I don't think anyone would want me there."
"Rubbish! If anyone gives you a problem we'll ban them from our shop", Fred promised
"Agreed. I'll make sure the door hits them on the way out."
"If the offer comes, I will think about it. I know Mother will push for me to go back, and I won't be able to get a good job unless I complete my education. If anyone would even hire a death eater."
"Ex-death eater", the whole table chimed in unity.
Draco wasn't expecting that.
"You can always work with us!", George piped up.
"Thank you, all of you."
"Do you have an idea of what you would want to do?"
"Maybe something with potions. Severus was my godfather, so I learned to appreciate them at a young age. Truthfully, I didn't think I'd live long enough to have to choose a career. What I do know is that I'm staying away from Ministry work for a good while, if not forever."
"I'll drink to both of those statements", Harry muttered.
"I think the extra year could be good for both of you to figure out what you want to do. I just want to put the idea into your heads so you're not overwhelmed when you eventually get your letters."
Harry and Draco didn't release their grip on each other for the rest of the time they were together at the table. If anyone else noticed, they didn't say anything.