"Where are we?" Draco hissed as quietly as he could under his breath, doing his best to stay crouched and close to Harry so as to not appear from under the cloak. It was an oddly personal experience but Draco decided not to bring that up and make anything awkward.
"Sh!" Harry shushed him shortly, pulling his right arm, and therefore the rest of him, along. They climbed the stairs of a seemingly empty attached townhouse that once boasted the number 13, though now was in slight disrepair.
Once they had creeped inside, very careful to avoid sudden movements just in case anyone was watching, Harry began casting various protective spells. He locked the entry doors excessively first before leading himself and Draco further into the house to as to pull them away from the windows. Once all of that was accomplished, the invisibility cloak was finally discarded and both boys took a moment to cool down and breathe.
Draco cast a muffling charm on the two doors leading in and out of the dilapidated parlour they resides in before asking again, "Now can you tell me where we are?"
"Safe house is next door, but the secret keeper is in hiding so we can't get you in." Harry replied shortly, his various wards and protective spells being repeated even on the inner room.
"Ah. Right." Draco realised the actual location was apparently supposed to be kept secret and dropped the topic.
Harry finally just flopped down on the sofa, obviously exhausted, "Sorry, didn't mean. . ."
"It's alright, a lot's happened," Draco sat down at the far end of the sofa as Harry put his head in his hands.
"You're not supposed to be accepting. You're supposed to make fun of me so I get short tempered so I don't have to rest."' Harry grumbled.
"Ah, right," Draco paused a moment but found his inspiration lacking, "You're— Er— an idiot." He finished his statement with a playful lack of conviction, rolling his eyes at himself before Harry could even have the chance.
"If that's the best you've got, I'm doomed." Harry didn't even bother to look up.
Draco shrugged despite himself, "You're not the only one who's tired, Potter."
"What, no energy to bicker? What've you done with Draco Malfoy?" Harry tried to joke as he revealed his face once again, his eyes looking older than they are.
Draco's mood turned dark as his the comment struck a chord, reminding him of the identity crisis he'd been having since he smuggled Olivia out of the Manor, "I'll let you know when I figure that out."
Harry's eyes flickered to him in some unknown emotion— concern, possibly?— before moving away, looking at nothing and staying quiet. It was during the few minutes of this that Draco grew more and more unsettled, though his occasional prompting had no response.
Finally, Harry's gaze came back into focus and he turned to Draco, "The Weasleys are safe, but we aren't sure where Sirius is so you'll have to stay here until our next step. Will you be alright if I pop over there and grab some supplies?"
Draco waved him off, "I can protect myself, Potter. Go talk to your friends and make sure Olivia is alright, then bring back supplies."
Harry nodded and stood. He inhaled and smirked slightly as if to say something witty as the last word, but then decided against it. He grabbed the invisibility cloak from where it had been laid over the sofa and was off.
~
This first excursion of Harry's didn't last long. Although the sun had long since set, Harry returned with blankets and pillows for the two to sleep on, hesitantly agreeing to share the moth-eaten yet quite spacious sofa. Sure, both of them had their legs quite crumpled in order to avoid touching one another as much as possible, but neither saw the torn up wooden floorboards as a viable sleeping option. That, and Harry seemed too stubborn to let Draco be left to his own devices (or was still suspicious of him, whatever the case).
Waking up, Draco found their legs slightly tangled as their subconscious selves had sought out body heat and space to stretch. He did his best to separate himself without waking Harry, nervous about how the other boy would react. Once the two were separate, Draco found he had nothing to do but sit there anyway. He was tempted to try and return to the not-exactly-peaceful sleep, but as soon as he began to shift towards it Harry woke up.
It wasn't exactly a peaceful awakening either, as Harry sat bolt-upright in a state of panic, unfocused eyes darting everywhere. Before Draco could say anything in his defense, Harry had his wand at his throat (or at his shoulder, really, as Harry's glasses remained on the floor).
"Easy there, Potter," Draco held his hands up to show he had no intention of cursing him. Harry's eyes refocused slightly and his breathing began to slow.
"Shit." Harry cursed under his breath, lowering his wand slightly as he reached for and out on his glasses, lowering his wand fully as he recognised where he was and who he at his wand aimed at.
"Is this a regular occurrence—?" Draco couldn't seem to phrase their current situation without it sounding odd so he let the sentence hang.
"Nightmare," Harry responded quietly, not meeting his eyes in obvious embarrassment.
"Ah." Draco was torn between protecting his reputation and admitting to his own nightmares, but thankfully Harry's sudden standing and changing of the conversation saved him from making a decision.
"I'm going to get breakfast. I'll bring you something back."
~
Draco had never been involuntarily hungry before this point. Sure, he'd had times where he felt too busy or too good for the standard three meals, but there was always food around if he chose to eat. However, now Harry had been gone for actual hours "getting breakfast" and he was starting to feel the hunger.
Finally, once Draco had abandoned pacing for fear it was using up too much of his energy, Harry made his presence known as he undid the protection spells and redid them all behind him. He carried a bundle of tied-up fabric that was bulging with different food.
"Sorry, Liv had found some things she wanted to show me and we had some house elf business to take care of." Harry kept things purposely vague, handing over the bundle of food.
"Anything useful on this quest to defeat the Dark Lord?" Draco asked as he struggled to untie the bundle, his manicured fingernails being just enough of a nuisance that eventually Harry undid the knot for him without a word about it.
"Maybe. They might call me back if we get an update." Harry warned, retaking his spot on the couch.
Draco wasn't quite sure how to respond, though he tried to blame his silence on the ravenous eating he began as soon as the food was presented to him. It was nothing spectacular, but Draco figured that was to be expected, given the circumstances. He took a breath in between foodstuffs to ask about Olivia since obviously Harry had no desire to discuss more pressing matters.
"Liv's fine. She's not fully. . .there, a lot of the time, but she says she's fine." Harry wasn't directly looking at him, "I'm worried about her."
Draco slowed his chewing, swallowing hard before responding, "Is it to do with her memories? Or with this quest-like endeavor?"
Harry sighed audibly, "I wish I knew. She won't tell me anything--" his eyes suddenly became unfocused, staring at the wall in front of them as if it had tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
A moment of silence later, Harry stood up to leave, "Something's happened. I'll be back."
"Hang on a moment," Draco snapped, his temper flaring (most likely due to exhaustion, he would tell himself later), "You're trying to leave again? Without telling me a bloody thing? I didn't sign on to being an accessory, Potter!"
Harry's startling green eyes finally met his, a violent look into his soul as Harry battled with indecision. Eventually, he sighed and sat back down, took a moment to say something to Olivia, and opened his mouth to respond.
"How much exactly do you know about Horcruxes?
Draco shifted involuntarily. He couldn't shake the feeling that that was one of those words never meant to be spoken aloud, and only very rarely read in books. And he had read it, at least twice, in the books on dark magic that the Malfoy Manor contained, though on neither occasion was the tome very detailed.
"I've read about them a little. They're unreliable tools for immortality, as far as I'm aware."
Harry had the audacity to look shocked, "That's not far off, actually. They are fragments of a witch or wizard's soul that they've chopped off and placed into objects. This way, if they're killed, their consciousness can move to the object with part of their soul in it and they can continue living."
Draco, while not known explicitly for his intelligence (he was no pompous Ravenclaw, and bragging about that sort of thing excessively didn't suit him), he was no idiot. He put the pieces together and shivered in his seat.
"He can't be killed?" his voice sounded too small and meek for his liking. He was Draco bloody Malfoy, but the thought of an immortal Dark Lord shook him to his core.
"He can only be killed if we destroy all the Horcruxes first. Problem is, there's six of them in total and they're not easy to find. We've destroyed two already and we're trying to locate another."
"What kind of objects? How do you destroy them?"
Harry's eyes unfocused for a second, and he made another move to stand before reconsidering and turning back to the conversation, "Things he thinks are valuable. The first was his diary, which I stabbed with a Basilisk fang in second year. Dumbledore destroyed the Gaunt ring with the sword of Gryffindor, which has been indued with basilisk venom. Right now we're tracking down Salzar Slytherin's locket. If you can think of anything else he might use, keep it in mind. Right now, I really need to go over there and see what's happening."
Draco nodded and let him leave, his mind abuzz with the new information. This was going to take some adjustment.
This silence, however, was much shorter lived, as Harry returned only an hour later with no further update.
"Liv just found something personal, nothing of importance." Harry dismissed Draco's unasked questions as he pulled of the cloak and sat back down on the couch.
"Ah. What exactly is our next move, if I may ask?" Draco said, turning to face Harry though he knew Harry would not do the same.
"Right now, we're waiting for Sirius' house elf to bring us someone who should have the locket of Slytherin. Other then that, we have no leads or clues or any idea where to go next." Harry admitted with a certain hollowness to his voice, "Unless you came up with any ideas while I was out."
Draco hadn't been able to give it much though, truth be told, but he was weirdly desperate to continue the conversation regardless, "Perhaps. What did you say the known ones were, again?"
"Tom Riddle's Diary, the Gaunt Ring, and now the locket of Slytherin."
"So he's choosing things special to him, objects that are gaudy but hard to find." Draco surmised.
"It seems like it. Anything come to mind?"
Draco pondered a moment but was forced to shake his head no, even as Harry seemed to deflate further in front of him, "He doesn't seem to have many material objects lying about. The only thing he keeps with him is his snake, Nagini, but can you even make living things into horcruxes?"
Harry rubbed at his scar absent-mindedly, "I don't know. It's impossible to find anything specific about them, and Dumbledore wasn't—" Harry's eyes flashed to Draco after he realised the name might not be a good idea for him, either.
Draco dismissed the concern in an instant, "I regret what happened, but I won't let that get in the way of what needs to be done. Did he not tell you anything more?"
Harry shook his head, "I think he knew more and just didn't get the chance to tell me. Or that's what I hope, at least."
The conversation fell to silence, and day fell to night not soon after. Draco grabbed the blankets from the back of the sofa, attempting to hand one to Harry but was quickly dismissed.
"I can't sleep right now, I'll stay up and keep watch." Harry tried to say with an air of authority, but his determination failed him.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, we have no idea when we'll need to leave or where we'll be able to sleep next. Just shut it and take the blanket, Potter." Draco snapped with ten times the determination, though Harry still took a moment to sigh before caving in and accepting the blanket.
~~
Current Author here: hello everyone!! Thankfully my semester is just about to end and I'm stuck at home with nothing to do again, so hopefully that means more writing and more updates on this book!
Also: this chapter is dedicated to @ElizabethBlackwell9 for messaging me and kicking my butt into gear for this update! Thank you and everyone else for your support on this series, it means a lot to me and I'm so glad people are enjoying it!!!! As always, I love all feedback y'all have for me, including messages asking for updates (thankfully I had one to go!), so always feel free to reach out!
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(Past author:)
Writing has finally continued! For reference, it's probably been five months since I last wrote this story (though thankfully I wrote the first part of this before the involuntary hiatus).
As you may have noticed, I'm writing all of this from Draco's POV even though there's a lot more happening over in 12 Grimmauld place. Part of this is because I want to explore the Draco/Harry dynamics, but most of it is because I am struggling with inspiration rn and can't handle the million and three emotions Olivia is experiencing rn. As a result, I'm going to let Harry tell us all we need to know and hope that's enough for y'all 😬
Anyway please leave feedback and I hope you enjoyed!