Harry stood on the steps of Grimmauld place with Ron on his right side and Draco on his left. The Gryffindor sighed heavily as he stared up at the large door. Ron laid a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"You alright mate?" he asked.

Harry paused for a moment before nodding.

"Sure. I'm fine."

After another moment's hesitation, Harry reached forward and pushed the door open. All three boys burst into coughing fits as a thick cloud of dust and an odd odor slammed into them. Harry threw his right hand up in front of him and-thanks to all the practicing Ron, Dumbledore ,and Draco had helped him with- managed to conjure a shield big enough to cover all three of them. The boys glanced at each other uncertainly before stepping all the way into the house.

Ron flicked his wand and small torches burst into life, giving off just enough light for them to see a few feet down the hall.

"This looks inviting." Draco said sarcastically.

Harry and Ron snickered.

The trio did a quick sweep of the house with Harry holding a shield over them the entire time, and saw with despair that the rest of the house was in as terrible shape as the entrance hall. Ron noticed that Harry had completely avoided Sirius' room but didn't bother to comment.

"Alright I think we should start on the bottom floor and work our way up." Harry said.

"I think I'm having second thoughts about this whole thing." Draco admitted.

Ron laughed.

"Me too mate."

"Oh come on you two can't abandon me now." Harry said with a bit of pleading in his voice as he imagined cleaning the monstrous house alone.

Draco and Ron glanced at each other before nodding.

"Alright, I'll suffer here with you but if a better offer comes along, you two are on your own." Draco said.

The boys laughed and went outside after deciding to get a fresh start in the morning. Grimmauld place disappeared behind them as they walked back down the street.

"I'm hungry." Ron said. Harry rolled his eyes.

"When aren't you hungry?"

"While I'm eating." Ron answered firmly. Harry laughed.

"Fair enough. You're mum wanted us to visit right? While our stomachs are empty is as good as time as any."

Draco glanced at the boys but looked back down at his feet. Harry noticed this and draped an arm over Draco's shoulders.

"You have to try Mrs. Weasley's cooking. It's better than any Hogwart's feast." Harry said.

Draco nodded but didn't look at the boy.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

Draco's eyes flicked over to Ron and then back to his feet as. It took Harry a moment to comprehend that the Slytherin was worried about going to the Weasley house because of all the rude comments he'd made over the years. Harry sighed. He'd hoped that spending time with the Weasley kids in the hospital had made the Slytherin realize that risking his life for Ron's had completely wiped the slate clean.

"Don't worry about it mate. Everything will be fine. Besides you'll have to go to the Burrow anyway since we can't very well stay at Grimmauld Place at this point in time."

"I can stay at the Leaky Cauldron…."

"No. You will come to my house and you will like it. Now let's get food." Ron said.

Draco looked ready to argue but Harry shook his head. At that moment the trio arrived at the apparation point; the back of a dark alley where no self-preserving muggle would ever step foot.

"The longer we spend discussing this, the hungrier Ron will get and Ron gets a bit loopy when he's hungry." Harry said.

Draco glanced at the red head who smiled proudly.

"It's true."

Draco shrugged.

"I'm still not sure this is a good idea." He admitted.

"Only because it wasn't yours." Harry teased.

Draco shot him a half hearted glare before the two Gryffindors apparated away. With a final sigh, Draco followed suit.

--

Mrs. Weasley stood at the counter, watching a carrot slice itself into thin pieces while her husband sat at the table reading the paper and Ginny and Hermione talked excitedly. Movement outside the kitchen window caught Mrs. Weasley's eye.

"Oh girls, the boys are back." She said.

Ginny and Hermione looked up just as Ron pushed open the kitchen door followed by Harry and a very uncomfortable looking Draco.

"Hello boys. You're back soon." Mr. Weasley said brightly.

Harry nodded.

"We decided to start tomorrow. We've got a lot of work to do." He said.

"Plus I was hungry." Ron said.

"Well you're in luck. I've just about finished a pot of stew. Sit, sit make yourselves comfortable."

Ron sat beside Hermione and kissed her on the cheek. Harry took the spot beside Ginny and kissed her as well. Mr. Weasley folded up his paper and laid it in front of him.

"The Daily Prophet's still printing stories about your return Harry." He said.

Harry groaned.

"Why? That was months ago."

"Well it seems that people have it set in their minds that they saw you while everyone thought you'd gone missing. The papers have been getting letter, after letter of 'eyewitness accounts'. Plus there's been letters to the editor with praise for another narrow escape. Draco and Ron are in there as well. Not only that but it seems one of the aurors that came with us that night sold information to the Prophet."

Draco, Ron, and Harry all stiffened slightly and looked at Mr. Weasley. Only those three. Dumbledore, and Fred knew that Harry had thought he was on the Dark side. No one else even knew he could do wandless magic since George gave him back his wand as soon as he was released out of the hospital. The boys had managed to make everyone think that Harry and Draco had been hurt in battle and that Ron had happened to come upon them. Ron had also told his family that Draco had been hurt trying to protect him which wasn't a complete lie but since he decided not to say that it was Harry who he was being protected from, it wasn't the whole truth either.

"It was just a load of balderdash if you ask me. He must have been hit with a confundus charm because this bloke insisted that he saw Harry strike down Draco and then start battling Ron." Mr. Weasley said.

Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione all shook their heads and laughed it off. Ron, Harry, and Draco struggled to do the same.

At that moment Mrs. Weasley realized that Draco still hadn't sat down at the table.

"Is something wrong dear?" she asked.

Mrs. Weasley had become quite taken with the Slytherin. She'd heard what he'd said about her to her children but Draco had been so polite and respectful to her face that she found it hard to be angry with him. Mrs. Weasley had also been able to see the glimmer of guilt in Draco's eyes and decided that she would try her best to make the Slytherin understand that the past was the past and all was forgiven.

Draco shifted on the balls of his feet when all attention fell on him. He hated acting so skittish but he was immensely uncomfortable around such a warm family. The only other person he'd ever known to act anything like this was his mother but even she didn't actually cook for him.

When the blonde didn't answer Mrs. Weasley poured the carrots into the steaming pot and walked over to him. She stepped behind him and after grabbing both of his shoulders lead, him to the empty spot on the other side of Ginny.

"There you are. Now who's hungry!" she said happily.

When everyone else raised their hands Draco lifted his slightly as well. Mrs. Weasley went over to the stew pot and used her wand to fill up seven bowls of steaming stew. The bowls floated onto the table in front of everyone and once Mrs. Weasley sat down, everyone dug in. Draco paused before and after the first bite.

"Do you not like the stew dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked when she noticed this.

"No actually." Draco took another spoonful. "This is great." He took a third bite. "Really, really great." He said.

Mrs. Weasley beamed while Harry and Ron shared a quick glance before continuing on their own soups.

The rest of the supper went by quickly. Draco offered a few words to the conversation but other than that kept mostly to himself. Harry and Ron laughed with their girlfriends and nearly started a food fight with the fresh baked rolls Mrs. Weasley made. Finally came the time when everyone was too full to move. Ron fell asleep on Hermione's shoulder and the rest barely spoke.

"Alright you lot. I'm going to wake you up bright and early in the morning so you can get yourselves over there and clean up your new house." Mrs. Weasley said.

Harry nodded slowly.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley."

"Yes ma'am thank you very much. Dinner was incredible." Draco said.

Mrs. Weasley patted both boys on the shoulders as she began to collect the dirty dishes. Hermione woke Ron and soon all the teens were making their way upstairs. Hermione would be staying in Ginny's room until she left for her study program. Draco, Ron, and Harry were all crammed into Ron's room since there were too many unidentifiable things in the twins' bedroom.

Ron was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Draco and Harry were tired but stayed up a while to talk.

"You know you don't have to be so uncomfortable around here. No body's holding anything against you." Harry said. He could just make out the outline of Draco nodding in the darkness.

"It's hard though. I've spent the past six years making fun of the Weasley's every chance that I got. I suppose it was because that's what my father and my friends expected of me but I still feel really guilty. If I had known how amazing Mrs. Weasley or this house was before I started making all those jokes, I would have never said a word." Draco whispered.

Harry grinned into the darkness.

"Yeah Ron really is lucky." He said.

Draco nodded again. The boys were silent for a while and soon the only sounds in the room were their heavy breathing coupled with Ron's random grunts.

Thanks for reading. Please review I love to hear from you. Let me know what you might want to see!!