Bill sat up very late, staring at the parchment in front of him. He'd been halfway through the apology to Tom when Errol arrived with a short note from his father informing him of Professor Snape's visit and that the ‘haughty prat' had grown up in an orphanage. He sighed in guilt, he'd made an assumption, and it had turned around and bitten him.

He'd immediately burned the partial apology he'd started writing - he'd spent much of the missive pointing out to Tom that someone of privilege could afford to be a bit more generous. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Now he didn't know how to begin. Yes the teenager was ‘haughty', but it was a front. He may have money now, but it must be a new thing.

He thought over everything his father had said earlier that day, and took a deep breath. He was resolved to do this and to do it right. His father's good opinion was more important than anything Tom or even Harry thought. He finally put quill to parchment and wrote a more sincere apology. Bill didn't spare himself in the letter, although he did give an explanation for his severe reaction to the apparent insult to the family. He ended with an offer to buy Tom lunch the next time he visited Gringotts, if Tom wished a more personal apology.

Bill rolled the parchment up and set it to one side. He then tackled Harry's letter. Bill looked at the clock; with the hand pointing to ‘far past bedtime', he was glad he had the next day off to sleep in. This letter was a bit easier and he finished it quickly. He attached the letters to his own owl and sent them off. Errol hooted anxiously, and Bill patted the elderly owl and gave him some treats.

"You're too tired to make another trip tonight. You can go back home with a note for dad in the morning." Bill was fond of the ancient bird, and wished he could be retired. Errol hopped to the top of Bill's owl's cage and tucked his head under a wing happily.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The next day dawned at the Weasley household with the weather appropriately dull and gloomy. Arthur unearthed a pouting Ron from under his covers and spoke with him. He would be de-gnoming the garden for the day, and he asked Ron what he so disliked about Harry.

Ron looked rebellious, and hesitated. He knew his reasons wouldn't be acceptable to his family. "I thought he would be friends with us, but he's stuck on that hateful guardian of his. Everyone knows how horrid Snape is, and Harry Potter defends him. And he's...so...stuck up. Probably has bags of money and is a spoiled brat. He has everything he wants - a wand early...lessons." Seeing his father's increasingly stern face, Ron choked down his tirade before he could start in on what a betrayal it was for Harry to be friends with Draco.

"Ron, from the description of events at Diagon Alley, Harry was reacting to your own hostility. When Harry visited, you insulted the man that rescued him from a horrible fate - his uncle had attacked and tried to kill him - did almost kill his Aunt, and Professor Snape took him into his home. Whether anyone else likes Severus, Harry does, and Severus is very good to him. Verbal attacks on him will only make him angry - justifiably so." Arthur sighed at Ron's downcast face.

Sometimes Arthur felt they had been unfair to have so many children - usually they were very happy, but at times like this it was hard. Ron was their youngest son, and the recipient of so very many hand me downs, the butt of a lot of the twin's jokes, and the last to be allowed to do anything. Ginny, at least had mostly new things, and was the apple of her mother's eye. Arthur knew that Ron resented those with more money a lot more than his other brothers.

Bill and Charlie, despite recent events, didn't focus on people's bank accounts. However, Bill never had hand me downs, and Charlie only rarely. The twins only cared if a person was a good prank target. Percy, many would think that he cared about money - but really he only envied people their more orderly lives, whether they were rich or poor. Ginny was too indulged by her mother to realize she was technically poor.

That left Ron, who was acutely aware of how shabby his belongings were, and many times very envious of those with better lives. Arthur gathered Ron to his side, and hugged him hard. "Ron, you have your life ahead of you, and it will be a miserable one if you spend it envying everyone who has more than you. After you graduate Hogwarts you can go after riches, if you want. Remember that there will always be someone richer than you, someone with more talent, and someone with more power. You need to learn to be happy with what you have, at some point."

Ron nodded uncertainly. "I know I shouldn't care about what Harry has or does, but I just burn up when I see him, especially since I can't be his friend."

"You know, a few thrown insults doesn't mean you can never be friends. Amos Diggory and I were very...loud rivals at Hogwarts. He could come up with the most inventive insults that somehow were funny and he never got in trouble about them with the teachers because they were too busy laughing. I would do pranks on him that the twins would have been awestruck by." Arthur smiled in remembrance. "We didn't get to be friends until the last year, when I finally realized he wasn't after Molly - I thought he was you see. Then it all seemed so...silly." Arthur hugged Ron again. "And now we are best buddies at work."

Ron sighed doubtfully. "I don't know if I even want to be friends, now."

"Well, you don't have to be - but it would be better to not be enemies." Arthur said matter-of-factly.

"I suppose." Ron seemed resigned, now, and trudged to the shower - he had gnomes to evict.

Arthur knocked on Charlie's door and went in at the answering ‘come in'. Charlie was already dressed and sitting on his semi-clean side, as opposed to Percy's immaculate side. Arthur sat in Percy's unoccupied chair. Charlie twitched uncomfortably. Arthur sighed; this would be more difficult for Charlie.

"I guess you already realize that you'll have all the dreariest chores we can find until school starts." Arthur watched Charlie nod. "I know that you realize, now, that what you did was wrong, but you need to look closely at what led you to drawing that wand on Tom, and then deceiving your brother. Your brother is writing letters of apology to Tom and Harry, I want you to think about doing that same." Charlie gulped in dread, he could think of nothing worse.

Arthur patted his shoulder and left, leaving Charlie to look at his desk in dread.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Severus was up early, not sure whether to look forward to the Weasley visit or dread it. It was a chance to further push the twins away from Gryffindor, but from what Harry was saying they didn't need it. He had hopes that Percy would pull Tom into being sociable; Tom did spend a lot of time researching and studying and looking at ancient memories from Yvane.

Severus couldn't believe he was trying to lure a teenager away from studying. Severus knew from personal experience how having no friends could lead to poor choices. He was aware that Tom had never had friends, just potential henchman and servants. He hoped to find some friends for Tom to socialize with.

Percy would not have been his first choice, but at least he would not be encouraging Tom to overthrow the government, or worse, helping Tom plan pranks. Dudley and Harry bounced into the dining room for breakfast, luckily after Severus was on his second cup of coffee. They were eager for the day to begin, and their beaming grins cheered Severus and at the same time made him a bit nauseous with envy.

The only time he'd even looked forward to a day before he was eleven was when he was to see Lily. For a long time even after starting at Hogwarts, she had been the light in his life. Severus knew that feeling any envy for happy children was ridiculous on so many levels, and he shook his head ruefully. He smiled at Harry and Dudley, drew out a vial, and reminded Harry that he would be starting his eyesight potion today. Harry's smile widened - he'd forgotten that.

Severus summoned Tinker and told him Harry needed to take five drops of the potion every morning with breakfast, and to not let it be earlier than 6am or later than 11 am. He measured the amount out carefully into a glass of water, while Tinker watched intently. Harry took it with barely a grimace and the vial was placed on a shelf, out of the way of potential mishaps. Tinker was dancing in place in excitement at being in charge of such an important task.

"Remember to report any headaches, or when your eyesight becomes blurred even with your glasses on. The Healer knows you are taking this, and expects to see you in two weeks to adjust the glasses, and adjust them as needed after that. Tom can take you there, and your Aunt Petunia can accompany you when she is better." Severus knew he had gone over these plans numerous times - both boys had looks of patient resignation and Tom was concentrating on his omelet and not listening at all.

An owl arrived, with the Daily Prophet. Severus smirked at the tale of the Death Eater being ‘apprehended by the Aurors' - as if they'd done anything other than fetch Ragnor from Spinners End. Still, Severus didn't really mind. They had emphasized that they needed the general public to think that Spinner's End was still Harry's home. The rumors regarding the Dragon Reserve could be laid to rest by saying they had been ‘vacationing' briefly at one.

Lucius had firecalled an irritated Fudge extremely early this morning. Fudge had quickly realized the opportunity, and had released a statement early enough to be included in today's paper, that ‘The Boy Who Lived' was well guarded and implied the Ministry had a hand in keeping him safe and sound. Lucius and Severus were smug that Fudge was misleading everyone at their instigation; anyone looking for Harry would continue to go to Spinners End to try and find him.

The Aurors had fallen in with the plans happily. Severus had told them if there were any questions from the ministry, he expected Auror Hugo Savage to contact them, as he had been to visit once already. This impressed the Aurors and would keep the people who were aware of Dragonsrest to a minimum. Severus finished the article and passed the paper to Harry and Dudley, who had been gaping at the headline.

The two of them greatly enjoyed reading the paper from front page to the very back. Severus emphasized to them that the Prophet was to be read with a jaundiced eye, as they tended to sensationalize everything, to sell papers. They nodded and continued reading it every morning.

Severus had explained the ‘full of traps to the very rooftop' house on Spinners End, and the two were enjoying reading about the results when Draco arrived. He joined them in snickering over the news article. Lucius nodded to Severus and left, clutching a wizardspace bag with numerous dark artifacts in it.

Lucius had swept through his houses picking up dark objects he had no real interest in keeping. Now that he was aligning himself more closely with light wizards he needed to remove the more ‘embarrassingly dark items'. Many he would store in the Malfoy family vault, but a large number were about to be traded for one of the two Goblin made items left to be gathered for the trade for the dragon.

Severus would be firecalling the last wizard with the final item, soon. The news for that wizard would not be good.

Petunia walked slowly into the dining area and was seated; she ate slowly, but was happy to be joining the others for a meal. The boys greeted her happily and Severus nodded at her with a small smile. Tom nodded as well with a murmured ‘good morning'. Petunia moved to the living area and settled into a chair by a large bay window. Tinker fussed with pillows and fetched her books.

Another owl arrived, bearing two letters. Harry took one, looking mystified. Tom took the other, looking suspicious. They both read Bill's letters of apology with shock. They had not expected anything like that. Draco and Dudley read the letter over his shoulder, and Harry had to recount the prior day's adventures in Diagon Alley to Draco.

Draco frowned and kept silent with difficulty. Lucius and he had discussed the Weasleys at length. They knew that, as the older Weasleys were members of the Order of the Phoenix, that they would have to deal with them a great deal. Having civil relations with them would be necessary. Lucius said that Severus would deal with any unpleasantness with the Weasley children, and it would be best to say nothing insulting about them unless they got into an argument with Draco, himself. It would look better for the Malfoys if Draco was not the aggressor.

Draco grimaced at the accounts of Tom and Harry's encounters with the Weasley brothers, but at least Bill had realized he had been incredibly rude and had penned some apologies. They looked over at Tom, who was reading the note a second time with a puzzled frown.

There was loud crack and then a knock at the door, which Tinker answered. Fred and George, followed by Percy were led to the entryway and Harry, Dudley and Draco charged in to welcome them. Severus and Tom followed more slowly.

"Welcome to Dragonsrest, gentlemen." Severus intoned. "I hope you enjoy yourselves today. As you guessed, you are on a Dragon Reserve, and I expect you to behave with care. Tom is going to give you a tour of the place, with Rigel Blackpool's help. I had you bring swim things, because we have a pool with a waterslide for you to cool off in, and lunch will be served there. You might be joined by some dragons who like to watch humans swim.

"The director has a young female relative staying with him who will also be attending Hogwarts, who may be joining you - I expect everyone to behave as gentlemen, of course." Severus watched the group nodding vigorously, with satisfaction. "Tom is in charge when I'm not present, and Percy is also here to help keep an eye on things." Tom looked unperturbed, but Percy's chest swelled with importance.

"I have some firecalls to make and possibly a visit, but I will join you for lunch." Severus ruffled Harry's hair. "Have a good day." Harry beamed back at him, and Severus left for the library, to use the floo there.

Dudley and Harry peeked into the living area to let Petunia know the day's plans, and introduced the awestruck twins and Percy. They were greatly impressed at the thought of her being shot to protect Harry and Dudley. They had all heard the horrifying stories of what bullets and guns could do. All three bowed to her and said ‘Honored to meet you', with sincerity. Petunia smiled and waved them off to their pursuits.

Tom led them silently to the Reserve compound, meeting Rigel as they got there. Rigel was fond of the boys, feeling a bit proprietary since he had assisted in their escape from the muggle world. Rigel led them around, showing them the Healer pens for injured dragons, the potions makers hall, and they passed by the riders quarters. Riders smiled and waved at them, calling Hello to Tom in particular. Numerous dragons were pointed out from a respectful distance. Even the Antipodean Opaleye was nearby to be admired.

Fred and George whispered, "Charlie will be sooooo jealous."

Percy smiled a bit to himself; he knew it was petty to feel so smug. But it was difficult, with his older brothers forever sneering at him for his ‘priggish' ways to not want to have something to wave in Charlie's face. With Charlie's aspirations to work on a Dragon Reserve, himself, this would be a bitter blow.

A trip was made to Yao's hot spring, and the dragon came out to be admired. Draco earned the Weasley boys undying gratitude for having a camera with him, so numerous pictures could be taken. Yuan came out to visit for a few moments, and toss treats to Yao. Cho came with him and was introduced, and she followed them to the pool.

Soon, the entire group was cooling off in the pool. The young Welsh Green came down to see the new humans to the Weasleys' delight. Tom left the pool to talk to the Welsh Green with Yvane for a few minutes and then settled on a chaise lounge after waving a drying charm. He unshrunk a bag of books and notes he'd brought with him and spread things over a nearby table. Percy soon joined him on an adjoining chaise.

"Researching something interesting?" Percy asked enthusiastically. He enjoyed unearthing information.

Tom eyed the younger teenager carefully. "We found a very old dagger with a lot of enchantments on it. We were hoping to learn more about the spells, but they seem to be ‘female' in nature - preventing males from using it." Tom smiled a little ruefully at Percy's amusement.

"I take it that's why you had a book on women's magic? Charlie ran on about that a bit." Percy asked.

"Yeah, he had a lot to say about it." Tom's voice took on an edge.

Percy heard the edge, and sympathized with Tom's anger. Charlie and Bill often insulted first and thought later, and seemed to think their victim should cheerfully blow off even the most horrendous insults, if they threw an absentminded ‘sorry' at them. "Well, dad ripped into him and Ron last evening, and I'm pretty sure Bill got a piece of his mind as well."

Tom looked at him in surprise. "Really?" He said, wincing at how stupefied he sounded.

"Yes, Ron's de-gnoming the garden and Charlie has a list of chores that looked pretty endless. I'm not sure what dad said to Bill - he's out on his own, but I know dad did speak to him. Bill was pretty upset about being lied to, I know." Percy looked at Tom earnestly.

Tom was astounded that the elder Weasley would punish his sons for their mischief. He slowly pulled out the letter of apology that Bill had sent. He'd read it twice in disbelief, and then had shoved it into his pocket, sure it was a trick. Could Bill have meant it? Perhaps Percy could tell him, Percy seemed an honest sort, and was friendly toward him.

"Go ahead and ask. I'll know if he lies. He's been honest so far." Yvane urged.

"Your older brother, Bill sent me a letter this morning, apologizing for his actions...do you think his was sincere?" Tom asked slowly.

"He did? I wouldn't imagine he would do that unless he meant it. If he was insincere it would show in the letter - you'd know he didn't mean it." Percy said unequivocally.

Tom looked the letter over again. The only problem was he had no idea of whether to accept the apology, or even how to do so. He couldn't remember ever receiving any real apology. Tom grabbed his courage with both hands and decided to trust Percy - just a little, and handed him the letter. "What do you think I should do, Percy? Should I just write a letter in return, or ask to meet with him?"

Percy scanned the letter quickly. "Well, just a note saying you accept the apology is enough. The invitation to lunch is likely just him saying that if you want a public, personal apology that you can have it."

Tom nodded his mind whirling. There were a lot of people he'd imagined at his feet, desperately scrambling for his forgiveness - Starting with almost everyone at the orphanage, several teachers, and the entire Riddle and Gaunt families. Now it seemed embarrassing to imagine Bill publicly apologizing for simply believing his brother.

"Humiliating others is not as exciting as it seems. Those that enjoy it need to take a good look at themselves." Yvane said.

Tom shoved the letter back in his pocket, resolving to address it later.

Percy took it as an end to that conversation. "Can I help you look anything up?" Percy asked.

Tom handed him a sketch and description of the dagger, and a large book on ancient weapons. "See if you find a mention of any daggers like this one." Percy beamed and started looking.

Severus arrived along with Tinker and the enormous lunch. Severus thanked the happily beaming elf, and called the group to eat. He watched Tom and Percy hunched over several books talking back and forth rapidly and pointing at things. Well, at least Tom was researching with someone closer to his own age, and they were outside, by a pool. He went and sat by the two and soon was adding his observations to their explorations of the books.

Fred and George had fallen in with the others with no difficulty. After a little stilted conversation with Draco, they discovered he and Harry had aspirations as chasers. The Quidditch conversation hadn't ended since then, especially after Cho confessed she intended to be a seeker.

Fred and George brought food over to Tom, Percy and Severus, "Before it ran out." Percy sniffed the drinks suspiciously, knowing his brothers well. Severus and Tom drank before Percy could warn them and laughter broke out at their suddenly green hair. Percy gulped and muttered ‘sorry'.

Severus turned and pinned the pair with a glare. He drew his wand, making their eyes widen with dread. A swish of the wand and he and Tom's hair was back to normal. He'd endured too many hair-color pranks from the marauders to not know how to fix those. He lifted an eyebrow at their sheepish smiles and turned back to his lunch, and called for fresh drinks from Tinker.

Severus could hear Harry's ‘Told you that wouldn't work, guys' behind him and smiled.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The afternoon was soon at an end, and the twins promised to owl the three after they got to Hogwarts. Tom made a copy of the drawing of the dagger, and Percy promised to look it up at Hogwarts. Tom was looking forward to corresponding with Percy, who seemed as studious as Tom could be.

Severus unlocked the floo and the boys flooed back to the Burrow.

Dudley helped Petunia up to her room and had supper there. Tom ate quickly and sped to the library, eager to double check his notes.

Severus brought out the goblin made ring he'd gotten from a certain Marsden Avery. The wizard had wanted a bunch of illegal potions. He'd settled for a sack full of Galleons and a promise of silence from Severus on a great deal of blackmail material that Severus had on the wizard. Lucius had owled with the goblin made bracelet he'd traded the sack full of dark artifacts for. The goblin made items were now all together for the trade for the dragon.

Harry ate quietly and then watched Severus put all the trading items together with satisfaction.

"We'll have that dragon home very soon, then?" Harry asked.

"Yes, hopefully before I leave for the school year. Yuan is quite happy to hear we're freeing him. He believes the dragon is the last the goblins hold. We certainly hope so. Yvane should be able to talk him out of the caverns and help him fly here." Severus said.

Harry smiled in answer. Helping free the dragon was satisfying. He could remember hoping desperately for rescue when he was locked in his cupboard. Now he could help this dragon.

"They twins told me what house they're going to try for - you'll never guess." Harry smirked at Severus.

Severus lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head. Harry leaned over and whispered.

Severus tipped his head back and roared in laughter. A win indeed.