Harry heard two distant pops and immediately jumped to his feet. He said nothing to Draco, but jumped up and ran out the door and was soon running down the stairs.

“Mum? Dad?” Harry shouted, looking around, trying to find where the pop had come from. He suddenly realized that the sound he heard had been the Manor wards. Uncle Lucius must have lowered them to allow his parents to apparate directly into the house.

That was when Harry felt a surge of magic. Yes, that was the wards being reapplied.

He knew that his parents were going to portkey out of Hogwarts, but to a random place, a location that only Severus knew about. From there they were going to apparate. This had all been planned out for years. Just in case.

“Just in case” was now happening. It was so hard for Harry to come to terms with that. They had been prepared for this since before Harry, Hermione, and Draco had turned eleven. Maybe even before that. Harry vaguely remembered that Severus had started teaching the three of them how to occlude their minds right after they moved in.

That didn’t make the sudden changes any easier, though Harry honestly wondered how long his parents and aunt and uncle would have let him and Hermione roam the countryside at the bequest of Dumbledore. If it would have been allowed at all. Harry had not yet told any of the adults about the mission Dumbledore had sent them on to find the false horcruxes.

Harry looked around in the parlor and the den as he made his way towards the front door when he finally saw them.

Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief and thrust his whole body at his parents, wrapping his arms around his Mum and his Dad, nearly knocking both of them down in the process.

“It is okay, Harry.” Rosemerta whispered in his ear, patting his back lightly. Although she sounded and appeared calm, Rosemerta had never been so happy to see her child.

It was times like these when she knew that blood was only part of what made a family. Harry was her son. He had been Lily’s first, and Rosemerta thanked Lily every day for the sacrifice she made that allowed for the gift she had left behind. Harry meant everything to Rose, and she would die to protect him, just as Lily had, if she needed too.

Harry sniffed lightly, but, determined not to cry in relief, stood up and straightened his shirt.

“Does he realize?” Harry asked. Rosemerta and Severus looked at one another. They knew what their son meant. But was it worth it to tell him just how close they had come to Dumbledore catching them in the act of leaving?

“Everything is fine, Harry.” Severus said, taking out their packed things and resizing them so that Dobby could easily move them to their wing of the Manor.

Harry stared at his father.

Severus Snape might be able to fool most people because his face remained emotionless. But that

was because most people only looked at his face. They never looked at his eyes, though. They thought the man had no feelings, so didn’t bother.

Harry knew that something had happened, though. Something they were hiding.

“Where is Lucius?” Severus asked, pulling Harry out of his thoughts.

“I dunno. Me and Draco were in Draco’s room. Dad, what really happened at Hogwarts?”

Severus said nothing, but walked towards Lucius’ study that was at the back of the manor. Now was not the time to discuss what had happened at Hogwarts. What was done was done, and regardless of the fact that Harry did not always like it nor did he want to admit it, the boy was still a child and if it was the last thing Severus did, Harry would get it out of his head that he was supposed to save the wizarding world.

Severus walked into the open door of Lucius’ study and watched the man standing at a back window.

“Lucius, it is time.”

They needed to further ward the estate and soon. While Malfoy Manor was unplottable and under a Fidelis charm, along with centuries of familial wardings, Severus knew that it would be best to add additional and specific wards against people scrying for magical signatures. He had a bad feeling that Dumbledore would try to scry for Harry’s and possibly Hermione’s signature soon.

They had to be prepared for anything.

Because nothing was as it seemed anymore.

Let the war begin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Later that night, after a dinner in which each person ate at their leisure, something that did not normally occur, the trio of teenagers were in Hermione’s room, directly across from Draco’s.

Harry’s room was on the opposite wing of the house, where his parents lived.

It had been decided when Harry and Hermione had first came to Malfoy Manor that, in order for them to have a strong familial relationship, the Snape’s would live in the East wing of the Manor, and the Malfoy’s would live in the West. It was the only way that they could keep their children safe, and have a semblance of a personal home at the same time.

It had worked. The two families normally dined together, but having two separate areas to live in helped the children when they needed their own areas or when they needed family time, as well as those off times when one or more was grounded for some random scheme or another.

And they often needed that time apart during the start of summers when feelings were sensitive.

It was hard for the three teenagers to pretend while at school, and they often had to readjust when

they came back home.

This time was no different.

“So, was it hard to leave behind the Weasel like that?” Draco asked, looking out the window of Hermione’s room which overlooked the front yard and gate to the estate.

Hermione and Harry looked at one another and Hermione let out a small sigh.

“You know that it wasn’t his fault, Draco.” Hermione said quietly, staring at the boy.

Draco snarled at her.

“Yea, whatever. Just like it wasn’t Harry’s fault that I got transfigured into a damn ferret last year. But you both still laughed about it. Just like you, Harry, laughed this past term when the Weasel hexed me when my back was turned. He’s such a coward.”

Harry stood up and looked at his friend, and for all purposes, his cousin.

“Draco! That isn’t fair! You don’t know Ron well enough to call him a coward! You know that we don’t have a choice! Do you know what would happen if Dumbledore were to suspect us? Hermione and I already have to occlude our minds constantly at Hogwarts! At least you get a reprieve!” Harry hissed.

Oh how he wanted to hit the blonde. He had to hold his temper during the school year every single time someone bad mouthed his father and Draco, else everyone find out about their relationship. It was twice as hard to hold his temper when he was home. He knew he couldn’t hit the other boy again. The one time that Draco had made him lose his temper while at school, when he was being more malicious that normal, Harry had broken his nose. It had only been two months ago, and Severus had been furious, berating him for taking things too far.

Sometimes, Harry wondered if any of the adults knew just how hard and stressful it was to live this double life…a life they had all been living for four and a half years. Harry wished so much that they could go back to the days before Hogwarts. When things had been calm and he didn’t have to worry constantly about messing up.

“Yea, but you know what? You two have one another all year long. Who do I have? I have no one that I can call a true friend because I can’t tell them my secrets. Friends…true friends…don’t keep secrets from one another!”

Harry and Hermione looked at one another for a split second before Draco started yelling again.

“I know that the two of you hide secrets from me! I know that you both are friends with the stupid Weasel! You both know that he doesn’t have a clue and he will turn traitor against the both of you when he finds out that you are not who he thinks you are! But you’d die for him, wouldn’t you?” Draco’s face was flushed. He knew that he was being ridiculous…even so, there was a small part of him that wondered if Hermione and Harry would protect him in the same way they would their Gryffindor friend.

Harry looked down towards his hands. They were both fisted in front of him. He cleared his

throat and glared at Draco. There really hadn’t been many times in his life where he wanted to hit Draco. Right now, however, was one of the few.

“Dad gave both Ron and me detention when Ron hexed you, you bloody git, and I didn’t even have anything to do with it. What about when Umbridge was making me write with that Blood Quill? You knew about it. Yet, you did nothing. Of course Hermione and I have secrets, Draco! How can we not? When we are at school it is like it is us against everyone else, yet we are the only ones who know it! You say that you have no one. Well, you’re a bloody damn liar! Because, you have something better! You have my Dad! I don’t even get to act as if I like my own father, yet you get him as a Head of House! You get to speak to him whenever you want! Well, screw you, Draco!” Harry left the room, slamming the doorway behind him.

“That wasn’t fair, Draco. We really do try. You know that it is all an act. But…Ron…he is our friend. He may not be now, but he was.”

“Hermione, do you think that I like the fact that I have to pretend to hate you? You are my bloody sister and no one can know it. You are a pureblooded witch that deserves better. And…honestly, it isn’t even because you are pureblooded that you deserve better! You deserve better because you are my sister! Harry is like a brother to me. I hate that we have been forced to do this!”

And, shocking Hermione entirely, Draco began to cry angry, silent tears.

She took a deep breath and looked at the boy.

“Did Aunt Cissy tell you that my Mum is here?” She finally asked him, too upset to attempt to comfort him yet. He always made it so hard on them when they got home from school. It wasn’t always easy to put up with his anger. Not when both Harry and Hermione had their own anger and hurt feelings to deal with when transitioning from the pretense of school to the reality and safety of home.

He looked up, shocked.

“Really?” Draco questioned, swiping his hand across his face. He had only been home for two days and had stayed mainly in his room. But, he was still surprised that neither of his parents had said anything to him about his Aunt during any of their shared meals together.

“Yea. I thought that it was another lie. Remember when the Daily Prophet came out and said that there had been a massive break out at Azkaban. I never would have thought that it was for real. My Mum is here Draco. She looks so…frail. Azkaban really did a number on her.”

Hermione laid her head over to the side of the armchair that she was sitting in, deep in thought.

“Draco, you can’t blame us for the things that happen during the school year. It isn’t fair. I think that everything is harder on Harry than it is on me. I am better at hiding my emotions. He isn’t. You know that, yet you always play with his emotions. You have to stop. We can’t live like that anymore.” Hermione told him, cutting her eyes over to Draco.

Draco swallowed.

“I hated Umbridge just as much as Harry. It’s just hard, coming back home after we have virtually hated one another for the last three and a half months.” Draco whispered.

Hermione stood up and walked over to him, placing a hand on either of his shoulders.

“But, we all know that it is an act. You have to remember that. Even in the darkest hour, what we do, we do to survive. It won’t ever be like that again. It can’t be. Not now. Too many things have changed.” Hermione said, hugging her cousin tightly.

Draco stood silently for several moments.

“And what happens when we can’t protect one another anymore?”

It was so silent that Hermione almost didn’t hear it. Or, rather, she wished that she hadn’t.

“We have to hope that it never comes to that.”

She whispered the words then slowly allowed her arms to slide off of Draco. Such little faith he had.

She walked over to the doorway.

“Why are you leaving? This is your room.” Draco asked.

“I am going to see my Mum. I want to spend time with her. I’ve never been able to before. I need to know her.” Hermione said.

It wouldn’t be much later that Draco would look back on this conversation and realize that the things that had been said in Hermione’s room that day had never had more truth to them.