I poked my head out of my room to where Harry was standing.

     "Can you help me with my socks?" I asked hopefully, holding them up to him. "My toes keep getting all stuck and stuff."      

      "Certainly" Harry said, following me into my room and sitting me on the chair by my bed. I handed him my socks. Harry looked at them a moment. "Hang on Sev, you've picked two that don't match."

      "Uh, yeah," I said as though it were the most logical thing in the world. "That way I get to wear a blue one and a green one."

     "Alright then," he said with a chuckle. I stuck my foot out for Harry to help me with my sock. He tried to pull it on but my toes got all stuck again.

     "See," I said rather grouchily, "they just get stuck."

      "Try not spreading your toes," Harry said.

      "I can't help it," I said, frowning slightly as I looked at my spread toes. I hadn't really realized I was doing that. "I think they just do that."

      "Well, try to scrunch them together then," Harry suggested patiently. "That's why your socks keep getting stuck; your toes are in the way."

       I screwed up my face and squished my toes together, and sure enough my sock slid on just like that.

      "You're smart Harry," I said in awe, wondering how it worked so well.

      "Really," he said, sounding amused. "Okay, lift up your other foot now ..."

              After I'd gotten dressed Harry and I went outside. I followed him out to the shed, and watched as he grabbed things off some shelves. There were lots of things in the shed ... cauldrons, boards, tools, and lots of weird ingredients for making potions. I wondered whose potion making things they were as Harry grabbed a box with a few tools and some nails.

      "What are you doing Harry?" I asked as I tagged along behind him while he walked out across the small field behind the house.

      "I'm going to do a few repairs on the fence," Harry said, slowing down so that I could keep up. "It was a project that Se- er, I started a while ago."

       "Can I help?" I asked eagerly.

       "Tell you what, you can hand me the nails," said Harry after a moment of thought.

       I grinned and followed him out to the fence. There were a few boards lying in a pile by it. Some of the boards on the fence had been taken off. It was a typical country fence, which I liked. I loved the country. It reminded of the little farm my Grandad owned. He had sheep, and I liked to help him bring them in at the end of the day.

     "Here are the nails," Harry told me, pointing at a little tin.

       I watched curiously as Harry took out a saw and started to cut boards to the right size, and then hold them up to the rail fence. Sometimes he'd get me to hold one end of the board while he nailed the other. This was kind of hard, for the board jiggled when Harry hit the nail with the hammer. Mostly I just passed him nails though. All the while I talked to him, telling him about anything really. By the time the sun had warmed up and the morning dew had disappeared from the grass I was talking to Harry about the girl I'd met at the playground a few weeks ago. It was one of those few days that Mummy took me to the nice playground. We didn't go there much, seeing as it was kind of far from our house, so it wasn't often I got to go.

     "-she was really nice to everyone at the playground, even when a boy accidentally knocked her in the sand. She just told him it was okay, and didn't even get mad! And she had the prettiest hair I've ever seen. Mummy kept telling me to go talk to her if I thought she was so nice, but I was scared she'd just tell me to go away. See, she lives up the street from the playground, and it's not like the place I live. Where I live is all old and icky, but she lives somewhere nice. And her clothes were barely patched and mine are really patched so I don't know if her parents would let me play with her," I rambled on. "She was the prettiest girl I've ever seen, and someday I'll be brave enough to talk to her and then we'll get married!"

      "Is that so," Harry said with a whistle as I handed him another nail. "She sounds like quite the girl. Do you know her name?"

      "Lily!" I crowed triumphantly. Harry dropped the hammer on his foot, but I didn't pay much attention to that.  "Her sister called her that at least, and I think her sister's name was Tuney. I don't like Tuney much."

      "As in P-Petunia?" Harry said, looking slightly frazzled from dropping the hammer on his toe. He was acting rather odd for some reason. Must have hit his foot funny.

      "I think so," I said. "But Lily's nicer than her sister. Tuney is mean. She throws sand too." I whispered the last part, eyes wide.

      "Huh," Harry muttered, a strange look on his face again, almost a mixture of amusement and shock really. He must have really hit his foot hard!

      I watched as Harry hammered the last board in the pile to the fence and then I helped him pack up the tools. We put them away and walked back into the house to a have a glass of juice. Harry still looked kind of funny though as we entered the kitchen. Minerva turned round from where she was standing by the counter.

     "Harry, you look a bit surprised," she said, sounding rather worried, "what happened?"

     "Oh nothing much," he said, still not sounding entirely himself. "Tell you what, Sev, why don't you tell Minerva about who you want to marry?" 

      Minerva looked at Harry strangely. he mouthed at her to listen to what I had to say. It was nice of Harry to tell Minerva that I had something interesting to say. I appreciated it very much.  

      "Okay!" I cried excitedly, hopping up on a chair to tell Minerva about Lily.

      I told her all about her and how pretty she was. What I didn't understand was why Minerva dropped the carrot she was peeling when I told her it was Lily I was gonna marry. People sure were weird around here.

      "Does she have red hair?" Minerva asked, sounding precisely how Harry had sounded.

     "Yeah, and green eyes too," I said enthusiastically. "Minerva, the pot on the stove is spilling." I pointed over to the bubbling pot.

     "Whoops," she said, waving her wand at the stove.

     "What are you making?" Harry asked after a moment, staring into the pot.

      "Oh, that's going to be a rice pudding for this evening," Minerva said. "Molly Weasley has invited us all to dinner. The carrots sticks are to go with lunch."

      "We're all going to the Burrow?" Harry asked excitedly.

      "Yes we are. I hope you don't mind," Minerva replied absentmindedly as she tended to the pot of rice.

      "No, not at all," Harry said excitedly.

      "What's the Burrow?" I asked Harry.

      "Oh, it's what the Weasleys call their house," Harry replied, pouring me a glass of juice to drink before starting up a conversation with Minerva.

      I sat down on the floor in the corner of the kitchen to drink my juice, holding Alex tightly and wondering if the Wealseys really did live in a hole underground. It confused me a great deal, and so I decided to let the matter rest and go find Hermione instead.

       I gave my empty cup to Harry and went to look for Hermione. I found her watering the flowers that Harry had planted the day he'd gone to visit his friend Ron. Mrs Weasley had sent them back with him to make the house look prettier. The flowers were looking nice and had attracted a few fuzzy bumblebees, which were butting in and about the flowerbed. I watched them curiously. Hermione smiled at me and went over to the water spout to fill the watering can again. I lay down on my belly in the grass, watching in rapt fascination as the bumblebees tumbled about in the flowers got a bunch of powdery yellow stuff on them.

      "What's that that yellow stuff?" I asked Hermione, pointing at the powder on a bee's fuzz.

      "That's pollen, it comes from flowers," Hermione supplied, tipping the watering can on a group of thirsty looking flowers; their leaves looked a little wilted.

       My attention was caught by a particularly fat bumblebee, which was resting lazily on top of an orange flower. It looked really soft. I looked to Alex and whispered my idea to him, and he smiled in agreement.   

       "Come here little bumblebee. It's okay," I said softly, reaching my hand out to catch it so I could pet it. "Come on little bee."

      I grinned when I caught it in my hand. It buzzed a bit and climbed across my palm.

     "Severus, is that a bee?" Hermione exclaimed, dropping the watering can and rushing toward me.

     "Yup," I grinned lazily.

     "Get it off or it'll sting you!" she cried.

     "Nuh uh, Bees like me."

     Hermione stifled a little scream and swatted the bee off my hand. And boy did that bee get mad! It got all hot and bothered and stuck on to Hermione's hand and gave her a real big sting.

     "Owww!" she yelped, waving her hand to get the bee off. There was a big red welt on the side of her hand where it got her.

     "Uh oh," I said, eyes widening.

     "Hermione, what happened?" Draco called, running out of the house and to where she was dancing about all funny.

      "A bee stung me," she said, hissing as she examined the welt.

      "Here, come to the spout," he said quickly, leading her by her good hand and turning on the water.

      Hermione held her hand under the cool water, which gurgled and bubbled as it ran from the spout. I noticed that Draco was still in his pyjamas, and his hair was really crazy.

     "Why are you in your jammies Draco?" I asked.

     "Er, I heard Hermione's shout through the attic window so I got out of bed and ran down here," he said, blushing slightly.

     "I woke you up?" Hermione said in a rather surprised tone before changing to a more sarcastic one. "That's strange, can't you normally sleep through a tornado?"

     "Well, I guess my ears are just tuned for the sound of a damsel in distress," Draco said smoothly, puffing out his chest and strutting like an idiot.

     "Cool down Romeo," Hermione snorted, splashing some water at him from the spout. He cried out and jumped back, but nonetheless got a bunch of water down his front.

     I laughed along with Hermione. It really was hard not to with such a look on Draco's face.  

    "And this is how you treat your savior?" he asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt once he'd recovered from the shock.

    "A bee sting hardly constitutes an emergency Draco," Hermione said with amusement as she shut off the tap.

     "A guy takes what he can get, right Sev?" he said airily, winking in my direction. "Got to save the day somehow."

     "Yeah," I replied with a grin as Minerva called us for lunch. Hermione merely rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like boys under her breath. 

      ***

      A thrill of fear wriggled down my spine as I ran through the forest and the werewolf chased me and Alex. We could hear its howls and its paws scraping across the ground. Scraaaaatch sccrrraaaa ... It was going slower than a normal werewolf though, but that was because this one lost one of its eyes and a leg after a fight with a dinosaur; a scary red one, just like the stuffed one Harry had up on his bed in the attic, only bigger and with more teeth.  

     "Alex, we gotta get up that tree!" I shouted, seeing as this werewolf couldn't climb. "Run run run!"

      We couldn't hope for the moon to go down either, for this werewolf liked to be up during the day too, which was why it was chasing us. And it was in broad daylight so the moon wasn't even up yet. Now, if it weren't a werewolf that had been fed a potion as a cub it would only transform at night, but this werewolf had special powers so it could be a werewolf all the time. Someone gave it coffee too, which made it even crazier than a normal werewolf!

     "There's the tree!" I shouted. Me and Alex reached for a low branch and lifted ourselves up. We scrambled up as high as we could, which was pretty high because the tree branches weren't too far apart. We rose and rose until the three-legged, one-eyed werewolf was only a speck on the ground. I scrambled to climb up after us, but the werewolf couldn't follow.

      "You'll never get us now you icky beast," I cried bravely from the tree.

      I threw a piece of bark that had worked its way loose down at the werewolf.

      "Take that!" I shouted as it ran away yelping through the forest.

      Once it was gone Alex and I deemed it safe to get down from the tree, except for one problem. We were stuck. The forest and the make believe werewolf tracks vanished as I realised just how high I'd climbed up the tree in the back garden.

     "Uh oh," I whispered to Alex as I stopped swinging my legs and looked down below me. I had forgotten how much I didn't like high places. I reached out and held onto the tree tightly, Alex safely perched beside me where the branch forked. I wondered if anybody would ever come out of the house.

       Before I knew it I had started to cry. my sobs intensified as the tree shifted a little in the breeze. I was too scared to even think of calling out for help, and I was too busy thinking about how everybody would forget about me and I'd stay up in the tree for the four-legged and two-eyed werewolves to get me once the sun went down. After a minute or two of no one hearing me I figured that everybody had gone to the Weasleys' without me, and I would be stuck up in the tree forever and ever and ever. I let out a loud wail.

     "Mummy help me," I sobbed incoherently as I clung to the tree for dear life, "oderwise I'm gonna get eated by the normal werewolves when the sun goes down!"

      "Sev, it's time to go to the Weasleys'!" I heard Hermione call from the porch, but I was on the other side of the house, and she probably didn't see me. I cried even louder, and luckily Minerva heard me.

     "Severus!" Minerva cried frantically, having stuck her head out the now open kitchen window and looked up. "Stay where you are, Harry's getting his broomstick to come rescue you!"

       The sounds of shouts and loud footsteps drifted up to where Alex and I were stuck. I was really glad to see everybody rushing over to the tree, Harry with a broomstick in his hand. Hermione stood below, looking really worried, but not near as frantic as Minerva, who was sort of flapping her arms and running around under the tree like she was going to catch me. I might have found it funny if the situation wasn't so dire.

     "I'm coming up for you Sev," Harry called out to me as he mounted his broom. I hiccupped a little as I watched him soar up toward me. In no time he was hovering beside the branch I sat on. 

     "Okay Sev, you've got to let go of the tree so I can get a hold on you, alright?" Harry said calmly, knees gripping the broom and holding his arms out to me.

     I shook my head vigorously. It was way too scary.

     "You'll be fine, you just have to trust me," said Harry. "I promise I won't let you fall."

     "Promise?" I whispered.

     "I promise," he replied, still holding his arms out to me.

     I took a deep breath and let go, leaned toward Harry a bit and found myself safely in his arms. He shifted me a little so that he had one arm around me and one hand on the broomstick.

    "Wait, you forgot Alex!" I cried as Harry began to fly toward the ground.

    "Don't worry, I'll put you on the ground and come back for him."

    Harry was true to his word, and once I was safe on the ground and in Minerva's grasp he sped up to the tree once more and grabbed Alex. I held me breath as they came lower and lower, until Harry was on the ground and came over to give me Alex. I hugged  my bear tightly, but not as tightly as Minerva was hanging on to me.

     "I thought you were going to fall," she said, sounding really worried. "You nearly gave me heart failure, what were you thinking, climbing that high?"

     "The one-eyed three-legged werewolf was gonna get me," I said earnestly. Alex backed up my story and nodded his head.

      "Don't you ever do that again," she sternly, pretending not to hear my story about the werewolf.

      "Okay," I whispered, hugging her tight too.

      "I think he learnt his lesson," Hermione said, looking up at the tall tree.

      "I did I did!" I exclaimed, wide eyed and shivering a bit still.

      "I guess it's time to go to the Burrow now," Minerva said a little shakily, bringing me inside and setting me down by the fireplace.

      Hermione grabbed the dish that held the rice pudding and grabbed a handful of floo powder. I watched her disappear into the flames, Harry following shortly.

     "Your turn Draco," Minerva said, holding out the container of floo powder to him.

     "Are you sure they said that I could come?" he asked quietly.

     "Yes, Molly specifically said ‘the lot of us' when she asked we come to dinner," replied Minerva patiently. "I'm sure you'll have a grand time."

     "I know, I just don't want to intrude or anything ..." Draco muttered.

     "You won't be. Everyone that steps though the Burrow is treated like family," Minerva assured him with a smile. "Trust me."

      Draco took a deep breath and tossed the floo powder in the fire, stepped in and shouted "the Burrow".

     "Time for us to go?" I asked Minerva, tugging at her sleeve.

    "Yes. Have you got your bear?" she asked me. I held Alex up to her and she lifted me into her arms, preparing to floo.

      "Hold on tight," she warned, and with that we were spinning through the floo.

      We finally came to a stop, dizzy and covered in ash. Minerva set me down quickly.

      "Hello Minerva, Severus," greeted Mrs. Weasley. "Are you alright Minerva?"

      "Perfectly fine," Minerva replied, gripping the edge of a table and looking quite dizzy. "Not too fond of travelling that way is all. I much prefer apparation"

      "Come here Severus dear," Mrs. Weasley said to me, holding out a brush. She swept all the ash off of me and Alex and sent me outside to play. I spotted Hermione in the back garden with a red headed girl.

      "Oh, you must be Sev," said the girl. "I'm Ginny. Gee you're cute."

       I blushed and looked down at my feet.

       "Want to come help me feed the chickens? Hermione's tagging along too," Ginny said.

      I nodded before looking back at the house. I had thought it was going to be underground. I set Alex on a rock so he wouldn't get attacked by any chickens. Alex was afraid of birds, probably since Harry's owl had knocked him off the window sill one day when she was flying in.

       "Harry said you lived in a burrow," I told Ginny as I followed her and Hermione out to a small chicken coop.

        "Did he now?" Ginny said, pouring some chicken feed into a bucket from a sack by the coop. "He probably was talking about the nickname we gave the house. We don't actually live in a burrow, but we call the house the Burrow because it's sort of cozy like one. That's okay though," she said when she noticed the look of embarrassment on my face, "some people get a little confused about it."

        I smiled at Ginny, I liked her. The adults definitely would have laughed at me. I hated when they did that. I was happy at least that Ginny didn't think I was silly, though I was still a little disappointed that the Weasleys didn't actually live in a hole underground. That would be cool.

            "Careful not to get stuck on the chicken wire," warned Ginny, holding the gate open for me and Hermione so that we could enter the little yard for the chickens.

         Once inside Ginny reached her hand into the bucket and tossed a little feed at the chickens. They clucked and scrambled over to her, pecking the ground and making fussy dinner noises.

      "Here, give it a try Sev," she said, holding out the bucket to me.

      I reached my hand in and tossed the chickens some feed. I grinned when they gobbled it up. Hermione followed suit, only she crouched down for the chickens to peck out of her hand. I tried doing the same. Their beaks felt funny on my hand, and it tickled a bit.

      "So Sev, how old are you?" Ginny asked me, throwing some more feed at the chickens.

       "Six and a half," I said proudly.

       "Six, I loved being six," Ginny told me. "That was when Mum and Dad finally let me have a toy broomstick. I'm pretty sure Mum's still got it actually ... I know, would you like to come down to the orchard with me later to go flying with the boys? You could borrow that old toy broom of mine."

      I nodded enthusiastically. Though I wasn't entirely sure what I would think of flying, I wanted to tag along with the big kids.

     "Great! I'll go get it once we're done feeding the chickens."

     A few minutes later we went into the house, Alex in my arms once more. Hermione and I sat in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley and Minerva while Ginny went up to the attic to look for her old toy broomstick. I was practically bubbling with excitement. Harry and Ron came down the stairs and into the kitchen. Draco followed soon after, still looking nervous.  

      "Minerva, mind if I go back to the house for a moment to get my Firebolt?" Harry asked. "I forgot it and everybody's going flying."

      "I don't mind at all," Minerva said over her cup of tea.

      "Floo powder's over there dear," Mrs. Weasley said, pointing to a pot on the mantle.

      "Meet you out there Harry," Ron called, broomstick over his shoulder as he went out the door.

       I looked behind me to see Draco hovering nervously.

      "Are you going flying too dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

      "I dunno," Draco muttered. "I ..."

      "He's worried he doesn't fit in," Minerva supplied.

      "Nonsense, as long as you're in this house you're family," Mrs. Weasley said, waving her flowery oven mitt at him. "I'm sure the rest of the boys would love to have you along."

      Minerva gave Draco an "I told you so" look. He shrugged.

      "You'd better get your broom too then," Minerva said as Harry reappeared in the fireplace, his broomstick beside him.

      Draco grinned at Harry and grabbed some floopowder too.

     As he disappeared I heard a wailing upstairs.

     "What was that?" I asked apprehensively. 

     "Just the ghoul in the attic," Mrs. Weasley said as though it was perfectly normal to have a ghoul living in your attic. "Ginny's probably tussling with it to get that old toy broomstick."

     "Oh," I said, eyes wide.

     "Are you flying too Hermione?" Minerva asked curiously.

       "Um, I think I'll sit and watch actually," she fidgeted. "Besides, someone has to be down low to make sure Sev doesn't get hurt or anything."

       "I won't get hurt," I said indignantly.

      "I know, I just want to make absolutely sure you don't," Hermione said hastily.

      Just then Draco reappeared with a whoosh, brushed himself off quickly and followed Harry (who had been waiting for him) out the door.   

       ***

      When Ginny had finally found the toy broomstick we made our down to the the orchard, and we were very surprised when we got there, for standing very nearly on the opposite edges of the small clearing were Draco and Ron, and they were clearly in the middle of a row. Hermione and Ginny froze beside me, clearly just as stunned as I,

      "Look Malfoy," Ron bellowed, "I didn't invite you here, and now you pretend like everything is completely fine, you being here. After years of insulting me and my family. So don't expect me to have a ‘friendly game of Quidditch' with you. And regardless of what my mum says, in my books, you still aren't welcome here!"

      "Ron," Harry interrupted, looking stricken. But his plea fell on deaf ears, and Ron, who's voice had gone deadly quiet, advanced on Draco.

      "What do you have to say for yourself, eh Malfoy? How does it feel to mingle with the peasants and blood traitors? Why, what would your father have to sa-"

      "Shut up!" Draco burst out, fists clenched at his side. "You have no idea what you're talking about!"

     "Oh, so I haven't a clue! Probably because I'm just an ignorant blood traitor!"

     "Look, have you ever thought that maybe I regret what I've said, that I did it just to get my father to ... I never really meant all those things, honest," Draco replied, pleading with Ron to believe him.

      "A very likely story," Ron hissed.

      "I didn't mean them," Draco repeated. "All those insults."

     "Well then," Ron countered, yelling with gusto, "what was the reason for all those insults you didn't mean then? Huh?"

     "Maybe, I was jealous," Draco muttered sincerely.

       Ron deflated a bit, looking at Draco as if he'd never seen him before.

       "Jealous of me?" Ron breathed, voice quiet once more. "What do I have that anyone could possibly be jealous of?"

         "Get  your head out of the sand!" Draco cried. "This." He spread his arms out around him, looking to each of the Weasleys in the orchard.

       "The orchard?" Ron said, bewildered. "I mean, I knew you liked apples bu-"

       "No, you daft idiot," Draco gasped at him. "Family! Loving parents, siblings that look out for you. Family."

       "B-but, you have all the money you could want, and we're dirt poor," Ron spluttered in confusion, the fight having left him.

       "Money doesn't buy happiness, Ron," Draco whispered. "Open your eyes, it's you that has everything."

       Silence passed over us. I sensed that something important had taken place. I could see it in the others' eyes.

      "Er, shall we play Quidditch?" Ginny suggested.

      "Yeah," Ron muttered, turning from Draco. However, he faltered and turned back toward him. Ron stole a glance at Harry's expression of disapointment and seemed to make up his mind about something. He took a deep breath, almost as though he were about to take a flying leap off a building.

      "Hey Mal- er, Draco," he began awkwardly, "maybe, just this once ... we could, er, be on the same team. You know, for a change."

       Draco nodded, eyes alight. Harry gave him a thumbs up behind Ron's back while Ginny and the twins (whom Ginny said were called Fred and George) mounted their brooms and soared through the branches of the apple trees, their silhouettes standing out sharply in the setting sun.

      I grinned up at Hermione, not entirely sure what had just happened, but I had a good feeling deep down. And by the look on Hermione's face, so did she.